What Is Business Development?

So, what is business development? Everyone has heard of it. Everyone knows that developing your business sounds like a good idea. Of course, most people will have an opinion on what it is: admin, sales, etc. But these are really just areas of your business to develop, not what business development is itself. So what is business development?

 

Long-Term Value

The key to business development means value in the long term. This can mean many things to many people, but at the end of the day, it comes down to one thing: cash! Is there enough coming in? Is there too much going out? These are the key questions that business development must deal with, and keep an eye on the long-term plan that tackles this.

When one discusses business development, what we are talking about is a long-term strategy. How will the company develop our two key questions over the coming years? Here is the core of a successful business, and it is important to understand this if one is going to develop further opportunities.

Opportunities

Opportunities in business development speak mean markets. Who is your market, have you missed markets, and you focusing on the right markets? These are the core questions a long-term business development will focus on, with a clear strategy in how to develop your market and moving into new ones.

Of course, though this all sounds fantastic, it is not as simple as it sounds. If a company wants to move into a new market – whether a demographic or geographical location – it will have a cost attached. This is why long-term, value-based, strategic plans need to be in place to ensure that the company succeeds in the long-term.

Business development and relationships and plans and…

At the end of the day, business development is about keeping the car on the road, going at a speed, and know which turn to take next. After all, taking bends too quickly can turn that car over. This is why you need to know where you are going, what speed to take, and what the car is capable of at different conditions – you don’t want to whiz around a corner with three large guys in the back!

 

But above all, it comes down to relationships. Who is the business connected to and why? And, how do you develop these relationships? This is because it is those with the best relationships that will survive into the future.