Curiosity Isn’t Enough

​A topic has come up in several of my coaching conversations recently.

I talk a lot about approaching business development with curiosity. Instead of reaching out because you want to tell someone about your firm or your services, reach out because you’re genuinely interested in their business, what they’re seeing in the market, and what they’re thinking about right now.

Recently, a few clients have pushed back on me.

“Doug, doesn’t that still sound like a sales line?”

It can, and I think that’s an important distinction.

Saying, “I’d love to hear what you’re seeing in the market” is certainly better than asking for 30 minutes to talk about your capabilities. The person on the other end may still be thinking, Why should I spend 30 minutes telling you what I’m seeing?
Curiosity is the right mindset. It just may not be enough to motivate someone to meet with you.
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This is where I think we need to be a little smarter about prospecting. Give people a reason why the conversation might be useful to them, too.

​One of my clients gave me a great example of this today.

His firm recently brought in a team of lawyers with expertise the firm didn’t have before. He immediately thought about several contacts who had asked about that capability in the past.

Now he has a natural reason to reach back out.

“I remember you asking me about this a while back. We recently added a team that does exactly this work. I thought it might be useful for you to know them, and I’d be happy to make an introduction.”

He isn’t manufacturing a reason to get on someone’s calendar. He remembered something that mattered to the client, something changed on his end, and he connected the dots.

There are plenty of other reasons to reach out. You might be hearing the same concern from several clients and think it would be useful to compare notes. A shift in the market could give you a reason to ask how it’s affecting their business. Or you may simply come across something in another conversation that makes you think, John would find this interesting.

The point is, the reason doesn’t always have to lead back to your services. Sometimes you simply have something useful to share.

Ultimately, I think the test of a good BD meeting is pretty simple. You want the client to walk away thinking:

“That was time well spent. I learned something I didn’t know before.”

They might learn about a capability they didn’t know your firm had. They could hear how their peers are dealing with an issue they’re facing or walk away with a different way to think about something.

That’s value, even if there isn’t an immediate opportunity for you.

Before your next outreach, ask yourself two questions:

Why would this person want to have this conversation?

What might they walk away knowing that they didn’t know before?

If you have good answers to those questions, you probably have a good reason to reach out.

This week’s tip: Don’t measure smart prospecting by whether you got the meeting. Think about whether you can make the meeting worth their time.
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If they walk away thinking, “I’m glad we had that conversation,” you’re doing business development the right way.