Strengthening Inter-Industry Collaboration

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Several months ago, I mentioned SMPS collaborating with other industry related organizations; I also touched on collaboration within your workplace and your company. As we continue to partner and collaborate with other organizations to strengthen our chapter, I’d like to focus on how SMPS can be a catalyst for your firm’s collaboration with industry partners.

Through SMPS, you can find out about projects and work with other industry partners. Whether you are an architect, engineer, or contractor, you can learn from one another and find ways to get one another work. You will also learn best practices and what clients really want from their project.
Sometimes clients aren’t sure what they want out of project. It’s our job to guide them down that road. At the end of the day, it’s about having a happy, successful client. By working together as a team through the design and construction, you can strengthen those business relationships with your client by building good partnerships with architects, engineers, or contractors.

SMPS gives you the platform to build and foster these relationships. We give you the opportunity to build your business, and we promote collaboration among our members. If we can make our industry stronger and better, this not only helps our firms, it helps our clients, too.

Remember to take advantage of all the events and resources SMPS Wichita offers you as a member. If you aren’t a member, please reach out to Candace Wilson at cwilson@ucict.com. She would be happy to discuss SMPS membership benefits and resources.

To our members, thank you! You continue to help our chapter grow through the collaboration and teamwork among your firms.

Lindsay Signature

Lindsay L. Young, CPSM

SMPS Wichita Chapter President

Happy New Year! Is 2016 YOUR year? I hope so.

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It’s a time to reflect back but more importantly look forward to 2016. Remember those goals I talked about back in October? Pull those out and post them in your office, so you are continually reminded about what you want to accomplish in 2016. Are you doing something big or small every day to get to those goals? Again, this will keep you accountable.

Several of the goals for SMPS is growing our chapter through membership, increasing the number of sponsors, improving communication to our members and non-members, and growing our collaboration efforts with other industry organizations. We want to continue to provide amazing programs for our industry and increase the level of business development and marketing in the AEC industry. We have almost 50 members and our goal is to reach 60 by August 31, 2016. Our sponsorship goals include 6 silver sponsors, 6 lunch sponsors, 3 webinar sponsors, and 3 Sunny Side Up sponsors (new sponsorship opportunities).

The SMPS board also puts together this monthly newsletter to help communicate what is and what will be going on in the chapter. We put together a challenge to name the newsletter, which will now be called the Scene. Thanks to Tami Hadley with iSi Environmental/iSi Industrial Services for coming up with the idea.

We continue to reach out to other industry organizations to partner with on upcoming educational lunch programs, job site tours, and socials. This will just strengthen our chapter and market SMPS to other organizations who are unaware of what SMPS does and how it elevates marketing and business development in the A/E/C industry. If you are involved in another industry organization and are interested in partnering with SMPS, please talk to myself or our program director, Brett Weller.

Thanks to all of you who are committed to SMPS. Share the knowledge with others in our industry to enhance the business development and marketing in our industry.

Happy New Year! Cheers!

Lindsay Signature

Lindsay L. Young, CPSM

SMPS Wichita Chapter President

 

A Side Note: We would like to congratulate Brandy Willett with Central Consolidated, Inc. on being appointed SMPS Wichita Chapter President-Elect. Our previous President-Elect, Eric Edwards, took a marketing position at Hoefer Wysocki in Kansas City, and Brandy is able to take on the additional responsibility of President-Elect. Thanks, Brandy!

Holiday Cheer & Changes in the New Year!

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Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy Hanukkah! Whatever religion or holiday you celebrate, December is a time to rejoice and rejuvenate. It’s a time to spend time with family and friends and reflect on the past year. Evaluate where you have been, where you are currently, and then decide where you want to go.

In January, SMPS Wichita is bringing some change to our chapter. As I have stated in previous notes, our board put together a strategic plan which is to communicate and be more transparent with our membership and supporters of SMPS. In doing this, we will be changing our monthly lunch meetings to the SECOND WEDNESDAY of the month at Abode Venue, and slightly increasing the cost to attend our meetings passing on our credit card and processing fees. The board didn’t take lightly raising prices and there was thorough discussion about raising the price, which will only be $1 or $2 depending on member or non-member ticket. The Chapter will also be raising the cost to attend panels, which will be $35 for members and $50 for non-members. The decision to increase prices also factored in another advantage to being a member, as members receive added benefit (lower ticket prices, free webinars and lunchtime learning labs, access to mysmps.org and other online resources, etc.).

The program committee has done a tremendous job putting together some fantastic programs for 2016. Part of the membership survey helped us determine our programs along with one-on-one interviews with owners and principals of member firms. You will be seeing all six domains of practice covered throughout our program year.

Should you have any questions or issues, please don’t hesitate to contact myself or a board member. We are happy to help. Remember to mark your calendars for the SECOND WENDESDAYs of the month at Abode Venue, so you don’t miss our programs!

Thanks,

Lindsay Signature

Lindsay L. Young, CPSM

SMPS Wichita Chapter President

 

 

Working Together. Getting Things Done.

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Collaboration. We hear this word all the time in our professional and personal lives. What exactly does it mean and how can we capitalize on it? My definition is strategically working together for something bigger than yourself or your organization. It’s a change movement. As we sat down in our SMPS strategic planning meeting several months ago, we discussed collaborating more with other industry-related organizations. Not only does this help our membership and the membership of the organization(s) we are partnering with, it helps the building and marketing industries. A proverb by John Heywood, “Two Heads Are Better Than One” couldn’t be more applicable to this strategy.

SMPS continues to reach out to building and marketing organizations to partner on lunch programs, seminars, and networking opportunities. Recently, we partnered with Go Wichita, Wichita American Marketing Association, Wichita Chamber, and Public Relations Society of American to bring in Jeff Sieh of Manly Pinterest Tips for a program to discuss Digital Marketing. Also, several weeks ago we promoted the Women In Commercial Real Estate networking event and had several members from SMPS attend their event. Other organizations we have partnered with on programs include the local chapters of American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Green Building Council. We are continually looking for ways to enhance our membership benefits, increase awareness to marketing in the AEC industry, and increase SMPS exposure.

We continue to reach out to other organizations to bring in dynamic speakers. If you are involved in a related organization, please have one of their board members reach out to talk to me. SMPS would enjoy the opportunity to partner with a speaker or networking event. With this said, please join SMPS for their third year as a represented organization of the Tacky Sweater Design Crawl that will take place on Friday, December 4 starting at 5:30 pm. Please save the date and look for additional information about the event.

Collaboration is key to the success of SMPS but also in your business. (More on collaboration in your workplace in a future President Note.)

Thanks. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.

Lindsay Signature

Lindsay L. Young, CPSM

SMPS Wichita Chapter President

Start Planning for Your Future Today

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Happy Fall! It’s a new season and time to start thinking about your goals for 2016. It’s only a few short months away. One of your goals should be geared toward professional development in your position and for your career. You might think about taking the CPSM (Certified Professional Services Marketers).

SMPS is celebrating CPSMs, enhancing the visibility of the CPSM certification, and encouraging those interested in taking the test to sign up from October 12-16. This certification elevates the marketing and business development positions in the AEC industry. Being part of a certification driven industry, this heightens our roles in our companies with our principals and owners by having this certification. There are several benefits to being a CPSM which include:

  1. Moving up the career ladder more quickly
  2. Increase salary
  3. More autonomy in your position
  4. More marketable in the work place
  5. Being seen as the marketing expert in your company
  6. Additional respect within the AEC industry

The test consists of 150 questions which are theory and practical based questions. This year, SMPS National office has hired a testing company to help assess the test and make recommendations on making the test even more creditable in the industry.

The SMPS Wichita Chapter is planning on setting up a CPSM study group, so please contact Tami Hadley at thadley@isienvironmental.com and let her know you are interested. Within this newsletter is additional requirements about the CPSM.

One of our goals as a chapter is to be more transparent with our members. In an effort to deliver what YOU need as a member, you will be receiving a membership survey in the next week. Please share your thoughts and opinions. We are here to serve you and provide valuable information to help you in your career.

Think about your 2016 goals and write them down. It’s never too early to start planning.

Lindsay Signature

Lindsay L. Young, CPSM

SMPS Wichita Chapter President