There is little to be gained from 
sporadic business development. We must pursue new opportunities with the same consistency that we expect them to come in the door. This means regularly staying in touch with our referral sources, constantly encouraging our clients to send new business, and producing a steady stream of articles, talks, and tweets (or whatever makes up our various marketing platforms). It is more easily said than done when the only person we are accountable to is ourselves. Far too often, we buy into our own excuses and let our business development fall by the wayside.
But we are remarkably reliable when it comes to our daily routines. We don’t have to muster any motivation to brush our teeth in the morning or wash our hands before dinner. Thanks to years of repetition, they are now so engrained into our subconscious that their consistent implementation is effortless. If only we had the same discipline when it comes to promoting our services.
In order to make our business practices habitual, we must implement them repeatedly until they also become second nature. I use a monthly checklist to accomplish this. It’s posted on the wall in my office and reminds me of the tactics I must consistently execute in order to maintain a steady stream of new business. Its latest iteration looks like this:
- Schedule lunch with a prospective client – 4/month
- Schedule lunch with a referral source – 2/month
- Write a blog post – 4/month
- Host a supper club – 1/month
- Produce a webinar – 1/month
- Spend 20 minutes on social media – 8 times/month
- Deliver a live presentation – 2/month
- Attend a networking event – 1/month
I encourage you to design your own checklist and use it religiously. You will find that it helps you stay focused and provides an early warning system when you are falling behind on your commitments. More importantly, it will encourage the kind of repetition necessary to build meaningful revenue routines.
