Business Development – A Review from across the Supply Chain

Dr. Manisha Patel (Business Development Manager (Europe, Africa and North America) at MES)
Mr. Alexander Haynes (Senior Vice President of Business Development at Wood Plc)
Mr. Andrew Beard (Head of Deal Making for Products Trading (Europe & Africa) at Shell Trading)

Introduction

This article has been prepared by myself, Manisha Patel, and the authors to share our experiences from across the energy supply chain – from consultancy/SME (MES), via Engineering Contractor (Wood Plc) and ultimately to Energy Company (Shell). It is hoped that this collaborative approach of sharing experiences in Business Development will help companies in the energy sector to assess and improve their current Business Development activities. In a world where technical Business Development professionals are scarce and diversity is increasingly important, this article may help to bridge the gap between the technical and commercial communities and provide some inspiration for junior engineers wondering what business development actually entails.

Before we begin, a little about the authors, their companies and positioning in the supply chain:

• I, Manisha Patel, am a Business Development Manager (Europe, Africa and North America), Chartered Chemical Engineer and a Qualified Executive Coach with a Masters and PhD in Chemical Engineering. I work for MES which is a rapidly growing global technical safety and asset integrity consultancy in the Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Refining, Renewable Energy, Chemical, Manufacturing and Transportation Industries. MES supplies its services to companies such as Wood Plc and Shell.
• Alex Haynes is a Senior Vice President of Business Development with an MBA in Business/Managerial Economics. Alex works for Wood Plc which is a global leader in the delivery of project, engineering and technical services to energy and industrial markets. Wood Plc supplies its services to companies such as Shell and procures services from companies like MES.
• Andrew Beard is Head of Deal Making for Products Trading (Europe & Africa) at Shell Trading. Andy holds an ACMA in Management Accountancy and a BSc and MSc from Cass Business School. Shell is a global energy company specialising in Downstream, Bio-Fuels, Integrated Gas, New Energies, Chemicals, Energy, and Upstream. Shell procures services from companies such as MES and Wood Plc.

Business Development in a Global Consultancy/SME – MES

In general, Business Development Managers at consultancies such as MES report to the Managing Director and have Business Development consultants supporting global Business Development activities.

Being a rapidly growing consultancy, the team members at MES wear many hats with a focus on diversification and differentiation. A Business Development Manager’s role within MES includes a number of activities such as preparing the global business development and brand strategies, marketing and communications. Some typical daily activities include attending meetings with suppliers, partners and clients, taking calls, responding to emails, using social media as a marketing platform, and monitoring feedback from project execution. The aim for Business Development is customer retention, new lead generation and to establish long-term relationships with Major Contractors e.g. Wood Plc and IOCs such as Shell.

Targets and KPIs are mostly value driven and based on the revenue of the company. Brand strength is a little more difficult to quantify, but significant effort is made in improving the brand strength (credibility and visibility) to ensure that the company is considered as a reputable service provider by top tier and high-end clients. Best practices for Business Development in MES include raising the company and service/product brand by utilising personal brand, and maintaining a regular interface between the Operations and Proposals team.

Events hosted by the Energy Industries Council (EIC), Energy Institute, IChemE, IMechE and Safety and Reliability Society are beneficial for a supplier like MES. Other useful global events include Offshore Europe, OTC, ADIPEC and UK Export Finance/DIT Exporter Fairs. I have also joined the Energy Industries Council (EIC) committee as this helps provide market insights and allows for networking with key influencers within the Energy Industry.

Allied with strong interpersonal skills, highly technical and strategic engineers with commercial awareness are seen as suitable for Business Development roles within technical consultancies. Technical skills (Masters, PhD, Chartership etc.) give Business Development professionals credibility when addressing the engineering industry and also help improve communication with technical decision makers and in bridging the gaps between technical and commercial teams.

For me, the great thing about business development and my working day is that there is a variety of activities to get involved in within the business. This includes proposals, marketing, branding, communications and meeting with interesting people within the industry.

I am a qualified coach and use coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to help individuals improve their self-awareness, to be more results focussed and to manage their energy levels. While these are requisites for any role, coaching and NLP help with rapport building which every Business Development professional relies on to be influential. As a qualified coach and NLP practitioner, I have used these skills to help upskill the team at MES. I believe this will be a means to further develop the business.

Business Development in a Global Engineering Services Contractor – Wood Plc

The contracting community has undergone multiple changes since the dramatic oil price collapse in 2014-16. Many businesses have merged or been acquired by others, to gain the efficiencies and the scale required to survive the downturn. Wood is a good example of this as the business has changed from a mainly upstream offshore business, to one that covers the broad scope of services across the Oil & Gas value chain, and now also spans multiple other sectors including Environment & Infrastructure,  Renewables, Nuclear, Mining and Manufacturing.

BD professionals within Wood place a major focus on customers, with an emphasis on fully understanding their needs, concerns and plans for the future.  Key focus areas include making sure that Wood is delivering on current projects and positioning the company as the natural choice when developing new opportunities. Wood has procedures in place to support business development activities such as the use of detailed Customer Account Plans, thorough win plans and regular customer engagement. These work alongside a company-wide Customer Relation Management (CRM) tool, that permits visibility of prospects across the company BD community. BD staff are trained in using these techniques and encouraged to communicate vertically and horizontally to get buy-in from their colleagues in both the operations and commercial teams to ensure the project can be delivered successfully and profitably.

Business development is embedded within each business unit to be closely aligned with their needs.  The team can also call on support from the global Strategy and Development function to ensure the same standards and processes are used. This allows different parts of the company to support each other on winning work, often in innovative and novel ways. It’s important to note that the corporate BD function is joined with the Strategy function. This allows the BD teams access to broad market insights and detailed customer knowledge to help inform the corporate strategy, so Wood can ensure it remains agile and able to support future customer needs.

Wood Plc invests in international events such as Offshore Europe, OTC and ADIPEC alongside the Marketing and Communication team, as well as regular attendance and speaking at EIC events worldwide. This provides Wood with the opportunity to position the company as leaders in their sector and to provide thought leadership on key topics facing customers across the energy industry.

Business Development in a Global Energy Company – Shell

In Shell, the concept of Business Development is a wide concept that covers potential sales, origination, deal structuring and even Merger and Acquisition activities. At its core, BD in Shell is about marrying innovation and technology to unlock more, cleaner energy opportunities for the years ahead.  In each part of Shell, there are different structures, some based on functional capabilities, others by product and others by region. Sometimes these teams are set up as a separate Business Development team, and other times they are embedded within a team. Normally the structure is supported by dotted reporting lines.

When hiring, Shell look for high calibre innovative and collaborative individuals who come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including those with commercial or technical experience and often from top tier global universities. BD Roles within Shell range from junior analyst positions to senior management positions. Shell reviews the individual’s capacity, past achievements, track record of delivery and for the ability to build strong relationships in order to assess an individual’s suitability to work for Shell.

Daily activities, roles and responsibilities will depend on the type of Business Development activities you are pursuing, some cover the full range of activities, others just one more specialised element. However, there will be a lot of work on horizon scanning, market assessments and business prioritisation, followed by origination work to develop counterparty relationships and finding opportunities. Then, once you progress a deal a lot of time will be spent on structuring the deal, getting internal approvals and setting up the organisation to operate the deal. It is generally the BD Manager’s responsibility to identity, execute and operationalise all of the deals.

Typical targets and KPIs for Trading Business Development professionals are mostly value driven, either Profit and Loss (P&L) related or Net Present Value (NPV) related. The Business Development Manager will need to maintain a funnel of deals from the identify stage all of the way to the execute stage.

Shell have a number of internal processes that are considered as best practices for Business Development to ensure that all deals are compliant, safe and value accretive. In addition, aligned with Shells learning culture, deals are reviewed (by peers) at a later stage to ensure that they have delivered the value that was presented in the business case and to capture learnings from the deal making process.

International Petroleum Week, APPEC, FT Commodities summit, African Refinery Association and various Platts and Argus conferences are examples of important events which Shell often attends within the oil and energy sector.

Mentoring & Coaching in Business Development

Mentoring is a vital part of personal development but it’s often only sought out in the later part of an individual’s career. Over the past year, Alex has shared his experiences, helped to direct me on my career path, train me in business development skills and motivate me to reach new goals and targets. Alex has helped me by advising me on further study options including discussions on an MBA vs. an MSc in Engineering Leadership and Management. Alex has also helped me with introductions to key influencers in the industry.

When Alex first started mentoring me, I was a Business Development Consultant, but through his support, Alex guided me and gave me the confidence to move into a management role at MES and expand my remit.  However, the Mentor-Mentee relationship is not one way. It is a dialogue, and the Mentee can also bring fresh insight, new views and stimulate thought provoking discussions for the Mentor as well. Therefore, mentoring should be seen as a two-way relationship, bringing value to both parties. There is a saying that you get in life what you have the courage to ask for – I asked Alex to be her mentor and now we are both raising our game.

Here are some suggestions to get you started in finding a suitable mentor in business development to help you:

1) Attend events where your ideal mentor is likely to attend. For example, if you’re looking for a mentor in the energy industry, the EIC (Energy Industries Council) is a good start.

2) Find someone whose manner or style appeals to you. I found Alex to be an approachable figure in the industry, and that’s key for business development.

3) Arrange to have coffee with them. You may have to ask more than once to get that meeting but resilience is also a key skill for business/personal development so don’t worry if you get rejected the first time.

4) Explain what you’re trying to achieve through a mentoring relationship. You don’t have to have five or ten years mapped out like they ask in interviews. A good mentor will help direct you.

5) Smile and ask the question - ‘will you be my mentor?’ Believe it or not, there are many professionals out there who are looking for a person just like you to mentor – and don’t forget it’s a two-way relationship.

Diversity and Inclusion Considerations in Business Development & the Importance of Personal Branding

Myself and the authors have been actively promoting diversity and inclusion in Business Development within the industry, including offering their time for mentoring and coaching, attending the POWERful Women Conference hosted by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and other volunteering and charitable work.

While these initiatives are a fundamental part of encouraging diversity and inclusion in the industry, it is important to find your own style that enables you to bring your authentic self to the table. There are a number of ways to achieve the same outcome but finding your own way will be more beneficial and comfortable for you.

Rising technical engineering stars who are looking to move into business development should consider their commercial awareness, demonstrate emotional intelligence, digital fluency and network within the industry to improve personal branding.

Conclusions

In business development, it’s really not just what you know and who you know, it’s also who knows you. Digital fluency and a good mentor can help with that too! Also, don’t forget to spread kindness across the supply chain in business development, as the saying goes:

“Go looking for conflict, and you’ll find it. Go looking for people to take advantage of you, and they generally will. See the world as a dog-eat-dog place, and you’ll always find a bigger dog looking at you as if you’re his next meal. Go looking for the best in people, and you’ll be amazed at how much talent, ingenuity, empathy, and good will you’ll find. Ultimately, the world treats you more or less the way you expect to be treated.”

Credit: Go Giver series by Bob Burg and John David Mann

Please remember that, if you’re going to be anything in the business world, be a giver! Get involved, work on those self-limiting beliefs, aspire to consistently provide value to customers (both external and internal) and don’t be afraid to be seen. Personal branding is just that, personal!

We hope that you will find this article useful as we have often been asked to share our experiences in Business Development. Please share this article to those who you think would find it interesting and of value.