Tag: Build Business 2008

Build Business 2008: Wrap-up

On By Tim KlabundeIn Marketing, Networking, RelationshipsLeave a comment

This years SMPS Build Business conference was nothing short of great: great friends, great information, and great fun. Some of my personal highlights included speaking at CPSM day on Wednesday on Building a Company of Rainmakers, celebrating with friends at this year’s awards gala, and finally meeting Randy Pollock, Mark Buckshon, and Mel Lester in person. I would like to say a special thanks to Kevin Doyle who worked with me at length to make certain everything went smoothly on CPSM day. Also, extra thanks to Ron Worth, Lisa Bowman, Michele Santiago, Mark DellaPietra, Bill Scott, Christine Chirichella and the rest of the SMPS National staff that made Build Business such a great success. I have enjoyed getting to know so many of the SMPS staff and I am nothing less than impressed at the incredible job they have done as SMPS continues to grow.

Later this week I will post a follow-up to Building a Company of Rainmakers for those of you that are now apart of this blog’s network after attending Wednesday’s seminar. Also check out the PSMJ Resources Blog that was also active during Build Business this year for additional follow-up from the conference. Thanks for the great coverage Ed!

Thank you again SMPS, I look forward to seeing all of you next year in Las Vegas for Build Business 2009!

Build Business 2008: You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader

On By Tim KlabundeIn Business2 Comments

You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader: How Anyone at Any Level Can Make a Positive Difference

Speaker: Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE
Bestselling author of The Fred Factor and You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader

Favorite Quotes from the Session
“Marketing creates demand, not a sale”
“Having a title does not make you a leader”

Key Takeaways

  • Leadership is Positive Influence
  • Leaders can be identified by their ability to inspire others to be better
  • A leaders purpose is to grow people

Six (6) Skills of Leadership

  1. Leadership begins with Self Mastery. You must first be an example before you can lead others. Everything you do promotes or pollutes. Take responsibility for your own actions.
  2. Focus your time and expertise on your most valuable activities. Then focus your team’s time and expertise on the most valuable activities. Create shared focus.
  3. Leaders have power with people, not over people
  4. Managers tell people what to do; Leaders sell people on doing it.
  5. Your success is based on your execution. Say what you are going to do, and do what you say.
  6. Leaders focus more on what they give than on what they get.

Your Legacy will be what you give, not what you get.

Mark provided the following link to conference attendees to learn more:
http://www.marksanborn.com/buildbusiness

Build Business 2008: The Medici Effect

On By Tim KlabundeIn BusinessLeave a comment

The Medici Effect
Groundbreaking Innovation at the Intersection of Disciplines and Cultures

Speaker: Frank Johnson
Bestselling author of The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Ideas at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, & Cultures.

Favorite Quote from the session
“If you always look at the same places you will always come up with the same ideas.”

Key Takeaways
Diversity Drives Innovation
The world is changing quickly so we must innovate to survive
Intersections of diverse ideas, people, concepts, etc… are the best places for innovation

Keys to Transform:
1. Find inspiration from fields or cultures other than your own… then dare to explore the connections
2. Staff for Innovation
- Surround yourself with people that are different than yourself
- Go to different people for advise
- Hire people from outside your industry
3. Leverage Existing Diversity
- Actively try to find the connections between existing knowledge bases
4. Unique prospectives do not automatically happen
- You must place team members in new circumstances and in new places to get new innovations
5. Get ideas from people in other industries
6. Diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams… but they need more time to ramp-up
7. ACT! Try as many ideas as you can. Many will fail, but some will succeed
8. Use diversity to make connections that yield success.

Someone is going to innovate and make the connections, why not you?

Build Business 2008: Lead Tracking and Client Relationship Management – Group 3

On By Tim KlabundeIn Marketing1 Comment

Group 3 Members:

Tim Klabunde - William H. Gordon Associates – Moderator

Carie Dunn, CPSM – Trivers Associates

Denise Ann Balko, CPSM – BBC&M Engineering

Diane Hathcoat, CPSM – BAMO

Dinah Layton, CPSM – SLATERPAULL Architects

Elizabeth Connolly, CPSM – TOWILL

James Byrnes, CPSM – Erdman Anthony

Jennifer Ganley, CPSM – ARUP

Jessica McGaa, CPSM – Perkins + Will

Joanmarie Eggert, CPSM – Kennedy/Jenks Consultants

Joy Woo, CPSM – EDAW/AECOM

Karen Carr, CPSM – Stafford King Wiese

Lee Jarboe, CPSM – McCarthy

Marisa Verga, CPSM – Barton Malow

Mary Fogle, CPSM – Structural Engineering Services

Phyllis Boyea, CPSM – Rolf Jensen & Associates

Sean Lewis, CPSM – Absher Construction Company

Stacey Ho, MBA, CPSM – Kennedy/Jenks Consultants

Suvi Caton, CPSM – Adolfson & Peterson Construction

Session Overview:

Regularly turning leads into work is one of the most important actions that a company takes to solidify its future workloads and establish its growth path. Discussions centered on best practices and lessons learned on managing the lead tracking and relationship process through client relationship management systems. Each of the three groups (Posted separately here) developed a list of the ‘Top 10 Keys to Managing Leads.” That list for this group is provided below:
Top 10 Keys to Managing Leads
  1. Link all of your systems together (Marketing, Accounting, and HR)
  2. Develop Standards, Processes, and Procedures
  3. Don’t just train users how to use the system, but also train them about the purposes of the system (Build Buy-in)
  4. Develop a strong project close-out process that updates the data upon project completion
  5. Build accountability to the system by linking it with things that must be done
  6. Limit projects that you develop project write-ups about. One way to do this is to choose a fee amount for projects that won’t be entered into the system.
  7. Have a ‘sync’ feature between your CRM and individuals Microsoft Outlook contacts
  8. Match-Key software can be used to identify duplicate entries in your CRM
  9. Build a strong link between users in Marketing, Accounting, and HR
  10. Pay the extra money for 1st class mail so you can identify errors in your client information with every mailing.
  11. BONUS: Having buy-in from the top of an organization is needed for successful implementation

Build Business 2008: Lead Tracking and Client Relationship Management – Group 2

On By Tim KlabundeIn MarketingLeave a comment

Group 2 Members:

Tim Klabunde - William H. Gordon Associates - Moderator

Carrie Mandelin, CPSM – Mortenson Construction

Debbie Gilbert, CPSM – McCulloch England Associates Architects

Emily Crandall, CPSM – Horizon Engineering

Kelly Ryan, CPSM – Architects Mosher Drew Watson Ferguson

Lori Slivensky, CPSM – Swinerton Builders

Matt deWit, CPSM – Geosyntec Consultants

Megan Muter, CPSM – HDR Architecture

Michelle Yates, CPSM – Lawrence Group

Paula Harris, CPSM – Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon

Robin Tsuchida, AIA, LEED AP, DBIA, CPSM – SUNDT

Sara Paul, LEED AP, CPSM – ARUP

Sheila Gonzales, CPSM – Provost & Pritchard Engineering Group

Stacy Robben, LEED AP, CPSM – HOK

Terry Ann Clifford, CPSM – Dibble Engineering

Tracy Sagehorn, CPSM – ColeJenest & Stone

Session Overview:

Regularly turning leads into work is one of the most important actions that a company takes to solidify its future workloads and establish its growth path. Discussions centered on best practices and lessons learned on managing the lead tracking and relationship process through client relationship management systems. Each of the three groups (Posted separately here) developed a list of the ‘Top 10 Keys to Managing Leads.” That list for this group is provided below:

Group 2: Top 10 Keys to Managing Leads

  1. Build an accountability system linked to your CRM
  2. Control and limit access to the system to preserve data integrity
  3. Establish specific standards on data entry and enforce them
  4. Identify ownership of not just the system, but also the fields in the system. What fields are Marketing, Accounting, and HR accountable for?
  5. When starting a new client relationship tracking system make marketing department responsible for the initial data entry and then transition the responsibility to the users of that data.
  6. Develop an effective “carrot” to motivate employees to use the system such as goals that are linked to the data drawn from the system.
  7. Ensure that project closeout forms are completed prior to accounting closing the job so that the database is always up to date.
  8. Clean up data before you download it into a new system
  9. “Draw a line in the sand” when starting a new lead tracking system. Do not complete old data entry unless it is required. This will significantly lower starting costs and allow for a focus on new information.
  10. Bring marketing and accounting together on a regular basis to facilitate communication regarding the shared systems.
  11. BONUS: Start with your end goals/objectives in mind

Build Business 2008: Lead Tracking and Client Relationship Management – Group 1

On By Tim KlabundeIn MarketingLeave a comment

Group 1 Members:

Tim Klabunde - William H. Gordon Associates - Moderator

Dale A. Walker, CPSM – Francis Cauffman

Danna Olivo, CPSM – Turner Construction

Harry Lawrence, CPSM – RGA Environmental

Julia Oseland, CPSM – Harris & Associates

Lisa Thut, CPSM – Furgo Onshore Geotechnics

Lynn DiPlacito, CPSM – GossenLivingston

Shannon Bond, CPSM – PSOMAS

Shivina Waterman, CPSM – Winter Construction

Tracy Allen, CPSM – SANDIS

Session Overview:

Regularly turning leads into work is one of the most important actions that a company takes to solidify its future workloads and establish its growth path. Discussions centered on best practices and lessons learned on managing the lead tracking and relationship process through client relationship management systems. Each of the three groups (Posted separately here) developed a list of the ‘Top 10 Keys to Managing Leads.” That list for this group is provided below:

Group 1: Top 10 Keys to Managing Leads

  1. When developing a CRM you need to identify your end product first, and then base the development of your system on achieving that end result.
  2. No one system is the right solution for every company. Identify your needs and develop a system that fits your requirements and company culture.
  3. All user groups need to be involved in the discussions about and selection of a new CRM system.
  4. Clearly define the terms you use in a database. For example: be certain everyone agrees what a ‘lead’ is versus a ‘prospect.’
  5. Develop realistic expectations about the system before it is implemented. This will ensure managers and users understand the limitations and opportunities of the system.
  6. Look at your existing systems to develop what you need. What tools are you missing today that would help your staff be more successful?
  7. Discuss who will maintain control of the system before you implement it.
  8. Focus on getting buy-in prior to purchasing your system.
  9. Your system needs to track relationships for followed up and provide a reminder when the follow-up needs to occur.
  10. “Draw a line in the sand” when starting a new lead tracking system. Do not complete old data entry unless it is required. This will significantly lower starting costs and allow for a focus on new information.