By Chandra Reilly, Project Director
Every once in a while I have a client or colleague ask questions along the lines of, “So … are you the business development person over there … or a project person … or …. ?” Whenever this happens, my response is always, “Both.”
The reality is, the way the construction industry captures new and continuing business has evolved significantly over the past 20 years. Back then, someone would win the project and someone else would execute the work, occasionally creating a lack of continuity that frustrated clients. Now, we are living in a time and place when the “doer-seller” model is making a big comeback. Why is that?
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, when qualifications-based selection became available as an option for delivering publicly funded construction projects, the industry responded by creating positions that were dedicated to creating and implementing strategies for winning that work. Fast forward to today and an entire generation of experienced project personnel has come up through the business with a deep understanding that their ability to provide a high level of service to clients has a direct impact on where and when the next project will come. Organically, we have demystified the business of getting new work and spread the responsibilities among our ranks.
So, how does this change manifest itself? The mantra, “We are ALL in business development,” gets repeated within our walls regularly. We have all but eliminated the position of Business Development Manager, relying instead on a legion of Project Directors, Project Executives and Regional Directors to form the core leadership of our business development efforts. Our dedicated BD staff is able to focus heavily on creating opportunities for our front-line people to engage with future clients.
The results all benefit our customers:
- Our customers develop relationships with people who have the ability to deliver personally on the commitments they make, and the authority to effect change when it’s needed.
- Our front-line project leadership has firsthand knowledge of our customers’ priorities, concerns, goals and overall conditions of success over the lifecycle of a project.
- Every person at Sundt is motivated to seek out the projects that create the best builder-customer fit because we are the ones who will be called upon to execute those projects with excellence and tenacity.
I love this evolution and I love seeing my peers embrace it. There is nothing more satisfying than watching a project grow from a dream to an idea to a design to a plan to a building that I can drive by and be proud of.
For more information on a career with Sundt, please click here.