Experiencing BD Roadblocks?
Do you get in your own way when it comes to business development? Are you even self-aware of the roadblocks that you involuntarily place before yourself that inhibit your success?
In my work with technical Doer/Seller teams, here are three examples of the excuses that hinder progress:
Perfection Paralysis
Does your email correspondence need to be a work of art before you will release it? Do you have to have the exact conversation rehearsed in your head before you will make the call? Are you trying to take something already great and make it perfect with no immediate payback?
By taking a step back, you can truly analyze if are you getting the juice for the squeeze. In so doing, you may see that your perfection paralysis is more of a stall tactic to delay contacting your client. In this scenario, quality isn’t always better than quantity.
Resource Overcommitment
Is one of your excuses time and/or money? Do you have a list of contacts a mile long; are they segmented to be a likely good fit for your organization?
Strategies to overcome this challenge include:
Tiering your list of contacts from highest to lowest probability,
Resetting expectations in this instance, choosing quality over quantity is better so that relationship development and maintenance are deepened, and
Prioritizing outreach by scheduling weekly time blocks in your calendar to accomplish these tasks.
Fear
When you peel it back, is your delay du jour more connected to fear of rejection than it is of the task before you? If it is, what is the fear related to? For example, are you afraid of being embarrassed with your colleagues? Are you afraid of losing your job? Are you afraid of how it will appear in the market with your allies and competitors?
At the end of the day, it is healthy to remember that we are all just people. I advise my clients to approach client development with the intent to serve and be a resource to their relationships. Then no matter if the clients purchase what they’re selling today, the long-term human-to-human connection will be sustained for the long haul.
How do I know?
Well, I’ve worked with hundreds of technical team members in my 28+ year career. I’ve heard lots of justifications and reasoning that culminate in roadblocks.
As it relates to many things, but especially business development, we are often convincing story tellers to ourselves, propagating many mistruths about effective, intentional, and accountable relationship development and maintenance.
However, I have also witnessed great successes when Doer/Sellers receive technical business development training, consulting, and coaching that is individualized to their competence and comfort level. Working with these professionals to authentically harness their unique strengths, talents, and experiences, is one of the aspects of my job that I enjoy most.
If you would like to learn more about this aspect of Authentizity’s service offering, please contact me at dlandry@authentizity.com, or visit my website at www.authentizity.com.
