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The remaining aspects of SERVE provide more helpful tips and techniques for managing and enhancing the relationship building journey.  As you read each of them, consider how both the heart (emotion) and mind (logic) should be engaged. The first “E” in SERVE stands for “listening with Empathy and honoring wants.”

As a business developer in this industry, you are selling solutions. As you build that trust one kept promise at a time, you may find your customer starts asking you for advice about other things. You are on the path to becoming one of their trusted advisors when your customer starts proactively sharing their plans, asks for your advice on broad topics, and starts using you as a sounding board. So, why become a trusted advisor and how does that help you with business development?

Organizational disruptions are something every company will face. Sometimes these disruptions are easily managed, while other times they quickly morph into a crisis. How you manage and lead your team through a crisis begins with planning.

Being busy is a blessing for many companies today. Most firms are overwhelmed with the amount of work they have for their employees, but firms should still be marketing their services to clients and prospects. Positioning your firm and marketing your services right now, while you have the cash flow, will elevate you in the marketplace.

Who are the most valuable customers on your account list? Gut instinct likely points you straight to your key accounts. If you’re like most businesses, you double down on your best customers because you have their loyalty, trust, and a profitable track record. After all, sales wisdom tells us that it’s easier to keep an account than to earn a new one. How do you push growth beyond your key accounts? One of the most strategic opportunities to grow stands with your second-tier accounts. If you can move the middle of your account list, you have a calculated path to increasing sales, footprint, and margin.

Be careful what you wish for, it just might happen.  These behind-the-scenes meetings seem intriguing for loads of reasons, not the least of which include the intrigue and mystery that surrounds them.  What do they talk about?  Is there a secret plan for a merger, an acquisition? Are they talking about me, or you or the next big hire that will end up managing you?  The answer is likely yes.  As one dialed in politician said: “If you aren’t at the table – you’re on the menu.”  (attributed to both Ann Richards and Elizabeth Warren) Employees professional fates are being decided behind those closed doors.  Who will be hired, fired, or promoted?  Who can execute, bring energy, energize others, and has an edge?  Are you a good fit for the organization, mesh with their values, aspirations, and ways of being?  It is important for you to ask these questions of yourself, to be proactive, to add value to the organization.

Despite the recent volatile market conditions, the construction industry remains competitive, and firms are consistently looking for that “it” factor to win more work. One of the most common analogies used in business development (BD) and the project pursuit process is the “three-legged stool”, denoting cost, time and quality. The analogy is intended to demonstrate that all three factors are weighted equally, but in this post-pandemic era when budgets and schedules fluctuate due to external factors such as a looming recession or continued supply chain issues, quality becomes the only factor that construction firms can actually control. Although quality can be a nebulous term, difficult to quantify, and certainly takes more time to establish, in the long-run, delivering quality service to clients stands to be the greatest contributor to a construction firm’s profitability.

Virtual business development seems to be a recently coined and common term in the A/E/C industries, as business development looks much different today than it did a couple of years ago. The opportunities to drop by prospects’ offices or meet them at a networking event are few and far between.

Business development (BD) has always been an important function for contractors. Now, with the impact of virtual offices and the ever-present office mobility, BD has truly become a greater challenge. Let’s not kid ourselves, there are multiple obstacles that BD professionals face amidst an ongoing pandemic including rising competitive landscapes, ongoing supply chain issues and labor shortages. Combining these issues with an ongoing desire for contractor demand, BD is more of a chase now, than simply developing opportunities.

Networking is a naughty word in construction — most people cringe at the idea. Let’s approach networking from a different point of view that’s not cringeworthy then. Let’s think about it as making friends, learning about someone or someone’s company, or just finding common ground.