Sometimes, things just don’t go as well as we plan. For whatever reason, a meeting didn’t go well, we mess up an engagement with a client, we tried something new and it failed. But that happens! And in this video, I want to talk about how important it is to remind yourself that there is always another chance.

BIG Videos
The Three Ways to Live Your Life (And Your BD Life)
About a month or so ago, I went to a fantastic program led by Michael Hyatt that really impacted me. In it, he shared a model for how we live our lives, identifying three categories we can all fit into. In this video, I want to share this model with you, so that you can apply it not only to think about how you live your personal life, but to how you think about the way you live your professional BD life as well.
How to Measure Important Initiatives (and Yourself)
I’m frequently asked how I get traction for something, so that I can get the support or funding I need to grow it over time. So, in this video, I’m going to share a four-part model that you can use to measure ANYTHING to be able to share it and gain all of the traction, support and fund you’ll need for your growth.
The Most Important Thing to Look for in High Stakes Negotiation
One of the most stressful things any of our clients ever talks about going through is negotiations. Finally talking through the questions of pricing and payment can be incredibly difficult, so, in this video, I am going to share an important tip to help you negotiate negotiation.
How to Make and Execute Business Development Plans
Business development is all about momentum and execution. But for some people, maintaining this effectively can be a huge challenge or obstacle that prevents them from getting far. In this video, I am going to share with you the key elements of planning, how to do them well, and how to execute on your plan.
A Personal Story About Giving…and How it Applies to BD
Today, I want to talk about giving. Giving is really such a special part of how someone going about business development, not only because it establishes a connection, but because you have done something that really impacts them. I’m going to share with you today a really personal story about I time I gave something to someone else, something that really impacted them, and tie it in to how you can use it yourself as you go about BD.
The Right Mindset for Business Development – Part 2
In the last video, we talked about the importance of short bursts of activity to keep you focused and excited for business development, rather than focusing on the long-term goals. In this video, I want to share with you how you can go about actually doing this, through some of my own personal examples, and examples some of our clients have used.
The Right Mindset for Business Development – Part 1
Have you ever thought what kind of mindset you should have as you go into business development? How do you keep yourself on task, focused on building the clients and relationships in front of you, while looking beyond to be ready for the next opportunity? In this two part mini-series, we’re going to discuss the best mindset to have as you engage in business development.
The #1 Indicator of Your Quality – Hint – It’s Not What you Think
Probably one of the most important considerations any business person can have centers on the indication of their quality to their customers. Whether or not you sell your services can be made or broken by this. So, in this video, we’ll talk about the strongest indicator of your quality.
My Favorite Book of 2019 (So Far)
This week, we’re going to do something a little bit different than normal. I’m going to take a step back to share with you my favorite book for 2019 so far. You could say it is completely unrelated to business development, but it still has so many interesting implications about what we are doing and how we do it that I have to share it with you.
Practice to Be Successful at Business Development
One of the biggest objections I often see is all about the dangers of practicing. For a lot of people, there is a real fear of sounding robotic and rehearsed when you step into a meeting or an engagement. So in this video, I’m going to share the reasoning behind why practice is the most essential thing you can do to improve in business development.
Three Phrases I Use to Stay Focused
Focus. It’s one of those all important necessities for doing almost anything. But how do you keep it? In this video, I’m going to share with you three phrases you can use to not only maintain focus on what you are doing in the moment, but also to focus on what you will be doing in the future to achieve your goals.
The #1 Thing to Start a New Habit
Building good habits is a set of common buzzwords in this day and age. Whether it’s building better sleep habits, healthier eating habits, or better work habits, how we build and use habits is an important part of our daily lives. Which, of course, means it’s an important part of business development. So in this video, I’m going to share with you the most important thing in building new habits.
Great BD Leadership Part 4 – Control
In any business, it can be easy to center your goals on things that are somewhat in your control, but also by things that you can’t control. Things like growth goals or quotas can be met or missed, even if you were doing everything you could, simply because they weren’t in your control. In this video, I’m going to share with you some tips I’ve seen great BD leaders use to focus on only the things they CAN control, and avoiding what they can’t.
Great BD Leadership Part 3 – Engagement
It can be so easy to become hands-off when working on a project, becoming distant or delegating work to others as you begin to look to the next thing. In this video, continuing our series on what great BD leaders do, we’re going to look really hard at staying engaged with clients. And, if you stick around to the end of the video, I’ll share with you an inspirational story about how you can put this tip into action.
Great BD Leadership Part 2 – Simplicity
One of the most surprising abilities that great BD leaders have is the ability to take the most complex parts of their high-end, professional services offerings, and simplify them to communicate their value the best to their clients. In this second video discussing the things that great BD leaders do, I’m going to share with you how you can implement this yourself, and share a metric I use to help myself keep on top of this.
Great BD Leadership Part 1 – Focus
Have you ever wondered what great leaders do when it comes to business development? Starting this week, I’m going to be sharing their secrets in driving BD in a four part series to help you become a great BD leader. For this episode, I’m going to be talking about the importance of maintaining focus throughout the process, so you can understand how you’re doing, where you’re going, and what are the most important opportunities to pursue.
EXACTLY How Many Hours it Takes to Write a Book
Last week, we talked about the importance of doing deep work and the ways that you can go about doing more of it. As a followup to that, I wanted to share with you the amount of time that I spent involved in some deep work of my own, writing and publishing my book, as some inspiration about the amount of time to invest in doing the things that are the most important.
The Importance of Deep Work (And How to Do More of It)
Deep work describes the essential, incredibly important tasks and objectives that we set ourselves so that we can be our most productive and achieve our goals. But, they can also be difficult to set aside the time and energy that they deserve. In this video, I am going to share with you my four tips to help focus and get the deep work done, helping you to accomplish the most meaningful tasks when you need them.
How to Interact with CEOs and Other VIPs
As you work through your business development efforts, you are eventually going to come face to face with the C-Suite executives and VIPs. This can be a really daunting process, particularly as you are trying to put your company out there to grow. In this video, however, I’m going to share with you some tips to not only deal with that pressure, but to really ace each and every one of these interactions.
How to Win a Meeting in the First 5 Minutes
Meetings with clients are essential. A client or prospect meeting can make or break your opportunities of working with them, so it’s so key that your first impressions start you off strong. That’s why, in this video, I’m going to share with you my tips on how to win a client meeting in those first five minutes.
The Four Levels of Business Development Expertise
In our last video, we discussed the importance not only of developing your personal craft and expertise that you sell to your clients, but taking the time to develop your business development skills into a secondary craft and mastery. In this video, I’m going to share with you a four step process that will help you go about growing and developing your business development expertise that I have never shared before.
How to Incorporate Business Development Expertise Into Your Career Plans
A lot of the traditional career path for most people involved developing their expertise in their specific craft, maximizing the knowledge and time that they put into it, and leaving their business development skills a little behind. Nowadays, however, the mastery not only of your specific craft is important, but a mastery over the craft of BD is important too. In this video, I’ll share with you how you should go about positioning yourself to maximize your abilities to improve in both areas.
The Simplest Thing I’ve Found to Deepen Relationships
Relationships are everything in business. Relationships with clients, suppliers, even your coworkers define everything in your day-to-day business world. Because of that, building and deepening relationships quickly is an important skill that has to be learned. In this video, I am going to share with you a simple tip to quickly develop and deepen relationships, as well as how to keep it top of mind.
A Small Business Development Tip With a Big ROI
BD can be a time-consuming process. And sometimes, you can put in a lot more effort than you’ll actually get out of what you are doing. Because of that, I often get asked about the biggest tip that I can give that will produce the biggest return on investment. And in this video, I am going to share that tip with you, and how you can use it to make a big impact for your business.
How to Develop Business When You’re Really Busy
We get busy. It happens all the time. We start working a massive number of hours each week, trying to juggle everything to keep moving forward and finally reach the finish line. And in the middle of all of that, we need to be doing business development. It sounds like a major dilemma, but it doesn’t have to be. In this video, I share the secrets to help you keep BD moving forward, even at your busiest.
How to Make a Request Over Email
Email is one of the most important methods of communication available to us today. And making requests is one of the most difficult things to do over an email. But today, I am going to share with you the things that you should avoid and the things that you should do, so that this essential tool of BD is available for you to use easily, effectively, and confidently.
The Best Questions for Your BD
Going at business development alone can be a daunting task. Not only does it take a lot of time, but sometimes, it’s hard to know if you are doing it the best that you possibly can. So in this video, I’ll be sharing with all of you a specific resource that can help you ask the right questions to help your BD, as well as the number one secret I have seen being used by successful people in BD.
Keeping Your BD in Shape
Whenever I speak about business development, I have often thought about the best metaphor to help BD beginners understand what this whole BD thing is about. I finally settled on one that I think is best, with great, real-world comparisons that a lot of people easily understand. And today, in this video, I’m going to share this number one metaphor I have found with you, and the measurements I use to track both the metaphorical and the real version of BD.
Changing Expectations
Business development can be a difficult endeavor. Often, a lot of things don’t work out the way that we expect them to. But dealing with those differing expectations, and changing your own, is an essential part of being happier with the work that you’re doing. In this video, I’ll share with you the key things that you should consider when changing your expectations around business development.
My Annual Review
In this video, I’m doing something that I have never done before. I am going to be sharing with you the yearly review that I do for myself, and typically share only with my close friends and family. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on 2018, as well as how I go about measuring myself. I hope you enjoy.
Case Study Interview With Bonneau Ansley
In this 30-minute Video Case Study, Mo Bunnell interviews Bonneau Ansley, who used The Snowball System to become one of the top 10 real estate agents in the country out of over 1,300,000 registered agents of the National Association of Realtors. Bonneau details what he’s done to be so successful, so fast.
What Everyone Leaves Out of Prospect Meetings, But Shouldn’t
There’s one thing, just one, that I see nearly everyone leave out of initial meetings: humor. Interestingly enough, research shows it strongly correlates to success. This video describes it and how to add it back in.
Interview With Shawn Blanc
Have a question that you’d like answered? Drop us a line!
Don’t Be Afraid to Upgrade Your Personal Brand
Many of my clients tell me they want to improve their brand but they’re scared to leave what they’re known for now behind. In this video, I’ll show you how to rethink the problem and how to move forward.
What 30-year BD Vets Could Learn From a College Student
Cold calling is one of the most difficult business development techniques to learn and to implement well. You only have a brief moment to engage your audience and convince them that you are worth their time. In this video, I am going to share the method that a college student used to make his cold calling much more effective.
The Most Important Piece of Your Growth Pipeline
Imagine someone getting more leads than they can handle. When you do that, everything else gets a whole lot easier. Here’s how to get started in generating more quality leads. Hint: it’s worth a lot more than a set of steak knives.
What is the Very First Step to Grow?
Most people running a business or a portion of one set annual goals for improvement–expenses, efficiency and the like. Few people use the same rigor around how they are finding business. This video describes how to analyze how you’re currently bringing in business. Knowing that is the first step to improvement.
Solving the Biggest Objection to Growth
There are 3 major plateaus to the craft of business development. Here, I’ll describe each one, the most common objection I hear about personal growth, and how you can overcome it to reach greater success.
The Math of Winning More
I love math, and here is an interesting way of looking at the math of winning–and what you can do to start winning more.
Why Am I Wearing a Viking Hat?
We all have successes and failures. In this video, I’ll talk about how I experienced both playing in the Ultimate Frisbee World Championships in Sardinia, Italy. Most importantly, I’ll share what it taught me about improving myself going forward.
How to Build Out Your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
CRM system technology is everywhere in today’s business world. Because of that, one of the most frequent questions I get is about how to integrate. So, in this video, I am going to share how utilizing your CRM, along with formulating good habits and better client interactions, can lead to better business development.
The Biggest Mistake People Make When Pricing a Product or Service
Rounding a price is incredibly common. Most companies do it all the time as they price they price products and services. They will even spend hours debating which way it should round. But doing this actually harms relationships with clients. In this video, I will share with you the research and the solution to the biggest mistake anyone can make when pricing.
A Powerful Pair of Habits Leading to Success
More than anything else, there are two habits that we have seen implemented by various leaders which lead to the greatest success. In this video, I’ll share with you these two, simple steps you can take to find success in what you do.
No One is Good Under Pressure. Here’s How to Handle It
A lot of people love to read. Personally, I love to read articles and books designed to help me improve myself and my business practices. Over the years, a lot of people have shared with me that they don’t take as much away from articles and books they’ve read, or they find themselves not applying their new knowledge in a meaningful way or a way that brings about real change. In this video, I’ll share three simple steps you can use to turn your reading into meaningful change in your life.
The A-number-one, most funnest way to hold yourself accountable
A lot of people love to read. Personally, I love to read articles and books designed to help me improve myself and my business practices. Over the years, a lot of people have shared with me that they don’t take as much away from articles and books they’ve read, or they find themselves not applying their new knowledge in a meaningful way or a way that brings about real change. In this video, I’ll share three simple steps you can use to turn your reading into meaningful change in your life.
How I Read a Book, in Three Simple Steps
A lot of people love to read. Personally, I love to read articles and books designed to help me improve myself and my business practices. Over the years, a lot of people have shared with me that they don’t take as much away from articles and books they’ve read, or they find themselves not applying their new knowledge in a meaningful way or a way that brings about real change. In this video, I’ll share three simple steps you can use to turn your reading into meaningful change in your life.
How to Create Unstoppable Momentum in Your BD Efforts
You know how it feels when your favorite sports team goes on a run? When they can’t be stopped? Here’s the science behind psychological momentum (spoiler alert: it’s real) and what you can do to build your own.
You’re Going to Die. Everything Else is a Choice.
I am always inspired by our training participants – but sometimes, someone really stands out. Here is what I learned from one person that I will never forget.
The Surprisingly Simple Way to Become a Trusted Adviser
“How do I become a trusted adviser with my clients?” This is a common question that I get when interacting with our clients. And the response is surprisingly simple. This week, I share with you this simple way to becoming a trusted adviser.
One of My Favorite Ways to Generate New Leads
Lead generation is one of our most popular training modules. Of the 15 ways we have decoded to generate leads, here is one of my personal favorites, along with a simple, three-step implementation process.
Your #1 Love in an Organization Should Be…Procurement!
Everyone worries about dealing with procurement. They’ll negotiate harder! They’ll ask for more for the same price! They’ll make us a commodity! These are self-limiting beliefs. The procurement function provides value, serves the same clients we do, and is growing in influence. Here is how to embrace working with the buying experts in procurement in a way everyone wins.
The #1 Most Efficient Way to Increase Your Likeability
Here’s a powerful – and unique – way of increasing likability. We know from research that people buy more often from those they like. So, how do you become more likable? This video provides a simple concept you can implement immediately.
Something That I Get Fired Up About
There’s one thing client-facing people do that shoots themselves in the foot more than any other. This video explains the mistake, and the simple solution to fix it.
Are Your Traditional Growth Metrics Holding You Back?
Are the ways you measure sales performance actually encouraging bad behavior in your reps? Enjoy this Quotable podcast with Mo Bunnell, CEO and Founder of the Bunnell Idea Group, as he explains how the right focus, metrics, process, and team mentality can ensure sales success. Breakout success, according to Mo, happens when you first look at everything that reps have 100% control over, then select the metrics that actually move deals along. Measure those, build a process to raise them up, and you’ll come out on top.
New Science Summary! WHEN You Should Do Your BD Work
Every once in a while a book comes along that fills a gap, that changes your mindset. Dan Pink’s newest book When did that for me. Here are three insights I learned that we can all apply to our business development efforts.
Blasting Through Plateaus
Have you ever felt that you needed to learn a new skill to take things to the next level? In this video, Mo and his very special guest, discuss the secret behind pushing yourself beyond your plateaus.
Leadership Insights From A Legendary Coach
This week, we have a special treat. In this video, Mo interviews cross country coach Amy Eubanks, who has won 21 of the last 26 Georgia State Championships, placing her #2 for all women’s cross country programs in the nation. Amy shares her secrets for recruiting talent, measuring results, planning for success and creating a winning team culture.
Finding Your “Why”
Why do you do what you do? What drives you each day to get out of bed and give it your best at your work? In this video, we discuss why understanding why we do what we do can be one of the most important motivators in our work life, pushing us to do both our best and the little things to achieve our goals.
A Simple Framework To Align Marketing and Business Development
Cross-functional teams can, at the best of times, be difficult. To successfully perform, these teams require cooperation between two groups who typically operate in their own ways and by their own rules, leading to frustration and delays when they don’t. But in this video, we share some tips on how to make working in cross-functional teams not only successful, but enjoyable as well.
Best Gets Better
It can be human nature to settle into a routine and close our minds when we think we know something. But this can limit ourselves, preventing us from improving our skills and challenging what we can become. In this video, we share an important story about pushing beyond our own expertise, in hopes of becoming better.
Dealing With Change
Change is a fact of life. We see change everywhere, from your daily life at home to your work and job. Dealing with change, however, can often be difficult. We can freeze up and be unsure of what to do next. So in this video, we share some helpful tips on how to keep you from freezing up and keep you moving forward.
The Seller-Expert
Once, being an expert in your field didn’t require any business development or “selling” experience and vice versa. Now, however, it is essential for the survival and growth of business. In this video, we discuss what it means to balance being an expert in your craft and good at business development to become a seller-expert.
Asking For the Advance
Measuring is an important part of tracking progress and successes. How you do it is something that varies from person to person and from business to business. in this video, however, we share one measure that we have found to be successful and meaningful in helping business development, one that is totally in your control. We call it “Asking for the advance”.
Three Easy Ways to be More Likable
Likability is an important part of building relationships. In this video, we share the behavioral science and tips behind being as likable as Mr. Louie Hamilton.
Loving BD
Business development can be a discouraging practice. Lots of effort can be wasted when a prospect is no longer interested in your business. Even worse, the process can make many people feel like they are a sleazy car salesman. But there are ways to change this outlook. In this video, we discuss how you can come to love what you do, to love business development, so that you can give your best effort, not be discouraged, and feel great about it.
The Importance of Quantity
Quality is an important part of our interactions with others. Focusing on this, however, can potentially lead to a loss in the quantity of those interactions, which can be equally important. In this episode, we discuss the science behind this, and discuss a simple way that you can increase the quantity of interactions.
Tracking Leading Indicators
When working in business development, there can be significant lags in the time between engaging a prospect and selling them a product. Because of this, staying motivated and focused can be difficult. In this video, we discuss how you can stay motivated and focused by tracking the leading, rather than lagging, indicators.
The Options of Cost
Discussing the cost of your services with a client or prospect can be another one of those sensitive areas where people can be really afraid. In this video I’ve shared one technique that can be helpful for several scenarios, and will help you help your client succeed.
Learning From A Personal Failure
Mistakes are something that everyone will have to wrestle with eventually. The most important thing, however, is not the mistake itself, but how we overcome and learn from it, making them the measure for our growth. In this video, Mo discusses a personal failure for himself, and shares how he, and you, can learn from them.
The Gamification of BD
Business development is something that can never seem to reinforce the hard work and effort that has gone into it. This can be discouraging for most people, but, in this video, we discuss how you can change this.
Telling A Great Story
There is tremendous power behind the stories we tell each other. In this video, we discuss the science powering storytelling, in addition to several tips that you can improve your own storytelling.
Talking About Money
Many professionals can talk about the process, the people, the goals for a project, but they hesitate when it comes to talking to their clients about money. People shy away from it all the time! In this video we provide a new perspective on talking to people about money. We hope you find it valuable!
Secrets of the Science of Teamwork
In this video, we are sharing the secret science behind teamwork. That’s right – the secret behind creating positive, high performing teams. We offer three ways that this research can be applied in your professional life with amazing results.
Becoming More Unique
In business, standing out from the crowd and making you and your company unique is essential to garnering attention. In this video, Mo Bunnell shares research and tips on how to present yourself as more unique.
Give-To-Get Greater Demand
The Give-to-Get Model, executed in the right way, creates demand for your services or products. It can rapidly expand the number of opportunities you have with target clients. In this short video, Mo Bunnell shares the behavioral science behind why Give-to-Gets work so well.