Published 23 October 2026
START WITH THE GAPS IN THE BUYING JOURNEY
Business development happens when utilisation dips. Proposals go out and are never chased. Dormant clients are never revisited, and referral relationships decay quietly.
This guide describes the workflow design published in Xiilio’s industry playbook. It is not a case study or a claim of achieved results. Access, permissions and the connected systems determine what can be deployed.
- The people who sell are the people who deliver, so business development stops when utilisation rises
- Proposals go out and are never followed up
- Dormant clients are never revisited despite being the warmest audience the firm has
- Referral relationships decay quietly and are noticed only when work dries up
MAP THE HANDOVERS BEFORE ADDING AUTOMATION
Write down the decision at each stage, who owns it and what information the next person needs. Qualification is not a substitute for a regulated or commercial decision.
- Trigger: Growth, a compliance deadline, a transaction, a problem the in-house team cannot solve.
- Referral or search: A trusted contact is asked first; search and reputation validate the shortlist.
- Scoping: Partner-level conversation on scope, timing and budget expectations.
- Proposal and appointment: Proposal issued, considered internally, then chased — or not.
PROPOSAL FOLLOW-UP
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- Proposal issued and logged in the CRM
- HERALD follows up on a partner-approved cadence
- Questions in scope answered; anything commercial routed to the partner
- Won, lost or stalled recorded with a reason, so win rates become real
DORMANT CLIENT REACTIVATION
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- Clients with no engagement for a defined period identified
- Previous services and outcomes reviewed for a relevant reason to contact
- Partner approves the list and the message
- Responders booked directly into partner diaries
REFERRAL NETWORK NURTURE
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- Referral partners segmented by referrals given and received
- Scheduled, useful contact rather than annual silence
- Meetings booked with the partner relationship owner
- Referral value tracked back to the source relationship
CONNECT THE EXISTING STACK, WITH EXPLICIT BOUNDARIES
No rip-and-replace is the starting point. Confirm API availability, permissions, record mapping and failure handling with the system owner. Product names in the playbook describe systems commonly used in this sector; they do not imply a partnership or a prebuilt connector for every installation.
- CRM
- Practice management or time-recording system
- Partner calendars
- LinkedIn and email
- Proposal and e-signature tooling
KEEP THE APPROVAL GATES VISIBLE
Automation should stop at the boundaries agreed with your team. Record escalations and approval decisions alongside the workflow activity.
- Partner sign-off on target lists and copy
- No fee quotes or scoping by an agent
- Conflict and independence checks before engagement discussions
- Per-send approval available for senior contacts
MEASURE OUTCOMES, NOT ACTIVITY ALONE
Agree the baseline, reporting period and source of each metric before launch. Reconcile CRM outcomes with your own records; do not treat a modelled return or an advertising dashboard as independently audited revenue.
- Proposal win rate
- Average time from proposal to decision
- Dormant clients reactivated
- Fees by referral source
- Partner hours spent on business development