Business development feedback is an important part of the work winning process. A proactive business developer quickly becomes the critical conduit of information flowing into and out of any organization. Talking to customers and working with them to understand their perspectives. Communicating with project teams and other stakeholders whilst tracking future projects gives a wide reaching understanding of the market context your company operates within.
Ultimately, the business developer becomes the hub of customer and market information and, by extension, the company expert on these things. There is no other person in your organization as qualified to be the channel for this information.
Of course, collecting market information and using it to create actions in the tactical action plan is essential, but the real gold is when this information is fed back to the wider organization. Understanding changes in customer behaviour informs the strategic decisions if your business is going to adapt to the market.
This adaptive feedback loop works best when valuable information is passed to the strategic decision makers who can adapt company practice in response. This is vital in maintaining company flexibility in a world where markets are disrupted with alarming regularity.
I believe the three secrets of feedback success to be What, Who and Where. In todays post I discuss secret #1: what to feed back.
The What of Business Development Feedback
A successful business developer is out in the market every day, gleaning real customer, competitor and industry information. Additionally they are adjusting the must-win matrix and tactical action plan based upon their findings. But this information must go beyond the business development team.
For people to listen, you need to discern what information you share. Keeping it relevant and strategic in nature. Not sharing whether Company X is buying thirty widgets, but rather, what the larger trends with bigger implications are. For example, why is Company X buying the widgets, and how might it affect your organization?
Consider feeding back the following intelligence:
Customer Feedback
Understanding how your offering is perceived, both the good and bad, is crucial. Particularly important are any trends in the feedback. Has there been a string of complaints around a certain offering, or has one of the project teams been getting praised by numerous clients? This information allows leadership to determine if any changes need to be made. Of course changes can be positive. Perhaps leading to a doubling down on your company strengths.
Market Trends
What trends are you seeing in the market? Which ones are your customers and industry stakeholders discussing? Considering how these my impact future sales and customer buying behaviors is squarely in the remit of the business developer? Give this serious thought. Of course wider changes in legislation, technology and employee behaviour are also crucial insights for every business.
Customer Trends
Are your customers showing any significant trends at the moment? Is an upcoming merger or restructure likely to change their buying behaviour, and what will the impact look like?
Competitor News
Keeping an eye on the competition is important. What are your major competitors doing? Who are they targeting, and what is their pricing strategy? Are they displaying competitive behavior? For example, dropping prices. Have they changed how they do things? How are they responding to your behaviours and success?
What might this mean for your business?
Opportunity News
There will always be large opportunities that are sitting over the horizon. But you must be tracking these. What action is needed to position your team for a future win? Who do you need to start building relationships with? Are there other divisions in your organisation to ally with to improve winning potential. Tracking these opportunities are key to attaining long term revenue growth.
Summary
As you can see this information goes beyond the regular day-to-day sales transactions. Instead looking at the sales ecosystem through a broader strategic lens. Disseminating this data to the wider team is vital so that, collectively, your company can adapt and thrive.
Consider which types of information would be most beneficial to your business and commit to collecting and sharing the information now.
I will be posting further articles on this topic in which we will explore the who and where of providing business development feedback.
Business development feedback
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For a definition of business development you can check out my take in this post here.
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