[Stephen Gibson]

Hey Stu,

It sounds like you’ve taken the same road I did – a stint in construction, a dip hort and then the bachelors in the early 30’s. Were we separated at birth??? Anyway, I want to make sure that you didn’t misunderstand what I was saying before, it’s not all doom and gloom – You DO need to know your stuff and the approach you’ve taken (and the one I took) will serve you VERY well. You already have more experience than most in what matters – the understanding of how to build – you can’t design unless you know how to build. But with that said, Ref above! You will do well particularly comng from MIT, but you may also want to start networkiing and socializing – this is how you get to now people and this is how the doors will open.
Good luck to you, Mate.
Cheers!
Steve

[Stephen Gibson]

Or is it what you can get people to THINK you know? I actually think it’s a bit of all of them. While I was living in California for the last 20 years, everyone said to me constantly that it’s all about who you know, which doesn’t say much for having knowledge or experience! And my personal experience in California was that you had to know people otherwise you didn’t get anywhere. On the other hand, I’ve just moved to Perth about a month ago and I sent my resume and portfolio to a number of companies with no knowlege of people that worked there or the specifics of a job and I just landed a position with one of the largest firms in the country. So in this case it was about what I knew, NOT who I knew. I think it really depends on which country you are dealing with and what their culture is. I also think it has a lot to do with the people you are dealing with at the company as to whether they are open and sociable people with a positive and optimistic view on the world, or whether they are game players in the big corporate world. Perhaps a bit pessimistic on my part, but that’s the experience I’ve had.
Hope this helps. Cheers!

[Stephen Gibson]

Deborah,
Here’s a twist – I think I agree with you – on some levels! I live in Irvine, California, and the housing market here before the big bust was VERY HEALTHY. Strawberry fields and avocado groves were turning into housing very quickly. The fields were also truning into apartments very quickly too, so from that perspective, I’m fine with the slow down because I know there are plenty of options of where people can live once they can no longer afford their homes – that’s the first priority – a roof over people’s heads. In examining the product and the process of housing, I think a cause for pause theoretically is a good thing in that it will hopefully give people the chance to think as you suggested. Particularly with the LEED for new construction launch in June and the residential version of LEED on the books too, I think there’s a lot of synergy with the timing here. There’s potential.

Where my concern comes in is that during the time that development has been slowed, developers in general are waiting for that single moment when they are able to start making their millions again. They are going to be chomping at the bit to get started and when they do, I fear that they’ll head straight back to the processes and products that they had before because it’s a quick and easy jump start to their profit making again. I hope that there will be some companies out there that will use this time to re-evaluate what they do and how they do it, but I’m not holding my breath for it – money is too important to most. Particularly at the moment, I think the notion of retooling the industry as you suggested is far from the minds of many industry leaders. There are people like us who see the advantage and the perfection in the timing, but retooling takes money, which the industry at the moment doesn’t have.

I hope I’m wrong! We have to wait and see what kind of “green” initiatives the current administration puts in place. In California at least, I believe, there was talk (perhaps action) towards making green building principles law. I don’t know how far this went. But it could be the start.

Honestly, I hope the construction and housing market gets going quickly – I need the work!!! With that said, I’m already a convert and will be doing all my work with a “green” principled mind.

I look forward to other opinions.
Cheers!

Steve

[Stephen Gibson]

Barte,

Great idea about the Aussie recruiters. Will have to get onto it and see where it leads. Thanks for the tip!

[Stephen Gibson]

Brandon,

It sounds like you guys are on the ball – all the experts recommend actively marketing during a recession! With so many companies going under and so many lay-offs occuring, you need to present yourselves as the go-to option for clients. Diversification is also one of the best strategies for recession-proofing your business.

I could sit here and give you suggestions of exactly what I would do, but I don’t really know your company and the people who run it. So probably the best suggestions I can give are these:

1. Remember the four basic P’s of marketing –
Product – make your offerings unique from those of anyone else
Price – Keep your price competitive with incentives and creative ways of pricing that will make you seem more enticing to clients. Don’t drop your prices in a recession just to get work in – you’ll set up an industry expectation that may haunt you in the future.
Packaging – Package and present your product in a way that makes you THE option for clients.
People – Keep good customer relationships going, even in hard times. Make sure to rely on word of mouth. Ensure your employees are still your best PR experts for your company.

2. Do a web search of “marketing in a recession” – this wil bring up a whole lot of articles written by experts that will give you ideas as to how to approach the current market conditions and will give you ideas of alternative ways to approach the market.

What I ended up doing with my company was put together a marketing brochure which is being distributed to all potential clients NOW – architects, developers, etc. I’ll probably do another round of distributions when the housing market starts to ease a bit – just as a reminder. I also went through probably two dozen web articles on marketing in a recession to find creative ways of doing marketing now. The reason I didn’t include all of my solutions here is that I realized that the solutions I came up with are specific to my company and my situation, both geographically and financially. If you want some of my specific suggestions, I’d still be happy to give you some ideas, but with the understanding that they may not fit what you guys are trying to do there.

The bottom line is that there are planty of resources on the web that can help you think creatively about marketing, especially in a recession. All it takes is one of those articles mentioning something in a certain way that clicks with your company and there you have your solution. Give it a try and let me know if you come up with enough ideas.

Good Luck!
Steve

[Stephen Gibson]

Claudia – this is awesome. You’ve just described my upbringing!!! And the one I want my son to have. I played in a creek when I was a kid too and was stung and bitten by everything! With that said, maybe I was a little too harsh in laying a blanket statement over the whole U.S. with my thoughts on design. I’ve lived in Southern California for too many years I guess, but here I’ve come across developers and city plan check officials that won’t allow any other playgrounds to pass inspection unless they are Kompan because of safety issues. I am just having difficulty with accepting the insular nature of our current existance – design, technology, on-line shopping etc. Perhaps a personal problem I should work on 😉

[Stephen Gibson]

Hey Brandon,

I like the way you think – outside of the box, that is. And that’s certainly the way you need to approach development in a recession. I’ve had the same dilemma in my company regarding the distinction between what Nick is calling Busness Development and what you’re calling “Marketing”. One thing that I’m learning is that we can cast a broad net over our potential clients and pull them all in. The problem with this approach is you’ll end up getting a mixed bag of projects and also those that want you to come and mulch their yards – can’t tell you how many people think that (even my in-laws, but that’s another discussion!). The other approach is to be selective in your marketing to clients. This is the approach where you decide on a trajectory that you want your business to go in and then you pursue it.

I’ve worked for small and large firms, EDAW being one of them. And I can tell you from first hand experience, that the climate within the walls of EDAW is one of a solid base – there’s a certain sense of security because you know that the jobs will keep coming in. It’s not that they march in by themselves, but you know that when EDAW walks in the room, people pay attention. I truly think that this simply comes from a long tenure in our field. EDAW has been around for some 65 years or so, people know who they are and over that 65 years, a reputation has built up. That’s how the big firms work. Smaller firms can’t hope to approach business development or marketing the same way because the tenure isn’t there.

Let me ask you this…what is the size of your current firm? What is the target client and target project like? How do you currently go about business development or marketing such that you feel the need to try something different? I’ve been doing some extensive reading lately on marketing and development issues and approaches that I may be able to pass on to you.

Let me know!
Cheers!

[Stephen Gibson]

Too safe? Yep! I’m an Aussie living in the United States at the moment and the biggest problem I see is what Nick said in the first post – everything is too safe. I have a 3 year old son, so we see a lot of playgrounds and I really wish there were some that allowed him to learn about things other than plastic and rubber. We went to Perth, Australia, back in July for a job interview and we found a playground that was awesome – based around a little man-made lake (which would NEVER happen in the U.S.), it told the story of the evolution of the dinosours. There were huge dinosaur sculptures to play on and it was set on the edge of a natural bushland setting, so (at his age) he could explore the dinosaurs and then explore the natural bush. We were there for 5 hours!!! And neither of us were bored at all.

What i think is that the U.S. playgrounds and U.S. design in general doesn’t allow people to learn about their environment – they are always kept at a safe distance from it. The other problem is that in the U.S. there are so many rules and regulations, it stiffles the design process and general creativity – you end up getting a lot of the same (at least where I live in Southern California!). Most of the playgrounds in Irvine where I live are Kompan – you don’t design those, you pick them out of a catalog! There’s no design in that – it just makes the design process so homogeneous.

Where I think the biggest issue comes in is that parents are not vigilent enough about keeping an eye on their children – THIS is the problem, not the safety of the playgrounds. When i play with my son at the playground, I see so many parents looking the other way and not engaging with their children. If they actually got in there and played alongside their kids, they’d not only have a stronger bond to their children, but would also know when their child is getting into something that was beyond their ability.

I could go on, but I’ll spare you all!

Hope I haven’t offended anyone by saying this – it’s just one opinion.

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