Professor David Rainey, the Dean at the Lally School of Business at Rensselaer Polytechnic in Hartford, CT is working on a book on sustainable business development. After a recent conversation with him, I got to thinking about sustainability as it pertains to managing a consulting business (or even a sales territory).
Many consultants, (and sales exectives) live in a world of "feast or famine" where they are either workign flat out to close sales/process transactions/deliver services OR they are in a slump where they are working hard to scratch out that next sale. This results in the sterotypical "roller coaster" of revenues or commissions that makes life frustrating, trying, painful and draining.
A professional is someone who recognizes this pattern and takes steps to at least lower the amplitude of the wave. One way to do this is to manage your time is such a way as to always leave some time for filling the hopper with new opportunities. I do that by scheduling time each week to new business development, regardless of how "busy" I am.
By booking time in Outlook, when someone calls, I can schedule around that critical time. My customers get time and I get time to make sure I keep having customers!
What are you doing to make sure your pipeline is always full?
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