Double Your Chances of Winning Your Next Deal With This Strategy
Effective service-based business development benefits from a focused, deliberate, all-hands-on-deck approach.
By Robin Camarote
You're likely not as targeted in growing your business as you think.
Most service-based business development efforts are too diffuse. You have too many vague opportunities without a clear, actionable path to increase your chances of winning any of them.
Your team is smart, dedicated, and hard-working -- but their efforts aren't resulting in meaningful progress.
To address this, a consistent focus on the five P's of service-based business growth can make the challenging process of growth more predictable and sustainable.
1. Purpose
Clearly define the true purpose of your growth. What seems obvious to you may not be as clear to your team. They might resist growth if they feel disengaged or close to burnout. Ensure your team understands why you're pursuing specific opportunities, how they align with your overall business goals, and what increased growth can mean for their professional development.
2. Positioning
Position your services clearly in the market. Identify what makes you unique and what problems you solve better than anyone else. Knowing what opportunities to pursue and, more important, which ones not to pursue is crucial for maintaining focus.
3. People
Understand your employees' current skills and capabilities. Know what skills and when you need them to be able to win and deliver on new work. Develop a clear plan to buy (hire), build (train), or borrow (partner) to fill any gaps. Document your rough timeline for doing so. Having some sense of when and how you're going to bring on new talent helps reduce the drain on resources that comes from hiring too early or the risk of delivery gaps by hiring too late.
4. Pipeline
Build a robust and targeted opportunity pipeline. Do you truly have enough opportunities in your pipeline to meet your growth targets? Estimate the pWin (percent chance of winning) for each opportunity. I like to go ultra-conservative when assessing probability and load up my pipeline to at least 50 percent over target. As you identify opportunities, determine what actions you and your team need to take to double those chances. If it's at 20 percent now, what would you have to do to get it to a 40 percent chance? Simply asking yourself and your team this question gets everyone into solution mode and opens up possibilities. This becomes your growth action plan, focusing on high-potential leads and eliminating distractions.
5. Promise
Secure a clear commitment from each team member toward your growth plan. Ask them directly what they can contribute. This increases clarity and accountability. Often, leaders assume everyone is on board, only to be disappointed when efforts don't align with expectations. It's better to know than to guess.
Implementing the five P's of growth requires discipline and commitment, but the potential to get a greater return on your business development efforts is real.
By aligning your team with a clear purpose, positioning your services effectively, understanding your people's capabilities, building a targeted pipeline, and securing promises of commitment, you can transform your business development efforts. This approach not only doubles your chances of winning your next deal but also sets a solid foundation for sustainable growth.