See how your firm compares, and learn simple steps to improve performance, with CVG’s Business Assessment.
CVG’s Comprehensive Business Assessment gives you an expert, third-party analysis of your design firm’s performance in finance, operations, marketing, business development, leadership, and firm culture.
We‘ve assessed more than 100 architecture, landscape architecture, interiors, and design-build firms. The process identifies your firm’s strengths and weaknesses, provides data-based observations, and delivers recommendations for both short and long-term solutions to improve your business performance. Here’s how it works:
Analysis
Data Collection + Research
CVG will submit a request for past financial statements, payroll details, proposals, partnership agreements, outstanding contract values, etc. All information exchanged will remain strictly confidential. We also will review your online assets like your website, social media channels, etc.
Staff Surveys
As part of assessing where your firm is, we will administer an anonymous all-staff survey to gain your staff’s perspective on how your firm performs against competitors and what improvements and initiatives are important to work on. The survey also gauges staff sentiment and job satisfaction. Results will be tallied and analyzed to help inform strategic direction.
Client Surveys
We will interview up to five past and/or current clients to gain their perspectives about your firm’s capabilities, differentiators, and how you compare to your competitors. This is an important tool to understand if outside perceptions of your firm align with internal perceptions.
Discovery Conversations
Financial Discovery Meeting
Once all materials are received, we input key data points into our Profit Planning Database and apply our proprietary formulas. We meet with you to discuss our initial findings and verify our understanding of the data sent. This is also an opportunity for you to ask questions about financial best practices or discuss any challenges you may be facing.
Marketing + Business Development Discovery Meeting
We will review your website, social media profiles, marketing and business development strategy and activities, any proposals shared, and other marketing collateral. We then conduct an in-depth interview with you, and any other key staff you want to include, about the strategies and tactics you are using to market your business and what you feel is working vs. not working.
Leadership Discovery Meeting
This will be a conversation with the firm leaders about your leadership style, management processes, current staff, talent recruitment, and firm culture. The goal is to understand the people operations of your business, the general organizational structure, and gain insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the team.
Staff Interviews
CVG will schedule private 1:1 Interviews with up to three (3) members of your staff if applicable. These conversations will be focused on their perception of your firm’s culture and operations. The findings will be included in CVG’s Leadership Report presented at the Final Review Meeting.
Final Report
Final Report + Review Meeting
Once the discovery meetings are complete, CVG will compile a report demonstrating key financial performance indicators, short-term profit planning, comparative metrics, leadership and firm culture observations, marketing and business development analysis, and prioritized recommendations for improvement. We will lead a discussion where we will share our report and answer any questions you may have about the content. We may also propose opportunities to continue our work together to help implement recommendations.
CVG’s Business Assessment costs $9,500 and typically takes 4 - 6 weeks to complete after your RFI materials are received. If you’d like to learn more about our process, or see if you’re a good fit, schedule a quick meeting:
“The assessment was an opportunity for us to step back and look at ourselves critically. We knew we were doing some things well and others not so much, but we couldn't have come out of any process with such a clear understanding of what we needed without CVG's help. They prompted us, directed us, and encouraged us to dig deeper on every topic. We came out of it with a huge weight lifted that at least we knew what we needed to do and now we had found people who would help us do it. “
- Rob Zinn | Zinn Architecture + Interiors
“The information that CVG provided for our firm through the business assessment process was extremely helpful, to say the least. The assessment contained a long list of encouragements of what we were doing well and helpful recommendations on how to get better. We actually knew a lot of things that we were not doing well, but we were unclear and overwhelmed on how to improve in those deficiencies. During the process, we were given practical and achievable steps that were the perfect segue to further growth for our firm. I would highly recommend CVG's business assessment to any firm that wants to be the best version of themselves that they can be.”
- Sims Key | Equip Studio