Effective business development is about far more than merely getting work. It's about getting the right opportunities to service and satisfy the right clients for the right rewards.
Business development is too expensive and professional passion too precious to squander time and resources pursuing the wrong opportunities with poor fit prospects for paltry fees.
Professionals need to ask these questions about each and every potential engagement:
- Is this the right client ?
- Is this the right matter ?
- Is it a strategic fit ?
- Can we do a good job ?
- Am I the right professional for this file ?
- Is it a commercial proposition ?
- Is it likely to yield a satisfied client ?
Then, comes the clear "go/no go" decision.
If the answer to any question is "no", your answer should be "no go" this time.
Brave and wise “no go” decisions bring clear-cut rewards. Regrets usually follow fuzzy thinking and ill-founded “go” decisions.
If you have the right capabilities, but you sense that this client has been unhappy with every prior professional service provider, then listen hard to that inner voice which will be saying “not the right opportunity for me this time, and not the right client”. Maybe you should gift this prospective client to your closest competitor.
For help in evaluating opportunities and answering the right questions, please get in touch.
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