6
P R O F I L E
Conference call: Keith Kuzio President and CEO of Larson Design Group (Best Firm #5 Geotechnical and Best Firm # 29 Multi-discipline for 2017), a 300-person firm based in Williamsport, PA.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
“O ne person alone can’t make significant change happen,” Kuzio says, who joined the firm in 1992 as an engineer with the company’s bridge group. A CONVERSATION WITH KEITH KUZIO. The Zweig Letter: Zweig Group research shows there has been a shift in business development strategies. More and more, technical staff, not marketing staff, are responsible for BD. What’s the BD formula in your firm? Keith Kuzio: Over the past four years, LDG has shifted from dedicated BD reps to more of a sell- er-doer model, although several business units still maintain dedicated BD staff. We’ve conducted ex- tensive BD and sales training that has helped our technical staff understand where their strengths lie in the spectrum of business development activities that include: ❚ ❚ Frontiersmen/women. Seek to sell new services in new geographies
❚ ❚ Hunters. Sell existing services in new geographies ❚ ❚ Farmers. Sell existing and new services to existing clients We’ve also redesigned incentive programs to better align with our overall goals and offer rewards for achieving benchmarks in all types of sales. TZL: The design-build delivery model appears to be trending upward. What are the keys to a suc- cessful design-build project? What are the risks? KK: Solid business ethics, trust, and candor be- tween the contractor team and design team are a must. The designers working on the project also need to understand contractor motivations and how they differ from what an owner/client might focus on in the development and delivery of proj- ects. Designers need to provide alternative solu- tions that align well with the means and meth- ods that a contractor can deploy efficiently and ef- fectively on each project. That’s how design-build teams can be competitive in pursuing and winning
Keith Kuzio, President & CEO, Larson Design Group
THE ZWEIG LETTER Septe
Made with FlippingBook Annual report