Mel Lester

Mel Lester, Principal of The Business Track, held three sessions on marketing and recruiting at the Winter Meeting.

In one of his marketing session, Lester said the engineering profession is reported to be in good shape in 2007, even with the nation seeming to slide into a recession. According to PSMJ, engineers reached a 25-year high in profits with backlogs increasing and overhead coming down.

But why do engineering firms feel like they are not doing well? Again, according to PSMJ, engineering firms are third from the bottom in profitability. Lester said engineers’ multipliers are much lower than other professionals. For instance many law firms have a 5 multiplier. 

He said engineering firms’ clients see little differentiation among firms with which they deal. Firm branding or identity is important and few engineering firms have done a good job in branding themselves and making their firms stand out above the crowd.

Engineering firms rightfully are proud of their technical skills, knowledge and ability, and thus spend most of their time telling clients about their prowess in this area. When in fact, Lester said, engineering firms should be spending their time finding their clients’ strategic and personal needs.

Knowing a potential client needs a bridge or a new water system is not enough. Engineers should find out why the customer has decided to do a particular project at a particular time, and to know the overall strategy of the client. Engineers should be talking to the people at the top to gain this knowledge.

Lester’s programs were well received, and the information he gave would help any firm to become better marketers and close more sales.