As mentioned in my previous posts this blog is all about back to basics business development. As such I want to explore some of the concepts that will form the foundation of the BD process. The first cab off the rank is the Sales Ecosystem. A Sales Ecosystem is much like a natural ecosystem in that all the components are interlinked and changes to one will have impacts on the others. Navigating this ecosystem is a key part of the business development professional’s role. The figure below shows a simplified diagram of the Sales Ecosystem’s components and those interactions that are important to the business development role.
Components of the Sales Ecosystem
- Business
- The organisation that produces the product or service that the business developer represents. This can be thought of as the organism surviving and growing within the ecosystem.
- Industry
- The wider industry or industries that the company and customers operate within. Examples could be Mining, Financial Services, Real Estate, Civils, and Construction etc.
- Market
- The area in which the industry operates, usually signified by geography but can be broader. This can be considered the broader environment containing multiple industries.
- Customers
- Companies and individuals with a need to purchase the product/service. These could be existing or prospective in nature. The revenue from the customers is the sustenance that the company needs to survive. This revenue is contested by the competitors in the system.
- Competitors
- Competitors are those companies and organisations that are competing with you for customer revenue.
- Stakeholders
- Other organisations and individuals that play within the industry and market. These can take the form of strategic partners, competitors, suppliers, influencers, consultants, and government regulators. This group can be thought of as the web of other organisms competing for space and resources within the ecosystem.
Call to Action
Understanding the different components of the Sales Ecosystem can help the business developer visualise the position of their organisation within the market place allowing planning and action to be undertaken within this broader context.
My call to action for you is to have a think about each part of the Sales Ecosystem for your situation. Who sits within each? Do you have contacts within each? We will be exploring different parts of this ecosystem in future posts.
How do you visualise the space your company operates in? Let me know in the comments below.
Next week we’ll be discussing the Sales Funnel.