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24 business focus


A strategic asset for the longer term


Claire Edmunds, CEO and founder of Clarify examines how business development is moving from an afterthought to a strategic asset and consequently, how it is proving to have a transformational impact on both the sales and business process


The term business development will conjure up different connotations depending on who you canvass opinion from; it often gets classed as demand generation or inside sales for example. In fact the roles that these functions perform and the skillsets required are very different.


Here, when we refer to business development (BD) we are defining a strategic capability, a distinct part of the sales process designed to create, qualify and develop high-value, complex sales opportunities from identification to forecast.


Most of us are aware that selling is undergoing a significant change; practices at the consultative end of the market are becoming highly sophisticated. The sales conversation is changing from feature/function to value and the evolution of digital platforms means customers are entering the buying conversation at a different, often later, stage.


During a period of transition a business remains reliant on its core products to generate revenue and maintain existing market share. However BD is employed to focus on building volume and coverage for new products.


Highly efficient, but highly pressured sales teams lack bandwidth to close short-term deals and create a balanced pipeline of new opportunities. However building pipeline outside this environment with an external BD capability has been proven to make a significant difference. Consequently, large firms frequently use a blend of traditional demand generation and BD; the right combination of these two disciplines is able to increase productivity, generate revenue and pipeline. Shifting the balance is critical to ensure the right resource is best placed to deliver significant financial gains.


External BD offers a highly-skilled function, which is why so many B2B enterprises are investing


the investment in an external BD capability resulted in $59 million of new logos in the UK pipeline within nine months. This has scaled to result in $442m cumulative pipeline over an 18-month period with 32% of new business directly generated from the BD function. In a two-year period the ROI for every £1 spent has generated £362 in pipeline revenue. These statistics have elevated business development from an afterthought to a valued business asset.


in it rather than developing an internal resource. It has been likened to having your ‘A’ grade field sales solely focused on building pipeline revenue, with none of the distractions of managing an account.


BD’s role is to connect with prospects, diagnose a need and demonstrate an understanding of what this need is, collaborating with buyers to educate them with new perspectives that bring value to the table.


Engaging in these conversations earlier in the sales cycle and often bypassing the RFP stage, has been proven to be very influential for some organisations because it dramatically impacts their win-rate, and has improved alignment of matching the right deals to the right team at the right time.


For one global services provider,


APS study focuses value of full diversity in a sales team


The first diversity and inclusion white paper, based on research by the global professional- services company EY and published by the Association of Professional Sales (APS), suggests that the wider the range of ages and backgrounds in a sales team, the more buyers they will attract and the more sales they will make.


The study undertaken by EY compares the performance of 22,000 account teams and reports that in the diverse teams, sales growth was on average


businessmag.co.uk


10% faster and profit margins 6% higher than in teams which were not diverse.


Claire Edmunds, CEO of Clarify and leader of the APS community group on diversity and inclusion, explained: “One reason why diversity helps companies sell more is that people from a wider variety of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds, including both sexes and a range of age groups, will inevitably come up with a more imaginative range of solutions when they hit a problem.”


She added: “Another reason is that today’s customers are so diverse, and prone to respond better to a salesperson they can identify with.”


The most valuable asset of a company is its personnel, and staff retention was also up 7% in the inclusive teams, which represents a significant saving in cost.


Michael Thompson, EY’s advisory accounts and business development leader for EMEIA, commented: “Making sure all


BD is tasked with creating pipeline for deal types that help businesses transform away from the sales organisation it is today; into the sales organisation it is seeking to be tomorrow. The financial impact and ability to accelerate sales transformation initiatives is integral to the process and is altering the way that organisations are starting to view, and more importantly value, business development.


Claire Edmunds is founder and CEO of Clarify, a specialist in strategic business development.


If you would like to discuss how strategic business development could help your business, contact:


Details: Insight@clarifyBD.com 0118-9126800 clarifyBD.com


our people’s voices are heard and valued helps not only to attract but to retain the best people.”


The white paper, entitled Performance Leadership; How diverse and inclusive sales teams are seizing competitive advantage, is the first in a series of reports produced by the APS which will be aimed at highlighting how diverse and inclusive sales cultures can positively impact on sales performance.


To read the report go to: associationofprofessionalsales. com/wp-content/uploads/APS-DI- Whitepaper-FINAL.pdf


Details: clarifyBD.com THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JUNE 2016


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