In selling to and serving major accounts, no matter how effective you are, you must face a harsh truth. Losing happens. Regardless of your focus, time and effort, you’re certain to come up short on occasion. In the grief following a major loss, someone in the selling organization will always say, “We should learn from ... Read Post

From a website to a face-to-face pitch, the world of sales revolves around calls to action (CTA). Often these can be subtle and easy to miss, such as a “learn more” signup button at the end of a compelling article. At other times a good CTA hits you like a ton of bricks, as is ... Read Post

It was almost painful to wake up each morning, knowing I chose the all-time worst job.  Enjoying humorous conversations with clients, and our family dog gleefully greeting me at home, helped me make it through each day. “Our worst experience can prove to be our gift in disguise.” Early in my career, I learned to ... Read Post

Trying to reach the masses by using marketing strategies that target many people at once can very effective for some businesses. With some businesses, it may not be the best approach because it could waste a lot of time and yield unsatisfying results. When targeting individual decision-makers in certain companies, a business might get better ... Read Post

In my last article “CRM in 2020 – The Suite Versus Best-of-Breed“, I discussed the battle between the “suite” approach to software production and sales, versus best-of-breed. Best-of-breed has come about through the advancement of APIs so that customers can now have the best possible software for all their various company functions, all connected through ... Read Post

The last of a 4 part series. If you aren’t enabling a culture of continuously improving value focus, you’re falling behind some competitors. In part one of this series, I introduced the idea that customer-perceived value is the kernel within “customer focus” that actually moves customer decisions, and you need to focus sharply on value. ... Read Post

Work smarter, not harder. Build a prosperous business, without killing yourself. Read Post

Virtual assistants can either be a godsend or awful to work with. Let’s hope that in this case, you did hire a good VA and the next step is to keep them ‘turned on’ and engaged. Engaged VAs are more motivated to work for the success of your business. They’re not just there to take ... Read Post