The Hidden Inefficiencies Holding Your A/E Firm Back

The hidden inefficiencies holding your a/e firm back

The latest Deltek Clarity report shows that only 49% of AE firms use a formal business development process. That means over half of firms still pursue projects reactively, using inconsistent tools and systems to get the job done.

The result: teams are working harder than ever but find themselves struggling to gain traction. Proposals are rushed, leading to errors and last-minute edits, and a lack of clarity around processes and workflows leads to redundancies, frustration, and burnout.

But you don’t have to keep settling for systems that are “good enough” in the moment.

Let’s fix your marketing and BD inefficiencies once and for all!

2. Submitting Proposals as Your Introduction

Proposals should reinforce why you're the obvious choice, not attempt to explain it for the first time.

Decision-makers are already narrowing the field based on familiarity, trust, and perceived fit long before they receive a proposal. If your firm hasn’t built visibility or credibility ahead of the RFP, your proposal becomes a cold introduction competing against established relationships.

To avoid this mistake, follow what is known in marketing as the Rule of 7, which suggests that audiences need to encounter a brand seven times before building familiarity and coming to a decision on how to move forward. Think about what you’re doing to communicate your firm’s value, and whether you’ve given prospective clients at least seven touchpoints beforehand that would allow them to better understand why your firm is the best fit.

Focus on building brand awareness through marketing communications and intentional business development. The most successful AE firms have already built relationships by the time they send out a proposal. That means investing in consistent, strategic marketing and BD efforts that keep your firm visible to the right people. Thought leadership, targeted outreach, and industry involvement all play a role in creating familiarity and trust.

When you engage early, your proposal doesn’t have to work as hard, because by the time it lands, the recipients already know why you belong at the table.

3. Focusing on Team Size Instead of Optimization

When marketing and BD bandwidth feels tight, the default assumption is “we need more staff”. But before expanding headcount, it’s essential to determine whether the challenge stems from a true capacity constraint or from underlying inefficiencies in your processes.

For example, imagine your firm’s partners are struggling to keep up with projects and proposal demands. At first glance, it may appear to be a bandwidth issue, leading to the assumption that hiring more staff will expedite the RFP process. But after further investigation, you learn that partners and staff are spending excessive time tracking down pursuit information stored in multiple locations (or worse — in people’s heads).

The root cause isn’t a lack of personnel: it’s the result of unoptimized systems and information management. Without that clarity, firms risk addressing an infrastructure problem with a staffing solution, which may amplify the existing inefficiencies. You’re not improving outcomes; you’re just investing more resources to maintain the same results.

To get a better sense of your firm’s needs, ask yourself the following:

• Have we seen a significant increase in proposal volume or complexity without adjusting staff support or processes?
• Is there a standardized, repeatable process that our teams follow?
• Are responsibilities clearly defined across marketing, technical staff, and project managers?
• Are we using a system to manage our RFP and marketing content to streamline reuse and collaboration?
• Is our CRM integrated with our proposal generation process to reduce manual data entry and improve accuracy?

Not sure where to begin finding these answers? Consider a Go-To-Market Assessment to get a holistic view of your firm’s operational efficiency.

4. Not Using a Project Management System

While it may seem cost-effective not to leverage a project management system, it’s not always the most economical choice in the long run. Nearly 50% of AEC marketing teams still rely on manual processes like spreadsheets to track pursuits, according to the 2024 SMPS State of AEC Marketing Report. But in doing so, project and pursuit management often get convoluted. This approach not only limits visibility and accountability but also causes teams to work down to the wire, leading to burnout and high turnover. 

Each project should be visible to all stakeholders involved from start to finish. Tools that integrate project owners, timeline management, and deliverables in one place create transparency, enforce accountability, and ensure that everyone knows their role (and deadline) in the process.

Incorporating a project management system into your firm’s workflow also brings much-needed visibility into team capacity and volume of active projects and pursuits. Without that clarity, decisions are often made in a vacuum, lacking a proper understanding of what is already in play.

Icing on the cake – there are many project management tools that are either inexpensive or completely free!

5. Not Using a Go/No-Go Process

All too often, the pursuit process feels like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. But a pursuit can become a significant waste of time and energy if it isn’t aligned with your firm’s goals and strengths, or if your chances of success are low. 

Figuring out which projects to pursue doesn’t have to be a guessing game. Having a defined and agreed upon Go/No-Go process gives your team a structured and objective way to assess which opportunities are worth your time and which ones are better left behind.

By evaluating opportunities against clear, pre-established criteria, your firm ensures every pursuit aligns with long-term goals, available capacity, and the kind of work you’re best positioned to win. That level of clarity reduces the costly pattern of chasing the wrong projects.

That’s why we’ve developed a Go/No-Go Matrix Guide + Template to help you get started on better pursuit decisions. Download the guide and template for smarter investments, less proposal fatigue, and more predictable outcomes.

Conclusion

Marketing and BD inefficiencies slowly compound over time by quietly draining resources. Firms that continue relying on reactive habits, ad hoc decision-making, and underutilized tools risk falling further behind.

But the good news is that these are fixable problems. With the right strategy and tools, your firm can move from reactive to proactive, from overextended to focused, and from chasing more work to winning more work.

NEED HELP FIGURING OUT HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MARKETING & BD?

Need help figuring out how to improve your marketing and BD? Start with a Go-to-Market Assessment. In just 45 days, we’ll take a comprehensive look at your firm’s market perception, strategy, operations, and execution to give you a third-party review of your marketing and BD health. From there, we’ll build an actionable roadmap to guide you toward your ideal future. 

When you understand where your firm stands, you can start making decisions that drive meaningful, measurable progress.