Engineering Management Institute

UPCOMING TRAINING

Communication & Public Speaking

TCEP 146: What Does Hostage Negotiation Have to Do With Consulting Engineers?

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Hostage NegotiationIn this episode of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk to Dan Oblinger about hostage negotiation. Dan explains how hostage negotiation fits into consulting engineering and also provides five specific ways that engineering firms should look at to evaluate their negotiation and communication abilities.

Engineering Quotes:

Hostage Negotiation

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Dan:

  • With the current situation in the United States, is it a challenge for you to go to work every day?
  • Can you talk to us about how you got into consulting with engineers and how you went to some AE companies and pitched the idea of negotiation to them?
  • What should civil engineering consultants look for to evaluate their negotiation and communication abilities?
  • Do you have a framework in your day-to-day hostage negotiations?
  • Are there specific strategies that you use in your negotiations?
  • Is there a challenging situation that you dealt with that you are open to sharing with our listeners?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About Negotiation Culture in Your Civil Engineering Practice:

[Read more…] about TCEP 146: What Does Hostage Negotiation Have to Do With Consulting Engineers?

TCEP 136: How to Network Effectively as a Civil Engineer — Even as an Introvert

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Network EffectivelyIn episode 136 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I am going to give you three actions that you can use to network effectively and build relationships. These networking tips will help you improve your relationship-building skills and give your civil engineering career a jumpstart, whether you are an introvert or an extrovert.

Network Effectively

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About Networking:

  • According to the dictionary, the word “introvert” refers to a shy person. Many engineers are labeled as introverts because they are analytical, technical, and deal with details.
  • As engineers progress in their careers, their managers often expect them to build relationships and bring in new business to the firm. When you can’t do that, it can become a barrier to advancement in your career.
  • Networking should be thought of as building relationships. If you take on that mindset, it will be easier to become a successful networker and excel in your career.

Here Are Three Specifics Actions You Can Take to Network Effectively:

[Read more…] about TCEP 136: How to Network Effectively as a Civil Engineer — Even as an Introvert

TCEP 135: Effective Communication Is Key With People at All Levels in Civil Engineering

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

In this episode of The Civil Engineering Podcast, our tenth episode in our Women in Civil Engineering series, I talk to Disa Wahlstrand, PE, LEED AP, who is a vice president of municipal services and water resources operations for Ayres in Wisconsin. We will be talking about engineering in STEM, big picture mindsets, and why communication is key in multidisciplinary teams.

Engineering Quotes:

Communication Is Key

Communication Is Key

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Disa:

  • How can we influence the attitudes of students, especially females, about engineering and STEM in general?
  • Why do you enjoy doing campus planning?
  • Can you talk to us about your experience being a vice president in a mid-sized company?
  • What can you share with civil engineers out there about transitioning into their careers?
  • Why would you say communication is key for civil engineers?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About Why Effective Communication Is Key for Civil Engineers:

[Read more…] about TCEP 135: Effective Communication Is Key With People at All Levels in Civil Engineering

TCEP 117: The Importance of Staying Calm, Cool, and Collected as a Civil Engineering Professional

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Staying CalmIn episode 117 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I visit with Tracy Bratton, PE.  who is the Land Development Division Manager at Doucet & Associates, based in Austin Texas. We talk about the importance of staying calm, cool, and collected as a civil engineering professional. We also talk about the role that sound technical experience plays in an engineer’s confidence level as well as the ability to manage projects.

Engineering Quotes:

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Tracy:

  • Tell us about your career journey.
  • Tell us about the time you spend in Venezuela.
  • When you started working in Land Development, was it something that you initially liked doing?
  • Talk about the importance of having sound technical knowledge in your field in order to become a successful manager.
  • What are some of the things you learned about managing teams in different locations?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About Staying Calm, Cool, and Collected as a Civil Engineering Professional:

[Read more…] about TCEP 117: The Importance of Staying Calm, Cool, and Collected as a Civil Engineering Professional

TCEP 115: A Rational Approach to Dealing with Difficult People on Your Engineering Projects

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Difficult PeopleIn episode 115 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I visit with Stephanie Buckingham, APTD, PHR, an Associate Professional in Talent Development and part of Freese and Nichols’ Organizational Development team about dealing with difficult people on your engineering projects.

Engineering Quotes:

Difficult People

Difficult People

Here are some of the questions I ask Stephanie about dealing with difficult people:

  • What made you decide to focus on this topic?
  • Tell us more about the root of difficult people?
  • How do you get back on track after you had an encounter with a person who is being difficult?
  • How do you disagree with someone while still being respectful to them?
  • Do you have any stories you can tell us that have influenced your perspective on dealing with difficult people?

Here are some key points discussed in this episode about dealing with difficult people:

[Read more…] about TCEP 115: A Rational Approach to Dealing with Difficult People on Your Engineering Projects

TCEP 106: The State of Employee Engagement and Why Organizations Have Been Looking at Engagement All Wrong

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Employee Engagement

In episode 106 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk with Bob Kelleher who is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and consultant. We talk about the importance of employee engagement and Bob also provides some great tips on having empathy in the workplace, and how by doing so, you can help with the overall success of your engineering organization.

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some of the questions I ask Bob:

  • What is your definition of engagement?
  • Why do you need to engage the WHOLE person?
  • How do you utilize empathy?
  • Talk about this idea of selecting and developing the first line leader?
  • Tell us about the challenge of engagement and the different generations?

Here are some key points discussed in this episode about employee engagement:

[Read more…] about TCEP 106: The State of Employee Engagement and Why Organizations Have Been Looking at Engagement All Wrong

TCEP 074: How to Communicate Effectively on Civil Engineering Projects

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

How to Communicate Effectively on Civil Engineering Projects

Civil Engineering ProjectsIn episode 074 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk with Steve Soldati, PE about how to communicate effectively on civil engineering projects.

Here are some of the questions I ask Steve about communicating effectively on civil engineering projects :

  • Why is communication important for engineering professionals?
  • What are some things you have done to improve your skills?
  • Are there any tools that you use or recommend to improve/streamline communications?
  • Can you give examples of positive/negative communication instances in your career?
  • Talk about team communication early in project development.
  • Tell us about conflict resolution within a team.

Engineering Quotes:

Civil Engineering Projects

Civil Engineering Projects

Here are some key points discussed in this episode:

[Read more…] about TCEP 074: How to Communicate Effectively on Civil Engineering Projects

TCEP 064: Public Speaking for Engineers

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Public Speaking for EngineersIn episode 64 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk with Shoots Veis, P.E., author of the book called: Public Speaking for Engineers which was recently published by ASCE press. We will be talking about why public speaking for engineers is an important part of your professional development as an engineer.

Here are some of the questions I ask Shoots:

  • What made you write a book on public speaking?
  • Why is public speaking so important?
  • How can a civil engineer improve his or her public speaking skills?
  • What are visual aids and what is the right way to use them?
  • Tell us more about your acting career and how it helps you reduce stress in your life?

Engineering Quotes

Here are some key points discussed on Public Speaking for Engineers:

[Read more…] about TCEP 064: Public Speaking for Engineers

TCEP 050: The Civil Engineering Compilation Episode

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Compilation episodeIn episode 50 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, we have prepared a special compilation episode to reinforce some of the career tips given in the first 50 episodes of The Civil Engineering Podcast (wow — can’t believe we’re at 50).

Engineering Quotes

Here are the key points discussed in the compilation episode:

[Read more…] about TCEP 050: The Civil Engineering Compilation Episode

TCEP 048: Seller-Doer Series – How to Generate Leads as a Civil Engineer

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Generate LeadsIn episode 048 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, part one of our Seller-Doer series, I interview Jim Rogers of The Seller-Doer Academy for Civil Engineers on how to generate leads using the RLOCK approach (Recognition, Leads, Opportunities, Close, Keep).  In this episode, we focus on the L in R-LOCK, representing Leads and explain how to overcome one of the biggest obstacles for civil engineers in doing business development, which is being able to generate new clients by reaching out and getting a first meeting with them.

IMPORTANT: Jim mentioned that there is a free assessment available for civil engineers to take to help you understand where you currently stand with your seller-doer skills sets. It will be open to the first 500 civil engineers to take it.  Click here to take the survey and your results will be sent to you once all of the results have been compiled.  Consider taking it now as it will provide invaluable information for your development.

Engineering Quotes:

Generate Leads

Generate Leads

Here are some key points discussed in Part One of our Seller-Doer Series:

  • If you want to do interesting work as a civil engineer and you want to have control over whether you do work for good clients and can fire your bad clients, then being able to attract the kind of clients that you want to serve is the first step.
  • Keeping good clients as a civil engineer is one of the best ways to get new business (repeat work), but generating and maintaining new leads and converting them into opportunities is something not anyone can do in their career.
  • To generate leads is one of the toughest things for civil engineers to do, because a lot of times it requires talking to or contacting people you don’t know, or you haven’t worked with before.
  • When you call somebody, have something to offer of value to them, and don’t just call and make it feel like a sales call. The key thing is for it to be an introductory call where your goal is to try to get face to face with somebody, because that’s where the magic really happens.
  • No matter how hard-hearted or logical we might be, there’s some emotional cost to rejection.
  • When measuring the different tools, you must balance the effectiveness including how quickly it can turn into a an opportunity to generate leads versus the emotional cost of doing it.
  • The cold call is the hardest one and has the highest emotional investment, because the potential for rejection is high. If it’s a warm call you can make that call with a lot more confidence. Warm calls mean that they’ll know who is calling them. It could be that you’re following up with somebody that you met at a networking event or through a referral.
  • You should get about an 80 to 90% effectiveness rate on asking for referrals.
  • Leave some space in conversations, because you can come away with some gems of information that you can then use to generate leads.
  • When asking for referrals one of the key things to do is to call your new connections and to do it early in the project as this will give you a higher success rate.
  • If you ask for a referral or if you soften people up by sending them something in advance like your book, white paper or tip sheet, they’re more likely to remember you, be willing to talk to you, and you’re also already starting to act like a trusted advisor to them.

Jim mentioned that there is a free assessment available for civil engineers to take to help you understand where you currently stand with your seller-doer skills sets. It will be open to the first 500 civil engineers to take it.  Click here to take the survey and your results will be sent to you once all of the results have been compiled.

More details in this episode…

About Jim Rogers:

jim-rogers

Jim Rogers is a nationally recognized proposal guru and author who helps professional services clients win more work. He is a consultant, speaker, author, and sales presentation coach. Civil engineers hire him to help build their authority and to help them prepare proposals and presentations that seal the deal.  He is the author of the book Win More Work: How to Write Better AEC Proposals. Today, he is a master distiller of ideas, that is, he helps his clients distill their ideas to the time and space allotted by their prospective clients. He is founder of Unbridled Revenue, Inc., which helps A/E/C firms win more work and also a co-founder of The Seller-Doer Academy for Civil Engineers.

Sources/References:

TCEP 027: The 5 Stages to Becoming a Seller-Doer as a Civil Engineer
Seller-Doer Academy for Civil Engineers
The Engineering Mastermind
The Seller-Doer Survey
Jim’s email address

This episode is brought to you by PPI, the leader of civil engineering FE or PE exam preparations. Use promo code CIVIL for 20% discount at PPI2Pass.com/coach.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Win More Work: How to Write Winning A/E/C Proposals

win-more-work

 

 

 

 

How can I generate new leads as a Civil Engineer?

Please leave your comments or questions in the section below on how to generate leads as a Civil Engineer.

  • If you enjoyed this post, please consider downloading our free list of 33 Productivity Routines of Top Engineering Executives. Click the button below to download.

    Download the Productivity Routines

To your success,

Anthony Fasano, PE, LEED AP
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success