WOMVE2604. Building Effective BD Habits: Practical Strategies to Grow Business & Closing Remarks
In today’s competitive accounting landscape, technical expertise alone isn’t enough. To elevate your influence and advance your career, cultivating strong business development (BD) habits is essential. But for many women in accounting, BD can feel overwhelming or even misaligned with how we naturally build trust and relationships.
This session offers a practical approach to business development that demystifies the process and makes it more accessible, authentic, and sustainable. You’ll learn actionable tools to identify the right clients, manage opportunities with intention, follow up effectively, and close with confidence, by building on the strengths many women already bring to the table, including curiosity, empathy, and relationship-building.
Designed as a practical, hands-on session, we’ll walk through:
• Common misconceptions about business development and how they quietly hold talented professionals back
• How to think differently about business development so it aligns with how you already build trust and credibility with clients
• How to ask high-gain questions in business development conversations that build trust and uncover the full opportunity
• How the sales experience itself can become a point of differentiation and help you win more of the right work
• How to show up more intentionally in business development conversations without changing your personality or style
• Practical ways to stay visible and valuable with prospects and clients even with a full client workload
• How to approach follow-up and client growth with confidence, clarity, and purpose
Whether you’re new to BD or looking to sharpen your edge, you’ll leave this session with a repeatable, low-pressure approach to integrate business development into your weekly rhythm and a clearer sense of what actually makes the difference between being qualified and being chosen.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify common myths about business development that may discourage engagement.
- Recognize ideal client opportunities by asking strategic questions that reveal alignment between client needs and your unique value proposition.
- Identify personalized approaches for initiating and nurturing business development conversations.
- Identify a repeatable framework for managing client pursuits and expansion.
