Although architecture, engineering and construction firms generate business in many ways, classic marketing and sales tactics remain at the heart of that. Executing a joint strategy, each helping drive the success of the other, should improve a company’s return on resources invested in both. Marketing and sales are two different functions, but both must focus on revenue growth. Marketing is fundamentally a “one-to-many” sales relationship, not generally tied to a specific client. Sales, by contrast, focuses on individual clients in “one-to-one” sales relationships.
In many A/E/C firms, these functional groups interface little, with marketing staff unclear about what sales staff is doing (and vice versa). A close integration can yield a highly sophisticated marketing effort that helps drive revenue because it operates in the context of a sales strategy. Simultaneously, the sales process is more effective as it leverages the groundwork laid by marketing, making the sales cycle shorter. These groups must serve the same master—pipeline and backlog. Integrating them is a must. An integration strategy must incorporate: