Traditionally, the request for proposal (RFP) process has required countless hours of work to create comprehensive proposals that highlight an architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firm’s full range of capabilities. Unfortunately, most RFP responses contain hundreds of pages of boilerplate information that are ineffective at clearly communicating a firm’s value proposition and expertise. What if that information could be condensed into a one-page response that not only communicates expertise but also packs a punch?

Ann Leiner’s company, Stacey & Associates, helps clients achieve just that using the A3 format. Rooted in lean principles, the A3 format challenges proposal writers to eliminate jargon and summarize only the most important information on a single 11- by 17-inch page, instead of 20-plus pages.

In this episode of “Spill the Ink,” Ann and host Michelle Calcote King discuss how A3 proposal writing works, best practices and the challenges of adapting to the new process. They also delve into the ways the AEC industry is evolving and discuss what today's companies are looking for in exceptional RFP responses.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn

• How the A3 format works and why it can help AEC firms shine among competitors

• The vital role that great graphic design plays in A3 proposal success

• Techniques for shifting your mindset to extract and integrate crucial project information into your A3 proposals

• Insights into the current trends affecting proposal writing and business development strategies in the AEC industry

About our featured guest

Ann Leiner is the chief connection officer at Stacey & Associates, a consulting firm that assists architecture, engineering and construction professionals with their marketing and business development strategies. A seasoned professional with over 30 years working with design and construction firms, Ann has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Women in Business in Pennsylvania” and as a “Top 40 Under 40” professional.

Resources mentioned in this episode

• Check out Stacey & Associates

• Follow Stacey & Associates on Twitter and LinkedIn

• Connect with Ann Leiner on LinkedIn

• Say hello to Michelle Calcote King on Twitter and LinkedIn

• Learn more about how A3 works on Stacey & Associates’ website

Sponsor for this episode

This episode is brought to you by Reputation Ink.

Founded by Michelle Calcote King, Reputation Ink is a public relations and content marketing agency that serves professional services firms of all shapes and sizes across the United States, including corporate law firms and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms. 

Reputation Ink understands how sophisticated corporate buyers find and select professional services firms. For more than a decade, they have helped firms grow through thought leadership-fueled strategies, including public relations, content marketing, video marketing, social media, podcasting, marketing strategy services and more.

To learn more visit www.rep-ink.com or email them at info@rep-ink.com today.

Transcript

[00:00:00 ] Ann Leiner: I think it's been really well received by design and construction professionals. Once they get one under their belt, they understand how, geez, this is nice. It really simplifies it. And owners love it. Once an owner has gone through the process, they're generally hooked.

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[00:00:18 ]: Welcome to “Spill the Ink,” a podcast by Reputation Ink where we feature experts in growth and brand visibility for law firms and architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Now let's get started with the show.

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[00:00:36 ] Michelle Calcote King: Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle Calcote King. I'm your host, and I'm the principal and president of Reputation Ink. We're a public relations and content marketing agency for professional services firms, including architecture, engineering and construction firms. To learn more, go to rep-ink.com.

Today we're going to talk about how a AEC marketing department spend a substantial amount of time writing proposals. In recent years, the lean management techniques that had taken over manufacturing and then entered into the construction world have started actually being incorporated into proposal writing. The goal is to make a firm's RFP responses concise and easy to understand without sacrificing value.

The leading thinker in this area is Ann Leiner. She's with Stacey & Associates, and she's joined me today to talk about her firm's A3 proposal format for a AEC firms. Her team leverages that to help clients gain a competitive advantage and win jobs. Ann's company also provides consulting services for design and construction firms to help them meet and exceed their sales and revenue goals. Welcome to the show.

[00:01:46 ] Ann: Thank you. Good to be here.

[00:01:48 ] Michelle: I'm excited to talk about this. When I first thought about the concept of applying lean management techniques to proposals, it was very interesting. 

I'd love to just first start and hear about you and how you ended up in the AEC world and doing what you're doing with your firm.

[00:02:06 ] Ann: Sure. Well, I did it a circuitous route, primarily through economic development channels. I actually was executive director of an organization that provided consulting services to municipalities and state government officials on public policy and economic development opportunities. I started to work with architects to take community visions, and draw them up in the form of renderings and building models. Then I helped communities find the funding for those capital projects. There's my dog. [laughs] Sorry!

[00:02:52 ] Michelle: Dogs are good. We welcome dogs on the show.

[00:02:55 ] Ann: We basically found the funding for those projects and worked with the architects then to take it through the design and construction process. Ultimately, an architect said, "Geez, this is a great way to get ahead of the game and learn about projects before they actually are out on the street for an RFP. If we can find the money for a project, we're making our own work." That was my first gig with an architectural firm, and that was 1999.

[00:03:25 ] Michelle: Oh, wow. Fantastic. Congrats.

[00:03:28 ] Ann: I worked for a number of firms in the AEC industry, and basically came to the conclusion that when I was working for just one company, you have to have your blinders on and filter everything through just that one company. I felt as my professional network grew, I really wanted to be making connections between other firms and other individuals who quite frankly, might have been a better fit for whatever project I was chasing at the time for my employer.

That might be frowned upon by the person writing you your check every two weeks so I decided to break out on my own, and that was almost 14 years ago now I've been on my own and that's our tagline, “Making connections,” so we can connect architects, engineer, and construction professionals with owners, and have them achieve great results together.

[00:04:23 ] Michelle: Fantastic. It's a great business model. Tell me, let's talk about how you started thinking around lean design principles and applying those to proposals. How did that first start?

[00:04:36 ] Ann: Well, certainly, I managed and did my share of proposals when I was new in the industry. When I made a switch to Stacey & Associates, we had a client who was responding to a request for proposals from Penn State University. Penn State had been an early adopter of using lean practices in their construction processes.

They were really seeing great results by using various lean techniques, big rooms, conditions of satisfaction, target value design, and ultimately, using A3s as a tool for monitoring and reporting the progress of various capital projects. They thought, “Boy, this is great. If we could use an A3 to summarize the information that would generally be on several pages of, for example, a job conference report, instead of having highlights and sticky notes, and trying to figure out exactly what the most important pieces are.”

A3 really gave the opportunity to showcase just those elements that were necessary for everybody to be tracking and monitoring on one page. By having some success with that, it ultimately became, well, m