Business Development vs. Sales

I have received over 100 e-mail invitations in the last 90 days or so touting the reasons I should attend an up-coming workshop or webinar on how to make sales quickly in this difficult business environment. In all due respect, I seriously doubt that the sales tactics and techniques prescribed by these people and their firms will actually work as suggested. 

The primary reason I’m not as optimistic as they seem to be is quite simple. Not one of us, expert or not, has been through an economic downturn exactly like the one we have experienced in the last two years or so. In my opinion, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all sales program that transcends the dynamics of any and all recessions.

With that said, I decided to conduct some non-scientific polling of 50 or so business owners and managers to see what they thought. It quickly became clear that the handful of firms that practiced a more deliberate business development strategy were the firms that were maintaining sales growth during these challenging times.

So what are the fundamental differences between business development and sales?

Business Development—building long-term, value exchange relationships with people of influence in targeted companies and industries or in the business community in general. The primary purpose is to receive a recommendation from someone of trust and respect.

Sales—a more tactical approach, such as e-mail marketing, features/benefits, cold calling, networking events, brochures and handing out business cards. The primary purpose is to convince a firm or person that your product or service is something they should consider buying.

In my experience, you don’t need hundreds of relationships, but rather a group of 10 people who are well respected and influential in the area. If they admire you, how you do business and how you live your life, they can and often times do recommend you to the decision makers. That’s business development.

Comments

[PR Nottingham]

When we talk about business development and Sales, Public Relations, networking and social media plays a very efficient part.:) This post has draw that line between developing a business and getting target sales.:)