Let’s test some business development (apparent) contradictions.
You need to selflessly contribute to the community, without any expectation of reward.
You need to ask for the order.
You need to “relax” and not worry about what happens, or when — go with the flow.
You need to be persistent.
You need to focus on creating a great client experience.
You need be profitable with your time.
You might poke holes in the faulty logic of my apparent contradictions. And, of course, you would be right. These concepts work well together, even if they may at times seem to be pulling in different directions.
Yet there are some challenges in these false opposites. How do you explain to a counterpart or a bean-counter that spending a day hanging out on the golf course and shooting the breeze is probably far more profitable to your business than grinding out proposals and cold-calling from long lists of names? Or that volunteering for community service and relevant associations will pay off far more effectively than worrying about your sales quota. (But wait, if you don’t have/meet your own personal quotas, if you have no goals, objectives, or targets to achieve, you won’t get anywhere fast — and all that community service and sporting fun will bring you far less business than you deserve.)
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