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John Kreiss - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
John P. Kreiss is a mergers and acuisitions consultant dedicated to serving the particular needs of Design, Construction, and Real Estate firms.
John has been noted in a number of publications including NAIOP’s Developer Magazine, Land Development Today, McGraw Hill Construction, Builder Online and Remodeling News. He has been featured in IOMA Principals Report, the Worcester Business Journal, and the Boston Business Journal. He also co-authored Insider’s Guide to Professional Recruitment Secrets. John has ... [More]
[View John Kreiss's Extended Author Bio]
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- Failure is Not Always a Bad Thing
[Business:Management] Joe Civil was the owner of a 300-person Consulting Engineering firm (JPK Engineering). Joe founded the firm more than twenty years ago. During this period, the firm experienced steady organic growth that included the opening of several new start-up offices.
- Three Things Design and Construction Firm Sellers Should Expect
[Business:Management] This article discusses three things that Design and Construction Sellers Should Expect including: Being asked to stay on after the sale, seller financing, and non-compete contracts.
- Preparing to Sell Your Firm
[Business] Selling a design or construction firm is very similar to selling a piece of real estate. If the product (company) is attractive to prospective buyers, it will likely command a higher price than an ugly duckling covered with warts. Preparation for a firm sale can help firm owners get a better price in a firm sale or merger . Here are four things that should be done at this stage.
- Growth Through Acquisition
[Business:Management] Acquisitions can be a great strategy for firms interested in growing their operations. They offer the opportunity to add new services, enter new markets, and recruit new talent. PBS&J, Stantec, URS, Jacobs, and Kleinfelder, are examples of firms that have been able to grow significantly with acquisitions.
- Five Myths About Resumes
[Business:Resumes-Cover-Letters] Are you in the job market? This article will help you get through the resume writing stage of the process.
- Merger and Acquisitions For Design and Construction
[Business] Many firms have been successful starting up offices from the ground up, but this process can often take years before real success actually happens. Acquiring a firm with an established reputation can help bring in new work much faster than trying to do it via a cold start-up.
- 16 Tips For Finding a Job in 2009
[Business:Career-Advice] Lots of people lost their jobs in 2008, but now we're into 2009 and many of those same people will be looking for work this month. As an executive search consultant going into my 15th year of recruiting Architecture, Engineering, Planning, Landscape Architecture, Construction, and Real Estate professionals, I've learned a few things that might help people seeking employment and recommend the following.
- SEO Tips For Design, Construction and Real Estate Companies
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:SEO] Branding your Architecture, Engineering, Planning, Landscape Architecture, Construction, or Real Estate company does not have to be expensive thanks to the Internet and firms using this tool effectively can get more inquiries than their competition using fewer marketing dollars. Here's how.
- How to Get Your Phone Calls Returned
[Real-Estate:Marketing] Getting people to return phone calls in this economy can be a real challenge for marketers of real estate and construction services. It's not easy, but there are a few common sense things that may help when leaving voice mail messages.
- Six Sources For Creating Great Presentations
[Business:Presentation] Many real estate and construction executives will have to make presentations at some point in their careers and these opportunities should not get overlooked. Great talks can lead to flourishing careers. Boring talks can lead aspiring executives out the door. Fortunately, there are some free tools available for real estate and construction professionals interested in developing great presentations including the following:
- Time to Say Goodbye to the Big Three
[News-and-Society] According to CNN, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently wrote to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asking that he look into seeing if the big three automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) could qualify for some of the funds in the $700 billion bailout legislation recently passed in Congress. The concept of the big three falling is scary. Perhaps two million jobs could go away when factoring in the businesses that support these industries, but I'm not convinced that government should get involved.
- Mistakes on the Economy in the Campaign
[News-and-Society:Politics] Picking Sarah Palin to be his running mate made me seriously question John McCain's judgment. If he wanted to choose a female running mate, he could've found several women with better qualifications, but that's not why he lost the election to Barack Obama. It was the economy and several mistakes he made including the following: Phil Gramm.
- Do You Have Family in Your Business?
[Business:Management] Many construction and real estate companies are family owned and this presents advantages and disadvantages. Suppose, for example, that junior is a screw-up. As junior's parent, can you be open to criticism about your children and will your employees be candid with you when the kids don't perform?
- Web Site Strategies For Construction and Real Estate Companies
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Web-Development] Keep it simple. Avoid flash and jargon in web site design and see your results improve.
- Move to the Left and You're a Moocher
[News-and-Society:Pure-Opinion] I love reading Michelle Malkin's blog and columns. It's probably because I rarely agree with anything she says. Michelle Malkin is a terrific writer, but the far right has gone to the point where their policies are downright mean. Perhaps it's due to some of these flawed assumptions.
- Lessons Learned From the Campaign
[Business:Strategic-Planning] Last week, we learned that Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States. Virtually unknown on a national level when he spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention, Obama's success is nothing less than remarkable. He managed to outraise and defeat Hillary Clinton and John McCain even though both of these candidates had significantly more experience.
- The Contractor's Guide to New Business Development
[Business:Marketing] Jack Jones, President of Jones Building Company, was nervous about the long-term viability of the company he founded six years earlier. The company had a good base of existing clients for interior build-out work. Jack had brought most of these clients with him after 20 years of working for Simonelli Construction. They trusted him and called him whenever they had a need for his services.
- Strategic Marketing For Construction and Real Estate Companies
[Business:Marketing] Want to know where to spend your marketing dollars? Developing a marketing strategy will help you decide where to get the best ROI for your construction or real estate company.
- Overcoming Resistance to the New Marketing in Construction and Real Estate
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Media] Do you have skeptics in your company when it comes to social media marketing? This article will help marketers overcome resistance to using social media in construction and real estate.
- Press Releases Don't Work
[Business:PR] Traditional press releases get little result. Most go into the garbage, yet most real estate and construction companies still use them. This article offers tips for getting PR and brand recognition.
- Maximizing Efficiency and Managing Your Time
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] Time management in construction and real estate is a big issue. Many executives work 50 or more hours each week and have families making demands on their time as well and balancing all of these demands is a constant struggle. Here are a few simple tips that can help many of these executives: Manage email messages efficiently.
- Business Strategy in Tough Economic Times
[Business:Strategic-Planning] Tough economic times requires a review of business strategy. What worked well three years ago may not work in 2009. This article covers areas of the business that should be reviewed in strategic planning.
- Understanding and Motivating the NeXt Generation
[Business:Management] Let's face it, my generation (40%2B) and the baby boomers ahead of me often find it difficult to understand the people in Generation Y age group currently in their 20's (neXters). Our generation was taught to show up everyday, put in 50%2B hours a week, and pay your dues. The neXters question of lot of what we were taught and often the two generations feel like one group is speaking Greek while the other is speaking Chinese.
- Social Media and Recruiting
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Media] Much has been written about using social media for marketing and brand building, but social media and social networking sites are also great tools for recruiting. Based on the 2008 Social Media Survey of Real Estate and Construction companies published by Morgan Sullivan, many real estate and construction executives believe that people use these tools to find jobs, but few use social media to identify and recruit top talent and that's unfortunate because it's effective and often inexpensive. Here are some tips on how to use social media and networking sites in recruiting:
- Managing People in a Down Economy
[Business:Management] The news lately in construction and real estate has not been pretty. Credit is scarce and competition among contractors for new projects is becoming fierce because more companies are bidding on a significantly smaller pool of available projects. Managing people in this type of economy becomes even more challenging because they're the most important and often the most expensive part of any business.
- Five Myths About Blogging and Social Media
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Blogging] This article discusses common misconceptions about blogs and social media. Understand the power of blogging and social media is helpful for construction and real estate companies interested in winning new business.
- How to Develop New Business Relationships Through Blogging
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Blogging] This article discusses the right way to develop new relationships. It offers great information for management and business development professionals. It's also useful for people who want to become good bloggers.
- The MBA
[Business:Management] Much has been written regarding the infamous MBA degree and its value. Simply having an MBA doesn't guarantee success and there are people like Bill Gates of Microsoft and Richard Branson of Virgin who've done quite well without the degree. As an individual who received the MBA after his fortieth birthday, here are five potential benefits I see for construction and real estate executives.
- Plan For Efficiency in Good Times and Bad
[Business:Management] Are we in a recession or headed for one? Read the news each day and I wonder if we're in a depression. Seriously, the subprime meltdown has caused reason for concern.
- Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Marketing
[Business:Marketing] According MorganSullivan's 2008 social media survey of more than 30,000 construction and real estate professionals, many construction and real estate companies use press releases to get PR and strengthen their brands (71.4%). Few, however, are aware of a number of tools that are available to measure how they're doing when it comes to brand building and Internet marketing.
- Get Rid of the Bad Apples
[Business:Management] Life is too short. Get rid of the bad apples and see your profits grow.
- Five Tips For Effective Hiring
[Business:Human-Resources] Do you have any problem employees or people you'd like to replace but haven't had anyone available to fill their roles? Show me someone who creates headaches for the management team and I'll bet that much of this could've been avoided during the hiring process. Why are poor hires made?
- Use Conventional Marketing to Break Into Social Media
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Media] Interested in improving your marketing and brand building strategies? This article will help by using traditional marketing to enter into the world of social media.
- Networking Fundamentals
[Business:Networking] As a consultant and business owner serving the construction and real estate industries, I've been fortunate because I've been able to learn and meet a lot of great people through networking, but it wasn't easy and I could appreciate how others might prefer the dentist chair over networking functions. Approaching strangers is not easy. Nobody likes rejection and this fear is only natural when approaching people you've never met before.
- In Simple Terms
[Business:Marketing] Terms like "word of mouth" and "groupie" are probably familiar expressions to people in their forties and fifties. Words like "social media" and "viral marketing"; however, often produce, deer in the headlights, types of looks from many construction and real estate executives who fall into these age groups. Fortunately, social media and viral marketing can be put into language that most people can understand.
- Five Ways to Get Into Online Or Print Media
[Business:PR] Advertising agencies may not like what I have to say, but in most cases, getting an article published gets more credibility from readers than paid advertisements. Construction and real estate executives who can get articles published in magazines, newsletters, or online publications will be perceived better than those who pay to be in those same publications. Here are five tips on how to get published in print or online.
- Managing Organizational Change
[Business:Management] Words like Excel, Powerpoint, email, and Internet, are fairly common in construction and real estate businesses today, but were virtually nonexistent terms in the business world of the sixties and seventies. These changes were recent and rapid. Face it business owners.
- The CEO
[Business:Management] Recent failures in the financial sector lead me to believe that it's time to clarify the duties and responsibilities of CEO's. It's amazing to me that companies like Lehman and Merrill Lynch will not survive the current economic downturn. It seems like some of these leaders fell asleep at the wheel and because of their actions, I strongly believe that defining this role will help prevent these things from happening in the future.
- Project Status Updates That Work
[Business:Management] Show me a construction or real estate project that did not go well and I'll show you communication breakdowns somewhere in the process. What is the result? Scheduling delays, higher costs, and stress are all probable in these types of cases.
- Where Does All the Time Go?
[Business:Productivity] Balancing work and home life is a constant struggle for many people today. In fact, it's rare when we find a senior level construction or real estate executive that puts in less than 50-hour work weeks. Given the demands that we face in our jobs along with the often conflicting demands on our time from family commitments, it's no wonder that many people are struggling to find time to get everything done.
- The Meat and Potatoes of Strategic Planning
[Business:Strategic-Planning] Strategic planning is often misunderstood by many business people. Many construction and real estate professionals believe that strategic planning is a marketing plan and this is incorrect. Marketing is only a small piece to the puzzle.
- How to Drive Traffic to Your Web Site
[Business:Marketing] So, you have a web site, now what? How do you get people to visit the site? This is a tough question for many marketers and business owners of construction and real estate companies.
- Termination No No's
[Business:Human-Resources] Nobody likes to fire people, but it is a responsibility that most managers in the construction and real estate industry have to carry out at some point in their careers. Sometimes people are let go for performance related issues. In other cases, companies may be forced to let people go to remain profitable and survive.
- Tips For Making Effective Presentations
[Business:Presentation] Most executives at some point in their careers will have to make a PowerPoint presentation. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I've had the opportunity to see numerous presentations both good and bad in addition to the many that I've done myself. Based on these experiences, I recommend the following for anyone interested in public speaking: Know your audience prior to giving your talk.
- Cutting Through the Politics
[Business:Workplace-Communication] Politics in the workplace is a fact of life. If you don't like it, get over it, or quit. Organizations are made up of people and nobody is perfect.
- Getting Results
[Business:Negotiation] Negotiation is a big part of doing business in construction and real estate. Overall performance can often be attributed to outcomes resulting from these types of agreements. Negotiation becomes even more important in down economies when margins become tighter and everyone wants a deal.
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