Category Archives: Client Service
Posted in Blogging | Client Service | Codes & Regulations | Communication | Education | Leadership | Social Media by Justin Keister, PE, LEED AP (Director of Site Engineering) on March 25, 2013
Click image to enlarge.
I recently had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with some local high school students who are members of the Building Leaders for the Susquehanna Valley program. This group was picked among some of the brightest local students and they meet on a monthly basis. Their February session included an exercise where they were given a hypothetical 200-acre property in “Bright Hope”, USA and divided into groups to propose a development on the tract. After a brainstorming session, each of the five groups unveiled their plans, which ranged from a hospital to a golf course to a power plant.
Over lunch, I joined professionals from the Central PA Chamber of Commerce, Union County Planning Department, Bucknell University Small Business Development Corporation, and Susquehanna Visitors Bureau to quiz a group on their ideas and to provide real-world insight to refine their proposal. After some tweaks (from coal-fired power to natural gas at my table), each group took turns giving a final presentation to the entire group.
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Posted in Client Service | Information Technology | Innovative Solutions by Ryan Raplee (Web Designer) on March 13, 2013
Larson Design Group has been offering our clients added value through the delivery of the Bid Plan application since 2008. LDG Bid Plans provides an intuitive solution for the dissemination of all crucial project documents and information to a substantial pool of contractors.
The value proposition for Bid Plans includes:
- Reduction in paper and travel costs for clients
- Contractors avoid unnecessary print costs
- Contractors can view plans at their convenience and print only what they need
- Efficiency in staff time
- Gives clients an additional pool of contractors to review plans and bid on a project
- Provides automatic email alerts for project updates such as addendums and answers to questions
On March 2nd, 2013, Larson Design Group introduced version 3 of Bid Plans.
Version 3 of Bid Plans was completely redesigned and engineered to deliver a better user experience to our clients. We combine some of the latest trends and technologies in web development with an intuitive, user friendly, and clean design.
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Posted in Client Service | Employees by Paul Bleichner (Director of Marketing) on September 18, 2012
The LDG Declaration of Client Service, signed by all employees at the 2012 Spring Meeting.
I recently received an e-mail from a client with an automatic signature that read “Only satisfied customers can give people job security”. This quotation by Jack Welch accurately summarizes the key principle that is crucial to any company’s ability to survive. As I reflected on LDG’s continued growth and success through the most significant economic downturn of the past half century, I considered our commitment to constantly improving client satisfaction. We have several procedures in place to help serve our clients.
A few years ago, Larson Design Group implemented a multi-faceted program to track and improve client relations. With the assistance of a third-party group called Customer Follow Up, Inc., selected clients are surveyed about their satisfaction with several aspects of our work; this includes our project managers, capabilities, adherence to project budgets, and a client’s willingness to use us again in the future. Once a survey is completed, LDG receives reports quickly so that we can follow up appropriately. While not all of our clients are selected for Customer Follow Up, every client has the chance to rate our service via a short survey that is submitted after the final invoicing of a project. These surveys are rated on a scale of 1-5 for communication, technical quality, professionalism, timeliness, and project performance. Any ratings of concern are also followed up with quickly.
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Posted in Architecture | Building Systems | Client Service | Economic Development | Leadership | Sustainable Design | Urban Development by Robert J. Gehr, AIA, NCARB (Vice President - Brand Architecture) on January 3, 2012
What is Brand Architecture?
This is a question that I get asked on a consistent basis.
At LDG we only provide architectural design services for Retail and Brand clients.
“Brand” referring to an organization that utilizes a proven business model and architectural design strategy in the development and growth of that organization. Banks, restaurants, gas stations, hotels, convenience stores and others fall into this category.
This may seem a limiting position to take, however it is not an uncommon strategy and occurs quite often in other professional fields.
Let’s consider Doctors for example.
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Posted in Client Service | Leadership | Professional Development by Keith Kuzio (CEO) on June 28, 2011
Employees of our office on Penn Street in Williamsport take a break for a photo.
Circa 1987.
Recently, LDG marked a significant milestone that has given me a reason to pause and share the following reflections.
At a May 12th Chamber of Commerce PM Exchange hosted in our Williamsport office, we had the opportunity to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of LDG’s founding. In 1986, through the acquisition of Robert Ferrell Engineering and Surveying, LDG originated as a six-person, branch office of Hunt Engineers and Architects, PC, a consulting firm based in Corning, NY.
At the Chamber event, we were very pleased to have on hand Bob Hunt, (he served as President of Hunt Engineers and Architects at the time), whom we credit with the vision and foresight to see that a full service design office could be very successful in Northcentral PA. Also joining us were Bob’s hand-picked talent – Ken Larson (he eventually became President of Larson Design Group and is whom our firm is named after), and Fred LaVancher (serving in Business Development and Marketing Hunt and LDG, and as Chairman of the Board), – who together quickly grew the Williamsport branch office of Hunt, prior to orchestrating the 1993 employee buyout that set LDG on its present course as a local, employee-owned company. And as some may say, the rest is history.
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