Strategy For New Business Development – Imagine working for a company without employees dedicated to the growth and development of the company. No one challenging you to improve or telling you about new business opportunities, market changes, what your competitors are doing, or how you can appeal to your target audience more effectively. That’s going to make it pretty hard to succeed, don’t you think? That’s why companies establish business development practices and hire employees to focus on these tasks (among others) to help them grow. Business Development Business Development Representatives BDR Responsibilities Business Development Ideas Business Development Process Business Development Plan Business Development Business development is the process of implementing strategies and opportunities within your organization to promote growth and increase revenue. This includes looking for opportunities to help your business grow, identifying new leads and converting more leads into customers. Business development is closely related to sales – business development teams and representatives are almost always part of the larger sales organization. Although business development is closely related to sales, it is important to note what makes them different. Business Development vs. Sales As mentioned, business development relies on the larger sales team, but performs a different function than typical sales work and responsibilities. Business development is a process that helps your business build and maintain relationships with potential customers, learn about your buyer persona, build brand recognition, and seek new opportunities to drive growth. In contrast, sales teams sell your product or service to customers and work to convert prospects into customers. Business development work simplifies the work of a salesperson or sales manager. Let’s take a closer look at what business development representatives do next – the people responsible for carrying out the various business development tasks. Business Development Representative Business Development Representatives (BDRs) research and establish new strategies, tactics, goals, people and prospects for your business. The goal of all BDRs is to find ways to grow and deliver long-term value to the business. Having the necessary business development skills and experience will help your BDRs carry out all their day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Business Development Representative Responsibilities Although some BDR responsibilities may change over time and as your business grows, the list below will give you a solid understanding of typical BDR duties. 1. Qualify the leads. BDRs must qualify leads and identify ideal leads to determine who they will sell to. Leads are usually qualified through calls, emails, web forms and social media. The key to qualifying leads (leads that are assigned to BDRs as well as leads that BDRs identify themselves) is to look at their needs and then determine if your product or software can be a solution for them. 2. Identify and communicate with prospects. By qualifying leads and finding people who match your buyer personas, BDRs will identify the ideal leads. They can communicate directly with these potential customers to learn more about their needs and pain points. In this way, BDRs can determine whether a prospect will actually benefit from your product or service by becoming a customer. This is important because it increases the potential to improve customer loyalty and retention. Once BDRs have identified the ideal leads, those leads can be passed on to a sales representative on the team (or a sales manager if needed) who can encourage them to close a deal. 3. Proactively seek new business opportunities. Proactively seeking out new opportunities—whether in terms of product line, markets, potential customers, or brand awareness—is an important part of your business success. BDRs seek to find new business opportunities by networking, researching your competitors, and talking to potential and current clients. If a new business opportunity is identified, BDRs should schedule marketing evaluations and discovery meetings with the team’s sales representatives so they can all assess whether or not there is deal potential. 4. Keep up with the competition and new market trends. It is important to stay abreast of your competitors’ strategies, products, and target audiences, as well as new market and industry trends. This will allow you to more effectively identify your ideal prospects. It also helps your business prepare for any market changes that may require a new approach to qualifying leads and engaging your target audience. 5. Report to vendors and development managers. As we’ve reviewed, in most companies, BDRs report to sales reps and sales managers. BDRS needs to communicate with these principals for a number of reasons, such as discussing lead qualification strategies and how to connect prospects with sales representatives to convert them into customers. BDRs should also report their findings (such as business opportunities and market trends) to sales representatives and managers. Communicating this information and working with sales representatives and managers to develop and/or update appropriate strategies for your business and audience is critical to your success as an organization. 6. Encourage satisfaction and loyalty. A BDR interaction with a prospect may be that prospect’s first interaction with your business. So making a good first impression from the start is critical to generating interest early. Whether the BDR is working to qualify the lead, learn more about the lead and its needs, or find the right sales representative to close a deal with them, their interaction with all of your leads is important. Once the BDR searches for or begins interacting with the prospect, make sure he tailors all communications to the prospect. Personalizing all content sent shows them that they are listened to and cared about. These actions are professional and leave a strong impression. Along with understanding how BDRs help you grow, business development insights are another powerful way to engage prospects and identify new business opportunities. We’ll take a look. Business Development Ideas Innovate the way you network. Offer a consultation. Provide sales demonstrations to prospects and customers. Feed the prospects. Offer potential customers multiple types of content. Communicate with marketing. Invest in your website. Challenge your employees to develop and improve their skills. Business development ideas are tactics you can implement to positively impact your business in many ways. They can help you identify your ideal prospects, communicate more effectively, improve your brand awareness, and discover new opportunities. The following tactics are here to get you started—every business and every team is different, which means these ideas may or may not be appropriate for your particular situation. (So you can change the list!) 1. Be innovative in the way you network. It’s no secret that cold calling is less effective than it used to be. Instead, revamp the way you network by building strong relationships with your prospects. You can do this by meeting them in person at conferences, trade shows, or events related to your industry. Also explore your online networks, including LinkedIn and other social sites for potential customers. Connect with people who sign up for your email subscription or fill out other forms on your site. 2. Provision of consultation. Offer consultations and assessments to potential clients. Talking about how your product or service applies to their needs will help potential customers decide whether or not to convert. On the other hand, consultations and reviews can also shed light on why a prospect isn’t a good fit for your product (which is just as valuable because it saves you wasting time maintaining them or having to deal with a disgruntled customer on the road) . 3. Provide sales demonstrations to prospects and customers. Provide your prospects and customers with sales demonstrations so they can see how your product or service works in action. Make sure these demos are customized to show a potential customer or how your product solves their challenge. You can share these demos in person, via email, on your website, or via video chat. 4. Nurture prospects. Be sure to nurture your leads, whether it’s a phone call, email, meeting, or other form of communication. The purpose of lead nurturing is to provide all the necessary information about your product or service so that your potential customers can decide whether or not they want to make a purchase. By nurturing your leads, you’ll be able to customize content about your brand and product so that your prospects can better understand how your product will solve their specific problems. You’ll also be able to show your support for the potential customer and make sure they feel heard and understood by your company. 5. Provide potential customers with multiple types of content. Provide your potential customers with different types of content, such as posts, videos, and social media posts, so they can learn more about your brand and your product or service. It’s best to meet your potential customers where they are and provide them with the content they prefer to read or watch. Make sure all of this content is downloadable and/or shareable so potential customers can send it to their team members to show them why your solution is their best option. 6. Communicate with marketing. Although business development resides in the sales department, this does not mean that internal business development works alone