A business development plan is like a road map. It provides you with direction and becomes your guide as you move through the year(s). You begin by looking back in order to understand where you have been and what will be required to move forward. It would be considered a best practice to have one, to document it, and then review and monitor it on a regular basis.

In the last article we discussed developing a plan, taking stock of your history and putting a road map in place for the future by considering what has worked and has not worked. This article is about the next step, the importance of a focused strategy and the consistency of execution.

In the last two articles, we covered developing a business development plan and the importance of a strategy and consistency of execution. This article will focus on your referral network: identifying the right partner and establishing service models that work.

The first step in the development of a strategy is to fully understand where your new business came from in the past and what you did to get it. This will require you to gather a few years of data, because many times what we think happened may be a bit different than what actually occurred.

Best practice dictates that companies have a business development policy in place. It provides the guidance needed to ensure successful growth of the company. It also helps to mitigate risk. Once a policy is established a process for implantation is the next step to drive consistency in execution and messaging. The following are some of the questions you should be asking and answering as you put your plan into place.

This worksheet was developed to assist with your decision in adding a dedicated sales position to your staff.

Successful business development for any firm requires dedication. This final article in the series on business development practices will focus on dedicated sales models that work. The definition of “dedicate” is to commit to a course of action, so when referring to dedicated sales models and staff, I am suggesting targeted, exclusive responsibility for sales-related activity, including the development of existing, as well as finding new, referral sources.

I know what it’s like when you first start your firm….you practically give away your services to get business in the door. Once you have built out a good, solid client base it‘s time to stop giving away your gold, as it is your most valuable asset. The foundation of your firm, its brand and value are based upon it. So what exactly am I referring to?

Once you have enough data, you should be able to begin performing calculations even before the end of the year, you can determine your close ratios when you are involved and when you are not.

This is the final article in the Segmentation Series; we have discussed the process of segmenting your referral sources and the corresponding services offered, focusing your effort on your best relationships. In this article we will address business development activity in a similar manner as was outlined in the service model exercise.