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The Candle Problem: Rethinking the Way we do Business

July 19, 2012 by Karin Schwartz

What truly motivates your employees? How do you, as a business owner, foster a more efficient workplace to ultimately drive sales and increase profits? Well, traditional business practices would lead one to believe that extrinsic motivators, like monetary rewards, are the best way to motivate your employees. However, recent studies show that there may be a mismatch between how businesses “motivate” salespeople and what science knows to be effective.

This is the subject of speaker Daniel Pink’s speech, “The Surprising Science of Motivation.”

The Candle Problem: Participants are tasked to attach a candle to a wall in such a way so wax will not drip on the table below. To do this, the participant may use a book of matches and a box of thumbtacks.

Some participants try to use the tacks to fix the candle to the wall. It doesn’t work. Other try to melt part of the candle and stick it to the wall. That doesn’t work either.

The Solution: Empty the box of thumbtacks, put the candle into the box, use the thumbtacks to nail the box to the wall, and stick the candle in the box.

The message of the candle problem is simple and can easily be applied to the business community, especially motivation. We must stop looking at what we think we see…what we think we know about motivation and start looking for more creative and effective ways to encourage salespeople and ultimately bolster sales.

The fact is that traditional, extrinsic rewards aren’t always as effective as we think.

“I can’t tell you how many leaders I speak with that think their sales people are motivated by money, but most aren’t,” said Springboard CEO Karin Schwartz. “It’s rarely about money.”

In fact, according to Dr. Bernd Irlenbusch of the London School of Economics, “financial incentives…can result in a negative impact on overall performance.” Instead, Daniel Pink encourages the use of intrinsic business motivation, which work because of three key factors:

  • Autonomy: The urge to direct our own lives
  • Mastery: The desire to get better and better and something that matters
  • Purpose: The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

“It’s not uncommon to see sales people motivated by cultivating long term relationships, helping others, finding the missing puzzle piece, receiving the accolades/appreciation, etc.,” said Karin. “The faster a business owner realizes how their people are motivated the faster they can develop a culture that thrives.”

If you have any questions about Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

Filed Under: Business Development, Leadership Development Tips, Maryland Business Development, Sales Tips, Tips for Maximizing Your Time Tagged With: business development, business owner, drive sales, encourage salespeople, increase profits, intrinsic business motivation, monetary rewards, motivate salespeople, motivation, Science of Motivation, Springboard, The Candle Problem

The Biggest Business Development Mistakes

July 13, 2012 by Karin Schwartz

 

If your business relies heavily on sales, then you know just how important it is to have a strong business development strategy. Still, even the best businesses fall victim to the same old mistakes!

  1. Assuming you know EVERYTHING there is to Know: Becoming proficient in the business development arena takes practice. Not just anyone can be successful…it takes serious work!
  2. Selling to the Wrong Person: Make sure you are talking to a decision maker. Don’t waste your time selling to someone who can’t even make the decision to buy your product or service!
  3. Failing to Make Multiple Contacts: What happens if you spend a ton of time developing a business relationship with a prospect only to have that prospect fired? Well, if you failed to make multiple contacts, you are screwed!
  4. Not Enough Prospects: Prospects are your lifeline. Without a healthy number of prospects in your sales funnel, your business has no chance of thriving!
  5. Waiting for Referrals: Referrals are great and a lot of the time, they drive your business. But you cannot rely on your clients to just hand over referrals. Get you’re a$$ out there and find business. Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals from happy clients. What’s the worst that could happen? They say no.
  6. Not Bringing More to the Table: What do you have to offer your prospects? If you are having trouble answering this question, then you are probably in the wrong business! And we are not just talking about your product or service. The prospect already knows about that. But what’s something you can do to help your prospect in their business? What can you offer the prospect that no one else can?
  7. Assuming you know what the Client Needs: You don’t know what the client needs. Only the client knows what he/she needs. So stop talking and start listening.
  8. Fear of Closing: Don’t let a prospect pull you in every direction. You are in the business of making money. So make the sale or cut your losses. You cannot waste your valuable time on a lost cause. That is just a poor business strategy.
  9. Trying to do everything In House: With salary ranges of $120-175k plus benefits, taxes, and expense reimbursements, companies are wisely moving away from in-house business developers and beginning to turn to outsourced business development firms, like Springboard, to ask, “How can we do this at less cost while hitting all the key areas?”
  10. Trusting Someone other than Springboard! If we didn’t think we were the best and if we didn’t know we could help you grow your business, we wouldn’t be doing what we do! So start putting your trust in Springboard Business Development!

If you have any questions about Springboard Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

Filed Under: Business Development, Maryland Business Development, Outsourced Business Development, Sales Outsourcing, Sales Tips, Tips for Maximizing Your Time Tagged With: Baltimore, business developers, business development, Business Development Mistakes, Closing, happy clients, make the sale, Maryland, outsourced business development firms, outsourced sales solutions, referrals, Springboard

Teaming…it’s not just for Contracts anymore :: Business Development Tips

July 6, 2012 by Karin Schwartz

At Springboard, we found many of our clients selling to government contractors who started to ask if we could help them.  But since business development in the commercial and government markets is such a vastly different processes, we originally said no.  That was until we created our Business Development Team.

We found that teaming isn’t just for our clients, but it was for us as well.  Our clients were asking for help in multiple agencies, multiple locations all of whom seemed to have events and projects due at the same time requiring our members to pick one versus the other.  As much as we would like to, we could not be in two places at once. Until now!

When we decided to try the team approach we realized we could be present in all our target markets at the same time with no additional cost to the client.

The Benefits of Springboard’s Business Development Team

At Springboard, we utilize leverage and agility to represent several companies at any one time on a part time basis in the market’s where you need us to be.  Because of our leveraged team approach we get more done in the span of a month than the overwhelming majority of full time business development professionals and at a fraction of the cost with greatly reduced risk to the organization.

So, is it possible to be all things to all people? In this case yes!

If you have any questions about Springboard’s Business Development Team, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

Filed Under: Business Development, Maryland Business Development, Outsourced Business Development, Tips for Maximizing Your Time Tagged With: Baltimore, business developer, Business Development Team, Business Development Tips, government contractors, government markets, Maryland, Springboard, Teaming

Outsourced Business Development & Government Agencies

June 29, 2012 by Karin Schwartz

With today’s rocky economy and the average business development job coming in at around $175k plus taxes, benefits, and expenses, it is no wonder that we are seeing so many layoffs in business development with government contractors. Deals are taking longer to come to fruition, numerous re-competes and fewer opportunities equate to business development becoming disposable overhead.

Government agencies and bureaus need to look at additional options as well as how to help their existing staff be more successful.

The Answer: Outsourcing Business Development with firms like Springboard!

What government agencies used to spend on a single business development specialist can now be used to outsource 3-5 high-level business development experts. That is what we offer at Springboard. We know the more ears, eyes, and feet you have out in the marketplace the more opportunities we will find and you will win.

At Springboard, it’s not about one person, it’s about the team!

We have highly successful, experienced, well known business development professionals on our team.  They are out in the communities in which you serve everyday sourcing opportunities for Springboard clients.  They know who’s looking for what products and services and can bring your specialties to the attention of top decision makers.  These team members have crafted their skills and their databases over decades.

Let Springboard be your Business Development Team!

If you have any questions about Government Agencies Outsourcing Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

Filed Under: Business Development, Maryland Business Development, Outsourced Business Development Tagged With: business development experts, business development professional, business development specialist, Business Development Team, Government Agencies, Government Agencies Outsourcing Business Development, government contractors, Outsourced Business Development, Outsourcing Business Development, Springboard

Patience: It’s the Key to a Solid Business Development Strategy

June 22, 2012 by Karin Schwartz

Patience. It is one of the most important virtues any salesperson can possess. Without it, you may try to push a sale before it’s ready to happen. This is the kiss of death for any salesperson.

Remember, sometimes you can hit it off immediately with someone and the sale happens immediately. Other times, it can take months to properly develop a solid business relationship. A good salesperson will be able to tell exactly when it is time to push as sale. You need to let the process fully run its course. Otherwise, you risk losing the sale.

Business is all about Building Relationships!

Patience is the key to building long-term business relationship. As a salesperson, it takes time to get to know your prospect’s wants, needs, and desires. Then and only then, once you have built a strong business relationship, should you even think about trying to make a sale.

Patience Pays Off!

Remember, a single sale is nice, but steady business is the key to long-term success. And relationships build long term business. Organizations that utilize a relationship building approach to sales have a competitive edge over their rivals. It has been said that 80% of an organization’s business comes from 20% of its customers, those satisfied customers who keep coming back for more.

Springboard Understands Business Development!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

If you have any questions about Outsourced Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

Filed Under: Business Development, Maryland Business Development, Outsourced Business Development, Sales Outsourcing, Sales Tips Tagged With: Baltimore, Building Relationships, business developer, Business Development Strategy, business relationship, Maryland, Outsourced Business Development, Patience, salesperson, Springboard

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