Business Development Strategy
Published Articles
It Comes Before Technology & Equipment Strategies
Published in: IPA Bulletin, September/October 2003
It Comes Before Technology & Equipment Strategies
There are a number of actions available for improving performance --- for increasing revenues and company performance. However, senior management commitment, leadership, and endorsement are critical to such initiatives, because any meaningful activity for business development that's not supported organizationally has elevated opportunity to fail, and thus create greater hurdles in the future for any "re-start" of such programs.
Disappointment bordering on anger and cynicism --- like stench from dead-skunk road-kill --- trailed my recent attendance to
Speakers, self-appointed industry prophets (false and otherwise), an economist plus show promoters repeatedly spoke of devastating affects from a soft economy on our great industry, and the need for company owners to seek out equipment and technologies that could give their companies a competitive edge. Key phrases, like "technology strategy" and "equipment purchase strategy" echoed like mantras as presentation sessions rolled through the day.
Absent from presentations on equipment and technology was information pertaining to how such investments would increase customers' perceived value of the supplier through increased customer performance. As a corollary, most presentations were presented from an internal perspective. For example, presentations tended to focus on operational issues like more stable dot patterns, lower ink usage, faster makereadies and running speeds, and faster turnaround times.
Absent from the day's program, as well as show educational listings, was any focus on developing an organization's business development strategy, which should precede and thus guide a company's investments in equipment and technology.
Absent from the day's presentations was how to educate and train business development professionals (a.k.a. sales reps, CSRs, and business development managers) to effectively "sell" or translate such investments into meaningful, economic customer benefits, as well as how to educate customers on the economic value (to their objectives and goals) of these new technology and equipment investments.
Questions such glaring Graph Expo omissions raised included:
- Why would show promoters exclude educating company owners on the strategic importance of first having an effective business development strategy?
- Should not all strategic decisions, like equipment and technology investments (as well as who we hire, and what our self-promotion investments include) be implemented to support a central business development and performance improvement focus --- for customers?
- And finally, should not all day-to-day operational structures and decisions also support a central, over-arching business development strategy?
In one education session, with a highly-promoted association spokesperson, I raised the questions, "Why would you promote the effects of the economy on our industry when there are attendees in this very room whose company sales are up well over 20 percent year-to-date. Why would you promote the need for improved management principles, when financial and production disciplines are practically worthless, without first having an effective business development strategy and discipline in place?"
In that session, I went on to state that, "To promote the effects of the overall economy as primary cause of our industry's status is grossly misleading. Creative use of our products and services is not a zero sum game, but is dependent on our demonstrating economic benefits to customers to use our services and production capabilities."
There are a number of actions available (to practically every organization) for improving performance --- for increasing revenues and company performance. However, senior management commitment, leadership, and endorsement are critical to such initiatives, because any meaningful activity for business development that is not supported organizationally has elevated opportunity to fail, and thus create greater hurdles in the future for any "re-start" of such programs.
Customer markets are constantly changing regarding what they need for their business performance. Yet, we tend to organizationally communicate only what we can deal with now, and not document and centralize what was requested.
Opportunities to capture meaningful customer information can occur in as many situations as we have personnel. For instance, what did the customer say to the receptionist while he/she was on-hold, or to our delivery person during delivery? Or what did the customer request us to quote, that we can't produce --- and the frequency and source of such requests was never documented and reviewed. Recently I asked a relatively new sales representative, "How are things going?"
Subsequent casual discussion revealed that, every agency she had called on in the last 45 days had asked about her organization's variable imaging capabilities, which at the time were zero. I asked who she had told this to; and as you would expect, her answer was, "No one, no one has asked."
If we fast-forward this scenario, discussion of a broad organizational nature followed, a major survey was conducted, and a significant investment in color-variable imaging will go into position in the next 90 days, as this article is written.
The primary reason most companies lack an effective business development strategy is that they lack frequent, meaningful feedback regarding new business opportunities from current customers, and particularly what customers wish they would:
- Improve or add, and/or
- Stop doing.
Customer feedback is priceless for creating ongoing opportunities to become more valuable to target customers. Feedback is also invaluable for keeping the operational areas of the organization focused on the reason your company exists --- to serve the customer.
Such feedback opportunities can not only offer insights to customers' additional needs and our need for improvement in current day-to-day activities but also provide introductions to other key customer personnel. Clients we work with receive customer feedback and opportunities for ongoing dialogue through a wide variety of feedback mechanisms. Some examples include:
- Major Customer Surveys-In --- our biased opinion, should be conducted at least every 24 months. Lack of customer surveys is a primary reason most companies lack a business development.
- Customer Education Program Surveys --- One of our clients has taken customer education programs to a rare level: one customer education program each week --- and the positions or seats are filled-up through the end of the year. Every four-hour session includes an evaluation, that attendees fill-out-much from their appreciation for the invaluable knowledge that was shared. Sessions are conducted 100 percent by company personnel.
- Press-Check Surveys --- Many organizations conduct press checks, either at their company or at a supplier's facility. Feedback is. critical for creating reasons your buyer would want to use you more often in the future. Press checks tend to create additional business; or if done poorly, provide reasons for the buyer not to use you again. Perception is reality, and correctly produced ink on paper is expected. Thus if we're not attending to improving the buyer's experiences in a systematic manner, we're in effect playing "Russian Roulette," and that's a formula for eventual disaster.
Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, there are customer complaints. Yet, it's the rare organization that's willing to insist on capturing, documenting, and reviewing complaints for their causes, customer sources, and remedial actions.
Too many organizations experience significant customer attrition to the effect that they must find over 20 percent new business each year --- just to keep the business they previously had. While customer attrition is nearly impossible to eliminate entirely, it's the rare organization who appears willing to be proactive in finding the causes in their systems --- and correcting them. (Note: I didn't say that it was people who made the errors as much as systems of communication and production.)
As a guiding principal, anything we do to improve performance for customers is a self-promotion opportunity. However, we tend to promote what our equipment or services can do and omit the translation of economic benefits for customers.
With buyers often inexperienced --- especially regarding new equipment and technologies --- we tend to create frustration, anger, and rejection when we discuss technologies or capabilities that our buyer either is unfamiliar with, or doesn't understand the applications in his/her environment.
You will please note that almost all these examples and illustrations deal with organizational communications --- about and from customers. Elevating our organizational communications drives our understandings, options, competencies --- resulting in better decisions for serving customers and that, in turn, leads to better performance.
Improved business development strategy from customer feedback should drive our investments in equipment and technologies --- and ultimately a better economic future for everyone.