In my executive coaching and consulting practice, I meet business leaders who struggle with their businesses at different stages. They have great products/services, good team and they work hard, but get poor results. And as I dig deeper, often, I discover that these businesses have weak business development. Hence, the mismatch between effort and results.
Now, how do you identify weak business development? How do you know you’re not getting it right? Here are seven signs.
• Stuck Revenue: You work hard and from year to year your revenue stays at a specific range. You’re not regressing or progressing. You’re stuck. It looks as if your business has seen its best years.
• Rollercoaster Revenue: Here, you’re in the sea of uncertainty. One month you’re low and can barely make payroll and the next you hit it big and have a party – but everyone knows its not sustainable. Your business lives from high to high; hit to hit. Revenue is unstable.
• Foggy Vision: You can’t see far because you’re stressed due to the level of uncertainty in your business. Here, it is difficult to be strategic and hard to make investment commitments. You have foggy vision when you start winging it in business – this is a sign of trouble.
• Panic Strategy: I once worked with a company in the communication space that had a desperate approach to business – they would take whatever they got; every job was the right job. They operated in extreme panic and it suffocated the business. This panic mode made it difficult to develop an effective sales pipeline to help them meet revenue goals. The panic approach caused stagnation and an eventual decline in revenue.
• Limited Market Reach: Poor business development ensures that your market penetration is low. So, when you see your market recognition dwindling, there is something wrong. This is where you start losing customers and your market credibility takes a hit.
• Low Employee Morale: Naturally, when business development is poor, the energy in the work place is low. And employee morale dips as well. This is one reason you have high and low energy workplaces. If the environment on your job is low energy, you could be easily demotivated. Effective business development inspires employees.
• Crushed by Competition: If you are being crushed by the competition, check your business development. It is probably not as robust as it should be. Losing ground to new players is a strong sign. It shows you should improve your market presence and offer.
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