I'm half way through SMPS University 2014 and let me tell you ... my mind is blown! I honestly didn't think I'd get a lot of SMPS U because I earned my MBA in 2009, I've been working for two decades in various industries, I've managed teams of people, and I like to read the Harvard Business Review as a leisure activity. My attitude on SMPS U changed dramatically the second I met my classmates. These people are inquisitive, fun, and ask far better questions during class than I could ever dream to ask.
The key to getting the most out of SMPS University is to relate everything in the courses to our industry. Specifically, I am relating it all to my job. During the interim between the October courses and the November courses the class is divided into groups to work on a project. My group selected to calculate the Customer Lifetime Value of a hospitality client.
You may be saying to yourself, "Uh, Julie, my company does transportation projects. We don't do hotels. And we definitely don't have a turn down service!"
Doesn't matter. The financial formula and the thought process is the same. What can your firm do to retain clients? And how will that retention of clients make your company profitable? What if those retention actions are more expensive than what the client pays you? This is something that SMPS University is teaching our industry. It is arming marketers and business developers to speak in business terms to firm management and be part of solutions.
One of the things my project team pointed out while doing our research is that our industry is not brand loyal. While the case study puts a lot of brand loyalty on the table as part of the retention rate calculation, the U.S. A/E/C industry is not brand loyal. Mainly because of price. But there are other factors ... expertise, technology usage, team communication, etc. Owners will select firms based on who they know at that firm.
What it boils down to is that the A/E/C industry doesn't do brand loyalty. It does brand reputation. And, yes, I know that is redundant because a firm's brand is how other's feel about it. What we mean is that project owners are selecting firms based on their people. What if your firm was considered a thought-leader in the industry on innovation? Or your designers were co-located on the job site throughout construction so they could keep open communication with the general contractor and the project owner thereby keeping information bottlenecks minimized? Having a forward-thinking brand reputation is what increases retention rates. Also read this as “having a forward-thinking team of people is what increases retention rates.”
Our industry will never have brand loyalty like Apple, Nike, or Macy's. But we can set our firms apart by building a better industry through knowledge, collaboration, and investing in the people who help create our reputation.