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Effective Business Development is the lifeblood of any company, but for a small business it really can mean the difference between success and failure...
People have very different ideas when it comes to the definition of 'business development' - some will tell you it's sales, others will say relationships. "It's all about partners" some will claim. The truth is, unless you do it well and thus ensure your company’s health, the definition is largely irrelevant.
Gary C. Wendt, the former Chairman of GE Capital, famously made the topic of business development number one on the agenda of every senior level meeting.
Managers were asked to demonstrate the revenues they had created from businesses that did not exist five years before. Wendt’s consistent attention to entrepreneurial business growth is generally held to be pivotal in GE Capital's growth from a $300 million portfolio to a financial services behemoth with $250 billion in assets under management.
In order to achieve some clarity on this subject, we turned to our very own 'BizDev' guru, Ren Kapur MBE, the Founder and CEO of X-Forces Enterprise and a lifelong entrepreneur with 30 years experience in the field. Ren shared the following top tips:
- Understand what it is that you're solving - is your business solving the customer’s problem or is it providing something that will give them pleasure?
- Make it a brighter experience - if you truly want to have an impact on your customer, go the extra mile to put a smile on their face.
- Give something back - Ren has made it a priority over many years to share her knowledge and experience with younger people, thus raising aspiration levels and providing enterprise education.
- Start building your network and never stop. Or, as XFE Ambassador and owner of The Afghan Rug Shop, James Wilthew, recently put it - never forget that your network is your net worth.
- Not every meeting is a sales opportunity. Many years ago, Ren devised the '15 meetings rule' whereby she would budget for 15 meetings for the launch of a new product or business. This rule centres on the philosophy that not every meeting has to feature a sales pitch - instead, these conversations can be exploratory, function as information or intelligence gathering operations, and offer the opportunity to ‘get involved with excellence.'
Ren shared the above thoughts - in greater depth - with a large and enthusiastic group of entrepreneurs at a recent Military in Business® networking session.
These evening events present the opportunity for members of the Armed Forces business community to connect with like-minded individuals and hear from invited guest speakers, all experts in their respective fields.
