Every producer has
a formula for making a profitable sitcom and none of them until Larry David,
the producer/creator of Seinfeld, thought they could be successful doing a 30
minute weekly sitcom about nothing.
I am not saying that
because business development in professional service firms is the most
ambiguous business discipline your plan can be about nothing. Business development at a very basic level
must be defined in your firm and your people must know how it works. Since business
development is different in scope from everything else your firm does, it is
important to define it. For example, does everyone in your firm know the
difference between marketing and business development? Every firm in the country will benefit if they
understand and employ the Seinfeld Rules of Business Development.
What are the Seinfeld business development rules?
1. Just because it used to work doesn’t mean it
will work in the future.
2. Every leader needs a committed team.
3. Skill alone can only take you so far.
4. Rely on bold ideas to separate yourself from
the competition.
5. Sell a story people can relate to.
The reason business
development efforts lose effectiveness over time is because most firms simply
keep using the same tactics that worked in the past for the challenges they are
facing today. Although there is a need
for old school thinking in a business development strategy, keeping tactics
because your don’t need to “recreate the wheel”, is the first step to
failure. If you understand the concept
of zero-based budgeting, you will understand my concept of zero-based business
development planning. Management has a
hard time forgetting what has worked in the past. Therefore, it takes a confident business
development/marketing group to move management away from proven strategies to
something new and different. When was the last time you took a bold business development idea to management?
This brings us to the second rule: Every leader needs a committed team. Jerry Seinfeld had an above average stand up career before he took off with Seinfeld. Suffice it to say that he would not be worth $800 million today, if he had relied on a touring standup comedy career. Although Seinfeld was about nothing, the characters had depth and had interesting interactions between each other. The actors were grood comedians in their own right, but Jerry was the star. When the leader starts out with humility and is not worried about who gets the credit, the team excels. The team is committed. The problem for firms with uncertain business development success is a management and/or a business development team that is not committed or a leader more interested in self-promotion.
Does your firm promote
project managers to business development because they are good with
clients? Many firms do this and are
disappointed when goals are not achieved.
Skills can only take you so far, especially when the skills are not
connected directly to business development or marketing. This is where training can reap huge results.
In small firms,
marketing and business development might be managed by one person. It might be a firm principal rather than a
marketing services professional. Larger
firms are capable of supporting separate departments. These are the firms where team chemistry is
extremely important. However, even small firms need to look at the chemistry connection.
Can you imagine when
Larry David pitched the network about a sitcom that was about nothing. The executives knew David and Seinfeld, but a
show about nothing, really. One
executive took a chance on 13 episodes and the rest is television history. Do you have a bold idea that is just as big,
but you are afraid to present it to your management. There are four things that can happen to your
idea: You sell it to management, it is successful and your firm profits. You sell it to management and they don’t see
your vision and vote against it. You decide not to sell it to management and nothing happens ( I mean even what worked
in the past no longer works). A
competitor comes up with the same idea, gets her management team to run with it
and they win the big project. Would you
even tell your management team you had the same idea but you were afraid to tell
them about it. Of course, if they turned
you down, you could say, “I told you so!”
The latter is probably not a good response if you plan to work for the
firm for an extended period of time.
However, if they turned you down, they might have a better appreciation
of your ideas and vision in the future.
Follow the advice of Daniel Burnham, “Make no little plans; They have no magic
to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big
plans; aim high in hope and work…” Big ideas worked in Chicago.
Finally,
the most important rule is to sell a story.
For Seinfeld it was a story that average people could relate to. It wasn’t just New Yorkers who understood the
relationship issues between Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine, it was everybody.
Your
firm’s story is a little different. Your story must be one that a client will
invest in. If your firm has industry
experts, use them to tell the story.
Tell project stories from the client’s perspective. Understand market conditions, how well your
firm is prepared for current conditions, your client’s industry and how the
client’s history is connected to yours. Then, tell the story.Nothing made Seinfeld the most profitable sitcome in history. The Seinfeld rules might be just what your firm needs to make its own history. When you make the bold step, please let us know how we can help by contacting us at tryst@businessdevelopmentpros.org
