Business Development, Part 3: From Marketing to Sales

Editor’s Note: This is the third installment in our continuing series about Scotty, a fictional business development manager. In the continuing story, business development and marketing issues are examined in the context of a typical design/build construction company.

“Hugh, I have something to tell you,” I said excitedly.

“Wait, before you do that, we need more work!”

Hugh, president and owner of Design/Build Management, said this in the middle of my backswing. We had decided to go out and play nine holes in the last light of the day at Medinah Country Club. I had been out all day and Hugh had been in the office since six a.m. It was a chance to talk as we played the course.

“What?” I said somewhat surprised.

“We need more work.”“I thought we were doing just fine?” As the business developer for Design/Build Management, I picked up on the distress in Hugh’s voice.

“Well, we’re doing just fine. Not to worry. But we do have some excess capacity coming up, and I’m really concerned about next year. I want to be more diligent in our marketing efforts.”

“Is it a marketing question or a business development question?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I have a story to tell.”

“Here we go….”

“No, really. It’s a good story. A true story.”

Hugh shook his head. “Go ahead.” He knew I was going to tell it anyway.

“It’s the story of a business developer who left a company and started his own construction company. This business developer was networked with everyone who was connected to a potential new job. He was one of the best in the business. His business plan reflected an immense opportunity for success with a list of millions of dollars of projects that would be let within the next year. The potential and opportunity was enormous.”

“What happened?”

“He was out of business within one year!”

“How could he blow such an opportunity?”

“Simply. Once he was funded, had his office set up and started his first job, he stopped all marketing.”

“But he hadn’t even started,” Hugh said as we walked up to the green.

“True, and his business plan indicated a comprehensive blanket approach to the market, but as soon he was IN business, in his mind, marketing became an expense. To him it represented dollars going out the door.”

“So a business developer failed because of lack of marketing?”

“Yes, as marketing creates an environment for the sale to occur, business development goes out and gets the sale, He was missing the first part, and it hurt him bad. He was not able to sign the business as there was no marketing culture at work to assist him.”

“So, if they had done the marketing to get more work, what should have he done?”

We finished up the hole and got in the cart to go to the next one. “First, let me tell you what I was going to tell you.”

“No, let’s finish this marketing question.”

“Okay. First, I would acknowledge that marketing is not an expense, it is an integral part of a construction company’s operations.”

“Agreed. What’s next?”

“You have to understand who you are marketing to, and what their needs are all about. Different market niches have different needs and different economies produce different demands on those needs. What you have to do is to match the marketing effort to those different needs.”

“Okay.”

“One of the first things that must be done is to understand and communicate and teach that everyone, and I mean everyone, in the company is part of marketing.”

“Meaning…”

“Meaning that every superintendent, every project manager, every office worker, that everyone must understand that marketing and customer service are one in the same. That you must take an interest in the client and their concerns, and that will lead to work. It does every time. People like to refer people to companies that do good work and are excited about what they do. Each and every employee in a company has a network, and you want each and every employee to expound on how great the company they work for is. That’s why internal marketing is so valuable. Employees must feel wanted, and if they do, they’ll promote the company.”

“Okay, what’s next?”

“You must have some sort of drip marketing program.”

“Drip marketing?”

“Yes, meaning that there needs to be a regular flow of contact between the company and their allies, prospects and clients.”

“We do that.”

“Yes, it was one of the first things we started. A company’s name must be in front of the prospects and influencers at all times.”

“Okay, what’s next?”

“You must define the niche markets you have as they each need to be marketed to differently. For example, industrial renovation and addition can be direct, but new industrial projects often come from real estate brokers that are controlling the land.”

“Okay, we do that. What’s next?”

“If you are a niche player you want to focus your marketing by joining and participating in their industry associations. Be a featured speaker, join a panel and write several articles per year so you and your firm are recognized as an expert.”

“Okay, we do that.”

“It goes without saying that the website must be state of the art reflecting your values and benefits in an easy graphical style.”

“What’s next?”

“You clearly must consider a promotion, perhaps with a clever incentive item, that serves to magnify your benefits. There must be follow-up and the program must be consistent.”

“I’m starting to see the picture. You can’t have business development alone and expect to grow. Marketing is a key component that works with business development hand-in-hand.”

“Yes, it was a valuable lesson to learn-and expensive, I might add.”

“So, what were you going to tell me?”

“I signed a new project this afternoon!”

“Oh my goodness! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

With the exception of an occasional guest appearance by the author, any similarity to actual events or to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental in this work of fiction.

Construction Business Owner, September 2005