Ep. 643 Developing a Strategic Business Development Process

Rancho Mesa's Surety Relationship Executive Anne Wright sits down with Katie Yee, founder of Connect Strategic Consulting, to explore how successful business development goes far beyond sales and networking. They discuss building a company-wide culture of relationship management, demonstrating value, planning for leadership transitions, and creating a strategic process that leads to stronger client trust, repeat business, and long-term growth.

Show Notes: Subscribe to Rancho Mesa's Newsletter, Connect Strategic Consulting

Host: Anne Wright

Guest: Katie Yee

Editor/Producer: Megan Lockhart

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “Breaking News Intro” by nem0production

© Copyright 2026. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Anne Wright: You’re listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive. 

I’m your host, Anne Wright from the Surety Department, and I’m joined by Katie Yee, owner of Connect Strategic Consulting. Today, we’re going to talk about developing a strategic business development process.

Katie, welcome to the show.

Katie Yee: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

AW: So when people hear the term business development, they think sales, marketing.

KY: Yes.

AW: It's so much more than that I got introduced to you by way of LinkedIn and clients. You've supported a couple of our clients as they were going through transition processes.

KY: Correct.

AW: Whether it's sale or management. And I think people kind of get off track thinking, well... do we need to do there? We've still got our clients. We've still got our pipeline. So I know that you work with a lot of companies to kind of dive in and help them understand how to continue to keep that revenue and that pipeline going in the face of changes. So that's part of what we'll talk about today. So in a few words, how can a company best position themselves for repeat and future business relationships?

KY: Going back to what you said earlier about what business development isn't, I think it's very important that management and leadership understand the difference between, like you were saying, typical sales and business development and networking. And really, they're all different parts of the business development process. But I think people put too much focus on. The sales and networking as far as business development is golf. Business development is going out to happy hour. They really think of those more social settings as being what business development is. But really good, strong business development should be a culture shift within the company. And it should. be something that every single person is a part of. And so when you're asking, you know, how can a company best position themselves for repeat and future business through their business development structure and process, it's really about starting from the top down and identifying how do we bring value to our clients and how do we bring value to our partners and to the industry. In a way that makes people want to include us in their projects and want to bring us in because they know we're going to make them better. We're going to help them and we're going to bring value. So that doesn't happen on the golf course.

AW: Right.

KY: The golf course creates connections and relationships and an opportunity to discuss leads. But that trust is established when you're working on a project. So business development is really every step of the way from identifying a lead to closing out a project, it's part of the whole process. So I think it's a mind shift and it's a culture shift that needs to happen in order for a company to position themselves well.

AW: Yeah, because I think in the business world, people generally think business development, okay, well, and in construction particularly, I got to have the lowest price. Yeah. And that it's all based on the lowest price. And we know that not to be true. It is that value proposition that you mentioned that what do they bring to the relationship and how do they all end up having a successful, profitable project at the end of the day?

KY: Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I mean, honestly, there are going to projects where it's going to be low bid.

AW: Yep.

KY: And regardless of the value that you bring, regardless of your expertise, you may not get that project. But if you don't want to just be chasing. low bid work, then you need to have a strong business development process and you need to have everybody bought in on it because that's where you can really rise above as a company and start pursuing work that isn't just low bid and really start looking for more of that best value type of opportunity and pursue that and be successful.

AW: And again, it's the people, right, within a company that establish those relationships and the culture… and connections.

KY: Yeah, absolutely… Yeah. I mean, people work with people they like. We hear it all the time. We say it all the time. You have to put it into action. You have to be likable. You have to make other people's jobs easier. And that's on the job site. That's during the bidding process. That's giving them a lead when you know of a project coming out. It's really every step of the way.

AW: Right. Okay. So when a company's out looking to market, pursue new relationships what's the best advice you can offer as far as how to make that introduction and leave them leave the potential customer with a feeling that I might want to do business with this person.

KY: For that I’d say there's different answers depending on where you're at in the process and where you're at in the relationship i recommend to any of my clients when you're in a network setting Or in any sort of more of a social setting, that's an opportunity just to get to know that person and for them to get to know you. So in that setting, I really don't recommend that you go in with a quote unquote elevator speech because that's where they're just getting to know you. But as you get further along in the process and you're pursuing specific market sectors or projects. it's very important that you make sure that that value proposition is tailored specifically to the owner and the client and to that project. So at any phase, whether that's meeting with them for a meet and greet at that point, or even as far as going to the interview setting, you really want to tailor everything and show that you know the client and you know the project and you know how you're going to fit in and add value across the board.

AW: And if you have a track record of proving that you've been able to work through challenges, it's not a bad idea to know how to present that to someone.

KY: Yeah, absolutely. And especially if you can identify their challenges ahead of time, maybe even before they know that they're going to be challenges so that you're showing that you are solution oriented and that you have that evidence based solution that you can offer that you've already proven.

AW: Right. Right. Yeah. In our world of surety, you know, we have always said that, you know, the time to get. qualified and pre-approved for bonding is not the last minute when you need your first bond. It's set yourself up, get yourself established. Similarly, I think, letting people know what your capabilities are because it sets you apart from your competition. Anything that you can demonstrate to a potential client that makes you stand out from your competition is going to be viewed as a positive.

KY: Yeah. And I work with clients all across the AEC spectrum, so architects, engineers, landscape architects, all the way to subcontractors. And if you're working with architects and engineers, they are pursuing a project, sometimes years in advance of that project actually coming out for an RFQ or RFP. And that's one place that I think that subcontractors can really improve on is don't wait. till that bid comes out to prove that you're the right subcontractor for the work, start building that relationship ahead of time. Because I do think it's really easy just to wait. You have all the bid trackers, you get all the information, you know you're going to get an opportunity to submit a bid. But if you know about the project ahead of time and you're actually in front of that client, offering them solutions and ideas and concepts, estimates, pricing, whatever it is, you're going to be so much better. positioned when that bid comes out versus being the person who's just sitting there waiting and then hoping like you said earlier to have the lowest bid.

AW: Everybody gets so busy. Right. I mean, that's what we hear all the time is like, well, gosh, if I could do that. Yeah, I could do that in so many areas and that would just be wonderful. But all these other things are going on and the one arm paper hangers and trying to keep everything squared away and enough work coming in to pay the bills and keep, you know, people busy. So, yeah, it's hard to get there. But once you get a taste of what that can do for you in future relationships, I sense that that. really makes a difference.

KY: Oh yeah, absolutely. The return on the investment of the time that you put in upfront, you're going to see it tenfold. And where you're going to see that is you're going to work with clients that trust you. So you're going to not have to be the lowest bidder. So that's going to give you a little bit of return on investment right there. You're going to be able to get change orders approved easier because they trust that if you come to them with a change order, that it's honest.

AW: You’ve thought it through and proven what's going on.
KY: Exactly. And so you're going to be more efficient. You're going to work with clients that you like to work with. You're going to work on projects that you like to work on. That's going to keep your team happy. There's so many different ways that. having strong business development is going to make your entire company and your team better, that it's worth that time, whether that means that someone in a leadership role needs to set aside more time just specifically for business development, whether that means you're going to hire someone, who's only going to do business development, or whether you're going to outsource a consultant and have them do business development. But I can promise you, you will see a return on that investment.

AW: And that's where the turning clients into repeat clients comes into play.

KY: Oh, exactly. Yeah.

AW: All of those relationships that are so important and looking forward to what comes next is so frustrating for so many people. So when you can establish those relationships and you know that you'll... an ask, you'll get a look at something because of your proven history.

KY: Yeah. Yeah. It takes a little bit of risk out of the business development process. And I mean, that's kind of what we do in our industry, we’re trying to reduce risk at all times and all ways. So if you can do that through business development by knowing that you're going to get repeat business with clients that you know and clients that trust you, it's going to make your job better and easier for everybody.

AW: Yeah. Yeah. It takes a little bit of risk out of the business development process. And I mean, that's kind of what we do in our industry, right? We're trying to reduce risk at all times and all ways. So if you can do that through business development by knowing that you're going to get repeat business with clients that you know and clients that trust you, it's going to make your job better and easier for everybody.
KY: Yeah.

AW: And it comes differently at different times in different ways for people. But again, if you've set the standard and you've got that reputation, this is what XYZ company does. Here's who they are. And you can find a way to maintain. that reputation through a management change. I've seen you do that with our clients really well.

KY: Oh thank you.

AW: It’s something that people kind of overlook. Yeah. I think, you know, dad's always had these relationships or, you know, and it's not always the case. So there's a lot of thought that needs to go into that.

KY: Yeah. You know, you're right. And it's something that I feel like as an industry, we kind of neglected for a while. We have a lot of really amazing companies that were founded and born and raised in San Diego. And those founders had really strong relationships. And, you know, it was like every year, you know, Todd's taking us out on the boat to Cabo and we're going fishing and we're all going to go on this trip to Colorado. And that's where business was done, is the owner of the company, the founder and their relationships. But when the leaders are getting ready to retire, there's this big gap between the relationships that they had and then the next level of leadership. And we saw really, honestly, a cross. our industry that there had been a lack of succession planning.

AW: Absolutely.

KY: And training specifically to business development. So these people might have known how to run a project really well, or maybe they knew how to run the company really well, or maybe both of those. But a lot of them were not focused on that business development.

AW: Because it just happened.

KY: Because it just happened forever. And they really took it for granted. And I think also some of the founders were hesitant to hand off their relationships.

AW: It's their livelihood. It's their whole life, right?

KY:  Yeah. And they had developed trust. And these were people they knew. These were their friends, and yeah, so through working with several of my clients, we were able to identify that next level of leadership. So their peers that they could start connecting. with so they weren't necessarily relying on the founders relationships, they were establishing their own relationships with other people that now they're all now running companies. And they're giving each other business, sharing leads, creating relationships. So yeah, and I think that those new leaders are already doing a better job of creating that next level of leadership. by getting their associates senior project managers more involved in business development they really learned from maybe what hadn't been working as well, and they're making change. So it's really cool to see.

AW:  Best way to learn a job is to pay attention to what didn't work, and then do it right the next time.

KY: And I think it didn't work just because nobody had seen it done before. Sure. Yeah. And it wasn't necessarily something anyone did intentionally. It just wasn't, nobody was really prepared.

AW: Merrily we roll along.

KY: Yeah, exactly.

AW: So we, you know, covered a lot of the basics here. Just wanted to sort of recap a few things and just remind people that successful firms focus on opportunities where they can clearly demonstrate value based on their relevant project experience, their expertise, as you mentioned, their proven ability to solve the client challenges. Our hope here is that anyone listening that is in this transition stage or thinking about it and wants to see their business move ahead, don't get left behind because you haven't put the right focus on this issue. So it's more about those relationships and certainly about new business, but it's being able to mark yourself in an industry of a whole lot of competition to make people want to do business with you.
KY: Yeah, absolutely.

AW: Anything else you'd like to add?

KY: I would just say to most people, don't be afraid of business development. I think a lot of people are scared of it.

AW: it's a very broad term with some very specific little niches that you need to pay attention to.

KY: Yeah and there's a lot of people out there now that are doing consulting specifically for business development in the AAC industry. I'm just one of several people specifically in Southern California. So I would say if people are scared of business development, don't be afraid to reach out. There's a lot of training out there. There's consultant opportunities. There's a lot of different tools and resources that weren't there before. And smart businesses are going to take advantage of that and you'll see their growth.

AW: Just knowing who to talk to and when to make that happen. It's, again, another thing on the plate, right? But, you know, think about it now, maybe baby steps and find your way to continuing the success of what I presume these businesses consider good business. So we don't want to see anyone fail. Contractors thriving in our industry, it's fun to watch. I can be reached at awright@ranchomesa.com. Katie, want to share your contact info?

KY: Yeah, the best way to find me is actually on LinkedIn. So it's just Katie, K-A-T-I-E, the last name Yee, Y-E-E, at Connect Strategic Consulting. You can find me on LinkedIn there. You can follow me for industry updates and news and reach out to me via Messenger.

AW: Wonderful. Thanks for coming in.

KY: Thanks. Thanks for having me.

AW: Well thank you for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne™. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at RanchoMesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.