Business Development Tips

2010-05-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

1# Don’t focus on previous clients that barely used your services many years ago. Lead with the best examples and case studies.

2# If you’re new to the company and the one delivering the presentation, don’t play the “I’m new” card every other sentence.

3# If you have multiple product or service offerings, don’t open with the ancillary ones – focus on the meat first, especially if it is the foundation for the others.

4# If you are a software vendor and include screen shots, don’t put in ones that are blurry. A live demo is usually better anyways even though it can be more challenging to arrange.

5# If you are a software vendor don’t ever say the phrase: “I’m not sure what this does.”

6# Here’s another phrase to avoid: “We haven’t found a client who likes this yet.”

7# When you share a recent example of client work, don’t start with what went wrong on the project.

8# Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you.” It’s way better than making up an answer and the follow-up opportunity allows another contact or inquiry. I’d rather hear a confident “I don’t know” with a follow-up than a wishy-washy explanation.

9# When sharing who your business partners are, don’t start listing partners you are no longer partnering with.

10# When you schedule a software demo (aside from screenshots mentioned in #4) have someone available who knows the product. Either be that person or have an engineer on the call.