The Art of Business Development
Every business understands that a pipeline of prospective new business is critical to a company’s growth and maturity. In many opinions, the fuller the pipeline, the better. Typically, for the simple reason that some of these will be viable prospects, some will require a lengthier process, such as, nurturing and seasoning, and others simply won’t be viable for you or them.
But once you receive a lead, what is the best way to qualify that new prospect into your pipeline?
As CEO & Founder of SOS Sales Help, Jason Siefken has the primary responsibility of Business Development for our company. So, of course, we decided to ask him the “the secret to his success” over the years to which he was happy to do.
So even if you only take pieces of his “tried but true” process, you will be the better for it. So, you may be eager to ask, “what is it?”
The Introduction
Jason feels the introduction is so important to his business development as it allows him to get to know the person, the company, and the product or service, and build rapport and trust. In this introductory process, he also digs deeper in understanding customer or prospect base, current or past experiences, their financial goals or return on investment and much more.
As he discusses the product and service, he then probes for what type of call center solutions they have and/or presently want to engage in – like Outbound acquisition, Inbound care, Appt setting IB/OB, Lead Qualifying IB/OB, Chat, Email and so forth.
The prospect might have a specific need or more commonly, we have the opportunity to provide them color on what each service is and how it works. From there, we can then explain when and why SOS excels in those areas including case studies and testimonials.
This also allows you to crossover into SOS Capabilities that can be tailored to them such as:
- Hours of operation, Days of week
- Goals & expectations
- Timeframes
- Data, campaigns
- Reporting and analytics
- Deliverables, next steps
- Technology/CRM
This then will let you lead into the agreement process, for instance what they need, what we need, formats, templates, timing, executing.
Follow Up
With deliverables, secure both general and specific next steps that would include Follow up. During this phase, it is customary that SOS submit a formal proposal that outlines all of the above including Pricing Proposal, usually which is also discussed in your exploratory session with them.
Regardless of where they are at in this stage, always schedule the next follow up and also what you and they need at that time. If it has progressed to a higher level and even obtained a verbal commitment, then you can schedule your contractual negotiation.
Note to self – Always be willing to compromise in your negotiations but only when it makes sense for you. Don’t just agree to get the agreement as that doesn’t benefit either party in the long run.
With a fully executed agreement, then it’s time for onboarding and implementation. But then alas – that’s a whole other blog.
We want to thank Jason Siefken for his insight on this so important process to any business. Cheers to you!
