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2 years ago we said that current practice in business development was beginning to recognise the need for BD people to have research experience too: 'As well as bringing in outsiders to do business development, which some have found necessary in the difficult economic climate, and because of a lack of strong business development acumen within the industry, agencies are encouraging their own staff to get involved at an earlier stage in their career'.

Unlike the famous 'SRE salaries to rise rapidly', this seems to have been one of our better predictions / trend-spotting efforts. The proportion of ads for lower ranks with at least some business development skills is increasing: but it might be assumed that this is more on the repeat business side than new business - what might in the old days have been referred to simply as 'client contact'. Can more junior researchers get involved in actual 'selling', or should they merely be part of a team, with a spectrum of relevant skills, working on different stages of the BD process.

A Job for a Team?

Some recruiters place emphasis on the need for more than one person contributing separate skills - for example, a more sales-oriented person going in first and bringing in technical experts soon after - while others stress that an individual can sometimes have all it takes. Debby Robson of SLS says that BD 'may have to be a team job... but only if no individual is keen to take it on. Many researchers view New BD as a necessary evil but those who do enjoy it are probably pretty good at all of the aspects of it - it's more a question of gaining experience, and hence confidence, as in any role, and once confident an individual can tackle all or most aspects of it'. Clive Warren of CSA makes much the same point in another way: 'Selling does call for an array of skills, but those who relish the challenge of adding new business or developing existing clients, often learn or acquire those skills they lacked when they first realised that they had 'the knack for this kind of thing'.

Other recruiters stress the balance between out-and-out BD people and those with more research knowledge, implying that there's a place for both in the team. PSD's Emily Stamp agrees about the importance of developing confidence, while stressing the importance of actual research knowledge: 'If you have confidence in the knowledge of your research service and how it can help your client and can communicate this a client will want to listen'. 'Teamwork? It depends' says Sinead Hasson of RP Cushing. 'Some business developers are good at opening doors and the 'schmoozing' part of the relationship whereas some can do all parts of the process... but within research it has to be a team effort between the salespeople and the researchers'.

This common thread in these undoubtedly varied opinions is a definite feeling that teamwork in BD is just a practical thing, not a deep-seated law, and there's no reason why one person can't do the whole job, if they have what it takes. 'All business processes come down to teamwork, if only to take some of the leg-work off the higher status & higher cost employees' says Clive Warren. Debby Robson sums up in forthright fashion: 'We don't think Business Development is a team job... Everyone should be geared to spotting opportunities with new clients or ways to increase business from existing ones. As it is, this does not tend to be instilled into young researchers from an early stage. A lot of them must think business grows on trees. Even much more experienced researchers must hope it does, judging by the many 'limp' responses we get to 'what experience do you have of / do you enjoy BD?'

A Job for a Researcher?

When we researched our 'Blue Chip Buyers' report, published last year, several buyers described cold calls they had received from 'business development' types within agencies, and vented their frustration at not being able to discuss what they wanted with these people: 'The Directors - or even people lower down the organisation, but who know their stuff, should do it themselves - I don't want to talk to someone who's just there to sell, there's no point', said one. We went on to predict that 'we may see a situation within a few years where researchers will be both technically sound and unafraid to pick up the phone and help develop the business'. This would certainly mark a change of direction for the industry. 'Researchers are not natural sales people, especially if going in cold', says Bridget Barry from PriceJamieson, voicing a near unanimous sentiment (in the UK industry at least) - but this reluctance may be based on a misconception. Kate Dann of KD Consulting says that 'more researchers would be good salespeople if only they would let go of the idea that selling means foot in the door, closing techniques, flashy ties and Del Boy tactics. People who sell themselves and their company are those who have done their homework about a client so that, coupled with reasonable research skills, they are confident and, most importantly, enthusiastic about being able to offer something of value'.

Some recruiters seem to suggest that what's lacking is not any complex or highly developed technique - possibly, we are just too sensitive: 'I have seen candidates with a claim to NBD skills, who obviously lack some of the key elements' says Clive Warren. 'What, in fact, they do universally possess, is a thick skin and the knowledge that you must be philosophical and expect knock-backs in order to achieve sales'.

Perhaps this is the heart of the matter. MR training is not geared to skin-thickening - we are supposed to catch nuances, respect opinions (or appear to) and perhaps most importantly, maximise response. The last of these in particular strengthens the notion within us that the 'brushoff' is not just a fact of business life but a failure of our recruiting skills, screener or survey design.

What if research actually spoils you for sales? In other words, it's not just that people who choose careers in MR are generally not salesy types, but that doing MR turns them into even less sales-y types?

Research breeds different instincts from sales by the very nature of our first approach to new people. A survey is only representative if we do all we can to get people to talk - the opinion of anyone qualifying is equally important or at least important, whereas most good salespeople can quickly spot which leads to drop and which to concentrate on. And when we initiate contact, our continuing insistence on being a long way removed from sales is central to our professional outlook - witness the difference of opinion between CMOR and CASRO in the US over how we define our activity in legislation (see www.mrweb.com/usa for our recent interview with Simon Chadwick, and CMOR's reply). Is it physically difficult to spend half the week on the phone engaged in what CASRO defines as 'non-commercial activity' and then makes some sales calls where you're not hiding behind a non-sales identity and winding up the recipient? I think maybe it is.

This would be another good reason why Directors, who have long ago given up doing any of the actual work on research projects, find themselves better at BD.

[I'll leave that one hanging for a moment... if it doesn't apply to you, fine - if it does, you know who you are].

If true, this militates in favour of using more dedicated BD personnel. It's nevertheless true that lack of research knowledge in a coldcaller winds clients up, as above. 'A good MR sales person is someone who understands the industry and what the clients want' says Sinead Hasson. Bridget Barry says the best scenario is perhaps 'to have a BD individual doing initial leg work followed by a combined pitch with a researcher who can then provide the knowledge'.

One relatively simple solution - but also easy to get wrong - is to use a BD specialist for the initial contact, but remember the two golden rules:

1. the fact that this person is not a very seasoned researcher should be up front. Don't leave the client to work out that you don't know what you're talking about - make the contact, sell the idea of further contact and then withdraw.

2. be ready, therefore, to involve senior research personnel at a very early stage and be used to working with them. The BD specialist with the thick skin takes the knocks, establishes who's interested in talking further, and then either hands over or at least gets some company.

This might sound too simplistic, but it's supported by recruiters who have long experience of which people prove good at BD and which don't. Many of the shortcomings of MR BD stem not from being bad at the first approach, but failing to follow up - they therefore result from a lack of communication between the BD specialist and the follow-up team. 'The good BD will then work with the researcher to really develop the relationship' says Sinead Hasson, 'following the rule that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients'.

It's not all down to lack of aptitude for BD, as Debby Robson points out - love of the research side rather than any negative feelings towards BD per se can have the same effect in making BD positions hard to fill: 'There are not many who seem to enjoy it, which is why we struggle to find really good people to fill the dedicated BD roles that are now being created in a lot of agencies. Even people who are good researchers and enjoy business development can be reluctant to become BD specialists because they do not want to lose touch with the research - especially the outcomes / analysis / interpretation. Nor do they particularly want to win a good account and then hand it over to a research team, never to have the chance to build that client further'.

A Job for the High-Fliers?

We asked our panel of recruiters for their reaction to the following, based on a remark by one of them a while ago:

'Because there are so few good salesmen in MR, people with genuine skills in the area can clean up, for themselves and their employers'.

A difference of emphasis emerged. Clive Warren and Bridget Barry are basically in agreement. 'In our experience, more BD roles are cropping up which require an initial background in research and these are ones which are more difficult to fill' says Bridget. 'Part of this is due to the fact that OTE structures are in line with the rest of research rather than having an attractive OTE which reflects typical sales / commercial roles. So yes - genuinely good sales people with MR skills are in huge demand and will no doubt do well for themselves and their employers'.

Sinead Hasson and Debby Robson are among those less happy with the comment. 'It's not strictly true' says Sinead. 'People with good BD skills can certainly open doors and make contact but without the support of the researchers it can be difficult. It's not as easy as 'cleaning up' - the team should be: BD person & research manager/director & project team. Then you can clean up'.

In any case, the MR industry is 'far too complex' to be cleaned up by a few good salespeople, says Debby Robson. 'Referrals and recommendation will continue to be very important... also 'safety', quality standards, specialism, coverage and so on - even complacency! But the emergence of strong BD specialists should make everyone alert to the need to focus on it, and on the importance of acquiring the skills early on to avoid the paranoia later'.

There is one more reason to encourage early exposure to sales. Doing so might also give researchers that little bit more authority when making recommendations to clients about marketing their products or improving their bottom line. That couldn't hurt, could it?

Nick Thomas

Contact details for the recruitment consultants quoted in this article can be found at http://www.mrweb.com/recruiters.

Got an opinion on this article? Don't agree that research spoils you for sales? or have we missed something major in the way of current trends? Email us any time with your comments!

A US perspective on business development will appear in MRWho in 2005.