How to achieve more with your business development?

Everywhere I hear conflicting reports of how sharp, severe or protracted this recession is going to be... or is the economy starting to recover? At the moment, I don't know what to believe, but know that there is a general downward pressure on fees and prices, and a reluctance for businesses to part with cash for non-essential stuff.

So this set me thinking, how to do you achieve more with your business development?

1. Have a marketing and sales strategy

Unless you know what you are trying to do, and how you will get there, you might as well not pass go. Business development is not like monopoly you don't get £200 for just passing go...

2. Get your branding right

Unless you have thought of a unique product or service, other people will offer exactly what you do. Branding yourself so that you will stand out with your target market - and be memorable is key.

3. Outsource if necessary

Maintaining a consistent market presence takes time and energy. Choose what low value tasks you can outsource, to free up your time to close down deals. For example, outsourcing SEO or social media tasks works very well.

4. Polish and perfect your copy

Your marketing copy, i.e. the stuff you write in your PR, blog, ads is vital. The words that you choose do make a difference - a well crafted piece is often the difference between a phone call or no phone call.

5. Integrate

Make sure your overall business strategy connects and then that your planned marketing & sales strategy is working towards achieving your overall business goals.

6. Look after your cash flow

It is envitable that you will need to invest some physical cash in your business development. Watching your cash flow and making sure that it's healthy and positive is vital to good business efficiency. Working with a good accountant or VAT specialist will help you keep your cash flow positive...

7. Get a coach

If you have followed all of my suggested tips it is likely that you will have a large amount of stuff to do. Rome wasn't built in a day, and if your resource is limited then you wouldn't be able to do everything overnight. A good business coach will help you prioritise your workload and give you the support to get everything done - but without falling apart in the process.

If you are about to enter a difficult negotiation OR think that you could achieve more for your time, money and effort in negotiations – give me a call on 01234 48 0123, drop me a line on heather@theefficiencycoach.co.uk or take a look at my website: www.theefficiencycoach.co.uk