© u pstream a cademy 2011 1 w orld c lass t raining: g etting y our f irm o n t rack p resented by...

© UPSTREAM ACADEMY 2011 1

WORLD CLASS TRAINING:GETTING YOUR FIRM ON TRACK

PRESENTED BY SAM M. ALLRED, FOUNDER & DIRECTOR OF UPSTREAM ACADEMY

ACADEMY FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAM INTRODUCTIONPRESENTED BY

SAM ALLRED AND GRAHAM WILSON


Before the recession, aggressively waiting for the phone to ring actually worked as a business development strategy.

Times have certainly changed.


Firm leaders are focused now more than ever before on business development efforts, and for good reason. Change is sweeping our profession in the following ways:

• Senior partners highly skilled in business development—along with their key client contacts and best referral sources—are retiring in ever-greater numbers.

CHANGES IN OUR PROFESSION


• Business leaders are requesting fewer services as they hunker down to ride out the recession.

• Escalating client attrition rates mean more and more new work needs to come in the door each year just to hold top line revenue steady.



• Competition for client dollars is intense, bringing a new wave of price cutting.

• Newer partners and senior managers (who have never sold during a recession) are being asked to bring in increasing amounts of new business.



So what should be your plan of action?

We believe one very wise course of action is to make sure your best future business developers have the opportunity to develop the skills, confidence and discipline needed to consistently bring high quality new work opportunities into the firm.


The Academy for Business Development is an intensive 18-month program for teaching vital business development skills to new partners and senior managers.


PRESENTATION ROADMAP

1. What makes this program unique?

2. Overview of the Academy for Business Development

3. Key dates4. Questions and answersEmail questions to [email protected]


WHAT MAKES THIS PROGRAM UNIQUE?

http://www.strategic-capital.com/srv.htm


Our sole objective is to ensure your future business developers have the skills, confidence, and discipline required to consistently bring high quality new work into your firm from new and existing clients.

DELIBERATE DESIGN


The Academy is a work program. We believe in being appropriately demanding of participants to ensure they achieve their business development goals.


Training is delivered in digestible doses throughout the 18-month program. Individuals must be able to apply what they learn on a daily basis. Learning is continuous.


Our undeviating focus on principles and processes helps participants develop the skills and confidence necessary to grow the firm’s top line revenue.


The Academy helps participants recognize the very best prospects and successfully engage them as firm clients.


Knowing that poor follow-through is the number one complaint about almost all programs, we’ve built multiple levels of accountability into the Academy for Business Development.

PRACTICAL ACCOUNTABILITY


The Academy requires a high level of accountability between participants and their guides and between participants and Academy faculty.


Our instructors, Graham Wilson and Sam Allred, have significantly impacted the development and growth of hundreds of public accounting firms around the world for nearly two decades.

DEMONSTRATED EXPERTISE


OVERVIEW OF THE ACADEMY FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT



Each ABD participant needs to have a guide.

The guide should be a respected stakeholder in the firm. A partner may guide more than one participant.

1. PERSONAL GUIDES


Guides will work with participants throughout the program and will hold them accountable for follow-through on their Personal Business Development Plans.

Upstream Academy will provide guidance and support for ABD guides.


The guide will meet with the participant each month to review the most recent SkillBuilding Forum and to track progress on the Personal Business Development Plan.

The guide will communicate monthly with the managing partner regarding the participant’s progress.


We believe many vital business development skills need to be taught face-to-face in an interactive group environment.

Three 8-hour workshops will be held throughout the 18-month period (June 2011, January 2012, and June 2012).

The workshops will begin at 2:00pm and conclude at noon the next day.

2. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

WORKSHOPS


In addition to learning vital business development skills, participants will spend time at each workshop developing their 6-month Personal Business Development Plan.


• Overview of 18-month program• Compilation of first Personal Business

Development Plan (6-month period)• The selling and buying cycles• The psychology of selling professional

services• Completion of a behavioral style

inventory• Cross servicing – increasing net

revenue per client• Essential time management skills• Call to action – next steps for this

marketing period

WORKSHOP #1 - AGENDA


• Review of progress with cross-servicing clients

• Prospecting – how to fill the pipeline with qualified prospects

• How to ask relevant questions – based on SPIN Selling®

• Improving your listening skills• Review of Personal Business

Development Plan for next marketing period

• Call to action – next steps for this marketing period



• Building a strong referral base• Learning when to say no• Generalist versus specialist: the

advantages of being an expert• Advanced networking: it’s the small

things that count• Review of Personal Business

Development Plan for next marketing period

• Call to action – next steps for this marketing period



During the program, 14 one-hour conference calls led by Graham Wilson and Sam Allred will provide a forum for discussing vital business development skills.

This helps participants broaden their knowledge incrementally and consistently over the full 18 months.

3. SKILLBUILDING FORUMS


We will record each SkillBuilding

Forum and participants will receive an audio CD after the conference call.

The following slide lists the topics that will be covered. There will be no SkillBuilding forums in March and April.


• Great Service, More Work: Connecting the Dots• Recognizing the Best Prospects – And Why It

Matters• Asking Clients for Additional Business• Positioning Yourself As a Consultant, Not a

Vendor• Preparing to Meet with a Prospect• Differentiating Your Firm in the Marketplace• Developing C-Level Clients into A-Level Clients• The Art and Science of Effective Sales

Negotiation• Getting the Business (Closing Effectively)• Making Persuasive Presentations• Networking: Becoming an Expert• Overcoming Setbacks and Learning from

Failures• Dealing Strategically with D-level Clients• Proposals: When to Use them and When Not to

Use Them• Graduation: Discipline for the Rest of Your

Career

SKILLBUILDING FORUM TOPICS


All participants will set specific business development goals they are accountable to achieve.

Plans will be fine-tuned with new goals for each six-month business development period.

4. PERSONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PLAN


Accountability check-ins will happen at the following levels:

• Participants will meet with their guide each month to report progress on their Personal Business Development Plan.

• Guides will report participant’s progress to managing partners on a monthly basis.

5. ACCOUNTABILITY CHECK-INS


• Academy faculty will hold bi-monthly group conference calls with groups of ten or fewer participants.

• Academy faculty will schedule a personal phone call with managing partners every six months.


Upstream Academy will recommend CPE credit based on the level of participation in this program.

6. CPE


Like everything we do at Upstream Academy, this program is unconditionally guaranteed to your full satisfaction.

If you are not completely satisfied, we will, at your option, either waive your fee or accept that portion of the fee that reflects your level of satisfaction.

7. UNCONDITIONAL GUARANTEE


The investment for each participant is $9,000 ($7,500 for UAN members). This fee represents the total 18-month cost of the program, including the participant’s registration at each workshop.

The only additional cost will be travel, lodging and meals at the events.

8. INVESTMENT


KEY DATES



Deadline to Register — June 1

ABD Business Development Workshops

June 23-24, 2011 — ABD Workshop #1 - Las Vegas, NevadaJanuary 10-11, 2012 — ABD Workshop #2, Las Vegas, Nevada June 19-20, 2012 — ABD Workshop #3, Park City, Utah

Guide Calls (10am Mountain)

July 20, 2011

January 19, 2012

July 18, 2012

KEY 2010-2011 DATES


ABD SkillBuilding Forums

KEY 2011-2012 DATES

2011

July 21

August 25

September 22

October 20

November 17

December 15

2012

January 26

February 24

May 24

July 26

August 8

September 20

October 16

November 20

December 18, 2012 ABD Graduation Class of 2012


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS



Thank You!

[email protected]@upstreamacademy.com

© u pstream a cademy 2011 1 w orld c lass t raining: g etting y our f irm o n t rack p resented by...

Documents

p rogram u nique

business leaders

n o ur p rofession slide

business developmentalong

business development

business development

business development

new partners