Small Firms, Big Risks

Managing Relationships, Resources, Risks in the New Economy is the topic of a Friday educational session Industry Speaks™ founder and president Karen Compton, A3K Consulting; Lynn Capouya of Lynn Capouya Landscape Architects; and Laura Howard, Esq., MBV Law will lead during the American Society of Landscape Architect's annual meeting in Phoenix (September 27-30).

Landscape architecture firms small and large must manage big risk to be profitable. The team will be presenting key strategies Lynn Capouya Landscape Architects and its team of business and legal experts have implemented to expand sales, maximize talent, and reduce risk. Capouya, an Industry Speaks™ Advisory Board member, founded the firm in 1979 and has seen it expand to a staff of 14.

The Number 10

Just think about it….10 years ago Smartphones®, Facebook®, LinkedIn and YouTube® didn’t even exist.  Yet…in that short period of time these advances in technological communications have changed the world.  In that same 10 year period, our industry has seen change too with the advent of sustainable design, building information modeling, interactive presentation formats such as Prezi® or Keynote® and the merger or acquisition of several prominent architecture, engineering and construction firms.

What the next 10 years will hold is yet to be defined.  But, some things we know are sure. Today’s mid-level project managers and job captains will grow into roles as associates, principals and partners within firms, and clients and owners within organizations.  Why is this important to consider?  The next generation of professional is technology driven.  They communicate indirectly through email, texting, and social media and frequently (i.e., 20+ times/day) as compared to the generation of 40 something plus professionals that communicate directly via phone, over lunch or drinks and infrequently (i.e., 10 times/week).

The big question becomes how will this affect our industry?  More importantly, how will it affect our ability to develop relationships with our clients and find resource professionals to help us grow our businesses?   While I don’t purport to know all of the answers, there is one thing I do know: we must be part of the change we want to see in our industry.  

What changes do you see that may affect the way in which we grow and develop our practices?  How do you see yourself as engaging in that change?

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?

A New Idea in This Economy? Are you crazy?

Yes!  I am crazy!

In summer of 2010, phone calls kept streaming into our offices from architecture, engineering and construction clients (current and past) looking for consultants with special skills. They asked for marketing professionals, accountants with experience in the FAR, attorneys with specialties in water intrusion, and more. As if I “had the answers,” they were calling me! While each firm’s need was different, every referral request had one common criterion: “They must know our industry.”

We knew the industry, and we saw an opportunity to meet this demand. With a team of dedicated staff, we designed a searchable database that allows firm owners, small businesses, and emerging practices to find consultant and professional resources that fit their needs. They can read or post reviews of service providers or even recommend one. Today, this database is known as Industry Speaks.™ Our tag line is simple: “Consultants that speak your language.”

I later found out from friends of mine that lead professional associations that they can’t provide recommendations.  Their organizations are concerned about “conflict of interest” or being perceived as “playing favorites.”  So, where does that leave the millions of firms each day trying to find solutions?

The truth is, every day we each have a choice to make.  We can be part of the group of people who complain about why something doesn’t exist or why “they” can’t solve our problems.  Or we can do the thing that drove us to be creators—we can solve our own problems. 

Which choice did you make today?  It’s not too late…be part of a movement to change something that “they” haven’t.  Join us at IndustrySpeaks.  Be part of our Industry Ideas.  We’d love to have you.

Watch our instructional video to learn how you can increase the competitive advantage of your company today!