The Marketing and BD Team of Tomorrow
Written by Peter Kane
On 25th June 2024, The BD Consultancy hosted a roundtable discussion about the current changes around marketing and BD roles. The event was born from questions thrown up in the wake of recent technological advances and shifting work culture, including: Who should be on your team? In what capacity? How do you ensure that the hiring process is unbiased?
We invited people from across professional services to share their experience of the shifting dynamics and give insights as to how marketing and BD teams could be structured to suit everyone. The conversation covered a range of scenarios – there were even some optimistic theories about the role of AI!
However, the discussion was grounded in these four themes:
- Social mobility; ensuring that you train and obtain the best possible entry-level talent.
From conversations around our Communicating Values report, we found that social mobility was becoming an increasingly important focus for professional services firms when appealing to talent, with a significant number of firms ranking on the Social Mobility Foundation’s Employer Index. Discussing this at our roundtable, we found that it commonly involves taking on apprenticeships from schools, colleges and sixth forms, rather than the more exclusive pool of university graduates.
Several roundtable attendees confirmed the effectiveness of this in their workplaces. Also, by allocating a rotation in every department across their firms, they enriched the BD and marketing team through increased knowledge and experience of other areas of operation. Widening the range of experience in your team can also contribute to a greater understanding of your market and the tools available to reach them.
- The benefits of robust ESG communications, including B Corp status.
Over the last four years, many people’s attitude to work has changed significantly. In dedicating their hours to a full-time job, a lot of employees want to know that their efforts are going towards a firm that takes responsibility for its impact on the planet.
Many firms are continuing to be met by a shortage of qualified talent and find their ESG policies – and how they are communicated – are hugely beneficial when competing for the right recruits. For example, accreditations like B Corp status go a long way towards proving responsibility and signposting their values.
ESG communications can also win beneficial partnerships with other clients that are looking to invest in the environment and want that to be apparent through their firm’s relationships.
- Recognise when it’s time to outsource.
Evolving demands of BD and marketing teams leave a range of activity which cannot always be covered by in-house teams. There may be a specialist requirement; a lack of capacity; or what one of our attendees called the “dull, dirty or dangerous” category of task in which your employees’ skills are not being put to good use. Assigning them these projects can leave them feeling unsatisfied with their work and cause tension in the team.
This is when outsourcing comes into play. Hiring interim support from experts can alleviate the pressure without generating the cost associated with permanently recruiting someone into the firm.
- How and why client listening is crucial.
Ways to further your positive impact on delivery of service include effective communication with consultants and your clients.
It is more important than ever now to know what your clients want you to do – and how you can achieve it. Client listening has become a popular way of ensuring you are up to date with client needs as they change. For example, one of our roundtable attendees mentioned how they outsource digital outreach for client listening, using their in-house team to focus more on face-to-face business development. Others run the whole process through a consultancy to allow for the external perspective and insights that come from it.
Getting it right for clients is extremely important, but our discussions raised important points around how you should first get things right for your team. Closing remarks made a significant point about communicating the value of creativity and risk-taking from board level. One person mentioned how their firm gave their people permission to make mistakes 18 months ago and how it’s boosted team morale by trusting them to be creative.
There is a culture of caution in professional services marketing and BD, leading many teams to stick to what they know has worked in the past, rather than taking necessary steps into the future. In such a rapidly changing environment, where the demands on marketing and BD teams are evolving faster than any other department, the best strategy is to move with, and even get ahead of, those changes.
If you’re interested in a discussion around how best to future-proof your marketing and BD team, get in touch with us today.
