Business Development Clinic: How to write a proposal which will help us win a competitive tender? Part 2
| |

Business Development Clinic: How to write a proposal which will help us win a competitive tender? Part 2

This is the second part of a 2-part blog post – the first part can be found here. Read on for more tips to help you win that bid.  Use diagrams wherever possible As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is very true for proposals. Many people find large…

Dog with a phone to represent switching off from work
| | |

Business Development Clinic: How often should I follow-up without seeming pushy?

Many professionals hate the thought of selling, as this implies in their mind that they need to turn into a pushy second-hand car sales person. Consequently they have a very hands-off approach to their Leads, and potentially lose many potentially good Clients by this approach. Your aim when managing your Leads through your Sales Pipeline…

Business Development Clinic: why even the best networkers don’t win business from networking
| | |

Business Development Clinic: why even the best networkers don’t win business from networking

In this Business Development Clinic, we consider what you need to have thought about and researched, BEFORE you go networking – even if you are meeting the right people. Let me tell you a true story of a good friend of mine. Let’s call him Steven. He took the decision to move from the relative…

What size of client portfolio will I need to build as a partner in the Big 4?
| |

What size of client portfolio will I need to build as a partner in the Big 4?

It is now extremely rare for a partnership to make someone up to partner who does not have the potential to be a work winner for the practice. After all, no partnership wants to dilute it’s profits by promoting people to partner who are technical specialists and can’t win work. Therefore, regardless of whether you…

Business Development Clinic: 7 signs that a prospect is interested in using your services
| | |

Business Development Clinic: 7 signs that a prospect is interested in using your services

The question that I was asked recently – How do I spot the signs that a client is interested in working with me? When are they just being polite and taking an interest, and when are they serious about working with me? In this blog post we explore how to spot when you have a…

Business Development Clinic: 7 options to avoid lowering your fees for a client
| |

Business Development Clinic: 7 options to avoid lowering your fees for a client

Even if you have qualified your lead correctly, there are still times when your prospect is asking for a reduction in your fees. In this blog post we examine, how to avoid lowering your fees, so that you maintain your profit margin and STILL sign up the client. Unless you are in a competitive bidding…

partner business case
| |

3 tips to help you decide on whether to focus on a niche

In many of our previous blogs we have discussed how to find your niche. (See 5 steps to finding your niche – part 1 and part 2, business development time savers: have a niche – part 1, part 2, part 3) You could say that we have examined the sixty million dollar question of helping…

Dog with a phone to represent switching off from work
| | | |

Business Development Clinic: 6 tips to get back in touch with old colleagues

Getting back in touch with people and old colleagues is something that many of us find difficult. Regardless of whether your motive is driven by a commercial need or you are just curious, it doesn’t make it any easier to get back in touch. However, for most of us, there is a huge amount of…

The business card test of credibility
| | |

The business card test of credibility

As I mentioned yesterday, I recently attended the Professional Speaking Association’s spring convention, Creativity Live (See here for 5 ways you can present like the pros). At the convention were many different forms of speakers, from a funeral speaker (yes, seriously) through to people who had run 250 marathons in one year. There was also…

diary
| | | |

Business Development Clinic: How do I qualify a lead?

Today’s business development clinic has come to us via a conversation with an aspiring partner who was finding that he was spending too much time chasing potential clients which didn’t go anywhere. We asked him, did he qualify his leads at any stage in the business development process. He looked at us blankly… This is…

End of content

End of content