Maintaining Client Relationships with Municipal Governments

Abstract

In the competitive industry of civil engineering, consultants must continually market their services to the private sector as well as to the public sector. Various engineering management reference materials state that the Pareto Principle applies to the declaration that 80% of the work comes from repeat clients. Accordingly, there should be a considerable amount of marketing effort performed by consulting firms to assure repeat clients remain long-term customers. In the public sector, such as municipal governments, maintaining long-term relationships with municipal officials can be challenging since most publicly elected members are in office only a few years. A consultant firm has to create long-term relationships with municipal government using creative strategies that exceed those that are effective when marketing to the private sector. Marketing groups focus on various topics within the subject of client relationships, such as value, service, client knowledge and negotiations. Determining the proper mix of topics, and the roles and responsibilities of each party, necessary to create a win-win relationship is the purpose of this field project.