Transcript: Business Development Trends from the 43rd Deltek Clarity Study

Lindsay: Welcome to another episode of the Marketers Take Flight podcast. I’m your host, Lindsay Diven. And today we’re gonna be diving deep into industry trends. It relates to business development, proposals, forecasts, win rates, and volume of proposals. Just industry averages and benchmarks. We’re gonna just hit the surface of the 43rd annual Deltek Clarity Study. And to do this, I’ve brought on a guest, Megan Miller. She’s the director of product marketing at Deltek. And she’s been part of the Deltek clarity study for the last eight years.

So, she is presenting the results for this she’s clarity study, starting with this podcast and some other webinars, and she’ll tell you how to get those. But she also, in this episode, we dive deep into some of the key trends as it relates to business development, marketing, and proposals. And some findings that surprised her the most. So, you definitely wanna listen to this episode, to find out, those key trends and surprises, and then how to get the study and how to dive deeper into the study.

And spoiler alert, you don’t have to be a Deltek client or a Deltek user to get value from this industrywide study. So, without further ado, here is my conversation with Megan.

Lindsay: So, everyone, I have Megan Miller here with me today. She is the director of product marketing for Deltek. Hi Megan, thanks for being on the show today.

Megan: Hi, Lindsay. Thanks for having me.

Lindsay: So, before we get into today’s topic, why don’t you tell our listeners, who you are, you know, your career path, and how you help firms today.

Megan: Sure. So, I’m currently serving as director of product marketing, as you mentioned for Deltek and Deltek is a provider of software solutions that focus on CRM, project management, and financial management. I actually started in the architecture and engineering industry after college, as a marketing coordinator for a mid-sized A&E company where I was responsible for proposals, conference coordination, marketing materials, website, and all of the normal marketing coordinator tasks.

And I also got involved in rolling out our CRM solution. So, I also early in my career, got involved with SMPS to network with others in the industry and just to be able to learn from their experiences. So, while I was at that A&E firm, I was really passionate about our CRM system and finding ways to make it better. And then I had a unique opportunity to join Deltek where I could actually talk to A&E firms every day, and communicate the value of these software solutions to help improve their business. And as I talked to people that had known me for years, they just kept saying, this is such a perfect fit because I was always talking about how important those systems were, and those solutions were.

So now at Deltek, I’m responsible for our product marketing. For the architecture and engineering space with all of our solutions that support architects and engineers every day and to make, just make sure that those companies know the value of the solution, how it can help their business, and understand what’s new in those products.

My knowledge of the industry also helped to open doors in my time at Deltek to get involved with the Deltek clarity report. And just to be able to understand a little bit more around the industry trends and, opportunities and benchmarks. So, I’ve had the opportunity over the last eight years to really dig more into that report. and something else that I’ve become very passionate about, about not just the benchmarks, but how firms use that data. So, it has been quite an interesting journey from being a journalism major in college. To now working for a software company and helping to market solutions in the A&E space.

Lindsay: I love it. I love it. and you know, you and I have followed kind of a similar path, so, um, yeah. Started as an AE, and you know, engineering firm coordinator, and then worked my way up and then over to the CRM side and the. CRM consulting side and now, a marketing manager for a software consulting firm. So very parallel paths. You, you, and I have, I’d never really even thought about it until you were explaining it. And I was like, oh, we have, we have con similar paths. So, and I love That you introduce the Deltek clarity study, cuz even though you’re the director of product marketing for Deltek today, we’re not gonna really be talking about Deltek. so those of you keep listening. we are gonna dive into the Deltek clarity study and talk about some trends in the industry and trends specifically to business development and some of the results from the Deltek clarity study. So, before we get into those trends, Megan, why don’t you give us a brief overview of what the Deltek clarity study is? You know, who is surveyed? What are the different areas of the study?

Megan: Sure. So, the Deltek clarity architecture and engineering industry study is the longest-running most comprehensive study in the industry covers benchmarks, industry trends, market outlook, as well as challenges and opportunities that firms are facing. This report is specifically for architecture and engineering firms and the industry, those companies that also support the industry specifically in the United States and Canada, we actually, three years ago also launched a report that focuses on Europe and Asia specific, or Asia Pacific region. So that one is also available and there is a government contracting report as well, but I really focus just on that architecture and engineering study and so really what we do is we, this is the 40, 30 years for this report.

I have been focused on this for the last eight years and we survey industry leaders from firms of all sizes and complexities throughout the United States and Canada. We wanna understand how firms are performing, and what are the challenges that they’re facing? What are some of the initiatives that they have in the coming year? And so, we’ll dig into, you know, we have participants that are architects and engineers. We also have companies that may have five employees up to, you know, 5,000 employees and everything in between.

The sections of the report. As you asked about, you know, we have five main sections. We have business development, project management, financial management, human capital management, as well as technology trends. So, there’s not only something for everyone in the business, but we really see this and what I’ve tried to build this into over the last several years is a resource to help facilitate those cross-department discussions and collaboration. Because there are key metrics, you know, we’ll dig into some of those for business development, but they are directly related to project management and delivery as well as financial management. And they’re so intertwined that it’s important that companies have all of those different perspectives to be able to make the right decisions for the business.

Lindsay: Well, that was a great overview. And for those listeners, who haven’t read the report or haven’t seen the report before, it’s pretty insightful. we’re gonna share with you how to get your copy of it for free. So, stay tuned for that. And so, let’s dive in a little bit to one area of the report business development first.

And like you said, it’ll probably you know, cross-pollinate with some of the other areas too, because our businesses are so intertwined. But what are some of the key trends you saw in this year’s study as it relates to business development?

Megan: So, I think the biggest thing that stood out this year is how confident firms are in their forecast. Now, one of the things that’s important to know here is that when we capture the data for this, we’re in a field from late January to mid-March. So, some of this may be changing already. As we know, the industry changes constantly.

 What we’ve seen for business development is that firms are very confident in their forecast for growth in revenue this year. In fact, we’re seeing record forecasts of the highest that we have seen in the last decade. The highest percentage of year-over-year growth that we’ve normally seen in the last decade is about 6%.

And this year on average firms are expecting to see 17. 6% year-over-year growth. Medium-size firms are actually the most optimistic with more than 20% growth, but none of the segments were below 14% this year. So, I expected to see some optimism, but maybe not quite that much optimism within the industry.

We know there are a lot of factors that are playing into that. So, some of the other key trends that we’ve seen are the markets where companies are expecting their position to grow in the next 18 months. So we are seeing more optimism, not surprisingly in water, wastewater, stormwater, as well as transportation and energy and power, much of that tied into IIJA, as we’ve all been hearing about and talking about for months, but we’re also seeing anticipated growth in industrial, in healthcare, in senior living and life sciences on the private side just continuing to show some of that confidence in the market.

Lindsay: Mm-hmm and that, seems all very logical with the market’s growth, I’m very surprised at the confidence level or the projected year-over-year growth, 17.6%. Mid-size firms, you said 20% year-on-year growth is what they’re expecting. That’s some pretty big growth. if you feel like, you know, let’s say you’re, that’s almost, if your annual revenue right now or last year was, you know, a hundred million dollars, 20% or 17% that’s

Megan: a big jump

Lindsay: that is a big jump. And that kind of scares me as a marketer.

Megan: Well, so that’s the next piece of it, right? Is starting to look at some of the other metrics and seeing that not only that, but we’ve also seen an increase in win rates. We’re seeing an increase in capture rates, which seems a little bit counterintuitive. Because we were hearing, there’s so much more competition. There are so many, you know, more challenges, but we also know that there are still firms that aren’t tracking some of those things to be able to be strategic about it. One of the other things that actually stood out to me as well is that when it comes to proposals, we are looking at the sheer volume of proposals for win rate. Whereas capture rate really is more based on dollar volume. We saw an average of 30% more proposals submitted in the last year compared to the previous year. Now talking to, people in the industry that I have talked to over the last year, that’s probably not surprising. We’ve all felt that strain the, the increase in the demand, the increase in the number of proposals.

Medium-sized firms reported an average of 418 proposals that were submitted in just one year. So again, back to that marketing side and that business development. How are we going to not only be able to see that type of revenue growth but where do we find those opportunities? How do we best position ourselves for those opportunities? And then from tying that into the project side, how do we best deliver on that? Do we have the staff to be able to do that? and so, you know, that’s where some of those, challenges come in with we have these growth goals. And many of those are based on true opportunity assessments and looking at what’s in the pipeline, but then how do we actually deliver on that? Both from a business development perspective, but also from a project perspective.

Lindsay: Yeah. Yeah. So, you mentioned a couple of things, so I’m gonna go back a little bit. Increase in win rates in an increase in capture rates. do you, I can’t remember off the top of my head in this study, cuz it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve read through it, the study does provide average win rates percentages, right. For the firms that report. Because I know that gets asked a lot, like what’s the industry average win rate and what’s the industry average capture rate. So those are, broken down in this study, the clarity report by, different firm size. Is that correct?

Megan: So, we actually look at, if we look at, we always look at the overall average. So, when we look at the overall average win rate, we’re at about 49% this year, which is up nearly 5%. but again, that’s based on just the firms that are tracking that metric. So, if you look at, you know, your company and your ability to win, are you winning one out of every two? Maybe not, but in comparison to companies that may not be tracking you, maybe on a better trajectory than they are. We do track all of those metrics by, high performers compared to all others. And then our small versus medium versus large. And in the report, we have the details of what those different segments are in size. But then we also look at architectural firms compared to engineering firms. So even just looking at win rates, we have architectural firms are seeing a 40%, 40.8% win rate while engineering firms are reporting a 51.7%. But again, that win rate is the number of proposals. Then our capture rate on the flip side is 48.5% overall. And that’s based on the dollar value of the proposal submitted versus those awarded. And we do have all of those broken out. We actually also have some trend lines this year that, we’re gonna dig into in our deep dive, clarity, coffee, and clarity webinar. So, we’ll see some of those, you know, how is that trending over time? Are we seeing an increase in that capture rate or a decrease in that capture rate? Uh, and just, what are we seeing in those different segments? Yes.

Lindsay: Yeah. Well, those are extremely high win rates. I mean, I don’t wanna like jump to a conclusion. or jump to, uh, a theory that, the firms that are reporting on them a are tracking them. So, they’re probably because they’re tracking them. They’re probably doing other things. You know, as best practices too, like prepositioning capture planning, better, you know, just maybe have, better knowledge management so they can put together better proposals. That kind of thing. I don’t know. I’m just gonna throw that out there as is just, you know, maybe that’s a correlation to higher hit rates, cuz I’ve heard ’em, you know, people throw out there, oh, 30%, 20%. You know, if you win one in every three or one in every five, you’re doing good, but these are extremely high

Megan: Right. And some of it could be one of the things we also look at too, are you know. Some of those companies that have higher win rates are probably also much more strategic from a go, no go perspective that they’re going after the things that make the most sense. Now, the one thing that we have seen, is we do ask that companies report these based on competitive proposals. So only those that you are going up against someone else. I can’t verify a hundred percent that that’s always the way that they’re reported, but that is that’s one of the questions that I always get. Is these competitive or is this, you know, Hey, we have a letter proposal somebody is gonna single source it to us and we don’t have to compete on it. That’s not intended to be a part of this metric. So really what we ask for is to give us the total number that we’re submitted and give us the total number that we’re awarded. There is some overlap potentially, and this is why these are just guidelines and guideposts, but there’s some overlap that you may not submit and hear back on some of these projects in the same year. And so there could be, you know, some variation and fluctuation in those numbers, but really what I encourage people to do it, especially if you’re leveraging your CRM, run those hit rate reports, run them different ways, run them by market, run them by the project manager. and really what you’re trying to uncover is the things that are working really well. And maybe some of the things that maybe they’re not working as well. And it’s an opportunity for some discussions, for some additional training or, you know, however you can better equip your teams. If maybe, you are seeing a 15% win rate in a particular market. There might be a reason behind it. It might be purposeful because you need to, you know, you’re breaking into that market, you’re trying to better establish relationships and there may be some more challenges to get into that market or with that client, but it’s really understanding your why behind it. Why are we doing well? Why are we not doing well? And are there things that we can be doing differently than what we’re doing today to change those numbers in a positive way?

Lindsay: Yeah. yeah, a hundred percent agree. So, I just had to throw my little theory out there for you

Megan: Yes,

Lindsay: but overall, I mean, regardless, you know how it’s reported or, you know, if it was won this year, last year, those are still pretty significant. They’re higher than what I would’ve thought if I were somebody were to come and, you know, and ask me, well, what do you think? You know, the overall industry win rate is that surprised me.

Megan: Now we did also along those lines, when we asked about the win rate change, you know, we asked how much is your win rate? Has it. Increased significantly increased, slightly stayed the same decreased. And so, we did have more than 50% that indicated that it increased either significantly or slightly this year. So that helps a little bit with some of those metrics to validate that, we are seeing, you know, those win rates in a positive direction, validated more than just what the numbers say. but we did also see that there was, uh, a portion of those. I think we had 40% around there that said that they stayed about the same, that their win rate is about the same as what we saw in previous years. But there is a significant number of those that, that saw an increase in very few, less than 10% saw a decrease this year.

Lindsay: Okay.

Megan: So, I think some of, you know, just, again, some of

that validating that perspective of why does it seem so high? Again, it seems hard when you’re looking at it from a. There are five people going after this proposal and four of them have to lose.

Lindsay: Mm-hmm

Megan: so that’s where it becomes a little bit tricky in how that works. But some of that is, you know, where, where are some of the tradeoffs that out of those five, those five companies probably go up against each other multiple times. And so some of that starts to balance out as well.

Lindsay: Yep. Absolutely. And that’s why I also like looking at the number and then what you call them, the win rate and the capture rate. So the dollars, I always like when I would report on win rates, I, you know, Deltek vision and vantage point made it really easy for me to pull both the number and the dollar amount because it doesn’t really matter if you’re winning. The number of proposals, but if they’re not large enough dollar-wise to meet your goals or, you know, to meet your growth projections or staff projections, it doesn’t really matter.

Megan: Right. Well, and again, if you’re looking at larger projects, you’re going to be up against more competitors. So you would expect that if you’re going, you know if you’re doing D O T type work, you would expect that your win rate is going to be lower because you can only win one out of however many projects. You can only you’re going up against. A different group of companies than if you’re working on a, you know, a small renovation project in a, in a facility. So those variables are really important again to that why? And to your specific story. So it’s a good benchmark, but it’s giving you a starting point for you to have more conversations.

Lindsay: absolutely. Absolutely. I love that. Okay. So what are some, and you might have already talked about these, but what were some of the surprise findings for you in this year’s study?

Megan: Yeah. So some of them, I did talk about a little bit, the net revenue growth forecast, I think across the entire report has definitely been the one. That was surprising. one of the things that are not necessarily business development focused, but did stand out. And I think it’s important for business developers to see. Is that this is the first year since I have been doing this, that in the financial management section, finding and retaining talent was the number one challenge identified by financial leaders.

So we know in business development that having the right people is absolutely critical, not only to nurture client relationships but to put those proposals together, to put the winning teams together, to be able to win the projects. But we’re also seeing that impact for the first time, really being felt by the financial leaders and their understanding, the challenges that that has to the bottom line.

So those were definite surprises. I think some of the other things. Continuing to see those win rates and capture rates increase, despite that increase in competition. The increase in the number of just overall proposals that were, that are going through these groups, I think is tremendous. and then I think on the positive side, seeing some of the marketing techniques that firms are starting to see use now and expect to use in the next five years, starting to shift to more of those modern marketing techniques is a pleasant surprise. I think for me, that, you know, walking away from some of the traditional methods that may not either be working anymore or understanding that the dynamic of the client demographics that we’re working with is changing. And so we have to change some of those tactics I think is, is a key piece of this. And then the one that from a CRM perspective, you know, knowing my passion and my background for CRM, it’s surprising that there’s still 32% of participants that are not using a CRM or using Excel to manage their business development. That’s a pretty high percentage, a third of those participants. So when you think about the challenges that we’re facing, right, you’re thinking about the increase, in the growing revenue. When you think about the number of proposals that are coming through, you think about the number of clients that we need to be talking to and coordinating with and, and keeping track of. Being able to rely on those seller doers we’re seeing more of that seller doer, the model coming back in. But just being able to stay on top of those opportunities, nurturing those relationships, finding time to position to win. Those become much more challenging without that central system of being able to, you know, leverage technology for what technology is designed to do is one of the things that, you know, that I, that I talk about frequently is that it’s not intended just to be shelfware, it’s really intended to make your life easier and getting everybody on board to be able to use that really can be not only a tremendous time-saver, but can make you look more coordinated and, you know, better positioned and look better in front of your clients because you have information readily available at your fingertips. So I think as all of this comes together, the staffing challenges and, you know, the high growth goals and all of that, really the big piece for me is how do we take advantage of technology? And it may not be a CRM, but marketing automation, looking at any other technology that’s at play, how do we take advantage of that to make ourselves more efficient, to make it so that we can better use our time. Focus, where we need to. Know who the right people are for us to be talking to in that limited time that we have, and just really be able to be more effective as business developers and as marketers.

Lindsay: Yeah, that number is shocking. Almost a third, not using a CRM or Excel, you said right?

Megan: Yes. So they could just be relying on Excel to manage business development.

Lindsay: Okay. Oh, okay. So it could be Excel. Okay. I thought you said CRM or not, or Excel. Okay. But even that’s like shocking, like, well, it’s shocking for me a, because we are busy as heck. So we’ve been doing so many CRM implementations, so I. I feel like we’ve done more than two-thirds of the industry at this point.

Megan: Right.

Lindsay: I’m full set partners. So I’m not personally feeling it, but shocking too, in and we have firms of all sizes. Like we have clients like I had one client here locally. I went in, to Gainesville and they only had 12 people and I did a Deltek, CRM implementation with them.

Megan: And I think a lot of it has to do less with size and more about what your goals are, what your strategy is, and how you wanna get there. Right. So I think oftentimes companies may think to your point, I’m too small too, to need this. And it’s more about having the tools and resources, especially depending on you know, where your teams are located, how your teams are working together. But it’s really powerful to be able to, before you call a client before you meet with a client, just do a quick check on your phone and pull up your CRM and say, you know, these are the last two projects we’ve done with them. These are the outstanding opportunities we have with them. This is the last time that somebody went and had a conversation or the last person that touched base with them having that information readily available again, requires that everybody’s working to keep that information updated and accurate. But that’s gold and it makes you look so much better in front of that client to be able to have that conversation.

Lindsay: Yeah. Yeah. And it not only makes you look good, but I feel more confident when I’m getting ready to go on a call. Like I do a lot of calls. I don’t, you know, so when I’m getting on a call like just before we did this recording, I had a call with a client and I haven’t talked to them in probably six or eight months, but I was able to bring up and say, okay, What else have they been doing? Who else have they been talking to? What’s been going on at their firm and it’s just, I felt just better. I wasn’t going blind into a phone call with a client that just stuck sometimes on my calendar. So it’s super valuable. And that’s what that particular client I mentioned that was only 12. It, was really the president I did the implementation with and he’s like, he understood that leveraging technology to make his life easier. He like, kind of understood that and he was trying to get everybody else on board.

Megan: Yes. Well, I think it goes back to some of the challenges that we’ve seen in the report, too. Right. So if I look at the top business development challenges this year, we’re seeing six out of 10 firms of saying that one of their top challenges in nurturing client relationships. And we’re seeing that you know, how do you find time to do that if you’re trying to figure out who we even should be talking to? And being able to, you know, half of them are saying that there’s increased competition is one of their top three challenges. So, if I’m going after a proposal, Having that Intel of who we went up against the last three times, we went after a project with this client is tremendously valuable to me as a coordinator or as I’m putting the pursuit documentation together, that pursuit strategy and that capture plan. you know, it’s just, it’s so imperative to have that information available because you have limited time. You have limited staff. We’re, you know, we’re seeing that people are one of the top challenges, and limited business development resources is one of the top challenges as well. And then tying into that, we’re also seeing less revenue from the top three clients, which could be strategic, right. It could be based on intended diversification, but it could also be that we’re just struggling to stay in front of the right clients at the right time.

We’re right. We’re staying in front of the ones that historically have had a lot of opportunities, but maybe they don’t have anything in the pipeline this year. Or maybe there’s not something, you know, imminent that they’re going to have available so being able to shuffle that information, get it to the right people, make sure the right people are nurturing those relationships. There just has to be, even if it’s not, you know, CRM obviously would be the one that I would say is the best option. But even if it’s not that. There just has to be a better, more strategic way to go about your business development. That’s gonna be so critical in the coming year, two years, that it can’t just be waiting for somebody to call waiting for the RFP, waiting for something to come your way. It just needs to be much more strategic and methodical, and process-driven to being successful, in today’s business development environment.

Lindsay: Absolutely. okay. So, we’ve talked a lot about the clarity study. How can listeners get their hands on the clarity study or learn more and dive deeper into the clarity study?

Megan: Sure. So, if you wanna download the full report, you can go to info.deltek.com/clarity-AE, and we can get that link for you and include that as part of the show notes for you. We also have a deep dive series of webinars that go into each of those different sections. We’re going to do a deep dive in July and later in July on business development. So, you can always reach out to me and I can get you the link for that one specifically. and you can email me at [email protected]. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. You can see information there for it as well. And then if you’re going to be at Amplify A|E|C for SMPS, I will be there. I’ll be happy to talk to you more about it there, and just be able to dig in more, answer your questions and get you all of the information that you need.

Lindsay: Great. And I don’t wanna assume listeners know this, but they don’t need to be Deltek clients to get the study. Anybody can download this study,

Megan: Yeah. So, this is something that at Deltek, we know that it’s so important for you to be able to see what’s going on in your business and be able to benchmark your company against others in the industry. So, this is not, a Deltek-only participant type of thing. we have a diverse group of participants. We partner with SMPS and ACEC, and AIA, so that we have a good, not only from a participation perspective for those four 500 companies that participated this year, but we also offer this report as a service to the industry so that you can see where your company is. If there are opportunities for Deltek to help you that’s great. But if not, you wanna use this for information purposes to help drive your business forward. That’s really why we do this as a service to the industry.

Lindsay: Yeah. So, I just wanted to clarify that because sometimes people assume that, you have to be a Deltek client to get it. And I just wanted to make sure everybody knows you don’t have to be so it’s for the industry. Yes. Great. Okay. Before we close out today, I have my rapid-fire questions. Are you ready?

Megan: I am ready.

Lindsay: Okay. What is your number one piece of advice for marketers who are new to the AEC industry?

Megan: I would say my top advice is to ask a lot of questions but make them good questions. So, you can only learn if you keep asking questions and this means project managers, finance leaders, and others in your department. Or joining an organization like the society for marketing professional services or SMPS. So that you can network with others that are in your shoes and you just constantly want to be learning more and more. We, used to joke that when I was doing proposals, I finally got to the point that I had asked so many questions. I could start to write the scope for somebody and write their project approach. because I just kept wanting to ask questions and learn more. And tying into that. I think my second piece, I know you only asked for one, but I’m gonna give two.

Uh, my second piece of advice is don’t be afraid to try something new and to take on a new challenge. I would’ve never dreamed of coming out of college. That one, I would be involved in the A&E industry. I don’t know how many of us would’ve said going outta college, that. Yes. I wanna be in the A&E industry, it’s not usually something that you think about. but secondly, working for a software company to support that industry, but I was asking questions that led to new challenges and new initiatives and ultimately to my role where I am with Deltek today. So just be curious, continue to ask questions, and continue to want to learn.

Lindsay: Love it. Love it. Okay. Question number two. What has been your favorite or most memorable win?

Megan: So, thinking back to when I was a marketing coordinator, I think my most memorable win was a proposal that I worked on for the Austin pike interchange in Dayton, Ohio, which is near where I live. Part of the reason that this one stands out is that the strategy and effort that went into the proposal was, were somewhat memorable. There were a lot of, you know, extra hours that went into that one. But for this one, I was really able to watch it come to life through the design process with my coworkers, but ultimately the construction. And that’s always been something that fascinates me, I think oftentimes in marketing, we don’t get the chance to see those proposals come to life. They’re not usually anywhere near where we are. So being able to watch that initial proposal actually turns into a new interchange and something that I drive on my family is a part of, and, and we use regularly. It just puts a whole different perspective on the work that you do. So that’s always the one that stands out as one of my most memorable, most favorite wins.

Lindsay: I love it. I love it. Something similar happened to me when I was recently on vacation. we were at the Hoover Dam and the overpass bridge. One of the designers was one of my previous firms, so we got to walk across it, and I took a picture of the plaque and everything. And so that was very, I didn’t help with that proposal, but I, I used that bridge in of many other proposals, so I knew so much about the bridge. My husband was like, why do you know so much about this? And I’m like,

Megan: Like I’ve written four descriptions of this one. I know all about it.

Lindsay: Yeah. And I worked at that firm almost 10 years ago. So, it was like, it’s funny what you remember, so I can totally appreciate that. okay. So last question. Uh, what are you excited about?

Megan: So, I think we’re talking about clarity, right? I’m always excited about clarity. I think anyone that hears me talk about clarity is something that just energizes me. And I’m very passionate about it. I’m at the point now in the year where I get to start sharing the results and part of that, I think goes along with my excitement for the return to in-person events. Being able to talk to customers, and be able to talk to industry leaders and colleagues face to face again, which I have missed tremendously.

So, I’m really excited to be back out there at conferences and be able to interact with people. And then from a professional standpoint, I’m just excited to continue to work on our Vantagepoint solution and see how it’s helping companies, to just improve their business process automation, and get rid of a bunch of unnecessary work. I know that that seems cliche to say, but it really does get me excited to see how companies are using that.

and then I think on a personal note, cause I think there’s always, you know, a need to balance. Then, the excitement at work with the excitement at home. I’m just excited at this point in my life that I get to be a cheerleader for my kids. I have two girls who’re very involved in sports and right now we’re in the midst of softball and tennis season. And I just love watching them. Do what they love to do and just be able to be there and support them and be able to have the flexibility that I have to just be able to be there and be alongside them, and then just encourage them to, to really follow that passion that they have, whether that is short term passion or leads into something longer. We’ll see. But it’s just something that they really enjoy now. And I’m just really enjoying that, that season right now.

Lindsay: I love it. I love it. Well, thank you again for coming to the show today. And for everybody, I will place all the links that Megan talked about in the show notes. So, make sure you head over there, grab this study and start diving in into it. And then sign up for the deep dive webinars later in July for the BD, but there are all the topics she’s covering in all the sections.

Megan: Yes, and they will be available on demand. So, if you can’t join on that day, you can always access them later, send them to your colleagues, you know, share, share the love.

Lindsay: All right. Thanks, Megan.

Megan: Thank you.

Lindsay: Wow. What key trends or statistics or metrics surprised you the most? Or do you agree with some of the statistics or the information that Megan shared with you? Are you seeing that at your firm or you’re like what? What’s going on? Let me know over on the show notes. Leave me some comments over at MarketersTakeFlight.com/69.

Also, there is where I’m gonna have all the links to get the clarity study . The links to sign up for the coffee and clarity, deep-dive sessions with the upcoming one, in July that is gonna dive deeper into the business development and you’ll be able to see, some graphs and some charts As well as Megan’s contact information. So, head on over to the show notes, MarketersTakeFlight.com/69, to find all of that information and to leave me a comment about what you think about the study. Do you agree? Do you disagree? What was your biggest surprise takeaway from today’s episode? So, leave that as a comment over on those show notes page, and until next time, bye for now.