Piecing Together the Biz Dev Puzzle: Balance is Key to Return On Investment

Time and again, businesses fail

Time and again, businesses fail. It's an unfortunate reality that nobody wants to think too much about when starting a new endeavor, partly out of fear that doing so will keep your average entrepreneur from moving forward. However, it's an essential consideration that leads to the important question of why businesses don't make the cut.

From a business communications perspective, 9 out of 10 operations that fail coming out of the gate do so because of an imbalance in fitting together the various pieces of developing new business leads. These include market research, customer service/referrals program, marketing, advertising and public relations.

One company that recently announced it was shutting its doors here in the Triangle spent a ton of money on the bricks and mortar component of getting their business off the ground and only implemented one of the five puzzle pieces mentioned above. Even that piece public relations was only given preliminary attention when the company opened its doors. With a wild customer turnout the first few days, the ownership was convinced they had a winning business. True, the feedback from those customers the first week was encouraging, but no referral program was in place, no advertising was secured, no marketing plan was implemented, and secondary and tertiary market sectors were blatantly ignored. The ownership started making decisions in a vacuum, deciding that its core audience would become repeat customers just based on the quality of their experience and spread the word about the business virally.

Soon enough, buzz about the company became more like a flicker, and competitors began ramping-up their marketing, advertising and public relations. Customers fled, the owners stuck to their guns and refused to spend more time and money on business development, and the business died.

The number one mistake the aforementioned business made was not investing in a long-term business development plan to capture prospect interest; turn them into customers; and leverage their experience into getting more customers. Such a long-term plan is not too difficult to envision:

1) Market research clearly define not only your core customer base, but secondary and tertiary markets. Make a commitment to reaching-out to all three, so that when one dies down, the other two can fill the void.

2) Customer service/referral program make sure everyone in your business understands the need to treat your customers with incredible respect and courtesy to build loyalty. Reward that loyalty with some kind of incentive plan to get those customers to spread the word about your business and avoid negative word-of-mouth.

3) Marketing create a 12-month marketing plan incorporating ongoing outreach to customers and prospects using different tools and methodologies. Doing a lot at the beginning with nothing to follow is a sure way to bury your brand.

4) Advertising it costs money to advertise, but it is important that customers and prospects see that you are making a commitment to becoming a part of the business community. Advertising builds legitimacy and helps cement your brand, regardless of the size of the ad or medium, as long as there is consistency and long-term visibility in outlets your customers trust.

5) Public relations the most affordable business development tool, good PR can give you the biggest bang for your buck. Make sure that bang isn't limited to a huge kickoff event; put together a 12-month PR plan to support your marketing and advertising efforts, with at least a media touch a month, whether it be a press release, event announcement or article placement.

Done correctly, all five pieces of your puzzle will support each other and build consistent momentum for your business. Ignoring any pieces, or throwing a ton of money at just one or two, is a sure-fire way to ensure a business flameout, no matter how much you think your product or service is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Piecing Together the Biz Dev Puzzle: Balance is Key to Return On Investment

By: David D. Menzies

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