For professionals, the rules of business development (BD) are being rewritten before our very eyes. After all, the market for professional services has become more transparent and more competitive and the balance of power has well and truly shifted to the buyer. 

As I wrote a few years ago, in this landscape, it’s no longer usually possible for a rainmaker to sweet talk his way into work for his firm over a good meal and a few glasses of wine. Instead, business development has become more nuanced, more transparent, and in many ways more difficult.

So, with that in mind, here are seven things I think any professional needs to succeed in BD today.

1. You Need To Be Competent

We’re sometimes told that the era of the technician is over. But really, I think in many ways, it’s only just begun.

I say this because the quality of your work is probably now more important than it ever has been. 

That’s because, whereas once clients were often poor judges of who was good and who was not, that’s not the case anymore. They now go into a relationship with their professionals with their eyes wide open. By the time they engage you they’ll probably already have a pretty good idea of what you can bring to the table.

It’s also because there’ll be more opportunities for human competence to shine as Artificial Stupidity steps into your data science party.

So, for today’s lawyers, accountants, engineers, consultants and other service professionals, the challenge has become more one of how do you demonstrate your competence to clients?

Well, hopefully, you’ll get more of an idea of that in the rest of this piece.

2.  You Need To Be Collaborative

More than ever, no professional is an island. Gone are the days when it was ‘us’ and ‘them’. Now, clients expect you to work with them to solve problems, not to stand aloof and to hand down your advice from on high.

At the same, you can use the new balance of power in the professional/client relationship to your advantage by tapping into their opinions and knowledge and helping these inform your business practices. 

This spirit of collaboration should also extend to the other professionals in your firm. While I’m no fan of cross-selling where it’s not in the client's interest, working with your colleagues across the firm to solve a client’s problems can give you a powerful advantage over your rivals and ultimately lead to more work.

3. You Need To Be Curious

Curiosity is probably the single most underrated characteristic both in BD specifically and in business more generally.

Curious people take in more, notice things others don’t and are generally more innovative in everything they do. And, more than anything, curious people ask questions.

So I always say, if you want to know how you can better help a client, why not just ask them. If you want to know what they think of your firm, what you’re doing and well and how you could improve, ask them that too. And if you want to know how you could change to help them reach their goals, get them to tell you that also.

If you want to get better at BD, I also think your curiosity should extend to reading about it too. And, if you want to know where to start, try these 6 ways to kickstart your business development engine.

 4. You Need A Good Dose Of Humility

There was a time when professionals could afford to be a little haughty and self-important. In fact, it was almost expected. These days, I think if there’s one trait almost certainly guaranteed to lose you work it’s arrogance - especially if that arrogance is misplaced (which in my experience it usually is).

More than that, I think humility extends to being generous with your time, helping out where you can and genuinely taking an interest in the careers, business and lives of others - even, or perhaps especially, when there’s nothing in it for you.

Believe it or not, clients notice these things. They tend to know who’s a good egg and who’s just in it for themselves. And, if you fall into the second category, it will almost always count against you when it comes to growing a business.

5. You Need To Start Saying No

In business development, there can be a temptation to think bringing in work is always a good thing. After all, in the days of the rainmaker, it was always other people who did the work, not the person who brought it in.

But actually, bringing in the wrong work can destroy your business. And the wrong work can be anything from work that saps your profit margin, is outside your expertise (and will bring down your reputation), or that you - and your team - simply don’t enjoy.

To be successful, you have to start being able to politely decline the work that doesn't work for you and refer it to people who actually want to do it and will do it well.

In the words of Marie Kondo, focus only on the kind of work and the kind of clients that spark joy. 

6. You Need To Get Out From Behind Your Desk

I know I kicked off this article by saying it was cool to be competent once again, but you can’t expect to keep getting the best work by being a techy alone. You need to get out from behind the desk and meet people too. You also need to be able to demonstrate your ability on a broad scale.

So speak, publish and show people you know what you’re talking about. Sign up to an in-person CPD session - better still take someone with you. Volunteer to host CPD sessions for your local professional association or other professional bodies. After all, fellow professionals are almost always the best referrers of work

7. You Need A Plan

Yep, you need to plan.

Now I could say something here about “failing to plan is planning to fail” but because you’ve heard that many times before I won’t. Instead, I’ll give you some practical advice…

Every three months, you should be setting aside some formal time to review where you want to be, how you’re going to get there, and where you’re getting stuck.

During that time you should also be reviewing the state of your market.

Because really, one of the most important ingredients of all when it comes to BD success is consistency. Without it, you’ll just be locked into the kind of boom-and-bust business model that leaves everyone anxious and unhappy.

And Finally…

These are just seven things I think each professional needs if they want to succeed in today’s business world. If you’d like help with any of them get in touch.

Further Reading:

• Jacopo Tagliabue (2018) In Praise of Artificial Stupidity

• Madeleine C Elish (2019) Moral Crumple Zones: Cautionary Tales in Human-Robot Interaction

• Grayden R (2023) “I Asked ChatGPT to Help Write My Next Novel. Here’s What Happened.”

  Previous articles:

• “Why The Rainmaker Is Dead: The New Rules For Winning Work”

• “Why Collaboration Eats Cross-Selling For Breakfast”

• “6 Ways to Tackle Your Business Plan”

• “Why You Should Build your BD Around The Rhythms of Your Day”

• “6 Ways To Kickstart Your Business Development Engine”

• “How Online Hurts Your Business Networks”

Sue-Ella is the Principal of Prodonovich Advisory, a business dedicated to helping professional services firms sharpen their business development practices. She works with firms that focus on positive client relationships, and with individuals who want personal, intelligent support.

©Prodonovich Advisory. This article was written by a human and first published in May 2019. Please respect our copyright and the effort taken to produce the original material in this document. This document or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author.