There is a cure for the common cold call. Don’t do it. It’s not that it can’t work but rather that it is a very inefficient method (produces minimum results for maximum effort) that should be used only as a last resort.

Here are some ideas about how to approach an important decision-maker in a manner that has a much better probability of getting a meeting:

• Do research on them to learn about their business and personal goals, interests and experience. The more you know before you contact them, the greater the potential outcome of your interaction.
• Reach out to them through a common connection. This may be through the staff on an Association they belong to, one of their colleagues whom you know or somebody who knows them personally. If you don’t have a common connection, create one.
• Start the relationship in “learn” mode, not “sell” mode. If they want to buy from you, that can be determined after communication begins so don’t assume it. If it turns out that they are not a candidate to purchase from you but they like you (partially because you didn’t try to sell them), they may make a valuable introduction to somebody else.
• Develop a keen understanding of their concerns, which are often shaped by conditions in their industry so that you can speak intelligently with them about their perceived needs
• Email blast short messages with very appealing titles that indicate strong subject matter understanding of their industry, market and needs. If the title is right, the percentage of recipients who read it is dramatically higher.
• Create a new email blast campaign every Quarter and follow up every single email sent with a series of 5 phone calls that span the Quarter: 1 a week later, 2 & 3 spaced a week apart and 4 and 5 spaced a month apart.
• Be active in Associations where your target prospects congregate. Help bring in Members, with Events and make friends with the staff and with Board Members. They know the members and can open doors after you’ve contributed.

Achieveeeeeee!

I woke up showing the after effects of a long hard day. FLAT. The desire wanes, the ambition subsides and the creativity just won’t kick in.  Flat, that’s how it feels. BLAH, sort of numb, you get the picture. Yes, I’m in just such a mood as I look out the window of my small comfortable home office on this DREARY morning (dreary, of course, is not a fact but what I project onto what I see).  And my first reaction to this is to think that it’s a bad thing. “Come on man, get going & create something,” I say to myself. So, I fire up the computer, open up Word and stare at the blank screen. And listen….. and wait…. and smile, because….

I remember that these flat periods are an important part of the creative and productive process. You can’t stay “up” all the time. PAUSE is a good thing. Let your system recover a little. Let your mind not create…. for just a little bit anyway.

RELIEVED of the pressure to produce right at this minute, a feeling of well- being moves in. I know that I’m recovering from the intense exhilaration of yesterday when a series of meetings had better-than-normal outcomes.

As I RECOVER my energy, the zip returns. An old idea that’s been tapping on my shoulder for a while asks permission to have a discussion. A new, really wacky idea occurs to me at which I shake my head and say to myself “won’t work but it would be fun to try.”

WHY does this happen? Simple, the great marketers first of all make greater investments in time, money and resources to ensure that prospective buyers are aware that they exist. They Plan to spend appropriately to achieve the sales results they want. Then, they HOOK buyers with a superior brand promise, competitive positioning and key messages that resonate well by tapping a strong need, desire, fear, uncertainty or doubt (FUD) and then RETAIN them with superior Customer experience by caring, communicating, working proactively and responding nimbly to solve problems as they occur. Your product or service is better? Well, the Customer won’t easily let go because they’re reasonably happy or at least not seriously dissatisfied enough to do something about it. If you’re 10-20% better, yawn. 40-60% or more? Maybe…

A Lucky Strike cigarette commercial from the 1960′s said it well:

“I’d rather fight than switch.” The law of Inertia (as applied to human buying behavior) means unless it’s really important, I’m not gonna switch!

What actionable steps for entrepreneurs does this imply?

• Make a Strategic Decision: you have a dramatically superior product and will live or die by that OR you have a really good product and need to dramatically improve your marketing, sales and service. Which is it? Your resources are limited.  Don’t sit in the middle – CHOOSE!
• If you choose to be a “best product” play, then your highest priority is to locate and start a conversation with buyers whose #1 criteria for purchase is already technical superiority, provide data that “proves” your superiority and capture external validation/testimonials from technical experts whose opinions matter to the target market
• If you choose to be “Good Enough Product” play, then you want to find a niche where you can dominate or you’ll never go far
  • Research your Competition so that you know what they are promising and to whom so that you can create a messaging platform that is superior to your competitors for a specific niche (subset) of prospective Clients. Don’t go head to head against an 800 pound gorilla unless you have high confidence that your “counter offer” to the niche they dominate will resonate well
• Determine the essential Marketing and Sales activities that you must invest in to meet the Goals you’ve determined… and then make those investments.
  • This may mean diverting funds away from product development to capturing sales
  • This may mean investing in a salesperson or outside business development resource even knowing that it could be a year before you break-even on that investment

Singer Sheryl Crowe posed a question in one of her ballads: “Are You Strong Enough to be my Man?”

My question is: “Are you Good Enough to be my Product?”

• Establish the amount due: provide written documentation to the Client and ask for confirmation that the amount is correct
• If they agree to the amount, negotiate a payment schedule, send them notices in advance of due dates (requesting read receipts), call them right away if they are late or miss a payment – staying in touch with them throughout this process is key as you want to hold them as close as possible to their commitment. You are relying on their ethics. It’s easy to get fatigued and stop paying attention but don’t let that happen – stay vigilant!
• If the Client does not acknowledge the amount, engage them in a discussion to understand their point of view and consider the legitimacy of their claims. Try to find out very specifically the points of agreement and disagreement. Based upon a dispassionate consideration of their statements, was your Company’s performance worthy of the invoiced amount? Are you willing to accept a smaller amount either because they have a legitimate point or simply in order to move on?
• If you are not willing to negotiate, tell them so in writing with a request for payment. If they do not respond to this in a reasonable timeframe, ask your attorney to send them a demand letter – this will often do the trick and its money well spent.
• If you are willing to negotiate the amount and the timing of payments, tell them so. You may want to estimate your expected legal fees and the value of your time. Generally speaking, small claims are not worth pursuing from an economic and opportunity cost perspective. Large claims may be worth your time and money.
• Ultimately, if they won’t pay and the amount owed is large enough to justify your time and investment, you may have to pursue them via legal means.  Unfortunately, in our legal system, it is very unlikely that you will recover your legal costs, and the process may take 1-2 years to complete so make sure you have the stamina and wherewithal to go through it.

A year ago, a business advisory Client did not pay the final amount due on a business plan because he had cash flow problems in his business. It was disheartening because I had gone the extra mile on the Plan and really enjoyed working together. He was never willing to commit to a payment schedule despite my numerous repeated attempts but the amount was not large enough to justify taking him to court. So, I stayed very constructive in our communications – though I was tempted to not be civil – and a year and a half later he stopped by and made his first payment and handed me a note that said “This is a very small part of what I still owe you. You will have the balance in full soon.” Conducting yourself as a professional craftsman sometimes pays unusual dividends.

Learning and adapting is usually a good idea, particularly if your results weren’t as you expected. But what are the best ways to learn from your mistakes, plan, and adapt to a new market condition?

This post explores how some of the smartest small companies in the Baltimore, Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia markets are planning their 2010 business development strategies.

The tried and true. There are certain business development strategies that just plain work and I’ll go over some of them below. These are things that have been working since the beginning of (business) time and they will very likely continue to be effective until the end of (business) time.

If you are not currently using these strategies in a consistent and meaningful way, I very strongly recommend that you start.

Find your ideal customers. With the gigantic number of sales prospects available to almost any company, it doesn’t make sense to target any that are less-than-ideal for you. If you haven’t already, take the time to define your perfect customer in very specific terms.

• What industry are they in?
• What customers do they serve?
• How many people do they employ?
• How much revenue do they generate?
• Where are they located physically?

To get started, take a look at some of your existing customers that you consider to be a really good fit for your company. What are some of their characteristics?

Don’t overlook existing clients. When people think of business development strategy, a lot of the focus tends to be placed on new accounts and new clients. The truth is that it is many times easier to develop deeper relationships with existing clients than it is to start new accounts from scratch. Particularly if you’re target market is a larger company, there are almost always opportunities to sell up, down, or sideways within organizations.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions like, “Are there any other departments/people here that you think would like this?” or “Who else do you know that can benefit from this type of service?”

Don’t overlook new business either. Unless you have an extremely hungry base of existing customers, you’ll probably have to look outside of your existing customers to meet your 2010 revenue goals. There are so many ways to find and target new opportunities and in all likelihood, you are not doing as effective of a job as you could be. The key is to keep an open mind and think outside-the-box. Most organizations become very comfortable with their existing methods of developing new business, when in reality, they could be doing better with other strategies.

• Referrals
• Paid lead services
• Email campaigns
• Blogging
• Exhibitions
• Networking events
• Sales contests
• Direct mail
• Webinars

How many of those are you using? Which do you think would be best to integrate into YOUR 2010 business development plan?

Take a step back. Being a CEO or managing partner in a business can often cause you to look at your business in a way that’s much different from how others may see it. By removing personal biases and ideas from the equation, you can gain some real insight into important areas of your business.

Often, CEOs are so close to their companies that even when they try to do this, they are not able to. If that’s the case, get another set of eyeballs. Either bring in a trusted colleague to help you with this, or consider hiring a professional business consultant with a strong track record of success.

Plan it out. CEOs, executives, and leaders throughout organizations sometimes have a tendency to discount the importance of the strategic planning process, which is a big mistake. Smart companies take the time to plan their business development strategies very thoroughly, including areas like sales and marketing, human resources, and general corporate growth. When planning is conducted properly, it always proves to be time very well-spent.

A SWOT analysis is a good way to do this (SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats in case you’re not familiar). Have a look at an example SWOT analysis here.

Use all available human capital. Human beings never cease to amaze me. We really are incredible creatures, particularly when we’re in an environment that allows us to perform near our potential. You might be surprised to find that if you build a team of good people around you and then incentivize them to do what you want them to do, they will do a splendid job – often better than you could do yourself.

The two keys here are to 1) properly incentivize (Note: incentives don’t always need to be monetary – a lot of employees feel very strongly about things like fun, learning new things, and feeling as though they’re part of a larger goal) and 2) communicate clearly what you want them to do (leaders have a strong tendency to assume that the other person knows exactly what they’re talking about even though they used a minimal amount of explanation to get the point across – don’t make this mistake. Communicate clearly and then confirm that the other person has an understanding by saying, “Okay, let’s go over the goals” and then being quiet and inviting them to do the talking.)

Set S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timed
• Exciting
• Recorded

If you need a business development strategy consultant and you’re in the Greater Baltimore Washington area, JACOBY may be able to help you personally. Our CEO-experienced Partners have decades of combined experience and a success rate of over 90%. Contact us by filling out this form to learn more.

If you are outside the Maryland, DC, Virginia area and want our assistance with your strategic planning efforts, JACOBY can help you remotely with phone and/or skype conference calls. There are a variety of other useful posts on our blog, along with some business analysis tools we have developed, and our famous 2-minute business lessons that can help you. If you would like strategic planning help specific to your business, call us at 410-744-3900 and we can set-up a time for a free consultation.

Until next time,

Art Jacoby

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1. Take a look at your existing markets.

Getting new customers is something than many businesses focus on when they want to grow.  However, your existing customers can be a much better place to look for more sales.  After all, they’re already buying from you.  It’s a lot easier to get them to buy again than it is to convince new customers to buy.

2. Referrals are valuable.

Your existing customers can also help you find new ones.  By referring you to their friends and relatives, they can help your business grow and your reputation improve.  However, you shouldn’t assume that just because you do a good job, your existing customers are passing on the word.  Seek referrals actively to get the best results.

3. Find new uses for your services or products.

One way to find new markets and get more purchases from existing customers is to discover new, innovative uses for your service or product.  After all, many things have multiple uses – you just have to find them.  Diversifying what you offer is another version of this that can be very effective.

4. Find new customer pools

Extending your reach to new customers can be a big help.  This can include opening new physical or virtual locations so that you can reach more people, or by increasing your advertising.  Choosing to advertise in media that targets a new market can be very profitable.

5.Look for niche markets.

If you’re capable of dominating a small, unique sector, it’s a lot more effective than being a small fish in a big pond.  Specialization can be a very good idea if you can find needs that aren’t being met.

6. Trade shows are valuable.

Trade shows can be an extremely effective way of helping your business grow, by drawing in people who already have an interest in what you do.  Your bottom line can improve significantly.  Just make sure that you choose your shows with care and find the ones that go best with your company.

7. Keep costs down.

Remember that growing your business is actually about improving the bottom line.  If you can reduce costs and make things more efficient, things will improve.

Of course, these are just a few ways to help your business grow.  There are plenty of others that’ll help you increase your bottom line and become a real success.  Use these tips with a smart strategy to keep on expanding.

1. ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS – this is almost always a factor in strategic acquisitions. Some companies buy another that is in the same business in a different geography. They get to integrate market presence, brand awareness, and market momentum.

2. OPERATING LEVERAGE – the major focus in this type of acquisition is to improve profit margins through higher utilization rates for plant and equipment. A manufacturer of cardboard containers that is operating at 65% of capacity buys a smaller similar manufacturer. The acquired company’s plant is sold, all but two machines are sold, the G&A staff are let go and the new customers are served more cost effectively.

3. CAPITALIZE ON A COMPANY STRENGTH – this is why Cisco and GE have been so successful with their acquisitions. They are so strong in so many areas, that the acquired company gets the benefit of many of those strengths. A very powerful business accelerator is to acquire a company that has a complementary product that is used by your installed customer base. Management depth and skill, production efficiency/ capacity, large base of installed accounts, developed sales and distribution channels, and brand recognition are examples of strengths that can power post acquisition performance.

4. COVER A WEAKNESS – This requires a good deal of objectivity from the acquiring company in recognizing and chinks in the corporate armor. Let me help you with some suggestions – 1. Customer concentration; 2. Product concentration; 3. Weak product pipeline; 4. Lack of management depth or technical expertise and 5. Great technology and products – poor sales and marketing.

5. BUY A LOW COST SUPPLIER – this integration strategy is typically aimed at improving profit margins rather than growing revenues. If your product is comprised of several manufactured components, one way to improve corporate profitability is to acquire one of those suppliers. You achieve greater control of overall costs, availability of supply, and greater value-add to your end product

6. IMPROVING OR COMPLETING A PRODUCT LINE – this approach has several elements from other acquisition strategies. Successfully adding new products to a line improves profitability and revenue growth. Giving a sales force more "arrows in their quiver" is a powerful growth strategy. You take advantage of your existing sales and distribution channel (strength). You may be able to improve your competitive position by simplifying the buying process – providing your customers one stop shopping.

7. TECHNOLOGY – BUILD OR BUY? This is a quandary for most companies, but is especially acute for technology companies. Acquiring technology through acquisition can be an excellent growth strategy. The R&D costs are generally lower for these smaller, agile, more narrowly focused companies than their larger, higher overhead acquirers. Time to market, window of opportunity, first mover advantage can have a huge impact on the ultimate success of a product. First one to establish their product as the "standard" is the big winner

8. ACQUISITION TO PROVIDE SCALE AND ACCESS TO CAPITAL MARKETS – In this area, bigger is better. Larger companies are considered safer investments. Larger companies command larger valuation multiples. Some companies make acquisitions in order to get big enough to attract public capital in the form of an IPO or investments from Private Equity Groups.

9. PROTECT AND EXPAND MATURE PRODUCT LINES – This has been very effectively done in the pharmaceutical sector where a new technology is acquired to repurpose and re patent drugs.

10. PROTECT CUSTOMER BASE FROM COMPETITION – The telephone companies have done studies that show that with each additional product or service that a customer uses, the likelihood of the customer defecting to a competitor drops exponentially. Get your customers to use local, long distance, cellular, cable, broadband, etc and you will not lose them. Multiple products and services provided to the same customer dramatically improve retention rates.

11. ACQUISITION TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO ENTRY – For example, a large commercial IT consulting firm acquires a technology consulting firm that specializes in the Federal Government. The larger IT consulting firm has valuable expertise that is easily transferable to government business if they could only break the code of the vendor approval process. After many fits and starts, they simply acquired a firm that had an established presence. They were able to then bring their full capabilities from the commercial side to effectively increase their newly acquired government business.

Many larger firms have established business development offices for the execution of corporate growth strategy through acquisition. These experienced buyers search for companies that fit their well-defined acquisition criteria. In most cases they are attempting to buy companies that are not actively for sale. The win for the successful corporate acquirer is to target several candidates, buy them at financial valuation multiples, integrate to strength and achieve strategic performance.

Dave Kauppi is the editor of The Exit Strategist Newsletter.

What market share does the company have and where does it stand among its competitors? How cost effective is the business and where is it leaking time, money and resources? Every part of your company’s operation can help to generate corporate growth. In fact, if you come across any part of your operation that isn’t contributing to your company’s growth, it is probably detracting from it.

The next stage is to decide on which areas need improvement and allot a specific task to solve the shortfall. For example, through strategic alliances and re-distribution of existing resources, it may be possible to expand the production line, increase capacity and accelerate the time taken from production to market. These are all vital components in corporate growth.

New ways need to be found to connect executives with the funds, resources and partnerships that will trigger corporate growth. Aggressive marketing, capturing a greater share of the market, venturing into new markets and distribution channels all have the potential for fast growth. By developing cost efficient methods it is possible to accelerate revenues and catapult productivity at the same time.

Everything you do should be aimed at increase in the following areas:

• Resources
• Market Presence
• Productivity
• Profit
• Efficiency
• Sales
• Quality management

When you have a system in place to ensure you and your team are actively engaged in increasing the above areas in your business, it will be almost impossible to prevent corporate growth from taking place.

Des Vadgama is a leading expert on fast business growth and boosting profits by 50% or more.