Business development is an ongoing part of client relationships, not a separate sales exercise. Consistent service, thoughtful questions, and shared follow-through help teams connect client needs with relevant expertise. Start with one habit your team can sustain alongside daily work.
In professional services, relationships play an important role in growth. But maintaining those relationships—and recognizing opportunities to help—takes consistent attention.
The challenge is making business development part of everyday work when client delivery already fills the calendar. These seven habits provide a practical starting point.
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IMPRESS your clients with exceptional service and a thoughtful value-adds. Follow through on commitments, communicate clearly, and look for useful ways to help beyond the immediate task.
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INFORM your clients about other offerings and capabilities when they relate to a need or priority. Explain how that expertise could help rather than assuming clients will make the connection themselves.
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INCREASE the depth and breadth of your client relationships to your organization. Introduce colleagues where their expertise is relevant, and help them understand the client's context before the conversation.
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IMPROVE and leverage the varied business development (BD) skills of your teammates. Some people excel at starting conversations, others at asking questions, explaining an approach or developing a proposal. Make use of those strengths and create opportunities to learn from one another.
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INQUIRE about the needs of clients and prospective clients. Ask what is changing, where they are encountering difficulty and what they are looking to accomplish. Give them room to answer before suggesting a solution
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INTEGRATE business development into your calendar. Use whatever BD activity that comes naturally to you, and occasionally some that don’t. That could be a brief follow-up, a useful introduction, or a check-in can all help maintain a relationship. Choose a realistic rhythm you can sustain alongside client work.
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INITIATE a conversation about working together when there is a clear need you can address. Summarize what you have heard, explain where you think you can help and suggest an appropriate next step.
Put the Habits Into Practice
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Start with one client relationship and three questions:
- What matters to this client now that may have changed since our last conversation?
- Who else in our organization could help with a need they have identified?
- What useful next step can I take this week?
As a team, review where follow-through tends to stall. Are introductions happening without enough context? Are client needs being identified but never followed up? Are a few people carrying most of the relationship-building work?
Choose one habit to strengthen and agree on a simple action. Over time, those actions can help business development become a shared responsibility with clear follow-through.
This article was published more than 1 year ago. Some information may no longer be current.