Episode 173
The Business Development Marathon: Why Consistency Wins
In Episode 173 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy delves into the critical mindset shift that business development is a long-term commitment, comparing it to a marathon rather than a sprint. He emphasizes that success in business development comes from consistent effort over time, much like planting seeds and nurturing them before seeing results. Kennedy reminds listeners that business opportunities often materialize months or even years after initial outreach, making it essential to maintain steady business development practices even during periods of success.
Kelly also addresses common mistakes made by businesses, such as pulling back on business development during good times, only to find themselves scrambling when opportunities dry up. He stresses the importance of keeping a full pipeline of leads and never letting up on the gas. In this episode, he provides real-life examples of long-term wins and highlights the power of human-to-human connections. Listeners are encouraged to stay consistent, track their efforts, and always work toward setting meetings, as it is through these meetings that real opportunities emerge over time.
Key Takeaways:
1. Business development is a marathon, requiring consistent effort over time for long-term success.
2. Success in business development comes from planting seeds and nurturing relationships, which pay off months or years later.
3. Never stop business development efforts, even during times of success, to avoid a dry pipeline.
4. Active marketing and direct outreach are essential to building trust and human-to-human connections.
5. The best time to do business development is before you need sales, not when you’re desperate for new opportunities.
6. Passive advertising is helpful for brand recognition but shouldn’t replace active business development efforts.
7. Measure success by meetings and opportunities, not just calls or emails, as meetings lead to tangible results.
8. Consistency is key—stick with your process, even when immediate results aren’t visible.
9. Track and analyze business development activities to improve processes and predict success trends over time.
10. Business development ebbs and flows, so maintaining momentum is crucial for long-term opportunities.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Capital Business Development
- Apple
- Jim Harold's Campfire
- Scared to Death Podcast
Transcript
Welcome to episode 173 of the Business Development podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:And today is all about how business development is not a race, it is a marathon.
Kelly Kennedy:And if you work consistently week over week, month over month, year over year, you will reap results years into the future.
Kelly Kennedy:Stick with us.
Kelly Kennedy:This is a powerful episode.
Mark Cuban:The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.
Mark Cuban:Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.
Mark Cuban:And we couldn't agree more.
Mark Cuban:This is the business development podcast, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and broadcasting to the world.
Mark Cuban:You'll get expert business development advice, tips and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEO's and business development reps.
Mark Cuban:You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you.
Mark Cuban:Bye capital business development Capitalbd ca Let's do it.
Mark Cuban:Welcome to the Business Development podcast.
Mark Cuban:And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:Hello.
Kelly Kennedy:Welcome to episode 173 of the Business development podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:My gosh, 173 episodes.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, it still feels just like yesterday that we started this show.
Kelly Kennedy:It blows my mind, guys, just how far we've come in such a short, short period of time, especially as we're approaching, you know, our second year coming up here in February.
Kelly Kennedy:It is absolutely unbelievable.
Kelly Kennedy:So much has happened.
Kelly Kennedy:It's been totally incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:And I just absolutely love doing this show, guys, and I appreciate it.
Kelly Kennedy:And we could not do it without the support of our amazing rockstar community.
Kelly Kennedy:You guys, you're incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:Thank you for your support.
Kelly Kennedy:Thank you for telling your friends and family, and thank you for coming back week over week, month over month, and year over year.
Kelly Kennedy:Could not, could not do this without you.
Kelly Kennedy: show update we're sitting at: Kelly Kennedy:If you are looking for a free and easy way to support the show, guys, if you are not yet following us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whatever player you guys listen on, easy way to do it.
Kelly Kennedy:Click that follow if you have some time, give us a rating.
Kelly Kennedy:We appreciate it immensely and it really does help us to grow this show organically, which is ideally what we would like to do.
Kelly Kennedy:So if you have a chance today and you haven't gotten around to it yet, please do give us a, like, give us a rating, give us a follow on your platforms of choice.
Kelly Kennedy:And if you really feeling ambitious, heck, you can even leave us a review.
Kelly Kennedy:We appreciate it immensely.
Kelly Kennedy:We're sitting at 216,200 downloads.
Kelly Kennedy:And my gosh, guys, huge update this week.
Kelly Kennedy:We have hit the highest rating we have ever hit in Canada, peaking out at number 32, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Number 32 in canadian entrepreneurship category with Apple podcast charts.
Kelly Kennedy:Incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:Incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:And it's because of you.
Kelly Kennedy:It's because of our rockstar listeners.
Kelly Kennedy:I appreciate each and every one of you.
Kelly Kennedy:Thank you, thank you.
Kelly Kennedy:Thank you for helping us to continue to climb the charts.
Kelly Kennedy:You know, one day we sure hope to be in that top ten.
Kelly Kennedy:Heck, maybe even number one.
Kelly Kennedy:That would be pretty darn incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:But you know what?
Kelly Kennedy:It goes up, you know, a little bit up that ladder each time.
Kelly Kennedy:And every time that we hit a new high or a new top, it.
Kelly Kennedy:It really is incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:So I just wanted to thank each and every one of you that helped us get there this week.
Kelly Kennedy:Could not have hit number 32 in Canada without you.
Kelly Kennedy:So thank you for your support.
Kelly Kennedy:Reminder, guys, it is now October 1.
Kelly Kennedy:We are in the spookiest month of the year.
Kelly Kennedy:One of my favorite months.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, if you know anything about me, you know that I like a good spooky podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:And I'm going to give you guys some recommendations because I know some really great ones.
Kelly Kennedy:If you have not had a chance yet to check out Jim Harold's campfire.
Kelly Kennedy:It is an absolutely incredible, incredible podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:For the spooky season or for just you spooky lovers like me.
Kelly Kennedy:So if you guys are looking for a good new spooky show, check out Jim Herald's campfire.
Kelly Kennedy:The guy's been at it for like 20 years, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:He's incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:He's like the king of Spooky podcasting was in it before podcasting was cool.
Kelly Kennedy:And Jim Herald's got some pretty good ones.
Kelly Kennedy:He's got the paranormal podcast and he's got Jim Herald's campfire.
Kelly Kennedy:And I think you guys will absolutely love it, especially if, like me, you were a coast to coast am fan.
Kelly Kennedy:Once upon a time they had a really great Halloween season thing where they would let people call in and basically campfire is that all year round.
Kelly Kennedy:So shout out to Jim Harold would not be a podcaster without listening to him many, many years ago.
Kelly Kennedy:And I hope you guys check him out this the spooky season.
Kelly Kennedy:If you are looking for one other podcast, I would highly, highly recommend scared to death podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:It is also incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:And we'll give you the spooks that you might be looking for this Halloween season.
Kelly Kennedy: of: Kelly Kennedy:And guys, I need community questions.
Kelly Kennedy:So if you have not had a chance to do so yet, and you have a question for me that's regarding entrepreneurship, business development, podcasting.
Kelly Kennedy:I am happy, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Happy to chat, happy to answer questions for our amazing rockstar community.
Kelly Kennedy:And you can send any questions to me to podcastapitalbd CA or you can send me a direct message over LinkedIn.
Kelly Kennedy:If you guys message me on LinkedIn, say, Kelly, I got a question for the upcoming community Questions episode.
Kelly Kennedy:I will make sure that two things if it seems urgent and you need help immediately, I will do my best potentially to answer it for you quicker.
Kelly Kennedy:But I will also answer that question for you and the amazing Rockstar community during our community questions episodes.
Kelly Kennedy:And I like to get like a good amount of questions, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:So don't be afraid.
Kelly Kennedy:If you have a question or you have anything you might want to ask, shoot it over podcast at Capitalbd CA and I look forward to doing a community questions episode later this October, if we can.
Kelly Kennedy:One other thing, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Before we start the show today, we have released our monthly guest lineup for October.
Kelly Kennedy:So for those of you who may or may not know, for the past three or four months, I have started releasing the guest lineups a full month ahead.
Kelly Kennedy:And so if you want to know what incredible rockstar guests we have coming up this month, head on over follow the business development podcast and Kelly Kennedy on LinkedIn.
Kelly Kennedy:At the beginning of each month, I post the guest list for everybody that we have coming up that month so you can see what shows you might have to look forward to.
Kelly Kennedy:So feel free.
Kelly Kennedy:Give us a follow on LinkedIn under the business development podcast and feel free to give Kelly Kennedy a follow as well.
Kelly Kennedy:And you will be able to stay up to date with what is coming down the pipe on the business development podcast for the upcoming months, guys, and I will do that for you as long as we are able to.
Kelly Kennedy:So if you guys are wondering what is next easy place to find it, come hang out with us on LinkedIn.
Kelly Kennedy:Join the conversations and I look forward to seeing you there.
Kelly Kennedy:All right, let's just get into it.
Kelly Kennedy:Today is all about the time it takes.
Kelly Kennedy:I can't tell you how many times people reach out and kind of ask, like, how long does this process take?
Kelly Kennedy:What can I expect?
Kelly Kennedy:What should I be expecting?
Kelly Kennedy:It is really critical, guys, that we level set what business development is for us and for our organizations.
Kelly Kennedy:I have said it from the very beginning of the show, business development is not a quick hit, quick fix.
Kelly Kennedy:Business development is a long game.
Kelly Kennedy:Relationships produced today can produce opportunities months and years into the future.
Kelly Kennedy:You never, ever, ever know when the fruits of your labor may pay off.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, I have some shining examples to give you today of some incredibly long wins.
Kelly Kennedy:And I, you know, I have been in this long enough to say that I have quite a few of them, but most of the time, if not all the time, in business, things take longer than we wish they would.
Kelly Kennedy:I know I've been horrible at making plans and being like, yeah, we're going to accomplish this by this date.
Kelly Kennedy:And it, like, rarely, if ever, happens exactly when I want it to happen.
Kelly Kennedy:The cool thing is the wins happen, but they don't tend to happen on your schedule.
Kelly Kennedy:That's kind of the funny thing about business.
Kelly Kennedy:But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't continue to work week over week, month over month, year over year in a consistent basis.
Kelly Kennedy:Because what actually happens is that over time, if we do this, we start to produce consistent results week over week, month over month, year over year.
Kelly Kennedy:But it's like a catch up, right?
Kelly Kennedy:You have to plant the crops in the spring and harvest them in the fall, right?
Kelly Kennedy:There's a long period of time between planting the crops and reaping the harvest.
Kelly Kennedy:In farming and in business, it is very much the same principles, okay?
Kelly Kennedy:And we have to get out of that.
Kelly Kennedy:I did this today and I should have a result tomorrow.
Kelly Kennedy:Mindset.
Kelly Kennedy:That mindset is going to hurt you, not help you.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay?
Kelly Kennedy:The time to do business development is not when you need opportunity, but many, many, many months ahead.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, the problem that I see at so many organizations is they don't start to, like, heavy set the business development effort until they're like, oh, crap, we need sales.
Kelly Kennedy:Right?
Kelly Kennedy:Oh, crap, we need sales is not the best time to start doing your business development.
Kelly Kennedy:It's way ahead.
Kelly Kennedy:Heck, it might even be when you're absolutely killing it.
Kelly Kennedy:The big takeaway today that I want to leave everybody off with is that business development should never stop.
Kelly Kennedy:And so many organizations make this mistake.
Kelly Kennedy:Things are great.
Kelly Kennedy:Things are killing it.
Kelly Kennedy:The money's coming in hands over fists.
Kelly Kennedy:They have more opportunity than they need.
Kelly Kennedy:And what do they do?
Kelly Kennedy:They go to their BD team and they say, hey, let up.
Kelly Kennedy:We have way too much and we need to, like, slow down, okay?
Kelly Kennedy:This is a massive, massive mistake.
Kelly Kennedy:And I've seen it happen over and over and over again, and I've seen what the results of this is.
Kelly Kennedy:Because inevitably, if you do not keep the opportunities coming in, the opportunities you have will eventually dry up.
Kelly Kennedy:Remember, customers can leave at any time for any reason.
Kelly Kennedy:We forget this all the time.
Kelly Kennedy:But customers can leave at any time for any reason, and they do, and it doesn't matter how great of a customer they are, things happen.
Kelly Kennedy:Things happen in their business that you have no control over.
Kelly Kennedy:And so you always, always, always have to keep your leads funnel full.
Kelly Kennedy:And that means that business development can never, ever stop.
Kelly Kennedy:You need to be always out there chasing opportunity, building relationships, because relationships and opportunities, they don't pay off immediately.
Kelly Kennedy:They can sometimes pay off immediately, and that's incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:But that is the exception and not the rule.
Kelly Kennedy:Opportunities tend to pay off months and years into the future.
Kelly Kennedy:And so that's what business development really is.
Kelly Kennedy:It's, it's like that farmer out there planting the seeds in the springtime, right?
Kelly Kennedy:Watering them, making sure that they're growing.
Kelly Kennedy:And one day, way into the spring, way into the future, you're going to be able to harvest that crop.
Kelly Kennedy:That's exactly what happens in business development, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:It's exactly what happens in business development.
Kelly Kennedy:But many companies start the business development efforts way too late.
Kelly Kennedy:They're already in trouble.
Kelly Kennedy:And that's when they're like, oh, crap, double down on the advertising.
Kelly Kennedy:Double down on the business development.
Kelly Kennedy:We need opportunity yesterday.
Kelly Kennedy:If you need opportunity yesterday, business development will help.
Kelly Kennedy:But it's still not going to fix your problem tomorrow.
Kelly Kennedy:It's not going to be an immediate fix for you and your organization.
Kelly Kennedy:It's, you know, if you get lucky, maybe.
Kelly Kennedy:But most of the time, you're probably going to have a gap between the start of your business development and opportunities rolling in of at least six months.
Kelly Kennedy:It just, that tends to be how it works.
Kelly Kennedy:It is not an immediate quick fix for your organization.
Kelly Kennedy:Many companies underestimate the time it takes to actually acquire a customer.
Kelly Kennedy:Right?
Kelly Kennedy:Like when things are like this and we're freaking out, we're like, oh, no, we need opportunity, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:That doesn't mean that opportunity is going to come any faster.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to remember that and we have to level set ourselves and say, okay, how do we budget this out?
Kelly Kennedy:How do we fix this situation and buy ourselves some time?
Kelly Kennedy:Because business development works.
Kelly Kennedy:It's incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:It works amazing.
Kelly Kennedy:But remember, if we have put it on pause, if we didn't continue doing it even through the good times, we now have to basically take a machine, start the gas up, get it running, and start to build momentum where there was none.
Kelly Kennedy:And you guys know, no matter what, in business, momentum is fairly easy to keep.
Kelly Kennedy:It is really, really, really hard to get.
Kelly Kennedy:This doesn't matter whether you're a business development specialist, a business owner, whatever it is, momentum is hard to get.
Kelly Kennedy:It is fairly easy to keep, but it is really hard to get a machine rolling from a dead stop.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay.
Kelly Kennedy:Business development is the same way.
Kelly Kennedy:You need to focus on keeping business development rolling all the time.
Kelly Kennedy:Because if you take your foot off that gas and everything crashes down and you got to build it up from square nothing.
Kelly Kennedy:It takes time, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:But if you're consistent with your business development, you keep at it week over week, month over month, year over year.
Kelly Kennedy:Great, bad, whatever, whatever the economic conditions, whatever the business conditions, we don't let up the business development gas pedal.
Kelly Kennedy:You're going to have opportunities, potentially from seeds that you planted a year, two years ago, paying off, coming to fruition, and you don't know when it's going to happen.
Kelly Kennedy:That's the funny thing.
Kelly Kennedy:You never know.
Kelly Kennedy:There's no way to predict when all this work is going to pay off.
Kelly Kennedy:What I can say is it does pay off.
Kelly Kennedy:It takes time, but it does pay off for you.
Kelly Kennedy:Business development must never, ever, ever stop, guys, you can't let up on the gas.
Kelly Kennedy:You guys got to stop doing this.
Kelly Kennedy:I know there's so many organizations who when things are good, you pull the, you pull the plug and you say, you know what?
Kelly Kennedy:Nope, we're taking a step back.
Kelly Kennedy:Don't make those calls.
Kelly Kennedy:Don't go to those meetings.
Kelly Kennedy:Don't work on those relationships.
Kelly Kennedy:It is the wrong move, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:It is the wrong move.
Kelly Kennedy:You cannot do this.
Kelly Kennedy:This will eventually bite you in the ass.
Kelly Kennedy:And I've seen it bite so many companies in the butt, and then suddenly they're in trouble and now they got to start a full machine from a dead stop.
Kelly Kennedy:And it's going to take even more time than it should have.
Kelly Kennedy:It's going to take longer.
Kelly Kennedy:You got to hope to God you got a great business development person who actually knows what they're doing, who's actually going to generate the relationships.
Kelly Kennedy:You need to get this machine rolling again.
Kelly Kennedy:It's too much, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:It's too much to gamble on.
Kelly Kennedy:You have to keep it going all the times.
Kelly Kennedy:Don't ever let up on your business development, okay?
Kelly Kennedy:Remember, guys, passive advertising methods are not a replacement for active marketing.
Kelly Kennedy:They go hand in hand.
Kelly Kennedy:So many companies will be like, well, we don't need direct business development.
Kelly Kennedy:We don't need to hire John Smith to do that for us because we're spending x, Y and Z amounts through advertising platforms, through digital ads, you know, through billboards, through radio, whatever you're doing it.
Kelly Kennedy:Remember, guys, it's hand in hand.
Kelly Kennedy:Passive advertising works much better for brand recognition.
Kelly Kennedy:It does not always translate well into long term repeat business for your organization.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay?
Kelly Kennedy:We've all spent countless amounts of money on ads.
Kelly Kennedy:I spend countless amounts of money on ads all the time promoting this show, bringing brand awareness to what we're doing here.
Kelly Kennedy:But guys, that's what it is.
Kelly Kennedy:It's brand awareness.
Kelly Kennedy:Rarely, rarely, rarely do my advertising dollars that go to digital ad spend, brand awareness campaigns, social media strategy, rarely do those convert into real dollars and cents.
Kelly Kennedy:What they do is they build brand recognition.
Kelly Kennedy:More people hear about the business development podcast, more people hear about capital business development and Kelly Kennedy and what we are doing here.
Kelly Kennedy:And at the end of the day, will that long term translate into business?
Kelly Kennedy:Sure.
Kelly Kennedy:But you have to build brand recognition with the understanding of, I still have to pick up the phone and make real connections, I still have to book real discovery calls with people, introduce myself, understand their challenge, build trust, build confidence.
Kelly Kennedy:Right?
Kelly Kennedy:We still have to have that human to human connection.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, active marketing is the secret.
Kelly Kennedy:It's what takes you to those relationship building meetings.
Kelly Kennedy:It's what will get you that opportunity over time.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, we cannot stop doing our active marketing, our real human to human trust building business development.
Kelly Kennedy:You can do it hand in hand.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, I always say it, with B.
Kelly Kennedy:Two B, you really need to be doing about 80% active marketing to about 20% passive strategies.
Kelly Kennedy:Your digital ad campaigns, your social media strategies, your billboards, your radio ads, your tv, whatever you're doing.
Kelly Kennedy:That needs to be about 20% in b.
Kelly Kennedy:Two b.
Kelly Kennedy:And the other 80% really needs to be a great human, a great business development team, a great business development expert to really help you solidify those real meetings which lead to real opportunities for your organizations over time.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, I want to chat to my BD people right now as well.
Kelly Kennedy:And I just want to chat about the pressure to perform.
Kelly Kennedy:Right?
Kelly Kennedy:A lot of times, BD people are also feeling this pressure.
Kelly Kennedy:They get hired by an organization, usually in that point where they're like, oh crap, we need a win.
Kelly Kennedy:That is a lot of undue pressure on that business development specialist because now they're expected to close something in the first, like couple of months.
Kelly Kennedy:And that is really, really hard because, guys, that's not really how BD works.
Kelly Kennedy:And so I did kind of want to just like level set today and spend some time just like letting you guys know about the long game, because that's what BD really is.
Kelly Kennedy:Many BD people are hired with the expectation of near immediate financial return or growth of sales.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, it's just not realistic to expect your BD people to start and start bringing in opportunity in the next couple of months.
Kelly Kennedy:Like it is just not realistic and they're feeling that pressure.
Kelly Kennedy:And so I think it's really important for organizations to remember this and understand that it is going to take time.
Kelly Kennedy:Let your business development person know that you understand that it takes time and that what you really want to see is consistency over time.
Kelly Kennedy:You want to see them making the same amount of effort day over day, week over week, year over year.
Kelly Kennedy:And inevitably, if they are doing the right things, if they are following a great process, it will pay off in your favor.
Kelly Kennedy:What you need to see is consistency over time.
Kelly Kennedy:That is the secret to long term success.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay?
Kelly Kennedy:Remember that business development ebbs and flows right in the beginning of this episode, I was really chatting with you guys about how you never know when the opportunity is going to pay off.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, that happens to me, too, right?
Kelly Kennedy:Like some of you may or may not know, I still do active business development.
Kelly Kennedy:I still have clients that I work active business development for.
Kelly Kennedy:We sometimes have weeks where meetings don't happen.
Kelly Kennedy:And then I'll have the next week where I'll book four meetings with four phone calls.
Kelly Kennedy:No, it wasn't from the four phone calls.
Kelly Kennedy:It was from the 20 phone calls I made to those same people weeks and weeks and weeks in a row before that.
Kelly Kennedy:That just happened to be the day that it paid off in my favor.
Kelly Kennedy:You don't know when those days are going to be.
Kelly Kennedy:Which is exactly why consistency is key.
Kelly Kennedy:It's king.
Kelly Kennedy:It is everything.
Kelly Kennedy:You never know when the effort you are making is going to pay off.
Kelly Kennedy:And so you have to just keep at it consistently until you either disqualify or get the meeting, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:But if you guys stick to it, if you stick to it week over week, month over month, year over year, yeah, you're going to have weeks where you don't book anything and you have weeks where you can't not book something.
Kelly Kennedy:It's inevitable.
Kelly Kennedy:You can't really have one without the other.
Kelly Kennedy:And so it's really important to understand that business development ebbs and flows.
Kelly Kennedy:We don't know when it's going to pay off.
Kelly Kennedy:What we do know is if we're consistent with it.
Kelly Kennedy:Consistency over time breeds success.
Kelly Kennedy:That is absolutely how we have to look at it.
Kelly Kennedy:Remember to measure your BD wins in meetings and opportunities, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:It's meetings and opportunities.
Kelly Kennedy:Everything we do is to get to meetings that lead to rfPs, rfQs, vendor list applications, and eventually sales over time.
Kelly Kennedy:But that's what we need to be measuring right.
Kelly Kennedy:None of it really matters until we get to those meetings.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to, have to, have to get to the meetings of, to get on that vendor list, to get the relationship that will lead to opportunities for you and your organizations over time.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay?
Kelly Kennedy:We can't forget what the goal is.
Kelly Kennedy:It's not to make x amount of calls, it's not to send x amount of emails.
Kelly Kennedy:It's to get into a room and build a real human to human relationship that leads to opportunity for your organizations and your business over time.
Kelly Kennedy:That is the point.
Kelly Kennedy:While it's obviously important to make the calls, and I always say track them and I'm going to get into this later on, we have to track what we're doing.
Kelly Kennedy:But remember, the measure of success is how many meetings did we get?
Kelly Kennedy:How many meetings did we get that then led to opportunities, whether that be an RFP, a bid of any type, a request for, quote, whatever, whatever, whatever it is.
Kelly Kennedy:That is the point.
Kelly Kennedy:The meetings lead to opportunities, which is why I always say, measure yourself.
Kelly Kennedy:In meetings, we have to measure what matters.
Kelly Kennedy:And what matters is how many meetings did we get?
Kelly Kennedy:Because that is where the opportunities happen.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, we have to do weekly efforts and reporting.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay?
Kelly Kennedy:Um, we have to be tracking what we're doing.
Kelly Kennedy:And I know I'm talking to a lot of BD people right now who are like, Kelly, I don't want to do that.
Kelly Kennedy:And that's fair.
Kelly Kennedy:I totally understand.
Kelly Kennedy:What I can say is, if you want to get better, if you want to be consistent, if you want to hold yourself to a standard, part of that standard is going to be doing a weekly report for yourself, for your superiors, for your team, whatever, whoever you want to send it to.
Kelly Kennedy:It doesn't really matter.
Kelly Kennedy:What matters is, is that you're consistently tracking the data.
Kelly Kennedy:How many calls did you make?
Kelly Kennedy:How many digital introductions did you add your CRM, how many meetings did you book, how many opportunities came at those meetings?
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, this is all data that matters.
Kelly Kennedy:It doesn't even have to necessarily be given to anyone.
Kelly Kennedy:Like I said, it could be just for you.
Kelly Kennedy:But over time, you can take all of this data, you can feed it into an analytics system, even like chat GPT, and you can start to ask it what the trends are, and you can start to learn the statistical data to how successful you are, how to get better, where maybe are the challenges happening for your organization.
Kelly Kennedy:This is all data that matters.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to be tracking what we are doing.
Kelly Kennedy:I do a weekly report every single week for all of my clients and it is just as much for me as it is for them.
Kelly Kennedy:I also want to know how successful we're being.
Kelly Kennedy:I also want to know where I'm improving week over week or where I might be falling short.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay.
Kelly Kennedy:It's about becoming better.
Kelly Kennedy:And you can't become better if you don't know where you're coming from or what better looks like.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay?
Kelly Kennedy:So start tracking your weekly efforts and your reporting and make sure that we are accurately updating our data in our CRM.
Kelly Kennedy:Remember, CRM data is absolutely critical.
Kelly Kennedy:I update my CRM data almost every day in a certain level, and we have to keep it up to date and we have to keep it written in a way that we can understand if we come back to it six months later.
Kelly Kennedy:Because we need to know what happened.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to know where we're at with every single client in order to know how to close that opportunity over time.
Kelly Kennedy:You want to make sure that if you come back to it six months later, that you will be able to understand what you were thinking at that time.
Kelly Kennedy:All right, I want to share a couple of stories with you because I've had some pretty incredible wins literally just last week.
Kelly Kennedy:And so I just wanted to chat to them today.
Kelly Kennedy:And I want you guys to understand that the best opportunities, the biggest companies, those things, they don't happen immediately.
Kelly Kennedy:They happen over time.
Kelly Kennedy:It's consistency over time that breeds success.
Kelly Kennedy:And while I'm not going to name the companies, I am going to tell you the stories.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay.
Kelly Kennedy:I had a huge win come through just this Monday and got a reach out, got a call, booked a meeting with one of Canada's largest oil and gas firms, guys, I've been working with one of my clients for over two years, coming up on three years, and we finally landed a meeting that I've been working on, frankly, the entire time.
Kelly Kennedy:And I probably went through four to five different people in order to finally land this meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:Meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:And it is absolutely incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:It took me over two years to close the meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, this is two years of reaching out to different people, sending email introductions, doing follow up calls, being bounced from place to place to place, and eventually walking down that meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:And it is incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:But what it shows is that things like this, the biggest companies, the biggest clients, they are not an immediate win.
Kelly Kennedy:It's going to take you time, it's going to take you effort.
Kelly Kennedy:But guys, it's so worth it.
Kelly Kennedy:Consistency over time breeds success.
Kelly Kennedy:This meeting that just booked this Monday is perfect example.
Kelly Kennedy:Perfect example.
Kelly Kennedy:There was no scenario where I would have landed that meeting without putting in the level of effort that it took for me to get it.
Kelly Kennedy:And while two years is excessive, absolutely in this particular case, that's what it took.
Kelly Kennedy:Another one actually just closed for me not that long ago with one of Canada's largest mining companies, same client.
Kelly Kennedy:And we closed a meeting that I've been working on for over a year.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, I've talked about it briefly on the show before, and I think it took me anywhere between 32 and 40 direct reach outs to eventually lock down this meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, we just had it today.
Kelly Kennedy:It was incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:And yeah, it took a really, really long time to close.
Kelly Kennedy:And if you're working with the biggest companies, it's going to take time.
Kelly Kennedy:Most people are giving up after the second call.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, if you're giving up after the second call, you're probably booking very little meetings.
Kelly Kennedy:Because what we found is that most of the time, even for small to medium sized companies, it can take anywhere between eight and 15 direct reach outs to actually secure that meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:And so if you're giving up at two, you're giving up too soon.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to stop quitting soon.
Kelly Kennedy:I had another incredible, incredible story literally just come up today.
Kelly Kennedy:And you know what?
Kelly Kennedy:It just felt like synchronicity, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:This episode just felt like synchronicity because so many of these long time opportunities, these, these companies that we've been pushing for months and years started to pay off.
Kelly Kennedy:And so like, okay, we have to do this show today because I think it's really critical.
Kelly Kennedy:But I had a client reach out.
Kelly Kennedy:To me, it was a past client, and it was somebody that we had, we had gone to.
Kelly Kennedy:We'd gone to a meeting with this really gigantic engineering company.
Kelly Kennedy:The opportunity looked amazing, but they didn't have anything at that time.
Kelly Kennedy:And they said, hey, you know what?
Kelly Kennedy:We know who you are now.
Kelly Kennedy:We like you.
Kelly Kennedy:And you know what?
Kelly Kennedy:When the time comes, we're going to give you the opportunity, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Two years later, my old client got a call today.
Kelly Kennedy:Got an order for over 30 people for three years.
Kelly Kennedy:30 people for three years.
Kelly Kennedy:We're talking millions of dollars of revenue.
Kelly Kennedy:And it took two years to come to fruition from a meeting we had two years ago.
Kelly Kennedy:Think about that.
Kelly Kennedy:You never know when that opportunity is coming or what it's going to be or will it pay off.
Kelly Kennedy:But, guys, this could happen to you.
Kelly Kennedy:You too could get a multimillion dollar order from a meeting you had two to three years ago.
Kelly Kennedy:It happens all the time.
Kelly Kennedy:It happens all the time.
Kelly Kennedy:But you have to plant those seeds.
Kelly Kennedy:You have to get out there.
Kelly Kennedy:You have to get out there.
Kelly Kennedy:I say it a lot, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:I say it a lot on the show because the longer I end up in business development and running my own company and podcasting, the more I realize you likely will not see the best opportunities coming.
Kelly Kennedy:I can tell you right now, I know for a fact I cannot see the most incredible opportunity that will knock my door sometime in the next few years.
Kelly Kennedy:I can't see it yet.
Kelly Kennedy:I can't see it yet.
Kelly Kennedy:I can't even imagine it.
Kelly Kennedy:Just like I couldn't have imagined this podcast literally three years ago could not have imagined this podcast, and yet it's been absolutely incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:You will never see the best opportunities coming.
Kelly Kennedy:You just have to be ready to say yes when they do.
Kelly Kennedy:Remember, preparedness meets opportunity is what real success is.
Kelly Kennedy:It's being prepared to say yes when opportunity knocks your door and says, hey, are you ready for this?
Kelly Kennedy:That's all you have to do.
Kelly Kennedy:You just have to be in a position to say yes.
Kelly Kennedy:And I'm talking to my companies maybe that are struggling right now who you're saying, you know what, like, man, it's been really hard.
Kelly Kennedy:It's been really hard to stay in business.
Kelly Kennedy:I get it.
Kelly Kennedy:I totally get it.
Kelly Kennedy:But the fact that you have stayed in business, the fact that you are still sitting there waiting for that door to knock, means that that door knock is coming.
Kelly Kennedy:That door knock is coming for you.
Kelly Kennedy:And when it does, you just have to be ready to open the door and say yes.
Kelly Kennedy:Yes.
Kelly Kennedy:Because the best opportunities, guys, you will never see them coming.
Kelly Kennedy:Remember, you have to be open to alternative opportunities, right?
Kelly Kennedy:The opportunity you think you need might not even be the best opportunity coming to you.
Kelly Kennedy:That's the funny thing, right?
Kelly Kennedy:Podcasting never saw this as something that could be what it has become for me.
Kelly Kennedy:Never.
Kelly Kennedy:Not once.
Kelly Kennedy:And yet, it's been absolutely incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:It's taken me on a path that I could have never, ever seen coming.
Kelly Kennedy:And you too have that opportunity.
Kelly Kennedy:You too will have an opportunity knock your door that will take you on a path that you never saw coming.
Kelly Kennedy:You just have to be ready to say yes.
Kelly Kennedy:Meetings will lead to opportunities both short and long term for you.
Kelly Kennedy:You have to stop putting them off and you have to prioritize them.
Kelly Kennedy:Meetings are the secret sauce to your future success.
Kelly Kennedy:If you are afraid to have meetings, it's okay.
Kelly Kennedy:But we have to get over that.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to work on that inside of ourselves, and we have to start doing active marketing.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to start doing active marketing, consistently booking meetings, building real human to human relationships that will lead you to trust building and opportunities that you could not imagine.
Kelly Kennedy:But we have to get back to prioritizing human to human interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:This is the secret for your long term success.
Kelly Kennedy:You have to go back to prioritizing real human to human interactions.
Kelly Kennedy:These are the things that are going to present the opportunities for you over time.
Kelly Kennedy:I want to just go over some keys to success, guys, before we close up today, create and follow effective process and hold yourself to it weekly.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, you have to follow a process.
Kelly Kennedy:If you do not have a business development process, you have to create one and you have to create one that works for you.
Kelly Kennedy:And I'm going to do a little bit of a shameless plug here if you need help creating a business development process.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, I have a coaching program called Business Development Mastery with Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:In three months, we will create a business development process.
Kelly Kennedy:We will build your personal brand, we will build your company brand and we will show you what it takes week over week, month over month, year over year to create something that builds exponential growth for your organization over time.
Kelly Kennedy:This is something we can definitely do.
Kelly Kennedy:And if you want to learn more about it, you can check it out on my LinkedIn under amplify your impact or right on the website at WW dot Capitalbd dot ca.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys.
Kelly Kennedy:So we have to create an effective process and we have to hold ourselves to it to create long term success for us.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to create and utilize a CRM.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to keep it accurate and complete in information.
Kelly Kennedy:This is our like, this is our one zone tool to keep us on track, to keep everything organized in one place.
Kelly Kennedy:CRMs are incredible, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:And if you guys do not currently operate one, highly, highly, highly recommend pipe drive CRM.
Kelly Kennedy:It will do what you need.
Kelly Kennedy:It's cost effective and it works very, very well.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to remember to always work to get the meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:Everything we do in business development is to take us to a meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:A meeting is where the magic happens, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:It's where the business happens.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to get to a point where we can build trust, where we can build a relationship that leads to repeat opportunities for our organizations over time.
Kelly Kennedy:This is done by creating meetings.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to work to set the meeting every time.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to create weekly reports that we can either share with our teams or keep internally.
Kelly Kennedy:But we need to start tracking what we are doing and where our efforts are going.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to understand what we are doing week over week, month over month, year over year.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to start measuring the data, understanding the data and then being able to correlate how we can do better from that as we move forward.
Kelly Kennedy:But you're going to find, especially tracking data over, say, six months or a year.
Kelly Kennedy:You're going to start to see trends.
Kelly Kennedy:You're going to start to see how many calls, how many digital introductions it takes to get to a meeting, how many of those meetings turn into clients.
Kelly Kennedy:There's going to be a lot of data from that that you can then correlate and either work to improve or just keep for future data.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, but the data is important.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to be tracking our efforts.
Kelly Kennedy:Weekly BD meetings, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Highly, highly, highly advocate.
Kelly Kennedy:Weekly BD meetings.
Kelly Kennedy:They don't have to be long.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to have a good understanding of what is going on operationally, where the opportunities are, what the feedback is.
Kelly Kennedy:Weekly BD meetings are excellent.
Kelly Kennedy:These are typically high level.
Kelly Kennedy:They're typically with the executive group, and they don't run more than 30 minutes, guys, just a quick weekly meeting to understand the opportunities on the table, understand what meetings are coming up, who needs to be there with you, and any other relevant information to the BD team.
Kelly Kennedy:Weekly BD meetings are amazing and I highly, highly, highly recommend that you start doing them.
Kelly Kennedy:They don't need to be anything more than 30 minutes, and you will find them incredibly beneficial over time.
Kelly Kennedy:Remember to always say the five magic words, guys, the five magic words to every meeting, to every interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:What are the next steps?
Kelly Kennedy:The meetings don't matter if nothing great happens from them.
Kelly Kennedy:The secret to getting to the next stage is always asking, what are the next steps?
Kelly Kennedy:Five magic words.
Kelly Kennedy:And they are absolutely, absolutely critical.
Kelly Kennedy:Don't fall into the trap of stopping BD in the good times, okay?
Kelly Kennedy:Stopping your business development process.
Kelly Kennedy:It needs to operate all the time.
Kelly Kennedy:Good, bad, ugly.
Kelly Kennedy:Never slow it down, never hold them up.
Kelly Kennedy:Keep your BD teams always striving to find the next opportunity.
Kelly Kennedy:And you will never, ever find yourself in that incredibly scary point where you don't have the business you need and now you're having to start the machine from a dead stop.
Kelly Kennedy:Keep your BD teams consistently working, keep them motivated, keep them excited, and watch your business grow.
Kelly Kennedy:Remember, guys, business development is a long game.
Kelly Kennedy:Plant the seeds, water regularly, and always have an abundance of opportunities.
Kelly Kennedy:Shoutouts this week.
Kelly Kennedy:Colin Harms, Deanna Keene Rodney Lover Kapil Kalra Amin Samji Brian Hayes, Susan Paseka, Patricia Bathory Jenny Hembry Scott Trowbridge Aaron Haberman, Nate Simpson Chloe Wu Tatsiana, Zamedelina Vaijayan Swami Nathan, Sheldon Hunt, Dale Schaub Lauren Graff, Stuart Morowski, Don Osland, Janice Baskin, Ken Ghdev, Sean Neals and Derek Nolt.
Kelly Kennedy:Until next time.
Kelly Kennedy:This has been the business development podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.
Mark Cuban:This has been the business development podcast with Kelly Kennedy.
Mark Cuban: business development firm in: Mark Cuban:His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.
Mark Cuban:The show is brought to you by capital business development, your business development specialists.
Mark Cuban:For more we invite you to the website at www.
Mark Cuban:Dot Capitalbd dot ca.
Mark Cuban:See you next time on the business development podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:Paste I.
