C.R.E.A.M

If you have been following my BD Tips Wednesday posts for any length of time, you’ll know by now that I like a good acronym and helpful toolbox. For this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would share with you the C.R.E.A.M acronym; which represent the five essential pillars that will help elevate your business development communications.

1. Clarity: Say it simply, or don’t say it at all

Clarity is the foundation block of effective communication. If your audience has to re-read or reinterpret your message, you’ve already lost them.

Clear communication with your client / target audience removes friction. It gets straight to the point, distils complexity and eliminates jargon.

Whether you’re drafting a tender response, building a pricing narrative, or writing a LinkedIn post, focus on the single idea that matters most and express it in a way that anyone can understand without context.

When people understand you quickly, they trust you faster.

2. Relevance: Make your message about them, not you

Relevance determines whether your audience cares. Tailor your message to their needs, challenges, pressures and priorities.

If you are writing for procurement, this means aligning your response with evaluation criteria.

If you are writing about pricing, this means demonstrating value based on their definition of value, not yours.

If it’s a marketing product you are writing, this means framing your communication around what your audience is trying to achieve.

When your message feels personalised and grounded in your client’s reality, you immediately increase engagement and reduce resistance.

3. Engagement: Invite interaction, not silence

These days great communication is not a broadcast: it’s a two-way exchange.

Engagement means crafting messages that encourage feedback, conversation and connection. Ask questions. Share insights. Offer prompts. Create opportunities for your audience to interact with you or your brand.

This approach applies equally to social media posts, sales conversations, stakeholder updates and client onboarding.

Importantly, engagement deepens relationships and signals that you value dialogue, not just distribution.

4. Actionable: Tell them exactly what to do next

Every message should have a purpose and that purpose should translate into a clear next step. Do you want them to download something? Book a call? Review a proposal? Click a link? Approve a scope? Provide feedback?

Make the action explicit.

Actionability is where communication converts into outcomes. Without a clear call to action, your message becomes passive; it informs, but it doesn’t move anyone or anything forward.

Strong communicators eliminate ambiguity and give their audience a simple, achievable next step.

5. Medium: Deliver your message where it will work best

The right message delivered through the wrong medium loses impact. Choose the communication channel that aligns with your audience’s behaviour and preferences.

• Social media drives awareness.

• Email drives detail.

• Video drives emotion.

• In-person drives trust.

• Tenders demand structure.

• Pricing conversations demand nuance.

Don’t just focus on what you say, be intentional about where and how you say it. The medium shapes the message.

Takeaway

Whether you’re communicating with clients, stakeholders, procurement panels, or your own internal team, the way you craft and deliver your message determines whether it lands, sticks and drives action.

Always remember, strong communication builds trust, accelerates decisions and creates momentum in business development, pricing and tendering.

Need Help With Your Business Development?

Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.

Why the 'So What?' test is so important to the success of your business development efforts

When I was younger, my mother would often say to me: "Because it's important to you Richard, doesn't make it important to me".

My mother had worked with lawyers earlier in her career, and I thought this piece of advice just profound (as you typically do with tidbits your mum says when growing up!). Until one day I was working with a partner who said exactly the same thing to me when I mentioned I had been waiting to see him all day!

So what's the point I'm trying to make here?

Well, as with most things in life, when we think about what our clients need/want we think of this from the prospective of what we can provide them, rather what their true needs/wants are. To try and minimise this, I often ask my clients: "So What?".

Asking "So What?" can sound abrasive. But, what it does is help to clarify the message, the reason, the rational we are sending to our clients about why they need our services/products and why they need them now.

And so for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would run through a high-level overview of the "So What?" test.

What is the "So What?" Test?

Being required to answer the "So What?" question is a means of evaluating the relevance and impact of your proposal/messaging to clients or prospective clients.

Answering this simple question demands clarity, purpose, and a focus on client outcomes - and helps move the narrative away from the product/service you are trying to sell.

If you are unable to answer this simple question convincingly, then your proposal almost certainly lacks relevance to the client and will not resonate with them.

Benefits of getting the right answer(s) to the "So What?" Test

Aligns your offer with the what the customer values

• Asking the "So What?" question forces you to examine whether your solutions genuinely solve the customer’s problem(s). This alignment ensures you focus on outcomes that genuinely matter to your client.

Sharpens your messaging

• In proposals and presentations, cluttered messaging dilutes impact. The "So What?" question helps eliminate unnecessary fluff and refines your message to its core purpose. Clear, concise messaging drives client engagement.

Helps build credibility

• Proactively applying the "So What?" question puts you in the shoes of your client. You are able to anticipate their questions and build a solid case for your services/products. Demonstrating this level of critical thinking goes along way to establishing trust and credibility - it's not about you, it's about them!

Ultimately it saves you time!

• Actively applying the "So What?" question acts as a filter to identify opportunities that are worth pursuing. If you can’t articulate why an initiative matters, it might not be worth the investment of time and resources pursuing that opportunity!

Bringing it all together...

The "So What?" test isn’t just a question - it’s a discipline. Asking the question allows you the opportunity to refine your message - to sharpen your focus, align your efforts, and ensure you’re solving the right problem, for the right person, with the right tools.

Incorporating the "So What?" test into your business development efforts will result in your business development activities becoming more impactful; your messaging more persuasive; and your win/loss ratio becoming more transformative!

Need Help With Your Business Development?

Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.

Standing Out From The Crowd

In professional services, we often talk about "standing out from the crowd". But the truth is, more often than not, we are in the centre of the crowd! So for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would share with you what my daughters' call the '3R Test' when considering/deciding whether a differentiator really is a differentiator and helps that business truly standout from its competition.

Is it Respectful?

The first test is: Is it respectful? Here, what we mean is: Is it honest/true?

More often then not, professional services firms set themselves out as being different to their competitors with motherhood statements and hyperbole. Stress test the point, and it quickly falls apart.

By way of example, how many professional services firms state that they are "client centric"? Do a Google search and I suspect you'll get a lot of hits!

Now, leaving side the issue for one second if saying such a statement really differentiates you or makes you another in the pack, a broader question arises: 'Are they being respectful to their clients in saying this?'

Is it Responsible?

A responsible point of difference is one that actually matters to your customers - not you. By having this point of difference, are you trying to make a difference to your clients lives/business, or are you merely trying to standout from the crowd so your business can win more work?

If it is the latter, i.e. you are only trying to win more work and don't really care about the customer, then this is NOT a responsible point of difference and therefore is not a true differentiator.

An example here would be a claim that your firm provided an 'efficient' services (note, not effective, which would be different). The questions that arise here are: (a) is this actually true?, and (b) who gains from these efficiencies - you or the customer?

Because, assume your claim is actually true, if you - the service provider - are the net winner from the efficient service delivery - at the cost of the overall service delivery to the customer - then it is not a responsible differentiator, and therefore it is not a genuine point of difference!

Is it Resilient?

Is the point of difference resilient? Will it stand being stress-tested - by your customers and competition? Will it survive your competition's attempts to copy it (if it really is a point of difference)?

In short, will your point of difference stand the test of time?

Further Reading

• The importance of being seen as a Thought Leader

• The Visibility Gap

• Why CVs Still Matter

Need Help With Your Business Development?

Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.