The role of a business development leader has evolved beyond immediate goals and short-term gains, especially in today’s business world. The visionary leader of today must possess the ability to perceive, plan and execute strategies that stretch far into the future. This shift in perspective is essential for organizational growth and also for staying ahead in an increasingly competitive market.
Here, Forbes Business Development Council members share the visions that contribute to sustainable success and explain strategies leaders can employ to ensure their teams are aligned and motivated to work harmoniously towards these ambitious objectives.
1. Setting Clear Goals And Performance Metrics
Growth is the long-term vision for most organizations and it’s up to the sales teams to make sure it happens. Create clear sales goals and the performance metrics required to achieve them. Identify and communicate benchmarks constantly to evaluate success. Act swiftly to make changes that guide you toward your company’s long-term vision. – Kyle Pukylo, NuCycle Energy
2. Creating A Roadmap To The Future
Always envision what the future looks like and then work backward from that to create a roadmap that gets you there. It’s nearly impossible to have great outcomes if you don’t know what you are aiming for because you’ll end up with a lot of random acts that don’t add up to anything greater. – Robin Daniels, LMS365
3. Focusing On Sustainability, Profitability And Relevancy
As a business development leader, your focus should be on sustainable, profitable growth and market relevance. To ensure that the company is moving in the right direction, you need to communicate your vision relentlessly and effectively to your employees and empower every team member with specific roles or responsibilities that contribute to the bigger picture. – Annu Baral, LatentView Analytics
4. Understanding Your Product And Customers
The best “vision” that you can have is insight into your product and your customers. Communicate those to your team and learn about your customers. You don’t need an expensive market analysis to do this. Invite a couple of customers to lunch every month and you’ll learn a lot. Internally, demand clarity on your product roadmap and plans for your organization for at least the next six months. – Henry Spitzer, Lusha
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5. Investing In Enhanced Market Research And Trend Analysis
Whether in human resources or technology, determining calculated risks based on predictive market or consumer behaviors can pave the path for growth and sustainability. With the right resources, teams will dive into possibilities and engage in strategies that are backed by research and data. – Scotty Elliott, AmeriLife
6. Creating A Great Team Culture
Experience has shown that a shared vision of team culture—even if it’s a work in progress—is key to long-term success. Business is inherently emotional and good teams tend to be self-starting and self-aligning; driven by their underlying emotions. The best skill any leader can learn is to leverage those emotions by inspiring teams to care about their work and the people they collaborate with. – Jack Borie, Ubix
7. Defining A ‘North Star’
Every business exists to solve a problem, but beyond that, it has a “North Star.” A business should clearly articulate what that is to its team; is its purpose to build a legacy? Be a pioneer in a certain field? Be a supporter of a marginalized group? Keep the team on track to maintaining the path by evaluating if their actions, decisions and behaviors are in alignment with the North Star – Angelica Kopec, She Knows Business
8. Expanding Continually
The key to sustainable growth and value creation for business development leaders is a long-term vision that involves continuous expansion of the organization’s market presence, revenue streams and positive impact on customers and stakeholders. To achieve this vision, it is essential to break it down into specific, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) goals. – Lomit Patel, Tynker
9. Delivering Excellence And Value
To drive teams toward delivering excellence and value, leaders need to articulate a clear roadmap that supports a mission that aligns with the company’s values. There have to be measurable milestones to keep the goals and to stay on track. It’s essential to have regular communication about successes and failures. – Wayne Elsey, The Funds2Orgs Group
10. Focusing On Market Adaptation
Leaders in every sector should focus on market adaptation. The market is constantly evolving as consumer needs and preferences shift. If business leaders and their teams plan for ways to stay relevant in a competitive landscape, the business is more likely to succeed, even as new competitors, strategies and products continually emerge. – Bryce Welker, Crush The BAR Exam
11. Looking At Customers As ‘Strategic Partnerships’
Having the mentality of “strategic partnerships” instead of “customers” is a vision that can make a world of difference. If business development leaders treat their customers as strategic partners, employees will be more engaged and offer more intangible value to everyone they work with. If clients feel more like partners, retention and revenues will follow. – Matthew Rolnick, Yaymaker
12. Thinking About What Is Next
Those who challenge the status quo and figure out new ways to support engagements more efficiently and effectively will continue to grow. Skilled business development leaders’ monetization of their solutions creates a sense of urgency effectively and naturally. Business development leaders need to constantly practice their craft to support financial engineering and solution development. – Rhonda Gibler, Carenet Health
13. Prioritizing Consistent Communication
Business leaders who are good at consistent communication and reinforcing their vision in every communication ensure alignment. Many leaders communicate once and assume that everyone reads the memo. Consistency and persistence happen over time, not just one time. It is also important that your activities and decisions align with the long-term vision to ensure avoiding mixed messages. – Julie Thomas, ValueSelling Associates
14. Staying True To The Mission Statement
The general perception is the mission statement is just a section on your website where a few sentences are strung together. However, at the beginning of your journey, this was there for a reason so believing in it is what led to the creation of business development and all other support functions. Sure, along the way alterations or changes can happen, but overlooking this will lead to your downfall. – Mustansir Paliwala, EQUANS
15. Developing An Ecosystem Of Key Stakeholders And Decision-Makers
Actively build a network that enhances the organization’s capabilities and brand and supports its growth. The long-term vision should also include becoming an influential voice within the industry through thought leadership, contributing to industry standards and actively shaping the direction of discussions around innovation. – Stuart Bern, ATTOM
16. Ensuring Focus On The Consumer Need
Business development leaders should ensure their teams never lose sight of the consumer need that the company is there to solve. If the focus of your business and mission does waver, your competitive advantage and the company’s differentiation in the marketplace will be compromised. As a result, business will stagnate and you’ll open the door for competitors to eat your lunch. – Jim Mizouni, Sage Dental
17. Setting Clear Key Performance Indicators For Satisfaction
Leaders should prioritize customer-focused strategic alignment, understanding and anticipating evolving customer needs. To align the team, cultivate a customer-centric culture, act on feedback and set clear KPIs for satisfaction. Workshops on customer journey mapping and personal development further ensure alignment. – Michael Fritsch, Smarter Operations
18. Implementing Strategy
Teams often confuse goals with strategy. A true strategy must have three elements: Resonate on one or a set of key insights, develop strategic relationships with your consumers and build your brand positioning and perceived value through time. The best way to keep focus is to have checkpoints and celebrate the wins you achieve to get there. – David Mahbub, MACH9
19. Striving For Innovation And Sustainability
Business development leaders can ensure alignment by clearly communicating this vision, setting measurable goals and fostering a culture that values innovation. Regular team check-ins to assess progress and provide constructive feedback help to keep everyone on the same path toward achieving the vision. – Tomer Warschauer Nuni, Pink Moon Studio Ltd
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