The Business Development Blog

Advice of the Week #7

Whether you are trying to be the rainmaker of sales or the best in your department in production, you have to stay focused on the processes and not the overall goal of your endeavors.

The entire Sahara desert could be moved by a single man if only by picking up one grain of sand at time. Keep this in mind the next time you are faced with a daunting task that seems impossible, or if you are trying to overcome your own tendencies to be the best at something.

By keeping your mind occupied with each step of the journey, you distract it from looking too far ahead or only at the big picture. When you keep your mind on that which is right in front of you, you will not stumble over obstacles because you will see them coming.

Advice of the Week #6

Being new to a particular industry or job is a difficult time of transition and can be very frustrating. You know less than your coworkers, financially you've got a long way to climb the ladder and you might think you'll never make it.

To help keep perspective and not quit too soon, should you consider it I offer this advice. Keep in mind the first day of school when you were 5 or 6 years old and you were dropped into a brand new environment. There were even more unknowns back then weren't there? You had to start somewhere and you didn't know anything didn't you? And yet, somehow you made it and hopefully learned that you were capable of such an endeavor. So don't give up, the most difficult things in life to achieve are typically the most worth our efforts to achieve

Advice of the Week #5

We are all fortunate to have opportunities to challenge the conventional and change the way things are done in business. It is important to remember that not everyone thinks this way and that some people are as fiercely opposed to change as some of us are in favor of it.

The best encouragement I have for you fellow advocates of change is to pay attention to the results, the numbers, and the tangible growth you see around you on a daily basis. Keep that in mind when the naysayers tell you it can't be done, or that you're wrong. When you look at change in those terms, you will see progress and that is the best justification for change possible.

Business Development Director’s Advice #4

Success at anything tends to create complacency. You must remember that setting goals is important, it is equally as important to achieve them and beyond that, it is paramount to continue to strive for greater success once you have achieved what you set out to do.

It is important to take time to appreciate and celebrate your successes as they come because if you don't it is easy for the enjoyment of future successes to be jeopardized. However do not be lulled into a plateau, continue to challenge yourself to achieve great things and you will be amazed where repeating this process will take you.

Advice of the Week #3

Getting rid of that nervous anxiety you have when you walk into a client's door off of the street is the most important thing you need to overcome in order to be more effective in closing sales.

If you are worried about how you will be accepted or whether you're going to be rejected or kicked out, you are not going to be able to get your point across to the decision maker or anyone else for that matter. The best way to get rid of the pre-sale jitters is experience. So take a deep breath and keep walking in as many doors as you can. Get comfortable with the fact that you know what to say and they will listen.

Advice of the Week #2

When dealing with a demanding client, I tend to try to keep everything in writing. Regardless of how many meetings and long phone conversations I have with them, I still always send a follow-up email or letter to re-cap each of them including all of the details of what we discussed. Usually, the most demanding clients are the ones who either know-it-all or have their own version of how they want the job done.

For these clients, just remember patience and good note-taking can be the difference between a botched job because of miscommunication, and a successful business relationship.

January 23, 2007

Cold calling is never easy. When trying to get face time with a lead, one personal tip I recommend is if someone if being difficult with you, you should say something like, "All I'm asking for is a chance, for 10 minutes. Didn't anyone ever give you a chance?" How would you respond to this question? It works, and you will be amazed by some of the responses you get.