Dear A/E Professional

Welcome to August 2008 edition of the AEC Managing Partner Newsletter.

In this months issue:

1. Seven things you can do to avoid being underpaid for your creative efforts
2. Tech Tip of the Month - Open Office Software
3. Upcoming Events
4. Reprint Rights to Articles

Seven Things You Can Do to Avoid Being Under Paid for Your Creative Efforts 1. Don't create the perception (or reality) that you are desperate for the project at any price, under any terms or conditions. Clients can smell desperation from 3 time zones away and many will take advantage of it 2. Don't Fall in love with the prospect of working on a particular project if you know it will be a bleeder. You don't need to lose money in order to do something you love. 3. Avoid working with clients that have a history of problem projects. Construction delays, litigation with design professionals. You know who they are. Don't think they will treat you different, because they won't 4. Before you start fee negotiations with your client, make sure you set 2 numbers. The first is the desired fee. The second is the walk away number. The walk away number is the minimum fee you are willing to take the project for - anything less and you walk away. 5. Become an expert in a specific project type. Experts always get paid more - everyone else competes for commodity work where the fees are too low to make a decent profit. 6. Don't rely on word of mouth to let potential clients know you are an expert. If you are one of the nation's leading experts you need to explicitly say so. Make sure it is included on your website, personal profile and other marketing materials. 7. Have a proactive plan for identifying scope creep - and asking for a fee increase before doing the work. Show me a project that is losing money and I will show you a project that has unidentified scope creep. Visit AEC Management Solutions

Tech Tip of the Month - Open Office Software If you are tired of endless and costly "upgrades" to the latest version of Microsoft Office there is a free alternative called Open Office. Open Office is a suite of programs that are compatible with Microsoft Office and other popular software. Last week I downloaded the word processing, spreadsheet and presentation programs to give them a quick test. Open Office easily and flawlessly opened all of my PowerPoint, Excel and Word documents. Each of these programs is similar to Microsoft Office and I was quickly producing presentations, spreadsheets and written documents. After a few days I was left wondering why anyone would pay $300 for an Office 2007 upgrade. A 50 person firm would save about $15,000 by simply switching to Open Office. There is no need to worry about licensing issues or having compatible software for doing work outside of the office. It seems almost too good to be true. My advice is to download the software and give it a try. The money you save may be your own. Visit Open Office

Successful Ownership Transition August 21, 2008 Axium Webinar One way or another ownership transition will happen in every business. In some cases transition is forced upon us without any preparation - with disastrous results. In other cases, it is a well thought out process that allows a company to prosper under new or expanded ownership. This session will provide an overview of the internal ownership transition process. Topics covered include: o Owners motivation for an internal transition o Choosing the next leaders o Conflicting goals of buyers and sellers o Establishing the selling price o Financing the transition o Key-buy sell considerations o The transition process o Where to turn for help Register for the Webinar

Pathway to Profit October 2, 2008 AIA/SDA Ohio Herb Cannon will be presenting a ½ day version of his popular seminar Pathway to Profit at the AIA Ohio Convention. The Pathway to Profit seminar was developed to help architects and engineers earn the profits they deserve for their creative efforts. The session is sponsored by the Society for Design Administration. Visit AIA Ohio for More Information

Project Management for 20%+ Profit October 22, 2008 Axium Pre-Conference Workshop Herb Cannon will be presenting a 1-day version of his popular seminar Project Management for 20%+ Profit. For the most part, the 20%+ profit projects do not have smarter project managers, better employees, better clients or harder workers than your company. What they do have is a project management system that delivers accurate financial information and a project management process that encourages (insists) all employees to act upon this information. The happy result of this comprehensive system is satisfied clients, motivated employees, increased compensation and 20%+ profit on net revenues. Visit Axium for More Information

Want to Reprint an Article from AEC Managing Partner? As a publisher of a print or web-based publication, you are hereby granted the right to reprint any article contained in this newsletter with the following provisions 1) The words "By Herbert M. Cannon" must be included immediately following the article title. 2) The following "resource box" is included following or preceding each article. Herbert M. Cannon, President of AEC Management Solutions, Inc. and Publisher of AEC Managing Partner Newsletter, is a management consultant, seminar provider and speaker exclusive to the A/E Industry. He is available to speak at company meetings and conferences. For more information contact Herb via e-mail hcannon@aecmanagementsolutions.com. Or visit his website at www.aecmanagementsolutions.com 3) You quickly notify us of any publication, either in print or on the Internet. Notification may be made via e-mail at hcannon@aecmanagementsolutions.com 4) You send us a hard copy of any printed publication in which one Herb's articles appear. Printed issues may be sent to 183 Higgins Road Matawan, NJ 07747

Dramatically Improving Collections and Cash Flow October 24, 2008 Axium Software User Conference Do you aspire to be average? When it comes to being paid for your hard work, being average just isn't good enough! Did you know that the average A/E firm has 66 days of sales in accounts receivable? The sad truth is that many firms are doing far worse. It is not unusual for firms to average well over 100 days. Unfortunately, our instincts are to blame the client. After all, it has always been this way. Clients are always slow to pay. If we demand timely payment, won't they just go somewhere else? The truth of the matter is that we have only ourselves to blame! Did you know that the vast majority of clients could be trained to pay in 40 days or less? This session will lead you through a proven systematic process that will dramatically improve your company's cash flow. Visit Axium for More Information

Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective A/E Firms October 24, 2008 Axium Software User Conference This talk will cover seven of the most common mistakes that prevent architecture and engineering firms from being as successful as possible. Year after year far too many firms continue down the road of working harder and harder thinking that this will be the year they finally reap the benefits of their hard work. At the end of the year, all they have accomplished is repeating the vicious cycle of management by wishful thinking. Long hours and substantial financial risk are rewarded with tiny bonuses, less than average profits and the false hope that next year will be better. We will explore the mistakes they are making and more importantly, what can be done to turn it around. Visit Axium for More Information

I am looking for guest writers for my monthly newsletter. I you have an idea for an article, please send an e-mail to hcannon@aecmanagementsolutions.com

I hope to see everyone at one of my seminars or speaking engagements.

Regards,

Herb