Most professionals treat business development like a numbers game, clocking up meetings to hit KPIs. But if you're just chatting about the weather and last night's game, you're investing time with little return. Real BD success isn't about how many meetings you take, it's about what you learn in each one.
The irony is that firms measure BD success by quantity – the number of meetings or events attended. The reality is that professionals tick boxes, have pleasant chats, and learn nothing strategic. The problem is that they’re both confusing activity with achievement.
The old adage that you can’t manage what you can’t measure is a trap here. Firms count meetings because they’re easy to measure. But this creates box-ticking behaviour and people can be forgiven for thinking it's a numbers game when that's what's measured.
In a hybrid world with fewer organic interactions, we need to be more deliberate, not just more frequent.
While surface chat has some value in maintaining a relationship and keeping you front of mind, it does little to help you learn about clients’ needs, challenges, business direction, or opportunities. It results in little understanding, shallow relationships, poor responsiveness, and countless missed opportunities for you.
The highest-value meetings involve direct business questions, not just pleasantries.
The difference is in preparation. Don’t just keep having the same conversation. Make sure you know what you want from each meeting before you walk in. If you do your research and have a purpose, your targeted questions will reveal your intelligence and your worth. Above all, listen strategically. Ask the right questions and actually hear the answers.
So, in a firm already set up to measure the number of BD meetings, how can you make the shift to quality over quantity?
Change what you measure in terms of BD KPIs from number of meetings to quality indicators like opportunities identified, intelligence gathered, depth of relationship.
Make sure leadership models and rewards the right behaviours. Professionals will follow their leaders.
And give professionals a head start with the right business development training, including strategic questioning and active listening.
If you stop performing for the metrics, you will start building genuine insight and relationships. It will soon become clear that one quality conversation beats ten generic coffees.
Because you don't need more meetings, you need better ones.
