B2B Business Development Resources For Information Technology Companies With Complex, High-Ticket Sales
Selling complex, high-ticket IT solutions has changed over the years. Hell, it's got tougher, and is still getting tougher by the day. Buyers, who are sick and tired of the old sales tricks and dog-and-pony show presentations, are barricading themselves behind purchasing departments and layers of gatekeepers to protect themselves from the barrage of commission-crazed peddlers.
They also tighten their grips on their organisations' purse strings to make sure no one takes out even one red penny without proving a hefty ROI.
And in this shuffling madness of desperately trying selling more, most IT companies are merely redoubling their efforts by assembling larger sales forces to pound more pavements and hire larger call centres to tele-pester the marketplace.
And buyers run and hide from these overzealous hucksters more effectively than ever. In the meantime sellers' costs are rising, while their margins are falling.
I've tried to make this site valuable for you, based on my 14 years as a technology, including IT buyer, and since 1996 an IT business development strategist. I hope you find it valuable too and can apply some ideas to your company's success.
Published Articles in Magazines
Small Business Canada - 20 Fantabulous Ways to Raise and Safeguard Professional Fees. Read article here.
Forum - Year End is Coming: Does That Mean It's Client Abandoning Time Again? Read article here.
Forum - Hiring the Right Dudes or Dudettes for Occasional Project Work. Read article here.
Forum - Time vs. Value: Which One Do You Get Paid for? Read article here.
BC Business - Cracking the Billable Hours Ceiling. Read article here.
Business Services West - Stop Time-Based Fee For Service Professionals. Read article here.
Business Services West - Ten Way to Increase Client Value, While Reducing Your Time and Effort of Delivering It. Read article here.
Project Manager Planet - Project Management Teams Critical to Success of Software Purchases. Read article here.
Business Development White Papers
These white papers are about various aspects of IT business development both on the strategic and the tactical levels. They are free, so you don't even have to register for them. Except one that is really a bonus when you subscribe to my newsletter. Hence the form below. But all the other white papers are there for your review. Enjoy.
Strategic Guide To Online Business Development
Information Technology Peddler Quiz
Eight Retarded - Yet Common - Business Development Mistakes
Ten Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Business Development Departments
19 Questions To Ask Marketing Consultants Before Engaging Them
Tomicide Solutions: Selling Premium IT Solutions To Premium Clients At Premium Prices In A Commoditised World Monthly Newsletter
In case you're not yet receiving my newsletter, you can subscribe here, and every month I'll try to bore you to tears with discussing a certain aspect of business development. And since we know that crying cleanses the soul, you can only win. So be brave and put in your name and email.
Tomicide Solutions is my monthly email newsletter, covering various aspects of B2B business development for premium IT companies. Unlike most newsletters out there which present short articles on several topics, I go into only one topic, but go into it at the deep end. Hence my newsletter articles are in the range of 3-5,000 words, or sometimes even more. A few years ago, one of the articles was just over 13,000 words.
Yeah, sometimes I get carried away. But a few weeks later a reader reported that as a result of reading it, she had closed a her very first six-figure engagement. I reckon, her investment in reading the article had paid off with a damn good return.
No, it's not an easy read. But I believe it's a meaningful read for IT executives and managers who are in charge of landing clients. I do my best to add as much meat to it as I can. That's why I mix in some entertainment and use "non-corporate" language. Also, to make the points easier to understand, I often use pretty vivid language for better understanding. I hope you find it worth reading.
Tomicide Solutions Newsletter Archive
Other flaws of this newsletter are occasional typos and spelling mistakes, most of which are not spelling mistakes at all but my British or Queen's English. Thanks for your understanding.
Business Development Articles
With this site I wanted to create the proverbial 2 by 4 to hit business owners on the forehead and make then stop and think for a moment about how they could do their business development more effectively.
I hope that as you read this stuff and start thinking and seeing your business from different perspectives, you take action on some of the ideas. Look, the truth is not always pretty, thus it is not easy to handle. But once you handle it, you will be liberated. This is not meant to be pretty and politically correct stuff but a useful and practical for improvement seekers. Thanks for understanding and enjoy the ride.
General Topics
This section is about the mindset behind business development at a "world-class" level. It may seem tough and inconvenient, but no one has ever achieved excellence through sweet talk and pampering. Excellence is not something that is cheap, traditional, comfortable and convenient to achieve. There is some blood sweat and tears along the way. Or as the saying goes, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit.
- Avoiding the Workhorse Syndrome: Automating Business Development
- Now You May Ask: "What Is a System, Anyway?"
- Sales Commissions: Short-Sighted Business Owners' Solution to Short-Term Gain And Long-Term Loss
- 14 Ways of Wasting Your Information Technology Marketing Budget
Leadership And Management
This is where a company stands or falls. When you look at world-class companies, you find some commonalities in the way they lead their people and manage their business development activities. Using Motorola's terminology: "Leading people from the heart, and managing business from the head." If you consider Motorola's amazing success, you can see the truth in this statement.