Business Development
Cold calls, anyone?
As leaders, we often need to bring in new business. And many of us really don’t enjoy the process.
I mean, I’ll do a happy dance when I GET the new business, but the process of reaching out to potential new clients… ugh.
Too many times, we let the daily schedule and upcoming deadlines push BD out of our daily activities. And since we don’t really want to do it anyway, we’re cool with that. But, like eating our vegetables and going to the gym, we need to make the choice to do it, and to keep doing it. Because it’s good for us.
Some tips:
Schedule BD on your work calendar. I put it in for a 2-hour block every week, although I give myself a pass if I am out of state traveling to work with existing clients.
Delight your existing clients. It will lead to repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals.
Grow your staffers, so they learn good BD habits. Have them shadow you in meetings and at conferences, and then empower them to seek out RFPs and other opportunities. Reward their success, and reward their efforts that have not yet led to success. Mentor them, and be their “safety net” and quality control in their early activities. You don’t have to be the only one bringing in new business.
Give people something of value that puts your name, your company, and your brand into their regular experience, so that when they need to hire someone in your industry, they already know who you are and feel a connection. Olin Jennings, the original president of TJG back in the 1980s, used to send out a monthly newsletter… on paper, through the postal service (remember when we used to get paper mail? Ah, nostalgia). I write this daily online version. I hope you find value in reading it and sharing it. And I hope that, if you need executive training (leadership, team-building, communication, EI, etc.) or a management consultant (for strategic planning, succession planning, executive coaching, etc.) you think of Kate Kaynak at TJG, and you get in touch.
See what I did there?
(Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash)