And, so, what is business development?

When people ask 'what do you do for a living?" and I reply "I do business development", it is always the start of a huge discussion, maybe boring for some. These two words alone are very ambiguous and the more such executives (VP Business Development, etc.) one asks, one is likely to get just as many replies (and a few more).

Is it sales? Is it about developing partnerships? Is it about strategizing? Any quick answer is never concise, very vague and usually evasive. Moreover, what the other side understands relies solely on what they do for a living. So, a single definition that could stylishly and in a sophisticated way explain what business development really is, operates at every level.

Nevertheless, going back into my 20-year-plus career and related experience, seeking to combine the various replies and unsolicited definitions, I found a rather textbook, one-liner:

Business development is the generation of long-standing added-value for an organization from clients, markets, and connections.

Does it sound over-simplified? You have to admire that. However, it does feel like something's missing. I mean, where is the process of understanding and evaluating how clients, markets and peer-to-peer connections interact with each other and generate opportunities for the organization's growth?

For starters, "long-standing added-value" is not only about sales-margin-profit. Yes, this is the fuel which every for-profit organization runs on. Nevertheless, anything an organization needs to grow, e.g. respect, status, market share, contacts, etc., is added-value. Generating short-term profits is good; generating opportunities for that value (name it profit or other) to last long-term, so that an organization continues to grow, that's awesome.

As for clients, by definition they buy products or services and pay the organization's bills. I mean, you need those to have a business to develop, right? Yes. However, not all are the right type of customer. Do they find in your offering the advantages they seek? Can it be that one has the best offering but hardly anyone knows this? It was only recently that a customer said "We didn't have you on the map", and we've been in that market for 25 years... Or just maybe customers can't get your offering because they can't reach you (and decide to go next door, because it has more lights).

Now, markets: different needs, different business mentalities, different geographies, different government budgets (if you're in the public infrastructure business), etc. So, one needs to spend time and identify which opportunities are there, enter new market segments and build new customers, so as to generate long-term value for the organization. One has to find the right way to enter into a certain segment where potential customers are but do not know that your product solution is also valuable to them.

And then, we have connections, 'relationships', what we attract and are attracted to. Any self-respecting organization needs a strong substratum of healthy, win-win, value-adding relationships. Building and managing such relationships, based on confidence, respect, and the shared appreciation of each side’s real worth, is vital for long lasting flow of value for the organization. All kinds of relationships, e.g. partners, customers, employees, media, are essential to the success of any business developer and his/hers fight under the flag of any organization.

Therefore, business development actually is all of the above and even more. There is no real ending, which actually accounts for this discipline's challenging, uncompromising, and captivating nature. Next time you reply "I do biz dev", be proud of it and keep on doing it: well prepared, without excuses, like a boss, loving people.

(Thanks, Scott Pollack; Forbes, 2012/03/21)