Marketers Take Flight

Planning for our firm’s futures starts by understanding our clients and seeing trends that correlate across markets and services. Our A/E/C firms can respond with new services or reimagine how we deliver our services to meet those clients’ needs.

We can accomplish this by conducting market research. And, it doesn’t have to be a difficult, time-consuming, or a monumental effort. You don’t have to be intimidated about undertaking market research for your firm. 

In fact, performing primary research at your firm is a great way for marketing and business development leaders to position their firms for the future. 

And, primary research is especially important now that our A/E/C firms cannot rely on traditional CIPs, budgets, and industry association data that was produced a year ago. Because of this, I turned to an expert when it comes to market research for our industry, Sarah Kinard. She is the founder of The Flamingo Project, a consultancy dedicated to grow existing service firms and launch new businesses. 

You’ll learn:

• Traditional market research approaches prior to COVID and why they are not so reliable now
• Philosophy when it comes to “following the money” approach to market research
• What market research strategies are working in today’s marketplace
• The four-questions you need to ask any client in your market research
• Steps to organize and conduct primary research for your firm
• How to use the information you collect in your research efforts
• Stories from two A/E firms who applied research to create new work for their firms

Ready to begin your market research to help grow your firm? Hit that play button.

Today's episode is sponsored by:

• The Marketer’s Tool Kit provides a list of software tools to save time, automate your marketing processes, and reduce your stress and frustration. I compiled this list after using dozens of software products and talking to hundreds of marketers across the country. Grab your copy here: https://www.marketerstakeflight.com/themarketerstoolkit/

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And, don't forget to download the app on iTunes or the Podcast app. Leave a review if you found value listening to this show. Your review will help our show grow and help us connect with more amazing marketers like you. Thank you for being awesome!

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

What an incredible experience these past few weeks have been!

I just finished delivering my 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Proposal Pros Master Class series and closed registration for the 2020 class of The Proposal Pro Course. 

And, I’ve done trainings before including in-person and online, but I have to tell you…this was by far the BEST group of engaged participants I’ve ever had.

Your energy was amazing, and it made ME want to show up even more for you all. 

Maybe that’s why I ended up adding another lesson (Your Career Progression Path) and doing an additional 4 hours of live Q&A!

I’m so grateful for each and every one of you who showed up, watched the lessons, asked questions, and put those lessons into action. Some of you wrote back to let me know you are already improved your proposal cover letters and presentations!

I wanted to give you another chance to check out my unadvertised surprise bonus lesson in the master class series. This lesson is all about your career progression path. 

So in today’s bonus podcast episode, I am sharing the audio from that lesson. And, I am providing the slides you can download. Just head over to the episode show notes page at marketerstakeflight.com/careerpath to find it.

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Is your next career move up? Will it still involve proposals? What if you want to take a break or lean out of your career? What options do you have then?

Today’s episode is the second part of the career paths of marketers. I am going to answer these questions and more from career path stories of marketers like you, and from a very special guest.

If you remember from episode 11, I mixed up the podcast format a bit. And, I got a great response. I had more stories to tell from marketers like you. So, because this is my podcast show and control the schedule, I thought why not continue this conversation and continue sharing your stories. So, that’s exactly what I am going to din this episode.

In the second part of this series, I share the career path stories of five different marketing, communications, and business development professionals.

There's also a special guest who started as a marketing coordinator, fell in love with helping her community, and pivoted her career to lead referendum campaigns for her firm.

This is a fun and inspiring episode, so grab a coffee or put on those earbuds and sneakers and listen up.

Today's episode is sponsored by:

• The Proposal Pro Course - Rapidly learn how to manage winning proposals. The Proposal Pro Course is the only proposal management training that shows you not only how to manage and create winning proposals like a pro--but how to gain more confidence and authority to take your career to that next level. And, registration only opens once per year. Learn more here: https://www.theproposalprocourse.com/nowopen2020

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And, don't forget to download the app on iTunes or the Podcast app. Leave a review if you found value listening to this show. Your review will help our show grow and help us connect with more amazing marketers like you. Thank you for being awesome!

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

I’m so excited to share this student success story with you today. 

Corey Lynch, marketing manager for PhiloWilke Partnership, not only learned proposal management concepts inside The Proposal Pro Course but put them into action. And, she got amazing results!

It sounds so simple when I put it like that. 

But, here’s the reason I’m sharing her story with you today and why I have invited her on the show to talk about her wild success. We can all learn the foundational principles of proposal management. Many of us may already know what we should or need to be doing. 

However, it’s putting it into action part where many of us get stuck. 

Sometimes, we don’t know what to do to take what we learn and put it into action. Sometimes, we are scared to take that next step. Sometimes, we just need to be inspired, to be motivated to “just do it.”

And, that my friend, is why I have asked Corey to share her story with you. 

If you don’t come away feeling inspired, then I don’t know what else will inspire you. I had goosebumps during our conversation and got them again when I was editing the episode. So, I don’t think that will be a problem.

Conversation Highlights:

• Why she originally joined The Proposal Pro Course even as an experienced marketer.
• How she uses some of the lessons learned, like the Proposal Kick-off Meeting, to come to each proposal effort in a more professional manner.
• Using the Differentiation Framework elements like features vs. benefits to make data gathering more exciting.
• She tells us about a story about how, during a shortlist interview preparation effort, she was able to get a compelling story from her technical team. A story that probably won them that project. 
• How that process, left a lasting effect on the client, her efforts for future proposals, and the medical planner herself. 
• This process taught her team that’s the type of information they need to make their proposals and presentations more compelling and memorable. 
• And, through this process, she realizes that she must help her technical professionals get beyond feeling that what they do day-in and day-out is important and amazing. And, that she and her marketing team is there to tell that story. 

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And, don't forget to download the app on iTunes or the Podcast app. Leave a review if you found value listening to this show. Your review will help our show grow and help us connect with more amazing marketers like you. Thank you for being awesome!

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Let’s be honest, you gain more confidence as you gain more experience. And, if we’re being really honest, you might believe that you need years of experience to get there. To be that go-to proposal manager or leader in your firm. 

Well, I am excited to share a story of an A/E/C marketer who really gained her confidence and really stepped into her feelings of being a proposal expert in only ONE YEAR. Really less than a year.

Yes, it took hard work, some learning, and having the courage to implement the lessons she learned, but she is there. Now, she is teaching some of the lessons she learned in the Proposal Pro Course to other firm leaders who are new marketing. Talk about the student becoming the teacher!

And, she also lets it slip in that her firm’s win rate increased during this time too. So not only has she grown personally since going through the course, her firm is benefitting too. She is proving that investing yourself, benefits not only you personally but for your firm too. 

Maybe you have been in the industry for a few years, or already feel pretty confident in your proposal abilities. You think you know the basic proposal management principles and most of the tasks you should be doing. 

But maybe you have some doubts at times because the proposal process just doesn’t go as planned. Or, maybe you should have spoken up on that call or injected your idea for that proposal cover letter but didn’t.

What stopped you? What held you back? Chances are you don’t even know why you said or didn’t say something that would have really improved your proposal.

If you’re ready to change that. If you’re ready to have the self-confidence and courage to step into that leadership role, to manage your proposals with authority, and feel like, “yeah, I’ve got this, no problem,” then I can’t wait for you to listen to today’s episode.

I am excited to talk with one of my Proposal Pro Students, Lindsey Robertson, APR, Marketing & Communications Manager for Foresight Construction Group. Not only do we share the same name, but she also lives in Gainesville, FL like I do!

Now, Lindsey is still very new to the A/E/C industry. Her previous experience is in marketing and communications in the medical device and healthcare industry. She joined Foresight two years ago and went through the Proposal Pro Course last year so she was truly new to our industry. 

In our conversation, she shares more about her background including what her experience was prior to taking the Proposal Pro Course, what her specific proposal challenges were at this time last year that she was looking to improve, and what she learned and continues to learn to help grow herself, advance her career, while contributing to the growth and success of her firm.

Check out

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

If you don’t know Julie Shaffer, CPSM, that ends today. She is THE guru when it comes to all things InDesign and using it to speed up your proposal production process. She absolutely brings it in this episode. Make sure you have pen and paper ready to take notes. 

She tells us about two tools to use to end the laborious cycle of the proposal drafts back and forth. Instead of sending out a proposal draft, getting different sets of comments, and collating those comments, and then incorporating them into an updated draft, she tells us how to streamline and speed up this process. Julie shows us how to use two tools you most likely already have today that will save you dozens of hours and unnecessary frustration on your next proposal. 

Here’s the knowledge she drops on us:

• We review the typical proposal review cycle and how inefficient it is. 
• How COVID and working in different places are making the traditional proposal review process even harder.
• Julie introduces two different methods to conduct virtual proposal reviews. These include Adobe’s Share for Review and Acrobat features.
• She shows us how to get all of the comments back into InDesign
• Julie provides a teaser into her upcoming InDesign training course

About Julie Shaffer, CPSM, Owner of Shaffer Creative
As an award-winning designer and respected leader of creative teams and marketing departments, Julie exhibits the perfect mix of tact, tenacity, and industry knowledge to design and orchestrate creative marketing solutions for each client. She is an Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign CC and is known for developing extensive style formatting for project efficiency and completion. Julie loves to share her knowledge through workshop-style trainings for clients and professional organizations across the US.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And, don't forget to download the app on iTunes or the Podcast app. Leave a review if you found value listening to this show. Your review will help our show grow and help us connect with more amazing marketers like you. Thank you for being awesome!

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Is there a career path in A/E/C marketing beyond the marketing coordinator role?

If you have been in your role as a marketing coordinator for any length of time, usually around the 2-3 year mark, you begin to wonder what role is next. You can become a Senior Marketing Coordinator and then eventually a Proposal or Marketing Manager. Eventually, you may be managing other staff, larger pursuits, and/or multiple pursuits. 

Can you ever get beyond the proposals? Do you want to? What other career paths are there for A/E/C marketers?

I asked my community of marketing professionals this exact question, and they didn't disappoint. In part 1 of this series, I share the career path stories of seven different marketing, communications, and business development professionals.

There's also a special guest who started as a marketing coordinator, turned to business development, and now is providing project management assistance on the very design-build projects she helped to win.

This is a fun and inspiring episode, so grab a coffee or put on those earbuds and sneakers and listen up.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And, don't forget to download the app on iTunes or the Podcast app. Leave a review if you found value listening to this show. Your review will help our show grow and help us connect with more amazing marketers like you. Thank you for being awesome!

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

We know that proposal quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) is essential to producing the best proposals possible and give our teams the best chance to win. However, QA/QC is too often sacrificed to the lack of time and pressing deadlines. This is a constant struggle we face with every proposal. 

That’s why when I wanted to cover the topic of proposal QA/QC, there was only one person that came to my mind. And, that person is Julie Trowbridge from Jacobs. I met Julie over a decade ago when we both worked at a firm called Carter & Burgess, which later was acquired by Jacobs. She moved to Atlanta and we had a chance to work together in the Southeastern marketing team. 

Having a career of nearly 30 years in the industry producing proposals, she brought with her a reputation of producing high profile aviation proposals and a keen eye for detail and processes. Today she manages still manages proposals for Jacobs. Through this, she not only is managing her own proposals, but helps with ensuring the proposal process is followed, including QA/QC, for the Atlanta office.

Because of this experience and what she does on a daily basis, I knew she was the perfect person to bring on the show to talk about QA/QC, specifically as it relates to proposals. And, even though she works for a mega engineering firm with well-established processes for sales and proposals, the best practices we talk about can apply to small and mid-sized firms with marketing departments of one. I would say this is a must-listen for anyone responsible for producing proposals for their firms.

The proposal quality best practices we talked about include: 

• Why your proposal quality is too important to ignore
• Proposal QA/QC plan components
• How to fit the QA/QC process into the overall proposal production timeframe
• Strategies to incorporate quality review throughout the entire process
• Coaching your proposal reviewers to provide you with the best feedback to improve the proposal content
• Best practices around version control of proposal documents

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And, don't forget to download the app on iTunes or the Podcast app. Leave a review if you found value listening to this show. Your review will help our show grow and help us connect with more amazing marketers like you. Thank you for being awesome!

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

2020 is already halfway done. We are well into the second half of 2020. It’s crazy right?!? But what a perfect time to do a mid-year check-in on your goals. 

In this episode, I am talking about your personal performance goals. Remember, those goals you probably set with your supervisor last fall, which probably feels like years ago now!

These goals you set late last year or the beginning of 2020, can’t be ignored. They may have been small goals or really big stretch goals to get you to another place in your career. Either way now is precisely the right time to review where you are with your goals to make sure you’re on track, make sure they’re realistic but still exciting and challenging, and then make any of the necessary adjustments to that specific goal. 

So, in today’s episode, I have four steps to help you reach your goals in the final months of 2020. When I say it like that – again, doesn’t it sound crazy? – the final six months of 2020!

Here’s what this process looks like:

• Identify your goals. Get super clear on what they are and refresh your memory. 
• Examine where you are at with each goal. List out the actions you have taken to make progress.
• Pinpoint what’s working and what’s not working. Identify mini-milestones to help get you to the end goal. 
• Create a plan to move you forward and knock your goals out of the ballpark. 

I want you to walk away from this episode with a renewed sense of motivation and a step-by-step process to help ensure that you achieve those goals.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And, don't forget to download the app on iTunes or the Podcast app. Leave a review if you found value listening to this show. Your review will help our show grow and help us connect with more amazing marketers like you. Thank you for being awesome!

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

This is the second half of my conversation with Frank Lippert, FSMPS, CPSM of GO Strategies. In this part, we talk about turning around your go/no go form and use it to guide your repositioning and capture planning. 

More specifically we talk about:

• How do to determine what your preproposal activities should be to increase your chances of winning
• What exactly to do to position your firm to win
• How to coach technical staff to make meaningful connections with clients
• How to find the best information about the project you are pursuing

Frank was also gracious enough to provide us with the go/no go sample templates as well as his famous coffee mug with the key five go/no go questions. Both can be found on the GO Strategies website. 

 Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

•  About Frank Lippert, FSMPS, CPSM and GO Strategies
• Go/No Go Form Templates
• GO Strategies Coffee Mug
• Develop a Go/No Go Process Self-Starter Kit
• How to Develop a Go/No Go Evaluation Process
• How a No-Go Decision Can Actually Increase Your Sales
• A Hidden Cost of Low Hit Rates

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And, don't forget to download the app on iTunes or the Podcast app. Leave a review if you found value listening to this show. Your review will help our show grow and help us connect with more amazing marketers like you. Thank you for being awesome!

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.