THE BUYER HAS SHIFTED

Speaking

Win the buyer who decides before you know they’re even looking.

Is your firm still selling to the buyer you knew ten years ago?

The AEC buyer has changed, and most firms have not caught up. Today’s decision-makers use new lenses. They are more skeptical and almost entirely self-directed, researching your firm quietly, building their shortlist early, and deciding who they trust long before a request for qualifications ever lands. By the time your business development team gets the call, most of the decision is already made. This session shows your leaders how the new buyer thinks, researches, and decides, and where the real opportunity now lives.

The buyer has shifted. Where they find you, how they qualify you, and how they pick you is new.

Attendees will walk away with:

  • A clear picture of the four measurable ways the AEC buyer has shifted, backed by research from LinkedIn, Forrester, Gartner, and the SMPS Foundation.
  • An understanding of how buying decisions get made in the brain, and where trust is built before a proposal is ever written.
  • Why most decisions happen during the anonymous research phase, and what it takes to show up there.
  • A way to assess where their firm is visible, credible, and trusted in the channels the new buyer uses.
  • Clear priorities for where to invest so the firm is shortlisted before the RFQ drops.

Format and duration

This session flexes to your event. Bring it as a keynote presentation for a general session, a facilitated roundtable discussion for senior leaders, or a half-day workshop where your team maps your own firm’s position in the new buyer’s journey.

Every format leaves your people energized, clear, and ready to act.

WHY THIS SESSION MATTERS

Relationships, reputation, and track record still matter. What has changed is when your clients and potential clients do their work.

Buyers now decide who to trust during the research phase, in channels most firm leaders have never had to consider. The firms that understand this are building a competitive advantage that compounds year over year. Firms that don’t are competing for the shortlist at the end of a race that was mostly decided without them.

This session gives your leaders the insight and plan to be part of that decision from the start, not the scramble at the end.

Ready to bring this to your team?

READY TO TURN THIS SESSION INTO FIRM-SPECIFIC ACTION?

The Buyer Shift Decoded is a program built to help AEC leaders align their firm around the new buyer’s journey. Principals, marketers, and BD professionals work through their own firm’s buyer opportunity across a series of virtual sessions and leave with a completed, firm-specific plan.

Let’s get ahead of the shortlist.

Bring this to your team. Book Sarah for your next event, chapter meeting, or team training, and give your leaders a picture of the buyer they are really selling to.

RELEVANT BLOG POSTS

THE AEC BUYER HAS CHANGED: WHAT IT MEANS FOR HOW FIRMS WIN WORK

THE AEC BUYER HAS CHANGED: WHAT IT MEANS FOR HOW FIRMS WIN WORK

If you're still marketing and selling to the buyer you knew 10 years ago, you're aiming at someone who's already gone. Today's decision-maker researches independently and makes most of the call before your firm ever hears from them, so by the time you're invited to...

WHICH PLANNING FRAMEWORK IS RIGHT FOR YOUR AEC FIRM?

WHICH PLANNING FRAMEWORK IS RIGHT FOR YOUR AEC FIRM?

A practical guide to seven strategic planning models — and how to know which one fits where your firm is right now.Every few years, a planning framework catches fire in the AEC industry. Firms adopt it because a peer firm swears by it, or because someone came back...

FALL PLANNING: INTELLIGENCE YOU NEED

FALL PLANNING: INTELLIGENCE YOU NEED

Before the off-site, the goals, and the spreadsheets...Here is what to gather firstSeptember feels like the planning month. October is when the off-sites happen, and the goals get set. November is when the documents get finalized. But the firms that show up to those...

Q1 IS OVER. IS YOUR AEC GROWTH PLAN STILL WORKING?

Q1 IS OVER. IS YOUR AEC GROWTH PLAN STILL WORKING?

A lot has changed since October. Here’s how to tell if your AEC Growth Plan is still pointing at the right target —and what to do when it isn’t.April is the moment of truth for most AEC growth plans. Q1 is behind you, Q2 is just getting started, and somewhere between...

GROUNDHOG DAY AND YOUR BUSINESS PLAN: WHAT TO ADJUST NOW

GROUNDHOG DAY AND YOUR BUSINESS PLAN: WHAT TO ADJUST NOW

January has a funny way of sobering us up. In the fall, you planned. You workshopped. You debated priorities. You built the business plan, nodded confidently, and kicked things off on January 1 with fresh notebooks and big energy. And now it is late January. The...

HOW TO USE THE GROWTH STRATEGY MATRIX

HOW TO USE THE GROWTH STRATEGY MATRIX

Growth in the A/E/C industry is not for the faint of heart. Markets shift, clients evolve, and even the most seasoned leaders can feel caught between chasing opportunities and sticking to what’s safe. The truth is, growth can feel messy, especially when it’s reactive...