You Survived. Time to Thrive.

Presented by Mark Goodale Principal Morrissey Goodale LLC

OUR CAUSE— WHY WE EXIST  To help AEC firms build more successful businesses

HOW WE HELP OUR CLIENTS  What you know you don’t know  What you don’t know you don’t know

WHAT WE DO FOR OUR CLIENTS  Strategy  M&A  Valuation/OT  Visibility/Corporate Message/Branding  Executive Coaching  M&A Update, AEC Dashboard, Report Card

 Macro-Trends  State of the Consulting Engineering Industry  Market Sector Trends  2012 Business Success Factors What We’ll Cover

 Q4 11 US GDP growth = 3% (11 was 1.7%)  Projected Q1 12 GDP growth = 2.5%  US unemployment down to 8.2% (PA is at 7.6%)  2012 construction growth 2-8% growth 2012— A Slow Thaw

 Better than even chance we will avoid another recession in 2012  Corporate profits are strong, more cash than 08  Banking system is healthier than 2-3 years ago  Commercial and industrial loans on the rise  Low interest rates  Pockets of growth (shale plays, light manufacturing) Cautious Optimism

 Financial performance is recovering  Markets are stabilizing  Competition is fierce  Leadership getting second wind  Recruiting and retention will take center stage soon  Industry consolidation continues State of the Industry— A Mixed Bag

Year-to-date deal count in the United States to 44, down 17% from the 53 domestic deals tracked through the same period in Beyond the U.S., the total global deal count is now 77, down 26% from the 104 global deals tracked through the same period last year. Industry Consolidation Cooling Slightly

Activity by State

For total deals by state, PA (16) trails only CA (46), TX (33), VA (20), FL (19) and NY (18) in total sales from It also ranks 6 th highest in terms of sales as a percentage of current ACEC membership. Pennsylvania Active in M&A

Recent Pennsylvania Buyers

Recent Pennsylvania Sellers

Deal Multiples

Recovering Markets

Time to Thrive  Get back to business fundamentals  Identify the hard and soft issues  Think holistically, not in a vacuum

The Hard Stuff  Organization structure, resource sharing  Incentive compensation  Market focus  Winning work  Quality control  Recruiting and retention  Ownership transition

The Soft Stuff  Communication  Dealing with personalities  Leadership  Maintaining client focus

It’s All Interconnected  Take a deep breath!  Stop the bus and back it up to your firm’s core purpose

Confirm Purpose and Direction  Punch List Defined in terms of client needs Clearly states the key beliefs, values, and priorities that leaders and staff are committed to and that influence the decisions they make Outlines the firm’s philosophy on its social/community responsibilities

Why How What They don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it

What are You and Your Team Building?  Growth?  Culture?  Services & Markets?

What’s Getting in the Way? The Soft Stuff  Communication  Dealing with personalities  Leadership  Maintaining client focus

Get the Team Healthy

Take Inventory  S&W’s are internal  O&T’s are external  SWOT is great, but only a laundry list  Too often it stops there

Mix & Match

Making and Securing Reliable Promises  Elements of a Promise Clear customer Clear performer Clear conditions of satisfaction Finish line Takes place in the future

Making and Securing Reliable Promises  Elements of Reliability Conditions of satisfaction are understood and acceptable to the performer The performer has the competency or access to the competency The performer knows how long it will take The performer has the time to do it The performer has allocated capacity to the task

Mark Goodale Principal phone: web: