8 The Financial Times Guide to Business Development
Though the manager’s job description probably doesn’t mention business
development in any formal sense, everything he and his colleagues did is
a great example of business development. Gary Brook, Head of Corporate
Communication at the Leeds Building Society, talks about how this way
of dealing with customers is ‘embedded in our culture’. To ensure that the
good intentions are translated into sustained standards he explained:
‘The Society carries out a number of external exercises to monitor service,
obtain feedback and understand customer sentiment. These include mystery
shop exercises, independent customer surveys, staff opinion surveys,
product surveys and a range of forums including those for branch managers
on the issue of treating customers fairly.’
For more information on what you can do, see Chapter 6, golden rule 2.
4. Be open for business
The managing director of a successful business told me recently how he rang a ve
star hotel, part of a major chain, that considered itself to be one of the most elegant
and luxurious hotels in London, to make a reservation.
He was told by a receptionist to whom he got through that: ‘Reservation staff don’t
work on Sundays so you can’t book today.’ End of call!
‘I booked with another hotel,’ he told me.
Let’s get this straight. This is a nonsense. I don’t know what this organisa-
tion’s promotional budget is, but it seems to me that turning away people
who actively want to spend money with it, then and there, makes a
mockery out of its business development efforts and spend.
The basic questions then are: how do your opening hours impact on
your business? What do you do to cover lunch and breaks? What time
do you close in the evening? When do your potential customers or
clients want to contact you and do business? What do your competi-
tors do? How can you adapt to the buying habits of your customers or
clients?
These are serious business development issues. Don’t ignore them. I am,
of course, aware of and sympathetic to internal lunchtime stafng rotas,
the logistical problems faced by small and growing businesses and the
‘work–life’ balance issue. However, it is undeniable that accessibility and
availability are basic business development truths. If you are closed when
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