Business Development

Over the last few months I have gotten back into doing some business development. I have surprised myself in regards to the number of leads I have been able to produce. My business development staff have inquired as to why I have been so successful and I can only come up with two things:

1. Target your message - if you are talking to a bank, craft it to their specific problems and have examples of other banks you have helped. I believe that if nothing else people have an interest in what other companies in their industry are doing (enough to get you an appt)

2. Find the right contact within a business - I was able to get an appt with a company that my business development manager had been targeting for several months. All I did was search for the company email extension "@abccompany.com" + marketing. This search returned the email address and contact information for the director of marketing (it was exposed on a site in which they were on a board of an org). Using this contact information and a message targeted to her vertical market helped me gain an appt.