BuiltEnvironment

Selling more than you can deliver?

I have probably told this to every client I've ever had, and every seminar and workshop I've ever delivered: never commit more than you can actually deliver!

Selling more work than you can do is nothing but a recipe for disaster -- a guarantee that you will walk smack into a very hard stone wall and break an essential body part.

I was very lucky in the last 30 days. I thought I had sold more than I could deliver, but discovered that I had actually, somehow, sold only exactly as much as I could deliver. In essence, I had walked up to that wall and barely grazed it with the tip of my nose -- no blood, no bruises, no broken cartilage!

One project was delayed a month by the owner; one project couldn't start for another week because the client's project manager had other commitments; one project moves by fits and starts because the client is always slow to respond to draft designs and text. Another project got dropped into the mix to fill the week left by the client with project manager commitments.

Every project I had taken on, I had agreed to with (I deemed) thoughtful consideration of time and my own capabilities, but without any hint of the delays that would occur. So I had no way of knowing, when I said "yes," what the ultimate schedule would actually look like.

My mother used to say, "God watches over blind men and idiots!" I don't know which of the two I was during this period, but He was certainly looking out for me.

Three of my five projects are now out the door; the fourth is moving along smoothly and is due next Friday; the fifth is due on July 3 and one major section is already complete.

In the future, I must always remember to leave "wiggle room" in the schedule!

In the future, I must always remember to leave "wiggle room" in the schedule!

In the future . . .

The hardest part of self-employment

Ever since The Siben Consult, LLC opened its doors in January 2004, people have asked me, "What's the hardest thing about being self-employed?"

Some asked because they were contemplating going out on their own; others asked because they were curious. I've told everyone who asked the same thing:

                                                                                Self-discipline!

A/E/C industry marketers are used to having their lives dictated by deadlines. Everything revolves around when the next proposal is due. But what do you do when you don't have an assignment with a deadline?

I have one client assignment that has more than 25 components and no deadline. I can use the pieces as "fill" when I'm between time-sensitive assignments. I also have a typical amount of paper filing, cleaning of electronic files and emails from recent projects, expenses to track, expense reports to write up and file, bookkeeping to do, etc.

None of these chores are terribly onerous. Individually, they don't take long (other than the ongoing client assignment), once I get started.

The hardest part of what I do in The Siben Consult is getting started on these items.

I know from experience that it's always easier to start a new time-sensitive project when my desk is relatively clean. It's certainly easier to work two concurrent projects if I start with a clean desk. But doing the administrative chores and getting the desk clean...

The hardest part of what I do is getting started.

So I shower and dress -- sometimes I even shave. I have to do that in order to have the "work mindset" when I sit down at the computer. I can't overcome the mental inertia until I deal with the physical inertia. And I can't approach the work seriously in my pajamas!

The right person for the job

A marketer recently asked, "My firm wants a new website; should I design it myself"?

In the A/E industry, we're all about experts. When you need something done, you get an expert, and you get the right one. You don't call a GIS specialist to design a bridge just because you think he is a quick study with new software packages. You don't call a biologist because you know she understands the interactions of complex natural systems.

The same goes for websites. You may know what looks good on-screen, but that doesn't mean you know how to write code. And while you did design your personal website seven years ago, that doesn't mean you can learn today's website design software packages quickly and completely enough to develop a site that stands out from the thousands of other A/E firm websites. Even if you have the time.

If you're thinking of designing it yourself to save some money, please think again! The money you save will be quickly surpassed by missed revenues when potential clients go elsewhere because your site is not as strong a "positioner" as the other A/E websites out there.

Finally, if you design the website yourself, you will probably have to maintain it yourself. Regardless of your other time commitments, many of which will have been made for you by people who didn't speak to you first, or even look at your calendar. Do you really have time for that?

Bottom line? Get the right expert for the job. Just as you call a structural engineer to design a bridge, call a website designer to design your new website.

Sharing knowledge

I've heard it said that you learn (or re-learn) something best when you have to teach it to others. So I try to teach as often as the opportunity arises. In fact, my desire to share knowledge is such that my answers are often way more detailed than the questioner ever wanted!

So far this year, I've had three opportunities to conduct professional workshops, requiring quite a bit of travel.

In late February, I went to Anchorage, Alaska, where I conducted two half-day workshops at the Alaska Surveying and Mapping Conference. In the morning, I did my "Who's Afraid of Marketing?" for the 17th time. I love doing this workshop. It's designed for senior technical folks -- project manager and higher -- who fear marketing as an "unknown" because they don't know they do it every day. In the afternoon, I did my new "RFQs/RFPs -- Writing and Responding" for the first time. This session focuses on the required components of a solicitation and the various ways to respond to them. It also touches on the ethical dilemma of whether or not to write an RFQ or RFP for which only the writer's firm can make a fully responsive submittal.

In mid-April I had two speaking engagements -- one in California and the other in Florida. At Lake Tahoe, I spoke to CELSOC, the Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California, presenting a shorter version of "Who's Afraid of Marketing?". A week later I was at the ZweigWhite 2008 Marketing Now Summit in Coral Gables, where I presented a new workshop on how an A/E firm's marketing staff might be impacted by the firm's implementation of an "integrated services" method of service delivery.

One of these opportunities paid a fee plus travel, lodging and miscellaneous expenses; one paid for travel and lodging; and one gave me only a free conference registration. It didn't matter. The combined opportunities to teach and to learn are always worth it for me.

These are great opportunities to talk about a wide range of "how to's" related to marketing A/E, planning, surveying, environmental and construction phase services. They showcase me and my firm and bring me additional opportunities to teach, write and consult. But the best part is the exchange -- the "question and answer" section at the end of each workshop, where I get to defend my ideas, which helps me make sure they are still relevant, or that I've struck the right chord in developing a new presentation.

I learn more in these "teaching" sessions than in anything else I do. If  you and your firm would like to give me an opportunity to learn by teaching, call me at 559.901.9596 or contact me at bernie@sibenconsult.com. I'll be happy to chat with you about how I can deliver the kind(s) of workshops you want to provide for your staff.

Tom Peters and Me

For a few years now, I have been sharing this mantra with clients and workshops: the quality of the work experience can be a bigger differentiator than the quality of the work product.

Some people get it. But a lot of them don't seem to understand what I'm saying.

So imagine the rush of pleasure I got the other day when I read the same thought in chapter 3 of "design," by Tom Peters. "design" is part of a 4-book group called the Essentials Series. I've already read "leadership" and "talent," and found them both enjoyable reads full of valuable insignts. But neither gave me the warm fuzzies that I got from chapter 3 of "design."

Essentially, it comes down to this:

Think of any service your firm performs, and let's assume you do high-quality work. The quality of your work differentiates you from other firms that don't produce the same high-quality product.

Now, it is pretty much a "given" that there will be at least one other firm in your market that provides the same service at a similar level of quality as your firm -- perhaps at the same price or better -- perhaps on the same schedule or faster. What differentiates your firm from that other firm?

What makes your firm the obvious selection in a market where two or three firms can provide the same work product at the same quality for the same price in the same timeframe? The difference lies in the quality of the work experience. Are you more fun to work with than another firm? Do you give your clients a stronger sense of "all bases are covered, you can sleep nights while we're on the job!"?

That's a very powerful differentiator!

It's always nice to find an idea that I've been "pushing" in the work of someone I respect. Professional validation is a wonderful thing. But finding such an idea in a Tom Peters book was a very special bonus for me. I'm hoping it will be a powerful motivator for me as well.

The Wrong Stuff - part 3

This is the 3rd in a series of items about some of the marketing actions A/E/P/CM/Environmental firms take that are most often a waste of staff time and other resources.

Chasing Strangers

How many times has one of your firm's principals elected to respond to an RFQ or RFP issued by a client nobody in the company had ever spoken with? perhaps a client nobody in the company had ever heard of?

I bet this sounds all too familiar to every marketer in every marketing department of every A, E, P, CM, Environmental or multi-service firm there is. We look at these choices about how to commit our staff time and other resources, and we shake our heads. We have to wonder if the person who made the choice is just "shooting at everything that moves" because he's desperate for to win a new project and thinks this is the way to get one.

One alternative is that your decision maker truly believes your unknown firm has a chance of winning the project even though the client probably has an incumbent and five or six other firms that have been visiting and courting him for a while.

A second alternative is that the decision maker wants to "put your name in front of a new potential client" and thinks this is a good way to do this. I know we've all heard this one befo0re.

But this can be dangerous! If a prospective client has issued an RFQ or RFP, submitting a document that is either non-responsive or a weak response is a waste of the client's time. And since , a selection process adds to the client's workload -- his other work doesn't just go away -- he has even less time to waste than usual. Branding your firm as a non-responsive time-waster is probably not the first impression you want to make.

A better approach is to wait until the selection is made, assemble an SOQ, visit the client and talk with him about what your firm really CAN do for them. Communicate that you didn't submit on his RFQ or RFP because you didn't want to waste his time with a non-responsive submittal (perhaps your major services are not what he was looking for at the time, but could truly bring him value on other projects). Such a truth can help you establish your credibility and integrity.

People give work to people they know, like and trust. They only give work to a stranger as a last resort. The concept of "best value" has made this easy even in the public sector, as the value of the relationship (previously a subjective input) can now get objective points in the ranking of responses.

So what's the answer? We've all said it before, so let's all say it together:

Pursue the client, not the project.

The Wrong Stuff!

This is the first in a series of items about some of the marketing actions A/E/P/CM/Environmental firms take that are most often a waste of staff time and other resources.

No "Go/No Go"?

Do your senior folks say "yes" to every solicitation they find in the newspaper or online, or to every potential project they hear about?

I hope all marketers know that, while every solicitation is an opportunity for some firm, NOT every solicitation is an opportunity for your firm. Do your senior folks get this? Do you?

A Rocky Mountain States engineering firm recently went through a "Go/No Go" process regarding an opportunity with their State Department of Transportation. The first few questions were answered as follows:

Do we have a current or recent relationship with this client? -- NO

Has the firm done this kind of work before? -- NO - not as a prime

Did we know about the RFP before its release? -- NO

To top this off, while refusing to visit or call to get the RFP, the office manager insisted that they could turn this DOT into a strategic client of that office.

In another instance, a department manager answered these questions:

Do we have a current or recent relationship with this client? -- NO

Did we know about the RFP before its release? -- NO

Is there adequate budget to build the project -- NO

Can we make money on this project? -- NO

If we can't make a profit, is there a strategic reason to pursue this? -- NO

But the department manager had an ethical dilemma with a "No Go" decision. He interpreted it as "choosing not to help someone." Therefore, no matter how many times he answered "NO" on the form, he said "yes" to every RFP he heard about.

The real purpose of a "Go/No Go" process is to assemble all the information you need to make a good decision, and to then help you say "No" when "No" is the appropriate answer.

In both cases presented above, the wrong person was making the "Go/No Go" decision. And in both cases, the bottom line is, "why should a firm take the time to develop processes if nobody has to implement them?"

The next BIG presentation tool?

A recent online message said "I'm tired of using PowerPoint... what's the next big presentation tool we can use in our industry?"  Here's what I think --

When you prepare an SOQ or a proposal, you demonstrate your technical qualifications to do the work, including the training and experience of your staff and the projects your firm has completed. When you get a letter saying you've made the short list and inviting you to make a presentation, the client is saying "we've decided you're qualified; now we have to figure out if we want to work with you."

Therefore, other than information specifically requested in the short-list letter, the presentation has little to do with technical competence, and everything to do with the "fit" of the personalities of your project team members with the client's relevant staff.

How does the client determine whether this "fit" is good? They put people together in a room and let them interact. They talk with each other. Someone asks questions and someone else answers. People watch each other's body language for the more than half of all communications that is non-verbal in nature. Over the course of the session, the client determines which of the short-listed teams will make for more of a fun experience than any of the others. That's who gets the job.

And PowerPoint pretty much gets in the way of this determination. It's hard for a client to assess who will be great to work with when everyone in the room is looking at the slides on the wall, presenters are speaking "at" the client's staff rather than "with" them, and there is very little real interaction until the Q&A section at the end.

How do I know that the most important thing to the client is the interaction, the relationship, the "fun" quotient? Well, in the last few years, I have seen a number of short-list letters specifically stating that a PowerPoint presentation will not be allowed. Many clients have actually said that the quality of the work experience is as important to them as the quality of the work product.

So much for differentiation based on technical capabilities!

In addition, clients want to hear from the project manager and technical staff, not the principal whom they will rarely see during the actual project. They want their staff to interact with the people who will actually do the work and be in project meetings on a day-to-day basis.

Therefore, the next BIG presentation tool will be HUMAN BEINGS!!

What does this mean for the typical planning and design firm? It means that they have to promote or hire project managers for their management and communication skills, and for their ability to "connect" with the clients.  Firms can no longer afford project managers who think they are simply the most senior designer on the team. As a land development client recently told 175 staff members of a California A/E firm, "if you're designing my project, you're not managing it!"

However, the next big presentation tool will not be just any human beings. It will be those who can stand up in front of a room -- calmly, comfortably -- make eye contact with the listeners, and speak clearly and confidently in a well-modulated voice. These people will not only be experienced speakers, but speakers who have had sufficient rehearsal of the current presentation that they are in control of both the material and the meeting.

For many years, firms have been saying that their employees are their biggest/best asset. This is now more true than ever.

Be Fair to the Little Guy

A client called last Thursday asking for help with a public agency request for qualifications, starting with a detailed review of the RFQ and a Go/No Go decision. The client had allowed 18 calendar days from RFQ release date to due date, and asked for the following information:

1.  A statement of interest for providing on-call, as-needed A/E services for minor construction, repair and renovation projects, including the prime firm's unique qualifications pertaining to task orders; a statement of availability and commitment of the prime, its principals and professionals to the project; a brief history of the prime firm and each subconsultant; a graphic representation of the team (org chart); and a completed SF254 (later amended to allow a completed SF330).

2.  Information on Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) status -- minority- and women-owned firms -- of the prime and other team member firms.

3.  Information on the prime firm, including name, address, years in business, type of operation, number of employees by skill group, and average revenues for the past 10 years; resumes of key project staff including experience with task ordeers, years with firm and city of residence; proposed assignments and lines of authority/communication for principals and key professional staff (another org chart); identification of members of the proposed team who worked on projects presented in the Experience section; firm financial statements for the past two years; documentation of financial stability; information on potential sale of or acquisitions by the company; details of past or pending litigation; information on any current or previous defaults on loans or financing agreements; and a 5-year claims history under professional malpractice insurance.

4.  The same information as item 3 (above) for each of the subconsultant firms, plus information on how members of other firms would be integrated into the team; resumes of key staff; a graphic description of assignments and lines of communication (more org charts); basis for selection of that firm for the team; prime's process for working with subconsultants and integrating them into the design process.

5.  Prime's past performance on projects for similar facilities within the last 5 years including project name, location, contract delivery method and description; initial and final construction and total task order costs; project size in gross square feet; type of construction; start and finish dates for design; notice to proceed and substantial completion dates for construction; description of the professional services provided; name of project manager and project architect; list of all project consultants. Past performance was to be evaluated based on accuracy and quality of cost estimates; design to and control of program scope within budget during schematic, design development and construction documents phases; effective management and tracking of schedules; provision of accurate, complete and coordinated plans and specifications; effective management of change orders and claims.

6.  Representative projects -- three projects involving similar scopes of services, regardless of facility or client type, including all of the information required in Item 5 above; three projects that won awards for design excellence with descriptive information; color images of all projects described in this section.

7.  An explanation of how the prime intends to make sure any project under this on-call contract will comply with the Facility Master Plan and incorporate the requirements of the client's design standards for the project.

8.  Best practices -- using specific examples from three projects described earlier -- related to quality assurance proceedures; the owner's specific system design and construction standards; the prime's service support philosophy; the types of records, reports, monitoring systems and information management systems the prime uses to manage projects; cost control methods for the design and construction phases; ensuring continuity of project objectives from design solutions, to construction documents, to the actual construction project; assurance of timely completion, including methods for schedule recovery if needed; a section based on a review of the draft agreement stating which services the prime considers a part of Basic Services and which would be considered Additional Services.

9.  Problem identification and resolution -- describe your understanding of the administrative, physical and aesthetic challenges and opportunities and your strategy for resolving these issues; what are the critical issues for task orders; using any three projects described earlier, discuss conflicts with owner, consultants, contractor or subcontractors, and described methods used to resolve the confloicts.

10.  References -- owner's name, representative and phone number; contractor's name, representative and phone number; length of business relationship and background information of project (year of project, summary of services performed, etc.).

Responses were limited to 100 pages plus SF254 or SF330 and HUB documents.

For the average small firm, which probably does not track all of this information, and which certainly does not have any fancy response preparation software, is this not just a bit excessive?

I had to recommend that this was not an appropriate pursuit, even though the client was perfectly suited to undertake and successfully complete the assignments envisioned under the contract. The submittal would require more time (his and mine) than he anticipated because he didn't track the required data in any purposeful, organized form. Every piece of data would have to be researched separately.

If he wanted to make this a strategic client, pursuing multiple projects for them each year, he could spread the development costs over multiple opportunities. However, the actual expense would all fall under the current pursuit, and he would have to come up with a big time commitment and a pay a big fee to develop this first submittal.

I understand that there are numerous systems out there today to track this information, many of which are not that expensive. The data can even be tracked using Word templates or Excel spreadsheets, softwares which everyone already has in their offices.

But many DBE, MBE, WBE, 8(a), DVBE and other small firms do the majority of their projects as a subconsultant and rarely think ahead to the time when they will submit as the prime and need this depth of information.

Wouldn't it be more fair if, when public agencies issue RFQs and RFPs for smaller programs and projects, where they anticipate that smaller firms will compete and win the work, they would cut these small firms some slack and only ask for information that is truly required for selection?

Mentoring - benefit #3

When most of us think of "mentoring," the benefits that come immediately to mind are those accruing to both the protege and the mentor.

We know that the protege learns very useful information, about the firm, about the industry, about processes and procedures, about him/herself and other things. And we know that the mentor gets to sharpen knowledge that has perhaps become dull over the years -- it is a proven fact that teaching is one of the best ways to learn (or relearn) something.

And certainly staff members -- of any age and at any level of experience -- who have their knowledge and skills sharpened are a good asset for any company. But there's another benefit that accrues to the company -- a benefit which might be more important than those derived second-hand from benefits to the protete and/or the mentor.

Mentoring is a great way for the company to preserve and revitalize "institutional knowledge."

When someone retires, passes away or takes a new position elsewhere, the company generally loses the knowledge that was stored in that person's head. It's a shame, but it's also a fact of business life. However, a mentor/protege program -- whether formal or informal -- can mitigate that loss. It doesn't matter whether the knowledege is factual or anecdotal; it is of vital -- often critical -- importance that the firm retain that knowledge.

If all of your senior technical staff take junior members under their wing -- talk to them about why processes and procedures are the way they are; tell them about what was tried and why it succeeded or failed; give them knowledge of what the client for each project likes and dislikes; teach them how the firm, the industry and the business world work; and guide their acquisition of new knowledge that would be relevant to their jobs and their imagined futures -- then much of that institutional knowledge will be passed on to the next generation of leaders before the senior members depart.

It may turn out that very few things are as important to the firm as this!