The Inside Scoop: Proposals and Interviews from the Client's Perspective, by Marcy Steinberg-Introduction. Strategic planning, marketing,, winning proposal writing, sales and presentation training for architects, engineers, and business development managers in the design professions and other professional services.

Copyrighted January 2002Marcy Steinberg Tucson, Arizona

The Inside Scoop

In 1997, the Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) asked me to find out what the people in charge of hiring architects really base their hiring decisions on. What makes a proposal stand out from the competition’s? What wins in a selection interview? How can designers get their names known, and what impact do various marketing strategies have on the buying decision?

The project quickly expanded to include the buyers of civil engineering services, and to include all of Arizona. I was also able to observe a number of selection interviews throughout the state, and to interview the selection committee members about their reactions to the presentations they saw.

The results of that first round of research were presented in AIA seminars in Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, and for other engineering and architecture groups in the Southwest. In 2001, the Society for Marketing Professional Services requested an update to the research and a new seminar. Were buyers still looking for the same things? Was the competition changing? Had technology and new standards for graphics upped the ante?

In both sets of research, I also interviewed successful design firms around the country for the insights and experiences they could share. The firms interviewed are listed, but for the sake of focus their responses are not included in this edition, except for the contributions they made to the At-A-Glance Guide.

The second round of research also specifically asked about the differences in proposal and presentation requirements between civil engineers and architects—should there be a difference? If so, what? Civil engineers may get a wake-up call from comments on their presentation skills.

This book presents the results of these two rounds of research in several ways:

Brief summaries of the answers to each question, sorted by public and private sector clients.
Tips that buyers had to offer on the selection process, and on ways to get your foot in the door.
A set of at-a-glance guidelines on the key winning techniques for creating proposals that shortlist and selection interviews that win the job.
A wide selection of verbatim quotations from many of the individuals interviewed in 1997, sorted by type of response, and a comprehensive selection of quotations from individuals interviewed in 2001–02, sorted by those that hire only engineers, those that hire only architects, and those that hire both. These comments provide good skimming material—some clients had some interesting examples to give about the best and worst they have seen in proposals and interviews!
Names have been removed from quotations. However, most have given me permission to quote them in certain contexts, so if you are doing business in Arizona and would like to know more about a specific buyer’s answers, contact me and I will share what I have permission to share.

Many thanks to the board members of the American Institute of Architects, Southern Arizona, the Southern Arizona Architects and Engineers Marketing Association, and the Arizona Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, for their help in composing the questions to ask A/E clients, and in compiling the lists of public and private sector buyers to interview. And many thanks to all who participated in this research and shared their stories and experiences in order to help engineers and architects hone their proposal and presentation skills.