Starting a new role in Business Development and Lead Generation for a Venture Capital firm in Boston

Having now worked for an Expansion Stage Venture Capital firm as a Business Development Specialist for just over two months, I feel that I have developed and exhibited quite a few good behaviors that go into initially being successful in this type of role.

First and foremost, I feel that persistence is HUGE in this type of role. Giving up after one or two attempts to connect with a prospect is a mistake. In my short experience in this particular type of Business Development role, I have seen success yield from persistently following up with targeted prospects.

Secondly, and this comes directly from the advice of a very wise individual who acts as a Venture Capital Advisor, it is pivotal to know your companies product/service inside and out. I have formed the opinion that in order to successfully pitch a product or service to a prospect, one must entrench oneself into their product and learn as much as possible about its benefits and features as they relate to the prospect and their needs. 

Third, and this also comes from the advice of the same individual who is also very involved in the Venture Capital Investment process, one must also know all about their competition and what separates their product from their compeitors’ product/s. Personally, I feel I have a ways to go in this regard, but each week, I find myself becoming more and more knowledgeable about my compeitors’ products and services just by asking the people I am talking to on a daily basis to explain their use of other solutions to me.I have discovered that people love to talk about what they are up to so long as they have an interested party on the other end and this helps them to open up more and explain to me what they could use to be even MORE effective. Often times, these conversations lead to opportunities for me in my process. 

Lastly, with this advice once again coming from my conversation with this same individual who plays a key role in the Boston Venture Capital firm I’m working for, it is critical to work at building relationships in this type of Business Development role. This is probably true for any sales role, but is possibly even more important in a Business Development role in which one is contacting prospects for the very first time and attempting to convince them that it is worth their time to take a closer look at a service for possible adoption than it is in some other roles.

These four aspects probably seem quite obvious after having now viewed them on paper, but I have found that it is a balancing act that one must pay very close attention to and not pivot away from if they desire to be successful. I am still pretty new at this, and am definitely new to Expansion Stage Venture Capitalism and the Venture Capitalist approach, but I do feel like I have gotten off to a solid start (with the help of my peers) and will continue to grow and improve in this Business Development role as time goes by.