The August BD Round-Up 2021

The August BD Round-Up is jam-packed with the usual practical hints and tips. This month, the August BD Round-Up features a variety of topics all with one simple focus, to increase your personal and company’s brand awareness and grow your sales.

The August BD Round-Up features several articles on building rapport and networking with people. While in this part of the world we can’t meet face to face, the principles apply equally to virtual meetings and prospecting. I’ve also included a piece on how to drive more traffic to your articles. After all, if you’ve invested the time in creating content, you’ll want people to read it!

Anyway, that’s enough of an introduction from me, there are 8 articles and a reading list summarized below. So here it is, the August BD Round-Up!

Finding Your Focus When Starting a Proposal by Cheryl Smith, Xait

Cheryl is bang on when she says that in the modern world, we are faced with more distractions than ever before. Couple this with ‘lockdown brain’ and it can be harder than ever to knuckle down and start writing that crucial bid response. The 5 practical steps in this article will really help you beat those distractions and write a winning bid response. A super read.

Lawyer Networking: Are You a Spoke or a Hub? by Sally J. Schmidt

A timely reminder on how to build your business networks, whether in person or even virtually. The aim is to be the main hub who people turn to, to get pointed in the right direction to find the help they need. The more you do this, the more people will turn to you and then ultimately, they will buy your services.

How to Increase Blog Traffic Fast by Adam Kiss

There has definitely been a massive increase in content marketing across professional services firms as lockdowns have awoken practitioners to the need to use this form of marketing. However, the idea that just because you write something people will flock to read it, is simply not true. Therefore, optimising your SEO and generating traffic to your blogs and articles is essential. This superb article provides the basics you need to know to start getting the most from your well-written material.

Why Client Prospecting Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint by Meghan McCartan, Hightower Advisors 

Absolutely, I think this is one of the best articles I’ve read to simply and effectively explain the BD process. It explains why it really is a long-term game and if you follow the process correctly you’ll benefit from having a sustainable pipeline of clients. If you read nothing else this month read this. While it is aimed at financial advisors it applies across all professional services.

6 Things Customer-Centric Companies Do Differently by Blake Morgan, guest lecturer at Columbia University and adjunct faculty at the Rutgers MBA.

Everyone in professional services aspires to have a customer-centric organisation, but many fail to truly deliver this. Of course, the first part of this is the key part, it has to have full buy-in from the top, if the leadership team or business owners aren’t client-centric, then there’s little chance that the organisation will follow suit. The other 5 steps are pretty powerful too. If you want to work in a customer-centric organisation, then read these wise words.

How to Build Rapport in Sales and Connect with People by Mike Schultz, RAIN Group

The RAIN Group is always on the money and this article is no different. The good news for everyone is that clients are keen to build trusted relationships with you. How you do this is of course a lot trickier, and as Mike points out, comes down to building rapport with your clients. The good news is he gives you 7 clear steps to do this, even going in to providing types of questions you can ask people to help you build rapport.

Don’t Steal Your Client’s Spotlight by Craig Choffe

It can be very tempting with all that knowledge to want to hog the stage in your client meetings, to showcase your expertise and knowledge. However, I think we all know it is far better to take the time to get to know your clients and get them to do the majority of the speaking. This article explains why and how to do just that.

Helping Buyer’s Buy with an Outcome Enablement Plan by Thomas J. Williams, Strategic Dynamics Inc.

What a superb concept an Outcome Enablement Plan (OEP) is. Many buyers really do need help to justify buying your services within their organisation so working on a plan together really is highly valuable to them. Of course, helping your client/potential client do this means they are far more likely to buy your services. A great sales tool, from a true expert.

And now for something a little different for the August BD Round-Up

We still know what you’re reading this summer, McKinsey’s annual reading list is back for 2021.

It’s always good to have a great reading list and if the team at McKinsey have provided it, then you know it will be a good one. This one covers an impressive range of topics from business, and psychology, through to fiction.

The August BD-Round up Conclusion

That is certainly more than enough content for anyone to get through. The August BD Round-up will certainly have given you a raft of new ideas to fire up your BD and marketing efforts. As an added bonus you have a reading list that should see you through the next year or so as well!

Next month Elizabeth Petersen will be bringing you her collection in the September BD Round-Up.

Thanks for reading the August BD Round-Up