Effective new year planning for better business development

Mary Cloonan outlines simple steps partners can take now to maintain year-long commercial focus and boost the bottom line

A partner sets a new year’s goal in January: more client conversations, better follow-up and a fuller focus on business development. By March, however, their resolve has dissipated. Their intent may have been genuine, but the structure was lacking.

I see this happen across accounting firms every year. Business development gets agreed at the partner level, then struggles to find its place once diaries fill up. It feels intangible and hard to prioritise. When there’s no clear shape to it, it simply fades.

This is entirely fixable. And January—a time when most firms are deep in partner reviews and planning for the year ahead—is exactly the right moment to address it.

Why January matters

January brings a natural pause. Partners reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and where the gaps appeared the year before. Targets for the coming year are discussed. There is usually a shared sense that relationships will matter more, not less.

This is the moment when business development is easiest to discuss candidly. It’s the period before diaries fill up again and delivery pressure takes over.

A clear focus agreed now and tracked throughout the year is far more likely to stick than vague intentions revisited only when the next review comes around.

Beyond the top 100 list

Many firms start the year by asking partners to identify their top 10 or top 100 contacts. The list is created, it sits in a spreadsheet, and by February, no one is looking at it.

The problem is not the list; it’s that a single list treats every relationship the same way. A long-standing audit client who could introduce you to their board is not the same as a prospect you’ve never met. When everything sits in one list, nothing gets the right focus.

Three types of relationships that need different attention

The relationships that drive growth tend to fall into three groups. Each needs something different.

Clients are the people you already work with. The opportunity here is to protect what you have, deepen trust and stay close enough to hear about needs before they go elsewhere.

For audit partners, this is particularly important. You may see a client regularly, but if every conversation is about compliance, you can drift into the background of their commercial world without realising it.

Prospects are organisations you would like to work with but don’t yet. These relationships need a reason to start a conversation and enough persistence to stay visible until the timing is right.

Referral sources are the people who send work your way. Former colleagues, professional contacts, intermediaries. These relationships need gratitude, visibility, and the occasional reminder that you value their contributions.

Most partners know which of these three needs most attention right now. January is a good moment to ask that question clearly.

Five purposeful conversations

Across those three groups, a simple question helps: where would five well-chosen conversations make the most difference this year?

For some partners, that might mean deeper conversations with existing clients, moving beyond the annual audit cycle. For others, it’s about reconnecting with referrers who have gone quiet, or investing time in a small number of genuine prospects.

A partner who commits to five meaningful conversations can revisit that quarterly and ask honestly: did I do what I said I would? What came from it?

The questions that make conversations count

Many partners associate business development with selling. That’s where discomfort sets in.

In reality, the most effective business development conversations are guided by curiosity. A few thoughtful questions help keep things focused without making them forced:

• What is changing in your business that we should understand?
• Where are you feeling most pressure right now?
• Who else is involved when decisions like this get made?
• What would make the biggest difference to you over the next twelve months?
• Is there anything we’re not talking about that we probably should be?

These questions surface far more opportunities than any pitch ever will. They work just as well with a client you’ve known for ten years as with a prospect you’re meeting for the first time.

Making it part of the partner conversation

The difference between firms that grow through relationships and those that don’t is rarely a matter of strategy.

It’s consistency, and that comes from making business development visible in the conversations that already happen: partner reviews, quarterly check-ins and annual planning.

Looking ahead

January gives you the space to agree on what matters. The real test is whether the approach you settle on is light enough to survive February, March and the busy season beyond.

You don’t need a complicated system. You need clarity on which relationships matter most, a few good questions, and the habit of following up. Track it simply. Revisit it regularly.

And then keep going.

Mary Cloonan is the founder of Marketing Clever