john maddente | midwestern clarity

Freepik image This post is about business development (BD). There's a BD ailment in the professional services markets (and other markets I suppose) which I call, "Shiny Penny Syndrome".   Symptoms include short attention spans, misplaced time allocation and indifference to existing prospects.   The time professionals have for BD is finite and good BD takes time. What often subverts efficient use of their time, is Shiny Penny Syndrome.   It works like this... We're all so eager to attain revenue goals, that all it takes is a simple distraction to catch our eye (i.e. a shiny penny).  The promise of a hot lead at a new prospect often retards efforts at existing prospects  by shifting valuable attention and resources away from them.  F requently, we drop everything to chase a sale at an unqualified prospect requiring a  time consuming proposal with a  quick turnaround.   It's impossible to avoid that shiny  coin ...