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In April 2013, when Nike passed on a proposal to locate a hundred-million-dollar development in Portland and instead chose to expand its existing campus in Beaverton, the corporate behemoth may not have based its decision on the proposal’s grammatical precision – but it certainly came under the microscope.

Mike Salas, Nike’s real estate manager throughout the Americas, looks at the details in proposals.

“I love reading them,” he said. “I like to look for typos and grammatical errors because it highlights (whether) these people (are) paying attention. Seriously, there’s nothing more irritating than typos and grammatical errors.”

Salas was among the industry professionals who spoke last week at a panel event hosted by the Oregon chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services. The event, titled “Why some firms win: staying competitive in a relationship-based industry,” offered insight into the art of forming and maintaining professional relationships to potentially gain business in the future.

Grammar aside, the initial point of contact is critical.

David Etchart, Beaverton School District‘s administrator for facilities development, advised attendees to nurture their professional relationships like their personal ones – with care. Ultimately, he said, he wants to work with people he feels connected to.

The same is true for Liam Thornton, managing director of investment and development for Langley Investment Properties. Typically, he won’t even consider a proposal from a firm he doesn’t already know.

“You establish a relationship before there’s a need,” he said. “Like all of you, I’m really busy.”

Traditionally, Langley has focused its investment energies on Class A office assets, but the company is now looking to expand its portfolio into the multifamily sector. It recently acquired one multifamily asset and is planning to develop another at 1501 S.W. Taylor St. Langley recently applied for early assistance to discuss those plans, which currently call for construction of an eight-story, 164-unit building.

Thornton acknowledged that Langley doesn’t have as much expertise with residential as it does with office, and said the firm is looking to work with others that can help it strengthen those weaknesses. He recommended making the initial point of contact through a mutual acquaintance who can vouch for the firm’s abilities.

“That is definitely more productive than a cold call relationship because you don’t know the person (and) you don’t know much about them,” he said. “And if I’m jammed up and I need help, I’m not going to call anyone I haven’t met already.”

Attentiveness is also important when forming professional relationships. Jamie Hurd, vice president of programs for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, said she is constantly surprised at how few of the people who submit proposals to her actually know anything about the nonprofit organization.

That’s crucial because OMSI wants its team members to help it develop its relationships. For instance, OMSI is preparing to develop a $10 million, 20-acre camp in Newport; it’s a new market for the nonprofit, and so its design and building consultants need to operate almost like ambassadors, Hurd said.

Lastly, the panel advised listeners to prepare and rehearse their pitches. Salas recalled a series of presentations he once lined up with potential design consultants for a project in Birmingham, Ala. He told the candidates they each had 90 minutes to dazzle him.

“The first person … sat across from me and asked, ‘So, what do you want to know?’ and I thought, ‘Boy, this is going to be a long ninety minutes,” Salas said. “There’s not a lot of time, and there’s a lot of options we have at our disposal, so you really need to stand out.”