By Sydney Mabalayo, Strategy and Business Development Director at SPM
A company can be busy without necessarily moving in the right direction. Teams can spend months responding to enquiries, preparing proposals and pursuing new work while important shifts are taking place around them. Clients may begin changing how they maintain their assets, investment may move into different sectors, new technologies may influence operational priorities, or competitors may strengthen their position through partnerships. By the time these changes appear in a tender, they are no longer emerging signals. They are already affecting where work is going and what clients expect from service providers.
Understanding these changes should form part of the business development function. Market intelligence involves gathering information about clients, competitors, sectors, technology, regulation, infrastructure investment and economic conditions, then working out what that information means for the organisation. The value does not lie in producing reports or collecting large amounts of data. It lies in recognising a change early enough for the business to respond properly.
Sales and business development work closely together, but they do not have the same role. Sales is generally focused on active opportunities, including enquiries, client discussions, proposals, pricing and the movement of work towards a commercial decision. Business development needs to look beyond what is already in the pipeline. It should examine where future demand may come from, which sectors deserve attention, which relationships need to be developed, and what the organisation may need to strengthen before opportunities reach the market.
In the power and industrial maintenance sector, demand is shaped by factors that rarely develop overnight. Ageing infrastructure, delayed maintenance, changes in generation capacity, new compliance requirements, pressure on production and investment in grid expansion can all affect future work. These changes often become visible through project announcements, technical discussions, budget decisions and recurring client concerns long before a formal tender is issued. The earlier they are recognised, the more time the organisation has to prepare.
Most companies already hold useful information about the market, although it may not be recognised as such. Operations teams know which technical problems are appearing more frequently. Sales teams hear which questions clients are asking. Finance can identify where margins are under pressure. Procurement knows which materials or components are becoming more difficult to source, while technical teams can see where new skills or equipment may be required. When this information remains inside individual departments, the organisation loses the opportunity to see the larger pattern.
Part of the business development role is therefore to bring these observations together and determine whether they point to a meaningful change. If several clients are extending the life of ageing equipment rather than replacing it, there may be growing demand for condition assessments, refurbishment, and long-term maintenance support. If clients are asking more questions about remote monitoring, the company may need to consider whether it has the right technology, skills and partners. If investment is increasing in a particular region, the organisation should first understand the local market, the likely competition and what would be required to deliver work there consistently.
This information should also help the business decide where not to spend its time. A market can look attractive on paper and still be wrong for the organisation. There may be visible investment and a large number of projects, but the margins may be weak, the technical requirements may fall outside the company’s strengths, or the delivery risks may be too high. It is better to recognise that early than to commit time and resources to work that does not support the company’s direction.
Client conversations remain one of the strongest sources of useful information. Long before work reaches procurement, clients often discuss the pressures they are facing. They may refer to equipment that is becoming difficult to maintain, projects that have been delayed, changes in compliance requirements, budget constraints or concerns about future capacity. These comments should not be treated as casual observations. When similar concerns surface across several clients, they may indicate a broader market shift.
This requires business development teams to ask better questions. Every client meeting cannot focus solely on what work is currently available. It is also important to understand what is becoming more difficult, what has changed in the client’s operating environment and what they expect to face over the next few years. These conversations help the organisation prepare for future demand instead of waiting for it to become obvious.
The responsibility does not mean that business development should work alone. A reliable view of the market depends on information from across the organisation. Operations, sales, finance, technical teams, procurement and SHERQ each see different risks and opportunities. Business development should create a practical way for that information to be shared, tested, and discussed with the people responsible for the company’s direction and investment.
When this does not happen, growth becomes reactive. The business waits for opportunities to appear before deciding whether it can pursue them. It discovers capability gaps when clients are already asking questions, builds relationships too late and enters markets without a clear understanding of what delivery will require. This can create activity, but it does not always create sustainable growth.
Good market intelligence gives the organisation time to prepare. It allows the business to strengthen its capabilities, develop partnerships, build credibility, and make informed choices about where to compete. In industrial markets, where projects can take months or years to develop, that preparation can make the difference between being ready for an opportunity and arriving after the market has already moved.
Business development should therefore be assessed on more than the number or value of opportunities currently in the pipeline. Its contribution also lies in helping the organisation understand what is changing, where future demand may emerge and what the business needs to do now to be ready for it.