Systematic business development with a customer perspective
To develop company´business is partly about growing from its own products and services, partly to buy in complementary products, services or customers, and create synergies with existing business. In both cases, development depends on a strong contact with the customers in order to be clear about the offerings - products and services - which customers want to buy at a price that gives a reasonable profit.
A systematic development process therefore begins with identifying the product / service-customer relations that a company earns good money from. By getting a clear idea of where a company has its strength the next phase is on such customers as shown in the analysis phase to be those who buy the offers that give the best customer profitability. Without further analysis, we can say that the most profitable customers show where the company delivers the highest customer value.
By continuous monitoring of customer profitability and target that type of customers, the effect is an improved net margin. That is the first positive effects of the development work. But also you get a valuable feedback and knowledge from existing and new customers what you can do more to increase customer value and become more competitive.
The next step is to look at product and service development in line with the new client signals coming in, even if it appears to go against what the company have invested in equipment. And with a higher margin from the previous development work it has now created the opportunity to make new investments, and to dismantle the equipment and other resources that are not fitting in the further development according to customer needs and value.
The worst thing to do is continue to produce with existing equipment and send the sales people on sales courses because they are not "able to sell what the customers do not want to buy". That it is stillborn for trying to "sell" something that customers do not want does not work no matter which course the sales people are going through. Will the company stay long term in the market it has to enhance the sales process to a process to inform customers about the products and services and then listen very carefully to the customers' reaction. If the customer wants to buy it is clearly the best, but if the customer would not buy the products that is the second best - if the sales person finds out why the client don´t want to buy so we can adjust.
In that way the salesmen can bring back valuable information and show the way to a customer-and market-driven product and service that is sure to sell - for those deals were requested by the customer.
Although a systematic business development begins with analyzing the existing customers being the most profitable and which products and services they buy. And in the second stage it is to actively seeking new customers with a profile that corresponds to those proved to be the most profitable customers. In step three product and service development are completely based on customer and market signals.
Even if you do all this systematically, it is inevitable that the steps are mixed therefore it may be important for a successful business development that the company engage an outside consultant to run the process as an aid to management so that business development continuously is going on beside the regular business.
The three steps outlined represent a systematic organic business development. The fourth step can be described as an external expansion by taking advantage of the now achieved strong market position to buy in additional products, services or customers and thus exploit fixed costs, in terms of staff, even better. Ideal case is to buy in business that makes both a lower production costs when fully utilized, while also reduce marketing- and sales costs.
Score based provide analysis and the decision support system Profit-finder ® in collaboration with management to support this type of systematic business development.