If you want to survive through bad times, as all companies do, simply battening down the hatches and turning your collar up against the icy blast isn’t enough. So, what becomes even more vital in these continuing harsh economic times is winning new business. New Business Development is the lifeblood of a successful business and it’s one of the keys to survival. But just how do you improve your chances of beating the competition and winning the business?
With marketing and advertising budgets slashed, as we have seen, it has become even more important to create as many opportunities as possible to win new business. Your steps to success should be methodical – the scattergun approach is an act of desperation and it simply isn’t efficient or effective. It isn’t efficient in terms of your time and it’s not effective because you won’t be approaching the sectors or companies with the greatest potential (because you haven’t done your research thoroughly).

Let technology help
The upside is, with the advantages of technology and specific targeting techniques, there’s no reason not to be able to build up a valuable database of prospects. 
Today, we have become much more competent at compiling lists with real value via internet search engines and social media sites, but there’s still a lot we can learn and improve on by targeting specific companies that are relevant to the services or products you’re offering. A rich store of potential new business opportunities is key to growing the business and this can only be achieved by researching and finding the right people to talk to, the decision makers who are relevant and receptive to what your company is offering. Find out who are the key decision makers before targeting the company.

Avoid the template approach
The chances of winning your new business pitch is far more likely to succeed if you prepare and present, ensuring that you have included even quite small elements that will be uniquely relevant to your prospective business partner. In a written proposal or for a live presentation, avoid the temptation to use a formatted template. If your pitch worked before it doesn’t always mean that the same format will win this time. At the same time, it shouldn’t be necessary to recreate your pitch completely. Look at it from your recipient’s point of view and make it fresh and compelling in both style and delivery.

I’ve seen proposal documents sent out of sixty detailed pages or more. That’s way too long. No busy executive has the time or inclination to read such stuff. If your task today is to write a winning proposal, my advice is to write first an ‘executive summary’. This summary gives the bones of the proposal as bullet points. This is a compelling start to a proposal document and the reader will probably know almost immediately if he or she wants to go along with your proposal. Once you’ve achieved this level of interest, you can be sure your proposal pages will be turned. This is the point where you can go on to develop the rest of the proposal in greater detail – but always include that important summary as an introduction to your proposal: in this way your busy prospect can cut to the chase and get the gist of your proposal in a couple of minutes. Hmm, sounds interesting, I’d like to read the detailed stuff tonight. That’s the result you want!

Following up
When you’ve emailed your proposal, follow it up! Call your prospect and begin a dialogue – but make sure you speak to the decision maker, the individual to whom you sent your proposal. You’re just wasting time if you talk to any others and, worse, you may be walking into a breach of confidentiality. But if you’re pitching to a team, find out in advance whatever you can about each team member.

The human element
There is, of course, another angle here that is more difficult to define. I believe it’s the most important element of any of the winning strategies. It is the human element. You don’t have to have a degree in psychology to understand what motivates your business prospect – they’ll be thinking, will this deal help me make more money for the business? Will my boss give me credit for coming up with this new initiative? Will the shareholders share my vision? And so on. Similarly, use your own personality to best advantage. After all, succeeding in business means getting on with people.

Presentations
Presentations always offer their social moments and a team leader may be impressed, even flattered, if you happen to know they are a keen golfer or charity campaigner. A strong business relationship is often built on the basis of one-to-one interaction. Therefore I recommend that you prepare your pitch in a suitable style that will appeal to the specific individuals you’re talking to. Presenting is a great opportunity to engage with your audience, but how often is this done with no real knowledge of the people we’re talking to? Yes, we know their names and job titles and probably you’ve had some dialogue, but there is always more we can find out. How flattering is it to be asked informally: ‘How did the Frankfurt conference go in March, I know you were the keynote speaker on risk management.’

Keep focused
Visual aides should be no more than a prompt, otherwise these props may become a distraction and you risk losing your audience’s attention at key moments. And although you will have rehearsed and timed your presentation, this is not enough. In addition, make sure you address your prospective new client’s key business requirements in an engaging style – these people need to go away with a sense that the product or service you’re offering is just what they need. And, most importantly, you are the person they want to work with. So, did you demonstrate your personal commitment to the proposed project, did they like your style, did you convince them you can deliver on your promises? And, finally, and most significantly, did you leave your prospective business partners feeling they could trust you?

Personal appeal
Trust is a word not to be taken lightly because trust is the basis of all great and lasting business relationships. Equally, there may come devastating consequences if that trust is damaged or broken. The synthetic label ‘building interpersonal relations’ suggests a truth often overlooked – we are all in a people business and if we take it that your proposal is a sound and compelling one, and that you have put yourself across in an engaging manner, then it is you, personally, that your new client will want to work with. If you can do all this, you have the greatest potential to win new business and help your company along the road to continued success.

Judith Luddington is Managing Director of the JL14 Management Consultancy (email: )