Creating a perfect business proposal

Having a solid business proposal is as important in strategizing with booking a client as the first and closing steps.  A well executed project proposal is the gate way to showcasing your management skills to your prospect. 

This is a pivital point because it is what can make or break the sale.  The proposal is what can turn a prospect into not only a client, but a client for the long run.  If a potential client has a stack of proposals from 3-5 seperate companies to look at, they are going to stick with the most organized, straight to the point proposals almost every time.   Your proposed business plan for individual projects can easily be interpreted (and many times is) as a resume for your firm. 

What needs to be on a well executed proposal?  What order should these items be in? 

1. Executive summary – summary of the entire proposal
2. Statement of need – why project is necessary for the prospect, or client
3. Project description – How the project at hand will be implemented and evaluated
4. Organization information, Timelines, and execution strategies
5. Project schedule
6. Budget Needed that includes an itemized, well detailed list of expenses
7. Conclusion
   
   These are the things that will make up a great company proposal.  It is also very important to be sure to stay consistent with brand recognition from the first contact, to the proposal, invoicing, to the execution of the project.   

Operational strategy and executing your business plan

Well-implemented strategic planning provides the vision, direction and goals for the organization, but operational planning translates that strategy into the everyday execution tactics of the business that will ultimately produce the outcomes defined by the strategy.  Operational planning is the conversion of strategic goals into execution.   Businesses tend to waste time and money by investing way too much in what the plan is.  More important, the execution of the strategy that is laid out. 

No business likes to admit it, but most are lacking in the know-how, competencies skills, knowledge, experience and discipline to carry off precise execution of strategic goals. Operational planning is all about having good execution and offers help to those organizations who struggle with why and how to do it.   

Executing a strategy for a business plan can be an extremely layered process.  It is all about pushing each step to it fullest potential.  This in turn will build on the next step and help the transition towards getting the job done right.  They range from ugly Excel spreadsheets to beautifully bound books, and if executed correctly, a happy client.

Unless operational planning has accompanied the strategic planning effort, the strategic plan will always accomplish less than the intended result, resulting in wasted effort.

Most companies would receive a failing grade for their operational planning efforts. This is largely due to a lack of understanding of how such planning should be done. True, it is sometimes perceived to be the less appealing part of planning, but it is essential that operational planning be done and organizations must learn how to do it properly. Many companies have the attitude of, “Don’t we have people to do that?”. Far too often, they don’t, yet they still expect this operation to be handled by someone.  This is once again, wasted effort.   

Operational planning must be done if strategic goals are to be accomplished. The strategic goals of the organization must be translated one business unit at a time. Why? The goals mean something different to each area of the organization.  All plans are based upon that area’s function in the enterprise.

It is not enough to simply put the strategic goals out there and let the business interpret the strategy on its own. To do so is not planning, but instead is crossing fingers and hoping for the best.   Before executing the strategy you have set in place, I suggest that you ensure that you are able to carry your plan out to the very end with no holes in your business plan.

Questioning your ability as a Business Development Manager

Business development management involves asking your self some searching questions. Are you prepared to change to realize the vision created by your business development strategy? What must your business excel at? How does that affect processes, people and customers? Who does the planning and controls the implementation of the business development ideas, answering to which goals, actions and measures?

Perhaps most significant of all, you have to decide whether to be radical rather than incremental – are you revolutionary in your skills as a business development manager or are you more evolutionary?

Are you willing and able to move with the ever evolving market of technology in the business world?

Small business development contains a paradox – if the business turns out to be successful then it won’t be so small any more. The challenge, then, is that of developing a small business to grow while retaining the elements that made it successful in the first place.

Do your research before any sales attempt

Scenario,

You just got home from work, your relaxing and fading into the completion of a hectic work day with a good book, or a television show.  The phone rings.  You answer.  Who is on the other end?  Someone asking for what seems to be a variation of your name that sounds VERY ridiculous.  Then?  You are annoyed.

They proceed to try to sell you something that you already have!  In this world, it is one of my biggest pet peeves.  As this person is talking on the other end of the line, all you can think is, “What an idiot”. 

 DO YOUR RESEARCH. 

I have trained my sales staff to know the difference between pulling out a prospect, and pulling out a lead.  It’s one thing to have 100 leads, it’s another thing to try to turn those leads into sales.  

There are so many different levels to a good sales point.  YES, knowing the product or service your selling inside and out is a 100% must.  But what about knowing your demographic, what about knowing the potential client before actually contacting them?  Also VERY important. 

Know what the potential client needs before hand so you can give them a genuine, honest run-down on how to go about making things better for them.  Be genuine.

What is the point of purchasing a lead list if you are only turning the people on this list away due to your lack of knowledge about the consumer?

The question is, why waste the money on leads if you will never get anywhere with them?  Why not invest in your clients and know that you will have future contracts with them continually over the course of your career? If you invest in your clients, your clients invest in you.  It’s just fact in my mind as a business person.  When your clients invest in you, they refer you.  When this happens, you don’t have to worry about chasing down meaningless leads. 

All about Business Development

Business development involves varying degrees of sales and strategy. In some companies, biz dev people may focus on getting new corporate sales accounts, while in others they may lead new product development. At larger companies such as Oracle, Cisco, or Microsoft, one of biz dev's many responsibilities may be to decide which smaller companies the company should acquire next to ensure that it retains its market strength in the future.

Working in business development is an excellent way to become adept at business strategy while gaining hands-on experience in negotiating deals and managing partner relationships. Business development jobs are also highly cross-functional, requiring close collaboration with various internal and partner-company teams such as sales, engineering, and marketing to ensure that a deal is consummated. With its focus on strategy, biz dev steers the direction of a company—the deals forged today determine what the rest of the company will be working on tomorrow.

Business development is a combination of strategic analysis, marketing, and sales. Business development (or "biz dev") professionals can be involved in everything from the development of their employers' products and services, to the creation of marketing strategies, to the generation of sales leads, to negotiating and closing deals.

The job of the business development professional is typically to identify new business opportunities—whether that means new markets, new partnerships with other businesses, new ways to reach existing markets, or new product or service offerings to better meet the needs of existing markets—and then to go out and exploit those opportunities to bring in more revenue.

What is cold calling?

Cold calling is the process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction. The word "cold" is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting a call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by a sales person.

How much will it cost to gain the leads to reach out to?

There are many different price structures for cold calling.  In order to make these calls, you need to have the leads to call.  It is important to do your research, check your budget and run it against the odds of call to sale ratio.

Is cold calling important for your business? 

It would depend on many different things.   Asking yourself these questions about your business could help you decifer whether this is something that is important to invest in.

What is my target market?
Is the product or service that I offer something that could appeal a potential customer unexpectedly?
Would cold calls to potential consumers be intrusive, or spark an interest in my product or service?
Do I have the accurate amount of time to make the calls?
Should I hire more staff to cover the cold calls? 
How much would I have to invest in to get an operation like this up and running?

How do you pay and keep a good staff?

Create more incentive for your reps by almost, "promoting within the company". Having an increase in commission percentage on the things your firm is looking to generate more revenue with, is where I would keep your sales team's comissions pretty high.

Never overcompensate your expectations.  When you over measure your staff's capabilities, it creates a world of stress.  This creates a tension that is hard to fill.  When a situation like this is created in a work environment, it only puts pressure on your employees day to day duties, thus making them less productive in general activity. 

Keep it interesting.  When your employees are genuinly interested in their work, they are genuinly interested in generating revenue, whether they know it or not.  This creates a sense of trust between you and your staff, therefor allowing you to spend more time on overhead matters. 

10 Great Ways to Keep Your Business in Good Standing

Although it is not easy, there are very many ways to promote with a limited budget. I have found that it is important to keep up with the trends, and learning how to decipher how to utilize these avenues to your businesses interest.
1. Get Creative

2. Stay consistent with your product or service

3. Brand recognition, LOGO LOGO LOGO

4. Be "in the know" always, do your research; double check the facts

5. Once you have researched, create a business plan

6. Exhaust your free avenues after researching

7. Be confident about what you need, be cautious about what you want

8. Stay involved in activities that you find your potential clients are interested in

9. Get in the mindset of your ideal client

10. Go where the client is. Don't always hope that they will come to you

Always remember the difference between what is needed for your business, and what you would 'like' for your business. These are two completely different worlds. When you focus on what you want, be prepared to know that your business plan may never come to fruition.