When fundraising for my alma mater for the seminaryof Michigan industry School Annual Fund, I wrote a
figure of people and asked why they had discontinued
annual giving. Their answer—the only time I hear from
you is when you want money! That was not the
seminary’s vision. They thought the expensive,
very professionally done publications were showing
their givers how valid their help was, but vision of
the giver is the authenticity.I learned more about keeping customers when I hadbreakfast with my college roommate, Howard Boasberg,
who after college moved from Buffalo, New York, to
Kansas City. Howard was a tremendous success in the
public relations occupation! After breakfast I understood
that a lot of Howard’s success was due to “walking
nearby in the other blatant’s moccasins.” Howard
relatedto me that most companies go to their clients on
an annual basis with a written questionnaire about the
quality of services. He indicated he did this regularly on
an eyeball-to-eyeball basis.Further, he indicated that he carefully told peoplewell in advance exactly what everything was going to
cost them. He pointed out that most divorces in profes-
sional relationships happen because of communication
shortcomings rather than quality of work. He felt that
was avoidable.
