Effective new year planning for better business development

January is the month BD plans get written. February is the month they get forgotten. The firms that hold their commercial focus across the whole year tend to do three small things differently from the start.

Most firms I speak to have a strong January for business development. Plans are made, partners are energised, and there is usually some kind of away day. By the time March arrives, the urgent work has reasserted itself and the plan is in a drawer.

In my Accountancy Ireland piece on new year planning, I argued that the answer is not bigger plans. It is plans that are easier to keep. The firms that hold focus across twelve months are the ones whose plans were realistic in the first place, which is a different exercise from what most firms do in January.

Three things that separate plans that survive from plans that do not:

1.     They are owned by named partners, not by 'the team'

2.     They have monthly review points that are short, not quarterly review points that are long

3.     They focus on a small number of priority clients and target sectors, not the whole book

BD discipline beats BD ambition almost every time. The firms that finish the year strongest are usually the ones whose January plan looked unimpressive to anyone reading it from the outside.

Read the full piece in Accountancy Ireland.

Whether you want to mobilise your team, sharpen your messaging, or build a pipeline of new opportunities, let us talk about what practical, tailored support could look like in your firm.