Building your business during a tenuous time

Dan Norenberg, who is an executive coach, friend, and mentor, once told me, “Doug, you need to find time to work on your business, not just work in your business.”
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It is easy to get caught up in the daily routine of taking care of clients and meeting with prospective ones. Yet in a time when people are working remotely and staying away from human contact as much as possible due to COVID-19, traditional in-person business development needs to be modified.

For those of you who are canceling travel plans to attend conferences, celebrations, and special events, take this opportunity and extra time to work on your business. Look at ways you can perform business development remotely that can still connect you with your clients and prospective clients.

Here are a few tips to consider:

• Create a webinar. Consider reaching out to your clients and contacts who are subject matter experts to see if they would be interested in joining you on a webinar. This is not only an excellent way to present to remote audiences but also an effective method to strengthen your relationships with your co-presenters. Additionally, you can share the recorded webinar with those who are not able to attend the webinar live.

• Co-create an article, white paper, or blog post with a colleague, client or prospective client. Together, you’re offering insights that can enhance your credibility and increase exposure to your market. Furthermore, sharing the article with your co-creator’s network broadens your reach.

 

• Book client meetings via video conference. The next best thing to in-person meetings is video conferencing. Zoom has become the market favorite video app that I use with my clients across the U.S. It’s user-friendly and much more effective than a phone call.

 

• Pick up the phone and call your existing clients to check in. If a video conference is too much of a hassle, start dialing. Whether your purpose is to check on an existing matter or simply see how they and their company are doing, a phone call goes a long way.

​I realize how frustrating this time is. The uncertainty and the unknown impacts all our business and lives.

You have a choice to sit and wait for the storm to blow over. Or to act.

As my former boss often told me, “There are no problems, rather opportunities.” Take advantage of this time to work on your business—to address this current challenge and set your business up for what comes next.