Sales
Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.
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
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 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
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
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
I had a problem. Customers wanted training. They’d pay for training. I knew they needed something else. It would take longer, require more work and money, but deliver a 5x greater likelihood of a positive outcome. Training would be part of it, but not till after we’d looked at their market, hiring, management, compensation…
Read More
If you ever have to sell anything, especially services, you know that you’re trying to ANSWER several questions for yourself or your company: Can we help this person? Do we want to work with this person? Will this person pay us? Just as important, though, you need to answer questions for the POTENTIAL CLIENT:…
Read More
Board Game Strategy for Sales and Business. Sales are mostly checkers, and everything else is chess. My firstborn, my 10-year-old son, whom I love, just recently finished going 10-1 against me in chess. In fairness, I’ve never played before he taught it to me in stress-free chess, or something like that. In some fairness, he…
Read More
When to use email? At least in sales. At least once a week, a sales coaching client will send me a note that reads, “Adam, can you look at this email from (fill in the blank)? I want to win this account, but am not sure how to respond.” Sometimes, the seller will include an…
Read More
Three (New?) Ways To Pursue Your Customers. That Your Competitors Probably Are Not. Someone asked me to address a group of CEOs and owners on sales and growth in early January. Not a big deal, usually, as I’ve done this so many times before. Show up with a canned talk, adjust the slides a little,…
Read More