I have almost 35 years of experience working for and with A/E/C/Environmental firms in a variety of marketing capacities. Every one of these firms, whether my employer or my client, has been driven by the need to maximize the billable hours of its technical staff.
Given this drive, and the pressure of supervisors, department heads, division managers, market sector managers and officers of the firm, it is not surprising that technical staff do not want to be pulled away from billable project work to participate in an unbillable activity. Even if they can wrap their heads around the question, "If we don't win this new project today, what will you bill your time to next week?" they can't seem to wrap their hearts around the question.
My process, therefore, is to ask the technical folks to participate in pursuits only where their technical knowledge is required. I don't ask them to do what a non-technical person can accomplish. So while I may ask them to review a small piece of general text,
- I don't ask them to write firm introductions;
- I don't ask them to write project descriptions;
- I don't ask them to tailor resumes;
- I don't ask them to write text about how the firm executes ID/IQ projects;
- I don't ask them to write paragraphs about subconsultant firms;
- I don't ask them to speak with subconsultants about deadlines, formats, fonts and sizes, templates or required forms; and
- I don't ask them for information they have already given me on a previous pursuit.
The only sections I ask them to write are the ones that require technical knowledge and experience:
- Project understanding and scope
- Project approach
- Detailed work plan (if required)
- Project schedule
- Fee proposal (if required)
This maximizes their billable hours and minimizes overhead (unbillable) hours.
I make sure to thank them for their help, whether they have written one paragraph of the project approach about their technical specialty or developed the complete detailed work plan for the project. And I copy my "thank you" email to their direct supervisor, division manager, appropriate firm vice president and Human Resources.
Then, I take a walk down the hall (if they are in the same office) or pick up a phone (if they are in another office) and thank them personally for their help. I make sure they know that their contribution to the pursuit was important and that the appropriate people know about their participation.
By the completion of the second pursuit, these technical folks are more than willing to help in the pursuit activity because they understand the importance of the effort, the role they play in that effort, the importance of that role, and that their participation will be pointed out to the people who control their position, their salary and their annual bonus.
Much of "getting one's groove" is about knowing and understanding your place in the process, and believing in the importance of that place. People get excited when they have been asked to do something they believe is important to their firm's success.
Given this, an engineer can almost learn to love marketing -- well, almost.