November Program Recap: Institutionalizing a BD Culture: What Future Leaders Need to Know
Posted by [email protected] on Nov. 15, 2019 / Subscribe 0
The November program was a huge success! Speaker Richard Friedman joined SMPS-Research Triangle members back at the PNC Arena for our monthly program. As President of Friedman & Partners, Richard shared his philosophy, based on years of experience, on institutionalizing a business development (BD) culture. An engaging speaker, Richard was energetic, knowledgeable, and he substantiated his philosophy with proven results.
The topic alone was enough to keep the audience captivated. Richard was speaking to an audience whose livelihood depended on successful BD. He made us all consider, “how do we encourage and grow business development leaders within our firms?” His enthusiasm and direct honesty, countered by his great sense of humor, kept us all thoroughly engaged from start to finish. We laughed as we learned about what no longer passes for BD in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Richard reminded us of the clear, yet holistic, distinctions between marketing and BD and how they work together.
During his presentation, Richard debunked many of the myths surrounding BD in the AEC industry. We learned that BD has evolved from cold calls, slick schmoozers, and the infamous “White Male Golfer” to speaking engagements, networking, and knowing what to ask rather than what to say. One of his key points was that BD needs to happen from the top down, not marketing up. Client managers and project managers should be trained on how to ask the right questions. They should be encouraged to participate in training and/or mentoring. Richard added that the best time to do BD is when you’re busy and the money is coming in, not when you’re stressed and looking for work.
As a group of primarily marketing professionals, we were encouraged to look for talent in unexpected people—the introverts, the subject matter experts, the observers, and the listeners. We need to learn to embolden those individuals to explore their passions and help cultivate them into our future BD leaders.
Throughout his presentation, Richard fielded many great questions, which developed into engaging conversation from the audience. I’m confident that the impact of Richard’s presentation and the knowledge he shared will have a huge impact on how the AEC firms in attendance will approach BD moving forward. On a personal note, I will be encouraging my firm to invite him to present this to our client managers and project managers.
Wilma Joyner, Marketing Manager
Dewberry
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