Latest / What is Business Development? / Episode 116: How to Turn News Into Revenue, with Allan Schoenberg

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Episode 116: How to Turn News Into Revenue, with Allan Schoenberg · What is Business Development?

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Business Development podcast, brought to you by
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the Global Business Development Association, delivering the strategies and tactics
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to boost your career and corporate growth.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Hello BD pros, and welcome to the Global Business Development
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Association podcast called what is Business Development? Hey, wouldn't you
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: like to know the latest news? Oh? Yeah, and wouldn't
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: you like to learn how to leverage the latest news
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: to be prominent in the marketplace to win deals beat
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: your competitors. Well, we're going to talk about that with
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: our guest today, but before we do that, you want
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: to learn how to win some deals and be prominent
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: in the marketplace. We'll get your Business Development Professional certification
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: from the Global Business Development Association. All you have to
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: do is grab your copy of the Business Development Body
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: of Knowledge. It's available on Amazon and read the book
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: and then take the exam certification that's online again. You
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: can find all of that at the Global Business Development
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Association at GBD association dot org. Okay, folks, let's get
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: back to the news. And the news today is with
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Alan Schoenberg. And Alan is a wonderful individual. He's had
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  Speaker 2: extensive experience in the communications world. He has a bachelor's
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  Speaker 2: of Science and Economics and an MS in communications management.
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  Speaker 2: He's helped lead public relations and brand efforts for some
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: of the world's most recognized companies in the world. I'll
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  Speaker 2: list some of those. How about Nasdaq, Bloomberg, CME Group,
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  Speaker 2: Accenture in Iba. I bet you've heard of those today.
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  Speaker 2: He heads communications at Vincent and Elkins as the Chief
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  Speaker 2: Communications Officer, where he focuses on elevating the firm's voice
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  Speaker 2: through media relations, internal communications, digital content and thought leadership. Folks,
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  Speaker 2: this is the first time we've had a chief communications
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  Speaker 2: officer on the podcast. Let's give him a very warm welcome.
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  Speaker 2: Alan Schoenberg, Welcome to the show, sir Tony.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Great to be here. Thanks for the introduction. Those are
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: very kind words, and I'm really glad.
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  Speaker 4: To be here.
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  Speaker 2: Well. Alan, I also want to let you know you
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: win the award for the best beautiful view behind you
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  Speaker 2: we've ever seen on the podcast. Folks, if you're just listening,
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  Speaker 2: I'll just tell you what you see in the background.
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  Speaker 2: It is the New York City skyline and the Empire
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  Speaker 2: State Building is prominently displayed right behind Alan. Alan, thank
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  Speaker 2: you so much for being on the show today and
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  Speaker 2: sharing your beautiful view with us.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
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  Speaker 3: I think we're gonna have a good conversation and talking
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  Speaker 3: about how communications is very complementary to business development.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we look forward to hearing your views about communications.
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  Speaker 2: But before we do that, how did you get into
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  Speaker 2: business development and the communications specialty.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I think my view has always been that communications assists
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  Speaker 3: and helps business development no matter where I've been, you know,
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  Speaker 3: whether it's been at Accenture or NASDAC and now Vincent
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  Speaker 3: and Elkins, I think there's you know, a nice ven
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  Speaker 3: diagram of reputation and brand and how people view people
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  Speaker 3: they want to work with. And at the end of
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  Speaker 3: the day, people want to work with smart people. People
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  Speaker 3: want to work with people they can relate to. People
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  Speaker 3: want to work with people that they trust, and all
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  Speaker 3: that can be developed through either media relations or your
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  Speaker 3: digital presence online and not just in a client pitch when.
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  Speaker 4: You're in a meeting. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so true. People want to engage with folks that
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  Speaker 2: they trust. And as we talk about in the business
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  Speaker 2: development body of knowledge, trust consists of purpose, empathy, and
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  Speaker 2: truth and you kind of touched on all of those
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  Speaker 2: and using different verbiage, but all of that is actually neuroscience,
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  Speaker 2: and it's proven that that creates a brain chemical cocktail
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  Speaker 2: that people enjoy and they find comforting. And like you said,
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  Speaker 2: people want to engage with folks that are competent and
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  Speaker 2: more importantly, they know what's going on in the marketplace,
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  Speaker 2: they know what's going on in their industry, and they
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  Speaker 2: will be a trusted guide to get them from point
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  Speaker 2: A to point B. So, Alan, let's talk about some
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  Speaker 2: of your top three tactics. I know they're specifically communications related. However, folks,
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  Speaker 2: for business developers that are listening here, this is so critical.
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  Speaker 2: Alan shared some of his talking points in advance with me,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm really excited to jump in with you know,
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  Speaker 2: to these because every business developer can apply these and
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  Speaker 2: you should apply these in your day to day operations.
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  Speaker 2: So Alan, let's jump right into your top number one tactic.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think you know. Follow the news.
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  Speaker 3: I mean it seems pretty obvious and pretty simplistic and straightforward.
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  Speaker 4: But news today is well, let's face it, twenty four
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  Speaker 4: to seven. It doesn't sleep. But it could be a
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  Speaker 4: legal journal.
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  Speaker 3: It could be the business prece it could be watching TV,
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  Speaker 3: whether it's Bloomberg News or CBC, it could be a
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  Speaker 3: trade magazine. There's a number ways to follow the news,
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  Speaker 3: and I really think that following the news, whether you're
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  Speaker 3: a lawyer or assisting them from a business development standpoint,
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  Speaker 3: lets you understand the issues, what's trending right now, different views,
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  Speaker 3: different opinions, opposing opinions, which also is important if you
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  Speaker 3: want to take a look at an issue, how the
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  Speaker 3: world is being shaped and shifting. And I do think
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  Speaker 3: that great advisors, whether you're in business development or a lawyer,
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  Speaker 3: great advisors really try to stay on top of those
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  Speaker 3: things and understand what's happening and how things are shaping
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  Speaker 3: up and evolving.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, Alan folks probably listen to this
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  Speaker 2: and they think, oh, well, I'm not an attorney, why
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  Speaker 2: should I be listening to this. I'm not an accountant,
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  Speaker 2: why should I be listening to this. Anybody who is
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  Speaker 2: in the business development profession, Guess what. You're an advisor.
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  Speaker 2: You're an advocate for your prospects and your customers. That
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  Speaker 2: is our role. It is customer and community advocacy that
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  Speaker 2: creates corporate growth. That is the definition of business development.
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  Speaker 2: And so the first step is to understand, Hey, what
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  Speaker 2: the heck is going on in the community. Have your
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  Speaker 2: ear to the ground, hear the news, learn the news. Alan,
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  Speaker 2: So let's dig into that a little bit deeper. What
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  Speaker 2: are some of the ways that you recommend folks really
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  Speaker 2: understand keep their finger on the pulse of the news.
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  Speaker 4: Great, great question. I mean you can't.
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  Speaker 3: You can't literally read everything and follow everything. I always
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  Speaker 3: suggest picking up a few of the aggregators out there
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  Speaker 3: that aggregate news. There are a number of great resources
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  Speaker 3: that do this that help pull it all together in
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  Speaker 3: terms of the newsletter for you.
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  Speaker 4: You can set up your own Google searches.
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  Speaker 3: Lexus and Nexus has searches that can follow keywords or
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  Speaker 3: key trends. But starting out just following a few aggregators,
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  Speaker 3: I think you know, the Wall Street Journals does a
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  Speaker 3: great job and like top ten news stories of the day,
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  Speaker 3: you can go to.
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  Speaker 4: Any news source.
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  Speaker 3: Blueberg has a number of newsletters, and law as a
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  Speaker 3: number of newsletters. Just subscribe to a few of those,
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  Speaker 3: you'll you'll have a better understanding of everything that's out
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  Speaker 3: there and being able to share it and getting a
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  Speaker 3: feel for like, what are some of the things that
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  Speaker 3: are happening out there, whether it's research based, breaking news drivens.
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  Speaker 3: I think value in aggregating that content and getting a
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  Speaker 3: feel for what's really happening, so you can help shape,
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  Speaker 3: if you're in business development, help shape your attorney's use
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  Speaker 3: and their thoughts on topics that are important to their clients.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, what attorney is not going to want to
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  Speaker 3: have information that makes them a.
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  Speaker 4: Better attorney and a better business person, right.
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  Speaker 3: And having that knowledge, not that they even have to
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  Speaker 3: share it with anybody, but just disseminating it, letting them
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  Speaker 3: read something. There's lots of great information out there, and
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  Speaker 3: then you can expand you can go into if your
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  Speaker 3: attorneys are in a certain sector or a certain business profile,
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  Speaker 3: you can dig a little deeper into that.
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  Speaker 4: But I feel that that's a great place to start.
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  Speaker 3: It's just reading some of the news aggregators that are
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  Speaker 3: out there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great, Allen. I like how you say, yes,
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  Speaker 2: there are existing aggregators, but now we have so many
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  Speaker 2: tools that we can aggregate our own news. You mentioned Google.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, you can use the various AI tools that
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  Speaker 2: are out there, create your own, say a chat GPT
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  Speaker 2: project that spins up every day and gives you your
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  Speaker 2: news briefing at six o'clock in the morning when you
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  Speaker 2: wake up, and it's everything you specifically want to know
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  Speaker 2: about in your niche industry, and you can have some
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  Speaker 2: really powerful information not only the links to the specific articles,
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  Speaker 2: but you can also have an analysis done by the
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  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence that keys in on how you think and
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  Speaker 2: what's important to your prospects and customers. So you're getting
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  Speaker 2: the data that that is very powerful and actionable. And also,
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  Speaker 2: say for folks that are starting off in business development,
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  Speaker 2: this is one of the most powerful things that you
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  Speaker 2: can do. If you are an undergraduate student and you
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  Speaker 2: think that you may want to go into business development,
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  Speaker 2: or let's say you're in a business development adjacent role
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  Speaker 2: like a project manager or something like that, someday you
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  Speaker 2: want to get into business development. This is step number one.
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  Speaker 2: Learn how your industry functions. Learn what those different growth
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  Speaker 2: level levers are in your industry and where those news
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  Speaker 2: sources are, and read them every day. Because you'll start
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  Speaker 2: to understand the dynamics of your industry. You'll start to
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  Speaker 2: become a trusted subject matter explore and eventually a subject
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  Speaker 2: matter expert in your industry. I remember when I was
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  Speaker 2: at the Naval Academy. As pleabs, we had to memorize
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  Speaker 2: two front page stories and two sports stories every day
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  Speaker 2: before morning formation, and at any point in the day,
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  Speaker 2: an upperclassmen could stop us and ask us to recite
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  Speaker 2: the article for five minutes. We had to be able
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  Speaker 2: to speak about the topic for five minutes. And so
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  Speaker 2: I learned that lesson very painfully.
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  Speaker 4: Early on.
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  Speaker 2: Folks, you don't have to do that painful thing. Now
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  Speaker 2: you have AI that could give you that information. But
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  Speaker 2: Alan very wise idea there for tactic number one. Okay, well,
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  Speaker 2: let's jump right into tactic number two, which I think
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  Speaker 2: is kind of a natural thought process here on the
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  Speaker 2: news right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And that's just sharing it just you know,
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  Speaker 3: as I mentioned before, making the attorneys smarter about an
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  Speaker 3: issue or a topic. You mentioned AI the tools they
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  Speaker 3: are getting so good at doing this for you. You know,
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  Speaker 3: you'd throw in five or six news stories or take
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  Speaker 3: a research paper that someone published and have AI sort
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  Speaker 3: of summarize it for you, maybe give you some questions
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  Speaker 3: to ask the attorney, questions to ask a client. All
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  Speaker 3: of that can help you just make you better understand
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  Speaker 3: the issues of the day and how things are changing.
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  Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, when I think
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  Speaker 3: about sharing the news, for me, it's all about relationship management.
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  Speaker 3: I want to be closer to the attorneys here. I
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  Speaker 3: want to be closer to the issues. I want the
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  Speaker 3: attorneys to have a better relationship with their clients. And
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  Speaker 3: doing that is staying on top of the news, not
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  Speaker 3: just the legal system and the legal ecosystem, but what's
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  Speaker 3: happening in the world of infrastructure and technology and consumer
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  Speaker 3: package goods. All of that makes the difference in making
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  Speaker 3: you smarter at understanding what's happening and how you can
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  Speaker 3: help better. So for me, the sharing component is really
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  Speaker 3: a relationship component.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, And I do this frequently in a couple
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  Speaker 2: of different ways. Alan, I'd like to get your perspective
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  Speaker 2: on how you're actually the mechanics of how you're doing it.
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  Speaker 2: But I'll find news and then i'll share that with
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  Speaker 2: a broad audience of customers and prospects because I know
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  Speaker 2: it applies to them. But then there's also news that
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  Speaker 2: I find that's very specific to one prospect or one customer.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe it's a new opportunity that they probably don't know about,
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  Speaker 2: and it's really specific to what I know they're trying
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  Speaker 2: to accomplish in their growth goals, and I'll send that
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: to them. I tell you, they love that. They love
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: that because it's very specific to them and so often
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  Speaker 2: in industry, Alan, I'm sure you never do this at
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: your company, but as business developers, we have somebody from
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: on high and the corporation tell us, hey, we've created
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  Speaker 2: this very cool report. You should send this to your
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: prospects clients. And I look, you look at it and
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: you think this is just vanilla. I mean, anybody who's
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: been in the industry for a month would know this stuff.
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  Speaker 2: So Alan, how do we how do we try to
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: avoid that situation? Do you have those kind of layered
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: approaches as well?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, in terms of the sharing component, there's a few
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  Speaker 3: things that I like to work with my team and
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: the business development team on and that's that really is.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there's chasing a trend per se. You're seeing
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: something that's consistently talked about. You're seeing something that you
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: know is coming up to the bubbling up to the
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: top of the news.
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  Speaker 4: You know, what can we do to offer our views
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  Speaker 4: or our opinions And to your to your point, you
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  Speaker 4: don't want to be vanilla.
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  Speaker 3: You want to be a little different and have a
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  Speaker 3: bit of an edge to you know, what what should
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  Speaker 3: be thought about, what.
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  Speaker 4: Should be talked about.
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  Speaker 3: You want the content to help someone call you, someone
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  Speaker 3: to send you a message and say, hey, this is
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: really interesting.
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  Speaker 4: We should talk about it.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, sending it out is important, but you know, at
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  Speaker 3: the end of the day, I mean, we're going to
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: talk about this the whole time we're here. It's about
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: people dealing with people in relationship building, right, So you
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  Speaker 3: want to have an opportunity to talk with somebody about
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: a topic, and you want to be a little different.
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  Speaker 3: And I think if you're following the news and sharing
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  Speaker 3: the news and having conversations about a topic or an issue,
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  Speaker 3: that can certainly create content for you. And it doesn't
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  Speaker 3: have to be long, fum kindent. It could be three
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: thousand words, it could be one hundred words.
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  Speaker 4: As long as.
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  Speaker 3: You're sort of developing either thoughtful questions or thoughtful insights
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  Speaker 3: that can be shared. I think you're going to find
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: over time and if you're patient with it, you're going
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: to get the doors open for you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know you're very active on LinkedIn, Alan,
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  Speaker 2: I suppose you advise your teammates to also be active
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  Speaker 2: on LinkedIn, and this is great content for them just
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  Speaker 2: to share. You can share an article on LinkedIn and
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: then you could at the top kind of you know,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: provide some commentary, whether it's from your company or you
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: as an individual. How frequently do you recommend your teammates
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  Speaker 2: post something on LinkedIn?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. I don't think there's a
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: right formula for that. Everybody has a different cadence at LinkedIn.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there are people that share often and you know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: either daily or several times a week, and that works
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: for them and they get a lot of feedback.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: There are some people I've seen that maybe only.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: Post and I'm probably one of them, you know, once
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: a week or once every couple of weeks, and that
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: works for them because when you hear from them, in
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: my view, like, oh my gosh, it must be important
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: if they're posting something, because they rarely post. So there
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: is a different bit of a cadence and an overview there.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: I'd say, you know, whatever is comfortable for you, you know,
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: doing media interviews, doing LinkedIn posts, you know, it's not
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: you know, not everybody.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: Is comfortable doing it all the time. Some people do
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: it sometimes.
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  Speaker 3: I think you need to test the waters, find the
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: right cadence, find the right language.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: What works for you?
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: Is it posting news stories that are out there and
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: offering your opinion? Is it posting insights from your firm
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: and offering your view, or is it maybe it's just
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: posting some photos right, an award show, you're at an event.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Those can all sort of be part of your social
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: media sort of content in and of itself. And I
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: always say, experiment, try to find out what's going on.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: And LinkedIn is, you know, Tony, the algorithm is changing
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: rapidly and constantly, something that works today six months from now.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: LinkedIn is you know, kind of tweet the algorithm and
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: it's not quite working as well. So you do have
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: to kick the tires.
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: A little bit.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I guess at the bottom line, though, regardless
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: of the periodicity, you have to be present and being
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: present sharing value. Like you talked about, Alan, that gives
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: you the brand recognition, the individual personal brand record ignition.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, I agree totally.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Now, that will get you brand recognition, but I know
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: tactic number three will get you some serious opportunities. So Alan,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: let's jump into tactic number three.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and for me, it's about being in the news
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: and being thought of as a thought leader by the media.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: We could have a long discussion. We'll probably do another
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: podcast just on this topic. But offering clarity to something
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: that is really complex. You know, journalists really do lean
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: on lawyers for this because some of these issues can
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: be really tough, they can be very deep, and they
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: need someone to help explain it to a business audience
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: that isn't legal charting. But to me, the visibility leads
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: to authority, and clients want to deal with people that
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: know what they're talking about at the end of the day,
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: and seeing you in the Wall Street journal or seeing
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: you in AM Law or the Financial Times or infrastructure investor,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: that can make a difference because they see you as
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: someone who is a trusted source. Obviously a journalist wanted
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: to talk with you because you know what you're talking about,
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: you have something to say, and to me, that just
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: adds further value to yourself and further value to the client.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: In the industry is these issues change.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: It doesn't mean you have to be in the media
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: every week or every month. It could even be one
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: time you're in the right place at the right time.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: And I can tell you I've seen it happen rather
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: regularly where we have an attorney who's in the press
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: and they get a call either from an existing client
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: or assume to be a new client. Hey, I saw
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: you in X y Z. It's really interesting. I'd love
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: to have a discussion with you. And that to me is,
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: you know, just further validation of you know, having the
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: media be a business development assistant.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: For you as well.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I have very powerful tool to prominently establish your credibility,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: your expertise in the marketplace by sharing this content, having
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: your own specific view, especially when it's a niche or
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: some deep discipline that others may have just a little
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: bit of understanding about, but you really become the trusted
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: advisor and the expert on that field. Really powerful, Alan,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: And let me just kind of summarize what we talked
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: about today and let's walk through these three tactics. And Alan,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: correct me if I'm wrong with any of these. But
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Tactic number one is content capture. Capture the content so
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: that you on a daily basis can read it, consume it,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: and start to understand the unique dynamics of your industry.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: And then the second is content curation. Tactic Number two.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Content curation is start sharing the information with your audience,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: with your commune, whether that's your prospects, whether that's your customers,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: whether it's your partners. You share that and deliver value,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: not vanilla content, but something that when you know they
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: can read it and you put yourself in their shoes
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: and they think, wow, I didn't see that. I didn't
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: know about that piece of information that's really going to
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: impact me today. And then finally all of that kind
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: of builds upon itself so that you can then establish
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: your position to conduct content creation. So it starts with
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: content capture and consuming that content, and then it goes
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: to content curation by sharing it. And then finally you've
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: read so much, you've shared so much, you've heard feedback
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: from your community about what you've shared. Now you can
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: start to establish your own positions, your own deep expertise,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: and share that as a trusted advisor and hopefully get
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: called onto a podcasts like this one.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: I think Torony it does come full circle because if
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: you think about the last point of being in the
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: news and being relevant and being an authority on the topic,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: and then you think about the first point I made
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: about curating the news and reading it, Well, guess what CEOs, CFOs,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: gcs are all reading the news and aggregating it, and
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: they probably have their own newsletters that they follow. And
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: if you're in the right places at the right time
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: and the right platforms, you know, being that authority goes
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: back to those curation aggregators and the news that people
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: are reading. So it does come a bit full circle
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: when you think about.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: Being in the news.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that you said that, Alan, It does
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: come full circle. It turns into an engine, an engine
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: of growth for you because ultimately, this is just like
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: the business development engine that we talk about in the
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: business development Body of Knowledge. You're creating trust and you're
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: there for your customers, your prospects throughout every phase of
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: the customer journey. And ultimately, our objective is to advocate
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: for our customers and community so that it creates corporate growth.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is those customers say, wow,
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: you know, Alan's the best. He's always looking out for me.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: He sends me these great pieces of information. It's tailored
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: to me. And the next time they're sitting in a
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: discussion with one of their partners they're going to send
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Alan referrals and that's exponential growth. You're not even doing
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: You're not investing any business development dollars, and your customers
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: are your best business developers. The conversion rate on a
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: referral is over sixty percent.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Folks.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: If you do cold calls, warm call, you're under ten percent,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: and you're lucky if you can break three percent on
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: those referrals. They just work by themselves. But you have
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: to feed the machine. You have to be there every day.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: You have to be consuming, you have to be curating,
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: and you have to be creating. And Alan, and thank
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: We'd love to have you back on the show for
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: another deep dive.
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: I love this.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Hey Alan, How can folks follow your work and how
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: can they connect with you?
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: I mean the easiest is LinkedIn. You know, connect with
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: me on LinkedIn and follow me. I do post, you know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: try to post every week, a little bit of fun content,
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: some industry content. And then I also have a column
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: at Global Legal Post where I write a monthly column
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: on everything from culture to internal communications, media relations, business
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: development and how all that ties together.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: And so those are probably the two best ways to
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: follow me.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Well, Alan, thank you for sharing the news with us
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: today and we look forward to having you back on
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: the show sometime again soon.
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Thanks, Tony, appreciate it.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Business Development Podcast. Join
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: our free community of corporate partners and business development professionals
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: advancing the art, science, and ethics of the business development
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: profession at Gbdassociation dot org.