What really works for marketing and business development success? It isn't pouring money into advertising and branding. It is all about your client experiences and integrity. By Mark Buckshon Here's a challenge everyone experiences in business: How do we attract and maintain enough business to re- main viable and profitable, without burning up our re- sources and relationships in the process? This question's forefront importance sometimes causes us to be caught up in disruptive interruptions; the uninvited email, phone call or (worse) someone buttonholing you at a networking event (or worse) in your office to pitch you on something you don't really want, at least from that indi- vidual at that time. There are so many competing ways to spend your mar- keting dollars/budget (if you have any funds available), you rightfully may wish to throw your arms up in frustration and revert to bidding on public tenders, or relying on repeat and referral business. At least in the former situation you have a tangible opportunity where at least one organization will win the prize – and in the latter, you'll achieve the best results without spending much, if any, effort. However, there are effective approaches to marketing and business development that need not set your finances off budget and which will allow you to manage the sales- people pitching their self-serving solutions to you. 10 – February - March 2015 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report Here are the basics: Start by enhancing your client experience and employee/business culture. My consistent surveys indicate that architectural, engi- neering and construction businesses earn on average about 72 per cent of their business from repeat and referral clients (30 per cent repeat, 42 per cent referral). In most cases you don't need to work very hard to retain your busi- ness. It's easier for current customers to stay where they are than to leave. However, among your good customers, you'll want to work hard to foster more repeat and referral business – if only because even a modest improvement in either category will be truly significant to your bottom line. (A 10 per cent increase in repeat and referral business will, on average, generate an additional 7.2 per cent in sales – at virtually no cost.) Earning, retaining and enhancing client trust really count for more than anything else. Marketers like using words like “branding” – but when it comes down to it, a great brand is based on trust, cou- pled with visibility to your current and potential clients. You don't earn trust by spending a whack of money on adver- tising and promotion before delivering an unsatisfactory experience.