• cross division offerings - you can unlock significant revenue opportunities by combining service offerings from two autonomous business units. One company I worked with had separate consumable and equipment divisions who never combined their offerings because of internal structures, leaving money on the table which their competitors exploited.

• cross territory sales - a common problem in companies with fixed sales territories is that they're often not aligned with customer decision making. I worked with a company that had no-one looking at national accounts. The sales team were focused on their own little area meaning that they never looked for the larger opportunities. Salesperson X could be dealing with a division of a national company with offices around the UK but since they "weren't on his patch" they were left untouched. Wouldn't the salesperson just tell their colleagues to follow up these opportunities? Not when they're competing with each other for the president's club and holiday to Hawaii!

• Failing to cross-sell to existing customers - do they buy every product or service that you offer? Have you ever walked into a customer and seen or heard about a competitor's product or service. Did they say "I didn't know you did that"?

• Not exploiting all opportunities within existing accounts - do you know which customers are part of larger groups? Are you in contact with all potential buyers within the same account? For example, if you sell training services and you only deal with HR what happens if the Sales Director buys a training programme elsewhere? Are you sure you will always be asked? Most decisions in larger companies involve more than one person, often 4 or 5; are you in contact with all of them? Do you even know them all?

• Not catching up with dormant accounts - if you're a project based business, are you keeping up with every account? If your contacts move on, are you following them, and are you in front of their replacement? This is a common problem for business owners who are focused on delivery and let accounts go cold. It's not your customer's responsibility to tell you; it's no good moaning that old so-and-so never called you - you need to call them (or at least get one of your business development team to give them a regular nudge).

Labels: business development, business development consultancy, sales consultancy, sales consultants

As many business owners are thinking about their sales and marketing plans for 2012, I looked back at a post I made at this time 2 years ago (see Do you have a sustainable model to generate new business?) and wondered whether I should just re-post it.

Back then, looking at the tough market conditions facing service companies, I asked the question "Is this just a passing phase... or is this "business as usual" for the next few years?"

Anyone who's been watching the slow-mo train wreck of the Eurozone will surely now be thinking it's the latter.

Chatting with a client yesterday who runs a consulting firm, he summed the mood up by saying that it's going to take at least another 3 years before things get better.

Well, he is an optimist after all :-)

With analysts saying that Europe's facing a lost decade of growth you could be forgiven for thinking that it's all over, but let's not confuse macroeconomics with your own business.

You see, to me, even if there's no growth at a GDP level that doesn't mean there has to be no growth for your business. In fact, revenue growth for your business really has little to do with GDP growth and more to do with how you run your own sales and marketing efforts.

Sure, the current market conditions are tough for many but, and this is my point, you'd just better get used to it.

Back in 2008 when we were all thinking it would be a short sharp recession, cutting back and putting things on hold was a sensible approach. Then when it all bounces back you can put your foot back on the pedal, right?

But, for many business owners today, there is no more room to cut back. Cut back and you don't have a business anymore. In fact, do nothing and you won't have a business anymore.

You need to stake your claim and find a way to grow.

And I mean grow... not just survive.

Of course, you need to be realistic, which is why I say you need an austerity plan for growth.

Which may sound contradictory but what I mean is you need a plan to grow your business during these times of austerity. But there is still business out there. Sure, it's tougher to win and you need to do more for less, etc. Those things haven't changed, in fact they've just become baked in.

But, let me repeat, there's still business there.

And now's the time to find a way of winning it.

Beat your competition, innovate your marketing. Be creative, because it's at this time that the strongest businesses will grow.

As a final passing thought, here's 2 books I'd recommend reading at this time:

Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid and Blue Ocean Strategy

Re-thinking your business model, partnering with clients (and suppliers) in new, sustainable ways and re-shaping your proposition are all ways to see a huge potential for growth in the current crisis.

Labels: b2b marketing, business development, new business development, strategy

I recently received a great testimonial from a client (you can read it on my LinkedIn profile).

It ended with "Wish he was my full time business development director!".

Now, whilst this is a very flattering comment (thanks, John)... I think it's completely wrong. It's wrong in the sense that for most of our clients, a full-time Business Development Director is actually the last thing that they need.

Before I explain why, let me just clarify who our clients are (this may resonate with some of you).

Our clients are typically smaller consultancies and agencies with flat structures and a high level of delivery by the principals. Sure, they'll have office support staff and also delivery augmented by associates and/or juniors, but the key attribute that they all share is that a large amount of the work is delivered by the owners or Directors of the business.

So, if that sounds like you, why shouldn't you hire a full-time Business Development Director?

Here are 3 good reasons:

1) You can't outsource the pitch. The first trap to avoid is thinking that you can get someone else to pitch for your work, such as hiring a Business Development Director. If you're providing a service which involves your personal expertise and creative input then your clients are essentially buying you. Sure, they accept that you have a team behind you for delivery but that's no substitute for knowing who runs the business.

This fact is true for all propositions which fall into the "smart brains" or "grey hairs" categories. Unless you're in a commodity market then you can't escape the reality that you should never outsource the pitch.

2) You can't afford a good one. What I mean here is that, in many cases, your business probably isn't big enough (yet) to attract the right level of talent you need. I just flipped open a marketing magazine and there are agencies advertising for a full-time Business Development Director with a £60k package. If you're a consultancy in the IT or HR space then you'll need someone who can open doors and pitch at the highest levels... an win the business. That's going to cost at least the same package if not approaching six figures.

And let's not forget, that's just the salary. Fully loaded costs will double these figures.

Now, if you've got big plans and deep pockets then don't be put off by this. However, you need to be absolutely sure that they will bring in the business otherwise this type of hire is notoriously the most expensive mistake you can make.

I find that most clients with a "Business Development Director" have essentially agreed that the role is handled by one of the founders/partners.

Which brings us to the third reason....

3) You don't need a whole one. What you need are bits of a Business Development Director. If you think about it, what does a Business Development Director do? Well, they work out the strategy, help develop marketing plans, network with prospects, make calls and open doors, keep in touch and manage the pipeline and (hopefully) land the big accounts.

In our experience, clients are excellent face-to-face and, as I stated in point 1) they are the best people to put in-front of prospects. It's logical really, since we work with clients who are actually in business, so they must be doing something right.

The parts of the whole biz dev process that they struggle with are a) getting in front of prospects and b) keeping in touch. This latter part is particularly true of clients who are closely involved with delivery.

Be honest, it's not your strong point either, right?

And, truth be told, most Business Development Directors also struggle with the former part of actually getting in front of prospects, because once they're up and running they're usually focused on managing relationships rather than hunting new business.

So the solution is simple, don't try to hire a whole Business Development Director, full or part-time. Outsource the elements that you most need support with - the prospecting and pipeline management.

For many clients, the real value we deliver comes from having someone who is nurturing those prospects until there is a real opportunity.

Labels: business development, new business agency, new business development

I recently attended Social Media 09 in London, which was a face-paced tour of social media comment, case studies and demos.

As usual at these excellent mashup event, there are always some nuggets of information which change your perceptions.

For me, a couple of speakers nailed it.

Mat Morison talked about how "social norms", rather than "business norms" are applicable within social media and Andrew Grill made the point that it's the same rules which apply to any social gathering, such as a networking event.

Now these may seem obvious, but if you look at how many people behave within social media you can see how the point isn't always grasped.

It's a bit like seeing someone at a networking event who's rushing from group to group, working the room and gathering business cards rather than engaging in meaningful conversations.

In a networking environment you'd just call them a jerk; on a linkedin group you'd call them a spammer.

Many of the speakers used a simple 3-step approach for brands using social media. I think that it's equally applicable for business development.

Firstly you listen. Next you respond. Finally you engage.

It reminds me of much of the advice about "networking" in the 90's so it makes perfect sense in the context of social media, such as a Linkedin group that you've just joined.

Listen to what's happening and wait for an opportunity to respond.

Finally, once you understand the tone of the group you can initiate a discussion.

I kind of think that if more people took this approach then every LinkedIn group wouldn't have those "featured discussions" laying down the rules.

Labels: business development, social media, social networking sites

It was interesting to read in the latest Profit Track 100 report that, in the wake of the credit crunch, strategic alliances are being seen as a strong route to profitable growth.

With the days of cheap debt behind us, companies are looking at alliances and joint-ventures as alternative strategies for rapid expansion.

There are a number examples in the report, including the Virgin credit card, an alliance between Virgin and Bank of America.

Certainly, strategic alliances are a good way of leveraging growth potential. In the case of the Virgin credit card, it now accounts for 5% of all new credit card business in the UK, just 5 years after it's launch.

As the report high-lights, with M&A transactions significantly down on last year and a third of the list having improved their earnings through acquisitions, "next year's tenth anniversary Profit Track 100 may well have a different complexion"

Labels: business development, funding, strategy

I recently posted a blog on Ecademy, "Are you a "Renaissance" Salesperson or "Coin-Operated Rep"?".

The blog looked at three different types of sales people identified by authors Mark Leslie & Charles A. Holloway in their article "The Sales Learning Curve" (excellent article by the way).

Comments on the blog evolved around the label we gives ourselves. Is it "Sales", "Business Development"... and what's the difference?

I've nearly always worked in a role with the "Sales" label. That is, I've been clearly responsible for selling directly to customers. However, when working in a management capacity, I was responsible for developing & managing indirect sales channels & partners. So, that's "business development", right?

My line on this used to be that business development is focused on growing business revenue through indirect routes, such as partnering, sales channels, joint-ventures, etc, whilst sales had the same objective but through direct customer engagement.

Today, this has become a little blurred when many companies (particularly consultancies) adopt the term "business development" to cover direct sales activity in a less, well, "sales-ey" way.

Wikipedia is always a good place to turn to. It's definition (at the time of this post) of Business Development is:

"Business Developmnet encompasses a number of techniques designed to grow an economic enterprise. Such techniques include, but are not limited to, assessments of marketing opportunities and target markets, intelligence gathering on customers and competitors, generating leads for possible sales, follow-up sales activity, formal proposal writing and business model design. Business development involves evaluating a business and then realizing its full potential, using such tools as marketing, sales, information management and customer service. For a sound company able to withstand competitors, business development never stops but is an ongoing process."

For me, this is right on the money.

That last sentence from Wikipedia sums it up for me, "for a sound company able to withstand competitors, business development never stops but is an ongoing process."

Labels: business development, sales