Business Development For Dummies

Anna Kennedy has almost twenty years' experience in business development and leadership with small/medium professional services companies. She also has on-the-ground experience in growing organizations, most recently in her own company, Rain Makers.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 4Part I: Getting Started with Business Development 5Chapter 1: Introducing Business Development for Services Firms 7Answering the Question: So What Is Business Development Anyway? 7Recognizing that business is a serious business 8Understanding how business development differs from selling 9Breaking business development into bite-sized chunks 11Placing the Customer Experience Center Stage 12Deconstructing the customer lifecycle 13Mapping business development to the customer lifecycle 14Making Business Development Manageable in a Small Business 14Dealing with overwhelm 14Anticipating growth and its impact on your business 15Taking stock of where you are 16Chapter 2: Finding Damaging Gaps in Your Business Development 19Spotting Patchy Business Development 20Recognizing the tell-tale signs of weak business development 20Looking for the obvious and the not-so-obvious problems 21Thinking like your customers 23Understanding Business Development Challenges for Services Firms 25Identifying value in a services firm 25‘You’re the top!’ The owner-led sale 26Being proactive rather than reactive 27Taking Stock of Where You Are 30What you’re not doing – and being okay with it 30It’s a numbers game: How’s your firm really doing? 32Chapter 3: Diving Inside Your Customer’s Head 33Uncovering Your Customers’ Real Needs 34Understanding what customers need today and whether they know it 36Staying current with your customers’ needs 37Powering Growth Using Your Customer’s Viewpoint 39Focusing on your customer: Why you should care 39Mapping your customer’s journey 42Tailoring your solution to your customer’s need (not vice versa) 46Using influence to get the outcome you want 48Chapter 4: Using the Lifecycle to Your Advantage 51Clarifying Precisely What You’re Selling — and How 52Being in control 52Keeping your offer fresh 55Investing to stay up-to-date 58Creating the customer experience 59Considering the Pre-Sales Stage 62Selling without looking like you’re selling 62Dating the customer: EDUCATE stage 62Courting and proposing: PRESENT and PROPOSE stages 65Confronting reality: CONTRACT stage 66Handling the After-the-Sale Process 67Moving from ‘Yes’ to ‘Done’: DELIVER stage 67Wrapping up delivery: COMPLETE and EVALUATE stages 68Part II: Planning for Business Development 71Chapter 5: Getting Ready for Business Development 73Developing an Offer that Sells 73Ensuring that you’re giving the market what it needs 75Making your specialty really valuable 78Assessing your competition 80Accepting that the grass isn’t always greener 81Developing focus – or it’s all over 83‘Really? You do that?’ Articulating your offer 83Presenting Your Offer 84Finding your customer 84‘Tell me what you want, what you really, really want’ 85Who drives the customer? Engaging effectively 87Getting to the sale 88Building your contract process 89Continuing Your Great Work beyond the Sale 89Understanding the importance of relationships 89Completing the work 91Learning from Your Customers 92Gathering intelligence: The importance of data 93Evaluating your offer 94Chapter 6: Building Your Business Development Plan 97Planning for Business Development Success 98Winging business development doesn’t work 98Knowing where you’re going 99Creating Your Winning Plan 100Choosing where to start planning 101Working on metrics 108Components of your plan: Creating the blueprint 110Monitoring progress 113Chapter 7: Putting Your Plan into Action 115Checking Your Plan before Lift-off 116Setting milestones, tactics and metrics 116Identifying initial tasks 121Calling on helpers 122Determining your investment 125Lift-Off! Launching Your Plan 125Communicating your plan internally 126Enrolling ‘friends’ 127Making use of friendly feedback 128Getting the team going 130Considering a few final thoughts as the plan takes off 131Managing Risk while Implementing Your Plan 132Thinking the unthinkable: What can possibly go wrong? 132Dealing with large challenges 133Part III: Making the Most of Marketing 135Chapter 8: Appreciating the Benefits of Marketing for Your Business 137Working Together in Harmony: Marketing and Sales 138Enjoying the perfect relationship (not!): Marketing and sales 139Making your marketing sales-oriented 140Setting Out Your Stall: Marketing for Services Firms 144Selecting the best marketing techniques for you 145Energizing your team 146Using your network 148Forming partnerships and alliances 149Understanding technology and the online dimension 150Finding some quick wins in marketing 152Deciding whether Your Firm Needs Branding 154Understanding the importance of brands 154Identifying yourself with a brand 155Marketing your brand 155Chapter 9: Driving Sales Success with Effective Marketing 157Revving up the Marketing Engine 158Appreciating the differences between sales and marketing 159Ensuring that marketing drives results 160Tuning up the marketing engine 162Carrying out the hard work of marketing 165Setting Accountabilities between Sales and Marketing 166What am I striving for? Establishing the goal 167‘How will I know that marketing is achieving its goals?’ Measuring marketing 168Ensuring that Marketing Generates Interest 170‘Hey, we’re over here!’ Getting attention 170‘Over to you!’ Timing lead handover correctly 172Chapter 10: Creating Your Marketing Plan 175Preparing To Market Your Business 175Defining your plan 176Researching marketing opportunities 177Choosing your channels 179Brainstorming your tactics 182Putting Marketing into Practice 186Creating your marketing programs 186Creating your marketing calendar 192Creating and managing collateral and content 194Making the Most of Your Resources 196Breaking the plan down to decide on resources 196Satisfying marketing’s appetite: Who does the marketing? 197Making marketing accountable 198Chapter 11: Automating Marketing – More Leads with Less Effort 199Introducing the Automated Demand Generation Game 200Understanding the buyer’s journey 201Providing insights for your prospective customers 202Attracting an audience 202Asking whether Demand Generation Is Right for You 203Deciding when to consider automated demand generation 203Gathering the required resources 205Adding Automation to Your Marketing Armory 206Choosing your infrastructure tools 207Building your database 210Designing demand generation programs 212Testing and evaluating your programs 216Making the phone ring 218Chapter 12: Forming a Winning Team: Marketing and Sales Cohesion 221‘We Can Work It Out’: Sales and Marketing Join Forces 221Reassessing roles as your business grows 222Laying out the connections between marketing and sales 223Setting common goals and targets 225‘Come On, Come On, Let’s Stick Together!’ Marketing and Sales Can Collaborate 227Clearing up misunderstandings that threaten unified business development 228Acting to support unified business development 230Helping marketing and sales to get on 231Part IV: Seeing What Sales Can Do for You 235Chapter 13: Becoming the Leader of the (Sales) Pack 237Appreciating the Importance of Sales Leadership 238Getting clear what your business sells 238Establishing a sales process 240Tooling up for sales 246Setting goals and metrics 248Building and Leading Your Sales Dream Team 249Creating your pack of sales maestros 250Using people outside the pack 251Enrolling people to execute your sales strategy 251Delving Deeper into Leading the Sales Process 253‘Put that it your pipe and smoke it!’ Managing a sales pipeline 253Working your sales process 255Engaging in collaborative selling 259Avoiding knee-jerk reactions to problems 259Taking the right action at the right time 261Chapter 14: Taking the Lead: Selling Under Control 265Okay, You’re In! Qualifying Leads into Prospects 266Getting your interactions right with customers 266Handling leads, whatever the source 267Determining who to sell to 269Gathering the tools to help qualifying 269Taking the meeting 270Gating prospects through your sales pipeline 273Pitching Your Services to Customers 274What prospects want: Understanding customer mentality 275Limbering up to pitch 279Writing good proposals 280‘Let’s dance’: Pitching on the day 282The inquest: Assessing how the pitch went 284Chapter 15: Closing the Sale to Your Satisfaction 285‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’: Closing the Deal 285Picking your way through negotiation 286Getting to the real ‘yes’ without begging 286Contracting for a win-win 287‘This Much I Know’: Managing the Transition from Sales to Delivery 290Staying on the team 291Passing on all you know 291Backing out gracefully 293Re-engaging with the customer 293‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’: Finishing Up the Sale 294Tidying up: Capture everything 294Learning from experience: Win/loss reviews 295Recognizing the value of evaluation 295Part V: Managing Your Customers for Business Success 297Chapter 16: Generating Success from the Customer Relationship 299Back Off, He’s Mine! Remembering that the Customer Belongs to Everyone 300Sharing the customer relationship 300Collaborating for customer success 302Creating a lifetime customer 307Tell Me What I Mean To You: Securing Value from Your Customers 308Understanding your value through the customer’s eyes 308Asking for more 311Turning the customer into an active advocate 313Chapter 17: Joining Together to Maximize Business and Customer Value 315You Know It Makes Sense: Seeing How Business Development Benefits All 316Creating an organization in which everyone sells 316Being a motivating business 318Talking about team communication 319Making the Most of Account Planning 322Analyzing where your revenue will come from 323Turning goals into reality 323Deciding what to include in your account plan 324Growing, Growing, Gone! Account Managers’ Role in Your Growth Plans 325Showing account managers how to do business development 326Thinking about monthly, quarterly and annual reviews 328Bringing Delivery to the Feedback Party 329Spreading delivery’s tentacles into the market 330Gathering new ideas and best practices 330Ensuring that sales learns from delivery 331Making delivery feel valued 331Chapter 18: Standing Tall To Get More Customers: Vertical Industries 333‘The Only Way Is Up!’ Understanding Why Verticals Matter 334Working with verticals makes sense 335Identifying your verticals: Is going vertical right for you? 336Listening to what customers say about their vertical 338Leveraging Your Knowledge for Vertical Success 340Understanding similarities and differences between verticals 340Breaking down your services experience from a vertical perspective 341Finding gold in them there vertical hills 342Checking whether you’re ready to go vertical 343Designing and Executing Vertical Campaigns 343Writing vertically based promotional materials 344Getting your vertical message out there 344Part VI: Making Influential Friends: Partnerships 345Chapter 19: Seeking Partners for Mutual Benefit 347Considering the Types of Partnership Available 348Sticking to What You Do Best 349Keeping to your set path 350Going deep not wide 350Traveling Alone or Partnering Up 352‘We belong together’: Finding reasons to partner – or not 352‘Picture this’: Considering your business with partners 354‘Service Firm WLTM Companion for Business Growth’: Finding Good Partners 355Creating partnership goals 355Getting your criteria together: Profiling ideal partners 357Chapter 20: Pursuing Your Plans for a Successful Partnership 361Locating Partnerships within Business Development 361Partnering Up Effectively 362Dating: Getting to know each other 362Testing the cultural fit: What do you have in common? 364Setting boundaries to stay realistic 367Agreeing shared goals 368Understanding why partnerships don’t work 369Going to Market Together 370Appointing a partner manager 370Creating a unified go-to-market strategy 370Defining roles and responsibilities 372Tackling the question of who owns the customer 373Wondering whether to white label or not 374Coping with co-branding 374Sharing the wealth 375Part VII: The Part of Tens 377Chapter 21: Ten Regular Actions that Benefit Your Business 379Making Five Business Phone Calls 379Calling Customers and Partners 380Talking to Employees 380Reading Some Blogs 380Sending Out Three Value-Added Emails 380Updating Your CRM/SFA 380Making Five New Connections on LinkedIn 381Tweeting Something 381Reviewing How Your Day Went 381Planning Tomorrow 381Chapter 22: Ten Key Metrics to Watch 383Knowing How Big Your Sales Pipeline Needs to Be 383Maintaining the Right Number of Opportunities 383Shortening Your Sales Cycle 384Planning Projected Revenue 384Producing the Right Number of New Leads 384Assessing Planned versus Actual Revenue 384Checking Profitability by Customer 385Monitoring Cash Flow: Days Sales Outstanding 385Keeping the Customer Happy with Satisfaction Scores 385Minimizing Staff Attrition 385Chapter 23: Ten Great Resources for Business Development 387Discovering Online For Dummies Resources for Business Development 387Signing up for Business Insider 387Using the Business Training Institute 388Improving with Influence Ecology 388Casting a Wider Net with the American Marketing Association 388Getting Better with the Sales Management Association 388Blogging for Success: Sales Benchmark Index 388Being In with the In-Crowd: LinkedIn Groups 389Leading with Confidence: Vistage 389Contacting the Author: RainMakers US 389Index 391