The wide portfolio of options in today’s fast-paced and interconnected world made our quest for finding focus, in private life and business, more tricky. Also when it comes to business development there are endless activities one can engage in, often resulting in having scattered BD focus aka following the “little bit of everything” approach. There are endless tips and tricks out there mentioning the “best” and “most-effective” BD strategies, so it is usually not a challenge to learn about all the possible and innovative BD tactics out there. It is the prioritization process that is vital to its successful selection and implementation. To choose activities that make most business sense for your business and not for the general masses, mainly if you are a busy SME business leader or an entrepreneur having limited resources at hand.
What prioritization process works? What are the 6 steps to identifying your business development focus?
#1 KNOW YOUR BRIGHT SPOTS
The key for a sound business development strategy is to continuously evaluate what is working. To continuously identify your bright spots bringing you invaluable information about what is bringing in business, what creates traction and what you should be doing more of. To understand, analyze and then replicate such past successes is crucial, incorporating such bright spots into your business development strategy.
ASK YOURSELF:
- How did you win clients in the past?
- What worked really well for your business (growth) in the past?
- What can you do to enhancement such past success and replicate it in the future?
#2 KNOW YOUR CLIENTS
Knowing who your clients are, going beyond their geographic location or the basic demographics. Doing in depth, and continuous, research to keep gathering client-data and understanding them is vital. It is about knowing what they like, but also dislike. What are they pain points? How do they spend time and who do they spend the time with? What are their beliefs, values and utter desires?
ASK YOURSELF:
- Do you have a detailed Client Persona?
- Who are your clients? (beyond geographic & demographic data)
- What are your clients main pain-points they want remedy for?
#3 KNOW YOUR RESOURCES
Running a thorough resource inventory is another key step. To know which resources do you have at your disposal already and which ones you are missing, going beyond only money. Listing all that is currently in your toolbox, being for immediate use, and defining which important resources are missing across all resource areas such as: Your character, strengths, expertise, know how, education, physical assets, technology, IP, people, network, time etc.
ASK YOURSELF:
- What are the resources at you current disposal? How can you maximize the value from them?
- What resources are you missing / lacking? How can you obtain them?
- What 3 main resources do you urgently need and will focus on for now?
#4 KNOW INVESTMENT NEEDED
Next is to know, how much do you need to invest into the business development activity in regards to money, time, talent, technology, learning…and the list goes on. Is it a fast win which takes minimal effort or is it a complex and expensive activity that will cost you loads of money, time and maybe a few grey hairs?
ASK YOURSELF:
- What is the investment needed to complete the BD activity?
- If investment is high – what can you do to lower it?
- If investment is low – how can you complete it with minimal effort?
#5 KNOW WHAT IS THE ROI
Further, know what is the return on the investment you expect to experience. Will such business development effort bring you 1 or 100 clients? Will it bring big long-term projects or small one-off transitional deals into your business? What is your expected ROI after successful completion? And is it set in a SMART and realistic manner?
ASK YOURSELF:
- When the BD activity is completed, what return do you expect in regards to money, business coming in, time etc.?
- What quantified data (%, #, from-to etc.) will allow you to measure getting the return predicted?
- What tweaks are there that would allow you to maximize your ROI?
#6 KNOW THE MUST HAVEs VS. NICE TO HAVEs
Last but not least, classify, if the BD activity is an essential or a non-essential one. Is it an absolute must-have even if the ROI is actually minimal or zero? Or is it a nice to have that would make your business, product or service more fancy, but would not bring any exceptional value? Beware if the importance of some must haves, as e.g. well defined Terms & Conditions, Client contracts, GDPR compliant Privacy Policy, well defined business processes, system & tools etc. as even if they usually don’t generate any revenue directly, they can drive your businesses towards exit and liquidation.
ASK YOURSELF:
- How essential is the BD activity to my business survival / success / growth / progress?
- What must haves are currently missing and need immediate attention?
- What nice to haves can be eliminated / postponed for now to focus on the essentials?
YOUR TURN!
Being selective and truly cherry picking the business development activities that are right for you and your business is key. Is your business development strategy drawn based on the current market trends or really tailored for your business? Review it based on the 6 steps and experience sustainable, smart and speedy growth.
