I sat on an airplane with a man the other day whose company makes potato chips. Before I met this man, I never knew that the vast majority of potato chips are actually made from a slurry of potatoes molded into the shape of a chip. This man’s company manufactures a potato chip that is actually made from a sliced potato. What an amazing concept!
The man was incredibly excited about his product and talked to me about the wonders of high quality potato chips for several hours. He believes wholeheartedly that American consumers want and are willing to pay for a higher quality potato chip – made from sliced potatoes and natural ingredients. As a frequent consumer of fried potato products, I agree.
Got me thinking: What if our industry thought like this man about his potato chips? Is it possible that our clients are looking and willing to pay for excellence in design and construction? I think so. Like my neighbor on the plane, we in the A/E/C industries need to be able to "wax poetically" about our services. We absolutely must be able to tell our clients what is unique and special about what we do and about what differentiates us from the competition.
Unfortunately, in many of our markets, our clients have gotten used to a slurry of design or construction ideas molded into average 'potato chips'. In our proposals and presentations, we need to be able to articulate why our chip is better, why it is unique, elegant, and wonderful. We need to train our teams to speak with as much passion about our projects as this man did about his potato chips.
I’m privileged to work with a range of clients and firms who are indeed sliced potatoes. The challenge for all of us is to explain this clearly and creatively to the marketplace.
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