Over the past decade, companies have worked hard to survive and thrive despite the cutthroat competition in the business world. Starting a new business is nothing less than flirting with danger; the only thing that can sustain a brand is efficient business development. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of confusion and misunderstandings around the term “business development”.
While some say that it’s partnerships, others claim that it has something to do with sales. While neither can be termed incorrect, these explanations aren’t too accurate or convincing. In order to fully understand this term, you need to delve deeper into its roots. So, without wasting more of your precious time, let’s have a look at the four vital factors that sum up business development.
#1) Long-Term Value
When speaking of business, the things that come to mind are profits, money and value. Therefore, you can’t associate business development with quick-money techniques that create temporary value. Business development aims at building value that lasts for a long period of time. Moreover, this value contributes to the present and future success of the company. So, it won’t be wrong to say that long term value translates to consistent revenues.
#2) Consumers
The importance of having a large number of consumers is undeniable. From a general perspective, consumers are the ones who purchase your products. Meanwhile, from a business viewpoint, they’re the ones who actually pay your expenses. So, without consumers you won’t have any business to establish. Keep in mind that everyone out there isn’t a potential customer because your products may not be what a few people are searching for. Another possibility could be that the consumers aren’t aware that you sell the products they are looking for due to lack of commercialization.
#3) Markets
The next important factor is the market itself. First of all, one needs to realize that consumers aren’t present in all markets, but rather they tend to be in specific ones. Geographically speaking, imagine if you concentrate on targeting the Australian market; connecting to those in the UK market will be hard since they have different needs and may prefer different styles and modes for communication. That said, consumers do exist in markets based on their lifestyles and demographics. Through business development, you’ll be able to recognize ways to reach your potential customers by moving into new markets.
#4) Connections
No business operating in this era can deny the importance of maintaining strong connections, not only with partners and employees but also customers and media officials. Establishing and retaining strong relationships only adds to the value, trust and success of the organization. Therefore, business development is necessary to create relationships based on trust and sincerity. After all, this is what keeps the whole world together.
As you can see, a business development is a mixture of the above factors. Its scope isn’t just limited to revenues, but encompasses various disciples of business. So the next time someone asks you what business development really is, you know what say.
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