Your Next Major Project May Already Be Somewhere in Your Pipeline

If you’re an established architecture or build firm, there is a good chance you don’t have an opportunity problem.

You have a business development execution problem.

Somewhere inside your firm right now are past proposals that were never revisited. Projects you pursued but didn’t win. Owners, developers, contractors and consultants you’ve worked with before. Prospective clients who said, “Circle back with me.” Relationships that went quiet. RFQs and RFPs you considered but never pursued. Opportunities sitting inside your CRM that nobody is actively developing anymore.

And outside your firm are projects being planned, properties being developed, teams being assembled and relationships being formed long before an RFQ or RFP ever reaches your inbox.

The question is whether you’re getting there early enough.

Architecture and build firms are exceptionally good at what they do. But principals, project executives and technical leaders are busy designing, building, managing clients and delivering projects.

Consistent business development is difficult to maintain when the people responsible for developing business are also responsible for running the business.

Hiring Another Business Development Person Isn’t Necessarily the Answer

When architecture and build firms want to grow, the traditional answer is predictable:

Hire a business development executive. Recruit candidates. Pay a salary. Add payroll taxes and benefits. Train them on the firm. Give them a CRM. Send them to networking events. Give them a list of target accounts.

And hope they produce.

Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t.

And even when you find a talented business development professional, you’ve still hired one person.

You haven’t necessarily built a business development function.

Obsidian Thorne Builds Business Development Infrastructure Around Your Firm

We don’t simply give you another salesperson.

We deploy experienced business development resources, systems and processes designed to work alongside your existing leadership and pursuit teams.

The objective is straightforward:

Identify projects earlier, develop the right relationships and create a consistent flow of qualified opportunities.

1. Revenue Recovery

Most established architecture and build firms are sitting on an overlooked asset:

The relationships and opportunities they’ve already spent years developing.

Think about how many opportunities have passed through your firm over the last several years.

• Past clients
• Past proposals
• Projects you pursued but didn’t win
• Dormant owner and developer relationships
• Contractors and consultants you’ve worked with before
• Old RFQs and RFPs
• Stalled conversations
• Prospective clients who weren’t ready at the time
• Relationships that simply faded away

Your firm has invested years building those relationships, pursuing projects, preparing proposals and developing its reputation.

But relationships require consistent attention.

Today’s projects take priority. Your team gets busy. Principals are pulled into delivery. People leave. Responsibilities change. Follow up becomes inconsistent.

Eventually potentially valuable relationships and opportunities become old records inside a CRM.

We go back after them.

Obsidian Thorne systematically works through your existing opportunity and relationship base to identify conversations worth reopening.

When we uncover positive interest, we put that opportunity back in front of your team.

We’re not replacing your principals or pursuit teams. We’re giving them more opportunities to pursue.

2. Market Expansion

Revenue Recovery looks backward. Market Expansion looks forward.

There are owners, developers, contractors, institutions and strategic partners your firm should know today but doesn’t.

There are projects being discussed before they’re publicly announced. Teams being assembled before RFQs are issued. Markets your firm could be entering. Relationships being developed today that may influence who gets considered tomorrow.

The question isn’t whether those opportunities exist.

The question is whether someone is consistently pursuing them.

That’s where we come in.

• Identify target markets
• Identify projects and opportunities earlier
• Build the target universe
• Identify owners, developers and key decision makers
• Develop the messaging
• Conduct consistent outreach
• Follow up
• Create conversations
• Develop relationships
• Hand qualified opportunities back to your organization

Day after day. Week after week. Month after month.

Because business development doesn’t usually fail from lack of opportunity. It fails from lack of consistent execution.

Consistent Outreach Creates Access

One phone call doesn’t create a market. One email campaign doesn’t create a pipeline. Attending an occasional industry event isn’t a complete business development strategy.

Architecture and construction are relationship driven industries. Those relationships are built through consistent presence.

The firms that consistently stay in front of owners, developers, contractors and strategic partners create access to opportunities that firms waiting for the next RFQ may never see.

That’s what Obsidian Thorne installs: consistent business development activity without requiring you to build the entire infrastructure internally.

And We’ve Seen What Happens When That Activity Is Applied Correctly

In one recent engagement within the build industry, our business development efforts generated more than:

in bid volume that moved into active negotiations in approximately 90 days.

In another engagement, sales conversations increased from approximately 14% to 30%.

In another, sales increased approximately 30% in 90 days.

These outcomes aren’t presented as guarantees that every firm will produce identical results. Every market, project type, pursuit cycle, average project value and conversion rate is different.

But they demonstrate something important: when the right market is combined with disciplined business development activity, meaningful opportunities can be created quickly.

The Math Can Become Extremely Interesting

In architecture and the build industry, the value of a single additional project can be significant.

Obsidian Thorne doesn’t need to transform your entire firm to create a meaningful return.

One additional project matters. Two matter considerably more.

That’s why we don’t measure success by how many emails were sent or how many names were added to a database.

Are we creating qualified opportunities that can become revenue?

Your historical conversion rate remains important. If your firm knows how often qualified pursuits turn into awarded work, we can use that history to work backward.

• How much opportunity volume needs to be created?
• How many qualified conversations are required?
• How many relationships need to be developed?
• How much consistent activity needs to occur?

Why Not Just Hire Someone?

You absolutely can. For some firms, that will be the right answer.

But before you add another full time business development employee, consider what you’re actually buying.

• Salary
• Payroll taxes
• Benefits
• Recruiting costs
• Management time
• Training
• Technology
• Data
• Ramp up
• Turnover risk

And then you still need to build the system around that person.

Obsidian Thorne gives architecture and build firms another option:

Deploy the function first.

Put experienced business development resources to work. Create the process. Build the target market. Develop the relationships. Create the activity. Establish the reporting. Generate the opportunities.

Then determine what the long term structure should look like based on actual results.

What Happens When We Start?

We don’t spend months “strategizing” before doing anything.

We want activity.

First, we learn your firm, your project history, your ideal clients, your existing relationships, your average project economics and the markets you want to penetrate.

Then we build the infrastructure. We identify the targets. We organize the data. We develop the outreach. We establish the processes and reporting.

And then we execute.

Your leadership should be able to see what’s happening.

• Who are we targeting?
• Who was contacted?
• Who responded?
• What projects are being identified?
• Where is there interest?
• What relationships are developing?
• What opportunities should be handed back to your team?
• What are we learning from the market?

Business development should not feel like a black box.

This Isn’t For Every Firm

We’re not trying to manufacture demand for firms that haven’t established themselves in the market.

Our strongest engagements tend to be established architecture and build firms that already know how to deliver.

They have completed projects. They have clients. They have a reputation. They have talented people and something valuable to bring to the market.

What they want is more access to the right projects, relationships and opportunities.

We’re asking: How much more business could your firm create if someone consistently pursued the projects and relationships your existing organization doesn’t have the time or resources to pursue?

Your Next Major Project May Be Closer Than You Think

Your next client may already be in your CRM.

Your next project may come from a relationship that went quiet two years ago.

Your next major opportunity may be in the planning stages right now.

Your next strategic relationship may be one conversation away.

But none of that matters if nobody is consistently pursuing it.

Opportunity without execution doesn’t produce revenue.

So before you hire another business development executive, before you spend more money generating leads, and before you conclude that the market has slowed down, take a serious look at the relationships and opportunities you already have and the projects and markets you aren’t systematically pursuing.

There may be millions of dollars sitting between those two places.