Bench players don’t become part of the starting line-up overnight. In many cases, they first decided that being good just wasn’t good enough and put in the necessary work to achieve a drastic change.

The A&E industry is no different. There are truly great firms; many have been recognized within the industry as best places to work, top design firms or even top emerging firms. But their status often reflects a choice to pursue greatness, followed by introspection and hard work.

What separates these firms from everyone else? In this year’s Deltek Clarity A&E Industry Study, we broke out a group of high performers – more than 25% of participants – to analyze what makes them so successful.

Let’s take a look at some key areas where the high-performing firms stand out from the competition.

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Running a successful A&E firm is like a recipe for a great meal – you need the right ingredients and the right quantities to achieve the desired outcome. But, for A&E firms, what are those ingredients and who determines the perfect balance or quantities for each ingredient?

In a perfect world, the average collection period for accounts receivables would be zero, every employee would be 100 percent utilized, overhead rates would be next to nothing and firms would have a 100 percent win rate – the recipe for a perfectly successful A&E firm.

Since we don’t live in a perfect world, A&E firm leaders are always trying to find the right balance that leads to profitability, growth and success. The Deltek Clarity Architecture & Engineering Industry Study gives leaders critical benchmarks to see how they measure up in the industry and where there are opportunities for improvement.

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In the engineering world, we often use the term “single point of failure” to refer to an area that, if it fails, will stop the entire system from working.

When you think about your relationships with your clients, is there a single point of failure?

Some of us may have learned this lesson the hard way – when critical contacts have left clients or reorganizations have resulted in your project changing hands.

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Each year, there is that one trade show that management flags as a top priority. It costs $50,000 to sponsor and participate. And each year, when asked how much business your A&E firm drives from that event, you have no idea.

Sound familiar? We’ve all been there.

But what if you could show that participation generated more than $1 million in work? Or conclusively prove that your firm loses money on the show and would be better off investing in other marketing efforts? It is possible.

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