Ethan Grossman, P.E., CPD, is the plumbing and fire-protection discipline leader at SmithGroup’s Boston office. He can be reached by email at ethan.grossman@smithgroup.com.

Ethan Grossman: Value engineering: Lucky’s rainbow

Borrow from daily life experiences to remember engineering concepts and unit conversions.

Most of us have probably experienced the exercise known as “value engineering,” the process where everyone on the team looks at a design and tries to find ways to save some money.

Under pressure: A fish story

Recently, I had the opportunity to go on a fishing trip. It was a “deep-sea” excursion from the northern tip of Plum Island in New England. The recommended method of trickery was to put some pieces of squid on a hook, weight the line with a 16-ounce hunk of lead and let it sink to the bottom of the ocean.

ON DEMAND: Most people will recognize that word of mouth is your best form of marketing. Whether they’re recommending your store to their close circle or sharing their feelings on an online review site, what they say can go a long way toward convincing potential customers to do business with you. So what can you to harness the voice of your customers and make sure it is reaching the right people at the right time?

The majority of customers have done most of their research and decision making before ever contacting a plumbing business. In fact, the very best leads (based off of closing rate) will come from the company's website. Most businesses know this and have spent vast sums of time and money optimizing and promoting their website to accommodate the modern customer. Yet, many businesses are still having trouble converting website visitors and depend heavily on factory and 3rd party leads.

PM Engineer Magazine

2019 May

The May 2019 issue of PM Engineer includes the annual Fire Protection & Design special section with an exclusive look at a hybrid fire-extinguishing system at BYU’s special collections vaults. The section also previews products for the NFPA 2019 expo and includes insight from Jacqueline Wilmot on acceptance testing for wet chemical systems. Also this month, read essential stories about how to anticipate your client’s medical gas needs and an interview with the new president and CEO of the American Fire Sprinkler Association. Julius Ballanco covers a recent IAPMO WE-Stand committee proposal on blackwater, and John Siegenthaler, P.E., gives advice to the next generation.

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Ethan Grossman P.E., CPD

ARTICLES

Ethan Grossman: Value engineering: Lucky’s rainbow

Under pressure: A fish story

PM Engineer Magazine

2019 May