Business Development Skills – Win New Clients!

A day-long seminar for ICG members and non-members at a much-discounted price

A perfect opportunity to make a day of it in London. Attend this as well as our AGM and speaker event that evening. 

Summary:  This seminar is unique, being designed for market researchers by a market researcher. It teaches the successful application of sales techniques and the optimisation of the resulting pitch. Included are skills such as lead generation, sales prospection, consultative selling and credentials presentation. Case histories from research agencies & consultancies will illustrate the positive financial impact of successful prospection in business development.

Objectives:  After this customised course participants will be able to –

• Act proactively to develop their own business by adding sales to their skill set
• Learn how to develop and use a full prospection guide, including their own Elevator Pitch & objection answers, in order to meet and present their services to new business potentials
• Know how and what to prepare in advance for prospections and presentations
• Take note of practical issues: planning, timing, client personality types; taking  a new contact out of each meeting, how to close and follow-up
• Understand how to work their way up the client pyramid – suspect, prospect, convert, repeater, committed, apostle.

Topics:

• The 20 Golden Rules of marketing a service.
• Agency differentiation.
• The ‘Elevator Pitch’
• How client ‘benefits’ differ from agency ‘features’.
• How to get in front of a prospective client
• The basic building blocks of cold canvass, namely the 3 ‘P’s – Prepare; Prospect; Present
• Prospecting for appointments
• The 5 steps of ‘Consultative Selling’ – 1. positioning; 2. needs determination; 3. presenting credentials; 4. resolving objections; 5. closing
• Surviving recession (10 tips).

Take-out: Motivation (understanding the need to sell), confidence (based on examples of sales effectiveness) and skills (applying sales techniques).

Learning Method:  Full day of lectures, exercises, simulations and role plays.

Cost: @ £75 for ICG members, £85 for non-ICG members. Details: 9.30-4pm, generously hosted by i-view London.

Convenor:  Mike Roe, FMRS, was a researcher for 30 years with Research International (Kantar). There he was appointed the first full-time UK research agency Business Development Director and authored the book ‘Marketing Professional Services’. He is now a research consultant and sales trainer. His regular clients include the MRS.  

For more info and to book, contact Mike directly.