Tracking Business Development: A Three-Step Process

Ask any business leader about a primary concern, and you will find that business development is at or near the top of the list. It makes sense. It is difficult to sustain business success without a robust process for finding and securing new customers. No client, no matter how satisfied or “loyal” is assured of staying around forever. Transitions happen as people and organizations are subject to change at a moment’s notice. New business development is not an option but a necessity.

So, it should naturally follow that this essential business process would be organized into a highly functioning, repeatable process. Not necessarily. Many organizations deploy business development in a haphazard, ad hoc or fragmented way with the ultimate responsibility for bringing on new customers delegated solely to the sales team. There’s a better way.

Business development can best be thought of as a three-step process: lead generation; careful review, analysis, and assignment of leads; and finally, customer contact, engagement, and procurement. These three steps, though fully integrated, stand alone as separate disciplines and how and where they are ideally assigned. First step, lead generation is a marketing activity. Step two, rationalizing and assigning leads is a sales leadership function. The third and final step is securing the actual sale itself. Each of these are best done by separate team members, each highly functioning and focused on their individual part of the process. That is, a marketing specialist who understands the lead generation process, a sales leader who has intimate knowledge of the unique capabilities and interests of individual members of the sales team and the salesperson. However, that’s not usually how it goes.

In most cases, one person, the salesperson, is given the responsibility of all three of these steps. While some successfully navigate this complex and demanding process, most do not, leaving both the individual and the business disappointed and frustrated.

While it may seem a painful and expensive move to have three separate staff functions enhanced by a robust and fully applied CRM, this allocation of resources and people is often proven to be the best investment a business can make in adding new customers to its roster.

For more information on structuring and planning for success, contact me at joe@ajstrategy.com.