Innovation September-October 2013

confidence you derive from the relationship established in the Introduction, plus your knowledge of their personal drivers, will allow you to stand out from the competition. Capture Strategy – Develop the Proposal Team Identify the people at your company who can best aid in writing the proposal, and hold a kickoff meeting to discuss the opportunity. Note that these may not be the same people who would actually do the work—for example, the person who proofs and edits the final submission is ideally not an engineer, but an editing professional, armed with their knowledge and a proposal scorecard to provide in- depth feedback on the clarity and responsiveness of the information. Many of your competitors will fail in their bid because they do not leave enough time or give enough warning to the people who could have made it a great submission. Do not fall prey to such an easily remedied mistake; leave time for planning. Differentiate Assume that all of your competitors will claim to have the best quality service and a track record of delivering on time and on budget. What will differentiate your offering from theirs? Ideally, the information you gathered in the Introduction, combined with the client’s Personal Drivers, will play heavily into this differentiation.

Why Learn to Sell? If you are an intermediate engineer in an established firm, it is possible you have never been expected or asked to win work from new clients. More senior staff have established relationships that they may pass along to you, but to make room at the table for aspiring company leaders, new relationships need to be formed. You will benefit from practicing these sales tactics today to build the appropriate levels of experience and confidence to grow the business. You did not become an engineer to become a sales person, it is true. But the faster you learn that your trade is in ideas

and you must convince others that yours are the best, the sooner you will develop into the leader of tomorrow. Tara Landes is the President of Bellrock, a management consulting practice that works with engineering firms to identify their potential and provide customized training to make that potential a reality. Tara can be reached at tlandes@bellrock. ca.

Tara Landes

GLOBAL INNOVATIVE CAMPUS Follow the link to

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CIVIL Engineering Seminars: Oct 7 - 8

ELECTRICAL Engineering Seminars: Nov 13 - 15

Industrial Instrumentation and Modern Control Systems: Selection, Applications, Operation and Diagnostics (1.8 CEUs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vancouver Maintenance, Inspection, Diagnostics, Testing, Troubleshooting, Refurbishment, Commissioning and Protective Systems for Electrical Equipment Vancouver

Shallow Foundation Design & Settlement Analysis Workshop (1.2 CEUs) . . . . . . . . . . Vancouver Sanitary Sewer & Stormwater Drainage Systems Design Workshop (1.2 CEUs) . . . Vancouver Fundamentals of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Mixtures (1.2 CEUs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vancouver Modeling of Bridge Structures for Seismic Analysis (1.2 CEUs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vancouver Flexible Pavement Design & Rehabilitation Workshop (1.2 CEUs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vancouver Risk Analysis and Management in the Construction Engineering Industry (1.8 CEUs) . . . . . . . . Vancouver

Dec 12 - 13

Dec 4 - 6

Jan 23 - 24

2014

ENVIRONMENTAL Engineering Seminars: Oct 24 - 25

Feb 27 - 28

Environmental Assessment Process to Achieve Water Quality Targets (1.2 CEUs) . . . . . . . . . Vancouver

2014

Mar 3 - 4

2014

MECHANICAL Engineering Seminars: Oct 17 - 18

Mar 24 - 26

Compressors, Fans and Pumps: Basics, Selection & Operation (1.2 CEUs) . . . . . . . . . Vancouver

2014

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