The ABC’s of proposal writing

Sometimes we need a little reminder on the basics of proposal writing.

1. Always dissect the proposal into an easy to comprehend outline and be considerate of what the client is asking to be presented.

2. Be vocal – We all know that relationships win business, but sometimes there’s an RFP out on the streets from an unknown person/organization/community/etc., that’s a perfect fit for your firm’s qualifications. Don’t let not knowing anyone on the selection committee preclude you from going after the job, but do make a courtesy phone call and try to schedule a meeting to learn more about the project and the client’s needs. Make your presence known before your proposal lands on their desk and your chances of making the shortlist will escalate.

3. Coordinate the staff that will work on the proposal. Give them an outline early on with detailed writing assignments and due dates. Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up.

image credit: flickr user Q is for Quilter

6 steps to building your personal brand

We all know that creating experts is a key way to establish credibility for a firm. When our principals are teachers, presenters, lecturers we have something to talk about. It’s easier to present their credentials for an upcoming project, especially if you’re presenting them to someone who has seen that principal speak. Why then don’t we do the same for ourselves?

Being marketers we’re at an advantage in creating our personal brands. We know the tricks, we know how to get our names out there. And in an environment where job stability is a thing of the past it’s even more important to start building that credibility now. Maybe you’re already on your way to building your personal brand, but if not here are 6 simple steps to get your started:

1. Develop your story: Who are you? What are your professional goals? How are you achieving them? Then talk about it.
2. Think about where your home base is going to be, that URL that you can point people to. Maybe it’s your LinkedIn profile or maybe it’s your personal website. If you haven’t claimed your name as a URL do it now. You may want it later and it would be terrible to build your name only to send traffic to another person’s website.
3. Establish your expertise through blogs. If creating your own blog is too time consuming consider contributing to a blog within your industry. If you’re in the AEC industry SMPS Boston and Help EveryBody Everyday are good places to start.
4. Comment on other people’s blogs, not only does this show your expertise, but it helps raise your name in SEO rankings.
5. Share industry news with your peers through status updates either through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or a combination of all three.
6. Join an organization within your industry and get active.

And for more personal branding tips visit Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Blog.

image credit: Flickr user nicholaslaughlin

How to pick a name

I recently went through a naming exercise for a new business; not for an employer or a client, but for myself. It was a journey of exploration filled with fear and second thoughts. The fear that I’d never find a good name, or at least a good name that was still available. And second thoughts of what if in a year, two years, a decade later I no longer liked the name? Because of my experience in the A/E/C world I started the naming process with my own name, but quickly realized my first name was taken and my last conveyed the wrong image. From there I needed a new strategy. And it’s a strategy I’m sharing with you.

It’s a simple three step process with the only prerequisite being patience.

• Step one: brainstorm names
• Step two: see if the URLs are available
• Step three: start searching the web

Step one: This is the hardest step. Make a list of names that would be suitable for your business (you should be thinking of the brand you want to portray). Consult friends, family, colleagues, strangers, anyone who might have advice. Don’t be shy, the larger the list the more you’ll have to work with once you hit step two. You may also find that a name that was so so when you wrote it down grows on you in a day or two.

Step two: take your list of names and see which ones still have a URL available. You can use any domain registrar like godaddy or network solutions to do this. If the URL isn’t available, cross the name off the list. Even if you think it’s the perfect name, without the URL the name isn’t going to work for you in today’s digital age.

A few things to keep in mind:

• You may have some room to play with the name in order to find an available URL (think theurbanstudio.com vs. urbanstudio.com). Be flexible, but keep your mind centered around the eventual people that will be searching for your company. Make sure you’re not unintentionally directing them to a competitor.

• You’re looking for a .com URL. Others like .us, .net. .whatever are not acceptable substitutions for a .com in business, unless you’re setting up a non-profit. If that’s the case feel free to claim the .org.

• Even if the name is taken, it may still be available. If the URL you want is taken, but inactive, send an inquiry to the person that’s sitting on it with an offer to buy it. You can find contact information through the domain registrar.

Step three: Now you have a list with potential names and accompanying URLS; it’s time to start doing internet searches. Use the major search engines and see what type of competition you’ll have for placement. If your search results in pages of similar business types with similar names you know you’ll need to do a lot of work to start placing above them in the search engines. Even if you can place above your competition, you may not be able to stand out from them. Similarly, if your search results in a flood of results that you’d rather not be associated with then you may want to move along to the next name on your list. The goal of this step is to test your name for searchability. A name that doesn’t result in a lot of search results is going to be easier for you to establish among the search engines.

After completing the three steps you’ll be left with a list of truly viable names. Choose the one you want and quickly register the domain name before someone else scoops it up. Then comes the fun part, it’s time to start creating your brand.

And if you’re curious about what I was naming click here.

The detriment of procrastination

Many people thrive under pressure, or at least they think they do. You know the type (maybe you are the type), they know of a deadline three weeks in advance, promise to themselves and their co-workers that they’re going to begin work immediately, schedule an internal deadline for a final review and arrive to the deadline empty handed. The sadest part is three weeks ago that person whould have had the time to complete the project, but now their schedule has filled up so completely that they need to make the choice of pulling an all-nighter or  passing ownership of the project along to someone else (and effectively disrupting that person’s schedule).

Procrastination is not an isolated act. When you neglect to properly fix the flush handle on the toilet at home, it breaks off in a guest’s hand, not yours. When you neglect to call a partner regarding a teaming opporunity, that would-be-partner teams with someone else, weakening your advantage in winning the job. And when you neglect internal deadlines, you put unnecessary stress on your co-workers.

Why is it then that people procrastinate? Joseph Ferrari Ph.D and Timothy Pychyl Ph.D. point to three types of procrastinators (read more of their finding here):

Arousal Types or Thrill Seekers – they procrastinate to feel the rush
Avoiders – they fear failure or success
Decisional Procrastinators – they just can’t make a decision, regardless

Pegging what type of procrastinator you’re dealing with can help you to navigate around the procrastination or at least lessen it. For the arousal types, give them fake deadlines, for decisional procrastinators make the decisions for them and for avoiders, well, I have no advice for them. Fear is one of those things that can sink us all. If there’s a way to make the person feel safer in their environment that’s probably your best bet – or perhaps something better left to their therapist.

If adaptability is one of your strengths your likely not as bothered by the procrastinator. But if you’re not adaptable, it just might be time to find a new work environment.

image credit: Flickr user Sonrisa Electrica

Happy birthday to me

One of the things I enjoy about my birthday is the barrage of special gifts from my favorite retailers and restaurants. I appreciate them all, because they’re from establishments where I already shop and eat. And I’m sure the marketers at the various companies appreciate my birthday, simply because it’s an opportunity for them to remind me that they exist. If you collect birthdates in your demographic information and you’re not using them, you’re throwing away a key opportunity to reach out to your customers. Afterall, who turns down, or leaves a birthday card unopned. For inspiration here’s a list (with commentary) of this year’s bounty:

• Sephora – free mini makeup kit for eyes (what girl doesn’t love free make-up?)

• ING Direct – 15% off their on-line store (if you want me to sport your logo gear you should be paying me not the other way around, even with a discount)

• Boloco – free burrito on my Boloco card (all I can say is YUM)

• Starbucks – free coffee drink (this would have been even better if Starbucks didn’t lead with the line “We noticed your star isn’t shining as bright” really? are you trying to tell me I’m getting old Starbucks?)

• Banana Republic – $15 gift card (someone is getting a new outfit for their birthday)

• Sel de la Terre – 20% off any purchase in February (this is one of my favorite restaurants)

• Craigie On Main – Free signature cocktail and free surprise gift on my birthday (great way to try to get me to the restuarant for my birthday, but I’m off to Coppa instead, too bad this isn’t valid for my entire birthday month)

image credit: Flickr user Sweet! Cupcakes and Treats (Just Cupcakes!) Wow, that’s a long username…

Don’t let your customers expire

I seem to be expiring. Frist, my PF Changs Warrior Card expired (which seems absoluately ridicoulous as it’s the first free membership rewards card I’ve ever had expire) and then my trial membership to Boston Sports Club expired. One company was proactive in getting me to rejoin one was reactive.

PF Changs informed me of my expired card the last time I tried to use it, with an “I’m sorry I’m not going to be able to give you 10% off your meal because your card is expired.” I had no idea the Warrior card had an expiration date, mine was less than a year old. No one at the restaurant was able to re-up my card. I had to apply for a new one and wait for that new one to arrive in the mail. Not a thoughtful approach to a members reward program.

Boston Sports Club on the other hand called me the day my membership was set to expire. I didn’t return the call, but the point is they made the effort. Could the effort have been better? Sure, they could have offered me a discount to convert my trial membership into an active membership, but then again I was already coming off a reduced rate so why dilute your brand with a “there’s always a discount” message.

Here’s the lesson. An active customer is more likely to respond to your messages. They want to know how to continue in programs that might be expiring or at least know that their benefits are coming to an end before they hand over what they don’t know is an expired card. Brands have membership programs, reduced rate trials, etc for a reason. In order to fill the sales pipeline and make more sales. Take full advantage of that pipeline. It was hard to get the customer there, don’t let them slip through cracks via poor communication.

New Year, new [fill in the blank]

The new year offers us all a time for reflection and looking forward. It’s a time to make new promises to ourselves and begin on the adventure of self improvement. There was once a time when I would habitually make new year resolutions; this year I’ve thrown the need for an annual resolution by the wayside. The reason – there seems to be so many changes on the horizon of 2010 that I don’t dare complicate life further by yet another change.

Here’s how my new year is shaping up so far: last month I invested a lot of time into my professional hobby, chocolate making. It paid off and now I have new opportunities and much more experimentation ahead of me. I have no idea where it will lead, but it will be a tasty traverse. And while we’re on the subject of chocolate, my chocolate making teaching career (a term a use lightly) with Taste of Chocolate is full speed ahead. By the time I’m through, all of Boston will be expert in truffle making.

I have a good friend with a great idea for an apparel accessory of sorts. We’ll be working together to explore the possibilities.

And lastly, my real job, we’re entering the frontier where many design firms have gone before (many within the past year) – we’re down to a 4 day work week. It was a move that was made with much thought and preparation. And a move which should strengthen our position as we come out the other (hopefully short lived) end. With this thoughtfulness will come many new marketing initiatives for 2010, including a new website.

2010 will be nothing less than exciting. It is because of the inherent change built within changes already underway that I find no need for a 2010 resolution. But to the rest of you – good luck fulfilling the new and improved you.

Image credit: Flickr user Amir K.

December calendar ready for download

It’s December and that can only mean one thing – the last installment in my 2009 calendar series is ready for download. December is a chilly depiction of pine trees ready to be decorated to celebrate the season. Download your copy today and remember it’s sized to print on 5×7 card stock.

A recap of McGraw Hill’s 2010 Construction Outlook

This week is Build Boston week in, well, Boston. Sponsored by the Boston Society of Architects (Boston’s local AIA chapter), it’s a week where architects from New England and beyond converge upon the city for a crash course in everything of interest in the profession and pick up their much coveted learning units along the way.

On Wednesday I had the pleasure (or was it self-inflicted torture) of sitting in on McGraw Hill’s 2010 Construction Outlook presented by VP of Economic Affairs, Robert Murray. I say torture only because of the often depressing data that was presented. The good news is things are getting better, the bad news – many of the things that are getting better are merely presenting in lower negative numbers. For example, in 2010 commercial building starts are expected to be at negative 4 percent, in 2009 that number was negative 43 percent.

Here are some  highlights I took away:

• There’s lots of talk about new urbanism, smart growth and transit oriented development. As I enjoy the benefits of urban living every day I think these are all great things. However, the data is showing that it’s still the big box stores and single family residences that are getting built. I think it’s going to take a stronger economy before developers and banks are flush enough to return to funding more creative urbanistic projects.

• Residential construction will start rebounding first, composed primarily of single family and small scale multi-family housing. This could be a nice boost for single architects that have decided to set up shop on their own after a layoff. Sole practitioners and/or small firms are more nimble by nature and can reap more from small fee jobs than the big firms can, putting the smaller guys at an advantage for long term success.

• Having the knowledge and experience working with sites in need of environmental clean-up will be a strong competitive advantage as we see growth in spending resulting from stimulus funds distributed to the EPA, Corps of Engineers and DOE ($17.8 billion). In most cases previous matching requirements for cities and towns to take advantage of these funds will be waved. Money for the 2^nd round of stimulus dollars needs to be allocated by March 2010.

• Now is the time to be looking at transit oriented development as these projects will likely start breaking ground in 2011. However, as I stated in my first point, we need to look at ways to make these successful without relying on big box stores. To make TOD truly livable we need to be thinking lifestyle retail and take the gamble that this market too will come back. In Massachusetts we have Westwood Station as one of our TOD projects that has been put on hold. Robert noted that while this project started out incorporating a mix of lifestyle retail with a couple anchors, the developers are now looking to bring in more big box stores to help lift the project off the ground.

These are just some of the takeaways from 30 data laden pages of slides that were presented. If you’d like a copy of the presentation send me an email and I’ll be happy to share the document with you. Vconyngham [at] gmail [dot] com.

Top 5 annoying sales habits

I’m looking at doing a few different projects at my office. Each one requires the use of an outside vendor. I’ve dealt with salespeople before – hey, I’m in marketing, I’m part of the sales process. But this round has been different. I’m not sure if it’s bad luck or too many people reading too many books on sales processes, but I’ve come across a lot of annoying sales habits lately. I’m sharing my top 5 with you in hopes that you wont repeat the offenses.

My (current) top 5 annoying sales habits:

• email read receipts – don’t give me an extra step in reading your email. I really don’t care to let you know that I’ve read your message, or deleted it.

• Pick up the phone and call me if you have a question, but please don’t ask me to attend a web meeting in order to review something mundane. I don’t care about your sales process and looking at a contract via a web meeting just annoys me.

• Don’t tell me that I need to make a decision today so that you can make your sales numbers for the month – you making your sales numbers is really of no interest to me. Remember, in this transaction I care about me, not you.

• Emails sent front salesforce – it just makes you look like a sales weasel. Don’t make your tracking process obvious to me. It makes me feel like a number instead of a human being.

• Don’t tell me what I need before you’ve asked me what problem I’m trying to solve – It makes you sound ignorant.

image credit: flickr user BarelyFitz’s