Resources
FALL PLANNING: INTELLIGENCE YOU NEED
Before the off-site, the goals, and the spreadsheets...HERE IS WHAT TO GATHER FIRST. September feels like the planning month. October is when the off-sites happen, and the goals get set. November is when the documents get finalized. But the firms that show up to those...
IS IT TIME TO HIRE A GROWTH CONSULTANT?
If you are reading this, something is already prompting the question. Maybe Q1 landed harder than you expected. Maybe the team is executing well, but the firm is not winning the work it should be. Maybe you have a growth plan that everyone nodded at, and nobody has...
THE K-12 CONSTRUCTION MARKET HAS THREE LAYERS. MOST AEC FIRMS ONLY SEE ONE.
The national K-12 construction market looks healthy from a distance. Enrollment is large, facility stock is aging, and communities across the country are investing in schools. Pull back the lens a little further, and the picture gets more nuanced — and more...
THE EVOLUTION OF AEC MARKETING STRATEGY: AND THE QUIET SHIFTS THAT CHANGED GROWTH
Over the past 25 years, the AEC industry hasn’t changed overnight. It has shifted gradually—through signals many of us didn’t recognize until they became impossible to ignore. As a strategic growth consultant working with architecture, engineering, and construction...
BEFORE YOU KICK OFF YOUR NEXT INITIATIVE, ASK THIS ONE QUESTION
It’s the question we ask first when a firm brings us in to lead a growth initiative, a rebrand, a new market entry, or a post-merger alignment. And it’s the question that, honestly, most executive teams can’t answer cleanly. Initiatives in AEC tend to get set up the...
Q1 IS OVER. IS YOUR AEC GROWTH PLAN STILL WORKING?
A lot has changed since October. Here’s how to tell if your AEC Growth Plan is still pointing at the right target —and what to do when it isn’t.April is the moment of truth for most AEC growth plans. Q1 is behind you, Q2 is just getting started, and somewhere between...
GROUNDHOG DAY AND YOUR BUSINESS PLAN: WHAT TO ADJUST NOW
January has a funny way of sobering us up. In the fall, you planned. You workshopped. You debated priorities. You built the business plan, nodded confidently, and kicked things off on January 1 with fresh notebooks and big energy. And now it is late January. The...
AEC GROWTH PROFESSIONALS DAY: CELEBRATING THE SMPS COMMUNITY
On January 8, the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) celebrates AEC Growth Professionals Day—a moment dedicated to recognizing the marketers, business developers, and strategists who drive growth across the architecture, engineering, and construction...
IS YOUR AEC FIRM READY FOR THE NEW SEARCH LANDSCAPE?
If there’s a theme emerging from our LeadForward session with Ida Cheinman of Substance151, it’s that technology isn’t slowing down to let anyone catch up. The first blog in this series explored how tools like Amplify and Qualtrics can support employee advocacy — but...
TECH CAN’T REPLACE CULTURE: EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY LESSONS FROM LEADFORWARD
Ida Cheinman of Substance151 kicked off a LeadForward session with a powerful conversation about employee advocacy, technology, and culture in AEC firms. She opened with a simple but important question: How do we truly know when employees are proud of their workplace?...
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