1201

t Hoying

Zweig Group is social and posting every day! C O N N E C T W I T H U S

facebook.com/ ZweigGroup

twitter.com/ ZweigGroup

linkedin.com/company/ ZweigWhite

blog. ZweigGroup .com vimeo.com/ ZweigGroup

MH: We have a board of advisors as our outside board. We look for board members who are not related to our compa- ny or business, so the emotion is taken out of their input. When searching for new members, we take a good look at our strategic plan and business model canvas to see where we could use the most input in the next couple of years to reach our plan/goals. We then go in search of people who have succeeded with those issues with their own companies. “We not only share our financial numbers with employees, but we educate them on what the numbers mean and how they can impact those numbers, as well as provide them a share in the success of the company through bonuses and ownership opportunities.” TZL: Is there a secret to effective ownership transition? MH: The secret is to have a plan, and to make that plan known to everyone in the company as soon as possible. With clarity and direction, the entire company can then work towards making the transition successful. For exam- ple, we had a transition plan for president that we made people aware of seven years ago. This past fall, that transi- tion occurred smoothly because everyone had been work- ing towards that transition. There were no surprises, no loss of knowledge (experience yes, knowledge no), or interrup- tions in the day-to-day activities of the business. There is also no jealousy or hurt feelings of employees who felt like they were passed up for the position. TZL: How do you go about winning work? MH: Through building relationships. Yes, we have to submit proposals and RFQs/LOIs, but we win work because clients enjoy working with us. We go out of our way to extend our culture to our clients so that they feel comfortable working with us and choose to do so time and time again. TZL: What’s the greatest problem to overcome in the pro- posal process? MH: Making ourselves stand out as not only capable of the technical aspect of the project, but also highlighting the in- tangibles that we can bring to the project and project team. Getting the client to see the value in what we can bring, in terms of the specifics, that other firms may not be able to is important and challenging. TZL: Once you’ve won a contract, what are the “marching orders” for your PMs? MH: Get to know the client. Understand how they like to operate and find out what we can do to make their project the least of their worries. Once we know that, we can better

schedule our work, assign our design team, and carry out the scope of the project successfully. TZL: How does marketing contribute to your success rate? Are you content with your marketing efforts, or do you think you should increase/decrease marketing? MH: Lead generation is certainly important to our success rate. We have an excellent in-house lead generation team that really understands who we are and who our clients are. With that understanding, they are able to prepare our de- sired messaging and deliver that message in a way that will be effective to our clients. TZL: What has your firm done recently to upgrade its IT system? MH: We have recently outsourced our IT to a company that is experienced with helping companies with multiple offices run as one cohesive unit. This investment in a new server system allows us all to work congruently and also gives peo- ple the flexibility to work remotely. TZL: What’s the best way to recruit and retain top talent in a tight labor market? MH: We have to be out there selling ourselves as much to our clients as to our next employees. We attend career fairs and get involved with local schools to attract our talent ear- ly. We are able to sell not only the work we do, but also the culture we have and who we are. People want to be a part of something that is focused on more than just the bottom line. “Culture is extremely important to us, and we feel the best way to control that culture is to grow organically. Many of our full- time hires have been co-ops with us for three or four terms, which gives them a chance to get to know our culture, and us an opportunity to gauge their fit within that culture.” TZL: What’s the key benefit you give to your employees? Flex schedule, incentive compensation, 401(k), etc.? MH: Treating everyone like owners. Nobody here gets spe- cial treatment or a more flexible schedule than anyone else. Additionally, we not only share our financial numbers with employees, but we educate them on what the numbers mean and how they can impact those numbers, as well as provide them a share in the success of the company through bonuses and ownership opportunities. TZL: How do you raise capital? See CONFERENCE CALL, page 8

22 , 2017, ISSUE 1201

Made with FlippingBook Annual report