The LaiserinLetter

The LaiserinLetter is a weekly email about technology-aided practice, business, and life in general (pretty much in that order). We all get these news-flash emails nowadays (some of us even write for one), and many, admittedly, go into the delete file unread. Not this one. Judging from reader response alone, one realizes that this startup is getting some serious attention. ("Keep those waves and particles pouring in, folks," the letters to the editor section exhorts). Only in his eighth week of publishing the newsletter, editor Jerry Laiserin, FAIA, MBA, is already hitting his stride.

And don't limit yourself to what you find on the email. The Web site to which the emails link is a treasure trove in its own right. For instance, Laiserin, who has been a contributor for years to Architectural Record and CADence magazines, offers up on this site about 90 of his past articles. He also has a recommended reading list of the writings of others, and a schedule of upcoming talks he will be giving across the country. And he promises more as the site develops.

Laiserin's background as an architect and technology/business consultant gives his insight the right edge for his audience—other design professionals. He is currently serving on the AIA Board of Directors representing the New York Region. His involvement in the national AIA professional interest areas, including chairing the Technology in Architectural Practice PIA, goes back more than a decade. And he was among those who started the AIA Redefinition of the Profession initiative.

Emailed Mondays, each newsletter contains four to five features, including regulars such as the LaiseBoy—an editorial on business philosophy—and Laiserin's Lemma—a short lesson of life that illustrates a greater truth. The articles point up expanding business opportunities, flaws of logic (and habit), and warnings and advice on construction market practices and developments.

Easy and quick to read, with ample opportunities to delve in deeper when you've got the time and inclination, the LaiserinLetter is an interactive opportunity to sharpen your professional insights.

One word of warning: Sometimes the laiserin.com server gets real slow, and it's good to have another task at hand to ease the frustration of waiting. (It's worth the wait.)
—DG

Negotiating Strategies

Negotiating Strategies newsletter, published by Mill Valley, Calif., architect Michael Strogoff, AIA, is designed to "provide essential negotiating information to the architecture and engineering professions." Now, don't (as I did) pull an "it's going to be boring" face; this really is interesting and useful stuff neatly packaged and well presented! For example, in an article on the front page of the July issue, titled "Redefine Your Mission. Increase Your Firm's Value," Strogoff explains the difference, saying "I am a residential architect" and "I create living spaces that bring joy and comfort to families." In addition to allowing you to reaffirm the meaning of what you do for a living, this type of thinking (and talking) also starts to create a vocabulary that owners can understand: "We're in the business of helping merchandisers sell their products." Is this about negotiating? Sure—think about it.

Negotiating Strategies offers a wealth of valuable information that is heavy on the "how to." For instance, the June issue carries an article offering tips and strategies for negotiating with a client's representative and how that differs from negotiating directly with a client. That issue also contains "The MBTI© Instrument: Understand Yourself, Understand Others," which takes the much-discussed Myers-Briggs Type Indicator of psychological types and offers tips on how to deal with different personality types. "When negotiating with an Introvert, it is important to allow them time for evaluation and reflection," Strogoff writes. "Don't expect fast responses. To understand their thoughts and feelings, ask open-ended questions and actively solicit responses."

Like most good publications, this one relies of a variety of presentations within each issue to keep the material lively, including:
• In-depth discussions of specific negotiating strategies, such as "Ask Questions, Get the Results You Want" (from the March issue) and "Improve Your Hit Rate: Tell Clients Why They Should Select You" (from the May issue)
• Quick Tips to apply to your next negotiations, such as the March issue's "Show, don't tell. Bring a set of construction drawings and specifications to your next negotiation to illustrate the amount of effort required to complete your services. Show examples within these documents about how your firm solved a complex issue and saved the owner money."
• Negotiating exercises, such as one that invites readers to think back on negotiations past, list unusual or one-sided terms clients insisted upon adding and the underlying concerns, and identify three to five services the architect could provide to address each underlying concern.
• Negotiating "Thoughts and Quotes": "Effective negotiators know how to detach themselves from the process and rise above personal attacks," the June issue tells us.
• Action steps to help your firm implement the negotiating strategies discussed. The March issue, for instance, suggests that architects "reflect on recent negotiations and identify the clients' resistance points. Develop a strategy for responding to these next time they arise. If the same barriers surface on many of your projects, consider changing the way your firm packages its proposals."

The handsome eight-page newsletter, published 12 times per year, is nicely printed on heavy stock in an convenient-to-store 8"x11" format. It offers easy-on-the-eye 11-point type, with generous spacing and margins. It also makes good use of "readers' margins," skinny columns down the outside of each page that offer a home for a host of technical tips, quotes, readers' opinions, and other tidbits that add much to the publication's spark. The March issue, for example offers a list of nontraditional services that readers have sold successfully to owners, from project promotion and public relations to negotiating energy rates with utility companies. In the June issue, in response to the question "What is the biggest misconception clients have of your consulting discipline?" a civil engineer writes, "That we're boring people. Honestly, we're not!"

Strogoff offers the newsletter to firms on a sliding scale, from $29.95/month for firms with 1-5 professionals to $89.95/month for firms with 50 or more professionals. This scale, he says, "reflects my philosophy of basing compensation on the value provided (smaller firms pay less, larger firms that stand to benefit more pay more)."

You can view a sample copy of Negotiating Strategies via www.StrogoffConsulting.com to see if the publication is right for you. You may also subscribe online; check out the discount offer presented on the site. Subscribers also may opt to receive Negotiating Strategies via email in PDF format.
—SS

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.