Interesting data on award winners

Presented by: Christina Zweig

First year to assemble winners together in one place

#HotFirm #ZAwards

Industry OverviewFast growth firms invest more in employees

Per employee Fast-growth Average Firms

Incentive Compensation ($) $5,667 $3,077

Bonuses ($) $5,153 $3,661

Bonuses (%) 4.3% 3.6%

Industry OverviewFast growth firms invest more in employees

• More likely to provide cell phones to employees

• More likely to pay for personal tax return preparation

• Have lower turnover than average performing firms

Fast growth firms do not tolerate dead weight

“Do any of the principals in your firm abuse their position by failing to pull their weight?”

Yes

Yes

Let’s focus on growth…

“Do any of the principals in your firm abuse their position by failing to pull their weight?”

VOTE NOW Text 22333

YES 2014yes

NO 2014no

What do you think?

Results are anonymous

Industry Overview

• Marketing director participates in the business planning process • 63% Fast growth vs. 53% in average performing firms

• Use marketing intelligence (such as tracking website visits) far more than average performing firms

Fast growth firms are marketing smart

“In the past three years, Michaels has grown customer share with major clients and added a large multi-year project with expanded services to be leveraged with new clients. In late 2012 we rebranded with great success. We are frequent speakers at regional and national conferences. We publish email newsletters biweekly and blog weekly, without fail, with over 2000 touches a month.”

~Jill Hulst, human resources manager at Michaels Energy (La Crosse, WI)

#74 Says…

Industry Overview

• Successful firms were more likely to send periodic management updates to clients, and also sent these updates more frequently.

• In the overall sample, 62% of average performing firms reported they sent periodic PM updates, in comparison to 69% of fast growth firms.

• 39% of all firms sent the updates monthly, while 44% of fast growth firms had this practice.

• Successful firms also invested in other ways to communicate with clients and other offices. 20% more fast-growth firms reported having in-house video conferencing capabilities than the overall sample.

Fast growth firms communicate more

Let’s focus on growth…Overall company performance metrics

Fast growth firms Average performing firms

Net pre-tax, pre-bonus profit 16.2% 10%

Net service revenue per total staff $133,690 $126,840

Overhead rate 127.3% 163.5%

WIP 7 days 13 days

Chargability 59% 66.1%

Fast growth firms plan for M&A

“Does your strategic plan involve a merger and/or acquisition in the next 5 years?”

YesYes

Let’s focus on growth…

“Does your strategic plan involve a merger and/or acquisition in the next 5 years?”

What do you think?

VOTE NOW Text 22333

YES 2014ma

NO 2014org

Results are anonymous

Architecture Billings Index (ABI) is now at its highest level since 2007

Architecture Billings Index (ABI)

• July ABI score was 55.8, up noticeably from a mark of 53.5 in June. This score reflects an increase in design activity (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings).

• Regional averages: Northeast (55.5), South (55.1), Midwest (54.1), West (53.5)

• Sector index breakdown: • Mixed practice (61.0) • Multi-family residential (56.5) • Institutional (53.3 • Commercial / industrial (51.2)

Source: AIA

Hot Firm Winner Headquarters

Hot Firm Winner Data

Hot Firms Profile

Hot  Firm  Rank  vs.  Firm  Size

#  of  Employees

10

1258

2505

3753

5000

Hot  Firm  Rank0 25 50 75 100

Does size of firm impact growth?• Firm sizes ranged from 14 to

17,000 people (not shown on graph)

• Median firm size of 175 people.

• Average Firm size 610

Hot Firms Profile

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9%13%13%16%17%18%20%21%23%29%31%31%

36%41%

59%Who are the 2014 Hot Firms?

Hot Firms Profile

How Hot Firms 3-year revenue growth has trended

Hot Firms Profile

What Hot Firm leaders are saying…

Hot Firms Profile

“One of the most important strategic decisions we made in 2013 was to reorganize the Firm and unite all our activities worldwide under the banner WSP….As mentioned in the 2013-2015 Global Strategic Plan, “the future we have defined is one of increasing globalisation.” One of the measurements of success for the global strategy is for our global clients to generate 10% of our global revenues.” !

~Pierre Shiory, President and CEO, WSP Global, Inc.

#1

What Hot Firm leaders are saying…

Hot Firms Profile

“The main item that differentiates GATE from our competition is our focus on being a best firm to work for in the eyes of our staff and being a best firm to work with in the eyes of our Clients. This makes for an unbeatable reputation coupling the enthusiasm and knowledge of our staff with a level of technical and project delivery that is focused on ensuring Client satisfaction. This results in us winning 9 out of every 10 proposals that we submit and gives us a strong project pipeline to support our ongoing growth.” !

~Lee Jordan, operations manager, GATE, Inc.(Houston, TX)

Multidiscipline#3 #8

What Hot Firm leaders are saying…

Hot Firms Profile

“Westwood has been successful through our efforts toward achieving this vision by attracting, retaining, and stimulating the best employees; building client relationships by exceeding their expectations, and ensuring each employee is profitable. Our renewed alignment and direction has helped each of our six markets to mature and grow over the past three years.” !

 ~Clare McDonough, Director, Marketing & Communications, Westwood Professional Services (Eden Prairie, MN)

#6

How does firm age affect growth?

Hot Firms Profile

Hot Firm Ranking vs. Year Founded

Year

Fou

nded

1892

1922

1951

1981

2010

Ranking on 2014 Hot Firm List1 26 51 75 100

• 32 years is the median age of both 2014 Hot Firms and Best Firms To Work For

• Oldest Hot Firm: Shive-Hattery, Inc. founded 1892 (Cedar Rapids, IA)

• Oldest BFTWF: FreemanWhite, Inc. founded 1892 (Charlotte, NC)

Organic growth is big for Hot FirmsFirm Rank vs. number of M&A

Hot Firms Profile

Best Firms Winner Headquarters

Best Firms To Work For Winner Data

Best Firms To Work For Profile

Best Firms To Work For Profile

Employee profile - Tenure

Total employees surveyed = 6,941

Best Firms To Work For Profile

Employee profile - Satisfaction

Best Firms To Work For Profile

Employee profile - Satisfaction• Overall, employees in the under 25 and over 67

age range gave more positive responses than other age ranges.

• Overall, people in management were more likely to give positive responses than other job roles.

Best Firms To Work For ProfileWords that describe the “personality” of Best Firms To Work For

• Client focused 68%

• Team oriented/collaborative 50%

• Flexible 32%

• Supportive of professional goals 31%

• Fun 11%

• Full of pride 10%

• Entrepreneurial 9%

• High-tech 8%

!

• Focused on integrity 31%

• Family atmosphere 25%

• Innovative 14%

• Respectful 13%

• Caring/philanthropic/compassionate 11%

Each employee listed their top three

Best Firms To Work For Profile

Employee profile - Retention

Best Firms To Work For Profile

Employee satisfaction - Policies

Best Firms To Work For Profile

What flexible work options does your company provide?

Employee profile - Work options

Marketing Excellence ProfileInteresting metrics from award winners

Average campaign expense:  $ 27,429   Campaign expense range of $0 (in-house marketing staff time only) to $103,000   Average price per impression was $0.99    Campaigns were intended for audiences as small as 250 and as large as 200,000 people. 

“What are three words that you use to describe your firm to clients?”

What do you think?

VOTE NOW Text 22333

In the text type: 2014mktg (your word 1) (your word 2) (your word 3)

Results are anonymous

Conclusions• Market is in a clear recovery but behind from pre-recession numbers

• Organic growth is a very common growth strategy among top growing firms

• Firms are investing heavily in workplace culture to motivate and inspire employees

• Approaches to creating a great place to work are getting much more creative

• Firms are getting more creative in marketing campaigns and getting good results although many firms still describe themselves with similar words