Every month the Business Development Committee reaches out to small business owners, marketing directors, and public relations specialists to gather valuable insight into the rapidly growing construction industry.
If you're looking to create marketing proposals, build relationships with customers, and increase sales, our Best Practices article series can help.
Everyone knows the key to successful business development efforts is relationships with a capital 鈥淩鈥. However, 2020 threw a wrench into maintaining those relationships both personally and professionally.
As we step into 2021, most of us are ready to accept this "new normal" that includes telecommuting as a part of daily life while juggling the usual demands of work and maintaining relationships. Of course, we are looking forward to the day we can be together again and travel more freely to make contacts, but in the interest of innovation and adaptation, we should focus on the silver linings and the upsides to dealing electronically. Maintaining strong business relationships are as important as ever, and in many ways more so now, as we don鈥檛 want to become 鈥渙ut of sight, out of mind鈥 with our customers.
My grandfather was a brick mason. If he met you on a jobsite, you would be greeted with a handshake from deeply calloused hands and a smile that would not betray the amount of work he was about to put in. He was a 鈥淕ood Old Boy鈥 and ran his own company while working in the field. He knew how to do things right, and he lived off a reputation that would earn him credibility with complete strangers. People learned his name, his quality of work, saw his logo on his truck, and eventually called him up to quote work or even gave him a no competition award as a subcontractor. The trust he earned with owners and GCs and the friends he made, spread the word to second degree connections who trusted these contacts.
Since the pandemic struck in March, construction teams have had to pivot from in-person project interviews for new work to the virtual environment. As this is new to everyone, I developed the cheat sheet for my Texas teams at Rosendin to help in our preparation to get in the correct head space for the new virtual environment. It is intended to provide comic relief but serve as reminders to everyone involved what what to do and what not to do. Hope these tricks help your teams succeed in the new normal for project interviewing.
Theodore Roosevelt is famously quoted as saying: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." This could possibly be more applicable today than when he originally said it. I love the quote because it removes any excuses or hurdles from the conversation and forces you into action.
It鈥檚 time we turned your whisper into a roar or whatever form of making yourself known feels authentic to you. Ruth Bader Ginsberg had the softest, gentlest of voices. She was parsimonious with her speech, but boy when she parted her lips to express a belief, she made a point, and her points had points. The sharp barb of truth, the insightful pinning down of the injustice, the prick of wisdom that leaves an incessant reminder of the conversation, returning to you in throbbing pulses throughout the day, that was Ruth鈥檚 way.
We all know it鈥檚 our business鈥 life blood, but sometimes it鈥檚 so challenging to differentiate ourselves from the competition. This challenge is never more evident than when we are called upon to make a presentation. So, it鈥檚 our team vs 4 other teams in a 45-minute winner take all showdown. What do we say? How do we look unique and creative? How do we prepare? How do we get our message to resonate? Do we even have a message that is any different from all the others? For many, this is a stressful time. But for a few, it鈥檚 when they shine.
Digital transformation. Disruption. Innovation. As a professional in the A/E/C industries, you know these buzzwords all too well. Project teams are accustomed to adapting, testing new solutions on their project sites, and reaping the benefits of quicker workflows and access to data in real time. But what does it mean for marketers?
In the business world we live in today, there is no such thing as a single person, process or strategy that sets a company apart from the competition. Evaluation of your services has become more complex and the ability to market yourself and grow during this unusual time due to COVID-19 can make you feel over-extended no matter if you are small, mid-sized or large.
If you are like the thousands of BD folks in the A/E/C industry right now, you are struggling to find ways to stay relevant and connected to your clients and project management teams. Depending on the state you live in and the day of week, your situation varies.
It happens to all of us: an RFP comes across our desk and someone says 鈥淕o!鈥 You contact the owner and the design team to gain an understanding, then submit a proposal. Then you wait鈥 and wait鈥 until that 鈥渢hanks but no thanks鈥 letter arrives. The owner provides a debrief but the unspoken truth is that you don鈥檛 know enough about that client let alone the project. Winning takes more than visiting a project site after an RFP hits the streets and submitting a sound proposal. The best submittals come from years of relationship building and information gathering.
