SMPS Oregon recently hosted BD Live – a business development learning experience with live conversations between three business development professionals and Mark Fujii with Portland State University. Participants saw each professional demonstrate how they would converse with Mark to learn more about a project and build a relationship with Mark and PSU. If you missed it, here are some of our takeaways:

Tips and Best Practices from the Panelists

Do your research.

Each BD professional did background research on Mark and his other projects. They were able to ask pointed questions and get Mark’s priorities and nuances for this project. For instance, they knew Mark valued sustainability and in asking about how sustainability plays a part in the project, they gathered that Mark attended several sustainability-focused forums and that PSU would like the building to be a living building. Learning more about your client will guide you in asking the questions that get him/her to open up.

Ask open-ended questions.

The BD professionals asked open-ended questions, which allowed Mark to expand on a thought or correct an assumption. Mark even commented during the Panel Q&A that he really appreciated how they asked questions this way.

Share information about your company.

Each BD professional was able to interject a little bit about themselves and their company’s experience, but they kept it brief and quickly turned the conversation back around to Mark, PSU, and the project.

Leaving collateral behind will likely depend on the client.

In this case, a leave behind wouldn’t have been appreciated because it’s not sustainable and it wouldn’t have provided a connection with the client. Some advice: if there was anything you wanted the client to know, you should bring it up during the meeting.

Foster a culture of BD and marketing in your company.

The BD professionals all agreed that companies should aspire to play to people’s strengths and empower everyone to do business development in their own way. Everyone has a role in BD! With that being said, it was also encouraged to bring your BD and marketing staff with you to meetings. They are skilled at reading the client and listening for key words that will give you insight into the client’s hot buttons.

Get feedback.

BD is important, but so is the performance on the project, so it’s critical to gather feedback from the client during the project. If something has gone wrong and you haven’t heard from a client in a while (or keep losing proposals) it’s time to ask her/him, “where are we falling short on these proposals?” Ideally you are gathering feedback at a point in the project that you can make adjustments/corrections if needed.

Find meaningful ways to contact the client.

It’s obvious that you should contact a client before the RFP hits the streets, but what about if you’re between projects and RFPs? Some good tips were to engage with your clients at the events/presentations/organizations they participate in. Offer to sponsor something and let the client get to your firm that way. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself: “What value am I bringing to the client?” It can be an article, research, or recommendation, but make sure your contact with the client is valuable to them.

A brief list of questions commonly asked during the demonstrations:

• What have you seen that’s gone well in working with your architect/engineer/contractor on other projects?
• What are you looking for in your architect/engineer/contractor for this project? How do you define success with them?
• What else can I do outside my technical specialty to help you/the project be more successful?
• What role do you see yourself playing in the design process?
• What is your view of our company?

Thank you to the panelists and moderator for helping us put together another great BD Live event!

• Mark Fujii, Senior Project Manager, Portland State University
• Jeff Yrazabal, Principal and President, SRG Partnership
• Brandon Watt, Associate Engineer, PAE
• Joel Rohrs, Executive Vice President, Andersen Construction
• Kasey DeLucia, FSMPS, CPSM, Director of Corporate Marketing, DKS Associates

Thank you to our Event Sponsors!

• Woodblock Architecture
• Century West Engineering
• GeoEngineers, Inc.