
Ask HN: How do i do biz dev in 6-weeks? - eibrahim
I have 6 weeks where the wife and kids will be traveling and I will be home alone. I want to go in a HYPER BIZ DEV MODE to get more client&#x2F;contracts for my consulting business (custom software dev).<p>Any tips or ideas on how to effectively use my “free” 6 weeks?
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frantzmiccoli
1/ Make a sales process : materialize in software (dedicated CRM or Trello or
whatever) and decide how your sales pipeline should look, how you should
follow up with customers. Don't over engineer it, just try to make a formal
process that you will be able to follow for after (not only those six weeks).

2/ Follow up with contacts (easy, stupid, but very often neglected)

3/ If you lack recognition / portofolio, maybe run a quick "marketing
project", something that could reach front on HN (but might not) but that you
could anyway showcase to customers. This could also be a nice opportunity to
engage a discussion with customers.

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eibrahim
Thanks.

So my company is established and has a decent online presence and portfolio. I
have a process in place in hubspot as well.

I guess my question is, How would you do the biz dev part of the process? Do
you go to meetups? Do you look for local events? Do you just run some online
ads?

I want to maximize the 6 weeks and do the things that are harder to do when
you have to be home with the family after 5pm. That's why I was thinking of
the "offline" meetups and such. Not sure where to start or if it is even
effective.

~~~
frantzmiccoli
I would say that the "what to do" depends a lot of your markets. I have spent
fair amount of my time attending startups meetups in the past, it was not
productive. Selling services, ads also come up as non productive. Staying in
touch with existing customers was a better time investment.

You don't have time to test and iterate in six weeks, but I would say that you
might know what works.

------
brudgers
100 cold calls per day. I have heard that a good metric for cold calling is
rejections rather than successes because it gamifies the calling process in
favor of the normal outcome.

