A business development plan is an essential tool for all prudent entrepreneurs if they wish to remain in business. While the business plan is critical for the success of the new venture, it is not the first step in the process. Undeniably, business development is a crucial component of a firm’s success – the opportunities forged today will define what the company is doing on tomorrow.
From the birth of ideas to early startups, to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who seek second stage growth, and all they way to strategy implementation for corporate giants, many institutions exist to support firms in their business development efforts.
Working in business development is an excellent way to develop skills in strategy, negotiations, and managing partner and client relationships. Incorporate sales training for business development and growth. At this stage in the company life cycle business risk is beginning to decrease and the opportunity for true value creation presents its self, yet the path to that second level can be a long and tricky walk.
Ironically, it’s the most expensive option, with ‘front of the line’ service and unlimited consulting with partners in the firm that sells the most. Moreover, the job of a business developer is highly cross functional, as it requires collaboration with various internal and partner-company teams such as sales, engineering, and marketing to ensure that a deal is consummated.
Business Development
Every business has its life cycle that it undergoes during the course of its entire existence. Moreover, no company can house all expertise internally, thus the advice from external business professionals may at times come in handy. A business development specialist is typically a cross between a marketing and a sales person. Hiring a development consultant is going to cost you money, but it’s important to see this as an investment for your business.
Managing a business development team member is similar to a sales team member in many respects. Hiring a business development person is different than finding a sales person for your team. Overall, boutique consulting firms focus on a limited scope of industries, and resolve business issues quicker than large management consulting firms that require more time for a specific project.
Business development involves all tasks and processes concerning both the analytical preparation, monitoring and support of growth opportunities. You will be left with a balance – i.e. “20{ad6554a6e5186ddcb027fd0a29d107a8f651fab1a911cf43207bf3de3114b9ba} of my business next year will come from new opportunities” – therefore you can then begin to allocate your selling time accordingly.
Business Intelligence
The Business Development Strategy is used to underpin your main Business Plan and essentially it sets out a standard approach for developing new opportunities, either from within existing accounts or by proactively targeting brand new potential accounts and then working to close them. A particular interest will be taken into how business development activities differ across company sizes and growth stages, from early-stage startups to fully-grown companies, and the various institutions that can support companies on their paths to growth.
While a business development expert can always play the role as sales person the opposite is not always true. Examples of niches in which boutique consulting firms operate include human resources and staffing, IT, healthcare, business process outsourcing, and accounting.
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.
Sales Training
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. With the development and constantly-expanding use of the Internet, many entrepreneurs are finding it easier to tap their potential market, and market their products and services to customers across the globe. There are both niche specialists targeting specific business needs and generalists taking a 360° view of the firm and its strategy and objectives.
In the cases where the business has taken the steps to develop and to base their activities on foundational marketing planning then in these circumstances – these plans can be used to serve as a basis on which to base the digital marketing; search engine and social media activities upon.
Business Growth Strategies
Business development requires a multi-disciplinary approach and there is no ‘one size fits all’ strategy. We must first look at the business development process itself. During this phase of its existence, businesses experience expansion of its activities and enhancement of its customer base. Large management consulting firms offer a more diverse set of services compared to boutique consulting firms and are often international in scope.
There are resilient businesses that do survive this phase and go on to succeed on a new lease of life. The case for increased focus on the integration of digital marketing with core business development planning must be highlighted. Market research is an important part of business planning.
Fees under management, outside personal billings, own workgroup, and practice group – that is, relationship management value contributing to the rest of firm and indicative of spread of fees and services.