Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice, 15th Ed., November 2013 – Compton Contributes Networking and Business Development Chapter

Industry Speaks™ Founder and A3K Consulting Principal Karen Compton, CPSM, contributed a chapter to the just-released 15th Edition of Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice. Compton covers the topic of “Networking and Business Development.”

Authored by The AIA with industry leaders as contributors, this comprehensive guide is the profession's standard on practice issues. The content has been significantly revised to reflect the changing nature of the business of architecture related to the impact of integrated practice.

Available for pre-order November 14, 2013; shipping begins the week of November 18. The book is also available in electronic pdf format. See the AIA webpage for details and order information.

Mid-November Los Angeles Area Networking Events Focusing on Entertainment, Health Care Markets

The Southern California Development Forum, a real estate networking organization, is holding Rethinking Entertainment:
Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 7am-9am
Luxe Summit Hotel Bel Air
11461 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles

Moderator:
Michael White
Principal Director of Creative Media Studio, Los Angeles
Gensler
Speakers:
Jim Jacobsen, Principal
Industry Partners
Sean Bender
Riot Games
Heather Cochran
Managing Director, Planning and Operations
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences


The Society for Marketing Professional Services is holding a Healthcare Leaders Roundtable:
Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 3:30pm-6:00pm
Millennium Biltmore
506 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles

The SMPS event webpage has details, including the list of seven confirmed speakers who are key decision makers in the health care market.

Registration and details for each of these events are at the links above.

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.

The Relationships That Matter

AEC firms focus on relationships. Architects are focused on owners. Owners are focused on contractors. Subs are focused on primes. But sometimes we lose sight of other relationships that require just as much nurturing as those that drive our sales. Those are the relationships that drive our businesses.

A client told me she wasn’t ready to sell her firm just yet. She was thinking about it, but she had a “long time to go.” The truth was her horizon wasn’t that far away—three years, five tops! As ridiculous as it sounded, I said to her, “Then now is the time to start looking for this firm you’d like to buy you.” She looked confused. I went on, “The best time to find a husband is when you don’t need one. And, the best time for you to seek an acquiring firm is when you don’t need one. If you wait, you’re going to end up with the abusive, drunken guy left at the bar at last call.” I’m pretty direct, and my analogy gave her pause.

“But where do I find my ‘husband’?” she asked. The truth is, we have changes to meet our future business partners at every turn: at conferences, trade shows, pre-proposal meetings. We often chose to ignore them until we need them, and then we are unable to articulate who they would be. Business partners are much like mates.

Find partners with whom you share a value set. An attorney friend commented to me that so many firms she represents in transactions claim that “fit is important,” but when the chips are down all they really look at are the assets. We both agreed that this is short-sighted. If assets and portfolio are the only criteria for evaluation, but values and cultural fit don’t mesh, we can be assured of only one outcome: the mid-level leadership will eventually leave. Why does that matter?

We’ve all been asked to list individual(s) who worked on a project in our portfolio. But if the mid-level leadership has left, the experience you will point towards won’t exist. In short, you “bought” projects on a page, but that’s really not what you paid for. It’s important to value not just the numbers and projects, but the people who made them possible. Which brings me to my final point (for now):

Define new goals to achieve together. Many transactions are focused on the money. I understand why. But in order to be sustainable, partnerships must find and understand what new goals can be achieved together that could not be achieved alone. Whether it is expanding into new sectors, new services, or new ideas, the union must, like a successful marriage, define its goals and work toward them as a team.

What am I suggesting? I’m not telling you to walk up to every stranger in a bar (or at a conference) and assess them as a business partner. I’m recommending that in your day-to-day efforts to develop sales relationships, seek out compatible prospects for business relationships. While it may not be clear today what you can do together, that competitor or complementary practitioner may prove to be your knight in shining armor!

Karen Compton, CPSM, 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.

Industry Women Leaders, on Leadership, at LA SMPS Panel

A great lineup of women industry leaders made for an energetic and enlightening professional development panel at the Society for Marketing Professional Services Los Angeles breakfast event this Wednesday.

"The panel was living proof that the impact of women on the design and construction industry has real and sustained impact. Amazing lessons learned about resilience, and the idea that opportunity is the intersection of preparedness and chance!" - Karen Compton, panel moderator, and founder, Industry Speaks™.

"The program was fabulous – this is my favorite SMPS event that I’ve attended. The whole panel was excellent and engaging." - Veronica Sterling, Marketing Manager, Cuningham Group Architecture, Inc.

Karen’s Networking Rules

A few weeks ago, a client of mine told me he had several lunches and dinners throughout the week with “potential clients.”  The CFO of the company leaned over and whispered in my ear, “what he didn’t tell you is that his expense report last month was for well over $1,000 in food.”  Stunned and amazed I said, “Have you lost your mind?”  He said well, “I have to develop business.”  Let’s suggest that we do it responsibly.  So I offered him my rules:

1. Have coffee with anyone (Remember last week's post?).  That’s right, have coffee with a colleague, competitor or a potential client.  Coffee is $5 investment in your business—the opportunities to talk about your firm, its experience and the type of deals or clients you’re looking for.  It’s also an opportunity to learn the same of your colleagues.
2. Have lunch with clients that have defined contract opportunities for you.  Every public agency has rules.  Many limit the amount you can spend on client lunches and other “gratuities.” For those doing public sector work, check with the Ethics Department that governs your agency or the Federal Acquisition Regulation for those doing federal work.  If this is your client base, refer to Rule #1. However, in the private sector, there aren’t as many limits—except your budget.  That being said, I try to limit my lunches to clients that have defined an opportunity for your firm to propose on or those clients with whom you already have an established relationship.
3. If you must “do dinner,” structure such engagements around association or organizational events.  For those doing work with public agencies, this is a must.  Why? Aside from the fact that most public agencies discourage “dinner and cocktails,” as part of their ethics and conflict of interest policies, in the age of transparency, you don’t want your firm to end up on the front page of a “pay to play” expose.  If you’re in the private sector, chose a location that fits within your firm’s budget.  Don’t forget, if you invited them, you pay.  That may seem obvious, but I’ve heard of more than a few disgruntled clients who were asked to dinner, only to “go Dutch.”

While these may seem basic rules, they can go a long way to ethically building your business on a budget.

Karen Compton

Industry Speaks

Have Coffee Everyday

In 2011, California State Assembly member Steve Bradford authored AB 2585 to encourage competitive bidding within the small and minority business community by requiring state departments and agencies to notify local business associations and chambers of commerce about procurement projects in their area.  The bill was held in 2011.  But, it begs the question: why was it held?

Small business is the driving engine of economy.  Yet, they often lack the knowledge of procurement opportunities in design, construction, or professional services.  Why? The most successful firms aren’t just good at the service they deliver, but they are good at networking with friends, colleagues and associates who serve to alert them of opportunities or make introductions.  As a small business owner, it is often difficult to “break free” from the day-to-day running of your business to network.  Here is my best advice:  Have coffee everyday!

Have a cup of coffee everyday with someone new.  A cup of coffee is a $5 investment in your business.  Over that cup of coffee, talk about your business and what it does. Give them an idea of the type of client or “deal” you need for your business.  Keep in mind; it’s not just about you.   Take the opportunity to learn about their company, what they do and what type of “deal” or client they are looking for was well.  Look for ways and opportunities to work together in partnership, or to refer business to each other. 

For my clients who are shy and HATE networking events, this is a simple step towards building the network you need to find out about opportunities.

Karen Compton

Industry Speaks

REALLY? IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU

Networking. Most of us think of this “painful” experience as having to ‘work a room” to develop relationships with people that you don’t know, so that they can help you win work. WRONG.

Networking is the process of developing relationships with individuals that can help YOUR CLIENTS SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS.  This may come as a shock, but, it’s not about you! It IS about your client.

If you can only ask your client one question, ask them what keeps them awake at night.  While you may secretly be hoping that it’s an engineering or design dilemma, don’t be surprised if it’s a business problem.  Maybe they just lost their city manager or administrative vice president; maybe they're facing a union negotiation or just “politics as usual.”  What keeps your clients awake may have nothing to do with your firm or its business line.  Yet, if you are able to solve it, offer a solution or point them in the direction of a resource, and you will become that thing we all want to be—the trusted advisor.  So, how do you do that?

Don’t limit your networking events to events where you will meet your peers and colleagues.  Peer to peer networking doesn’t get you very far.  This is peer to partner networking.  Consider tangential relationships—legal professionals, accountants, human resources, governance and leadership professional—the list is endless.  But, the rules are the same:

1.     Talk less about yourself and more about them; find out what do they do and for what type of client.

2.     Learn types of clients that are best for them.

3.     Understand how you might be of benefit to their business or their professional success.

4.     Finally, whether you see a partnership or not, take their card.

Last week, I had a client ask me if I could refer them to an attorney who could review their existing contract language to see where their agreements might be “weak”.  Believe it or not, I had some referrals and I solved their problem.  Can you solve your clients problems?