自从发行营销专业服务协会 / SMPS基金会报告以来Sell. Do. Win Business. How A/E/C Firms are Using Staff to Win More Work(pdf), I’ve had a number of very interesting conversations with senior sales and marketing executives as well as firm principals.
The research – which included almost 1400 surveys and several dozen phone interviews – reinforced some assumptions and provided clarity on others related to architectural practice, engineering practice and construction industry business marketing and business development.
If there is one over-arching theme to be gleaned from the research, it is that A/E/C firms are spending more money on business development (BD) than they have in the past – and they intend to increase spending in the future. This conclusion is not based upon any concrete expense forecasts (e.g., percent of net revenue spent on BD), but rather the significant growth of both seller-doer and dedicated business developer positions at architecture, engineering, construction, and related firms.
Compared with ten years ago, architectural firms have increased the number of business developers they employ by 20%, engineers by 34%, and construction firms by 45%. A decade ago we were enjoying the pre-recession boom in the A/E/C industry, so the growth in dedicated BD professionals is significant.
对于十年前的卖方选择数量，统计数据同样令人印象深刻。33％的建筑师增加了员工的卖方人数，而43％的建筑师增加了卖方做生意开发业务发展的时间。对于工程师而言，数字更大：45％的公司增加了卖方，而45％的公司增加了卖方选择者专注于等式销售部分的时间百分比。对于承包商而言，有41％的人增加了卖方，而有49％的人报告说，他们的卖方花费的时间比十年前的时间更多。
To firm executives, this means one thing: more overhead.
So what gives? Why are firms willing to increase their labor expenses for business development? There are numerous factors driving this trend, but the reality is that we are in a highly-competitive marketplace. Client loyalties have changed: whereas a decade ago there was so much construction happening that a lot of firms could “sit back and wait for the phone to ring” (it’s never really that easy, is it?), that isn’t the case anymore. We’re in a new era of purchasing, with the dreaded “three-bid mentality” destroying long-term relationships and potentially negatively impacting the owners/clients – when the A/E/C firm that knows their culture, facilities, and/or structures isn’t the low bid and newbies come in, this could be a good thing. Or a very bad one!
第三方设施经理越来越普遍，资格预审/筛查公司也越来越普遍。So a client you’ve worked with for twenty years may suddenly outsource A/E/C hiring decisions to a firm that doesn’t know you, or require you to go through a screening process (often online) to see if you meet their “new” criteria. Contract language is changing as well, with the dreaded “duty to defend” clause appearing in an alarming number of contracts, forcing firms to walk away from existing clients because the contract terms have become unacceptable – or even uninsurable.
Beyond that, Baby Boomer clients are retiring in droves, taking with them the loyalty to certain architecture, engineering, environmental, consulting, or construction firms, and their replacements often have no loyalties, forcing you to “start from scratch” with a long-term client.
此外，根据您的地理区域和所服务的市场，很可能缺乏工作。一些领域和市场正在蓬勃发展；其他人不多。
So because of these many reasons, and others, A/E/C firms need to have more “feet on the street” when it comes to business development. They need to search wider and deeper to find new clients – or even gain repeat commissions with past or current clients.
但这不是永久的，是吗？当然，潮流会改变。正确的？
好吧，根据SMP/SMPS基金会研究，公司认为我们处于新规范中 - 在未来十年中，这可能会变得更加极端。
Survey participants were asked about anticipated staffing changes in the coming decade. Fifty-one percent of architectural firms anticipate adding even more seller-doers while 38% expect to hire more business developers. Engineers are projecting significant expansion of these positions as well, with 59% of firms planning to add seller-doers and 52% expecting to add dedicated business developers. The numbers were similar for construction firms, with 52% anticipating adding seller-doers and 53% adding business developers over the coming decade.
那是巨大的。同样，这转化为企业当今所看到的增长的高度增长，超越了当今的增长。
So where will this money come from? Profits? Cutting expenses in other categories (including non-labor marketing expenses)? The money must come from somewhere, but firms are expecting a simple formula to play out:
More business developers + more seller-doers = more contracts.
Simply put, in order to grow, they have to expand the ranks of people involved with sales. And they hope – expect – that “a rising tide will lift all boats,” so that ultimately they aren’t spending more for business development labor as a percentage of revenue, otherwise it comes directly off the bottom line.
但是，A/E/C公司是否明智地接近业务发展？他们有正确的东西，宝贝吗？
As much as firms would like to have a one-size-fits-all, out of the box approach to BD staffing, the reality is that every firm needs to develop the formula that works best for them, and their unique circumstances.
这始于对目标市场的透彻理解。大多数成功的公司都集中在一些主要市场上。是的，仍然有通才，但是在与利基公司竞争时，他们越来越挣扎，在基准资格方面通常无法通过“嗅探测试”。
所以好好努力看看你pursu的市场e. Where do your firm credentials exist? How about staff credentials, which are often of equal or greater importance to firm experience? Are these markets profitable? Just because you do a lot of K-12 education work doesn’t mean you should, particularly if you keep losing money on projects!
当您真正了解公司的重点领域时，您接下来需要将业务发展方法与这些市场相匹配。在这里对齐至关重要，或者您将努力最大程度地提高BD员工的价值。
Some markets make a lot of sense for the seller-doer approach. Clients are highly sophisticated and expect detailed, technical-driven conversations from the very first meeting. Failure to align your salespeople with the clients’ expectations can be the kiss of death: you won’t be invited back for a second meeting. An example of a market like this would be industrial or health care.
"Even if the roadmap you are developing seemingly requires all seller-doers,
不要在专门的业务开发人员的角色中折扣。”
Other markets, however, do not require such technical conversations early on. The gatekeepers, and even decision-makers, may not be technical in nature, and a non-technical business developer may offer perfect alignment for the client needs, excelling at the front-end “getting to know you” conversations. Local governments, for instance, often fall into this bucket.
也许您所有的目标市场都喜欢卖方做法，也许他们都喜欢专门的业务开发商。很可能两者都需要。如果您是一家小公司，那么拥有专门的业务开发人员可能不是一个选择。是的，有一些非常小的公司有全职卖家，但这不是常态。
Even if the roadmap you are developing seemingly requires all seller-doers, don’t discount the role of the dedicated business developer. Recent SMPS research has found that the role of sales professionals is changing, evolving. They are still actively doing business development, but increasingly they are coaching seller-doers, training them to be effective sellers. They are looking at strategic plans and aligning the sales programs. And they are often the first voice or face that a prospective client encounters, opening the doors for the seller-doers. I often hear it said that business developers are openers – they open the doors at prospective clients, while seller-doers are closers – they are closing deals, landing contracts.
Because both roles are so critical, firms are adding and will continue to add both positions.
But only you can determine what makes the most sense for your markets, your services, and your geographic regions. One size only fits one size, so don’t try to force square pegs into round holes – you may lose clients, project opportunities, and talented staff along the way.
And for many firms, losing talented staff is as terrifying a proposition as not landing new project commissions. Highly effective seller-doers are rare, and when a company loses one, they may lose a lot of business when that person leaves. Likewise, while only 8% of participants in the SMPS/SMPS Foundation survey reported that they can’t find qualified business developers, that number will certainly grow in the coming years. Rainmakers are retiring, and veteran business developers – who came into the A/E/C industry in the early days of the profession (until the late 1970s, it was illegal and considered unethical for professional services firms to sell or market) are retiring. Plus, the demand for BD professionals – and seller-doers – is growing, so it will become more difficult to find these positions in the future.
So what’s the takeaway? Look at your markets and your BD approaches to ensure that you are aligning the sales function with the client/prospect needs. Evaluate your staffing and identify the gaps. And develop a plan to ensure that you are not only effectively responding to the market today, but will be in the coming years.
Only then will you have the “right stuff”!