Hacking Normal: Business Development in the AI Era

Hacking Normal: Business Development in the AI Era

Hey everyone,

It’s been a minute since I published the first of these newsletters. I’ve been traveling this past week and speaking with several businesses in need of help with business development.

As I look across the BD landscape, I see new challenges emerging. In my experience, business development needs tend to fall into three main categories:

  1. New businesses & startups – Getting off the ground and finding first customers.
  2. Established companies broadening their base – Often, they’ve become too reliant on one or a few major customers (a common problem).
  3. Established companies positioning for growth in a trend – They see a shift coming and want to capitalize on it.

Of course, some companies simply understand that staying ahead of trends isn’t optional—it’s survival. Missing the right trend can mean a missed opportunity or, worse, a slow decline as the market moves on.

Three Foundations of Business Development

When I look at BD, I always start with the basics. Without these in place, everything else struggles.

1. Fundamental Positioning: What Problem Do You Solve—And for Whom?

This is the Simon Sinek “Start With Why” stuff—but I narrow it down even more:

  • What problem do you solve?
  • Who buys what you sell?
  • Where are they?
  • How can you connect with those customers?

The answers to these questions shape messaging, marketing, and positioning—especially ensuring your message is targeted and customer-focused. It’s the old cliché:

Customers don’t care about your product; they care about how it solves their problems and helps them get what they want.

2. Infrastructure: Your Systems & Processes

Once positioning is clear, the next step is infrastructure—the internal structure that keeps BD efforts from being random and ineffective. Key questions:

  • Who owns finding new leads?
  • What happens when a qualified lead is found?
  • Do you have a lead nurturing system?
  • Do you have a CRM? What are its capabilities?
  • What is the architecture of your lead/sales funnel?
  • Is your sales process developed? Can it be optimized?

Many companies skip this step and jump straight to outreach—without systems, that’s suboptimal. But I'm not totally opposed, because here’s the reality:

No leads, no business.

If your infrastructure is weak, it’s messy—but solvable. By contrast, the best infrastructure in the world is worthless without leads.

Every company, whether a startup or an established firm, must have a reliable way to generate new prospects—or risk grinding to a halt.

3. Connection & Positioning: Master One Channel at a Time

Once you know your audience and have a solid system for follow up, the next challenge is connection & positioning.

What channels make sense for outreach?

  • B2B → LinkedIn, YouTube, Rumble, Substack, Quora, Reddit, Medium, Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp Communities
  • B2C → Instagram, X, YouTube, Rumble, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitch, Clubhouse, WeChat
  • Emerging channels → NOSTR, Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, Truth Social, Lemon8, or channels above expanding to wider audiences.

Many people suggest diversifying outreach, and I generally agree—but there’s a catch:

Master one channel at a time.

Nail one platform and build your base before expanding. Trying to be everywhere at once is dilutive—it often slows progress rather than accelerating it.

The AI Shift: Thought Leadership Is More Important Than Ever

AI is flooding the internet with generic, mass-produced content. The fastest-growing characteristic of AI-generated text?

It’s highly ignorable.

If text (and increasingly SEO) is dying, what’s left?

Personal stories, opinions, and unique perspectives.

AI can’t tell a personal story. That’s good news because personal stories are exactly what the market wants when it comes to:

  • Building relationships
  • Demonstrating professional skills
  • Establishing trust

So, if you’ve covered the foundational BD elements above, this is where the real opportunity begins.

Positioning Through Thought Leadership

Winning in this new landscape means:

  1. Building an audience with the right people
  2. Sharing insights from a personal perspective that helps solve real problems
  3. Giving away free knowledge—guidance that helps others move forward

It’s like offering “My Definitive Guide to XYZ” before pitching anything—when it’s time for a sales conversation, customers already know, like (hopefully), and trust you.

Why I’m Moving to YouTube

AI is competing with written content (like this newsletter), and as an author of several books, I’ve been rethinking how I communicate.

If I were starting over, I wouldn’t write another book to tell my story.

Instead, I’d build a rich content channel on YouTube (or similar) where I share my insights, opinions, and personal POV based on 35+ years of personal BD experience.

For most business owners & CEOs, thought leadership is their best bet. The real question is:

How can you reach your target audience in a way that escapes the AI vortex while building legitimate trust and personal connection?

Wherever you are in your BD journey, these are the central questions. If you get the infrastructure right and master connection, the sky's the limit.

See You in the Next One

Best,

Ted

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