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FROM THE FOUNDER
Focus on the clients for success
I t’s been said there is no reason for any business to exist without filling a want or need of a client or customer. AEC firms are no exception. They have to meet the wants or needs of their clients. Yet sometimes I think we forget how important to our success that really is. Firms with owners who really understand how powerful this idea is don’t do things like all the other firms in our business.
Everyone says they are client-focused, but saying it and doing it are two different things. Firms with owners who really understand how powerful this idea is don’t do things like all the other firms in our business. Here are some ways they make it real: 1. They organize themselves differently. I have been preaching about the benefits of organizing based on client type or market sector for nearly four decades now. This organization structure is contrasted with the geographical-based or discipline-based organization structures that are most typical in our industry. My experience is that the owners of most AEC firms organized by geography or discipline will resist this idea and give me a million reasons why it won’t for them. But client-focused firms get it. And they tend to perform better as a result.
2. They hire people out of the client organizations they serve, or ones in the same industry. That means that the companies that serve state DOTs hire people who worked in the state DOTs that the firm serves. Or AEC firms that work for auto industry or retail clients hire people out of those or other automakers, or those who worked for similar retailers. I could go on with specific examples but you get the idea. 3. They have outside board of director members who came from client organizations or regulators of the clients they serve. Most AEC firms don’t even have outside BOD members at all, and when they do, it’s either their accountant or attorney. But the client-focused ones get it. They want the insight and connections they can
Mark Zweig
See MARK ZWEIG, page 6
THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 7, 2025, ISSUE 1580
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