The Point: Nothing happens in business until you sell something! If that’s the truth, as we start-off another year here at Tip of the Spear Ventures we asked ourselves “What are we going to see in terms of Sales + Business Development activity that is going to make our goals become reality?” So in this post, we’ll explore 6 tips that we believe will make the difference in your 2018 sales business development resolutions… Enjoy!
“And they’re off!” the horse track announcer calls across the public address (pa) system. Just like the horse race, so begins another year with all the hoopla/excitement that a new calendar deserves. “This year is going to be different” a leader tells me as we kick-off a new engagement. “How so?” I ask. “We’re going to do things different. Last year, especially as the year drew to a close, I found us as an organization in a ‘rut’ that we couldn’t get out of. We have goals of lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development. So this year we’re going to avoid the ‘rut’ and drive towards accomplishing our sales business development goals.” What follows are the 6 Tips (or goals) that this leader sees as the success tasks for the New Year…
Tip #6 – Two Brains are Better!
You must have heard that two brains are better than one, and this can be a huge asset in Lead Generation. This is the theory that two leaders will provide enough perspective to align towards a better alternative than would have been achieved in/of their own. When a leader goes out in search of a business partner to have stronger and better plans for their small business, sharing information and deciding which way to go often works out for the better. Not only do the brains need to be compatible, but there is a lot more to it. I’m not advocating that leaders with similar brains should align, but often times leaders with differing thoughts can for even greater alignment/future direction. Out of everything else the two partners should be able to drive the business in the best manner together forward.
Tip #5 – Leveraging Technology (Artificial Intelligence – AI)
Can you ever have enough technology when it comes to lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development? Another opportunity to consider in the coming year is adding Alexa (or a virtual assistant) to your workspace. Not only will your schedules be organized/optimized, but you can incorporate Alexa into almost everything you do. From scheduling meetings, managing clients and to-do lists and all those little tasks which you would rather not do because they take a little longer in doing. This type of technology is beneficial in uncountable ways for your sales and business development efforts.
Tip #4 – Cross-Functional Teams
No matter how much technology you have, it still comes down to people in business executing sales acceleration initiatives drafted. So why not adopt cross-functional teams to achieve your goals with less consumption of human energy and having more productive outcomes for your business. The cross-functional teams can prove to be a good support for the business plan when they are competent and collaborate and cooperating at the same time. These teams can handle a big part of your sales acceleration and lead generation.
Tip #3 – Communicate the Sales + Business Development Plan!
So far this year, I’ve had a few disturbing moments when it comes to business leaders and their sales business development plans. The disturbing sales and business development moments come primarily in the form of not wrapping up 2017 aggressively and not having a sales acceleration plan in place for 2018. Now you and I both know that business can be unpredictable, and that best laid plans can become unraveled in a matter of what appears to be moments (especially in sales business development for those leadership members!) But to not finish strong (it’s not a matter of wanting to finish stronger!), often times comes down to not communicating the sales + business development plan to those expected to execute (and don’t get me started on the topic of accountability – a topic for a future post!) Communicating your idea in the best way possible is the key to manage a leading business. Communication serves the longest and healthiest life of a business (As business communications are largely dependent upon the presentations that are delivered to the potential partners or clients). It is very important to have some highly interactive and well explained and professionally created and creative presentations, but the content isn’t enough. You should definitely know the depths of what you want to deliver to the senior partners or clients of your business.
Tip #2 – Learn How to Negotiate
Learning to negotiate in a more effective way for this year is a key to the lifelong learning that I often see as a key to success (Especially when it comes to success in lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development!) There are several tactics that make negotiations easier and more interesting. Being persuasive and being able to deliver your idea more effectively shows the best of a businessman.
Tip #1 – Communicate Up
Keep your senior management team in a constant supply of information and reviews about your business lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development. You should be able to communicate the progress and the hurdles of your business to them. The senior management is able to look and help better when your reviews are honest and accurate. While they might be able to see the details from a metrics perspective, provide the “reasons” why initiatives are on/off-track so that they get the full picture.
SUMMARY
Keep your lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development mission statement in line with your business strategy. Try to incorporate new ideas and keep yourself open to new avenues of technology and management. Just like Alexa, there are so many more technology (Artificial Intelligence – AI) that can make business handling far more easily and manageable. Look into all those options available for you and choose those best according to your needs and requirements.
Sam Palazzolo
