Be Together. Not the Same. Ideas to Help Grow Your Technical Staff into Business Developers.

Business Development

Relationships are everything in our business! People want to work with people they like ... plain and simple. Building strong relationships WITHIN your firm is just as important as building relationships OUTSIDE your firm. In today's AEC industry, clients want to "talk shop" upon the first introduction. They also want to instantly connect with the staff charged with managing their projects. Is your technical staff comfortable with that? And are you as a marketing/BD professional confident sending them out to do so? The two of us have worked together for over 9 years and in 2011 our firm began to whole-heartily embrace the Seller/Doer model. Our presentation features viewpoints of both the technical professional, Sarah, and the marketing/BD professional, Jana. In our interactive session, we will share our personal stories of struggles and victories experienced, what communication and training avenues work best for us, and the ever-growing resources we've put into place to strengthen this model within our firm. All in all, it's a team effort ... combining the strengths of both your marketing/BD professional and your technical professional to communicate stronger and work together successfully to produce results. The bonus is that the two of us are friends sharing the fun and educational stories experienced along the way.

Attendees will learn

  • Learn to assess your own and other's strengths and how best those strengths can support one another.
  • Gain communication and training' tools to engage your technical staff to become more comfortable and confident with networking, developing client/prospect relationships and building business.
  • Gain an enjoyable time together discussing solutions to common struggles experienced by many films regarding the Seller/Doer model. Our presentation encourages interactive dialogue (and laughter) throughout.

About your speakers

Jana Monforte

Director of Marketing and Business Development | Wallace Engineering

Jana Monforte has been a proud employee of Wallace Engineering since 1992. As an Associate and Director of Marketing and Business Development, she works closely with the firm’s leaders to build a responsive, innovative and competitive strategic marketing/business development program. Helping build the department from the ground up and seeing it prosper has been a highlight for her. She’s proud to have played a significant role in the growth of her firm which today encompasses five offices and engineered well over $100B of construction nationwide.

Jana has been an active member of SMPS since 2000 and has served as National Marketing Communication Awards program co-chair, National Striving for Excellence committee, Building Business MCA gala emcee, Southern Regional Conference co-chair and Oklahoma Chapter President. She also serves as a board member of Leadership Tulsa Executive Committee as Communications Director and is an active member of AIA Eastern Oklahoma.

Sarah Appleton, PE, SE

Principal | Wallace Engineering

Sarah Appleton is an Principal at Wallace Engineering working out of their Atlanta office. She received her Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering and her Master of Science in Architectural Engineering from Kansas State University. She has been a licensed engineer since 2008 and is currently licensed as a Professional Engineer in 9 states and as a Structural Engineer in 3 states. Sarah currently is serving as President-Elect, serves on the Programs Committee, Shoot for Success Planning Committee and chairs the Programs Committee for SMPS Atlanta. She also serves on the Basic Education Committee for NCSEA (National Council of Structural Engineers Associations) and serves as a board member of the Kansas State University Architectural Engineering Advisory Council. She is also an active member of the Structural Engineers Association of Georgia.