E = m(bd)²

Hi, I’m Brad and an engineer. Or I was … but am, and that’s what this story is all about.

I ended up as a marketing and business development professional in a different way than most. Growing up, I was always interested in art, math, and science. My third-grade teacher noticed my interest in math and gave me a stack of mimeographed copies (those of you who can remember those still love the smell as I do) of long-division problems to work over the summer. And I did!

In junior high and high school, I developed a love of architecture and drafting. I was lucky enough in my northwest Oklahoma hometown of Enid to take AP classes in algebra, trigonometry, analytic geometry, physics, astronomy, and astrophysics.

At Oklahoma State, I majored in architectural engineering because it was an amalgam of things I was passionate about. After spending six years taking classes I loved and a few I didn’t, I graduated with my master’s degree and headed into the real world.

I spent two years at a firm in Oklahoma City and then landed at Wallace Engineering, now Wallace Design Collective. It was a young firm full of energy and ideas. At one of the first all-firm planning meetings, we decided “we need a brochure” because that would help everything, right? I’d had half a semester of marketing, so I figured I could do it. The result was in Helvetica (both of them—regular and bold) and word-heavy (OK, just words without pictures) but it was a start.

In 1993, due to a substantial change with a significant client, we decided to “start marketing.” Turns out, it was really business development, but we were newbies. Our company did research and started meeting with people and, in the process, learned what an SF254 and SF255 were. Not long after, we realized we needed more help to be better. We hired a marketing director and Jana Monforte became his assistant. If we made one smart move, that was it. When the marketing director left after one year, Jana was the one that kept things moving.

We were leery to hire from outside again, so I took over that spot part time because I think my partners decided I was “the one who likes to talk.” Our ex-marketing director was an SMPS member. At the time, I had no idea what SMPS was—and didn’t know then what the SMPS community would bring to my career and my life. I always say that everything I’ve learned about marketing and business development I’ve learned through SMPS. It’s no joke.

Without SMPS, I wouldn’t have moved from part-time marketing and business development to full time to, eventually, chief marketing officer. The knowledge, leadership skills, and confidence I’ve gained are immeasurable.

Why am I telling you all this? It’s not a brag about what I’ve done but to point out the serendipity in life. A leads to B, B leads to C, and so on. Although the process seems linear when you recount and summarize it, it rarely is. Life iterates to a solution, oscillating between events and outcomes and, hopefully, reaching a solution. It’s trial and error, wins and losses, steps forward and back but the trick is to keep moving forward.

Beginning on February 20, it’s National Engineers Week and a time to reflect and celebrate. The main thing a life in engineering has taught me is there’s as much joy in the process as in the outcome. I encourage you to engage your technical professionals – engineers, architects, construction leaders – in the processes of marketing and business development. To be fair, I’ve never met an engineer that didn’t think they could figure out a better way to do your job than the way you’re doing it. It’s the way we’re wired. But you need their help mining information and – at least to this engineer – engaging them and giving them a problem to solve can help smooth the path.

If you’re a technical professional reading this, here are a few words of wisdom from being on both sides. My experience has shown me that you can have the best staff in the world, but if they don’t have engaging work, you’ll lose them. Learning how to get work or go after projects is a skillset that’s lacking in A/E/C education but is critical to your company’s success. When your marketing and business development staff need your help, help them. They aren’t asking for things just to pester you. They’re on a deadline like you and it’s usually a one-shot deal. There are no addendums or change orders to an RFP response. When it goes out the door, it’s done.

I’m proud of both my engineering and marketing/business development careers. I couldn’t have done one as successfully without the other. So, go out and get the work – and then enjoy doing it while working together.

Article written by Brad Thurman, P.S., FSMPS, CPSM. Brad is principal and chief marketing officer for Wallace Design Collective and can be reached at brad.thurman@wallace.design.

Russ Sanford, FSMPS, CPSM, is a civil engineer by education, and a business leader by choice. He has executive management experience with professional service firms in the A/E/C arena. As senior vice president and chief growth officer, Russ provides overarching strategy, leadership, and management of the marketing, business development, and proposal efforts to achieve year-on-year growth at Kleinschmidt Associates, an engineering and environmental consulting firm with 12 offices in North America and over 220 staff. Right before National Engineers Week, Russ took time out of his busy schedule to chat with SMPS HQ.

Russ, you started your career as a civil engineer. why did you choose that degree? In high school, math and science were easy subjects for me, and a counselor suggested that engineers were good in those subjects. I also expressed an interest in being outdoors and the environment, so she suggested I look into becoming a civil engineer with an environmental emphasis. Today, I still have the same passions, which is why I choose to work for a firm that focuses on renewable energy and environmental restoration projects.

Why or how did you make the transition to a marketing/business development position? My first job after college was working with a geotechnical, environmental, and material testing firm in Milwaukee, WI. During my second year when work slowed in the winter, my supervisor asked me to make some phone calls to current clients and potential clients and to take them out to breakfast or lunch. My response was, “Really? And you’ll pay for the meal? That sounds great! “This is when I first realized I had a strong interest in developing relationships, identifying project opportunities, and winning work. I expressed an interest in pursuing a full-time business development role, but the company was not ready, and I ended up leaving.

How did your engineering degree impact your ability to be successful at business development? Engineers (and scientist) are good at creating and following processes.  That’s what they do; that’s how they solve complex problems. Success in marketing, business development, and proposals also comes from developing and following processes. That’s the reason that SMPS created the MARKENDIUM; it’s the guidebook for all the processes SMPS members need to be successful in their careers. A person certainly does not need to be an engineer to be a process person, but it does help to understand that most of our technical professionals (including architects) think this way. It helped me more once I began educating technical staff on business development because I could lay out the specific process that they needed to follow to be successful at BD.

Since you didn’t study marketing or business in college, where did you learn how to do marketing and business development? I love to learn.  I don’t necessarily like to be taught and I have no desire for additional formal education, but I do love to learn.  In the early 2000’s during my first full-time business development position in the A/EC/ industries, someone suggested I join SMPS. I had no idea what it was, but the folks at SMPS Greater Cincinnati were very open to helping each other succeed. I really needed the trainings that the Education Committee put together on how to do business development.

I also had a few great mentors throughout the years.  One was my supervisor when I was in commercial real estate development. Steve Wathen taught me professional sales training he had learned from outside the industry—training that Fortune 500 companies utilize. And I love to read books and articles to understand how to be more successful at whatever I’m doing.  I’ve applied the same philosophy to learning leadership skills.

How did you make the transition from being a business development person to a chief marketing officer, and now chief growth officer? The transition was made for me! In 2009 in the middle of the great recession, there was little need for a real-estate developer to have a full-time business developer. I was granted the opportunity to reassess my career and figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.  I received a call from the CEO of an architectural firm who wanted to talk to me about becoming his CMO. The CEO explained that he was looking for someone to focus on strategy, coaching, and metrics. I realized that these are the areas that I’m really passionate about (and that our industry typically overlooks when it comes to BD). I still use these three categories to explain what I do.

Since you mentioned leadership, what would you suggest for someone that’s interested in elevating their position? I’m not an executive because I’m an engineer. I’m an executive because I developed leadership skills over time and learned what technical professionals in leadership roles care about—and that’s numbers. If you don’t have data to explain how well (or poor) your program is doing, no one will listen. You need to have the data to advocate for a change that may need to be implemented so that you get senior leadership support. A good example is implementing a go no-go process to stop your firm from being a proposal production facility with poor hit rates. You need to present data on the actual hit rates and capture rates (dollar value) and the proposal expenses to get the attention of senior leaders.

I also recommend Steven Covey’s Urgent Important Matrix. Study it, understand it, master it.  Way too many people are stuck in the urgent and don’t know how to escape. You have to make time to work on the important! That’s what will transform your career and your company.

You’ve earned your CPSM and are an SMPS Fellow. Tell us about that. It’s a great honor! I never really thought about becoming a CPSM or a Fellow. The reason I decided to pursue my CPSM designation is because I wanted the education that came from studying for the exam. I knew that I had little understanding about marketing strategy, planning, and proposals because most of my career was devoted to business development. Studying for the CPSM exam helped me round out my education and helped prepare me to become a CMO/CGO.

Applying to become an SMPS Fellow was different because it’s not about what you know, it’s about what you’ve done to help support the industry and SMPS. I’ve tried to give back a lot because I’m so grateful for all the people that came before me and helped me become successful in my career. As a technically trained person, I have a special affinity for engineers and architects who know nothing about BD but are asked to do it. That’s why I invest a lot of my time training doer-sellers and through volunteer service at the chapter, regional, and Society levels.

Russ Sanford, FSMPS, CPSM, can be reached at Russ.Sanford@KleinschmidtGroup.com.

Engineers have a profound impact in our world. They tackle many complex issues to improve our everyday lives. But due to their highly technical nature, marketing, and business development, and the storytelling part of the business, isn’t necessarily a high priority. I’m here to tell you that there are technical firms that “get it.” And I’m fortunate to work at such a place.

CE Solutions is a structural engineering firm located in Carmel, IN. Our CEO, Steve Osborn, PE, SE, FSMPS, CPSM, became active in SMPS before founding CE Solutions because he wanted to grow his client network and learn more about marketing and business development, since it wasn’t something he was taught in his technical training.

Based on what he learned and the relationships he forged, Steve launched CE Solutions while attending the 1998 SMPS annual conference in Hilton Head. He has created and built a firm by applying best practices learned through the Society’s body of knowledge and its members. Steve concentrated on building relationships with clients and other professionals, as well as with the employees he hired. Two outcomes have come from this approach: a flourishing structural engineering firm and many new friendships.

Steve has worked tirelessly to build a structural engineering firm that focuses on four basic principles:  solid relationships, mutual respect, integrity, and ethical practice. These principles are the basis of every company decision and has created a caring culture with our clients and communities. Our staff works hard to ease the burden on our clients by giving them peace of mind during the project process as well as a successful outcome. This ensures a lasting relationship that continues long after the project is complete.

Throughout my 29 years in the A/E/C industries, I’ve found it can be challenging to find a company that truly understands the value of marketing and business development, which made it easy to see that CE Solutions does. One of the many things that attracted me to work alongside Steve (and the entire staff) was his pledge to include all employees in strategic/vision planning and key decisions. He realizes the importance of developing a firm that values their employees (current, past, and future) and their visions and ideals. For example, everyone can meet new potential hires. This ensures they will be a good fit with our firm’s approach and employees while also helping those being interviewed.

Prior to potential hires meeting the staff, Steve discusses our firm’s 15-year vision and asks them to send us their personal five-year vision. By doing this, we hire great employees that share similar values. He also conducts visioning sessions with all staff on a regular basis, giving everyone a say in the direction of the firm.

Now, I understand that not all firms operate the way CE Solutions does; however, that does not mean you lack the ability to affect change at your own firm. I recommend getting involved in SMPS. Take the opportunity to learn from other members, participate in programs through your local chapters, and make use of national resources.

Article written by Heather Cox, CPSM. She’s an associate and director of marketing and client relations at CE Solutions. She can be reached at hdcox@cesolutionsinc.com.