Winning work in the AEC industry takes teamwork, trust, and humility to bridge gaps between marketing and technical staff.
For AEC firms, winning work is a team sport. It takes many different types of people in various roles and departments to collaborate on building the firm’s brand, contacting clients, preparing proposals, and closing the deal. I recently had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion led by my friend Janki DePalma on high performing marketing teams, and a key topic was how friction can develop between staff on the marketing team and staff serving primarily technical roles (the architects, engineers, and contractors that make up our beloved AEC acronym).
In this article, I’ll discuss common reasons this conflict can manifest and offer some suggestions for how to reframe the problem and bridge the gap between our marketing and technical staff.
Faulty assumptions.
In any professional services firm, the technical staff (whether they be engineers, lawyers, or accountants) are the firm; the business exists as a vehicle to offer their unique skills to the world at large. They are the product on offer, and while these positions are obviously important, they are not important to the exclusion of all the other roles and functions within the firm. Venerating these positions at the expense of others, especially the marketing staff, can lead us into a trap of three dangerous faulty assumptions:
- Assumption 1: Marketing staff doesn’t generate revenue because they are “overhead.”
- Assumption 2: Technical staff are highly intelligent, so marketing staff should defer to them.
- Assumption 3: If we just do high quality work, the phone will ring off the hook, and we don’t need marketing.
These faulty assumptions are sadly widespread and cause tremendous amounts of unnecessary friction and wasted effort. Assuming that overhead staff are not valuable, or in any way “less than,” not only robs people of a sense of meaning and purpose in their work, but it also causes them to spend time and energy justifying their existence and value. As anyone opening their Outlook calendar for the week ahead can attest, time is an incredibly precious resource for all of us, and I want our marketing teams spending as much of theirs on producing high quality work, confident that their efforts will be appreciated by their technical peers. A diminished sense of value also stifles creative thinking; why explore new messages, techniques, or graphics when the people reviewing your work see you as an expense instead of a generator of firm value?
As a degreed mechanical engineer, I can appreciate the sense of pride that comes with earning that status, as well as other professional accolades such as licensure as a Professional Engineer. The accomplishments are difficult to achieve, and engineers and architects are right to see themselves as intelligent. We are! About engineering and architecture! But maybe not about graphic design, the psychology of sales, and web traffic and engagement. I would generally advise against using an “I’m smart, do what I say” approach because it creates a miserable work environment, but it’s especially misguided when dealing with areas outside of our core expertise.
Finally, believing that high-quality work alone can replace the need for marketing may sound admirable and customer-focused, but it falls short of what’s required to grow and sustain a business. Generating repeat business from existing customers is the strategic bedrock for virtually all AEC firms, but producing a quality product is table stakes at this point. Most firms generate 80% of their revenue each year from existing clients, but where does that other 20% come from? And what about growth of the firm? I know very few firm leaders who are intentionally stagnant; most want to grow their business and that growth can’t all come from your current clients. A robust marketing strategy paired with solid execution is fundamental to firm growth, the results of which can return tremendous value to firm owners.
Bridging the gap.
When we succumb to those faulty assumptions, everyone is frustrated. The conflict between the marketing and technical teams becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where frustration leads to poor results, which leads to questions of value, which leads to frustration, which leads to continued poor results. So, how do we climb out of the trap of these faulty assumptions and connect our marketing and technical staff? As technical leaders we need to embrace growth in two key areas:
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Humility. Yes, we’re smart. We’ve got the degrees, licenses, and billing rates to prove it. But as I alluded above, our smarts have a limit. Getting the most out of marketing collaboration means recognizing that engineering expertise doesn’t equal marketing expertise. We might excel at designing chiller plants, but we’re not automatically equipped to craft messages that connect with the facilities teams who hire us to design them. We have to be humble enough to lean on the people who truly understand marketing, how our clients think, what drives their decisions, and how to reach them effectively.
Good internal communication and training can help your technical staff get a better understanding of how complex the marketing activities and thought processes are. Giving your marketing team a chance to teach classes internally about topics such as how to craft a buyer profile, customize a LinkedIn profile, or conduct deep market research can give them a platform to demonstrate their expertise and establish credibility with their technical peers. It can also help others in the firm realize how much they don’t know about this unique aspect of the firm. - Trust. As I talked about in a previous article in The Zweig Letter based on Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust, lack of trust is like a tax on the firm. To reduce that friction and create positive outcomes, our marketing and technical staff need to trust that their counterparts:
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- Are well intentioned. We’re on the same team and we all want the firm to win
- Are competent and skilled. We’re all talented but in different areas; lean into the differences and leverage each other’s strengths
- Are valuable. Every role in the firm contributes to the value of the company, and every person deserves respect and grace
When we successfully bridge the gap between our technical and marketing staff, we create an environment where friction is reduced, creativity can thrive, and effort is put toward generating positive outcomes rather than fighting turf wars. Engaging each other with humility and trust can bring out the best in everyone and drive true value creation for the firm. It’s a win-win for everyone!
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Morgan Stinson is chief operating officer at EEA Consulting Engineers. Contact him at morganstinson@eeace.com. |