Stop Selling, Start Serving: The Doer-Seller Blueprint - Kenneth Harms

Why do brillianttechnical experts in architecture, engineering, and construction struggle whentasked with winning business, and how does reframing sales as client serviceunlock high-performance growth? Kenneth Harms brings over 40 years of executive leadershipin the built environment, having helped secure billions of dollars inconstruction projects and guided Fortune 500 enterprises. Today, he is anexecutive coach, founder of Ken Harms Consulting, LLC,and author of Building Trust, Winning Work: Simplifying the Doer-Seller Modelfor the Built Environment. After pivoting from a long corporatecareer to launch his own consulting firm, Ken set out to solve the criticaltraining gap that leaves technical "doers" unprepared for therelational world of "selling." In this episode of FailCraft, Ken joins Ezekiel to unpack whytransactional selling destroys long-term relationships, how the high-trustdiscipline of an F1 pit crew mirrors construction leadership, the"W.A.I.T." rule for client meetings, and why multi-million-dollarcontracts are won long before the RFP is ever released. Key Takeaways:·        TheTechnical Trap: Why engineersstruggle when shifting from blueprint logic to emotional relationships [01:55 /04:46]. ·        TheDoer-Seller Shift: Replacing thenegative stigma of "sales" with client service and problem solving[01:55 / 04:46]. ·        Relationshipvs. Transaction: Why winning thecontract while losing the relationship ruins repeat business [05:09 / 08:56]. ·        TheF1 Pit Crew Lesson: Buildinghigh-performance operational teams grounded in mutual trust [06:33 / 08:56]. ·        BuildingTrust, Winning Work: Practical capture plans, account templates,and playbooks for builders [09:22 / 11:44]. ·        RecoveringBroken Trust: Owning operationalerrors early rather than sweeping them under the rug [12:03 / 14:29]. ·        The"W.A.I.T." Framework: Why Am I Talking? Listening more than pitching in initialmeetings [14:51 / 18:01]. ·        WinningBefore the RFP: Positioning your firmahead of public bids through trusted influence [18:25 / 19:53]. ·        ThePower of Mentorship: Why failure is aprerequisite to elite performance [20:24 / 22:46]. Connect With Kenneth Harms:·        OfficialWebsite: Explore executivecoaching, workshops, and services at kenharms.com. ·        Book: Order the paperback edition of Building Trust, Winning Work on Amazon. Support the Show:·        Fuel FailCraft: https://iferia.nestuge.com/supportme ·        Share, subscribe, andreview! Want to Be a Guest onFailCraft?·        Connect on PodMatch: https://podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/failcraft Chapters: 00:00 Introduction:Kenneth Harms & The Doer-Seller Model 01:55 Beyond theBlueprints: Why Technical Experts Fear Selling 05:09 Winning theRelationship First: The Transactional Trap 06:33 High-PerformanceTeams: Lessons from an F1 Pit Stop 09:22 Inside thePlaybook: Writing Building Trust, Winning Work 12:03 RebuildingBroken Trust: Extreme Ownership of Mistakes 14:51 The"W.A.I.T." Acronym: Silencing the Pitch to Ask Better Questions 18:25 Winning Beforethe RFP: Beating the 10% Cold Bid Rate 20:24 Closing theMentorship Gap: Redefining Failure as Success 23:01 Connect withKenneth Harms & KenHarms.com