Getting it

Ford Harding's posting, "Getting it" in Matt Handel's Help Everyone Everyday, is a worthy read for anyone struggling with rainmaking and selling professional AEC services.

Your abilities to persist, to ask, to connect, and to share/give are the keys to success in business development. And if you want to delegate these responsibilities to others, you certainly have to fist understand and feel the pain and joy yourself.

Fortunately, despite the sales and marketing systems out there, I don't think there is a one-size fits all approach to success because much depends on your own values, interests, and focus. If you are a great writer and are socially awkward, your model will be different than if you love sports and can build a Facebook network of 41 real friends (and growing) in less than a week.

Here is the original photo for this post. See Ford Harding's second comment below.

Help Everybody Everyday (a new site/blog)

You will want to add a permalink to Help Everybody Everyday: New Approaches to Marketing in the AEC Industry. Matt Handal, a fellow SMPS Marketer magazine contributor, started the site. He writes:

Help Everybody Everyday is not just a great way to approach marketing your services. It also describes a community of people who are willing to share and help each other grow as marketers and business developers.

You will especially want to read Matt's contribution: 10 Steps to Making it BIG in the A/E/C Marketing World. This brief article distills the essence of successful marketing practice and should be a key guide for anyone starting out in the marketing community -- and a good reminder for those of us who have been around a while.