In the almost 30 years that I’ve worked as a CPA, I’ve had the opportunity to see businesses go on to achieve amazing results in the marketplace and for their community and for the owners. Plan – Once new business opportunities have been identified you will need to decide how you can best reach those new customers and markets. Given the growth stage in which your company finds itself it can indeed be worthwhile considering employing business development services in one way or another.
Fast growth can cripple a small business if there isn’t enough cash flow to fulfill on the sales. Marketing involves all activities such as planning and strategy, marketing research, pricing, advertising, branding, communication, customer service and other important functions, that finally make selling possible.
In many cases this role is a liaison between sales, marketing, procurement, and management. It might be hard to decide if and when to use various business development services. For example, life science and other firms with R&D cycles require more time in an incubation program service companies.
If the case exists where the top level business strategies have not been clearly defined and there are significant online marketing activities in terms of social media interaction, paid advertising and content creation and publication for search engine marketing purposes then the conclusion may be drawn that as a consequence there is no real foundation on which to base the digital marketing activities.
Business Intelligence
A business development plan is an essential tool for all prudent entrepreneurs if they wish to remain in business. From the birth of firms through incubators and seed accelerators, to boosting growth for small and medium firms by means of second stage business accelerators, to advising corporate giants through management consulting firms, business development constitute an important element any phase of the company life cycle.
While a consultants hourly rate may be higher than you’re comfortable with a deal can be put together much faster by a professional than someone trying for the first time to structure a business partnership. If you’re the typical small business starting, growing or even just surviving in a tough economic market with little or no credit, you also need business development strategies that don’t eat up your cash flow.
Implement – If your business is not at the stage to appoint a full time marketing director, at least hire an experienced business development professional to work with your company for a few days a month. A person that specifically focuses on business development will understand how to communicate potential business deals to perspective businesses in the right manner.
Sales Training
When it comes to improving the running of your business or building up a solid business from the ground up hiring a firm of business development consultants are a great way of increasing your profits and developing a solid business plan. Lastly, the value of business development services is discussed from the perspective of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). A company spends varying amounts of time in an incubation program depending the type of business and the entrepreneur’s level of business expertise.
Firms of all sizes will sometimes find that they lack a particular skill or area of expertise, and seek the advice of a specialist. In the table below a classification of business development institutions are plotted out, based on the various stages in the company life cycle.
During this phase cash flows stabilize and establishment of marketing networks and operational channels are completed. Hiring a consultant or consulting firm to act as a business development team for you company is a great route for many small businesses. In a new business development it is a visionary process, in which a direction for the venture can be identified and a systematic and orderly processes can be established as part of the overall business plan.
Business Growth Strategies
If your business has been struggling to get more clients in the last few months or year then consider hiring a business development expert that can find the right joint venture marketing partners that can deliver hot leads to your sales team. This is an extract from my FREE eBook – “How to Construct an Effective Business Development Strategy” which is available for download – please see details below. Business Process Management (BPM) is an all-round management approach that aims at aligning all the business processes with its core vision and consumer demands.
Identify – Before you can seriously plan for business development it is necessary to identify new business opportunities. With the help of the business development plan you can monitor the progress of all the current programs and evaluate the efficacy of your future endeavors.
Business Process Management
So many professional service firms we meet bemoan the track record of most of their folk in developing new work and new clients in attractive niches. Many separate workgroups or business units support the BD process, from corporate management to the operations staff to production personnel and administrative staff inside the company, to third party Subject Matter Experts (SME) or professional proposal preparation personnel like those provided by third party consulting firms.
Large management consulting firms are able to draw from massive reservoirs of overlapping knowledge and expertise in contrast to the more narrowly focused boutique consulting firms, and can offer a single client support on IT, strategy, operational, human capital, and financial issues.
Incubators often employ a selective screening process assessing the feasibility and workability of the business plan of incubatee prospects before letting hem join the program.