5 Key take-outs from Louisa Clarke - Author of Catalyst
Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Louisa Clarke from the Caffeine Partnership about her new book Catalyst - using personal chemistry to turn contacts into contracts. It’s a business development masterclass for anyone who believes in the power of human connection.
Let’s face it, most business development advice out there is awful!
There’s myriad gurus selling every quick fix they can dream up… it ranges from the very basic - contact 100 people a day (which let’s face it, can’t fail, but is also a very quick route to unpopularity), to complicated funnels fed by webinars and endless content… anyone who’s been on the receiving end of one of the more aggressive incarnations of these can end up feeling like they’re being, at best spammed, at worst stalked.
Business development advice for growing or scaling businesses is actually pretty limited but tends to focus on annexing your efforts off into some sort of dark and murky, commission hungry shark tank.
Catalyst, written during the pandemic by Louisa and ex Caffeine Partner David Kean, offers a different perspective. Refreshing, yes, but also somehow comfortingly elementary. Because, what this book reminds us with brilliant resonance is the simple fact that ultimately people buy from people. Catalyst gives you every piece of inspiration and information possible to help you make the most of that very important fact.
That reminder is as important for businesses with busy pipelines as it is for those who are struggling to make headway. And whilst I don’t think for a moment that any of the fast growth businesses I work with believe that they have the luxury of ignoring business development entirely, what I do think is that, when faced with other priorities it can, day to day, fall off the radar - and be difficult to get back on.
I really enjoyed chatting with Louisa about some of the key themes of the book, especially through the lens of fast growth.
My 5 key take-outs below:
Business development comes from the top
“In any organisation the new business effort must be directed from the top and wholeheartedly embraced by the CEO”
New business should be a concerted effort all the time and not something that’s turned on and off like a tap. This means it needs to be on the agenda every week.
As the CEO, you should be constantly thinking about how you can go out and meet people, make new contacts and think about how you can help them.
This needs to be consistent, all the time, even when business is booming.
Business development isn’t always about new clients
Great business development is about finding the balance between growing existing clients and finding new ones.
There are always opportunities to mature your client base along with your business. Find the right kind of clients, more profitable clients. Think about who the clients are that you can best help.
But there are always opportunities to grow existing clients - and these can be especially profitable.
Your network already exists
Your network is your past clients, your champions, the people who will say your name when opportunity arises. When you do great work, this group expands.
Keep having a profile, keep getting yourself out there. Clients change jobs, project end, disasters happen.
Business development is often about keeping in touch with people in a very methodical way.
Don’t sell, help.
The ideal is to have clients that buy you time and time again, which is much more profitable.
If you can’t answer the question of how you can help people pithily that’s a gap.
Ask questions, listen to the answer.
Your vision is as important in this space as anywhere else.
Are you clear on where you’re going and what the vision is. What is the consistent message?
Can you say it in real life as well as you can write it.
Does everyone know what’s important?
People buy from people
Business development is a human pursuit. There’s no mystery to it, people buy from people.
Everyone needs to be on the front foot about going after and getting new business, but with clarity from the top.
Empower your team to go out and develop their own relationships and nurture their network.
You can watch the full interview here:
