In the News

I recently sat down with Ken Higa, Marketing Director for the Atlanta office of Perkins + Will to learn more about how he approaches budgeting for marketing in professional services. As a trained architect with an MBA, and whose other roles have included Principal and Studio Director, Ken is a very savvy budgeting guy. This article summarizes our discussions related to the historical context of marketing AE services, establishing a more integrated approach to financial management and improving the firm’s ability to track returns on its investments with the help of tools like Deltek Vision.

Hebblethwaite: What was the context behind your interest in finding a better way to budget for marketing?

Higa:  I’ve always been intrigued with the relatively short history of marketing professional services. AIA’s 1909 Principals of Practice forbid architects from doing most familiar marketing activity as another form of “advertising.” No proposals, no job signs, no free work, basically just a firm name and number in the Yellow Pages. That changed in the early 1970’s when the Justice Department sued AIA for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act because of its structured fee schedule. The legal profession also had its own battle in Arizona claiming violations of free speech. Long story short, that got the ball rolling. Things are obviously very different today, and marketing is a very complex strategic function of the successful practice.

Hebblethwaite: Our tools are much better these days too, right?

Higa: Well, yes - both for delivering our work and managing business information. These business tools allow us to plan, manage and leverage our marketing activities more effectively – no matter how big or small the firm is. Embracing those tools is essential for running a successful practice today. Young entrepreneurial designers are recognizing this.

Hebblethwaite: You went back and got your MBA. What kinds of budgeting improvements were you looking for in the roles you’ve occupied?

Higa: The typical way accounting looks at expenses just didn’t tell the whole story. Knowing how much we spent on paperclips and printer ink can’t help me plan the strategic activities that will win work. Marketing costs live in lots of buckets – computers, supplies, vendor services – and it’s hard to fully analyze the return on those individual costs. Using a more activity-based approach allows us to take a more project-focused look at how we’re spending money and time. That project approach actually makes sense to most design principals – and it’s a known methodology in systems like Deltek Vision.

Hebblethwaite: What are some good starter “projects” using this type of approach?

Higa: Start with the premise that you’ll track what you REALLY want to measure. Pursuits/Opportunities will likely be a third or more of your budget. Photography is a common one for architects – the obvious expense of the service plus tracking your staff’s coordination time. Other common examples include conference attendance and public relations. Come up with good pneumonic naming conventions – most people can remember things like “BD” for business development, and it’s easy to pull that up on your timesheet.

Hebblethwaite: Are you able to use this approach for multiple business units or studios?

Higa: Absolutely. You should cross that project list against whatever your firm’s meaningful groups are: Offices, Profit Centers, Studios, Practice Area. These marketing projects then can be used to track real time and real expense just like your revenue-generating projects. That really enables you to get good snapshots for analyzing specific marketing investments and determining their value, like the healthcare studio’s attendance at industry conferences during the past year.

Hebblethwaite: How did you go about convincing your leadership to change the budgeting approach?

Higa: They knew this process would help identify where the real value was (or wasn’t) in certain marketing activities – and educate the staff about the cost implications. They also liked taking accountability for marketing activities to the individual timesheet level. Each person can stop and think, “What marketing activity am I really doing right now?” This helps reduce the tendency for marketing to become a big bucket with a hole in the bottom. I also had to help them understand that we needed to collect data for a period of time before meaningful analysis would occur – that took about a year for us initially.

Hebblethwaite: How do you approach analyzing and sharing information that you’ve collected using activity-based budgeting?

Higa: After collecting data for a while, showing people meaningful information really wasn’t that difficult. I would regularly hear from other principals, “Wow, you know all this stuff?” It helps them realize the cost of their efforts and decisions in a non-threatening way. You have to be careful not to give people all the data all the time. Like any other important business communication, take stock of your audience and determine how they like to digest information. For some, a summary list of bullets is all you need; for others, the prettier the graphic the better. Human interpretation really helps others see meaning.

Hebblethwaite: This approach must need at least a conversational relationship with other departments. What do I do if that’s still an “opportunity” at my firm?

Higa: No question. None of this would be possible without partnerships with accounting, as well as your Deltek experts and firm leadership. One unifying goal is getting the budget in-line with your strategy and annual goals – that helps everyone. When people realize there’s both quantitative and qualitative meaning in this process, they quickly see how they can be involved and contribute. It’s really important to develop some one-on-one relationships to help move things forward. I approached our head Deltek Vision expert and showed him my ideas – he was thrilled and said, “Wow, a marketing person that understands Vision, that’s AWESOME!” Things went very smoothly after that, but someone had to make the first effort. Marketing professionals are typically good at that.

Hebblethwaite: Agreed! So what’s the big takeaway?

Higa: At the end of the day, we’re all people just trying to get our jobs done. Getting the team on the same page about mundane topics like cost analysis and budgeting really helps you focus on what’s important: the strategy you started with, understanding the facts, and making better decisions about future investments and initiatives. It’s a team sport and marketing professionals can be great coaches!

Ken Higa can be reached at Ken.Higa@perkinswill.com and Kevin Hebblethwaite can be reached at khebblethwaite@fullsailpartners.com.

 

Deltek Vision CRM is uniquely designed for scalability within your organization. Whether you are a novice user, or a tenured pro, Deltek Vision CRM is designed to allow you quick and easy access to the relationship data that will separate your firm from the rest of the pack! However, regardless of the capabilities of the software, the success of your firm’s rollout is affected heavily by your past experiences with services management platforms, the firm’s overall culture and philosophies of client management, and your users’ level of buy-in. Maximizing the value that the system brings to your firm requires careful planning and strong commitments to the implementation. 

Initially, you really need to have your act together regarding the overall objectives for improving the firm’s information management. It requires a core group of people to roll up their sleeves and connect the dots between business process and software tools. Once you have these important objectives defined, you can move forward with tailoring the system to support them.

In this discussion, we’ll focus on the following basic elements of handling critical information: collection, accessibility, management and lifecycle.

Collection

One of the most important, and obvious, things we must do with any successful information system is, oddly enough, collect information. When you consider all the data in your miscellaneous spreadsheets, business card piles, Outlook shared folders and “head knowledge” that you DON’T currently have in Vision, the task can be a little overwhelming. Develop capture processes that are efficient, consistent, and make the best use of the people resources you have available. Find any way possible to help unify your team around the belief that Vision is the firm’s single source of truth for the information it’s designed to collect.

Accessibility

It regularly boggles my mind that some users of an information tool as powerful as Deltek Vision take ten minutes or more to get logged in. There are plenty of reasons – I forgot my ID/password, lost the shortcut, can’t remember the URL, have to be at the office for it to work, and so on. Make Vision more accessible by:

• Creating Start Menu or Desktop shortcuts with Vision’s URL
• Using the Microsoft Office Desktop Integration utility (included with Deltek Vision CRM license
• Getting mobile with Touch CRM – Vision contact information literally at your fingertips!

As you gather tips and tricks from your power users, build internal training content and SHARE them. Do whatever you can to make “hard to get in” an unacceptable excuse for staying OUT of Vision. 

Management

Once you’ve paved the path into Vision, teach users how to quickly navigate, find what they’re looking for, and simplify the presentation of information that’s most critical. Mastering the art of searching in Vision is VERY important. The good news is that once you’ve figured it out, you can leverage the skill in any area. Remember that Standard Searches lookup records based on Vision’s basic individual fields. Advanced Searches allow you to construct multi-layered “AND/OR” parameters, search based on custom fields AND (Boolean pun intended) search across info centers! Help your users practice stating their searches out loud before building them in Vision. For those searches you seem to do over again every other week, set them up as Global Favorites. This will make your efforts to find all projects in the states of Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota, for which William Apple was Principal-in-Charge, the fee was greater than $100,000, and whose Long Name started with the letter Z, much more efficient. 

After creating a team of Search Gurus around your office, you can then help each become “Master of His/Her Dashboard.” Again, state out loud what lists, reports, or resources would be awesome to have available each time you log-in to Vision. Figure out which of these items can be displayed on Vision’s dashboard (unique to each Vision user account), choose some cool border colors, and off you go! 

Lifecycle

Typing information over again that already exists in a database is for people who have too much time on their hands. Once you have created a Lead named Bob Smith, who works for XYZ Company, which will soon build a New Headquarters Expansion, located in Nashville, Tennessee, wouldn’t you like Vision to simply pass this information forward through your phases of identifying, pursuing, winning and delivering the project? If so, your next “back to basics” move is to help your firm use Vision’s “Create From…” functionality. Vision can take data you already have and use it in new records in the following ways:

• Lead > “Convert” to Contact/Client/Opportunity
• Promotional and Regular Projects “Created from” < Opportunities
• Project Plans “Created from” < OpportunProject Plans “Created from” < Existing Promotional and Regular Projects
• Promotional and Regular Projects “Created from” < Project Plans

Before you go cross-eyed figuring out all this movement, understand that you need to first identify and sketch out your firm’s project lifecycle before effectively using Vision’s “Create From…” functionality. Think about the following questions:

• When do we want a prospective project to be "on the list" or counted in the sales forecast?
• When do we want to start tracking time and expense directly associated with a pursuit?
• When do we need to start planning and allocating staff resources to a likely project win?

Your answers will help determine points in your cycle where Vision can take much of the information already collected and continue using it in subsequent stages. This feature can be an incredible bridge-builder for interdepartmental relationships amongst the marketing, business development, accounting, and operations areas of your firm. 

It’s never too late to get Back to the Basics in your Deltek Vision CRM system. Remember that the system should support the successful business processes you’ve determined work best for your firm, not vice versa. Whether you’ve just been asked to join an internal discussion that started with “I think we need to get one of those CRM things,” or you’re a Deltek Vision CRM veteran looking to step it up a notch, revisit some of these concepts and help your firm ride into the sunset toward a more informed future.
 

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Deltek Vision CRM is uniquely designed for scalability within your organization. Whether you are a novice user, or a tenured pro, Deltek Vision CRM is designed to allow you quick and easy access to the relationship data that will separate your firm from the rest of the pack! However, regardless of the capabilities of the software, the success of your firm’s rollout is affected heavily by your past experiences with services management platforms, the firm’s overall culture and philosophies of client management, and your users’ level of buy-in. Maximizing the value that the system brings to your firm requires careful planning and strong commitments to the implementation.

In our Management of Change series, we have focused on a variety of perspectives including executive, financial and project management.  This week, we will take a look at change from the perspective of the marketing professional.  In most companies, marketing plays multiple roles:  it is 1) the external research department, 2) the positioner/communicator of key public messaging and 3) the business driver with the executive team. 

What’s in it for me?

Each of these roles has its own perspective on change. Let’s look at each of these “hats” worn by marketing and explore “what’s in it” for each of them.

• First, the external researcher.  An important aspect of marketing’s job is to constantly keep abreast of the industry and the economy.  To do that, we are on a continual research and analysis quest with particular focus on the external factors that may (or may not) impact our business.  As the economic detective, we are often the first to uncover the clues to market change. 
   
• Second, the positioner/communicator.  Once marketing has discovered even the tiniest seeds of change, our job is to react: by trumpeting the change internally with the rest of the executive team and then by responding to the change through market communications to customers, i.e. “market positioning.” 
  
  
  • Once we’ve unearthed change, we must work internally with the executive team to first determine that business changes are needed within the organization.  We then work to  carefully construct communications to help everyone understand what’s happening in the company and the impact of the change on their work – keeping things positive and accurate.
     
  • In positioning, marketers must put themselves into the very heads of their customers, both current and prospective, as well as competitors and industry analysts.  Marketing must know what’s important to each and communicate accordingly – through social media, through articles/papers, through presentations, and a variety of other mechanisms. These external communications help demonstrate that the company is well-informed and well-equipped to handle a changing environment while still providing value to customers. 

• Third, the executive team participant.  As we’ve mentioned, we in marketing, usually in support of the executive team, are always researching the industry landscape in our quest to forecast the business’s future and position our company accordingly.  And when we determine that changes must be made, marketing’s job is to act as the jealous guardian for our customers (both current and future) and their company’s position in the industry.  

Often when discussing the benefits of using mobile CRM, we overlook just how powerful the tool actually is. You can literally leverage the power of a mobile CRM through every aspect of a client meeting or interaction. This is not hyperbole, but real life applicable benefits. Let’s break down the process of a meeting, and look at how technology can help you become a better professional:

On the way to meeting the client
I’m on the way to a meeting with a client and I can’t recall where their office is.

• I pull up my Vision Touch Mobile CRM application that allows me to look up the client or the contact and by clicking right on the address I can map my directions right to the office.
• If the address isn’t in there, I  update the information into my mobile CRM application to ensure the data is updated for upcoming marketing mailings or for other employees that might reach out to the same contact.

As I wait for the client to arrive

Just before I head into the meeting, I can also review previous meeting notes from myself or my co-workers who last visited the client.

• I previously asked my marketing team to add client research to client notes. So to prepare for my meeting, I review this information to assist me with our discussion.
• I review the list of past projects, and familiarize myself with similar clients that I might share with them.

Walking into this meeting I’m confident that I have a solid background and I’m more aware of where I still have gaps that need more information.  If any questions arise in the meeting, I have information right at my fingertips.

After the meeting, it’s time for action

When I’m leaving the meeting I pause to grab a cup of tea and add in any new contacts I met at the meeting.

• Because I can access custom fields in my Vision Touch Mobile CRM, I can add more than just new names. I can include their role and add any upcoming opportunities we discussed.
• In an effort to build more personal relationships, I fill in notes I learned about the client -- my contact loves to run, so I even add them to future marketing campaigns for a relay team we are organizing for a local industry charity event we are a sponsor of.

I take the time now to jot down my notes while they are fresh in my mind, as I know I won’t have time when I get back to the office.  So I pause now to make sure I add not only new contacts, but also notes regarding strategic information I gathered at the meeting before I forget what I heard. This information, because it’s entered in through my Mobile CRM, is sent directly to Vision and recorded for future review by me or others in my firm.

So what does this all mean?

I take my last sip while I add any reminders or follow-up activities and assign them to myself or others at the firm.  I don’t want to forget anything I promised to get back to the client on. I grab my keys and I head back to the office knowing that I’m doing what I can to move the relationship and opportunities along.

Sure, there are task lists, emails, note pads, and plenty of other ways I could keep track of these meeting notes. However, all of those are missing something that a Mobile CRM application such as Vision Touch CRM give me – the ability to not only track but also assign and share tasks and information with everyone else in my firm. With all the noise, meetings, and short amount of time I have in the day, there is no better way for me to collect these nuggets of gold from clients or the things I promised to follow up on during that meeting.