“The reason most people don’t recognize an opportunity when they meet it is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like Hard Work.” Carlos had a small training and consulting firm that was doing all right. He had 6 consultants on staff and another 4–5 that were part-timers, but he hadn’t seen growth…
Now I know I’m not usually in your inbox on a Wednesday! But yesterday, I talked about the importance of daily action and I had to come back today, so you knew that I was practicing what I preach! You see, it’s a huge mistake to make business development this “thing” that you do. Like…
On Saturday, I told you the story about going to 27 new business meetings in a row without closing a single client. That was a painful process, it was a lot of rejection, and the reason those appointments didn’t close was primarily that I wasn’t executing well. It sucked. But during that same time, other…
“You can have anything you want if you are willing to ask 1,000 people for it.” ~ Byron Katie When I first started my business, I worked with a sales trainer. He told me, “Get 30 appointments in your first 90 days, and you’ll have a thriving consulting business.” I didn’t know any better, so…
Creative service businesses tend to have a small number of clients (8 – 12) that make up the bulk of their revenue each year. So keeping those clients happy is crucial to your success. What does it mean to “delight” clients of a creative services firm? What will separate you from the other agencies competing…
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…
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…
Today, I’m going to take you on a bit of a journey – warning: it involves algebra! How many people do you have in your life that you trust? I mean, you’d let them hold your wallet, trust. You’d let them babysit your kids, trust. Think about it for a minute. Now, think about just…
In 2020, we are living in a time when ambient risks have skyrocketed. The economic risks, social risks, and public health risks are massively higher than they were last year. This includes the risk of hiring a professional services firm. People hire these experts to reduce their risk of negative outcomes. For example: I could…
We just finished up our Social Selling Cohort that has spent the last 12 weeks working on increasing our lead generation through LinkedIn outreach. (Hit reply if you want to know more about it.) As I listened to people talk about the value they received, one thing came up again and again. Consistent activity creates…