Principal Stephanie Craft attended the SMPS Sacramento Luncheon recently, where a panel made up of three public sector staff discussed what they valued most in consultants. Here are the top three take-aways.

Sherlock knows that perception is reality. While working on the job with his unsuspecting culprits, he asks six questions to continually investigate his client’s perception of his firm’s service.

The ability to listen, and listen carefully, is a skill that seems to be scarce these days. Conversational “blah blah blah” is so common, there’s a day to commemorate it! April 17th is Blah Blah Blah Day. Defeat the disregard of dialogue with these three tips to improve your listening skills.

Hootsuite is the tool to save you time and energy as you keep your AEC firm engaged with your customers on social media.

Focus Engineering & Surveying’s company culture embraces and encourages continuing education. Owner Ron Paul selected Extreme Ownership based on its principles and concepts, and the entire company is now reading it together.

AnyList is primarily known for its ease of sharing and organizing grocery lists and recipes, and truth be told that is exactly why we love it. But it is just as easily used for any list you can think of: to-dos, must-see movies, books you want to read ... the (Any)list goes on...

As marketing professionals, we often dedicate hours of our lives to scrolling, sifting, searching, and scrolling again. To what end? Sadly, we’re probably trying to find correct information online about the things we care about. But with Google Alerts, it doesn’t need to be this way.

Defining moments shape our lives and, in the case of Amber Winn, come in the form of books. Although it may be happenstance that she found The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath, she’s grateful that a colleague suggested it for the SMPS Emerging Professionals Group (EPG) book club.

Are you afraid to emerge from your winter hibernation unable to contact new prospects? Don’t be afraid. Get ready to feel confident when preparing to contact new prospects!

“The research that this book is based on is so applicable to both marketing and technical staff for professional services firms,” explains Keri Hammond, FSMPS, CPSM, “It is specifically written for individuals at professional service firms that want to become a rainmaker.”