Focus Article- Stacy Dreher and Kaila Yim

Growth Architects: Building Your Firm’s Business Development Foundation

Business development(BD) has become increasingly vital to accounting firm success, regardless of firm size.

As competition intensifies and service offerings expand, firms are recognizing the need for dedicated business development resources. However, building an effective BD function requires careful planning and a clear understanding of your firm’s readiness.

How to Assess if Your Firm is Ready for Business Development

The first step in evaluating business development readiness is examining your current growth trajectory.

Art Kuesel, President of Kuesel Consulting, encourages firms to ask the critical question,“Is your current business development engine strong enough to achieve your growth goals without business development support?” He’s seen firms as small as 50 people successfully support a full-time business developer, while some firms of 250-300 people operate without one.

Partner support and service capacity go hand in hand when evaluating readiness. Lori Langholz, Chief Business Development Officer at BDO USA, emphasizes the importance of having“a large enough group of principals who want a business developer.”She then advises firms to analyze how much they want to sell and if they have the capacity to service the new business brought in.

Understanding realistic timelines for success is equally important.The typical sales cycle runs 3-9 months, according to Kuesel, from initial meeting to signed engagement letter. Firms must be prepared to invest in business development as a long-term strategy rather than expecting immediate results.

How to Structure the Business Development Role for Success

Structuring the business development function requires careful consideration of firm needs, markets and goals.While traditional BD models focused purely on new business generation, firms now recognize the need for deeper integration with firm operations.

Geographic, industry, or service focus represents one of the first decisions firms face. According to Langholz, "We continue to have a geography forward model where we have business developers who support a particular geography, but we are leaning more and more into industry go-to-market as well as buyer-centric go-to-market approaches."

Some firms are moving beyond traditional "hunter" roles to embrace a more comprehensive approach. Ralph MacNamara, Chief Growth Officer at Kaufman Rossin, advocates for a combination of business development and sales enablement rather than pure business development alone. "When you have these lone salespeople in a firm, they’re not as integrated as much as you would like within the practice."

This integration proves crucial for enhanced collaboration and long-term success. Business developers should participate in technical training, understand service delivery, and work closely with practice leaders. MacNamara encourages firms to involve BD professionals in practice area meetings, industry team meetings and regional sales strategy meetings, noting that bringing in leads is just one component of their overall value.

The relationship between business developers and partners requires careful consideration. Kuesel emphasizes the importance of positioning business developers as partners to the partners. "If there's anything in the job description or compensation model that encourages competition, that's not a good thing," he explains. "You don't want the business developer competing with partners for business."

For smaller firms just starting their BD journey, a hybrid role often makes sense.This might involve combining lead generation with sales enablement activities or proposal support.The key is ensuring the structure aligns with firm capabilities and market opportunities.

Setting Goals and Expectations

Setting appropriate goals for business developers requires balancing ambition with reality. Many firms struggle with this balance, either expecting too much too soon or failing to establish clear metrics for success.

Jack Kolmansberger, Chief Growth Officer at Herbein + Company, takes a measured approach to first-year goals. "Even if you hire the best business developer in the world, they’ll need to build credibility in the market and within the firm," he notes. His firm focuses on recognizing both effort and outcomes, particularly in the early stages.

The pressure to show immediate results can lead to poor decisions. MacNamara warns against rushing to meet arbitrary targets. If a business developer is pressured to have immediate results, they might bring opportunities to the firm that aren't quite a fit but pressure the firm to accept them because they need to meet their goals, he explains.

Another successful model includes the layering of performance metrics.

Langholz describes BDO's approach: "First and foremost, it's revenue. Behind the revenue goals, we measure opportunities — how many opportunities are they both bringing to the firm and participating in?Then we back that up another step — how many meetings are they having?"

Langholz suggests metrics should evolve with experience, noting that meeting quotas becomes less important for business developers who consistently generate revenue significantly above their quota.

Keys to Long-term Success

Long-term success in business development relies heavily on cultural fit and firm integration. Business developers must be viewed as valuable team members rather than outside sales representatives who occasionally bring in leads.

Compensation structure can significantly impact long-term success. "Through mutual trust, we can account for the anticipated first-year learning curve and build appropriate compensation packages in the future, particularly for bonuses,”explains Kolmansberger.“We're not looking to be us versus you. If one of us wins, we all win." His firm avoids rigid formulas in favor of recognizing both effort and outcomes.

Clear communication channels between business developers and firm leadership help maintain momentum. Regular meetings to discuss opportunities, challenges and changing market conditions ensure everyone stays aligned.This ongoing dialogue helps firms adjust strategies and support as needed.

Langholz emphasizes the importance of collaborative relationships between business developers and partners.The most successful business developers, she notes, develop what she calls "situational fluency" — understanding exactly what support each partner needs, whether that's lead generation, presentation preparation, client expansion or project management.

Growth Considerations for the Future

As firms evolve, their approach to business development must adapt. Technology integration increasingly influences business development success. Kolmansberger describes his firm's efforts to leverage data analytics: "We're trying to develop success metrics and models for each of our core industries and then identify gaps and opportunities."

Some firms are exploring specialized roles within their BD teams. BDO, for example, has recently added national account executives to focus on their largest strategic clients. Langholz notes this change reflects their firm's upmarket movement and their clients' increasing sophistication.

When planning for growth, firms should also consider industry specialization within their BD function. MacNamara suggests that bringing in professionals with deep industry experience and established networks can help accelerate business development efforts.

Advisory services represent another key growth area for many firms. At Kaufman Rossin, MacNamara reports that advisory services now comprise 80% of his focus, reflecting a broader industry trend toward specialized service offerings beyond traditional tax and audit work.

The future of business development demands increasingly diverse skill sets. Kuesel notes that digital marketing efforts support lead generation, and these opportunities require qualification and sales support. Firms need to be realistic about roles specialization rather than expecting one individual to support all aspects of business development.

Building effective business development capabilities takes time, patience and commitment. Firms that thoughtfully assess their readiness, however, carefully structure roles, set appropriate expectations and maintain focus on long-term success can build sustainable business development functions that drive growth well into the future.

Stacy Dreher, marketing director, James Moore & Co.. Contact at stacy.dreher@jmco.com

KailaYim, marketing specialist, Froehling Anderson. Contact at kyim@fa-cpa.com.