Relationship Lessons Learned – How to Develop Lifelong Clients in the Construction Industry
With over 43 years of experience in the construction industry, Miles-McClellan Construction has learned valuable lessons about building lasting relationships with partners and clients. Our focusing on building strong relationships has resulted in many positive outcomes:
- 85% repeat clients by volume
- $71 million average annual sales volume
- 10-year average employee tenure
- Long-lasting success, even through difficult times
Our success in building trust with those we work with is no accident. It’s part of who we are and who we have always intended to be. So, what exactly do we do to cultivate trusting relationships?
How Miles-McClellan Cultivates Trusting Client Relationships
Focus on Positivity When Working With Clients and Partners
Negativity often seems to dominate the news headlines, social media chatter, and public discourse. Many people experience negativity seeping into their workplace, family life or social life. Negativity is pervasive – so why not stand out by being a source of positivity?
By focusing on the good, it’s far easier to stand out to your clients and partners. That’s not to say that negative things never happen or that they should be swept under the rug. Being candid and open is important but staying stuck on the negative is counterproductive. By actively focusing on genuine and positive interactions, we notice that we build better and more productive relationships.
Don’t Forget to Show Gratitude.
One important aspect of positivity we try to practice is showing gratitude, which can easily be taken for granted when busy. This includes gratitude to our clients and our colleagues and can be accomplished with small and simple ways of saying thanks, like emails, hand-written notes, small gifts or favors, highlighting the individual or organization’s accomplishments, or by sharing time over lunch.
Always Act with High Integrity
Integrity is one of our core values—and it contributes greatly to our ability to provide excellent customer service. When we communicate proactively, tell the truth, keep our word, act fairly and take responsibility for our actions, our clients see those behaviors as representing integrity. Practicing integrity isn’t always easy, but it always pays off in the long run.
The most important reason integrity is so critical to building long-lasting relationships is that it forms the foundation of trust. By showing clients and partners that we act with integrity through our day-to-day actions, we cultivate the type of trust needed to build repeat, long-lasting client relationships.
At Miles-McClellan, we practice integrity by focusing on:
- Being true to our word — always
- Being intensely loyal to our colleagues, clients and partners
- Being honest and straightforward
- Taking personal responsibility for the successes of our projects
- Not taking shortcuts when it comes to problem solving
- Taking pride in the quality of our work
Focus on Long-Term Sustainability Instead of Shortsighted Goals
So many organizations these days focus heavily on short-term goals. A lot of being long-term focused comes down to not forgetting about the bigger things that matter amidst day-to-day work. By not being exclusively short-term focused, we can once again stand out from other organizations while laying the groundwork that ensures our success down the road.
By taking a step back and focusing on the longer term, we allow ourselves to cultivate relationships, develop new capabilities and strengths and be proactive in managing risks, both on the job site and in the office. Our long-term approach allows us to:
- Be actively involved in our community Invest in our own workforce and cultivate a culture of taking care of each other
- Stay up to date on trends and new opportunities to proactively stay ahead of our peers
- Actively build relationships with everyone we work with, even if there is no immediate reward or benefit
- Focus on integrity, quality and service at all times
These strategies improve the quality of our work and relationships and help to ensure high continuity within our workforce. This leads to less client turnover, less disruption and higher overall satisfaction.
Focus on Beating Expectations in Client Service
Finally, beating client expectations in service is one of our founding principles. Our founders walked away from large international construction companies because they believed there was a better way to deliver construction services. There was a key component missing in the construction industry – customer service.
By building Miles-McClellan from the ground up with customer service at our core, we’ve separated ourselves from most other construction companies in the best way possible. This not only enables better relationships with our customers, but by aligning our model around our IMMPact Approach, we reduce bureaucracy, decrease miscommunication and improve the overall quality of the work we provide our long-term clients.
By building long-term relationships we are building excellence. Contact us today to learn more about our capabilities.