Business Growth
What is Business Development?
Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships.
There is elegance in simplicity, but perhaps this definition leaves you wanting more. At its heart, business development is all about figuring out how the interactions of those forces combine together to create opportunities for growth.
We can advise you on all aspects of business development:
- Long-Term Value
- Customers
- Markets
- Relationships
- Innovation
Long-Term Value
It’s about creating opportunities for that value to persist over the long-term, to keep the floodgates open so that value can flow indefinitely. Thinking about business development as a means to creating long-term value is the only true way to succeed in consistently growing an organization.
Customers
They are the people who pay you for your products and services, and without them you won’t have any business to develop. But not everyone is a natural customer for your business. Maybe your product doesn’t have the features I’m looking for. Maybe your product is perfect, but I don’t even know your company sells it. Or maybe you’re not reaching me because you’re not knocking on my door.
Markets
Customers “live” in specific markets that are defined by their demographics, lifestyles, and buying mindset. Identifying opportunities to reach new customers by entering into new markets is one important gateway to unlocking long-term value.
Relationships
Building, managing, and leveraging relationships that are based on trust, respect, and a mutual appreciation of each other’s value is fundamental to enabling the flow of value for the long-term. Relationships with partners, customers, employees, the press, etc. are all critical to the success of any business development effort and as such they demand a bold-faced spot in any comprehensive definition of the term.
Innovation
What is innovation?
Innovation means coming up with new ways to do things. You can change processes or create more effective products and ideas. Innovation can help you save time and money. It’s also key to your business developing a competitive advantage and creating a culture of innovative thinking and problem solving.
Innovate in your business
Your business can be innovative without actually inventing something new. Innovation can be:
- changing your business model
- adapting to changes in the environment to deliver better products or services
- experimenting with marketing.
