Interim business development - summary

Interim business development is the exclusive temporary project-specific hire of an experienced professional with knowledge of and commercial expertise within the sector market(s) targeted.

Fractional business development is very similar but instead of an exclusive project hire, engagement is for an agreed number of days per month. Therefore a fractional business developer will be working for a number of clients at any given time.

Both fractional and interim engagements are available. What is offered will depend upon if there is a project timescale and requirements.

Whatever the engagement type, the business developers mission and success benchmark are to prove the viability of the business development project by delivering the target number of profitable first customer advocates for the new solution and/or market.

Despite all the prior research, (market, competitor & industry), strategy development and marketing preparation, new solution and/or new market business development is often an iterative process.

In broad terms a process of engaging with prospect customers, gathering feedback, amending or pivoting and then re-engaging.

That consultative process continues until the target number of first customers is reached or the project timeframe expires.

For a successful project, and in addition to new first customers, the output from a professional fractional or interim business developer practising 360 business development will be a documented commercial process.

Customer creation is all about profitable loyal customer advocates

A scaleable process to find, get and keep customers for the now proven new solution and/or market that can be handed over to the marketing and customer-facing teams to implement.

Fees for an interim business developer are project-based, calculated according to the complexity and estimated time to achieve the target level of new first customers that prove the viability of the business development project.

The project fee is not day-rate based and is weighted towards success; after all, interims are expert professionals.

Fees for a fractional business developer are primarily calculated on the number of days per month required. There will be some project allowance as prospects don't just want to be contacted on the days/times that suit the engagement timeframe.

The engagement fee will also include a success weighting because fractional business developers are also expert professionals.

Who is fractional or interim business development for?

It's all about project execution.

The provision of a fractional or interim business development solution is for companies that have researched the market, industry and competitors, have formulated the relevant commercial strategies and, based on a comprehensive marketing strategy, the marketing tactics are ready.

Ready to discuss your business development idea? Completely free, confidential and without obligation.

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Why companies choose a fractional or interim solution

Companies hire a fractional or interim business developer for some or most of the following reasons:

Project cost efficiency

Hiring an interim 360 business developer with skills in marketing, sales, commercial management, fulfilment and customer relations, (plus all the bits before and between!) is equivalent to hiring or assigning 5 staff.

Despite all the research, planning and preparation business expansion or creation via new solution or market development is a risk.

Therefore keeping the business development project costs low until proved is often a priority for senior management.

Sector experience required

Broad commercial expertise needed

Often new solution or market business development is on a "minimal investment until project proved" basis.

Consequently, it is often a solo endeavour with the business developer wearing many hats and dealing with all customer-facing activities from engagement, through to a successful sale and critically important but often overlooked, new customer onboarding.

Therefore to be effective in addition to direct and indirect sales experience, a "full stack" business developer must have research, marketing, negotiation, finance, legal, fulfillment management and customer relations experience and expertise.

You're a small business or startup

Maintain focus on existing solutions & markets

Whatever the size of your business you need your existing customer-facing team to maintain their focus on the existing solution(s) and market(s).

That is what is generating the revenue to fund the business development project.

Only when the project is successfully proven and a full commercial process created will the new solution and/or market be handed over to the existing commercial teams to implement.

A permanent engagement is not appropriate

Hiring permanent customer-facing staff is a costly, time-consuming activity. Resources that are wasted if the business development project does not meet expectations.

An interim business developer with sector experience and broad commercial expertise is the quickest resource-efficient solution.

Plus there are no employment contract, pension & benefits, notice or severance pay issues to worry about.

Business development is an iterative process

Besides broad commercial expertise, the interim business developer will need broad key department management experience.

Enabling them to act as the "voice of the prospective customers" internally across multiple key departments as the optimum new solution is created or the ideal market segment is identified.

The additional benefit of that broad management experience is:

The ability to fine-tune the marketing
Optimise the sales pitch
Develop a winning commercial framework
Create the new customer onboarding, success and retention processes.

A summary of some of the slills required of an interim business developer

Your business developement project - what next?

Simple. Book a free discovery call without obligation and in total confidence.

We'll discuss your overall project aims, research data, solution, prospect customer profile, marketing strategy & tactics and most importantly what are the benefits for prospective customers.

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TESTIMONIALS

Paul joined my global services team to build on our plan to provide global sales support to our growing customer base and quickly embraced the strategic plan. Paul's enthusiasm, energy and ability to link customer expectations to the service team's abilities was excellent and it is was a pleasure to have Paul on-board working closely with myself.

New offshore Power cable installation services for subsea array cable manufacturer

Having Paul involved in my project team gave me the trust that the job could get done. If any part of his task was delayed or problematic outside of his control, it was well documented with solutions to get around the problem that involved contacts I would never have known. On a personal note, even when the pressure was on, one could not have asked for a more professional and pleasant guy to work with.

Offshore GSM communications project for a National Telecoms Company

Paul was one of the most inclusive Sales Professionals I have worked with. He had a good rapport with Clients and fostered a great team style with his peers. Together this made a cohesive and focussed approach which won business against a challenging market and strategic backdrop. Paul is versatile, very driven and a clear communicator. He is was very market savvy and not afraid to grab difficult situations by the horns and to tackle them head on. It was a pleasure working with him.

EMEA installations project for Offshore engineering and subsea services company

He is a fast and innovative thinker, usually ahead of the crowd with ideas, and his practical skills, knowledge and down-to-earth approach enable him to see these ideas through to fruition.

Subsea Power Cable Manufacturer

Paul was a joy to work with, and benefited from a never-ending set of industry contacts.

Maritime enterprise software project for VC start-up