Investing in technology companies that are willing to invest in themselves.

Business Development Services For Technology Companies With Complex Sales

Earl Nightingale once said, "The majority is always wrong."

Creativity expert Alan Ashley Pitt put it this way, "The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been before."

I would add that if you run with the herd, sooner or later you get trampled down and shit on. So, for your health's, wealth's and smell's sake you'd better run in the opposite direction.

Either way, as you can see, if we want our businesses to stand out of the crowd, we must be willing to reject what the lemming-like (rat-like?) followers of conventional wisdom have taught us about business development, sales and marketing.

Most of what you read here goes against conventional wisdom and traditional thinking, so proceed if and only if you can suspend your judgement and accept the possibility that there is a better way of doing what you do right now.

The biggest problem with business development today is that it is hardly existent. Most organisations have three different - often antagonistic - departments called marketing, sales and client service. But they fail to treat business development as a seamlessly integrated holistic system which, among others, includes marketing, sales and clients service. The key is that it must be an integrated system.

Teacher, consultant and management expert, Peter Senge defines systems this way...

"Business and human endeavours are systems... They are bound by invisible fabrics on interrelated actions, which often take years to fully play out their effects on each other. Since we are part of that lacework ourselves, it is doubly hard to see the whole pattern of change. Instead we tend to focus on snapshots of isolated parts of the system and wonder why problems never seem to get solved."

The Journal of Business Strategy has named Peter Senge a "Strategist of the Century". He is one of only 24 men and women who have had the greatest impact on the way we conduct business today.

It is vitally important to see business development as a holistic system, within with people and technology collaborate to achieve specific organisational goals. Without this approach all we have is dozens of individuals aimlessly running around being busy, but essentially achieving exactly what the rocking chair achieves: Lots of action but no progress.

And speaking of systems, we must realise how much of business development can be automated, if we just use existing technology to our best advantages.

Imagine if you could develop a structured and duplicable system that would constantly fill your business with qualified prospects, eager to do business with you?

Imagine if you could work half as many hours as you do right now, while attracting more prospective clients and customers without pounding pavements and dialling for dollars every day?

Imagine if you were so flooded with sales leads that your salespeople could cherry pick the best ones and your prospects were hoping to be the lucky ones to buy from your company.

Imagine if you had a line-up of people ready, willing and eager to do business with you under your terms.

I help technology businesses to generate as many qualified sales leads with as little effort as humanly possible. Yes, you have guessed correctly: We help you to create automated systems to do the grunt work, so you can do something more enjoyable, even billable work. How does that sound to you?

Since most of my clients have come to me because they...

• ...keep missing sales quotas in spite of working harder


• ...waste too much time, money and energy on tyre-kickers


• ...are caught in a vicious price battles and bidding wars


• ...love what they do but hate hunting for new business


• ...are pushed into the corner by fierce competitors


• ...have a chronic shortage of qualified sales leads for the sales force


• ...have diminishing profits and shareholder value


• ...suffer from eroding brand recognition


• ...have high sales staff turnover due to low morale


• ...work harder and harder with less and less to show for...

...I offer the following services:

Business Development Consulting

Symptom: "We know what we're doing and are pretty good at implementing initiatives, but we'd sure appreciate and occasional infusion of some new perspectives that are not hindered by our industry's conventional wisdom."

As a result of past successes, technology companies repeat the actions which have caused their current levels of success. As a result of repeating these same actions, with time, they become more and more proficient and efficient. This ultimately leads them to an endless cycle of success at a certain level and increased competency. But there is no exploration. New ideas are not tried. And even if tried, they fail to perform as well as the existing methods because of the disparity in competence between the two. Even the best companies need the independent, constructive insights of an unbiased, professional outsider that include external frame of reference and a new perspective. Without that they end up getting better at what they do, and what they already do may well be the very root of their problems. Follow the link to learn more about my business development consulting services.

Writing Sales And Promotional Copy Off- And Online

Symptom: "Hell, nobody reads our marketing messages. People pick up our brochures or visit our website, and they don't even bother to read our stuff. What can we do to have our message actually read?"

Let's face it, without crisp, clear and compelling copy, your marketing is like the impotent husband: The role is filled but there is no productivity. It is the same as supplying eunuchs with Viagra and motivating them to "try harder." They can try harder, but the effort is still as useless as a barbershop on the steps of the guillotine, and the approach remains as soft as it's always been. Follow the link to learn more about my copywriting services.

Speaking Engagements

"All this stuff of not chasing but attracting business sounds pretty interesting. Can you come and give a talk to our members?"

I frequently speak at various industry conferences and trade associations on all aspects of business development. I help organisers to run a survey to find out what topic members are most interested and then I put together either a speech or a highly interactive workshop on the topic. Follow the link to learn more about my speaking engagements.

Business Development Workshops And Seminars

"Is there any way of learning this business development stuff? I'm sick and tired of re-hiring consultants on a "catch me a fish" basis. I'm no moron. I can learn this stuff if someone can teach me!"

Hands-on educational workshops are the ideal way of sharing knowledge and making sure that you and/or your people actually learn how to apply the new skills. I conduct interactive workshops on business development, managing business development teams, sales automation, prospecting on autopilot and the necessary behavioural change in managers and staff, without which everything else is useless. I focus on changing the way my clients think, and then they can change their actions, resulting in new and better outcomes.

Follow the link to learn more about my workshops and seminars.

Business Development Information Products And Packaged Knowledge

"We have great people and would like to supply them with learning materials to help them to advance their skills and do their jobs even better."

This is a broad range of packaged skill development stuff. Some are from me and some are from my teachers and mentors. These are excellent reference materials. You don't have to read them from cover to cover, although, I have, but you can use them as handy references during your daily operation. Follow the link to learn more about my business development information products and packaged knowledge.

As the old Zen saying goes, if what you are looking for were where you are currently looking, you would have already found it. Maybe it's time to look elsewhere. So, if you're ready to eliminate dirty, filthy, bone-jarring, soul-sucking, mind-numbing cold prospecting slavery and have qualified prospects come to you, being ready, willing and able to buy your stuff at the highest margins, then follow the link and read my On Becoming A Client document. Relax, there is no obligation here. This package helps you to define whether or not there is a sound financial justification to initiate the engagement.

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