Author: C.J. Hayden. Foreword by Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the “Guerilla Marketing” series
Publisher: Amacom – American Management Association
Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram
If you are a self-employed professional or employed by a company in the business development area, and wondering what are some good ways to increase revenues, this book is for you. It answers many questions that seem to stop people in their tracks when trying to get new clients, such as:
- What really works?
- Where do you start?
- Where are you headed?
The answers to these three key questions are answered at the outset in the first three chapters of the book, getting you off to a successful start.
Oftentimes, we are overwhelmed by the enormous number of tasks related to bringing in more clients. We are already very busy servicing our current clients, but everyday we wonder how do we make more money…and…what are some of the not-so-time-consuming ways we can use to broaden our client base?
You can discover, through this book, what works and what does not for you, so you stop wasting time on things that have not worked for you, and start focusing on activities that really grow your business.
This book by C.J. Hayden points out to you some new ways to prospect for buyers of your services and products that you may have not tried before.
For example, some of the passive prospecting activities may be: blogging, direct mailing (articles, brochures, letters, etc.) and emailing; and some of the active ones may be: attending networking events and professional-trade shows; calling and speaking to people referred by clients and friends; and having lunch with genuine prospects who have indicated an interest in what you have to offer.
The author owns a company called Wings for Business. She is a coach, speaker, teacher and writer who has been helping professionals since 1992 “earn a better living doing what they love,” in her words.
Among her more than 400 articles she has written for print and web media that include those that have appeared in About.com, Home Business and Rain Today. She has taught also taught marketing courses for John F. Kennedy University, Mills College and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
If you are new to sales and have not tested which steps in the marketing-to-sales continuum work best for you, she provides you a complete 28-day plan – her unique marketing system – that includes marketing, lead-generation, sales prospecting, and closing new deals – designed to help you add clients to your business.
This system will help you find out what is stopping you and select the missing “success ingredients” that might help you; choosing what to do (or not do); develop an “action plan menu” for yourself; and putting your action plan to work for you.
Whether you are already involved in activities that have generated sales revenue or are just beginning to try some of them that may or may not work for you, help is available to you to get better results, especially in the last four chapters of this 10-chapter book, namely:
- Filling the pipeline
- Following up
- Having sales conversations
- Closing sales
This book provides a hands-on, actionable plan you can readily use to get your business going and growing. Not all parts of the plan may work for you, of course. Pick and choose those you want to stick to, after they have worked well. It is written by someone with more than two decades of experience helping people and showing them how to get clients…now!
