Technical Staff and Marketing: A Marriage Made in Heaven (or Hell)?

Business Development

We spend over 1/3 of our days with our work “family”. For marketers, much of this time is spent with our technical counterparts in what many of us refer to as “work marriages”. Just like at home, if your marriage is sound, then life is great. But when communication breaks down, resentments are held onto, and partners grow apart, marriages can be our worst nightmare.

This session will look at these work marriages between technical staff and marketers from the perspective of both sides of the “marriage”.

Deirdre Gilmore (marketing and BD professional) and Andrew Gilmore (professional engineer) have been a team at work (having worked at TWO firms together) and at home for over 15 years. During this time, they have discovered how to appreciate and promote each other to gain the required respect, knowledge, and resolution techniques to make a work marriage made in heaven.

Drawing stories from a real-life married couple - as well as other SMPS veteran teams– we will do some hands-on work marriage counseling.

Attendees will learn

  • Learn how effective communication starts with mutual respect and understanding of each other’s roles, responsibilities, and goals
  • Improve listening skills for better outcomes
  • Develop negotiation skills for better outcomes (like getting those project approaches on time!)
  • Develop a reverse mentoring program that can have a positive impact on marketing.
  • Develop win-win tactics to meet mutual and firm goals.

About your speakers

Dierdre Gilmore

President | TankGirl Marketing

Deirdre is President of TankGirl Marketing; delivering strategic planning, business development and marketing services to the nation’s AEC industry. She insists on structure and efficiency in C-Suite marketing leadership, and only develops initiatives with a clear return. Deirdre has focused much of her 18-year career on championing and advocating for Professional Services Marketers, who are often not given the respect they deserve. Her fearless attitude, backed up with years of proven success, enables her to teach others how to stand up for their careers and advocate for their futures.

Deirdre is a feature speaker for many SMPS chapters and regional conferences as well as other AEC related associations. With topics ranging from Strategic Planning, Leadership, Business Development and Marketing, Deirdre is consistently ranked among the top speakers for AEC in Arizona as well as across the nation.

Andrew Gilmore, PE

Vice President | Carollo Engineers

Andrew Gilmore, PE, is the typical Seller-Doer; wearing many hats including client manager, design manager, technical expert, and national strategic pursuit leader for Carollo’s wastewater group, capturing over $20M in pursuits within a given calendar year while maintaining a billable rate of over 90% (don’t try this at home). Andrew attended 2018 Build Business and was inspired by the positive energy and knowledge transfer of the attendees, but was shocked to see how much angst marketers expressed towards their technical staff. He hopes to build some bridges between the two through this presentation.

Andrew is a respected, repeat speaker at many of the regional and national water conferences. He is known for taking highly technical information and presenting it in an engaging and easy to understand format. And he has a wicked sense of humor... especially for an engineer.