Adrie's Blog

Business Development

Sales and Marketing, after good financing, is the most important element in the growth of a company. I regularly speak with entrepreneurs about business development, partially because it is probably my favourite subject. I always notice how few people really are good at this profession.
Many people call themselves "salesman" - but don't do anything to deserve that title. Typical excuses made by bad salespeople are "the product is inferior compared to that of the competition", "it is too expensive", "we don't do enough marketing" or they focus all their time and effort on a supposedly huge lead which never comes to fruition - you probably recognise all of these.

Like with all other things - selling is a process and requires discipline. You have to think about and map out all the influencing factors, such as:

* Know the product you sell inside and out;
* What is your competitive edge;
* know your competitor;
* goals
* make a list of potential clients and think who might be able to act as referral;
* make sure you get your first deal quickly - so that you have a reference client. Preferably a known name.
* Get to your first appointment at 9am, or even better at 8am, and don't finish till after 5pm;
* Do your maths - calculate how many meetings you need to do, to get to x number of proposals to get to x number of contracts;
* Ask your contacts why you did or did NOT get the contract - learn from every single sales cycle;
* Mark off a set time each week to plan your next meetings - sit down in a quiet area and concentrate.

Sales is not just a matter of talent, but largely depends on discipline and determination.

Keep a record in your CRM system of the progress of your discussions and make sure you have the perfect pitch for your product and company. I have seen too many that didn't have a clue about what they were selling.

I have always built every company I have founded from a sales perspective. As an entrepreneur, you are always your best salesman and clients like being visited by the entrepreneur him/herself. Use that. All the other things can be done by others.