business development - n : business function focused on strategy, creating strategic partnerships and long-term relationships with suppliers and customers. The business development function within a business can be thought of as a jack-of-all-trades position focused on strategic deal-making with an eye toward increasing sales and expanding the company's long-term business success or scope.
Based on the above definition, LinkedIn is the perfect platform for helping the business development specialist achieve his goals. How so? Let's say you have an idea for a strategic partnership that would be mutually beneficial to your company and the partner organization you have identified. But you don't know anyone at the company. Here's how LinkedIn says to proceed:
- Performing a People Search will quickly find the right person at the company and determine who you know in common for a warm Introduction. If this isn't possible, you also have the option to reach out directly via an InMail.
- While reading an article on partner sites (such as Business Week, CIO, etc) you can immediately see how your network can help you get access to that company to discuss an opportunity using Company Insider. Click the icon to see who you're conncted to at LinkedIn.
- Viewing your counterpart's profile can help bridge the gap by providing mutual contacts, background, recommendations, etc.
The above is probably the most often used LinkedIn technique for business development, but there are a couple of other ways to use it. Let's say you have an idea to develop a profit-sharing arrangement that is common in certain industries but not in yours. You can search Linkedin to find relevant contacts at companies in those industries, so you can reach out to ask them how the arrangement worked for them. Or, consider using Answers to get your questions addressed.
LinkedIn has some pretty powerful business development tools for those willing to do the work.