Consider your next Architecture/Engineering/Construction project interview. How will your team stand out when it’s over? Your firm is qualified, but client-focused stories could be a critical differentiator. They can show you’ve solved similar project challenges in the past and can help your prospect envision similar solutions.
Barbara Shuck, FSMPS, CPSM, owner of Everest Marketing Services, Mesa, Arizona, says the key to using project stories is relating them to the prospect’s potential concerns and challenges. These stories could reveal some unknown obstacles while building connections with the prospects.
By sharing engaging stories about how your firm has helped other clients, your prospect can envision how you can solve their problems and deliver results. “Stories prove you’ve successfully done the work before,” Shuck says.
During interviews, firms can use client stories to show tangible results and the return on investment (ROI) they delivered for past clients.
Why Stories?
Firms use stories in client interviews because prospects are more likely to remember them than technical data. They showcase a firm’s expertise and include valuable testimonials from existing clients.
When an A/E/C firm participates in a project interview, its goal is to connect with its prospects. Firms invited to the interview are most likely qualified. The interview panel wants to get to know the team. Will they want to work with them?
How Do You Pick the Best Project Stories?
By sharing success stories during interviews, firms show results and ROI from past projects. The first step is understanding the potential client’s pain points, goals, and industry challenges.
Here are a few additional steps to consider:
- Identify panel members by name and position
- Consider their key concerns and issues
- Provide insights into challenges they may face
Once your interview team shares information about the interview panel, members can customize success stories to their specific needs.
Shuck, a presentation trainer and coach, has a background in preparing A/E/C proposals and understands the pressures faced by all involved. In her training, she emphasizes that technical staff are focused on delivering projects but also play a crucial role in the firm’s companywide marketing efforts. Successful projects help the firm get additional work to keep technical personnel busy.
One key aspect of a client interview is to share project stories that reflect a prospect’s concerns and show an A/E/C firm’s ability to help them achieve their goals.
How to Obtain Stories for a Client Interview
In an ideal world, firms would have a repository of client stories to share during a project interview. However, more research will likely be needed. Project summaries are typically included in proposals, but it may be necessary to get more details or contact the happy client for more information to share during the interview.
During the interview preparation, all stakeholders can brainstorm potential projects and stories that could be used in the interview. Some projects may have been included in the proposal, and sometimes other project ideas may surface. For example, a technical employee may remember an unrelated project that addressed a challenge similar to the one faced by the prospect, such as traffic control or public outreach efforts.
As a result of these planning discussions, the interview team will probably come up with a potential list of significant stories to share. The challenge will be to customize them to specific issues related to the upcoming project.
Client stories can reveal a project’s tangible results and lessons learned that could benefit prospects. Firms can also share how they met project timelines, saved the client money, and satisfied the needs of the client and their end users.
How is the client thinking about the project? What are the main points of a story? Shuck says she often displays her “So What?” sign during the interview preparation. Stories need to be concise and address the prospect’s pain points.
When selecting project stories, Shuck emphasizes that an interview team needs to understand the project they’re pursuing. “Figure out what examples you can use to prove to the client that you know what you’re doing,” she says.
Ideally, a firm will have client testimonials to share or can obtain them if possible. Comments from a firm’s existing clients provide valuable social proof of their professional abilities.
Get Prepared with Key Project Stories
Developing a standard interview template can help technical personnel and marketers get information from your satisfied clients. Prioritize projects that reflect your firm’s strengths and align with the type of work the firm is trying to win.
The questions should reflect the project’s scope, challenges faced, solutions provided, and the beneficial results for the client. Find anecdotes that highlight your firm’s extraordinary service and how you resolved unexpected problems. How did the client feel during the process?
Here are some questions to consider:
- What challenges were you facing before we started this project?
- How did our team help you overcome those challenges?
- What results or improvements have you seen since the project’s completion?
These questions are some of the same ones used when developing client-focused case studies for A/E/C firms. These case studies are typically two to three pages long and often include testimonials, graphics, photos, and metrics.
With a tight timeframe, an interview team could review relevant case studies and repurpose some of their elements, including testimonials. Members may need more information, but much of the work may already be done. Compare this approach to a last-minute effort to contact a key client during a limited time frame or talk with a harried member of a project team who is on deadline to complete another project.
Client feedback can be obtained during project closeout meetings or through client surveys. Clients may also submit letters of recommendation during an industry awards process.
An excellent time to seek client input is after a project’s successful completion. Their testimonials can be available through an internal repository and considered for project interviews and other purposes.
Train Clients on Storytelling
What’s the next step once you have your presentation messaging and key project stories?
Client-facing teams should know how to use stories effectively in interviews and presentations. Stories must directly address the client’s specific needs and pain points, and the emphasis of a story may vary depending on the prospect’s challenges.
Schedule presentation practices. Many coaches video these practices so participants can review and improve their delivery. Rehearsed speakers will do a better job of sharing stories. Client panels will watch to see how participants interact with each other and if they appear confident.
Shuck says that before or after the presentation, the interviewer can share a leave-behind with a few pages that can include client testimonials and relevant case studies. She prefers to share these documents before the presentation so the interview panel can make notes on them.
Stories Add Impact to Client Interviews
Use your firm’s best project stories to engage prospects during your next project interview. Shuck says that through project stories, an A/E/C firm can prove that they’ve successfully completed a similar project in the past and will do the same for the prospect. “That’s the gold in how you use project stories,” she says.
Need Project Stories?
Do you need help obtaining client stories? I’m here to help. Contact me at blaizecommunications@gmail.com. Subscribe to A/E/C Connect for monthly insights on case studies, storytelling, and more or visit www.blaizecommunications.com.
