Business Development by Anna Kennedy Business Development For Dummies® Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com This edition first published 2015 © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex Registered office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at www.dummies.com For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: WHILE THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR HAVE USED THEIR BEST EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS BOOK, THEY MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH THE RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IT IS SOLD ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM IF PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OR OTHER EXPERT ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL SHOULD BE SOUGHT For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S at (001) 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002 For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-118-96271-8 (paperback); ISBN 978-1-118-96269-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-96270-1 (ebk) Printed in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall 10 Contents at a Glance Introduction Part I: Getting Started with Business Development Chapter 1: Introducing Business Development for Services Firms Chapter 2: Finding Damaging Gaps in Your Business Development 19 Chapter 3: Diving Inside Your Customer’s Head 33 Chapter 4: Using the Lifecycle to Your Advantage 51 Part II: Planning for Business Development 71 Chapter 5: Getting Ready for Business Development 73 Chapter 6: Building Your Business Development Plan 97 Chapter 7: Putting Your Plan into Action 115 Part III: Making the Most of Marketing 135 Chapter 8: Appreciating the Benefits of Marketing for Your Business 137 Chapter 9: Driving Sales Success with Effective Marketing 157 Chapter 10: Creating Your Marketing Plan 175 Chapter 11: Automating Marketing – More Leads with Less Effort 199 Chapter 12: Forming a Winning Team: Marketing and Sales Cohesion 221 Part IV: Seeing What Sales Can Do for You 235 Chapter 13: Becoming the Leader of the (Sales) Pack 237 Chapter 14: Taking the Lead: Selling Under Control 265 Chapter 15: Closing the Sale to Your Satisfaction 285 Part V: Managing Your Customers for Business Success 297 Chapter 16: Generating Success from the Customer Relationship 299 Chapter 17: Joining Together to Maximize Business and Customer Value 315 Chapter 18: Standing Tall To Get More Customers: Vertical Industries 333 Part VI: Making Influential Friends: Partnerships 345 Chapter 19: Seeking Partners for Mutual Benefit 347 Chapter 20: Pursuing Your Plans for a Successful Partnership 361 Part VII: The Part of Tens 377 Chapter 21: Ten Regular Actions that Benefit Your Business 379 Chapter 22: Ten Key Metrics to Watch 383 Chapter 23: Ten Great Resources for Business Development 387 Index 391 Table of Contents Introduction About This Book Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book Beyond the Book Where to Go from Here Part I: Getting Started with Business Development Chapter 1: Introducing Business Development for Services Firms Answering the Question: So What Is Business Development Anyway? Recognizing that business is a serious business Understanding how business development differs from selling Breaking business development into bite-sized chunks 11 Placing the Customer Experience Center Stage 12 Deconstructing the customer lifecycle 13 Mapping business development to the customer lifecycle 14 Making Business Development Manageable in a Small Business 14 Dealing with overwhelm 14 Anticipating growth and its impact on your business 15 Taking stock of where you are 16 Chapter 2: Finding Damaging Gaps in Your Business Development 19 Spotting Patchy Business Development 20 Recognizing the tell-tale signs of weak business development 20 Looking for the obvious and the not-so-obvious problems 21 Thinking like your customers 23 Understanding Business Development Challenges for  Services Firms 25 Identifying value in a services firm 25 ‘You’re the top!’ The owner-led sale 26 Being proactive rather than reactive 27 Taking Stock of Where You Are 30 What you’re not doing – and being okay with it 30 It’s a numbers game: How’s your firm really doing? 32 Chapter 3: Diving Inside Your Customer’s Head 33 Uncovering Your Customers’ Real Needs 34 Understanding what customers need today and whether they know it 36 Staying current with your customers’ needs 37 vi Business Development For Dummies Powering Growth Using Your Customer’s Viewpoint 39 Focusing on your customer: Why you should care 39 Mapping your customer’s journey 42 Tailoring your solution to your customer’s need (not vice versa) 46 Using influence to get the outcome you want 48 Chapter 4: Using the Lifecycle to Your Advantage 51 Clarifying Precisely What You’re Selling — and How 52 Being in control 52 Keeping your offer fresh 55 Investing to stay up-to-date 58 Creating the customer experience 59 Considering the Pre-Sales Stage 62 Selling without looking like you’re selling 62 Dating the customer: EDUCATE stage 62 Courting and proposing: PRESENT and PROPOSE stages 65 Confronting reality: CONTRACT stage 66 Handling the After-the-Sale Process 67 Moving from ‘Yes’ to ‘Done’: DELIVER stage 67 Wrapping up delivery: COMPLETE and EVALUATE stages 68 Part II: Planning for Business Development 71 Chapter 5: Getting Ready for Business Development 73 Developing an Offer that Sells 73 Ensuring that you’re giving the market what it needs 75 Making your specialty really valuable 78 Assessing your competition 80 Accepting that the grass isn’t always greener 81 Developing focus – or it’s all over 83 ‘Really? You that?’ Articulating your offer 83 Presenting Your Offer 84 Finding your customer 84 ‘Tell me what you want, what you really, really want’ 85 Who drives the customer? Engaging effectively 87 Getting to the sale 88 Building your contract process 89 Continuing Your Great Work beyond the Sale 89 Understanding the importance of relationships 89 Completing the work 91 Learning from Your Customers 92 Gathering intelligence: The importance of data 93 Evaluating your offer 94 Table of Contents Chapter 6: Building Your Business Development Plan 97 Planning for Business Development Success 98 Winging business development doesn’t work 98 Knowing where you’re going 99 Creating Your Winning Plan 100 Choosing where to start planning 101 Working on metrics 108 Components of your plan: Creating the blueprint 110 Monitoring progress 113 Chapter 7: Putting Your Plan into Action 115 Checking Your Plan before Lift-off 116 Setting milestones, tactics and metrics 116 Identifying initial tasks 121 Calling on helpers 122 Determining your investment 125 Lift-Off! Launching Your Plan 125 Communicating your plan internally 126 Enrolling ‘friends’ 127 Making use of friendly feedback 128 Getting the team going 130 Considering a few final thoughts as the plan takes off 131 Managing Risk while Implementing Your Plan 132 Thinking the unthinkable: What can possibly go wrong? 132 Dealing with large challenges 133 Part III: Making the Most of Marketing 135 Chapter 8: Appreciating the Benefits of Marketing for Your Business 137 Working Together in Harmony: Marketing and Sales 138 Enjoying the perfect relationship (not!): Marketing and sales 139 Making your marketing sales-oriented 140 Setting Out Your Stall: Marketing for Services Firms 144 Selecting the best marketing techniques for you 145 Energizing your team 146 Using your network 148 Forming partnerships and alliances 149 Understanding technology and the online dimension 150 Finding some quick wins in marketing 152 Deciding whether Your Firm Needs Branding 154 Understanding the importance of brands 154 Identifying yourself with a brand 155 Marketing your brand 155 vii viii Business Development For Dummies Chapter 9: Driving Sales Success with Effective Marketing 157 Revving up the Marketing Engine 158 Appreciating the differences between sales and marketing 159 Ensuring that marketing drives results 160 Tuning up the marketing engine 162 Carrying out the hard work of marketing 165 Setting Accountabilities between Sales and Marketing 166 What am I striving for? Establishing the goal 167 ‘How will I know that marketing is achieving its goals?’ Measuring marketing 168 Ensuring that Marketing Generates Interest 170 ‘Hey, we’re over here!’ Getting attention 170 ‘Over to you!’ Timing lead handover correctly 172 Chapter 10: Creating Your Marketing Plan 175 Preparing To Market Your Business 175 Defining your plan 176 Researching marketing opportunities 177 Choosing your channels 179 Brainstorming your tactics 182 Putting Marketing into Practice 186 Creating your marketing programs 186 Creating your marketing calendar 192 Creating and managing collateral and content 194 Making the Most of Your Resources 196 Breaking the plan down to decide on resources 196 Satisfying marketing’s appetite: Who does the marketing? 197 Making marketing accountable 198 Chapter 11: Automating Marketing – More Leads with Less Effort 199 Introducing the Automated Demand Generation Game 200 Understanding the buyer’s journey 201 Providing insights for your prospective customers 202 Attracting an audience 202 Asking whether Demand Generation Is Right for You 203 Deciding when to consider automated demand generation 203 Gathering the required resources 205 Adding Automation to Your Marketing Armory 206 Choosing your infrastructure tools 207 Building your database 210 Designing demand generation programs 212 Testing and evaluating your programs 216 Making the phone ring 218 398 Business Development For Dummies offline event participation, 64 1-to-1 marketing, 179, 180–181 online events, 64 online map, 150–152 operations, managing prospect roles and concerns, 276 opportunities, metrics on, 383 opportunity stage, 253 opposition, as risk factor, 278 opt in, 203 opt-outs, 194 organization chart, 250 outbound emails, 152 overwhelm, 14–15 owner contribution to business development of, 316 managing prospect roles and concerns, 275 owner-led sales, 26–27 •P• ‘panic now/panic later,’ 260–261 partner manager, appointing, 370 partner referral, as source of wins, 112–113 partners and partnerships about, 347–348, 361 appointing partner managers, 370 calling, 380 co-branding, 374–375 as component of business development, 10 customer ownership by, 373 deciding whether to enter, 352–354 disadvantages of, 369–370 dividing the money, 375 effectiveness of, 362–370 finding good partners, 355–359 focus in-351, 349 forming, 149–150 goals for, 355–357, 368–369 leads from, 226 locating within business development, 361–362 roles and responsibilities for, 372–373 types of, 348–349 unified go-to market strategy, 370–372 white labeling, 374 payment terms, negotiation guidelines for, 289 peers, 128 Peppers and Rogers Group (website), 181 performance, monitoring, 121 personality, business success and, 123 pitch script, 270, 279–280 pitching assessing pitch, 284 services to customers, 274–284 tips and tricks for, 282–283 planning, 101–108, 381 planning spreadsheet (website), 101 points per action, 218 Portny, Stanley E (author) Project Management For Dummies, 305 positioning, 158 Poston, Leslie (author) Twitter For Dummies, 152 pre-brief/debrief meetings, 232 pre-sales stage CONTRACT stage, 66–67 EDUCATE stage, 62–65 PRESENT stage, 65–66 PROPOSE stage, 65–66 selling, 62 PRESENT stage in business development lifecycle, 44 people’s personalities and, 61 in pre-sales stage, 65–66 presenting, as skill, 303 price, 286 pricing, negotiation guidelines for, 289 proactivity, 27–29 probability of closure percentage, 253 probability percentage, 274 producing, as skill, 303 profit per month, 117 profitability, metrics on, 385 programs about, 165 defined, 162 evaluating, 216–218 testing, 216–218 progress, monitoring, 113–114 Index progressive assets, 189 project, in customer reviews, 308 Project Management For Dummies (Portny), 305 project manager contribution to business development of, 317 relationship with, 90 as role in sales process, 244 sample role description for, 245 promotional materials, writing vertically based, 344 proposal writing, 244, 280–282 PROPOSE stage in business development lifecycle, 44 people’s personalities and, 61 in pre-sales stage, 65–66 prospects gating through sales pipeline, 273–274 providing insights for, 202 qualifying leads into, 266–274 purchasing, managing prospect roles and concerns, 276 •Q• qualification, 270 qualifying leads, 265, 266–274, 269–270 qualitative goals, 99–100 quantitative goals, 99–100 quarterly reviews, 328–329 quarterly team meeting, 257 questions, scoping, 270 quota, 166 •R• RainMakers US (website), 389 reactive, being, 27–29 readiness, assessing for going vertical, 343 rebalancing of investment, timing of, 261 record-keeping, adequacy of, 331 redeploy, timing of, 262 redirection of team, timing of, 261 re-engaging with customers, 293–294 references, 311 referral partner, 348, 356 referrals handling leads from, 268 from network, 226 relationships, importance of, 89–91 Remember icon, ‘repeatable’ work, 336 reputation, 212 requests for proposals (RFPs), 281–282 researching marketing opportunities, 177–178 marketplace, 38 resources for automatic demand generation, 205–206 marketing, 246 for marketing plan, 196–198 recommended, 387–389 as risk factor, 278 sales, 246 responsibility, allocating, 242–246 revenue analyzing sources of, 323 metrics on, 384 reviews daily, 381 timing of, 328–329 risk management about, 132 as business development plan component, 99 handling large challenges, 133–134 selling against risk, 278–279 what can go wrong?, 132–133 roles and responsibilities allocating, 242–246 in customer lifecycle, 224–225 knowing, 303–304 selling to different, 275–277 •S• sales about, 221–222 beyond, 89–92 combined with marketing, 221–263 comparing marketing and, 138–144, 159–160 399 400 Business Development For Dummies sales (continued) contribution to business development of, 317 driving with marketing See marketing finishing up, 294–295 getting, 88–89 helping, 231–233 learning from delivery, 331 managing prospect roles and concerns, 276 managing transition to delivery from, 290–294 mapping, 232 owner-led, 26–27 reassessing roles, 222–223 roles in customer lifecycle, 224–225 setting accountabilities between marketing and, 166–170 setting goals and targets, 225–227 supporting, 258–259 sales bag, 238 Sales Benchmark Index (website), 388 sales cycle, metrics on, 384 Sales Force Automation/Customer Relationship Management (SFA/CRM) tool, 209–210, 246, 380 sales funnel, 142–144, 171 sales leadership about, 237 avoiding knee-jerk reactions, 259–261 balancing, 239 collaborative selling, 259 defining what you sell, 238–240 establishing sales process, 240–246 importance of, 238–249 as role in sales process, 244 sales tools, 246–247 setting goals and metrics, 248–249 team for, 249–252 timing of action, 261–263 Sales Management Association (website), 388 sales pipeline gating prospects through, 273–274 managing, 253–256 metrics on, 383 sales process about, 253 establishing, 240–246 kick-starting, 247 managing sales pipeline, 253–256 mapping, 241–242 roles in, 244 working your, 256–259 Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs), 198, 231 sales resources, 246 sales team about, 249 creating, 250 executors of sales strategy, 251–252 people from outside, 251 sales tools, 246–247 sales-oriented marketing, 140–144 salesperson, as role in sales process, 244 sales-qualified leads (SQLs), 228 scarcity, as influencer, 49 Schenck, Barbara Findlay (author) Branding For Dummies, 155 scope, 286, 289 scoping questions, 270 selling about, 52, 265 being in control, 52–55 to committees, 277–278 compared with business development, 9–11 as component of business development, 10 creating customer experience, 59–61 determining who to sell to, 269 to different roles, 275–277 investing, 58–59 keeping offers fresh, 55–58 pitching services to customers, 274–284 qualifying leads into prospects, 266–274 against risk, 278–279 without looking like you are, 62 ‘selling’ organization, 316 serial entrepreneurs, 123 service firms barter for services, 124 business development for, 7–17 Index growth patterns of, 16–17 identifying value in, 25–26 impact of technology on, 56–57 marketing for, 144–153 pitching services to customers, 274–284 Services Agreement, 288 sharing customers, 300–302 short-term goals, 368 SIC code (website), 334 small business, business development in, 14–17 social events, 65 social media, 35, 65 social proof, as influencer, 49 social selling strategy, 165 Software as a Service (SaaS), 56, 247 sources, of wins, 112–113 speaker engagements, 64 specialization, 75, 179, 334 spiff, 114 split tactics, 196 staff attrition, metrics on, 385 staffing, in customer reviews, 308 Statement of Work, 288, 289 status/deliverable meetings, training in, 327 strategic goals, 368 subject-matter experts, 123, 244 supporting sales, 258–259 SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), 178 •T• tactical goals, 368 tactics brainstorming, 182–186 in business development plan, 98, 116 monitoring at grass-roots level, 120 setting, 116–121 taking stock, of where you are, 16–17, 30–32 target market, 84 targets as business development plan component, 98 setting, 225–227 tasks, identifying initial, 121–122 team caring for your, 305–307 communication with, 319–322 energizing your, 146–148 feedback from customer reviews to, 310–311 launching into action, 130–131 meetings with, 256–258 members of, as data source, 93 psychology of customer and, 302–303 for sales leadership, 249–252 Technical Stuff icon, technically appropriate, 55 techniques, marketing, 145–146 technology impact of on services firms, 56–57 marketing and, 150–152 terminate, timing of, 262 testimonials, 311 testing programs, 216–218 threshold scoring, 218 Tibbels, Kirkland (President of Influence Ecology), 83 time management tool (website), 261 timeline, as risk factor, 278 timing of action, 261–263 in marketing, 172–173 as risk factor, 278 Tip icon, tire-kickers, 229 tools to help qualifying, 269–270 infrastructure, 207–210 sales, 246–247 traditional funnel, 171 triggered, 171 True Story icon, Try This icon, tweaking the process, timing of, 261 Twitter, 381 Twitter For Dummies (Fitton, Gruen and Poston), 152 401 402 Business Development For Dummies •U• upselling, 250, 326–328 •V• value of evaluation, 295 identifying in services firms, 25–26 maximizing customer, 315–332 securing from customers, 308–313 of specialty, 78–80 value proposition, 78 value-added emails, 380 vertical industries about, 333 defined, 334 designing and executing campaigns for, 343–344 importance of, 334–339 leveraging knowledge for success with, 340–343 verticalization, 334 video content, translating into channels, 190 Vistage (website), 251, 389 •W• Warning! icon, weblog, 182 website contact-me form, handling leads from, 268 websites, 195 See also specific websites weekly team meeting, 257 weighted number, 256 white labeling, 374 win/loss reviews, 295, 327 working partner, 349, 356 working with staff, 23, 91–92 writing proposals, 280–282 About the Author Anna Kennedy is Founder and CEO of RainMakers (US), Inc The company offers business development consulting and professional services to small and medium-sized services companies who are ambitious for growth, but somehow stuck in the journey towards higher results She is the inventor of a proprietary methodology, the ‘RainMakers’ Cookbook’ for business development assessment and strategy development that helps clients examine their current state and plan for the achievement of their ultimate business goals As a student and practitioner of business development for twenty years, Anna understands the challenges of business development for business owners, executives and senior managers who were not ‘born into’ the disciplines that constitute business development After a distinguished thirteen-year career in the UK as a mathematics, computer science and business educator and author, Anna relocated to the US to take up an opportunity in professional services leadership As Managing Partner at US Web and later at MarchFirst, Anna was involved in taking some leading US brands online in the early and heady days of the com boom and ran the most profitable operation in the MarchFirst family Those experiences provided direction for her thinking on how to create, operationalize, survive and successfully grow a services business In 2003, she developed a model for customer lifecycle management that is an inspiration for many services firms today Today, Anna is a consultant, trainer and advisor to small and medium-sized services and product firms She especially enjoys leading dynamic speaking engagements for small business owners and other with ambitions to be the best at business development Anna is married with four children and five grandchildren Living in Pasadena, CA, she loves theatre, music and raising money for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society You’ll find her any weekday between 5pm and 6pm, walking round the Rose Bowl Dedication This book is dedicated to my husband, Liam Kennedy, who has given me unstinting support in anything I ever wanted to throughout thirty five years of our relationship and marriage His encouragement as I wrote Business Development For Dummies has been the rock I leant on when things got tough I also want to thank all the inspiring bosses I had before I founded my own business: Roger Howe (now Executive Chairman of Stemedica) for his guidance and development of me as a US business leader, through Jim Howard (now CEO of CrownPeak Technology), Andrew (Flip) Filipowski (the greatest entrepreneur I have ever known), Brian Diver (now President and COO at SD.I), to Jason Meugniot and Jon Provisor (owners of Guidance, Inc.) Thank you, all Finally, a special thanks to Kirkland Tibbels and John Patterson, founders of Influence Ecology, who grounded my ambitions and helped them become a reality Author’s Acknowledgments I want to acknowledge the people who started me on the Dummies journey – Dr D P Lyle, author of Forensics For Dummies and Mark Layton (Mr Agile), Author of Agile Project Management For Dummies As friends and business associates, they showed me the way I want to thank the team at Wiley for giving me this opportunity and for working with me throughout the process with total professionalism and unvarying support To Claire Ruston and Annie Knight, Acquisitions Editors; Steve Edwards, Project Editor; Andy Finch, Development Editor; James Harrison, Copy Editor; Polly Thomas, Wiley Marketing, and many other Wiley people who make birthing a book about as easy as it can be Special thanks also go to Christopher Faust, CMO of Qvidian and the technical reviewer for the book, for his expertise, patience and priceless feedback as the work was in development Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S at (001) 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002 Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Project Editor: Steve Edwards Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery Commissioning Editor: Claire Ruston, Annie Knight Cover Image: ©iStock.com/antishock Assistant Editor: Ben Kemble Development Editor: Andy Finch Copy Editor: James Harrison Technical Reviewer: Christopher Faust Proofreader: Kim Vernon Publisher: Miles Kendall WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT Go to www.wiley.com/go/eula to access Wiley’s ebook EULA ... Resources for Business Development 387 Discovering Online For Dummies Resources for Business Development 387 Signing up for Business Insider 387 Using the Business Training... www .dummies. com/go/businessdevelopment and some free bonus articles at www .dummies. com/extras/businessdevelopment You can also access the cheat sheet at www .dummies. com/cheatsheet/ businessdevelopment... Advantage 51 Part II: Planning for Business Development 71 Chapter 5: Getting Ready for Business Development 73 Chapter 6: Building Your Business Development Plan 97 Chapter