The Shortlist

Welcome to The Shortlist! We are exploring all things AEC marketing and answering listener questions to provide best practices and fresh ideas for marketing strategies to help your firm win the shortlist. New episodes drop each Wednesday. Listen as the team from Middle of Six shares their thoughts on proposals, interviews, websites, social media, marketing planning, business development, and countless other tactics that architecture, engineering, and construction firms rely on to grow their businesses and build strong brands.

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The Shortlist

Business Development for Everyone

March 04, 2026 • Middle of Six • Season 5 • Episode 82

0:00 | 36:19

Business development (BD) can feel like a job reserved for firm leaders or dedicated rainmakers, but in reality, it touches everyone in the AEC industry. In this conversation, Wendy Simmons sits down with Middle of Six Senior Marketing Strategist, Katy Byers, to break down how BD intersects with everyone's role.

Katy, a natural-born networker and connector, unpacks common barriers—lack of permission, time, or confidence—and shares practical ways to make BD more accessible and less intimidating. With the right mindset and tools like a CRM, marketers can stop reacting to RFP "opportunities" and start pre-positioning for the next win.

The big takeaway? BD isn't about selling. It's about consistency, curiosity, practice (because "practice makes progress"), and making space to develop genuine relationships with your firm's clients and project partners.

CPSM CEU Credits: 0.5 | Domain: 3