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Often, I am asked globally about the things that can help “business development” in comparison to those that will help “grow the business.”

It is interesting that rarely am I asked about the things that will hurt a business, that is, prevent it from growing or surviving. Both are important for a business to grow and to survive.

When I teach, train, coach and advise about business development, I cover both the things that can be done to “grow business” and the things that can prevent business growth or hurt the business.

Consider for a moment an automobile: even if you have a car that runs well and has tires, if you are stuck on ice or in mud, you will only spin your tires and go nowhere, and if you are on a hill or decline you will slip downwards and maybe even crash and have an accident. You need everything working well and in good condition. The same is true with business development.

You need both: to be doing the progressive things that will help “grow the business” and also aggressively improving all of the things that can prevent business growth or hurt the business.

These are big influencing factors for managing both:

1. Leadership and management attitudes.
2. Leadership and management skills and knowledge.
3. Processes, procedures and programs.

In this article, I will just list many of the common things that can help business development and also list the things that will prevent business development and hurt the business.

Since most people do not ask me what will hurt business and prevent business development, I will start with listing these. Doing things or allowing things that hurt the business or prevent business growth is similar to getting a gun and shooting yourself in the foot and then wondering why you cannot walk, run or climb forward.

Things That Will Hurt the Business and Prevent it From Growing

1. Obsolete and end-of-life-cycle products and services with declining use for customers and markets.
2. Competition has better and more current products and services.
3. Quality problems and issues.
4. Delivery issues and problems.
5. Non-competitive pricing.
6. High overhead causing high pricing and maybe low profits.
7. Possible government regulations and laws in countries selling to.
8. Possible tariffs and taxes in countries selling to.
9. Possible government barriers of countries selling to.
10. Possible environmental and cultural challenges in countries selling to.
11. Bad public relations about any issue.
12. Lack of brand name and brand image.
13. Lack of field sales/marketing representation or distribution in target markets and countries selling to.
14. Lack of continual training for all employees and representative sales/marketing staff in the marketplace.
15. Lack of effective marketing communications and promotional materials, and if in the retail markets, a lack of effective POS (point of sale) promotional displays and materials.
16. High employee turnover due to a variety of issues that need improving.
17. Low employee morale and maybe not a good work environment.
18. Lack of good “ethics” of company, leadership, management, employees; lying misleading and dishonesty.
19. Lack of skills and knowledge, experience and abilities of leadership, management and employees.
20. Lack of true team work with management and employees.
21. Lack of innovation and creativity with many things.
22. Lack of good marketing communications clearly showing features, benefits, advantages and value to customers from customers’ view with each target market niche and each international market.
23. Lack of clear strategy with programs, processes and aggressive efforts in place to support it.
24. A bad strategy or lack of clear strategy.
25. Lack of understanding of customers in all target niche markets and target international markets.
26. Lack of insights and understanding of progress needed, product and service improvements or modifications needed, market changes, customer needs and their views, changes of all types and potential future business in many markets developing.
27. Any disregard or lack of attention to employees, field sales/marketing representatives, customers, markets and trends.
28. Not being able to recruit, hire and retain the highest skilled employees and staff.
29. Lack of effective communication with employees, customers and markets.
30. Neglecting in any way your customers or employees or field representation sales/marketing staff.
31. Policies and procedures that make it difficult for customers to do business with you, or a lack of policies and procedures to make it difficult for customers.
32. Lack of keeping on the front edge of everything, internal and external.

Things That Can Help Business Development

1. Products and services that customers in the target markets need and want and are motivated to purchase. I have seen many good products and services globally that are needed but customers will not purchase them because they are not motivated to do so.
2. Continue to develop new products and services that customers in target markets need and are motivated to purchase. New products and new services are the “life blood” of a company and business development.
3. Competitive pricing.
4. High quality.
5. Good and fast delivery.
6. Depth of marketing communications that clearly show features, benefits, advantages and value to customers and niche target markets.
7. Aggressive and good public relations and advertising promotions.
8. Aggressively progressing with brand name and image.
9. Continual progressive efforts to understand customers and target markets and continually aggressively solicit (ask) for suggestions, ideas, improvements needed, product/services modifications or improvements needed, other possible applications and uses, other market niches, market changes, changes of anything, and trends. Such programs must be progressive for customers, field sales/marketing representation and all employees.
10. Effective referral programs.
11. Effective incentive and reward programs for all employees and field representation sales/marketing staff.
12. Continual training for all employees and field marketing/sales staff.
13. Recruiting, hiring and retaining highly skilled and ethical employees (including paying more than average to accomplish this).
14. Expand into more target niche markets.
15. Expand into more applications and uses.
16. Expand into new international/global markets.
17. Expand representation and distribution into new target niche markets.
18. Adjust and customize/modify products, services and marketing communications to target niche markets and international markets.
19. Seek out ways to improve overall and have programs to do so with rewards and incentives for such and for all employees.
20. An understanding that 80 percent to 90 percent of good ideas and suggestions on everything will come from employees, field sales/marketing staff and customers; and the need for programs, processes and incentives/rewards in place to effectively manage, encourage and reap the benefit from this.
21. Programs, processes, incentives, rewards and sincere recognition for team work and team efforts. A bunch of sticks together is stronger than a single stick. Go outside and pick up some tree branches and sticks to test this out. This simple task and example will help you understand the strength of team work and team effort.
22. Continual improvement and innovations are needed for products, services, marketing communications and promotions and internal operations of all types. Effective programs, processes, and adequate levels of incentives and rewards are needed to support such.
23. Effective programs, training and hiring practices are needed to assure high ethics.
24. Continual effective communications with employees, customers and market niches is needed. Communications to include a closed-loop system which is communication with them; ask and get feedback from them and then you communicate back to them again to make sure all understood everything correctly. One-way communication does not work and is not effective.
25. Understand the needs of your employees, staff, field marketing/sales staff and customers and have programs and efforts in place to manage this effectively meet these needs.
26. Develop and always improve on a good working environment for your employees and a good environment with customers to work with you and do business with you easily.

There are many other things that we can add to both of these lists of things that can prevent business development and the things that can help business development and growing the business. If you ask your staff, employees, field sales/marketing representation and customers about such, you will easily find things to add to these two lists. The big question remains: “What will you do with these two lists to help grow your business?”

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].