6
FROM THE FOUNDER
Two kinds of firms
Is your firm one that commands top fees and thrives, or one that will struggle to compete and keep up?
A s I have stated many times before, I’ve spent my entire 45 year post-graduate school career working in and around AEC firms. Big ones, small ones, all disciplines, growing and declining, profitable and unprofitable – I have worked for, worked in, been an owner, been on the board, and observed from afar all of these. And just this morning I had an epiphany. You can put these firms into one of two buckets. Those that get it when it comes to how to have really good fees and those that don’t.
Mark Zweig
The firms that “get it” make a lot of money. They are very profitable. They pay their owners and employees better than the typical firm in this business. Their owners are happier and their employees are, too. There is less chaos and less panic. You can feel it the moment you step into one of these company’s offices. They are just more successful. The question is, “How did they get there?” There definitely are common traits one could point to. Some of these include: 1. They have owners who expect to be successful. This is such a big part of it – owners who see nothing wrong with making money in this business and haven’t been warped into thinking it takes a vow of poverty to be in it. My personal anecdotal experience says even these people tend to fall into two pots – those who grew up in affluent families where they were simply expected to do well, and those who grew up with little to nothing and don’t ever want to live like that as adults.
2. They are specialized. Specialization not only allows you to charge more but it also helps loosen up the geographic ties that come from being one of many. Contrary to conventional wisdom, specialization is less risky than trying to do everything for everyone. Generalist firms are never the ones getting the best fees. And you don’t have to specialize in only one thing. You can be a multi- speciality firm as you get larger. 3. They pay a lot of attention to marketing and brand-building. Coca-Cola sells far more Coke products at higher prices than generic cola makers do. Why is that? Is it all because the product is better? No. It is because they have consistently outspent their competitors on marketing and advertising, and the payoff from that investment has been enormous. The same strategy works in the AEC business. But it is easier to implement here because we can identify our target clients and hammer just on them versus having to advertise to the entire world. Real “brands” in the
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THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 18, 2025, ISSUE 1598
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