10 Must Have Tools for Business Development in 2026

Now I know that I don't have to tell you guys how incredible tools like ChatGPT have become since their inception.

Everybody knows at this point, in fact, AI is doubling in power roughly every six months, making 2026 chatgpt somewhere between 90 and 128 times more powerful than the first time you used it in 2023.

That is freaking unbelievable, isn't it?

The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.

Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more.

This is the Business Development Podcast, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and broadcasting to the world.

You'll get expert business development advice, tips and experiences and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs and business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by Capital Business Development, CapitalBD CA.

Let's do it.

Welcome to the Business Development Podcast.

And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Hey, rockstars.

Welcome to episode 343 of the Business Development Podcast.

And today we are doing a deep dive into the top 10 tools to help you do the business development job better in 2026 and beyond.

All of these tools, guys, are things that I use on a regular basis and I'm only giving you guys the bare minimum of what you need to be successful here.

And you might actually be surprised by some of the ones added from the time that we did this a couple of years back.

So there's definitely some new stuff in there, some, some new nuggets to keep you guys hooked and learning and doing better.

So I can't wait to get into that.

But before we do, I have some incredible, incredible news to share with you.

And frankly, it's thanks to you guys that we are here.

Thanks to your votes, we are now a top three finalist for the 2026 Quill Awards in four different categories for two of our shows.

So that is absolutely incredible and it is thanks to you guys and thanks to your votes, the Business Development Podcast is up for best business podcast 2026 as well as best branded B2B podcast in 2026.

And I'm actually really excited as well to let you guys know that I used to work there is also in the running this year.

I. I used to work there with just five episodes is up for Best Comedy Podcast 2026 and Best New Podcast 2026 at the Quill Podcast Awards.

So yeah, I'm super excited.

It's been a Lot of fun.

These podcasts, obviously guys, are a labor of love.

We work very hard to show up week over week, month over month and year over year to deliver them for you.

It is an honor and a privilege to be here.

I would not be here without you.

I our rockstar listeners.

So thank you so much for all you do.

Whether you've been here since episode one and are my total rockstars or it is your very first episode with us.

Thank you so much for your support.

I am absolutely blessed to be supported by such an incredible community and I absolutely could not continue to do this without your support.

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If you have not yet followed us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, please do.

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Please do and leave us a rating.

It absolutely helps us get discovered by new audiences just like you.

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I used to work there if you need a good laugh.

As always, I appreciate you.

I appreciate your support.

Thank you for being part of this community and thanks for all you do.

Thank you.

Let's get into it today.

I want to dive deep into the tools of the trade and boy, some of them absolutely have evolved over the past couple of years.

It has been quite a while since we did a show that was focused specifically on the tools for business development, which is why we are revisiting it today.

Remember that no tool alone, no matter how great they may seem, is a replacement for a structured weekly business development program, okay?

No tool alone will do the job for you.

There is no replacement for you.

Your authentic human connection, your kindness, your intellect.

You are the best business development tool out there.

Period.

So understand that no matter how great the tools, they will not be replacing you.

They will not replace the structure you need to have in order to enact business development week over week, month over month, year over year.

Okay?

Which is far more important than any tool you have.

If all you had to this day was just a cell phone, an email and LinkedIn, you would still be able to do some pretty powerful things.

So understand that the old is still just as good, maybe better than it's ever been, but there are tools to help you do it more effectively.

Don't forget your humanity in all your business development.

It is still your greatest differentiator.

However, the right tools can make all the difference when it comes to efficiency and performance.

So let's spend some time examining the 10 must have tools for business development in 2026 and beyond.

And while I'm going to focus on some pretty well known products here, understand that they are a category, okay?

Everything that we're talking about today is a category.

There's multiple tools under that category that may or may not work better for you.

Okay?

I'm going to give you guys some examples of tools that I have used, the categories that they're a part of.

But it is up to you to do your own research to see if that works for you.

Also, I'm recording this in May of 2026.

If you're listening to this in 2027, 2028, 2029, the tools likely will have changed or updated.

So these categories will still very much be relevant, but the tools under them may be different.

Understand that as we get into it, okay?

Now I also have no affiliations with any of the products that I am naming today.

I am not paid by any of them.

I have used them.

If I've enjoyed them, I will speak to them, but I have zero product affiliation.

I will make no money from any of the products that I am naming today.

At least as of the recording in 2026.

If somebody is hearing this and they're like I want to get behind the bdp, may change in the future, but probably unlikely, guys understand that at this recording I have no skin in the game.

Okay?

Here is the thing though.

Every tool that I will mention in today's episode, when used correctly, will have a major impact on your business development effectiveness.

Okay?

I do not have them listed in any order of importance, although some will be more important than others.

But understand that you It's a top 10 list.

It's not best to worst.

It's just 10 tools that will make a massive impact for you in business development in 2026 and beyond.

Okay?

No specific order of operations, although I think you guys know there are certain tools like phone, email, LinkedIn, CRM, which are always going to be just the top most important things you guys can use.

Everything else is Kind of fits in, right?

But understand that there are certain tools in this list that have a greater effect and I just named them.

Phone, email, LinkedIn, CRM.

Okay, starting with what I think personally is the most important tool to this day.

And it hasn't changed, guys.

It hasn't changed since probably 1950.

And that is your phone.

Okay?

Your phone is still your most powerful tool in 2026.

In my experience, the phone is still the best way to secure a meeting and and build a rapport in 2026 and beyond.

Aside from an in person face to face meeting, in which case you're already there when a phone number is available for a target, specifically a direct work line.

Now this is important.

Your phone should absolutely be incorporated at least every other week.

So what do I mean by this?

You should be using your phone when you have direct contact information to a target client.

You should be using your phone alternated with the email with the phone at least every other week.

So phone, email, phone, email, phone, email.

Okay?

We should be alternating for effect.

However, your phone is the place you are still most likely to book that introductory meeting.

Remember, with a phone you can convey a lot.

Okay, yeah, sure.

Not as much as you can do in person.

You don't have your body language.

But on a phone you can convey tone, pitch, energy, pace, pauses in a way that no email can ever replicate.

Understand that?

Nobody can tell basically any of that with an email without a lot of work and a lot of probably non grammatical spelling.

Okay, there's just something you can do with your voice.

Your voice is just not replicatable.

So wherever possible, using your voice is going to be a more powerful connector, not necessarily an information conveyor, although it can be and could be.

But from a connection standpoint, when we're trying to build a rapport, we're trying to get to a meeting.

Your voice is absolutely powerful.

Second to none.

Okay?

Use that voice when you have a phone number, pick up the phone and make that call as uncomfortable as it can feel in the moment.

It is going to be more effective than email most of the time and definitely more effective than any of the other ways.

Okay?

So use your phone wherever possible.

Your voice is absolutely powerful.

Your cell phone is still your most powerful tool in 2026.

Put on that brave face, smile and dial your way to more meetings.

Number two.

You guessed it, email.

Oh yes, email.

And no, not your fancy automated AI system.

Stop paying for that, it's annoying.

A beautiful personalized email that you typed is still a powerful BD staple in 2026.

And beyond.

In fact, I still send out at least a hundred of these each week.

And they are a powerful way to get your information to the right people.

So, guys, whether it's the bdp, whether it's the work I'm doing for clients, whether it's my own business development, I am sending tons of emails peppered in with phone calls as well.

Okay?

Email is absolutely powerful, though.

Why?

Because you can structure how you want to say something.

You may not have the emotion, but you can structure it in such a way that it builds interest.

And then you can attach things, right?

Maybe you attach a voice memo, maybe you attach a brochure, maybe you just link to your website, maybe you put a picture in it.

There's some powerful stuff that you can absolutely do with email.

You email is still probably the second best way to book a meeting in 2026 and beyond.

And I did make a point to say, stop the automated AI emails.

Why?

We can tell.

Here's the deal.

We can tell.

When you automate AI emails, it comes across as, I don't care.

It comes across as, you meant so little that I literally typed in AI email and sent it to you.

When you guys are doing this with big clients, guys, it's probably not going to reflect, well, I use AI.

We are going to talk about that as we go on.

But it is important that whenever we are doing emails, whenever we're leveraging AI, that we are also putting humanity back in it.

What do I mean by this hand?

Type your email, run it through AI for grammatical clarity or to make sure that you're getting your point.

Add in certain things that would be powerful, but make sure that you are still writing things in the way you would write them because it is characteristically human and it comes across as a human.

When we are leveraging AI for all these automated reach outs, I don't care if you're reaching out to 2,000 people.

It doesn't matter if it's not resonating, okay?

You're better off to reach out to 50 personally than you are to 2000 through automation and basically fishing in the dark.

The key with email is always to keep them personalized and concise, right?

Because people can absolutely identify AI 100 miles away.

Refine, but do not replace, and do not forget to ask for what you want.

Okay?

I've seen lots of emails where people type out a bunch of pitch and information, but then they never ask for what they wanted, which was clearly a meeting or an opportunity.

It's important that when we are sending Emails that we are asking for what we want.

We are being very clear and very direct which in business development we should be asking for that meeting.

So make sure that whenever you guys are firing off emails, even if it's every second week, that at the end you're always saying, I would love to connect with you.

Can we book a 30 minute meeting in the next couple of weeks?

I look forward to meeting you.

Closing off like that with every email will book you more meetings, period.

Trust me.

Ask for what you want.

Don't forget as well to add brochures, a voice memo, website links.

Make sure that there is information included in that email to help the prospect make the decision you want, which is to book that meeting.

Okay?

Use the tools available to you, number three.

And you guys may find this one surprising.

I still use notepads.

A paper notepad specifically.

Okay, yes, a paper notepad and yes, I am aware of remarkable and all of the other digital notepads out there available.

But let me be honest with you, and here's the deal.

I still have not found or tried a solution that I prefer.

More than a 80 to 100 page ruled notebook and pen.

They are infallible, they work all the time and they are cheap.

Those are all incredible options when we need a tool, isn't it?

I don't leave home without my notepad, guys.

It's with me everywhere I go.

Whether I'm doing client work, whether I'm doing meetings, whether I'm writing show plans, Everything I do I basically do with a notepad and I'm always writing notes.

And no, they're not always important, but trust me, they are effective.

They help you remember things better.

They're better for goal setting, which we're going to get into in a moment.

There's lots of pluses to paper notepads.

And no, the digital replacements do not replace them.

Writing it on your phone does not replace them.

There is almost nothing better for the human brain than writing things down.

So that ruled paper notepad, don't forget about it.

Buy 10 of them.

Now the other cool thing about notepads, and for those of you who have remarkables or other digital notepads, you may say, well, I'm not wasting a lot of paper.

Okay, fine.

But I'm also only going through about three to five notepads a year.

And guys, that's a lot.

I do a lot of writing.

Everything I do is written out on a notepad.

So it can be show planning like this show plan which takes like 5 to 10 pages it could be client work for the week, it could be my goals list for the week, my move the needle lists for those of you who've been around a while.

I do a ton of writing.

And even with all the writing I do, I still only go through about three to five books a year.

And frankly, I don't need to save it all because in like three to six months, it's probably pretty irrelevant anyway.

Except for that one day that somebody wants to go back through all of my show plan notes.

But aside from that, most of our notes, we only need them for a month, maybe a couple months max.

And then they're obsolete anyway, right?

Notepads are absolutely awesome.

You can save them, you can burn them, you can do whatever you want with them.

But the point is, is that notepads are hard to replace.

And honestly, it's good for memory, it's good for goal setting.

A physical notepad is still one of the best tools that you can buy in 2026.

And I use notepads specifically to track my digital introduction.

So everybody that I've sent an introduction on LinkedIn, I just write a little note, this name, this company, as well as calls and emails.

Whenever I make a phone call, I'll write called John at XYZ Company.

I also take notes in meetings.

And yes, I know we're going to talk about AI note takers in a second, but I take down notes and write during meetings to help me with my memory and to help me recall what we've been talking about.

And so it's nice to just have that notepad in front of me, even though, yes, I use an AI note taker as well.

There's another cool statistic that you may or may not be aware of.

I've talked about it many, many times on the show.

There was a study by Dr. Gail Matthews of the Dominican University of California, and in that study, they found that you are 42% more likely to achieve a goal that you have written down.

What does this mean?

This means that if you take a notepad and yes, it had to be a notepad, it had to be writing physical handwriting.

If you take a notepad and you write your goals on it each week, the five to 10 things you need to do this week to move the needle, you are 42% more likely to accomplish that than if you did not write that goal or you typed it out instead.

Buy the notepads, people.

Okay, there's a reason it's number three.

I know we talked about note order, but trust me, There is a reason a notepad is number three on this list.

It is absolutely powerful.

Pick up a $20 notebook and pen and use it and never look back.

Trust me on this.

Notepads are powerful.

Number four.

And this one you will all know.

LinkedIn.

Yes, LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools that we have ever been handed in the business development profession, period.

20, 26 And beyond.

But guys, even before that, we just didn't know how to use it yet.

In fact, 98% of Fortune 500 companies have a presence on the platform.

And four out of five LinkedIn members are individuals who drive business decisions at their organizations.

Basically, if they're on LinkedIn, they are a power player.

They are somebody you should be reaching out to.

Okay, the truth is this.

If you are not using LinkedIn to connect with your ideal customers, at this point, you are falling behind, period.

You're going to be falling behind.

LinkedIn also has this incredible search function and guys, it is powerful.

Sure, many of you are using other search functions to track contact information and data, but LinkedIn's is super, super good.

Okay?

LinkedIn allows you, especially with a basic business profile or sales navigator, to search by title, industry location, first, second, third, connections and so much more.

You can refine by keywords.

You can find people like it's nobody's business.

Okay, but here's the deal.

It's your business because you're in business development.

So LinkedIn is exceptional.

It is a non negotiable tool here in 20, 26 and beyond.

You can also connect with up to 100 new people every single week.

Yes, you can send 100 connection requests every single week on LinkedIn.

And no, you probably won't get all 100 accepted, but you will probably get about 50 of them accepted week over week, which is powerful for building what I like to call your LinkedIn billboard, which is the best billboard you never paid for.

Okay?

It is exceptional.

Make sure that you are sending your 100 connection requests to Ideal Target profiles every single week.

Because if you don't use them, you lose them.

You don't get 200 next week, it's 100 every week or you lose it.

It is absolutely critical that you make LinkedIn part of your weekly business development process.

Number five, CRM.

Yes, the thing that I've talked about way too much, but we'll never stop talking about because they are exceptional.

And no, not just Pipedrive, Salesforce, HubSpot or any of the other big players, they're all great.

Don't get me wrong.

All those people I just named do great CRMs, but the truth is this, it actually doesn't really matter which one you use.

And I'm sure that they're all, oh, there's one better than the other maybe.

But here's the deal, as long as you're using them effectively, they're all friggin exceptional.

If it is built for prospecting and business development, it is likely going to be everything you need and more.

Modern CRMs come with tons of features.

Many, many, many, many, many features that you really don't actually need most of the time.

But here's the funny thing, none of it matters if you don't use your CRM properly, or more importantly, consistently.

Okay?

We have to use CRMs properly and consistently to get the most of them.

When used properly, a CRM is probably the best tool for business development you can have.

You need LinkedIn to find the people, but you need a place to track the people and know where you're at week over week over week.

A CRM is that tool.

But when used incorrectly, it can become an absolute nightmare.

It can become a total mess, an absolute nightmare.

And worst case of all, you stop using it and it becomes totally useless.

Okay?

No value.

The basic features of a CRM are still the most important.

It has to track your company's, it has to track deals, it has to track contacts, okay?

If it tracks contacts, deal flow and companies, it does 99% of what you need a CRM to do.

What is critical as well is that the CRM flow is obvious.

Okay?

The reason that I've always liked pipedrive is it makes CRM flow very simple.

Everything with pipedrive is drag and drop and you can set up the deal flow in a very linear way.

My CRM is set up as follows.

Digital introduction is stage one means I've made a connection with them on LinkedIn and I've introduced myself digitally.

Stage two is contact made, which means I have tracked down direct email or direct phone number and I've reached out to them at least once.

Stage three is called back burner.

If I disqualify them, I move them into backburner.

Stage four is future opportunity, which means I've talked to them and they've said, kelly, not interested today, but am interested in 6 months time future opportunity.

After that we have meeting booked, which is what this is all about.

Once you book that meeting, you move them into meeting booked.

And last but not least is a simple stage six which I call next steps.

And next steps means they are no longer My problem, they are now an account to manage and we are going to do a transition to account management.

Okay?

So it's very simple, but the most important thing is we just need our CRM to flow in a linear way.

We need it to be simple to move people from one stage to another and we need to be able to look at it on a Monday and know I need to make 20, 30, 40 calls this week in my contact made stage in order to be done.

Okay, at the end of the day, if it shows you what you need to do each week and you can accomplish and essentially check off those calls, move companies into meeting booked and then eventually get them into that next step stage, you are doing great and your CRM is doing exactly what it needs to do for you.

When you use your CRM correctly, you know what you have to do, what stages opportunities are at, and most importantly, when your job is done each week.

This is the secret to getting off the BD hamster wheel.

People have a clear end to your calls.

Use that CRM.

Okay?

A good CRM is so much more than company and contact tracking.

It is your weekly guide and success checklist.

Get a good CRM, set it up in your preferred flow and use it consistently to succeed in business development moving forward.

Number six, Chat GPT, Claude, Gemini, or any other large language model that you prefer in 2026 and beyond.

My gosh, guys, if you're listening to this in the future, there's probably a hundred more.

I'm just naming the ones we've all used today.

Okay, now I know that I don't have to tell you guys how incredible tools like ChatGPT have become since their inception.

Everybody knows at this point, in fact, AI is doubling in power roughly every six months, making 2026 chat GPT somewhere between 90 and 128 times more powerful than the first time you used it in 2023.

That is freaking unbelievable, isn't it?

And when I tried it in 2023 for the very first time, I was impressed even then.

So what does this mean for business development moving forward?

You can find information that used to take days or weeks in mere seconds.

Okay?

Research, target research, contact lists, company lists, you name it, it can spit them out.

You can ideate with it, which is always fun, right?

Run your ideas through it and have it refine them.

You can prospect, you can analyze data and stat, you can create copy and pitches, you can make graphs and images.

And guys, there's a million other things that I'm not listing here.

You can do things that we have not even thought of to ask it yet.

That's the truth.

There are things people have not thought to ask it yet that it can do.

I use chat GPT to help me with social media copy ideation, research, prospecting, target lists, ideating, statistics analysis and much much more.

But here's the deal.

It is not a replacement for your humanity.

Let me repeat that, it is not a replacement for you, your ideas, your message and your humanity.

Yes, there are situations where AI social media posts are totally fine and I'm guilty for them too at times.

But when you use it for everything social media, email, LinkedIn pitches, this is where we lose all authentic human connection.

Okay, there is a reason that I have excluded AI based automated sales systems in this list for 2026.

Yes, I have tried them and no, they are not on this list because they are no replacement for a real person.

Period.

Okay, AI tools are powerful, but be very skeptical of the tools that claim to open doors for you as authentic human connection is still king in 2026 and beyond.

And most of the time those tools do more damage than they do good.

Number seven Excel.

Yes, good old fashioned Excel is still an incredible tool for BD in 2026, but maybe not in the way that you might expect.

CRMs have largely replaced Excel based tracking for contacts, customers and deals.

And rightly so.

They are cleaner, they have reminders and they just do so much more in such a better way.

However, Excel still has its place for me specifically for weekly tracking of my BD work.

Great.

BD people track their numbers.

Okay, specifically the following, but you can track more depending on what's important to you.

I track my LinkedIn digital introductions each week.

How many new people have we introduced the company to?

Okay, I track weekly phone calls.

How many people did I call?

I track weekly emails.

How many emails did I send out while prospecting?

I track all contacts added to the CRM.

How many new contacts did I add this week to the CRM?

From my digital introduction stage, I track how many meetings I have booked.

These metrics tracked each week paint a picture and hold you accountable.

And that's critical guys, because at the end of the day, if we're not holding ourselves accountable to something, how are we being consistent?

Okay, business development success isn't about being the best, it's about being consistent over time.

It's about putting in the same level of effort week over week over week over week consistently.

And if we do that consistently, we will be successful.

And tracking our metrics, whether personally or for the companies we work at is a way to keep ourselves honest and hold ourselves accountable.

The other cool thing is over six months a year you can upload those metrics into ChatGPT and find some really cool statistical analysis data.

Like how many calls does it typically take for you to book a meeting?

Or what is your RFP close rates depending on what you're tracking.

There's lots of cool things you can ultimately find out with data, but the only way to have that data is to write it down in the first place.

Okay, remember guys, even if you are the only person to ever see it, it will make you better.

And feel free to DM me if you would like a copy of my metrics data that I track for all my clients.

I'm always happy to share it.

Shoot me a dm, say I'd love to see your weekly tracking sheet and I will send it over for you to make edits and incorporate it into your own systems.

Number 8 Contact tracking software now, sales intelligence platforms have been around for quite a while.

Two that I have used personally are specifically Apollo I.O.

And surf LinkedIn integrator, both of which have served me extremely well.

Historically, these systems were extremely expensive and really reserved for only large corporate teams with big dollars to spend.

But over the past couple of years they have absolutely come down in price with lots more competitors entering the scene to a point where nearly all business development people, even personally, can now afford them.

Which is awesome.

Now, these tools offer a lot of features, but three in particular stand out for me specifically.

Okay, number one is obviously email tracking.

I want to be able to find people's direct emails as quickly as humanly possible because that is my preferred way of at least initial outreach.

Okay, so email tracking is always critical, and finding emails was never really that hard.

But using tools like this makes it a heck of a lot easier.

Now tools like Apollo and Surf can both find emails and phone numbers from ideal contacts by simply having their profiles open on LinkedIn and using your Google Chrome plugin to do a quick search on the person, which is pretty frigging incredible.

So you simply have, you know, Apollo or Surf hooked up to your Google plugins, and when you open up a LinkedIn page of a person, you need to find their data.

It'll just pop up on the right you click one button and it can find typically their phone number and their direct email, which is absolutely amazing in this modern day.

Now this feature has saved me hours in trial and error trying to find people's contact data, specifically emails which can Be a pain in the butt if you don't have the exact example to work from.

It can also find phone numbers, but I want you guys to be super careful with this one.

Really careful.

And I mean it, really careful.

Because we live in a time where most information, including personal cell phone and home numbers is no longer private.

Okay?

And I get it, there was a time when it was, you know, in the phone book too.

I, I get that.

But here's the deal.

Nobody likes being called about work on their personal or their home phones, period.

Me included.

I don't like that either.

So if you are not confident that the phone number you have is a work number, I want you guys always to default to the email or call the office main line first.

Okay?

It's just respect, guys.

Don't be calling people on their personal cell phones or at home.

It is disrespectful, nobody likes it, and it's going to paint you in a very bad light.

Wherever possible, get that work number, direct line where possible.

But if you got to call the main office, call the main office.

The emails is the thing that is absolutely amazing with these new systems because most of the time that's how people prefer to be contacted, at least initially anyway.

Now the last feature that I want to talk about is the ability to build prospect lists in specific industries by title.

This is something that I have found that Apollo specifically can do.

And I get there's other programs out there.

Apollo is just one that I have experience with.

Okay.

But you can basically create large scale target lists based on industry titles and then you can populate those lists with emails.

So you can basically say, I want to find procurement managers in oil and gas in Alberta and it will populate you a list of procurement managers in oil and gas in Alberta and give you the last known email for them.

This is pretty cool.

So for target list creation, this is a tool that I think is going to greatly shape the way that we do target list prospecting in the future.

But it's really cool and it's available to you today.

And while not all of the contact information is always accurate, in fact I found, let's call it 50 50.

Whether or not the contact data is accurate, it can populate you a list of like a thousand people across an industry specifically that you're looking for.

So it's kind of a cool way to do prospecting moving forward.

Like I said, I'm talking about this in 2026.

By the time you hear this, maybe it's 2028 and it's perfect, but right now it's not perfect yet, but it's pretty damn cool either way.

Now important thing guys, I want you guys to trial different platforms, okay?

I've talked about Surf and Apollo.

Those are just simply the platforms I played around with and learned a lot about.

There is going to be a lot more opportunities for you, a lot more options as time goes on.

Like I said, we're recording this in May of 2026.

By May of 2027 there could be 10 more companies.

Okay, so take it with a grain of salt, but if you guys are looking for sales intelligence platforms, just try a few, do your research and see what works for you.

Your mileage may vary.

Number nine AI Note Takers okay, the first time that I used an AI note taker, I knew it was a game changer.

In fact, back in 2024 I made the claim that it was the most helpful AI tool available to a business development person at the time.

And honestly, it's still way the heck up there.

Personally, I use Tactic IO as my note taker, but there are obviously tons to choose from.

Google has their own now as well.

The tool that you use doesn't really matter, just that it ultimately does a great job of separating who is talking who is in the meeting and giving you either the ability to summarize the meeting for you or allow you to export that text into something like Chat GPT to do it after.

Which is what I do.

The ability to review business development meeting summaries after and ask it questions about the meeting, things you may have missed in the moment is absolutely insane.

And the knowledge it gives you is unlike anything we have ever had in the business development space before.

Okay, I typically upload the transcript into ChatGPT and I start to ask it, you know, what were the pain points from this meeting?

What were the needs of this client?

What were the challenges they were facing?

What are the opportunities?

And more.

And it will create you a really cool summary.

Long story short, in 2026 and beyond, you absolutely need an AI note taker.

Doesn't matter which one you use, they're all pretty good.

But find an AI note taker and start bringing it to all of your meetings.

Okay?

Pro tip always add meeting summaries to your CRM after a meeting.

Your future self and team will thank you.

And number 10, last but not least, Canva.

Canva.

Yes, Canva in 2026 we are all creators too.

Yep, it's the job none of us signed up for.

But yet here we are.

And so tools like Canva make content creation easy.

In fact, dollar for dollar, Canva is pretty much impossible to beat.

From simple image creation to photo editing to document creation and even video editing, Canva does it all.

If social media is a priority for you in 2026, it's very likely it's a big part of your job in one way or another.

Make Canva a non negotiable tool and there you have it.

Ten must have tools for all business development professionals in 2026 and beyond.

Human centric approach is still key and your phone, email, LinkedIn and CRM will still be your most valuable tools.

But as AI continues to advance, keep trialing things, make your own choices and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn.

I am always happy to chat and yes, no AI, it is still me answering.

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Shoutouts this Colin Harms, Jamie Crozier, Carmen LaBelle, Jamar Jones, Chris Young, LA Serge Jorgensen, Linda Phillips, Cindy Baldi, Pia Silva, Nasheen Chen, John Pelly, Andrew Brown, Stephanie Gross, Alex Marr, Ali Stone, Tyler Bentley, Jen Ruggiero and Susan Pasaka.

Until next time, you've been listening to the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.

This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business.

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.

For more we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.

See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.