Posted on by Rowan H. Price (LinkedIn)

Book Outline: “Unawkward Your Business Development”

If you want to read (or write) a book about business development for complex services firm, first make sure you read this outline

Book publication date: NEVER (This is an imaginary book).

I have (not) written this book to because I wanted to share what I learned running a complex technology consulting firm for 7 years. The book teaches you to find and cultivate happy and high-quality customer relationships.

Additional note: to clarify, I did not write this book.

But I wrote the outline below, hoping it might be helpful.

It answers the question, “if you were to write a book about your experience running a technology consulting firm, what would it look like – what would you write about”?

Unawkward Your Business Development: A Guide for Complex Services Firms

  1. Foreward, by Al Ries – Positioning and Business Development 
  2. Part 1: Introduction – who is this book for?
    • Chapter 1: Who are you? What is a “complex services firm“? A short history of your business and its ecosystem.
    • Chapter 2: How do you know if you need a lead generation strategy?
      • BTW, what’s in a word: lead generation vs. marketing (and poised vs awkward)
    • Chapter 3: The immense benefits of learning elegant digital lead generation.
  3. Part 2: Positioning Your Complex Services Firm
    • Chapter 4: Nothing to See here: If you’re not going to specialize, there’s no point in reading this book
      • Expert Craftsman vs Strategic Advisor: why either one (or a blend of both) is a desirable outcome of good positioning
    • Chapter 5: Positioning 1, Branding 0: Why positioning is the foundation of lead generation
      • Bonus section: The comic absurdity of “Personal Branding”
    • Chapter 6: Positioning by the numbers: numeric guidelines for making decisions.
  4. Part 3: The Psychology of Lead Generation
    • Chapter 7: Ethical Marketing
    • Chapter 8: Persuasion, Influence, and Charm
  5. Part 4: Inbound Lead Generation Via Content Marketing and Other Arts of War
    • Chapter 9: What makes content “Good”, anyway?
    • Chapter 10: SEO: Good digital content is easy to find by its target audience
    • Chapter 11: UX: The effect of good UX on lead conversion and lead flows
    • Chapter 12: Copywriting for compressing complex ideas into short statements
    • Chapter 13: You gotta own it: content creation duties that business owners CANNOT outsource or delegate
    • Chapter 14: How to make digital content quotable, citable, shareable, and social media-friendly
    • Chapter 15: Systemization and technology (aka Content Strategy)
  6. Part 5: Outbound Lead Generation in a Charming and Non-Awkward Way
    • Chapter 16: Stop chasing: the art of introducing yourself
    • Chapter 17: The ephemeral outbound channels
    • Chapter 18: The eternal outbound channels
    • Chapter 19: The crucial relationship between content marketing and outbound marketing
    • Chapter 20: Systemization and technology (aka Contact Strategy)
  7. Part 6: The Relationship between Lead Generation, Selling, Pricing
    • Chapter 21: How “stop selling”  and other beneficial  Sales effects of a lead generation strategy
    • Chapter 22: The Immutable Law of Lead Generation and Pricing
  8. Part 7: Resources
    • Appendix A: Case studies in lead generation strategy
    • Appendix B: The best books on positioning, lead generation, selling, and pricing
    • Appendix A: Recommended coursework