Some common sense in BD work

Business development (BD) is an important engine for corporate growth, but many people have misunderstandings about BD, thinking it is just a form of sales, and ignoring its important role in market analysis, partnership maintenance, etc. This article shares the author's own experience and insights for your reference.

I admit that many people don’t know how to do BD.

Including middle and senior managers, bosses, etc. Don't look down on them, let's take a look at this phenomenon:

Brother, I work in media advertising. We can do Baidu Encyclopedia, and we have the contact information of KOLs on platforms such as Tik Tok, Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, etc. Would you be convenient to chat with us?

I receive no less than 10 messages like this every day. Some are from existing WeChat friends of mine, who have been friends for several years and still cast a wide net every day. Some are from strangers who, I don’t know where they got my WeChat account from, and after adding me, they edit the text and type it out, like a tool, which is annoying.

Think about it, I don’t even know you, why should I cooperate with you? Even if we cooperate, what will the execution effect be? What if the process is not satisfactory and you run away?

Not limited to the above, but also including the business of SaaS products, will encounter such scenario problems. These common sense mostly rely on education. Now many bosses have to do business, and the senior management does not understand, so naturally they cannot give the executors reasonable operating methods.

So, I summarize four points and boldly share some of my experience in BD.

01

Let’s talk about BD (Business Development) first: Why do some people dislike it?

There are several reasons:

First, they think that they are just like salespeople, serving only for performance and constantly making compromises;

Second, it is somewhat similar to direct selling, and the way of selling directly and forcefully pushing products is somewhat contrary to one’s own values.

I have the right to complain about this.

In the past, when the company tested new products, even if it was just a simple prototype, they would ask us to go to customers to sell them. Sometimes I wondered, if we didn’t even want to use this product ourselves, why did we ask customers to try it? Isn’t this just being a hooligan? I really don’t like this approach.

But because of the performance pressure from the marketing department, you have to go find customers, which is obviously against your personal wishes.

That is the third point. If you have to promote and sell a product that you don’t like or agree with, you will feel inner conflict and discomfort. Fourth, BD actually involves many areas, such as sales, operations, marketing and public relations. The responsibilities are unclear, which makes people confused.

Most importantly, some people think that BD work is not creative and does not require professional knowledge. It is enough to face specific targets and groups every day, do sales well, and expand resources.

Frankly speaking, the above points are all misunderstandings of the nature of BD work.

In fact, BD is a comprehensive and creative role that helps companies increase their growth. It is not simply sales, but also includes market analysis, building good relationships with partners and many other aspects. An excellent BD is no less than a marketing leader.

Why do I say that? Let me tell you about an experience I had a few years ago:

I once had a leader who thought I was pretty good at socializing and had strong abilities in finding people and getting inside information. He asked me if I was interested in switching to marketing. At the time, I was still working in the media and was a little resistant.

Because my view on business is like this. On the one hand, I really admire people who do business. They can handle things well outside and have good eloquence and quick responses. But on the other hand, I feel like I can't do it and the pressure is weighing on my head. If you ask me to do sales, I will always feel uncomfortable.

Later, although I did not change my job, the content of what I did was basically the same as that of other partners in the marketing department.

This includes: discussing advertising placement, cross-border cooperation, building media relations, finding KOLs, etc. When necessary, we have also exchanged social resources. All of these tasks require cooperation with other companies.

Once, I used the company’s designer resources to help a KOL quickly complete several posters that were not originally within the scope of my work. In return, I got a promotional opportunity for the company, and my leader even praised me at a department meeting.

In other words: BD is like a water deliveryman. Paying attention to and solving some needs of potential customers can create greater opportunities for cooperation.

At that moment, I suddenly realized that doing "business" can also bring a huge sense of accomplishment. I had never thought of it before. At that time, I always equated "business" with "BD" and didn't quite understand the difference between media and BD. What role do I play?

I even wonder why a media person needs to understand product development.

After a few years of ignorance, I finally learned this lesson after I became the leader of the marketing department.

“Business Development=Sales+Operation+Marketing + PR”

"Business" is a part of BD. Business is concerned with how to create immediate revenue for the company in the short term, while BD sometimes has to focus on maximizing the company's long-term benefits.

Therefore, a qualified BD has many invisible abilities, including understanding market trends, building good relationships with partners, promoting products or services, and negotiating cooperation agreements.

Because it is the key to exploring new value, the responsibilities will change as the company develops at different stages.

02

Second, there are two extremely important elements in the BD process:

1. Know yourself

Looking back on my career, I was like many people. I didn’t choose my job at the beginning. In most cases, we find the path we want to take after repeated attempts and failures.

The initial passivity sometimes leads to unclear career positioning, not knowing what BD should do, and being unsure whether one has the required skills and enthusiasm. This uncertainty, in turn, hinders the ability to train BD potential.

I read a book before, I forgot what it was called, but there was a sentence in it that said to "build your personal moat", increase your choices, find your own niche market, and become irreplaceable.

How to dig? There are three steps:

The first step is to take inventory of personal resources

The second step is to find areas of expertise and establish local advantages

The third step is to review your advantages and further expand your advantages

In the past, I did not realize that part of what I did in my career was BD, and I did not know what skills to learn to gain better development opportunities. Although I have worked my way up to the position of leader in the marketing department, I believe that mastering BD capabilities will be more beneficial to exploring my career.

Because, even if you start a business one day, BD skills will definitely be the first thing to come into play.

They help me understand market dynamics and tap into customer needs. If the marketing position is likened to a firecracker, then BD is like the fuse, which is more focused on igniting everything and is the key to starting the whole process.

We also learned how to lay out.

Layout means knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, understanding your strengths and expertise, and clarifying which industries and resources you have advantages in, so as to better position yourself, make full use of your strengths, and maximize your efficiency in the right fields.

In the details section, you need to list your abilities, personality and attitude, learning and work experience, interpersonal relationships and external image, and conduct further analysis.

I also noticed that some companies adopt the method of "hit and run" when managing BD. If a BD person does not see results within a few months, he will be replaced immediately. Such frequent replacement does not help to establish a long-term strategy and will also undermine the stability and development potential of the team.

Now it seems that individuals should combine their own strengths and focus on one field; companies should select a group of elite soldiers, which is much more effective than using a large number of ordinary people. This is even more important in the future AI era.

2. Understand the company

You may ask, what is there to know about the company? Actually, it is very important. To understand the company means to know the product life cycle, take advantage of the advantages and determine the main tasks according to the current business stage.

for example:

When a product has just been introduced to the market or has reached its decline stage, it means that the company has not yet formed a mature business model. At this time, it is necessary to look for new development opportunities.

In this case, the BD role is to start from scratch and explore new possibilities.

Especially for B-side products, when facing customers who want to use the products, we should collect their first demands as much as possible. The customer's first demands often determine the customer's willingness to pay. The willingness to pay and the product function are exactly contradictory.

Simply put, the functional demands that the company thinks are different from those of its customers.

When a product begins to grow or enter the maturity stage, it means that it has gained a certain degree of recognition in the market. At this point, the task is to expand the initial success and achieve a successful transition from small scale to large scale.

At this stage, the requirement for BD is that the ability to convert customer problems and needs into standard SOPs is particularly critical.

Therefore, BD is the key to exploring new value. Before determining the market position and confirming what customers need, BD is like a pioneer. During the rapid growth period, BD must organize customer cases and needs into standardized SOPs for use by other departments.

03

The above mentioned BD experience in B-end products, what about C-end companies?

For example: You are the second party, helping the brand find influencers to cooperate with

First of all, whether you are selling food or daily necessities, before going into battle, you must first thoroughly understand a company’s business model and understand the brand’s pain points. Only in this way can you impress customers more effectively and complete the task quickly.

The marketing department of Party A has two roles: one is responsible for brand promotion, and the other is to drive sales. The core cooperation point of the BD responsible for sales promotion is to ensure the return on investment (ROI).

As a BD of Party B, when working with BD of Party A, the key is to accurately grasp the needs of the other party and match the needs with the right talent. From the perspective of Party A, when I select talents, I will evaluate the possibility of cooperation based on three criteria, and Party B can also use these criteria:

1. Brand awareness
2. Activity promotion efforts
3. Historical sales data for similar events

Combining these three points, you can roughly estimate the ROI of the project.

For example, it is definitely easier to promote a well-known brand than a less famous brand. The discounts are large and the prices are low, which will naturally attract consumers' purchasing interest.

When I was doing CPS, the company’s CRM database recorded in detail all the previous brand collaborations and influencer order data. Therefore, it was possible to predict the sales (GMV) that a certain internet celebrity’s live broadcast might bring. With this calculation, I would know which internet celebrities would be most suitable.

When doing business development with clients, use company cases to discuss. If the other party is facing great sales pressure and you feel the deal is feasible after detailed communication, then you can sign a contract. The contract is generally executed on a monthly basis, and a 50% advance payment is required.

Of course, as the second party, I would also worry about whether the expert I find would commit a scam like brushing the number of live broadcasts. This is normal. However, generally, people are not stupid enough to do a one-time deal. From the three dimensions I gave, the evaluation will not deviate too much.

In addition, you can also specify in the contract that one month after the end of the cooperation, the real sales data will be used to verify the data of both parties, so that it is clear at a glance.

So, the third point is to clearly understand what their needs are?

04

Fourth, stay away from the Neptune model of casting a wide net and manage yourself well.

What is Aquaman?

I have seen some businesses register several accounts, attend various conferences, import users into the accounts, and then use the obtained contacts as a resource pool. They believe that when there is business in the future, they can use these accounts to send group messages.

This is quite funny.

A truly efficient BD is not a cold promotion machine, but a smart brain, a person who can use wisdom. Smart people understand the principle of the "butterfly effect": a large number of indiscriminate mass mailings are far less effective than carefully managing your own brand and business.

The key is how to transform the initial contact between strangers into a familiar social relationship. Here, the most important skill is "effective communication."

You can't chat with the same person every day, which can easily make people feel awkward, but by liking, leaving messages, and sharing personal opinions, you can promote the formation of a subtle relationship.

For example:

I once heard a boss say that he used automatic liking software to maintain customer relationships. I don’t completely deny this practice, but if others find out, it will seem insincere.

Personally, I will take time every day to like other people’s posts and leave a message after liking them. Leaving a message can express more personal concern and true feelings, and is a good way to build closer relationships.

As for expressing your opinions, you can use various note-taking software to regularly write about industry insights or personal thoughts. This will not only demonstrate your professionalism, but also attract the attention of like-minded people.

Next, let’s talk about how to attract customers.

Imagine you just added someone on WeChat, and then immediately used a long paragraph to introduce yourself. Most people would be annoyed. From a psychological point of view, passively receiving information makes people feel uncomfortable, and they do not have the freedom to choose whether to accept or not.

In contrast, I prefer to simply and directly say what I do.

Talking about business is a natural thing. When others inadvertently see your content or your photos while browsing their circle of friends, their behavior becomes a kind of active acceptance. Actively accepting information is more attractive and gives people a sense of psychological comfort.

This is also why people say that good-looking people, regardless of gender, have advantages. If someone finds the content in your circle of friends interesting, they will think: "Well, this person is quite interesting. What does he do?" Then, they will take the initiative to chat with you or like your post.

In this way, a new social cycle is naturally formed. Everyone is like a book, with his or her own unique experiences and ideas. It is indeed a lucky thing when someone takes the initiative to understand you and is willing to communicate about it.

As for becoming the client’s friend in the future, that is an even higher level of status.

But if your circle of friends is set to be visible for three days, there are no updates, and the avatar is not your own, then it will be difficult for others to get to know you. Unless you are the party A, otherwise, it is really not conducive to building social relationships.

Summarize

BD is an elite position.

For those who can treat BD as a lifelong career, their social circle and network of contacts will be like an ever-increasing spiral and will not be too bad. I hope you can be the same.