Welcome to the Bottom Line Top Line Podcast with Carol Bartlett, Jol Hunter, and Chris Spurvey.
Our episode this week is the second part of a series in which we talk about business development tactics and assessing your business development processes.
We walk you through some tips that business owners and leaders should keep in mind and questions to ponder as you assess your business development processes. We also talk about building brand and reputation, how to protect your reputation, how to nurture client relationships, and how to organize your business development efforts.
Last week, we talked about the mind-set and principles to apply in assessing your business development efforts. This week’s episode isn’t the end of our discussion of business development diagnostics. Stay tuned for a question and answer forum in February!
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Avoiding a Salesy Culture
What we’re trying to get away from is a salesy culture. Who wants to be sold to? No one.
But if you’re offering a service, you shouldn’t hold back your solutions from a client who has a problem you can solve. Of course, you should lend a hand and say, “This is something I can do.”
Building Reputation and Creating a Brand
You’re creating both a personal brand and a business brand—whether intentionally or not—so why not be intentional?
Visualize what you want your brand and reputation to be and then create them deliberately by sharing in emails and conversations the right level of expertise at the right time. Be authentic and genuine. Intention and deliberateness are the two most important qualities to have in these interactions.
Committing to Proactive Business Development
Based on my own experience, I recommend that you put business development activities on your calendar and prioritize them. Be proactive.
Schedule an hour or so each week—maybe at the start of the week—to plan your business development activities. Then follow through by meeting new people, attending meetings, and so on. Otherwise, business development can get postponed or even pushed aside when seemingly more important things come up.
How committed are you to scheduling time for business development on a regular basis?
To learn more about these topics, please listen to the episode.
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Connect with Carol, Jol and Chris on LinkedIn.