Targets are those individuals whom you are most excited about pursuing. Target Worksheets are where you maintain a record of your plans, experiences and details about the Target.
Keep in mind that your list of target worksheets should be a revolving door. It is not a Contact Database. It is a list that constantly changes. You add new names, get them into the flow of your business development effort and then archive them. You should also have all your contacts listed in some other contact database, such as Outlook. Be sure to include your Targets in your general contact database as well so that they will receive your general outreach messages, such as updates or invitations. But listing your Targets separately on BizDevCoach will teach you how to prioritize your Targets and will help you use your biz dev time most effectively.
To add a Target click on "Add new." Add theTarget name and/or entity and click "Save." When you click on their name it will open the Target Worksheet which provides an opportunity to enter more information.
There are three categories of targets:
1. Clients - This includes existing clients who could be sources for additional business, and people whom you would like to have as clients.
2. Referral sources - This includes people who have already referred business to you and could refer more, and people who are well connected to good targets and could refer them to you.
3. Resources - This includes people who could help you, such as editors and program chairs.
You may be excited about them because you already know them well and are confident that they would be interested in your services or products. You may be excited about them because among all your contacts they are the most likely to benefit from your offers. Or, they may be particularly appropriate referral sources or resources.
It is important to maintain a list of your priority targets so that you invest your biz dev time wisely. You may want to maintain a list of ten top targets. If you can't think of ten targets, that's okay, but you should regularly review your contact database until you develop a list of at least ten. This process will get easier as you practice.
Regularly review your target list. As you do, you may want to prioritize your list by dragging and dropping targets in the order that you want to see them with the most important closer to the top. Or, you may want to order them alphabetically so you can quickly find a name when you want to make an addition to the Target Worksheet. You will notice that the number of to-do's for each target are listed after each name. You may want to prioritize those targets who don't have a documented to-do.
Schedule frequent reminders (in the My account section) so that you consistently review your targets and next steps. As you develop your outreach skills, you will be able to maintain a larger target list. You may want to move from 10 to 20. Remember, your success is directly related to increasing your outreach to quality targets.
The system is designed to allow you to quickly add a target to your list and his/her entity. The entity is the company or organization of the target. If you list a person and an entity, the entity will appear in parentheses.
New targets will always be added to the top of your Target list. You can drag and drop a target in order of priority. After you add a name, you can click on it to add additional information. The more information you add, the greater the likelihood you will be able to think of reasons for reaching ou
Keep in mind that your target list may change (sometimes frequently). As you meet new people, they may become priorities. As your services change, your targets may change. Review your targets regularly - even daily - to ensure that you are very familiar with each target and aware of the next step to pursue each.
You can archive the targets you want to remember but which you may not to show on your current Target list. To archive a target, scroll over the name and click, "Archive."
You can print your target list by clicking on the print icon. If you want to print the archived targets, you need to click on the Show archived targets link and then click on the print icon.
If you want to create a PDF of your target list, just click on the download icon and it will include both current and archived targets.
Wish List
Your Wish List is a place to list and manage prospects who are complete strangers, but who you would like to meet. Click on Wish List and you will be able to enter the prospects that are strangers and that you want to pursue.