As I talked with one of my clients last week, he said something that blew my mind. Mike went to law school as a mid-career switcher. His background is in product development and engineering, but now he owns a law firm. We talked about how things have changed for him during the last few years…
When it comes to your sales pipeline, there’s just one thing you are in complete control over. You can’t control when people buy or who will buy, but you have complete control over the top of your funnel. And unless you’ve got something seriously wrong, the more qualified leads you put into the top of…
The sales funnel is a useful concept for helping us visualize the journey that a prospect makes toward becoming a customer. But the idea of the “funnel” makes the process seem more predictable than most of us find in practice! Just because someone is in your funnel doesn’t mean that they will buy, or even…
I’ve been trying to make an argument this week that it’s easier to grow your firm by narrowing your focus than by taking on a broad range of work from the clients that come your way. I wanted to end the week by talking about an example, a client who actually did this! Meet Robin…
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” — Bruce Lee We all want to be exceptional. If to achieve my goals, I have to be exceptional every day, that’s going to be exhausting! I’m not sure I have it in me to keep that up day after day after day. But the…
When I talk to growing agencies and creative services firms, their top concern is lead generation. They are confident that they can deliver value, but everyone struggles to get in front of the right potential buyers. Because their pipeline is skinny, and they’re anxious about that, I see folks relaxing their qualification. Instead of focusing…
2021, I want to have a serious conversation about your performance. As you know, we brought you in to replace someone who had severe performance issues. 2020 started off on the wrong foot, then just a few weeks later, their decisions had a major impact on the whole organization. I’m a believer in second chances,…
Welcome back! I’m hopeful that you’ve gotten a good break at the end of a long year and are back at it, ready to take on 2021 with new vigor and enthusiasm. I had some great downtime this holiday season. My business partner gave us a back yard fire pit! We were grateful for the…
It’s nearly the shortest day of the year, and after a long year filled with new opportunities, unexpected changes, loss, serendipity, and work – lots of work, it’s time to hibernate for a couple of weeks. If you’ve been reading along all year, you’ve seen 142 emails come your way from me, almost 30,000 words….
This week I’m reprising some emails I sent out early in the pandemic to help remind folks of the basics and make sure we’re still focused on keeping everyone connected. Earlier the subject was the team and clients; today I want to talk about taking care of your company’s #1 asset, you! Tame the anxiety When…