The Importance of New Business Development

Keeping up with new business marketing can be a challenge for even the most profitable and established businesses. When the sales funnel is full and things are going well, it is tempting to turn your attention toward catering to your current clients and putting new business development on the backburner.

Some of the most significant challenges facing marketers today include things like marketing to a predominantly mobile audience, making sure your message stands out in a crowded marketplace and understanding how to best use big data.

If you are looking for ways to continue to market your business to new clients while still serving existing ones, it is important to pay close attention to the basics. What follows are some critical new business marketing principles that simply cannot be ignored—no matter how successful your business:

1. Always be prospecting. If you are a business owner, there will never be enough time in your day for all you want to accomplish. No matter how busy you are, however, you simply must make time for prospecting. If you take breaks in your new business marketing efforts, there will always be gaps in your sales funnel.
2. Keep all of your options open. If you want to attract the most customers, it is vital that you use a variety of channels and techniques to identify new prospects. If you concentrate on only one marketing method you will significantly decrease the number of prospects you are reaching.
3. Don’t forget about outbound. Inbound marketing is important but that doesn’t mean outbound marketing should be pushed aside. Proactive and targeted approaches such as direct mail and telemarketing are still very effective and necessary to get your message out.
4. Big data is a big deal. Big data is all the rage these days but you would be surprised at the number of businesses that don’t use it or don’t use it correctly. While it may be difficult at first, you simply must make data collection and analysis a priority.
5. It’s everyone’s job. New business is sometimes handled by a particular department or staffer but the truth is, it is everyone’s job. Every employee should always be on the lookout for new opportunities. Remember, you don’t need to be on the sales team to understand all the great things your business has to offer.

New business development is essential to the long-term success of any business. And if a sales funnel is not continuously filled up, you can be sure it will one day run dry.