By Paul Richmond, Managing Director

Here we share 5 top tips that will help your firm to establish a business development (BD) culture or improve business development capabilities in your professional services firm:

Change the conversation

Many professionals dislike the terms “sales” and “business development” – they can feel a bit pushy, and this can prevent them from exploring client needs.

Our tip:

Have your team focus on addressing business challenges through a consultative lens. If they do this, sales enablement follows naturally by aligning services with uncovered issues. It’s all about building trust and long-term partnerships, not just one-off deals.

Check out my video here for more.

Make business development a habit

Our tip:

Make business development a consistent habit through small regular actions rather than periodic big initiatives. Just 10 focused minutes a day on an email, call or other outreach can create momentum.

Check out my video here for more.

Identify and measure all lead-generating activity

The importance of tracking lead generation activities as indicators of business development success, not just lagging measures like fees billed.

Our tip:

Firms should measure phone calls, emails, meetings, proposals etc. to motivate positive business development behaviours.

Check out my video here.

Ask for referrals

Proactively asking for referrals from satisfied clients to tap into referral networks, rather than passively waiting for referrals.

Our tip:

Specifically, ask about others facing similar challenges rather than bluntly requesting a referral.

Check out my video here for more.

Choose the right time to ask for a referral

Avoid cold outreach just to request referrals.

Our tip:

Request referrals as a natural part of closing conversations when finishing projects, while gratitude is still fresh.

Together, these tips provide a roadmap for professional services firms to build a repeatable business development competency through habits, metrics, conversations and referrals. The key is consistency in applying BD approaches tailored to a firm’s culture and clients.

Check out my video here for more.

What’s next?

If you want to find out more about how we can help you and your firm to create a clear framework of activities that guarantee effective BD opportunities and build confidence, then email Kate here or give us a call at 0333 7722 061.