Most people would rather talk to a connector.

Through the experience of years, one of the trait we’ve found across successful service industry businesses is the ability to be a solid connector. This includes construction, real estate development, design and a variety of trades in our industry. The skill comes with the job description.

Maybe a subtitle below our contractor name should be the word “connector.” We do it every day and it helps make us more successful. We get an opportunity to price a project because of quality, good delivery and a reputation for honesty. Beyond this, connecting goes a long way toward being successful.

This means a deep-seated desire to help others, expecting nothing in return. Trust me, there will be plenty of payback long-term, but that’s not the point. It’s like planting in the spring: You’ve got to have the right soil and the right seeds, and then patience.

If you have not read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, there’s a great chapter on Connectors. I keep copies in my office to give to people so they can better understand the concept.

Here are a few ways I connect:

• Whenever I think of someone, I record the idea on my iPhone using the voice memo button. I use this as a reminder to follow with a call or note.
• As I read the Wall Street Journal or trade publications, I’m always thinking about appropriate articles to send to those in our circle of good companies.
• I send out lots of congratulations. People always like to be recognized for their good work, and doing so makes the world a little bit better place.
• Above all, I try to help others be financially successful, connecting the dots to others. I have found over the years, putting good folks in touch with other good people often means we get a seat on the plane as well.

How do you surpass networking to connect?

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

Investors. Last week, I was talking with the vice president of a publicly traded real estate REIT. He said that when considering all parts, pricing should theoretically be the same. To him, it’s about the service and the delivery. This sounds simple, but it’s easier said than done.

Petrochemicals. A major petrochemical contractor on the Gulf Coast recently that told me that in his world, many times his pricing is the same as his competitors. Then it is the “service experience of safety” that sets him apart. While he is in a unique situation (he still has money flowing in from the last 5 natural disasters) he’s had three record-breaking years in business.

Developers. This week, I was having dinner with a long-term customer in Baton Rouge who said that success in business is about delivery and quality as much as anything else. So when businesses are failing in these times, it’s not always about the economy. Good business practices will survive.

What I’m saying here is that while price is important, the experience and quality of delivery are huge factors in winning business. Service experience can theoretically equate to a dollar amounts, whether recognized or not.

I try to share with our prospective customers that the first bid is just the beginning point, it’s not the middle and it is not the end. So here’s what we do throughout a job:

• Avoid over-promising. We deliver the best cost the first time. There will always be something cheaper out there, but it’s not the final cost a customer will pay.

• Follow-up. I check in periodically throughout the job, circumventing normal lines of communication. I want to ensure to we are delivering.

• Adjust. When tweaks are needed, we make them immediately.

• Stay on time. We close out ontime with quality and this leads to repeat business.

• Keep it “fun.” Then we get to do it again.

How do cost and experience balance in your industry?

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

Every year, we pick a weekend in December for all the team members who work on job sites come to our home office. We get a few meetings out of the way Friday afternoon, then dedicate the weekend to bringing our work family together with our spouses and kids. We have a brunch on campus Saturday morning and top the weekend off with a celebration at my house that evening.

This year, we added a new tradition.

Friday night, we invited a few of our long-term vendors and subcontractor relationships to our place. We started with beverages in the office, then moved outside. The Spoonfed Grill food truck was parked out front to provide some wonderful fish and chicken tacos, along with other delights that we enjoyed by the campfire.

The result was a chance for our team to shake hands with folks who help make us successful every week of the year.

A couple of our guys approached me afterwards, telling me they liked giving this kind of simple thank you to valued partners. They were also glad to further their relationships on a more personal level by talking about something other than work. The simple, face-to-face connect makes our ties run even deeper.

Have you thanked your partners this holiday season?

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

Negotiation is a part of our business, and for that matter, most things in life.

CBS MoneyWatch recently posted 12 Negotiation Tips for People Who Hate Negotiating, and I was inclined to listen. Here they are:

1. Go first.
2. Be quiet.
3. Know what you want.
4. Assume the best case.
5. Avoid setting ranges.
6. Have a reason for concessions.
7. Never be Harry Truman.
8. Make time your friend.
9. Ignore face value.
10. Give the other person room.
11. Forget about winning and losing.
12. Create a lasting relationship.

While I find all these tips helpful, numbers 7 and 12 seemed particularly important to me.

Never be Harry Truman. He had a sign on his desk that said, “the buck stops here,” as a reminder that final decisions rested with him. It seems to me, if one adopts this attitude at the negotiating table, he will miss out on a lot of good opportunities.

Create a relationship. As I’ve mentioned before, you don’t get to make “second first impressions.” The way you negotiate today will certainly affect your business in the future. If I make concessions now, I always try to consider impact down the road. A long-term customer relationship is, in most cases, far more valuable than whatever details you might quibble about today.

Do you have additional tips for successful negotiating? 

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

Recently, I talked with a major architectural firm about their use of building information modeling. To them, BIM is just another advance of communications and drawings. I can relate.

When I was in college, everybody used pencils. The quality of your lines on the drawings was most important. Then we moved to ink to give them more clarity. Then Auto Cad. We are now on AutoCAD 2012 v. 18.2 which means there have been 26 releases of the software.

As a company, we’ve advanced to the next level of customer-service centered modeling: BIM.

BIM is not a specific piece of software but a group of programs used together to build a data rich model. Stewart Perry uses software from AutoDesk who also own AutoCAD, so BIM is really just an extension of what we have been doing continuing to advance efficient ways of communicating. We use the following:

• Autodesk Revit Architecture for structure and MEP for modeling
• Autodesk Navisworks Manage for clash detection and presentation
• Autodesk Navisworks Freedom for jobsite uses of BIM
• Autodesk Quantity Takeoff for estimate and budgeting
• Autodesk Buzzsaw for file management and transfers
• Microsoft Project for scheduling

BIM takes the lines once drawn by hand on paper with rulers and pencils that evolved into lines on a computer screen created in drafting software. Architects, contractors and owners now have the ability to give meaning to the lines on the screen.

We can assign properties to items in a model that are quantifiable.

A line that used to represent a wall now can show a visual 3D representation of the wall, include information on stud spacing, fire rating and material choices, that can be accessed by those involved in the project.

Communication between the concept in the architect’s head and the reality of the end product has been a source of confusion, delay, and lawsuits. Now the architect can provide more information about the design than ever before. We couldn’t be more pleased.

As a company, we are out of the infancy stages of BIM. We have hired a BIM manager, and are using the technology on three of our projects:

• Shoppes of Madison – Madison, AL
• Brookwood Village renovations – Birmingham, AL
• Redstone Gateway at Redstone Arsenal- Huntsville, AL
• US Steel’s new headquarter – Birmingham, AL

Has your company started working with BIM? Have you been successful in implementation?

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

Image Credit: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

On construction jobs, the unexpected is…well…expected.

Circumstances inevitably change. In our case, codes are updated, conditions in earthwork shift or we encounter any other variety of circumstances that affect the outcome of our work. To me, when considering a construction contract–or for that matter any written agreement–good communication and change management are essential to success and long term relationships.

I remember a particular Friday last March very clearly. I was meeting with one of our then project managers, when I realized we had not been keeping a customer relationship in-the-know about a changed aspect of their project.

Later that day I called our customer to explain what might be on the horizon. For several weeks following, I spent many hours gathering information and systematically sharing it with him.

The situation turned out okay, but could have been much different had we not immediately communicated what we saw on the radar. It might have been late, but fortunately it was not not too late for our relationship.

Because of our experience, I was glad to seen an article on the topic from Construction Executive Magazine. I found these points helpful and thought you might too, whether you are a contractor or in any service industry.

There is a legal distinction between “change” and “extra.”

• A change is a modification to something listed in the contract.
• An extra is a service or material not listed in original documents.

*As you read potential contracts, look for how these are addressed.

“Change Orders” and “Change Directives” are different animals.

• Change orders are when both parties can agree on the timing and price of changes.
• Change directives are born of disagreement. There is a dispute over what should be changed and how much should be charged.

I find it critical to communicate “early and often” if change is suspected. This gives us the benefit of time and more importantly, allows us to take the appropriate steps to mitigate.

How have you been successful at managing the unexpected?

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

Create sparks instead of a big forest fire. To me, this means making small connects over time.

The imagery resonated with me and prompted thoughts about business interactions. The type of “fire” one builds is as important as anything else in a relationship.

New Business. To me, new relationships are all about that first encounter. There is no such thing as a good “second first impression” with a prospective customer. Unless you hit a home run in that first encounter, which is highly unusual, a relationship is built through a series of small connects–sparks–rather than one big forest fire.

Relationship Building. Small connects equate to staying in touch. These interactions have meaning and value other than “Hey, I was just checking in with you” or even worse, “Hey, I was just checking in with you and by the way do you have any projects to give us?” This is the kind of call I despise.

Here’s an example of connecting done wrong: I once had a consultant call me and say, “It’s been some time since we spoke and I am just wondering if we could be involved with that new project I saw you guys are building?” He was right, I thought. It had been about 5 years since I had heard from this guy. No go.

Strategic Partnerships. Let’s say you work smart and are fortunate to get a project. During its course, you may hit choppy waters, but at the end of the day you handled things the right way. The relationship stays intact and then you have the possibilities for the long term. The relationship having stood the test of another type of fire, as in certain cases a bonfire, will make the relationship strong as new rope.

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

So, why do we go to the trouble? I’ll give you three good reasons.

Our Customers. The folks we have the privilege to work with aren’t always near their construction sites. The blogs give a visual check-in for them. They’re also great bragging tools. We’ve found our customer relationships often like to share their blog site with their team or with their own prospects.

Our Communities. A construction site is a living, growing thing. As projects move along, the community has a right to see progress–at a safe distance. I’d like to give everyone in the community a hardhat tour of the places we are building, but being more realistic, project blogs give them a front row seat complete with commentary.

Our People. Listed last, but certainly not counted least, is our Stewart Perry team. Since our business spreads across the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, it’s virtually impossible for each team member to visit each site. Project blogs let them participate and give them a sense of pride in all our work.

Would a blog be a good way to chronicle work on your next site? We’ve found project blogs an invaluable tool for building, maintaining and improving relationships.

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

As background, Lean is a system that seeks to streamline practices and eliminate wasted effort. The idea is to create more value with fewer resources. The system is process-oriented, with the goal of entirely eliminating excess—be it physical or in the form of time.

While Lean technology has been applied to manufacturing for several decades, Superior is using it to make them be more efficient in construction. Rodney King, their Lean Coordinator, explained the efforts.

Superior has made perfecting processes their goal. Errors are identified and the procedure is refined until mistakes evolve out. The emphasis is on the series of tasks rather than the individuals performing them, systematizing delivery.

No more creating a new mold with every project. The system becomes the skill.

Rodney gave me the example of their pre-fab shop. It was created so that many standard assemblies–like plumbing systems–can be put together in a warehouse before installing on site. The benefits are multiple:

Speed. All the tools needed are at arm’s reach. Also, with repetition, the labor becomes more time and cost efficient.

Safety. While plumbers onsite might have to work on a ladder, the tasks are at chest-level in the prefab shop.

Lower waste. Excess product that might get thrown out on the job site is set aside for another use. This is better for landfills and the bottom line.

We are evaluating lean ourselves. In fact, we’re planning a post later this week about our CFO’s visit to Basic Lean. For us, I can see the potential. While it’s not always easy to change mindsets and habits, I believe there are some wins out there in the construction industry. As Rodney said, it’s about small incremental successes over time. I agree.

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email

Image: Business Management

The good news is, being out of sight no longer means you have to be out of mind.

With today’s networking tools and social media options, it is easier than ever to stay connected to customer relationships.

That’s important, because a well-maintained positive relationship can decide whether a current customer stays or goes elsewhere.

Relationships can also be the reason a potential prospect selects a new partner.

I feel like we are passionate about helping our customers (and others) and I want to stay closely connected to them, but I want to do it in ways that are most effective. Here is what has worked for me:

● I try to figure out how many times a customer wishes to receive contact from me. Once a week, once a month, once a quarter?

● I determine what time of the day and week they prefer to receive contact. I’ve found some people like to receive non-urgent communication over the weekend, so they can look at it first thing Monday morning before diving into the work week.

● I use different forms of communication, mixing up emails with phone calls and personal letters.

● I send articles that pertain to the interests of a particular customer.

● Most important, I try to help the customer become more successful by connecting them with opportunities and projects.

I do all this because I genuinely like our customers. We try to work with customers who are, first of all, decent individuals who stand for the same character issues in life that we stand for and who represent quality organizations.

To me, if you help others first, all other things being equal,  then something good will come back to you.

Merrill Stewart is Founder and President of the Stewart Perry Company, a commercial building contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. Contact him via email