How to get better at business development – Strategy #3.

Want to grow and get better at business development? Begin by knowing your outcome in every business development situation. And learn to develop empathy by understanding the clients pain.

Once you've mastered these you may be ready for Strategy #3 - behavioural flexibility. In my view, this is the most powerful strategy of them all.

If you're already familiar with Ashby's law of requisite variety you know what I'm referring to. If not here's a brief description.

For a business developer it means having a deep reservoir of responses. These enable you to handle whatever comes up in client interactions. Objections. Conflict. Procrastination. Posturing.

Whatever happens you have the behavioural flexibility and resilience to influence the outcome.

When you get stuck, and what you're doing isn't working, remember the law of requisite variety. Or like the aphorism says "If you always do what you have always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got." Meaning do something different.

This is where mentoring is most useful. Thinking about challenging situations to help you figure out some different approaches. And getting the encouragement to try them.

That's what the mini-missions I offer are about. They help you think about situations, gain insights, then try fresh approaches to business development.

Mini-mission Write down three situations where you want more flexibility. If you'd like to share your list please email me.