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By Mark Zweig | Balancing growth and profitability is essential for long-term value creation and success in AEC firm valuation strategies.

By Mark Zweig | You need to make a profit to stay in business, but focusing on growth makes that more likely to happen, not less likely.

By Mark Zweig | What your firm becomes should be the result of a plan, of deliberate efforts. You can and should “design” your design firm.

Most AEC leaders are aware of the common causes of scope creep, but there are also some subtler internal causes to consider.

Six suggestions from Mark Zweig on how to form and keep relationships alive. I never liked the idea that a consulting business should have its marketing based on personal relationships. I just don’t like being...

Costs add up, sometimes alarmingly, so be sure to discuss reimbursements. Everyone says they don’t want to nickel and dime their client and yet getting paid for doing work and providing service is the reality...

No movie was better than “Wall Street” at capturing the spirit of the go-go 80s. Michael Douglas played the role of Gordon Gekko, a charismatic “rock star” investment banker who gave a speech on the...

It’s pretty well accepted by most firm owners that if you want to be successful in the A/E/P or environmental business, you MUST keep the good clients you have. No one’s marketing is so good...

After 20 years of writing The Zweig Letter and its no-named, type-written predecessor, I feel like I know our readers. Most of you are architects, engineers, planners, and scientists. You (rightfully) consider yourselves professionals. Theoretically,...

“Take this job and shove it” was a phrase popularized by country singer Johnny Paycheck back in the 1970s. The song told a story about a hard-working factory man whose wife left him, so he...

Conventional wisdom and a course in marketing will tell you that any business— especially a professional service business— must have close relationships with clients IF the firm wants to keep those clients and get as...

Whenever I see people get all upset about some trivial detail in their lives or their work, I find it distressing. Life is so much easier if you spend appropriate amounts of mental and emotional...

One thing I know about smart people—they hate being treated like children. It’s insulting and demeaning. Unfortunately, we routinely see owners and managers of A/E/P and environmental firms who do just that to their employees....

A common theme is emerging in our business right now, especially with large firms— but certainly not limited to them. Firms need to improve their profits. Volume is up, optimism is up, backlog is growing,...

You’re all aware of it. The “circular theory,” otherwise known as “what goes around comes around.” It’s one of nature’s laws that seems to hold true as much as the laws of physics. If you’re...

If I could give only one caution to principals of A/E/P and environmental firms, it would not be “grow slowly so you don’t over-expand and outstrip your managerial capabilities.” Nor would it be “watch every...