Full Sail Partners Blog | Professional Services (24)

Anyone that knows me, knows I love music and sing karaoke.  I was learning one of Adele’s songs and listening to the lyrics: “Should I just keep chasing pavements, even if it leads nowhere?” I started thinking about the things we chase in our own life that lead nowhere. Even though this song by Adele is referring to love, it really can apply to pursuing business or ways to grow business.  Does your firm have a way to analyze if the business you chase is leading anywhere?  Better yet, do you know what efforts are paying off?  Below are things to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of your business building strategies:

Are You Chasing the Flavor?
A recent client described that each week they discuss the potential business everyone is pursuing.  However, each sequential week everyone was chasing the flavor of the week.  She had no idea what happened to the previous week’s pursuits and if anyone was even following up until she received a proposal request.  To avoid chasing the flavor and ensure your firm is following-up on all opportunities, consider these steps:

1. Document All Stages with Action Items: You don’t need a proposal to document the opportunities you are pursuing.  Even if business is in a discovery or assessment phase, documenting these efforts with actions items can remind you to follow-up. 
2. Identify Trends and Outstanding Items: Using an integrated system allows marketing and executives to track the progress of the entire company through reports to identify if there are trends or items that are outstanding.
3. Administrator and Automation: Identifying someone to administer and review your pursuits is critical to ensuring progress. Also look at ways to automate alerts to remind you when you should follow-up.
4. Win/Loss Report: It’s important to know how successful you are. Knowing the history of past pursuits can help future go/no-go decisions and improve your win rate. By developing a win/loss report and evaluating how successful you are by department, opportunity champion, and the type of project can help you make better decisions in the future.

Are You the Nurturing Type?

Many of us attend events, are a part of an organization, and are involved in business development efforts in hopes to nurture business.  However, most individuals and firms don’t know the effectiveness of their efforts.  To ensure your firm is making good use of your time, consider these steps: 

1. Network vs. Attend: Not every event you attend will result in business.  There are many reasons to network.  However, showing up to an event doesn’t equate to networking. After attending an event log who you talked with. What did you discover about the individual and what was important to them?  Think about how you might follow-up with that individual. Maybe there is a subject they are interested in, someone they want to meet, a project they are working on, or you found out something about their personal life. How can you use your knowledge or connections to follow-up?  Social media is making it easier to connect with people and stay up-to-date with their changes. Be sure to personalize your request.
2. Get Involved: If you are a member of an organization, take the plunge and be active.  Think about your audience when you chose an organization and then get involved in a committee, the board, or become a speaker. Volunteering can help you gain exposure, connect you with decision makers, and allow you to demonstrate your expertise. Joining SMPS was one of the best decisions I could have made for my company and career.
3. Return on Investment: We all tend to hear the phrase, measuring Return on Investment related to effectiveness of business efforts.  Another way to look at ROI is ask yourself, if you had to pay for the marketing or business effort out of your own money, do you think it would be worth the effort?  A great way of looking at the marketing effectiveness is to track the time you spend toward business development efforts and compare it to the business you obtained from those efforts.  When you compare the expense vs. the business you received, was it worth the effort? Sometimes efforts take months or even years to pay off. So to determine trade show ROI or events that happen on a yearly basis, allow two years to determine the effectiveness. 
4. Building Business: Most people look at clients as Existing or New.  I would challenge you to look at them as one of three categories: Prospective, Nurturing, and Maintenance. Prospective clients are those you want to do business with, maintenance clients are those you continue to do business with, while nurturing clients are those you’ve done business with or have recently received business from.  Your message and how your firm will gain business from all categories will vary. Keeping in mind that it is seven times easier to maintain an existing client than is to go out and get a new client; moving clients to the maintenance category is the goal.  So where should you spend your time and how do you know when you are effective?  First you need to define what justifies a maintenance client.  Is it the number of projects or dollar amount over a period of time?  With an integrated database system, your data can trigger when the criteria is met and send out an automated report.  This information informs “Client Champions” and executives when client business increases or decreases and provides marketing with insight for nurture campaigns.

I hope my inspiration from Adele will help your firm build business and avoid chasing pavements. Let us know what inspires you and what your firm does to ensure growth. View our webinar: Get the Most from Your Conference.

While much of the country endured 100+ temperatures, the attendees at the annual Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) Build Business Conference in San Francisco experienced daily highs of 72 degrees. Although the temperatures were low, the event was burning with energy as attendee's embraced this year's theme of "Take Action".  

At the conference, Deltek announced a strategic alliance with SMPS. The partnership will include identifying best practices and trends to advance technology's role in the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Additionally, mySMPS added a collaborative space for Deltek Users and SMPS members to interact, ask questions, and provide feedback on improvements.

Full Sail Partners is a proud supporter of SMPS as demonstrated through active involvement of its employees and consultants. Full Sail Partners’ CRM Consultant Kevin Hebblethwaite officially took on the role of SMPS National President and announced the board’s plans for the upcoming year. A “scan” of the marketplace through a survey has been deployed to the SMPS membership. The purpose of the survey is to incorporate the feedback into the society’s long-term plans. The survey currently has a 24% response rate and is expected to continue to increase. Expected key initiatives, supported by survey responses, include marketing integration, expansion of SMPS’ education offerings, and the development of operational standards and toolkits for local chapters.

At the event, Kevin brought a chuckle to the audience as he officially announced he's "weird" and encouraged others to embody a spirit of thinking that is not limited by sticking with the norm.  Kevin explains further that “politely shaking things up a bit can often short-circuit the path to success in areas such as relationship development, process improvement and differentiation.”

Full Sail's Director of Marketing and Business Development, Sarah Gonnella, also attended the event and is entering her second year term on the SMPS National board's Technology Committee and contributes to SMPS Connection and the Marketer. At the end of August, Sarah rolls off of the SMPS Atlanta Board and joins Kevin Hebblethwaite as a Past President of the Chapter. Both are proud to be part of such a strong chapter, which received 1st place Striving for Excellence Awards for website and large chapter. “SMPS is one of the best organizations in the AEC industry. I encourage those involved in business development, marketing and strategic planning at their company to actively get involved. The organization really does advocate, educate, and connect members,” remarked Sarah Gonnella.  To find out more about the a, e, and c of SMPS view this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syHFDKAxsW4.

Scott Seal, Director of Service Development, is a new comer to the SMPS network and joins the host chapter, San Francisco.  “I’ve heard a lot of great things about the organization and I look forward to getting involved on a local level. The conference was a great way to kick-off my experience. As demonstrated by the awards, I’m excited to be associated with such a great chapter,” commented Scott Seal.   The San Francisco Chapter's President, Alethea O'Dell, was recognized as the President of the Year. Her gracious acceptance speech brought laughs and tears to the audience as she thanked her "Big, Bold, Bad A$$" board and committee members.

Full Sail Partners looks forward to “Dreaming Big” in Orlando, Florida at next year’s conference and encourages you to share your story about SMPS or your conference experience.