In our experience very few SME business owners have a realistic handle on what it takes to grow revenue. Often arbitrary numbers are bandied about. “I want 20% or 30% growth”. But [...]
“Beware the quiet one in the corner. They are the ones likely to wield the power and sign the cheque” Words drilled into my at the beginning of my career almost 4 [...]
You’ve finally got that meeting with who you believe could be a good prospect. You turn up at the appointed time, but they keep you waiting. When you finally sit down, you [...]
People over-complicate sales. Ultimately sales is about finding people who have problems you can solve, then putting your value proposition to them. Ergo, you must be very clear on two things. The [...]
AI, block chain and Fin Tech start-ups appear to be sprouting up everywhere. Founded by someone who has what they think is a great idea who then goes ahead to create a [...]
The internet has completely changed the sales paradigm. We’ve been seduced into thinking marketing will produce all the leads we need. So we won’t actually have to go fish for prospects. Never [...]
If you had to pitch your product or service to a potential investor how would you go about it? I was recently asked to coach a bunch of start-ups in the art [...]
Let’s talk about the sales elephant in the room. Prospecting. We’d all love leads to magically appear ready to do business. The reality is they won’t. It’s your job to actively go [...]
Have you ever found yourself rambling in a sales meeting? Losing control of the conversation? So you find yourself going down rat holes where your prospect has taken control, setting the agenda. [...]
If I were to ask you who your market was, how specific would you be? Would you say, “potentially everyone”, or could you narrow it right down to specific people experiencing specific [...]
Smart business leaders understand two principles summed up in these two sentiments. “No plan survives first contact with the enemy” and “Feedback is the breakfast of champions”. In business much is made [...]
If you’re a small business owner how much money and time do you spend on marketing? Trying to generate more leads. And how much effort do you put into sales, actually converting [...]
Sales. It’s such a loaded word for many coaches and consultants. They cringe at the thought of contacting strangers to convince them to buy. And to a large extent I can’t blame [...]
Feast and famine. Seems to be the perennial curse of small business. It goes something like this. You get clients and become really busy. As a result you stop any marketing, prospecting [...]
Who’s your biggest sales competitor? It’s not whom you think. It’s the status quo. Doing nothing is the easiest thing for people to do, even if the process or products they’re using [...]
Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters isn’t the answer! In an increasingly digital world there’s an awful temptation to hide behind email, messaging and social media when it comes to selling. And while [...]
Selling! It’s such a loaded word. And it’s surprising how many people hate the thought of doing it. Which is fine, unless your livelihood depends on it. And as a consultant or business [...]
I constantly remind our clients that corporations don’t buy. People do. And people buy when they feel a level of trust and feel you understand them, their values and what they’re trying [...]
Over the years I’ve learned one thing about prospects. They lie! Generally not intentionally, but they lie all the same. Now before you take umbrage and reply telling me you’ve never done [...]
How much would you give away to get a client? What steps would you take to enable a prospect to convince themselves you’re a good fit and could solve their issues? Would [...]
How often do you reach out to a prospect? Once? Twice? Three times? Even more? Would it surprise you to know that the majority of people stop after the first contact. But [...]
Would you challenge your client’s thinking? Put contrary opinions or question assumptions? All too often there’s a tendency to go along and not rock the boat. But is this the best approach? [...]
Have you ever had what seemed like a great sales conversation and had your prospect say, send me a proposal? You then spend the next however long creating and sending it off. [...]
One of the biggest reasons people don’t like to “sell” is they don’t completely believe in the value they provide. The late Zig Ziglar insisted the first sale is always to yourself. [...]
Ever been in a meeting where the salesperson whipped out their laptop and insisted in going through a long presentation? Slide after slide of boring detail of how their solution worked. While [...]
Want to become a better communicator? Ensure you get your message through? The rate someone normally speaks at reflects the rate at which they process information. This has major implications in persuasion [...]
Sell high end, complex products or services to senior decision makers? Decision makers want to feel you truly understand them and the outcomes they want. Both on a personal and business level. [...]
A speaker in an innovation workshop kept humorously stating he was an overnight success after 15 years of hard slog. And that more often than not, things take much longer to come [...]
You’ve hired salespeople to fuel your growth. You had high expectations but time’s passed and they’re not getting the results you’d hoped for. It’s all too common a scenario, so what’s gone [...]
How easy do you make it for prospects to contact you? How about referral sources? I'm constantly amazed at how difficult people make this. LinkedIn profiles don't have phone numbers. Neither do [...]
Every prospect asks themselves 3 questions before becoming a client. Should I pay attention? Can I trust you? Is your recommendation going to work for me? In a world where we’re constantly [...]
We have a simple axiom in business. Provide as much value as possible to your clients. And get paid well for doing so. But many businesses stop short. Sure you solve the [...]
Traffic, conversion and economics are the bedrock principles underlying all business profitability. Traffic is the number of prospects you see. Conversion is the percentage of prospects who become clients. Economics is how [...]
When coaching salespeople I drill into them that nobody and I mean nobody wants to buy products or services. Whether it’s toothpaste, soap or high priced accounting services, no one cares about [...]
In Australia we’re obsessed with the state of the economy. It seems to permeate thinking and it’s a rare day that we won’t hear something about its state in the news. As [...]
Would you like to get more high quality referrals? When coaching professional consultants looking to expand their reach we get them to do two things. Transcript Would you like to [...]
In over 18 years consulting we’ve worked with two broad types of clients. See which type you fall into. The first are professional consultants who essentially just want to consult. They’re technicians [...]
Former US president George W. Bush is infamous for saying, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”. A quote which is very applicable in sales. Having coached [...]
Is your sales team actually performing? Are they making their numbers? Or do you keep hearing excuses like, “They’ll buy… soon” but it never happens. Or your people circle round the same [...]
90 days. It's all it takes to go from hero to oblivion in your customers' minds. Transcript 90 days. It's all it takes to go from hero to oblivion [...]
