8 points to improve business development

When asking people within organizations what, exactly, is business development, many different and contradictory responses will possibly emerge. Everyone knows that there is no sustainable business without developing it through time, but the question is – "what, precisely can we see business development as?"

The correct answer to that question is rather more complex than it might be expected: business development is a long-term result, of successfully maintained relationships with markets and customers: 

• Being a long-term result implies persistent commitment over the course of time. Contrary to the “take the money and run” business philosophies, a long-term value has to be developed and maintained through creating opportunities for those processes. Conceiving and nurturing such a value is a key element of business development. 
• No company can operate alone. Development doesn't come without having a strong focus on its employees, and its surroundings as well. That means that relationships, within and outside of a company, has to be a foundation of its prosperity. Those relationships, in order to be strong and maintained during time, ought to be based on respect, trust and mutual appreciation. This includes different types of relationships: with employees, customers, partners and the public. 
• Having the aforementioned relationships with markets, means that a company has profound knowledge and understanding about all important aspects of their targeting markets. That includes identifying opportunities for expanding current and reaching new markets, which is one of the very essentials of business development. 
• Strongly connected to markets are the customers, meaning that they cannot exist one without the other. Customers are the people who live in markets, which makes them definable by their buying preferences, their lifestyles and demographics. They are people who pay for products and services, which means that they are a crucial part of business development: without them, there would be no business at all. Targeting and reaching customers, as well as preserving formed relationships with them can be important. Once when they are established, bring business to life and make it possible and profitable. 

Now when we know what the key elements of business development can be seen as. The question that arises is: How to do that? How to develop a business, bearing in mind all of the above? Let’s focus on the tips on which processes are foundations for successful business development. 

1. Hiring the right people: Damage created by hiring non suitable candidates can be avoided. This is something that happens more often when a company is newly formed, and its policy has not been fully established yet. Only by finding and hiring professional, skill-full individuals may result in creating productive, creative and efficient teams. This also influxes social skills and the like. Without them, further development will be unnecessarily delayed or even precluded. 
2. Focusing on more than one aspect: When thinking about and/ or planning a course of business development, a lot of people might think that carriers of this process are within only one company’s department (such as, for example, sales). Thinking this way may cause that other relevant parts of the process are forgotten. In a long term, this can be a true deal-breaker for further company’s growth. 
3. Having a support: Engaging internal resources with an intention to ensure that company is on its way to achieve its goals and expectations, is very important and useful. On the other hand, no proper support will lead to looking for a culprit once things go wrong. If that happens even with a well developed support system, responsibility will be shared, and it will offer an opportunity to learn from such an experience. 
4. Recognising the right moment: There is a significant difference between making a deal, and making a good deal. Recognising and using the right moment on a target market, may determine whether the deal will be a wise choice or a failure. Of course, being able to recognize such a moment is a result of careful planning and analyzing; having luck is optional, not obligatory and that is why making deals never should rely on it. 
5. Staying in touch: When a deal is made, that does not mean that communication with a client is done. The same goes for customers, and all relevant parts in communication processes. The idea is to contact them from time to time, getting them to know about company’s new offers, asking about their needs and so on. There are a variety of ways of doing that (phone conversation, networking events, phone conversation, emailing or personal notes), and all of them have the same goal: staying in touch. 
6. Using established connections: Having contacts with other significant groups, and organisations is a key element of expanding a business. The examples of such groups are alma mater, club memberships, previous working organisations and companies. Some of them may be very helpful in getting to prospective clients. 
7. Involving people: Including executive directors of professional associations in a company’s base of valuable people involved in business development, may bring great results. They can be interviewed for company’s publications, or involved in any other way which allows their knowledge and experience to shine. It should not be forgotten that, when conducting a market research, they can be a very valuable source of information. 
8. Being informed: A business development process requires to be constantly updated with all fresh information, whether they are relevant for the business itself (for example, for IT software industry, being updated with the newest research and progress within this field is a must) or for other aspects of organisational functioning. One of the examples would be being present on social media, which today is an obligatory task for every company, regardless if it is a small or a huge one. The same goes for every vital part of an organisation's functioning, because that is the only way to keep up with a constantly changing business world. 

Business is more like a living creature, with its needs, development and factors which are necessary for it to survive, and get stronger. And only time, clever planning and wise decisions will make a room for it on a fiercely competitive market.