Finding Your "Why"

author
By Mo Bunnell

Below is a transcript of this video, modified for your reading pleasure. Have a question that you'd like answered? Drop us a line!

Hi this Mo Bunnell, from Bunnell Idea group, and today we're going to talk about something a little bit different. Something new for us. It is figuring out what is your why. Why do you need to focus on getting great at business development? This is important because a lot of businesses have development activities that are quite important but can easily be pushed off another day, and a another day, and another day. All of a sudden, weeks or even years go by. These are the kind of things like investing in a new stage relationship, or sending an asset or something valuable to somebody that you don't know well. That's a good example of something that could easily be pushed off but if done time and time again can make a huge difference in your ability to be great at business development.

Understanding why you are doing this can be quite powerful. I've been working with a couple people recently on this. In one case, their why was really important. They wanted to send their daughter to the university of her choice.

She is great at rowing and crew. But in the kind of schools that she'd love to go to, the fees over the course of four years could be $250,000 more than the kind of schools that are easier for her to get into, the in-state schools.

For him to build his business development abilities and to bring in business was essential because he wanted to save that money to allow her to go to the school of her choice. That's a meaningful why. That's motivating.

Another one might be, somebody older in their career that wants to get a bonus. They want to get their bonus because they want to buy a vacation property, let's say, up in the mountains, that he and his wife could retire to.

Understanding that why to be really focused on business development helps to be great at it and to bring in results. To get that bonus would be important for him as they move into the next stage of their career.

Keep in mind, on that example, it's not about making a certain dollar amount. That's not enough. Don't limit yourself there and say, “I want to get my bonus, I want to make more money”. What are you going to spend the money on? Why is that deeply important to you? That's the level of why that I want you to think about and get to in this kind of case.

So do this. Think for a moment, and ask yourself “Why is business development important to me?” Is it reaching a certain financial threshold and you'll use that to purchase something you want? Is it to be great in your career? Are you at the point where becoming good at business development is going to be the most important correlation between where you are at now and where you want to be in your career?

Figure out what that why is for you. Write it down on a post-it note, stick it on your wall, and remind yourself of it often. If you do that, you'll be more motivated to do those little extras. Over a period of time, that will result in big changes.

What I hope you get from this video is that crystallizing your why, writing it down to a post-it note and putting it on your wall can be very powerful, because it's all those little things you do, day in and day out, that are going to drive big results. As with all of our videos, we hope these help you help your clients succeed.