Before you spend on Business Development, read this

The questions we get about Business Development tend to cluster around a few themes. This article walks through them in plain language.

The groundwork

A good rule of thumb in Business Development: if you cannot explain why you are doing something, pause. The best results we have seen come from a small number of deliberate choices, not from doing everything at once.

The fundamentals of Business Development have not changed as much as the headlines suggest. Solid basics — done consistently — still beat clever tricks done occasionally. Start there, and resist the urge to complicate things early.

Common pitfalls

Watch out for the sunk-cost pull. In Business Development, sticking with a failing approach because you have already invested in it is how small mistakes become expensive ones.

• Write down what worked, and what did not
• Start smaller than feels impressive
• Talk to someone a year ahead of you in Business Development
• Learn the basic Business Development vocabulary first

Putting it into practice

Keep a short list of what you tried in Business Development and what came of it. Memory flatters us; notes keep us honest.