Business Development Coaches – how can business development coaches help you accelerate revenue growth?
If you are looking for ways to rapidly develop your business, you could turn to a growing number of business development coaches who specialise on accelerating revenue growth. So, who are they and what do they do?
Business development coaches can provide a range of coaching and consultancy services, from coaching you through the strategic options you have from sales and new business development to through to partnering programmes and indirect channel recruitment. They can also coach you through how to improve results in each segment.
Strictly speaking, business development coaches could also help you through mergers and acquisitions, although this is usually the domain of a corporate finance and legal advisors.
For the purpose of this blog, let’s restrict our definition of business development coaches to developing business through helping think through your approach to:
1) Direct sales, typically by direct new business development
2) Indirect routes such as resellers and channel sales
3) Either of the above by leveraging partnerships including joint-ventures and alliances.
Taking each of these in turn, we’ll explore how business they can add value.
Direct Sales & New Business Development
Organic growth through direct sales is, for many, the most obvious route when developing your business. For business development coaches operating with start-ups and early stage companies, this is one of the first areas to concentrate on. They can help you explore organic growth through targeting new business opportunities and supporting major account acquisition
Indirect Sales Channels
By developing indirect sales channel and resellers, they can help accelerate revenue growth without scaling resources. This route for business development is appropriate for markets with established indirect channels or resellers or where you are best to integrate with another solution to developer a more acceptable market proposition. Also, for entry into new markets, business development consultants can help you identify and recruit resellers and distributors.
Partnerships, joint-ventures and alliances
This final category covers a range of direct and indirect relationships that business development coaches can build. Typically, they consist of a relationship which attempts to leverage combined resources to develop business for both parties. They can exist as an entity in its own right, such as a joint-venture, or forge an alliance to generate opportunities, such as leads, which are executed individually by either or both parties.
So, the options available to you in opening relationships that can drive growth are various. Depending on your strategic goals, you may use all or a combination of these options.
Because business development coaches are experienced in all these different options, they can advise the most appropriate for your business. Unlike some coaches business development coaches will guide and suggest specific options and guide and coach you through the delivery phase.
If you’re looking to develop your business in an upward direction, working with a business development consultant can be a good way to understanding the options available and discovering innovative ways to accelerate revenue growth.
David Regler is Managing Director of Maine Associates Ltd, and a key coach in the 'Executive and Coaching Business Network'.
You may be interested in Business Coaching.