You know better than to neglect everything but what’s right in front of you. But do you know how the most effective A/E/C principals' approach big-picture business strategy design, execution, and measurement? Reboot your thinking with a high-level look at the very best practices.

• What’s the best strategy for your niche services, your commodity services, or if you provide both?
• 7 hurdles to achieving sustainable growth.
• How to manage rapid growth's huge cash demands
• Pros and cons of expanding into new markets
• How to prioritize, plan and monitor strategic expansions.
• Why most firms’ strategic plans are a waste of time, and how to make yours different
• Developing an action-oriented strategic plan that doesn’t gather dust.

Ready to flip the BD script and get more bang for the buck? Learn how to laser focus your firm’s efforts on the most profitable work and keep your backlog full.

• Which markets currently offer high profitability? 
• Ways to get testimonials from 100 of your most important clients.
• Pre-qualify good clients and cull out the bad ones.
• Deal gracefully with bad clients 
• Submit fewer proposals and get more work
• Turn Project Managers and clients into marketers 
• Cross-selling and up-selling to your best clients.

How can you develop new revenue streams? What are the ”vampire-costs” that silently suck the financial lifeblood from A/E/C firms? Just a few tweaks to your management practices can yield startling returns.

• Why obsessing about chargeability won’t boost profits
• 2 factors that combine to drive your firm’s profitability.
• How A/E firms use Intellectual Property to consistently achieve a Direct Labor Multiplier of over 5.0
• Case studies of how A/E firms use Value Pricing to boost profitability
• How to set the optimum price for each of your major markets
• 9 ways to increase your pricing (and get away with it)
• What is “Net Revenue Deficit” and why is it so important to achieving high profitability
• How your firm’s financial performance compares with similar firms and top performing firms

Reviewing and redrawing your org chart’s layers and branches can yield stunning ROI and position your firm for growth. So where do you start, and how do you know when you have it right?

• How a “market-based organizational structure” can be beneficial for your firm
• How to move to a new organizational structure without drama and trauma
  
• How to get offices to work together 
• Why profit centers are passé, and what’s a better way to organize.
• How to get real value from your Board of Directors.
• 13 project management tactics employed by the most successful A/E firms
• How to objectively evaluate the PM performance 
• 4 steps that turn your PMs into superstars
• Why the Estimate-to-Complete method for controlling budgets won’t work for many PMs
• How to stay on top of projects without micromanaging
• Assuring that you have enough PMs for your current and future workload

From mergers to acquisitions to internal ownership transfers, how a firm changes hands will have a profound effect on principals. In this session, get answers to your critical questions about the process.

• Why so many ownership transitions fail and why others succeed
• What to do when an employee says, “I want become an owner”
• Why ownership is different from leadership
• The 3 parties to every ownership transition – and which one must always take priority
• The built-in conflicts of interest between current owners and new owners – and how to overcome them
• 3 keys to successful first-generation ownership transitions.
• Why your valuation model must sync with your strategic growth goal
• Firm valuation strategies that stand up to scrutiny
• PSMJ’s proven 6-step ownership transition process that works for both buyers and sellers.
• How to use Share Appreciation Rights to start making younger employees feel like owners
• The 3 magic words that will make rising stars eager to buy stock in your firm.
• The best ways to finance your ownership transition
• What to do about your ideas for firm-wide improvement
• Recognizing – and overcoming – the 3 major barriers to achieving organizational change

Attention to staffing levels and skillset inventory is important, but a truly effective principal knows how to leverage team member strengths and work around weaknesses. Learn how the top 1% of principals balance workload/resources, attract and retain the most productive contributors, move employees from an entitlement to a “intrapreneurial” culture, and apply proven secrets for motivating key employees.

• Smart compensation strategies for not overpaying or underpaying your staff
• How to use the “Wage Index” to set salaries, not area-based cost of living. 
• 4 factors that affect how management positions, from PM to CEO, should be compensated
• How to employ flexible working arrangements to attract new talent, hang onto your current staff and cut overhead costs
• Developing a bonus program that works for your firm
• HR policies of the most profitable A/E firms
• Recruiting the best and brightest new grads
• Recruiting Millennials that will fit into your culture.
• How to find mid-level and senior-level professionals
• How to recruit great talent in a virtual hiring environment
• How to make sure candidates accept your job offers

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