Closing the deal? Know your customer.

One of the significant outcomes of a successful businessdevelopment process is client intelligence. This informationcomes in two forms: research intelligence gatheredon an opportunity, client or request for proposalsand personnel intelligence about individuals who experienceproblems, allocate funds and make purchasing decisions.Both of these types ofintelligence are assetsgiven their relationshipto revenue growth.Although there ismuch information onhow to develop intelligencearound a technical,business or financial opportunity, thereis little data on how to gather intelligenceabout the individuals involved in a businessdevelopment relationship.A good business development processcontinually develops and validates intelligenceabout personnel.An effective business development professionalfocuses on relationships, makingevery effort to understand the prospectand their problems.Departments and agencies don't buy.People buy.Consequently, business developmentrelationships focus on people and theresulting human relationships. To get thebusiness, it isn't how much the prospect orclient knows about you, but how much youknow about them.In government contracting, businessdevelopment depends on who knowswhom, who knows what and who has individualrelationships with key decisionmakers.Intelligence gleaned from individualsis an asset and should be treated assuch.Here are the keys to intelligence as anasset. As with any asset,intelligence canbecome vulnerablewhen made availableto all. Any time thisdata is accessed, ifmismanaged, its value can be diminished.Policy and procedures should govern whoowns, manages, monitors and validates thisvaluable information.Individuals working at agencies moveand change positions. But, if properly managed,the intelligence you have gatheredcan follow them to their new assignments.Strong business development relationshipsare based on trust and, as such, enduring.When a foundation of trust is established,individuals feel comfortable sharing information,knowing that the exchange is valuedand respected.By investing in a business developmentteam through salaries and expenses, a companyis paying for the intelligence it collects.This data must be captured and secured in acustomer relationship management applicationso that the information can be shared.A question we like to ask is: "If one ofyour business development folks died duringthe night, how long would it take you topick up where he left off?"Companies in which client contacts andthe resulting intelligence are viewed as anasset often respond with a short answerabout the need to review stored and sharedinformation.Other firms respond with the commentthat everyone follows a process, and they'llneed to find and digest the former employee'sclient e-mail messages. Unfortunately,that's time consuming.No one wants the job ofcontacting the client tofind out where thingsstand.It is always in thecompany's best interestto protect the connectionsforged by employeesand the proprietaryinformation discussed. Employees leavecompanies every day and will take all ofyour business development intelligence withthem, if you let them.The bottom line is that the strength ofyour intelligence along with the resultingrelationships documented in your customerrelationship management program can onlypositively affect your revenue growthefforts.