“There is always going to be a role for business develop- ers,” Ryan says. “New SMPS Foundation research clearly illustrates the partnership that needs to appear between business developers and technical professionals.” “Business developers will provide training and presen- tation coaching, help strategize meeting agendas, and de- velop one-on-one coaching on how to build client relationships,” she said. “They will also help with client tar- geting, participating in client led organizations, and be the ‘opener’ for their firms – meeting prospective clients and making the introductions to the technical representatives.” What the future holds Accordingly, just as seller-doers increasingly need to put business development in their work schedule, non-techni- cal sales professionals need to grasp the industry’s profes- sional and technical focus, trends and operations and know enough to bring the right technical person to initial devel- opment meetings. “The quality of the decisionmakers at the client end has increased,” Butcher said. “They in many cases are licensed architects or engineers, or they’ve come out of the con- struction side of the business with extensive practical knowledge and experience. As a result, they have much higher demands right from the first conversation.” In practice, this means most potential clients have little if any time to meet with a salesperson, who can’t grasp and suggest right away a solution to the actual technical and design challenges, according to client research captured in the SMPS Foundation’s book: A/E/C Business Development – The Decade Ahead. Butcher says AEC enterprises and professional practices appear to be taking these observations to heart. A recent SMPS/SMPS Foundation survey indicates that a solid ma- jority – 53 per cent – of firms believe they are going to be continuing with the hybrid business developer/seller-doer model in the next decade. However, an impressive minority (24 per cent) say they will exclusively use seller-doers, sug- gesting the vital overall importance of the seller-doer model, along with the right training. (The remaining 23 per cent are not sure.) Butcher says junior staff are often embracing the seller- doer model and can be valuable resources as they develop their professional careers. These traits were advocated a few decades ago by rainmaker gurus, but more often were initiated by the individual, rather than the organization. 14 – July - August 2016 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report Some practices are building business development person- ality trait evaluations into their initial selection and hiring processes, he says. Meanwhile, benchmark research included in the Sell. Do. Win Business report indicates that for technical profes- sions, job title typically influences business development goals. For example, 44 per cent of the staff with the title of principal, owner or partner have personal business devel- opment goals, as do 20 per cent of employees with the title of project executive or project manager. Having business development goals equates to having a firm budget that al- lows for allocated time to be spent bringing in work. There is one final piece of good news for practitioners interested in the seller-doer model. Selling most definitely doesn’t need to be the awful rejection laden ordeal that some might associate with business development. Ryan and Butcher agree that some of the best results often come from relationships built through voluntary par- ticipation in association involvement. Speaking engage- ments at conferences and events are helpful. And for those more introverted people who would rather write than talk, contributions to technical articles and publications will pro- vide valuable business development opportunities. Finally, of course, connecting and serving and working well with current clients will provide key leads and insights for business development opportunities. The seller-doer can then report the opportunities to the practices’ business development specialists and managers to be guided on the best approaches to take to pursue the opportunities with- out stress or painful rejection. “Softening the sales part of business development is going to bring in a larger group of people,” Butcher says. “The opportunities in educational based marketing are opening whole new worlds.” Mark Buckshon, president of the Construction News and Report Group of Companies, wrote a version of this article for The SMPS Marketer, the magazine of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, (SMPS), a U.S. based organization that represents and supports mar- keting and business development within the architectural, engineering and construction community. There are SMPS chapters in most major U.S. cities, as well as in Toronto. For more information, visit www.smps.org, or in Ontario, www.smpsontario.com.