Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: StephenPSmith.com

Plans are being put together for Business Development in Context to go private in March. Soon it will exist as a resource for my clients or by paid subscription only.

Be sure to subscribe now so you can get the info that you need to find out how to keep getting the Social Media information that you need to grow your business.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/an3q9d. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

I took this course for a while earlier this year, and it was massively educational. I highly recommend that you sign up for these free case studies ( I just did). Whether or not you sign up for ongoing training, that is up to you (not an affiliate link), but I do suggest that you give this free sample a chance.

Here’s the Best Online Business for the 21st Century… Period. | Teaching Sells

Here are 3 quick examples of training areas that work in good times and bad:

* Right now, people realize that job security is an illusion. There’s never been more interest in starting up small and home-based businesses. It’s a huge training market that’s getting bigger due to uncertain economic times and general dissatisfaction with working for someone else.

* Technology is marching forward at a blistering pace. People need to be educated in software and technology tools for career changes and better productivity. The aging population needs clear instruction on how to do basic things that others take for granted. It’s a huge training market that’s getting bigger due to rapid change and the advancing age of the Boomer Generation.

* Personal development training is in high demand. Because basic needs are well satisfied in many Western nations, people are looking for more. They’re looking to the top of the needs pyramid, which is self-actualization. And due to the way our brains are wired, we value advice we pay for more than free and often untrustworthy information.

Those three huge training categories only scratch the surface of the potential. New opportunities for profitable paid training programs arise every day thanks to the relentless pace of change.

If you are interested on some Productivity Skill training, send me an e-mail (stephen @ hdbizblog . com) and we can talk about it.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/ad85fy. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

The Getting Things Done workflow is a very powerful approach to managing the actions and tasks that we need to accomplish every day. It may not have occurred to you that it is possible to apply the 5-step workflow as a framework for your business.
That is, clients and customers are inputs like any other, and as such you can manage them as you would an e-mail.

Apply the GTD Workflow to your business

The system itself is quite simple, and can be handled with a tool like HighriseHQ, Salesforce, or any other customer relationship system - or with a pencil and paper. You can adapt these basics to whichever system you currently use.

1. Collect - This first step is handling the initial lead, whether it comes in via advertising or a sales call, you collect as much information about the client and their situation as you can. Are you getting the right information? Are you asking the right questions?
2. Process - In step two the client’s wants and needs are analyzed and possible solutions are generated.
3. Organize - Create a proposal based on selecting the best of the possible solutions.
4. Review - Also called “the pitch”, go over the proposed solution with the client, presenting the features and benefits of the solution. This is also the step where objections will be raised. Since an objection is a request for more information, it enables you to further examine the client’s needs and determine the need behind the need. This will allow you to further customize and personalize the solution.
5. Do - Ask for the sale. Whatever business you are in there comes a time to close the deal and ask the client for their business, and then complete the transaction. Implement your solution and ask for a referral.

How could you implement this very simple framework in your own business? Do you currently have a formalized sales process in place? What do you suppose a workflow system like this could do for your training and retention expenses?

Leave a comment.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/aatrpj. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

I have been reading the new book by David Allen, “Making It All Work“, and getting some really powerful insights. The main thrust of the book is that it expands your Getting Things Done practice by emphasizing a couple of points that I have been advocating here for the past year or so:

1. Get control of your system
2. Gain perspective on your responsibilities

Keeping things in context has become my own personal mantra, and one way to do that is with a comprehensive series of reviews. I personally recommend a series of 69 reviews over the course of the year:

• Weekly
• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Annually

This may seem like a lot, but with some practice and by discovering what is most important to you these reviews do not take a lot of time and the return on that investment of time is invaluable. I use the weekly reviews to keep myself on track with the day-to-day work for my clients and personal projects. The monthly reviews focus on the larger scale of how my business is going and what I need to drill down on in the future.

The quarterly reviews are mainly geared toward measuring my progress toward the big goals, aspirations, and long-term success. These are the times that I really think about where I am headed and what is being done to get there. Last year I kept some fairly detailed notes during these highly introspective reviews and they came very handy recently when I sat down to look at what worked and what didn’t. This made my annual review go smoothly and provided a template for this year’s goal-setting.

Improving Relationships

One of my primary goals for 2009 is to expand and grow my new consulting business. Working for myself is an enormous challenge, with a fantastic reward - I get to work one-on-one with some really cool people. And I learn something new from every one.

Part of my plan to maintain and expand these existing client relationships - and get the new sales year off to a good start - is to schedule an annual review focusing on each of them.

During this review, I will be looking over the past year’s work with the client using this template:

• Thank them for their business, and tell them how important they are to me.
• Invite them to share their thoughts about the business we did with them - both positive and negative.
• Highlight the positive things we accomplished for them, and how we worked together to address their business issues.
• Brainstorm with the client on new products or services that I can help them to develop and market.

I am looking forward to building sustained relationships based on mutual trust and professional respect, and being able to ask for referrals to create these same powerful relationships with new clients.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/b6duq2. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen