Northstar Celebrates its 100th Business Development Meeting

May 2023

At the inception of Northstar, the partnership knew there was a direct connection between its employees’ knowledge of the Greater Boston real estate market and their ability to develop their own personal brands with the firm’s overall success.

As a third-party Owner’s Project Management (OPM) firm, Northstar prides itself on its employees’ authenticity, strong work ethic, project life cycle, and market knowledge. The firm was built on the notion that all employees were required to participate in driving business development.  

Business development sets the foundation for a company’s long-term growth and profitability. It is crucial to the longevity of any company looking to grow its organization and keep work in the pipeline. How each firm defines business development and goes about business development varies. 

Northstar embodies an integrated sales model where we empower our entire team at every level to be involved in the growth of our business. This model includes committees comprised of all employees to manage the business, such as marketing, IT, training, and business development. 

Our business development committee helps form our strategy and focuses on identifying and reviewing business opportunities. The committee sets the tone by hosting the entire company once a month to communicate market and networking opportunities. In addition, every committee provides an update for education and awareness of all areas that impact our firm’s success. Northstar is fortunate that over 80% of its business is with repeat clients. Educating employees that business development does not necessarily mean ‘new business’ has been integral to the committee’s mission. 

Northstar’s business development committee recently hosted its 100th Business Development meeting, an exciting milestone. Over a decade ago, Northstar had under ten employees. Recently we celebrated with over 50 employees and brought the team together for the 100th time to candidly discuss pursuits and the strategy behind the firm’s continued growth. 

Northstar’s culture allows everyone at every career stage to be heard and valued as a business development team member. Having newer team members learn from seasoned professionals gives them an eye into how our business works, how we grow our business, and how to pursue projects—ultimately giving everyone a feeling they are vesting in our culture.

Here’s what a younger member of our business development committee had to say about the group: 
“As a younger firm member, it is great to hear and see what projects my office is pursuing. It allows me to learn how to approach the business development and pursuit process from seasoned team members. I can learn about the nuances of our business and how that varies from a ground-up development to a tenant fit-out to advising on a firm’s capital planning process. Understanding the pursuit process has helped educate me on what potential clients are looking for in an Owner’s Project Manager (OPM).”