Prior to accepting a business development role it is important to get clarity on what supporting resources are available. You don’t want to find yourself striving to meet aggressive revenue winning targets with no backup. Make sure to get certainty on the following core resources.
Resources Checklist
Budget. How much money can the business development function access, and what are the allowances for marketing. This is critical if the business development component comprises only one part of your role. How is your time split between business development and your other role elements?
Personnel. Does the business development function contain staff? Define their roles. Identify any additional personnel with hours assigned to assist with administration, proposal writing, customer visits, customer relationships, quoting etc.
Access to marketing. Does the marketing function give you any access to their resources? Determine any guidelines and requirements around the marketing direction desired. What are the policies on social media?
Access to market research/intelligence. Is there systematic market research and intelligence that you can access. If not, think about where the intelligence for your industry comes from and consider ways to acquire it. Engaging an external provider, subscriptions to trade journals or attendance to industry conferences and networking events are all viable. But, are resources available to access these.
Departmental business development meetings. Determine whether the wider team hold business development meetings. If they don’t, are they be willing to start.
Interdepartmental business development meetings. Does the organisation systematically discuss business development? How do business units work together in pursuit of opportunities? Consequently, is there an opportunity to take the lead in implementing regular interdepartmental conversations.
A Seat in the Leadership group. Establish whether the business development function input into the leadership of the business. This is critical if the company is to adjust quickly to changes in the market and customer base. If it doesn’t, you will need to prioritise the leadership team as part of your stakeholder engagement and keep them informed on relevant opportunities and progress.
Resource Gaps
Having looked at the core resources you need to draw a conclusion. Are there enough to support the business development and expectations. Subsequently, noticeable gaps must be filled. Where you can beg, borrow or buy the additional assets to plug them. For example, there may be resources from other teams that you can borrow. Younger team members can assist. In exchange, they gain experience and skill in business development which can be hard to come by early in their career.
Likewise, outsource some of the market research by using the gig economy through websites like www.fiver.com or www.upwork.com. There are lots of options available that don’t need full time staff.
Gaining access to adequate resources may require a robust conversation with the leadership team. Remember, the leadership only allocates resources when an adequate return on effort and spend is clear. Make a case around why the resources you need add value to the business development process. Define how each one is going to increase revenue income. For instance, it can be as simple as using a junior member of staff to assist in writing first draft proposals, to free up your time to develop client relationships.
Further Thoughts
Understanding the resources allocated to your business development effort is important. Above all, you must be confident there’s enough to get the job done. If there is ambiguity look for alternative ways to get the resources you need.
I wish I’d had this checklist before going into some of my previous roles. Getting this clarity will set you up for success.
Have you had any issues getting resources allocated? How did you navigate it? As always I’m keen to hear from you drop me a line here. Or catch me on LinkedIn.