Mo asks Cannon Carr: What is your personal definition of business development?
- If you have a craft that you know and love and want to grow, you are naturally going to step into business development so you might as well do it right.
- For Cannon, business development is about connecting people and ideas. He thinks of it as purposeful engagement that connects those two things.
- Connecting people with ideas often becomes deeply personal. During the pandemic, Cannon noticed a number of clients struggling with aging parents so they put a lot of effort into coming up with and connecting clients with ideas to help manage the issue.
- Taxes and the rapidly changing legislative landscape has been another area where Cannon and his team have been working with clients to stay ahead of the curve.
- The foundation is always being helpful rather than looking directly for business. It’s not about the revenue, it’s about enriching lives.
- Sometimes the solution falls outside of the firm’s specialty and that’s okay as long as the end result is helping a person out.
- You have to think of your relationships as a portfolio with investements in people all the time. Being proactive and helpful will eventually pay off.
- Not everything will connect. You have to look for additional opportunities to be helpful and keep reaching out.
- Think about business development as solving problems through connecting people and ideas together. If you are doing a good job, you will naturally get your share of the business. Proactive engagement is vital for service businesses.
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