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Business Development For Dummies PDF

428 Pages·2015·7.18 MB·English
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Business Development by Anna Kennedy Business Development For Dummies® Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com This edition first published 2015 © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex. Registered office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- mitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. 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LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: WHILE THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR HAVE USED THEIR BEST EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS BOOK, THEY MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRAN- TIES WITH THE RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IT IS SOLD ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. IF PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OR OTHER EXPERT ASSIS- TANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL SHOULD BE SOUGHT. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at (001) 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-118-96271-8 (paperback); ISBN 978-1-118-96269-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-96270-1 (ebk) Printed in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents at a Glance Introduction ................................................................ 1 Part I: Getting Started with Business Development ......... 5 Chapter 1: Introducing Business Development for Services Firms .............................7 Chapter 2: Finding Damaging Gaps in Your Business Development .........................19 Chapter 3: Diving Inside Your Customer’s Head .........................................................33 Chapter 4: Using the Lifecycle to Your Advantage ......................................................51 Part II: Planning for Business Development ................. 71 Chapter 5: Getting Ready for Business Development .................................................73 Chapter 6: Building Your Business Development Plan ...............................................97 Chapter 7: Putting Your Plan into Action ...................................................................115 Part III: Making the Most of Marketing ..................... 135 Chapter 8: Appreciating the Benefits of Marketing for Your Business ...................137 Chapter 9: Driving Sales Success with Effective Marketing .....................................157 Chapter 10: Creating Your Marketing Plan .................................................................175 Chapter 11: Automating Marketing – More Leads with Less Effort .........................199 Chapter 12: Forming a Winning Team: Marketing and Sales Cohesion ..................221 Part IV: Seeing What Sales Can Do for You ................ 235 Chapter 13: Becoming the Leader of the (Sales) Pack ..............................................237 Chapter 14: Taking the Lead: Selling Under Control .................................................265 Chapter 15: Closing the Sale to Your Satisfaction .....................................................285 Part V: Managing Your Customers for Business Success ................................................................... 297 Chapter 16: Generating Success from the Customer Relationship .........................299 Chapter 17: Joining Together to Maximize Business and Customer Value ............315 Chapter 18: Standing Tall To Get More Customers: Vertical Industries ................333 Part VI: Making Influential Friends: Partnerships....... 345 Chapter 19: Seeking Partners for Mutual Benefit.......................................................347 Chapter 20: Pursuing Your Plans for a Successful Partnership ...............................361 Part VII: The Part of Tens ......................................... 377 Chapter 21: Ten Regular Actions that Benefit Your Business ..................................379 Chapter 22: Ten Key Metrics to Watch .......................................................................383 Chapter 23: Ten Great Resources for Business Development .................................387 Index ...................................................................... 391 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................. 1 About This Book ..............................................................................................1 Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................2 Icons Used in This Book .................................................................................3 Beyond the Book .............................................................................................4 Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................4 Part I: Getting Started with Business Development ......... 5 Chapter 1: Introducing Business Development for Services Firms . . . 7 Answering the Question: So What Is Business Development Anyway? ....7 Recognizing that business is a serious business ...............................8 Understanding how business development differs from selling .....9 Breaking business development into bite-sized chunks .................11 Placing the Customer Experience Center Stage ........................................12 Deconstructing the customer lifecycle .............................................13 Mapping business development to the customer lifecycle ............14 Making Business Development Manageable in a Small Business ............14 Dealing with overwhelm .....................................................................14 Anticipating growth and its impact on your business ....................15 Taking stock of where you are ...........................................................16 Chapter 2: Finding Damaging Gaps in Your Business Development . . .19 Spotting Patchy Business Development .....................................................20 Recognizing the tell-tale signs of weak business development .....20 Looking for the obvious and the not-so-obvious problems ...........21 Thinking like your customers.............................................................23 Understanding Business Development Challenges for  Services Firms ............................................................................................25 Identifying value in a services firm ....................................................25 ‘You’re the top!’ The owner-led sale..................................................26 Being proactive rather than reactive ................................................27 Taking Stock of Where You Are ...................................................................30 What you’re not doing – and being okay with it ..............................30 It’s a numbers game: How’s your firm really doing? .......................32 Chapter 3: Diving Inside Your Customer’s Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Uncovering Your Customers’ Real Needs ..................................................34 Understanding what customers need today and whether they know it ......................................................................................36 Staying current with your customers’ needs ...................................37 vi Business Development For Dummies Powering Growth Using Your Customer’s Viewpoint ...............................39 Focusing on your customer: Why you should care .........................39 Mapping your customer’s journey ....................................................42 Tailoring your solution to your customer’s need (not vice versa) ................................................................................46 Using influence to get the outcome you want ..................................48 Chapter 4: Using the Lifecycle to Your Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Clarifying Precisely What You’re Selling — and How ...............................52 Being in control ....................................................................................52 Keeping your offer fresh .....................................................................55 Investing to stay up-to-date ................................................................58 Creating the customer experience ....................................................59 Considering the Pre-Sales Stage ..................................................................62 Selling without looking like you’re selling ........................................62 Dating the customer: EDUCATE stage ...............................................62 Courting and proposing: PRESENT and PROPOSE stages ..............65 Confronting reality: CONTRACT stage ..............................................66 Handling the After-the-Sale Process ............................................................67 Moving from ‘Yes’ to ‘Done’: DELIVER stage ....................................67 Wrapping up delivery: COMPLETE and EVALUATE stages ............68 Part II: Planning for Business Development .................. 71 Chapter 5: Getting Ready for Business Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Developing an Offer that Sells ......................................................................73 Ensuring that you’re giving the market what it needs ....................75 Making your specialty really valuable...............................................78 Assessing your competition ...............................................................80 Accepting that the grass isn’t always greener .................................81 Developing focus – or it’s all over .....................................................83 ‘Really? You do that?’ Articulating your offer ..................................83 Presenting Your Offer ...................................................................................84 Finding your customer ........................................................................84 ‘Tell me what you want, what you really, really want’ ....................85 Who drives the customer? Engaging effectively ..............................87 Getting to the sale ................................................................................88 Building your contract process .........................................................89 Continuing Your Great Work beyond the Sale ...........................................89 Understanding the importance of relationships ..............................89 Completing the work ...........................................................................91 Learning from Your Customers ...................................................................92 Gathering intelligence: The importance of data ..............................93 Evaluating your offer ...........................................................................94 vii Table of Contents Chapter 6: Building Your Business Development Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Planning for Business Development Success .............................................98 Winging business development doesn’t work .................................98 Knowing where you’re going ..............................................................99 Creating Your Winning Plan .......................................................................100 Choosing where to start planning ...................................................101 Working on metrics ...........................................................................108 Components of your plan: Creating the blueprint .........................110 Monitoring progress ..........................................................................113 Chapter 7: Putting Your Plan into Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115 Checking Your Plan before Lift-off ............................................................116 Setting milestones, tactics and metrics ..........................................116 Identifying initial tasks ......................................................................121 Calling on helpers ..............................................................................122 Determining your investment ..........................................................125 Lift-Off! Launching Your Plan .....................................................................125 Communicating your plan internally ...............................................126 Enrolling ‘friends’ ...............................................................................127 Making use of friendly feedback ......................................................128 Getting the team going ......................................................................130 Considering a few final thoughts as the plan takes off .................131 Managing Risk while Implementing Your Plan .........................................132 Thinking the unthinkable: What can possibly go wrong? .............132 Dealing with large challenges ...........................................................133 Part III: Making the Most of Marketing ...................... 135 Chapter 8: Appreciating the Benefits of Marketing for Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Working Together in Harmony: Marketing and Sales .............................138 Enjoying the perfect relationship (not!): Marketing and sales.....139 Making your marketing sales-oriented ............................................140 Setting Out Your Stall: Marketing for Services Firms ..............................144 Selecting the best marketing techniques for you ..........................145 Energizing your team.........................................................................146 Using your network ...........................................................................148 Forming partnerships and alliances ................................................149 Understanding technology and the online dimension ..................150 Finding some quick wins in marketing ............................................152 Deciding whether Your Firm Needs Branding .........................................154 Understanding the importance of brands ......................................154 Identifying yourself with a brand .....................................................155 Marketing your brand .......................................................................155 viii Business Development For Dummies Chapter 9: Driving Sales Success with Effective Marketing . . . . . . 157 Revving up the Marketing Engine ..............................................................158 Appreciating the differences between sales and marketing ........159 Ensuring that marketing drives results ...........................................160 Tuning up the marketing engine ......................................................162 Carrying out the hard work of marketing .......................................165 Setting Accountabilities between Sales and Marketing ..........................166 What am I striving for? Establishing the goal .................................167 ‘How will I know that marketing is achieving its goals?’ Measuring marketing .....................................................................168 Ensuring that Marketing Generates Interest ............................................170 ‘Hey, we’re over here!’ Getting attention ........................................170 ‘Over to you!’ Timing lead handover correctly ..............................172 Chapter 10: Creating Your Marketing Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Preparing To Market Your Business .........................................................175 Defining your plan..............................................................................176 Researching marketing opportunities .............................................177 Choosing your channels ...................................................................179 Brainstorming your tactics ...............................................................182 Putting Marketing into Practice .................................................................186 Creating your marketing programs .................................................186 Creating your marketing calendar ...................................................192 Creating and managing collateral and content ..............................194 Making the Most of Your Resources .........................................................196 Breaking the plan down to decide on resources ...........................196 Satisfying marketing’s appetite: Who does the marketing? .........197 Making marketing accountable ........................................................198 Chapter 11: Automating Marketing – More Leads with Less Effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Introducing the Automated Demand Generation Game .........................200 Understanding the buyer’s journey .................................................201 Providing insights for your prospective customers......................202 Attracting an audience ......................................................................202 Asking whether Demand Generation Is Right for You ............................203 Deciding when to consider automated demand generation ........203 Gathering the required resources ...................................................205 Adding Automation to Your Marketing Armory ......................................206 Choosing your infrastructure tools .................................................207 Building your database .....................................................................210 Designing demand generation programs ........................................212 Testing and evaluating your programs ...........................................216 Making the phone ring ......................................................................218

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