Is Your Pipeline of BD Real?

As you start off another year in Business Development, I recommend that you begin with a squeaky clean pipeline. I’m talking about a pipeline that is honed and will lead you to closing deals. Typically you will hold onto “files” too long while real opportunities are passing you by. Here is a pipeline cleaning method….

Portrait of the Business Developer

Most organizations understand that effective management and deployment of assets can mean the difference between success and failure. They usually define those assets as “things.” Many organizations fail to consider their most critical asset is their human capital. This quote is absolutely not a surprise to me, except maybe considering the author.“Little of today’s technology is proprietary. Technology is easily obtained and replicated and only levels the playing field. An organization’s valued human assets cannot be copied.”   ~Bill Gates

Is Your Business Winning in Sales?

One of the biggest mistakes I experience in working with companies is that their business development efforts are not run as one congruent effort between sales and marketing. These efforts become disjointed. We may see marketing professionals developing marketing plans and sales trainers/coaches teaching a selling methodology within the same company. These professionals may not be aware of each other….

Successful Holiday Networking

The difference between regular networking and holiday events is that with the latter, there is more small talk, less focus on business development, and a “let’s party” attitude. Here are some keys to capitalize on opportunities during the holiday season.

Role of CRM in Business Development

For many in the BD world, their customer relationship management (CRM) tool may be Microsoft Outlook with or without journal notes, a manila folder filled with notes, or a box filled with business cards separated by days of the month and months in a year. This is not CRM!

Generational Diversity and Compensation

Compensating a business development team is a complicated combination of motivation and reward, while also keeping expenses down. The point of any compensation plan is to encourage individuals to do their best work, create buy-in to the organization, and ultimately retain top talent. This can mean different things to different organizations as well as different people. It also can vary depending on what stage of a career one is at. This section will help you define an effective compensation model for your organization.

Tying Individual Sales Metrics to Company Goals

If you are like many business owners and executives, you might believe any sales effort advances your company toward profitability. However, you also probably realize any success you achieve comes in spite of missing opportunities and holes in your sales processes.

Day-to-day demands often keep organizations from digging deep to find and fix problems with sales processes. Finding those opportunities could help you avoid time wasters and unnecessary costs, and your sales process would operate more efficiently. The result is likely to be sales acceleration and increased profit.

Time Management Tips & Tricks

Personal Leadership is an awesome responsibility! What does awesome mean to you in your business and in your personal life? Does that mean exciting or a constant state of stress and overwhelm? This PowerPoint will offer you some ideas on getting a handle on your Time Management issues.

How to Work with the Gatekeepers

The Gatekeepers are defined as the people who stand in the way of getting to the decision maker. They can be well-trained to run interference. That’s what they have been hired to do. I have been in that role when I was a health care professional and I was among the best at protecting the owner from seeing BD people. Having been in that role, I have tremendous respect and appreciation for the work that these people do. Typically, they are very loyal to their bosses. At the same time, BD professionals are seen as an obstacle in their day. There is work to be done, and BD people get in the pathway of productivity