Mo asks Marty Fagan: What is your personal definition of business development?

Business development is sales but in a different way. You have to think strategically from a thought leadership perspective instead of tactically.
Sales and marketing should be integrated, and that’s what happens within the context of business development.
This is the approach TransUnion uses to enter new markets. They combine the sales, solutions, and marketing into one coordinated effort.
Marty uses the analogy of the three legged stool. Without the legs of a sales process, a solution to offer the market, and the marketing/outreach of having conversations with people that need your solution, the stool falls over and nothing happens.
If one of those elements aren’t in place for you, seek out as many subject matter experts on that area as you can to help you develop it. If you don’t have it internally, find it externally.
When looking at a new market, Marty starts by looking at the solutions his organization already has and how they can apply to that industry to make a customer more effective. It’s an outside-in approach that is very powerful.

Mentioned in this Episode:

What Business Development REALLY Means, According to Marty Fagan