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Overview: Business Development

Ironically, if young entrepreneurs have any advantage at all, it's in the area of business development. Corporations spend billions of dollars on marketing and sales effort based on levels of measurability that would never be accepted in the manufacturing or accounting departments. By taking advantage of new techniques in targeted, permission-based communications; using the Internet and digital sales materials (usually in Adobe PDFs) to look like a big company, and having yourself or someone ready to passionately sell and service your customers, you really can compete with major companies.

Business development is the combined process of selling and marketing. The term business development reflects the need to fully integrated marketing—i.e., providing air cover—with the sales process—the hand-to-hand process of converting prospects into customers.

Selling. There's an old saying: "A funny thing happens if nobody sells. If you don't have a strategy for selling whatever it is you are selling, either directly yourself, or through others, stop right now, because you're fantasizing.

Most entrepreneurs are either terrific salespeople, know one or more terrific salesperson, convince great salespeople to sell for them, or have such an amazing idea that it sells itself. (And, yes, there are many people who win the lottery, too.) Don't bet on the so-called upward sales spiral generated out of spontaneous demand for your idea: it might happen, but you had better plan for the block and tackle of selling if you want to succeed. Sales means:

• Having a unique selling proposition
• Identifying the people who can buy
• Having the passion and determination to contact people by phone and e-mail and even by letter, over a period of time
• Having the communications skills to convey your concept
• Having the questioning and listening skills to help your prospects
• Having the willingness to "ask for the order."

Marketing. Every once in a while, someone comes up with an idea so good, it succeeds through word-of-mouth—the wonderful phenomenon of having the phone ring, your e-mail inbox fill with inquiries, your Web site percolate with visitors, or your e-commerce site ring up sales while you lie in your hammock. Many of the most notable examples of companies launched without marketing budgets involve Web businesses such as Youtube or Google, both of which practically had no budget for marketing. Both services grew virally as one person told another about it. That isn't only true with Web companies. You have probably heard of Mary Kay Cosmetics, yet the company has never spent a dollar on advertising. The company's founders liked to say the company is known because of the pink Cadillacs it has traditionally given to its top sales performers.

At best, marketing stimulates interest, awareness, leads, and some sales. Rarely does marketing work without good old-fashioned sales, as the Internet entrepreneurs learned the hard way during the dot-com boom in the late 20th century. Young entrepreneurs received millions and even tens of millions of dollars from investors to fund television advertising, huge event sponsorships, public relations, you name it, to generate rapid growth. Rarely did the sales generated match or even come close to justifying the investment, and most of the businesses went away. If every company could simply market itself to success, far fewer of even the best-funded companies would fail.

That said, every business plan requires specific strategies, actions, and plans to:

• Create awareness in your target audience so people have heard of you when you contact them or when they need your type of product or service. This can be done through highly targeted direct mail or other communications with a specific group, different forms of advertising, promotions, public relations, etc.
• Build your credibility as a player or expert in your market or field. This starts with using your contacts to find people who can create a great Web site with a professional design and well-crafted information on your company that focuses on the customer's needs and how you can fill them.
• Enhance your reputation—join related associations, try to become a speaker (using the fact that you're a young entrepreneur to stand out) at association events, put useful content on your Web site, create white papers on your topic. Create useful content or newsletters designed to help your prospects.
• Build a database of people who want to hear from you—have a means on your Web site and all sales and marketing efforts to collect e-mail and mail addresses of people who want to hear from you.

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