Winning New Business For Dummies

This book is intended to be a useful reference guide that you can read from cover to cover if you want to, or you can dip into the relevant chapters when you need a bit of help or inspiration. The book’s easy-access organization means that you can simply and quickly get your hands on information about whatever element of winning new business you’re looking for.

Winning New Business For Dummies isn’t an academic, theoretical book, but one that is written from the heart by a real practitioner who gets his hands dirty in the new business trenches on an everyday basis and aims to share real-life experiences rather than highbrow theory that leaves you wondering what you actually need to do. The watch word in writing this book was practicality. In this book, you discover information presented in an easy-to-digest manner that will improve your customer-facing skills and set you on the right road to deliver real and sustainable new business success by making use of a structured approach to new business.

Some chapters include sidebars (shaded boxes) that expand on the core information in that chapter, should you want to explore a topic in more detail, but you can easily skip these sidebars and still get the information you need to master winning new business. (Along the same lines, feel free to skip anything with the Technical Stuff icon, too.)

Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Getting Started with Winning New Business
Chapter 1: Introducing a Winning New Business Culture
Chapter 2: Having Something Relevant to Say
Chapter 3: Making First Impressions Count
Chapter 4: Using Technology to Help

Part 2: Planning for New Business
Chapter 5: Presenting Solutions
Chapter 6: Marketing Matters
Chapter 7: Making It Easy to Say Yes
Chapter 8: Elevator Pitching
Chapter 9: Prospecting Effectively

Part 3: Making New Business Happen
Chapter 10: Overcoming Objections
Chapter 11: Structuring the Deal
Chapter 12: Having the Confidence to Say No
Chapter 13: Asking for the Order
Chapter 14: Understanding That “Selling Hard” Isn’t the Answer
Chapter 15: Taking Action Today

Part 4: Rainmaking: Developing a Constant Stream of New Business
Chapter 16: Reaching a Win-Win Solution
Chapter 17: Networking Effectively
Chapter 18: Managing the Perception of Risk
Chapter 19: Qualifying Potential Business
Chapter 20: Knowing When to Move On
Chapter 21: Being Realistic with Forecasts

Part 5: The Part of Tens
Chapter 22: Ten Key Metrics to Watch
Chapter 23: Ten Prospecting Resources