Tortoise or the Hare?(BD edition)

It's the final countdown!

As a child, we've all heard of the children's book, "The tortoise vs. the hare"  Vivid images of Bugs Bunny and the Tortoise constantly racing to see who wins.  The Hare is fast, aggressive, and overbearing.  The Tortoise-slow, methodical, and a planner.  In laymen's terms, we're talking speed vs. methodical pace.  There are quite a few articles on this concept so it's not original.  I want to provide a different perspective on this oldie but goodie.

Business development in itself has so many different types of people and role positions.  I've been around companies where Business development is treated as solely lead gen people that simply do appointment setting.  I've been in organizations where the role of business development was to create strategic relationships that were beneficial to both sides.  Both roles require the rep having the ability to generate revenue.

For my examples, I will loosely base people to the objects I describe.

The Tortoise

They are methodical and proponents of gaze following.  It's unknown how intelligent a tortoise is but they approach everything with a calm and steady demeanor.  Tortoises learn from other people's mistakes and find solutions to solve problems.  Tortoises are also slow to adjustments and spend more time planning their attack.  If it's a quick race, the tortoise gets smoked by the hare.

The Hare

Hares are fast, agile and able to adapt .  The Hare is known to be  fast in the open and able to react from their large ears.  Hares are not known to be as domesticated as cute adorable bunnies.  They are  hunters out in the open space.  A Hare is great in the short term and because their ability to get from point A to point B, can help you win.  

Who to be?

The most consistent theme you will notice in my blog writings is balance.  I truly believe both of their traits combine can create  what we deem as a "unicorn."  The Tortoise has a great sense of preparing and really understand situations.  The hare has the gumption to just go for it!  One of my favorite words I heard was: "Be a Haretoise" Marketing is cyclical and if you move too slow you can pass the trends.  If you move too fast, you allow another company to take your weaknesses and magnify them.