Too many firm owners want different results and want to be more successful, yet keep doing things the same way they always have.
I am now entering my 46th year of working in the AEC business, which seems absolutely crazy to me. I cannot believe it has been so long.
Now – more than ever before – it is clear to me that many firms are stuck; their owners want different results and want to be more successful, yet they are anchored in the past and keep doing things the same way they always have. It is just so hard to change. Change seems risky or uncertain. And too many owners of firms in this business lack perspective on how things are done outside of this industry.
If this sounds like you and your business, it’s time to break the “rules” and start doing something different! Here are a few of the things I would be looking at:
- Marketing list. If you want more business, you have got to be more aggressive! Do you have an email list for marketing? How large is it? Do you have the names and addresses for all of the potential clients you want to serve? If not, get them! Build your list. Track it and report on the list size to everyone in the firm. Recognize those who add the most names publicly.
- Email marketing. Use your list! Give people helpful information in small bits at a time. Tips, success stories, short videos, interviews, survey results, podcasts, discoveries from the field, reviews of conferences, reviews of products, etc. Send out an email to your list every other day at a minimum!
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Social media. Are you on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn? If not, why not? Are you adding to your networks and followers by finding people you want to do business with and connecting with them? If not, why not? Are you posting two or three times a day on each platform you are on? You need to be! And get your people all doing the same thing. You will overwhelm your target clients (and current clients) so they never forget about you. You
will be top of mind when they have any need for what you do. - Ownership. Are you still stuck in the idea of having a certain ratio of owners to employees? Why? Where did that idea come from? Have you thought about opening up your ownership to everyone in the company? If not, why not? You don’t need a special class of stock. The amounts they will own will be small anyway. And no, not all owners have to be on your board of directors, and not all owners have to be managers. That is a self-imposed rule. You want to be less dependent on your bank? You want more liquidity for your own ownership stake? Sell more stock!
- Financial reporting. Has anyone ever really looked at the firm’s financial reports? Do they make sense? Do your managers understand them? Or are they being overwhelmed with too much information such that it obscures what is really crucial? I see this situation almost daily. Fix the reports! Is cash flow an issue? If so, are you sending daily cash reports of what came in and went out to everyone who can impact the cashflow? If not, why not? Put the spotlight on what is important for you to accomplish! Won’t happen with a once a month financial report emailed out.
- Recruiting. Are you being aggressive recruiters – “selling” those you want to hire on joining your firm? Or are you still acting like your job is to keep bad people out? Are you upgrading your staff when the opportunity to do so presents itself, or are you only looking at candidates when you have an established vacancy? Do you call people you have heard about working in competitors’ offices and try to set up a meeting with them? Probably not. Most firms are not continuously recruiting and miss opportunities to upgrade daily. Recruiting is a critical function, equal to marketing and selling.
You want an omelet? Break some eggs! Make it happen, people!
Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.