LET'S FACE IT. No one studies law, accounting, marketing, engineering or another field because of a burning desire to become a salesperson. We choose these fields because we want to be lawyers, accountants, marketers, engineers and so on. Unfortunately, business has changed. As professionals we are expected to be experts in our field. We're also expected - and in some cases required - to sell. If we want to move up the corporate ladder, there's a point where we must take on a client-facing role and along with that comes business development responsibility.
Make Your Voice Heard
IN THE WORLD of business, if you don't have an opinion, one thing is certain: you won't get very far. Whatever your role, be it employee, supplier, service provider or adviser, whoever is paying you will expect value for money and, in their eyes, that will include ideas, suggestions and clear evidence that your grey matter has been fully engaged. Previous business generations largely favoured the command-and-control model. Rigid hierarchies determined which people in an organisation or a working partnership were expected to do the thinking and whose role was more or less just to follow instructions.