Business Development Playbook

GLOSSARY

A Advance: The goal of a meeting or BD event. An advance can be any action that moved the ball closer to a signed contract. From prospect to signed contract can have many smaller “advances” along the way. ABC: Always be closing. The idea that every actions performed in business development is toward to goal of a signed contact. B Business Development: Any action or series of actions whose goal is that of a signed contract. Include strategy development, market research, prospecting, and asking for new work from an existing client. BD activities include performing research to learn more about a client, analyzing that data to find patterns of behavior, sharing that knowledge with your coworkers, helping the firm to position itself as an attractive hire, identifying differentiators that make the firm stand out from the competition, and building and maintaining a relationship with the client.

Bad Lead: A prospect that is unlikely to ever become a paying client.

Buying Signal: A verbal or nonverbal cue that show a customer is ready to make a purchase. Picking up on these signals can help sales reps better focus their attention on customers that are giving off more buying signals.

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Business Development Playbook