The Do’s and Don'ts of Business Development: Insights, Strategies, and How They Can Apply to You

Tune in to hear Molly Baker, Founder of Indie Consulting, and Ben Sharf, Co-Founder of Platter, as they explore the realm of Business Development. Ben discusses his perspectives on BD, including his approach, debunking the 'salesperson' stereotype, and strategies for fostering influential relationships. They also delve into the nuances of constructing a remote team and the exciting prospects on Platter's horizon. Don't miss out on this insightful episode!

Molly Baker [MB]: How are you today?

Ben Sharf [BS]: Doing well. Another Monday. We’re in a crazy time right now,  but I enjoy it.

MB: Without revealing who you are, what are you thinking about professionally today?

BS: How to scale my team as fast as I can without compromising quality. That’s the one thing on my mind right now.

MB: How are you tackling that?

BS: It’s a combination of a lot of things. I’m a huge proponent that a lot of big hires come in network with referrals and relationships. We’re working with three different recruiters right now and I’m tapping into everyone in my network letting them know what I need. There's a lot of going on offense. 

MB: Brag about yourself a little bit. What are you better at than others?

BS: I would say I am a super connector. I will get to wherever and whoever I need to get to, no matter what. Whenever you need something I either have that thing, or the person who has that thing. 

So I’ve built my entire career off of relationships and network. I think it’s a really special thing because it allows you to get to places that you never thought you’d be able to get to, and do things you never thought you’d be able to do. 

MB: How do you build that network?

BS: Building and managing a network are two different things. I think a lot of people understand what it takes to build one, but not a lot of people understand what it takes to manage one. One  very simple example is, always lead with value. Give someone something without asking for anything in return. Leading with this approach has helped open many doors that I could have never imagined. 

My favorite example is that I got Nike to sponsor a video on a YouTube channel with zero subscribers. 

MB: How did you get them to do it?

BS: It was a network, it was relationships. I basically built FOMO around it, and made them realize it was either gonna be their competitors that were gonna participate in it, or it was them.

MB: What's your definition of business development? What do you think of when you hear those words? 

BS: Business development to me is, strategically pushing your business forward in a way that opens up new opportunities for you to grow. Business development can be contextual depending on the business you're working on and what it is. However, it really is about building relationships and new ideas to push the business forward. A lot of that stems from partnerships and deal making.

MB: You talk a lot about your network which I’m sure plays a huge role in your approach to BD and sales. Talk a little more about your overall approach. How do you leverage it? How do you know what pieces need to come next? 

BS: By the end of the best deals, it feels like I'm doing a deal with a friend, not with a prospect. It is so much more fun and so much easier to get deals done when you actually enjoy the person on the other side of the table. 

MB: Do you take the time to really get to know them? 

BS: Yeah, 100%. But I will say, undeniably, it's contextual. There are certain deals where I just don't have the bandwidth to be able to give it the TLC that it needs. But for sure, some of the largest deals we're working on right now are with people I would consider genuine friends. 

MB: What are the biggest mistakes you see people make with business development?

BS: When someone makes it too transactional. They ask for things without actually showing value.

Another thing is that sometimes people just don’t understand how to navigate contextual relationships and deal with their different cycles. It’s on you to understand how to approach each situation differently. Some people just miss the boat, and follow a script which lowers their EQ, and makes them unable to adapt. 

MB: I think there's often a lot of negative connotation around sales, and being a salesperson. What are your thoughts on this?

BS: I do agree that there’s a negative connotation, and I think a lot of that is because you're perceived as someone who's selling something to someone all day. That's why I think the concept of relationships is so important because you need to build trust with people. On top of that you need to understand that there are ways to sell people where they feel like you're doing them a favor and providing value, even though they're giving you the credit card. I think there's a subset of salespeople who don't understand that, and then receive that reputation. 

I also think there's certain sales tactics that are used widely that upset a lot of people. If certain companies get associated with those, it starts to spread like wildfire and labels them as the annoying company who’s nonstop.

MB: What relationship has had the most impact on you professionally? 

BS: The answer to that question has evolved at every step in my career. But, in my current life,  I would say my co-founders. This is the first viable and working company that I’ve started. As co-founders we have forced each other to level up, and have pushed each other to maintain a certain standard. Where we started two years ago to where we are today is just so crazy to me. Even with different personalities and speeds, I am very thankful for them because they keep me grounded. 

MB: When you started this company, how much intentionality did you have behind how the three of you would interact? Do you balance each other's personalities? Do you bring different strengths? What thought process went into that? 

BS: I was the matchmaker amongst the group, which made it very much top of mind for me. We have complementary skill sets and yet very different personalities. Our dynamic works great together. 

The best feedback we've gotten was when we went through the process of raising money. An investor told us we have one of the best, three co-founder dynamics ever seen. We just seamlessly fit together. 

MB: So tell us who you are. The grand reveal!

BS: Well, I grew up in Buffalo, New York. I grew up with two sisters. I went to a boarding school in Connecticut for hockey when I was fifteen years old. I ended up playing division one hockey at Colgate University. I was planning to start a corporate after my senior year, but I ended up leading my team in points, and signed with an agent to look at professional hockey. When COVID hit, our season was cut short and hockey was no longer a thing for me.

I decided to get back into the corporate world, but twelve hours before my first day I told them I wasn’t coming anymore. That was definitely a big culturally defining moment for me as a person. 

MB: Why was that a defining moment for you?

BS: Growing up I got stuck in this idea of living the life other people wanted me to live, and not necessarily the one that I wanted for myself. I went to a very corporate heavy school. It was always a competition about who could get the best banking or consulting job. Once I got it, I questioned why I even wanted it, and realized I had always been itching to be an entrepreneur. 

MB: Tell us a little bit about Platter.

BS: Platter is a theme and app bundle for Shopify brands to help improve profitability. Shopify has an app store, the same way that Apple does for the iPhone. It has a bunch of apps that ecommerce brands can download from, to help improve their storefront. At Platter, we natively build a lot of the functionality from those apps, into one solution to consolidate. We then provide best practices around how to increase your average order value and conversion rates, so we can quantify making you money and saving you money at the same time.

MB: How did you come up with this idea? 

BS: I spent a year at GoPuff working in the ecommerce world, and talked to a bunch of brands in the Shopify world. I started to understand there were a lot of pain points that came up. My co-founders who come from an ecom background ultimately knew we wanted to start a company together. We started as an agency and worked with brands we wanted to make our future customers of the software company. We essentially synthesized pain points from working with enough brands to figure out where we could productize something. Once we worked with enough people in an agency capacity, we eventually launched the software product that has evolved into Platter. 

MB: What does an average day look like?

BS: It actually depends on the day of the week. I've been very intentional about structuring my week based on the day. I try to have different themes for different days. 

For example, Monday’s are only internal meetings. Meeting with different teams, making sure planning and progression is on track. I also take time for content writing and ideating. The thing that is omnipresent is my relationships and meetings. I always say that my job in this business is to make sure we're top of mind for the right people, all the time. 

My role has transitioned to high-level thinking. In order to move the business forward, I’ve realized I have to stop working in the business so much and instead work on the business. 

MB: How has that transition been?

BS: Hard. You know what, therapy has been really helpful for me in that transition. It’s created more of an opportunity for me to let go. Learning how to let go has been very challenging for me, but I think at the end of the day, you need to trust yourself, and you also have to trust the people that you put in place to support you. The transition hasn’t been easy, but it’s gotten better. 

MB: What would you say is the best part of what your role looks like today? 

BS: I just love being an advocate. So for me, doing podcasts like this, meeting people, learning from others, that's what I love to do. I love leaning into my superpowers which is my network. 

MB: What about the worst part? 

BS: The worst part is that you can't turn your brain off. It’s a blessing and a curse. Not being able to turn it off is a challenge, but I also think that's part of why we're successful. 

MB: What have you found most surprising about starting Platter? 

BS: How many people give off the perception that they know what's going on, even when they have no idea what actually is going on. In my opinion, whether you’re a prospective investor, advisor, founder, or industry expert, everyone is still learning along the way. 

MB: Talk to me a little more about your fully remote team. How has that been? What works? What doesn’t work?

BS: It's definitely had its challenges. One of the challenges that many companies experience is as a team grows from five to fifteen, or whatever number, the dynamic can definitely change. We’ve had to be very attentive to what people want and don’t want. We always ask for feedback, and want to know if people are getting value, and if they aren’t, what could be changed in order for it to happen. 

Something we just started, is an icebreaker to start every all hands meeting. Being remote you often miss hallway conversations with your coworkers, so if we don’t incorporate these fun things, people aren’t going to get to know each other. 

In the end, it's about being very communicative with our employees to make sure we're in tune with what they do like, and what they don't. The second is ensuring new employees are effective when working asynchronously. The third is making a point to have offline interaction, it is really important to me that people don’t feel isolated. 

MB: Do you have regular on-sites where you get everyone together?

BS: We do it with our leadership. The challenge is that a lot of our team is global, so we would need to hit some big milestones to justify the price of getting everyone here. However, I would say it’s at the top of my goal list. 

MB: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for Platter in the next couple of years?
BS: We are trying to debunk the misconception that building a high converting ecommerce storefront is expensive and takes a long time. That's not true. If we are able to debunk that myth in the next couple of years, and our name becomes synonymous with being able to build a high converting storefront, cheap and effectively, then I think we probably did something right. 

MB: Talk to me about what is next for you. Are you looking for more partnerships? Do you need more demand?

BS: No, demand is not our problem, which I think every founder would love to say. For us, it’s more about scaling up the team in an effective way, and maintaining the demand as well as customer satisfaction. 

MB: When you were 21, did you ever think you’d be doing what you are now?

BS: I had a feeling that I would be building something. However, I don't think I had any clue about what it was going to be, what industry it would be in, where I’d be building it, or who I’d be building it with. But, I knew for sure that I wouldn’t be working for someone else at this point in my life.

MB: What advice would you give to someone who's just starting their career?

BS: Always follow your curiosities, and remember that regret hurts a lot more than failure. If you are sitting around wondering whether or not to do it, just do it. There are very few people who regret following their passions and curiosities, even if it doesn’t work out. 

Trendy or Tragic

Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake ‘beef’

BS: Trendy. Despite the fact that it’s a little ridiculous, it’s interesting that successful people put so much energy into trolling each other, which I think is quite funny. 

Leveraging Employees as LinkedIn Influencers

BS: Trendy. I am all in on organic social because it’s an opportunity to increase your surface area exponentially. That’s why I think that everyone can be a brand advocate. 

Branded Merch - Chick-fil-A/ Wawa / Etc.

BS: I would lean more towards tragic. It is a little contextual for me because there are certain brands I think are so cool, and would definitely wear some of their merch. But, I do think there are brands participating in it who are making themselves look bad. So, probably more tragic, but it definitely depends on the brand you have. 

Follow Ben Sharf on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram as well as Platter at platter.co.

As for us, follow @namedrop.pod on Instagram & LinkedIn and @molbakes on Instagram for all future episodes and insights.