A Blueprint for BD Training: Mindset, Culture and Resources
- Client Talk
- Apr 7
- 5 min read
Updated: May 6
Can you teach our professionals Business Development? This is a question we often hear. This article, the third and final one in our series, explores the importance of context. Often the opening question is another way of asking, can you create rainmakers, or get us more sales; that elusive growth that all firms want. However, skills can be irrelevant – at best – or counterproductive – at worst – without considering context. This article is all about the foundation layer of our blueprint, and as with all foundations, it is perhaps the most important.
Business Development Mindset and Culture
Mindset and Culture are different things, but they are both important when it comes to how professionals think and they shape how a person approaches challenges, decisions, and opportunities. Mindsets are best thought of as a way of thinking. Culture is a way of being. It is how people do things around here and the context in which business development will happen.
A strong business development mindset is growth-oriented, strategic, and relationship-driven. It is not about selling but about creating value and seeing the bigger picture. Without this mindset, skills are likely to go unused.
ABC of Business Development Mindset
We like to think about the ABC of Business Development Mindset as the base layer for individual business development training programmes. You want to get professionals living and breathing the ABC.
A – Act – For business development to be successful, you have to trust the process and do “little and often”. Business development seldom works when it is a big bang when things go quiet. What behaviours can your professionals do more of.... every day?
B – Bridge – Get your professionals to think of business development as a bridge. In the sales funnel, it is the bridge between potential clients being aware of what you do and becoming a client. The BD Bridge is where you need to connect with your stakeholders, and be the key joiner of dots for them. Whether that be filling in gaps in their understanding, linking them to information or to people who might help them, or helping them work through their problems.
C – Convert – Business development is ultimately about converting opportunities to sales. However, sales happen and rainmakers (who excel at the C) are to be found at the end of the process. They might get most of the praise, but they don’t happen without the A and the B. Indeed, the best pitches are ones where there is no competition, the buyer has already made up their mind that they want to use you. You can solve their problem! When you are junior you might not be converting, but you can learn from those who do. What behaviours do you see? How can you support them?
Cultivating this mindset will bring about a shift in the business development culture in your firm. Culture is how you do things in your firm. It is what professionals will see. It is the culmination of multiple actions. Systems and processes can support culture, but starting with your professionals and understanding what they see is a fundamental part of business development training.
What is your culture like? Do professionals who get involved in business development get rewarded? What happens to those who don’t get involved? Are there repercussions? What happens to those who try and fail? Are they celebrated for their efforts and does the firm learn from them?
There are many elements which can influence and impact the individual motivations of professionals. It is all very well teaching professionals core skills, but they need to believe that they can use them, and more importantly feel that getting involved is important not only for them, but for the firm at large. They need to feel that the culture of the firm supports their efforts.
The importance of strengths when thinking about BD Training
At an individual level, for business development training to work, professionals need to connect with it. This is the personal context. They need to understand why they need to do it, and they need to believe that they can. Most business development efforts fail, not because professionals don’t know what to do, but because they are not consistent in their efforts. We have all been there. When the work is flowing there never seems to be enough time to put aside for business development. All of a sudden there is a lull and the pipeline has dried up. Or maybe, the professional is looking for a promotion and needs to demonstrate that they have a plan. There is a short burst of activity – and then back to nothing.
To achieve the consistency needed for business development to succeed - the Act in our ABC, professionals need to find their sweet spot. This can be found in thinking about:
Strengths: the strengths that they bring (we set out in article 2 the core and super skills that are needed);
Do more: the things that they might need to do more of, perhaps to develop a skill or maybe because they have been tasked with that particular activity as part of a wider plan; and
Activities: the activities that they might be able to get involved with in their firm, related to both their seniority and the broader firm BD plan.
Let’s bring this to life by way of an example:
Strength: A person who is good at writing – maybe they are a lawyer and it is a skill that they have perfected over many years. Making the complex simple on paper is a strength that they have.
Do more: This person has been told that they need to increase their profile and be known in the sector they work in. They are well-known among peers and colleagues, but clients don’t know them.
Activities: The firm where the person is, wants professionals to get more involved in writing articles and blogging .
Sweet spot: This person’s sweet spot might be to build a brand through writing more frequently and/or using social media as a way to get involved in social selling.
Coaching is a great way to help people find their sweet spots. It can also help people to uncover a broader range of support in their firm – from assets and resources that exist at a tangible level, through to intangible support by way of mentors, or peers, for example. Coaching can also help with the cultural context. Make sure your firm has strong foundations before you start building on them!
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