Business Development Time Savers: Have a niche – Part 1
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Business Development Time Savers: Have a niche – Part 1

One of the ways you can minimise the time you spend on business development is to focus on developing a niche for yourself. Over the next few posts we are going to dig deep into the ‘why’, ‘who’, ‘what’ and how of a niche. Firstly, let’s consider what we actually mean by a niche… A…

Stop saying ‘fine’ if you want to develop a profitable relationship
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Stop saying ‘fine’ if you want to develop a profitable relationship

I was reading a great blog post by Dinah Liversidge on ‘is being ‘fine’ costing you business’, which prompted me to think in more detail about how being ‘fine’ is hindering your from developing your personal brand and relationships further. Dinah, in her article, examines really well the reasons why we say it. In this…

32 ways to say thank you quickly, personally and cheaply
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32 ways to say thank you quickly, personally and cheaply

Saying thank you for referrals or introductions to people is an important way to express your gratitude, and educate your network that you would like more of these. (This includes both your internal firm network and your external network) With a little thought and pre-planning, you can implement these ideas very quickly and always have…

The pink car story: The next chapter
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The pink car story: The next chapter

If you have ever heard me speak about networking or referral generation, then you will have heard me talk about the pink car story. For those of you who haven’t, here is a quick recap of the story. Last year, my family and I went camping down in Devon. This involved a 450 mile journey…

How to win clients via networking without having to network
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How to win clients via networking without having to network

One of the many benefits of having two business coaches within our company is that occasionally we swap clients. (With the client’s full permission). We have found that sometimes it’s useful for our clients to hear (very often the same thing) it from a different person, who has a different slant on the problem. Anyway,…

What’s the best way to build your client portfolio?
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What’s the best way to build your client portfolio?

How do you attract clients? This is normally one of the first questions I ask my clients. After all, many of my clients are working with me to help them build their client portfolio. However, it is amazing how many of my clients are trusting to luck for the phone to ring. Luck or hope…

8 ways to help prospective clients sign up quicker – Part 2
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8 ways to help prospective clients sign up quicker – Part 2

Continued from yesterday: 5. Don’t solve their problems before they buy This one sounds strange, because surely we should be proving our worth before our clients buy? So, helping them to take action and commit to working with us. Actually no, very often if we solve our potential client’s problems before they commit to working…

8 ways to help prospective clients sign up quicker – part 1
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8 ways to help prospective clients sign up quicker – part 1

If someone could wave a magic wand, one of my three wishes would be that potential clients would turn up cheque book in hand asking me where to sign and when to start. I’d then have to spend less time wooing them and helping them through the process of getting to the all important signing…

Why valuable content helps you gain referrals
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Why valuable content helps you gain referrals

I was asked by Sonja Jefferson ofValuable Content to write a guest blog for them on the role of valuable content in gaining referrals for your business. I have reproduced the blog here: As part of the research for ‘The FT Guide To Business Networking’ I spent over thirty hours interviewing international networking experts such as Ivan Misner, as well…

why every networker needs a credibility story (or two)
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why every networker needs a credibility story (or two)

After training over 200+ professionals in the last 6 months on their networking skills, I noticed that there was a common theme to what people found hard to do when networking. This theme, went something like this: “how do I start and maintain an interesting conversation, whilst not being boring, but use this conversation to…

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