Archive for the ‘New Business’ category

10 Step Guide to Successful Business Development

December 17th, 2011

Starting your own business is no joke and will require some considerable preparation on your part as an upcoming entrepreneur. In order to increase your chances of success in business, you will need to master powerful business development steps.

Here is the 10 step guide to a successful business development:

1. Develop personal and business objectives
Many businesses fail because the business owners do not have a sense of direction. Developing and stating your personal and business goals will serve as your roadmap and provide you with a sense of direction.

2. Identify a feasible market sector for your product(s) and or service(s)
Some people fail in business not because they do not have the finances to start-up their business but because they have a product or service that no one wants to buy. In order to reach professional development in business, you will need to listen (attentively) to the marketplace. Clearly identify an unmet need of customers prior to developing a product to satisfy their needs. Yes, you may be a smart business person, but if the market does not support you, you can say a big farewell to attaining professional development.

3. Work on your marketing plan
The main purpose of developing a marketing plan is to simply explain how you wish to create and maintain clients/customers in order to make a profit. The plan will also need to state the following:
- Your target market
- How you intend to penetrate the market
- Why your sales campaigns will be successful
- How much you will sell within the period of one year and over the next 5 years.

Your marketing plan will eventually be a pretty strong part of your professional development plan.

4. Write down a rough version of your company’s business plan
This is an outline of the path that you wish to take your business, a breakdown of your company’s strengths and weaknesses and a framework from which your official business development plan will be created.

5. Find out your monetary needs
Some companies fall flat like a pack of cards because they do not know diddly squat about the cost of keeping their company in business. As soon as you have developed your business plan, it is easier to determine your monetary requirements.

6. Put together your main team
before you develop a formal business plan development you need to make sure that you establish a good management team.

7. Conclude you’re financing requirements and put together an official professional development plan
Your business plan should without a doubt, show that your business can sell a sufficient amount of goods and or services to make a reasonable profit and is also good enough to attract prospective backers. Remember, this document will be used in order to secure financing to launch your business – so it has gotta be good!

8. Come up with a good marketing strategy to obtain financing
You will need to come up with a solid marketing plan to sell yourself and your business to financiers to raise money to get your business off the ground.

9. Market your business plan effectively and attract funds on your terms
Use negotiating tools which will give an edge over your competition and make it possible to attract funds on your own terms instead of just on your investor’s terms.

10. Market your goods and or service(s) and manage your business effectively in order to achieve your objectives.
As soon as your business has taken off, you will require a pretty strong management tool and marketing techniques in order to attain a successful professional development.

Comments Off »

Posted in Business Development, New Business, Small Business

Tags:

Your Business Development Strategy – Sharpen Your Plan

October 28th, 2011

So you have a good year last year, it’s a good thing. What do you think is missing is made from a big year? In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins says “Good is the enemy of Great”. Oh great you say, it’s not enough that I had a good year, now someone wants me to be perfect. No, not perfect, just great! And why not, after all when you start your business you may have a vision or dream of how you would do something different, bigger, better, faster than anyone else. You will make a difference, innovate and dominate, leaving a legacy that will live long after you leave the scene.

What will become very clear when you grow your company is that the job will be hard and most of your time will be sacrificed to make it happen. The learning curve will be very steep at times, but the rewards will be sweet and worth every moment you have to wait. For those of you who think success will happen overnight, you are probably better off buying lottery tickets, chances are better. The concept of business development is not just some abstract theory is not relevant, they are very important for the future success of your business.

In fact, most business is quite simple to operate, just not easy to do. Almost every business operates on the same model to collect customers through various marketing strategies and then after the effective conversion process or system to create new customer sales. The next step is to implement customer service systems to serve them well, make them come back and become raving fans for life. We also need to have the Human Resources division effective to select, recruit and train our personnel to carry out the duties and responsibilities of various positions. All of these areas affect your business development and management.

Ideally, with a fully executed Business Development Plan, we would have a policy or procedure for every operating component of our Business, a system that would ensure smooth operations. A system that would allow the Business to operate with or without you being there. Finally, we must understand our financials, manage our fixed and variable costs and keep the cash flowing. All of this of course hinges on one critical component. That component is your leadership. You must create a culture that rewards and empowers your team to be their very best and to have them constantly seeking ways to do better than before. All of this must be done while juggling your family life, personal interests and maintaining excellent health!

Simple enough right? Just not that easy to do! So where do you start on this road to greatness? The question our clients hear us ask all the time is “How do you eat an elephant?” “One bite at a time!” That first bit is creating your business development plan.

So in the interest of greatness, take a few minutes and do the exercise below. This is the first step in forming your strategy for Business Development.

Comments Off »

Posted in Business Strategy, New Business, Online Business

Tags: