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Growing a small business requires more than just sales
Business Development For Dummies helps maximise the
growth of small- or medium-sized businesses, with a step-by-step
model for business development designed specifically for B2B or B2C
service firms. By mapping business development to customer life
cycle, this book helps owners and managers ensure a focus on growth
through effective customer nurturing and management. It's not just
sales! In-depth coverage also includes strategy, marketing, client
management, and partnerships/alliances, helping you develop robust
business practices that can be used every day. You'll learn how to
structure, organise, and execute an effective development plan,
with step-by-step expert guidance.
Realising that you can't just "hire a sales guy" and expect
immediate results is one of the toughest lessons small business
CEOs have to learn. Developing a business is about more than just
gaining customers - it's about integrating every facet of
your business in an overarching strategy that continually works
toward growth. Business Development For Dummies provides a
model, and teaches you what you need to know to make it work for
your business.
Learn the core concepts of business development, and how it
differs from sales
Build a practical, step-by-step business development
strategy
Incorporate marketing, sales, and customer management in
general planning
Develop and implement a growth-enhancing partnership
strategy
Recognising that business development is much more than just
sales is the first important step to sustained growth. Development
should be daily - not just when business starts to tail off,
or you fall into a cycle of growth and regression. Plan for growth,
and make it stick - Business Development For Dummies
shows you how.
Autorentext
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.
Zusammenfassung
Growing a small business requires more than just sales Business Development For Dummies helps maximise the growth of small- or medium-sized businesses, with a step-by-step model for business development designed specifically for B2B or B2C service firms. By mapping business development to customer life cycle, this book helps owners and managers ensure a focus on growth through effective customer nurturing and management. It's not just sales! In-depth coverage also includes strategy, marketing, client management, and partnerships/alliances, helping you develop robust business practices that can be used every day. You'll learn how to structure, organise, and execute an effective development plan, with step-by-step expert guidance.
Realising that you can't just "hire a sales guy" and expect immediate results is one of the toughest lessons small business CEOs have to learn. Developing a business is about more than just gaining customers it's about integrating every facet of your business in an overarching strategy that continually works toward growth. Business Development For Dummies provides a model, and teaches you what you need to know to make it work for your business.
Inhalt
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
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
Chapter 6: Building Your Business Development Plan 97
Planning for Business Development Success 98 Winging business developmen...