The seller-doer business development model
Opportunity shines for collaboration
in capturing new business
The painful recession in the latter part of the 2000s has
created a shining light of opportunity for architectural, en-
gineering and construction practitioners ready to capitalize
on it in the decades ahead: The integration of business de-
velopment and professional/technical work – and the prac-
tical expansion of the seller-doer model.

Today, the mantra is “everyone should be involved in
business development,” evolving the early era rainmaker
model and the later approach borrowed from other indus-
tries of dedicated sales (business development) represen-
tatives. New research indicates that an integrated system
works best. Project managers and even junior engineers
and architects help out in capturing new business for their
practices. The most recent model shift initially occurred with the
blunt force trauma. As the 2008 recession tore into estab-
lished AEC businesses, specialized business development
staff were dismissed and project managers were asked to
12 – September 2016 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
step in and help bring in new business through their rela-
tionship network.

Today though, conditions are very different and now the
story is a shortage of time and, in some cases, qualified
professionals. Without planning, co-ordination and special-
ized training, overworked doers may struggle to apply the
best business development practices. Even if practices try
to resolve the problem by rehiring dedicated business de-
velopment specialists, they will find that some clients may
prefer meeting with “doers.”
SMPS Foundation research from the book AEC Business
Development – The Decade Ahead has uncovered the vi-
tally important observation that some clients prefer to do
business with seller-doers rather than dedicated business
development representatives. In other words, the seller-
doer model, developed during the recession as a business
survival tool, reflects what should be best practice for busi-
ness development in thriving conditions.