Rick’s Story…Focus on relationships, not projects
Rick was a Project Manager at a 200-person regional engineering firm. Within five years, most of the firm’s notable rainmakers planned on retiring and the firm did not have individuals who could sustain their revenue and growth. Practice leaders identified Rick and eleven additional project managers as potential future firm leaders and enrolled them in Harding & Co’s Rainmaking Program to help accelerate their business development skills.
Rick was technically strong and clients loved working with him, so he was always highly billable. Practice leaders, however, wanted Rick to quickly transition from project delivery to revenue generation. In order to accomplish this, Rick needed a stronger understanding of the business development process and more discipline with maintaining existing relationships and building new ones.
Working with Harding & Co’s coach with extensive A/E expertise, Rick increased the number of his networking meetings per week over 275% from 4 to 11 per week, which quickly expanded his market visibility and client outreach. Within six months, Rick also grew his active network 250% from 10 to 25 strong client contacts which prompted a significant increase in his project opportunities. After six years of completing the Rainmaking Program, Rick ascended to the role of President of the firm and has successfully led it over the last 15 years to become one of ENR’s Top 200 firms, now with over 700 employees and 16 offices nationwide.