Going Back In Time, What Brent Atkins Would Say To His Younger Self

Mo asks Brent Atkins: If you could record a video on business development and send it to your younger self, what would you say?

• In the early days of Brent’s business development career, he did things very differently. The first thing he would say is to listen. Brent hears more things now during the course of a conversation with active listening, which is the opposite from how his younger self operated.
• There is an impulse when you’re young and fresh to tell everyone what you know, but listening and asking questions are how you really learn how to sell.
• Every product or service has multiple ways you can position it to win. If you listen, you can be much more effective in that effort.
• Brent is a student of business development even now. The first 21 days of a relationship are extremely important to solidify a bond. Reaching out to continue the conversation and creating that bond allows you to come back months or years later and pick up that conversation in the same way you would with an old friend.
• The final tip would be to build your brand. People are taught sales skills and usually want to apply them the exact way they are taught. Take what you’re doing and make it yours.
• Whatever sales skills you are working on, you need to make them authentically yours for them to be effective.
• The great business development rainmakers never stop learning. Brent is always looking to improve and work on his skills, especially in leverage tools like MIT’s and the Protemoi list.

Mentioned in this Episode:

GrowBIGPlaybook.com

brent.atkins@progyny.com

Brent Atkins on LinkedIn