business development

The Difference Between Good and Great

I’ve had numerous conversations with clients lately that parallel my struggles – prospects and clients can not tell the difference between good and great. In my line of work, it is hard to determine what is a great brand and amazing design without knowing the company, situation, and having an eye for design. In construction,...

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Who is Educating Who?

I’ve always said marketing is education. You need to educate your prospects and clients why to hire you and about your value. Today I want to talk about that value. If you’re educating your prospective and current clients, you should have more value than your competitors. If you’re not educating them, then that is probably...

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What is Your Differentiation For This Proposal?

  Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about your differentiation varying from project to project. I’ve had some thought provoking conversations regarding that post with other marketers, clients, and fellow SMPS members, so I thought it was worth discussing more. Many savvy marketers utilize the SWOT principals to identify their company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and...

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You Can’t Help Some People

Last week I had a good lesson in remembering that you can’t help some people get out of their own way. I even had to wait a few days to write this blog because I was so upset by someone’s naivety. I spoke to a prospect that had a unique business model. He matched investors...

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Differentiation Varies

We speak a lot about differentiation on this blog and in all of our educational materials. Differentiation is key to educating your prospects why your company is the right fit for them and why they should choose you over your competitors. It is in line with the old sales adage of “poking holes in your...

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Best Way to Increase Your Hit Rate!

It is easy – stop going after projects you can’t win! No matter how complex your Go/No Go process is, you need to come to one of two decisions: “Yes, we can dominate this bid!” OR “No, this one isn’t for us, and we’re going to pass on it.” If you’re a numbers person, then...

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Content Marketing for Construction Companies

Content marketing is the new buzzword in the marketing industry, but it’s actually been around for ages. You most commonly see it for business-to-business companies, especially professional service firms. You can find a lot of resources for content marketing in the A/E/C (Architecture/Engineering/Construction) industry, but they cover very little for construction companies. First off, what...

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Who Cares about Differentiation Anyway?

Your client’s do, and that’s what really matters. Surprisingly, there are still skeptics out there on this subject, but to me it’s a no-brainer: Differentiating your company makes your prospective customers’ job easier to pick you over your competitors, and it increases your chances of converting that prospect into a customer. What happens when an...

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