1186

renant

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

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? CS: Marketing is a huge part of our success rate in winning work. Our marketing group works in three areas: ❚ ❚ Strategic communications (proposal writing and development of statements of qualifications) ❚ ❚ General awareness building (external marketing of ISG in our geographies and markets we serve) ❚ ❚ Internal communications (internal events, communications, assistance with recruits and new hires, etc.). ❚ ❚ We are somewhat content with our marketing efforts; how- ever, we have added considerably to the number and talent in that area. We anticipate more investment in this area because with the right marketing team, ROI is evident. TZL: What has your firm done recently to upgrade its IT system? CS: To keep up with recent geographic expansions and a more mobile work staff, we’ve had to recognize a greater de- mand on systems. As a result, we’ve made two significant investments in the last couple of years: ❚ ❚ A virtual desktop network which allows our staff easy access to our system wherever they are as well as full utilization of centrally-located files and software. ❚ ❚ An upgraded telecommunications system. TZL: What’s the best way to recruit and retain top talent in a tight labor market? CS: Recruitment: It’s far easier to recruit younger staff di- rectly from colleges and institutions than it is to recruit those rooted in careers elsewhere. It is also extremely im- portant to put the right people in place to do the recruiting. That is not always human resources personnel, but rather those who resonate with the target in age, interests, back- ground, life experiences, etc. “Develop professional growth opportunities. Communicate them clearly and frequently. Good people want to be in the know and understand how they can influence the firm’s strategies.” Retention: Develop professional growth opportunities. Communicate them clearly and frequently. Good people want to be in the know and understand how they can influ- ence the firm’s strategies. TZL: What’s the key benefit you give to your employees? Flex schedule, incentive comp., 401(k), etc.? See CONFERENCE CALL, page 8

at the 12 markets we serve and categorize them in one of three ways:

1) Focus/mature 2) Focus/growth 3) Opportunistic

Focus markets get the most of our strategic planning be- cause they represent work that has repetitive clients, and the mature versus growth represents where we feel we have a strong resume and can compete. Or have the opportunity to strengthen or expand our resume. For example, focus/ growth may be an area where we want to find a strategic partner to win work. We define opportunistic markets as those without a steady stream of work. Typically, the work lands in your lap due to the geography you are in, and you can determine how aggressively you wish to pursue it. “The proposal needs to be eye-catching, approachable, and informative without being texty and drawn out. Seeing a page full of text is an immediate turn off.” After that, eachmarket we serve has a strategic market plan. We look at current clients, clients we’d like to serve, and ex- amine the business development efforts, human resources, opportunities to establish ourselves as market leaders, stra- tegic partners, acquisition targets (either firms or individu- als), technology needed, predictive indicators, etc. TZL: What’s the greatest problem to overcome in the pro- posal process? CS: First – the urge to be too wordy. The proposal needs to be eye-catching, approachable, and informative without be- ing texty and drawn out. Seeing a page full of text is an im- mediate turn off. Second – there’s always a struggle between being efficient (a desire to replicate as much as you can) and being original with thought and content. Great marketing staff can make mediocre great, but they need the base information from the project managers. Allowing marketing staff the author- ity to question and push is a necessity because many project managers don’t have the time or creativity to convey their thoughts well in the proposal process. TZL: Once you’ve won a contract, what are the “marching orders” for your PMs? CS: Immediately, we fully develop the team. During the in- ternal kickoff meeting, we discuss contract type, client hot buttons, deadlines, opportunities to exceed expectations, and the big picture. There are times that an initial contract is an opportunity to open other doors, but if we don’t com- municate what those are, our likelihood of succeeding in those opportunistic endeavors is minimized.

ruary 6, 2017, ISSUE 1186

Made with FlippingBook Annual report