Any company lives or dies on its ability to bring in new business.

Having loyal and long-serving customers or clients is obviously important, but you should always try and get a good pipeline of new deals.

Keeping that steady flow of contracts coming through the door certainly isn’t easy and there is no magic formula. But there are certain things that any business can do to improve their chances.

Use your team

Although there are certain people within the business who are tasked with winning business, everybody can make a contribution. Make sure everyone in the company is aware of what exactly you look for in a client, so that if an opportunity arises, they can pass it on.

This also means that people who aren’t involved with the deal making on a daily basis can add another layer to their skill set and feel valued within the business.

Build your reputation

When it comes to doing business, reputation counts for everything and you have to work really hard to build up a great one. It is always worth remembering that it is much harder to build up a good reputation than it is to earn a bad one.

Your staff should know that they are expected to treat every customer or client in exactly the same way and give them the best level of service that they possibly can. There can be no room for complacency or bad attitudes.

Learn how to pitch

Standing up in front of a group of people to sell yourself and your company is one of the hardest things you will have to do in business.

The key to a winning pitch is a mixture of doing your homework, being as sincere as possible and having great presentation skills.   To help you relax, visualise success that you might have had in a similar scenario. It doesn’t always have to be business related; you may have once given a great speech in front of hundreds of people at a wedding. But having that prior success in your head automatically gives you that extra self belief, and can make a huge difference to the pitch.

Use the personal touch

Although the Internet has led to enormous change when it comes to the world of work, there is still no real replacement for pure networking.

Everyone prefers to work with people who they know and feel comfortable with which means having good contacts is vital if you want to be successful. Look to build up a good rapport with companies and key people within them. The key is to constantly stay in touch with them and build up that personalised relationship.

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