Seth offers a great definition for the term:
Good business development allows businesses to profit by doing something that is tangential to their core mission. Sometimes the profit is so good, it becomes part of their core mission, other times it supports the brand and sometimes it just makes money. And often it's a little guy who can be flexible enough to make things happen.
I love his last sentence. It made me wonder: How much should today's startups, "little guys", rely on detailed business plans, and how much should be left open for flexible business development?
Consider how networked the business world is currently, and how networking further increases. Due to this, startups (and established businesses!) who keep their eyes and ears open are constantly and increasingly bombarded with new openings, ideas and possibilities. (To assess these, Seth offers in his post a great checklist of issues to go through.) For a businessperson who is not just sociable but competent and efficient as well these are an abundant goldmine of profit and fun.
So, are the winner startups of tomorrow the Great Networkers, who have the ability to surf in their general field of business, adjust their core mission and constantly absorb great new openings and possibilities, and thus are hugely profitable? I think so. Firstly I believe Great Networkers are also Great Personal Sellers, due to their ability to solve outside their box. Because of all the people in the world, the customers are most competent to tell the Great Networker how to better her business. And secondly their ability to surf in their business area also deters fatal customer overdrive, being too customer-oriented, that threatens all little guys serving the bigger and/or older boys.
Does your business plan enable you to be a Great Networker? Are you a little guy at the core of your business?
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