Earning the trust of a new client involves a lot of effort from many people, especially during a global pandemic. This was the case with Armstrong Consultants and the Cortez Municipal Airport (CEZ). Armstrong had been pursuing CEZ for some time and was seeking the opportunity to be the aviation consultant for their upcoming Airport Master Plan project. By the time the RFQ was released, our staff had done the work to build a relationship with CEZ staff and they were expecting our submission. Our initial meetings with CEZ allowed our team to collectively work on our Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) and create key messages based on CEZ’s known priorities. Our initial outreach and relationship-building efforts were then supported and amplified through our highly personalized, high-quality SOQ. Upon SOQ evaluation, Armstrong was shortlisted for an interview. This interview provided the perfect opportunity for our Marketing team to implement some of the shortlist interview best practices we had learned during a recent SMPS/Elevate Marketing webinar. We were dedicated to every effort possible to secure our place as their consultant. Our team had practiced their highly-tailored interview presentation numerous times, so they were more comfortable with their messaging during the real interview. This consistent practice was evident during the actual interview and allowed the panel to confidently choose Armstrong as their consultant. In a very unique year, earning new clients took a lot of adapting to new situations, which the Armstrong team was able to do successfully with CEZ.