STG group
SERVICES PROVIDED
Strategy; Training; CMO; CBDO; BD Planning; Retainer; Digital; Brand; Website; Communications; Interview Coaching; CX; Doer-Seller; Executive Committee; Social Media
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Elevate Advisors provided Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO) services to STG Design, guiding the firm through strategy development, planning, and implementation. Elevate played a key role in interviewing BD staff to identify market sector leaders, setting goals, and leading strategic BD meetings for measurable results. Elevate also hired marketing staff, developed a new website, and provided marketing communications and digital strategy support.
Under a retainer, Elevate delivered ongoing training, client experience development, and interview coaching, helping STG win key projects. Elevate also provided guidance on the firm’s Executive Committee to align BD and marketing with the firm’s leadership vision.
Elevate shifted STG from a founder-led BD approach to a client-centric model, focusing on relationship building. This transition enhanced BD structure and accountability, contributing to STG's business development success.
A major win came when Elevate coached STG for a competitive project interview, reframing their strategy from focusing solely on qualifications to aligning with the client’s values. By crafting a compelling, client-centered narrative, STG built a strong emotional connection, ultimately winning the project. The client later confirmed that STG’s ability to resonate with their vision was the deciding factor.
CLIENT QUOTES
“Elevate helped STG develop and implement a new BD structure – that includes accountability, often the hardest part of planning. This new structure has resulted in more successful market sector team meetings like our last meeting which focused on two identified opportunities, next steps on touch points, updating the Client Capture Plan, and reaching out to a new client. Thank you for bringing this level of planning and focused strategy to me and the STG Team.”
Paul Labrant, IIDA, LEED AP, Market Sector Chair
“With the help of Elevate, STG has shifted from a founder-oriented approach to business development to a client-centric approach, understanding that how we accomplish our work is very different than how we develop our clients. Elevate assisted us to identify new market sector leaders and guide them through the development of strategies, capture plans and business development goals. They completely shifted our business development meetings from round robin reports to strategic meetings focused on achieving our specific BD plan goals. Elevate continues to work daily with our team in the development of our BD leaders, marketing, and technical staff through training and coaching. They have been instrumental in the implementation of our marketing plan and strategies identified in the original assessment of our firm’s BD and marketing systems. Most importantly, they continue to provide much needed leadership, accountability, and support our team needs to accomplish our goals.”
Dave Johnston, AIA, Interim CEO
“Elevate transformed our good presentation into a great presentation. While preparing for a key project we were chasing, Elevate redirected our focus from talking about our experience and qualifications to the client’s values and how they align with our firm. This was a strategy designed to help us stand out from our competition. Not only did this work, but it helped us win the job! The evidence was at our kickoff meeting when the client shared with us that all the firms were qualified for the project, but our presentation allowed them to connect and relate to the common goal we had and that was to build a better us — with you for you. We now know how important it is to make that connection with the client within the presentation and to share our story about how they made an impact on the lives of those we care about. This gave them complete buy in because they understood that our team was personally invested in the success of this project. Elevate coached us to success and I can’t wait for the next opportunity for us to win another project together!”
Chad Jones, AIA, Associate Principal/Market Sector Chair