Business Development Moment

  Recommended Reading: Agile for Everybody by Matt Lemay I’ve received a question from a colleague asking: what’s the difference between Agile, and Design thinking. Why should companies be agile? Hence, today, we’ll discuss agile vs. Lean vs. design thinking.  Moreover, we’ll discuss why agile is a strategic approach that any company can apply to achieve profitable business. Let’s begin with some definitions: Agile: Is a strategic approach to transform your company or organization into an innovative entity through collaboration and responding fast to change and uncertainty.  Indeed, Agile is not only for software companies.Yet, It can be applied to any business. Design Thinking: ‘’a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success’’ defined by Tim Brown Lean: ‘’a business that maximizes value while minimizing waste. A lean busines...

  Recommended Reading:   WINNING HER BUSINESS by Bridget Brennan. Note for readers :  This book is an awesome read.  It’s mainly about women 's consumer market and how sales professionals can win these very powerful market .  I was intrigued by Bridget style and her innovative ''Four Motivator framework'' and decided to use the content to get reader attention on Women in business development and also how business developers can learn about women consumer market as a growth tool .   Women are a crucial part of today’s workforce and consumer markets.  This week we will explore how women in business development think, & how sales professionals should approach women consumers .   Women in business development are assertive, explorers, agile, proactive, and dynamic women who create growth opportunities for their companies .  In the business world and particularly in the MENA region, women think differently because they understand that women ar...

Recommended Reading:  Artificial Intelligence for Business by  Rajendra Akerkar Intelligent business development utilizes Artificial Intelligence & machine learning to hasten business process optimization.  According to Rajendra,‘’ for businesses, the practice of AI translates straight into less time spent on routine administrative tasks internally and satisfied customers externally. Adopting AI can be cost-effective, complementary to customer engagement and useful in bridging talent gaps’’ The new era of AI business development requires a new mindset, operation and education. Hence, we’ll discuss briefly some AI Concepts & examples : 1-      Natural language processing (NLP) According to   Jason Brownlee ,   ‘’  Natural Language Processing, or NLP for short, is broadly defined as the automatic manipulation of natural language, like speech and text, by software. The study of natural language processing has been around for more ...

Recommended Reading:  GAP SELLING by KEENAN Why should business developers stop closing deals? Why Gap selling is better than BANT (Budget, authority, Needs, and Time’’? We all know this mantra ‘’It is not what you know, but who you know’’. Yet,I think this mantra needs a small modification , ‘’It’s important who you are and what you want to do’’. In practice, business developers’ focus on closing a sale, they forgot that customers want a value. You bet on your relationships to get deals fast. Yet, it fails to create an innovative & dynamic market. Business development is a bout identifying gaps, change, building a value, and expertise that sell. This why business developers should stop closing deals and start delivering a real value through  Gap selling Let’s explore together  what gap selling is and why gap selling is better than BANT: According to KEENAN ‘’ Gap selling is about establishing trust and revealing all of the knowledge you possess about your customer’s ...

Recommended Reading : This is Marketing; You can’t be Seen until You Learn to See by Seth Godin Why should business developers learn marketing? What’s ‘’Smallest Viable Market’’? According to Seth Godin’’ Marketing seeks more, More market share, more customers, more work. Marketing is driven by better. Better service, better community, better outcomes. Marketing creates culture. Status, affiliation, and people like us. Most of all, marketing is change’’   There is a claim that business developers shouldn’t learn marketing.  This assumption is untrue as business developers and marketers seek more, seek better outcomes, and create culture. Both are change makers.   Let’s take a glimpse about marketing fundamentals that business developers should learn/apply: 1-      Marketing is a science: It’s not about getting shares, likes, and comments. Yet, interactions are important when it bring actual results. According to Decision Analyst ‘...