{"id":2278,"date":"2023-01-06T01:11:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T17:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:44:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T08:44:51","slug":"how-to-measure-business-development-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278","title":{"rendered":"How to Measure Business Development Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First off, Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is a year filled with success for you all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you start planning your work winning goals defining how you will measure your business development success is crucial. Monitoring the opportunities entering the top of your sales funnel <\/a>and the revenue falling out the bottom allows you to understand the impacts of your activity. Understanding the story behind these trends is key. For example falling quoting numbers will have a serious impact on your revenue, must be identified immediately for mitigation action to be emplaced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are not measuring and tracking your progress how can you know what is going well and what is not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Square Away Your Work Winning:<\/strong> Get Your Guide<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

business development success<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post I look at both leading and lagging indicators and show their importance when measuring your performance. I’ll also give a quick and dirty method for setting up your own business development targets.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Use leading indicators to look into the future.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Look to the Future with Leading Indicators<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A leading indicator is one that forecasts the future-expected revenue. It really represents the effort being placed into filling the sales funnel. There are many different metrics that can be measured. Number of meetings, calls, quotes, created leads\/opportunities, new accounts, and won opportunities are all viable options. However, tracking and reporting the numbers on all of these produces too much work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have found that the simplest leading indicator to track is the dollar value of the opportunities issued that month. This wraps all the activity into an easily translatable number. If the business developer is implementing the plan successfully, the opportunity value should be high. On the other hand if it’s low, questions need to be asked to understand why. Has activity dropped? Or are we seeing changes in the market?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measuring anything requires a benchmark to compare it against. Consequently what should the opportunity value be compared against? Of course, each industry is different. But a useful rule of thumb that has treated me well over the years is 3X your monthly sales budget. Knowing the market and having an offering that is appealing, a three-times quoting value should yield the results you need. Alternatively, looking at past opportunities and revenue will provide a good indication of the required target opportunity value.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Revenue is a good example of a lagging indicator<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Analyze the Past with Lagging Indicators<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lagging indicators show past performance. These include won and lost opportunities and won and lost revenue. Again, monitoring all of these is really impractical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a simple trend that shows how the business development is performing, tracking revenue month by month is all you need. Splitting the revenue for finer detail can be beneficial. It is my opinion, however, that this has the tendency to devour time that could be better spent developing relationships and pursuing opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Do You Measure Business Development <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The business development metrics you must track are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Sales Revenue\u2014Monthly Sales\u2014revenue made that month, the primary lagging indicator.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Quote volume\u2014total dollar value of opportunities this month, leading indicator giving a signal of future revenue success.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. YTD Sales\u2014cumulative monthly revenue allowing progress against the year\u2019s sales budget.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. YTD Budget\u2014cumulative month-by-month sales targets by which your revenue is measured.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Using the KISS principal\u2014keep it simple, stupid\u2014 makes reading your progress easy. For example I’ve included a sample graph below. As you can see, this is uncluttered and easy to interpret.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    Example graph measuring success<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Ultimately this snapshot acts as a simple dashboard showing the health of the business development function. Simply scanning these trends prompts further interrogation. For example, a dip in quoting would require justification and redemptive action. While a spike in revenue would require an explanation on what worked well. A business developer must know how they are performing and understand the story behind the numbers they are tracking. These examples are the perfect place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    Use this planning hierarchy to help determine your goals<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Measure Your Business Development Success<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    How will you measure your business development success? As Stephen Covey states: “Begin with the end in mind”. Using the planning hierarchy above begin by defining your goal. Perhaps you want to achieve $1M in revenue this year. Next you need to determine the typical project size you are likely to achieve on a regular basis. How many typical projects will you need to achieve that goal? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Taking the premise that quoting volume should be 3X your goal work out your quoting measurable. Perhaps this is a revenue number. Alternatively it could be 3X the number of typical projects. Either way it is easy to measure. Dividing the annual numbers by 12 gives your leading and lagging indicators on a monthly cadence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Simple. What’s stopping you calculating yours?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Business development success<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Are looking to begin your Business Development journey but are not quite sure where to start? Download my quick start guide to business development. This gives the go-to list of actions and activities to quickly set you on the right path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

    For a simple yet comprehensive framework to base your business development activity around I recommend checking out my new book Business Development Begins Here<\/em>. It is available to order on Amazon<\/a> now.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"<\/a>
    Order your copy now!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    N<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    Business Development Coaching<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    First off, Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is a year filled with success for you all. Before you start … <\/p>\n

    MORE +<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13,49,3,26],"class_list":["post-2278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-action","tag-action-phase","tag-business-development","tag-strategy","featured-image-below","featured-image-size-"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Measure Business Development Success<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Measuring your business development success is a crucial part of the BD toolkit. In this post I detail a simple system to get you started.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Measure Business Development Success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Measuring your business development success is a crucial part of the BD toolkit. In this post I detail a simple system to get you started.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tom Watkin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-05T17:11:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-05T08:44:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomwatkin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"626\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"418\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7e1c58bd748e7906ab3c3f7258d6b9a\"},\"headline\":\"How to Measure Business Development Success\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-05T17:11:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-05T08:44:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278\"},\"wordCount\":952,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Action\",\"Action Phase\",\"Business Development\",\"Strategy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278\",\"name\":\"How to Measure Business Development Success\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-05T17:11:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-05T08:44:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7e1c58bd748e7906ab3c3f7258d6b9a\"},\"description\":\"Measuring your business development success is a crucial part of the BD toolkit. In this post I detail a simple system to get you started.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1\",\"width\":626,\"height\":418},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?p=2278#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Measure Business Development Success\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tom Watkin\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7e1c58bd748e7906ab3c3f7258d6b9a\",\"name\":\"Tom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c22fcff7c29a8e6f407f211b77652405c1cd5f1179f50500b3f5c470df8e0fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c22fcff7c29a8e6f407f211b77652405c1cd5f1179f50500b3f5c470df8e0fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c22fcff7c29a8e6f407f211b77652405c1cd5f1179f50500b3f5c470df8e0fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tom\"},\"description\":\"Tom is an author and business development leader with a passion to help professionals be more purposeful in their BD efforts.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/tomwatkin\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomwatkin.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Measure Business Development Success","description":"Measuring your business development success is a crucial part of the BD toolkit. In this post I detail a simple system to get you started.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Measure Business Development Success","og_description":"Measuring your business development success is a crucial part of the BD toolkit. In this post I detail a simple system to get you started.","og_url":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278","og_site_name":"Tom Watkin","article_published_time":"2023-01-05T17:11:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-05T08:44:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":626,"height":418,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomwatkin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278"},"author":{"name":"Tom","@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a7e1c58bd748e7906ab3c3f7258d6b9a"},"headline":"How to Measure Business Development Success","datePublished":"2023-01-05T17:11:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-05T08:44:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278"},"wordCount":952,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomwatkin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1","keywords":["Action","Action Phase","Business Development","Strategy"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278","url":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278","name":"How to Measure Business Development Success","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomwatkin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1","datePublished":"2023-01-05T17:11:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-05T08:44:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a7e1c58bd748e7906ab3c3f7258d6b9a"},"description":"Measuring your business development success is a crucial part of the BD toolkit. In this post I detail a simple system to get you started.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomwatkin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomwatkin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1","width":626,"height":418},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?p=2278#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Measure Business Development Success"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/","name":"Tom Watkin","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a7e1c58bd748e7906ab3c3f7258d6b9a","name":"Tom","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c22fcff7c29a8e6f407f211b77652405c1cd5f1179f50500b3f5c470df8e0fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c22fcff7c29a8e6f407f211b77652405c1cd5f1179f50500b3f5c470df8e0fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c22fcff7c29a8e6f407f211b77652405c1cd5f1179f50500b3f5c470df8e0fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tom"},"description":"Tom is an author and business development leader with a passion to help professionals be more purposeful in their BD efforts.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/tomwatkin\/"],"url":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomwatkin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/austin-distel-EMPZ7yRZoGw-unsplash.jpg?fit=626%2C418&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2278"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3462,"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278\/revisions\/3462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwatkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}