Business Development

The term 'business development' encompasses a wide range of activities, but generally refers to any activity undertaken by a business to enhance or improve its overall success. While business development is commonly associated with sales, it should not be mistaken to be exclusive to sales since it also incorporates aspects of marketing, account management, partner relations, strategic alliances, community relations, and more.

Organizations large and small, nonprofit and for-profit, can look to business development activities as a way to further penetrate an existing market segment or to expand into a new, untapped segment of future opportunity. The goals of sound business development should include activities which help strengthen, as well as grow the business.

During my career, I have served in business development roles as both employee and consultant. For three years, I served as the first vice president of business development for Ancestry.com, then a privately held genealogy company in Utah making the transition from print-based publishing to online commerce and digital subscriptions. It was an exciting, but challenging time to work for a 'dot com' organization. Seeking out truly valuable partnerships was difficult when some prospective partners had valuations based on little more than page views and a bullish forecast for the future. When the dot com bubble burst, many high-flying companies went down in flames. Ancestry, with a strong and growing base of loyal customers, unique content, and a subscription revenue stream was and still is a success story from that period.

If you'd like to learn more about my full range of business development skills and experience, as well as how they might help with your current and future needs, please contact me at your convenience.