10 Tips for Hiring a Rockstar Business Development Specialist

10 Tips for Hiring a Rockstar Business Development Specialist

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode 107 of the business development podcast. And today we are revisiting what to look for in a business development specialist. I am going to give you guys 10 tips the next time you are hiring your next rockstar. And for my business development specialist, there's something in here for you too.

Stay tuned.

Intro: The Great Mark Cuban once said business happens over years and years value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal. And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world.

You'll get expert business development, advice, tips, and experiences. And you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs, and business development reps. You'll get. Actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by capital business development, capitalbd.ca. Let's do it. Welcome to the business development podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 107 of the business development podcast, man. I'm really, really excited about the topic that we are going to chat about today. Today, I wanted to talk all about 10 tips to consider when hiring your next business development specialist. I think this is going to be a really awesome episode.

One of the largest episodes we've ever had was episode two, what to look for in a business development rep, I think at this point, it's closing in on 16, 000 downloads for that single episode. So I imagine this one might get a little bit of popularity as well. However, before we kick into today's episode, I wanted to give an absolutely gigantic, gigantic thank you to Colin Harms of Hypervac Technologies for coming on last Sunday and chatting all about blue sky thinking with us.

It was honestly an amazing, amazing episode. The Superbowl was on, so you might've missed it. But if you did miss it, go back episode 106 of the business development podcast. It's with Colin Harms. You're going to absolutely love it. If you need to pick me up this week, if you need some motivation and some feel good.

Go check out that episode. It was so great. And Colin, as always, my friend, it was a pleasure having you come on the show. Before we get into today's episode as well, I just wanted to to remind you guys, we are taking community questions for an upcoming community questions episode. We haven't done one in a little bit, just, we haven't got a ton of questions, but I'm anticipating if we get a couple more, we should be able to throw together another community questions episode.

So if you have a burning business development question and you want it answered, On the show, shoot us an email to podcast@capitalbd.ca that's podcast@capitalbd.ca subject line community questions or come down to our website and leave us a voicemail with your community question on it. That would be absolutely amazing and we very much look forward to it.

Also. If you haven't had a chance to do so yet, please do rate and follow and subscribe to this show on your platform of choice, whether that be on Apple podcast or Spotify, it helps us immensely. Just leaving us that five star rating helps us immensely as we look to reach further and further with this show.

So if you have not had a chance to do so yet. And you are a fan of the business development podcast, please do leave us a rating, tell a friend. And if you're really feeling up for it, leave us a review. It helps absolutely immensely. All right. Let's just get into it. Hiring for business development can be a daunting task.

There are a lot of people out there who talk the talk, but they fall a little short when it comes time to walk the walk today. I'm going to chat about some important qualities to help you with your next business development hiring decision. This is a challenging episode, but a very important episode. I know we're in a new year and a lot of you guys are thinking growth oriented business development teams might be getting bigger.

I might be speaking to my business development managers today. I might be speaking to my business owners today. And I might be speaking to my business development specialist today. And the thing that I want my business development specialist to take away from this episode is, as many of these qualities as you can implement in your life, in your day to day activities, the better business development specialist you are going to become.

And so even if you're not hiring for these positions, if you are potentially working these positions, look at this as how can I implement some of these qualities into my day to day. How can I become a better business development specialist? How can I refine my skill? Because remember, everybody, we were only experts until yesterday.

All right. So number one, you guys know this, you guys know how I feel about it. Likeability, right? Likeability. Honestly, it is the most important thing about your business development specialist is that if you sit down with them and you're having an interview, whether that be a lunch, and I always recommend interviewing your business development specialist over a lunch or over a casual environment just to see how they do with new meetings, because remember how they meet with you is likely how they are going to meet with all of your customers.

So as you know, that might be kind of important, especially if a lot of your business development strategy is based on face to face meetings, which you guys know, I advocate for, so it doesn't hurt to interview your business development specialists over a coffee. Over a lunch, something along those lines.

But, the most important thing that we are trying to gauge in this initial interview with your business development specialist is, how are they doing? Are they likable? Are they likable, right? It's absolutely critical that our business development specialists make us feel calm, make us feel happy. They can start a conversation.

They can carry a conversation. They can make us laugh and they can laugh, right? It is absolutely critical that very quickly in that interview, you are establishing a likeability. If this piece is struggling, this is not the right candidate for you, right? Either there, maybe they're having an off day, you know, maybe it's just the wrong position for them and they can't get behind it.

But trust me, likeability is critical. And if you can't get likeability in the first five minutes. This is not the right choice for you. Take a step back, check out your other options and find one that you find likable very quickly. Number two, they can explain the process of business development that they follow and flow and process is critical.

You guys know this entire show. It's about process. It's about flow. It's about how do we actually do business development, right? What do we do? Is there, is there some type of step system that we follow consistently on a consistent basis that will make us successful over time. Have these business development people tell you how they actually find you new opportunity.

Have them walk you through it. Say, look, you know, what is your flow from prospecting, from qualifying, from creating a target list, from evaluating marketing material. All the way through to CRM implementation, to meeting stages, have them walk you through their entire process and do make sure that most of their process is based on an active marketing strategy.

Okay. Active marketing strategy is absolutely critical in the success of new business development. And so. For those of you wondering what I'm talking about, I'm talking about real direct contact with the prospect. You want them to be able to say, I'm going to pick up the phone and I'm going to find their number and I'm going to call them and I'm going to leave them a message once a week until I get my meeting and that we're pushing for a face to face meeting.

I want you, I want them to say that we're not afraid to send direct emails. We're not afraid to reach out in a direct way to this contact instead of waiting for the contact to reach out to us. So active marketing means we're hunting. We're not waiting for the prospect to reach out to us. Passive marketing is when we're waiting for the prospect to reach out to us.

And while it's important, yes, it's about 20 to 30 percent of your marketing strategy. The rest needs to be based on an active marketing strategy. And so make sure that your business development, people are talking about their process, talking about the flow, talking about the consistency and how they are going to use an active marketing strategy to get you in front of the correct people.

If they're talking all about. We're going to put out digital ads and we're going to sit in our office and we're going to run these ads and manage these ads. This is not the right person. Okay. This is not the right person. You are not going to have the success that you should have in your business development strategy.

And so find somebody who's willing to go and hunt the work for you. Not just wait for opportunities to ring your phone number. All right. Number three. They ask about your business and your growth targets. They are curious, right? If I'm at an interview or I'm, I'm interviewing a new prospect or a new a new client for capital, I want to know everything about their business.

They should be just as interested in your business and what you do and what your products are and what your services are as you are about them. Make sure that they are showing you genuine interest and even one step above that. Make sure that they're asking you, talk to me about your growth goals. What do you want?

What are you guys looking to do in this next year? Make sure that they are actually interested in how much your company wants to grow and that they maybe are chatting about your growth targets, right? It shows that they care about the end goal. And remember, all of business development is not just to have this endless carousel of business development.

For some BD reps, it can really start to feel that way. We want to give our business development specialists targets, but they also need to be interested in what those targets might be like. So make sure that they're showing a genuine interest in your business, in your growth goals, that they seem like they actually care about the success of your business, because the whole job is about the success of your business.

And they need to know as much as possible to make sure that they're the right fits for your company. And so, if they're asking you lots of questions about your business, That is a good thing. They are actually qualifying you. They are trying to figure out, is this a good fit? Is this a company that I can grow with?

Is this a company that I can accomplish their growth goals? If they are doing this, this is a good sign. Work with them and help them to. To see the picture, to see your vision, to see your growth goals for the year, for the next five years and help them to buy in because you need your business development people to care about what it is you want to do with your business.

If they don't have dollar targets to aim for, they're just shooting in the dark. Give them a target and let them loose. All right. Number four, that they are self motivated, right? Self motivation is absolutely critical in business development. You need somebody who is hungry, who wants to win, right? You need the best business development people and the best business development people are the best.

Because they accept nothing less. These people submit reports for their own growth and benefit, right? We want people who are so interested in just winning and doing great and having success that they are holding themselves accountable. This is the holy grail. Of business development people, if you can find people who just want to win, who are holding themselves accountable and who are tracking their, their opportunities and their results, and they're sharing those results with you, and they're talking about, you know, what they're after and what they're doing.

This is awesome. We absolutely want these people because the best business development people, they're in it for themselves. And I know that sounds kind of horrible, but at the same time, they just love to win. They're in this business because they love the business. They're self motivated. They know that business development is one of the best jobs on the planet, and they're going to fight tooth and nail to make sure that they win for your organization and in turn themselves find the people who are self motivated.

Number five, they do not over rely on connections. Okay. This is huge. Beware of the BD rep who starts dropping their contact list to flex on you to show you how rockstar they are, okay? Yes, we are a rockstar community, a community of rockstars. Agreed. And you know what? Your target list is important, and I'm talking to my business development reps right now, but remember your job is business development and your target list.

They only go so far. And so it's absolutely critical that we are asking our business development people, how do you find new contacts? Talk to me about your process to get new connections, new opportunity, because guess what? Their contact lists, they always run out. And for some business development specialists, they're just bouncing from place to place.

Because every time their contact list runs out, they got nothing else. They got nothing else to give. And it doesn't take very long for an organization to realize that they're paying for something they're not getting. And so it's absolutely critical that we're getting ahead of it. And we're not just relying on their contact lists while contact lists are important agreed.

They are. I have contacts for, from, you know, over a decade of business development, and yes, I rely on them, but I do not over rely on them. I also know how to do incredibly. business development and that is how I have done well in my business development career. It's not because I've had great contacts.

It's because I've had the ability to find new contacts on demand when needed at any organization. And that is a skill that you need to make sure that your business development people have to have long term success. So remember Do not over rely on connections, beware of the BD rep that this is their one trick pony.

Make sure they can also tell you how they effectively find new connections. Number six, they are not afraid to keep learning, refining their technique. Even experts were only experts until yesterday. Okay, guys, I'm still learning. I'm still learning. I'm a business development expert. I've been an expert for an incredibly long time.

I am learning new techniques and new, better ways to do my job every single day. And at Capital Business Development, I tell all my employees, if you find a better way to do this, or something new comes up that we can streamline this or make this more effective or more efficient, I want to know about it because things are changing all the time.

AI is coming. There's all sorts of programs and things that are helping us do our jobs more effectively. And while business development will always be a person's job, there are always going to be new tools to make us better at this job, right? There was a time. Before CRMs, I remember that time very well, we had business cards everywhere, we relied on Rolodexes, CRMs killed them.

Nobody is using Rolodexes anymore, and if they are, for goodness sakes, get a CRM, what are you doing? Okay? The reality is, technology changes, and things just become Obsolete. Okay. I bet you one day even CRMs are going to become obsolete. There's going to be something better. We have to be keeping up with these technologies.

We have to be looking for the better way to do these jobs. We have to be refining and improving our processes consistently and constantly. And so remember, you were only an expert until yesterday. And I'm talking to all my business development specialists out there. I know you guys are awesome. I know you're rock stars, but if you guys stagnate in this place, you can only ride this pony so long.

Okay, so make sure that while we're refining our processes and we're getting results in the way that we're doing things that we are not afraid to keep learning, that we are open to change and that we are going to get better and better and better. Over time. Okay. Do not be afraid to keep learning number seven that they are not promising you immediate results.

Effective business development takes time and there are no shortcuts to the finish line, man. If there are people coming in here telling you. Hire me and I will turn this place around in one month, two months, three months. They are full of shit. They are full of shit. Turn and run. Effective business development is not a race.

It's not a race. It's a marathon, but that marathon pays exponential dividends over time. Hear me exponential dividends over time. Okay. Every business development person worth their weight should provide you exponential value to their cost. Period. Period. And so it's absolutely critical that we're not looking for the quick win.

You're not listening to all of these, these lead generation people who are telling you they can do it overnight for you. You'll have 20 leads by Friday night or you'll have 80 leads by next week, okay? Bullshit. And if you do have those 80 leads, they're probably not very good. They're probably just this mishmash of, of contacts and names.

Okay. Effective business development takes time because we're detectives. Business development. People are detectives. It's, it's a process flow. It's critical thinking. It's making sure that we are. evaluating targets, identifying the best people, figuring out how to contact them, making soft introduction, making hard introduction, starting the active marketing process, asking for a meeting.

This does not happen overnight. This is a consistent process that happens week over week over week, but will cumulate weekly. In effective business development for your organization. Okay. Stop looking for the quick wins. Let your business development people do what they do. As long as they are showing you that they are following a strict, consistent process, that they are actually doing the work, which is the most important part, and that they are ultimately.

Getting in contact with people and booking meetings, let them do this because how it works is, they're essentially planting seeds, right? Think about your business development people as like little farmers, right? And it's springtime and they're out there sowing their seeds, right? They're sowing their seeds and they're watering them throughout the summer and it takes time for those seeds to sprout.

It takes time for those vegetables to come, right? Business development is the same way, but It's really cool because if you plant those seeds well and you water them and you keep on top of it and you keep asking for those meetings those seeds eventually become fruits and trees and vegetables you know what i'm saying they turn into real deal opportunities but you have to give them the time it takes and so if you have a business development person who's telling you they got the quick fix they know exactly how they're going to turn this thing around for you and they're going to do it Second, guess them.

Okay. And ask yourself, is this really the route we want to take? Because good business development takes time, but when it's done effectively, it is incredibly, incredibly effective and provides exponential value. Number eight, they prioritize longterm relationships over everything else. Guys, it's all about the relationships, right?

It's all about human to human connection. That's where the new world is starting to get it a little bit messed up. They're, they're, they're falling on their face a little bit. We're over relying on digital connection on passive marketing strategies, right? On digital ads, on TV, on, on things like that. When.

The reality is, is that we still need human to human connection. You know, business to business relationships, business goods are still bought based on relationships and opportunity comes on relationship, right? You have to build trust. Nobody's going to order a million dollar thing from you. Without establishing a little bit of trust first, right?

It's important that your business development processes are leading you to face to face interactions. Where real relationship can take place. Guys, some of the best relationships I've ever had. Have come from business, right? I still have, you know, clients that I've worked with for 10 years at previous organizations that I still absolutely love talking to.

I value the relationship and they value my relationship. It's not about the business that we've done together over time. It's about the friendship that we created doing that business together over time. That is what really is powerful in business. And so we need to. Focus. We need to focus on generating strong, effective relationships over the quick fix, over the one time sells, right?

It's not about the one time sell. It's about how do I make sure that this turns into an opportunity for me for the next five to 10 years? And the answer to that question is build a relationship, build a strong friendship with your prospects. And that is done through effective business development. And account management, okay?

Account management, you know, I talk about it in other episodes, it is different. But account management is absolutely critical to the long term successes of your business. So make sure that at least our account managers are handling the relationships incredibly well with our clients. Number nine, make sure that they are respectful in All situations.

Okay. All situations. I have had my head torn off by people that clearly just had it out for business development and salespeople. Okay. I get it guys. They're out there. I know, I know. I know cold calls can be hard and scary for this very reason. I totally, totally understand, but it is absolutely critical that we keep a professional attitude, a calm and kind attitude in.

Every situation, and this includes in the hard situations. This includes when you're having your head ripped off. Yes. It's okay to say, I'm sorry that we upset you. I hope that you have a great day and hang up your phone and then be like, what the shit was that? That's okay. That's okay. I've done that plenty of times, but make sure that you are not doing that.

in front of the customer or on the line with these people. It's important that every interaction that we have with our business development specialist hats on is done in a positive and kind way. And that includes in the hard situations that includes in the situations where things are not going to plan, keep cool, keep calm and make sure that your business development specialists, that's the attitude that they take, even when it's hard to do so.

And that's not easy. I get it. It's not easy, but it is absolutely critical to long term success in business development. We have to keep our cool. We have to act professional and respectful in all situations, especially when it's customer facing. Okay, so make sure that when you're screening them, you ask them, put them in hard situations and ask them how they would react because it is absolutely critical that they do not lose their cool with potential customers and number 10.

Positive blue sky thinking. I'm stealing that from Colin Harms just for this one moment. Nothing will kill your company faster than a business development specialist who does not believe that your success is possible. Or who is bringing daily negativity to your team. Okay? Business development is one of those jobs that just requires positivity.

It requires hope. And you cannot let your business development teams lose hope. And if you are seeing this, you need to nip it in the butt immediately. Immediately. Nothing will kill your company faster than a business development specialist who does not believe that they can be successful in selling your products or services.

You might as well just get rid of this person. Because if that's what they believe, they're right. If they believe they can do it, they're right. If they believe they can't do it, they are equally right. And you do not need that level of toxicity on your team. You do not need that. This also falls into toxicity across your organization as a whole.

Toxicity is contagious. Negativity is contagious. So is positivity. Make sure that we are Stacking our companies with positive can do people, with people who believe in what you do, who believe in your products and services, who will shout them from the rooftops, and who will put every ounce of effort behind making your business successful.

You do get to choose what people work in your organization, whether you believe it or not. If you have a bad apple or a bad actor in your business development team, or a bad apple or bad actor in your operations teams, guys, what is it costing you? Ask yourself that the next time that you see this person acting out the next time that you see this ask yourself how expensive is this is this costing me because i'll tell you what it's costing you a lot more than the salary of that employee it is costing you the positivity of your team as a whole the optimism of your team as a whole and the hope of your team As a whole, make sure that our teams are positive and everybody in your business development team should exude these qualities.

They should exude them. They should radiate positivity because that is what is going to drive them to success. Even when times are hard, they're not going to be the one sitting around saying, well, I can't sell anything. It's a recession or, oh yeah, we can't sell anything right now for X, Y, Z reason. It's bullshit.

You know it. I know it. You can sell anything at any time, and it really comes down to what is your belief. What is your belief? Do you believe that? Do you believe you can sell? Because the reality is if you believe you can build a business, if you believe you can grow a business, if you believe you can sell a business, you will find a way to do so.

You will, you will find a way to do so. And if you believe the opposite, you will find a way to sabotage the crap out of it. So make sure that you are stacking the odds in your company's favor. Believe in your product, believe in your service, make sure that your operations and business development people do the same and you will find success.

Thank you so much for the amazing support. My amazing rockstar business community. I appreciate you all. I know this was a bit of a challenging episode. I know these ones can be really hard to hear because we've all seen ourselves in these qualities once or twice, right? Like I look back and you know what I mean?

I made a ton of these mistakes. I had a time when I didn't believe I had a time when I wasn't giving it my all. Right. And these are all things that I learned over time. So, you know, I'm talking to my business development specialists right now. If you're hearing this and you're feeling a little down, maybe it's a little bit of a hard episode to listen to, understand I've been there.

You can turn this around tomorrow. You absolutely can. And I believe in you. I believe in you because I've been you, okay? You can turn these things around tomorrow on a dime and you can become incredibly, incredibly effective. And if you're a business development specialist and you're finding this for the first time, there's like a hundred episodes to help you.

There's a hundred amazing business development, growth. Episodes to give you techniques to just help you rock this position. So feel free to go back through our catalog. Feel free to find something to lift you up today because at capital business development, the business development podcast, we are all about dealing hope.

We're hope dealers here, and we want to make sure that you're successful. So feel free to go back. Check out some of our back catalog. If you're a business owner and you're finding this show and you're looking for a place to advertise the business development podcast, we have just revamped all of our ad packages.

We have ad packages starting at 20 episodes, all the way up to 100 episodes. Feel free to reach out. podcast@capitalbd.ca. I'd be happy to send you some rates and yeah, let's chat about how to get your business on the show. I would like to give a really special shout out to my oldest boy, Adler.

Congratulations on your parent teacher interview. I know that that was challenging and you absolutely killed it. I'm incredibly, incredibly proud of you. And for the rest of our rockstar shout outs this week, Carmen Leibel, Sean Wright, Joseph Marcilio. Dustin Bakala, Al Gensitskiy, Marie Soprovich, Shane Unruh, Michael Baker, Leor Rotchild, Fahad Khan, Stacy Douce, Vijayan Swaminathan, Lasse Joergensen, Oznur Arslan, Jessica Nelon, Debra Donaghey and Colin Harms. Until next time, this has been the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on. The flip side.

Outro: This has been the business development podcast with Kelly Kennedy. Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation. And business development. The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your Business Development Specialists. For more, we invite you to the website @ www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.