Business Development

Friedman & Partners offers the following business development workshops aimed at principals, project managers and other technical professionals. We are happy to customize any training for your firm’s needs.

Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Training Buck

Does business development (BD) training actually work? Can your firm’s technical professionals enhance their BD skills through training? The answer is “yes, but.” Learn what’s critical to making BD training work for your firm. We’ll cover who to train, when to train them, what they need to learn, and the all-important how to define expectations and accountability.

10 Keys to Institutionalizing a Business Development Culture

A strong business development (BD) culture makes great business sense. It’s an important differentiator and can influence project delivery, recruiting and career development. Through industry anecdotes and case studies, we give firm leaders tools to shape a BD culture that is unique to their firm’s vision and markets, and identify ways for staff to contribute in a way that’s consistent with their skills and interests.

Maximizing Business Development Return-on-Investment

Many A/E/C and environmental consulting firm professionals are overwhelmed at the thought of adding business development on top of project responsibilities, staff mentoring and other key functions. In this workshop, you’ll learn business development strategies and tactics that yield “bang for the buck,” synergize your marketing and BD efforts, strengthen client relationships and give your BD investment the biggest payoff.

Win/Loss Debriefs: Best Practices and Maximizing ROI

“Why did we lose this project?” In the business development realm, that can be the $1 million question. Loss debriefs can be difficult, awkward, and ego-bruising. Yet when you’ve won a project, what’s the value in finding out why? Let’s just get to work! Conducing win/loss debriefs is part art, part science, and it’s one of the most important business processes to master. We’ll cover the most critical information to gather, common mistakes and teeing up the process to maximize business results.

Ask, Don’t Talk: Using Probing Questions to Pursue and Win Work

Asking questions— and shifting your motivation to curiosity rather than a specific outcome— is the lifeblood of development, be it personal, professional, career, market, or business. We bust the common belief that, when it comes to business development and client maintenance, it’s more important to know what to say (or have the right answer) than to know what to ask. Asking influencers and decision-makers the right questions at the right time can deliver compelling benefits. We’ll show you how.

Unleashing the Power of LinkedIn

Many professionals waste time and effort extending and accepting invitations without thinking about the image their LinkedIn profile conveys or their strategy for marketing and business development outreach. In this workshop, we delve into how and why to use LinkedIn for networking, market research and intelligence, business development and market positioning. We’ll share case studies and best practices to help you leverage this powerful tool.

Following the delivery of these workshops, we are often asked to provide targeted business development coaching and consulting to a selected group of participants.