In today’s competitive business landscape, SMEs must be strategic and resourceful when it comes to growth – and this means investing in business development strategies that are actually going to deliver a return.
As you’ll no doubt already appreciate, finding and securing new business is not a one-size-fits-all process. It involves a great deal of trial and error (and, of course, knowing when to change tact if you’re not getting the right results). While we can’t guarantee that the below business development approaches will produce hundreds of leads for your firm overnight, we can promise that they are worth a shot – especially as part of a longer-term lead generation plan.
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Real-world networking
In an era dominated by digital communication, networking remains one of the most powerful tools for business development. This is because, as Dartcell’s own Business Development Manager Tara Appleton says, very little can replace that authentic human connection.
Networking is valuable because it:
- Builds trust. People are more likely to do business with those they know.
- Allows for real-time feedback. As a networking attendee, you can quickly gauge whether there’s a demand for your product or services and get thoughts from your networking peers that could help to shape and improve your service offering.
- Improves your visibility locally. Participating in community events, trade shows, and business meetups can raise your business profile in your geographical region (or the region you want to target; many Home Counties networkers, for example, prefer to attend meetups in London to attract customers from the city).
In Tara’s own words: “Networking is not just about collecting contacts—it’s about building meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships that drive business growth and development.”
Get involved by joining networking organisations, local chambers of commerce meetings, or industry-specific groups. You could even attend conferences and expos with a view to meeting as many people as possible or host your own events and workshops to raise your personal profile further.
Tara’s top tip? Always follow up after networking events with a personal message or meeting request. As she notes: “Relationship-building doesn’t end when the event does!” One to one catch ups are a great way to explore synergy further.
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Strategic partnerships and alliances
Forming strategic alliances with businesses that are well-aligned with your vision can dramatically expand your reach without breaking the bank. These partnerships will typically allow you to share resources, tap into new customer bases, and create new marketing opportunities together.
Strategic partnerships work well because they:
- Have mutual value. Both businesses can benefit by leveraging each other’s audiences and strengths.
- Promote extended reach: They give you access to customers you might not reach through traditional methods.
- Spread the risk. Co-branded campaigns or services reduce individual financial exposure and are much less likely to fail.
Start by identifying businesses that offer overlapping but non-competing services. For example, wedding photographers and florists have a mutual client base, but both bring something different to the table.
Then, reach out to the companies you’d like to work with, and share your ideas. You could collaborate on a blog post together, host a joint webinar, create video content to use across your social media accounts, or even plan full-scale co-marketing campaigns or bundled service offerings. The sky’s the limit – the main thing is that you have similar values and standards and outline precisely what you’re bringing into the agreement from day one.
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Thought leadership
One of the most scalable and cost-effective ways for you to attract, engage, and convert customers is to share your expertise with your audiences. Providing valuable, relevant content with a unique take on important topics will help you to establish authority and keep your brand top of mind for potential clients.
- Educational content positions you as a trusted expert and give you the kind of credibility that can’t be bought.
- Quality thought leadership content helps improve search engine visibility, boosting your SEO efforts and potentially sending more qualified traffic to your website.
- Content can be created to appeal to people at every stage of the buyer’s journey, so it supports their purchasing decisions and convinces them to part with their cash.
You could start a business blog and publish regularly on topics that address customer pain points, or perhaps create whitepapers, eBooks, and guides to capture leads from people who are searching for more information on what you offer. Once you’ve got a solid content strategy in place, use platforms like LinkedIn to share your insights and engage more consistently with your industry peers.
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Customer referral programmes
Happy customers are often your best advocates. Creating a structured referral programme will incentivise your existing clients to promote your business and give you a much higher chance of converting warm leads.
Referral systems are:
- Excellent for nurturing the trust factor. Referrals will come from a trusted source, meaning prospects are much more likely to turn into customers.
- Great for encouraging customer loyalty. Rewarding any referrals that come your way helps to strengthen customer relationships further.
- Cost-effective, because referral marketing typically costs less than traditional advertising.
The trick is to offer incentives for both the referrer and the new customer. These could be in the form of discounts, gift cards, service upgrades – anything that’s valuable enough to encourage them to take action. You could even set up rewards for top referrers to foster healthy competition.
It’s important to make it as easy as possible for customers to refer others, too; you may want to provide shareable links, content templates, or other resources that can be used throughout the sales process.
You also need to tell as many people as possible about the programme to ensure take-up is high. Share details via emails, social media posts and through other relevant touchpoints, such as in your customer portals or apps.
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Cold outreach that has a personal touch
While cold calling or emailing can have a bad reputation, it can be a viable business development tactic when it’s executed thoughtfully and with the right amount of personalisation. The key is to research your prospects thoroughly and tailor your messaging to their specific needs.
Cold outreach still has its place in a contemporary lead generation strategy because:
- It’s scalable, and a proven means of reaching many potential clients quickly.
- It’s a direct means of communication that bypasses the noise from digital ads and content saturation.
- It’s highly resonant, especially when messages are adjusted to account for the recipient’s industry, role or specific challenge.
Use LinkedIn, industry directories, or CRM tools to identify ideal prospects, then spend some time personalising each message with the recipient’s name, company, and a specific observation or question. Be sure to include a clear call to action, whether it’s scheduling a call or inviting them to download a resource from your website. If you want to take your outreach strategy to the next level, you could A/B test subject lines and message copy to see which approaches get you the best responses.
There’s no silver bullet when it comes to business development. Success often comes from a mix of tactics that are tailored to your industry, audience, and resources. However, having partnered with hundreds of businesses over the years and helped many of them refine their sales strategies, we can confidently say that blending high-touch methods with a little out-of-the-box thinking can yield excellent results.