During my time as an environmental consultant the key business driver was billable hours. This is true in many professional services companies. Failing to meet the minimum number of billable hours results in scrutiny from the leadership team. Consequently consultants always prioritize billable hours.
Business development should be considered billable hours.
This results in business development activity being treated as a nice to have, rather than an essential part of the working day. Until companies value non-billable time on business development activities work winning will always suffer at the expense of chargeable work. This results in the classic feast and famine cycle experienced by most consultants. Everyone is too busy to do BD work until the work dries up. Panic sets in and there is a mad scramble for work. Until everyone is too busy again and the cycle repeats itself.
In this post I explore the dangers of working this way and a couple of things to consider to avoid the dangers of feast and famine in the future.
The Dangers of a Billable Hour Only Focus
Unwittingly working with a feast or famine model is extremely detrimental to your work winning effort. Instead of developing a consistent pipeline of work you end up scrambling for opportunities only when your current workflow is running out.
No time is allocated to developing customer relationships. Who is spending time in the market uncovering future opportunities? Identifying new customers is being left to chance. There is no system, no repeatable daily activity and no plan.
Consequently, when you are hunting for work the pressure to fill the pipeline creates an air of desperation. Nothing is more off putting to a potential customer.
Business Development Hours are Worth More Than Billable Hours
As we’ve seen above a feast or famine mindset really stifles a consultancy’s growth. The unending focus on billable hours prevents the business development activity from reaching any level of momentum. Arguably hours spent on winning work are much more valuable than billable hours.
What other activity creates a stable pipeline of projects and business? How else can you strategically identify and pursue new customers and activities? Who else is going to be developing long lasting trust based relationships with your customers? Your competitors, that’s who!
Growth and stability do not happen on their own.
Allocate Enough Business Development Hours
Placing value on the business development function of your business is crucial. Not just when you need it but consistently and systematically. Either allocate enough time to staff members who show an aptitude for the discipline. Or better yet hire a strategic business developer who can create the links between the market, customers and business.
Don’t just allocate the business development responsibility to the most senior staff members. My experience has shown me that many high end engineers and scientists are not interested. Empower staff who want to be out there bringing the work in and give them the tools to succeed.
Next Action
If you want to give your team the tools they need to create consistency and repeatability in their work winning, I can help. For a simple framework to base your business development activity around I recommend checking out my new book Business Development Begins Here. You can order it from Amazon by clicking the pic below.
If you are looking to get your business development processes squared away right now, download my free BD checklist below. This gives you the actions needed to create a system around your work winning, turning it into repeatable action and results.
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If you want a more proactive and personal approach to your business development I am available to help. Through face to face video calls I’ll set you on the right path and keep you accountable to future activity. I currently have space on my 1on1 personalized coaching program. To learn more click the button below.