The Hardest Part of Business Development
When I set out to write this, I wanted a catchy phrase that encapsulates the most challenging aspect of business development.
Something like “Cold Calling” or “Managing Expectations.”
ChatGPT highlighted that the most frequently mentioned “hardest part of being a Business Development Manager” was “finding the right partnership.”
That seemed off.
You can identify countless potential partners, but that doesn't mean they'll collaborate.
This spurred questions:
Why would potential partners be hesitant to work with you?
Why would prospects not return your emails?
Why is cold outreach so dreaded for both the outreacher and the outreached?
Answering these questions brought me to the true hardest part of the BDM role: Trust.
Establishing it, nurturing it, and preserving it.
Establishing Trust
There is a saying in Jamaica that trust grows like a coconut tree and falls like a coconut.
The point is that trust is hard-won. I will come back to the second part of the quote in the last part of this blog.
There are many ways to build trust but most of them center around getting to know people and being open to people getting to know you.
In my experience, this comes down to a few things, all critically important in your first communications with people:
Transparency
You need to be open and honest with the information you are providing to people, even when it hurts you.
If you don’t know something, admit it.
If there is a downside to whatever you are trying to pitch them, show them that downside.
Ask questions when it seems like the other person has information that you do not, this shows that you are willing to learn from them.
Why so serious?
Be comfortable with your shortcomings or flaws and don’t be overly serious.
Of course, you need to be mindful of what the other person is feeling and not overstep the boundaries set by that person, but you should laugh and smile.
You want people to want to talk to you.
Be the expert
The third part of this may seem counterintuitive to admitting when you don’t know things, but it is all about adjusting to the demands of the topic.
If the person asks for your expertise, make sure you know what you are talking about.
Study the industry and market, know the major players and the direction that things are shifting.
It is OK to say you don’t know if you don’t know, but you should strive to minimize what you don’t know.
These are the main ways that I have found to build trust, but overall it takes time. Meet people, remember their names, and engage with them when you have something you think they could value.
The next part of trust is managing it.
This, for me, has been the hardest part.
Managing Trust
I am, by nature, irresponsible and self-centered.
If there is no immediate impact on my daily life, I ignore the issue as long as it doesn't create problems.
I watched one TED talk about how procrastination is actually good for the creative process and took that to mean that it is good for everything. As I am writing this, I just remembered I promised my wife I would start paying the gas bill and have not paid ... Ugh.
I bring this up to illustrate why this is the hardest part of a trusting relationship for me.
To manage trust you need to manage time, commitments, and communication.
It's about time
In our current office, we have a mural on the wall that reads “I don't have enough time clear priorities”
Keeping that in mind, to manage trust you need to make sure that the person you are interacting with feels as though they are the priority.
Do what you say you will
There is a reason that people fear commitment, it is a future trap that you are willing to set for yourself.
This is why it goes a long way to build trust when you live up to those commitments.
If you say you will follow up in three days, do it.
Open Communication
Be available when you need to be.
Use the channel your prospect prefers (LINE, LinkedIn, Whatsapp, Messenger, etc.).
Keep that channel open. When they need to get ahold of you, you will be there.
This instills the confidence that you are attentive and actually care.
This doesn’t mean you need to respond right away every time, but responding within a reasonable timeframe will lay the foundations for managing their trust.
The final part of trust is arguably the easiest, but that makes it the easiest to lose track of.
Maintaining Trust
I called this maintaining because continued trust requires continued maintenance.
Follow Up
After the initial transactional elements of your engagement are complete, you need to set up a time to check in even if it is not directly related to why you first reached out.
This can be as simple as messaging to see how their quarter is going, regardless of whether they purchased your solution.
It can also be a “happy birthday” message to let them know you remembered when they told you their birthday.
All of these small interactions help to maintain trust.
Cultivate
Like a plant, trust needs to be cultivated over the long term.
Once you have an established cadence, don’t be afraid to set up a time to casually meet for lunch or coffee.
This is a good opportunity to provide value outside of just pitching your product, although you can use this meeting to do that as well.
You can share market updates or catch up as friends, which is why you need to be to keep the next part in mind.
Be Genuine
Let’s be honest (or genuine) sales, in general, can be very transactional.
Both you and the people you are contacting, know what your job title and your motivation is.
That does not mean that every meeting needs to be a 20min video call check-in.
Set up times when you both know there is no update, but meet because you genuinely care and want to understand their situation better.
The point is to turn what started as a business interaction into an actual friendship because friendship is built on trust.
Those are the best tips I can give for overcoming the hardest part of being a BDM.
If you want work as a Business Development Manager in Tokyo, message me using this link.