A recent survey of recruiters reveals the fact that for any hiring in the business development vertical of an organization, freshers are being entertained. When asked for the reason the explanation was quite reasonable – they said that while we were busy hiring experienced people from the market, the already hired lot was busy adjusting themselves to their respective comfort zones. The old-timers do not want to go to the market/field; they play with data and facts and try pulling their targets from the existing market share using some or the other maneuver. It’s sad but it’s true, and that is why the upcoming trend of hiring in business development has changed they are pulling in freshers since they are fresh enough to use or create their own game plan for preparing a new base for a fresh or an existing product.

Mentioned below is a suggestive case study as discussed with one of the veterans of a multinational telecom giant, here it goes:

An MBA fresher was hired by a telecom giant and was asked to fetch fresh corporate business in a semi-urban area where corporates existing were few and at the verge of saturation. The territory was said to be a cursed one since no manager could sustain more than 6 months and none was willing to take charge of the same. Post his joining for a couple of months the business did not grow, but as told by his sub-ordinates and seniors they could feel conspicuous movements happening in the territory added the fact that the employee was earnest in his efforts , diligent and willing to learn.

In the third month they saw that the territory which was termed as dented and cursed for not having any potential of telecom business started performing and sporadic business movements were observed, however the targets were still unachieved. While people were still busy talking about the flourishing of the business , in the fourth month the target given was achieved. To be frank and honest corporate business is a tough nut to crack and wonders happened in the fifth month when the targets were overachieved . The employee received kudos and accolades for the achievements and meanwhile he was asked in appreciation as in how did you do it ?
He answered very smartly in bullet points :

• This territory was pretty fresh as per my observation
• Nobody knew about corporate business, so it became easy for me to promote the ideas, I met people and asked them to trust in our business and if convinced they could give the opportunity for service.You greet them with a smile and treat them with more respect than required , heads turn for you.
• Corporates were few but they were healthy prospects, I observed none of the last managers took interest in meeting the nodal officers of the corporates and did not make any contacts, reason being they were not allowed / entertained the very first time, so they gave up. I kept on meeting those people, got busy fixing appointments and setting lucrative corporate deals. It was tough meeting the key people in any organization is not a sunshine job but with time and patience I got the way in.
• In a semi-urban territory the culture is different , people are conservative , they don’t talk much, things are a little slow than expected , trust is a missing factor and so is business. People would trust you - only if you behave in accordance. Language is a prominent factor which breeds familiarity and familiarity further breeds trust. If you know the language you are powerful . if you learn the culture you become one of them , and they trust you , if they trust you they trust what is endorsed by you.
• I also observed that service is a key factor which was taken as a premonition . None of the previous managers met the clients again to whom they had sold once . This created a panic attack whenever there was a severe problem. I thought of meeting my clients time and again whenever they needed me , received each and every call , at odd and even hours and won their word of mouth. Later on more than 30% of the business was fetched from these clients.

This employee later on got promoted and today he has 2 managers reporting to him from the same territory. The territory has grown in leaps and bounces and has started giving good business.

PS - There is no alpha omega of generating a business lead you just need to work on some basics , humans and business in the world are all same, basics make them different -

• Work hard and meet people, treat them with respect. Call them by their names and remember them.
• Try and not sell at the first go , try and know them and their surroundings then tell them the purpose.
• Expertise in language, culture, traits, learn more about the product and its multiple utility factors.
• Service with a smile, feel confident and keep hunting. Face rejection again and again , be brave and outspoken.
• Run in the market, set your own maps, and know the boundaries, define areas and their landmarks. Sweat if you have to , feel tired not before the sunset
• Keep yourself fit . a healthy you gets a healthy outcome ….last and not the least
• Keep trying …… don’t recognize failure and there is no failure .