Growing a small business requires more than just sales Business Development For Dummies helps maximise the growth of small- or medium-sized businesses, with a step-by-step model for business development designed specifically for B2B or B2C service firms. By mapping business development to customer life cycle, this book helps owners and managers ensure a focus on growth through effective customer nurturing and management. It's not just sales! In-depth coverage also includes strategy, marketing, client management, and partnerships/alliances, helping you develop robust business practices that can be used every day. You'll learn how to structure, organise, and execute an effective development plan, with step-by-step expert guidance. Realising that you can't just "hire a sales guy" and expect immediate results is one of the toughest lessons small business CEOs have to learn. Developing a business is about more than just gaining customers it's about integrating every facet of your business in an overarching strategy that continually works toward growth. Business Development For Dummies provides a model, and teaches you what you need to know to make it work for your business. * Learn the core concepts of business development, and how it differs from sales * Build a practical, step-by-step business development strategy * Incorporate marketing, sales, and customer management in general planning * Develop and implement a growth-enhancing partnership strategy Recognising that business development is much more than just sales is the first important step to sustained growth. Development should be daily not just when business starts to tail off, or you fall into a cycle of growth and regression. Plan for growth, and make it stick Business Development For Dummies shows you how.