What Price Says About You

Several years ago, a CEO whose company I had helped took me to lunch. We had barely spoken because I’d worked with his head of sales. He said to me, “I owe you thanks. Because of you, I sold my company for life-changing money.” I asked him how. He said, “Before you came in, we…

Read More

Lessons From A 73mm ARR Company, 2 of 2

This is roughly a 6 minute read.   Last time, I told you about the New York based 73mm ARR company who called me. They called because their sales organization was a mystery to top leadership. Despite being well-funded and lined with industry pros, they weren’t hitting numbers. They were making sales, but not enough.…

Read More

Networking Like a Pro: 6 Must-Take Actions for Referral Success

Some businesses run on referrals. It’s usually because: A. Actually a lower cost of sale to have people refer business to you than search for those deals one by one; B. The service is purchased based on trust (consulting, law, etc…); C. Someone’s afraid to prospect. Let’s skip category C for now, and focus on…

Read More

Growth – Whose Job Is It, Anyway?

A client (professional services firm) aims to grow by 40% next year. And it’s doable. The plan is actually simple. A certain level of retention on existing clients/customers, with some predicted growth there, and that takes care of 70% of the growth. The rest will come from new clients/logos. But there’s a problem. And it’s…

Read More

In Sales, Sometimes You’re The Problem

In the middle of a 0-10 football season in high school, one of our coaches said, “Everyone says you suck. Just don’t suck.” To which one of our players responded, “Thanks for the inspiration, Lombardi.” After the laughs wore off, there was some truth to what our coach said: sometimes, having success doesn’t mean being…

Read More

Want to Raise Prices? Here’s One Way.

(This isn’t a chest-beating fantasy about how much you can charge if only you’re tough enough and gutsy enough. That’s not reality. Some industries won’t stand for it. Some prospects have too many options they prefer. I do believe, often, you can charge MORE than others and win. But rarely can you charge 65% more…

Read More

Winning Business BEFORE The Meeting

When I started business school, I remember the teachers lining up and saying, one by one, “I teach you how to make it,” “I teach you how to count it,” and finally, “I teach you how to sell it.” Every business has these functions, whether the person running the business or the firm wants to…

Read More

Why Your Consults (or Discovery Calls) Go Sideways

To Help You Win… One of the questions I get most often is, “Why aren’t I closing these opportunities?” To be honest, it’s ACTUALLY phrased like this: Lawyer: “These leads just don’t have any money.” Consultant/Service Provider: “I don’t know what’s going on. Business is slow.” CEO: “Deals keep pushing, so I’m guessing next quarter…

Read More

Objections

The Problem of Objections   It was the same conversation I have all the time: “I need my people to be able to handle objections,” the managing partner said. “Why’s that?” I asked. “They just can’t handle them. They don’t know what to say. Can you help them with that?” “I mean, I can do…

Read More