Jul 5, 2022
Business development is the lifeblood of any organisation. It is in many ways about building connections and capitalising on that as well as finding new ways to expand your product or service offering to existing customers. However, with sales being something many people find challenging or even off-putting what does the gold standard of great BD require?
To find out, I am speaking to Victoria Butt, who I met around
2013 in a networking group – the perfect BD environment perhaps.
Victoria is the Founder and Executive Search Consultant of Parity
Consulting, serial entrepreneur, Founder and Chief Training Officer
at Evolve Sales Training, Board Member for
Entrepreneurs Organisation Sydney and Angel Investor for BIPOC
women. In 2021, BIPOC angels was created, an angel investment
fund exclusively working with and supporting females who are Black,
Indigenous, People of Colour.
A decade ago she founded Parity Consulting, a recruitment
organisation specialising in placing diverse and capable talent in
Product, Pricing, Digital, Marketing and Data Analytics. Parity was
founded to reshape how the industry saw candidates and lift them to
be equal to the client. In 2017, she joined Entrepreneurs
Organisation in Sydney and lead the first Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion initiative the organisation had seen in the APAC region,
and now sits on the Sydney Board for member success.
In 2020 at the height of COVID-19, Victoria set up Evolve Sales Training, an online sales training
platform specifically for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses. Based
on long term sales mentoring, this B2B platform provides processes,
accountability and frameworks for busy entrepreneurs and sales
professionals to drive sustainable higher revenue.
A mother of two young children, wife, blogger, and self-confesses wine snob, Victoria is passionate about anything to do with DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging). Let’s discuss the Politics of Business Development.
Questions that Victoria canvasses include:
- As someone in executive search, I imagine business development has been a key part of your career and business life. Give us a snapshot of how you approach BD?
- Great products and services don’t always mean money spinners. My career is in PR and strategic comms and I am always amazed when businesses focus on the shiny stuff like fancy content or social media images on say Instagram and then find that alone won’t convert to sales. What is the secret sauce you see missing in many business’s sales training practices?
- More than 40% of actual salespeople say prospecting is the most challenging part of the sales process, followed by closing (36%) and qualifying (22%). How can BD be done organically and authentically – many people who love their business still find “sales” approaches challenging?
- Is there a tried-and-true way to create a funnel or sales or similar that lands with the right target audience more and converts to sales faster?
- What role does automatic and tech play in business development and ultimately sales? Can you share an example or two?
CONTACT INFO: LinkedIn: (15) Victoria Butt | LinkedIn
W: (15) Parity Consulting: Overview | LinkedIn and Evolve Sales Training – Evolve Sales Training
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