Spreading the biz dev load (part 2)

Last week, in Part 1 of this article, I talked about the pitfalls of outsourcing business development. Or assigning responsibility for BD to just a few individuals – usually the Principals.

I believe the most effective way to win new work comes from within your own team. I shared how, in my own design consultancy, investing in our people’s commercial acumen delivered the best results.

This week I’ll explore how to develop your team’s commercial skills and the benefits it brings.

Where to begin

A good place to start is by evaluating which of your team members has an appetite and aptitude for a more commercial role. You want to add external development tasks to roles that used to focus only on internal delivery.

The word ‘add’ is critical here. This process doesn’t mean turning designers into salespeople. You probably don’t want that – and they almost certainly won’t! Instead, their role will evolve. They'll still contribute creatively, but in a less hands-on way.

This change often comes around the Senior to Director level. You want to find skilled Individual Contributors (ICs) who are ready for the next step.

It’s important to acknowledge that this form of progression is not for everyone. Some love their craft and don’t want to make the change. Or they may be delivering so much value in their current role that you don’t want to upset it.

But a situation I’ve seen occur often is designers reaching a career plateau. They come to their annual review wanting a promotion and/or a substantial pay increase, but you can’t justify it.

They deliver value, but it’s no longer increasing at the rate it did before. This often coincides with people taking on more commitments in their personal lives, like kids or a mortgage. These responsibilities can bring extra pressure and discontent.

You probably have a pretty good idea of who the right people to help with BD are already. But don’t be too sure. I remember being surprised to learn that a relatively junior member of our Operations team was one of our best negotiators.

It’s then time to encourage, nurture, and ultimately reward them. At my company, we made a concerted effort to teach people on the job, deliberately exposing them to new situations. We also supplemented internal lunch-and-learn sessions with external training.

Why?

There are many benefits to developing your team’s commercial skills:


1. Increased overall revenue

If new business only comes through the Principals, growth can stall. Put another way, when more people contribute to revenue generation, growth becomes scalable.

Training your team allows you to chase more opportunities. It also helps you avoid getting burnt out. A desire I often hear expressed is to ‘Spread the load’... Hence the title of this article.


2. More consistent revenue

Design agency and consultancy revenue is usually spiky. If I were talking to you right now, I’d be moving my hand through the air horizontally, in a wavy line of peaks and troughs. Sound familiar?

When revenue comes through more sources, it helps flatten out the ups and downs. It’s a great way to keep BD activity going when the people who usually do it are busy or out of the office. Thus avoiding the dreaded ‘produce or promote’ cycle.


3. Personal development

As I said before, the commercial career path is not for everyone. But encouraging your most ambitious people to take part in business development, as well as making their creative contributions, provides a great form of progression.

It’s really hard to continue giving meaningful pay increases and promotions to people who just get a little better at what they’re already doing each year.

On the other hand, it’s easy to generously reward those who demonstrate their direct contribution to revenue and profit.


4. Retention

Training people in commercial skills gives them a bigger picture view of the business. It makes their work feel more meaningful and impactful. This leads to them staying longer.


5. Succession planning

You may not be planning on exiting your business yet. But you don’t want to wait until then before building your so-called ‘second layer’.

If you don’t exit, a strong team of revenue generators results in a much healthier business. If you do plan to exit, they’ll be vital. Train them well enough and they may turn out to be the people you pass the baton to.

How – Commercial Skills training

A few years ago, I sold my design consultancy. Then I helped grow another one. After that I started working independently.

I found myself with a library of experience and resources, compiled over years of developing my own team members into more commercial roles.

I also found myself driven by a purpose. Call it my mission.

To help designers secure the value we deserve.

This could be the value a designer receives from their employer. Or the value leaders of design businesses secure from their clients.

In either case, the key word is ‘deserve’.

My point is that to receive additional value, we need to provide it.

To help your employees provide your business with more value, I’ve developed a training programme called Commercial Skills for Creatives.

It consists of a series of five courses that follow the typical process we go through to win work:


1. Growing your network

An introductory course to help everyone contribute to lead generation.


2. Qualifying new opportunities

A structured approach to deciding how much resource to devote to winning work. And increasing your chances of winning it.


3. Running credentials meetings

Also known as capabilities meetings. Covers preparation, running and following up.


4. Negotiating with clients

Not just over money, and not just at the start of a project.


5. Turning losing into winning

How to persevere if unsuccessful.


The training is ideal for mid, senior, and Director-level people. Helping them transition from internal delivery, into external-facing roles with development responsibilities.

Or for more senior people who’ve never had training in these areas.

At a high level, it develops an entrepreneurial mindset.

Combined with practical tips and scripts that build confidence.

I’ll be running through each step in the process in more depth over the coming articles.

In the meantime, please visit my website to see how the training works and what’s included.

(Click the red ‘View course’ buttons for more content info).

I built a 100-person international design consultancy, before selling it.

Now I work independently, providing:

GROWTH ADVICE: Invigorating creative leaders

COMMERCIAL SKILLS TRAINING: Boosting creative careers