BrandGrowth Agency in Kenya

Business Development in Perspective

At BeyondRanks Marketing Solutions, we divide our Business Development experience into 5 interconnected phases. These phases help our clients see their business from a progressive angle, which helps in planning. Although different business ideas have unique execution approaches, this model provides an overview and practical approach across the sectors.

Growing the Asset Base

At inception, businesses must define their product, customer base and route-to-market approach. The clarity makes it easy to employ capital and human resources along execution lines. Businesses must address the following factors, which are crucial in growing and developing their asset base:

• Legal Set-up – Business Registration
• Capacity Set-up – Human and Capital Resources
• Technical Set-up – Business Systems and Processes.
• Business Continuity – Short, Mid and Long Term Business Planning

These 4 elements provide the base onto which the entire business is anchored. They set the execution precedence, guiding principles and business continuity, even if the vision carrier(s) are not physically present.

Customer Consolidation

Customer consolidation provides the guidelines for generating traffic towards the business. The process singles out the following:

• Target Group – gives a clear brief on the right customer for the business.
• Marketing Models – based on the clientele base, the ideal model should define the best go-to-market approach for the business.
• Data Management – how to use market analytics to craft the best customer acquisition and retention approach
• Operationalisation – combining experience and marketing insights to get and retain customers

Customer consolidation help by self-advertising the business.

Expansion

As the business takes shape, its demand increases, prompting expansion. Expansions come in the following ways:

• Complimentary Activities – they are primarily capacity-building activities that help the workforce to diversify based on market demands. It applies to businesses in the technology and service sectors.
• Enlarging Business Space/Scope – moving to a bigger location due to logistics, manpower or growing clientele. This approach resonates with distribution businesses.
• Adding More Services – as the business grows, there is a need to invest in services within the same industry. Such business decisions are mostly demand-push, creating end-to-end goods/service provision.
• Opening More Branches – it involves opening more physical business outlets in other regions. The aim is to bring goods and services nearer to the customer.

Expansion is a critical phase in business development as it is the make or break phase. At BeyondRanks Marketing Solutions, we will guide you in the process and increase the chances of growing your business past this crucial stage.

Enlisting

Once the business goes past the start-up phase, it will gain traction from other industry players. Since market dominance is key to business sustainability, the elites in the industry (global or domestic) might offer to buy shares or acquire controlling stakes in the business. It would be best to have proper guidance to navigate this tempting phase as a business.

Enlisting comes in the following ways:

• Business Twinning – sharing operational knowledge with another company, mostly abroad, and learning business best practices from other countries.
• Buyouts – another business within or outside the sector can offer to buy controlling shares (over 50%+ 1)
• Stake Selling – business owners can sell a minority stake in the business to raise capital.

Merging

Once the deal between the two enlisting companies goes through, business consolidation (businesses are in the same sector) or harmonisation (businesses from different sectors) begins. The process involves the following.

• Stake surrender and shareholding re-organisation
• Creating a Board of Directors and separation of powers between the board and the executive.
• Developing a sustainable model for the new entity, including staff harmonisation, merging departments and centralising operations.

After merging, the process starts over again, although some phases might be omitted or prolonged, depending on its dynamics.

Businesses that don’t want to enlist or merge will take up the first 3 phases and start over again.