Current Issue:

Cover Story

Exit Strategy

His Turn

Green

Internet

Online

Book Review

Women to Watch

News | Events

Biz Connect

Issue Archives

WENDY LURRIE

Business development has always mattered, but never more than today. In saturated markets with ever increasing competition, the ability to generate revenue through growth is at the center of every business’s strategy. And it should be. But it isn’t easy.

The best way to think about business development is that it’s about relationships. And there in a nutshell is the problem. Business relationships fail for the same reasons that personal relationships fail: poor communication, unreasonable expectations, lack of shared goals and priorities. But many of these pitfalls can be avoided through common sense, instinct and a heightened awareness that what we’re really selling when we sell for our organizations is ourselves and the relationship we promise.

Principles, processes and people

Successful business development combines principles, process and people. This powerful trio can help you become the kind of thinking and working partner valued by your customers and rewarded with more business. Because the principles cover process and people, let’s start there.

Treat prospects like clients and clients like prospects

The best way to build a relationship is to behave as though you have one, and bring your prospects into the work you’re doing to solve their problems. Ask them to be part of the process, use them to vet ideas and check your thinking. On the customer side, treat your existing customers as though they’re prospects, and work to re-earn their business every day.

Process sets you free

Don’t fear process, use it. Create a structure by which the work happens so that you’re liberated to spend your time on the creating and selling, not on the logistics of getting it done. Build a process that combines best practices with what’s native to your organization for the best fit. Process is a living, breathing organism that should change, grow and improve as you use it. It reminds me of my daughter’s guitar recitals: her teacher orchestrates highly structured and rehearsed programs in which every detail—where you enter, when you sit, how you leave the stage—is planned. And this planning isn’t suffocating; it’s actually freeing, because it lets the performers concentrate only on the music, and not on the details.
Hold firm but not rigid

Let the process keep you on track, but be open and able to make changes as you go. The deeper you go into the relationship the better you’ll understand the business, which may – and often should – change your selling approach. Listen, breathe, consider and be willing to adjust along the way.

All relationships are built the same way and follow the purchase cycle

When you’re selling your organization to a potential customer, recognize that that customer goes through all the stages of the purchase cycle—awareness, knowledge, familiarity, trust. Each stage requires different information and a different relationship, and understand where you are in the cycle so you’re delivering the right insight, and the right relationship, at the right time.

Be the client’s advocate

Represent the client or the prospect inside your organization during the development process. Make their interests yours, and fight for them inside your organization. Your empathy will strengthen your relationship and help you tell a better story. A common complaint by clients and customers is that their agency (or business, vendor, partner, supplier) just doesn’t understand the business and their needs. Walk in their shoes and learn to care about what they care about, and you won’t hear this complaint.

Use each opportunity as a learning experience

Every encounter is an opportunity to learn, about a business, about an issue. And everything you learn can optimize your work for the next opportunity. Don’t miss a chance to debrief and share your learnings, even when the news is bad. It’s hard to be rejected, and even harder to find out why (and harder still to be the one who has to tell management). But it’s important. Many of the ways we do things today result from learnings shared by clients who were candid and appreciative of our real desire to improve our performance.

Know yourself and stay true to yourself

No organization is the right fit for everyone. It’s better to choose your selling opportunities carefully and focus on where you can provide the best fit. This takes discipline and fortitude —it’s hard to say no to your own management. But stick to your guns and pursue those prospects where you can truly provide value and the right fit. I’ve seen countless and pointless wastes of time, money and human capital trying to pitch accounts for which the agency simply wasn’t right.

So why am I still standing? Because business development, done right and done well, is one of the most satisfying experiences in all business. It has all the excitement of courtship, and when you do it with experience, instinct and conviction, you can create marriages that work and last. And everybody wins.

Wendy Lurrie was named general manager of Draft New York in January of this year. Prior to her promotion, she served as executive vice president of business development. Lurrie is credited with being at the heart of the new business win streak that has made Draft one of the fastest-growing agencies in the advertising world. In addition to being a new-business guru, she also oversees Draft Digital, the agency’s interactive arm, and is the creator of a best-in-class, full-scale process for transitioning highly complex businesses. Lurrie is the mother of two teenagers and an accomplished musician on the Spanish guitar. She can be reached at wlurrie@draftnet.com