It’s Not Enough to Just Show Up

Many of us develop a schedule defining what conferences our firm will attend. The question is, “Do you have a conference strategy?” This is a plan, with tactics that you chose to employ, to advance your business development efforts. Plan ahead, to avoid these mistakes:

1. Choosing conferences that focus on peer group attendance
   Many of attend conferences for continuing education, networking, advertising and/or political pressure. Conferences attended for the purposes of advancing your business development efforts should be focused on groups of clients—not peers or competitors. “Fish where the fish are.” It does you no good to look for clients in a room full of peers.
2. Showing up without a game plan
   Before you ever set your foot on the convention floor, determine your purpose. Is it to make introductions, to follow up on previous conversations, or to guard your clients? Each of these are good reasons for attending a conference, but you need to understand your goal going in. If it is to meet a client, identify who they are, if possible send an email or phone call beforehand to ask if they are attending and set up a time to meet. If it is a follow up, clarify what you’d like to follow up on (i.e., the introduction of a Thought Leader or the timing of a new opportunity). If you are attending to guard your clients, arrange coffee, lunch or other activities with them to keep them with you and away from your competition. Don’t just show up looking for people and depending on spontaneous interactions.
3. Getting a booth
   Booths can be expensive. In addition to the cost of the booth, there is the cost to produce the booth and the marketing materials within the space, including “giveaways and brochures.” Staffing is another expense: you can’t have an empty booth. Determine if a booth is necessary to achieve your objective. A booth’s purpose is to increase visibility, but if your main objective is to meet a key client or clients, a booth is a poor strategic investment.
4. Failing to understand the cost vs. the ROI Conferences can be expensive, especially if they are outside your regional area. You must account for travel, subsistence and other expenses/engagements while there. Don’t ignore the conference cost. Calculate it, and then analyze the cost of that investment relative to the achievement of your objective(s).

A few weeks ago, a new client of mine said he had been attending conferences for years with nothing to show for it. When I asked for the strategy, he replied, “I’ve just showed up and tried to run into people.” Conference attendance is much like the Belmont Stakes or the Preakness. It’s not enough to just show up.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

Alternative Delivery: The Small Firm Challenge

Man! What a tough crowd. I had 50 minutes to impart "wisdom of the ages" (that's a lot of years) on the subject of business development best practices. While the feedback was largely positive, one person wrote in saying I didn’t spend enough time addressing business development and alternative project delivery. Ok!

Alternative Delivery, let me count the ways:

Group One

• Design-Build
• Design-Build-Operate
• Design-Build-Operate and Maintain
• Lease-Leaseback

Group Two

• LEAN Construction
• Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)

Each one of these methods requires a slightly different business development strategy. For simplicity, we're going to put them into two groups, as shown above. Now, let's talk strategy.

In traditional design-bid-build pursuits, architects pursue client and try to develop design teams to fulfill client facility needs. The game changes, to say the least, when the delivery method changes. Clients who seek to deliver projects through any of the methods in Group One shift the architects’ pursuit from the client to the contractor who is likely to lead the pursuit. As a result, architects need to develop strategic relationships with general contractors adept at delivering various building types from student services buildings to parking structures. Further, it becomes incumbent upon the architect to demonstrate (to the contractor) some previous design-build experience or some previous experience with the contractor in order to be able to have a seat at the table. No small order.

This is made even more complicated by end-user clients who seek to deliver buildings via LEAN or IPD. LEAN and IPD delivery require not only early involvement of the entire team, but collective versus individual responsibility for the design and construction of the project. Moreover, they use technology and tools such as BIM or Rivet to model the input and generate everything from schedules, to materials schedules, to costs (over-simplified, but you get the point). Talk about a BD game changer!

Under the latter scenario, architects must be able to accept the collective risk (and reward) and demonstrate their ability to utilize BIM or Rivet. For a mid-sized to large firm this is easy. For a small practice, it's an unacceptable risk.

So what do you do? Andy Warhol said, “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

• First, define the type(s) of clients that you want to work with and understand their preference in delivery methods.
• Second, adapt your business development strategy to who will be leading the effort. You may find that you now have to market to GCs as much as you do to your end user client.
• Third, know your value proposition. If you've never done a design-build project and don’t have a "story to tell" with a contractor, adjust your expectations and your messaging to focus on your strengths.

Finally, if IPD or LEAN are in your future, learn the technologies and manage your collective risk accordingly. This is no longer about just your firm, it is about the delivery team.

Got more questions? Send them along to me at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com. And for more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

More Questions Answered: Strategies for Small, Emerging and Minority-Owned Firms

The challenges of small and emerging growth firms are unique. Here are great questions about business development strategies for small, emerging and minority-owned firms.

It seems that most of the work that gets “won” is garnered by firms that do a lot of networking and getting an “in” with the potential client (in this case I am talking mostly about municipal and institutional clients). As a small, woman-owned firm, my comfort level in doing this is very low and I have pegged my hopes of succeeding on past experience/good work. Am I doomed if I can't do the kind of schmoozing that's needed these days?

"Doomed" is being a little hard on yourself. You didn’t tell me what kind of work you do or where, so grant me some leeway. You have some options:

• Option A. Target clients who have smaller projects with whom you’d be comfortable in developing a relationship. If you are an architect, by definition, you have what I call “rejection issues.” You hear “NO,” when really the client is saying “not now.”
• Option B. This isn’t my favorite and it assumes that you could carve out a role, but you might be more comfortable as a sub consultant. As a sub, direct client marketing isn’t required. Instead, develop relationships with prime firms for smaller work scopes where they might derive credit for your WBE certification (assuming you have this).
• Option C. Focus on small projects that are “set-asides” for WBEs or underutilized business enterprises and then develop relationships with people you’d like to support you. That way you’re in a more comfortable position.

The economy has caused me to strike out on my own to keep working. What advice can you offer a 1-person start up practice with a focused market for consulting services, not so much design?

Network. Your first line of business is going to come from and through people who know you. Remember my breakfast, lunch and coffee rules! Have coffee with anyone, whether you see a fit or not. Save lunch for potential clients, and only have dinner if you have a signed contract. Aside from managing your waist, this manages your marketing budget, too!

Got more questions? Send them along to me at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com. And for more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

What's Your Problem? - Part 3

We all have problems. By sharing them, we can all learn. Here are more challenges and questions from the AEC community!

How does a firm address the one "bad project" with clients?

Let's face it. If your doors have been open any period of time, you’ve had one bad client. What is most important is to not ignore it. Address it with your future clients directly. I work with a design firm whose client sought legal recourse for owner-directed changes that they could no longer afford to pay. A mediator agreed that money was owed, but they were unable to reach a settlement. Rather than go to court, and have it tried in the court of public opinion, the firm decided it was no longer in their interest (time and money) to pursue a course of action. I think we can agree this ended badly.

What made the situation palatable was the fact that they developed a proactive communication plan to reach their client base and discuss the situation. Denial is what hurts. Admit what the issues were, and tell clients how you are prepared to resolve them now.

Is it better to define markets by project type or client type?

This is a great question! The answer is by client type and the reason is this: Clients have behaviors, project types don’t.

Look at it this way: if I asked Nike® what their target demographic is for $125 tennis shoes, they would tell me something like "youth 18-32 years of age, whose parents have a disposable income of $X and play or watch sports," let’s say. From that information, they define the marketing approach. They don’t look at who is buying low top tennis shoes and then go after them. You must first know your client, their business and their values. Their taste in tennis shoes (and project types) is likely to change.

How do you measure - or DO YOU or SHOULD YOU measure - business development metrics against project metrics in terms of whether or not the project was a success based on mismanagement or reluctance to bill for add services or over design and use all your fee thus the project looked really bad financially....I guess how to define success of a project against the metrics associated with getting the project and WHAT can you learn from that for the future?

If you were here, I’d squeeze you! You MUST always assess project performance for two reasons:

1. To determine if this is a project type that you can do (given the team and client relationship).
2. To determine if it works within the process in which you design.

Failure to examine either factor will result in good business development dollars wasted in pursuit of projects that will eventually lose money for the firm or tarnish its reputation. This is a perfect example of where to use the BD ROI equation. If your fees are low and your BD dollars are high, you need to re-evaluate.

If your firm has a tendency to over design and can’t bill for it, then in such markets as K-12 what is your end game—philanthropy or business? This is why it is important to include your BD professional in discussions about project types that are both strengths and weaknesses of the firm.

Got more questions? Send them along to me at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com. And for more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

What's Your Problem? - Part 2

We all have problems. By sharing them, we can all learn. Here are more challenges and questions from the AEC community:

Any advice for Business Development in a firm as it looks towards a transition in ownership?

Do a business plan. Transition is a tough time and it is not quick. We have two clients in various stages of transition (three years out and five years out). We completed business plans for each in order to help them define the “new firm,” its brand and management. We also identified the leadership development that will need to take place during that time horizon.

Transition is often a time to change or expand markets. For your firm, then, there must be a business development or sales plan that attempts to bridge the experience and history of the "old" firm with its new market focus and client commitments going forward. New and emerging leaders must be part of the strategy and the client meetings.

Finally, it is important to develop a marketing and public relations plan that articulates the "new brand" and firm direction so that clients aren't afraid of the transition and what it means to them.

The completed plans will take time to implement; you will also need time buy out shares and develop and transition leaders. Because of the time and effort involved in transition, don’t be averse to having a consultant help you.

How can firms leverage other staff to develop business for their firm? How can a firm mentor employees to also be business developers as they work on projects and in their communities?

Business development is not an action. It is a culture. The organization must build the framework of a BD culture which includes making BD a part of everyone’s role and responsibility—and make sure to include the administrative assistants. I think the easiest thing to do is to develop small and achievable goals for low- and emerging-level staff such as networking with peer-to-peer groups to find out what others are doing. But, there has to be a top down program in order for it to work, otherwise everyone is doing their own, uncoordinated thing.

Does branding have an increasingly important role?

IF what you mean by branding is the PROMISE that comes along with the work of your firm—excellence, service delivery, collaboration, cost effective—YES. If you mean logos and slogan—NO. Unfortunately, about five years ago the word “branding” started mean everything from the logo to the graphics on your web page. A real BRAND is the promise that comes along with the name. If the firm’s brand (its PROMISE) is weak, then your sales strategy will struggle unless or until it is resolved.

Got more questions? Send them along to me at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com. And for more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

What's Your Problem?

On this blog, I've been sharing lessons learned from clients’ mistakes, in the hope that they won’t become your mistakes. We can learn a lot from others’ mistakes, and we can learn just as much from others' questions. So, I've chosen to share my answers to some of the more frequent questions asked of me in the last few months. Enjoy!

Do you have suggestions for business development plans for small (1-5 person) firms?

Keep it simple. Know your value, know your competition and know your client. Public clients manage their risk by limiting their “small firms” selections. Sad, but true. You must make a compelling case.

Next, establish a budget. It’s easy to “throw good money after bad” in the pursuit of work. But, just like with your household budget, you need to set boundaries.

Finally, develop business where you have relationships. It is hard to go head to head against a larger firm(s) when you have no relationship with the client. Put your collective heads together and make a short-list of end-users, peers and partners with whom you could develop work.


For a smaller firm (15+/-), given a choice between pursuing governmental or institutional clients who open RPFs to everyone with no filter verses pursuing private clients who invite respondents, which would you choose to pursue?

Okay. You’re trying to bait me! The answer depends on your experience and portfolio. What I think you want to ask me is: “Who has less competition?” The private sector does, generally. But, an educated institutional or public client could use a QBS to reduce competition just as easily. It's important to look at your experience and determine if you have a value proposition to compete no matter what market you choose.

For more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

Boy, Did I Get in Trouble!

Last month, I was interviewed by an alumnae publication about the challenges that women face in the engineering industry. In my remarks, I commented that women continue to struggle with demands of family, aging parents and the challenge to succeed in a profession that is still male dominated. Well, let the hate male roll! One of my followers commented that this line of thinking was "old", "outdated" and just plain wrong.

Here is what is wrong: I've spent 15 years in a profession that I truly love: design and construction. According to the British Architect's Journal that published the first Women in Architecture survey, though 40% of all architecture students are women, less than 16% of all registered architects in the United States are women. What's more, less than 1% are African American. Why? In several surveys over the last ten years, the cited issues remain unchanged: career paths seemed to slow after motherhood, lack of family flexible work environments, no work-life balance, poor career progression, etc.

Here is what is outdated: In an industry of creative and collaborative thinkers who can develop IPD and are driven by and through technologies such as BIM, REVIT and cell phones, we can't reverse the exodus of women and young professionals leaving design/construction firms because of the issues cited above.

While I "got in trouble" with a few followers, change can't come without discussion and disagreement. Where do you stand? Do you see the number of women in the profession declining? More importantly, what do you feel we can do as an industry to change the paradigm?

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

Follow You Where?

Even our readers who aren’t familiar with the Bible can appreciate this analogy. The Bible speaks of a time when the Lord told Abraham to pick up his belongings and be led to a land of promise. Abraham picked up everything he had without any idea where he was going, and followed. The punch line is: You are not the Lord! You cannot ask your staff to follow you without communicating a plan and without direction.

A Business Plan is a necessary part of your business. It is not optional. It defines where you want to go as a business, and the needs and expectations of your staff as you all set out on this journey. Beyond these benefits, it prioritizes what you need to do and identifies milestones for achievement.

I have a wonderful and very successful client whose discipline shall remain unnamed. It really isn’t relevant. What is relevant is that he is CEO of a firm that does a lot of work with a particular public agency. Like most owners, he is a seller-doer. He sells the work and oversees its delivery back to his clients. On any given day, he deals with everything from lines of credit, to client meetings, new business endeavors, service delivery and mentoring. Sound familiar? It’s your life and mine. The problem is, as I explained to him, that he will go about the day-to-day requirements of running a business in the years ahead and never move any closer to the objectives he wants to achieve.

Do a Business Plan. You say, “But that takes too much time!” To which I retort, “Which is worse: spending 10 hours planning your future or waking up in ten years realizing you never achieved it?”

Learn from my client. He invested time in the development of a business plan. He defined priorities for himself and his staff because he finally focused on the larger goal: positioning his firm for an acquisition. Guess what? He’s well into his strategy and has grown his revenue and client base by 15% percent in what can only be called a bad economy. He didn’t do it because he was large and had a lot of resources. He did it because he took the time to plan for it. You can, too!

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

MSMC Magazine Features Alumna Karen Compton: "Engineering Her Own Path"

Industry Speaks™ Founder Karen Compton, Principal of integrated business management firm A3K Consulting, LLC, and an alumna serving on Mount St. Mary's College Regents Council, was featured in the college's latest magazine.

Link to the full issue here; profile below on page 18.

AIA PMKC Webinar Video - Part 2: Best Practices in Business Development

Now available online: Karen Compton of A3K Consulting presents Part 2 of the popular AIA series Best Practices in Business Development. AIA PMKC asked firms to submit business development questions in an advance survey; Compton covered top questions in this March 28, 2013 webinar.

Also available online: Part 1, Best Practices in Business Development, October 18, 2012.

Is Growth for Everyone?

Editor's Note: For more perspective on this question, check out the AIA Practice Management home page and scroll down to view the October 2012 webinar Best Practices in Business Development, presented by Karen Compton.

"Can a small firm with no plans to grow expect to survive?"

This is a wonderful question. Firm success begins with an understanding of the end game. If you are clear that your culture is to remain a small family-like firm, then embrace it and success will still be yours!

Growth is not a strategy for everyone. The monikers of your success will be in the ability to identify, cultivate, and deliver to clients who want, appreciate and respect YOUR value. So, what does this mean for staff?

1. They must be clear on the clients you service and the niche you provide. For the market sector you’re in, staff must be clear on what a client wants, needs and expects from your firm's culture.

2. They must be clear that “the buck stops with them” and more importantly, they must be empowered to take responsibility.

3. You must mentor them, not just on design, but on business. In a small firm, mentorship is key. Adopt a Shadows Program, where others can shadow not only your design decisions, but your business decisions. It is important in a small firm that everyone understands where and how you make and lose money.

4. Finally, embrace failure. Yep! I said it. Staff will make mistakes, and in a large firm you can hide. But, not in a small firm. So, create a safety net for failure—not by chastising, but by seeking what could/should have been done differently. Success is yours regardless of size.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Published in the September 2012 issue of Professional Services Management Journal. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

Mistake: 'All in the Family'

Over my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with firms of all sizes, from start-up architecture practices to 100-year-old construction management firms. In each case, the client has asked me to help them take their business to the next level, on terms they define. Often, it is through an organic growth strategy. No growth can take place, though, until a company identifies business practices to take advantage of or to improve.

In a service industry, the largest challenges are in hiring and managing people to deliver what we promise to our clients. It should be no surprise that here we will find a common mistake: hiring a friend or family member.

To be clear, I am not against friends or family. What I am against is hiring people that are not qualified to fulfill roles which they are required to perform. I’ve had clients who hired sisters, brothers, children, in-laws, wives and husbands, who over time become ex-wives, ex-husbands and siblings that “tattle” to mom about what is going on in the business. To be fair, close friends and family reflect something that the person off the street doesn’t: trust. For the person off the street, trust is an earned value. But too often, trust outweighs the need for qualifications to fulfill roles from President to COO to Director of Business Development.

At some point, trust and qualifications collide. This is where acrimony and terminations crop up. What’s the lesson to be learned? “Don’t hire family”? No: that would be too shortsighted. Rather, my advice is to hire within the skills you require for long and sustained growth.

Just because your sister is unemployed and has a degree in Sociology doesn’t mean she should become your CFO. Because as your firm develops a client base, repeats work and delivers on its technical excellence in engineering, she will be unable to keep pace and understand the requirements of AP/AR, accounting and cash management. The same can be true of any individual poorly aligned with the roles they are required to play.

Don't make this mistake. Friends and family in whom you place great trust may play long and sustainable roles in your organization in less volatile positions such as administration. In the end, it will save you and your firm losses in productivity, efficiency and morale that cannot be sustained in a challenging and global economy.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

Mistake: Not Having Metrics

In a recent survey of national architectural practices, firms were asked “Why does your firm not have metrics by which to measure its business development efforts?" Forty one percent of all respondents indicated that they don’t know the variables. Forty seven percent of all respondents indicated that they don’t know the calculations.

Just like any other aspect of business, business development has metrics, and first you have to isolate the variables. For lay people, that means separate your costs: cost of labor; cost of technical staff; cost of marketing/business development staff.

Whatever you do, don’t lump it all in the administration column. Additionally, track reproduction and binding costs, mailing, public relations, potential fee and conference costs. Once your costs are aggregated, you’re able to perform a variety of calculations and analysis that can measure the financial return on your business development efforts.

For more information on how to calculate and analyze business development metrics, check out the link to the presentation slides on this AIA KnowledgeNet webpage.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.

700+ Registered to Date for FREE Business Development Webinar October 18

From the AIA Knowledge Net resource page: "The fiscal year is almost over and as firms begin to set their sights on the New Year, we must ask ourselves, “What is our business development (sales) plan?”  With time being short and money being shorter, the new fiscal year brings with it both challenges and opportunities. The economy continues to pose challenges for many firms, but new emerging markets, new funding mechanisms and changes in policies also represent new opportunities!

Join 734 (as of Monday) registrants to get key insights into business development planning. Get more information and register here.

AIA Practice Management Free Webinar October 18: Business Development Planning

Earn 1.25 CEH through the next FREE webinar offered by AIA Practice Management Knowledge Community October 18, focusing on sales. Industry Speaks™ founder and president Karen Compton, A3K Consulting, is the presenter. Learning objectives:

1. understand the value of business development planning
2. how your business development plan supports your firm's business objectives
3. articulate the ROI in developing a sales culture
4. learn what other participants are doing (or not doing) and the BD challenges they face.

Get more information and register here.

Real Cost of Doing Business

Let’s face it.  For the past several months the objective has been to “keep the doors open.”  But, if we’re really honest…the real cost of doing business is our human resources—the drivers in bridging the gap between performance and one of the most significant cost to any business expenses; salaries and benefits.  This is huge in business and yet it continues to be the “white elephant in many boardrooms”. Leaders do not want to have candid conversations about employee performance.  Some the most significant concerns facing firm owners today are: 1) shortages of qualified workers, 2) cost and availability of health insurance 3) access to capital, and 4) compliance with government regulations.

Three of these four issues have direct implications to the staff we recruit, train and retain.  All of these challenges are true concerns, but company leaders are missing the point. If you have the right people, at the right time, in the right place, your business will survive and even thrive in any economy. The bottom-line is that people make profit.  Who are the people-drivers in your organization? If your answer isn’t HR; it’s time to rethink your strategy. Read on....

Val Dantzler 
A3K Consulting   

What's Your Value?

Every time I ask that question, someone wants to quantify their business ‘worth.” But, your firm’s business worth is an extension of its value.  To determine value from the client’s point of view, ask yourself, “What is unique about my firm?” HINT: It’s not the people! In a service business such as architecture, engineering or construction, we all have people.  Everyone says that.  In which case, it is not true.

For A3K Consulting, the unique attribute is our process.  The process that we take our clients through to discover and define who and what they are and the future of their business and its leadership is unique.  It has been defined by some as, “tough”, others have said it that at its conclusion, it offered “clarify and direction.”

That’s our story.  What’s yours?  Challenge your firm to define what is unique about them. In doing so, you’ll define your value and increase your worth.

Karen Compton

Industry Speaks