New Role for Business Developers

Many firms in the A/E/C (Architecture/Engineering/Construction) industry are changing the role of their business developers. Some companies are doing away with 100% business developers and going strictly to a seller-doer role where a technical team member does the client relationship. They are doing this based on feedback from clients and prospects that they want to talk to the team doing the work, not a business developer. Even as a seller-doer myself, I see a flaw in this method and I think it may be a short-sighted solution.

One of the biggest challenges in professional services is you’re either courting new clients or working for clients. It is extremely hard to do both. This causes drastic peaks and valleys of work instead of creating a strong backlog of work. A lack of a backlog also creates an aggressive and possibly desperate attitude within your firm causing you to force clients to start work and/or take on work you don’t want to do normally.

Many business developers are still out there building relationships, but they are now also coaching the technical teams how to build their own relationships. Business developers use their expertise to create a master plan and individual business plans for each team member.

How has your role as a business developer evolved in recent years?