Management Consulting

FMI has nearly a decade of experience in providing tailored consulting and training services to professional design services firms, engineers, architects, and environmental firms, in addition to the experience gained from over 50 years of working with contractors. As the design and construction marketplace continues to evolve, FMI can help you take advantage of market opportunities and achieve profitable growth.

Some of the services provided are:

Strategy
From large infrastructure projects to planned communities, schools, concert halls, stadiums, and shopping centers, the built environment is changing at a rapid pace. The business of architecture and engineering is changing, too. There are new challenges to address shifting markets and changing requirements of owners, and those challenges mean that you need to continually revise your strategy and rethink your solutions to build a lasting and profitable business. FMI helps professional design services firms navigate the changing business environment.

Strategic Planning
When it comes to strategic planning, many professional design services firms tend to go it alone. After all, you are planning experts. However, many professional design services firms have found that FMI’s advice and guidance helps to focus the process and create a very workable plan. FMI’s research capabilities and long experience working with construction industry firms help to keep the strategic planning process on track resulting in clearly defined plans and the support you need to implement them effectively.

Business Evaluation
Professional design services firms seek FMI’s business evaluations for help in identifying and implementing methods for profit improvement, growth of a business, or an improved operating climate. Business evaluations are an effective first step in a strategic planning process. If you seek perspectives from an experienced resource, FMI can deliver a business evaluation to meet your needs.

Business Development (Sales & Marketing)
More and more, professional design services firms are running into price competition, because owners have come to believe that professional design services are more like a commodity than not. To avoid falling into the commodity trap, professional design services firms must demonstrate how they differ from the competition by successfully articulating those differences in terms of value to the customer.

FMI works with professional design services firms to develop business development strategies based on differentiation, and we work with you to implement the plan with communications programs and training for marketing and sales force personnel. Successfully marketing design services requires your marketing and sales plan to be linked with your strategic plan. Today’s market, with limited clients, limited projects, and abundant competition requires pinpoint focus on the right clients. FMI’s experience and methods enable us to provide you both process and prescription to win the clients you want.

Research
Strategy, business development, organizational change, entering new markets — without sound research and good information, business decisions like these can be costly. FMI’s Research Services group provides the critical information you need before you make important decisions. Economic reports for construction activity for regions and markets, image studies, and custom-designed surveys for special projects are all available by a team of professionals specializing in the construction industry. For professional design services firms, calling FMI can be like having your own research department, and making the right decision based on industry research will help you build profits.

Training
Just as design professionals must have continuing education in technical skills, these same professionals need to develop and hone the skills required to succeed in business. FMI’s process is specifically designed to drive the strategic goals and objectives of your firm while significantly impacting bottom-line profitability.

Acquisition Integration and Management
Drawing on nearly 50 years of organizational and management consulting experience, FMI’s acquisition-integration management team can guide you through the evaluation, planning, and implementation phases of successful integration. Combining operations involves a thorough and well-planned strategy to capitalize on leadership, management, and staff resources, as well as preservation of strong organizational cultures. FMI can facilitate an assessment of the organizational structures, management systems, and resources that will achieve the financial and strategic advantages desired by all parties.