Job titles continually evolve based on the changing needs of companies. These firms tend to work with private sector companies but also with governmental institutions and nonprofits. Marketing is not ‘selling’, though sales is considered as a part of marketing. Yet, management consulting has long been a booming market with numerous players, both large and small, offering their advice to firms.
From the birth of ideas to early startups, to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who seek second stage growth, and all they way to strategy implementation for corporate giants, many institutions exist to support firms in their business development efforts.
Marketing – Your marketing strategy will have a direct impact on your success. Just as when buying any service, when contracting for professional business development services it is important to have clear deliverables. This is the third stage of a business development.
It’s critical to recognize that a business development team member is going to need to spend time out of the office meeting with companies, going to business events and other functions that may be fruitful in finding and meeting the right business partners, however if you are paying for someone to be at an event then make sure the business cards that are collected get scanned and retained by the company.
Business Development Strategies That Work
What is business development? Many separate workgroups or business units support the BD process, from corporate management to the operations staff to production personnel and administrative staff inside the company, to third party Subject Matter Experts (SME) or professional proposal preparation personnel like those provided by third party consulting firms.
Another dynamic of this is that it can be difficult to admit that sometimes we need help, or it could be that upper management would take a dim view of our abilities if we asked for outside help with our internal processes. Incubators often employ a selective screening process assessing the feasibility and workability of the business plan of incubatee prospects before letting hem join the program.
During this phase, the business require infusion of additional capital to buy capital equipment to increase production (for manufacturing businesses), to establish additional service network (for service providers) or procure more goods for trade (for trading businesses).
Digital Marketing As A Subset Of Business Development Strategies
When it comes to improving the running of your business or building up a solid business from the ground up hiring a firm of business development consultants are a great way of increasing your profits and developing a solid business plan. Large management consulting firms are able to draw from massive reservoirs of overlapping knowledge and expertise in contrast to the more narrowly focused boutique consulting firms, and can offer a single client support on IT, strategy, operational, human capital, and financial issues.
Managing a business development team member is similar to a sales team member in many respects. Hiring a business development person is different than finding a sales person for your team. Overall, boutique consulting firms focus on a limited scope of industries, and resolve business issues quicker than large management consulting firms that require more time for a specific project.
With the development and constantly-expanding use of the Internet, many entrepreneurs are finding it easier to tap their potential market, and market their products and services to customers across the globe. There are both niche specialists targeting specific business needs and generalists taking a 360° view of the firm and its strategy and objectives.
Business Development Steps And Strategies
Business development requires a multi-disciplinary approach and there is no ‘one size fits all’ strategy. In essence, a second stage accelerator bears a strong resemblance to traditional management consulting firms, but adjusted to fulfill the needs of SME’s. A consultant brings fresh perspective, yes, but they also bring to you a proven track record of helping businesses like yours.
While a business development expert can always play the role as sales person the opposite is not always true. Examples of niches in which boutique consulting firms operate include human resources and staffing, IT, healthcare, business process outsourcing, and accounting.
Strategic Management For Business Development
In the almost 30 years that I’ve worked as a CPA, I’ve had the opportunity to see businesses go on to achieve amazing results in the marketplace and for their community and for the owners. The business accelerator’s emphasis is on accelerated and sustainable growth, and to eliminate organizational, operational, and strategic bottlenecks that prevent the client firm from growing. Lately, the internet and social media has created a huge number of marketing job opportunities.
In many cases this role is a liaison between sales, marketing, procurement, and management. It might be hard to decide if and when to use various business development services. For example, life science and other firms with R&D cycles require more time in an incubation program service companies.
With the help of the business development plan you can monitor the progress of all the current programs and evaluate the efficacy of your future endeavors.