4 behaviors that help delivery people be better business developers

It’s an age-old challenge in the consulting industry: how to get your delivery people to develop more business. After all, who’s in a better position to bring in more work than the people who labor side-by-side with the client? But first there are barriers to break through. Read on for four specific strategies that will help your delivery people execute on both project plansand business development plans.

Get real or don’t cold call me

When did financial advisors become telemarketers? Here’s a transcript of a voicemail I received a few weeks ago from a financial advisor named RW—someone I don’t know who represents a major company. It wasn’t technically a cold call, I suppose, because I had a relationship with the company about a decade ago through my former financial advisor. But it certainly wasn’t a warm call. And while RW said nothing whatsoever offensive on her voicemail, it was a perfect example of how the choice to be robotic instead of real kills trust and loses business.

Improv Tip of the Month: Zip-Zap-Zop

This month’s improv tip is from Barry Edwards, Improv Contributor

Schedule a meeting in your conference room then let the games begin!Plato once said, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” While he probably wasn’t referring to creating a more engaged and productive work team, it still applies. Facilitated play makes it possible for your team to learn more about each other. Plus a shared fun experience creates team cohesiveness.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Improv: an Historical Combination

This post was written by Cary Paulour Chief Improv Officer (CIO)

On that hot, Washington DC day of August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was delivering a well-prepared speech. The American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement was—and still is—considered one of America’s great orators. And with good reasons: his legacy is marked by a world-changing mission, intelligent writing, and the distinctive cadence with which he enthralled listeners.

Cleaning up my messes

I messed up a few weeks ago. I sent a not-so-nice email to a colleague I’ll call Randy. I did it after I got a fervent complaint from a new client about him. Randy was negotiating something on my behalf and, from the client’s perspective, took a firm stand in a way that did not go over well. The client said the one thing that escalates my blood pressure in a matter of seconds: “Randy could stand to learn a lesson or two from you about doing business in a trustworthy way.” For me, this cued the entrance of the high horse and I immediately climbed aboard.

Improv Tip of the Month: They Want Something

This month’s improv tip is from Shawn Westfall, BossaNova’s Improv Guru:

The characters sitting at the center of our favorite sitcoms, shows, movies, plays, novels, short stories and improv scenes all have one thing in common: they want something.In most cases, they want something desperately. Indeed, that often is what informs the plots of the stories or scenes they are in. Hamlet wants revenge. Will he get it? Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman wants the respect he feels he so clearly deserves, something he feels he’s devoted his life to. Does he get it, in the end? That old “pretentious” actor cliché– the one that has him or her stopping a scene to ask “what’s my motivation?”—is actually useful information for the actor to know, another way of trying to discover what his or her character wants. And anyone who’s ever been part of a production knows that what a character wants in the play isn’t always clear, that what he or she says she wants may have little to do with what he or she actually wants.

Nice to meet you. Please leave me alone.

I give presentations for a living. I teach people how to build trust with others, to make lasting connections, to sell business, to create professional intimacy. My job requires me to interact with strangers a lot. And to be effective I have to model all the interpersonal skills I espouse, all the time. So you’ll appreciate the irony when I say I really hate meeting new people.