management files
effort to bring the technical folks up to speed on the firm’s marketing and business development practices. Marketing/business development activities Based on discussions with A/E industry technical staff over almost 40 years, I am convinced that many technical staff members still believe that new projects appear on their desks by magic. Actually, just like a planning, design, or construction project, marketing/business develop- ment is a collection of processes. Which process and which grouping of tactics (steps) will lead to success depends on the type of project, the type of client/owner, the type of contract vehicle proposed, and a number of other factors. In addition, many processes happen either before or after development and submittal of proposals and qualifica- tions packages. Most technical staff have little or no idea what activities have to be undertaken, what challenges have to be met, and how much time it takes to put a new project on their desks. To be fair, marketing/business development staff generally suffer a similar lack of knowledge about how projects happen. Because they generally move directly from one pursuit to the next, most marketing and business development staff have little or no idea how their firms complete the projects they help to win. So, this piece of education is a two-way street — each group needs to know what the other does, how, and why. Prioritizing activities Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Requests for Qualifications (RFQs)
Sooner or later, every A/E marketer arrives at a moment when he or she must explain to a technical staff member what marketing/business development in the A/E industry is, what activities constitute the firm’s marketing and business development program, why those activities are necessary for the firm’s ongoing success, and why participation by technical (i.e., billable) staff is so important to that effort. Such internal marketing has many processes, many purposes, and many goals. These include teaching technical staff the following: • all the activities involved in marketing/business development; • how marketing/business development activities are prioritized; • how the projects they work on are pursued and won; • timeframes required for such pursuits and wins; • what other services are available elsewhere in the company; and • the role they must play in marketing/business development, and why only they can make such a contribution. Marketing/business development staff are much more likely to enjoy the helpful participation of the technical staff when they have made an The ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of internal marketing Technical staff need to understand their important role in timely business development activities. By Bernie Siben, CPSM
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csengineermag.com
february 2018
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