THE “SLEUTH” METHOD
Posted by ablack on Jun. 16, 2015 / Subscribe 0
It’s an age old adage for a professional services marketer: you want to blow that agency/client out of the water, but you’re not a technical professional. You don’t know all there is to know about roadway geometry, wastewater treatment plants, or architectural design. Unfortunately (for you), “all there is to know” is exactly what you need to win the job. That means you’re going to need a lot of help from one of the technical folks if you want a shot at the masterpiece in your head.
You convince yourself that this is not an obstacle. After all, your main “techie” has been in communication with this agency/client for a while and has known about the upcoming project for some time. AND he keeps telling you that the RFP/Q is coming out soon and that you should be ready. Nevertheless, as soon as it hits the streets, the man up and vanishes like a fart in the wind. Nothing left but a collection of red pens on the table. You are tempted to check for escape routes hidden behind that ever rotating set of plans that he has been using as office art for the last two decades.
Understanding Your Target
Technical people are a peculiar species when examined through the lens of marketing. While marketers focus on making their firm known and understood, “techies” focus on quality deliverables. No doubt, our core motivators are different. But there are some parallels between us. Like marketing professionals, “the techie” works on deadlines. And like marketers, they are very busy folks. It’s just that the “tech specimen” is busy solving technical problems; that’s the stuff that s/he really likes to do.
The idea of stopping to take part on a proposal is just about as appealing to “techies” as serving five to ten in Leavenworth. Most of the time, a proposal is nothing more than a “necessary evil” that must be completed in order for them to keep doing the things that they like to do (i.e. building roads, designing buildings, running an HEC-RAS drainage model, etc.). For “techies,” a proposal is like some strange form of marketing bribery; paid on demand to keep “the heat” off their back. No wonder they get particularly busy when it comes time to collaborate with marketing…
But if you understand what motivates a “techie,” then you can use that perspective to your advantage. To entice your technical staff to participate in proposal preparation (and well in advance of the due date), a slick marketer will figure out how to create problems that their “techies” will enjoy solving. This harmless form of entrapment should prompt them into demonstrating their technical abilities and prowess. Before they know it, they have unwittingly been lured into committing the ultimate offense. They have committed…MARKETING.
Setting the Trap
So now that it’s time to lure those technical folks into helping you, what do you do? Chase them down, lock them in a room and “good cop, back cop” them, right? WRONG! A figurative strong-arming will only solidify your “techie’s” resolve to lawyer up and ignore you (and the proposal) for as long as possible. What you really need to do is set a trap and reel them in. Simply put, you need to start writing the technical components to that proposal yourself. What?!?!? Yeah, you heard me right. Hey, you didn’t think it was all up to them, did you? Besides, crafting a trap takes some planning and forethought if you want it to be effective.
If it’s a project approach that you need, then use your own refined, not-too-techie, but surely creative problem solving skills to come up with an initial draft. Dig into the resources that you already have. Rummage through old project approaches, search the internet, ask a friend, call your mentor. Do whatever you need to do to come up with something that might pass for a decent approach. Waste of time? Not really...and here’s why.
Have you ever met an engineer, contractor or architect that doesn’t just love his/her red pen? In fact, they don’t just love those things; they are sure to have at least a dozen nearby, just in case the menu at a restaurant needs to be revised. They are the ones making sure that the waiter knows that the wrong entrée has been listed on the buffet sign. And at dinner parties, they are the ones correcting the name cards should there be a misspelling. In their never-ending quest to create a better and more perfect world, they search out things that they can fix. And this, my friends, is your ticket to setting an irresistible trap.
Sealing Their Fate
To ensure that your “techie” actually takes the bait, you’ll want to misspell something right at the start of your newly crafted project approach. This should really get them going. Doing this is akin to staging a murder within the first two pages of a suspense novel; it will suck them in and they won’t be able to put the draft down. That red pen will start working and their brain will start churning, and all of the information that you had been looking for will miraculously stream out of them in a flood of red lines that would make one of the pages in that murder mystery novel look tame.
Your “techie” now feels obligated to help you (an obviously naïve marketer) understand the complex world that is technical project management. Never mind that maybe you have been at this for a while and that you may have learned a few things along the way. Now you will be graced with the knowledge that you have been lacking for so long. And because your “techie” has worked so hard to establish a strong relationship with the client, s/he will wantto make sure that everything the client reads is clear, concise, and above all, accurate. The proposal must be perfect, and s/he will take it upon themselves to make sure that happens. And that’s when you know you’ve GOT them. That’s when they have sealed their own fate, having actively participated in the convictable crime that is…MARKETING.
Celebrating Your Victory
But there’s no need to alert them to this fact; there’s no need for them to ever be made aware that they were the unwitting accomplice in the marketing scheme known as “proposal submission.” You have what you need to finish today’s proposal and your stealthy methods remain cloaked to your unsuspecting target. Or should I say, asset? Now don your most sinister of hats and trench coats; it’s time to pack up and hit the road for a much deserved cold beer, glass of champagne or tasty cocktail. Congratulations, you did it again!
Note: As many of you know, being a marketer in the A/E/C industry is part writer, part cat-herder and part detective. We also know that technical folks aren’t the only ones who can solve problems. We've got skills; mad skills....supersneaky skills. Like the “sleuth” method...which works for everything from project approaches, project/key staff experience and cover letters to any other part of the proposal document. It can also work with time cards, employee reviews, or whatever else isn’t getting done. Make sure to pass this along to anyone who struggles with this age old problem.
About the Blogger: Supporting a staff of over 120 certainly keeps Laura Turiano on her toes. To balance the load, she decompresses by spending time with her husband, 6-year-old son and beloved yellow lab. It seems that her son is in training as a stand-up comic, which keeps the family in stitches most of the time. Laura considers herself a Ninja when tracking down engineers and surveyors and even takes this skill home with her from time to time. She sometimes dreams of being a rock star, but with very little musical talent, feels grateful for a more simple life.
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