Why business development might not be developing your business

Posted on 18th August 2016 by Streets What's trending?


Image to represent Why business development might not be developing your business

There seems to be a growing trend to recruit Business Development people, whilst previously such roles where more typical of the larger business or corporate entity, more and more small enterprises are looking to fulfil such vacancies.


It does seem though that the success of such roles are varied to say the least, often with appointments being short lived, the result of expectations not being met or results not being delivered. The impact to an organisation can be costly in terms of loss of time and money.

What then can be done to improve the success of your organisation’s Business Development and the role of a Business Development person?

Perhaps the starting point is having a clear appreciation as to what Business development means strategically and then what is required of or by a person undertaking that role.

In essence Business development is the strategic process whereby an organisation is looking at growth opportunities to expand their business activities, with opportunities being assessed for their viability in terms of the organisation’s overall objectives, resources, capabilities and capacities.  

Once such opportunities have been assessed and a number shortlisted for development then the next stage is to develop a plan or campaign to exploit the opportunity.  The task of implementing the plan and realising the opportunities is invariably one of an account manager, sales person or business development person. The role of the person being to take the product or service and to engage with target customers and generate revenue for the business.

Given this logical process and clear indication as to the roles of those in the organisation around business development, where does it go wrong? There are a number of reasons which include:

  1. The Board’s or Senior Management team’s inability to assess and evaluate business opportunities, with little time, resources or depth given to the process. In some cases there is even no due process; in fact the idea is a whim or knee jerk reaction with no commercial thought process.  The outcome is a poor and often unrealistic assessment of the opportunity.
  2. Given a failure to assess the opportunity, then all too often the plan to realise the same is typically set to fail too. In many cases such plans lack detail and depth with little or no detail on how sales are to be generated and a lack of detail of the target market, sales forecasts, marketing activities, timescales and costs.
  3. The person charged with generating the orders, given the first two points, is set to fail or fall short of expectations even if they are good at the job or the right person for the job.  As with any appointment successful recruitment starts with a clear understanding of the role to be fulfilled along with the skills, expertise and experience required. Certainly a proven track record is a minimum in appointing a Business development person.
  4. The ability of any business development person to deliver, their skill set and track record aside, is then often dependent upon clear and defined management outcomes and management process.  Not untypically such failure to deliver is the result of role ambiguity/uncertainty, lack of targets and poor or no supervision. A situation often compounded by a lack of a robust eco-system and whole of business approach to the role of business development, with poor integration of marketing, production, service delivery business process and customer fulfilment.

In summary the appointment of a Business Development person, even if they’re good is not necessarily going to develop your business without a detailed plan for the development of the business. In essence the two areas are inextricably linked.


No Advice

The content produced and presented by Streets is for general guidance and informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice. Furthermore, it should not be considered a recommendation or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities or other form of financial asset. The information provided by Streets is of a general nature and is not specific for any individual or entity. Appropriate and tailored advice or independent research should be obtained before making any such decisions. Streets does not accept any liability for any loss or damage which is incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of obtaining Streets' visual or audible content.

Information

The content used by Streets has been obtained from or is based on sources that we believe to be accurate and reliable. Although reasonable care has been taken in gathering the necessary information, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information we publish and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions in material. You should always seek specific advice prior to making any investment, legal or tax decisions.


Expert insight and news straight
to your inbox

Related Articles


We are excited to introduce our new Virtual Finance Office service - ViFi

At ViFi, we specialise in providing virtual finance solutions that transform the way businesses manage their finances.ViFi is your virtual finance department, offering comprehensive remote financial services. From day-to-day bookkeeping to proactive financial planning, our team in the UK ensures that you have everything a traditional accountant offers, ...


You might think that your payroll is high now, but it is going to get even higher next April

The first Labour Budget in 14 years was supposedly billed as being one to drive growth, though it is hard to see how this will come about as from next April, businesses face increased costs of employing people with the rise in the national minimum wage to £12.21 ...


The latest in a string of mergers sees us firmly establish a presence in the South West

The announcement follows the merger of the well-established and widely respected Exeter chartered accountancy firm of Bush & Co with ourselves. This latest merger, along with that of the Bristol practice of Streets Steele following a merger only 12 months ago, now sees us firmly establish a presence ...

You might also be interested in...