4 Tips to Level Up Your Business Development

Written by Rob Malec

www.robmalec.com

Chances are that you have been working for years to get your company to its current level of annual revenue generation. Now, you want to double that number in just one year. Where do you start? The short answer is to focus on increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of your business development.

As a Fractional VP Sales and Sales Coach, I’ve helped several companies achieve this growth goal. For this to become your reality, your revenue generation engine must be built to fill the sales funnel and move deals through it to closure.

What is the Role of Business Development in a Company?

Setting up the business development function is the key to transforming your business into a revenue-generation machine. Business development in this context means all processes related to filling the top of the sales funnel with quality leads that have a high probability of converting into paying customers. This includes researching new market opportunities, attracting new clients, making sales projections, and more.

How to Improve Your Business Development Efficiency and Effectiveness

Here are 4 simple yet effective ways to level up your business development.

Business Development Tip 1: Invest in SEO Optimization

By now, all business owners have heard about the importance of SEO optimization even if they have not yet harnessed its power. SEO optimization is the first place to start for business development because it takes at least 12 months to get your website found by your target audience.

This is a long-term strategy but will ultimately become the most cost-effective way to ensure that your potential customers find you when they need you. After all, your website works for you 24/7 while you sleep to bring you leads.

Business Development Tip 2: Choose Your CRM Wisely

Once SEO optimization is underway, turn your attention to your CRM. The CRMs on the market today have all manner of plug-ins and outbound marketing tools that will help you reach out to prospects effectively and efficiently.

If you are not currently using a CRM, select one that will help you meet your goals. If you are using a CRM, confirm that it will continue to serve you well in the future. There are countless options, so choose wisely.

Business Development Tip 3: Compile a Lead List and Develop a System for Contacting Them

Purchasing lead lists for outbound lead generation is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Web scraping tools like ZoomInfo allow you to build quality lead lists that are current and accurate. As with CRMs, there are many options, so choose wisely.

With your lead list in hand, work with your sales team to set the cadence and content for reaching out to prospects. Create email templates and use email marketing automation to reach out to them electronically before making any phone calls. This way you are making warm calls rather than cold calls. Use workflow automation within your CRM to set up task reminders and lead scoring so that every lead is given is chance to convert into a viable deal opportunity.

Business Development Tip 4: Use KPIs to Track Weekly Performance

Finally, set and track key metrics for measuring and improving business growth. Do this by assessing weekly targets against appropriate business development KPIs. Managing these numbers as important as it leads to iteration and process improvement, which will ultimately lead to a fuller sales funnel.

Some examples of common business development KPIs include deals won (broken down by repeat clients vs. new clients, geographic locations, market sectors, and more), customer retention rates, and customer acquisition cost, among others. Select the KPIs that make the most sense for you.

There is a great depth of detail to work through when setting up your business development function. If you would like to discuss specifics around how to do this, I would be happy to help. Please feel free to reach out to me directly.