Page 7 - CEEM Shopping Mag February 2020

9 Tips for Effective Business Development

By American Express

Business development can be one of the fastest ways to grow your business. It can also be
one of the most time intensive. It typically requires focus, planning, stamina and doggedness.
Doing it right may pay big dividends; doing it wrong can be demoralizing.

Here are a few tips for e ective business development that can help you hit the ground running.

Know Your Competition
It may not be enough to know the names of your competitompetitors. Evaluate what they o er
so you can help di erentiate yourself from the pack. As the old adage goes, don't de ne yourself
by your competition. Analyze what makes you stand out in a crowd. You should obsessively work
on this di erentiation. This may be your most powerful business development tool.

Add Value and Build Trust
Rather than going after people's wallets, consider going after their hearts. Business growth can come
from adding value to every relationship, with prospective customers and existing customers. We can
add value by providing information and knowledge, by being an advisor, by obsessing over treating
customers right, both before and after the sale, and by having a reputation for great execution and
white glove service.

This mindset and approach build trust and goodwill which are your calling card for business
development. But building trust takes time. As Seth Godin put it, "People don't believe what you
tell them. They rarely believe what you show them ... They always believe what they tell themselves.
" It's your public persona and your actions over time that will likely in uence what people tell
themselves about you.

Use Testimonials Wisely
Testimonials can be a crucial part of establishing credibility in the initial stages when you court a new
prospect. It can help to know a few tips in this area. For example, it may not be e ective to use
"one-size- ts-all" testimonials. Rather, you should tailor your testimonials to your prospective target.
If you're dealing with a mid-sized company, for example, you should use testimonials from other
mid-sized companies you've done business with, rather than from your largest customer. This taps
into a fundamental principle of human behavior referred to as the Consensus Principle or Social Proof:
We feel more comfortable in making a decision when the source of the information comes from
people similar to us.

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