Make Your Business Development a Consistent Priority

One of the most important things business owners need to be consistent with is business development - working on your own business growth and maintenance. Businesses can’t last very long without generating leads and closing sales, but it’s often treated as the stepchild of business tasks and responsibilities. The best way to start, grow, and sustain a business is to make your business development a consistent priority.

Why is this such a difficult habit to build? 

Most business owners I work with are challenged to invest consistent time in this. It’s a long-term investment that offers compounded results, not instant gratification. It takes some time and patience. These are the top three challenges I find my clients deal with when it comes to consistent business development.

They are busy with client work

Let’s face it, we all enjoy getting paid. It's not uncommon for business owners to completely push aside business development activities when things are going well and they are busy with client work. They can lose sight of how they got the work in the first place. But when the work is done, they are left with a completely empty pipeline because they weren’t consistently working on their business while they were working in it. This leads to starting from scratch each time a project ends, inconsistent income, unnecessary stress, and working harder, not smarter. 

There’s no specific plan

Putting “business development” on your to-do list is as helpful as putting “marketing” there. It’s too vague. When you haven’t even determined what it looks like for you, you have no idea what action items you need on your list. Is it scheduling networking or 1:1 calls? Follow-up with people you’ve met? Staying in touch with others in your circle? Scheduling social posts or writing blogs? You need a realistic strategy that you can implement regularly to get it all done.

Waiting to “feel like it” - If you wait for motivation, opportunities will pass you by. We all have things on our list that keep getting bumped into the future. They are either not really a priority, or they’re too overwhelming to get through and need to be broken down into smaller steps.

So, how DO you get consistent with your business development?

Consistency starts with your vision. I say this a lot, but one more time for the folks in the back - you can’t be consistent without knowing what you need to be consistent about. First, you have to decide - at a high level - what type of business development you need to do. I mostly work with consultants, coaches, marketing specialists, and other service-based business owners. Networking is the number one source of leads and clients for this group. You may also rely on podcast appearances and speaking engagements to connect with your potential clients, or referrals from other business owners or past clients.

Create an action plan

For networking, you need to attend some networking events in order to meet other business owners. Then you have to connect with them to schedule 1:1 calls. And then you have follow-up to do. For marketing, you need ideas for posts and blogs, a strategy for where to post and when, and maybe someone to delegate some of those marketing tasks to. Or you might also figure out which podcasts you want to pitch for visibility, or speaking engagements you want to apply for. Once you have a plan, block specific times on your calendar to work on these activities. 

Set targets

Setting targets helps you stay consistent by having regular, clear goals, and it removes the overwhelm of daily decision overload. If your target is eight 1:1 calls a month and two or three networking events can yield eight people you’re interested in talking to, then you know that’s a realistic and productive target. 

Use a CRM or other tracking system

When you meet your first ten contacts, it’s easy to track them on a piece of paper. But the more people you meet, the more people you meet through them. Suddenly you have all these contacts and need to organize them. It’s best practice right from the beginning to have a system that tracks the people, their basic information, and any helpful notes from your meetings. 

The point is not to drop any of these activities when you get busy. Commit the time necessary to do the things that keep your business moving forward.

Clarifying your vision, setting a strategy, and being accountable can be a struggle when you’re doing it alone. I can help you get clear, make a plan, and take action. Let’s see how I can support you.