The first step in your business development strategy is to find the right target market. Target market might depend on the industry you are selling to, the region you would focus, the demographics of your audience, the roles and seniority of people in an organisation and the characteristic of a firm such as size, maturity, years in the market, etc.
Assuming you have already done some exercise and perhaps you have had already some activity identifying the best one to target. This exercise will help you having the best chances to convert leads into prospect and then into signed customers. You need to go though quick into this market to make sure your plan works.
The first and foremost reason to go quickly into the identified target market is to have a good validation and a proof that your assumption about this target market is correct. You should quickly establish whether you need to change your plan. If you think you have made a mistake choosing this market, don’t worry, change your path. Going quickly into a market give you the ability to:
- Validate the pricing model and the individual pricing level of your product
- Identify the right stakeholders that you should be targeting in all your future campaigns
- Validate the product market fit and
- Assess the position of your competition in the market
If you identify this is an ideal market for you, you need to run quickly and establish yourself as a leader there. You always need to make the assumption that you are not unique and other companies can produce what you offer, copying you and going after your clients. Building quickly your brand awareness will label you as the expert of certain things in that market.
Use marketing and business development initiatives to reach the target audience and make yourself known. Establish a unique position by building credibility.
There is no time to waste in this stage of your business development plan. Go for it.
Happy Selling.