AEC Market Masters Benchmarks
$50B+
Projects Built
$10B+
Client Fees Won
1,000+
Strategic Pursuits
85%
Win Rate
Market Masters Benchmarks
$50B+
Projects Built
$10B+
Client Fees Won
1,000+
Strategic Pursuits
85%
Win Rate
What If the Boom goes Bust Tomorrow - Would You Be Prepared?
It takes strategy, resources & time to ensure continued BD Success.
“Recessionary risks will be hard to avoid
amid the Trump administration's tariffs and rising inflation." Claudia Sahm, Chief Economist at New Century Advisors, told Bloomberg. “The announcement of tariffs would take us up to 100 year levels of tariffs if those go in place and stay in place for any period of time.
It will be very difficult for the UWS economy to avoid a recession.”
Meanwhile, The global architectural, engineering, and construction services market size was estimated at USD 108.15 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 263.77 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.5% from 2024 to 2030, according to Grand View Research. The most significant growth driver for the market is the increasing demand for infrastructure development, especially in emerging economies.
History shows that during economic downturns, private sector markets are the first to pull back, as capital investments dry up. Public infrastructure spending may carry on temporarily, but within a year or two, even those projects slow—hinging on tax policies and stimulus efforts to reignite momentum.
As this unfolds, backlogs shrink, utilization declines, and overhead creeps upward. Companies that neglected to invest in marketing and business development are caught off guard—scrambling to understand “who moved their cheese.”
Whether you're navigating a boom, a bust, or an in-between, AEC Market Masters stands as your strategic ally—empowering your team to strengthen business development programs, implement proactive growth initiatives, and coach both seller-doers and dedicated Business Development professionals to thrive in any market climate.
Over the last twenty years, we've seen two major boom-and-bust cycles, most notably 2008 and again with the beginning of COVID. Since COVID double digit profitability has returned, with median firm profitability adjusted for inflation was nearly 20%, with high performers achieving 30+%.
And with the boom has come double-digit growth and unprecedented backlog, but so has difficulty in staffing, delays in project delivery, budget overruns, and frustrated clients. At the same time, many operationally driven firms have cut BD staff and training as unnecessary overhead costs.
The result is firms have become increasingly reactive, but selective still averaging 50% win-rates. And many have become increasingly transactional, struggling to get out proposals out and stopped selling the value of their products, services, and support. By moving into a commodity sales, their only differentiator is price and discounts become a standard.
Our approach enables firms to do more with less. We leverage AEC best practices, proven strategic pursuit tools, leadership training, and disciplined capture planning to transform your marketing and sales operations from reactive to strategically create and proactively to identify, position for, and consistently secure high-value opportunities—while reducing pursuit risk and inefficiency
Full-Spectrum BD Program Evaluation, Benchmarking, and Strengthening
At AEC Market Masters, we craft and execute comprehensive Business Development (BD) Programs tailored to your specific marketing and sales needs. Our approach spans the full spectrum of strategy and detail, ensuring alignment with your firm's objectives. Whether for the entire organization or focused on business groups, service lines, regions, or locations, we develop targeted plans that drive growth and success.
No matter if you're a budding start-up or a seasoned industry leader, we take the time to understand your company's mission, vision, values, plans, and strategies. Our approach involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your existing business development processes, systems, team, and resources to ensure sustained success, growth, and deeper market penetration. Additionally, we evaluate your readiness for expanding into new markets, setting the stage for future opportunities.
Driving Quantum Growth through Strategic Pursuits, Sole-Source & Must-Win Programs
AEC Market Masters can propel your firm toward exponential growth. Our Strategic Pursuit Programs are designed to significantly enhance your ability to secure larger projects and programs with consistency. Together, we define clear objectives to amplify construction or fee value by two to ten times ($2X to $10X), achieve win rates of 75% or higher, and maximize marketing return on investment (MROI) to at least 25:1—all within a targeted timeframe of one to three years.
A Strategic Pursuit Program empowers your firm to cultivate a portfolio of viable opportunities—far more than just a wish list—aligned with your strategic and operational goals. Success in individual pursuits hinges on a dedicated, trained pursuit leader who executes a structured, firm-specific capture plan. Key success factors include initiating efforts six months to two years ahead of solicitations, proactively shaping opportunities, conducting Client Analysis℠, and crafting tailored Theme Modular℠ Value Propositions.
AEC Market Masters empowers firms to win major projects and elevate their business development strategies using customized training courses and videos, including the legendary Client Account Analysis© and Theme Modular© Presentations. These two cornerstone courses have shaped the unparalleled growth and success of strategic pursuit programs for top ENR design firms including HDR, Stantec (MWH Global), Jacobs (CH2M-Hill), and Arcadis (Malcolm Pirnie).
For more details on our exclusive offering of Dag Knudsen’s complete training library visit our store at https://www.aecmarketmasters.com/slides
Accelerating Success through Strategic Training and Coaching
AEC Market Masters drives client success through business development leadership, coaching, and customized training designed to produce measurable results. We equip individuals and teams—from beginners to experienced professionals and executives—with the skills needed to excel in leading business lines, services, programs, and projects.
Our training programs, offered both onsite and online, are tailored to meet diverse needs, with options to select training bundles or individual courses. Comprehensive bundles such as Capture Planning for Must-Win Projects and Strategic Pursuit Program Management & Leadership provide hands-on strategies that enhance your team’s ability to secure high-value projects and deliver consistent results.
For firms focused on "must-win" opportunities, our strategic pursuit leadership and coaching empowers your team to significantly improve win rates. Our proprietary à la carte courses, including Client Account Analysis™ and Theme-Modular Process© presentation training, offer the keys to understanding client decision-making and crafting client-centered proposals. When combined with our "CPR Capture Plan" methodology, clients experience higher success rates in winning critical pursuits and securing sole-source contracts.
Let us help you secure your firm's ongoing success
AEC Market Masters can help you proactively shape your future, regardless of market shifts.