Business Opinions: You grow or you die!

When you are developing a town you don’t just start selling space in there and look for people to move in. It is more complex than that. You first make the place better and assure that already existing inhabitants have no reason to leave. Add value to the place, build parks, roads, get partners to open restaurants and entertainment centers or what people would like to find there. It is the same with your business. Growing your business is more than producing more and trying to sell more.

            Most of the time business development is confused with getting more sales but when you only get more sales you have the same business with more customers. That is not development that is just increased sales numbers and maybe more profit.

            Actually business development is more complex than that, so complex that there are so many ideas about what it is about, from increased sales to strategic partnership. But keeping it simple, business development is the mechanism of creating long term value for the company from customers, markets and relationships. They all have to work together in order to achieve long term goals. So you see, business development is about sales, about partnerships and about hustling so everyone is partially right defining it but in reality to do it better you have to pay attention to all of them.

            When you talk about long term value we actually refer to money, cash flow. Of course there are strategies to make quick money but your goal is to stay in the game for a long period of time and grow not just catch a big fish and go home. You have to identify the correct strategy so that you can keep cash flow coming and grow from a mountain spring to a big river. You have to commit and work hard but the rewards are worth it.

            Customers are an important part of your strategy and for an obvious reason, they pay the bills. When you start your company not everyone is a natural customer and some of them will never be a customer. You have to reach your customers and increase the customer pool through different channels because without customers you don’t have a business to develop. Choose them right and don’t waste time.

            New markets are also a great way for developing a business. The current market will not last forever so at some moment in your business’ life you have to set your sights on different ones. Markets are defined by demographics, geography, lifestyle or buying cultures so going into a new market is not easy. But if you play your cards right you will have a new and fresh group of customers that will definitely increase your sales and help develop your business. But please understand that you have to adapt your products to the new market. You cannot sale the same car in Germany and in England because the drive on the other side of the road there.

            Last part of the definition mentions relationships, partners and this means you will have an exponential growth because more people will work for the same goal. Partners can be your customers, you make them happy so they spread the word about your good products or services and bring business. A good partner can be your supplier; he is interested in his development so he will help you grow so he can grow alongside you. And of course good partners are your resellers; they help you reach new markets easier, promote your business like it was their own and even bring quality input regarding your strategies. I worked in the advertising production industry for some years and I always tried to follow this steps. You want to have as partner a big advertising agency because they already have 10-15 customers you don’t have to run after. The suppliers always want their money but if you show him your future plan of development and how he can grow he will understand most of the time.

            Successful business development is a combination of negotiation, marketing, sales, networking and project management. You need to keep all this in check and balanced. The process works if all the micro processes involved are working well. Inside the company there is also a need of great communication between the business development department and various departments involved at different stages. This means that the person creating your business development strategy is not doing sales, and marketing and networking at the same time, it means he works together with those departments but has the freedom to influence the direction the company is going.

            You grow or you die sounds so dramatic but unfortunately for those who think they are fine just where they are now it is true. If you are satisfied with your place in the market and the customer base and sales you do now just think that your competition is not. If you are a small plant in a young forest for a period of time you will be ok, you still get some sun, water and nutrients from the ground, but in time all those small trees around you grow. At this moment they will block your sun, get more and more from the nutrients in the ground and they will not let you live anymore. Maybe you still remember all those neighborhood small stores, opened at the ground floor of apartment buildings, they were doing just fine but didn’t have the power, vision or financial tools to grow and at this moment they are almost extinct.

            Please don’t make that mistake of thinking you’re doing just fine, grow, fight and improve your business. Take all the opportunities you get and make the most of it!