Before we look at the areas where a specialist business development consultancy can be used, let’s agree a definition of the term â€business developmentâ€. In some sectors, typically professional services and management consultancy, business development should be more accurately called â€sellingâ€. In these relationship-orientated businesses, business development is simply a more acceptable term than â€salesâ€. However, as they are usually referring to the business of winning direct clients, they are, essentially, direct sales activities. For our purpose, and more accurately, business development covers all areas of business growth except direct selling activities. This typically falls into three main areas: 1)Resellers & Channel Sales 2)Strategic Partners 3)Joint-Ventures Technically, a fourth category of business development exists which would be Mergers & Acquisitions (or M&A) but for the purpose of this article about services provided by a business development consultancy we will focus on the first three. So, if we agree that business development is focused on business growth through indirect sales, let’s consider how a specialist business development consultancy can help your business. Resellers & Channel Sales A business development consultancy can provide support on recruiting and building your indirect sales channels. Whilst channel architecture may vary, and your business development consultancy will typically advise on the best fit channel structure to meet your business development objectives, the process of building your reseller channel is an ideal project for a business development consultancy. In fact, the best analogy for a business development consultancy in this instance is a recruitment consultancy. From researching the market to identify the best channel candidates, making an initial approach on your behalf and setting up the reseller agreement, a business development consultancy can support your business through the entire channel recruitment process. Strategic Partners Unlike resellers or channel sales partners, who essentially buy your product and re-sell it, strategic partners are a broader category of business development. A good business development consultancy will seek to think outside the box when advising on partner selection. Types of strategic partnerships can include technology collaboration, marketing alliances, and value-added services such as consultancy services. Unlike the â€recruitment consultancy†analogy, a strategic partnering programme sees the business development consultancy more as a â€match-maker†or dating agency. Crucially, whatever strategic partnership your business development consultancy advocates, the objectives should always be to engineer a win-win relationship for both businesses. This isn’t about swapping logos on websites, each party should see mutual financial gain and your business development consultancy should focus on positioning you for business growth. Joint-Ventures Whilst, with strategic partnerships each business retains its own identify and seeks to develop additional value through association with each other, a joint-venture (often referred to as a JV) is a completely new venture in its own right. The joint-venture is typically a new company established and mutually owned by each party. If strategic partnering is â€datingâ€, with a joint-venture you get married. A business development consultancy, in the same way as when recruiting resellers and strategic partners, will invest time understanding the market and profiling potential joint-venture partners. In addition, understanding each potential partner’s own eco-system of customers and competitors is an essential step. With joint-ventures the investment and commitment is significant for both parties and, as such, your business development consultancy needs to uncover the strategic benefits for both parties. In summary, a business development consultancy can support you in developing your indirect sales channels, identifying appropriate third-parties and pulling together a synergistic strategic partnership or joint-venture to position your business for significant revenue growth.
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