3 MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
“I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.”
This line from Og Mandino’s “The Greatest Salesman of the World” emphasizes that life is but a business arena. You meet people, you gain, you lose, you prosper, and you fail. In order for one to make it big, he must equip himself with the three “BEs”: BE reliable, BE confident and BE brave.
Like life, these three BEs are essential in making it in business development. An individual’s triumph depends on how he or she masks their persona with the winner’s advantage all over the pressing competition. In the world of business, you must lay all your cards out on the table and demand them be seen as a fifty-two card royal flush!
BE RELIABLE
Reliability is the foundation of trust. If you’re an unreliable individual, how can anybody trust you to deliver the goods?
Reliability can be found in many ways. For many, the psychology of “popular name sells” still rings true. Sure, the name everybody knows will most likely win out. Starbucks will continue to sell subpar coffee and Walmart will continuously surround your neighborhood with stores. But what people often miss is the low level that these enterprises will stop to sometimes to ensure that their bottom-of-the-barrel clientele never leave. McDonalds will tell you you’re loving it, but your local burger joint will earn your love by selling a superior product. They will tell you everything you need to know about the burger they are saying, and they don’t even need a catch-phrase. Eventually, when posed with the choice of a Dollar Menu product or a local, grass-fed cow, the choice may be obvious. But in the end, you want yourself to be treated as the superior product. And when that happens, you will rely on that company for any of your future needs.
BE CONFIDENT
Any girl will tell you: “It’s all about confidence.” Confidence is full belief in yourself and your abilities to succeed. Being confident in business development is important. Knowing what to do, how to do it and how it works for one’s advantage is a result of confidence. But you are not born with confidence. It is achieved through positive experience and superior work ethic. This can be anything from studying for your next exam to taking the stage at your first stand-up comedy open mic.
Confidence is maintaining a good performance even under pressure. Having the knowledge, we use that to learn and practice. Keep in mind, nobody is perfect. Mistakes will be made, failures will occur. However, your ability to conquer these challenges is where true confidence resides.
BE BRAVE
No, bravery and confidence are very different. Where confidence is the belief in yourself to conquer action, bravery is knowing your limits. A mythical knight is confident he will slay the dragon, but bravery will allow him to concede before the dragon melts his face. In other words, bravery is the consequence of confidence. Bravery will allow you to promote your business like it is the next Tesla to those selling Acuras.
Being brave will allow you to be the best person you can be for your customer. A weak business will tell their customers they don’t know the answers. A brave business will seek these answers out at any cost to ensure customer satisfaction. There may not always be a solution to every problem, but bravery will allow you to believe that there is a solution out there and, who knows, you may possibly find it.
These three BEs are not only applicable to the world of business development. Try employing them in your every day life and see how far you they will take you. My personal guess, the sky’s the limit.
