As they moved into the “Business Acquisition”: process, they talked about delineating the different stages of the sales process and where most firms spend the majority of their time. By contrast, they illustrated how that differs from where winning firms spend most of their time. The bottom line is more effort up front in the “target” and “intelligence” (relationship building) phase pays big dividends when it comes to getting the job. They referred to this process as “wiring the job.”
Expounding more on targeting and intelligence, they covered many unique places to look for leads and the sales funnel rule of thumb. It opened many eyes as to just how many places and ways you can acquire a lead from rumors you hear at your child’s baseball game to alumni reports. There was a definite push to become focused on a manageable number of prospects where your firm does have experience in what the prospect is attempting to build. A great tip in this section was to always call and ask questions about the RFP. It just shows you respect the prospect enough to make sure you have everything they require.
Next, in the Go/No Go section, the white board brainstorming came up with several suggestions a committee should consider during this phase. Does your firm have:
- A relationship with this prospect?
- Relevant experience with this project type?
- Appropriate staff to do the job?
- Funding source?
- Enough marketing staff to create the proposal?
- A possibility for future work?
- Profit margin?
- Prospect?
- Internal champion?
Cultivate was the next area of concentration and focuses on creating those lasting relationships. Karen even told a story about an out of town shopping excursion she once had with a client. She also gave excellent insight including “trust is the number one reason a firm is selected” and “it takes a minimum of seven contacts (communications) to make a sale.”
They spoke of the fact that we all must find our value proposition, practice our elevator speech and find or create differentiators between ourselves and our competitors. We also received a great tip about a good access letter in the 14th addition of the AIA handbook.
In the “Strategic Plan” section, they advised us to set a goal, develop a strategy and devise a tactic. For marketing in a slow economy they encouraged to keep talking, bury your competition, promote yourself, give accolades to those that do a great job and keep marketing and developing business!
Mark Fore
National Business Development Manager
CEI Engineering Associates, Inc.
