Sarang Rane

Sarang Rane

2009

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Business Development

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Contents Executive Summary......................................................................7 Cold Calling.................................................................................10 Objective...............................................................................................................10 Critical Success Factors of Cold Calling:................................................................11 Team Cold Calling:................................................................................................13 Illustrative Checklist for Cold calling Action Plan...................................................14

Customer Database....................................................................16 What Information to Track?...................................................................................16 How to Organize the Customer Information?........................................................16 Single Vs Multiple Systems....................................................................................17 Customizing databases to fit our information........................................................17 A. Splitting customer records into related record types:....................................18 B. Additional information of the Customer.........................................................18 Microsoft Access....................................................................................................19 Keys for Good Database:.......................................................................................19 Capture Everyone..................................................................................................20 Customer Experience Mapping:.............................................................................20 The Information Needed Most...............................................................................20 Organization’s Departments.................................................................................20

First Meeting with Prospect.........................................................22 Objective...............................................................................................................22 6 Steps to get a First Meeting with your Target Prospect......................................22 Summary...............................................................................................................25 Examples...............................................................................................................27 In Conclusion......................................................................................................28 Clarify The Meeting Specifications........................................................................28 Don't Dress Up & Don't Dress Down For Your Meeting:.........................................29 Finalizing Your Homework - Building A Foundation:..............................................29

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Do Your Research:.................................................................................................30 Back Up What You Present:...................................................................................30 Greeting Your Prospect:........................................................................................31 Insert Your Companies Background Information:..................................................31 Try To Get Some Feedback:..................................................................................31 Recap Everything You Talked About:....................................................................32

Writing a Funding Proposal.........................................................33 Project Title...........................................................................................................33 Project’s Overview.................................................................................................34 Background Information/Statement of the Problem..............................................35 Goals and Objectives.............................................................................................36 Clientele................................................................................................................37 Methods.................................................................................................................37 Staff/Administration..............................................................................................38 Available Resources..............................................................................................39 Personnel..............................................................................................................39 Facilities................................................................................................................40 Equipment/Supplies/Communication.....................................................................40 Budget...................................................................................................................41 Evaluation Plan......................................................................................................43

Negotiation.................................................................................45 Negotiation Techniques for business development...............................................46 Modern collaborative approaches to negotiating..................................................47 Negotiation tips, techniques and principles...........................................................47 1. Have an alternative - negotiate with freedom of choice............................................48 2. Negotiate when the sale is conditionally agreed, not before (if buying the opposite applies)...................................................................................................................48 3. Aim high..............................................................................................................49 4. Let the other side go first......................................................................................50 5. List all of the other side's requirements before negotiating........................................50 6. Trade concessions - don't give them away................................................................51 7. Keep the whole picture in your mind.......................................................................51

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8. Prepare and keeping looking for variables (tradable concessions for both sides)...........52 9. Keep accurate notes.............................................................................................52 10. Summarize and clarify the negotiation as you go.....................................................52 Negotiation - more information.............................................................................53 You work for your company, not for the customer................................................54 When not to negotiate...........................................................................................55 Notes on debt negotiation.....................................................................................56 Debt negotiation skill 1:.....................................................................................56 Negotiate!.............................................................................................................56 Debt negotiation skill 2:.....................................................................................56 Debt negotiation skill 3:.....................................................................................57 Debt negotiation skill 4:.....................................................................................57 Debt negotiation skill 5:.....................................................................................58 Debt negotiation skill 6:.....................................................................................58

Client Relationship......................................................................59 Answer your phone...............................................................................................59 Don’t make promises unless you WILL keep them................................................59 Listen to your customers.......................................................................................60 Deal with complaints.............................................................................................60 Be helpful - even if there’s no immediate profit in it.............................................60 Train your staff (if you have any) to be ALWAYS helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable......................................................................................................60 Take the extra step...............................................................................................61 Throw in something extra.....................................................................................61

Account management.................................................................62 What is Account Management?.............................................................................62 Required Skills and Talents...................................................................................62 Required Activities................................................................................................63

Marketing & Brand Building.........................................................65 Using Promotional Products...................................................................................65 What factors are important in building brand value?............................................67 Quality...................................................................................................................67

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Positioning.............................................................................................................67 Repositioning.........................................................................................................68 Communications....................................................................................................68 First-mover advantage..........................................................................................68 Long-term perspective..........................................................................................69 Internal marketing.................................................................................................69

Business Requirements Gathering - An Overview........................70 Specifying Client Business Requirements..............................................................71 - Frequently Asked Questions –..........................................................................71 Business Requirement Specification.....................................................................72 - Validation Checklist -.......................................................................................72 Accurate:............................................................................................................72 Complete:...........................................................................................................72 Clear:..................................................................................................................73 Compliant:..........................................................................................................73 Information Model – Object Specifications:........................................................73 Functional Model – Activity Specifications.............................................................73

Making a Revenue Projection......................................................75 Current Business...................................................................................................75 Sales in the Pipeline..............................................................................................76 New Business........................................................................................................76 Monthly Updates...................................................................................................77 Project Cost Management.....................................................................................77 A Quick Example...................................................................................................77 Creating the Bonus Pool........................................................................................78 How It Works.........................................................................................................78 Budget Visibility Is Key..........................................................................................79 Avoid Issues by Embracing Transparency.............................................................79 Important Steps for Implementation.....................................................................80 Managing Project Profitability................................................................................80 How It Occurs.....................................................................................................80 Why It Occurs.....................................................................................................81

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How to Control It................................................................................................81

Cash Flow Management..............................................................83 Maximizing Tax Deductions...................................................................................84 Recognizing Earnings Accurately..........................................................................86 Business Capital Sources.......................................................................................87 Business Budgeting...................................................................................................89 Why and What?.....................................................................................................89 Prior Year Comparisons – Budget to Actual...........................................................89 The Budgeting Process – Other Items and Issues..................................................90 Common Issues in Business Budgeting..............................................................90 Examine the Market for the Coming Year..........................................................90 Are Targets Being Met?.........................................................................................91 Not to be used for Bonuses...................................................................................92

Proposed organization structure of “Business Development Function”....................................................................................93 Current status.......................................................................................................93 Current Team.....................................................................................................93 Current Pipeline.................................................................................................93

Appendix.....................................................................................94 Other reference Documents..................................................................................94 First Meeting with the Prospected Client............................................................94 First Meeting with the Prospected Client

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Executive Summary

In the field of commerce the specialist area of business development comprises a number of techniques and responsibilities which aim at gaining new customers and at penetrating existing markets Techniques used include: •

Assessment of marketing opportunities and target markets.

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Intelligent gatherings on customers and competitors.

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generating leads for possible sales

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Advising on, drafting and enforcing sales policies and processes.

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follow-up sales activity

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formal proposal or presentation management and writing

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pitch and presentation rehearsals

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business model design

Business development involves evaluating a business and then realizing its full potential, using such tools as: •

marketing

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Information management (sometimes conflated with knowledge management)

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Customer service

A sound organization aiming to withstand competitors never stops business development, but engages in it as an ongoing process. Successful business development often requires a multi-disciplinary approach beyond just "a sale to a customer". Some consultants frequently recommend a detailed strategy for growing a business in desirable ways, which may involve financial, legal and advertising skills. Business-development practitioners cannot reduce their activities to simple templates applicable to all or even most situations faced by realworld enterprises. Creativity in meeting new and unforeseen challenges may help sustainable growth. Business-development roles may have one of two modes: 1. sales-oriented (client-facing); or 2. An operational function to support sales. In a sales role, business development could concentrate on developing strategicchannel relationships or on general sales. This emerges from analysis of the varied job

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descriptions found in job-search engines especially in the UK. In the US, the term "capture management" appears as an alternative job or role title, typically used when describing business development as an operational function to support the selling function of a company. The Association of proposal management has produced the Capture Management lifecycle that describes the process in three broad stages: 1. pre-bid phase 2. bid phase 3. post-bid phase Small to medium-sized companies often do not establish procedures for business development, instead relying on their existing contacts. Or people in such companies may assume that because they know people in high places that this will solve any business-development problems and that somehow new financial transactions will come to them. Such thinking can have significant ramifications if one cannot exploit those relationships, which very often remain personal or weak. Such a situation may result in no new sales in the pipeline. Business-development professionals frequently have had earlier experience in financial services, investment banking or management consulting, although many find their route to this area by climbing the corporate ladder in functions such as operations management or sales. Skill-sets and experience for business-development specialists usually consist of a mixture of the following (depending on the business requirements) •

marketing

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legal

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strategy

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finance

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proposal management or capture management

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sales experience

The “Pipeline” refers to flow of potential clients which a company has started developing. Business-development staff assign to each potential client in the pipeline a percent chance of success, with projected sales volumes attached. Planners can use the weighted average of all the potential clients in the pipeline to project staffing to manage the new activity when finalized. Enterprises usually support pipelines with some kind of CRM tool or CRM-database either web-based or an in-house developed system. Sometimes business development specialists manage and analyze the data to produce sales Management Information (MI). Such MI could include: •

reasons for wins/losses

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•

progress of opportunities in relation to the sales process

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conversion (win) rates

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top performing salespeople/sales channels

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sales of services/products

For larger and well-established companies, especially in technology-related industries, the term "business development" often refers to setting up and managing strategic relationships and alliances with other, third-party companies. In these instances the companies may leverage each other’s expertise, technologies or other intellectual property to expand their capacities for identifying, researching, analyzing and bringing to market new businesses and new products, business-development focuses on implementation of the strategic business plan through equity financing, acquisition/divestiture of technologies, products, and companies, plus the establishment of strategic partnerships where appropriate.

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Cold Calling Objective Cold calling is a direct marketing tactic, similar to email marketing or direct marketing - it pushes out into the market. So whether its effective really depends on who you're targeting, what your offer is, and what you're trying to achieve I would advocate cold calling as if you've got a high-end proposition, because cold calling and telemarketing isn't a low-cost route to market. If you've got a high-end proposition and you're trying to push into a market where you're not a known quantity, so maybe you're not the top three on their list - then maybe cold calling is the most effective way for you to reach that market. The new business area of actually going out and finding new business as opposed to having a referral coming to you - new businesses are probably about as hard as it gets. So the two differences that I would say are a positive and a negative. The negative side of it is that it’s more expensive, so if you get a referral from somebody then typically they're slightly pre-sold on you by the time that they reach you. If you're cold calling and pushing into a completely cold market it takes a lot of time and therefore a lot of cost to sort of get to that point. So it is a more expensive option. However, on the positive side of it when you take the decision that you're going to target specific companies and go out and build a client base you can be much more strategic and pick the type of clients that you want to work with, where as referrals are a bit more random. Which is a great way - and a low cost way. If you're trying to build a business that goes in a strategic direction, then referrals tend to be a bit more random then branching out and targeting new clients directly. You're setting your own direction. If you wait for people to come to you, to some extent you're waiting for the market to chose. If you're starting with cold calling you're actually saying "these are the people that I want to approach with this proposition", so actually you're much more in control. So they're the two ends of the spectrum. Our discussions with clients are really about understanding where their market, understands what the buying processes are like what are the trigger points that people might want to see - And it does change

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depending on who you're pitching to. A low-level manager may be interested in looking at a tactical alternative, so maybe a new vendor if they're got a particular project. Whereas if you're trying to go in through the C-Suite and you've got a CEO, maybe you need a more strategic pitch which is more about the long term, which is more about business in the long term. It depends on who you're trying to target.

Critical Success Factors of Cold Calling: Focus on the goal when cold calling. It's about getting the chance to make the sale. Specifically, the purpose of a cold call is to set an appointment to make the pitch. Research for markets and prospects. Need to target cold calling to the right audience. Use market research to focus on our business target market. This gives us the huge advantage of being able to talk about their business and their needs when we call them. Prepare an opening statement for your cold call. This lets us organize our thoughts before cold calling, and helps us to avoid common mistakes in the cold call opening that would give the person to whom we are calling the chance to terminate the conversation. For instance, we should never ask, "Is this a good time to talk?" or "How are you today?" Don't read opening statement into the phone, but use it as a framework to get the conversation off to a good start. What should be in the opening statement of cold call? "Include a greeting and an introduction, a reference point (something about the prospect), the benefits of your product or service, and a transition to a question or dialogue. Prepare a script for the rest of cold call. Lay out the benefits of our product or service and the reasons our prospect should buy. Write out possible objections and our answer to them. Without a script, it's too easy to leave something out or meander. Once again, it's not that we will be reading a script word for word when we call, but that we have prepared the framework of the cold call in advance. Ask for an appointment at a specific time when cold calling. At a particular time we need to ask for appointment in a formal form. Say, "Would Wednesday at 11 a.m. be a good time to meet?" instead of saying, "Can I meet with you to discuss this next week?" Remember that gatekeepers are our allies not our foes. Be pleasant to whoever picks up the phone or is guarding the inner sanctum when cold calling. Develop strategies to get the gatekeeper on our side. Sometimes asking,

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"I wonder if you could help me?" will help us get the information which we need, such as the name of the right person to talk to or when the best time to contact the prospect is. Learning the names of gatekeepers and being friendly when cold calling helps, too. Smooth the way for your cold call by sending prospects a small, unique promotional item. This helps break the ice and makes our business stand out from the crowd. Do cold calling early in the morning, if possible. That's the best time to reach the decision maker directly, and for most people, the time that they're most energized. It helps us to give him full utilization of our products or services because he feels fresh in the morning & Conversation has taken a good turn which help us to get earnings. Be persistent when cold calling "Eighty percent of new sales are made after the fifth contact, yet the majority of sales people give up after the second call". The people who want to do business with us are out there - but you have to let them know about you first. Create a three-part opener. A cold call is an unscheduled interruption. Within the first few seconds, we must establish a reason for our prospect to speak with us. For best results, create a threepart opener that includes our name, company name and an opening benefit. For example, a special-events contractor contacting a local retailer might say, "This is Jane Doe, president of Doe Special Events. My reason for calling today is to tell you about traffic-building events we've developed for stores like yours that draw qualified new customers." Ask great questions. There are two types of questions. Start our conversation with a close-ended question, which reveals a fact or can be answered with yes or no. Then use open-ended questions to draw our prospect out. "Who is your current supplier?" is a close-ended question. "What do you like best about your present supplier?" is open-ended. Review of Sales for Future Business: We need to take review from existing customer for future business point of view. We have to make at list two cold calls during the service period, just creating impression that we are calling to say hello, but the main intention is to find out the view or the satisfaction of services which are provided. It’s good for us to get idea that he will wish to give us future business or not & its help us to create good relations. If he give negative answer, so it’s easy for us to make a plan to impress that customer for the same services. So, review is an important factor of cold calling to get more business. Recording Outcome:

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We need to record all cold calls for future reference because during the time of cold calling a person who make a call, he has given us so much promises & he will forget to implement some of that or sometimes the listener says some important things which are eliminated by ignorance so it will create a bad impression on clients mentality, which will directly effect on a good deal. Here we need to record all outcome conversation which will happen within a Business Development Person & listener; it will be helpful for sales person to take review of that conversation. What are the needs to Implementation? We need to install some mobile software (MO Call Recorder) which has record all calls automatically. Or we have to purchase an instrument which will help us to record calls.

Team Cold Calling: This far out, but ever so magnetizing technique integrates teamwork with cold calling. They have the potential to dramatically increase our call to contact ratios. This technique is used after we have been unsuccessful in reaching our sales prospect. If we have attempted to reach our prospect three times or more with no response then use this technique to contact our prospect. It doesn’t mean that our product has some faults, it clearly indicate that the sales person having lack of knowledge about our services or products. They need an internal help from Organization Key Persons in short we can say it as “Team Cold Calling” So they have to make below mentioned activities for betterment: a. Internal Training: Employees are better understood about that product, so

he will be a best person to give training to Cold Calling Persons. So there is no need to bring any one from outside for training, because the Product had been made by employees so he will provide better training & company doesn’t need to spend any expenses for training. b.

Update Himself: The Sales Persons has to be regular updated to current market. To get this knowledge so many websites, business magazines & business related changes should be updated. The person himself need to do this activity & need fully have a updated

THE COLD CALLING ACTION PLAN:It is appropriate to give the full details Cold Calling Action Plan. However the following partial check list will indicate how to develop such an Action Plan.

Illustrative Checklist for Cold calling Action Plan a. set up a Sales Contact Management or Sales Force Automation Database This can be something as simple as an Access database or one of the commercial software packages. It should include current customers, lapsed customers,

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qualified prospects and not-yet-qualified leads. It should provide a history of contacts with each individual and alerts for the next contacts and their purpose. b. Company "Visibility" activities that may influence all prospects Appropriate effort on any or all the following: A website that is easily found in search engines • •

• •

• • •

• •

Directory listings Back-links from other prestigious websites Paid Internet advertising Banner ads, Pay-per-Click advertising Paid print advertising Business blogging E-mail newsletter alerts with associated web page newsletters on the company website. PR announcements Trade show appearances

a. Contacts with individuals •

• • •

•

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Surveillance of news items related to individuals as basis of individual contact Have daily target contact list Preparation for each call - review of current information (e.g. news items on their website) Make the calls to the target contact list E-mail follow-up to all whether successful contact or not.

Customer Database What Information to Track? This varies dramatically, but there are several frequently used types of business information: •

Contact details

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Customer preferences

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Communications history

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Sales history

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Actions

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Payments

Then there is business-specific customer information. For example, family-oriented organizations track family members, real estate companies - properties, engineering firms - equipment they maintain on behalf of the customers and so on.

How to Organize the Customer Information? How all this information can be organized for an easy access and use? Should it fit into a single system or multiple systems? How can I fit my data into the database structure? •

Limit the Number of Databases We Create The more independent databases we create, the harder it is to cross-reference information, and the more likely it is that we will have "competing" information -- for instance, updating the address on one database for a potential supporters but not updating the information on another database where the person is also listed. For instance, if a board member moves, we would have to change his or her information on several separate databases. It's not time or cost-effective. We should either have only ONE central database system for tracking all people and organizations involved with our organization (or that could potentially be involved), OR, all of our databases need to be able to "talk" to each other. Our program manager may need one to track projects and their progress; our marketing staff may have a press-tracking system they want all to themselves; and various staff will have their own personal databases (electronic address books) to track certain contacts. But anything that relates to our membership, customers, potential supporters (including city & county officials), etc. should be kept in one, centralized database system.

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•

Security & Privacy A computerized database should have security levels for different levels of use (one for inputting information, one for designing screens, one for viewing confidential information, etc.). This ensures confidentiality as needed, and prevents those staff members who don't know how to use the system from making a big, unintentional mistake everyone will regret later. Also, we need a written policy regarding privacy for those who are in our database. How confidential is this information? Will any of it be shared with other organizations, or published in our annual report? This written policy needs to be communicated to ALL key persons at our organization, and communicated to those who provide us their information.

•

Backup Our Information If our database is computerized, backup the database at least twice a week. Keep these backup copies in a safe place (some companies buy fireproof safes to store copies; others store the backups at a different location). We should also set criteria for when to destroy (copy over) or reuse these copies.

Single Vs Multiple Systems Using a single database minimizes the hassle of synchronizing multiple sources of data and improves data accuracy. However, if our business software must incorporate industry-specific logic, we are unlikely to find an integrated system that includes both that logic and a full-featured customer database. In that case, the best option is to use our company-specific software as a primary source of information and copy the customer records from that software into the customer database.

Customizing databases to fit our information Now that we decided what information goes into our database and where it comes from, consider how this data can fit into the database. The simplest method of customizing a database is creating extra fields in the customer record. Many database programs make it easy and so we can accommodate business-specific information by adding more and more fields. When we have hundreds of fields, the system becomes difficult to manage. This is probably because we have put together information about different objects. Restructuring our data makes it easier to access and manipulate. There are two methods of re-structuring such data: A. Splitting customer records into related record types B. Storing some information in external files

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A. Splitting customer records into related record types: Suppose we need to record basic family information: •

Family name

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Husband's name and birthday

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Wife's name and birthday

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Child 1 name and birthday

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Child 2 name and birthday

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Child 3 name and birthday

If we were to add all these details to our customer record, they will occupy eleven fields. To handle this information, the databases can store it in different record types and relate these records to one another. Because of this ability these databases are called relational (as opposed to flat) databases. In a relational database, we would have family and personal information in different records and link persons' records to their family record. To see if a piece of customer information should be tracked in a separate record type check whether a customer can have more than one of it. Can a customer have multiple policies? family members? Can a customer be included into multiple lists? If the answer is yes, then those objects should be tracked separately and linked to the customer records. If no, they can be incorporated into the customer record. B. Additional information of the Customer. There is a natural desire to track all customer information on the database, but is it really required? There are some data types that databases don't handle well, for example, spreadsheets. The databases are designed to work with large number of similar records, while in a spreadsheet each row could be different from the previous one. Spreadsheets' formulas can be easily modified, while in databases they are programmed. So if you are used to tracking some customers information in spreadsheets or some other external files (photos, text documents etc), perhaps it is worthwhile to continue doing so, linking those files to the customer records. We will keep our database simple and agile and retain the familiar ways of working with these files, but can still easily access all customer information from a central location. The down side is that we cannot easily search on or otherwise process the information that is stored externally. If we store customer borrowing power calculations in Excel spreadsheets, we can easily access this data on any customer, but cannot find

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customers who can borrow in a specified range without going through each and every record.

Microsoft Access Perhaps one of the first programs people turn to when it comes to building customer database is Microsoft Access, probably the single most popular database program. Most already have it as part of Microsoft Office Professional or Premium, making it an easy choice. The system comes with Wizards assisting in setting up new databases, creating tables and basic forms. However, beyond the basic setup, we are on our own. To add a field, we need to add it first to the database, then to all the forms and reports where we need it. Maintaining lists of values for drop-down lists is not a trivial task. As the number of fields grows, maintaining forms layout quickly becomes a chore. Access is a great system in the hands of a professional, but developing a functional customer database in it usually requires more expertise and time than a business person can afford.

Keys for Good Database: Good People + Good Systems = Good Database The value of a database comes not from a computer program, but from the information that is tracked. The most important component in a good database system is people who understand the importance of gathering information and of thinking proactively, and who are dedicated to keeping the information up-to-date. Please note that regular data entry and maintenance may significantly change our present organizational procedures, depending on who enters the data, what the scale of operation is, and training requirements. It is of the utmost importance to support the person(s) who maintain the database (i.e. the people who input the data). Without full and initial support of this person or persons who will primarily input and manage the data, your database, no matter how well designed or how highly thought of it is by IT experts, will fail to meet your organization's needs.

Capture Everyone If we are a small organization, then everyone/anyone who calls comes to a meeting or event, asks for information, and is sent material about our company, etc., should be put on the database. Those people are the best audience to approach about volunteering, attending an event, etc., because they've already voiced an interest in our organization. In addition, we should be tracking in what projects/programs people are interested, how they are hearing about our organization, how many hours they volunteer each month, if they received our latest newsletter, etc. This doesn't take an elaborate

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system -- it takes staff members who understand when and how to capture information on the phone, via a sign-in sheet, etc. Develop systems that everyone can and will use to capture this information, and make sure this information is captured in a timely manner -- a good rule is that new information is recorded into our database no more than 48 hours after it was received by the organization.

Customer Experience Mapping: A customer experience mapping which addresses for Building a Great Customer Experience Database: • • •

Created by consistently exceeding Customers physical & emotional expectations. Great Customer Experience is build- designed "Outside In" rather than "Inside Out". Revenue generating and can significantly reduce costs.

The Information Needed Most What information do we need from people and organizations now, and what information might we need for the future? Only we can decide what categories of information our organization needs -- just remember that a good database serves all of our needs.

Organization’s Departments. Here are some basic, general suggestions for information categories for a people database: •

first name

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last name

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Salutation (Mr., Mrs., Rev., Honorable, etc.)

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name tag first name (if name tags are generated from this database, this is an important field -someone who wants their mail addressed to "Stephen" may want to be verbally addressed as "Steve", for instance; or, someone from another country may want to be addressed by what people in the "West" would consider the last name)

•

postal mailing address fields (including one for city, one for state, one for zip; maybe one for country or county, depending on your organization's focus and outreach)

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day phone

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•

•

evening phone fax phone

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e-mail address

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ethnicity (for statistical tracking purposes only)

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birth year (for statistical tracking purposes only)

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date entered into system (this should be an automated field)

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date information was last updated (This should be an automated field)

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relationship/agency/company

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Type of affiliation/agency/company (do you need to be able to pull a list off of your database of city officials? newspaper reporters? program managers at arts organizations in your area? corporate CEOs?)

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Participation category (event attendee/project involvement/donor/volunteer/etc.)

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Originally referred by (heard an ad? by a board member? saw your Executive Director present at the Rotary Club?)

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do not send mail/ do not contact category (for former members/customers who do not want to receive materials; see below as to why this category is important, rather than removing someone from your database)

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dates of financial pledges made for each year

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dates those pledges were received

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total financial amount an individual has given for our organization

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skills a person has offered our organization as a volunteer

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hours an individual has volunteered with our company or for specific programs

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program interests of everyone in the database, in case they want to donate time or money to a specific area of our organization

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times an individual is available for volunteering with our company •

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Expenses for volunteers and employees (mileage, meals, etc.)

First Meeting with Prospect Objective

When we start a campaign, we should always spend a bit of time with the client, understanding what their sales process or their engagement model is, because we need to make sure that the meetings that we set up fit with the engagement model. So let’s just say that an example is a client that is a consultant, their typical engagement model is that they will go in and look for a small piece of work to start a relationship. At an extreme, we could set up a meeting with somebody who just simply wants to see them without any qualification criteria, which makes it much more difficult for the consultant to make an opportunity out of that. The worst case scenario would be, that a meeting is set up that is completely unqualified, so the consultant has to spend a lot of time turning that into an opportunity. The reality is that that will be a wasted meeting. What we do is that we understand the criteria, and we understand the engagement model and we would understand that the client would have to at least understand the potential project on the horizon within six months down.

6 Steps to get a First Meeting with your Target Prospect 1. Get your message clear Before you can even begin to work on getting a first meeting with your target prospect, you have got to make sure your message is clear and unambiguous. Firstly, you need to identify all the “pain points” that your product / service will address. It is unlikely this will be a single pain point. With a little bit of creative thinking, you will identify several pain points your product / service will alleviate. Let’s say your company undertakes website design and development. Your target clients might want a website that is static – that is, like an online brochure. They might want a more dynamic website which they would like your company to update on a regular basis. Alternatively, they might want a website that is capable of being updated by the prospect’s own staff. In this example, we have 3 groups of client and each group will have a different set of pain points. It is your job to find out what they are and to address them better than your competition. The clients wanting a static website won’t be interested in the easy incorporation of updates – this is not a pain point for them. Similarly, the clients who want to update their own

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website content won’t be interested in your world–beating turnaround times for updates. Before approaching your target prospects, identify all the pain points that you can address and, for each one, develop a list of benefits that will be realized if they were to choose your product / service. At the same time, you should develop a 30-second and a 60-second “elevator pitch” – a few key sentences that succinctly summarizes your business. Ensure you describe what business you are in and focus on what your product / service does for your clients. 2. Do your research Once you have identified the variety of pain points that your product / service can address, the next step is to undertake some research on your target prospect. This is a step that has become much easier in recent years, thanks to the Internet. Research is often the step that experienced sales people skip. They believe their experience means they can get away without spending time performing desk research. This is often a fatal move as they fail to make their approach relevant and compelling enough for the prospect to open up his or her diary. Back to web design / development business. Your desk research might involve looking at your target prospect’s current website (if they have one). You might be able to deduce how new it is – look for Copyright statements at the bottom of every page. Similarly, you can tell from the content whether it is a static or dynamic website. You might be able to find out more about the company and its Directors by reading the ”News” and “Investor Relations” sections of the website. More information can be obtained by using tools such as Google to search on Director’s names etc. Sometimes, this doesn’t yield enough information and you may need to undertake a more direct form of research. You might telephone or even arrange to meet with employees of your target prospect to gather the necessary background information. You might be able to identify which pubs, restaurants or coffee shops their employees tend to use regularly. Just being there at the appropriate times and striking up conversations can be incredibly informative. In summary, research to get yourself into a position of knowing some of the pain points your target prospect is encountering so that your first approach can be both timely and relevant.

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3. Make more than 1 or 2 attempts Recognize that it may take several attempts before the person you want to meet even acknowledges you. There is a variety of views as to how many attempts it takes to get your message to “stick”. A good rule of thumb is 7-10 attempts. Many salespeople seem to give up after 1 or 2 attempts and move on to their next prospect. For each prospect you target, develop a strategy to approach them up to 10 times over a 3 to 4 month period. Vary the methods you use – don’t send 10 emails or leave 10 voicemail messages. Some senior executives prefer emails, others respond better to voicemail messages. Emails are usually received directly by the individual. So too are calls to their mobile phone – if you can get this number, try it.

4. Get the P.A. on your side Inevitably, unless a direct approach via email or mobile phone works for you, then you may have to deal with and through the P.A. As noted before, if you are working in the SME arena, not all senior executives will have a P.A. – in these cases you might find the Receptionist takes on some of their role. Whether it’s a P.A. or a Receptionist, this person can either help you in your Endeavour to meet the boss, or completely block your progress. Don’t try to use smart manipulative techniques to either get through to the boss or to get an appointment in his diary. Explain why you wish to speak / meet the boss. Explain in terms of their business. Make use of the benefits you listed during step 1 to powerfully present your case in terms of how you can help the boss. 5. Be professional, courteous and persistent Treat everyone you encounter in exactly the same way you would wish to be treated if the roles were reversed. Remain in control of the conversations by asking good questions and be persistent – don’t give up too soon on your objective. Give yourself at least 7-10 attempts at getting to speak to or meet your target person before backing off. Keep in touch periodically and keep

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reading the business news for something that might trigger some interest in your product / service and make renewed efforts to secure the meeting.

6. Keep conversations at a business level Don’t ever get drawn into describing your product / service when speaking to your prospect on the phone. Keep your focus at the business level until you get in front of the person, when you will have more time. When you keep the conversation on business matters, and their business in particular, you should continue to use open-ended questions to help you gather as much background information as you can.

Summary Getting that 1st meeting with a prospect is difficult. However, it is not impossible. Follow the steps outlined above to give yourself the best chance to persuade your prospect to open up their diary for you. When you have secured that 1st meeting, turn up with a list of pre-prepared questions that will help you to keep the discussion at a business level. If you are working in the Defense, Telecommunications or IT sectors, take great care with the use of acronyms. These are completely unintelligible to most people so if you do make use of buzzwords and acronyms, and then make sure your prospect really does understand them. Collecting Vital Information - Increasing The Value of Your Services: Once a prospect contacts you, it is now necessary to start collecting information from them by asking questions about their enquiry. First of all, don't forget to thank your prospect for making the right decision by contacting your business. The next step is to ask the correct questions to help you make a better decision on how to help them. If you simply decide right then and there to answer all of their questions through one phone call, you might not have another chance to talk with them later on. In fact, one phone call might be all the time you have if you answer all of their questions right then and there. Most prospects don't go into sales calls expecting to sign a contract, these “golden clients” are few and far between. This sales strategy applies to 99% of your sales calls which will need some finesse, and idea making on your part.

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What If My Prospect Contacts Me Via Email? This makes it a little tougher to close the sale. The internet is a great tool for attracting new business leads, it is not great however to close a prospect. Closing a prospect online, vs. closing them on the phone is a much greater challenge. The idea is to get them offline and on the phone with you, or if you can, in person as quickly as possible. Computers are very impersonal and cannot show your excitement, enthusiasm, and confidence. This emotion is key to helping client’s belief in you; an email cannot provide this vital "non-verbal" communication between you and your prospect. Planting Seeds For Future Communication & More Business: The idea here is to pre-setup your next phone call. The reason we do this is to get as much information from your prospect as possible because, the person calling you might actually need more than one service from you, most people don't know that you can actually help them out in other areas. 80-90% of prospects on the hunt for services are actually hunting for multiple services at one given time in order to complete their project needs. The key is to fish out these other ideas! This potential for more business may, or may not be brought up within your 1st initial contact. Before ending the sales call, your goal is to let your prospect know of other options they will have if they choose to go with your business. By doing this, we end up planting future seeds into the mind of your prospect. Planting future seeds will probably induce your prospect to think about how great it would be to go with one company like yours for all of his or her needs, instead of micro-managing multiple companies for the same services. Don't forget that when you're forced to answer a question, immediately come right back with a better strategy or another question to keep the prospect interested in your conversation. For ex. "I understand that your research suggests you go with THIS method but, if I can make a suggestion, my experience has shown me that this OTHER method is better, because..." The best sales people in the world know that the key to adding more services/products from every sales call is by increasing the value of their prospects inquiry. No, I don't mean by increasing the price, I am suggesting that you create a need that wasn't there before, to give our prospects more ideas, and to help them to think bigger. This step helps you to create more value in your expertise, and it also helps to build trust in your knowledge and experience. People want to believe in you, they want to know that if push comes to shove, you'll be there for them every step of the way.

Examples I will use two different examples of creating a need that might not have been there:

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1) Retail Sales (Matching Products Together): The best way to create different ideas to make more sales is by accenting the piece of clothing that the prospect is interested in. For e.g. If your prospect is interested in a "v-neck sweater", try telling your prospect about a great matching "under shirt" that will look nice underneath the "v-neck sweater". By matching the two up, a person will see the value of the two shirts together, whereas before they just couldn't visualize the two shirts going together. 2) Brochure Copywriter (Complimenting One Service with Another): You know that if someone is inquiring about copywriting for a brochure design, the next logical step for them will be to research for a printing company in order to get their brochure printed for distribution. Take this opportunity to tell your prospect about a printing company, or multiple printing companies that you know of personally, that can offer great printing services. Every sales call could potentially help other companies as well; getting a small kickback from your referrals is always great way to increase your business. Also, if the referral is successful, your newly found client will recommend you to everyone as a "great source". In each of these examples, you have now proven yourself to your prospect. You have now shown them that you have their best interest in mind, which brings us back to knowing what each individual prospect wants is the key to winning every meeting you have. Here are some topics that can easily generate more questions & strategies: •

Their spending budget

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Contract details

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Deadlines

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A more in depth explanation or description

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Product details (size, color, additions, etc)

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Package options

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Payment plans

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Referred by? How they heard of you?

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About 'their' business

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Their goals

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The "next" step

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What kind of research they've done

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and so on...

In Conclusion: Don't be afraid to get more information from your prospect anyway you can. Always keep the conversation going, don't sabotage your meeting by answering all of your

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prospects questions by email, or by phone. Always leave some topics open for discussion so you can close them in person. Don't be afraid to tell your prospects on the phone that you're actually late for a meeting and you will be able to answer all of their questions in person. Make sure to book your meeting with your prospect right away. Try giving them 2 different dates for them to choose from. In the end, you want your prospect to think they should really look into this further and meet you in person. In step 1 (Staging For A New Client) we discussed how to set yourself up for better meetings with prospects by targeting your marketing efforts to the right type of perspective client. In step 2 (Taking The Prospect's Call) we learned about the importance of doing our homework and getting crucial information from your prospect in order to gain knowledge about your their needs, and to find more sources of business. Now it's time to prepare for the meeting itself.

Clarify The Meeting Specifications: Again, going back to doing our homework, before you let your prospect go on their merry way, there is still one last piece of information you NEED to agree on: Where you’re going to meet up (Your turf is always the #1 choice, give you the advantage). When you will meet with them (Try to give them 2 optional dates). What you will be wearing (casual, or all business). Whether you will be alone in the meeting? Whether they will come alone as well? One way I tend to get passed this step is by telling my prospect that, I would like the meeting to be casual (This will help to relax your prospect). I especially like to make sure that my prospect knows I will be sitting down alone with them, and there will be no reason to be intimidated, or to feel like they need to bring an associate. I especially like tell people exactly what I will be wearing; this will help to make sure that they don't need to decide that day if they should wear a suit, or just wear jeans. Many of you might be working from home, don't be afraid to go for the casual approach in order to make your meeting go smoothly, friendly, and relaxing. Last but not least, tell your prospect that you have other meetings that day, and you would appreciate them to call in advance if they can't make the meeting. This will give your prospect a sense of appreciation given the fact that you will be taking time out of your busy day to meet with them.

Don't Dress Up & Don't Dress Down For Your Meeting: You DO NOT want to be over dressed, or under-dressed compared to your prospect. You want them to be comfortable around you. Comfort is the key. Remember that if your prospect doesn't like you, or if they don't feel comfortable around you, you've already lost. This also means to lay off the heavy use of perfume, cologne, or after shave. I like to compare myself to a bank teller. I do this because, bank tellers are never too dress-down, or up, and they never smell so strong that I can't stand being around

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them. Bank tellers know exactly how to make someone feel comfortable, especially since they too are dealing with other people's money. Now that you're prepared, we can now move onto...

Finalizing Your Homework - Building A Foundation: So you've now collected vital information from your prospect, and you've established some grounds to talk about when you meet. The next step is to finalize your homework, and to fine tune the 'pitch' you'll want to take with your prospect. Every potential client is different, no two clients want, or need the same thing from you. This is true because no two clients are on the very same path, or have come to you at the same time in their life. These tutorials have laid out a foundation for meeting people but, you need to put all the information you have together in order to build a better strategy, and to better prepare your unique 'pitch' you want to deliver for your meeting. This is why step 2 was so crucial, without getting more information, you might sit there half way through your meeting with no common ground to talk about with your potential client. The idea is to deliver more than expected, to break their expectations going in, and to deliver confidence within your message. In every situation, there is another step waiting behind door #2. Cause and effect. For every idea, there are 100 more ideas waiting to be revealed. What ideas will you come up with? That is for you to decide, just remember that you're the professional in your field. The person you are about to meet came to you, not the other way around. This is the crucial point where you will show your prospect that a). you mean business, and b). they made the right decision.

Do Your Research: On a notepad, write down some information that might help your prospect with their needs whether or not they go with you. Having this ready for them will strengthen their decision to meet with you. The idea here is to give them something for coming out. This way, no matter what, they won't leave empty handed. Here are some things to write down: •

Do a comparison of your business services, compared to competitors locally.

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Do a comparison of "their business" (if they have one), compared to other competitors online.

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Find out product safety information (if it relates to you)

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Find out health information (if it relates to you)

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Find out industry information i.e. future concepts, industry news, etc.

There's no limit as to what you can prepare in order to give to your prospect, every industry and product is different.

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If you prepare properly (without spending all of your time on one prospect only), you will have all but 1 tool necessary to deliver a promising presentation in your meeting, which is to...

Back Up What You Present: Now that you have your arsenal ready, this is a good time to go over information about your business. Granted, the person you're about to meet might know everything there is about your business, but the truth is, they don't know everything about your business, only you do. Now is a great time to introduce information like: •

Background information

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The future of your business

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Your track record

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Client testimonials (signed by your client)

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Visual tools

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Presentation slides

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Etc.

Always leave a little "surprise information" to tell your prospects when they meet you in person. Now that we are properly prepared, we are now ready for the next step. Right before you meet your prospect, make sure you have everything ready: Your notes, ideas, and background material together. Also make sure to have a note pad ready so that you can brain storm more ideas.

Greeting Your Prospect: Once your prospect arrives, greet them with a smile and some "small talk". You'll know right away whether you have good rapport with your prospect or not because, they will want to either; get right down to business or, if you have established a good rapport, they might just want to keep talking for a little while. If your time permits it, and if your prospect doesn't seem in a hurry, try not to go right into the business at hand. Instead, get to know your prospect because in the end, doing business with others is about people, not just about the money.

Insert Your Companies Background Information: I try to make it a habit to use this entry spot for background information about our self, our business, and the future of our company. I do this right away just to weave out any doubts my prospects may have. This usually lets the prospect know that, they have made the right decision. It also shows that you're confident about what you do. Without being arrogant, go through some of the information you collected to illustrate the details your prospect might not have learned about you previously. Be careful about how much time you spend talking about yourself. 5-10 Minutes is fine.

Time to Hit Them with Your Research:

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Now that my prospect is growing a little more faith in me, I take this opportunity to hit them with my "homework" (As discussed in step2), and also to build upon the ideas I’ve had. I usually start by recapping what we talked about so far, while inserting more ideas on top. This helps to paint a "bigger picture" for my prospect which they will start to ponder in their mind. This will also show them how serious I am about their business, and that I actually spent some time out of my busy day to gather helpful information.

Try To Get Some Feedback: Giving your prospect new ideas above and beyond what you've already talked about will open new doorways that were never there before. Be very careful to listen to your prospects needs after you tell them about your ideas. Some ideas never work out but, many of them spawn off other new strategies that you didn't even think of previously. It's these "NEW" ideas that are worth gold. Now you can start getting a taste of potential future business with your prospect which they have already been thinking about, but may not of wanted to bring it up right away. Trust is the key, once you establish that, the door will be open.

This "feedback" from your prospect is what will determine whether or not you will increase the sale right there and then. Without going too far off topic, explore these new ideas. Take your time, show your prospect that your really thinking about these new ideas, and that you truly want to help them to fully understand the implications of this newly found strategy. Brainstorming this way may go on for the rest of the meeting. This is exactly what you’re after. The more you can get out of your prospect strategizing together right then and there, the more likely you will be closer to creating a business foundation with them, and a lifetime client.

Recap Everything You Talked About: Once your business is concluded, just recap what you've written down within your notes and tell your prospect about any miscellaneous details they should know about the procedures of your operation. This way your prospect won't leave without knowing when they should start seeing results (Please note: If your selling products, by this time, you've probably already made your sale, your business is done but remember to keep in touch with them). Finish up the meeting and make sure to re-iterate when you will be contacting them to report the progress. The key afterwards is to make sure that you keep in touch when you said you would, and to actually out-perform everything you mentioned in your meeting. If you do everything right, you will have created a client for life. Not only that but, if newly found client has made arrangements with other companies about the same project, 9/10 times when they go to discuss the same project with others, they will only be able to concentrate on all the ideas you had previously discussed with them. There have been many of times when my prospect, now client had cancelled their

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next meeting with my competitors because they truly believed that it would simply be a waste of time. Building meetings these ways and actually delivering what you set out to do will also help to increase your referrals a great deal. Every meeting will turn your prospects into walking, talking billboards for your business.

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Writing a Funding Proposal Project Title •

Check to see if the agency you have in mind has any specifications for the Title Page (often they have a required format).

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Usually the Title/Cover Page includes signatures of key people in your organization (Department Head, Supervisor, Contracts Officer, etc.).

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If your proposal is built on collaborating with other groups/organizations it is usually a good idea to include their names on the Title/Cover Page.

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Your cover should look professional and neat. However, do not waste time using fancy report covers, expensive binding, or other procedures that may send the wrong message to the potential funding agency. You are trying to impress the potential funding agency with how you really need funding, not the message that you do things rather expensively!

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The title should be clear and unambiguous (do not make it "cute").

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Think of your title as a mini-abstract. A good title should paint a quick picture for the reader of the key idea(s) of your project.

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The words you use in your title should clearly reflect the focus of your proposal. The most important words should come first, then the less important words. Notice that both of the following titles use basically the same words, except in a different order. The project with Title #1 appears to be focused on Red Haired Musicians. The project with Title #2 appears to be focused on Musical Style Preference. However, both projects are the same! Make sure your words are in the correct order.

Title #1 - Red Haired Musicians and their Preference for Musical Style Title #2 - Music Style Preference of Red Haired Musicians Try to remove words from your title that really are not necessary for understanding. Title #1 has too many words. Title #2 is just as clear but with fewer words. Title #1 - The Systematic Development of a Local Initiative to Create a Learning Center for Community Education Title #2 - A Local Learning Center for Community Education

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Try and use only a single sentence for your title. If the sentence is getting too long try removing some words. When all else fails try using a two part title with the parts separated by a colon (use only as a last resort!). Do not attempt to use the title as an abstract of your entire proposal.

Project’s Overview. •

Think of the Project Overview as an Executive Summary (the busy executive probably only has enough time to read your Overview - not the entire proposal). Be specific and concise. Do not go into detail on aspects of your proposal that are further clarified at a later point in your proposal.

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The Project Overview should "paint a picture" of your proposal in the mind of the reader. It should establish the framework so that the rest of the proposal has a frame of reference.

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Use the Project Overview to begin to show your knowledge of the organization from which you are requesting funds. Key concerns of the funding organization can be briefly identified in relation to your proposed project.

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If you will be collaborating with other organizations make sure some of their interests are also highlighted in the Project Overview. This can assist in strengthening the collaboration by recognizing them at the very beginning of your proposal.

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The best time to prepare the Project Overview is after you have completed the entire proposal (and you understand all aspects of your proposal very well). Let the Overview be your last piece of writing and then insert it at the beginning of your proposal.

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Try to keep in mind that someone will be reviewing your proposal and you would like to have this person be very positive about what you have written. The Project Overview will probably form a strong impression in the mind of the reviewer. Work on your Project Overview so that you can avoid giving this person the opportunity to say things like: • Not an original idea  Rationale is weak  Writing is vague  Uncertain outcomes  Does not have relevant experience

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 Problem is not important  Proposal is unfocused  Project is too large.

Background Information/Statement of the Problem •

It may be easier to think of this section as a review of Relevant Literature." Cite previous projects and studies that are similar to what you are proposing. Show the funding agency that you know what you are proposing because you are familiar with what has preceded you.

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Try to be careful in your use of language. It can very helpful to have a friend, outside of your area of focus/expertise, read your proposal to make sure that the language is readable and minimizes the use of: ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Jargon trendy or "in" words abbreviations colloquial expressions redundant phrases confusing language

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Position your project in relation to other efforts and show how your project: a) will extend the work that has been previously done, b) will avoid the mistakes and/or errors that have been previously made, c) will serve to develop stronger collaboration between existing initiatives, or d) Is unique since it does not follow the same path as previously followed.

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Use the statement of the problem to show that your proposed project is definitely needed and should be funded.

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It is essential to include a well documented statement of the need/problem that is the basis for your project. What are the pressing problems that you want to address? How do you know these problems are important? What other sources/programs similarly support these needs as major needs?

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Check to see that the potential funding agency is committed to the same needs/problems that your proposal addresses. Clearly indicate how the problems that will be addressed in your project will help the potential funding

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agency in fulfilling their own goals and objectives. As you write, keep the funding agency in your mind as a "cooperating partner" committed to the same concerns that you are. •

Is there a special reason why you and/or your organization are uniquely suited to conduct the project? (Geographic location, language expertise, prior involvements in this area, close relationship to the project clientele, etc.)

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When you get to the Methods Section of your proposal it will be important to refer back to the needs you've identified in this section (and show how your methods will respond to these needs).

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It can really help gain funding support for your project if you have already taken some small steps to begin your project. An excellent small step that can occur prior to requesting funding is a need assessment that you conduct (survey, interviews, focus groups, etc.). Write up your need assessment as a short Report, cite the Report in your proposal, and include a copy with the proposal.

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This is an excellent section to have the reader begin to understand that an ongoing approach to the problem is essential (assuming that you are proposing a project that is ongoing in nature) and that short term responses may have negligible effect. This can begin to establish a rationale for why your project needs external funding - it seeks to provide a long term response.

Goals and Objectives Try and differentiate between your goals and your objectives - and include both. • Goals are the large statements of what you hope to accomplish but usually aren't very measurable. They create the setting for what you are proposing. • Objectives are operational, tell specific things you will be accomplishing in your project, and are very measurable. • Your objectives will form the basis for the activities of your project and will also serve as the basis for the evaluation of your project. • Try to insure that there is considerable overlap between the goals and objectives for your proposal and the goals and objectives of the funding organization. If there is not a strong overlap of goals and objectives then it might be best to identify a different funding organization.

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Present measurable objectives for your project. If you are dealing with "things" it is easier for them to be measured than if you are dealing with abstract ideas. Your proposal is easier for a prospective funding organization to understand (and the outcomes are much more clear) if you describe your objectives in measurable ways.

Clientele Include specific information on the population or clientele that your project is focused on. • • • • • •

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Exactly who are the clientele? Who is included in the clientele group? In what ways have you already had contact with the clientele group? Can you show that you have the support of the clientele group to move ahead with the project? In what ways have members of the clientele group been involved in the preparation of the proposal? What other agencies are involved with this clientele group (and have these other agencies been included in your proposed project)? It's important for the funding agency to see how much the clientele group has been involved with the project and the preparation of the proposal. (Sometimes a project is funded and then the director finds that the clientele group does not want to be involved!! Don't let that happen to you.) Be sure to clarify why it is important for the funding organization to be concerned about your clientele. Your proposal should clearly indicate how assisting your clientele is in the best interests of the funding organization.

Methods •

•

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There should be a very clear link between the methods you describe in this section and the objectives you have previously defined. Be explicit in your writing and state exactly how the methods you have chosen will fulfill your project's objectives and help deal with the needs/problems on which your proposal is focused. The prospective funding agency will be looking at your methods to see what it is that you are proposing that will be new, unique or innovative. Make sure you clearly present the innovative aspects of your idea. Are the specific methods you are proposing for your project very important to your unique clientele? Make sure you clarify this for the funding organization.

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•

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Do not forget to include the collaborative relationships your project will be developing with other cooperating groups. A good way to show collaboration is in the methods that you will be using. How will the methods for your project encourage groups to join together in dealing with the issues/concerns your project addresses? Your Methods section should clearly indicate how the methods that will be used will allow the outcomes of your project to have value for others beyond your project.

Staff/Administration • •

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Use this section to describe the roles of the different people associated with your project and the importance of each. Make sure to clarify how each of the roles is essential to the success of the project and each role clearly relates to operate on the methods you have described. So what do you say about your key people? To start, make sure you include name, title, experience, and qualifications. Include other information if you feel it's important to the success of your project. The descriptions of your personnel should let the funding agency know that you have excellent people who are committed to the project. You are not asking the funding agency to "trust" you. The validity for what you are proposing is directly related to the people who will work with the project. Working together as a part of a team is something that funding agencies often like to see. Try making your project a team effort. If you will be using a Steering Committee (Advisory Committee, Governing Board, etc.) to assist in your project, this is a good place to describe how it will be organized and who will be included. A Steering Committee can be politically very helpful to you and your project. You can enlist the support of a variety of other agencies/organizations by placing a representative of these agencies/organizations on your Steering Committee. Make sure you define the length of service for the members of the Steering Committee (so that membership can rotate and you can minimize the length of service of someone who may not be helpful!). A Steering Committee can greatly help in identifying and linking to other resources. A viable Steering Committee can suggest to a funding agency that the project has strong links to the local situation and the project has a good chance of continuing after the funding period is over.

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Available Resources •

Collaborative efforts (an important project resource) are usually considered very favorably! Many funding agencies like to see cooperative ventures as the basis for local action. In other words, the funding agency's dollars are being brought together with other existing organizations that are already committed and involved in dealing with the needs that the project is responding to.

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Sometimes local resources go unnoticed and are difficult to see. Look carefully around you because there are certain to be resources that you have available that you may not be noticing (time that volunteers donate to your project, materials that local merchants may provide, local experts who can provide help/advise when needed, a friend who is willing to do some word processing, etc.). Such in-kind resources can show a potential funding agency that you are strongly rooted in your community.

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It is very impressive to a prospective funding agency if local resources have already been contacted and plans to include them in the project have already been made. Letters from local resources supporting the project (included in the Appendix) are an excellent addition to the proposal.

Personnel •

Refer back to your Staff/Administration section and identify those people who will actually be paid from the grant - these are the ones to be identified in this section

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Include short descriptions of each of the people who will be involved in your project and supported by the funding. The descriptions should clarify in the mind of the potential funding agency that these people are ideally suited to conduct the project.

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Instead of having all full-time staff on the project, consider having a number of part-time staff - especially if the part-time staff, currently work with other cooperating organizations. This is a good way to show inter-agency collaboration.

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Make sure you notify people who you identify in your Personnel section and receive their approval before you send in your proposal.

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Facilities •

Though you may not be requesting funds for the purchase or rental of facilities, it can be helpful to provide a brief description of the facilities that will be used for the project.

•

Consider describing existing facilities that will be used for the project as inkind contributions to the project. Even if you have free access to classrooms at a local school, meeting space at a shopping mall or a project room in a local office building, it can be helpful to indicate how much additional money the prospective funding agency would have to provide if these facilities were not donated.

Equipment/Supplies/Communication •

•

•

•

Be careful in listing the equipment that will be needed for your project. Funding sources are usually much more willing to provide funds for the support of personnel than they are to support the purchase of equipment (that may or may not directly benefit the funded project). The following are the types of equipment that may be needed for a funded project: ➢ Tape recorder (for recording interviews, dictating reports, etc.) ➢ Video cassette recorder and television monitor (for recording project activities, documenting change, etc.) ➢ computer/monitor/printer (for general project support) ➢ desks/chairs/tables ➢ lamps ➢ intercom/office telephone system ➢ telephone conferencing equipment ➢ photocopy machine ➢ specialized equipment for fulfilling project objectives It will help if you've really done some research on the actual cost of the equipment you specify. This is much better than "guessing" at the cost and then to be challenged on your estimates by the potential funding agency. It is easy to overlook many of the office supplies that will be needed for your project. Will you need printed letterhead stationery? And, if you will be mailing many letters, have you considered the current cost of postage (and possible increases in cost)? Do you have a good idea how much paper is needed to support the use of a computer word processor? Have you recently checked the

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•

•

•

price on such things as sticky notes, paper clips, or pencils/pens? A trip to a local office supply store could be most appropriate. Coffee, cups, donuts or other "supplies" for morning and afternoon breaks are usually not included in the proposal. These are personal (not project) expenses. How will you be sharing information about your project with others? Will your project include a Newsletter? How about a website? The more open you are and willing to help others learn from your experiences the more likely a funding agency will be interested in assisting. Consider including in your proposal additional funds for hosting some form of workshop or institute where you can bring together other professionals who are interested in conducting a similar type of project in their area. This would be a good way to publicly recognize your funding organization. Invite someone from the funding organization to attend the workshop so they can hear what others think about the investment they have made.

Budget •

• •

•

Make your budget realistic. Carefully think through exactly what you will need from the funding agency to carry out the project and establish your budget around this amount. (Do not forget, funding agencies receive lots of requests for funding. They can easily tell when someone has inflated a budget in order to procure funds for other purposes. Don't get caught in this situation.) Have someone else in your organization review your budget to see how realistic you are. Do you really need a large amount of funding at the beginning of the project or will your project be "phased up" over a period of time? Sometimes it's not very realistic to expect a new project to be able to be up and operating (and spending large amounts of money) during the first 6 months or year of operation. A good strategy to use with a potential funding agency is to ask for a small amount of funding for the first phase of the project. Specify in your proposal what you expect to achieve during this "minimal funding phase" and when you will be returning to the funding agency to ask for funds for the next phase. This can suggest to the funding agency that they can terminate the relationship easily if your project is not successful (and then it is essential for you to make sure the first phase is successful).

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• •

•

Check with the agency to see if they have suggested/required budget categories that they want you to use. If the potential funding agency doesn't have any suggested/required budget categories, organize your budget around a set of meaningful categories that work for the project you are proposing. Categories that you may want to consider for itemizing your budget are: ➢ Personnel (salary and benefits) ➢ Consultants (salary) ➢ Instruction ➢ Equipment ➢ Supplies ➢ Communication (telephone/postage) ➢ Materials preparation ➢ Travel ➢ Rental of facilities ➢ Evaluation ➢ Other expenses, Indirect costs (costs that your organization requires that you include) A suggested budget format for a three year funding proposal: Year 1 PERSONNEL . Person #1 . Person #1 . Person #3 . Sub-Total . FACILITIES (list) . Sub-Total . EQUIPMENT (list) . Sub-Total . SUPPLIES (list) . Sub-Total . COMMUNICATION (list) . Telephone . Postage . Sub-Total . TRAVEL (list) . Fuel . Vehicle Rental .

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Year 2 Year 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rail Tickets Sub-Total . TOTAL SUM TOTAL

. . . . . . Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 . . . .

Evaluation Plan •

•

•

•

•

•

• •

It's important to describe in your proposal exactly how you will decide whether or not your project has been successful, achieved its objectives, etc. The Evaluation Plan will tell the prospective funding agency how you will be going about showing them at the end of the project that their investment in you was a good one. If you plan to use a survey or questionnaire to help in evaluating the success of your project you may want to include in the appendices, a draft of what you are considering for the questionnaire/survey. Your evaluation plan does not have to be elaborate but it is important to indicate to the prospective funding agency that you have not forgotten this important step. Try to include both a concern for formative evaluation/process evaluation (ways to gain feedback on the project while it is being conducted) and summative evaluation/product evaluation (ways to show that the project fulfilled that which was originally proposed). Another way of conceptualizing this is that formative evaluation/process evaluation is concerned with the activities of the project. On the other hand, summative evaluation/product evaluation is concerned with the stated objectives of the project. It is easy to create a summative evaluation/product evaluation plan if you have done a good job of clearly stating your project objectives or expected outcomes. Make direct reference to your objectives in your evaluation plan. This creates a strong sense of integration/consistency within your proposal. The reader of your proposal will now be hearing the same message repeated in different sections of your proposal. Try creating two separate evaluation plans - one for formative evaluation and the other for summative evaluation. A good evaluation plan should include some sense of concern for what goes on following the conclusion of the funding period. How will the initiatives that have been started under the project be sustained? Have new things occurred that will be continued in the future? How will other cooperating agencies assist

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in continuing the project after the conclusion of the funding period? These and other areas should be included in a viable evaluation plan.

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Negotiation The situation you're in should shape your approach to negotiating. Here are some situations that will impact your negotiation approach. Goods Vs. Services. When buying goods, you can generally take a more tenacious approach to negotiation. With services, negotiating can be a bit trickier, particularly when you are negotiating with the person who will ultimately be providing the services such as a consultant, accountant, graphic designer, or similar professional. These individuals tend to take pride in the work they perform and view your attempts at negotiating a better price as a devaluation of their work. They may respond by providing services that demonstrate that "you get what you pay for" instead of giving you their best efforts. So take a firm but diplomatic approach when negotiating with service providers. Custom Orders vs. Mass Production. When you place a second order for mass produced goods, you probably won't be able to negotiate a much better price than you negotiated for your first order. However, with custom-made goods, you do have a little leverage. On the first order, the supplier probably built 100% of its non-recurring costs (e.g., process design, set up, production instructions, etc.) into the fee you paid. If you end up placing an unplanned second order, the supplier has already recouped its non-recurring costs and, thus, your unit price should be lower than it was on your first order. Technically Committed vs. Technically Un-committed. Let's face it. When other people in your organization have worked with a supplier to determine the technical specifications for what they are going to buy and only one supplier can comply with them, there is little leverage that you have in negotiation. So, when other people interact with potential suppliers, your negotiation power depends not so much on how you communicate with the supplier, but more so on how you prepare your internal team. Everyone responsible for the technical decisions should be advised of these things: 1.

No one should share a supplier or specification selection with suppliers until a purchase order is issued.

2.

The less certainty a supplier has about getting the business will translate into more price flexibility.

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3.

Your approach is not necessarily designed to choose the lowest cost supplier but rather to ensure the lowest possible cost for the preferred specifications backed up by compliant supplier performance.

Negotiation Techniques for business development These negotiation techniques are primarily for sales, but apply also to other negotiations, such as debt negotiation, contracts negotiating, buying negotiations, salary and employment contracts negotiations, and to an extent all other negotiating situations. Negotiation is vital for an organization's overall effectiveness. Organizational effectiveness is a product of activities within a system - internal and external. Negotiation is critical to establishing the internal system (structure, people, functions, plans, measures, etc), and the organization's relationship to the external system (markets, suppliers, technology, etc). Negotiation is also critical to optimizing the performance of activities internally and externally (principally through communication, by people). Good sales negotiation - the rules of which feature below - can easily add 10% to sales revenues, which arguably goes straight to the bottom line as incremental profit. Good purchasing negotiation can easily save 10% of the cost of bought in products and services, which again arguably goes straight to the bottom line as extra profit. Good negotiation by managers in dealing with staff can easily reduce staff turnover by 510%, which reduces recruitment and training costs by at least the same %, as well as improving quality, consistency and competitive advantage, which for many companies is the difference between ultimate success and failure. Good negotiation by executives with regulatory and planning authorities enables opening new markets, developing new technologies, and the choice of where the business operates and is based, all of which individually can make the difference between a business succeeding or failing. Successful debt negotiation with creditors enables a business to continue trading. Failure to negotiate debts often leads to business closure. These negotiation techniques deal mainly with sales negotiation and are written from the point of view of the 'seller'. If you are 'buying', or want to know how buyers tend to behave look at the note alongside the headings. Sales negotiation is an increasingly important part of the sales process. Negotiation starts when buyer and seller are conditionally committed to the sale (not sooner if you are the sales person; the sooner the better if you are the buyer). Negotiation generally results in a price compromise between seller and buyer - ie., the seller reduces and the buyer increases from their starting positions. Clever buyers will attempt to negotiate before giving any kind of buying commitment. Clever sales people will resist this. Here are

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the rules of sales negotiating, which imply also the rules for successful negotiating when buying.

Modern collaborative approaches to negotiating In modern times, the aim of negotiation (and therefore in training negotiating and negotiation role-plays) should focus on creative collaboration, rather than traditional confrontation, or a winner-takes-all result. The modern and ideal aim of negotiations - which should be reinforced in training situations - is for those involved in the negotiation process to seek and develop new ways of arriving at better collaborative outcomes, by thinking creatively and working in cooperation with the other side. Negotiating should develop a 'partnership' approach - not an adversarial one. As such, negotiating teams and staff responsible for negotiating can be encouraged to take a creative and cooperative approach to finding better solutions than might first appear possible or have historically been achieved in practice. Every negotiation, when viewed creatively, entrepreneurially and collaboratively, provides an excellent opportunity to develop and improve synergies between and benefiting both sides, within the negotiated outcome. It is a collaborative facilitation, which although developed primarily for front-end of the selling process, are also extremely useful for cooperative negotiating. Each side is uniquely positioned to see how the other side can more effectively contribute to the combined solution - it can be a strange concept to appreciate initially, but is extremely powerful in any situation where two people or sides seek to reach agreement to work together, which is essentially what negotiation is all about. That said, it is still important to understand and to master the traditional techniques and principles of negotiation, if only to provide a defense and strategy where the other side is firmly committed to an old-style confrontational approach, and these techniques are explained below:

Negotiation tips, techniques and principles First and most importantly, positioning is everything in negotiation. The way that the situation is initially approached, and when, are more influential on outcomes than all of the other negotiating tactics and techniques combined. Rules 1 and 2 are absolutely critical even before we start a negotiation. 1. Have an alternative - negotiate with freedom of choice If selling be unique, and have lots of other potential customers, and so be able to walk away; if buying definitely be able to walk away.

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Whether we are doing buying or selling, if you can't walk away because you need the deal so badly or because the other side is the only game in town, then you are at a serious disadvantage. If the other side believes you are the only game in town then you have the advantage. No other factor is so important: the more you need to secure the deal, the weaker your position, so avoid negotiating when you need the business badly (for the same reason, never find a new house and fall in love with it before you sell your own). The same will apply to your customer, which is why buyers almost always give you the impression that they can go somewhere else - even if they can't or don't want to. This also means that when selling you must create an impression that there is no alternative comparable supplier. You have to create the impression that your product or service is unique, and that the other person has nowhere else to go. The way you sell yourself and your product must convince the other person that he has nowhere else to go, and that he cannot afford to walk away. This positioning of uniqueness is the most important tactic, and it comes into play before you even start to negotiate. If your product offer is not unique remember that you are part of it. You can still create a unique position for yourself by the way that you conduct yourself, build trust, rapport, and empathy with the other person. Establishing a position (or impression) of uniqueness is the single most effective technique when you are selling, whereas denying uniqueness is the most powerful tactic of the buyer. 2. Negotiate when the sale is conditionally agreed, not before (if buying the opposite applies)

Negotiate when the sale is conditionally agreed, and no sooner (buyers tend to try to negotiate before giving you any commitment - don't let them) Or, put another way; don't get drawn into negotiating until you've got agreement in principle to do business. If you start to negotiate before receiving this commitment you'll concede ground and the customer will attain a better starting point. This would put pressure on you to find more concessions later, and ensure a better finishing point for the customer. If you are not sure that the customer is conditionally committed to the sale, then ask a commitment of closure (A conditional closing question), e.g. "If we can agree the details will you go ahead?"

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If you're buying, then the opposite applies: start to negotiate for concessions before agreeing you want to buy (try this when you next buy something - you'll be amazed at what you can secure without giving any commitment in return). 3. Aim high Aim for the best outcome (buyers aim low, and they tend not to go first either) (If you're buying, aim very - even ridiculously - low - but do it politely.) Whatever you're doing, your first stake in the sand sets the limit on your best possible outcome. There's no moving it closer to where you want to go; it'll only move the other way. Your opening position also fixes the other person's minimum expectation, and the closer yours start point is to the eventual finishing point the more difficult it is to give the other person concessions along the way and ultimately arrive at a win-win outcome. Many negotiations are little more than a split-the-difference exercise. They shouldn't be, but that's often the underlying psychology and expectation. So it's logical that to achieve the best possible finishing position you should start as ambitiously as you can (without losing credibility of course). If you have the option to hear the other person's offer first, then do so. It's a fact that whoever makes the opening offer is at a disadvantage. If you go first, the other person can choose to disregard it and ask for a better offer. And the other person avoids the risk of making an offer themselves that is more beneficial than you would have been prepared to accept. It's amazing how often a buyer is prepared to pay more than an asking price, but avoids having to do so because they keep quiet and let the seller go first. Vice-versa, the seller can often achieve a higher selling price than he anticipates if he hears what the buyer is prepared to offer first. 4. Let the other side go first Try to avoid 'going first' on price if you can. (Buyers will often be trying the same tactic.) If you know the other person's starting point before you have to give your own, then this is clearly an advantage to you. For example, if selling, ask the other side if they have an 'outline budget'. Sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised at what the other side expects to pay (or sell at), which obviously enables you to adjust your aim. Letting the other side go first is a simple and effective tactic that is often overlooked. Letting the other side go first on price or cost also enables you to use another tactic, whereby you refuse to even accept the invitation to start negotiating, which you

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should do if the price or cost point is completely unacceptable or a 'silly offer'. This then forces the other side to 'go again' or at least re-think their expectations or stance, which can amount to a huge movement in your favour, before you have even started. 5. List all of the other side's requirements before negotiating Get the other person's full 'shopping list' before you start to negotiate (buyers usually do the opposite - they like to pick concessions up one by one - indefinitely). Establish in your own mind what the other person needs, including personal and emotional aspects. Everything that is part of or related to a deal has a value. Everything has a cost to you or your organization, even if it's not on the price list. Negotiation isn't just about price and discount. It's about everything that forms the deal. It's about specification, color, size, lead-time, consumables, contract length, penalty payments, get-out clauses, delivery dates, stock-holding, re-order lead-times, after-sales support product, product training, technical back-up, breakdown service, call-out costs, parts costs, parts availability, payment type, payment date, payment terms. All these and more are called variables, and each one affects the cost. Some affect the cost more than others, and buyers and sellers nearly always place a different value on each. It's critical therefore to know exactly what your buyer wants before you start to negotiate. Get the full list of issues written down and commit him to it. This is vital if you are to keep a track on the values of the deal and the eventual outcome. You also avoid your position being eroded bit by bit by the late introduction of concessions required. Your buyer's personal and political requirements are important too, and the bigger the deal the more significant these factors are. You need to understand what they are; particularly the political and procedural needs within the other person's organization or situation that affect the deal. These issues will concern the way that the organizations relate to each other; who talks to whom; how justifications and reports are prepared; arrangements for future reviews; provision of information; product development collaboration; issues involving intellectual property, future mutual business opportunities, etc. Remember that when you sell to someone in an organization or group, your buyer is staking his personal reputation within his situation on you, and will not do so lightly, so you need to understand all of his needs and concerns. Only then you can begin to understand what the implications, costs and perceived values are. 6. Trade concessions - don't give them away

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Never give away a concession without getting something in return (buyers tend to resist giving any concessions at all). This is a matter of discipline and control. It's simple. Never give anything away without getting something in return. If you do you are not negotiating you are simply conceding. A commitment from the other person can be a suitable concession to get in return for something of relatively low value. The simplest and most elegant concession to secure is agreement to proceed with the deal now - use it to close. 7. Keep the whole picture in your mind Keep the whole package in mind all of the time (buyers tend to divide and erode your position, bit by bit). The buyer's tactic will be to separate out single issues, or introduce new ones later. If you allow this to happen your position will be eroded. Think about the knock-on effects to the whole situation every time a concession is requested. The overall value and profitability of a deal or contract depends on its component parts. When you change one element, you change the whole, so keep the whole situation in mind - keep assessing effects on the total arrangement, understand the effects, and explain how each change or demand affects the whole thing. 8. Prepare and keeping looking for variables (tradable concessions for both sides) Keep searching for variables, concessions, 'bargaining chips', incentives. (Buyers will look for your concessions but will tend not to offer their own) A variable or tradable is any factor that can be altered and which has a real or perceived value. You are not a mind-reader and the other person may not be totally open, or even fully aware of all the possible variables that are of interest, so keep looking for them. Prepare and estimate values of real and perceived variables before the negotiation, and keep looking for new ones during the negotiation. If the other side is cooperative involve them in looking for variables too - for both sides. The more variables you find the less you will have to give on price, and the more added-value you can build into the deal. The buyer will not offer his own concessions normally, so you can look for his possible concessions as well as your own (ie variables within the buyer's situation as well as your own). 9. Keep accurate notes Keep accurate notes, and show that you are doing it (the buyer stands to benefit from any lack of record, and some buyers conveniently forget things that are not in their favour, even concessions you've won from them) Controlling the negotiation is vital. the other person may forget, misunderstand, or attempt to distort interpretation of what was discussed and agreed. Keeping notes

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shows that you are in control, professional, can't be out-flanked, and enables you to summarize and assess continually. 10. Summarize and clarify the negotiation as you go Summarize and confirm understanding continually (see above - it's your loss, not the buyer's, if you allow misunderstandings to develop) This avoids misunderstandings developing, accidentally or otherwise. Misunderstandings can be catastrophic, not so much because of the way they affect the financial structure of the unfolding deal, but because they undermine the rapport and the trust, which is critical to being able to do business in the first place. Getting positive agreement throughout the process also is psychologically important; it strengthens trust and commitment, and helps to ease the other person into an agreeable frame of mind. After the negotiation obviously it is essential to give the other person clear written confirmation of the deal.

Negotiation - more information These days we are much more determined to press for concessions and the best possible price. Buyers, particularly consumers, are more confident and financially aware. Where competitive pressures exist, prices are driven downwards. Where one supplier offers a certain concession or discount, customers expect all others to follow suit. Suppliers' prices are more visible, so customers know what's on offer elsewhere, and they use this knowledge to secure the best possible deal. In the face of these increasing pressures we need to have: •

very good negotiating skills

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Commercial understanding (to appreciate the value and implications of each element within a deal, and for giving justification and explanation, etc.)

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very good communication skills - empathy - (so as to able to communicate a commercial position whilst maintaining a good relationship)

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a consistent corporate policy and authorization structure covering discounting and giving concessions

Organizations that have several points or people through which negotiations can take place must perform well in these areas. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Organizations with inconsistent or vague negotiation practices are vulnerable. Customers are able to find and exploit weaknesses and precedents to drive prices down, force concessions and discount levels up, resulting in erosion of margins for the

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company. This happens because the company loses control over its starting positions (first stance), and unwittingly provides precedents for generous finishing positions. Negotiating a deal, whether you are buying or selling, is a strange business. In a selling role for a company, good negotiation requires a careful combination of empathy for the other person's situation and feelings, with our own responsibilities to secure the best possible commercial outcome for the company. On occasions there can be a personal dilemma, particularly if our selling style is one that uses a lot of relationship-building and trust. We can feel torn between the interests of the customer - with whom it is of course essential to build an understanding - and the needs of the company. So it is essential to remember our fundamental responsibility as a sales person, which helps to avoid being drawn into the dilemma territory; remember:

You work for your company, not for the customer. By the same token, the customer is out to secure the best possible deal for themselves and their organization, not for your company. (Have you ever known a customer refuse a discount or concession on the basis that it isn't in the best interest of the supplier? Of course not) Another factor is our responsibility to existing customers. We undermine our relationships with existing customers if we offer preferential terms to new customers, just to get the deal. Giving too much away, or referring a negotiation to a higher authority has a demoralizing, undermining effect, and customers don't respect it - they take advantage of it. The urge to sustain a friendly, highly amenable relationship with the customer above all else is a trap that we must be alert to, it's human nature, but lots of customers will use it to their advantage. It is entirely possible to maintain a friendly helpful relationship while at the same time being very firm in negotiating the business. Deep down we all respect someone who takes a firm approach to business, as long as it is delivered in an understanding and empathic way, with proper explanation and justification for the stance taken. Good negotiating builds our own confidence and natural authority, not to mention the fun we can have outside work, when we are the buyer. It's extremely important to make an assessment of where the other person is coming from; what the real and perceived issues are, and to separate the psychological factors from the practical ones.

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A person's need to feel that they've succeeded in squeezing out a good deal is far different from the practical issue of simply whether they have enough money to afford the transaction, or whether the timings and availability can possibly fit together. The purpose of negotiation is to reach a fair and reasonable compromise, not to try to do the impossible. If a reasonable and commercially acceptable compromise is within reach we must use all our skills to achieve it through negotiation. If the other person's demands are not reasonable, commercially acceptable, or if any aspects of each side's position do not fit, negotiation is not the answer. This is why at times the most important word to use in any negotiation is 'NO'.

When not to negotiate (ways of saying 'no') People say a lots of different things when they really know the answer is "No." "I'll see what I can do." "I'll let you know."" "Maybe." "I'll ask." "I'll find out." "You could call head office and ask; they have more authority than me." If the demand or request is not possible, too commercially demanding, or not reasonable for any reason we must kill it there and then, or it will come back to haunt you. Do not negotiate if there are unrealistic demands being made at any stage. This is for three reasons. •

It prevents you having to concede substantial ground unnecessarily.

•

It avoids raising false hopes, which would make it difficult for us later to satisfy later.

•

It stamps your personal authority and professionalism on the situation.

A clear and honest "No, I'm afraid not," with suitable explanation and empathy for the other person's situation is all it takes.

Notes on debt negotiation Whether debts are business or personal, these debt negotiation skills should help you to improve your situation. Negotiation of debts for business, or personal debts such as credit cards, or debts with other creditors, start with one simple rule that is often overlooked: Debt negotiation skill 1:

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Negotiate! Amazingly many people who find themselves confronted by personal or business debts and pressure from creditors fail to think of negotiation as an option. Understandably fearful or embarrassed, people and businesses with debt problems usually fail to confront the situation until it's too late. Fear not - most people and businesses get into serious debt at some stage in their lives. Many of the most successful business owners and tycoons have been bankrupt or presided over insolvent businesses at some time - getting onto debt is part of experience and risk-taking in business, and its part of life in the process of growing up. You are not alone. The important thing is what you do about it. When you know you have a problem, start negotiating. Debtors often think there's no point, that negotiation isn't an option, but it is, and here's why: Creditors most fear losing their money and having to write off the debt altogether. That's why creditors generally are very happy to begin the negotiation process when debts have become a problem for the debtor. To a creditor negotiating a debt means that they have a chance of recovering some or all of the debt. If a creditor fails to begin a debt negotiation with the debtor, the creditor faces costs of debt recovery (solicitor's letters and debt collection agency fees, etc), and a real risk that the debtor will for whatever reason be unable to pay any of the debt (insolvency, bankruptcy, deliberate avoidance, etc), which leaves the creditor no option other than to write off the debt, losing everything, and having to pay debt recovery costs. Where there is negotiation there is hope of partial or complete debt recovery, and the avoidance of debt collection costs, which is why creditors generally welcome the offer to negotiate from a debtor in difficulty. Debt negotiation skill 2: Seek advice and help. Either for a personal or business debt don't try to do it all by yourself. Getting into debt can be a lonely and threatening experience, so seek a friendly shoulder to cry on, someone to share your thoughts with, and ideally someone who has a bit of experience and wisdom, who can help you see a way forward. Try to avoid paying for this sort of help - avoid the unknown, especially the pariahs out there who will take advantage of your vulnerability given half a chance. If you have personal debts such as credit cards contact an advisory service - there are plenty who can help depending where you are in the world. If your business has debts, contact your trade association, or local business support centre, again there are various organizations depending on where you are. At the very least, call on a friend to help, find some support and advice. Linked to the points above and below, the creditor is often a really good source of help and advice - remember, the creditor wants you to succeed, not fail. Debt negotiation skill 3:

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The third skill is to ask the creditor for help. Options usually appear straight away when a creditor realizes there is a debt problem, because the creditor wants to help keep the debtor solvent. Options typically extended by creditors include: •

Re-negotiated credit and supply terms, enabling the business debtor to continue to trade.

•

Extension of the period by which the debt has to be settled.

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Price, product and supply arrangement review, to determine whether future economies can be found for the debtor, to avoid increasing the debt any more than absolutely unavoidable.

•

Debtor stock-holding review, to assess possibility of returning stock to the creditor, and reducing the debt.

•

Creative creditors may come up with more ideas - the important thing is to talk and work together to resolve the problem constructively.

Debt negotiation skill 4: The fourth debt negotiation skill is about behavior and style. Work with the creditor. Be open and positive, and build trust with the creditor. If the creditor trusts you and believes that you wish to resolve the debt honestly and as fully as you can, then the creditor will be positive and flexible in return. They want to help you work your way through the difficulties, because if you fail, the likelihood is that the debt will have to be written off altogether. The people negotiating for the creditors spend their lives dealing with debtors who are dishonest, elusive, and distrustful. When a debtor demonstrates willingness to co-operate and negotiate fairly the creditor will respond in kind. Debts are a threat to the creditor's business too, which is why debt recovery people can be firm and aggressive. You will reduce the creditor's need to be aggressive if you co-operate and build trust. Debt negotiation skill 5: Make changes. Debts build up because something has gone wrong, so understand what it is and take steps to prevent it happening again or continuing. Debts don't generally happen by accident, they happen because plans are wrong, controls are too relaxed or non-existent, or because spending isn't properly monitored and measured. Identify what's wrong and put it right. Tell the creditor what you are doing so they understand you have taken steps to ensure the problem won't get worse or re-occur. Debt negotiation skill 6: Keep smiling. Not easy, but try to keep things in perspective. Aim to honor your commitments and obligations as best you can, but keep things in proportion. Do your best for the creditor(s), but be fair to yourself. If you are still reading this you'll not

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be the sort of person who deliberately and maliciously gets into debt and then seeks to avoid responsibility. So try to keep a calm detachment, and don't eat and sleep your debt difficulties. Do what you can to resolve your debt problems, but make sure you spend time re-fuelling your spirit and strength. Business is a bit like a game, it's a means to an end. It's not life and death. Money is a means to an end too. It's not life and death.

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Client Relationship Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. You can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those customers to come back, your business won’t be profitable for long. Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy – happy enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn become repeat customers. If you’re a good salesperson, you can sell anything to anyone once. But it will be your approach to customer service that determines whether or not you’ll ever be able to sell that person anything else. The essence of good customer service is forming a relationship with customers – a relationship that that individual customer feels that he would like to pursue. How do you go about forming such a relationship? By remembering the one true secret of good customer service and acting accordingly; “You will be judged by what you do, not what you say.” I know these verges on the kind of statement that’s often seen on a sampler, but providing good customer service IS a simple thing. If you truly want to have good customer service, all you have to do is ensure that your business consistently does these things:

Answer your phone. Get call forwarding. Or an answering services. Hire staff if you need to. But make sure that someone is picking up the phone when someone calls your business. (Notice I say “someone”. People who call want to talk to a live person, not a “fake recorded robot”.) For more on answering the phone, see Phone Answering Tips to Win Business.

Don’t make promises unless you WILL keep them. Not plan to keep them. Will keep them, Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception. If you say, “Your new bedroom furniture will be delivered on Tuesday”, make sure it is delivered on Tuesday. Otherwise, don’t say it. The same rule applies to client appointments, deadlines, etc.. Think before you give any promise – because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one.

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Listen to your customers. Is there anything more exasperating than telling someone what you want or what your problem is and then discovering that that person hasn’t been paying attention and needs to have it explained again? From a customer’s point of view, I doubt it. Can the sales pitches and the product babble? Let your customer talk and show him that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve the problem.

Deal with complaints. No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, “You can’t please all the people all the time”. Maybe not, but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.

Be helpful - even if there’s no immediate profit in it. The other day I popped into a local watch shop because I had lost the small piece that clips the pieces of my watch band together. When I explained the problem, the proprietor said that he thought he might have one lying around. He found it, attached it to my watch band – and charged me nothing! Where do you think I’ll go when I need a new watch band or even a new watch? And how many people do you think I’ve told this story to?

Train your staff (if you have any) to be ALWAYS helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable. Do it yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to them about good customer service and what it is (and isn’t) regularly. Most importantly, give every member of your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so he never has to say, “I don’t know, but so-and-so will be back at...”

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Take the extra step. For instance, if someone walks into your store and asks you to help them find something, don’t just say, “It’s in Aisle 3.” Lead the customer to the item. Better yet, wait and see if he has questions about it, or further needs. Whatever the extra step may be, if you want to provide good customer service, take it. They may not say so to you, but people notice when people make an extra effort and will tell other people.

Throw in something extra. Whether it’s a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they were getting. And don’t think that a gesture has to be large to be effective. The local art framer that we use attaches a package of picture hangers to every picture he frames. A small thing, but so appreciated. If you apply these eight simple rules consistently, your business will become known for its good customer service, and the best part? The irony of good customer service is that over time it will bring in more new customers than promotions and price slashing ever did!

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Account management Congratulations! You successfully sold one or more of your company's products or services to a business unit, department, or division of a large organization. Now your manager has tasked you with "account management". If you are not already familiar with account management, you are probably asking yourself the following questions: •

What is "Account Management"?

•

What skills and talents are required to excel in Account Management?

•

What activities must be performed to maximize Account Management ROI?

Providing answers to these questions is the focus of this article.

What is Account Management? Account management is actually a synonym for account penetration. Just because you have sold one product or service to one business entity within an organization doesn't mean your job is done. Think of all the additional opportunities that may exist in the account! For example: •

Does your company offer additional products or services that might be a "fit" for this customer?

•

How many other business units, departments, divisions, and subsidiaries are potential prospects for your company's offering(s)?

Required Skills and Talents A critical talent for successful account management is the ability to build relationships, as relationship selling is a very effective way to increase account penetration. Another critical skill/talent is organization. If you are going to manage large accounts effectively, you need to be willing and able to keep meticulous records. What kinds of records do you need to keep? Picture a large, three-dimensional spreadsheet in your mind. In the left-hand column is a list of every product and service that you could possibly sell to a customer. Across the top of the spreadsheet

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are all of the business units, departments, divisions, and other business entities that make up your account's entire organization. Behind each business entity is every contact you know within that business entity. Armed with this mental picture, ask yourself the following questions: •

Which business entities are you doing business with?

•

Which business entities are you not doing business with?

•

Where are the various business entities located?

•

Which products and services does each business entity already purchase from you?

•

Which products and services are they not purchasing from you?

•

Who do you know in each business entity?

•

Which of these contacts have you already asked for referrals and testimonials?

•

What referrals and testimonials have they given you?

Required Activities Hopefully your organization has some type of CRM (Client Relationship Management) software application to help you keep track of your answers to these questions. If you don't have access to a corporate CRM system, here are some other options: •

You can purchase a software package like ACT! Or GoldMine

•

You can subscribe to an online service like salesforce.com

•

You can track information using a spreadsheet, database, or e-mail program

Next, plan your tactics for increasing account penetration by considering the following questions: •

What process will you use to regularly expose each of your contacts in the account to your company's entire portfolio of products and services?

•

Who can provide testimonials that will help you win business in other business units, departments, or divisions in the account?

•

Who can refer you to new contacts in other business units, departments, or divisions in the account?

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Why is it necessary to repetitively expose your contacts to your company's entire portfolio of products and services? Because they forget! I can tell you from personal experience that there is nothing more frustrating than finding out a customer has placed a large order with another salesperson...and the only reason they didn't give you the order was because they didn't know or remember that you could fill it!

Is there more to Account Management? There can be, but activities focused on increasing account penetration make up the critical core. Account management does become more complex if a team of people is managing a regional, national, or global account, but most of the complexity pertains to coordinating the activities of the team members. Don't make account management more complex than it needs to be! The basic goal is to maximize account penetration. Look for opportunities to sell every product and service in your portfolio to every business entity (business unit, department, division, etc.) in the account. Make maximum use of referrals and testimonials to help you initiate new relationships. Regularly remind all of your contacts of the full breadth of your portfolio of products and services. Be organized and keep meticulous records. If you do these things, you should be amply rewarded for your efforts!

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Marketing & Brand Building One of the first steps in advertising or promoting your company name or product is to build Brand Awareness. Promotional products, giveaways and imprinted gifts are some of the best ways to make your brand visible to the public, your customers and your prospects. With so many options available to consumers of all types, from banking customers to retail sales, service industry businesses to Fortune 500 companies, you want your brand, your logo, to be the one they think of first and the one they will remember. Visibility creates awareness and awareness will help bring and keep customers. Imprinted items are also excellent tools to assist in recognizing and rewarding your employees. Receiving such gifts or awards can in turn can help build company loyalty and pride. Promotional products can offer one of the best returns on investment you can make when it comes to building your brand. It should be considered an important part of any on-going marketing or advertising program. So, when it comes to making your first impression and the right impression on your customers, let Best Impressions be your resource.

Using Promotional Products Marketing, advertising and brand building are important for all types of organizations: Businesses, schools, religious organizations, non-profit associations, political campaigns, cities and states, teams and clubs. Below are just a few of the ways to use promotional items to help build awareness and brand recognition: •

Use in direct mail programs

•

Launch a new product or service

•

Promote an upcoming sale

•

Giveaways for tradeshows, business meetings, community events

•

Notify people of your new address and phone number

•

Encourage new sales leads

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•

Award and recognize employees and volunteers

•

Thank clients

•

Use as a fundraiser

•

Commemorate special events

•

Give as holiday gifts

•

Provide goodwill gestures

•

Implement a sales incentive program

•

Reward customers

•

Use for company-sponsored contests, raffles or sweepstakes

•

Giveaways for grand openings

•

Start a safety program

•

Kick-off campaigns

•

Support your candidate

•

Encourage kids in the classroom

•

Promote school clubs

•

Support sports teams

•

Promote your church and religious organizations

•

Celebrate homecoming

•

Go all out at tournament time

•

Promote school events

•

Create branded items for your bookstore or gift shop

•

Create awareness for fundraising efforts

•

Promote cause awareness

•

Give grand openings a boost

•

Acknowledge volunteers

•

WOW visitors at an Open House

•

Support monthly awareness campaigns

•

brands - building a brand

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What factors are important in building brand value? Professor David Jobber identifies seven main factors in building successful brands, as

illustrated in the diagram below:

Quality Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the “core benefits” – the things consumers expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. The branded washing machine that leaks, or the training shoe that often falls apart when wet will never develop brand equity.

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Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve a higher market share and higher profitability that their inferior competitors.

Positioning Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market. Positioning can be achieved through several means, including brand name, image, service standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered. In fact, successful positioning usually requires a combination of these things.

Repositioning Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to reflect a change in consumer’s tastes. This is often required when a brand has become tired, perhaps because its original market has matured or has gone into decline. The repositioning of the Lucozade brand from a sweet drink for children to a leading sports drink is one example. Another would be the changing styles of entertainers with above-average longevity such as Kylie Minogue and Cliff Richard.

Communications Communications also play a key role in building a successful brand. We suggested that brand positioning is essentially about customer perceptions – with the objective to build a clearly defined position in the minds of the target audience. All elements of the promotional mix need to be used to develop and sustain customer perceptions. Initially, the challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception.

First-mover advantage Business strategists often talk about first-mover advantage. In terms of brand development, by “first-mover” they mean that it is possible for the first successful brand in a market to create a clear positioning in the minds of target customers before the competition enters the market. There is plenty of evidence to support this.

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Think of some leading consumer product brands like Gillette, Coca Cola and Sell-otape that, in many ways, defined the markets they operate in and continue to lead. However, being first into a market does not necessarily guarantee long-term success. Competitors – drawn to the high growth and profit potential demonstrated by the “market-mover” – will enter the market and copy the best elements of the leader’s brand (a good example is the way that Body Shop developed the “ethical” personal care market but were soon facing stiff competition from the major high street cosmetics retailers.

Long-term perspective This leads onto another important factor in brand-building: the need to invest in the brand over the long-term. Building customer awareness, communicating the brand’s message and creating customer loyalty takes time. This means that management must “invest” in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability.

Internal marketing Finally, management should ensure that the brand is marketed “internally” as well as externally. By this we mean that the whole business should understand the brand values and positioning. This is particularly important in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type and quality of service that a customer receives. Think of the brands that you value in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors. It is likely that your favorite brands invest heavily in staff training so that the face-to-face contact that you have with the brand helps secure your loyalty.

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Business Requirements Gathering - An Overview Requirements gathering (data and process) are a vital part of successful project management and application development—well-known and publicly available research, such as the Standish Group’s Chaos Report, has shown this. Even though there is recognition of the importance of requirements gathering for application development, not enough has been done to explain the underlying need for a requirements gathering process or to develop methods to improve the process. Moreover, it has been common in the Information Technology industry to blame the victim: in other words to blame the customers for not being sufficiently clear about their business requirements. Clients/users can be guided through a process that elicits their business requirements and facilitates accurate application development, but the analyst must be well versed in both understanding the concepts of business requirement gathering AND the process that will best document them. Budgets and resources are tight, time pressures are constant, and the business is demanding changes, enhancements and new services continually. It should be no surprise that some organizations are still not devoting time to doing data and process analysis, under the misguided perception that short-cutting this activity will shorten the development effort and save costs. However, the end results are quite the opposite. This is the trap that many organizations fell into in the 1970's and early 1980's. Not defining the business data and system requirements at the start of a development project resulted in significant costs in subsequent Software Development Life cycle (SDLC) phases. The reason for this, we now know, is that the analysis activity was simply shifted into other phases of the SDLC, resulting in additional effort and rework. Things are discovered during design, during coding, or during testing that should have been addressed during analysis. This causes lost time, increased effort (because of the ripple effect of the changes required) and increased project cost. Furthermore, costs are increased by changes to requirements during maintenance and enhancement activities, where companies currently spend an average of seventy-seven percent of a department's budget due to missing or incomplete requirements documentation. The structured information planning methodology that many organizations use has requirements gathering and documentation as its foundation. Data and Process Requirements gathering is part of an analyst’s competency: •

Interviewing subject matter experts and relating needs

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•

Organizing complex information into understandable subject areas

•

"Translating" technical language into business language and vice versa

•

Ensuring stakeholder involvement at all levels of involvement

•

Drafting clear and concise written documentation for users and technicians

•

Working successfully with multidisciplinary teams

If companies don't have time to do it right the first time, when do they have the time to fix it? Devoting so much time to analysis that it interferes with the product delivery isn't the answer either. In this highly competitive world the IT group (clients and consultant partners) must respond better and faster, otherwise our users will look to other providers. Today, you need a method that captures the users’ requirements, quickly, accurately and completely - one that provides a flexible, yet structured approach to producing a high quality specification, every time. It is essential that companies perform a comprehensive business requirements gathering initiatives to see that application development can be a successful activity.

Specifying Client Business Requirements - Frequently Asked Questions –

"How do I know we've got all the requirements and haven't missed something?" "How can I be sure I've got it all, and got it all right?" No doubt these are some of the major questions we ask ourselves to ensure we're going to develop the highest quality system that meets the demanding needs of our clients. This has been one of the driving objectives of our approach - a systematic application of the best interviewing and modeling practices that gives the analyst the knowledge of what they need to do and the comfort that it has been accurately captured. "How do you get the users' needs identified quickly and easily?" Many experts recommend a Requirements Discovery Session with business representatives and an experienced Information Management analyst, using a methodology based in business data understanding. Not a conventional requirements interview, an RDS is focused on the business and should apply proven and easy to understand communication and modeling techniques.

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"How do I deal with clients who can't express themselves, keep changing their minds and introduce new requirements?" An experienced analyst knows what questions to ask using effective communication skills and easy-to-understand modeling techniques. The biggest cause of changing requirements is not asking the right questions in the beginning. A simple, systematic approach leads the analyst and business users to discover all the information requirements, business rules and functionality, which results in a complete and accurate business specification the first time. "How can we build a system when the users won't invest the time to discuss their needs?" There's no magic bullet for this issue, but key success factors involve applying an approach that delivers results and is focused on yielding rapid and visible results for business clients. To satisfy the client, we must know what the client wants, and then can show that we have addressed those requirements.

Business Requirement Specification - Validation Checklist To be consistent, the business requirements specification should be accurate, complete and clear. Below is a checklist which represents the attributes of a quality, standard business requirements specification. Accurate: •

Are the requirements consistent – not contradicting other requirements?

•

Are any requirements in conflict with given stated assumptions or constraints (business environment, technical environment, cost, schedule, and resources)?

•

Do the requirements support the stated business, system and project objectives?

•

Are all activities and operations necessary? Are any identified requirements not required or out of scope?

•

Are all data requirements necessary; are any not required or out of scope?

Complete: •

Are the goals and objectives of the system clearly and fully defined?

•

Have all events and conditions been handled?

•

Have all operations been specified? Are they sufficient to meet the stated system objectives?

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•

Have all objects and data in the Activity Specification been defined in the model(s)?

•

Have all required definitions and rules for objects and data been defined?

•

Does the specification satisfy the level of detail required by the design team?

•

Have all undefined, unresolved, incomplete specifications been identified for resolution?

Clear: •

Are all requirements free of implementation bias (not restricted to a specific design alternative)?

•

Are all requirements precisely and concisely stated?

•

Have all operations been stated in terms of their triggering events or conditions, information requirements, processing and outcomes?

•

Is the terminology and prose understandable by the business client/users?

•

Is there any ambiguity in any of the statements (operations, rules, definitions, etc.)?

•

Have all assumptions been clearly stated?

Compliant: •

Has The Sycamore Group’s Information Management Methodology been used?

•

Do the deliverables conform to organizational standards, meet organizational process objectives, and follow industry standards?

Information Model – Object Specifications: •

Have all objects been identified?

•

Have all objects in the Activity Specification been specified?

•

Have all data elements been identified?

•

Has all data in the Activity Specification been specified?

•

Have all necessary relationships been defined?

•

Have all identified data elements been "used"? (at least created and read)

•

Have all data items and relationships been correctly and precisely defined?

•

Have all data items been accurately attributed to the correct objects (Normalization)?

•

Have any Super-classes and Subclasses been identified and specified?

•

Have redundant or derived data items and relationships been identified (and/or eliminated)?

Functional Model – Activity Specifications •

Have all required activities been specified?

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•

Have all operations been correctly and precisely defined?

•

Have all outcomes of each operation been specified?

•

Have all standard/best practice/or identified life-cycle operations for each object been specified?

•

Do all operations identify the event(s) or conditions which trigger them?

•

Do all operations identify the operator (system or user)?

•

Do all operations use strong, unambiguous action verbs?

•

Are all specifications clear and unambiguous?

•

Is the data used in the operation clearly understood?

•

Do required operations use rules, formulas or conditions to qualify or define the processing of the operation?

•

Do all operations specify or clearly imply an outcome?

•

Has the Context Diagram been updated?

•

Have all interfaces and activities in the Context Diagram been specified?

In the final analysis, using the methodological approach to business requirements gathering will enable an organization to collect, segregate, prioritize, analyze and document all the relevant informational and process needs for the application under design. This understanding of the business needs for data and process will result in useable, robust and sustainable systems that give an organization a competitive edge.

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Making a Revenue Projection How to Project Income When You Depend on a Few Large Accounts? Businesses catering to a few large customers can find making realistic revenue projections difficult. Here's a method to help you predict where your business is going The problem with projecting revenue when your business depends on a few large accounts is predicting when you’re going to land that next new client and how much the new business will be worth. Many times owners will wet their fingers, stick them in the wind, and pick a number at random to put on their financial forecasts. Then they whip the sales team to meet the numbers. If this is working for you, you must have a psychic digit or a crack sales team. If it’s not, then you’ll appreciate this more reasoned approach to forecasting revenue. The benefit of an accurate revenue projection is it helps you predict peaks and valleys in income, and lets you make adjustments to staffing and expenses to keep up with demand. In making a reasoned revenue projection, you’ll actually perform three separate analyses for Current Business, Sales in the Pipeline, and New Business. For each category, you’ll make an estimate of how much income you expect to realize on a month-by-month basis and enter these figures on a spreadsheet. The final result will be a monthly revenue projection for the next so-many months. Usually twelve months is as far ahead as you can reasonably foresee, and is far enough ahead to give you a picture of what the future potentially holds.

Current Business Projecting the revenue potential of current business is the easiest. Two subcategories of current business are Contracts in Progress and Contracts Anticipated. It’s not very difficult to spread the income from contracts in progress over the contract period and log them on your spreadsheet by month. For anticipated contracts, you’ll need to have that periodic meeting with existing clients to ask about their ongoing needs for your products or services. It’s a reasonable discussion since continuing your high level of service requires you have advance knowledge of their needs for planning purposes. By gaining enough detail about order size and timing, you should be able to spread projected earnings from these future contracts across the appropriate months in your revenue projection.

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A critical extra step, though, is to multiply the projected income of anticipated contracts by a percentage of probability. The client may be somewhat vague about the likelihood of the future business, or their plans could change before the contract is actually signed. If you give the future business a 50% probability, you’d only show 50% of the potential income on your projection. The concept of factoring projected sales by probability may seem odd because either you’ll get the business or you won’t; you very likely won’t get just half of it. But if you have four anticipated contracts at 50%, and two of them actually materialize, your projected sales

Sales in the Pipeline The next category is Sales in the Pipeline. This represents new customers you’ve opened discussions with for new business. For these potential future sales, make your best guess at the possible value of the business under discussion and when work might start, assign a probability percentage, and then spread the factored revenue across the appropriate months. For example, you’ve made a presentation to XYZ Company and they’ve expressed interest. As best you can tell, they may need $100,000 of product or services to be delivered over a two-month period. It will take at least three months to get to a signed contract. You give this sale a one-out-of-three chance of actually closing. Entering this business in your spreadsheet, you’d split the income across two months, log it as starting three months from now, and reduce the potential value by 1/3.

New Business The last category is new business, which represents income from customers you haven‘t met yet. This could be a category where you’d favor using your prognosticating digit, but there is a way to make a calculated estimate by looking at your sales history. If your typical sales cycle is six months from initial contact to close of sale, you wouldn’t put any new business on your projection any earlier than six months from now. Analyzing your sales history to see how much business typically materializes during similar periods of the year can give you a reasonable starting estimate. Next you’ll consider how your planned sales and marketing activities compare to past sales and marketing activities, and how the competitive landscape has changed recently. Then you’ll plug into your spreadsheet a representative sprinkling of future new contracts based on this analysis. There is no need to factor the income from these contracts, because they should represent projected closed deals.

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Monthly Updates The problem with estimates is they change. Using this method will give you the best forecast possible at one particular moment, but it will rapidly be outdated as you gain new information about current customers, potential sales, and new leads. Updating your projection monthly will keep you abreast of sales trends and give you information you need to make business corrections before the freight train is actually on top of you.

Project Cost Management Whether an internal business project or a project undertaken for a client, the effort typically commences with a budget, a schedule, and an ultimate objective. If you’re a project manager, however, you probably already know that all three will likely change before the project ends. Because project management is largely about managing change, it can be a tricky business. The best project managers are adept at it, but gaining and nurturing the project team’s commitment in keeping costs under control can be the manager’s ace in the hole. One technique for stimulating the team’s interest and commitment to the project budget is to include a line item for team bonuses to be paid at project completion.

A Quick Example One company in particular that implemented this type of program was a fast-growing multimedia software developer with a Fortune 50 clientele. It had lost control of project costs, and was experiencing cost overruns totaling $100,000 per month on about $500,000 per month revenues. Within 6 months of implementing project bonus pools, budget performance had improved so significantly that it erased a cumulative $700,000 loss and completed the year with a $500,000 profit. While some of the improvement in its fortunes can be attributed to other business changes, the bonus pool was a significant factor in aligning the entire company toward meeting project budgets.

Creating the Bonus Pool In most cases, creating a bonus pool doesn’t require adding any money to the budget, because realistic project planning usually includes a contingency fund. Simply renaming “Contingency” to “Bonus Pool” underscores how the team collects it bonus – by reducing contingencies.

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If your project budgeting doesn’t normally include contingency funds, consider moving a small percentage of funds out of other budget categories to go into a new bonus pool line item. In effect, you’re saying to your team, “If you can save money on these other line items, the savings are yours.”

How It Works How the bonus pool works is simple. At the end of the project, if the pool hasn’t been completely raided to pay for overruns on other line items, whatever remains of the pool is divided among team members. If there is money left over in other budget items (i.e. the project finishes under budget), 50% of the savings is added to the pool for distribution to the team. Though the company keeps 50% of the extra savings, it also risks paying for 100% of the ultimate overrun if the bonus pool is wiped out, so it’s a fair proposition to employees and company alike. In the end when there is an intact pool remaining, it’s the project manager who gets to decide what percentage of the total each team member receives. When everyone contributes equally to the project’s success, the division is typically equal. On the other hand, when some team member’s have spent full time on the project and some have only worked part time, the split may be pro rata based on the hours worked. Occasionally, there may be one or more “heroes” on the project whose contributions clearly had a large impact on its success. In these situations, it’s completely appropriate to skew the division in favor of the most significant contributors. As for the project manager’s own share, this has to be fixed by upper management before the project begins. It may be 5% to 25% depending on the size of the budget, the size of the team, and the length of the project. Whatever the percentage, at the end of the project, the manager collects the fixed portion and allocates the remainder to the rest of the team as appropriate.

Budget Visibility Is Key Budget visibility is one of the critical factors in making this strategy effective because team members can’t help control project costs unless the costs are regularly and frequently reviewed. If the project schedule is over twelve months, it may be possible to get by with once-a-month budget reviews. Most projects, however, are best served with weekly budget updates. The sooner the team sees something going off track, the sooner they can put in the fix before too much money flows over the dam. Sometimes, though, it’s not just about saving costs. Sometimes the project scope changes and it’s necessary to confront the client with a change order, or to scale back the client’s expectations. Here the team can become motivated to provide critical input in identifying and documenting the scope creep to

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convince the client that a budget increase is in order, because failing to do so can result in a hit to their own pocketbooks. This whole approach assumes, of course, that the company has no problem sharing financial data with project staff. If that is not the case, then this may not be a viable project cost management technique.

Avoid Issues by Embracing Transparency Transparency in the final distribution is also critical. While it’s possible to pull the project manager’s fixed share out of the equation by putting it in an off-project Budget item, such secrecy can undermine morale and start the rumor mill swirling. It’s best to decide in advance what fair compensation for the project leader is, and be willing to defend its fairness to all. If it turns out its lucrative for the project manager, promote that as incentive to other staff members to raise their skills so they too can become skilled project managers. Transparency also applies to the division of the pool between project participants. The project manager needs to have sound rationale in the distribution, and would be well served to talk individually to each team member before making the final allocation. Letting each person on staff have input to the process makes the result more acceptable to all. Also, by getting staff input the manager may discover unsung heroes (or clever hangers-on), and avoid making inappropriate rewards that might generate negative feelings.

Important Steps for Implementation A program such as this requires a complete understanding of how it works and clear guidelines. It should be thoughtfully developed with project manager input, as well as that of the accounting department and project staff representatives, so that any potential problems related to the company’s culture or capabilities can be factored into creating a successful program. Ultimately, all of the program guidelines must be defined in writing so there are no misunderstandings. Give the program at least two project cycles to fine tune its adoption, and if changes are necessary, by all means, tweak it as befits your company.

Managing Project Profitability Left unmanaged, scope creep can turn a promising project into a money loser. Knowing what you're up against can help you defend against it. Scope creep – also called “creeping functionality” -- occurs when incremental new tasks, functions, or features are constantly being added to a project after it’s under way. Each addition

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by itself is seemingly inconsequential, but their combined effect can increase a project’s cost by 10%, 20%, or much more, effectively wiping out any hoped-for profit. Scope creep is frequently described as “death by a thousand cuts.” Although the syndrome can apply to internal and ad-hoc projects, this discussion focuses on projects performed under contract for a client. How It Occurs If you haven’t experienced scope creep, you may wonder how a project’s definition in a written contract can change so drastically without triggering a change order to cover the added costs. The reason is precisely because each individual change seems so negligibly minor at the time. Given everything else needed to keep the project on track, the prospect of writing a $20 change order seems hardly worth the effort. Much later in the project when the full impact of the combined changes becomes apparent, the prospect of writing hundreds of such change orders well after the fact becomes nearly infeasible. Why It Occurs One of the factors influencing scope creep is not scoping the project accurately to begin with. If the full extent of the client’s requirements were not clearly realized when the project was estimated, those necessary features and functions are going to try to find their way back in. Another factor is pride. The client’s representatives want as much as they can get for their money and will press for small extras increasing the perceived value of the finished product. Members of your own project team will also come up with “cool” little features elevating their pride in their work. Sometimes, someone in management (theirs or yours) just wants to see his or her own stamp on the project. Many of these incremental changes can happen without the project manager’s awareness until the project starts’ going over budget or schedule and the questioning begins. How to Control It The first defense against scope creep is a detailed project specification. Of course, when detailed specs are easy, scope creep is rarely a problem. It’s where detail is not easy that you need to use alternate ways of building a fence around the job. The best defense when requirements are murky is to divide the job into a Design Contract and a Development Contract. Ideally, the majority of unforeseen features will be captured in the design phase and accurately priced for the development phase. Most clients will want a cap on the price of both phases, which creates the

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perfect environment for negotiating on features during design and before the work actually gets under way. If a two-part contract is not feasible, you have to dig for each possible measurement of project scope and attach a number to it, even if it’s arbitrary. Your cost estimates have to be based on something, so quantify your assumptions and put them in an appendix to the contract. When the scope of the project begins mushrooming beyond your projections, you at least have documented legs to stand on for negotiating a change order. The next best defense is awareness and record keeping. Everyone on the team has to understand scope creep and its impact on company financial health. Team members should be enrolled as guardians of the coffers instead of leaving them to become unwitting accomplices in raids on the budget. Make them aware that it’s not just the cost of the feature, but ancillary costs of testing and documentation that can contribute to busting the budget. When customers suggest something that seems an add-on, teach team members to say “Let me look into that and I’ll get right back to you,” instead of “Sure, that wouldn’t be difficult to add.” Instead of “We can do that,” saying “It’s certainly possible. What can we take out to keep the project on budget and schedule?” lets the client know that not everything comes free. When everyone is aware of the potential impact of scope creep, they can be more proactive in keeping notes on client requests, so that when it comes time to document how the project swelled, you’ll have details to back up a change order. They will also be less inclined to include their own unbudgeted features In project meetings, project scope should be a regular agenda item. Whatever widgets you originally counted and wrote in the contract appendix should be recounted before each meeting and compared. Team notes on items that may qualify as potential addons should also be discussed. Regular scope reviews can be an early warning system, letting you take action before creeping functionality overtakes you. A subsequent discussion with the client can forewarn of upcoming change orders if the trend continues. With good documentation, team participation, regular vigilance, and a pre-emptive response, you should be able to minimize the ultimate impact of scope creep and finish your project in the black.

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Cash Flow Management A cash crisis can kill a business. But using a simple cash flow projection can help you see trouble far enough in advance to avert disaster. This scenario occurs almost daily to a small business somewhere. The business is profitable and growing, customers are lining up at the door, and the future looks incredibly bright. The company has a wealth of receivables, but adding staff and expanding facilities and ramping up inventory to meet demand takes a toll on available cash. To stretch cash, payments to suppliers are delayed causing deliveries of materials to be held up. Customer deliveries become late leading to customer defections and slower invoice payments. Sales start declining. Cash becomes tighter. Now in dire straight, the company can’t qualify for a loan. A payroll is missed. Employees start leaving. Suddenly what was once a booming business becomes a going out of business sale? Most of the time, this scenario can be avoided using a simple cash flow projection as an aid to smart financial planning. You don’t have to be an accountant to create a cash flow projection. If you can balance a checkbook, you can project cash flow. In fact, your cash flow projection should resemble your check register, only with your checks and deposits written down one to three months in advance of when you’ll actually make them. A simple spreadsheet is a great tool for compiling your projection. Build it just as you would a check register – with separate columns for date, description, deposit, withdrawal, and balance. Start with today’s date and enter your total cash balance in all your checking, savings, and other liquid accounts. Make a list of all your regular monthly bills (and projected payroll, too) for the next two or three months and enter them in your spreadsheet according to the date they need to be paid. Next, go through your payables file to find non-recurring expenses that have to be paid in the next 60 to 90 days, and enter those in date order by when you need to mail the check. Also factor in any new purchases you expect to make that will have to be paid for in the near future. When you have all your future expenses entered, start entering your future deposits. Review all your receivables and forecast when you will receive payment and be able to deposit the money.

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If you have a large number of customers who owe small amounts, you can simply estimate how much you can realistically expect to receive each week over the coming months based on past experience. Also make a reasonable estimate of future sales that will be collected within your projection’s time frame. When projecting receipts, it’s critical to be pessimistic. Falsely painting a rosy picture will simply blind you to a crisis you should have predicted. No one ever lost a business by preparing for a cash flow crunch that never materialized. When all the cash outflows and inflows are tabulated in date order, the balance column tells you when trouble may occur. You might find your projection telling you that in six weeks, you’ll be $20,000 short of meeting your obligations, but back in the black ten days later. Armed with that knowledge you can take simple steps to avoid business embarrassment and a cascade leading to failure. For example, look for payments that you can reasonably delay until you’re back in the black without alienating suppliers. Is there a large receivable that you might be able to coax a customer into paying earlier than you forecast, perhaps by offering a small discount? Or perhaps now is the best time to begin talking with your bank about a business line of credit (or increasing your line) before your financials start taking a tumble. The magic of a cash flow projection is keeping it up to date. Revise it at least every two weeks to be sure to identify any changes in assumptions that could unexpectedly wreck your business. As in all things, knowledge is power. A simple cash flow projection can be a terrific crystal ball letting you know what you need to keep your business thriving while there’s still time to get it done before the storm.

Maximizing Tax Deductions Small business owners may be surprised to learn that losing an $80 receipt is the same as losing a $20 bill. Here's one way to save more money come tax time. The president of a small construction company was notorious for losing receipts for purchases. After a trip to the builder’s supply store where he’d buy hundreds of dollars in fixtures or hardware, the receipts would end up being thrown away with the plastic shopping bags. Those he managed to hold onto until he reached his truck would wind up on the floorboard, and eventually flutter away one afternoon on a dusty construction site. Others might make it into a file folder mixed with other folders on the dashboard and wind up in a cabinet filed with the wrong project Even when they did make it to the bookkeeper’s desk, cryptic product codes on cash register receipts made it impossible to tell if the purchase was for plumbing or paint.

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He may have purchased hundreds of dollars in materials for two or three jobs, but there was no way to tell what purchases should be charged to which customer. Having to borrow money to send to the IRS one year finally got the contractor’s attention. His accountant’s analysis of his careless habits estimated the company was losing thousands of dollars a year in legitimate tax deductions and failing to bill customers fully for the costs of extras that should have been reimbursable. To help this particular client, the accountant suggested he carry an empty checkbook cover with a pen in it to use as a receipt wallet. The bookkeeper was also instructed to ask for the contents of the receipt wallet daily. It took months of constant reminders (perhaps nagging) to get the man into the habit of taking the receipt wallet with him daily, putting every receipt in the wallet, and writing job names on the receipts. Luckily, the contractor came to understand that every $80 receipt was the equivalent of a $20 bill comes tax time. And some receipts were worth their face value in reimbursements from customers. He began to treat receipts as if they were money, which in effect, they are. Few small business owners have been as challenged as our contractor. Yet many small business people have loose bookkeeping practices that can result in legitimate business expenses being overlooked. If you think you may be in that category, you may be well advised to have your accountant spend a few hours reviewing your internal bookkeeping practices to see where you may be missing expenses. It’s quite often possible the money saved by capturing previously missed tax deductions can more than pay for the accountant’s time. (If you don’t have an accountant, get references from owners of businesses similar to yours.) In the event your accountant gives you a clean bill of bookkeeping health, then that’s one more thing to help you sleep well at night.

Recognizing Earnings Accurately Businesses selling customized, high-value products or services can smooth out large swings in revenue by using the percent complete method for revenue recognition. A company selling big-ticket products and services customized for the buyer typically receives just a few orders per year, but for large dollar values. A yacht building company, a custom homebuilder, or a custom software developer are examples. If you have such a company, you may already know that when huge sales are booked only a few times a year, it can produce enormous swings in reported revenue depending on how you customarily recognize earnings.

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These fluctuations on your profit and loss statement may cause complications when seeking a loan or credit, but far more importantly, they make it difficult for you to manage your business well. Erratic income means your P&L will show several months of red ink, and an occasional month with spectacular profits. This makes it challenging to determine on a monthto-month basis whether you’re doing well or heading for the poor house. In such a situation, the percent complete method for recognizing revenue is an excellent means not only for smoothing earnings, but also for seeing much more accurately whether the business is profitable month to month. This method is recognized under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, so there’s no risk using it if applied properly. Percent complete is not difficult to understand and apply. To illustrate, consider this hypothetical example Mr. Wealth places an order for your top-of-the-line, fully custom $500,000 motor coach. He puts up a $150,000 deposit, promises to pay an additional $150,000 when the interior is ready to be outfitted (in about 4 months), and will make the final $200,000 payment on delivery (in about 8 months.) Your budget to actually build the coach is $300,000. In the first month after the order, you spend $60,000 acquiring materials and components for construction, which is 20% of the total cost. So in the first month you recognize 20% of the purchase price, or $100,000, as earned income on your P&L. The second month you spend $30,000 in labor assembling the frame (10% of the budget). That month you’ll book 10% of the sale ($50,000) on your P&L. This procedure continues until you complete the work. As you progress, your estimate of the cost to build the coach will probably change. This will affect revenue recognition commensurately. For example, if six months into the project you realize it’s only going to cost $280,000, then you’ll suddenly be much farther along than you previously admitted. It’s permissible to recalculate how much revenue you should have recognized so far, and to catch up by recognizing the additional revenue that same month. Of course, it also works the other way around. If you discover your costs are going to be higher, you will have over reported income in prior months. You’ll need to adjust your revenue in the current month to make up for the difference. Not only does this method smooth out earnings, it also properly apportions earnings to the months when you have corresponding costs. This helps you monitor whether your gross margin (the difference between your cost and the selling price) is sufficient to cover your operating expenses. Using the percent complete revenue recognition method, if you encounter consecutive months of red ink it’s a clear warning sign that your fixed expenses are

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not in line with sales or gross margins. This gives you a head-start in identifying specific problems and correcting course before things get out of control.

Business Capital Sources If you don't really need a business line of credit right now, it may not occur to you to obtain one. W John was a bright engineer and a hard worker. He was also very financially conservative. When he started a custom software company with a partner, he would periodically borrow short-term business capital from his mother John’s partner suggested establishing a line of credit at the bank, periodically borrowing and paying back even if the money wasn’t needed as a way of building business credit. John balked at the fees, personal guaranties and interest rates that couldn’t compare with the Bank of Mom. Unfortunately John’s mother passed away and the kitty he had been borrowing from was divided among all the siblings. More unfortunately, the business needed funds to finance new projects and had no other borrowing sources. The facts of most businesses are that sooner or later you’ll need a line of credit. Credit cards are great, but they can take you only so far. Having an established relationship with your own banker can let you capitalize on opportunities or weather challenges in ways credit card companies can’t offer. If you don’t have a line of credit for your business, establish one now. If you put it off until you need it, you have a higher risk of being declined. If you’re declined now, you have time to address whatever shortcomings the bank perceives and eventually establish your line before it were to become critical. Unless yours is a mature business, banks are going to ask for a guarantor. Some business owners bristle at the idea of having to provide a personal guarantee, feeling the business should be worthy of standing on its own credit. Face it. No matter how established your business, its first line of credit will almost always require a guarantee. The good news is that after two or three years of successful track record, some banks will let you off the guarantee. So the sooner you get that line established, the sooner you’ll be off the hook. Though it’s a time-worn idea, the suggestion to build credit by borrowing money you don’t need, hiding it in a savings account for a while, then paying it back is still valid. The unnecessary interest expenses are small change compared to the strong credit you’re building for your company. If you need to increase your line, your chances are much better if you’ve demonstrated responsible use of what you’ve had, rather than having let it sit idle. In fact, as your business grows you’ll want to keep bumping your credit limit up, even if you don’t have a critical need for the extra cushion. When the day comes you do

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need it, it may be tougher to get. By asking early, you again get a chance to work on any changes necessary to qualify for the higher limit before you actually need it. Business is about planning. Having a business line of credit before you need it is part of the plan. Then you do need it, though, it's going to be tougher to get.

Business Budgeting Why and What? Reasons & Methods for the Corporate Budget Process Budgeting is done for a variety of reasons. Many companies will use this to set benchmarks for managers and for bonuses, but this should not be the primary purpose. Budgets are done in order to understand the direction in which a business is going, viewing future possibilities in growth, expected costs, and in order to plan for future events, including staffing, marketing, and more.

Prior Year Comparisons – Budget to Actual When examining a budget in comparison to prior years there are certain things that must be carefully scrutinized. These include: • Comparing changes in revenue and direct costs – these should be expressed in a percentage of the prior year’s figures. This allows one to see growth (or shrinkage) in the budget area. ○

If there are drastic changes in one of these, then the underlying reasons need to be examined carefully, as these can indicate a number of things, including changes in the industry, an error in estimates, major changes in the market, and more.

○

If there are significant differences in the percentage change between the two, such as a 4% rise in income, but a 14% rise in costs, then this needs to be examined carefully. ➢

Some managers will inflate costs because bonuses or other remuneration is based on the net (or gross) income figures that they achieve in comparison to their budgets. While not everyone

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does this, it is a solid motivator to decrease the Gross Margin and/or Net Income in a budget so that the higher actual margins are easier to achieve and thus reward the manager. ➢

Such changes can be legitimate, as well, and one should not assume that it is otherwise. These need to be looked at in terms of what the market for the supplies, be they labour, materials, or products, is expected to do in that period. As well, there might be downward pressure on your sales prices due to competition or other market factors. Sometimes these are indications that a market is maturing or has matured; they can also be indications of other market forces (high labour costs due to demand in a similar market taking your supply away or driving prices up), as well as indications of a change in the overall economy.

•

Changes in operating (indirect) expenses should be examined as well. For example, if there are suddenly high increases in office expenses, with no change in staffing, then one might examine why this is occurring. Is there a shortage of specific supplies? Have costs of printing, paper, or another frequently used commodity gone up significantly?

Changes in labour often account for the lion’s share of budgets. These need to be carefully scrutinized in every aspect. In theory costs of burden should increase by the same percentage as the costs of labour. However, there may be reasons for a change in this, such as a new benefits package being obtained, more staff enrolling or opting out, and even a calculation error that someone missed can show significant differences in the numbers. That is a quick, general overview of why budgets are done. In order to complete a budget properly there are several factors that a manager needs to do.

The Budgeting Process – Other Items and Issues Common Issues in Business Budgeting •

To assist strategic development of the company, budgets should be examined in the context of the entire business strategy and the processes that underlies each area of the business' activities.

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Examine the Market for the Coming Year Examine the expected market in the coming year with current clients and contracts in mind. Any new business is good to list separately so that changes in current business are easier to understand. Once revenues are determined, then it is best to examine what purchases and staffing is required in order to achieve these revenue levels. •

Are there significant changes in the labour market?

•

Will there be additional (or fewer) staff required?

•

Are there other changes, such as training requirements or certifications that any staff will be required to obtain? Or perhaps there is deregulation and this is no longer required?

•

Will new business require additional sales personnel? And how will these pay structures look? Is there any difference from prior years? Why?

Naturally there will also be operating expense differences that need to be examined. If additional staff are being brought on then this can significantly affect fixed costs in areas such as rental (office space) requirements, telecommunications, office expenses, and there may be additional support required. Of course, if there is no change in staffing, then these changes are likely to be minimal and should really be in line with inflationary changes for each items particular expense.

Are Targets Being Met? There should be a historical or industry benchmark that you can use as a guideline on the ratios of costs to expenses as well as net income. For example, in some industries it is known that direct costs (also called cost of sales or cost of goods sold) are 50% of the revenue. Are these targets being met? What about the net income ratio? Many industries' net income (before taxes) has a benchmark ratio, such as the well known 10% profit ratio for commercial construction. Is your company in line with the industry benchmarks? If not, then perhaps you should examine your budgets again. And if the budgets are in line with what you have been accomplishing, but you are still not meeting the industry benchmarks, then you may want to look at some of your business processes in order to assist meeting those targets. Budget for the industry benchmarks and see what you should be accomplishing.

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Not to be used for Bonuses It’s not a good idea to use only budget targets to determine management bonuses. Such incentives should be based on performance, not reaching arbitrary targets. It is a common problem in corporate business to use reaching budget targets as a way to determine bonuses. This ends up being a huge incentive for managers to fudge numbers and lie about their budgets. It can even lead to other disastrous events in business planning. Find other methods to determine management pay, and you will be better off and receive more co-operations from managers and staff during the budgeting process.

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Proposed organization structure of “Business Development Function”

CEO

BD and Marketing Vice President

Senior manager Business operations

Senior manager Customer relationship

Senior Manager Business Development (India)

Senior Manager Business Development (Abroad)

Business Development Executive

Management Trainees for business development

CRM Executive

Current status Current Team CEO :VP :VP (M&B) :Senior Manager Business Development :Senior Manager Business operations Senior Manager Customer Relationships :CRM Executive & Document Management

Mr. Chinar Deshpande. Mr. Gev Satarawalla Mrs. Gauri Deshpande Mr. Sanjeev Vishe :Mr. Adil Elavia Mr. Viral Mistry :Ms. Meesha Doshi.

Current Pipeline Sr. No

Name of Prospects

1

Maido

2

Goli Vadapav

3

Flemingo

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Status of Proposal Waiting Negotiation Waiting Negotiation Waiting Negotiation

the for for for

4

Cartridge Worlds

5

Globus World

6

Alkeim

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Waiting Negotiation Waiting Negotiation Waiting Negotiation

for for for

Appendix Other reference Documents First Meeting with the Prospected Client An ideal prospect has agreed to meet with you. First meeting will set the tone for the future of your relationship. Within the first 10 minutes of laying eyes on you, the prospect will begin to piece together the answers to these questions: • What is this person's background? •

Does this person understand me?

•

How can this person solve my problem? -

•

How much am I willing to pay this person?

•

Does this person provide value above and beyond others?

•

Do I like and trust this person?

•

Do I want to do business with this person?

If this is to be a meeting with a truly ideal prospect, a person who values what you have to offer and can pay for it, careful planning is in order. As a professional service provider, there are several things you can do prior to, and during, your first meeting to establish the instant rapport that will affect your outcome. It is my philosophy that it is better to carefully nurture choice prospects rather than to chase haphazardly after anything that breathes. The idea is to spend your time paying careful attention, on a regular basis, to the right prospects. Over time, these "right prospects" will become plum accounts. By following the seven steps listed, you can increase your odds of securing new business, starting with the very first meeting. Step 1: Do your homework. Learn everything you can about your prospect. One of the easiest ways to do this is to tour your prospect's Web site. There, you will gain an overview of the culture of the firm, the services and products offered and the

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management team. Conduct searches on the Internet and scan for stories in the business media. Ask those in your professional network about the firm and its key people. What you learn may surprise you. Several times I have decided not to pursue a prospect based on feedback from friends because I accept only high-quality clients. For this reason, it is better to gather information even before you ask for a meeting. To prepare for the meeting, learn what you can about the key decision-maker. Does this person have special interests, such as racquetball or photography? Does the leader belong to business or civic groups? Has this person won awards or is this person distinguished in some way? Recently, I accompanied a professional service provider, Bill, on a sales call. I was shocked when Bill admitted to the prospect that he did not know anything about the prospect's business but was eager to learn. As you can guess, Bill did not win the account. Step 2: Carefully select your meeting location and situation. If at all possible, do not corner your prospect in a stale office environment. Treat the prospect as if he is a good professional friend, and then plan your meeting accordingly. Step 3: Attracting clients that appreciate you as an individual is key to sustaining a long-term relationship. People who hire expensive consultants are buying an experience--do not let them down. Your technical expertise is a commodity that clients can get anywhere. Step 4: Look for mutual con [acts and interests. Early in the meeting, throw out the names of people you may both know. If you have done your homework, you are aware of the prospect's participation in business, cultural and civic communities,

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so explore your mutual interests and relationships. Step 5: Let the prospect pour out. Up to this point, you have avoided discussing business in favor of finding common ground to establish a comfortable rapport. When you sense that the timing is right, ask a leading question that will invite the prospect to tell his or her story. Say something like, "Tell me about your situation, and why we are meeting." This question induces the prospect to clearly define his/her problem and look for ways in which you can provide the solution. Business owners rarely get an opportunity to share their issues with others due to the pressures of leadership. Step 6: Tell stories and share ideas. Conversation is a rhythm game. Look for the moment that the prospect stops talking and looks at you expectantly. This signals that the prospect is ready to throw the ball your way. Tell stories of how you have helped clients in similar situations (but withhold confidential information). Prospects gain security when they are familiar with the people and companies that you have worked with successfully. What's more, people like to be entertained, and storytelling demonstrates your talent without the need to brag. In many cases, prospects have a clear understanding of the end result that they seek. Use the meeting to explore creative approaches to solving the problem at hand. Sharing ideas will illustrate your knowledge and your teamwork. Throughout the conversation, share your philosophies about doing business to reassure the prospect that your approach is in line with his values. Step 7: Ask for the business. Conduct your entire meeting with the assumption that you will walk away with the work. As a professional service provider, you are

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responsible for providing the leadership to help the prospect solve a problem or meet a need in a timely and efficient manner. The moment that you sense that your prospect is willing to move ahead stop selling. Propose a course of action and schedule your next meeting in preparation to start the project. If your prospect must get the buy-in of others prior to hiring you, get the meetings on the calendar. Do not mention fees unless specifically asked. When asked, pause for a moment, throw out a price range and wait quietly so your prospect can process the information. If you are unsure of what to charge, say that you would like to think about it and call in your price that day. Avoid creating a formal proposal-proposals encourage prospects to secure competitive quotes. Once you land the job, send an engagement letter confirming the nature and scope of the job, as well as your fee structure. By that time, the prospect will already be sold on working with you. Ideally, you should maintain a consistent relationship with numerous ideal prospects and simply begin work as they determine that it is time to take action. When those high-quality prospects become your clients, you will already have a meaningful relationship in place, and that relationship will grow as you work together, right along with your bottom line. Salespeople the world over are struggling with the challenge of getting to meet their target prospects. This is an issue if you are selling to large Corporate and it is an issue if you are selling to SMEs. To get an initial meeting with a prospect you have to follow a 6-step process. You need to be patient and you should expect obstacles to be placed in your way. Before we look at the 6 steps in some detail, reflect on the circumstances of the person you are looking to meet. Your prospect is over-whelmed with information, being bombarded every working day by a torrent of emails, voicemails, direct mail and advertising. This is overlaid onto an already time-poor lifestyle. If the person you want to meet works for a large Corporate, they will be struggling to cope with the demands on their time. If your target is a senior executive (and if it

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isn’t, why?) they will have a P.A. to help protect their diary from unnecessary meetings and commitments. In particular, he has no time to see every salesperson that makes an approach. Your job is to clearly and concisely communicate what he will get as a result of agreeing to meet you. If your target works for an SME, you will probably be approaching a member of the Board. These people are also time-poor. In particular, they will also be inundated by sales people making approaches. In smaller SMEs, there may be no P.A. which means the executive must find ways to field these calls. The majority resort to using voicemail to filter their incoming calls. Remember this principle, We do not sell because we need to make sales we sell so that when our prospect is ready to order, they will order from us! Clients will buy when it’s their idea, not yours. Okay, so we have done our research, prepared our questions and now have arrived at the clients parking lot. We have our generic marketing material prepared in a nonthreatening leather portfolio with something to write with ( I apologize for some of the basics, but the devil is in the details). The first few minutes in the meeting step are critical. The purpose here is to get people to lower their mental/emotional defenses, eliminate tension and establish trust. After this is accomplished we will move on to the next step of asking questions. Too many of us rush this portion of the meeting and that’s a shame because it sets the tone for everything. Remember, firm handshake and look your client in one eye. This works better than having your eyes looking all across the client’s face. One of the biggest challenges in this stage is that too many salespeople introduce themselves to their prospect and begin with some silly remark about the weather, their office décor or the hole-in-one plaque on the wall.

Another principle to

remember is that 80% of the people you meet with find unsolicited small talk to be a nuisance. Naturally, if your prospect asks you about the rain or snowstorm outside you should respond.

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This early stage of our meeting is where you have the most sales tension.

Sales

tension is the inner feeling you and the prospect have that is saying this is an interruption from the important things the prospect can be doing. Also, that you are viewed as an intruding money grabber. At best, many polite prospects tend to see themselves as being nice to a fellow human or actually feel they’re doing you a favor. You must correct this and change the attitude and atmosphere with an initial bonding statement. Try this on your next appointment and watch the body language of your prospect change as if a large weight was removed from their back. “I want to thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to meet with me. I understand there are many services competing for your time. My purpose here today is to just ask you a few questions to determine if my firm can add any value for your company. Is this okay?” This statement will greatly reduce or even eliminate the tension. Before anything can begin, we must accomplish this. We want our prospects to feel we are trustworthy, that we have something important to say and their time invested in us is justified. You can build on your initial bonding statement with this – “After I have gathered all the information, I will make some recommendations on where my firm might be able to add value. If I cannot add value for you, I will use my years of experience in this area to recommend someone who might be better positioned to help you. Trust me – this works in setting the stage for a productive first meeting. A prospect will be able to sense your confidence level so make sure you do not lose the inner game inside yourself. Remember, •

True key decision-makers should always be evaluating the best value for the Company.

•

Your purpose is to discover what they want most and how to get it.

•

Your goal is to be respected and trusted.

•

You are a value generator for your client.

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We are now positioned to ask - well-researched thought provoking questions about how the contingency staffing affects our prospect’s business In a meeting, two or more people come together for the purpose of discussing a (usually) predetermined topic such as business or community event planning, often in a formal setting. In addition to coming together physically (in real life, face to face), communication lines and equipment can also be set up to have a discussion between people at different locations, e.g. a conference call or an e-meeting. In organizations, meetings are an important vehicle for human communication. They are so common and pervasive in organizations, however, that many take them for granted and forget that, unless properly planned and executed, meetings can be a terrible waste of precious resources. Because of their importance, a career in professional meeting planning has emerged in recent years. In addition, the field of Meeting Facilitation has formalized with an internationally-recognized "Certified Professional Facilitator" designation through the International Association of Facilitators (IAF)

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