Making it Rain: The Key to Successful Business Development
I am having this conversation with clients. All. The. Time.
How do you make it rain (money, time, leads)?
My Way To Success Series starts with leads. Leads are potential new customers, and how you convert those leads to actual customers will determine your success.
This article is great at pinpointing the HOW of successful lead generation.
It talks about the five types of business-development profiles:
Experts: reluctant business developers. People who share knowledge and use public reputation while assuming others will seek them out as a result.
Confidants: client-centric, responsive, and focused on building a reputation through exceptional work.
Debaters: contrarians with strong opinions that they are not afraid to share. They push clients out of their comfort zones. While this proves successful in B2B sales, it is less successful in professional services.
Realists: pride themselves on transparency and honesty. They are open about costs, benefits, and expected outcomes. They avoid "no-win" situations.
Activators: build networks. They connect with people on platforms, and attend events. They form bonds with everyone across the sector. They seek opportunities to provide value.
Interestingly, when studied, it is the ACTIVATOR that generates the highest performance impact by a LOT. The Expert comes last.
How is the activator so successful?
They commit to business development. This is in their schedule and they make it happen. (Insert Julie harping on her clients to do this).
They build robust networks and mine these for opportunity constantly.
They search for ways to create value and curate conversations about issues and opportunities.
How do you build a team of activators? TRAINING AND COACHING are key components.
While I see my own business development opportunities falling into each of these categories, I personally can improve on "activation" and know that my "Low I" (in DISC terms) and tendency towards introversion make hard-core "activation" more of a struggle. But, I am working on it.
Conveniently, in my network, we will soon be entering the season of events, so colleagues, I will see you there! Let's connect and activate together.
Read on to learn more about "activating" leads through business development.