Do you wear many hats in your firm as a marketer? In many firms, marketers are tasked with proposal and collateral development, but might also engage in: business development, graphic design, public relations, trade shows, advertising, and coaching. It is important to remain organized and sane while investing in your professional development. How do you successfully do it all? How are you evaluated for such a diverse role? Being the one and only marketing and business development person in your firm may come in different forms or have different titles. If you are the only source for business development and marketing in your firm, you must have a unique combination of skills: vision, creativity, design capabilities, strong writing and proposal development skills as well as sales and relationship building skills – all of which work together to help sell your firm's services. This session addresses a number of strategies and perspectives used by marketers who are the single source for marketing and business development in their firms.

During the recession, a large owner of gas stations and convenience stores issued an RFP for assistance renovating a good portion of its locations as part of a major rebrand -- an RFP that normally would have received 15-20 responses yielded over 11k. While economic conditions have improved drastically over the last few years, the signs of commoditization are still all around us. Yet, we're not talking about them. This program will do just that. We will share key indicators that commoditization is still a very real problem for many architecture and engineering firms, perspectives on the topic from marketers around the country, and suggestions for how marketers can help their firms “de-commoditize."

With many clients, a significant amount of time elapses between the end of one project and the start of another. This is typically the time when the relationship with that client lies fallow. Yet, this is also the ideal time to ensure good references, get referrals, and demonstrate value from the engagement. This presentation talks about why that gap exists, what can be done during the gap (by both marketing and business development) to help you win business from similar clients, and how to ensure that the relationship with that client remains solid until the next project opportunity.

Hear directly from the President & CEO of a once "old school" A/E firm and the revolutionary transformation of its environment, culture, and reward structure. The firm has engaged its employees in ways that have markedly evolved the 160-year-old organization in impressive ways. The results weren't immediate and required an ongoing “walk of faith" on the part of a newly transitioned leadership team. Framing all management and strategic decisions against the backdrop of the firm's prime strategic initiative was critical to the firm's positive outcomes. This presentation will illustrate an emphasis on an internal culture of leadership that runs in the background at all levels, improved business development and marketing results, better risk management, an increasingly engaged workforce, improved technical quality, customer service & retention, and internal coordination.