Dive summary:

• As Lincoln said of his own brief speech in Gettysburg, Pa., almost exactly 100 years ago, "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here," but the chances are that every person there remembered how they felt about him for saying it—and the same applies to the feelings and impressions that contractors leave with their customers.
• In creating long-term relationships for your business, how you say things is as important as what you say.
• Providing a top-flight product is good, and creating good feelings about the provider and the service received makes it even better.

From the article:

We offered to review the proposal again in 90 days, to see if things were improving and we could get the customer a better deal. All these extras and concessions let the recipient know that we truly care about them and the project beyond just being hired. ...