BY WHEN? AND WHY?

I have a client, who’s  a self  taught Project Manager

He started out in the construction industry as a ‘Joiner’ and then worked hard to become a very experienced and effective Project Manager. During that time he has developed two favourite questions, by when? And, why?

These two questions put the people he is managing under real pressure because they have to tell him what he needs to know, now!

He insists on full answers that are simple, straightforward and honest.  He uses the information gathered to get the whole team pointing in the right direction, to take sensible steps forward and to do so as economically as possible.

When variations to the plan take place he always implements his favourite questions, because they get him reams of information i.e. they both help to expose and solve problems.

Well, he might be a good PM but he’s not very good at marketing his services! He tends to rely on merely doing a good job in the hope that his efforts are appreciated by someone. Sadly it doesn’t always work out that way for him.

So we put a few alternative suggestions to him that would generate new leads for his services.  He quite liked the sound of our direct mail methodology. I think he liked it because we based it on one of his favourite words, why!

We produced a mailing piece that had the title:

 ‘10 Things You Must knows Before You Employ a Project Manager’.

It contained ten key questions that any potential client needs to know the answers to before he appoints a PM. Of course, and not by coincidence, our client had the necessary combination of qualifications, relevant work experience and knowledge of the particular sector the campaign was aimed at.

Within days of having sent it out, and without any form of follow up, he received four invitations to attend exploratory talks with potential clients. We actually followed up his original mailing with six follow on postcards. The final results ended up with his having received ten requests for discussion and he eventually secured two full fee paying commissions!

So, sometimes it’s important to find out ‘WHY’ something is important and by ‘WHEN’ it needs to be done!

If you need some help with this sort of thing you know a man who can help.