Feature: Five Ways for A/E/C Marketers to Build Mutually Beneficial Business Relationships
by Ava Sand
Business relationships are important in any industry, but especially in the interconnected world of A/E/C. When there’s fierce price competition, the final project award is often decided based on relationships. Business relationships are intended to benefit both parties: getting to know your current and potential clients solidifies trust, retention, and referrals for your company, and your clients get to work with a partner that has their best interests in mind rather than having a purely transactional exchange. Here are five ways that A/E/C marketing professionals can help their companies cultivate mutually beneficial industry connections throughout the project pursuit journey:
1. Assemble a Trusted Team of Subject Matter Experts With Relevant Experience
Many A/E/C firms involve their marketing professionals in assembling teams for project pursuits. Advocate for your “seat at the table” in this internal process if you’re not already part of it, as marketing professionals often know their company and personnel resumes better than anyone. Hand-pick proposed team members based on their individual expertise, experience on similar projects, and any existing relationships they may have with the client. Build credibility with your clients by avoiding the “bait and switch” technique; upon award, make sure the same people you proposed are in fact going to be assigned to the project. If your firm has a Client Manager assigned to this particular pursuit, leverage his or her expertise and insights. For example, if the Client Manager has identified initiatives that the client is particularly passionate about, strategically schedule relevant social media posts about your own company that will resonate with them.
2. Commit to Transparency and Collaboration
In your marketing and pursuit communications, emphasize your firm’s genuine commitment to transparency. Collaboration is an essential part of any successful company’s culture, so let your clients know your proposed team will bring this type of working environment by demonstrating your company’s knowledge of collaborative delivery models. If applicable, identify key words from the client’s proposal documents to mirror their preferred terminology. If within your company’s service offerings, propose value engineering solutions to make sure your clients get the most out of every dollar they spend. Like any relationship, trust-based business relationships take effort and nurturing; commit to open communication and frequently provide mutual feedback on how each team is performing for the benefit of everyone involved.
3. Become Familiar With Assets, Systems, Personnel, and Organizational Values
If you haven’t spent time getting to know your client, you probably don’t yet understand what they value or what they are looking for in an A/E/C partner. Educate yourself on the client’s mission, vision, and values; similar to the communications tip above, mirror their same tone of voice in your marketing language. Keeping SMPS’s Marketing Research Domain of Practice in mind, demonstrate your proactive familiarity with their business whether or not you’ve had the opportunity to work with them before. Highlight the alignment between your shared corporate values so they can be confident that your teams will seamlessly integrate and that your firm will serve as an extension of their own. Emphasize your company’s service offerings that will supplement and provide even more value to their current business operations.
4. Replicate Consistent, High-Quality Work
If your companies have worked together before, make sure to use your proposal submission as an opportunity to highlight that prior experience and the lessons you learned together. Even if it’s not explicitly asked for in the client’s proposal documents, find creative ways to weave in your relevant project experience (for example, as captioned photos on content divider tabs). In your marketing messaging, emphasize your company’s track record of consistency and reliability. Make sure the quality of your proposal itself reflects your company’s high-quality work by ensuring error-free compliance with the client’s proposal documents. Attend bid meetings and industry events, ask strategic questions, and keep nurturing these relationships outside of specific project pursuits so when it comes down to the wire, your company’s name is already top of mind.
5. Establish and Maintain a Local Presence
It’s no secret that the A/E/C industry can be quite territorial. Even if your company is headquartered just a few towns over, that could make or break your competitive edge. For major pursuits in a new market region, encourage your firm to set up a local address to exemplify your commitment to becoming part of the community. When assembling your proposed project team, keep locality in mind; their familiarity with the area will shine through during the interview. If you’re working for a large firm with a national or even international reach, it’s essential to simultaneously represent the benefits of your extensive resources in addition to your team’s local and personal touch. Throughout the proposal process, emphasize that your local team can mobilize quickly on short notice, adapt to unique regional circumstances, maintain community relations, mitigate disruptions to adjacent operations, implement pedestrian and traffic safety plans, and ensure compliance with local, state, and federal laws and regulatory requirements.
By investing your time and resources into growing strategic business relationships, both companies are showing a commitment to working together for mutual long-term benefits. Choosing the right A/E/C firm is critical, and we must earn our clients’ trust in our abilities to exceed performance objectives, provide technical expertise, and drive sustainability. Professional services marketers hold the key to unlocking this potential throughout the pursuit process and beyond.
Click here to learn how international engineering firm Black & Veatch is using these methods to nurture a 20-year strategic relationship with a major utility client.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Ava Sand serves as Vice Chair on the SMPS SFBAC Communications Committee. She is a Solutions Marketing Manager at Black & Veatch, a global leader in engineering, procurement, and construction. Ava is responsible for strategizing content marketing for various Black & Veatch solutions, including data centers, construction management, and design-build project delivery. Connect with Ava on LinkedIn!
