In BD, the Tortoise Wins the Race Too!
You’ve probably heard one of Aesop’s Fables about The Tortoise and the Hare. * But did you know that this story has direct parallels to the longevity of relationship creation and ever-changing market conditions as they relate to the topic of B2B, service-focused, business development?
These tortoise principles are consistent and summarized as:
The harder you force the chase, the more likely that you will stumble and fall. It’s almost as if there’s a universal law working against you. When you become desperate, it shows. Clients sense that something is off in the authentic nature of the relationship development.
And without genuine relationship development, you can’t achieve a long-lasting and sustainable business. Clients want to work with people that they trust and who want to serve them. Clients relate to resources that help them achieve their company’s vision and goals. When you reach that level with your clients, then reciprocally they want you and your company to succeed as well.
Remaining nimble and flexible to the current market variances is crucial to the longevity of your company. Reexamining strategies and slowly transitioning with any market shifts will ensure the competitiveness of your service offering and demonstrate your innovative creativity to your clients.
Due to their own top-level pressures and other external stress sources, many company leaders are limited in their understanding of these constant principles, especially during these challenging and unpredictable times in our post-pandemic reemergence.
To address these tortoise principles, I am reflecting on some of the insights provided by a few of my prior blog posts here:
From the How to Avoid Sabotaging Your Business Development blog, https://authentizity.com/how-to-avoid-sabotaging-your-business-development/
Corporate America has ingrained in us the ability to be critically evaluative, if only to measure our performance against what we did last year and, in comparison to our competition.
Questions such as “What have you done?”; “How far have you progressed?”; “What else are you planning?”; and “How will you make that up?” are superimposed on us.
Unfortunately, the result is often counterintuitive and counterproductive to what the overbearing watch of management is attempting to accomplish.
In fact, this cross-examination approach adds a layer of stress that compounds anxiety to impose the opposite of what is needed, or it is intended to achieve. It stifles creativity and clouds thinking, making clarity difficult to grasp. It also blurs decision-making and may lead to desperation and risk taking with minimal room for strategic thinking and visioning.
From the Transactional vs. Relational BD vlog, https://authentizity.com/transactional-vs-relational-bd/
If you see BD as relational, then you go deep within your relationships and prove to your clients that you are in it for the long haul. Going deep within your relationships, you will feel less imposing than you would if you were selling something transaction-based (like with an ink pen.)
If you have the viewpoint that you have something to give, not take, then you are in servitude to those relationships.
From the Confessions of a Deal Junkie blog, https://authentizity.com/confessions-of-a-deal-junkie/
Are you in a slump? Do you continue to get close, but just can’t make it over the finish line? Or are your clients stalling out before you ever get to second base?
During these dry spells, it’s only human to question your capabilities.
REFLECT: The common denominator in your previous victories, as well as failures is YOU!
Now’s the time to take a step back and reminisce. Ask yourself what has happened between your last successes and your current losses:
Has the environment changed due to economic conditions, competitive differences, market technological/process advancements or other adjustments which now make your service offering obsolete?
If it has, then are you adaptable to these environmental changes to ensure the long-term sustainability of your organization? Keep in mind, you never want to be the Kodak film company in an innovative, digital world. Even small modernizations implemented in your company can keep you from becoming a dinosaur.
Additionally, don’t be a victim or blame others. Own your role in your current state.
Rally your troops and get prepared:
– Request debriefs of both your losses, as well as your wins. Yes; I glean more information from my wins as I learn which strategies/messages landed best with clients so that I can rinse and repeat often!
– Retool and rebrand your service offering based upon the research from those debriefs, as well as market intel and engagement, empowerment, accountability, measurability, etc., by your team.
– Gather supplemental information and testimonials/references of previous successes to develop client case studies with statistics and value proofs to support new business outreach, as well as advance a social media presence.
Remember to be like the tortoise in your BD efforts. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Don’t get me wrong it would be wonderful if each year, we grew steadily to the levels that our performance exceeds the needs of our goals. However, that is an unreasonable utopian outlook, not a business plan.
Instead, keeping a realistic mindset that some years will be better than others and that you must be steady and tenacious in your efforts is a far better and healthier approach. I’d place my bet on the tortoise every day!
Stay tuned; later this summer, we will unveil our new, online Doer/Seller Business Development Course: BD Dynamics, Empowering the Technical-Minded. Subscribe to our mailing list at www.authentizity.com.
*For details about Aesop’s Fable, The Tortoise and the Hare, please visit: https://fablesofaesop.com/the-hare-and-the-tortoise.html
