Basics of Business Development- Overview!

Business Development Manager?

“Managing the size and quality of your network is your number one business development strategy. How well, as well as how often you communicate to and within your network, is your number one marketing strategy.”―?Edwin Dearborn

What Are the Basics of Business Development?

In the simplest terms, business development can be summarized as the ideas, initiatives,?and activities that help make a business better. This includes increasing revenues, growth in terms of business expansion, increasing profitability by building strategic partnerships, and making strategic business decisions.

“Business Development Executive,”?“Manager of Business Development,”?and “VP,?Business Development” are all impressive job?titles often heard in business organizations. Sales, strategic initiatives, business partnerships, market development, business expansion, and?marketing—all of these fields are involved in business development?but are often mixed up and mistakenly viewed as the sole function of business development.?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Business development encompasses a wide scope of ideas, activities, and initiatives that a business owner and management implement with the goal of making the business better.
• Business development can include many objectives, such as sales growth, business expansion, the formation of strategic partnerships, and increased profitability.
• Successful business development impacts every department within a company, including sales, marketing, manufacturing, human resources, accounting, finance, product development, and vendor management.
• Business developers should be aware of new market opportunities, possibilities for expansion, competitor developments, and the current sources of the company's revenue.

What Should a Business Developer Know?

Since business development involves high-level decision making, the business developer should remain informed about the following:

• The current state of the business in terms of?SWOT analysis?(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
• The current state of the overall industry and growth projections
• Competitor developments
• Primary sources of sales/revenues of current business and dependencies
• The customer profile
• New and unexplored market opportunities
• New domains/products/sectors eligible for business expansion, which may complement the existing business
• The long-term view, especially with regards to the initiatives being proposed
• The cost areas and the possible options for cost-savings

The Right Fit?for Business Development

A business developer can be the business owner(s) or the designated employee(s) working in business development. Anyone who can make or suggest a strategic business change for a value-add?to the?business can contribute towards business development. Businesses often encourage employees to brainstorm innovative ideas, which can help in improving the potential of the overall business.

What Drives Business Development Activity?

Due to the wide-open scope of business development and activities, there are no standard practices and principles. From exploring new opportunities in external markets to introducing?efficiencies?in internal business operations, everything can fit under the business development umbrella.

Those involved in business development need to come up with creative ideas, but their proposals may prove to be unfeasible or unrealistic. It's important to be flexible. Employees charged with business development should try to?seek out and take constructive criticism, and remember that it's a process.

Business Development Ethics

Business ethics?involves implementing appropriate and fair practices regarding issues such as corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility, and fiduciary responsibilities. Laws and regulations often set the standard for business ethics, which companies can then choose to follow and build on in order to earn trust and loyalty from consumers and market participants.

Why Is New Business Development Important?

New business development is important for generating jobs, developing key industries, and keeping the economy moving forward.

What Are the Key Skills for Business Development Executives?

Development executives need to have leadership skills, vision, drive, and a willingness to work with a variety of people to get to a common goal.

How Can I Be Successful in Business Development?

Having a vision and putting together a good team are among the factors that help predict success in business development. But a successful developer also writes a good business plan, which becomes the blueprint from which they build their success.

What Should a Business Development Plan Include?

A business development plan, or?business plan, describes what a business's objectives are and how it intends to achieve them, including goals, start-up costs, and targeted milestones.

The Bottom Line

Business development may be difficult to define concisely, but it can be easily understood using a working concept. An open mindset, willingness for an honest and realistic self-assessment, and the ability to?accept failures?are a few of the skills needed for successful business development. Beyond the?ideation, implementation, and execution of a business development idea, the end results matter the most.

The brightest minds in business development?should be ready to accommodate a change in order to achieve the best results. Every approval or disapproval is a learning experience, better?preparing these professionals for the next challenge.