On Referrals: "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" by Whitney Houston

In this case, I would analogize the "dancing" of Whitney's song with work you do for a client.   And I want to address the feeling they get when working with you.  This brings me to the concept of "customer delight."  Here are two definitions:

"The concept of delight -- providing a remarkable experience to users that focuses on their needs, interests, and wishes that leaves them so satisfied, they can't help but go out and sing the praises of your brand..."  https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-delight

"Customer delight is surprising a customer by exceeding his or her expectations and thus creating a positive emotional reaction.  This emotional reaction leads to word of mouth."  -- Wikipedia

Therefore, "customer delight" is a higher standard of service delivery than "customer satisfaction."  It creates a competitive advantage for a business because "happy customers stick around longer than those who have a neutral or negative experience."  https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-delight

So, creating a great customer experience involves "building trust with people so that they stay loyal to your brand... You build trust by consistently making the people you are here to serve successful.  You can do that by:  (1) Answering their questions; (2) Solving their problems; (3) Helping them reach their goals; and (4) Being enthusiastic."  https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-delight

When it comes to incorporating this concept into the practice of law, I think it means that clients get the feeling that you will "take care of them" and that they are in good hands with you.  That you will marshall your gifts and legal skills to limit their financial exposure or reputational risk, protect them from a competitor or adversary, advocate strongly for their benefit in a deal, and/or keep them out of harm's way, to the best of your ability.  That you will take on their problems or situation as your own. 

If you can do this with your legal strategy and lawyering style, you will have delighted them, and they will "love" you.  And when they love you, they will refer you.  Which is an ideal form of business development.  And it feels really good.  Who doesn't want to be loved?  Who doesn't want to dance with somebody who loves them?

Poor Networking Advice: "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen

Hey, I just met you and this is crazy/
But here's my number, so call me maybe/
It's hard to look right at you baby/
But here's my number, so call me maybe.

Ok, I am going to keep this short and sweet.  Never, ever, ever give your business card to someone without context, without laying a respectful and mutual foundation to the relationship.  Once, at a networking event, I was in a group of 4 people when someone walked up to us, intruded on the conversation in progress, and pushed his business card at each of us, and then simply walked away.  We were too polite to decline it, but we were sort of in shock.  It was "fly-by-night" networking, an epic fail.  The name of that guy is....  Well, I have no idea.  Because I put his card in the circular file even before I got home.  Do not be "that guy."  Carly Rae suggests a similar effort in this song -- "Hey, I just met you and this is crazy/But here's my number, so call me maybe."  Moral of this story:  What may be impetuous and possibly alluring in dating is NOT so in networking.  Again, don't be "that guy"!
 

On Repetition: "You Are So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker

Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" is a truly amazing song.  Just listen to it.  And, then, just think about it.  Parse it out, and look at it.  It is literally only two stanzas, repeated:

"You are so beautiful
To me
You are so beautiful
To me
Can't you see

You're everything I hope for
You're everything I need
You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me"

Each time he sings these two stanzas, he imbues them with so much meaning and so much feeling.  Blood, sweat and tears.  You live and breathe it.  In some stanzas, I hear his gratitude for his beloved.  In some, I hear his fear of losing something this beautiful.  In others, I hear how incredulous he is to have this in his life, and how much he is trying to make his beloved see herself as he sees her.  Actually, I think I read into it alot of what I'm feeling on any given day.  It lands different ways, but it's the same two stanzas all along. 

So it must be with a good business development strategy.  In a certain sense, it cannot be something to create anew each day.  It must be something simple that you commit to and execute upon each day, repeating key techniques over and over in furtherance of your vision.  In this way, it does not demand a completely new idea or approach each day, but it does demand that you imbue your efforts with dedication, heart and soul.  You need to keep taking the small steps, day after day, with unwavering conviction.  Cultivating your contacts.  Getting your name and content out there.  Planting the seeds.  Sometimes, it uplifts your heart, and sometimes it takes a painful toll.  But it's always very alive.  Like this song.  Each repeated stanza has a life of its own.  There is always a striving for connection; and in the repetition and its impact, there is magic.  So it is with business development.

On Patience & Resilience: "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen

I'm a Jersey girl, so it didn't take a long time for me to look to Bruce and pull out a Springsteen song.  He holds so much wisdom, for all of life and, of course, for business development.  Have you seen him on Broadway?  Magical and mystical.  Have you read his autobiography Born to Run?  Poignant and profound.  It took him seven years to complete that amazing book.  And it can take, on average, 6-8 touchpoints with a viable prospect to convert him or her to a client, sometimes much more.  Patience and resilience, my friends  Play the long game.  Baby, you were born to run:

"Oh, someday girl, I don't know when, we're gonna get to that place/
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun/
But till then tramps like us - baby we were born to run."

On Rejection: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones

The first song to come to mind, and which will kickoff my business development blog, is:  "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones.  As you read this post, I wonder what that song makes you feel.

For me - there is begrudging acknowledgement, as Mick winds his way around that title line -- oh man, yeah, you CAN'T always get what you want, but -- okay -- you can get what you NEED.  There's some grit in his voice, there's the repetition of the line "you can't always get what you want" -- which seems to underscore the pain.   Of longing, of not receiving, of missing out, of rejection.  Each time he says it, it's like he's suffering with you but telling it to you straight, his voice edgy and craggily but breaking the truth to you, over and over, until you have no choice but to accept it.  Because you absolutely know that, yes, in life, you really can't always get what you want.

But then, there is hope.  There is reality mixed with hope.  He saves you, as he sings:  "But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."  Hope!  But he's also telling you straight up that it's the result of both effort and perspective.  You have to try, and you have to be able to see the difference between what you want and what you need.  That may take a longer view.

This song makes me think of one of my fundamental rules of BD that lawyers who have worked with me have heard a lot.  "A 'no' from a client or prospect often means 'not now'."  So -- Stay with them and the relationship.  Don't walk away angry or feeling hurt because they didn't choose you at that particular moment.  Find out why your offering didn't meet their needs at this time.  Engage and ask.  Figure out how to serve them better.  Keep them on your radar and approach them at a future time, with intelligence and perhaps some new useful information, to see if their needs have changed or if you can be considered again.  Stay calm, keep the relationship alive and positive, see where it leads.  Often, it can lead to work.  

So - you really can't always get what you want in BD, but if you try sometimes (judiciously, positively, unselfishly), you just might find that you (ultimately) get what you need.
 

INTRODUCTION to "WISDOM at the INTERSECTION": WHERE MUSIC AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MEET

Believe it or not, there's a lot of good business development ("BD") advice in popular music.  Great lyrics (propelled by powerful melodies) can give you messages and inspiration for your business generation efforts and strategy, if you tune into them on this level.  Listening closely can bring a new dimension to songs you have heard for years.

And successful BD, when all things come together to generate new business, is like a symphony, uniting people, techniques, instruments, heart, and soul to create something harmonious and beautiful -- a working relationship, a collaboration between parties to problem-solve and bring something into fruition.  So -- I think it's a natural fit to draw parallels between the two:  BD and music.  That intersection is the subject of my blog.  Welcome.

““Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.” ”

— Beethoven