LEADERSHIP

Fractional Leadership

Titles can vary - Fractional Chief Growth Officer, Fractional Business Development Leader or Fractional Sales Leader - but all businesses need business development expertise, guidance and support. Some don’t need a FTE in the role, however. Whether it’s as little as five hours a week or as much as 30 hours a week, you will get the amount of support you need without paying for idle time or paying for a full-timer with benefits. This can include any services provided by C Owens Run.

Building Business Development Teams

You’re likely doing the best thing already – word-of-mouth. You can’t beat people telling their peers how great you are. But those are passive efforts, and your company’s success demands a team focused on just that. I can help build a core business development team that can replace me as a fractional BD leader and generate a replenishing sales pipeline, but I can also help every employee in your company learn to listen for “doormats” – comments that invite conversation – so that they can lead to door openers.

Facilitation

It’s like conducting a symphony. Getting the right people in the room is just the first step. Managing the dynamics of the room, allowing each person’s strengths to shine and ideas to flow steadily is harder. But where the magic really happens is when you see a group dynamic form. People’s eyebrows lift. They get delightfully animated. They build on other people’s ideas. They create something together infinitely better than the sum of its parts. I can structure meetings to allow all of this to happen.

Leadership Acquisition

If your business development leader suddenly leaves the company, or if you are seeking to hire a business development leader for the first time, I can help you write the job description, search for candidates, pre-screen resumes, interview candidates collaboratively and help onboard the new leader. I can also act as interim sales leader until the new hire is firmly in their role.

PREPARATION

Go-To-Market Business Development Strategy

I have always found there to be varying definitions of what a strategy is or looks like. I think of strategy as a road map to get where you need to go, taking advantage of competitive advantages to get you there effectively and efficiently. Over many experimentations, I developed The COR Strategy process, taking 11 different factors into account yet producing an end product that is simple, scalable and comprehensive. COR Strategies are highly detailed in the immediate six months, with intentional flexibility built in for each of the following quarters so the strategy can be optimized as learnings are realized.

Business Development Playbooks

Bottlenecks will stifle sales. Allow more people to participate and add to growth by teaching them the basics of identifying a lead and, depending on the size and complexity, moving it forward. Business Development Playbooks allow for more people to add opportunities into the active sales funnel, but they also provide everyone with an approved and defined process to gain the appropriate resources based on criteria for each opportunity. Some of these elements include dynamic meeting prep, lead qualification rubrics, proposal creation tutorials, overcoming objections, negotiation basics and client onboarding.

Sales Enablement

Your best asset will always be your people. Regardless of what you sell, or what your ROI for clients is, or what your proprietary methodology might be, it will always come down to the client making an emotional decision and justifying it with logic. So, you might as well be prepared with the best logical arguments you can arm them with. Projects can include presentation development, proposal design, template creation, thought leadership content, internal checklists, process materials and forms – all things with a specific purpose to help business developers create more sales.

CRM Configuration, Updating and Rollouts

Customer Relationship Management is both the art of creating, building and sustaining relationships, but it’s also the systems used to help manage it all. CRM systems are imperative for any business seeking to grow - especially if you want sustainable growth that can build on itself. CRMs will track performance metrics for anyone involved in the selling process, be a repository for detailed information about any contact (allowing for better relationship building), and it can house and track all BD pursuits. This data later will provide insights on cost-of-acquisition, sector success rates, lagging indicators such as trends and leading indicators like win probabilities and anticipated revenue. 

PERFORMANCE

One-to-One BD Coaching

By providing personalized guidance, regular feedback, and skill development, coaching helps sales professionals refine their techniques, build confidence, and stay aligned with best practices. It fosters a culture of continuous improvement, where team members are encouraged to learn from both successes and setbacks. Effective coaching also enhances motivation and engagement, as individuals feel supported and recognized in their growth. Ultimately, organizations that invest in consistent sales coaching often see higher conversion rates, improved relationships, and increased revenue.

Group BD Trainings

Sales and business development can feel magical and mystical sometimes. Many feel intimidated by it because most people don’t want to sell. I never want anyone to sell either. Sales are the wonderful result of inspiring someone to buy. These group business development trainings create the confidence to move through every stage of the buyer’s journey and create demand. Also, bringing individuals together encourage the sharing of best practices, real-world experiences, and diverse perspectives, which can spark new strategies and creative problem-solving. Inquire for specific training modules.

Sales Incentive Design

“The problem with incentives is that they work,” said a former boss of mine on many occasion. True indeed. So you’d better make sure that they reward the right behaviors and collectively align to the greater strategic goals. Embrace the competitive nature of people to achieve. Set small goals that ladder up and incentivize as you go. When someone receives a reward, dopamine travels to nucleus accumbens in the brain, which generates feelings of pleasure and reinforces the behavior that led to the reward. It’s just science, but science where everyone feels good and makes more money in transparemt ways.

Business Development Process Optimization

Business development workflows and process optimization provide a structured, efficient approach to driving growth and scaling opportunities. By clearly defining each stage of the business development cycle—from lead generation to deal closure—organizations can streamline operations, reduce bottlenecks, and ensure consistent execution. Optimized workflows improve team alignment, increase visibility into performance metrics, and allow for better forecasting and resource allocation. Optimized workflows and processes will lead to faster decision-making, higher conversion rates and more engaged developers.

PURSUITS

New Meeting Attainment

Business development is about relationships and relevancy. The most authentic and steadfast way to land an intro meeting with a new prospect is to go through the people that already know, love, and trust you. Together we will conduct relationship mining exercises with each business developer to identify the people they need to meet, but also the specific tactics to take with each contact to secure interactions. The goal is to fill the sales pipeline with qualified opportunities that can be nurtured and transitioned to sales and revenue.

Team Selling in Prospect Meetings

Two brains are always better than one. Team selling brings together diverse expertise and perspectives to address a prospect’s needs more comprehensively. I can serve as any team member’s wingman in any potential business development meeting, offering decades of expertise to move the opportunity forward, all the while working to help the client “love you and like me.” This collaborative approach allows for more detailed debriefs and more tailored responses to the potential client to create action to move forward.

RFP Responses and Proposal Development

The goal is always to avoid competing via RFP processes. It’s tough to play your best game when responding to rigid RFPs, and there are almost always “favorite” and “filler” companies invited to respond. There are, however, multiple ways to gain advantages in RFP responses to position you as the most relevant, most logical and most appealing company to help the client. For proactively submitted proposals, a thoughtfully designed proposal template will meet your needs. For larger and more significant proposals, a fully customized approach works best. After managing hundreds of proposals and RFP responses, I know what works and what wins.

Quarterbacking Important BD Pitches

It’s not enough to be the best agency in the pitch. It’s also not enough to just have a relationship with the client. Decision-making in B2B vendor/agency/firm/consultant selection is complicated. It typically includes 10+ stakeholders and is almost always determined by what agency they want to choose - which means it’s emotional and will be justified by logic. I’ve developed a proven process for big new business pitches that not only inspires the client to choose you, but supplies them with the logic and substance to justify why. My superpower is galvanizing teams to embrace this vision and to execute in all ways big and small to win that new client.

PARTNERSHIPS

Agency Collaboration Management

There are two philosophies in hiring vendors and agencies – one agency that can do almost everything and is pretty good at all of them, or a collection of specialist agencies that are each best-in-class in their discipline.  The first option is easier to manage, but you likely get better results with the latter. Managing multiple agencies at once, orchestrating how they collaborate and finding centralized means of measurement is something I’ve done my whole career. I see the whole field and can manage the egos of agency partners that seek to nudge out specialist agencies. There’s a way to play in the sandbox that builds castles for clients, not territories for teams.   

Agency and Vendor Sourcing

I’ve sought out, hired and onboarded many agencies and vendors over my career. I even designed an agency search and selection process that doesn’t include the need for an RFP, yet allows for each submitting company the chance to showcase themselves and their skills while also being respectful of the agencies’ time and spec investment. After working in operations, sales, marketing, communications and management, I know how the gears should fit together and I can plainly see when there is misalignment even before any work begins. Reduce your risk and increase your success rate with partners, agencies, firms and vendors by choosing the right one and gaining proper alignment.