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 money and business

Developing your company and leading it towards impressive success

money and business

Developing your company and leading it towards impressive success

What is Business Development?

Business development is the set of activities, initiatives and strategies that a company can take in order to improve its growth and expansion opportunities and increase its revenues. The business development process includes all departments in the organization, such as operations, sales, marketing, product management, etc., so it is an integrated process, in which each department performs its task that leads the company to better levels.

By adopting a business development mindset, companies can move from the frontal stage to the market domination stage, and perhaps also move from targeting local markets to targeting global markets.

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How do you develop a business development plan that suits your company?

It is imperative to determine the path that you will take during the development of your business and develop a solid plan to produce the best results. Here are some of the key things to keep in mind when developing a business development plan:

1. Determine the target audience

The first step to developing your business is identifying your target audience and knowing their demographics, including age, gender, social level, and geographic area, as well as studying their buying and spending behavior.

Defining the characteristics of the target audience will help you develop successful marketing strategies, customize the product and match it with the needs of the target group. For example, if you have a company working in the field of developing accounting software, you need to prepare a B2B marketing strategy that focuses on companies and factories, and perhaps stores, pharmacies, and other commercial activities.

2. Studying the market and identifying growth opportunities

If you aspire to improve your position in the market and increase your company's share of it, you should work on analyzing the market to be able to understand it well, and know the needs of users. Suppose, for example, that you want to launch an accounting program for pharmacies, in this case you must study the actual market need for this product, to know whether it is worthwhile to invest in it or not, in addition to determining the specifications and advantages that the program should have.

The market study will lead you to the stage of identifying the opportunities available for growth, now you are aware of the market needs, and the extent of the ability to launch a new product, or invade other markets, or perhaps increase the customer base in the same market.

3. Knowledge of growth needs

Business development imposes new needs and challenges. After you have determined the path through which you will work to expand, you should know the needs required for this growth, which can be represented in increasing the number of employees or purchasing new equipment, for example. So it is important to know the growth needs and requirements while preparing your business development plan.

Let's assume that you wanted to expand the scope of your accounting software company to be a leading company in the manufacture of all kinds of software, so at this stage you may need to hire a number of programmers, marketers, and others.

4. Competitor analysis

Before you take any step in business development, you must study your competitors well, and monitor their work and commercial activity in order to be able to outperform them, and this includes:

Study the products and services they offer.

Determine the advantages that make them superior to others, and the general positives that their customers like about their products.

Identify their weaknesses and the problems they face in their work.

Studying the prices of their products, as well as the offers and discounts they offer, which helps you to price your products and services, as prices must always balance the value they provide, along with taking into account competitors' prices.

Let's continue with the example we mentioned earlier; You have decided to develop a type of software, and you have made sure that the market needs it. It is necessary at this stage to seriously study all the programs offered in the market, as you may notice features in them that you would never have thought of, and you may notice negative aspects that customers complain about, which helps you to develop a solution My software provides allAdvantages offered by competitors, as well as avoiding weaknesses in their software and providing additional benefits specific to your product.

5. Drawing up a financial planIt is necessary to allocate the amounts spent on business development, as you cannot develop your business without having a clear financial plan that contains the additional expenses that the organization will incur, such as new employee expenses, marketing campaign expenses, etc., and on the other hand, you must have a clear view of the revenues that can be achieved as a result This expansion.

6. Develop a marketing plan

A business development plan cannot be complete without a clear marketing plan. Therefore, after studying the market and identifying growth opportunities, you should draw up a successful marketing plan, taking into account the nature of the target audience and the channels through which you can reach them.

7. Set SMART goals

Be sure to set SMART goals when writing a business development plan, as SMART goals are characterized by the followingSpecific: Don't set a general or rubbery goal. Instead of saying, "We want to expand the scope of the software we make," you should specify in detail what you want to do. Say, "We want to get into the educational software industry," for example.

Measurable: In order to finally be able to determine the extent of your success in implementing the plan, you must set measurable goals. company by 150%.

With a specific time frame: Set for each goal a deadline for its completion or a time period for each stage in it. For example, you can set a goal to launch the first educational program within 3 months.

Realistic and Achievable: Set realistic goals that your team can achieve. If you know that your staff is not qualified to launch the tutorial in 3 months, you can adjust the deadline to 6 months to be achievable.

What are the practical steps for business development?

Perhaps you want to grow your business to reach your future goals, but you don't know how to improve it. Here are some key steps you can take to start growing your business:

1. Development of products and services

Since 1886, Coca-Cola has offered one product, the soft drink, so how can the company succeed in developing one product for more than 130 years? The idea of ​​a single product did not prevent the company from presenting a plan to develop the same product every time, from Sprite with lemon flavor, to Fanta with orange flavor, then Coca-Cola… and so on.

In fact, Coca-Cola offers about 22 soft drinks of different flavors, as the company did not stop at developing the product with different flavors, sizes, etc. each time, but rather sought to develop its marketing strategies, to enhance its position as one of the most distinguished brands in the world.

To develop your products or services as efficiently and economically as possible, you can analyze the needs of existing and potential customers, find out their levels of satisfaction with what you offer, and their consumption habits. Also be sure to do market research, based on the feedback you receive and use those results for development and innovation.

It is also essential that you seek to invest technical capabilities to improve your products and services, and you can add new improvement features to the product, while continuing to evaluate your performance. The more you can anticipate changes in the market and customer trends, the stronger the product will remain and your business will evolve.

2. Team development

Your ability to push your team to develop and raise their level of challenge and performance, is what determines your ability to succeed in the future. When you seek to develop your employees and raise their efficiency, the result will be a workforce, characterized by unique performance and the desire to grow. On the other hand, not motivating your employees to develop their capabilities can lead to negative results for the company, and will lead to a continuous state of decline.

Business development is never an accident, it is the result of the efforts of people working together - James Cash

Developing employees and encouraging them to participate in the business development process; It means that everyone who works with you is personally invested in the success and growth of the company. Therefore, make sure to motivate them to learn and acquire new skills, develop their experience and knowledge in various possible ways and means, and give praise and constructive criticism that pushes employees to make improvements in the areas they work on.

Make sure to check:

That you have the right team with the right skills.

They feel safe and motivated enough.

You do what it takes to keep employees and help them feel more engaged.

Have planned employee turnover.

You have prepared the team for the development and growth of the company.

3. Targeting other markets

When your company has reached a good position in the market in which it operates, you can start preparing your plan to expand to other markets and start new experiences. You may want to expand your customer base and increase your brand awareness. You may also aspire to target markets whose customers have higher buying power than customers in your existing markets. You can achieve all of this by targeting other markets.

4. Monitor the cash flow of your business

Money is what keeps your business alive. It's good to have a clear view of the daily, weekly and monthly numbers about your company's finances. Set cash flow projections for future periods, as careful cash flow planning can contribute to alerting you to trouble or risks that may befall the company.

Determine in your plan how much cash you need to invest in the growth of your company, and what you will use in order to develop what needs to be developed, such as: hiring more talent, purchasing equipment, etc.

5. Outperform competitors

Analyzing the situation of competitors will help you to develop appropriate plans and strategies to outperform them and enhance your position in the market, but how can this be achieved?

First: Provide a competitive advantage

When Snapchat appeared in 2001, the social networking market was in a state of intense competition between giant companies, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, but Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat, added a unique feature, which is the status or story, as the content disappears after a period of time. The success of Snapchat prompted a lot of companies to try to acquire it, as it introduced a modern product that had unique features over other competitors.

This story leads us to the importance of providing a competitive advantage in your products, as the user is always looking for the motivation that urges him to replace the product he is used to with another completely new product, and the answer is in providing a competitive advantage, which may be represented in solving a problem in competitors’ products, or offering New features or improved user experience.

Second: providing unique customer service

Building a customer-focused culture is one of the most important reasons that will help you outperform your competitors. The service you provide may be similar to other companies in the market, but focusing on creating a unique culture in your company will make a difference.

For example, "Zappos" is one of the most famous shoe stores in the world, as it is based mainly on providing high-quality customer service to customers, and "Tony Hsieh" CEO of Zappos embodies the belief that says that the customer comes first by saying: "Zappos is a company that serves customers first And it just so happens that she sells shoes.”

6. Use of specialists

Business development management includes a wide range of tasks and requires a lot of accumulated experience. It may be difficult to achieve good results by relying on yourself. Therefore, it may be useful to use some business development services, which are provided by professional business managers on the Fiverr platform, the largest Arab market for buying and selling microservices, which leads you to accelerate the pace of development and achieve your goals.

What is the difference between business development and sales?

It can be said that business development and sales are two sides of the same coin, despite the similarity of each goal, but they are different in the means and time frame.

Both sales and business development aim to improve the company's revenues, as the greatest focus in sales revolves around potential customers and how to search for and attract them, in addition to following up with them throughout the purchase process and urging them to complete it until the end, while business development focuses on searching for opportunities for growth and advancement company leveland improve its market position.Moreover, business development differs from sales in the time frame, as sales focus on current purchases and how to complete them in a short period of time, while business development efforts are made to reap results in the long term, as business development can target products that do not already exist, but seek company to put it on the marketfuture for greater growthDuties of the Business Development Manager

The tasks required of the business development manager vary depending on the parties with which he deals. The tasks can be divided into:

First: The tasks of the business development manager towards the administration

There are many responsibilities that the business manager bears in his relationship with management, and they can be summarized as follows:

Preparing annual, semi-annual, monthly and weekly reports on business progress, and putting the management in the picture of the reality of work, current conditions and obstacles to the growth process in order to find quick solutions.

Develop development plans in line with the company's strategy, and present initiatives and proposals that help the company grow.

Presenting new marketing plans in line with customer needs and market developments.

Prepare financial forecasts for required revenues and expenditures.

Preparing sales forecasts and presenting the most important plans and proposals that will increase sales and, accordingly, revenues.

Second: The tasks of the Business Development Manager towards the employees

In addition to his relationship with management, the Business Development Manager has a number of tasks in his relationship with employees, including:

Choosing the right employees who have the right experience to help the company grow.

Provide appropriate support and training to new employees.

Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) for the work team, and follow a tight plan to achieve goals.

Qualify the work team to overcome obstacles, and develop a work methodology to control matters in different situations and circumstances.

Distribute tasks and manage work pressure periods effectively.

Providing a healthy environment, raising productivity, and providing the necessary capabilities to achieve the desired goals.

Maintaining contact with employees to see the progress of work and achieve the best results.

Third: Duties of the Business Development Manager towards clients

Part of the business development manager's duties focus on potential and existing clients, and these tasks include:

Meeting potential clients, knowing their needs and desires, offering them the company's services and urging them to start dealing with it.

Presenting quotations to customers and assisting them in making their decision, by explaining the services they can get for the price offered.

Follow up the purchasing cycle with customers until the deals are completed.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and applying the necessary strategies to retain existing customers.

Launching and managing customer loyalty programs to ensure continuity of customer relationships.

Fourth: Duties of the Business Development Manager at the external level

The business development manager's duties are not limited to the internal level and customer relationship management, but he must perform many tasks outside the scope of the company, including:

Searching for new markets that lack the products or services provided by the company, to expand the circle of target markets.

Studying new markets and preparing a comprehensive research on their requirements and the reality of working in them.

Executing marketing plans and implementing the company's strategy and management's aspirations on the ground.

Concluding deals and partnerships that are commensurate with the company's strategies.

Searching for growth opportunities and identifying the needs of target markets.

Analyzing competitors and studying the products and services they offer.

Conduct a SWOT analysis.

What skills are required for business development?

Like any other profession, there are indispensable skills for a business development manager, including:

Communication: The business development manager, by the nature of his work, needs to hold a lot of meetings and conversations, whether with customers, employees or management. For example; How can he convince another company to make a deal without having good communication skills? Therefore, communication skills must be developed and improved, including the skills of leading dialogue, persuasion, and making audio and video calls.

Leadership: The business development manager needs at certain times to control the circumstances that hinder the work, in addition to making decisive decisions, so having the skill of leadership and using it correctly will help him achieve the desired results.

Flexibility: Any business is not without obstacles and difficulties. When circumstances change, the plan must be changed and appropriate solutions must be found for each case.

Creative Thinking: How can a Business Development Manager come up with unique ideas and solutions without being able to think creatively? Therefore, it is important for the business development manager to be able to possess this skill when developing marketing plans, looking for opportunities for growth and addressing business problems.

In conclusion, remember that business development management is an integrated process with a relatively long time frame, so you need to be patient and confident to reach the desired results. And if you encounter difficulties in achieving your goals, use business development services that help you to develop your business effectively.