Starting a new business is far more than simply hanging a sign out and waiting for customers to pour through the door and I’m sure anyone willing to invest in a new venture is well aware of this fact. In essence, a second stage accelerator bears a strong resemblance to traditional management consulting firms, but adjusted to fulfill the needs of SME’s. A consultant brings fresh perspective, yes, but they also bring to you a proven track record of helping businesses like yours.
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.
Its products and services are gaining acceptance in the marketplace and customers are patronizing them in increasing numbers. Find all kinds of information about small businesses, right from beginning a small business, to getting government grants, analyzing the market, etc.
They come in the form of governmental institutions providing funding and support to entrepreneurs, and private institutions in the form of business angels and venture capitalists, business incubators and seed accelerators, second stage business accelerators, boutique consultancy firms, and large management consulting houses.
Market Research
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. Companies that want to execute business deals with larger fortune 500 type companies should always highly consider hiring an expert that has preexisting relationships with the company that you want to do a deal with. This is an ideal time for businesses to consider expansion or diversification.
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.
The business accelerator’s emphasis is on accelerated and sustainable growth, and to eliminate organizational, operational, and strategic bottlenecks that prevent the client firm from growing. Lately, the internet and social media has created a huge number of marketing job opportunities.
How To Create An Effective Business Development Strategy
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. Marketing – Your marketing strategy will have a direct impact on your success. Just as when buying any service, when contracting for professional business development services it is important to have clear deliverables. This is the third stage of a business development.
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.
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.
Fashion Design
Business development requires a multi-disciplinary approach and there is no ‘one size fits all’ strategy. Boutique consulting firms offer organizations highly specialized advice that addresses specific problems or aspects of a business. The inevitable is cash flow drying up and losses mount up. Most businesses fold up during this phase. Failing to do this a common problem with companies and their sales teams and even more so with business development professionals as the relationships they have and bringing to the table are often held tightly and not given up easily.
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.
The Business Development Process
What is business development? 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.
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.
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.