Winning the Business Development Battle Part 3: Intel

Planning for the business development battle starts by gathering intel, or business development intelligence. You need to do your homework to gain a keen understanding your Clients and prospects, your adversaries – and even your own troops.

One way to begin gathering intel is to do research to build your business development intelligence. Find out all you can about your Clients’ and prospects’ businesses and industries. Are they expanding or contracting? Are they hiring employees or laying them off. Are they adding new locations or closing them? Are they moving forward or backward? Are they developing new products or services or acquiring them through purchases? Are they content with their current locations or entering new markets? Do they want to be regional, national or global? Are they targeting new companies for acquisitions – or might they be potential targets themselves?

So why is this intel so important? Why do we care about these things? Because each one often involves issues or challenges that may require legal services – and each represents an opportunity to help the Clients or prospects – and ultimately develop business.