Companies making the Class of 2004, as have winners in past years, did so by delivering results that exceeded expectations, and they do so as a matter of principle. Surpassing client expectations is the rule - not the exception to the rule.
      Under intense pressure from state and local government, land owners and other service providers to disclose the identity of a client, The Walker Companies refused to do so out of respect for the client's interest in preserving its competitive edge and avoiding disruptions to existing operations. The client wished to remain anonymous well into construction of a 600,000-sq.-ft. (55,740-sq.-m.) distribution center. The land purchase agreement, legal agreements on incentives, contracts for due diligence and the construction contract all were entered under the client's code name. "The 'we've never done this before' attitude of the parties across the negotiating table did not deter us from concluding a very successful project," explains Raymond Walker, president of The Walker Companies. "The identity of the client was not revealed until eight months into facility construction."
      Among several examples CRESA Partners cited to illustrate its approach to client service was the case of a client about to move into new office space when the space was damaged from a sprinkler on the floor above. The CRESA project manager, when informed of the problem, reacted so quickly that she arrived before the building manager, the tenant - even the fire department. Twenty percent of the space was damaged; carpet in the furniture-staging area was ruined and drywall had to be replaced. The project manager had less than six days to fix the situation. Before the end of the same day, the project manager had reorganized the move schedule, resolved insurance questions and notified all relevant parties that the damage would be paid for by the tenant above the new space. The project manager saw to it that the carpet was replaced, the walls were repaired and painted and the furniture was salvaged such that the tenant could move in on schedule with no evidence of the damage of a few days previous.
      In the context of industrial client service, it's hard to get more industrial than The Boeing Company, which assigned McCallum Sweeney Consulting the task of locating a suitable site for the 7E7 Dreamliner final assembly plant. Here, too, client confidentiality was a key requirement. But more daunting was the sheer volume of proposals coming in from all over the United States and the "intensely data-driven" process of narrowing down the finalists. McCallum Sweeney's use of GIS technology and other systems helped Boeing complete the process on schedule.
      Dozens of other anecdotes were supplied by service providers participating in Site Selection's annual competition, and some of them will be explored in more depth in future issues of Site Selection. In the meantime, the editors salute these winning companies and all service providers committed to exceeding client expectations.