As a young man, George A. Pontikes Jr. was taught that it was best to learn business from the bottom up. So that’s what he did, working
every job in the construction industry, from craftsman to superintendent, before founding Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc. with Tom
Satterfield in 1989. Since that first year, Pontikes has grown the company from $1 million in revenue to an estimated $300 million in 2007.
As president and CEO, Pontikes shares his expertise daily with his 500 employees, using his experience from previous jobs to help those
in tough situations. He says doing so lets them know that he understands what they are dealing with because he has been in their shoes,
and that creates a sense of unity. Smart Business spoke with Pontikes about why you have to put the client first in every situation.
Communicate and listen. Communication is
key. Listen to your clients. They’re going
to tell you their side, what’s going on and
the way they see it. An employee can
come and tell you that everything is rosy
and everything’s going well, but if you’re
not communicating with your client,
you’re only hearing one side.
You may find that the client has a completely different understanding of your
company than your employee does. I
can’t tell you how many times somebody
tells me that the client’s happy, and you
go talk to the client, and they’ve got a different opinion.
A lot of people go out there and try to
tell their clients what they want. You
can’t do that. You’ve got to listen to what
your clients tell you. If you’re not going
to listen to your clients, you’re not going
to get work.
If you’re not careful and don’t question,
it’s easy for employees and clients to
dance around questions. Pay attention to
what they have to say and follow up with
questions to try and dig deeper and see
what you can find out.
It’s easy to dodge a tough question if you
don’t want to provide an answer. Dig deeper to find out, and make sure that you’re not
missing the true intent of their response.
Put the client first. Frequency of communication is key because things change. Your
clients have to have trust and faith in you.
Work hard to do everything you can to
let the client know that you’re working in
their best interest. When a client loses
confidence in you and doesn’t think that
you’re putting their best interest in the
front, then you’ve got a problem.
It’s hard to get that back. It’s not impossible, but it’s hard. Any time a client loses
faith in you, it’s generally because they
think you’re putting other interests in
front of theirs, and you can’t do that. Try
and demonstrate your good will at every
opportunity.
Meet frequently with the owner and see
what the owner’s feedback is. Meet with your clients; your clients will tell you
what’s going on. Stay close to the client;
he’ll tell you if he’s satisfied or if he’s not.
If you know he’s not satisfied, you have an
opportunity to correct the situation.
Don’t hide the truth, but be cautious.
Encourage your team to be open and realistic with clients. You’ve got to have realistic expectations. I encourage my employees to work hard, be tough but fair, and be
open and communicate with their clients.
Be cautious of the expectations of your
clients. You don’t want to oversell your
capabilities, and you don’t want to under-sell. Be realistic with your clients. If a
client has a request that’s unreasonable
and you don’t diplomatically inform them
that it’s not realistic, even if you do perform well, you’re going to have a problem
down the line.
Recognize a job well done. Give employees
responsibility, hold them accountable and
provide strong support. You’ve got to create a positive environment for your
employees, and then you’ve got to reward
them if they do the right thing and if they meet your expectations. Let them know
early on if you think they can do better,
and if they continue to succeed, provide
them with more and bigger opportunities.
Recognition goes a long way. Compensate them fairly, recognize their efforts
publicly within the organization and
encourage them to not be afraid to make
mistakes.
You’re never going to have all of your
employees reading the same sheet of
music; you’ll always have a handful who
are trying to prove you wrong and not following your direction. Do everything to
try and reward the people that are on
board, and get rid of the people that aren’t.
Face your mistakes. Don’t be afraid to
encounter your vendors or your clients or
your suppliers. You don’t want to express
an opinion when you don’t know the
topic, but don’t be afraid to tell somebody
you don’t know the answer.
A lot of times, you’ll see people try and
bluff their way through a difficult situation. You’re better off being truly open.
Clients are going to have more than one
issue, and you answer the ones you know
the answer to and go out, research and do
whatever you have to do to resolve the
other problems. Just don’t try and bluff
your way through.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You
can fix mistakes. Inaction is the worst
thing that you can do. Just jump in there;
just go do it.
You’ve got to make your own brand, but
you’ve got to work through the process.
Don’t be timid, make your move, make
your brand, you’ll do fine.
If you’re in a situation where it’s not
exactly like another problem you’ve dealt
with, or it’s one you’ve never dealt with,
research the problem and make the practical recommendations. Use associates,
peers, outside consultants, employees in
other areas to chase down an answer.
Most questions have a practical answer.
HOW TO REACH: Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc., (713)
996-1300 or www.satpon.com
