What Business Development REALLY Means, According to Linda Klein

Mo asks Linda Klein: What is your personal definition of business development?

• Adding value to a client’s business by solving the problem. Service professionals often only look at a client’s issue through the lens of their own expertise, but that’s not the way to grow a business.
• Asking for the sale before solving the problem (or diagnosing the problem) isn’t going to work.
• Linda looks for ways to solve client problems that keep them from growing their own business. Sometimes that means referring the client to someone else when the issue is outside her area of expertise.
• Linda starts solving the problem before a transaction has occurred. We can sense when someone is trying to sell us before any value has really been added to the relationship and it usually makes us want to run away.
• Go into the first meeting simply to get to know somebody instead of trying to close the sale. When you help someone achieve their goals, you feel great and you increase the odds of them turning into a paying client.
• When following up, think about who you could connect the person with and what the person said in the initial meeting that you continue the conversation with.
• If you have taken your time to get to know the industry your prospect is in, you will know where the pain points are and have opportunities to help.
• The number one thing you can do to be proactive in building relationships is writing down your top five to ten people that are important to your career and using that to make sure you're constantly being helpful.

Mentioned in this Episode:

GrowBIGPlaybook.com

lklein@bakerdonelson.com

linkedin.com/in/lindakleinlaw