Why senior partners avoid business development (and the fix)
In most firms, business development is loved in the partners' meeting and abandoned by Thursday. Not laziness: design.
People avoid work that feels unequipped. BD as practised is maximally unequipped.
The real objection
Partners avoid BD because it feels like cold-calling with a better title: no warm context, no preparation, no words for the awkward moments. Experts hate being amateurs, and unsupported BD makes experts feel like amateurs.
Equip, don't exhort
Warm signals instead of cold lists. A dossier before every conversation. Talk tracks for openings and objections. Assets ready for follow-through. Equipped, the same reluctant partner turns out to be excellent, because the underlying skill, credibility in conversation, was always there.
Make it a rhythm, not a resolution
A short weekly BD ritual with the shortlist pre-made beats quarterly bursts of guilt. Rhythm plus equipment is the entire fix.
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