The How-To: Three Tips For Creating A Successful Business Development Team Having the right people on board will keep your business on the right trajectory.
By Zehra Fattah-Bani •
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When it comes to ensuring the continuous growth of your company, forming a competent business development team is very important. Having the right people on board will keep your business on the right trajectory. To help support you in creating a great team of business development experts, here are three simple guidelines for you to follow:
1. Diversity
Diversity is key. With the rise in international investors expanding their operations into the Middle East, it is wise to utilize the cultural diversity in the region's pool of talents and add them to your workforce. This way, you will be able to match the best consultant for your potential clients.
One of the benefits of having a diverse workforce is that you can assign employees according to their language skills and background. This will not only be helpful when breaking language barriers with respective clients, but also in helping you enter territories that offer great potential. If international travel is part of the employees' scope of work, this will make logistics much easier too. The employee is probably already familiar with the designated country and might even already have existing connections. These factors will help you save a lot of time.
Additionally, having a business developer that knows the cultural customs of the country is also significant in making sure that your company is not crossing the line and stepping on your potential client's values. For example, in some cultures, female investors only prefer to deal with female consultants, and men only prefer to interact with men. Some cultures may prefer handshakes as a greeting, whereas in another part of the globe, it might be considered as offensive.
It is crucial to employ business developers who understand the customs and culture of the respective country in order to plan their activities effectively and guarantee that your company is being represented appropriately.
Related: Lost In Translation: Communication, Multiculturalism And The Middle East
2. Find the right personality types
A significant part of the business developer's work is to network on various channels. Whether it means attending and organizing industry specific events, conferences and meetings or using social media to connect with their target audience, the main aim for utilizing these activities is to connect with potential clients and strategic partners, in order to ultimately build sustainable relationships and increase the organization's return on investments.
In this case, it is ideal to find business developers who have innately outgoing and excellent communicators. What you need is a team of people who are always on the go, exploring new opportunities for the organization's success. But that's not all, you also need professionals who are strategic thinkers, as business development involves a lot of research and effective time management in order to target the right audiences and engage in the right activities that are relevant and beneficial to their work.
Therefore, the best business developers are those who are entrepreneurial-spirited and are able to think outside the box.
3. Hire people who believe in what you do
Your business development team is the one that pulls in more business to your company and to create a powerhouse one, you must find likeminded people– professionals who share the same value as you and believe in why you do what you do.
When your business developers trust in what your company stands for, they will have the natural desire to always go the extra mile and keep pushing the organization to the top.
During the process of building a great business development team, it is crucial to lay out your company's core values, mission and vision to the candidates and find a way to establish whether they only want the job because of the money you are willing to pay or they want the job because believe in the principles of your business.
Get people who find value in what you offer and you can expect them to be loyal, and always inspired to deliver amazing results.
Related: Marketing Through The Different Stages Of The Business Lifecycle
