Slow Down To Get Better Business Development Results
Your business development results will improve the moment you slow down.
Sounds counter-intuitive to say you will get better business development results if you take a little time out to slow down and think things through. After all, aren’t all professionals supposed to be busy all the time? But when you think about it, how often do you hear partners (especially partners of smaller firms with less support resourcing) say:
“I know I should be doing more marketing and business development…but I’m just too busy today.”
Our instinct is to do more work and “find time” for business development between emailing clients and dropping the kids off at school. We then cross our fingers and toes and hope that the results will come in.
So for this BD Tips Wednesday post I’ll take a quick look at why your business development results will improve the moment you slow down.
Better conversations happen when you’re not in a hurry
When you're racing through your day, you rarely give a client or prospect the full attention they deserve. Slowing down gives you space to listen without distraction, ask more thoughtful questions and explore what the other person truly needs.
You’ll start to notice their hesitations, their priorities, their challenges and the opportunities. Importantly, you’ll have time to reflect before responding.
This depth of understanding is what helps build trust – and we know that trust is critical to the success of your business development endeavours as it’s what elevates you from a service provider to a trusted advisor.
The right opportunities present themselves when you hit the “pause” button
A fast-paced business development mindset pushes you to chase every opportunity. Any lead looks like a good lead when you’re in a rush. But when you slow down, you can evaluate an opportunity properly. You can see more clearly if it fits with your firm strategy. You can have an honest evaluation about whether the work is even going to be profitable. Crucially, you give yourself permission to say “no”.
Hitting the pause button on being busy will also help move you from being a price taker to the all-important price setter status.
Consistency comes from routine, not speed
Being busy means you're being reactive. And reactive business development is bad business development.
When you slow down, you create routines instead of relying on adrenaline. A simple 20-minute daily practice suddenly becomes achievable. You remember to reconnect. You take the time to personalise a message properly. You reflect on previous conversations and pick up threads you'd otherwise lose. You stop working from a sense of panic and start working from a sense of intention.
Slowing down reduces business development anxiety
The faster you go, the more overwhelmed you feel. Overwhelmed quickly becomes avoidance, and avoidance kills momentum.
When you slow down, the anxiety eases. You can separate what matters from what doesn’t. You can create a few simple priorities instead of twenty competing tasks. You can make space to prepare, reflect and plan - things that are impossible to do when you're sprinting.
Takeaway: How to slow down without losing productivity
Slowing down doesn’t mean doing less. It means doing fewer things with more intention. It means blocking a small amount of thinking time each day, choosing a manageable number of meaningful business development actions each week; and replacing generic “checking in” with moments of genuine value. It means taking a moment after each client interaction to reflect on what you learned and what the next step should be. It means ending the week with a brief review so you’re not starting Monday in a panic.
At the end of the day, you’ll also feel more in control once you stop trying to do everything at once.
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Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
