Business development is often viewed as a numbers game—more meetings, more networking events, more outreach. However, the most successful rainmakers take a different approach. Instead of chasing quantity, they focus on quality.

The phrase “breaking down silos” has become a mantra in today’s corporate world. Leaders emphasize tearing down barriers to improve communication and collaboration, but perhaps we’ve overlooked a crucial point: destruction alone doesn’t necessarily drive innovation or organizational health. Instead of focusing on breaking things apart, what if we adopted a more constructive approach? Let’s talk about building bridges instead.

We all know that it is best practice to have a business development plan. It’s even better to follow one. But during exceptionally busy periods, like around the holidays, a simple business development theme (or BD theme) can be more manageable. 

“The best way to ask for business is to identify their difficulties. Shift the focus of the conversation away from what you want and over to what they need. Start with, ‘what are your biggest challenges right now?’” - David Ackert (The Short List).

Obviously, the goal with any referral relationship is an equal exchange of value, but if you find yourself in an imbalanced dynamic, here are a few courses of action that will right the scales.

It’s true that there is often no linear relationship between the opportunities you chase and the ones you win. But there is a highly dependable principle when it comes to business development: investing in relationships always pays off.

There is very little in life that’s truly predictable. Take your revenue, for example. It’s impossible to know who will send you your next client. Perhaps a referral source will think of you. Perhaps a stranger will Google you. Perhaps an existing client will refer a colleague. Perhaps someone at your firm will suddenly retire and you’ll inherit their spoils. Perhaps not. 

Many firms encourage their business developers to create business development plans. And, while not everyone participates in that process, those who have a concrete roadmap they can follow – and marketers who can help them take an action-oriented approach – are better positioned to convert those plans to actual business pipelines.