You have a good story to tell, your value propositions are buttoned up, and you deliver on your promises. So why does it take so long to get from initial pitch to signed, sealed, and delivered? Maybe it’s because your best marketing and business development efforts are out of sync with the way the real decision makers now operate, says consultant Michael A. Boylan.

To help you get in front of the right person with the right message in record time, Boylan has put together a dozen fresh tactics. He explains why they’re effective in his book Accelerants: 12 Strategies to Sell Faster, Close Deals Faster, and Grow Your Business Faster. Boylan devotes nearly half the book to eye-opening “constraints” (also packaged as an even dozen), which include the level of entry you achieve (and how you achieve it), as well as presentation sacred cows like the format of your PowerPoint pitch.

To overcome the constraints and get back on a growth curve — and stay there — Boylan offers his field-tested accelerants for generating sales leads. The sales bar might keep rising, but these tools might just help you rise along with it:

• Metric the message. Attach quantifiable results to your value proposition and deliver the numbers in a well-defined package.
• Access the castle. Get in front of the real decision makers using tactics like the “circle of leverage.”
• Deliver the ultimate presentation. Ditch the boilerplate for a condensed format.
• Paint the financial picture. Create a sense of urgency by convincingly packaging and strategically positioning your cost justification.
• Hold your ground. Leverage your time and expertise — don’t get sidetracked by the client’s diversions.
• Harmonize for gold. Deliver a consistent message that reiterates your financially calibrated value proposition.
• Complete the circle of integration. Create a common methodology and a common language, then tailor it to each part of your business.

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