Historically, engineering excellence and the positive reputation that results from it has been the key to success for companies in the Civil and Environmental Engineering industry. Once a firm has earned a reputation for providing outstanding engineered solutions for complex and very high profile civil and environmentally-oriented projects, those firms will typically have the opportunity to pursue the best funded and most challenging projects. The buyers associated with these critical, high profile projects want to work with the firms that have a reputation for excellence, and know that by doing so, the potential risk associated with these projects will be significantly reduced.

The strong economic conditions that existed until 2008/2009 provided for an abundance of work for the best firms. Growth in revenue was limited primarily by a company’s ability to hire and retain experienced engineers. Recently, however, the sharp downturn in the economy has introduced some new dynamics into the buying process and created a “shift” in the way that successful sales campaigns are conducted. Based on the most current economic recovery predictions, it will likely be 18 to 24 months before engineering firms begin to feel that business is returning to “normal.” Until that time arrives, management’s demand for continued revenue growth will need to counter the current economic climate by focusing on increasing the “sales effectiveness” within a company. This may prove to be challenging to many civil and environmental engineering companies, as sales effectiveness has not typically been the top priority of these firms.