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Career Development
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Written by Matt Handal
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I'm a big Merlin Mann fan. He recently posted some material from one of his talks over at 43 Folders. The talk is about working and the right career. I thought I should share some of his key points On his talk that was the starting point for this discussion: The talk started as a way to encourage students to learn enough about what they care about that any temporary derails and side roads wouldn’t scare their horses too badly. But, today, I see it as something a lot bigger that’s demonstrably useful to anyone who hopes to survive, evolve, and thrive in this insane world. On the importance of learning and relationships For myself, I wish I’d known the value of developing early expertise in interesting new skills around emerging technologies (rather than just iteratively pseudo-honing the 202-level skills I thought I “understood”). Alongside that, I wish I’d learned to embrace the non-douchier aspects of building awesome human relationships (as against “networking” in the service of landing some straight job that, as with most hungry young people, locked me into a carpeted prison of monkey work at the worst time possible). On being a success: Also how I wish I’d paid more attention to events, contexts, relationships, and change that were happening outside my immediate world —rather than becoming, say, the undisputed master of fretting about status, salary, and whether I was “a success” who had “arrived”. Truly, pretty much anyone who feels they’ve “arrived” anyplace is about to learn a) how much more they could be doing outside the narrowness of an often superficial ambition and b) the surprising number of things they had to give away through the opportunity costs and trade-offs that lead up to every theoretical milestone. On "chasing your dreams" and ignoring new opportunities: Related, I think this is about how being an adult is not only unbelievably complicated in ways that you can’t begin to imagine—that it’s frequently defined by impossible decisions and non-stop layers of “hypocrisy”—but that there’s an invisible but entirely real risk to doggedly chasing the theoretically laudable notion of “following your dream.” Especially if it’s a dream you first had while sleeping on Star Wars sheets in a racecar bed. Not because it’s a bad idea to want things or to have ambitions. Quite the opposite. More because, for a lot of us, the “dreams” of youth turn out to be half-finished blueprints for wax wings. And not particularly flattering ones at that. By starting adult life with an autistically explicit “goal” that’s never been tested against any kind of real-world experience or reality-in-context, we can paradoxically miss a thousand more useful, lucrative, or organic opportunities that just…what?…pop up. Often these are one-time chances to do amazing and even unique things—opportunities that many of us continue to reject out of hand because it’s “not what we do.”
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Proposal Development
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Written by Matt Handal
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After submitting over 1,000 proposals to public and private clients, I've grown attached to some proposal practices that I believe make for overall better proposals and help alleviate proposal-related stress. Here they are: Dummy Book As we are making a proposal, we put together what's known as a dummy book. This is just a manilla folder that contains the latest and greatest pieces of the proposal. As soon as we start a proposal, we are making a dummy book. This way anyone can see exactly what the proposal looks like at any given time.I learned the dummy book technique while putting together large EPC proposals about a decade ago. It's a useful and timeless practice. Final Flip Through After the proposal is complete and put together, I flip through every copy of the proposal one more time, page by page. The rule of thumb is that I need to find a mistake. And I always do. No matter how good you think your proposal is, it probably has at least one "boo boo" in it. That is because while we are working with the proposal we become "too close" to it and our eyes magically pass by mistakes. That's why it's most beneficial to have someone who was not involved in the proposal development perform the flip through. A Day to Travel Proposals should not be sent overnight but should be sent by "overnight service." Simply because UPS and FedEx can not be trusted when it comes to your proposals. They have no skin in the game. If your proposal gets there late, they will give you your money back. No big deal for them, huge deal for you. Give them an extra day and assume they will screw up. Because, assuming they screw up is a lot safer than assuming they won't and being wrong.If your clients are local, just hand deliver your proposals. Or have someone from your office hand deliver them for you. But be careful about the kind of communication you can or can not have with the client.Use these three proposal techniques and the proposal process will be a whole lot less stressful.
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Web/Social Media
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Written by Matt Handal
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This is a bit of a departure, but I'm providing a PDF copy of the short social media presentation I recently did for NJ SMPS. I've only heard really good feedback about it. One guy even said that I am his hero, which is always nice to hear. What Makes This Social Media Presentation Useful? - It's based in reality and backed by science.
- It dispels some social networking and overall marketing myths.
- It contains some social media tools and insights that you may have not heard of before.
I truly believe that you will find this presentation useful. I have included my notes within the document. Just click to download my social media presentation .
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Career Development
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Written by Matt Handal
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In the business environment there are three, and only three, ways you can get a person to do what you want. They are as follows:
Institutional Power If you have institutional power over someone, meaning that you can reward or punish him or her in the work environment, then you can wield that power to make people do what you want. For example, if my CEO said, “get me this report by Friday” it would be a safe bet that I would have that report on his desk by Friday. This is because his name is on the door and he can fire me with no questions asked. (In this economic climate I plan to stay employed.)
Expert Reputation If someone feels that you know more than them about a specific subject, they will do what you suggest. For example, I know nothing about cars. So when I had a problem with my car I went to a co-worker who knows a lot more about cars than me. If he told me to take my car to Dairy Queen and pour a blizzard into the gas tank, I would have done that.
Relationship Built on Trust and Giving If you have built strong relationships (by using the tactics outlined in my previous posts) with your co-workers, they will often follow your direction. This is because they will like you, trust you, and feel obligated to return the favors you have provided to them.
Often Marketers find themselves in a situation where they have little to no real institutional power and work with a group of people that somehow think they know more about marketing than they do. If you find yourself in this situation, you are left with one option for getting people to do what you want...develop relationships built on trust and giving. The tactics outlined in my last couple posts will help you do just that.
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Career Development
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Written by Ben Garvey
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Ben Garvey recently posted an entry on bengarvey.com talking about LinkedIn from the boss's perspective. Ben is the General Manager of the Garvey Corporation and oversees the operations of the company. Ben allowed me to repost his article here.  I haven’t used LinkedIn for a while and have been bad mouthing it occasionally (I call it the social network for people who hate social networking), but lately it seems like everyone I meet through work is on there. I logged in and answered a few network invitations and did a search on my own company. Some people must think that you would only be on LinkedIn if you wanted to leave your job, so they have a Private setting so your profile can’t be read. When I did a search on my company, it returned 4 private results, displaying which company they currently work for, their job titles, and their location.
In a company of about 80 people it’s pretty damn easy to figure out who they are. If I were a less enlightened boss who didn’t understand the value of professional networking I might be more alarmed. I understand if someone leaves for a better opportunity then that’s an opportunity I couldn’t or didn’t want to give them. I’ve lost many good (and bad) people over the years, so I understand the reasons why people leave and try to put together the best team I can.  Your privacy settings don't count for much on LinkedIn Hope your boss is as understanding as I am! Add me to your network. |
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Marketing 101
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Written by Matt Handal
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Based on one of the most common complaints marketers have, last week I wrote about how marketers can win over the technical staff by developing strong internal relationships. Here are four more things you can do to get the technical staff working for you and not against you.
Prove Yourself EverydayOne thing I often hear that bugs me is, “I don't have to prove myself.” In fantasyland, you don't have to prove yourself. But in the real world, you have to prove yourself everyday. This is especially true if you are in marketing. Proving yourself is going the extra mile, being true to your word, and keeping promises. One of the easiest ways to help prove yourself everyday is to make sure that you are “overcommunicating.” The rule of thumb with communicating is this: If you don't feel you communicate too much, you are not communicating enough. Animosity typically grows where there is a lack of communication.
Focus on Helping ThemWhether you are a Marketing Assistant or CMO, your primary responsibility is to keep everybody gainfully employed and help the business grow. That means your primary responsibility is about helping them, it’s not about you. It is important to focus on helping others, including the technical staff, be successful. You'll often hear marketers complain about their technical staff or criticize them. This is the single most unproductive thing you can do. Just like you, other people are extremely sensitive to criticism. So rather than criticize, focus on how you can help.
Make Pain Less PainfulAt our core, humans are primarily driven by two needs: the need to avoid pain and the need to experience pleasure. Unfortunately, the need to avoid pain is much stronger and has a much greater influence on what we decide to do. So when an engineer needs to call a client to try and drum up some work, the feeling of pain associated with that phone call is more real to him or her than the pleasure of bringing in work for the firm. This can be said for any business development activity the technical staff might see as painful, including writing a proposal, going to a meeting, working on a presentation, etc.
So how do you combat this? The most effective way I have found is to emphasize the pleasure and take action to diminish the pain. For example, if an engineer needs to call the client. Schedule a time to go into their office, pick up the phone, and dial the client up. Conduct the call together. When the call is done, let the engineer know how beneficial the call was and show him or her your appreciation by complimenting him/her in public, sending a thoughtful note, and giving a small gift. Eventually, the engineer's mental association with client phone calls will turn from pain to pleasure.
Rise Above “That's Your Job”It is essential to get out of the “your job” mentality. Yes, you can't “do everything.” But let's face facts, you aren't “doing everything.” And while it may be “their job” to call the client, ultimately it is your responsibility to make sure the client is called. Therefore, you will have to do whatever it takes to make that happen.
The same thing goes with a proposal effort. Staring at a blank page and trying to think of what the heck you are going to write is often painful. But improving on someone else's proposal work is a lot less painful and gives you a quick feeling of pleasure. This is why I suggest that, whenever possible, the marketing/BD person take the first stab at the technical section. Just make sure that when it goes to the technical person it is far from perfect. The technical person might mumble about how much of an idiot you are, but they will feel good as they revise your work to better reflect what the client needs. I've found this approach to provide marketers with proposal work product that is more refined and gets finished much quicker.
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Marketing 101
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Written by Matt Handal
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Many of you know that I'm one of the Contributing Editors of the Society for Marketing Professional Services' MARKETER publication. This month we put out an issue devoted to Social Networking. I worked on the cover story. It is available for the public to download in digital format. It is worth a read, especially if you work in the AEC industry. Enjoy
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Marketing 101
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Written by Matt handal
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One of the major challenges Marketer's often complain about is working with the technical staff and getting them to see marketing in a better light. I was made aware of this issue when interviewing for my current position. One of the Principal's first questions to me was, “The marketing and technical groups often have a combative relationship. How do you plan to deal with this challenge?” My answer was simply that it “doesn't have to be that way.”
Relationships between the marketing and technical staff can be based on understanding, cooperation, and mutual respect. But before you have the technical staff eating out of your hand, there are a few things you must understand: - Building relationships with the internal staff is just as important as building relationships with clients.
- Any internal relationship can be built or rebuilt if you know what to do.
- How things “should” work and how things “do” work are often two entirely different things.
- In a business environment, there are only three ways to get people to do what you want.
How a Marketer Can DisappearLet me give you an extreme example of why its important to forge a great relationship with the technical staff. When I worked for an engineering firm in NJ, I came to know John W., a senior electrical engineer. John was the gruffest and most stubborn engineer I have every had the pleasure to meet. He was a man of few words and if the man smoked one pack a day, he smoked ten. John was a lot like me in that, in that it took some time for people to “get him.” Some people tended to keep their distance out of fear and misunderstanding. I personally grew to love John and for many years I had a core sample on my desk that was once a staple of John W's desk. I was lucky enough to see the gentle creamy center beneath his cold rough engineery coating.
But not every marketer made it to John's good side, which brings me to the main story. One of the firm's previous marketers, lets call him Steve, would often accompany the engineers to survey sites the team was designing renovations for. And while most of these sites were close, some were a couple hours drive. Unfortunately for Steve, during one wintery trip he got stuck in a car with John W. It was cold outside, the windows were rolled up, and John W proceeded to fill the car with cigarette smoke. After a couple hours, they reached their destination. Steve got out of the car and said, “John, you are killing me with the smoke. Can you maybe not smoke on the way back?”
John's response was simply this, “Steve, to me you do not exist.”
From that moment forward, John W lived his life like Steve did not exist. If there was a staff meeting and Steve was talking, John would not acknowledge him. If Steve needed information for a proposal, John would not answer his requests. It became an uncomfortable and unprofessional environment, but it went on until the time Steve left the firm.
Was John a real jerk? Maybe, maybe not.
The Economics of Real World Emotional BankingSteve made a fatal mistake. He withdrew from an emotional bank account that had no funds. He overdrafted and he paid the penalty. Unfortunately for him, it was a very harsh and terribly unfair penalty. But the real world is a harsh and a terribly unfair place. In the real world, how things should work and how things do work are two very different things. Very often, we find ourselves focusing on how things should be. Focusing on how things should be doesn't get us anywhere. Its much more effective to focus on how things are and what you need to do to get them to where they should be. One way Steve could have done this was through real world emotional banking.
Building Your Nest EggAmassing a healthy a healthy nest egg in the emotional bank is quite simple. But like building a building, carvings out a six-pack set of abs, or learning a musical instrument, it takes time and dedication. There is no quick and easy way to build relationships with the staff. Its simply a process of continuously making small deposits into the emotional bank.
Here's how to start. Write down a list of 15 people in your firm that directly affect your job. More often than not, these are administrators, project managers, principals, and other technical staff. In the sales world, this is called your “hot list.” But we are going to call it your “help list.” Because the best way to build a relationship with someone is to be continuously helpful and caring.
Make the RoundsOne way to make quick deposits into the emotional bank is to “make the rounds.” Many of us are on the road or at our desks most of the time. But when you are in the office, take a few minutes to stand up and walk around to each person on your help list. Ask them about what is going on in their life. Learn about their family, their hobbies, and what they are truly passionate about. Ask questions and listen. Don't jibber jabber for a half an hour, a couple minutes is fine. Just show them that you care.
Yeah, you are busy. But if you have 15 people to talk to and talk to each for five minutes, its one hour and fifteen minutes a week. If you talk to them for three minutes it totals 45 minutes a week, which is less time than it will take to make up excuses not to do it. More on this topic next week... |
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Relationship Marketing
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Written by Matt Handal
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I believe LinkedIn is a great tool for keeping track of your business contacts (learning more about them, what they are doing, and when they switch companies, etc.) It is also the best tool for identifying new potential clients and what common contacts you may have with potential clients. LinkedIn now has 60 Million registered users. I highly encourage people to participate in the system for their professional benefit and the benefit of their firm.
Here are ten steps you can take to increase your connections (i.e. contacts) on LinkedIn
- Fill out your profile by copying and pasting from your resume
- Add a bio.
- Export your outlook contacts into a comma separated value file (.csv)
- Under settings in “privacy settings,” change your “connections browse” setting to “No, hide my connections list.”
- Import that csv file into Linkedin through the section called “Import Your Desktop Email Contacts”
- Go into the system and select “imported contacts” under the contacts menu.
- Uncheck all the contacts, then go through and put a check next to the ones that have the “in” symbol on the right
- Once you are done, push “invite selected contacts.”
- Go back to the main screen and select “people you may know.” Invite anyone there that you actually do know (and know you).
- On the right of that screen, select find colleagues and invite the people you used to work with to become one of your connections.
Once you get going on LinkedIn, you will receive an email every week giving you updates about your contacts. It is not like Facebook where you have to be on checking it all the time. If you have any questions about LinkedIn, post a comment.
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Web/Social Media
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Written by Matt Handal
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I recently rescinded my chapter in a book about "social media." I did this because after seeing other pieces of the book, I was concerned that it would portray a definition of return on investment that may be misleading. Mine was to be one of 27 other pieces on social media return on investment. I'm not sure what this will become, but here it is for you to read. Measuring Social Media Return on Investment When Marketing Specialized Services
Background
One of the big questions today is "how do you measure your social media return on investment (ROI)?" One of the major challenges is that while most of us understand what an investment is, (the expenses related to time, equipment, services, etc.), people try to measure return in a variety of ways, most of them wrong. Unfortunately for all of us, you can't measure ROI with retweets, website visitors, "brand recognition," or any of that. That is just foolishness. A return can only be measured in revenue generated or efficiencies gained that reduce operating costs. If you are a one man web design firm, it may be easy to gain a positive return on your investment because your investment is your time and expenses. But if you work in an office, it becomes a little more complicated. Now you have to take into account not just your salary but also overhead costs, which might be a multiple of your salary, and the opportunity cost associated with your other responsibilities. Selling specialized services (for example: construction claim analysis) adds another layer of complexity because you have a very niche audience that may be harder to find and connect with.
From a ROI perspective, involvement in social media is, in my humble opinion, on the riskier side of marketing tactics. But I can only speak from my experience, so let's take a closer look at how me and my firm, a construction consulting firm, have used what is commonly referred to as social media.
Firm Strategy
The term "social media" came along quite a bit after my firm started experimenting with it. Neither I nor my firm ever had a social media strategy other than to experiment with ways to get in front of potential clients in a cheaper and more efficient manner. That was driving factor behind the Construction Netcast, our video podcast (and YouTube channel). One of our historically most successful marketing tactics was presenting seminars. The podcast was a cheaper and more efficient way to offer mini seminars related to our service offerings. We set up my camera, bought $150 worth of lights and, during the course of a couple of lunches filmed some 15-20 minute seminars off the cuff. It took maybe an hour of fiddling to get each episode on our server, which distributes them with bandwidth already paid for. I set up a website in a day for $65. Our total investment was less than $1,000.
While the Construction Netcast is still the most downloaded video podcast in our industry (well over 50,000 episode downloads), we have received calls with opportunities both in the US and abroad, and it is a more cost effective way to present seminars to a larger audience, I could not track a positive return on the experiment's investment. Therefore, in 2008, i shifted my focus away from investing any significant time into the tactic.
We also recently developed an iPhone/iPad app as a cheaper and more efficient way to deliver an advertisement to our audience. One full-page ad in one of our industry's top publications cost upwards of $16,000. Even a small campaign in a highly targeted local publication typically costs us at least $3,000. The iPhone/iPad app cost us less than $500. We will track which calls, if any, come about from the iPhone/iPad app. This is exactly what we have done for print ads. Something as simple as putting a unique phone number on your ad makes tracking ROI easy. From my standpoint, keeping your investment low is critical until you can prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that there is a return to the investment. I recommend "bootstrapping" your efforts until a ROI on investment can be determined.
Personal Strategy
Some people think that setting up a Facebook or Twitter account for your firm and posting self-serving information about your firm is a great use of social media investment. I've talked to many social media users in the construction industry about this tactic and I have yet to see anyone make or save a dime this way.
I view Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter as personal tools to help you maintain relationships with people. For example, the time it would take me to "ping" 200 contacts via the phone and email would be significant. But using LinkedIn and Twitter's status update feature, I can ping well over 200 contacts each week rather easily, Even if they don't check the websites, they will get an email from Linkedin containing my status update.
However, except for the occasional Linkedin use, I do not believe my time is best used on Linkedin or Twitter when I am in the office. Therefore, the majority of my Linkedin and Twitter use is set up during my train ride and automated throughout the day and week. I can check what others are doing and responding to on the train home to keep our conversations going. The opportunity cost is just too high for me to dedicate any amount of time during the workday.
By identifying potential clients on Twitter, I have been able to develop relationships and bring in a small amount of revenue (in the tens of thousands, which for an $8M/year firm is a pittance). However, these relationships may provide more return as they need our services in the future. Therefore, I view my use of Twitter and LinkedIn as a positive return on my personal investment but not high enough to trump my other, more traditional, marketing activities.
I've also helped create a group on LinkedIn called the Design & Construction Network (DCN). This group organizes real world networking events across the country. My involvement in this effort has helped me grow my professional network of industry contacts.
I also maintain a open blog for marketers in my industry on my personal time. This has helped me land writing and speaking gigs that increase my exposure in the industry. Not to mention, its part of the reason I was asked to contribute to this book.
Conclusion
The three rules of ROI are track, track, track. Track your investment and track revenue generated or efficiencies gained that reduce operating costs (i.e. return). Don't even attempt to try and relate retweets, website visitors, or "brand recognition" to ROI. Bootstrap your efforts until you can prove a return on the investment and let your efforts grow organically from there. Look for ways that social media or technology can help you do what you already do, but more efficiently and cost effectively. If its not working within your test period, don't be afraid to walk away. Interact with people and don’t forget to put the social in your social media efforts.
Author name: Matt Handal
As a marketer, producer of the Construction Netcast podcast, contributing editor of SMPS Marketer, co-author of the Marketing Handbook for the Design & Construction Professional, and Twitter.com's @MattHandal, Matt sure is busy. But never too much to answer your questions at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or post at www.HelpEverybodyEveryday.com, where you can sign up to receive his weekly articles.
Website URL: http://www.helpeverybodyeveryday.com, http://www.constructionnetcast.com, http://aeciphoneapp.com, and http://www.traunerconsulting.com
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Web/Social Media
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Written by Matt Handal
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A couple things recently came up about social media return on investment (ROI). First, I was asked to submit a piece on return on investment for a social media book coming out. When I saw the example the author had on the subject, I was taken aback. It had no mention on the firm's investment and no real data about their return on said investment. Then I was asked whether I was interested in doing a social media return on investment presentation for AEC firms. My initial thought was I would only want to do it to keep people from getting bad information. I decided against it because I have not done enough work in the social media ROI area. It would be a bit hypocritical of me at this juncture to claim to be an expert in this area.
But I did come across a presentation that would knock the socks off anything I would do (see embedded presentation below). For your subscribed folks, here is the link http://www.slideshare.net/thebrandbuilder/olivier-blanchard-basics-of-social-media-roi The short version is this. The only return on your investment in social media is revenue or increased efficiency (which reduces operating costs). That's it. Therefore, you have to prove that your "social media" activities are doing one of those two things.
You can't measure ROI with retweets, website visitors, "brand recognition," or any of that. That is just foolishness.
A lot of people may claim that tracking revenue or increased efficiency from social media is impossible. My philosophy/belief is that every dollar you make can be tracked back to something. It's not impossible.
This presentation goes into much more detail about how to measure your social media return on investment. I hope you find value in it. I know I did. |
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Web/Social Media
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Written by Matt Handal
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There is a lot of buzz about social media and its application for marketing. It seems to be a topic nearly every chapter of organizations like the Society for Marketing Professional Services are having events about. And you will hear a lot of commonly held truths in these events. Unfortunately, many of them are straight up lies. Let's look at some of these lies in greater detail and you'll see what I mean.
The Definition of Social Media is a LieThis may sound crazy, but hear me out. Has anyone truly defined what social media is? I haven't seen anyone clearly define it.
Let's look at some definitions of social media:
- "Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques." (Wikipedia)
OK, that sort of makes sense, right? But that's assuming you don’t understand a few definitions
- Media: "a medium of cultivation, conveyance, or expression;" (Webster's Dictionary)
Let's look at the definition again.
- "Social media is (a medium of cultivation, conveyance, or expression) designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible (dissemination) techniques that (have the ability to grow)."
What falls under this definition?
Ever attend a webinar? That's dissemination through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. By definition, a webinar is social media. I bet when you think of social media, you don't think of webinars.
How about a web forum? Medium -check. Dissemination - check. Social interaction - check. Highly accessible and scalable - check. So a web forum is social media too.
What if I was to walk over to Philadelphia city hall, stand on the steps and make a grand speech or hold a town hall meeting with the crowd of passers by? Is that social media by definition? I think you could argue that it is.
How about something like a blog? Maybe some of them. But not popular blogs like Seth Godin's. There is no comment feature on his blog, so there is no social interaction going on there. By definition, Seth Godin's blog is not social media.
Who coined this phrase anyway? Google doesn't even know.
The truth is that when people talk about social media, there are talking about several different clearly defined things, including social networking sites (like Linkedin and Facebook), video sharing sites (like YouTube), blogs, and microblogging services (like Twitter or even Google Wave).
But very often they fail to mention social news sites (like Digg and Reddit.com), photo sharing sites (like flickr and Snapfish), collaborative creation tools (like wikis and Google Docs) and even location based services (like Foursquare and Gowalla). All of which clearly fall under the so-called definition of social media.
The reason you don’t hear much about these things is that - It is perceived that people don't use these sites for business.
- Most "social media gurus" and preachers don't actively use these sites.
- Including these sites would make the discussion of "social media" too broad .
- Well, you can't cover all that in an hour presentation.
By definition, so many sites and services are "social media" that you might as well just say "the Internet."
But the "Internet" cannot be productized and sold to businesses as a solution to their marketing woes. "Social Media" is a concept that has been productized and sold by so-called social media experts as that elixir. It's the new snake oil. The term social media is in itself a lie. It is just a term people use to get you to buy their services. And chances are, you may have fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
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Marketing 101
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Written by Matt Handal
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Research is just one of those activities that most marketers don't like doing. But many will agree it is also one of the most critical marketing tasks.
Maybe research gets a bad rap. Let's not think about research as simply crunching numbers, there is a purpose to it. If you are not basing your marketing activities on research, you are basing them on luck. Luck works sometimes, but it's not going to give you consistent results.
One of the challenges with research is that marketers often approach it the wrong way.
Many marketers either perform too little or too much research. Some perform marketing research without any idea of why they are doing it and what they are going to do with the data they collect. This approach will only lead to frustration and wasted time. Others track large amounts of data that they never use. Finding the right balance is important.
Unfortunately, AEC firms lag behind other industries when it comes to research. For example, the pharmaceutical industry does a significant amount of market research and leverages it using it's sales force. When a pharmaceutical sales rep walks into your doctor's office, they know exactly how many of their pills and their competitor's pills your doctor prescribes, almost in real-time. But many marketers in our industry will walk into a potential client's office with little to no research they can leverage to get someone to buy their services. Like any marketing activity, research needs to be planned and conducted with a clear objective in mind. The purpose of research is to answer the following five questions:
- What services did/does my firm provide to clients?
- What services can my firm provide to clients?
- What are our strengths/weaknesses
- What business opportunities are out there for us?
- How do clients procure our services?
Whether you are a marketing coordinator, chief marketing officer, or CEO. Being able to answer these questions will be critical to your success. To some, this may sound like strategic planning, but it's not. These are questions that have answers, it's just a matter of finding them (A.k.a Research). Let's look at these questions in more detail. What services did/does my firm provide to clients?Most marketers walking into a AEC firms for the first time realize that there is a lot to learn about the business. But if you are moving to a new firm from a firm with similar services, it's easy to feel like you already have a handle on this topic. But chances are you don't. As a marketer, you need to understand your firm's history of providing services. You need to have a thorough understanding of what they did and who they did it for. You need to be able to "tell the story of your firm." This is not a research task that will take you hours. Most likely, it will take you days or months before you have the understanding of your firm's history needed to do this. When I first interviewed for the firm I work for now, the Marketing Director at the time walked me through the office, introduced me to the engineers, told me all about the history of the engineering firm, and how they work with "as-builts." I only asked one question: "If this is an engineering firm, where are all the drawings?" "Oh, we are not that kind of engineering firm," she said. To her, an as-built was a schedule. To me, it was a drawing. Even the most seasoned marketer can sometimes have trouble explaining what exactly their firms do. To start your research in this area, designate specific time to read through all your firms marketing materials, proposals, qualification packages, databases, etc. Sit down with project managers and senior professionals and ask to hear the stories behind the assignments. You need to be capable of teaching a college level course on your firm and what they've done. Another important area of research is to look at your firm's project history from a revenue perspective. What sectors, services, or clients bring in the most or best revenue? Some accounting systems will be able to spit this information out for you. But even if yours doesn't, you can easily put a spreadsheet together of projects and what your firm billed on them. Then it's just a matter of connecting marketing information (services, client, sector) to the billings spreadsheet. I suggest starting by evaluating one, three, or five year periods. If you talk to the staff you can even add information like the origin of each project. Then you can assess what activities bring in revenue. This information can prove useful when you determine which activities you should concentrate your efforts on. I worked with a senior business developer who had an impressive resume and decades of relevant industry experience under his belt. But after a year at my firm, it was clear that he still did not have a solid understanding of what exactly we did. His excuse was, "Well, I've only been here a year." Unfortunately for him, having been at a firm a year is not the time to be learning it, it is the time to know it. He was ultimately let go. I can't stress enough the importance of developing a strong and complete understanding of what your firm does/did. What services can my firm provide?There is sometimes a big difference between what a firm can do and what a firm does. This can become an area of great risk or great reward for a firm. For example, I worked for a mechanical/electrical/plumbing designer who told a large state university that they could manage one of their construction projects. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, nobody in the office had substantial construction management expertise and the project quickly turned into a disaster. The client wasn't happy and it's safe to assume they will never use that firm again. However, It doesn't always turn out bad. When you can make an honest assessment of what your firm or office can do vs what it does, you can often tap into unrealized revenue streams. An example is a consulting firm that was asked to provide an assessment of procurement practices in a whistleblower case. While this wasn't the firm's "bread and butter," they had the people with the specific skill-set to perform this task successfully. Once you understand what your firm does, delve deeper into the staff's professional history, technical skills, and resources to learn what they can do. A firm's potential is tied closely to it's staff. If you were working for me, your first day would consist of calling each and every staff member in each and every office to introduce yourself and learn more about them. Learning about the technical staff is important enough to be a day one activity. What are your firm's strengths/weaknesses?When I started working for a commercial real estate company, one of the first tasks I was given was to call our competitors and ask them about our firm. So, i sat down at the phone for close to two days and did exactly that. The point of this exercise was to determine our firm's strengths and weaknesses as seen by our competitors. Strengths and weaknesses are perceptions. You may think you have the most detailed and accurate drawings, but if the perception is that you don't, it's more of a weakness than a strength. You have to reach outside your doors to truly understand your firms strengths and weaknesses. Many AEC firms would never dare to do this. But one very successful executive I know took this approach to a new level. Upon being asked to head up a national design practice, she flew around the country, sitting down with direct competitors, freely sharing information and ideas. She learned much more about the market sector and her practice then she ever would have inside the comfort and bubble of her internal team. Client surveys are another great source of information. Unfortunately, many firms choose either not to conduct them, only survey the "happy" clients, or conduct the surveys through internal project managers. Not conducting client surveys is a mistake because not only are you missing a great opportunity to gain valuable client feedback, you are losing the opportunity to mold perceptions in your favor. If you only survey the happy customers, you are creating a perception of reality that might not exist. It's important not to lose sight of reality, even when that reality is not as pleasant as you would like. Because many clients might hesitate to be honest and hurtful to your face, an outside service is one of the best ways to conduct a client survey. I worked with a project manager that all the clients loved. After he left the firm to start his own business, we had an outside consultant conduct a survey of our clients. What we found is that while clients liked this guy's personality, they hated his performance and lack of responsiveness. Even years later, in a thriving economy i heard that office shrunk to half it's size and had to move to a much smaller office space. Poor client service, and more importantly negative client perceptions can be devastating to an AEC firm. This type of research is sadly not very common. Many firms fail to really find out what their strengths and weaknesses are. Unfortunately, to their own detriment. What business opportunities are out there for us?This is the most obvious area of marketing research. Marketers are always on the look out for new business opportunities. Research in this area can include looking for request for proposals (rfp) or leads from lead services. Marketers who chase work with government agencies will find the most use of these services. Some of the more affordable examples include: - Www.govcb.com
- Www.fedbizopps.gov
- Www.stateandfederalbids.com
You can also find rfps published in local and regional newspapers. Many times government institutions like public universities are required to publish rfp announcements in the local newspaper. Many people argue that if the rfp is "on the street" (i.e. publicly available), it is too late to develop a winning proposal or team. I don't necessarily agree with that, having been successful winning contracts in this manner across the country. Therefore, I recommend using lead services. But I advise that you use them wisely. This means forwarding relevant rfps to your contacts and having some clear go/no go guidelines to stop you from going after assignments you simply have no shot of winning. This leads into the next area for opportunity research, news and gossip. If you are specifically targeting a public agency or corporate client, you'll need to do research into the company or agency goings on. Sometimes you can get information from people in your professional network (this will be more thoroughly explained later). I also suggest setting up a google alert that searches the web and emails you the latest developments of the company or agency. You can set up a google alert at www.google.com/alert The web in general is a great source of research data. If you spend just a little time honing your search engine skills, there is a wealth of information available at your fingertips. How do clients procure our services?Many people believe that clients, especially government agencies procure work through open and fair procurement. This is simply not true. That's why it's so important to learn how a client procures your services. Large corporations will often have a rotating stable of consultants they go to. Whether you win work may have more to do with if it's "your turn" than the quality of your proposal. On the government side of things, you have to consider how time consuming and costly open procurement is. Many agencies find ways around open procurement. Public agencies have awarded contracts worth millions without openly bidding them. While all of this is true, there are still more than a few procurements out there that are open and fair. For some, like me, it's often hard to accept the dual nature of procurement. I expressed this uneasiness one time in an exit interview. I explained to my boss, the Senior Vice President, how disillusioned I was after submitting what I , to this day, consider the worst proposal ever. Sloppy was not the word for it, it was simply and utterly atrocious. There were mistakes on nearly every page, the worst being I had the wrong spelling of the company's name we were submitting it to. But what was so disillusioning about it wasn't the quality of the proposal, it was that we had won. And the amount of work was not insignificant. What was the purpose of my job if the quality of my work did not influence the outcome? "Well, that guy owed me a favor," my boss explained. It can be hard to come to grips with the dual nature of procurement. And I can't help to see myself in less seasoned marketers who find themselves faced with this harsh reality. It's natural to assume things should be fair. When dealing with government agencies, you also have to research their procurement process. For example, You will need to be pre-qualified with many agencies before you can work with them. Sometimes you need to be pre-qualified to even learn about agency rfps. If you get your hands on an rfp, you may not have enough time to go through the pre-qualification process before the proposal is due. Therefore, it is important to understand each agencies pre-qualification process and do what needs to be done before you should have done it. Conclusion There you have it. You can conduct AEC market research that you can be proud of by just simply answering a few key questions. Are there any other market research questions you should answer? Leave a comment with yours!
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Marketing 101
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Written by Ida Cheinman
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For an organization of any size, its brand is one of its most critical business assets. Yet, while the word “branding” officially has entered the buzzwords category, the strategic and systematic act of branding is often overlooked. Organizations fail to make it a part of their business strategy, and therefore they are unable to take full advantage of what an effective brand can do for the success of their business. Why invest time and resources to develop a solid brand? - It helps you become a leader in your market, it keeps you on your customers’ radar, and it makes you the #1 choice when purchasing decisions are being made. It puts you in control.
- A strong brand makes it easy for your customers to buy. Customer indifference means a never-ending uphill battle to have your customers select you over your competitors. Customer loyalty means more streamlined communications and business development efforts and shorter sales cycles.
- If employees feel indifferent about the organization they work for, they are not motivated to do better and they are not committed to stay long term. A strong brand helps you hire and retain the best talent.
Strong brands are sustainable; they are for the long haul. It’s important to remember that branding and brand management is an ongoing process, not a quick fix. So how do you create a brand that realizes your organization’s full potential? The answer is in doing your homework. Step 1: Strategy First Your brand is instrumental to your organization’s success, and therefore your brand strategy should clearly align with your business strategy. If you understand your business, creating your brand, its values, its personality and its position comes naturally. Homework: What do you do best? A clear focus will position you to appeal to more, and the right, people – we all know that you can’t be good at everything. Define what you are great at (not “good” – “great”) and build your brand and marketing strategy around those core capabilities. Step 2: Focus and Relevance Being very clear and focused about your audience is also critical. The narrower your focus, the easier it is to have a meaningful conversation and build a stronger connection with your most qualified audiences. Take the time to learn about what motivates your audiences and what’s important to them. Homework: Is your brand relevant to the very narrow target audience that you are trying to reach? Does your message appeal to the right people? Or is it too broad, diluted and unfocused? Identify the exact solution you bring to your audiences and where your product or service can be positioned as the only solution – then build your message around that. Now, that’s compelling! Step 3: Brand Platform By starting with a solid brand platform that describes what your brand stands for, its personality and its unique position, you define the desired perception of your brand for your audiences. The brand platform includes: Brand promise. The pledge you make to your customers about the experience they will have by doing business with you. Brand values. Every business decision related to your brand should align with its values. The brand values are the code by which your brand lives. Every day. Brand personality. Like a person, your brand must have unique and defining characteristics that compel your audiences to get to know you and build a lasting relationship with your organization. Brand positioning. This is the space that you want to own in your audience’s mind. If you’ve done your homework for steps 1 and 2, then you already know what it is about your offer that motivates your audiences to take action. Your brand position is about clearly communicating this competitive advantage to your core target audience in a way that makes it clear that there’s no brand but yours that can satisfy their needs. Homework: What promise are you making to your audiences? Does your positioning set you apart? Do your brand values and your personality resonate well with those you are trying to reach; do they help cultivate loyalty and lasting relationships? And this is critical: Is all of the above clearly and consistently communicated at every audience touchpoint, making it easy to differentiate your brand from the rest of the pack? Step 4: Compelling Brand Story Everybody likes a good story. Stories are entertaining, inspiring, engaging and, above all, human; they connect people to people and organizations to their prospective and existing customers and employees. Homework: Every company has a story. This is not your elevator speech; this is a story of who you are, what you do and, most importantly, why it matters. What is your culture? What attracts customers and employees to your organization and why do they stay? What’s your story? Step 5: Unparalleled Brand Experience Your audiences experience your business through your brand. A strong brand, properly and consistently executed across all applications and media, leaves positive impressions at every audience touchpoint. These individual experiences form a perception of your brand in the marketplace and become your organization’s reputation. Homework: Does your brand experience measure up? Put yourself in the driver’s seat and experience your website, your marketing collateral, your reception area, your outgoing voice mail message. How do you feel? Impressed? Motivated? Disappointed?
Ida Cheinman is Principal & Creative Director of Substance151 – a Baltimore-based brand design + strategy firm specializing in branding and marketing communications for the professional services industries. She can be reached at
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Web/Social Media
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Written by Matt Handal
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Is providing website code that doesn’t validate to W3C standards really a web designer red flag? That’s a question that a reader recently asked me in response to my article in SMPS Marketer.
The Question:I guess I don’t really understand what you’re getting at. You pointed out that not being W3C compliant is one of your Red Flags, but you admit that very few sites actually are compliant. So why the red flag? I will admit, this is probably a bit too technical for me, but I guess I’m asking why you would even include this point as a major “red flag” in your magazine piece if most sites disregard its relevance.
My Response:It’s a red flag from the perspective of managing your risk.
Let me give you an example, I had a custom contact database website developed for my firm. I made some pretty strict requirements about it working with multiple server platforms and browsers (not always an easy task). Since I hired the developer through Elance, I didn’t have the proper time to really beta test the system. After a few months, I realized it was still a little buggy when using internet explorer.
I fixed it by simply throwing the CSS code into a program that rewrote it to be W3C compliant. I replaced that one file and now it works perfectly. Looking back, if I had just required the code to validate to W3C standards, I wouldn’t have even have had to worry about problems like that. So that red flag came about as a lessons learned from my experience coordinating the development of that site.
I recently developed a spec for a new Trauner Consulting site. In that spec, despite knowing a bit about code, I specified W3C compliance. Both HelpEverybodyEveryday.com and ConstructionNetcast.com started out as W3C compliant. What broke the compliance was my sloppy text.
I don’t think serious developers disregard w3c. Don’t take my opinion as gospel. Google “importance of w3c” and look at what other people are saying about the subject.
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Management
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Written by U. N. Owen
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This post may seem a little off topic, but keep with me.
I've been driving now for 18 years. Not once have I been pulled over for speeding. Is that because I don't speed? No, I speed all the time. Is it because I'm lucky? Probably not. Do I simply outrun the fuzz in my Saturn? Heck no!
Then how have I eluded the police for so long? The answer relates not only to avoiding the cops, but also to marketing, business, and life. Here is the three step process that I used to solve this problem.
- Identify what the problem is
- Find a qualified individual who has solved this problem
- Do what they do
Sounds simple because it is. Back in high school I went up to and asked a local cop, "How do I avoid getting pulled over?"
He said, "It is simple, never be the fastest driver in sight."
So that's what I did for the last 17 years. I always drive slower than somebody I can see. Whether I'm driving 26, 58, or 72mph, there is always someone in my sights driving faster. Using this simple system, that problem has been solved, I don't have to worry or think about getting pulled over ever again.
Have a problem in marketing, business, or life? Guess what, somebody else has had this problem, solved it, and written the solution down. All you have to do is copy what they did. It is that simple.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This post was written by contributor U.N. Owen.
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Tim Klabunde
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cofebuz
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| Building Business though Networking: a New Way of Thinking about Relationships |
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