About
COLUMN
10.
CASE STUDY
Value You Can Feel: How The Primestone Group’s Core Values Shape the Client Experience
11.
CASE STUDY
When Values Impart Value: How Culture Creates a Competitive Edge at Lowe Engineers
Publisher’s Message
Lighting the Path with Insight
DANIELLE GRAY, MBA
Danielle Gray, MBA, is
the Director, Content and Knowledge Resources at SMPS HQ, where she is responsible for driving strategic content and learning initiatives. Her goal is to empower A/E/C marketing and business development leaders to foster growth and excellence in the industry. A SMPS member since 2017, Danielle speaks to chapters and regional conferences about content and authenticity.
Insight is one of the most powerful—and often overlooked—tools in our marketing and business development toolkits. It isn’t a one-off revelation; it’s a cultivated mindset that, when embraced, delivers both the human connection and the hard results our A/E/C teams strive for. Though we can’t touch it or measure it directly, insight is the bridge between what we know and what we truly understand about our clients, our projects, and our own teams.
At its core, nurturing insight starts with curiosity. It means asking the open-ended questions that go beyond budgets, timelines, and specifications. It means listening not just to facts and figures, but to tone, hesitation, and the hopes clients share when they think we aren’t taking notes. By honoring these subtle signals, we build empathy—and that empathy fuels relevance. When we pair those qualitative impressions with quantitative measures—win rates, ROI, referral growth—we see how empathy translates into business impact.
As marketers and business developers in the A/E/C space, we’re uniquely positioned to weave insight into every stage of our work—from initial outreach to long-term partnerships. When we lead with empathy, backed by data, we craft narratives that speak directly to client priorities. We shape strategies that anticipate challenges before they arise. And we deliver outcomes that measure up in both client satisfaction and firm profitability.
In this spirit, let’s recommit to lighting our path with insight. Let’s build environments where questions are as valued as answers, where listening is as active as presenting, and where qualitative understanding is as respected as quantitative proof. By nurturing this intangible quality, we don’t just improve our campaigns—we elevate our firms, deepen our client relationships, and drive meaningful growth.
Thank you for embracing this issue’s theme with open minds and eager hearts. May you leave these pages inspired to cultivate curiosity, combine empathy with analytics, and let insight guide every decision you make.
With appreciation and optimism,
Danielle Gray, MBA
Director of Content & Knowledge Resources, SMPS