The Zweig Letter

Most of us know that it isn’t really hard to start an A/E or environmental firm. You don’t need a lot of capital or other resources to hang a shingle and make a run for...

I recently had the pleasure of serving as faculty advisor for three teams of students in a statewide business plan competition called The Arkansas Governor’s Cup. There were 42 very well-coached teams that submitted plans...

I’ve often thought what it would have been like to live at the turn of the century (1900). Change must have been coming so fast— electricity, indoor plumbing, telephones, and automobiles, along with so many...

I had a lengthy conversation the other day with someone who is currently in the throes of helping his company design a new incentive compensation plan. This fellow is a smart guy. He had done...

After doing business plans for more than 20 years, the truth has finally sunk into me: You cannot please everyone with one strategic plan. In other words, the strategic plan for internal purposes is probably...

A recent article in The Zweig Letter where various A/E and environmental firm principals were asked about the best interview questions to ask prospective employees got me thinking. It got me thinking about what I...

I just got back from ZweigWhite’s 2007 A/E Marketing Now Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was our biggest and best-attended marketing conference ever! My task was to open the show with a short talk...

By Mark Zweig | If you really want to raise your effective labor multiplier, here are some things to try.

We can all take a lesson from my old buddy Bert Johnson (not his real name). He is a classic case of the entrepreneur who lost interest in his business, but figured out how to...

I was sitting in a meeting of top managers in a fairly large A/E firm the other day when the topic of candidates for their vacant HR director’s position came up. The woman who had...

We have a terrible problem with accounts receivable in this business. The average A/E or environmental firm waits 80 days or so to get paid for their services whereas attorneys and accountants often get their...

How many times have you heard it? Someone turns in their notice to leave and the response of his or her immediate supervisor is: “We didn’t need Bob (or Sue), anyway,” or, “We were going...

It is conventional wisdom that our companies are only “as good as the people we employ” and that “our greatest assets go home each night.” Over the years, I have heard literally thousands of owners...

On the whole, A/E/P and environmental firms seem to take themselves and their marketing too seriously. Sure— many of you DO have life-and-death responsibilities attached to much of what you do. You are serious people...

My six month-old daughter Olive has already said her first word. It is “clock.” She says it practically every time we show her the black reproduction “Kit-Cat” clock on the wall in her bedroom. For...

Rupert Stanchion was the founder and only CEO Stanchion Associates had ever had from its founding in 1980. Now nearly 60 years old, he was beginning to get the idea that some people thought it...

As 2006 winds down and planning gets underway for 2007, I frequently find myself being asked about what the top trends are for our industry that future-oriented leaders need to be aware of. Where do...

There’s an interesting article in the latest issue of Inc Magazine on PR firms that get paid only when they get results for their clients— results being a press mention in the local paper, a...

As the fall air turns crisp and cool here in Northwest Arkansas, many folks’ thoughts turn to football, leaf raking, and the upcoming holiday season. Owners and managers of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, however,...

Just about anything you read nowadays for our business mentions the top concern of firm owners everywhere is finding and keeping good people. Finding good people is never easy. Nor is it the topic of...

We’ve been at this business for some time now— and have worked with hundreds of A/E/P and environmental firms whose principals wanted to sell. Unfortunately, we can’t help all of them— just those who will...

This morning, I am sitting on a bench outside Vol Walker Hall in the beautiful old campus area here at The University of Arkansas. Vol Walker Hall is home to our School of Architecture. Today,...

Even though he’d only worked at Associated Consultants for about three weeks, Bob Smearhoff was sick and tired of his co-worker, Bruce McJerquartd. “That guy is an idiot,” Smearhoff found himself thinking at least a...

For years, we told principals of architecture, engineering, and planning firms that they should have a mission defining what their firms were all about. The question of “why are you in business?” is fundamental, we...