Back to the Basics of BD

Many of the conversations I’ve had lately with the owners & principals of architecture and construction firms are about the “basics” of business development. How do we define business development? Where should we invest our time and resources to maximize impact? What are some “best practices”?

I define business development as the cultivation of relationships for the purpose of growing your business.  

The natural follow-up question is this:  Yeah – but what should we actually be DOING?

Why do we lose sight of such a basic business function?

From what I’ve seen, there are a lot of reasons. Many firms don’t have a clearly articulated strategy, roadmap, or playbook. Some are trying to do too many things – trying to be “everything to everyone”. Others have a cultural belief that billable hours are a higher priority than anything else, so they just never get around to business development – there’s always higher priority work to be done.

Regardless of the reason – if your firm is feeling a little lost, stagnated, or spread too thin…

I would suggest that a place to start is by defining and optimizing your business development process.

Yes - I believe business development is a process. It can typically be divided into three phases:

·       Lead Generation

·       Relationship Development

·       Closing the Deal

Each of these phases can be performed in a wide variety of ways. For example – lead generation can happen through 1:1 meetings, networking, data mining, thought leadership through publication of articles, speaking & presenting at conferences, referral requests, and more.

The key is figuring out which strategies are the most effective and valuable for the market sector and geographic area you serve.

How does this relate to your firm? Do you have well-defined processes for winning new work? Are they documented and measured? Are they executed consistently – is your business development function as disciplined and rigorous as your design practice? Do you know which activities yield the greatest results?

I love asking these questions and challenging business owners to think differently about what truly sparks growth and innovation. The fact that no two conversations or solutions are alike tells me there is still so much potential in this industry - room for market entry, disruption, optimization, and innovation.