The famous English author, Gladys Brownwyn Stern, remarked: “Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.” And we at MARKETLINK could not agree more. Throughout the year, many of us look at ways we can express our thanks to our clients in a meaningful and genuine way. We can help.

Client Perception Surveys aren’t just about learning how you need to improve—it’s more important to discover where your firm excels. Why not learn your differentiators directly from the ones who know what they are—your clients?

Focusing on client relations while on the job is a form of marketing. Get to know your clients as people, and your one-time project will open doors of opportunity.

Karen Carr, Business Development Director of Boldt Construction, describes her process of starting from scratch with new perspectives and firm-wide buy-in.

Patricia Cantley, Regional Marketing Director of Brown and Caldwell, describes her experience at her job and explains what steps she has found are necessary for marketing success in the industry.

For Myrna Wagner, Vice President of Business Development at Swinerton Management and Consulting, the most important step to marketing mentality was to create a culture of collaboration and accountability with the leadership team. Her approach is to provide them with tools to help and encourage their involvement with business development. MARKETLINK Principal Stephanie Craft asked some questions to find out more.

MARKETLINK Principal Stephanie Craft caught up with Chuck Hack, a Lionakis principal and owner, to learn more about how he and Lionakis’s leadership have created and fostered a marketing mentality within the firm.

We have learned over the years there are 15 solid reasons clients leave firms they’ve built long-term working relationships with. Does your firm have a culture of client service to mitigate this?

It’s all about relationships in our industry - we can’t maintain those relationships if we don’t know where people are. Whether you use an Excel spreadsheet or a CRM like Cosential or Deltek, invest the time needed to keep it current.

At MARKETLINK, we practice the macro to micro approach to business development: Go from high-level to detailed when identifying and implementing business development strategies. And don’t just guess at where you are going, use research to make sure your strategies are on point.