On-demand webinar
Would your firm survive 90 days without you?
What you’ll learn :
- What a 4.6-month average backlog means if the owner had to step away for 90 days
- The three gaps behind inconsistent revenue: fear of sales, no structured pursuit process, and missing forecasting
- How to build a business development process the same way you already run design phases
- A five-question self-assessment of how owner dependent your firm really is
Speaker :
Maryanne Hewitt
High Performance Coach · AEC
What's covered
Inside the session. Watch a clip, then get the full recording.
Who would keep selling while projects are delivered? Could your team lead without you making every major decision? Is business development structured to scale beyond one person's energy and availability?
A 2026 Deltek study puts the average small-firm backlog at 4.6 months. Ninety days away could cost about 80% of it, and rebuilding could take another three to six months.
The firm runs as an extension of the owner rather than a structured system. The owner chases the biggest pursuits and fixes everything, the team sees no path to grow, and turnover hits the bottom line.
Win work, get busy, stop selling, and the pipeline empties behind you. Maryanne tells how a Dallas firm's reluctant associates ended a process workshop with their hands up to help with business development.
Harvard Business Review research links an articulated business development process to 18% revenue growth, against 7-10% organic growth. A licensed associate who had never presented a proposal landed the firm's largest renovation contract.
Schematic design, design development, construction documents: you do not skip phases or move on without sign-off. Business development works the same way, with milestones, steps and actions.
Forecasting on signed backlog alone gives a short runway. Track pursuits, review the pipeline weekly rather than quarterly, and the same research adds 11% growth. A Dallas client grew revenue 56% in six months.
Ideal client and project, a structured process to pursue them, a review cadence and clear growth roles. Then a five-question self-assessment, scored one to five, to see where your firm sits on the risk scale.
Resources
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Frequently asked questions
Common Questions
The session cites a 2026 Deltek study putting the average backlog for small firms at 4.6 months. If the owner is the primary business developer and is away for 90 days, that could cost about 80% of the current backlog, and rebuilding it could take another three to six months.
The session identifies three gaps. Fear of sales, so firms stop selling once they are busy and the pipeline empties. No structured pursuit process, so the firm waits for the phone to ring. And forecasting that relies only on signed backlog instead of tracking pursuits.
Citing a 2015 Harvard Business Review study, the session says an articulated business development process lifts revenue growth by 18%, and a consistent cadence of managing the pipeline adds a further 11%, for 29% in total. Organic growth without business development runs at around 7-10%.
Chart the process with them. In one Dallas firm the associates were not interested until they mapped the business development process together and saw they were already part of it. Calling it business development rather than sales helps, and not everyone needs a part in every step.
At least once a week, according to the session, while many firms review it only once a quarter. A good forecast tracks pursuits as well as signed work and gives you a view of at least 12 months ahead, rather than the 4.6-month runway that backlog alone provides.
The session closes with five questions, each scored one to five: would new work continue without you for 90 days, are key client relationships shared, is there enough future work in the pipeline, can your team lead and decide without you, and is business development driven by a system rather than by you personally.
The next step
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Whichever way you work with us, the same proven Revenue OS runs underneath. Book a growth session and we’ll show you where to start.