About
A senior commercial reference point for construction SMEs.
Datum provides experienced business development support to established construction companies that need greater commercial structure, stronger opportunity management and someone accountable for keeping business development moving.
Senior-level thinking. Practical implementation. Ongoing ownership.
Why Datum exists
Business development often becomes everyone's responsibility — and nobody's priority.
In established construction SMEs, directors are often simultaneously managing projects, pricing work, dealing with clients, managing staff and solving operational problems. Business development gets fitted around everything else.
Quotations aren't followed up consistently. Previous clients go quiet. Frameworks and supplier registrations are missed. Consultant relationships aren't developed. Potential opportunities sit in inboxes. Commercial information is spread across spreadsheets, emails and people's heads.
Datum exists to give that activity clear ownership without requiring the business to immediately employ another full-time senior director.
Construction focus
Built around how construction businesses actually win work.
Construction business development is different from generic B2B sales. Work is often won through relationships, reputation, routes to market and the credibility built through previous delivery.
Good construction business development isn't about generating the most leads. It's about making sure the right opportunities are identified, developed and followed through.
Experience
Commercial experience from inside the business — not outside looking in.
Datum is led by someone with practical experience working at director level across business development, commercial strategy, tendering, client development and company growth.
The advice and systems Datum introduces are informed by actually having to win work, manage commercial priorities and operate inside SMEs — not simply advising them from outside.
Business Development Director experience within a multi-trade construction contractor
identifying and developing opportunities
pricing and tender involvement
PQQs and supplier onboarding
client and consultant relationships
commercial positioning
pipeline development
business strategy
previous Managing Director / founder experience
broader business development and marketing experience
How we work
Practical. Commercial. Accountable.
01
Ownership
Business development needs a named person responsible for keeping agreed actions moving.
02
Focus
Not every opportunity is worth pursuing. Time should be concentrated on clients, sectors and routes to work that fit the business.
03
Consistency
Relationships, quotations and opportunities are developed through regular activity rather than occasional bursts when workload drops.
04
Visibility
Directors should be able to see the pipeline, priorities, actions and progress without creating another management burden.
We don't just identify what should happen. Datum takes responsibility for progressing the agreed actions.
Fractional support
Close enough to own it. Flexible enough not to become another full-time overhead.
Datum works as an extension of the client's business, with an agreed level of ongoing resource and clear priorities.
The objective is to provide the commercial ownership expected from a senior business development role without necessarily requiring permanent employment or a permanent five-day resource.
The primary benefit is access to the appropriate level of senior commercial resource and ownership for the stage the business is currently at.
Who we work with
For established contractors that can deliver — but need more structure around how work is won.
£2m-£20m
Typical turnover
10-100
Employees
Datum is particularly suited to businesses where directors are still carrying much of the responsibility for winning work but recognise that business development now needs consistent ownership.
Next step
Let's look at how business development currently works in your business.
Book a 20-minute introductory call to discuss your current pipeline, routes to market and commercial priorities — and whether fractional business development support would be useful.