So you have been asked to do business development!

There comes a time when almost all consultants are asked to contribute to business development in some way, shape, or form.

For some, this is exciting. For others, it can bring on a cold sweat.

Most consultants did not join consulting because they wanted to “sell”. They joined because they like solving problems, working with clients, making sense of ambiguity, supporting colleagues to do interesting work and so on.

The useful reframe is to think of bd as relationship-building. Something consultants already tend to be good at.

In consulting, winning work almost always starts with a relationship. Sometimes:

• that relationship is personal. A client trusts you because you have listened carefully, delivered well, and helped them through difficult work.
• it is organisational. A client understands your firm because of its strategy, positioning, reputation, capability, or past performance.
• it is built through the community. A client has seen your thinking, attended a session, read something useful, heard you speak, or watched the firm contribute to a market over time.

Business development, from this point of view, is the process of developing relationships that create the conditions for valuable work to be found, shaped, won, delivered, extended, and renewed.

In my view, good BD is not about becoming someone you are not. It is about building the conditions for the right conversations to happen with potential buyers, recognising that different buyers will be ready at different times. Some are ready to act now. Some are still making sense of the problem. Some are only beginning to notice the pressure building. Good BD meets them where they are, stays useful, and earns the right to be part of the conversation when the timing is right.

How are relationships formed?

Business development is the work a firm does to develop relationships that help it find, shape, win, grow, and retain valuable client work.

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