I unloaded yesterday. Chucklehead got it with both barrels. (Uhm, yeah…)
So here’s the thing.
I’ve been doing marketing for architectural/engineering firms since 1980—34 years. I started out very green, and I really didn’t do it full time until about 1993. In those days it was pretty typical that an “administrative” person did the job, which was how I got waylaid into it. (Now they are college educated in marketing, communications, or journalism). I didn’t like it one bit in the early days because we are talking Selectric typewriters, godawful government forms, and no databases (plus I had to juggle those deadlines with conflicting deadlines for bookkeeping/payroll and specifications for construction bid documents). Then the magic of computers happened and I was a little more intrigued. There was suddenly such a thing as “fonts” instead of “balls” (remember those? I think we had a whopping total of three typestyle options with them), and then it evolved into being able to include graphics and images! Then, COLOR!
Along the way, I joined SMPS, took classes in layout and design, learned professional layout software (Adobe Pagemaker, then InDesign, Photoshop, and some Illustrator). I would never consider myself a graphic designer by any stretch, but I do have an eye and an understanding of decent design. (And I have been told this!) I know, for instance, that running text intended for print should be serif for easier reading, which is why books are printed in serif type. Web text is best suited for san serif (and because of that I suppose I ought to change my blog font…) One space after a period, because two spaces were based on typewriter monotype (no longer in an issue with computers). I understand the rule of thirds, and that the eye starts at the top left and zooms on down to the bottom right, so those are the places to have your most important messages. After 34 years, I know these things.
It might surprise you that it took me a while to learn the value of decent proposal writing and editing. I was always in such a damned hurry trying to meet deadlines that the quality of my efforts wasn’t always up to par in those earlier years. But with maturity, mentoring (from one particularly excellent boss), and abiding by a style guide, I got good at it. (Plus, ultimately I love to write. A/E marketing copy isn’t my favorite by a long shot, but I’m not a total slouch at it). Today, I take a lot of pride in my editing and writing abilities, with an eye for consistency and GOOD GRAMMAR.
So keep in mind that A/E marketing is not SALES, like selling used cars or widgets are all about SALES. It’s a delicate and professional approach to demonstrating the firm’s (and the firm’s professional staff’s) qualifications to do a project that has been advertised or solicited by the client. It’s about past experience and how relevant it is to the project the client wants designed for them. If the client wants a paint hangar designed, you’d best be able to demonstrate experience, competence, project management, troubleshooting, and success in designing paint hangars. It’s also about clearly showing the technical approach to how the proposed staff will successfully accomplish the project and stay within the budget and schedule. And there are a million nuances to keep in mind, such as showing how selecting our company will benefit the client, avoiding any fluffery or buzzwords, using a professional yet conversational tone, and using graphics to complement the content (since proposals are skimmed by the client at best!)
It’s also a no-brainer that the best “business development” people in this industry are the people actually doing the work front-and-center that the client comes to know and respect, usually the project manager or a high-level engineer—the boots-on-the ground people. The client’s rep knows design and construction and the minutia involved; therefore, they and our project manager speak the same language and understand each other. And doing good work and having a good relationship with that client means more work. Period.
Our clients have no time or stomach for SALES. To be blunt, they have no interest in “deep dives” or “value propositions” or banal claims of excellence, being “uniquely qualified,” or “leveraging our differentiators.” They could give a shit.
I’ve had a number of bad bosses throughout my work life. And I do mean bad. Micro-managers beyond belief, master manipulators who thrived on drama, power-hungry egoists, even nut-cases. Truly, they are novel fodder! But the fact is, in spite of their Peter Principled failings, they were knowledgeable about architectural/engineering marketing. They weren’t widget salesmen/women. They had backgrounds in marketing professional services (even though they might have forgotten the horrendously stressful slog it requires to actually get a proposal out the door).
And then there is Chucklehead. I have never, even in my experience with a number of rotten bosses, encountered somebody so completely incompetent in this industry. Any marketing co-worker I’ve ever had throughout all these years would be stricken in utter disbelief, shock, and horror if they witnessed this guy in action, or even just met him. He is an over-the-top cartoon sputtering nothing but meaningless buzzwords who was hired from a SALES position from a company who manufactured plastic pots. That’s IT. I have sub-zero respect for him and his utter lack of knowledge of the A/E industry.
We came to blows today. Because he is now meddling with MY marketing system that I have spent building from absolute nothing over the 3-1/2 years I’ve worked there into something consistent across the board that the company has pride in. And it’s won us a lot of work. Without any input from me, with no collaboration whatsoever, he has decided on his own that my proposals must be revamped, including using SAN SERIF fonts, to using CLIP ART (“oh, look, here’s a cow cartoon we should use to demonstrate our leveraging of biomass!”), to going back to proposal covers the company used to slap together since the 1970s. He also came up with this tagline that he insists we place on every page of our proposals:
our difference is engineered…
Just like that. (And what the hell does it even MEAN?) No capitalization of “Our” and then ellipses? What set off the firestorm was my questioning him about the ellipses.
“Why the ellipses at the end? That would indicate to me hesitation. Or that it’s an incomplete thought.”
Chuck: It seems that you don’t like anything I do.
Me: Well, I do tend to question things that don’t make sense.
Then he asks me, “What do you get when you buy a Rolex watch?” I knew where this was heading. Another one of his spit-spewing tirades about “value propositions” and “leveraging blah blah blah” and “headwinds and tailwinds” and I interrupted him and said, “This means nothing to me. We don’t market widgets. We aren’t used car salesmen. We market professional services, and we had best put our best professional face forward.”
ChucklesTheClown: You don’t respect me.
Me: You’re right. I don’t.
Chuckles: Because you won’t work with me.
Me: It’s pretty difficult to do when you decide on your own to make changes behind my back to things you know nothing about. I’ve been doing this for 34 years and you treat me like I’m a lowly administrative assistant.
TheBuffoon: You don’t think I’m the right person for this job.
[Ohhh, what I could have said!]
Me: I think you’re fine with what you’re doing with business development and engaging the business unit leaders. But as far as being the marketing director, no, I don’t think you are.
Then he said all sneer-faced, “Well, you’re rigid with your grammar rules, but I’m the creative one.”
Really?
Believe me, things got heated. I probably said some things I shouldn’t have, but I said them anyway. And finally I said, “I am too angry to continue this conversation.” And I walked out of his office.
I cannot work with him. I will not allow all of the work I have done to get us where we are be all for naught. When the DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING had no clue about the Boeing union vote regarding the 777X that had a huge impact on our company, when he’s never heard of Duke Energy and the hell they’ve created with the coal ash pits (he wants to pursue Duke Energy for work!), when he’s never even heard of SMPS or makes any effort to educate himself about the specifics of A/E marketing, he is completely unworthy of my respect and he will never have it.
I’m preparing for a meeting with one of the VPs to see if I can be released from working under this idiot, and just working directly for the Industrial Manufacturing business unit in some other capacity. Or else walk away.
