TWO REAL LIFE SITUATIONS
It would be nice to live in a perfect world: a world in which all things work together in the best interest of every party all the time. Even if you have lived a magical life, if you own or lead a business, a perfectly harmonious world seems even more removed from reality. Prior to launching Milavickas Consulting, I directed and lead business development for organizations ranging from large companies to small boutique firms.
Let me share two real life situations. The first one may make you cringe – perhaps because you’ve seen it happen time and again, and vowed it would never happen under your watch. The second situation should make you stand up and cheer.
These are among the circumstances that helped shape the B2D approach. These and other experiences gave me a perspective and firsthand knowledge of how important this approach is for the success of companies, clients, and employees.
First Situation. For one organization I delivered a full market and opportunity assessment. Based on the assessment’s findings I recommended the business adjust its pricing structures to meet market indicators – anticipating upcoming opportunities. The business chose to keep its existing pricing structure static and instead allocated resources elsewhere, with the perspective that they had won before with old pricing.
Fast forward to the time when this business was negotiating a best and final offer for a large IDIQ contract in which their pricing was considered outside the competitive range. The business was not prepared to address the customer’s budgetary concern, could not alter its financial structures in the brief window for negotiation, and therefore was not awarded the prime contract. I was able to eventually secure projects for the business through the IDIQ contract, but as a subcontractor to a competitor. The unfortunate results were that the business had limited contractual control, did not fully realize revenue and profit potential, and wasted a lot of time, money, and resources in the bidding process because its leaders had dismissed as unnecessary the strategic move to fine tune cost and pricing structures.
Second Situation. Here’s a scenario from my experience with a different business organization: one with a much better outcome. A colleague and I developed and implemented an employee engagement and incentive strategy as part of our overall business development concept for growth – seemingly only tangentially related to business development, right? Happily, no! As a result of our strategy, within less than three years after initiating our plan for growth, business sales increased more than 700% and 89% employee retention was achieved during the same period. On-boarding and turnover expenses were reduced, performance of delivery was improved, and customer satisfaction was stronger and higher.
The contrasting outcomes further demonstrate the far reaching implications of valuing or undervaluing the B2D approach to growing business. Milavickas Consulting has the experience, knowledge, and ability to help company leaders apply this approach to their business growth strategy for today, tomorrow, and beyond.
Contact us if these situations resonate. If they don’t please still call. I want to learn from you.
Milavickas Consulting, LLC 