Time goes by so quickly and it’s difficult to believe we’re already in March! It’s easy to become discouraged if you haven’t yet set your business development goals for the year or determined how you’ll carve out the time. Rest assured… it’s not too late! Seize the opportunity today to evaluate the beginning of your year and plan for the remainder of 2018.
At BDU, our Professional Services team understands your time pressures. It’s necessary to be realistic and prioritize what actually needs to be accomplished in order to achieve your business development goals by the end of the year while simultaneously billing time and servicing clients.
Here are three important questions you should ask yourself when putting your plan in place:
- Do I have any loose ends that need to be tied up? Is there anyone you’ve been trying to meet with but consistently have had to reschedule? Perhaps they’ve had to reschedule with you or you just haven’t landed on a date that is mutually convenient. Take a closer look at why those meetings haven’t happened. It’s time to decide:
- Are these loose ends worth tying up in 2018?
- Are they not worth any further follow up?
- Can they be put on the list to revisit next quarter or the second half of the year?
- How can I fill my pipeline this year? Just because the quarter is drawing to a close doesn’t mean you should let the start of the year get in the way of continuing to fill your pipeline with potential clients. Take a look at the opportunities you have coming up in the next 6 months and ask yourself:
- Do I have business that will definitively carry me through the rest of the year?
- Do I need to reallocate time and dedicate more efforts to filling that pipeline?
- Do I need to spend more time developing new business, expanding existing client relationships and opportunities, or both?
- What should I start, stop and continue doing? A simple approach to evaluating where you stand at this moment in time is to think about what business development activities you should start doing, what you should stop doing and what you should continue doing. Take a look at which business development efforts are generating results for you and which are not by asking yourself:
- What do I need to start doing to support my business development plan that I’m not doing already?
- Where am I spending time and energy but not generating any results, and how can I stop wasting that time?
- What am I already doing that’s working towards my business development goals that I should continue?
Once you answer these three questions, you can begin to determine where your efforts will be best spent in order to achieve your goals and grow your business this year.
Want more help increasing your business development efforts, boosting your referrals and keeping your pipeline filled with good, qualified prospects? Contact us and find out how BDU’s Professional Services can help you create and implement strategic, effective plans for growing your business and achieving your goals in 2018!