Business development isn‘t a process dedicated to enterprises and large companies. In fact, as a solopreneur, I’m constantly finding ways to grow my talents, expand my business, and network within my industry.
Doing so has helped me expand beyond being a writer to become a content strategist, project manager, and senior editor. This has opened doors to more opportunities with current and future clients and led to substantial revenue growth.
Business development isn‘t something you do once or twice. It’s a non-stop process that can take your business from doing okay to excelling.
From my experience, the companies that invest time and money into improving their products, customer relationships, and sales techniques outdo competitors that don't.
But how do you go about business development in your organization? That‘s what I’ll discuss today. Stay tuned to learn what it is, how the process works, and the different ways your business can benefit from it.
Table of Contents
- What is business development?
- How Business Development Benefits an Entire Business
- Business Development vs. Sales
- What is a business development representative?
- Business Development Representative Responsibilities
- Business Development Ideas
- Business Development Process
- How to Do Business Development
- Business Development Plan
- Business Development Resources
- Business Development Helps You Grow Better
What is business development?
Business development is the process of implementing strategies and opportunities across your organization to promote growth and boost revenue.
It involves pursuing opportunities to help your business grow, identifying new prospects, and converting more leads into customers. Business development is closely tied to sales — business development teams and representatives are almost always a part of the greater sales org.
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How Business Development Benefits an Entire Business
Business development is more than just a sales function — it’s a strategic approach to driving growth and innovation in every department. For instance, it identifies new opportunities, fosters relationships, and implements growth strategies.
Here’s a look at some different business development areas and how they benefit the business.
Business Development Areas
Sales development can grow your revenue.
Business development can be the bread, the butter, and the knife for your sales team by providing the tools and strategies to drive revenue growth. The number one goal for sales teams is to generate high-quality leads and manage a healthy sales pipeline. This is possible with proper business development.
How does it work?
Business development representatives can implement automation software to pre-qualify leads and nurture prospects, ensuring sales reps focus their energy on the most promising opportunities. This streamlined approach increases conversion rates and shortens the sales cycle.
An example: An insurance brokerage's business development team implemented a lead scoring system. It prioritized inbound leads based on company size, industry, and engagement level. This allowed their sales team to close 20% more deals in one quarter by focusing on the most qualified prospects.
Jessica Bane, operations director at GoPromotional, shared with me how their initiative
to introduce digital marketing tools and automation significantly improved lead generation and conversion rates.
“By targeting potential clients more precisely through data analytics, we increased our qualified leads by 30% and saw a 15% boost in conversion rates. On the cost-saving front, negotiating bulk order discounts with suppliers reduced our production expenses by 10%, allowing us to offer more competitive pricing without sacrificing margins. These efforts collectively led to a notable increase in our bottom line,” Bane says.
Marketing development helps you stand out among competitors.
Marketing without insights. Insights without analytics. Analytics without action. These are bottlenecks commonly found in businesses that lack consistent business development. Whether you're a startup or a Fortune 500 company, having the means to gather data, analyze it, and act upon it is key to driving success.
With access to the right information, marketing teams can develop targeted campaigns that boost engagement and conversions.
How does it work?
Business development representatives conduct thorough market research and foster strategic partnerships to enhance brand visibility and reputation. The market intelligence gathered informs marketing strategies, ensuring campaigns resonate with key buyers. And let's not forget — the partnerships and networking opportunities developed can amplify brand reach and credibility.
An example: A SaaS company's business development team identified a gap in the market for small business accounting software. This insight led the marketing team to create a highly successful campaign targeting small business owners. The end result: a 35% increase in qualified leads.
“There was a time when our data analysis revealed an untapped market segment interested in eco-friendly promotional products,” shares Bane. “I spearheaded a campaign targeting this segment, incorporating sustainable products into our offerings and marketing them aggressively.
Within six months, this initiative brought in several large clients focused on environmental sustainability, boosting our quarterly revenue by 20% and establishing GoPromotional as a leader in eco-friendly promotional products. This success validated the importance of using data-driven insights to drive business development.”
Product development makes your product a must-buy.
Your product or service is your business. If you‘re not consistently improving it, then you’ll fall behind competitors constantly evolving their offers. When this happens, your brand becomes obsolete and risks shutting down. But you don't improve your product with guesswork and intuition. You need strategic business development.
How does it work?
Business development teams do the legwork by gathering customer feedback and identifying new market opportunities. This ensures every product evolution meets changing customer needs and market demands.
Your BDRs are the bridge between customers and the product team, so your business decisions are based on actual market needs, which increases the likelihood of product success.
An example: A fitness app company discovered a growing demand for personalized nutrition plans through customer interviews conducted by the business development team. This led to creating a new feature that increased user engagement by 40% and reduced churn by 15%.
Customer service development builds lasting relationships.
Happy customers, happy life. At least, that’s the way it goes for companies that want to stay in business. To achieve this, you must prioritize improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. In other words, providing support to the customer service team so they can deliver exceptional experiences. A dedicated business development team can help here.
How does it work?
BDRs maintain strong relationships with key clients and implement retention strategies, which reduce churn and increase customer lifetime value (CLV).
Real-world example: A B2B software company's business development team implemented a quarterly business review program for key accounts. It involved connecting with customers after a set period to check in on their progress and offer support. This proactive approach to relationship management resulted in a 25% increase in customer retention and a 30% boost in upsells.
Human resources development attracts top talent.
The best employees are smart, proactive, and courteous. They're key to building memorable customer experiences and contributing great ideas for operational and product improvement. But you need to attract these individuals to your organization.
Business development helps with talent acquisition and employee engagement by supporting the HR team in building a strong, motivated workforce.
How does it work?
BDRs can attend networking and industry events to identify and attract top talent. The same is also possible via virtual events and online communities.
An example: A tech startup's business development team organized a series of industry meetups that generated new leads and attracted skilled developers to the company. This initiative reduced recruitment costs by 30% and improved the quality of new hires threefold.
Another way to help HR attract talent is to focus on employees’ well-being.
“I once made the decision to spend money on an employee health initiative,” shares Irene Graham, co-founder of Spylix. “The concept was straightforward: contented and healthy workers will be more creative and productive.”
Graham’s team began with baby initiatives, such as providing better food alternatives in the cafeteria and gym memberships.
“Then, we included flexible work schedules and mental health resources. It had an incredible effect. Not only did our output skyrocket, but the company's general morale also greatly increased,” Graham says.
Finance development drives growth and manages risk.
Healthy business finances extend beyond filing taxes and budgeting. Unfortunately, 54% of entrepreneurs we surveyed struggle with earning and maintaining finances/money. And another 19% have budgeting challenges. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.
Business development contributes to the financial health of the company by expanding into new markets and generating additional revenue streams.
How does it work?
BDRs can diversify your company's portfolio by discovering new opportunities to mitigate financial risks and ensure sustainable growth.
An example: A manufacturing company's business development team identified an opportunity to enter the renewable energy sector. This strategic move opened up an additional revenue stream and allowed the company to weather a downturn in its traditional markets. The result: a 15% increase in overall revenue.
Operations development optimizes for productivity and efficiency.
Slow customer support ticket management hurts customer experiences. Constant stock-outs disrupt sales. Long patient or customer wait times damage your reputation. These are bottlenecks in your operations that shouldn't exist.
Business development can identify areas for operational improvements and adopt processes to enhance efficiency across the organization.
How does it work?
BDRs understand market demands and internal capabilities, which helps them to strategically allocate resources to high-potential areas. In the end, you have improved overall operational efficiency.
An example: Through market analysis, a logistics company’s business development team identified a growing demand for same-day deliveries. This led to the implementation of a new routing system and optimizing warehouse processes. The result: a 30% improvement in delivery times and a 20% reduction in operational costs.
IT and technology development fosters innovation and convenience.
I know first hand that your operations are only as great as the technologies IT implements. If you have outdated legacy systems slowing down productivity or are missing tools that can speed up workflows, it’ll hurt employee and customer satisfaction rates.
Business development fosters a culture of innovation by exploring new technologies and digital solutions that can enhance business processes and customer experiences.
How does it work?
BDRs collaborate with IT to ensure new systems and technologies seamlessly integrate into the company's operations and are actually adopted by teams to enhance productivity.
An example: A retail company's business development team identified an opportunity to improve customer experience through augmented reality. Working closely with the IT department, they implemented a virtual try-on feature in their mobile app. This led to a 25% increase in online sales and a 40% reduction in return rates.
But you don’t always have to be the one developing the new technology — sometimes, you can partner with others to expand your offering.
“At Netify, we use data from how people use our website and surveys to decide what industries to focus on,” explains Taimur Ijlal, a tech expert and information security leader at Netify.
For example, Ijlal’s team noticed that schools and medical facilities really relied on our cost tools to make purchases involving SD-WAN and firewalls.
“Partnering more with vendors that sell to those fields hasn't just grown our money but also improved how our sales and marketing teams work together to serve those industries better. The insights from developing business teach you a lot for adjusting your strategy moving forward,” Ijlal says.
Business development doesn't help just one department to excel. It looks at the entire organization to find opportunities to build upon strengths and improve weak spots. And it does this all the while meeting common goals and driving sustainable growth.
Although business development closely relates to sales, it’s important to note what makes them different.
Business Development vs. Sales
As I mentioned, business development lives on the greater sales team, yet it serves a different function than typical sales work and responsibilities.
Business development is a process that helps your company establish and maintain relationships with prospects, learn about your buyer’s personas, increase brand awareness, and seek new opportunities to promote growth.
In contrast, sales teams sell your product or service to customers and work to convert leads into customers. Business development-related work simplifies the work of a salesperson or sales manager.
Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of having business development representatives — the people responsible for carrying out the various business development tasks.
What is a business development representative?
Business development representatives (BDRs) seek out and establish new strategies, tactics, targets, employees, and prospects for your business. The goal of all BDRs is to find ways to grow and provide long-term value for the business.
Possessing the necessary business development skills and experience will help your BDRs achieve all of 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 following list will give you a solid understanding of typical BDR tasks.
1. Qualify leads.
BDRs must qualify leads and pinpoint ideal prospects to determine who they'll sell to. Typically, leads are qualified through calls, emails, web forms, and social media.
The key to qualifying leads (both leads assigned to the BDRs and leads BDRs identify themselves) is to consider their needs and then determine whether your product or software could be a solution for them.
2. Identify and communicate with prospects.
By qualifying leads and searching for people who fit your buyer personas, BDRs will identify ideal prospects. They can communicate with those prospects directly to learn more about their needs and pain points.
This way, BDRs can determine whether the prospect will really benefit from your product or service as a customer. This is important because it increases the potential for improved customer loyalty and retention.
Once the BDRs identify ideal prospects, they can be passed along to a team sales rep (or sales manager, if necessary) who can nurture them into making a deal.
3. Proactively seek new business opportunities.
Proactively seeking new opportunities — whether that’s in terms of the product line, markets, prospects, or brand awareness — is an important part of your business’s success. BDRs work to find new business opportunities through networking, researching your competition, and talking to prospects and current customers.
If a new business opportunity is identified, BDRs should schedule marketing assessments and discovery meetings with the team's sales reps to assess whether there’s potential for a deal.
One law firm I spoke to chose to find new opportunities by collaborating with other professional services in its local community.
“As part of an initiative to get our name out there, my assistant at the time spent weeks researching area CPA firms, financial advisors, and the like to see how we could support each other mutually,” explains Benson Varghese, founder and managing partner of Varghese Summersett.
Varghese notes that this approach paid off big. After scheduling joint networking events where the brands promoted each other's complementary services, they both landed new client referrals that turned into substantial cases.
“Even better, it fostered genuinely synergistic partnerships that have strengthened over time,” Summersett says.
And we find the same to be true with other small companies. Word-of-mouth works well, with 61% of entrepreneurs getting new customers from this method. The only thing better is social media, according to 71% of surveyors.
4. Stay up-to-date on competition and new market trends.
It’s important to stay up-to-date on your competition’s strategies, products, and target audience, as well as any new market and industry trends.
This will allow you to identify ideal prospects more effectively. It also helps your business prepare for any market shifts that could require a new approach to qualifying leads and attracting your target audience.
5. Report to salespeople and development managers.
At most companies, BDRs report to sales reps and sales managers. BDRS must communicate with these higher-ups for multiple reasons, such as discussing lead qualification strategies and how to get prospects in touch with sales reps to nurture them into customers.
BDRs also have to report their findings (e.g., business opportunities and market trends) to sales reps and managers. Relaying this information and collaborating with sales reps and managers to develop and/or update appropriate strategies for your business and audience is critical to your organization's success.
6. Promote satisfaction and loyalty.
A BDR's interaction with a prospect may be their very first interaction with your business. So, creating a great first impression immediately promotes interest early on.
Whether a BDR is working to qualify the lead, learning more about the prospect and their needs, or finding the right sales rep to work on a deal with them, their interactions with all of your prospects matter.
Once a BDR researches the prospect or interacts with them, ensure they tailor all communication towards the prospect. Customizing content for them shows they’re listened to and cared for. These actions are professional and leave a strong impression.
In addition to understanding how BDRs help you grow, business development ideas are another powerful way to engage prospects and identify new business opportunities. Let’s take a look.
Business Development Ideas
- Innovate the way you network.
- Offer consultations.
- Provide sales demos for prospects and leads.
- Nurture prospects.
- Provide prospects with several types of content.
- Communicate with marketing.
- Invest in your website.
- Push your employees to expand and refine their skills.
Business development ideas are tactics you can implement to positively impact your company. They help you identify ideal prospects, network more effectively, improve brand awareness, and uncover new opportunities.
The following tactics are here to get you started — every business and team is different, meaning these ideas may or may not be suited for your specific situation. (So, feel free to modify the list!)
1. Innovate the way you network.
It’s no secret cold calls are less effective than they once were. Instead, innovate how you network by establishing strong relationships with your prospects. Do this by meeting with them in person at industry conferences, trade shows, or events.
Browse your online networks, including LinkedIn and other social sites for potential customers, too. Reach out to the people who sign up for your email subscription or complete other forms on your site.
2. Offer consultations.
Offer consultations and assessments to prospects. Discussing the ways your product or service meets their needs will help prospects decide whether they’ll convert.
In contrast, consultations and assessments may show how a prospect is not an ideal fit for your product (which is equally valuable since it prevents you from wasting time nurturing them or having to deal with an unsatisfied customer down the road).
3. Provide sales demos for prospects and leads.
Provide your prospects and leads with sales demos so they can see how your product or service works in action. Ensure to customize these demos to show prospects or leads how your product solves their unique challenge. You can share these demos in person, over email, on your website, or via video chat.
4. Nurture prospects.
Remember to nurture your prospects, whether by phone call, email, meeting, or other mode of communication. The point of lead nurturing is to provide any information needed about your product or service, so your prospects can decide whether to make a purchase.
By nurturing your leads, you can tailor the content regarding your brand and product, so your leads can better understand how your product will solve their specific pain points. You’ll also be able to show your support for the prospect and ensure they feel heard and understood by your company.
5. Provide prospects with several types of content.
Provide your prospects with different content types, such as blogs, videos, and social media posts, so they can learn more about your brand, product, or service.
It’s best to meet your prospects where they are and provide the content they prefer to read or watch. Ensure all of this content is downloadable and/or shareable so prospects can send it to their team members to show them why your solution is their best option.
6. Communicate with marketing.
Although business development lives in the sales department, that doesn’t mean internal business development work only involves other members of the sales team. Host regular meetings and maintain open lines of communication with the departments at your company that impact your ability to succeed, such as marketing and product development.
Think about it this way: Marketing creates content and campaigns for your target audience about how your product or service resolves their challenges. So, why wouldn’t you want to talk to them about the blogs, campaigns, social media posts, and website content they’re creating for the people you’re selling to?
Your reps and BDRs can share any content the marketing team creates directly with prospects to help them convert, as well as inform the marketing team of any content they feel is missing for prospects. If there are projects or campaigns out of your scope, opt to hire a marketing agency to fill the void. But, like your marketing team, they'll need to understand your product and how to connect with your target audience.
7. Invest in your website.
You never get a second chance at a first impression, and many times, your website is exactly that — your prospects' first impression of your brand. So, it serves you to make it as accessible, navigable, visible, and helpful as possible.
Taking strides like making your site visually engaging, connecting your social media profiles, optimizing your site for search engines, linking to collateral like sales content, and maintaining an active blog can go a long way when conducting business development.
8. Push your employees to expand and refine their skills and knowledge.
Business development is never stagnant. Strategy, technology, and market conditions are constantly evolving, so it's best to have your employees stay abreast of these trends.
Anyone involved in your business development should be liable to develop new skills as needed. If your organization adopts any sort of new technology, thoroughly train anyone the change touches on how to use it.
“For us, putting HubSpot into practice changed everything,” shares Markus Schaal, managing director and COO at PLITCH. “Sales were given insights and lead nurturing via personalized journeys increased conversions by more than 30% in the first year, which resulted in a 50% increase in revenue. It was enormous to scale outbound methodically.”
But don’t just stop with tech.
Encourage your employees to learn more about both the nuances of their field and the industries they serve. Is artificial intelligence shifting the dynamics of a specific industry? If so, make the BDRs who serve that market learn all they can about how it may change the nature of the companies they interact with.
Business Development Process
A business development process combines steps your business takes to grow effectively, boost revenue, improve relationships with leads, and more. Your business development team will work on these steps every day. It includes everything related to delighting customers along each part of the buyer’s journey.
By working through your business development process, your team will understand your organization-wide goals, sales targets, current business situation, who your target audience members are, and more.
How to Do Business Development
- Conduct extensive market research.
- Raise visibility and awareness.
- Promote thought leadership.
- Conduct outreach.
- Qualify leads to pass off to sales.
- Provide exemplary customer service.
- Develop sales content from success stories.
1. Conduct extensive market research.
Successful business development rests on your understanding of your market and target personas. If you have no idea who you’re trying to sell to and the state of the market they comprise, you can’t successfully implement any other point on this list.
Study and survey your current customers to see who buys from you. Look into your competition to see where you fit into your broader market. And take any other strides to get a better feel for the “who” behind your successful sales — without that intel, you'll never shape the “how” side of your business development.
2. Raise visibility and awareness.
Business development, as a broader practice, extends beyond your sales org — your marketing department can also play a central role. You can't source a base of potential customers if no one knows who you are.
Actions like constructing an effective website, investing in paid advertising, leveraging social profiles, taking part in co-marketing partnerships with industry peers, and maintaining an active blog can all support successful business development.
3. Promote thought leadership
This point is sort of an extension of the one above. Establishing credibility is one of the most important steps you can take when doing business development. You can't just stop with prospects knowing who you are — they need to trust you to earn their business.
Publishing in-depth, industry-specific blog content is one way to get there. If you can show you have a firm grasp on every aspect of your field, you can frame yourself as a reliable, knowledgeable resource for your customers. That kind of trust often translates to sales down the line. Other media like webinars, white papers, and video content can also help your case.
4. Conduct outreach.
Actively reaching out to prospects is one of the most crucial, traditional elements of business development. You must touch base with prospects if you're going to vet them and ultimately convert them to qualified leads.
You can support this step by proactively, but not aggressively, contacting warm and cold leads. BDRs typically shoulder this responsibility, and for many people, it's the aspect of the process most closely associated with the term “business development.”
5. Qualify leads.
Once your BDRs have connected with leads, they must qualify them to determine their viability and understand whether they‘re worth the sales org’s time and effort. That entails having conversations with leads and asking the right qualifying questions to reveal their fit for your product or service.
This is one of the most pivotal moments in the business development process — in some respects, it’s the last step. Successfully executing this point typically means the process worked.
6. Provide exemplary customer service.
Business development is an ongoing process that involves virtually every side of your business in some capacity — and customer service is no exception. Your service org must keep current customers happy to generate positive word-of-mouth marketing and bolster your company's reputation. That kind of effort offers you credibility and can generate referrals, making business development more straightforward and effective.
7. Develop sales content from success stories.
Another part of business development is translating customer satisfaction into actionable, promotable sales content — pointed, product-specific content that generates sales. While marketing content is for thought leadership and garnering general interest, sales content is used to appeal to potential buyers, who are looking into your company specifically.
Sales content comes in various forms, including case studies and testimonials — two mediums that lean heavily on your current customer base. When you use customers' experiences to generate interest in your business, your business development efforts come full circle.
By compiling these elements of business development and sharing them among your team, you create an actionable business development strategy or plan that encourages and promotes success and growth. Next, let’s review the different steps involved in creating your business development plan.
Business Development Plan
A business development plan is a strategy your team can refer to while working to achieve growth-related goals. Sales managers typically create the business development plan for BDRs to work on.
The purpose of a business development plan (or strategy) is to set realistic goals and targets that allow your reps to grow the business, close more deals, identify prospects, align members of the sales team (and other teams, company-wide), and convert more leads.
1. Craft an elevator pitch.
You can simplify any initial communication with prospects by having an elevator pitch ready to go. This elevator pitch should explain your company’s mission and how your product or service can solve the needs of your target audience. Your elevator pitch should grab the attention of prospects and leads — and get them excited to learn more about what you offer.
Additionally, you can help your team determine which elevator pitches used by BDRs and reps are most successful in converting leads and then document it in your greater strategy so everyone has access to it.
2. Set SMART goals.
Set SMART goals for your strategy — meaning, make your targets specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. By creating SMART goals for your business development plan, you can ensure these goals are aligned with those of your entire company.
For example, if one of your goals is to increase your number of identified qualified leads this quarter by 5%, make the goal specific by determining the type of prospects you’ll focus on and how you’ll identify them.
Then, decide how you’ll measure your success — perhaps by counting the number of prospects who go on to talk with a sales rep to learn more about the product or service.
You determine this goal is attainable because you increased your number of qualified leads last quarter by 3%. Five percent isn’t too much of a leap.
Your goal is relevant because you know it’ll help your business grow — it pushes you to make a greater impact on your team by contributing to the sales team’s ability to close more deals and boost revenue. Lastly, it’s timely because you’ve set this goal for the quarter.
3. Conduct a SWOT analysis.
As mentioned above, part of any role in business development is staying up-to-date on market and industry trends and understanding your competition. This is where SWOT analysis comes in handy — SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The key to using SWOT analysis correctly is having a clear goal in mind first.
For example, if your goal is to determine the best way to handle prospect outreach, you can begin talking to your BDRs, sales reps, sales managers, and current customers about what works best for them.
Next, think about your strengths — what does your business do well? Maybe you have a large support team that provides helpful onboarding for new customers. Or you have several remote reps who can meet face-to-face with prospects in their desired location.
(You may have multiple strengths that make you stand out, so list them all and highlight which have the greatest impact on your customers.)
Now, think about your weaknesses. Are your product’s limited offerings requiring some leads to consider your competition’s product in addition to yours? Is the need for your product growing faster than your production or faster than you can establish a large customer support team to assist your customers?
Onto your business opportunities. Think about where you’re going as a business and what you know you can accomplish. For example, maybe your business recently partnered with another company that can boost brand awareness and attract a broader base of leads and customers.
Lastly, who are your threats? Think about your current competition — who’s producing a product or service like yours and is attracting a similar target audience? Who could become your competition in the future — is there a market gap that another company (new or established) could identify the need for and begin selling?
SWOT analysis allows you to identify ways your company can create opportunities to grow and expand. It also helps you establish new processes to address any weaknesses or threats, such as identifying more qualified leads, efficiently converting prospects into customers, and shortening the sales cycle.
4. Determine how you’ll measure success.
Depending on the SMART goals you created and the SWOT analysis you performed, you’ll also need to decide how you will measure your business development success.
Here are some examples of common business development KPIs that can help you analyze your efforts:
- Company growth.
- Changes in revenue.
- Lead conversion rate.
- Leads generated per month/ quarter/ predetermined time.
- Prospect and customer satisfaction.
- Pipeline value.
- Reach.
5. Set a budget.
Depending on the type of business development goals you set for the team, you may determine you need to set a budget. Consider your resources, the cost of any previous business development strategies you’ve developed, and other important operational line items (what you need, who’s involved, etc.).
Collaborate with the larger team to determine the amount you’re willing to and need to spend on business development to start the process at your company.
6. Always keep your target audience in mind.
Whatever you’re working towards, remember your target audience and ideal prospects. Assess their needs and understand exactly how your business and product or service will meet their pain points.
After all, this audience is the most likely to buy your product. Ensure your plan addresses them and their needs, so your team can convert more of them and grow your business.
7. Choose an outreach strategy.
As we’ve reviewed above, a major business development component is finding new prospects and potential customers. To find new prospects, you’ll need to decide how to perform outreach or connect with these potential customers. Here are some ideas:
- Network.
- Use referrals.
- Upsell and cross-sell.
- Sponsorship and advertisement.
Also, review any expectations or guardrails related to outreach, so your business has only professional and on-brand interactions with prospects.
Congrats! You’ve just completed your business development plan. With your strategy and ideas, your business will skyrocket.
Business Development Resources
1. HubSpot Sales Hub
Best for: Businesses interested in a wide-reaching, one-stop solution
HubSpot Sales Hub includes a suite of resources that enable more focused, effective business development. Features like email templates and email tracking lend themselves to well-targeted, productive prospecting.
Its conversational intelligence capabilities can provide invaluable insight into the “why” behind your BDRs' overall performance — letting you pinpoint the strengths and flaws in key business development elements like your messaging and pain point assessments.
Sales Hub is a dynamic solution that covers a lot of bases for your sales org — including several beyond business development. But that wide range of applications doesn't undermine its utility for BDRs and their managers.
What I like: If you're looking for a solution that addresses almost every component of successful business development, consider investing in HubSpot Sales Hub.
2. Bloobirds
Best for: Businesses interested in keeping BDRs and top-of-funnel activities on track
Bloobirds is a sales engagement and playbook platform that guides SDRs and closing reps in converting more prospects into customers. It partners with your existing CRM — sitting on top of it to make it more functional for the sales team.
What I like: Bloobirds eliminates admin tasks, makes selling more intuitive, and ensures reps follow the best plays with the help of the in-app playbook. The tool also helps sales teams flow through their pipeline, collect crucial data, and create competitive insights.
3. Leadfeeder
Best for: Businesses struggling to generate high-potential leads
Leadfeeder is a powerful resource for enhancing a central element of any business development effort — lead generation. The platform helps you identify high-potential leads by automatically analyzing your website traffic.
The software removes ISP traffic to pin down visitors' companies and gauge interest. It also lets you create behavioral and demographic filters for better-informed, more productive lead segmentation.
Pro tip: Successful business development often leans on your ability to generate high-quality leads — so if you‘re interested in effectively sourcing those contacts, you’ll need to invest in some sort of lead generation software. Leadfeeder is as good a place as any to start.
4. LinkedIn
Best for: Businesses looking for a free way to source leads
LinkedIn is one of the most prominent, practical resources for certain key elements of the business development process — namely, prospecting. The value behind leveraging social media for top-of-funnel sales activities isn't exactly some well-kept secret.
Plenty of business development professionals already use channels like LinkedIn to source, screen, and connect with potential leads. Strides like scrolling through skill endorsements, using alumni searches, and engaging with users who have looked at your posts are all excellent ways to find interested prospects and enhance your business development efforts.
What I like: I already spend so much of my day on LinkedIn. It’s helpful to have a tool that I’m already familiar with and enjoy using in my arsenal.
Business Development Helps You Grow Better
After speaking with multiple companies about their business development, I came away with a few “I told you so's” and an eye-opener.
I was genuinely surprised that more businesses aren’t using the power of collaborative networking. It‘s not just about collecting business cards; it’s about finding opportunities to create mutual value. This revelation has completely transformed how I approach industry events.
Here are my top takeaways:
- Embrace tech to streamline tasks. The right tools can free up valuable time for strategic thinking.
- Network with collaboration in mind. Look for opportunities to work together and create win-win situations.
- Be bold in exploring new markets. It might feel scary, but the potential revenue boost is worth it.
- Invest in your talent's well-being. Happy employees are more productive and creative.
- Let data guide your initiatives. In today‘s data-rich world, there’s no excuse for flying blind.
As I look ahead, I’m excited about the possibilities in business development. And you should be, too. If you want to ensure you keep your biz dev top of mind and maintain sustainable growth, apply these lessons and stay adaptable.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in July, 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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