Leadership in a Changed World: Driving Business Development

A McKinsey survey ²  provides insightful detail into how sales cycles are changing and how as a result we need to take a much longer-term view of sales performance in particular.

• 44% of sellers now expect their pipelines to decrease in some way.
• 14% of those predict a significant decrease in their customer pipelines or their client pipelines.
• 60% of sellers report that it now takes longer to close deals.
• 55% of sellers expect to close fewer deals as a result of the crisis.
• 60% of business to business customers in Europe had already cut their budgets as a result of the pandemic.

On a positive note;

• 90% of customers said that they would be willing to engage earlier if the challenge that they are facing was new, risky, or complex.

To stay ahead and continue to drive business development despite decreases in opportunities, budget cuts and longer sales cycles we have to focus on longer term measures including;

• Communicating and demonstrating the true added value that we can deliver to our customers.
• Strengthening our customer relationships.

Gone are the days where we simply pick up the phone to make initial contact with a new prospect, now it is standard procedure to conduct research prior to making first contact with a potential customer. The use of social media and social networking platforms can assist us to step-up our research and reach out to a customer to begin building a relationship long before we pick up the phone.

• Research the relevant sectors and businesses.
• Keep up-to-date with current affairs, the recent government announcements and how they might impact certain sectors of your market.

Using recommendations and reviews to attract opportunities

One third of customers in the UK ⁴ state that they are more likely to select a vendor when a seller is recommended by someone in their network. The fastest and easiest way to drive an increase in recommendations and reviews is to simply ask for them. The best time to request a recommendation or a review is straight after delivering a value added service.

The same is true for Google reviews, LinkedIn recommendations and evaluations that collect evidential data on the quality of your service.

How can data drive new approaches to planning?

Data is particularly relevant with so many uncertainties, unknowns and rapid changes happening around us, one thing we can be sure of is accurate data.

With thorough planning and defined data capture processes, we can aggregate, govern and leverage data to provide valuable insights into past sales, performances and efforts as well as future forecasts. The regular capturing and analysing of data ensure that we are always reviewing what is and what is not working in terms of customer interactions.

Competitor analysis can highlight potential opportunities

Regular competitive analysis - identifying the strengths and the weaknesses of our competition, can help to identify trends, successful tactics, potential gaps and new opportunities in the market that might be underserved or not served at all.

Your competitor analysis should begin with finding out which key players have left the market, who is closed and who is open for business. Also research how your competitors service offerings or approaches may have changed and adapted in response to the pandemic.

• Check their websites. What are they promoting? Are they writing blog posts or thought leadership articles?
• Talk directly to your customers, who are they being called by and what are they being offered?
• Ignore your own biases. Let the data and the information gathered inform your decisions. Data without action is useless. Make a strategic plan around your findings and execute that plan.
• Periodically revisit data and reconduct analysis.

Remote selling is not a new concept by any means, it is almost certainly a process you and your teams are familiar with and are no doubt successful in. However, remote selling was usually supported by some degree of face-to-face contact whether it is through meetings, networking, seminars or workshops. Now we are relying on remote selling and relationship building techniques without any face to face or in-person contact at all. In this virtual and technologically reliant world, trust has never mattered more.

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”

Stephen R. Covey

Earning a customer’s trust requires strategic counsel and active listening to comprehend and respond in a relevant and constructive way to what our customers and our clients are communicating.