Nobody cares about your product (at least not yet)
Imagine this: you sit down in your office with a freshly brewed cup of coffee. You open up LinkedIn and start checking your notifications. You notice that someone has engaged with some of your content, which is always flattering, and has sent you a connection request with the note, “I’m expanding my professional network and would like to connect with you.” Wanting to be an active member of the LinkedIn community with a growing network of connections, you accept the invite. At this point, you can almost count backwards: three, two, one… and there comes the pitch: “Thanks for connecting. Let me know when you have 30 minutes, so I can tell you about my product.”
The approach many business developers take isn’t technically bad, but anyone in a role that suggests they might have a budget receives a handful of these attempts every day and has subsequently made it a habit of either accepting all of them just to grow their own network, which, by the way, sends false hope and perpetuates the behaviour, or rejecting all of them out of habit.
The problem is that it’s simply the wrong starting point. Nobody is waking up in the middle of the night thinking, “Oh boy, I wish I had another solution that does something,” but almost everyone is losing sleep over problems they need to solve. What you need to do as a business developer is first understand what those problems are and then, but only then, propose how you could provide a solution.
In B2B sales, there are, generally speaking, three stages to a sales process. Demand creation, where you educate the prospect about their problem and the art of the possible in how to solve it. Marketing does that part. Selling, where the prospect has identified a problem and is looking for a solution. This is the job of business development. And order taking, where someone has a clearly defined need and a comprehensive understanding of what the solution is, and is only looking for which solution provider to select, typically through a formal RFx process. This can often be handled by the sales or services team.
Good Business Development people start by looking for compelling events, but then they send the pitch. The better signal is what those events force the company to do next. That’s usually where the real trigger lives.
A simple rule of thumb is this: don’t ask, “What happened?” Ask yourself, “What now becomes difficult because this happened?”
That’s usually where the opportunity lives.
| Event | The real trigger |
|---|---|
| New VP joins | They need to prove impact quickly |
| Funding raised | Growth targets just increased |
| New product launch | New processes, messaging, and coordination are required |
| Geographic expansion | Existing systems must scale |
| Executive promotion | New responsibilities expose new bottlenecks |
| Large hiring push | Onboarding and operational complexity increase |
The most valuable triggers aren’t announcements. They’re the moments when a person or company suddenly becomes accountable for a new outcome and doesn’t yet have the systems, processes, or resources to achieve it.
So how should you approach business development?
1. Stop introducing yourself
Don’t say:
“Hi Sarah, I work for [organization]. We help companies…”
Say:
“I noticed your team is hiring 12 account managers while expanding into two new regions. That’s usually where reporting and handoff issues start showing up.”
What this does:
Nobody cares who you are yet. Starting with an observation proves you’ve done your homework and immediately shifts the conversation to something they care about.
2. State the problem before they do
Say:
“Most companies at this stage discover that growth creates more operational friction than they expected.”
What this does:
People engage when they feel understood. If you can articulate a challenge they’re experiencing, they’ll naturally want to continue the conversation.
3. Share a pattern, not a pitch
Don’t say:
“We solve this with our platform.”
Say:
“We’ve seen several teams tackle this by centralizing ownership before adding more headcount. The companies that don’t usually end up creating more complexity.”
What this does:
Advice is easier to engage with than a sales pitch. You’re positioning yourself as someone with perspective, not someone trying to close.
4. Ask for their opinion
Instead of:
“Would you be open to a 30-minute call?”
Ask:
“Curious if that’s something you’re seeing as well?”
What this does:
People are far more likely to respond to a question about themselves than a request for their time.
5. Let the meeting happen naturally
If they engage, then you can say:
“Happy to share a few examples of how others approached it if useful.”
What this does:
The meeting becomes a continuation of the conversation, not the objective of the outreach.
Most business development efforts fail because the first message attempts to create demand.
The best outreach simply identifies a problem, shares a perspective, and lets curiosity do the rest.
The irony is that most people think business development is about getting someone interested in your solution. It isn’t. It’s about understanding what someone is trying to accomplish, identifying what’s standing in the way, and helping them think through it. Do that well, and the meeting usually takes care of itself. Lead with the pitch, and you’ll spend a lot of time wondering why nobody replied to your email.
