One of my favorite projects, the Prickly Pear play sculpture was the penultimate reason why you should always go into a project with as open of a mind as possible.

The end customer for this project was the City of Albuquerque, but the direct customer was a landscape architecture firm working for the city.  The LA knew what they wanted, but being on the other side of the table so often, they took an almost too realistic approach to seeking it.  They wanted something sculptural and artistic, but, knowing how budgets and customizations work, they asked to have one of our standard net structures clad with cactus pads and fruit.

At this point, I had a pretty good feel on what they actually wanted, as opposed to what they were asking for. I asked them for some time to work out a concept, as it was already starting to form in my head and I was very sure I could get them something they'd love instead of some themed elements slapped on the side of a standard product. The end result was they couldn't have been happier.  Instead of the prickly pear being an afterthought, it was the centerpiece; it was everything.

The benefits of this approach went on and on; my company sold a more expensive structure, the customer was immensely more thrilled about what they bought, I received a palpable sense of pride at vastly surpassing expectations, and my company and our sales representative solidified ourselves as the go-to supplier for quality work.