By Mark Podgainy
Managing Director at Getzler Henrich & Associates
Business development is often viewed as an outcome-driven race to close deals and capture new clients. However, 25 years of working closely with businesses to help them achieve sustainable, scalable growth have taught me otherwise. When I think about business development, I always come back to the analogy of a marathon.
And because I’ve run marathons myself, I believe that the principles of endurance, patience, and strategy are extremely relevant to both. I’ve spent years in consulting, finance, and business development, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that success isn’t about quick wins; it’s about staying the course and having the resilience to keep going even when the results aren’t immediate.
Here are 5 of the top lessons from marathons that can work wonders to achieve long-term business success.
Lesson 1: Patience is Key
One of the first lessons I learned in both marathon running and business development is that patience is non-negotiable. The journey is not about quick wins but rather sustained efforts over time. It’s not about going all out and burning through your energy in the first mile. Similarly, success in business development is not a rapid sprint but a series of smaller steps, each contributing to the larger goal.
Just as marathon runners pace themselves, so should business development professionals. In one of my early marathons, I remember feeling great at the start and running way too fast. By mile 18, I hit the wall. I was walking, physically wiped, and mentally crushed. That experience taught me the importance of pacing—not just in running but in business too. If you try to do everything at once, you’ll burn out. Success comes from finding a sustainable rhythm.
Effective business development takes years of consistent effort. Developing authentic, meaningful relationships—rather than focusing solely on immediate results—is essential for sustainable growth in this field.
I’ve found tools like CRMs and note-taking invaluable for staying organized and maintaining that steady pace. They help me track my efforts and make sure I’m staying consistent over time. Just like in a marathon, where every mile counts, in business development, every email, call, and meeting adds up.
Lesson 2: Nurture for the future
I´ve trained with and guided disabled athletes in the New York City Marathon for years. Part of my marathon training advice is that you need to do more than just run, to prepare. You need to work on building strength, speed, and stamina, identifying your weaknesses and also learn to be calm, focused, and mentally tough to be a better runner overall in the long run.
Another analogy I use for business development is farming. You plant seeds—whether it’s an outreach email, an initial call, or a networking meeting—and then nurture them. You water them, fertilize them, and take care of them consistently. You don’t see results right away, but over time, those seeds start to grow. By regularly “watering” these seeds with touchpoints like follow-up emails, phone calls, and meaningful interactions, business developers can eventually build a network of fruitful relationships.
Lesson 3: Consistency Builds Endurance
When I was training for my first marathon, I learned that the mental challenge is at least as tough as the physical one. You have to train your mind to stay focused, mile after mile, even when your body wants to give up. In business, this mental endurance translates to persistence through setbacks, rejections, or long periods without visible progress.
It´s critical to build mental endurance to keep going when the road gets tough.
There were times in my career when I felt like giving up—when I sent email after email and heard nothing back or when deals I worked hard on fell through. But I learned to push through those moments. It’s about consistency, long-term commitment and about showing up every day and doing the work, even when the results aren’t immediate. Developing resilience in the face of challenges can make the difference between achieving long-term success and falling short.
Lesson 4: Adaptability in the Face of Setbacks
Marathons, like business development, don’t always go according to plan. You might get a cramp, hit bad weather, or realize mid-race that you went out too fast. In business, it’s no different. There have been times when my strategies didn’t work as expected, and I had to step back and reevaluate.
For instance, a few years ago, I was tasked with building industry-specific practices. In one of those industries, I hit a slump. I had to ask myself, “Am I doing everything I can? Is my strategy still working, or do I need to recalibrate?” Just like in a race where you might need to adjust your pace or take off a layer if the weather changes, in business development, you have to stay flexible and adapt to new circumstances. Knowing when to persist and when to change direction is a key part of both the marathon mindset and essential for long-term success in business development.
Lesson 5: Don’t Let Emotions Get in the Way
One of the biggest pitfalls I’ve seen—both in business and in running—is letting emotions take over. In my early marathons, I would get caught up in the excitement, letting my race plan go by the wayside and ending up disappointed with the results.
In both running marathons and business development, emotions can disrupt rational thinking and lead to poor decisions. I’ve seen people make emotional decisions because they’re too invested in a particular deal or relationship. You may overpay or lower your standards to secure a deal simply because you´re unwilling to let go of the time and energy you´ve invested.
Maintaining a level-headed approach can prevent these pitfalls. It’s easy to get frustrated when things don’t go your way. But I’ve learned to take a step back, clear my head, and come back later with a fresh perspective. Staying rational and not letting emotions dictate your actions is how you make better decisions. Use your mind, not your emotions.
Crossing the Finish Line
At the end of the day, whether you’re a marathon runner or an entrepreneur building a business, the journey is about persistence, adaptability, and strategy. There will be setbacks, but the key is to keep going, to keep planting seeds, and to trust that your efforts will pay off. When you finally cross that finish line—whether it’s landing a big contract or closing a major acquisition—it’s all the more rewarding because of the effort it took to get there.
Business development isn’t for the impatient or the faint of heart. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And for those willing to go the distance, the rewards are worth every step.
Mark Podgainy has been a member of the Opus Connect network since 2018. He has more than 25 years of experience working with healthy, underperforming, and distressed middle-market and lower middle-market businesses, both as an advisor and as a member of the management team. He provides operations improvement services (process improvement, sales and marketing, strategy, M&A integration, interim management (CFO, COO, CEO)) to drive EBITDA growth, and also provides operational due diligence to services.
