Business Development | Solutions Through Relationships and Thought-Leadership (STRT)

About START

The actual writing of the proposal document, obviously an essential component of closing the deal, is nevertheless only the tip of the iceberg. The STRT course covers all pre-Request for Proposal (RFP) activities—Client Relationship Management, Capture Planning, Go/No Go decisions, and proposal authorization, so teams engage earlier, smarter, and with greater impact.

Long-term client relationship building takes time and is created on a foundation of trust, listening, and service to our clients – one building block at a time. Over time, and through multiple client contacts, the relationship strengthens. This journey occurs in four phases of STRT and toward becoming the client’s preferred provider: Scout, Engage, Position, and Capture. Building great client relationships represents one of the best sustainable business practices profit and nonprofit organizations can employ.

Why START

STRT is a relationship-based process. It supports you to build client’s relationship that fosters trust and recognize the services you provide. START helps you to

• Move from a transactional approach to a relational approach.
• Adopt a unified BD methodology that aligns teams, reduces guesswork, and improves decision quality.
• Build long-term, sustainable, and profitable client relationships.
• Position your firm – organization as the client’s preferred partner
• Develop new clients and expand existing accounts
• Capture more high value opportunities by focusing effort where the firm has the strongest chance of winning.

 

Course Learning Outcomes

• Apply a consistent, repeatable process to manage pursuits and make informed decisions at every stage.
• Strengthen multi‑stage go/no‑go judgment using clear criteria, evidence, and strategic alignment.
• Build deeper client relationships and translate insights into a focused, actionable account plan.
• Develop proposal‑ready capture plans that improve submittal quality and competitiveness.
• Communicate with clarity and influence, demonstrating value in every interaction.
• Drive business growth by identifying and pursuing high‑potential opportunities.

 

Training Course Agenda

	Module	Content
1	Module 1: Scout Selection of strategic clients	Introduction to STRT Roles and responsibilities of business and partnership development team. Trusted relationship equation. Clients prospecting selection criteria. Scouting progressive questions Go-or-no-Go decision (1)
2	Module 2: Engage Foundation to building relationships.	Buyers’ issues, interests, and motivations. Framework for winning a client conversation – SHAPE Client Account Manager Client Account Plan Go Position Decision (2)
3	Module 3: Position Position to win the work.	Issues, people, selection panel Maps Capture Manager responsibilities Pursuit Capture Plan Presenting Ideas Make Go Capture Analysis (3)
4	Module 4: Capture Win the Work	Characteristics of winning proposals Winning the presentation Game Negotiating skills Be Smart When Bidding

 

Who Should Attend

• Business Developers
• Partnership Managers
• Fundraising Managers
• Executive Officer
• Client Account Managers
• Pursuit Capture Managers
• Proposal Managers
• Project Managers
• Marketers and Sales Specialists

Profit and non-profit organizations

• Development consulting firms
• Management and economic consulting firms
• Engineering and ICT consulting firms
• Non-governmental organizations and nonprofit organizations
• Social entrepreneurs
• Any other Technical and Professional services providers

 

Certification

On completion of the training course and subject to attendance and active participation, Beit Al Karma Academy will award a certificate of completion.

 

Course Schedule

• Our online training is an interactive trainer-led live session.
• We will meet as a group for online live sessions (8 sessions), 1.5 hours each.

 

We expect that participants will spend 6-8 hours per week on this course, between the live cohort, readings, and homework.

 

Additional Information

• We’ll be assigning homework and quizzes each week to put the practical skills you learn during the live session to work!
• We record every live session on Zoom and post them to the course platform, so participants don’t miss a beat!

 

Course fee

• Course fee is $250
• Early bird fee is $210.
• 10% discount is applied for two people and above.
• A small number of 50% of Scholarships are available for less than 3 years of experience. For more information, please contact the training team (info@bk-eg.com)

 

Meet Our Trainer

Alaa Shaheen brings over 20 years of experience as Middle East Business Development Director at AECOM, a Top US consulting engineering and international development firm, Alaa has led the development and management of client accounts, capture planning efforts, and proposal teams that secured more than US$850 million in international development projects funded by USAID, the EU, the World Bank, and major private‑sector clients such as General Electric, Pfizer, and Thomson Reuters.

Alaa lectures at the American University in Cairo and the DAAD MENA office, German Exchange Institute. Alaa is an ILO‑certified trainer and has delivered 100+ trainings to more than 4,500 professionals. Alaa holds an M.Sc. in Project Management from Brighton University (1996) and a B.Sc. in Construction Engineering from AUC (1994).