[green]To the Toolmaker, your nice little cartoon drawing of your glass looks cool, but your solid model sucks. Do you want me to fix it, or are you going to take all week to get it back to me so I can get some work done?[/green]
And, occasionally, politely declining RFQs when someone is asking for the impossible. A fair bit of the time, those still end up with an order, but with the scope or schedule or whatever the impossible bit was, having been brought back to reality. If that's not what happens, you didn't want that job, anyhow.
Face time. Get in front of contractors and clients. One of the best ways to do this is visit the job site. There may be several contractors and other consultants on the job site that may start off as a conversation, then lunch, then more work.
I've worked for Architects and Civil Engineering firms, due to some circumstances, I'm now on the software side of things. What being on the software side has opened my eyes to is that it's amazing how many Engineering Consulting Firms don't have strong sales skills.
Obviously, when work requires a license, the market comes to you more often than other industries that are less regulated, but it seems to me that Engineering Consulting firms that I've worked at, and that other friends have worked at, don't have nearly the well-defined sales plans as other industries.
There are professional firms that specialize in advising you what to do. First they learn all about what you do, your employees and also known clients. Clients are interviewed to see what they think of you. They then may prepare brochures or other means to help you get the word out. One neat thing that comes out of this is getting a frank opinion from past clients as to "how you are doing". Another avenue that has produced work is being active in professional societies, local activities, such as Optimists, church groups, musical groups, etc. You meet a lot of folks that are managers, etc. In other words, be a "joiner".
Aye ... but monthly sales meetings, endless pressure to increase sales this year compared to last, and having someone else who had no clue about how I work tell me what I should be doing, are a large part of why I quit my old job.
I make more where I am now without any of the crap!
I'm a sole proprietor aka mercenary. I used to work for a steel fabricator doing design build work. When they went out of business their employees scattered like rats from a ship. My clients today are people I used to work with and my old companies old engineering clients. Right now I'm finding clients are having a hard time finding consultants to do the work. So if you can't find clients today , you better be prepared when the economy falls off the cliff.
Now, I had a boss at this one job I worked at a few years ago who, when he started getting low on work, would go on a business trip to get work. He'd basically get on a plane, be gone for a week, and when he got back he'd have multiple high profile ($180k for just the engineering) type jobs. Where did he go and what was he doing to accomplish such a feat?
Only your old boss could tell you exactly. My best guess however would be that he was reaching out to contractors, architects, etc that perform the type of work he wanted to get. He was having communications with them constantly (telephone, e-mail, etc.) Then when he got low, he would plan face-to-face meetings to see what they had for him and probably do some kind of customer appreciation trip/ new business introduction trip.
In all likelihood, he probably had great sales skills. I can almost guarantee that he wasn't just jumping on a plan to a random contractor/architect. He had been working these people for months. He was just going to seal the deal so to speak.
