An agency friend contacted me earlier this year (note that it is 2009) seeking advice on the performance of a recently hired new business lead. This particular new team member had been selected after an extensive search process, was given a revenue target that far out-matched anything the agency had achieved before, and had the distinct challenge of beginning the job just as the economy took its swan dive.

About six months into the position, there was significant concern that the new business person simply wasn’t cutting it. There had indeed been action, and that action yielded new client business in the very low six figures against a target that was in the low seven figures. But that action didn’t seem like traction so I was asked, “Is this acceptable performance?”

My short answer was “It depends.” In my longer answer, I tried to encourage self-reflection and analysis that would take into consideration whether the performance concerns were the sole responsibility of the new business person or whether there were some structural obstacles and misunderstandings about the way business development functions that complicated matters.

Here are highlights of that longer answer:

  1. Sign of the times: Have you taken the current economy into consideration? It’s tough, which could mean that you pitch broadly to generate revenue from whatever you can get (within reason) or narrowly because you only want the right business. Is anyone in agency leadership giving a clear signal on that, or have you empowered your new business talent to make that determination?
  2. Process makes perfect: Admittedly there is no perfection in business development, only the pursuit of it. Otherwise it wouldn’t be any fun. Likewise, an absence of process within the agency takes all of the fun and much of the likelihood of success out of the picture. Plenty of business development pros fancy themselves as swashbucklers of sorts, the heroic lone wolf who does the big deal on grit and determination alone. Piffle, I say. Even the best business development talent needs to get and participate in strategic and tactical direction. Moreover, there should be appropriate resources to pursue her/his efforts, like a consistent team of thinkers and creatives to bring that critical presentation to life. Business development needs to be part of the agency’s overall work flow process, with accommodations for the unique nature of the work. And above all, that work needs to be given a fair level of priority vis a vis  other work going through the system.
  3. The nature of new business part 1, quantity: Quantity and quality are often posed as mutually exclusive options. The truth of business development often is that both are desirable in proportionate measure. And that measure depends on the kind of business development activity that best drives your agency’s business model. Considering quantity first, how many new business activities conducted by this person in the past six months were (1) conversations (2) presentations and (3) actual business pitches/proposals? For a person new to a mid-level business development role, the number of activities in the first two categories should be reasonably high, while the third depends on how focused they are and what’s going on in the marketplace (i.e., you can’t get into a pitch if no clients are seeking agencies). If the activity level is respectable and assuming your person is articulate, then you next have to look at quality.
  4. The nature of new business part 2, quality: Whatever the volume, how on-target have business development activities been? Were they largely random or do they align strongly with the objectives of the agency? Has anybody yet said what those objectives are, aside from the revenue target? If you’re going to the right meetings and doing a good job of articulating your value proposition, then your average for new business — now and in the future — should be a bit higher. If you’re pitching into new categories — capabilities or industries — it might take time to get some traction. So long as the efforts are solid and tracking against priority objectives, this success rate could be appropriate.
  5. The future’s so bright, or not: Although the revenue number to date is low, are there signs that performance in the next six months will take off? A lot of business development is heavy on the “development” axis, especially when no one has done that in the past. That includes positioning the agency for future pitches, getting into relationships for when businesses need an agency and fine-tuning the agency’s value proposition. If that groundwork is being laid and it is being done well, then by all means give your colleague credit for that. The danger, however, is that some business development folks are more comfortable doing that type of work at the expense of pushing, pitching and producing. Earlier in my career when I was all about marketing and hadn’t organized a cohesive approach to revenue development, an experienced adviser declared to me that “you can’t market your way to sales success.” I didn’t understand his point at the time, but once I did it has been a lesson I have valued and referred to time and again.

My final bit of advice is this: It would be money and time well spent by an agency to hire a consultant to help them wrap their heads around business development. Strategy, process, measurement and knowing what kind of talent you’re seeking to hire often don’t come naturally to small and even mid-sized agencies. Too much is at stake to make a bad hiring decision or to hire a high-quality person and then totally misunderstand how to take advantage of their contribution to the agency.