An important part of keeping profitable and growing your business is maintaining a focus on business development. Even when you have the right mix of workers, customers and employees should be looking for new opportunities. It could establish a process to do this while ensuring existing customers are not neglected. The process helps you manage new business opportunities in an economical and efficient time.



Generating opportunities



Identify the types of companies that want to work with and a realistic number of companies that want to target over a given period of time. For example, an accountant with experience in the marketing industry might decide to target five opportunities per month consultancy focused on marketing.



Finding potential clients and identifying new opportunities can be done through networking events, tenders listed in newspapers and industry magazines and newspaper headlines about new projects and industry seminars. Keep an eye on your industry and keep abreast of developments.



Monitoring the company approaches a database (you can use Microsoft Excel or Access). Monitoring should include the obvious (the company contact information, etc.) as well as details of what was discussed, any deeds, stocks and more.



Rate driver



Once you have identified a list of companies should be reviewed to ensure that opportunities are realistic. Some areas to think about include:



• Do you have the right contacts to get started?




• Do you have the right services to offer?



• How can your website help you understand better?



• Do you have a conflict of interest in pursuing this company?



• Does this client have growth potential or would be a quick job?



• Who makes the decisions? How can I reach them?



3. Raise your business profile



By raising your company profile (no matter how small you are) to be able to generate new business with less effort. As a leader in the business of the new industry will come to you. There are many ways to raise your profile, you could try to sponsor events, announcements and obtaining coverage of the media. Market size, location and destination of your business this will dictate which medium to use and areas to cover.



4. Show them what you're made ??of



Begin to reach qualified opportunities to expose your company's products. Send to a brochure or a copy of the newsletter is produced and invite them to participate, show examples of their work, highlight relevant media articles.



Develop standard letters in Word template to send to potential clients to accompany your credentials / brochures. Make sure you link to your database (Excel, Access or Outlook) to combine the letters and envelopes to ensure they do not have to re-enter details.



There is no specified time for this parade, so be patient. It could be six months before anything comes to fruition.



5. Set a meeting time



So you're in the door. Now you need to sell. Meeting adapt to suit the way we operate as a business. It could be a formal PowerPoint presentation or a discussion over coffee. You may have no choice for the style of the meeting, but make sure you are comfortable and well prepared. During the meeting, be sure to demonstrate the knowledge they have developed in previous phases.



6. Monitoring



You have filed their skills and ideas. It does not stop there. Monitoring is essential. This is an important part of the process and should be taken as seriously as the other steps. You will probably be able to build on the ideas of the meeting, or you can find an interesting article or relevant statistics may be sent to reopen the debate. Even if you do not have anything to send, thank you for the opportunity.