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.
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.
As a society, the way we consume information has changed. We have become accustomed to small bites of information (think Twitter) and highly graphical content (think Instagram and infographics) that can be skimmed and quickly grasped. If brevity is our new normal, why do many firm owners still ask for, and A/E/C professionals respond with, the same stale proposal formats we鈥檝e used for decades.
In the A/E/C industry, your employees are your most important asset. These are the folks providing the firm鈥檚 services and interacting with your clients. In turn, your employees鈥 perceptions and experiences with your firm are transferred to the clients with whom they work. If your employees are rallied around a cohesive business strategy and a shared sense of purpose, the brand will radiate meaning from the most authentic source: the people who work there.
