by Daria Steigman on December 28, 2009
I was talking with a representative from Sales Genie at a conference recently, and our conversation turned to the roots of list making.
My first prospecting list, in the days before information was online, was a labor of much labor. Having identified my target market (at the time, Washington offices of large companies in the agriculture and/or energy sectors), I spent several days at the public library meticulously writing down on index cards contact names, titles, addresses, company data, and any other information that I thought might be useful.
It turns out that Sales Genie, in its early days, used pretty much the same process. Which makes sense, of course, because why should everyone reinvent the wheel?
Has the process changed today–or is it just easier to access data? What does your list-making process entail?
Photo by rocknroll_guitar (Flickr).
Tagged as:
Business Development,
Sales Genie,
Workflow
by Daria Steigman on April 10, 2009
WHY should I join your network?
I’ve seen a number of so-called discussion questions on LinkedIn Groups lately that are are on the theme of “Open Networker — please link to me” and “I’m building out my network — please invite me to connect.” In none of these cases does the person tell me either what value they bring or what the rest of us might do to help them.
Whether you are looking for your next job or your next customer or client, please don’t be the person who hits on everyone indiscriminantly. It’s not a valued trait. Rather, understand what you bring to the table and why I might want to have a conversation with you. If you’re interesting to me, the connection will follow.
Tagged as:
Business,
Business Development,
LinkedIn
by Daria Steigman on January 12, 2009
I once gave a talk to a group of independent consultants about how losing a big client can be a good thing. I’ve been thinking about the topic a lot lately as I see more and more people lose jobs or clients, or feel the pinch of shrinking marcomm budgets. As many of us cope with one form of loss or another, it’s a good time to revisit how solopreneurs and small business owners can turn this around and create opportunities for ourselves.
So here are my top five reasons why losing work can work out for you:
- You have to figure out what went wrong. Unless you screwed up, it likely has nothing to do with you. And that’s helpful to understand (and, if you screwed up, it’s important to recognize that and resolve not to make the same mistakes again). I once lost a great client when her company was bought out in a $9.8 billion acquisition deal; another client, when his departmental budget was cut.
- It forces you to evaluate your existing client relationships. Are you coasting comfortably along or have you asked your clients for feedback? When things are going well, it is easy to become complacent. Losing work ends that illusion, and reminds you that it might be wise to make sure your perception of the work relationship meshes with theirs.
- It frees up your time. Okay, stick with me here. I know you don’t want this free time, but what can you do now for your business that you didn’t have time to do before? I focused some time on better understanding social media, and I started this blog, during a slow period last summer.
- It brings new urgency to business development. If you’re like many solopreneurs and small business owners, your new business efforts are inversely proportional to the time spent on existing client work. There’s nothing like a revenue dip to focus your attention on the business side of your business.
- You get to test new business ideas. This goes hand-in-hand with #4. Every change in my business strategy has come after the loss of a big client. While that’s probably not a big surprise, here’s what might be: I was relieved to be free to try something new. As a result, I’ve been able over the years to expand my business from public affairs to include strategy and marketing communications offerings.
There’s one more reason why I’m big on loss as opportunity: I started my business after I lost a full-time job.
So what have I left out? How did losing a client or a job help you?
Tagged as:
Business,
Business Development,
marketing
by Daria Steigman on October 31, 2008
Thinking of going independent or starting a business? Before you quit your day job, here are a few “top of mind” things to consider:
- your risk tolerance
- your comfort level with doing business development
- your level of discipline
- your value proposition (why clients should hire you instead of all the other solo practitioners in the marketplace)
As a would-be entrepreneur, you should also develop a business plan right away–before taking any other steps. Developing a business plan will force you to focus on your goals and what is aspirational, what is achievable in the shorter term, and what resources it will take to succeed.
Tagged as:
Business Development,
Entrepreneurship,
Risk Tolerance,
Value Proposition
In this age of instant everything, planning seems to be getting a bad rap. But make no mistake: planning matters. Here are my five tips for jumpstarting your business in 2010: