Archive for March, 2009
8 Deadly Sins of Business Development
Here are the notes from my presentation at the Dare to Thrive Conference on Friday, March 27, 2009.
1. Double Dutch – stop waiting to act on opportunities. Take advantage of them instead.
2. External Excuses – take responsibility for your business and take action on those things that are not working well.
3. Flying Solo – don’t try to do everything yourself.
4. Trying a Little Bit of Everything – pick 3 tools to grow your business and use them consistently.
5. Failing to Plan – write out a quarterly business development plan on how you are going to grow your business.
6. Head in the Sand – don’t ignore the stuff that is not going well. Don’t use the recession as an excuse to not grow your business.
7. Not Asking For What You Want – once you have your plan written, list the things you need to accomplish your plan and then ask people for what you need.
8. Playing Small Because of Money – there are a lot of free or inexpensive ways to grow your business – even with a limited budget you can still invest in business development.
This is great marketing!!!
The train station in Liverpool, England T-Mobile did this great commercial unbeknown to the daily commuters. They practiced for 8 weeks plus one late night at the station. On January 15th, 2009, with hidden cameras and 400 dancers at 11:00 a.m. their plan was put into action. And some say the Brits are straight laced!!!
Prospecting Tool – Google Alerts
One of my favourite tools for hunting prospects is Google Alerts. Google Alerts are e-mail updates, sent daily or weekly, relating to the latest relevant Google results based on the query or topic you request. Google Alerts does most of the hunting for you, and all you have to do is go through their suggestions and choose which business or people you want to contact. As with any hunting tool, Google Alerts is only as good as you make it – if you don’t go through the prospects or fail to jump on some opportunities, then this tool will not work for you.
Fight Recession with Green
The latest edition of Trend Watchers highlights 12 eco trends that marketers and entrepreneurs can incorporate into business to build clientele and profit. Suggestions range from eco-frugal to eco-generous, but my favourite is eco-vertising. Eco-vertising suggests that entrepreneurs should kick traditional advertising in favour of clean and green advertising, such as creating logos out of green grass or using recycled paper for business cards and mail-outs. As consumers begin to watch for signs of eco-friendly companies, what are you doing to attract customers?
Great Expectations?
“The quality of our expectations determines the quality of our actions.”
– Andres Godin
What are your expectations for yourself, for your business these days?
So many business owners have poor expectations for their sales performance
in this economy, so they end up doing little to bring in new business and guess what?
Their revenues stall. A self-fulfilling prophecy.
Yes, times are harder than they were. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother trying. Entrepreneurs who survive this downturn will see nothing but more success as times get better.
Seminar on 5 Key Tools for Successfully Finding New Customers
Do you struggle finding new business? Do you hate prospecting? Are your sales not where you want them to be?
To maintain and grow a successful business, you have to be good at finding new customers. Yet most people hate prospecting and try to avoid it as much as possible. This has significant impact on revenues.
Quell your fears when approaching big companies for their business
Now is a good time to think about new business opportunities. In the latest edition of Make It Business Newspaper, I have written a sales primer on how to land new business from the big guys when you are a small business – check out the full article here.
And if you are wondering how to manage in this economy, check out the Recession Roundtable article where all the business experts from Make It Business weigh in on how to survive and thrive in these challenging times.
