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5. Budget compliance history. Some firms are good at this and some routinely ignore the budget. And I am not talking about the budgets for engineering, planning, or design services. I’m talking about the total project budget. I distinctly remember years ago hiring an architect friend of mine who had a firm specialized in doing tenant office improvement projects for an office project with a strict buildout budget. When the numbers from contractors came back he had absolutely no idea how to make changes to get us where we needed to be. His plan would have cost us 2.5 times our budget to implement. We instead had to work with a contractor ourselves and ended up doing the whole thing for less than our buildout allowance. Needless to say, that was the last time I referred him to anyone. 6. History of growth and financial success as a business. Growth and profitability in an AEC firm tells me one thing: They are good at doing what they do and their clients like them! That’s important to know. Contrast this with a firm on the decline that isn’t making money. What does that tell you? Something is amiss. Every AEC firm out there has owners who want “word of mouth” advertising. That’s just another way of saying “referrals.” I have to believe that I am not much different than anyone else who gives referrals. So maybe it’s time that you should do an honest assessment of how your firm stacks up on my six factors above! Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.
MARK ZWEIG, from page 5
referral. Some providers have burned me more than once because I keep hoping they will act differently and want to give them another chance. But I always regret it in the end. Inevitably, I will hear back from the person who asked me for help that they gave up trying to work with the provider I sent them to. That makes me look bad and I don’t like that! 3. Service orientation. Some firms have it and some don’t. It’s an attitude expressed by their people. Either they genuinely want to help their clients or they see their clients only as a necessary evil for them to do what THEY (the AEC firm) wants to do. With a high degree of service orientation, you know the provider cares about their clients and wants to make them happy. I have to feel that is the case to make a referral. And maybe it’s only a small project but the client still needs help. A good firm will see that small job as a chance to demonstrate their capability. 4. Sensitivity to client wants and needs. Often, AEC firm principals have to be good listeners and sharp observers to identify the real wants and needs of their clients. This takes an understanding of people and human behavior that all design professionals do not necessarily have, but those who do generally end up with happier clients. I don’t want to refer anyone I don’t have 100 percent confidence in that they will listen to and ultimately make my potential client happy.
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THE ZWEIG LETTER MAY 5, 2025, ISSUE 1584
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