How do you choose and prioritize the most valuable and feasible business development opportunities?

The most important part prior setting priorities is actually your understanding of your market and its surroundings. Having a profound understanding of the dynamics and direction of the market for at least 5 years is fundamental. Answer these questions and you’ll have your priorities in order: 1- Who have the upper hand in deciding where the industry is heading? Is it Government? Is it Prices & Rates? Manufacturers? Technological Advancements? 2- Does your organization is “currently” capable of competing? If “No” Where is the exposure? How long it’s going to take to cover these areas? 3- How your top 3 competitors works? Do they compete on strategic level? 4- What is the fastest way to secure new business? Do it.

One can choose and prioritize the most valuable and feasible business development opportunities by doing - Conducting a SWOT analysis - Identifying the gaps, needs, and challenges of your target market, audience, or customers, as well as the trends, innovations and best practices in your industry or sector - Generating and evaluating multiple ideas - Scoring and ranking your ideas based on various criteria, such as customer feedback, market potential, competitive advantage, profitability, scalability and alignment with your business vision and mission - Selecting the top ideas that have the highest score and rank, and developing a business case or a business plan for each idea.

In the pipeline, I set my projects in three categories Must Win, Target and Back Up. You can do the proper assessment on basis of your relationship with client, their budget, profitability and most importantly its closing time.

It really depends on the objective at the time. If you are creating a campaign to reach into a different market, or sector, from which you typically target, then you have to identify “who” your potential customers will be. Rank them, and then you can build the BD strategy.

Business development is the tip of the spear for most, if not all, businesses. The success of the business development function plays a huge part in the medium and long-term viability of the company. However, there's rarely ever a perfect deal. Therefore, one has to balance the pros and cons of each opportunity to decide if it's the right one for the firm. I usually would place a very heavy weightage on strategic fit because this would then translate into medium and long term benefits which will then ensure the longevity of the company.

Everything depends on your goals at the time, at the beginning of a company journey what looks like an amazing opportunity is not the same as time goes by, goals change, and it's important for any company to stay in touch with its goals as it moves forward.

You've nailed it! Understanding market attractiveness is much like panning for gold. While there's potential everywhere, the keen eye spots the real value amidst the sediment. Tools like market research and customer validation are the sieves that help separate the gold from the grit.

Once again I believe, this should be looked from the perspective as to how the strategic partnership would be perceived by the customers, or to the market landscape. Thereby, the credibility of the organization to be partnered in the market place would also be important. There should also be some key outcomes in terms of how the strategic partnership impacts the organization's market share, customer share, future potential opportunities and the bottom line impact in terms of profitability.

1. When evaluating the attractiveness of an opportunity, I must consider market size, growth, profitability and potential. 2. An attractive market opportunity implies a clear and compelling demand for my product, with the possibility of capturing a significant portion of the market value. 3. To assess market attractiveness, I can use tools such as market research and analysis to estimate market size, growth rate, trends and segments; customer discovery and validation to identify customer problems, needs, preferences and willingness to pay; a value proposition to articulate how my product creates and delivers value to customers; and a business model to map out how I will generate and capture revenue from customers.

Market attractiveness is important, i.e. the deal you might want to pursue should be attractive. Ideally it is easily replicable, should open the market further for you or have economics that make sense even on a stand-alone basis.

If you want to build the biggest building, do you a) get a team together to build the biggest building or b) knock down all the other buildings so that yours is the tallest? Businesses need to worry less about what their competitors are doing and not have the mentality of destroying each other. They need to focus on delivering their products or services at a higher standard with a high-performing team, that's when they'll reach their target!

Spot On! One of the most important purpose for a strategic partnership or join venture is generally to gain competitive advantage over competition. This would be on how the threats in a SWOT could be converted to an opportunity. This exercise of identifying the competitive advantage obtained from the synergy should be clearly articulated and communication to the marketplace. This could help you retain existing customers and also attract new customers to you.

1. When evaluating my competitive advantage, I must consider how much I can differentiate myself from my competitors and create a sustainable advantage. 2. A competitive advantage means I have a unique and valuable offering that is difficult for my rivals to imitate or replace. 3. To assess this, I can use tools such as SWOT analysis to identify my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; Porter's five forces to analyze the competitive intensity and profitability of my industry; value chain analysis to identify my key activities and sources of value creation and cost reduction; and VRIO analysis to evaluate my resources and skills in terms of value, rarity, imitation difficulty, and organization.

The correct answer is obviously that it depends, but generally speaking it makes sense to prioritize those opportunities where one has a competitive advantage, i.e. where objectively the competition is not able to provide a solution that is as compelling. Competitive advantage should not be limited to price, it should rather be a qualitative differentiator.

The feasibility of the strategic partnership will be the final hurdle to mitigate. Here I believe some of the key considerations would be the cultural elements within both the organization, the legal framework, then moving out it would be some of the changes that could impact existing customers during transitioning either positively or negatively should be taken into consideration.

1. When evaluating the viability of an opportunity, I must consider the resources, capabilities and risks associated with it. 2. To assess feasibility of execution, I can use project management tools to plan and monitor activities, while risk management tools can help identify and respond to potential risks. 3. Additionally, I can use stakeholder analysis to engage key stakeholders and lean startup principles to test assumptions. 4. By assigning a score of 1 to 5 for each criterion and calculating the total score, I can prioritize the opportunities that offer the greatest strategic, market, competitive and execution benefits for my organization.

It's one thing to spot an opportunity and another to seize it effectively. Your emphasis on resources, risks, and stakeholder engagement is a reminder that every instrument (or factor) has to play its part in the orchestra of business development.

Execution is a topic that is often forgotten when a large new sale opportunity comes up. In my view this can easily be one of the largest mistakes when developing business in Asia (especially in markets such as Japan and Thailand). A pristine execution (implementation) will open many new business development doors, a botched execution will make any future business an uphill (if not impossible) mission.

Assessing opportunity feasibility involves examining resources, risks, and capabilities. Use project and risk management tools, stakeholder engagement, and lean startup principles to evaluate and prioritize opportunities effectively.

To me the sequence: 1. What are my key strengths / differentiators 2. Who will benefit from using my solutions/products 3. How can I CONSISTENTLY deliver value will lead to a good scoping of what business I am after and where I can find clients (Sales Navigator will help narrow this down). Targeting each market taking the cultural nuances into account will lead to better outcomes (never be the "bully for the west"). Using Consultants who are knowledgeable and well connected can help avoid making mistakes and support a solid business development effort.

Start with comprehensive market research and a SWOT analysis. Ensure alignment with your organization's strategy and define clear objectives. Assess feasibility, market demand, and ROI. Don’t forget to evaluate risks for each opportunity. Finally, Allocate resources wisely, select compatible partners, and consider scalability. Heads up, Good luck is when opportunity meets preparation!