Business Development for Dummies - Paperback

by Anna Kennedy (Author)

Growing a small business requires more than just sales

Business Development For Dummies helps maximise the growth of small- or medium-sized businesses, with a step-by-step model for business development designed specifically for B2B or B2C service firms. By mapping business development to customer life cycle, this book helps owners and managers ensure a focus on growth through effective customer nurturing and management. It's not just sales! In-depth coverage also includes strategy, marketing, client management, and partnerships/alliances, helping you develop robust business practices that can be used every day. You'll learn how to structure, organise, and execute an effective development plan, with step-by-step expert guidance.

Realising that you can't just "hire a sales guy" and expect immediate results is one of the toughest lessons small business CEOs have to learn. Developing a business is about more than just gaining customers - it's about integrating every facet of your business in an overarching strategy that continually works toward growth. Business Development For Dummies provides a model, and teaches you what you need to know to make it work for your business.

• Learn the core concepts of business development, and how it differs from sales
• Build a practical, step-by-step business development strategy
• Incorporate marketing, sales, and customer management in general planning
• Develop and implement a growth-enhancing partnership strategy

Recognising that business development is much more than just sales is the first important step to sustained growth. Development should be daily - not just when business starts to tail off, or you fall into a cycle of growth and regression. Plan for growth, and make it stick - Business Development For Dummies shows you how.

Back Jacket

Learn to:

• Get your business development strategy in place and build a practical step-by-step plan
• Leverage your customer relationships for even greater success
• Go beyond the typical sales cycle
• Develop and implement a partnership strategy

Get an expert, authoritative model for growing your business

Growing a business isn't just about sales! With this hands-on, accessible guide, you'll discover how mapping business development to the customer lifecycle ensures a focus on growth through customer nurturing and management. Packed with strategies, tips and step-by-step guidance, you'll find everything you need to plan for growth and make it stick.

• Break down your business development - take stock of where your business development plans are, identify your weaknesses and learn how to think in terms of goals
• Dive into the customer lifecycle - use the customer mindset to power growth and effectively align your business development to the customer lifecycle
• Work out your best offer - validate or adjust your market offer for maximum position with marketplace needs, build your business development plan and put your plan into action
• Make marketing matter - put your budget to good use with practical tips on creating and executing a marketing strategy that drives sales
• Bring it full circle - find best practices to manage, develop, and leverage customer relationships and customer engagement for even greater success

Open the book and find:

• How to tailor a business development plan specific to your business
• Guidance on orchestrating marketing and sales efforts that operate in concert
• Strategies and tactics for great selling practices
• How to maximize customer value
• Why business partnerships are so important
• High-level do's and don'ts for every stage of business development

Author Biography

Anna Kennedy has almost twenty years' experience in business development and leadership with small/medium professional services companies. She also has on-the-ground experience in growing organizations, most recently in her own company, Rain Makers.