Business Development Tips compiled by S1E

S1E www.s1e.com compiled by Christine McLean Tel: 1 450 330 3614 Page 1
The Questions: If you could
offer a free Business
Development tip to the
group that will bring in
immediate positive
business results, what
would it be?
Business Development
The Missing Link Between
Marketing & Sales
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1850284/1850
284-6060394117224030209
Business Development is the process of continuously
boosting communication, PR, sales and marketing to be
& remain successful and in the selected (new) markets.
BD thus includes parts of all the above functions.
Enjoy the FREE TIPS and feel free to connect
with the contributors...

MAdil Shah Deliver what you promise
Beth Ross Be tenacious and don't give up. Let negativity roll
off your back.
Tom Miller Get organized!
1. Establish time boxed goals (what do you want to
accomplish)
1. List the impediments between you and the goal
1. Create a comprehensive list of tasks and short term goals
necessary to overcome the impediments (think: who will be
involved (on both sides), what will be done and when, where
will it be done (travel?), how will it be done and why is it being
done?
4. Repeat
Alan Lyne 1. Write down daily can do objectives.
2. Follow up above with phone call, e-mail.
3. Identify customer needs.
4. Build business relationship.
5. Inform customers of competitor activity, this is always a
winner.

Sian Merrick Picture the future - your vision. Develop your
strategy, be clear what you want and how you are going to get
it, do a your current state assessment, set goals for what you
want to achieve, define the work and timescales, plan and plan,
measure progress; execution is critical.
Rohit Sanghi 1. Identify the "Target Market Segment"
1. Position your product/ Service with appropriate promotion.
1. Establish Traction
1. Generate Sales.
1. Be ready for support / deliver support on time every time.
1. Always remember support related calls should never exceed
1/3rd of sales (If it's going overboard - time to retrospect and
identify and rectify flaws).
Keith Bower, Ph.D. Ask your existing clients how you can
serve them more effectively. Beg them for candid insights, no
matter how awkward or painful the process might be -- then
listen, quietly and humbly. Once you've heard them and
clarified their observations, let them see you developing and
implementing practical solutions.
You should see two results very quickly: 1) some "at risk"
accounts will come back from the brink (you may be surprised
how close they were to dropping you)
2) satisfied accounts will be impressed by your determination
to improve service, potentially giving you a greater "share of
wallet."

Oladipo Bankole Gather as much information as possible about
the prospect or outlet/ Put much effort into getting someone to
introduce you .Present a clear proposal on the benefits to the
client of your product or service.
Laurent Andrianne One mistake that 80% of my customers
make is to only focus on the short term results of business
development actions. In other terms, if they invest 10k in a
Business Development action, they expect an ROI of at least
10k when our job is done.
The key here is to carefully plan BD actions in the short, mid &
long term and never forget to follow up every case generated.
Never forget to outsource what you don't feel comfortable to
work on.
Peter J. Grundberg The word "immediate" when used in
conjunction with "Business Development" could be considered
somewhat of an oxymoron. Especially when long-term
business relationships don't happen overnight but take months
and sometimes years to develop.
I would suggest the best thing you can do is to develop a sales
process that addresses the short, mid and long-term
opportunities and makes the process interactive with
marketing.
Mads Prebensen I will offer two proposals for bringing
immediate, positive business results with Biz Development:
That is where value hides!

1. Focus on real addressing real customer needs and pains!
2. Learn to say "No!". Saying "Yes" too often destroys value.
Focus
Michelle O'Connell Don't be scared to think outside the box.
Manikandan Kizhakkevallat Study, Listen, Find what the
Market requires and Satisfy your customers business will grow.
Customer satisfaction
Kerry Lohrman Develop a crystal clear understanding of how
your product or service solves problems for your customers and
then master the ability to communicate that compelling value
clearly.
Roshan Mohnani ... focus on building and strengthening a
relationship first - business results will follow after trust has
developed - not when a relationship has just begun!
Sven Gothberg Result comes once you have a plan, with
activities that are communicated to the audience. I use to say to
BD guys, You may have heard and seen your plans thousands
of times, but the sales guys have only heard and seen it once
and the memory is short... so repeat and repeat the message...

Nathalie DAOUDA Make sure your long term vision and
strategic frame are clear to you and your team (Top to Bottom).
It's on you to have the right skills at the right position.
Petter Michelsen First make sure that BD and Sales &
Marketing have the same vision on the growth strategy and that
there is an open communication to avoid double work.
Apoorv Arya (L.I.O.N.) Data driven Decisions, Do your
homework !
Lilac Lopez Part of being a BD is listening to the market needs
and changing trends and demands, feeding that back internally
to your company sales R&D to ensure the RIGHT products and
services are developed to validate and encourage long term
relationships.
Dean Harms, CSP Christine's question seems to focus around
the idea of "immediate results". The responses seem to indicate
there is nothing that produces an immediate result. And most
likely - there is not. Save one. Pray...

Philippe Laporta Be interested in your client. Ask questions,
clarifying and funneling questions. When the client finally
identifies the 'real' issue, you can propose a winning solution.
Dorothy Morgan Don't give up too soon. We train our business
owners that in business development it takes time and
investment. "Immediate" is relative, and statistically, many
great achievements are won after the 5th and 6th attempts.
Jim Page Don't reach to far out of the box especially if you
want sales and service take charge.
Alberto Siblesz Open mind and be near your customers so you
can listen.
Robert W. Bell (LION) Listen to new ideas it's what gets you
out ahead of your competition.

Sam Dunning Work hard, be honest and push yourself to do
better...oh and keep closing!
Witold Gorzynski Let me first quote that from an article in The
Forbes: 'Business development is the creation of long-term
value for an organization from customers, markets, and
relationships. At its heart, business development is all about
figuring out how the interactions of those forces combine
together to create opportunities for growth.'
I did quote that, for the business development appears to me as
a pretty sophisticated task, closer to lobbying than to marketing
and sales. Well, and do I have the tip? Yes - select the right
people on your way to the success.
Cassandra Patterson Ask questions, then be the answer to the
problems.
Kevin Gordon The best tip I received: sell yourself first, your
company second and your product or solution last. Connection,
Credibility and Confidence.

Tarek Morsy Focus on sales & support fundamentals
implementation. There will be always opportunities for
progress.
Jeff Eskow There is no excuse to NOT prospect and there is no
excuse to not think outside the box and look where others are
not looking. Whether it be a unique tool or a unique method,
never ever rest on your laurels and existing leads...
Josh Sarkar Don't fall into the "under promise, over deliver"
trap - that way you become complacent, and competitively
disadvantaged , because while you think you going the extra
mile, some of your smarter competitors are busy making
stretched promises and then straining every sinew to deliver
them.
Yannis Sourvinos Always remember...
Why we do what we do Is not about the money
MONEYS IS A RESULT... But we never do what
we do for the money...Always start with WHY...
it’s about our believe... Its why we sleep in the night
And wait to weak up in the morning.. What is our cause our
purpose Our faith ...Why we do what we do. People dont buy
what u sell... They buy it why we sell it....

John Hyman Learn the right process for professional
networking; it's more than wine and cheese and attending
Chamber of Commerce events.
Cindy Blot Always provide excellent "people/customer"
service and productive follow up.
Wieke Yunita Be persistence to approach our prospective
clients, even cannot be client after all but we can have more
friends at the end. It's blessing to be BD. To hunt successfully,
we have to know our ground, our pack and our target! Proud to
be hunters!
Robert Waring Persevere and don't give up. If you are sure you
have the right contact stick with it. Find the best time of the
day to call or make contact which may well be late or early in
the day. Know your customers behaviour. Also understand all
those other individuals who may influence the decision making
process:-they can create internal pressure to buy your products
and services on your behalf.

When you get the right signals make sure you always follow up
the meeting with a text, e mail or in writing which will create
the opportunity to go back and hopefully close the deal later.
The guy that regularly says "no", can, if you stick at it, be your
best and most loyal customer long term so hang in there.
Always make sure you fully understand the customer’s needs
and make sure he/she knows and recognises them too!!
Mark Drost Accept what is happening outside in a fast
changing world? Be prepared and take advantage of the
possibilities of the huge amount of information. Look for
partners who can strengthen your product or service and share!
Debra Kretschmer, ACS Be exceptionally different!
Laura Artibello I ask them if they are hungry? Do you have to
feed your family? Eat what you Kill; don't be timid about
stating your on commission if you are; that means you will give
it your all & undivided attention. A large size pizza will only
feed once. Think big & long range; don't get caught up in the
small stuff. Sell it first; educate them later if it's all about a
service. That was probably more than one...........oh oh
Deborah Slater Network! Network! Network!

Lihi Leibovich Listening to the customers' needs and helping
them achieve their goals; this is more than just a good customer
service.
Antonio Morales Mendoza do the basics.........not right but
excellent!
Jon Hall Look at your existing accounts and find opportunities
to dig into new/additional departments. Actively listen to the
challenges each department facing. Don't just stick with the one
you already do business with.
Patrick Rardin Maintain personal contact with existing clients.
On premises, face-to-face visits enforce your presence as their
vendor. Additionally only sell that which YOU would buy.
Gerlanda Milioto Keep a close network of business
acquaintances. Sometimes it's not who you know but who they
know. So spread the word about your target audience and
services and always offer to help where you can with what you

can. That helps to build trust and re-enforces credibility in what
you stand for.
Steve Savage Focus on delivery, be that customer care, service,
an outstanding product and time will reap its rewards.
Brian McFarlane Consider rewriting your LinkedIn profile to
make more customer centric and include relevant keywords
that people would be searching for in your niche
Lihi Leibovich The problem is that different companies have
different view on what customer care is and customer care
goals. It all starts with a good business plan and ends with good
customer care that relies on knowledgeable customer care
representative that can utilize the company's resources to help
solve the customer issues.
Mario Visin Supercharge your profits by augmenting your
strengths through strategic alliance with other like minded
individuals or companies who share similar vision and mission
in your industry.

Pamela Hill Have whole heart belief in what it is you are
promoting. Impacting business process improvement(s) creates
life-long white paper that YOU own and pales in comparison to
any commission check...in my humble opinion ;)
Bassam Adnan Qahtani Develope well distinguished Corp
Values and instill them to become the attitude and the
induction for new comers and starters.. Bring in the young and
the fresh and the passionate with the right skills and potential
competencies... Nurture them and they become the seed the
grow with your clients and the stem of growth....
Kevin Giroux Put down the shotgun and pick up the rifle.
Spray and pray will never be as effective as laser focus.
Brian Milner Understand who your prospect is before you
approach, introduce yourself and ask questions that promote
the development of a personal relationship and follow-up with
sincerity and confidence. Refuse to fail. Commit to succeed!

Cameron Swen It is all about intention. Success is intentional.
Intentional in selecting your targets, intentional in preparing to
engage with the target, intentional in following through on follow
up and action items. Nothing just works out by itself.
Angela Wright Execute on strategy
Abbas Ali Khan Building up good rapport with the clients is
key to understanding not only their requirements but also the
constraints. Addressing both will give you an edge over others
and produce good results.
Mark Johnston Understand where your business is at and the
opportunities in front of it. Quite of the simple steps are the
most effective.
Jozef Sobolewski Create the environment in which the sales
could sell.

David Lexner Know your numbers and matrix. X calls and Y
conversations gives Z sales opportunities. BD is a numbers
game. The more people you speak to, the more you will sell.
Petter Michelsen If you know your targets and contacts the rest
will come, the difficulties is to find enough targets fitting your
offering - that is in my opinion the greatest barrier to convert
into sales
Tony Jackson Be honest.
Chris Nikas Remember that as a BD or ISR you are selling a
meeting for your sales rep to close. You are listening for key
points that you can create a vision as to how the prospect can
improve their business and achieve their goals. Ask insightful
questions and don't over talk the key is to sell the meeting and
create the desire for the prospect to want to learn more not to
sell the whole solution.
Hyran Roman Creating, building and nurturing strong
relationships are key.

Quintin Bruwer Prospecting,Prospecting and Prospecting.
Having a healthy Pipeline and a healthy database.
Without that starting point you cant do much.
Nadia Fischer Listen and formulate your offering with regards
to what you have just heard.
Steve Fair People buy outcomes. They don't care about your
methods or your product's features unless they understand what
the outcomes are and how they will benefit them.
Robbie Hodgson Match the features and benefits of your
product with your clients needs....
Daniel Clayton Listen to your client, understand and own their
need. Appreciate their desire to purchase and they will
appreciate your desire to deliver. As Hyran said, building and
nurturing strong relations are key and when these are built on
mutual respect of each other then the sales will naturally occur.

I agree that there is a level of prospecting required and this can
be a numbers game when initially starting out, but if you treat
your customers as individuals, understand and respect their
needs, then you will close more often and require less front end
activity.
Who wants to sit on a phone all day. Be selective, understand
your market audience then get out, meet and greet and forge
strong, long lasting relationships.
Above all, enjoy yourself this can be a tough life have some
fun.
Bret Farrer Ask questions, listen, and then fight through the
garbage to ensure the client is getting what they want and need.
namita rao Improve market strategies, Analysing the need of
society and consumers before starting the business. Focus on
Making people realise the advantages and uniqueness of your
product over your competitive product which are already in the
market. This helps in Business Development.
Jim Brown Great commentary Daniel- both real and "glass half
full" principles that are inspiration we all need to absorb, be
reminded of, and above all- apply to all our interaction. When
every client is in the process of dealing with us, their need and
desire to make the right choice is the focus.... success comes
when it's ours as well. Ideal sales coaching here.

Jez Clark ... take bite size pieces of opportunity, deliver well,
form a case study and use it to win the next opportunity. Be at
least six months ahead of the game before committing to a BID
if possible.
Witold Gorzynski I shall just add one sentence: no matter how
your sales people sell or your marketing people prepare
campaigns, if your team responsible for business development
fails, you will fail as well. And the product is 100% irrelevant.
I welcome opposite approaches, and for not to spoil the thread
Michael de Groot The Triad of Trust: Give, Listen and Share.
Robert D'Errico Listening is very important and DON'T
interrupt! The more talking they do the more you will learn
how you can help them.
Richard Stimac Listening! Often hard when one is passionate
and really wants to share. But listening is mandatory.

Cassie Peacock I love the quote, "people are not against you,
they are for themselves". This is why persistence is key in
business development. Cultivate your relationships, bring
value, maintain visibility, and always look inward rather than
outward when your methods are not working. Habits, attitude,
education and perception can impact performance.
Witold Gorzynski @Cassie Peacock: brief and well said.
One thing I have forgot to add, is that business development
requires the sound knowledge of the culture you are set to build
the business.
Deborah Slater I like to imagine 5 people have been in before
me for the same business, how can I make it different and
refreshing. Tell a story they can understand and link their need
to the benefits of what you have to offer, deliver the price and
ask for their order.
Jason Chapman Good Things happen to people who show up
for stuff.
Phil Young I try not to over think things. I am successful when
I succeed.

Luai kanaan listen more, talk less and use the good variables at
the correct time. Understand, prepare, purpose then finally
close the deal planning in advance ideal case, acceptable case
& fall down scenario.
Mohammad Khurshid Dare to dream, dare to try, dare to fail &
dare to succeed.
Dimple Matharoo Know your market, be visible and focus,
focus focus...
Joe Kramer Follow Up. Make yourself real to whomever you're
dealing with out there...
Daniel Sauvageau Listening is extremely important. Most
conversations don't need a lot of "you input" at the beginning.
Listen for the keywords, the signs. Let them get it off their
chest so-to-speak. Acknowledgement is important. There is

always pain points in the business that they need someone to
hear out and consult on.
Anthony Kegaly <My Suggestion> 1) Know your
product/services and more importantly what problem it solves
and who your market is 2) Listen/learn your prospects
challenges/operations. 3) Offer your suggestion 4) Collect
Email/Send info
5) Follow Up ( Don't give up if they don't respond right away).
Marc Rumeau go for it n don't compromise an diterate anytime
it is needed.last celebrate result and move for more.
Mark Allen Roberts, I just wrote about it at
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/do-your-salespeople-have-
current-value-proposition-buyers-roberts-?trk=prof-post
Ian Lockwood My tip... Get engaged early, create the sales
opportunity and drive the process across all stakeholders and
decision makers.
Barry John Davis know where you are, consider where you've
come from then look beyond what you can imagine

James Sandler Working smarter is more important than
working harder.
Doug Kilarski Set aside more time to think than react and
throw some quality listening in for good measure.
Brian Rockett Listen well and remember WIIFM - "What's in it
for Me?" No Not You - Your Prospects!
David Adams Be visible and create some good relationships,
build the trust and act as the 'go to 'expert for your chosen area

Rafael Esberard Prospect new leads EVERYDAY! Be
obsessed on prospecting. ;)
Cheryl Patterson Be consistent with your follow up, do what
you say you will do.
Gregory S. Coale, MBA Start with collaborative open minds
and a blank piece of paper.
Kaveh Yazdifard Treat each lead as a unique one, customize
your behavior just like you do to a new date!
Pedro Pajares de Tena * Listen: it's not about what you can
sell, it's about what your clients need and what are they willing
to buy.
* Be ready to answer this: Why should (the client) buy from
you and not for anyone else?

Nick Parker For high ticket B2B selling: 1) work the prospect
company, not the individual: you have 4 buyer roles to unearth:
the user buyer, the economic buyer, the technical buyer & the
sponsor 2) the sales lead time is longer than you think: if you
are introduced at the bid stage you are likely to be a minimum
of 6 months too late; 3) corporate buying groups mostly choose
the least risk option: break down a big ticket item into a series
of granular, low risk, low cost steps.
and a bonus tip to my last comment 4) whenever you are in a
formal pitch, and before anything else, spell out the vision for
your project: how together, with your client, you are going to
create a better world (make sure that you have refined this off
line with key members of the prospective client team). It is
amazing how this one tactic gets all heads nodding & thinking
you are attuned with them.
Theresa Spencer My suggestion is stop trying to "sell" to your
clients, just CARE about your clients needs and wants and they
will certainly think twice about going somewhere else.
Bob Senesac Learn to be a solutions provider. In many cases,
great partnerships are developed by providing a solution to a
customer, not just another widget. If you can provide just one
thing, you are easily replaced. Find solutions that work.

Andrew Halpain Empower those who are involved in the day
to day, to bring forth ideas for improvement. It never ceases to
amaze me how even the best designs will have such room for
improvement when those who use it daily are asked to improve
their own ability to work.
Martin Johnson Make friends not clients...friends will do
virtually anything for you.
Maribel Ochoa Commit to be a fulltime partner to your
customer: a) understand the real needs b) find how you can
truly fulfil them, c) transmit the message, d) do it. e) stay.
Santos Hernandez Service your companies keeping in mind
that could be you at the other business end one day.
Raval Latish Perfect Management and serving your customers
on time is the main key to Develop your business

Wissam Al-Sha'ar That may not be of "immediate results"
aspect but - STUDY your market and UNDERSTAND your
customers needs before you go into any action or decision in
business development process!
Lucienne Mari Don't focus on the "selling" part, but try to
really understand the customer. Try to work with the customer
to find a solution that makes it valuable for their company to do
business with yours. A win for the customer and a win for you.
Lidija Szőke Picture yourself as a customer. Get connected
with the person and be human and not a seller. Providing a
solution only comes after connecting with others honestly and
sincerely.
Karen Melonie Gould MBA/FlnstLM Engage on line and off
with your targeted audience and have a Marketing Strategy part
of your BDP and work with your Mentor on this. Only hang
out where your ideal customer hangs out that is my TOP TIP
Ian Leyton Have a plan and execute against it. Believe in
yourself and evangelize your solution

Manuel Sardinha All of these are correct but in life there is one
thing that applies to everything you do and especially in the
business arena customers want CONSISTENCY!
Sue Murdoch Do what you promised ...and follow up. Then
follow up again.
Angela Parisi Start to do a promoting campaign first of all on
internet and other social networks........MY TIp is MAKE
NOISY & BE ATTRACTIVE !!! Second step.......next TIP!!!!
Phillip A Smith Always share information even if it doesn't
seem to benefit you. Customer will remember your willingness
to help. With any personal contact in person or over phone
send a Thank You via email. You know have a direct contact
for future communications.

Daniel Munn, MCMI Understanding you market/sector and the
specific needs or problems faced within it; combine this with
credibility and you will start building a strong network of
decision makers and/or influencers.
Michael Wood Add value, wherever and whenever you can ...
even when it is not billable.
Mike Holt If your company can't do it, recommend a company
that can.
Mark Phillips Couldn't agree more Mike listening, show
integrity, honesty and a solid network of connections - what
goes around comes around!
Lucy Snell | Global New Business Consultant Become better
and listening and asking questions. Pitching without listening is
the worst approach to take!

Claire Venier personal investment If you want to develop and
put projects into place, you better be ready to invest your time
in thinking and action.
Alan Mercer Build a list of ideal future clients that you
honestly believe you can deliver something better / different
which adds value for them. Then pick the phone up! LinkedIn,
social media and marketing collateral are all very useful but are
no substitute for having commercial conversations when trying
to build relationships.
Ngawang Choedon Don't treat people like numbers. It takes
time to gain someone's trust. So, when you meet people, take
time to get to know them and remember to respect their time.
To me, business development is about building great
relationships and to develop them you can't just keep thinking
of what you can get from the other person.
John Farmer Open yourself to new ideas and think out of the
box. As Henry Ford once said; “If I had asked people what they
wanted, they would have said faster horses”. Are you trying to
get better at doing the same thing, or are you open to new
ideas?
Rod Sloane Pick up the phone!!

Nanna Aage Lundsgaard Always develop your business with
focus on Voice of the Customer, and secure a sustainable and
holistic approach!
Jeff Canete Passion in Creating the right Value, Original and
Distinct product/service with the right Brand, Timing, and
Innovative in all aspects that incapsulates all levels of the
targeted market having less cost on company OPEX/CAPEX
expenditures but having positive growth on ROI in a short
period of time will be will be so AMAZING!
Gerard Levy Bensoussan Moving to Australia 2 years ago
without knowing anybody I started from scratch Business
Development for my company and I would said that the best
way to succeed is first of all to observe your market, met as
many people as you can not to sale at the beginning but to
listen and understand the rules then appearing on Linkedin and
in any exhibition, professional network or personal one
addressing the right person with a clear and simple message.
The first client is the hardest one to obtain but after everything
come naturally as soon as you are creative, tailored the speech
and the offer and permanently stays in contact with the client
that you have already brought to your company, event if they
are managed by another person internally.
Your client will become your best referral and bring you others
through their ideas, experience and personal network. Good
luck to everybody Gerard
sue fearnsides be genuine - people see through BS.

Gary Radford Make sure your messaging is so simple and
intuitive that when your customer hears it, he can teach it to
someone else without diluting the message.
Yash Parihar Be honest. Not everybody will have the budget to
buy your services. In such cases, bend the rules if you can
(modify services according to their budget and need) and then
offer. Also try to think their business as your own, once you are
in their shoes you can make better strategy which eventually
help in their ROI. And once you achieved that, there will be no
reason for them to discontinue with you.
Keith Johnston Become A Trusted Advisor
Peter Kane If you are marketing to develop offshore sales for
the first time then follow up with your best sales staff to sell.
Many companies instantly take the belief that as the market is
international then company directors or senior management
should travel overseas to attempt to carry out the sales when in
most cases they do not have the currency in sales experience to
complete the sale.
Also make sure you have the capabilities to meet the follow up
needs of the sales (logistics, business culture, competitors etc.)
Do your research and understand the peculiarities of the
market. Often its best to outsource initially to establish the
sales foundations.

Paul Missen State that you want their business and would
appreciate working with them to identify and close any gaps
that prevents them signing up with your company.
Les O'Neill Emulate what you expect from your staff
James M Starnes Have Fun !!
Always maintain sincere eye contact with the "decision
maker", (If your not with the decision maker your providing
unpaid consulting!), then focus on hearing and listening to
what the individual is saying. Do not rush to answering the first
thought that comes to your mind while the client is sharing, as
you will be self focused on what you desire to say and will
miss key information being shared.
Get the client talking about what their concerns are and what is
causing them pain. Restate the concerns so that you can prove
to yourself and the client that you listened and understand.
Ask for the budget. Every problem, program, concern, and pain
has a budget! You have to find out what the budget is! How
much is the solution worth? Don't let the client eat your lunch
by talking you into giving them a quote to shop around...
Focus on being the solution(s) provider providing the benefits
they need to eliminate the pain. Usually the first concern
mentioned and the closing concern is your sweet spots,
Focus, Listen, Restate, Provide positive benefits, Ask for the
business. Get the order - Never, never oversell and under
deliver. Provide something not promised to add value...

Shara Smith As it relates to healthcare/hospital environment...
Everyone loves to throw out great ideas. But it's the
implementation and follow through on building
initiatives/programs/service lines/etc., that will make you
successful.
Juan Jose Lauroba Nos Work Hard!!
mohsin Mohsinxcite Change promotions within a short span of
time regularly
David Fenton Never be in business to market a product that
you personally like. Make sure the Customers like it first, even
if you don’t.
Declan Flaherty Be prepared to say you don't know something
rather than bluff. Honesty above all else.

David Payne When working with your clients, get them to
learn "3-Dimensional Solutioning". We have found this to be
highly effective with the teams we work with throughout SE
Asia. Any solution must look at a problem/opportunity from 3
different views ("Dimensions")...how does it benefit your team,
how does it benefit your customer, how does it benefit
shareholders?
Christine Muthamia Put yourself in the shoes of your client.
Would you buy what you're selling?
Naomi Cheeseman Respect yourself! You are not going to a
new prospect as a supplicant!You are going to a new prospect
as a value partner!
You are equal in every respect - based upon one fundamental
condition...
You have taken the time to find out what your prospect really
needs and you have resolved that they need what you are
bringing to them.
If they don't need it, and I mean really need it, then forget it.
Respect yourself and your prospect and step back. Your time is
valuable! So is theirs.
To your success...
Maaz Masud You should sell your services or products by
proving them as the best available in the market, not by putting
your focus on how your competitors suck

Opene Anthony BE A PROBLEM SOLVER
Sunil Garg every business has different development
challenges n solutions. there is nothing like 'one size fits all'.
George Jerry Swaniker Be pro-active with innovative follow
ups
Scott McCallum Focus on the relationship Come to meetings
prepared and be empathetic to the party you are developing.
Dire Chidi Analyse the 3C's first , Customer, Competition and
company. With that you should be able to meet the need of the
market with your company strength better than your
competitors

Arunav Gupta Step 1. Sell what you believe in.
Step 2. Fall in love with what you believe in.
Step 3. If you love it, you won’t need to sell it and you won’t
need a business development tip.
Donna-Luisa Eversley Take some time to understand
environment & profile consumer!
Cheryl Simpson Be genuine, prepared and to the point.
Mark Whitehead Interesting, I think that there is only one thing
that you can do to deliver 'immediate' results. Make a plan.
Done properly it will instantly add focus and clarity, enhance
effectiveness and eliminate procrastination.
Adedolu BAKARE Be empathetic and share strong positive
relationship with the channel or client you are developing.

Daniel Munn, MCMI Sales in the large part carries the
sometimes negative perception of 'foot in the door', 'it must be
taken from prospect to account'; with the implication being turn
effort into value (£ please replace with your respective
denomination) at all cost. Business development is the sum of
one word in my humble opinion- credibility, that being a whole
comprised of equal parts underpinning knowledge,
competence, empathy, passion, innovation, strategic
positioning and the innate understanding that at no point can
you assign a set fiscal value to any of the elements you bring to
your client/customer.
As it is this error alone that let's us start weighing the separate
elements unfairly against each other, thereby
vervaluing/undervaluing one element or another and creating a
paradigm that would closely resemble that of the
aforementioned 'salesperson'.
You are your customers/clients partner, and vice-versa; it's a
symbiotic relationship.
John Hamilton Take some time to understand your clients
business, the various players within the client and their
business objectives and challenges. In particular your primary
contact. If you have a tangible warehoused product take time to
know the warehouse manager.
Once upon a time there was a product called Beer Shampoo.
One problem the product froze during shipping in the winter
breaking the seal of the bottle. When it thawed in the
warehouse beer shampoo everywhere. The warehouse manager
wanted the stuff gone for good.
Thomas Ellis Learn how to help your customers solve their
problems. Be a resource

Rafael Palma Listen to your client. Please ask questions and let
him talk! Ask the right questions and you'll get the right
answers. Almost everybody hates the smartass...
Mark Pearce Make that call you've been putting off.
Michael Sedlarevic * Build and establish a rapport with your
customer,
* ask the right questions and then listen to the answers. 3/ Even
if you don't get an order for a while it's important to build a
relationship, each visit you should try to get closer to the client
* persist, in the end it's a numbers game the more clients you
see the greater chance of success. BUT speed and quantity of
calls isn't as important as quality of call.
4/ A blend of both is required.
Alessandra Marques Making the right questions to identify the
needs of your client. Based on that you can show solutions and
build strong relationship.
David Hamman Be helpful. You may not sell or get this
account but you will remembered as helpful and professional.
And people will always turn to you when in need.

Angela Parisi The MUST "Your client will follow you ONLY
if you know where are you going!!!". Start from understanding
which goal he wants to aim and do an action plan by steps in
order he can see it to be achievable!!!!!
The goal must be S M A R T ;-)
Satvinder Sihmar It's a Support which if invested on right time,
may give you enormous opportunities in future. So do not do
just business with your customer but support them when they
need you.
Don Attwood Listen to what your client wants and have an
open door policy towards your staff
Dillon Franks Know the Clients business as well as they do and
become a respected partner so you the go to person when your
expertise is needed.
Andrew Dorn Know your ideal customer profile, use all
available channels to connect with prospects, seek out speaking
opportunities, build the funnel with the highest quality
companies possible!

Jorge George Diaz Jr. Transparency: Simply defined as "the
perceived quality of intentionally shared information from a
sender. Implies openness, communication, and accountability.
Lack of hidden agendas and conditions, accompanied by the
availability of full information required for collaboration,
cooperation, and collective decision making.
Being upfront and visible, operating in such a way that it is
easy for others to see what actions are performed and whether
those actions are consistent with its values.
Colin S. L. Mackie SAT I am a talker. I am an expert in my
chosen field and I can talk the legs off a chair. When I go out to
meet a prospective client I write in biggish letter across the top
of my notes page 'S.A.T'. If the prospect notices this he
assumes it is an abbreviation for Saturday.
To me it says Selling A'int Telling. Shut up - ask questions and
listen. Many years ago I did a sales course by Rank - Need
Satisfaction Selling. Don't sell. Find out what the prospect
needs and you can only do this by asking questions - open and
closed as required. This has served my very well over many
years.
Erica Chiang I think 2 things are important: 1. Focus on
delivering the VALUE instead of selling the products or
services. 2. Market is changing quicker today than ever so it's
crucial to keep up with the trend.

Raval Latish You have to listen your customers views and
deliveries of the goods also prompt on received of orders.
Tiffany De La Rosa Every day write out 6 priorities that are
closest to the money. Every day. You will start to see results
daily.
Marc Kirsner Always be willing to listen to customers and
always try to provide specific solutions. You must engage in a
dialogue not a monologue. Developing a trust is paramount to
building a client base since it is you that the client is buying
from and in many instances the firm you represent is
secondary.
Place the emphasis that you will be the "go to" person
whenever a need arises with that customer.
AVIS NEWSOM Leave emotion out of the entire process.

SAM THIARA (MEng) Hi Christine, my tip would be to create
a brief authority builder video by your subject matter experts
that positions but highlights the value that can be delivered to
solve your clients challenges. It's a great strategy and has
worked for me.
You can then leverage this through your sales channels and
scale up using marketing automation.
Susan Daley Have a documented, repeatable, and scalable
process that provides:
* improved communications between marketing/inside
sales/outside sales
* increased transparency
- accountability - capture the right metrics at each stage to
diagnose constrictions and measure effectiveness of marketing
initiatives.
Michel Janho. What about using a combination of old and new
techniques of sales and business development. That what I am
using by now, and I am convinced since I watched many young
sales people how they behave, how they act, how they
approach decisions makers ( when they manage to do it ), they
only succeed provoking their pity...
Marc Kirsner In regards to the topic on Business Development
one of the tried and true proven successful strategies is
relationship building which can begin with something as
simple as a phone call and setting up a face to face meeting
with a prospect.

By nature humans are social animals; therefore the so called "
social media" and the impersonal use of wireless devices are
not substitutes. Always express an interest in the prospect's
business and conduct some background research prior to
making contact.
Drew Blumenthal As a past business development intern the
best advice I could give is whatever task you are doing stay
organized!
When I was putting 100s of business cards into the CRM I
would put a little x on every card I completed, when I was
working on a prospect or client mailing I would put a little
check mark next to every contact I made an envelope for.
When you stay organized you will be amazed about much more
productive you are.
Ian Kibby FInstSMM I haven't scrolled back through all the
previous comments but if this old cliche hasn't been
regurgitated for the current generation then it should be ... 2
ears 1 mouth use them in that proportion.
Jean-Marie GURY Strongly stick to : (Focus x Expertise x
Passion) if one is missing the result is none ! I call it "Velcro"
engagement
Adwest Mailers, Inc. Gratitude and follow-up with tenacity
after a good old fashioned face to face where you show your
services in stories and listen to the story they have to tell this is
how relationships are built.

Kelly A. Gallagher Listening is huge, not necessarily listening
to sell at first but listening just to understand and connect.
Always try to think like your prospect or client, and understand
their world first. Then, and only then, you can be truly
consultative and bring value to the relationship.
Adwest Mailers, Inc. Follow the Golden Rule in Business as in
any relationship "Do one to others as you would have done to
you"
Sarin Kumar There are so many great comments and advice
here, thank you all! In our business we essentially just help
connect the dots. That initial introduction to a potential client
or partner I really do not sell anything but myself. If they like
me, and there is potential for business opportunity we then
come up with a plan that suits their needs, but the trust is
already there and they believe in our firm.
If someone came to me and spouted facts and figures without
generating any rapport I personally am not interested, I want to
make money and have success but I would rather do it as
friends and partners as opposed to clients and contractors.
Robert Williams From a non-sales business development
perspective, I find categorizing a business objective in discrete
components helps me to visualize and make the connections,
and sometimes even put some math around it. Using Excel data
tables, Access database, or SQL queries is a great way to
perform "what-if" analyses.

Tracy Armstrong Qualify carefully and build a rapport with the
client - active listening is essential!
David Davies Some will, some won't, some wait, so what next?
Prospecting is hard, focus on the outcome, not the process it
takes to get theirs.
John Michala I learned awhile ago six very positive impactful
words that are hard to accomplish without your full attention:
(A) "Do it Now" (B) One More Call".... Use these words
wisely & track your new results!
Marc Mellet To find new potential prospects or to test the true
growth trend of some new companies or even historical
customers, check job adds.... what type of profiles do they hire
You can use websites robots to automatism the process with
well chosen keywords and create a pipeline of company who
may need your products or services, directly into your email
box every day....

Ron Kroos send flowers...it sure would make them smile
Mark Johnston Understand what your customer wants and
recognise the opportunities that are in front of you.
Gordon Filepas Learn to cold call properly and STOP selling.
Lars Lantto Listen! - Think! - Talk!
Michiel Sintenie Start with the Customer not the Business Case

Neil Johnson Shut up and listen, then listen some more.
Vaibhav Mishra, "Actively seeking new opportunities" * Know
your customer /prospect
* Analyse competition
* Load yourself with upgraded armours (tools & Knowledge)
* Define your business objective / actions (strategy)
* Understand customer Pain points and offer value
Tim Ryan READ. A very small percentage of people read self
development or people skill books. It is a game changer for
anyone in business.
Read and practice what is taught. Books like; The Magic of
Thinking Big, Success: The Glenn Bland Method, Think and
Grow Rich, Skill with People, The Slight Edge, How I Raised
Myself from Failure to Success in Selling, and Bringing Out
the Best in People...Just to name a few.
Olivier Riviere Engage with one customer that will bring you a
new customer through a recommendation. Repeat and repeat
again as this will learn you a LOT of the "right" things to do ....

donta jett I truly agree with Tim Ryan and all of the valuable
points given. It is vitally important to not only have the
pportunity to grow but more importantly be able to envision the
end result first and all of what it took to get there.
Remember that every company wants to grow and you are the
Vessel in which they have chosen to use in getting that
accomplished. Keep it simple!
Warren Peskin Business like so many other activities in life is a
game. We either win or lose- gain or lose-
We forget that business is a mindful activity that deserves for
the journey prior to a desired end result be paid attention to.
I like to work with the end result in mind first and go
backwards. However, my business development model is all
about being mindful of how I am being with my customers -
how they are being- because I have learned the hard way that to
just focus on the end result will not get me he end result-
Success is all about how we take on being rather that what we
are doing-
Are we motivated/passionate/honest/ lazy/pathetic /
argumentative / don't listen/ opinionated....ad Infinitum-
If we give our word to how we are going to be in order to get
the results we developed as an end point- we will achieve those
results and if not- all we have to look at is who we or he team
has been being-
Makes sense to me!
One final tip- if you are not getting the results you want- look
at the issue as something is missing- the presence of which
would make a difference- not about right or wrong /good or
bad.

John Marchiando Follow up, follow up, follow up. Average
sales people give up after one follow up - most sales contacts
respond after 6.
Janette McNamara Repeat repeat repeat your marketing
message ... On average people need to see the SAME message
at least 7 times before they respond so be focused keep it
simple and keep repeating it and the penny will drop
Diane Callis People don't care how much you know, until they
know how much you care.
So help your customers get what they want or need before you
ask for anything from them, and in doing so you'll build a
relationship and gain their trust and get their business.
Prashant Nair Never give up, don’t be shy and be positive.

Juanito Adedze Build your network.! Business Development is
also about influencer.
David Hogan When engaging a new contact, ensure you
communicate using empathy instead of sympathy when
discussing current Business challenges.
Empathy is showing a deeper and true understanding where
Sympathy can be interpreted as dismissive. Know and
understand the difference between developing professional
working relationships and social relationships :)
Mark Bethell Seek out opportunities to engage in
provider/sector forums particularly when working in the health
& social care field this will provide the opportunity to improve
your sector knowledge, raise your profile with potential
purchasers and better understand the both commissioning
aspiration and procurement process.
Enhancing your insight will empower your ability to build a
robust relationship with the customer, your mindset when
engage with customers has to be "what do want to achieve?
And how can we work together to do that? Not this is what
we've got do you want it.
Jason Hardy Treat them as a human and be honest don't try to
be a salesman.

William K. Fox
Does your company have sales persons contacting new and
existing customers? Do you know whether or not they are
carrying-out the sales process in a professional manner?
Over the past 2 yrs., I have been working on a project that
involves sourcing machinery, and we have contacted many
potential vendors about machinery capability, technical
specifications, pricing, terms, delivery, after-market service,
etc.
I have been surprised by the lack of professional sales activity
on the part of the majority of these vendors. Maybe it's time to
find out just how professional your sales force is.
William K. Fox, Fox Robbins Business Show
David Anthony Focus on key verticals and similar companies
that have most benefited from your companies
products/solutions in the past.
The challenges and opportunities are probably similar and that
will give you a better idea who key contacts would be. You
also will have already heard/answered the questions in the past
and will be better prepared with a "cold" contact.
Alexander Titov Be a true believer

Karen Melonie Gould MBA/FlnstLM Have the right people in
the role that can communicate verbally on the phone in a one to
one and in a group and can follow up with evidence.
Mazhar Khattak Good marketing impacts good output.
Donna M. Hill, DTM-Sales & Marketing Executive Yes, be
authentic in every stage of the process. Because while the
technology we use for business is more advanced, the basic
principles of business have not changed. Clients/customers
invest in you the (Salesperson) long before the decision is
made to purchase your product or service.
Wally Barr Look for partners where a win-win relationship can
be achieved. Create an environment that is open and creative.
Ralph Vergeer Focus on one product in one region for one
specific target group. Get started!

Larry McClish Thoroughly research (aka do your homework)
about the business you are going to sell to before contacting
them. With that information, you can have a level of
enthusiastic confidence during the initial phase of the process.
Liam Clements Be different or at least pitch in a different way,
your USP needs to be clear and instantly recognizable, Why
should I buy from you? Is a question a prospect should not
even need to ask.
Mauricio Brotto Find added value in your solution
Karen Anne Kramer 81% of companies with strong capabilities
and competencies for delivering an excellent customer
experience are outperforming their competition. Are you ?
Federico Marcon Bring innovation into any table of
negotiation. If you cannot offer anything more than business as
usual, your value proposition is not worth

Mark Goulding When thinking about changing something
always ask 'How will this improve things for the
customer/prospect?' - If it has neutral or negative impact - think
of a different way to achieve your objective whilst improving
things for that customer! Keep adding value!
Karen Anne Kramer Focus on qualitative not quantitative.
Make sure you have a really smart leader of the team.
Alina Tudorache Step out of your magic circle!
Latha M N Focus on verticals where your product will be a true
value addition.

Mega Benade Find out what the other person wants - listen and
ask questions about the other person. Don't talk about yourself
or your opportunity/business. Build a relationship!!!
Taurayi Maindidze Always stay ahead of competition through
research and development, you need to be the master in your
game by being innovative. Those who always want to follow,
always get the crumbs!
Ludmyla Golubenko If we talk of "IMMEDIATE positive
business results" so I could recommend to check and analyze
how the group deal with routine.
Smart LED convert to LED LIGHTS
Jorge George Diaz Jr. "When we accomplish things we feel
good. Nothing beats us up more than wanting to do or
accomplish things and then not following through! Stop setting
huge unobtainable goals and feel great about setting a small
goal and reaching it.

Once you accomplish a small one you can stretch it to
accomplish a little more each day. Start with making 1 call for
your business today and make 2 tomorrow. That's a 100%
increase and you should feel great about that! Keep building on
your smaller success to incrementally get to the bigger ones.
Dave Haar It's all about building rapport with your customers
and clients
Andy Hunt Remove the competitive nature within your team
and replace that with a Team that is competitive in the market.
As long as your team are working as individuals they will only
be so effective. Draw them altogether. Work to each or your
sales teams strengths and you will have an army not just
backstreet fighters.
Harry Mcduffee The most important thing one can due is make
the start-up cost minimal. Watch the video to see my point at
http://www.HarryMcDuffee.com
Mark Davies Don't sell what you have sell what your client
wants .
Joseph Abbott Make sure your value proposition separates you
from your competitors and has a financial metric. Teach your
sales people the phrase so they can say it under two minutes to
any audience.

David Rogovin Perhaps the best way to quickly generate
business is with a 'complimentary partner'. It is easier to hunt
for new business as a team and you appear to be more adept
than a solo practitioner.
Angela Karpinski It is all about your people! Focus on them.
Value, honor and empower them and you will not have to
worry about loyal customers, ROI, or profitability with your
company, organization or business.
Corina Lungu Look inside yourself for motivation and
inspiration, find/pinpoint the value (for you and other people)
in what you are doing, bring out the passion you have for what
you are doing/offering, to everybody around you, and take
consistent actions that align with your passion, and yourself.
Amar Mir Remember the fact while working in sales that God
has given us two ears and one mouth.
Bob Kaftan Never stop prospecting! Even when you are
working on the BIG one, always keep building your pipeline of
deals.

You should expect that 50% of the deals that you are working
will not close. Additionally, you can expect to win 50% of the
deals that do reach closure. That means that you will close 25%
of your working deals in any given timeframe. If you have
plenty of quality deals to work on, you will have a better
chance of success.
Micah Ross This is a terrible answer, but I have to say to not
focus on immediate business results. Invest in things that will
work better in the future and long term and try to not worry
about tomorrow.
Sam Caloroso Love what you do!
vijay swami don't try to get the business generation from first
visit itself as per my opinion direct product selling idea has
gone, focus on solution provider and also built trust.
Nicolas Korody Be close to relevant associations so that you
can meet decision makers and increase your business

Pete Mackin Most Business Development is is not "immediate"
but a series of actions that lead toward a clearly defined goal.
The most effective element for successful business
development is "quality relationships". Relationships are not
formed overnight.
Saku-Juhani Koskinen Take time to think about the right type
of client interaction or selling styles, in relation to the situation
your respective prospective or actual clients are in towards the
added value you are offering in relation to the perception they
have of you and your company.
In other words make sure you have the right approach and
selling style, especially in this downturn when you are hunting
for a new client in a no need situation.
Randolph Sablich "salespeople need to learn to suppress their
need to sell and instead focus on the customer's need to buy."
Jorge George Diaz Jr. "Be light and easy when dealing with
prospects and also with customers. Sometimes they take out
their personal issues on you.
That's part of the deal. Prospects and customers get to unload
on you but you don't get to unload on them! Drop your
resistance. Have fun with people. Fighting with them is usually
just a fight with yourself! Try to make them happy and if you
can't, bless them in your heart and move on." MJ Durkin after
dealing with a difficult customer.

Benjamin S Smith Treat your employees as a part of the
business and always put the customer first. Old school, but it
will always produce great results. If you don't like that one,
Optimize your KPI's to eliminate negative impact and
performance on the organization.
Chad L Hoffman Always base your relationship with the
customer from his standpoint and understand what value you
can offer him that is distinct from your competitors.
Saad Shaikh You need to couple cold-calling with a strong
email marketing tactic. Create a landing page with an enticing
email. The business landscape has changed quite a bit, but at
the end of the day, the age old method of picking up the phone
and connecting with prospects never fails.
Ann-Marie Gil Have a plan and strategies to obtain clients and
don't be afraid to pick up the phone to call new clients
BRUCE Bixler Use visual media (YouTube) to educate your
customer so that when they need your product or service they
know you are the subject matter expert.

Neil Licht - HereWeAre Remember, the words "give me a
proposal" is not a synonym for "live prospect"
Bernie Otis Attend targeted business conferences which are
attended by your carefully selected decision makers
Audrey Okpara for me it will be for them to fully understand
what they plan doing, how they want to achieve it with the
market reality on ground.
It is the market reality that will help in determining which
marketing approach will achieve result in the immediate
execution or middle term or long term. In all the market reality
and business plan must interwoven to achieve any immediate
result; it will help to define the target client, their interest and
the best approach to adapt to reach the defined target for
immediate result as clarified by the business practice in use.
Gill Bray Plan how you are going to turn every customer into a
raving fan from their first contact with you - and work back
from there.

Pedro de Figueiredo The search for immediate results leaves us
stuck to what is ephemeral and therefore the underlying
problem will persist and will worsen.
Business development has to do with:
* See more than just a foot in front of the nose: be strategist,
able to plan what can happen and have patience and persistence
to pursue it;
* Being able to turn a purpose into a set of achievable actions:
bring the day to day a number of actions that always will add to
the future;
- Understand clearly that the past refers to a set of complex
combinations that will never be repeated: it is the future that
will bring what we seek to achieve.
Randolph Sablich True Business Development is about
building lasting relationships, NOT quick sales.
John Farmer Don’t Complain……..COMPETE
Let your competitor worry about you….don’t worry about your
competitor.
Joseph Johnson Have a clear elevator speech. This is important
for you as well as your prospect. Until you can clearly say what
you want and what you do, there will be unnecessary tension
and disillusionment.

Darlene S-Zahtila Strategically seek out individuals and/or
organizations that you know your expertise and/or services
would be beneficial.
You don't need to offer your entire solution to their business or
individual need(s) all at one time, doing this could cause them
to become overwhelmed and sometimes feel insulted. Choose a
strategic solution and suggest it in good faith.
This will build the rapport and confidence in your skills and/or
expertise, then they will be more likely to trust in your abilities
for future projects and solutions to their personal, professional
and business needs.
Once rapport and trust have been established, you can make
other "suggestions" for their individual or future growth or
offer more preventative solutions that go along with your first
strategic idea (solution), also ask their permission to provide a
more detailed proposal or plan of action. By implementing this
simple strategy, it will lead to an immediate positive flow of
continuous business development results.
Joseph Tan Love the process.
A problem is not a problem if there are solutions. If there
aren't, why bother?
Albert Mulei Understand clearly your business model and
testing your assumptions in re-defining or in generating a new
one.
Generating a winning value proposition is great but this cannot
win without gaining some advantage on the business model.

Hugh David Fletcher Plan know what you want to achieve
evaluate what you need with time lines and set goals that are
reviewed on a daily basis be a leader by example so other
people can see what is required in order to achieve the
impossible .
Warwick Shirreff Find the other products your customers are
buying elsewhere and add them to your product range to
become a one-stop-shop.
Gary Burns Hit the phones, sales people hate calling, but it
brings the fastest results time and time again!
Deborah Slater Spend 10 minutes researching the person you
have an appointment with, discover their interests, plan a great
opening question, smile and use humor whenever possible !

Michael Chelette Be prepared. Know your appointments
interest, peeves and offer ONE or TWO reasons why you are
there. Most important is to shut up, let them talk.
Bryan Durkin Provide more value than anyone else.
Inessa Brown (Strakouskaya) ENTJ First of all when having a
meeting with clients (suppliers) we should become FRIENDS
(spend some time to find info about their life, interests). Do not
talk about prices at least 30 min when meet each other.
Petter Michelsen Go out there and tell them you Believe they
will benefit working, using, applying your product in their
company. If You Believe, they will listen to your Belief.

Anne Dellos LeBoutillier Focus on IN-BOUND leads! Beef up
your website with a focus on keywords - get Google to notice
you, and get ranked on top page for your most common search
terms. (I'm constantly amazed at the number of companies that
don't know what search terms their customers are using.
That's your first priority, but a pretty easy fix - talk to your
sales team.) Then be sure to include a 'call-to-action' on your
website and any other digital platform - in-bound leads are an
excellent source for your business development and sales
teams.
Tyrone Lopez time spent is money earnt. Longevity,
relationships and trust is king. Long standing relationships
deliver richness over years.
So invest in the people you meet, each person is different,
adapt and strive together, the quality of the sale delivers repeat
business, not a one transaction deal with no interest for future
income. It’s like the is an account of today (but there interest
rates are pretty dire I must admit:)
David Rogovin Develop a direct response test market program
for a select group of your products/ services. Sell your
products/ services to established direct response companies

Christopher S. Kowal define exactly how your business will
grow your partners business and propose it, be specific and
have a timeline and approach in hand
JOSEPHINE MCGANN Make your words sell you and the
services you can provide for your Client, whether in paper or in
person, ensure you know your product and the client will gain
trust in you.
Angela Parisi It will be my customer to suggest me where to
move together to grow up its business!! ;-)
Jorge George Diaz Jr. "If you take enough "low probability"
actions day after day, something's going to hit!" "You must get
face to face with a steady stream of qualified prospects. Once
you have developed this ability there is nothing that can stop
you from being successful!
David Rogovin Perhaps we should establish an alliance of 5 or
6 non competitive members and run a series of product &
service oriented ads across the Linked IN network!

Jeff Constable Nurturing is the name of the game. Know your
value propositions and speak your prospects' language (talk
their talk).
Randolph Sablich Jeff, that is key. Nurturing and
understanding the clients need are the cornerstones of building
a strong relationship. That equates to long term business
(assuming their is a need/product fit.
Jared Worley Know the far reaching impact of your value
proposition and how to sell into the ecosystem. You are not just
selling to a client or a partner but also must understand how
your product interacts and adds value to the partners (ISV or
Service) of your client.
Understanding the entire ecosystem in which your client
operates has always proven to not only add value but open new
channels as well.
Stuart Peacock Get as close as you can to your prospective
customers. Phone calls with a polite introduction with a benefit
statement ready once through to the decision maker.
Have two emails ready brief and to the point, one when you
can't get through and another when you have and information
had been requested. The goal is to secure a meeting up fact find
and establish need and if they really are a prospect.

Peter Franklin Keep reminding yourself it's all about benefits
not features or characteristics.
Ann Pepper How long is immediate? My number one tip in
business development is that everything takes time. When you
plan your campaigns, if you can't go the distance and run the
whole campaign, then save your money.
You give up something for a short term reward, often it is the
bottom line. If you can grow slow, do it. The growth will be
more sustainable.
Eric Rothberg Focus on getting the right distribution channels
(i.e. distributors, reps, agents, OEM's) in place. If your channel
is professional, committed, and views themselves as an
Kevin Mommsen Add all the tips above together and add
"maximising your time in front of the customer both new
business & existing business". Make sure you qualify your
calls with your existing customers otherwise you are wasting
your time seeing someone who does not want to see you, this is
easily done by analysing the history of the customer which
should show you a pattern of usage on repetitive business.
Cut down your time on your selling process and that becomes
your extra time in front of the customer. Cut the time by 25%
and that will give you an extra 3 months a year in front of the
customer, the only time you are actually making money. How
much is 3 months worth of turnover to you? Focus on customer
satisfaction! The key is "Team Work"

Cathrine Mula Davis Be positive, friendly and curious. People
want to deal with people they like and get on with, no matter
what you do.
Keerene Carty Motivate your staff to think of the business as if
it were their own.
David Smith Remember that the ultimate success is driven
through outstanding execution, so strong internal relationships
are just as important as external to infulence the right results
for the business
Tsufit ✭ Write a book. (Leverage it to get publicity and
speaking engagements and clients.)
Tsufit, Author, Step Into The Spotlight!

Manny Wlachos You need to know what you are selling and
the cycle. If it is a short cycle see as many people as you can if
it is a mid-long cycle narrow your prospects and develop only
the qualified ones.
David Davies Define/refine your target prospect lists and pick
up the phone.
Adam Vere Drewry Get some meetings with the right people!!!
Paul Freudenberg Ask for the order :)
Jonathan Ratner Read 1. What they fail to teach you at Harvard
Business School and 2. A book on Negotiation by Mark
McCormack and The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump (yes
him!) ;))

Harry Mcduffee "Listening For Success" is a must read
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0962380423/ref=as_li_ss_
tl?ie=UTF8&tag=clacom34donts-
20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeA
SIN=0962380423
Oleg Boroshnev Never give up.
Jeff Nullmeyer Define customer's need/pain and how your
solution helps to alleviate that. By helping to fill their needs or
alleviate their pain, it becomes a mutually beneficial deal
where you can be viewed as a partner more than a sales
representative.
Ian Denny Ask happy clients to recommend you.
Ena Dupree Knowing you client and their needs takes time and
does not stop with the sale. It is a commitment for the lifetime
of contract and beyond.

Amazing Clean Blinds Toowong and Oxley Prioritse how you
spend your time. Stick to a basic timetable and separate home
life from business life
Simon McEwen Find out what the organisational goal is, then
find out what the personal goal is of the person in charge of the
project. They will likely be different, so make sure you
appealing to both. If you are going to make the person look
good, they will make sure they sell your product/service for
you internally.
Gerald Gore View your clients or accounts as engagements
instead of contracts / obligations.
Erwin Maningat If you are running a business that offers
services or products to people and organizations, explore
possibilities of teaching your people how to internalize the
need to stand out by clearly understanding what your clients'
needs are and how important your products or services are to
them.
In that way, you add more value to anything that you offer
because your people will deliver products and services with the
end user's interests in mind.
The immediate positive business result would be that anything
that your organization and manpower delivers is immediately
perceived by your clients as being of top quality and one
unquestionable value. This will also save you time and money
in beefing up your productivity levels.

Arshia Tasneem conduct online contests or give away
discounts to attract more customers and create brand
awareness.
Dale McManus Coach your Sales Teams that it's ok and
accepted by the organisation to walk away from non profitable
new business. It's in the 'how' of doing this that levels the
playing field between the supplier and the customer. This frees
up more time to focus on profitable new business.
Seng Yee Loh ensure you and the organization is ok to walk
away from a bad deal. Pushing a piece of string uphill is the
surest way to lose credibility and time. So many business
development people fall in love with the idea of a deal that they
can't do this.
Atif Shah Proactively work to
* Understand your strengths in product/service category versus
the competition or substitutes, if they are not present start
acquiring them
* Comprehend business model and its uniqueness to offer value
to the target market, and
* Finally always pitch your offerings as per business
competency to deliver on the promises made to the
clients/consumers.

A motivated team is essential, get the right people, provide
them with optimum resources and get out of their way....never
forget that it doesn't mean your responsibility ends...you must
be ready to provide solutions as a well informed team
leader/manager, while always learning from your subordinates.
Remember your Ultimate goal that is to acquired inherent
mental reflex to "market stimuli".
Joseph Bisland Business that is easy to get is easy to lose. Ask
yourself why did the customer change?.Was it genuine
problems with their existing supplier,cash flow reasons or was
it your fantastic presentation?
ISLAM MOMINUL business development depends on proper
customer service first. if any organization with this not possible
to grow your business
Kevin Mommsen Always remember that people do not buy
products or services, "they buy what the product or service can
do for them".
Excellent Customer Service" starts within your company with
each division serving each other as a team before you can offer
the customer an excellent service. Customer service is a team
effort not an individual’s effort.
Kevin Mommsen Identify the needs of your customer first it is very
important, if not the most important thing you can do. Ask the
questions first before you show the customer what you can do for
them & listen to the answers very carefully. You will be surprised
what you hear sometimes if you are listening?

Saundra Thurman-Custis Creating a customer focused culture,
from consultative selling e.g. zoning in on their needs, to
delivering "knock your socks off" service e.g. exceeding
expectations and creating value will ensure positive cash flow
for your business.
Jean Deltenre Free your mind, create and believe in your
project!
Kelvin Francis, LSS BB Understand that BD is a process and
each component of that process should hold value. Branding,
pipelines development, proprietary data base creation, market
intelligence and real opportunities are all part of the process
and should be considered wins on the road to new business
acquisition.
Shae Inglis To build on others' responses, if you're looking for
a SINGLE technique for immediate results, the one thing I
would recommend is to get good at questioning.
Learn how to reverse a question to find out what a prospect is
really after. There is a reason for every question and your job is
to find out why they asked it in the first place. For example:
how big is your company? Most salespeople would share this
information without even thinking about it. But why is the
prospect asking? Maybe they've had problems with a big
company and have felt like a small fish in a big sea. Or, maybe
they've had a bad experience with a small company and have
outgrown their offering.

But, by answering the question, you've just trapped yourself
without even knowing it. Instead, tell them that's a great
question and ask them if company size is important to them and
why? This gets the prospect talking about their real issues
which you can later solve when the time is right.
Ifeyinwa Chime My free business development tip would be:
go for the M.A.N. in your business development pursuits. With
complete professionalism, look out for those with the MONEY
to pay for your product or service, the AUTHORITY to okay
your payment and place purchase orders for your
product/service and the NEED for your product/service. With
the passion and zeal to succeed, one will achieve positive
business development results.
Tom Allport Invest in bridging the gap between business
development/account management/sales and marketing with an
overall goal of having both departments speaking the same
language.
Then inject the new found knowledge into the overall customer
experience. Over time this will allow sales personnel to
understand what it is the business is trying to achieve from a
customer view point which in turn increase the emotional
connection a customer has with the brand.
George Kaplanis,I,C,E, Customer experience. Positive, solution
based responses. Do not walk away empty handed! Leave them
wanting more.

Brad Douglas Ask good questions and LISTEN (to the
customer).
Stefania Luca Create a fast, good and reliable communication
process between marketing and sales force, in order to have
synergy and common messages for the customers
Edwin Washington Listen very hard to your customers. Don't
be defensive. They will tell you what's good and what's not so
good. Then take what you learn and focus on improving.
Susan Smoter Add value - bring thought-leadership, show them
you understand their business, and always leave them with
things they can use.
Brian McClelland A lot of great suggestions here. I would add
be 100% present when you're with your client. Before the
meeting, do the things that will keep your mind calm and in the
moment (take a few deep breaths, etc).

It will allow you to listen with the intent to understand, to have
better focus, and to be clear of mind and not defensive if an
issue/challenge/criticism comes up.
Gordon Vaughan, Strategic Alliance Manager As a new guy in
the group I would counsel to never get ahead of your
organization's commitment to a given relationship or solution.
Organizational alignment is everything when it comes to
execution!
Baldwin Berges Set up a free webinar about a key problem that
your customers have.
Invite relevant people via LinkedIn
Make a recording
then repurpose it as free content on linkedin
Steve Torok Don't be afraid to fire your customer. Work with
those that bring out the best work you can do.
Fazloodien Abrahams Ensure the foundation of the
organisation is rock solid. Management/directorship must be
strong in their rolls. Functions. Skill. Duties.
Jean Deltenre More practically : hire a creative CEO, not a
finance guy and make him develop a business development
spirit in the whole company he or she is managing.

Raymond Anastasi Business Development is a future plan that
involves long term value (money coming in) for the company
or organisation from Relationship (trust, mutual benefits and
respect for one another); Customer (the client that pay our
bills); and the Markets (demographics, buying mentality and
their life styles). One have to remember that BD is the
Crossroad of M & S.
Andrew Reid Listen hard to what they need and not what you
need. Take your time to build the relationship . Rome wasn't
built in a day
Phillip A Smith If you learn of a best practice from your client
that may benefit other clients that you have. Do a email blast
and share the information.
Michael David Questions are the answer!!
Mia Lona Make sure your company always works as a Team.

Himanshu Singla Keep in touch with your customer like you
care for them to get regular development of Business
Jimmy Pervik Set sky high goals for the organization and make
sure to reach them. You will benifit instantly if you have
team/company with you.
Adam Vere Drewry Know the product or service inside out.
Dress as well as possible. Ignore others and dont get dragged
into competition or politics, worry about your performance and
what you do only, then you will enjoy your job a lot more...
Marilvia Oliveira You have to prepare sales team for 2016
now. It seems the world is going crazy and they must believe in
themselves to change their own world. Make your sales people
believe that they can build a good year.
Talk about traditional tools, showing them how they became
consolidated tools for them to work. Tell them you will offer
new tools in the new year - it means marketing, technology,
business intelligence and all they need to profit in the year to
come. Start the new year with new tools really offering what
you promised.

They will be serious about the job, confident about their tools
and your management. Perfect recipe for a good new year.
You can imagine how difficult is to do that in Brazil now. But I
am preparing sales team of my clients with this recipe and it is
rewarding. T
hey are talking about their plans, scheduling visits and thinking
about sales strategy and I am ready to help them. They are very
confident with their results in 2016.
Brian P. Hower Analyze, understand and then really focus on
the top few highest priorities. It's natural and so easy to lose
focus on what is truly essential for growth.
fatima zeree when new unfulfilled customer needs appear , its
time to a business develop (new needs , its time to business
fulfill )
Lance Hardy Test every new marketing campaign. Even the
best teams only have a 1 in 5 campaign after testing that they
proceed with. Remember build your product and your
marketing strategies together
Sandra Clark, MBA Be real and treat people with respect,
people buy you first and then your product

eitan rosenberg Do not focus on what others do or what has
been done in the past. Figure out how to drive increased
revenues and market share by implementing genuine ideas, all
through the customer needs scope. Beat your rivals through
innovative services and products, not through price. It was just
published that Apple is responsible for 94% (!) of the
Smartphone business profit (all others lose money or earn
peanuts). And it does that by being the most expensive brand
on the market!
Joseph Leemen This is a solution to have positive outcome.
Skills-based routing (SBR), or Skills-based call routing, is a
call-assignment strategy used in call centres to assign incoming
calls to the most suitable agent, instead of simply choosing the
next available agent. It is an enhancement to the Automatic
Call Distributor (ACD) systems found in most call centres.
The need for skills-based routing has arisen, as call centres
have become larger and dealt with a wider variety of call types.
idea clearly to your market.
* Be unique, don't follow the trend - what worked for Coy
ABC may not suit Coy XYZ.
- Be realistic with your figures and research, align individual
figures or reports to individual markets what works in Holland
may and in most cases don't work in Nigeria (1st hand
experience �).

Chinedu Mbaegbu-Nzom ...always keep it simple, people don't
have the time these days to try to figure out what you are
selling. clarity - simplicity and enlighten.
Raymond Anastasi Immediate results comes if the team knows
very well the products that are pushing to introduce on that
particular platform and more important in my opinion is, how
much they really believe in their product or concept? Having
these 2 points well controlled, than it is easy to sell to that
particular market.
Gary Thompson Develop strengths relevant to people needs,
wants and expectations and leverage your strengths to make
them happy consistently.
Frank Fredericks All on the button, creative and innovative.
Richard Greig Research the companies that you are targeting.
How do they succeed? What makes them better and different?
Why would they need what you are offering?
Always think from their point of view. What's in it for them??
If the fit is going to be a stretch- move on to the next prospect.

James Diefenderfer Work quickly and very diligently to qualify
the "new opportunity". Rapidly put together a small team
which can indepently review the opportunity. It's extremely
important to not start out "in a vacuum" so your biases don't get
a chance to take over your business acumen.
Christophe Diederich Expose your least performing department
to your least performing market.
Gary Terrazas Following the 80 20 rule. Calculate and define
exactly who is your 20% most profitable clients and pursue that
segment through search and social media strategies.
Asad Rehman If you guys are serious I have a few tips which I
can share.

Olumuyiwa George Product knowledge is very important and
also having a listening ear. Positioning of the unique selling
point (USP) to address the customer’s needs has to be done
spot on.
Johanna Aaw I agree, listen and then show your product
knowledge by presenting the pertinent selling points to your
customer. Selling points do not always have to be unique but
they have to be relevant to customer needs. So in short, make
sure that you understand your customer and adapt your
approach and pitch accordingly!
Joseph Leemen One can try this
The Hawthorne effect (also referred to as the observer effect)
Fred Jones It is also important to have confidence in yourself
when doing you sales pitch. You have less than 30 sec to
impress your prospective client.
Neil Mulkern Understand, first, where your prospects buy
complimentary products and how they buy and, where
possible, map your sales onto these existing routes to market.

Rod Burns IF YOU READ MY BOOK THE FORMULA FOR
ACHIEVING GOALS AND FINDING SUCCESS AND
FOLLOW THE FORMULA YOU WILL DOUBLE YOU
INCOME NEXT YEAR, I DID MANY TIMES. AVAILABLE
ON AMAZON.COM OR BOOKSBYROD.COM
Ifeyinwa Chime Be positive, be professional and be passionate
about the business being developed...
Alan Moratelli LISTEN to your customer(s) / prospect(s) to
understand what they NEED then help them as a trusted
adviser to engage with you easily; however, they choose.
Jeff Dykstra, MBA, SSGB (LION) There have been some great
comments regarding prospects and potential buyers. One way
I've found differentiates myself from other sales people is
strategic partnerships.
A majority of us hate making hundreds of calls and or sending
email blasts each week, so I've built solid referral partnerships
who have "skin in the game", and I receive 10-15 new leads
each week. I still make calls and send emails, but it's a great
way to build a more robust pipeline.

Elaine Regina Guerra Bertolo Many of the colleagues here
have already made great contributions! I would emphasize that
understand DEEPLY the customers´ needs is the KEY for
success. There are some ways of doing that. But I believe the
most effective one is to BE with your customers, visiting them,
talking to them, and showing yourself as a BUSINESS
PARTNER, building a solid and reliable RELATIONSHIP.
Also, to support it, you could apply a Key-Buying Factors´
Research yourself and segment them by service level (for
example Premium or Price minded). It would make business
(for both) more productive and profitable, offering to
customers only what they NEED and are willing to pay for.
This is a part of a methodoly called Cost to Serve.
It helps a lot understanding whole impact on the value chain.
Also, anticipating trends and developing solutions within the
customers (market).
Joseph Leemen Do not forget the employees, they are also
important.
Elaine Regina Guerra Bertolo Great Joseph!!! They are the
most important thing in the value chain in order to build
significant relationships.
Adam Cummings It's great to have the skills to be able to
talk/present to a group of people, but it's equally - if not MORE
- important to be able to listen to an individual

Tony Stead MSc, FICPEM All, I'm enjoying the thread. My tip
is to shut up and listen, become a trusted partner in
understanding and developing a shared solution.
Gary Anthony Barba be complimentary to projects that your
client has produced
Steve Corbett Must agree with a few whom have said to simply
listen.
Gerlanda Milioto Business development has to be for the
benefit of both parties, like a partnership. So I agree that
listening is crucial, and take on board (and action) to needs.

Patrick Desmarais Business Dev, interesting note: Align your
objectives, ensure that your company has what it takes to action
the plan.
Readiness of resources, choice of market segments company
wish to action the Bus/Dev.For example select the existing
customers or prospects and done on National or Global
Markets. Be sure that your board supports this action or you
will hit the fan.
Harsha Chandak Tip would be : Develop your plan according
to prospect's need which satisfies the end User and consider
each employees suggestion as we never know which small
thought could lead us to a beneficial plan..
Susan Castle Define your ideal customer and don't waste time
and energy chasing everyone
Michel Janho. Try to get maximum information about a client
by using all LEGAL means and hit accordingly. People love
when you share their problems hence you care of their
interests.

Rajnish Tripathi I agreed with all of you and this is easy task
but problem is difficult to understand client challenges, you can
agree with us, we have to understand the terms of
development- we develop or client develop if need to develop
our business.
Peter Tegelberg The tip is - Build the relationship! Nurture the
relationship! Cherish the relationsship!
Clinton Rozario Never hold back in asking for the order -
remember, you are helping the customer solve THEIR
problems (with your offering); you are helping THEM move
ahead in business and in life.... the sooner they get your
product/service, the closer they are to THEIR goals.
Muhammad Tariq Khan business development starts with a
potential need for which you make plans to satisfy and enhance
the business. Who foresee that need as well as the means to
make satisfy is the real business tycoon.
Su Pilkington Keep top of mind: why and for what purpose am
I meeting with/ contacting/ connecting with this person or
company. How is it serving my company's purpose and how

will it serve that person or company. Without purpose, it's like
sprinkling seed on concrete - what's the point? You risk
wasting resources, time and effort and set yourself up for a low
success rate.
Michael Huber Knowing your customer, understanding his
pain and how he takes his decisions is the key to create the
right solution offering for his needs. This leads to customer
satisfaction, strong customer relations and growing revenue
streams as trusted advisor with extra cross and upsell
opportunities.
Memo Carretero Beguin to work at 5 o'clock morning with
open mind and ready to learn
Steve Savva FACP FCICM Customer Satisfaction at a Profit.
No matter what your job title or what department you work in,
you are there to work for the main objective of any business.
'CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT A PROFIT'
Cameron Sharp Stay positive, that way you make your own
luck. Just keep going!

Dustin Fahey Listen twice as much as you speak. Selling is
gathering information not telling it.
Chad L Hoffman Understand where you have untapped
leverage. Begin with your current clients and ask about other
areas where you could be service. Understand those in your
expanded expanded client value chain chains and ask for
insights and introductions. Think creatively and get busy!
Eddie Pacey FCICM FACP Don't waste the vast amount of
information that rests within your organisation; far too many
do.
RAY UNDERELL application needs to fit, then strategize your
delivery. with the correct combination, no selling should be
Ian Stuart Get over yourself
For a long time I struggled with public speaking on my
product. Not That I didn't believe in it, I am very passionate
about what I sell and love how we've impacted 1,000,000+
people. But I'm young. Not as seasoned as the people I present
to. And far too many deals were lost due to me trying to avoid
giving presentations at all cost.

There's true freedom in serving others without a mind to
yourself.
Big wins and presentations that are so killer they're knocked
out of the park are the result of getting up to bat and striking
out 100 times before that.
Kamal Pathak I believe, business development is all about
offering your set of services. So it would be good if you can
find out who is in need of those particular services you are
offering. Success rate would be more.
Alex Oira First, I really like the question because it is a thought
provoking one and one can even do a full thesis on this! The tip
I would offer would typically depend on what kind the group it
is ,what products they are dealing with which sector and
category not forgetting the end customer.
The theme would be on exploiting the core competencies of the
group based on the SWOT analysis and degree and quality of
execution. Speed will be of essence and ' arriving there early
'would be the backbone of success as well as simplifying the
business from the inside to have an efficient operation. Most
businesses are too complex that the execution speed is
hampered as people try to demystify the complexities internally
and getting lost in the details.
Eric Murphy FOCUS! Most specifically, focus on who you can
best help. Consider these 3 types of potential buyers:

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