One of the consequences of living in a crisis is that our time horizon gets real short. It makes sense–the future is uncertain–it’s not clear what part of the things that we’ve adapted to are permanent, and which are temporary. Our clients and prospects are going through the same thing, so it’s not clear how…
I’ve been locked inside my home with only my family for two weeks. With one day blending into the next in a quarantine induced haze, it can be hard to find the right tone to reach for in these emails. It can be hard to find a way to say what you want to say,…
We’ve talked about my “boss” before, right? He’s a total nut job, always making commitments with unrealistic deadlines. He’s terrible at looking at a to-do list and having any idea of how long it’s going to take to complete that work. It’s his fault that I’m writing this email at a quarter of eight at…
I spent time Friday and Saturday talking with my sister about her daycare business. On March 1st, she was taking care of kids for 121 families; she’s got 5 families dropping kids off as of April 1st. We worked through the process of laying off all of her staff. “I feel like I’m starting over…
When I started selling professional services the process was simple. Find where your ideal customers gathered. Go to that place and meet them. Follow up after the meeting to meet 1-2-1 for “coffee” Determine if they had a need and if there was a “fit” Schedule a diagnostic meeting (e.g. actual sales call) Close. That…
In our last email, I discussed some actions you need to take as a leader to be available for your team, your customers, and your community while we’re all “social distancing.” But you can’t give from what you don’t have, so today, let’s talk about keeping your bucket full so that you can continue to…
On October 17, 1989, my parents went to see the World Series game between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s. Just as the festivities were beginning, a giant earthquake hit the bay area, destroying freeways, toppling buildings, and throwing the region into chaos. When my parents got home to their brick apartment building in…
When you’re deep in the day-to-day of your own business, you might be surprised to find that most B2B service businesses follow the same “lifecycle.” Including yours! Recognizing this is the first step toward reaching your next level of success. Because it means you can follow a blueprint of what other business owners before you…
I work with several businesses that rely on conferences for their business success. A new conference cancelation is coming out every day, and the forecast is bleak for at least a few months. How should we respond? The primary value of an in-person conference is networking. You get to meet a lot of folks in a…
Earlier this week, I talked about the pros and cons of retainer pricing, and some folks responded, asking, “So if I’m not doing retainers, how should I be pricing?” What is value pricing? When we solve a problem for a client, it creates value in their company. We either help them to sell more, spend…