4 comments

• 

  gwenbell

  1 year ago

  Educational, Micah (and by the way, every time I listen to This is Why I'm Hot I sing, I got the East Coast bumpin' Micah, I got the West Coast bumpin' Micah). Where was I? Ok, my question is this. If we can't measure the success of a Business Development transaction, how do we pay tehe Biz Dev associate correctly? If a person comes on early in the game, it's obvious because the Biz Dev person is sharing in the risk of the company with which they're involved (if it's a startup, there is less guarantee for success than for an established company). But in an established company, is it really simply a matter of stating goal? And if yes, how do we know when the goal has been reached? Do you have personal goals within a company that let you know when you've reached goals? (I know it may be impossible to talk about w/regards to your current company, but what about in the past?) I switched the theme to pink, btw. So hot. Sexy blog!
  reply
• 

  msitarzewski

  1 year ago

  Sweet post Micah. Good to see some clarity on this one.
  reply
• 

  Will

  1 year ago

  Micah, I agree with your assessment. I always think of biz dev as being the art of marrying to distinctly different companies together such that the sum of the two is greater than the parts. It is more of a B2B play, where sales is a B2C play, and not to over generalize, when I think of sales, I think of used cars (sorry to all you sales folks)
  reply
• 

  micah

  1 year ago

  Thanks on the theme. It was all Jeff LeDoux. So with sales its is easy to figure a comp plan - sell X and make Y. With BizDev, it can still be specific metric (page views, partnerships, etc.) but normally a BD person doesnt have a widget to sell, and the transaction isnt usually one time (even reocurring sales revenue can be tied to a single transaction). The hope is that both parties make more revenue by partnering, and the risk is shared, because the end result could be zilch. In a sales world, there is always a winner. So goals are always good, and can be developed, but a real BD person causes a lot of positive waves, ultimately leading to the moving of some needle. BTW, everyone when hired shares in the risk of the company's success or failure. With BD its company to company shared risk, whereas sales is personal risk (Lose my job). Make sense?
  reply