Two of the key reasons business developers are not successful at attracting clients and sponsors are the opposite sides of the same coin – activity.
Mistake 1 – Too little activity
This is where someone simply does not undertake enough activity to fill their prospect pipeline and consequently does not generate the required number of clients and sponsors.
The clue to when people have not undertaken enough activity is when they struggle to answer the question “what objections have you received in the last month”.
Too little activity usually stems from the absence of a written business development activity plan.
The solution is to ensure that you have a written, robust and realistic business development activity plan which, when actioned, will achieve the number of clients and prospects you require.
Mistake 2 – Too much activity
This is where people churn through prospects without any sense of quality or consideration of the attractiveness of the prospect.
They apply the same mass market approach to all prospects rather than segment their prospect list and take time to cultivate and engage the most attractive and most qualified prospects.
The negative impact of this approach is two fold.
First they waste time approaching prospects that they should not be approaching and then, worse still, they fail to undertake the level of research and preparation required to successfully engage the most relevant prospects. In doing so they blow their one and often only chance to impress.
The solution is to take time before approaching anyone to consider who you are going to approach and why and then consider the best way to engage them.
This should produce a plan where the most attractive prospects are approached in a manner that reflects the potential return to your organisation.