(Before you realize your firm needs it!)

There's an interesting paradox in the A/E/C and environmental consulting industries when it comes to business development (BD) training: there never seems to be a good time to conduct it. When times are good and firms are flush with work, PMs and others are "too busy" to take time out of their schedule. However, when the inevitable slowdown occurs, firm leadership is hesitant to commit funds for this overhead expense.

I've recently been told by more than one firm that's been impacted by softness in their target markets that Principals, PMs, and others are being asked to call and meet with past clients and prospective clients to drum up new work. But a funny thing happened on the way to the sales call: many of these folks realized that they possess neither the skills nor the comfort level to do this. Even in the case of Principals and Partners, one cannot assume that these senior professionals and leaders of their firm understand how to conduct themselves and are facile in strategies used to gather market and client intelligence. Why? Because many firms still don't include BD acumen or demonstrated success as a prerequisite for advancement to Principal/Partner.

Business development training should be provided on an ongoing basis — in good times and bad — to satisfy both the needs of lead generation for your firm and the professional development of your staff. Although it's more difficult to make happen, the best time to provide training is when the firm is flush with billable projects and has a strong revenue stream to help fund this initiative. Enhancing your staff's BD skills and ramping up proactive BD efforts when times are good plants the necessary seeds that will bear fruit in economic droughts.

Many firms have mastered the art of providing training (be it BD training or something else) during busy times by conducting sessions that overlap the workday and after-work hours. Regardless of when you conduct the training, it's imperative that your firm make every effort to maximize your returns from this investment. Here are seven keys to planning a successful BD training program:

1. Avoid "one-offs." Any BD training must be part of a broader undertaking to establish a firm-wide BD culture and should accompany role delineation, articulating expectations, developing metrics, and rewarding folks just like you would with a profitable project. If not, you run the risk of folks saying, "Oh, that was a good workshop," but coming back to their inboxes and getting completely sucked up in the daily morass. For many A/E/C industry firms, this entails a significant cultural shift.
2. Keep class sizes small (15 or fewer) to control the learning dynamic. Classes that are too large allow less dominant personalities to blend into the woodwork and make breakout exercises too cumbersome.
3. Mix up disciplines, offices, and levels. The thought of co-mingling your "BD 101" workshop participants with those qualified to attend "BD 201" gives many folks heartburn. But when handled appropriately, there's no better learning dynamic to facilitate mentoring, sharing of best practices, and information exchange (not to mention less tangible benefits such as enhancing espirit de corps).
4. Hold the session offsite away from work distractions. As enticing as it may be to use an onsite conference room to save some bucks, resist the urge! What you save in money will be lost in the inevitable trips back to the desk or in extended conversations with work colleagues during breaks.
5. Establish and communicate session ground rules in advance. This means all cell phones, PDAs, and laptops turned off. Telling participants the rules in advance enables them to better manage the expectations of clients and work colleagues. (You should provide morning, afternoon, and lunch breaks, during which folks can catch up on e-mails and voice mails.)
6. Employ active learning techniques. Liberally sprinkle in individual and group breakout exercises meant to reinforce key workshop concepts. Examples include:
   • Brainstorming benefits (vs. features) clients gain by hiring your firm
   • Practicing your "elevator speech" in front of workshop participants
   • Building the skill of asking open-ended questions to gather market intelligence and assess client needs
   • Exercises that simulate BD phone calls and meetings
7. Establish a footprint for accountability before leaving the session. As you've no doubt heard many times, "That which doesn't get measured doesn't get done." Since the desired outcome of any training session is to change behavior, at the end of the workshop, have each participant develop five individual BD goals that are specific, quantifiable, and measurable. For example, a PM may seek to accompany three different Principals on BD meetings, while a Principal may seek to submit three workshop abstracts in the coming year. After the session, each workshop participant should meet with his/her manager to review, discuss, and if necessary, modify these goals. These goals should then be added to other goals developed during the employee's review process.

• Using the project delivery process to expand relationships and gather vital client information
• Strategies for strengthening relationships with clients
• Networking
• Turning a cold call into a "tepid" call: the value of market research and specific technology tools in the BD process
• Maximizing ROI from conferences and trade shows
• Why BD requires talking less, asking more, and listening
• Time management (given that most business developers also have a utilization target)
• Which strategies and tactics yield the highest ROI
• Appropriate metrics to track

Friedman & Partners is a marketing and management consulting firm serving the U.S. and Canadian A/E/C and environmental consulting industries. Our niche is in crafting and implementing growth strategies through:

• Market research
• Strategic market planning
• Business development consulting and training
• Mergers and acquisitions assistance
• Organizational and leadership development consulting