The title of business development (BD) is ending up increasingly common in companies. For some odd reason, very few people recognize what it really is. In all honesty, business development can be difficult to explain. Commonly, the role of BD can incorporate a wide range of activities like content management, strategic partnerships, product development, monetization, and occasionally acquisitions. In any case, it fluctuates depending on the industry and the size of the company.
For instance, in a tech start-up, BD would be involved in creating strategy, customer acquisition, marketing, handling client relationships and sometimes social media management. In a larger company, BD might involve maintaining client relationships and nothing more.
Asides these role definitions, in its most straightforward form, BD can be depicted as moving companies towards their goals by building business relationships. Although, this definition is overly simplified. Delving in a bit deeper, I’ve found that BD at new businesses can be refined down to two essential duties.
Focusing on the Company’s Goals
A lack of focus on your company goals can cripple your business before it starts. Notwithstanding your size or industry, you would probably get unlimited solicitations to “collaborate”. As cool as that sounds, 9 times out of 10, it’s probably not profitable. Many new businesses haven’t properly defined their goals or done their research to truly understand the organizations that they’re hoping to partner with. As a Business Developer, one of the essential parts is knowing how to sniff out the business deals that will distract you from your main goal and detect the ones that can take your business to a higher level.
Building BD at new companies is based on the companies’ goals. Goals can be precise and specific like building a platform to stream movies (like Iroko TV or Netflix) or more broad things like posting images on an app to generate a following, build a brand, advertise or archive pictures (like Instagram). The company goal is the end game, and the responsibility of BD is to bridge the gap. The gap is filled by figuring out which business deals can enable your company to accomplish its goals and above all, how might you bring them closer to their objectives.
Building Relationships
The most important role of Business Development in any company is building and maintaining relationships. Most business developers are similar to salesmen, in the sense that they are good at closing deals, however a salesman would close a deal and move on, business developer will close a deal and focus on cultivating a relationship with the client that can result in more deals and bigger opportunities. The benefits of maintaining relationships with your suppliers and your customers abound, it boosts confidence in your business, helps your brand image, creates more business opportunities, keeps your customers happy and gives you, the business owner a sense of fulfilment.
P.S. Want to learn more about how to do Business Development for your business? Drop us an email hello@halisiconsults.com.