The Five Pillars of Business Development

Business development is an ever-evolving field in M&A. When we published our first business development playbook in 2015, the team was still largely focused on in-person tactics, and Axial was in the early stages of its uphill battle to educate deal professionals on the importance of technology. Fast forward a decade later, and we’re in a position that no one — especially the original eBook’s editorial team — could have predicted.

Video conferencing is an integral part of everyone’s day-to-day lives. AI has begun its own takeover. LinkedIn is not only a social media platform used by all, but it’s essentially a permanent browser tab frequented multiple times daily. We no longer have to convince our members to create a website, rather now it’s all about how to best optimize it against competition. And along with all of this technical evolution, Axial has become a tried-and-true tool for everyday deal sourcing. 

Despite all of this change, one thing has remained consistent: business development is absolutely integral to a firm’s success. If anything, it is more important than ever, because there is more competition than ever. 

As such, we’re excited to present our new and improved business development playbook.

From uncovering various buyer and seller strategies, to building your deal funnel and executing on the five pillars of business development, this eBook explores BD best practices for deal professionals in 2024. And while many goals and themes from ten years ago still ring true, how we execute on them in today’s market is vastly different. 

We hope this eBook provides helpful tips and tricks for you to stay competitive in today’s tough deal environment. And if you need help implementing any of these strategies, please reach out! We’ve got a great team — both internal and external — that can help you bring your business development to the next level.

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