If you’re just starting out in business development or you’re looking to redouble your efforts after a long pause, designating the ideal amount of time for BD can seem like a guessing game. You want to ensure the time and effort you’re investing is going to pay off, because your time is extremely valuable. Just like we’re concerned about ROI in everything we do, BD is no different.

Here’s the truth: When it comes to BD, your results are directly correlated to your time investment and your effort. If you want solid BD results, you have to put forth solid effort. Seems simple right? But sometimes we get hung up on the details. How much time per week? What activities should I be doing? When should I be doing these things?

So, here’s a recipe I’ve concocted to help you get started:

Time + Consistency + Balance + Patience = Results

The next step is to determine the values of your personal equation at achieve your desired results. I’ve put together some guidance to help you develop your ideal personal BD formula.

Set reasonable time goals/expectations

Anyone aspiring to achieve a goal of around $50,000 (an ideal first goal) in new business a year will need to put in at least 2 hours of solid BD time a week.  However, most individuals who are serious about achieving their goals and building a solid book of business are spending closer to 4 hours per week. More experienced individuals may be spending anywhere from 6-8 hours a week – and that can generate $150,000 (or more) in new business annually. Finally, it’s important to note that your career level can impact your return as the more time you spend on BD plus the more experience you have, the greater the ROI. Consistent BD efforts over time yields greater results, which brings us to the second component of the formula.

Stay consistent with your effort

Consistency is key in BD. You cannot achieve optimal results by skipping BD for months at a time (I’m looking at you, tax season). Your investment must remain relatively consistent throughout the year. Turning off the spigot during times of heavy workload will set you back and cause you to lose momentum. And, if you lose momentum, you have to reinvigorate your network and opportunities to regain traction, which takes more time and effort than consistently putting in the work evenly throughout the year. Make the time to stay consistent even during busy seasons, and it’ll pay dividends.

Diversify and balance your channels

Your activity within your allotted BD time should be well rounded and balanced. You should be touching your clients for referrals and cross-selling, staying connected to your non-client referral sources, developing your personal brand, and managing your active prospects and pipeline on a regular basis. Spreading this activity over phone calls, texts, emails, social media, and other channels allows you to find people when they are ready to be found, and via the channel of their preference.  Effective marketing is and has always been a solid variety of different types of activities. And from time to time, each type of activity is going to pay off but they don’t always pay off all the time, so balance is key.

Be Patient

Just as crucial to successful BD effort as time, consistency, and blend, is your mindset. You can’t go into BD with a mindset of a short-term return on your investment. Because we know the sales cycle for professional services is much longer, most BD is a medium to long-term endeavor. Just because you haven’t landed a new client at the 3-6-month mark, doesn’t mean you won’t get there at all. It’s not that your efforts are not working, it’s just that you’re not there yet. Your results will always lag your effort.

And, from a firm perspective, it’s important to keep in mind that if we want to set ambitious revenue goals, we need to protect the time of those conducting consistent BD efforts. A one size fits all approach to billable hours expectations doesn’t bode well for business developers.

So, as we’ve seen, consistent, adequate effort over time is the key to getting a meaningful ROI on your BD efforts.  The great news is, once you’ve got this formula down and you’ve started to see success, it can only go up from there. Those at manager or mid-career level who hit the $100,000 milestone don’t tend to level off — but rather continue to hit and exceed their annual goals. Set reasonable expectations, stay consistent, diversify, and trust in the long game and you’ll see your desired BD results come to life.