Wallace Design Collective

My first experience with marketing as a Professional Engineer is likened to jumping into a pool of water with both feet. You don’t know how deep the water is, or how cold it is. Are there sharp rocks at the bottom? Will there be sharks? One thing is for sure, when you jump in with both feet, you get totally submerged by the water. Business development for an engineer can be one of the scariest things there is. Most everyone knows the joke about the extroverted engineer being the one at the party that “looks at your shoes instead of his own”.

I experienced this fear first-hand when signing up for my first Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) event in Colorado Springs about four years ago. I didn’t know anyone going, and was definitely a fish out of water. I entered the room and noticed several groups of people talking to each other. I didn’t know a soul. My worst fear was about to come true, being left there, staring at my own shoes! Just then, my fears were relieved when an architect came over and started talking to me. Before long, we realized that we both graduated from the University of Oklahoma, and began talking about the old days in Architecture School, when the studios were located in the football stadium. We have remained good friends since then.

I then began going to several marketing events and meeting several more people at each one. Before long, I asked my supervisor about joining SMPS. He said it was a great idea as long as I was active and involved in the organization. I joined, and immediately volunteered to become the Southern Colorado Committee Chair. I have been leading the Southern Colorado SMPS Committee for about two years now. Being actively involved in SMPS has grown my contacts to hundreds of people. We also just landed a $500M project due to contacts and relationships I have developed through SMPS!

It takes everyone in a company to help with business development. I sure am glad I faced this fear and decided to jump in with both feet. I would like to encourage you to do the same. Come on in, the water is fine!