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CONFERENCE CALL, from page 7

TZL: The last few years have been good for the A/E indus- try. Is there a downturn in the forecast, and if so, when and to what severity? MC: At present, we do not see a downturn on the horizon. That said, I would acknowledge that for every economist who predicts a strong economy for the foreseeable future, there’s another who predicts a downturn. TZL: They say failure is a great teacher. What’s the big- gest lesson you’ve had to learn the hard way? MC: They say it can take years, sometimes decades, to build a strong relationship, based on trust and mutual respect, and only a single bad experience to tear that all down. Un- fortunately, I know this to be true. On the flip side, I also know that all projects will experience bumps in the road. It’s how we address and resolve those issues that can help strengthen relationships. We don’t run from issues, we solve them and keep moving forward. TZL: While M&A is always an option, there’s something to be said about organic growth. What are your thoughts on why and how to grow a firm? MC: There’s nothing to be gained by growing for the sake of growth. We look to expand as a way to provide greater value to our clients and at the same time, greater value and benefit to our staff. Organic growth has proven to be an ef- fective means to infuse existing offices with new talent and to strengthen those locations. Mergers have been effective when we’re looking to enter a new geographic market or sector. Merger partners with a presence, name recognition, and local relationships help us to more quickly reach our ob- jectives in these circumstances. “Today’s workforce is committed to great design, and to working in productive, collaborative, flexible, and inspiring environments. They often make decisions on which firm to join, based in part, on the working environment.” TZL: Do you use historical performance data or metrics to establish project billable hours and how does the type of contract play into determining the project budget? MC: We carefully examine each project’s unique require- ments, opportunities and constraints to determine the hours needed to successfully complete the assignment. We maintain a database of historical project performance infor- mation that we use to identify similar projects, confirm the hours required to complete those projects, and validate our assessment of the current opportunity.

should be an ongoing process so that long-term, ownership transition becomes a natural process. Retirements and such should not create undue burden on the organization. “Start now and begin to engage the next generation of owners. Involve them in leadership and develop a reasonable timeline for transition. This should be an ongoing process so that long term, ownership transition becomes a natural process.” TZL: Monthly happy hours and dog friendly offices. What do today’s CEOs need to know about today’s workforce? MC: Today’s workforce is committed to great design, and to working in productive, collaborative, flexible, and inspir- ing environments. They often make decisions on which firm to join, based in part, on the working environment. Our charge, as business leaders, is to provide workplace environ- ments that foster great design, with flexibility that leverag- es technology and collaboration tools, so that our talented staff can do what they do best. Happy hours, pet-friendly of- fices, telecommuting, etc. are all tools at our disposal. TZL: 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? MC: We’re also seeing more technical staff involvement in marketing/BD. This is not surprising. More and more of our prospective clients want to engage directly with those working on their project. They know, as we do, the impor- tance of team chemistry. As we continue to initiate con- versations with new clients, maintain strong relationships with current ones, communicate our value proposition to our communities, and respond to project opportunities, we need both our technical and marketing staff to ensure we’re properly attending to all the tasks at hand. TZL: Measuring the effectiveness of marketing is diffi- cult to do using hard metrics for ROI. How do you evalu- ate the success/failure of your firm’s marketing efforts when results could take months, or even years, to mate- rialize? Do you track any metrics to guide your market- ing plan? MC: I agree that longer term marketing efforts can be dif- ficult to assess in terms of ROI. We do place great value on our long-term client relationships, and maintain communi- cations on an ongoing basis, not just when there are proj- ect opportunities in play. This allows us to continue to pro- vide value to clients, and to keep abreast of current industry trends affecting them. At the same time, we track metrics (marketing dollars spent per dollar of net revenue, RFQ re- sponses, RFP responses, short lists, wins, etc.), as a way to help us focus on opportunities that are most closely aligned with our strengths. We then direct marketing dollars where they will be most beneficial.

TZL: What’s your prediction for 2018?

MC: We’re optimistic and anticipate 2018 to be as good, if not better, than 2017.

THE ZWEIG LETTER April 9, 2018, ISSUE 1243

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