No bees, no honey; no work, no money

The proverbial title gets right to the point but do all staff members understand their role? Who, exactly, are the bees? Rebecca Martinez, associate principal and director of marketing at Cuningham Group (Marina del Rey, CA) views marketing and business development as an interlinked process. Rather than have a distinct BD manager, Martinez says the 140-person firm emphasizes “building and maintaining relationships as integral to our success.” While senior leadership at the firm is directly charged with BD activities from the point of initial client contact, project architects and managers who take over during the design and production phases “think about client service” throughout the project and are “cognizant about next phases and future projects.” Art versus science Ellen Swanson, marketing manager for SEC Group (McHenry, IL), ironically, a former college art major, completely understands there is an art to BD and a scientific aspect to Marketing, “Good BD is a bit of an art— the art of salesmanship; whereas marketing is all about hit rates and ROI, and success rates of strategic campaigns.” To read the full story, subscribe to The Zweig Marketing Letter by clicking here