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OP- I had this question early in my career and went and asked my mentor (who was a partner) what’s the big deal about it .
So he gave me a little homework . Find someone at the client who has the budget to buy services, and then go have lunch with them and see if I can sell something small for say $100K . I didn’t think of it as much of a challenge and actually did manage to find someone I already know and sold about 75K over a lunch and a follow up meeting . The partner congratulated me and said do it again but try to close some small piece of business every two weeks . Again I thought no big deal . But in two weeks I couldn’t even get someone to have lunch with me . Eventually I managed to set up lunch with two clients - but it took more than a month to calendar . And neither one wanted to buy anything . I made a few excuses to the partner who said I could keep trying for a quarter and see how much I can accomplish . In another two months I managed to sell about another 100K .
Two things happened as a result - I did understand that this is a LOT harder than just doing lunches and dinners . And my boss understood I do have the basics right for BD and he coached me along and I had a fairly accelerated progression from that point .
I would definitely encourage you to have such a conversation with a partner and explore getting more involved in BD . Meals with clients are great opportunities to learn what is important for them
Thanks VP1. Great insights. I’m actually hoping these meetings turn into work and help accelerate my career.
Also to be clear, my initial post was just me trying to get a laugh out of everyone. I appreciate all the work that goes into being a partner and all the stress that comes with it.
Thanks for the awesome response!
The trick isn’t eating the food. It’s figuring out who to have the meal with, in what order, what to say, and what to do about what you learn
^ This. Everyone thinks BD is just a bunch of backslapping cocktail hours and meals. Reality is multiple hours of prep and follow up per interaction...done right it takes a lot of discipline. I have seen lots of client service and marketing & sales people piss away a lot of the firm’s money eating and drinking their way through the client org chart w no plan.
Let’s put a sales target for you and see how much you enjoy the lunch! Convert it into an opportunity. It’s all about discipline and uncovering opportunities
Seems reasonable. Let’s do it
Yes
Not exactly
Sometimes you have dinner meetings? 🤣
Did you win any of that work?
Alright - I guess VP1 explained quite well where I was going with my question.