Tips for a Successful Business Development

Bill Zanker, one of the founders of the Learning Annex [and a colleague of mine when we worked at Dreamlife, a Tony Robbinsventure], cooked up an interesting promotion to spread the word about his company and bring in new business whereby he and a teacher from the Learning Annex would make their way to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building and toss $10,000 in checks and dollar bills, some of which had labels affixed that said “The Learning Annex Loves New York”,  to the street.

Then, there are the ad agencies participating in the AMC show, The Pitch. AMC’s official The Pitch show site says, “AMC’s original series The Pitch offers viewers an intense, gripping, never-before-seen glimpse inside America’s top ad agencies. Each week watch two agencies as they compete to win a new client the only way they can: by going head-to-head in a cut-throat, winner-takes-all showdown, a presentation known as The Pitch.” I’m not a big fan. I can only surmise that execs from these participating agencies figure appearing on the show is a great way to give their brands a platform for exposure – and new business, despite the obvious downside if they lose [or worse yet, completely crash and burn].

Of course, there are countless approaches to getting new business in the hopper, limited only by your marketing and business development imagination. But how is it that certain organizations are able to bring in business by the wheelbarrow, and properly serve that business at a profit, while others consistently struggle with business development and execution, binging and purging resources as their revenues ebb and flow?

Failure’s Easy. Success Takes a Little Work.

I’ve been thinking about this lately and wanted to share some of the keys that have worked for me in establishing a foundation that supports highly successful business development and execution [I'd love to add your items to this list, so please take a minute or two and leave a comment]:

• Clarity of Purpose: Business leaders in successful, thriving companies have a clear understanding of what their organizations do and what the business strategy is – and how each and everyone within that business [individually and collectively] will bring that strategy to fruition through thoughtful and focused execution.
• Organizational Competency: Those same leaders geteveryone involved in the business following the same roadmap to success, ensuring that everyone understands what the organization does and what the business strategy is; it’s not a secret that’s just for leadership to know.
• Individual Value:  Smart leaders within top performing businesses take the time educate and ensure that each and every person inside the organization knows precisely what their individual role is and their value in making the business strategy a reality.
• Team Building: Like Lee Iacocca, they hire smart people, pay them really well, make sure they’re onboard with the second and third bullets, then turn them loose; successful leaders get out of the way and let their people do their job. After all, that’s why they were hired.
• Ownership: Kick-ass organizations consistently give their people ownership of complex business and marketing problems [and the outcomes] along with plenty of room to experiment and make mistakes. This approach makes everyone more confident, much smarter…and most important, more valuable to the organization and to themselves.
• Communication: Highly functioning companies, and the people who make them that way, communicate like crazy – consistently managing expectations, assigning and accepting responsibility and providing feedback as often as humanly possible…both inside and outside the organization.
• Authenticity: They don’t reinvent the company [or their pitch] every time they speak with a prospective client. They know that having a solid understanding of who you are and what you believe as an organization goes a long, long way toward building great relationships and the subsequent trust [and revenue] that comes along with the best ones.
• Action: Successful business development springs from activity, which breeds more activity. Top performing organizations know that keeping the hopper full means working smarter, not necessarily harder [or longer hours]. Smart biz dev leaders don’t just reactively respond to RFPs, they proactively create new opportunities by identifying companies that live in their sweet spot, reaching out and establishing an initial dialog that often leads to deeper conversations…and new business.

And once these kick-ass companies earn the business, they try hard not to lose it. They’re very much about the long-term, consistent revenue that’s the result of solid relationships [and solid deliverables], so they focus a lot of time and effort on relationship-building – not only when they’re trying to get a deal signed, but every minute of every day once the ink is dry.

Keep in mind that the definition of a “good relationship” doesn’t necessarily translate into blindly saying “yes” to every request a client has [at least not before thoroughly reviewing it to be sure it's within scope and the organization has the proper resources to deliver the required results on time and within budget] or doing work for free. Smart leaders, and their teams, know that they’re in business to make money – you know, to ‘profit’ – just like their clients. They’re fair and honest about how they work and bill and understand that an educated, empowered client is their best customer [nod to Sy Syms].

Profit and The Laws of Physics – You Can Bend Them, But You Can’t Break Them

The concept of doing business to make a profit is why everyone, on both the agency and client side, should go to great lengths to embrace what my buddy Drew Harteveld, VP of Digital Operations atMartha Stewart Living Omnimedia, calls the “Laws of Physics”. Drew’s a digital product and project manager extraordinaire and the “Law of Physics” he refers to is also known in project management circles as the “Triple Constraint“. As far as I’m concerned, it’s more than just the project management triangle. It’s the foundation of all solid, fair and profitable business relationships. Here’s why:

The figure above is a loose representation of the Triple Constraint. For the purposes of this discussion, we’re making the labels of the points of the triangle scope, time and money [or "scondolies", as I like to call it]. You’ll notice the plus and minus signs after each label; that’s because clients [all consumers, really] always want things that are loaded with features [+], delivered in the least amount of time [-] for as little expense [-] as possible! The circle in the center area of the triangle above represents the ideal engagement; the scope, timeline and scondolies are all pretty manageable. If you’re seeing engagements like this on a regular basis, let me know – we’re going to Vegas.

The scenario above is where the client has told you they need the deliverable[s] as fast as possible. As you can see, when you reduce the time to delivery, you also have to decrease the scope. The cost of the deliverable[s] go up  and you’ll likely need more resources to pull it off faster. The circle has moved toward less time and away from lower cost and more scope.

In the figure above, the client wants the cheapest deliverable possible. However, as you can see, moving the circle toward less cost [I mean less scondolies] means the time to deliver increases while the scope/features are greatly reduced.

Here, the client wants a feature-rich deliverable. Since the circle is now firmly in the “more scope/features” corner, the client will have to understand that the cost will be high and the time to deliver will be long.

Everyone’s Got to Get Paid

We all know the realities of running a business – clients want it all! Low cost, lots and lots of scope/features…and they want it tomorrow. As a consumer, I want that, too. However, I understand that the guy renovating my kitchen’s got to get paid. If I’m asking for additional features, products and/or services that are not within the scope of the original agreement, I’m going to have to pay for them. Clearly, my contractor isn’t going to foot the bill. If he doesn’t get paid for his work and materials, his business will tank.

I bet that sounds pretty intuitive, right? Shouldn’t the same approach also apply to agencies and the way they work with their clients? The interesting thing is that in just about every organization that’s having issues keeping a  business alive, the “Laws of Physics” [and the bullets listed above] are likely being ignored. Completely. Consistently.

A World of [Business Development] Opportunity

Granted, it can be tough to keep a business viable and profitable in these crazy times, especially at an agency where standard product and service offerings have been all but completely commoditized. But the right approach to business development and execution translates into a world of opportunity – and it’s just waiting for you, while your competitors continue to try to figure it all out…and continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

Poor economy or not, your clients still have to do what they’ve always done – conduct business and generate revenue. That means they need your services and products, traditional and otherwise. So, consider refining your business development thinking, strategies, processes or tactics, products or service – or all of it, if necessary, and get out there and fill that hopper with new business prospects.

There’s never been a better time for success.

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What about you? What are your keys to highly successful business development and execution ? Share your feedback below – please leave a comment.