What Business Development REALLY Means, According to Andrew Cogar

Mo asks Andrew Cogar: What is your personal definition of business development?

• Andrew’s definition has evolved to simply mean fulfilling relationships on a personal and professional level and not making it any more transactional than that.
• You need to know where you want to go and what the vision of the firm is to know which prospects should be pursued. With a focus on relationships first, even if one project is not the right one at the right time, the next one might be.
• You have to be true to yourself as well as honest and open. Selling a project to someone that doesn’t fit their needs or isn’t in their budget doesn’t do anyone any good.
• Focusing on relationships is focusing on the long term. Doing the right things in the long term comes around ten fold.
• The founder of Historical Concepts baked in the values of vision and integrity, and as the president, Andrew wanted to double down on what Jim taught him. Andrew took the set of axioms they operated on and took it to the rest of the team to make it their own and allow them to add to it. This gave Andrew the confidence to speak for the firm and articulate it to prospects.
• Your purpose is your North Star. Your mission is the external voice of what you’re trying to share. Your vision is your five-year, big, hairy, audacious goal. Articulating those values gives you the lens to see if a client or project aligns with your purpose.

Mentioned in this Episode:

GrowBIGPlaybook.com

historicalconcepts.com

Visions of Home