If you’ve been following these letters for a while, you’ve probably noticed they don’t land in your inbox on a set schedule. Believe it or not, that’s intentional.
We live in a world where our inboxes are flooded daily with things we don’t need. That’s not what I want this letter to be. So, please know that when I write to you, I have something valuable to say—something I believe is worth your time. And today, I have a lot to say.
Last month, we hosted SmartWIN25, and I’m still processing how incredible it was. The conversations, the energy, the clarity that comes when a room full of AEC firm owners and their marketing leaders start asking the right questions.
If you were there, you already know: This wasn’t just another conference. It was a meeting of the minds—AEC’s best and brightest marketers and principals coming together to talk about what’s next. We didn’t rehash the same old industry challenges. We tackled the real questions shaping our future:
– How do we scale our firms when the talent shortage isn’t going away?
– How do we adapt to new buyer behaviors when relationship sales alone won’t cut it?
– How do we differentiate in a sea of sameness?
– How do we stop chasing bad clients and start attracting the right ones?
This wasn’t just theory. It was practical, data-backed, and experience-driven—conversations from leaders who are doing the work.
ICYMI, here’s a recap of what we heard.
The Traditional Relationship Sales Model is Broken. It’s Time to Flip the Funnel.
The old-school approach of seller-doers pounding the pavement, hoping to stumble across a lead is not only inefficient—it’s expensive. In an industry where every firm is feeling the labor squeeze, we cannot afford to waste our most valuable resources—our billable people—on lead generation.
Instead, AEC firms need to adopt a Full-Funnel, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) approach—targeting high-value clients way before they know they need you, and certainly way before they enter a procurement process.
We Can’t Keep Doing Things the Way We Did Five Years Ago
One of the standout moments came from the Marketing Leadership Panel, where we heard a common theme: What worked in the past won’t work in the future.
