What is business development anyway?
In a great article on Forbes author Scott Pollack answers the question rather well we think saying…
Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships.
Ok, now that we’re clear on what business development is, more importantly perhaps how do you go about doing it in a way that “boosts” or actually helps your business? It can be daunting, particularly if you’re a new business owner, but even successful entrepreneurs get jaded about the process, so no time like the present to review some basics and share some tips. We’re almost two months into the first quarter of the year, and let’s face it – business development is the fuel that feeds the engine of your business.
The reality is women business owners and entrepreneurs wear a lot of hats, and being the chief pipeline of business generation for their enterprise is often one of the most time consuming. With this in mind we gave it some thought and decided to come up with four easy often overlooked ways to jump start your business development, increase sales and reach your goals in 2013!
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MyCity4Her’s Top 4 Ways to Boost Business Development
Start with your existing customers
Your existing customers know your business, and in theory are a good target client – they should be a great way to find more people like them, and prospective business. Make sure you have a “referral mechanism” built into your business. Make it easy for customers who know and like what you do, to share the opportunity to connect and work with you and you should start to get a steadier pipeline of quality business referrals (for tips on the referral part of things click here) for your business. Everyone knows its easier to grow existing business relationships than create new ones. Existing customers are without a doubt your most efficient place to start.
Get to know your competition
It may seem counter intuitive but getting to know your competition, and having a healthy and productive relationship with them can be a GREAT way to boost business development. First of all, you can understand what your unique value propositions are vis a vis theirs which is always a bonus for effective market positioning and can only help you overall but more importantly, it is not uncommon for competing companies that have a good relationship to refer business back to one another. Why couldn’t this work for your business?
Be organized so you can seize the opportunity when it arises
One of the biggest barriers to effective business development is not having the right systems and processes in place to seize the opportunity when a potential lead or referral comes your way. Making sure you streamline your systems and have everything ready to go can make sure you can act on opportunity and strike while the irons hot. What do you do when you’re given a prospect? How do you handle a new contact you’ve made? What is your preferred follow up method? Do you have a Business Development SYSTEM in place, to help you be successful when it comes to maximizing on opportunities to create new relationships and clients.
Look for ways to be of service
This last suggestion may seem a little trite, or evident but it’s a hall mark of effective business development. Consider yourself a resource and always take that approach when coming into contact with people. Be informed about your area of expertise, for sure – that is a given. However look for ways to be useful beyond that, and when someone asks for help, step up and find effective and efficient ways to give it. If you find yourself referring other products, businesses or services on a regular basis consider coming up with a branded way to do so – so you can easily send something to someone looking for assistance, and it has your business and your name on it. Start conversations with new prospects and potential referrals sources by gathering information and seeing how you can help versus just hunting for business, you’ll have a better conversation and chances it will translate into something overall more positive for your business will increase.
If you’ve got some other suggestions to boost business development – we’d love to hear them. Meanwhile, much continued success.