3 Pillars to SUCCESS in Business Development

Figuring out what the business development role should look like for you may seem a little bit alien. After all, I bet you didn’t wake up one day and decide your lifelong career goal was to be a business developer.

Yet many professionals who pursued careers in technical fields are now expected to find their own work. And one thing you didn’t learn in the university was how to do it.

So you’ve probably asked around and your peers and colleagues have told you to just ‘start working your network.’

Just what the heck does that even mean?

Today I’d like to give you some foundational information that will be helpful for you as you are getting started with prospecting.

Even if you’re familiar with sales, sometimes, it’s good to have a ‘back to the basics’ reminder, so just work with me here…

Let’s keep it pretty simple to give you something to begin performing consistent activity which is the first step to consistent results. You will have to refine this as you begin your own prospecting effort but here's a great starting point:

Pillar #1: Recognize that?your prospecting activity consists of face to face or scheduled meetings?with prospects, clients or someone who can lead you to a prospect or client. That means:

Bumping into someone does not constitute a meeting.

Networking and catching someone for a 2 minute conversation does not count as a scheduled meeting.

Cold messaging and never talking to anyone does not result in paytime activity.

Hanging out on Facebook with 335 of your college buds is not considered pay time activity.

Drinking coffee with co-workers who will not buy anything from you is not considered prospecting activity.

Pillar #2: Spend the RIGHT amount of time accomplishing Productive Prospecting Activity - After talking about what is NOT productive activity, let’s talk about what a scheduled contact collaboration meeting needs to sound like…

• Learning what their typical prospect looks like?– industry, revenue, # of employees, decision maker, problem experiencing, etc.
• Who is their ideal prospect?– top list of who they most want to do business with in the next 12 months.
• How can you?collaborate??Research their Linked In profile for ideas to collaborate on – how can you help them find new business, improve their service offering, cross serve their clients more effectively, etc.

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A quick example of my fractional CFO partner suggesting his banker referral partner look at their contact list for company owners who aren’t returning calls promptly due to issues with getting timely and accurate financial statements from their current bookkeeper or inhouse resource. He makes it EASY for them to refer him and get better outcomes for their own business at the same time!

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• How can you set complementary goals??What are the goals for the next 12 months of their prospecting activity and how can you support each other?

Pillar #3: Activity Planning - Now comes the simple part (remember I didn’t promise easy) – each and every day you schedule 2 meetings. Monday through Friday. No matter what. No exceptions. No excuses. If you take a day off, you book your meetings the day prior. You get sick, guess what? You book your meetings x 2 to make up. If less than 10% of your job responsibility is business development, you can get by with 1 meeting per day. With a client, a prospect or someone who can refer you to your next client or prospect.

This will get you started on building a consistent pipeline of business. If you aren’t making enough based on the 2 meetings per day, look at whether or not your approach is the right one, or recognize if you are having meetings and not closing business, then it's time to get help!

We're in the 2nd Quarter and it's time to really kick it up to make your year what it can be. These 3 Pillars will get you a running start at your business development goal.

A parting word of encouragement: You need to proceed with this level of activity for a minimum of 30 days before you adjust your activity. There’s not a microwave button on your sales effort, your recipe will need a bit of time to simmer before you adjust any elements.

For more information on making the most of your coffee meetings, you can download our free guide, Networking Secrets Revealed. It will share a few of my favorite networking strategies.