Preemptive marketing means getting there before the competition. Based on 1999 research of more than 250 presidents and senior VPs, the following key issues were established to help avoid obstacles and establish effective long-term sales and business development.

Interaction
Interaction should be based on the decision-maker’s need for information and feedback at the earliest decision-making points. You must be indispensable, which will create trust, credibility, dependability, and sensitivity.

Systemize the Approach
Create a system with fundamental elements of the prospect’s needs before the negotiation process begins. A master list of major questions will help the screening process.

Preemptive Tone
Your message has to have tactical suggestions to help the client, and you should avoid any promotional discussions.

Preemptive "Nadering"
Set the standards for how your staff should interact with prospects by demonstrating usefulness and offering tips on what to avoid. Include information about the ploys that your competitors might use and offer tips on “what not to do” that expose the competitor’s weaknesses.

Roger Pickar is president of I3, one of the largest attitudinal research firms in the design industry. I3 and ACEC/RMF are offering a free database online called the Corporate Intelligence Reports, interactive customized data revealing corporate expansion intentions and needs in the next 1-3 years along with insight on their values and opinions of the design and construction industry. Visit the web site at http://www.ithreeinfo.com.

Volume XXI, Number 2, February 4^th, 2000

The prospect of more than $2 billion in extra gas tax revenues flowing into federal coffers this year, as well as election year jitters over control of Congress, are creating new interest in revisiting the $218-billion Transportation Equity Act (TEA-21). As the mid-point of the six-year authorization measure nears, both House and Senate leaders are sending signals that they are open to tinkering with the act and even entertaining new project requests for vulnerable lawmakers. But reopening the Act carries considerable risks, including the possibility of a wholesale attack on the budgetary ‘firewalls’ that link highway and transit spending to gas tax receipts. Regardless of how events unfold, ACEC will work with congressional leaders again this year to ensure the proper allocation of funds as dictated by TEA-21, including allocation or additional gas tax revenues that exceed levels anticipated in the 1998 law. ACEC will also support efforts to further improve the environmental review of transportation projects and to clarify the role of the Clean Air Act in transportation planning. For more information, contact Chip Wallace (cwallace@acec.org) at ACEC.

Conferees to the stalled FAA Reauthorization Bill (H.R. 1000) returned to the negotiating table January 26, but their brief discussion did nothing to loosen the gridlock over how to fund airport and airway projects. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-PA) has urged Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) and other Senate conferees to help craft an acceptable funding deal for the FAA that would permit a bill to be finalized early this year. Domenici and others continue to balk at Shuster’s plan to guarantee spending levels for aviation. With the expiration last October of the latest short-term extension measure, all federal funding for new airport improvement projects remains on hold. ACEC has teamed up with the Airport Consultants Council, a group that represents aviation consulting firms as well as the suppliers of airport equipment and products, to launch a grassroots effort in support of a long-term FAA bill. The effort will highlight the need for increased infrastructure investment and emphasize the importance of predictable multi-year funding for the planning of major airport projects. ACEC members will be asked to tailor a sample letter to be faxed or mailed to the Senate leadership and to their individual Senators. For more information about how you can help, click on the Legislative and Regulatory icon at www.acec.org.

CELSOC’s initiative, Fair Competition and Taxpayer Savings Act, is now officially on the November ballot. Collecting more than one million signatures is truly an outstanding achievement for CELSOC and its entire coalition of supporters. ACEC would also like to thank all members and friends who have financially supported this effort in California. For more information on this initiative, visit CELSOC’s web site at www.celsoc.org.

Check out ACE magazine, Jan/Feb 2000 issue, for your Annual Spring 2000 Convention Registration information along with the following articles:

• Engineers working on the construction of buildings and roads can look forward to more good times. That’s the verdict of experts, who are nearly unanimous that a slight dip in the economy in 2000 will be followed by a recovery in 2001. Check out the business trends that will influence your firm in the near future in the March/April issue of ACE.

• Also in the Jan/Feb issue: What’s the most competitive market these days? For many, it’s the job market. Find and keep people with skills your firm needs to stay successful. Find out how to recruit and keep employees who “fit” your firm.

• We’ll also tell you how to introduce children to the fun of engineering. Community involvement is a time-tested path to improved image for engineers. Other Jan/Feb issue highlights: Comity Licensure: A Search for Common Ground; What to Do When You Hear “We Screwed Up!”; Keep the Software Police Away from Your Door; A Case Study: Engineering Solutions Inc. of Aiea, Hawaii, proves Size Isn’t Everything in Leading Design-Build Projects; Sustainable Development Strategies and Sustainable Design Concepts from Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., of White Plains, N.Y.; Engineering News; New Products; and Undercover Treatment Systems for Specifiers.

As a follow-up to ACEC’s mission to Turkey last month, ACEC/Research and Management Foundation (RMF) will participate with the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the World Bank, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a briefing on business opportunities in Turkey. The half-day briefing will present an overview of the ACEC/RMF mission findings, provide an update on World Bank funding, and outline FEMA’s perspective on disaster preparedness and mitigation. The briefing will take place on Wednesday, February 16, at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Rosslyn, VA, from 8:30 a.m. to noon. (An abbreviated briefing will take place on the West Coast in early March.) The briefings are open to the public, but space is limited and pre-registration is required. To register or for more information, contact ACEC’s Michele Moore (mmoore@acec.org).

In the “olden” days, successful businesses kept their business secrets to themselves. Today, successful firms share their management skills with others, and give you the opportunity to enjoy the same success. Zweig White, in publishing 2000 Successful Firm Survey of A/E/P and Environmental Consulting Firms reveals the day-to-day practices of the most successful firms they know of. They report on firms growing more than 20% for the past three years, have the highest net service revenues, and have the highest net profits. How do they manage it? Everything they do, from compensation, billing rates, marketing expenditures, opening branch offices, to setting leave policies, and all the nitty-gritty of running a design firm is described in relation to other firms of the same type and size. It’s up to you. You can get all these secrets or you can pass them by. #L-2841, $275, $5 shipping/handling. Order by fax 202-789-7220 or e-mail acec@acec.org, with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, expiration date, contact name, and be among the first to get “behind the scenes.”