The Need For Unconventional Business Development In Unprecedented Times

Muhammad Noor, Group Director – Business Development, EFS Facilities Services Group shares how strategies are essential for facilities and infrastructure management with the constrcution boom in the region

The unprecedented construction in the GCC, particularly in Saudi Arabia, in both the private and public sectors, has placed Facilities and Infrastructure Management companies at a crossroads where the right growth strategy can turn around organizational fortunes and vice versa. Hence, it is imperative for organizations to strengthen their infrastructure and establish a roadmap to secure the optimum advantage from this evident “Gold Rush.”

In this context, where alignment of financial and operational resources is essential, the need for adaptable and unconventional business development (BD) strategy takes precedence in leveraging a market where Giga and Mega projects are frequently announced. Thus, the role of business development has not only become crucial but also more extensive and time-consuming. The tasks that keep business development occupied such as the formation of growth strategies, marketing plans, lead generation, client engagement, registration on portals, management of the sale/bid pipeline, participation in complex bidding processes, presentations, contract negotiations, and managing bid politics necessitate that organizations invest more in Business Development in terms of system modernization, increased manpower resources, and skills enhancement.

However, there remains a constant challenge for BD leaders across most organizations, primarily due to management’s reluctance to add on BD costs and the limited availability of skilled and relevant Facilities Management (FM) BD professionals in the market. If these challenges are not addressed, they can hamper once-in-a-lifetime growth opportunities for the organization. Therefore, a transformational approach to business development is required to tackle these challenges.

In this context, a partnership between business development (BD) and the service delivery team (SDT) could be one solution which can yield unprecedented results. In FM, role integration is not uncommon; we have seen service delivery roles performed by multi-skilled technicians. Similarly, a common manager often leads Integrated Facilities Management projects where both hard and soft services are required. To achieve commercial and operational efficiencies, the role of HSEQ officers/executives is increasingly embedded within the roles of FM technicians, supervisors and coordinators.

Hence, I believe the role of business development at the preliminary level should also be integrated with the role of the service delivery lead. In simpler terms, depending on the size of the FM project, its management—from supervisory to directorial level—should be tasked and trained to contribute to organizational business growth and revenue targets.

We understand that in the FM sector, growth can be achieved through new business development or organic growth with existing clients. Generally, new business development in FM occurs through a transparent tendering/procurement process, which is a mandatory compliance requirement for both public and private sector organizations. Consequently, BD’s role in bid management, contract negotiation, and client engagement remains crucial. Meanwhile, the service delivery team plays a supporting role in ensuring that the proposed solution is viable. The role of the SDT becomes significant in re-tender situations, as they can provide valuable insights from the project and suggest ideas for resource optimization, efficient consumption of supplies, and potential innovations to give the organization a competitive advantage as the incumbent.

While the induction of new projects is essential, the significance of organic growth cannot be undermined. In this context, the service delivery team needs to take the lead to ensure maximum growth can be achieved with existing clients through variation work, offering additional service lines, or expanding into other territories.

The following reasons illustrate why the service delivery team (SDT) on the ground has a natural advantage over BD representatives:

1. Constant Client Engagement: While the BD Team leads the engagement at the bidding stage, the SDT maintains day-to-day contact with clients after the project award, establishing relationships and trust. Afterwards, such relationships are generally difficult for BD professionals to maintain, as they can only visit clients periodically and may be perceived as mere salespeople looking to achieve sales targets.
2. Better Understanding of Client Facilities: With their on-ground presence, the service delivery team understands the facility in-depth, often better than the clients themselves. Their subject matter expertise allows them to propose solutions to address prevailing challenges or introduce efficiencies through innovations.
3. Insight into Client Projects and Budgets: During operational meetings, clients often discuss their budgets for capital expenditure, including refurbishment/fit-out work and asset replacement. This gives the SDT a fair understanding of client spending inclinations and allows them to prepare their resources and capabilities accordingly.
4. Utilization of Site-Based Team Capabilities: The SDT is best aware of the availability of skills and resources on projects, allowing them to decide which client projects they can undertake without incurring substantial costs and within available resources. This also enables them to plan and acquire additional support from the central support team if local resources are unavailable.
5. Market Intelligence: Due to their proximity to clients, the SDT can be a valuable source of market intelligence. In addition to their projects, they can gather information about neighbouring clients and similar projects. It is also common for the SDT to have former colleagues and friends working in various client organizations, facilitating the establishment of an effective business intelligence network. This can facilitate lead generation and insights into key influencers and decision-makers within client organizations.

However, two main factors remain critical to success before we expect the SDT to take on this additional responsibility: training and incentivization. The business development team must ensure that comprehensive training on organizational capabilities, reference projects, service offerings, appropriate language, standard proposal formats, lead generation, market intelligence, and legal/commercial compliance is provided to the SDT. Since most service delivery team members come from technical backgrounds, it should be ensured that the brand image is not compromised.

Similarly, monetary incentives play a crucial role in motivating individuals to take on additional responsibilities. It must be ensured that transparent and fair mechanisms are in place to compensate SDT members for their contributions to business growth. A lack of procedure and an inconsistent approach can potentially lead to demotivation and discontent. Depending on the size of the project, individuals in roles such as project supervisors, coordinators, account/facilities managers, general managers, and project directors are best suited to take on this additional responsibility.

This approach will ensure the following benefits for employees and the organization:

1. Commercial Efficiencies: This partnership will significantly reduce BD costs.
2. Enhanced BD Coverage: The SDT will generate leads and market intelligence.
3. Entrepreneurial Drive: It will create an entrepreneurial drive within the organization, leading to innovation and an increased sense of association.
4. New Service Lines: New service lines can be introduced based on client requirements, aiding organizational capability development.
5. Win-Win Outcome: The additional revenue and subsequent incentives are a win for the organization, project P&L, and SDT.

The approach is beneficial and effective in countries where the market is at a shake-out or mature stage in the industry life cycle and margins are gradually declining to single digits. In such markets, lean BD practices are needed to ensure organizational competitiveness in overhead costs.

Therefore, in these unconventional times, business development must evolve beyond traditional approaches and adopt smart strategies to remain effective, impactful, and cost-efficient. If implemented correctly, the proposed partnership and role integration between BD and SDT presents a promising avenue for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Organizations can leverage their collective expertise to drive growth by fostering collaboration and alignment between these departments.

Source: CBNME