Choosing a Business Development Consultant

A business development consultant works with clients on strategy, planning and problem solving, and helps develop business skills, knowledge and commercial opportunities. These range from designing a business model or marketing plan, to formulating and executing market entry and/or partnering strategies.

Consultants are usually hired on an on-demand basis. Thus, you pay for them when you need their expertise. There also may be substantial cost-savings compared with a full-time employee, as the latter typically cost an additional 35-50% of their salary in benefits like medical and retirement and in taxes.

Business development consultants play a crucial role in the growth of companies – helping to identify business weaknesses and actualizing opportunities for growth. A summary of services includes the following:

1. Business Development Planning

A strategic business development plan that is shared and adopted by all relevant stakeholders is critical to achieving organizational goals.

The external perspective of the business development consultant can be quite valuable and important. Many business development plans are based on past activities and/or other markets. With today’s market dynamics, it is necessary to have an effective and adaptable strategic business development plan that can be rolled out globally.

An experienced business development consultant can help you create a plan that melds what worked in the past with the present market scenarios to maximize the effectiveness of your business development process.

A good business developer will deliver an objective, independent, and long-term focus.

2. Develop Deep Market Insights

The experienced business development consultant will add value at the product, brand and corporate level by gleaning insights into the competitive landscape and recommending actionable strategies and tactics which transcend the competition.

They will utilize a suite of commercial solutions and comprehensive research methodologies to provide intelligence and insight that’s timely, targeted, analytical, and actionable - geared towards optimizing your product portfolios and commercial strategies.

The market/competitive intelligence will be used to provide clear navigation for market entry. Evaluating all possible market entry models, they will support your business with structured development in new markets with an approach that ensures measured use of your resources and helps your business start in a leading position - becoming operational and profitable faster.

3. Opportunity Assessment and Target Market Focus

Next, the consultant will conduct market and opportunity assessment - essentially analyzing market opportunities based on an evaluation of relevant parameters and evaluating the pros and cons of alternative market entry approaches. This could include the following:

1. Determine competitive advantages

2. Provide market analysis

• High growth prospects

• Fewer barriers to entry

• Favorable economic and business climates

• Technology level

• Fit with global market entry strategy

• IP protection

3. Rank most attractive markets and segments

4. Determine competitive landscapes

5. Identify appropriate channels of distribution

6. Conduct product life cycle analyses

7. Establish pricing and margins

8. Evaluate barriers to entry

9. Rank modes of market entry

4. Long-term Market Success

Finally, the market entry/growth strategy will be agreed upon and implemented.

Examples include subsidiary startup, partnering though licensing, distribution & marketing, M&A and other forms of alliances.

Ultimately, the products or services are commercialized locally, regionally or globally, strategy is fine-tuned (a continuous process) and market-building activities take place for long-term success.