Do you remember the montage in the Karate Kid? The master and the apprentice. The old man and the boy. “Wax on, wax off…” In a little over two minutes time, we see Daniel’s metamorphosis. No longer the aimless kid, he’s now respected and on his way to becoming an expert.
This hero’s journey is at the heart of most great stories. It’s a part of our cultural DNA.
Whether it’s sports, chess, or learning a musical instrument, we know that in order to be the best you need to work at it. You need to learn. You need to practice. You need to consistently improve to become great.
But why is business development so different?
For whatever reason, most people don’t see being great at bringing in business the same way they might see being a great concert pianist.
To the pianist, we credit training, practice, and focus.
But sales? Charisma, “A-personalities”, and a dash of bravado.
I know you probably don’t consider yourself to be a rainmaker.
You’re a professional in a specific field, like consulting or law, or an account manager leading important client relationships. Or maybe you’re an entrepreneur, running the business and also on the hook for growing it.
The point is, you’ve worked hard to be good at something. You love your core expertise. You’re good at it and want to keep doing it. But, if you don’t add the expertise of buy from you, you won’t keep rising.
You trained hard to be great at your particular field – after all, you weren’t born with that expertise. So the question stands: how can you become as great at bringing in business as you are with your core expertise?
How can you learn the science and steps of growth, to the depth you know your core expertise?
How can you practice those skills, bringing in more and more business while you continuously improve?
And how can you continue to focus on these newfound growth activities, even when you’re crazy busy doing the work?
I’m Mo Bunnell, and I’m a lot like you
And like you, I’m not a natural salesperson.
I started my career as a technician, maybe in the most technical profession there is. Yes, I was an actuary. For the first part of my career, success was measured by me ripping through numbers on my HP-12C calculator and massive spreadsheets.
Then everything changed.
After I passed the last actuarial exam, my consulting firm promoted me to a broad client management role. Before, client service and technical chops were the key to my success. After? Business development skills. Whoa! In one day, my life changed.
So even though I didn’t self-identify as a salesperson, I had to quickly learn to become one. I asked my boss “Where’s the manual? The one that I can use to learn business development?” He told me there wasn’t a manual. “You know, just treat the client right.”
I was petrified. (Thank goodness I had some great mentors, but I was lucky.)
I knew there had to be a better way.
The desire for that missing manual--a business development system I could use and be proud of--has become my life’s passion. I’ve been building that manual for over twenty years and I’ll be refining it till I die. I’ve interviewed rainmakers. I’ve dug into peer-reviewed research. I’ve tested and refined the techniques myself.
The result? A turnkey and repeatable framework rooted in behavioral science. Science + steps = success. It’s based on being proactive and helpful. It works even when you’re busy. And most importantly, you can be proud of implementing it, because you’ll always be treating the client right.
I want you to be your client’s secret weapon and I want them to tell the world about you. I want you to feel great about business development and I want to take your career to the next level.
This isn’t hollow, wishy-washy “you can do it!” motivation. This framework, my GrowBIG® Training, has helped over 15,000 professionals at over 400 internationally recognized organizations. And it’s based on over 130 peer-reviewed behavioral science, psychology, and neuroscience studies. (Remember I was a practicing actuary!)
Now I’m distilling this framework into a self-study course that you can take from the comfort of your own home.
Inside are over 3 hours of in-depth strategies that you can use immediately to reframe the way you approach business development.
