I received an email from LinkedIn recently with a subject line indicating that nearly a third of the contacts in my network changed jobs in 2010. It got me to thinking about the most critical and neglected component of most firms’ business development strategy — database management. Your database may contain all the companies that […]
On the heels of 2011 — here are our predictions for five business development trends among professional service firms in the New Year: Specialization will continue. With the development of new technologies, the abundance of information available to consumers and the marketplace becoming more and more crowded, successful firms will continue down the path of […]
We at Whetstone love movies. And, living in Iowa we’re particularly fond of Field of Dreams. You remember Kevin Costner’s 1989 homage to baseball, family and the power of believing? Our CEO, Larry, even grew up in Dyersville — home of said Field. So, if anyone is likely to embrace the notion that — if […]
Our management team recently established some guidelines for developing our LinkedIn profiles, but we each wrote our own (helping each other, of course). Social media tools can be great for nurturing relationships with prospects and referral sources. One of the keys to success is letting your personality shine through. By definition social media is more […]
One of the challenges with social media, like all your marketing activities, is to stay true to your firm’s brand and message. Because of the ease, immediacy and viral effects of social media it’s all too easy to undo years of brand building with the click of a mouse. Defining your firm’s message really begins […]
It’s time. If you’ve been putting off developing your firm’s social media strategy it’s time for you to get your head out of that stack of dead trees on your desk and embrace what many of your prospects and referral sources already have. Social media is here to stay. It’s undisputed that LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging […]