Most A/E firms have seldom been busier, and while we don’t know exactly when the cycle will revert to historical norms, the most effective firm executives are making smarter decisions about trimming overhead expenses NOW. In fact, taking a cold hard look at overhead when flush with projects and profits makes the most sense, because you avoid knee-jerk panic moves that often come too late to do any good, should a recession hit. But where should you cut?
Join A/E business management guru Dave Burstein, P.E., online scenario plan exercise, and learn how to take swift, shrewd, and effective action on overhead control. In just 90 minutes, Dave will give you a clear path to:
- Timing your overhead reduction plan for maximum benefit
- Comparing your current overhead to peer A/E firms, so you can target specific problems with laser-precision
- Cutting specific costs to strengthen your firm’s financial health, without jeopardizing your ability to jump on new opportunities
- Making the counterintuitive cuts that carry huge upsides (he’s got the numbers to back up his bold claims)
- Taking a holistic approach to overhead control and not protecting “sacred cows”
You, Dave, and peer executives will start this discussion with a hands-on workshop to benchmark your major categories of overhead expenses and compare them to other A/E firms of similar size and type. You’ll come away with detailed spreadsheets based on PSMJ’s latest industry-leading survey data. And you’ll be able to answer critically important questions like these:
- Do we have too many non-technical staff?
- Do we have too many corporate staff (i.e., accounting, hr, it, marketing and BD)?
- Are our managers sufficiently billable?
- Are our professional staff sufficiently billable?
- Are our support staff sufficiently billable?
- Are we spending too much on marketing and business development?
- How do we know if our marketing and BD investments are really paying off?
- How should we budget big-ticket non-labor overhead costs (employee benefits, office costs, travel, etc.)?
If you must cut overhead, we’ll tell you how to do it in ways that strengthen your company in the long term. Some tactics we’ll discuss include:
- How to make money cutting underperforming business units
- How to cut marketing and BD expenses without cutting sales
- How to identify and cull out your mediocre (or worse) employees
- How to use group layoffs to maintain high morale among your top employees
- How to deal with underperforming principals
Dave makes clear WHERE to cut and how to make a disciplined, data-based attack plan for making choices. He shows you how your Business Development expenses should he trimmed, where underperforming business units can be shed, why mediocre employees are costing you a multiple of their salary and benefits, the non-labor costs that are bleeding you dry while you sleep, how to tell which seller-doers are adding the most value, and so much more. PLUS: You get proven success factor formulas that eliminate the guesswork – and guide you to your smartest business decisions EVER.
BONUS: You get an action plan template for cutting overhead, one that positions your firm to achieve your most audacious goals once our economic underpinnings are restored.
