Angels sing when marketing and business development (BD) work in harmony. Together, the departments highlight the business’s value at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
Michelle Hamilton, VP of Business Development at Vessel Architecture, talks about how BD and marketing complement each other and how to make genuine connections that go beyond transactional interactions. She and host Michelle Calcote King discuss industry trends, including artificial intelligence (AI) and LinkedIn videos. Hamilton also opens up about her background as a glass sculptor and her recent ADHD diagnosis.
Here's a glimpse of what you'll learn
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Who Michelle Hamilton is
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About Vessel Architecture and the architecture firm’s work
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Trends in business development and marketing
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How business development and marketing intersect and complement each other
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Tips for meeting and connecting with architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals
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How to use social media to deepen business relationships and create talking points
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How Hamilton balances her glass sculpting passion and her work at Vessel Architecture
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How Hamilton navigates ADHD in the workplace as a C-Suite professional
About our featured guest
Michelle Hamilton is Vice President of Business Development at Vessel Architecture, a commercial firm renowned for crafting spaces where people flourish. Michelle's dedication to connecting people, places and ideas through creative, collaborative solutions has been a driving force throughout her 29-year career. As a leader in business development, she expertly manages strategic deployment and national relationships for senior living, multifamily, church and corporate sectors. Her skill set includes strategic planning, marketing, contract negotiations and account growth, all in pursuit of her mission to create architecture that deeply enhances the bond between spaces and its users.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Michelle is an active contributor to her community. She serves as a local board director for CREW St. Louis, an international commercial real estate organization. Michelle's commitment to empowering the next generation of professionals is also evident in her mentorship of young women embarking on careers in commercial real estate through service as the board liaison to the Young Professionals Committee and Lindenwood University Women's Leadership Board.
In her downtime, Michelle channels her creative spirit as a glass sculptor. Her works are featured in books, museums, and private and public collections nationwide. See them on her website, Zaximo Studios. An energetic mother and wife, Michelle balances her artistic pursuits with her passion for health, including pilates, vegetable gardening, an appreciation of bourbon, and the practice of transcendental meditation. Reach out to her at mhamilton@vesselarchitecture.com.
Resources mentioned in this episode
Sponsor for this episode
This episode is brought to you by Reputation Ink.
Founded by Michelle Calcote King, Reputation Ink is a public relations and content marketing agency that serves professional services firms of all shapes and sizes across the United States, including corporate law firms and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms.
Reputation Ink understands how sophisticated corporate buyers find and select professional services firms. For more than a decade, they have helped firms grow through thought leadership-fueled strategies, including public relations, content marketing, video marketing, social media, podcasting, marketing strategy services and more.
To learn more, visit www.rep-ink.com or email them at info@rep-ink.com today.
Transcript
[00:00:00] Michelle Hamilton: It allows you to create I think more meaningful relationships that don't just feel like a one-off transaction with someone.
[00:00:10] Announcer: Welcome to "Spill the Ink," a podcast by Reputation Ink, where we feature experts in growth and brand visibility for law firms and architecture, engineering and construction firms.
Now let's get started with the show.
[00:00:27] Michelle Calcote King: Hey everyone. I'm Michelle Calcote King. I'm your host and I'm the principal and president of Reputation Ink. We're a public relations and marketing agency for architecture, engineering and construction firms and other B2B professional services firms. To learn more, go to rep-ink.com.
The built environment is continually shifting and evolving. As communicators in the architecture industry, whether on the marketing, business development or sales side, we're tasked with reevaluating and adapting our strategies to keep up with the ebb and flow of the industry. So today we're going to speak to an expert on this.
I'd like to welcome Michelle Hamilton to today's episode. She is the vice president of business development at Vessel Architecture. She has led a rich career in the AEC industry, serving in leadership positions that put her at the forefront of marketing and business development initiatives for architecture, engineering and design firms.
So thanks for joining me today.
[00:01:24] Michelle Hamilton: Well, I appreciate it, Michelle. I'm really glad to be here and I'm looking forward to our conversation.
[00:01:29] Michelle Calcote King: Yeah. So I gave a brief description, but I always like to hear how people ended up in these industries. It's a niche type of marketing and business development, I know that's your title. I know there's much crossover. But I'd love to hear sort of what led you to this role.
[00:01:43] Michelle Hamilton: You know what, like most business developers, I have to tell you, Michelle, it has been the most non-linear--
[00:01:48] Michelle Calcote King: it always is, right? I know.
[00:01:51] Michelle Hamilton: --starting from, you know, education on. And yet somehow it all just lined up to be the perfect role for me. Starting from talking about design and sales and BD as a kid at our dinner tables, because my parents both owned their own companies in design and business, and all the way through really several different careers, but that have always focused on creativity, space, and what drives people in their decision-making. And what, honestly, gets everybody excited, whether they're at work, whether they're at home, at school, I just, I love it all. I absolutely love it all. And it's that business development part, the relationship building in all honesty that just gets me really, really excited.
I have had quite a bit of experience on the marketing side as well, though working at a marketing agency. And so it's been a lot of fun bringing both of those careers together and working together internally with our team here at Vessel to help build out the marketing and business development strategies.
[00:03:04] Michelle Calcote King: Love that.
That actually leads well into my next question. Us folks in this industry kind of understand it, but a lot of people don't really understand the differences between marketing and business development, but also how they intersect. How would you define business development versus marketing? And then how do they interplay?
[00:03:22] Michelle Hamilton: You know, and I think that's a great question, Michelle, because so often people will ask me, "What does that mean exactly? Aren't you just the salesperson?" It really is to me, they belong together in the same room. Marketing and business development, absolutely lean into each other and rely on each other to do the very best job at highlighting what makes an organization extraordinary. And I am fortunate enough to have a terrific marketing coordinator at Vessel. And she and I sit together and really talk extensively about branding and the visual componentry of what do I envision Vessel looking like as I take it out into the community? Because my job is to actually not be in the office. It's very rare to see me sitting at a desk. My job is to be out in the community and talking. But I understand, like all marketers, that people are always going to a website first. You are introduced to a firm well before I ever sit at your table. And knowing that those need to come together and blend together in that seamless collaboration in a very efficient manner, honestly, it just makes a lot of sense.
It also, I just think from an innovation standpoint and how are we getting in front of the customer? How are we creating our best strategy for being a great partner with other firms? To me, they belong in the same room.
[00:05:01] Michelle Calcote King: Yeah, absolutely.
I kind of view it almost like marketing supports business development. And not to say one's more important than the other, but you're the one forming those relationships, talking to prospects, having those direct conversations. And marketing helps when that prospect, like you said, goes back to the office or wants to see more, wants to learn more, follows you on social media, wants to look a little more in-depth at the work, supplies you with the tools you need to tell the story.
It's always frustrating in some firms where they don't work together because you think, "Wow. If you guys worked together, it would be so much more effective." One drives the other and business development feeds so much intelligence to marketing.
[00:05:39] Michelle Hamilton: Right. I think they really cross-inform each other.
[00:05:42] Michelle Calcote King: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:05:43] Michelle Hamilton: And I don't know what I would do without having such a great marketing team behind me to ensure that I have the tools that I need when I need them. And boy, they really perform miracles for me when I need that latest, greatest visual pulled together quickly for a really terrific opportunity that has come my way.
[00:06:05] Michelle Calcote King: Tell me how you see things happening right now in the architecture industry. Where is marketing and business development headed? Are there any trends that are impacting your work?
[00:06:14] Michelle Hamilton: You know, sometimes I struggle with the word 'trends' because it implies that it's temporary. And the one trend, if you will, that I actually have been really working a lot with in the last six months is integrating AI into my daily practice and utilizing that for both the marketing and the business development. And I'm a very newer user to it as, honestly, all of us are.
And the funny thing is that it actually started because I still have a college-age student and he was telling me about utilizing it in the classroom, and I was so offended. And this was like six months ago. And he said, "No, Mom. It's a tool. I'm not using it to do my work. It still needs the human, but it is a tool just like Grammarly, just like Word." And I thought, "Why not? Why not? Why not me?" And once I started exploring it and, you know, you host a podcast. I am a podcast junkie and an education junkie so boy, I dove in with both feet and signed up for just about anything and everything I could to think about how can I utilize this as an even more powerful tool to think about data analytics, lead generation, content management, things like that?
And it's not authoring things for me. It is a tool that I utilize when I input my thoughts and ideas, it helps to bring them together, I think, in a really cohesive manner, much more efficiently than I can do by myself in the time allotted.
[00:07:50] Michelle Calcote King: Yeah, that's exactly it. It's sort of increasing our efficiency. We just started playing with a AI tool just to help produce this podcast. And my producer, Sofia, was like, " Wow. The editing process just went, you know, so much faster." And it's not replacing the work. It's just making you more efficient and better at it.
[00:08:08] Michelle Hamilton: It does. And as we all have smallish teams-- I mean, we are a 17-person firm. Sometimes we all wear a lot of hats and you've got to do a lot of projects simultaneously so anything that makes you more efficient while still maintaining the integrity of your work, I'm all in for it. And believe me, I've got lots of thoughts and concerns about other issues with AI, but when it comes to work processes, I'm just seeing a huge benefit.
[00:08:38] Michelle Calcote King: If you had to sum up your approach to marketing your firm, to how you go about the business development for Vessel Architecture, how would you describe that?
[00:08:50] Michelle Hamilton: You know what, I actually would describe it as this conversation you and I are having. It is so relationship and conversational. I am eternally curious about other people and what gets them excited. And that can be strategic partners, that can be clients, that can just be really, honestly, anybody. And using that curiosity and leaning into it so that you are very genuine in your connections with people and you are very genuine about asking them, "How are you? How's business?" And getting even more curious, diving in a little bit deeper. And where I think that that really comes in handy or really is at play in business development is it allows you to create I think more meaningful relationships that don't just feel like a one-off transaction with someone. As most business developers would say, I love nothing more than when my client calls me looking for a great podcast recommendation, a recipe, you know, a plumber, or "Hey. I've got a $100 million deal here and I need you to help me put that team together." That thrills me because that tells me that they have also felt that connection.
You know, I happen to sit on a couple of boards and belong to multiple professional organizations, and I find that leading with that kind of relationship with people professionally on all levels, absolutely it is what business development is for and about.
[00:10:30] Michelle Calcote King: What is key to building those relationships? Authenticity? Curiosity? So for those who maybe don't feel as comfortable or aren't a people person, you know, aren't a natural people person, what's kind of key to building relationships?
[00:10:44] Michelle Hamilton: It's funny you asked that because at my firm there are 14 architects on staff. And generally, architects are not known for being business developers naturally. They're not as comfortable being out and about. Brilliant people who sometimes aren't sure how to talk about the work that they do. And so I had so much fun last spring. The owners of the firm asked me to put together a business development for non-business development workshop. And what was intended to be a 45-minute conversation ended up as a two-hour-long deep dive into strategies and technique that my architects could employ at any level, whether that was a day-to-day conversation or whether that was going to a community event or sitting in front of an architectural review board. How could they learn to read a room a little bit better? How could they understand how to get comfortable approaching people that they didn't know? Even thinking about how do you ask good quality questions.
You're not there to just sell yourself. People for the most part are really just interested in themselves. You know, if you're going to go someplace, really, truly finding some commonality with people is oftentimes. I just think the best way to really get to know them.
But then some of the tricks to that is making sure that you have a process to document that. And I happen to use my phone a lot. I voice memo myself a lot after I walk out of a meeting, after I walk out of an event to set up reminders to reach out to someone and say, "Hey, how was your daughter's first day of kindergarten? You know, did you ever find that environmental engineer? I met somebody. I think they'd be a great fit for you." Making sure that you're documenting those steps so that you can then follow up with people consistently, staying really front of mind for them, but also just bringing value to their world because it always comes back.
[00:12:59] Michelle Calcote King: There was a case study or something on LinkedIn about you using video on LinkedIn effectively. I'd love to just ask how you use LinkedIn in general, but also would love to talk about video to build those relationships and to build the firm's network.
[00:13:15] Michelle Hamilton: I started with Vessel-- I've actually only been with Vessel for about eight months now. And I had taken a course while I was between roles and took a course from Lindsey McMillion from McMillan Consulting. And she actually had shared a little bit about the power of utilizing video on LinkedIn. And because I actually was lucky enough to have led a video production team at the marketing agency, I called up some old friends and said, "Hey, I've got this amazing new opportunity. I'd love to do a splash on LinkedIn," and utilize the power of video as I learned, but also set myself apart as being very authentic and being myself.
It was just a lot of fun because of the name Vessel. In my other side of my life I'm actually a glassblower and potter. And so we built into this video, I threw a very fast vessel on a potter's wheel and talked about Vessel Architecture and how it was so much fun to have my world come together over just that single word. And it sounds almost silly now when I say it out loud, but it ended up really resonating with people because they felt like they knew me in a very different non-sales way. And I ended up, ironically, I posted that and within, oh my gosh, like two weeks I had over 20 requests for meetings. "Hey, I would love to hear more about Vessel. This is really interesting. You know, tell me more about what's going on. I'm so curious that you ended up landing there." It ended up being a really fantastic tool to use for LinkedIn.
And I love LinkedIn. I'm not a big social media person other than the occasional Instagrams where I'm two hours later going, what are you doing? But, you know, LinkedIn from a posting standpoint is someplace that I just find so much value. Do you?
[00:15:17] Michelle Calcote King: It's incredible value. I spent a lot of time on LinkedIn and we continually try to work to improve our presence there and use video. You know, me not being the age that grew up with social media, I forced myself onto TikTok just to kind of, you know, understand it more because those trends tend to find their way into more professional mediums. Not in the way TikTok is, but just some of the, you know, using video, being brief, those kinds of things. So, yeah, absolutely. Mastering that is kind of critical, I think, in our industry. And being able to blend in personal in the right way. So it can definitely be done in not a great way, but I think the people that kind of show who they are personally, it really helps people feel like they know you, gives you a point of connection, helps them see you as a whole person and not just your job. So that's great. Kudos to you.
Tell me a little bit, cause I do want to hear about the glass sculpting. So was that your original career or was that more of a hobby? How have you blended that with your career?
[00:16:20] Michelle Hamilton: Ironically, I hold a double master's degree. One in glassblowing and one in ceramics. That's what I mean by a very non-linear line to get to my job. It actually has always been part of my life. I've been a working glass sculptor and ceramic artist for 40 years.
[00:16:40] Michelle Calcote King: Very cool.
[00:16:40] Michelle Hamilton: And I actually work with other architecture firms, art dealers, art consultants around the country. And so I have my day job but I also maintain a very active studio. And so I accept commissions only one at a time and they understand they tend to have a longer lead time because my priority is taking care of the day job. But it allows my brain to shift so neatly when I get home and get to my home studio to be able to sit down and be creative in a very different way. It's very different parts of the brain that I just love. Because for the most part, these go into commercial architecture projects, the commissions. I think it's just so much fun blending the day job and the night job together and working with a great firm like Vessel that encourages all of us to have our personal lives as well. And so they know that that's a big part of my world and a big part of my life, but that, you know, when I'm there for them, I'm 100% there for them.
[00:17:47] Michelle Calcote King: Fantastic. And it's funny cause you were talking about the brain switch and you had mentioned to my producer, Sofia, that you'd been recently diagnosed with ADHD. I think that's very common — and I have no research to back this up — among business developers and marketers, and sometimes can be almost seen as a superpower.
So tell me how has getting that diagnosis impacted your work? How have you worked to either use it or overcome some of the aspects that maybe make work life challenging?
[00:18:19] Michelle Hamilton: Yeah, you know, that's interesting I'm going to be 60 this year and you know, sometimes I think, "Why investigate it now?" But I did have a good friend say to me, "You know, maybe it's time you stop beating yourself up for not being good enough when in fact you have achieved all of these other things?" And recognize that this very high energy-- Sleep is something that I don't feel like I need a ton of. I'm a good sleeper, but I just have a lot of energy and creative thought flow and the ability to really deep-dive into topics and it has served me so well throughout life. It's how you end up with two masters degrees because you end up, you know, getting so excited about topics.
But it also can, and in my particular case, lead to the need for inachievable perfectionism, and I see this in so many other female executives. And our quiet voice inside our heads that is just constantly saying, "You didn't do it enough today. Sure, you achieved these 65 things today, but what about these 3 that you didn't?"
[00:19:31] Michelle Calcote King: Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah, I identify with that quite a bit.
[00:19:36] Michelle Hamilton: You know, when my friend suggested that, I thought, "You know what?" And I do-- My adult son was diagnosed at a very, very young age and it shows up very different in men and women. And I thought, "Maybe she's right." Maybe it's not that I didn't get those three things done at the end of the day. Maybe it's my brain phenotype and I need to utilize and recognize the strengths and forgive myself for the three things I didn't achieve today. And so it's been fantastic for that.
[00:20:12] Michelle Calcote King: I love that. My sister was also diagnosed with ADHD and she tells me that a lot. "Look at what I'm able to do. You know, I have done all this using coping skills" and things like, and that's a really important recognition. I think, yeah, especially hard for women for some reason. And I also learned from her that it really presents differently and men versus women and that's why women are very underdiagnosed as well. So kudos to you. And 60 is young.
[00:20:39] Michelle Hamilton: It is.
[00:20:39] Michelle Calcote King: I hate to hear you say that. It's definitely not too late.
[00:20:44] Michelle Hamilton: I feel better at 60 than I did at 40 so I'll take that.
But, you know, you did bring up a great point earlier about business developers and marketers, and that does seem to be something that you do see more often. And I suspect that's because I could look back at all of my childhood report cards, and I'm pretty sure every one of them said "She talks too much."
[00:21:05] Michelle Calcote King: Talks too much, right?
[00:21:06] Michelle Hamilton: Yeah. "Nice girl. Smart. Wow, she talks too much. She can be disruptive." So--
[00:21:13] Michelle Calcote King: Which is a superpower in business development. Yeah. Being able to connect with people, have conversations with people. So a lot of people would love to have those abilities. So yeah, what we often see as failures for others can be quite admirable.
Well, I always like to end our interviews with kind of a big lesson. What would you say is the most valuable lesson you've learned over the course of your career? So for maybe someone interested in, you know, being in marketing and Biz Dev and architecture, what's been the most valuable lesson you'd impart to them?
[00:21:44] Michelle Hamilton: Being service-first. Know that the true nature of being curious about other people can lead to some pretty amazing journeys. But you also have to always remember — and I don't even think this is necessarily just Biz Dev, it is life in general — you can't control what other people do. And boy, we've all tried really hard in our lives to control what other people do and you really can't, you can only control how you show up. You can only control how you end the day, and you can only control your own inner voice.
Leading with truth and authenticity gets you just unbelievably far. And knowing that serendipity is probably one of the greatest words that you can remember. That there are opportunities in just about everything that happens. And I don't even just mean projects and money opportunities. I mean in some of life's most unbelievable, frightening things, unexpected things, finding and recognizing that things come from that if you allow it to, and you recognize it. And that certainly shows up in business I think in more than just about any place else.
[00:23:04] Michelle Calcote King: Great advice. Well, thank you so much.
So we have been talking to Michelle Hamilton of Vessel Architecture. So if people wanted to reach out and connect with you, where's the best place for them to find you?
[00:23:14] Michelle Hamilton: So you can find me on LinkedIn, certainly. You can visit Vessel's website, which is www.vesselarchitecture.com. Either way, I'd love to hear from you and whether it's questions about architecture or Biz Dev or marketing or glass for that matter. I just love a great conversation.
[00:23:35] Michelle Calcote King: Awesome. Well, thank you so much.
[00:23:38] Michelle Hamilton: Thanks, Michelle.
[00:23:40] Announcer: Thanks for listening to "Spill the Ink," a podcast by Reputation Ink. We'll see you again next time, and be sure to click "Subscribe" to get future episodes.
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