What your brand isn’t!
There’s a lot of misguided information peddled about the importance of branding. Specifically believing logos, letterhead and business cards are what constitutes a brand. Too often we see businesses spend an inordinate [...]
How to cure “feast and famine” in your business
If you’re in business have you ever experienced the feast and famine so prevalent in small to medium sized businesses? At times you’re super busy and you don’t have time to scratch [...]
This is what distinguishes you from your competition
Look around you. Unless you have a completely unique product or service (highly unlikely), you’ll have myriad competitors. So what distinguishes you from all of them? The answer is YOU! No matter [...]
The ultimate contributor to your success is….
Your business success or lack thereof is a direct reflection of your mindset. How expansive or closed you are. By mentoring and coaching business leaders ranging from solo professionals to owners and [...]
Why price is elastic…
As a professional consultant do you cycle around questions like, “What should I charge?” “How much could they afford to pay?” “Will they pay that?” If this is you, stop right now. [...]
How to match salespeople to the right role
If you employ people you know your number one risk is ending up with a person who doesn’t fit the role as well you thought they would. And that costs you time, [...]
What do you stand for?
In any field, one of the greatest influencers of your success is your attitude of being of service. Zig Ziglar summed the mindset up beautifully, “You can get everything in life you [...]
How to “sell” a new concept
You know your new product is a game changer. But you can’t seem to get traction. How do you convince dyed in the wool prospects to give you a hearing? [...]
When you should “fire” a client
You’re in business to make money, eventually achieve financial freedom and the life choices that come with that. However, you can only achieve this by serving your clients well. So choosing who [...]
Why “executive rapport” matters in sales
Over 20 years I've coached hundreds of salespeople. Most could effectively deal prospects in their own peer level. But only a few could take it up to senior management and be treated [...]
Will you take a stand?
As a business owner, the best way to achieve choice and economic freedom for yourself starts with a combination of mindset and strategy. Knowing where you want to go and having a [...]
Are you an adviser or pleaser?
Have you ever walked into a shop to just look around and ended up walking out with a rather expensive item you had no initial intention of buying? I know [...]
Are you making this common sales mistake?
You’ve finally got that meeting with a potentially high value prospect. You’re sipping your coffee while making the usual opening rapport building small talk. Then your prospect leans forward and says, “Tell [...]
Are salespeople born or made? The answer may surprise you
What I’m going to say now may well surprise you. And your initial thought might be, that can’t be right. But hear me out. Having worked in corporate and small business sales [...]
Who do you need to become?
There’s an old saying, “What got you here won’t get you there”. Life is a continual process of growth. The only way to grow is to continuously expand our comfort zones. As [...]
Want more referrals? Change your mindset
Have you ever been cheesed off because you gave a referral, they got the business, but you never heard back. No acknowledgement or thank you. I know I have. Today I’m going [...]
How we fool ourselves… 4 mistakes salespeople make
George W. Bush famously butchered the quote: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”. That said, it’s surprising how often we fool ourselves in business, whether we [...]
How Referral Kits make it easier to generate referrals
I’m sure you’ve asked for referrals, maybe from clients, associates, even friends. hey say yes of course, but nothing happens. You may ask again, but still nothing. Disappointed, you eventually give up. [...]
Close more business with this secret sauce
Exceptional salespeople know they need their prospects to emotionally buy into their solution. It’s the secret sauce that helps them close significantly more business and build a loyal client base. I was [...]
The big referral myth
There’s a big myth. That getting a referral means you just rock up and the sale is in the bag. Nothing is further from the truth. In essence a referral is nothing [...]
4 referral scenarios and how to deal with them…
There’s a big myth. That getting a referral means you just rock up and the sale is in the bag. Nothing is further from the truth. In essence a referral is nothing [...]
What would make your business stand out?
What makes some businesses stand out from the crowd, attract premium clients and have a waiting list? While others scrabble for market share and often attract price shoppers who show no loyalty [...]
Are you cultivating Referral Partners?
Ask any business owner and they’ll say referrals are the best source of new business. And they’re right. A good referral could be worth their weight in gold. But ask the next [...]
Is your business at risk because…
Business is about balancing the risk/reward ratio. Taking calculated risks that hopefully reap big rewards. And the most dangerous risk in any business is the number one. One choice, one customer, one [...]
Choosing the right media
People often ask me how they can get their marketing message in front of the right prospects. Given the plethora of choice between newspapers, magazines, physical mail, fax, phone, SMS, online advertising [...]
Bulls Eye Attraction
A fundamental marketing principle is Market-Message-Media match. You have to find the right audience (market), create a message which resonates and have a mechanism to get traffic. Which brings us to the [...]
What’s the one thing guaranteed to perk your immediate interest?
What’s the one thing guaranteed to perk your immediate interest? It’s hearing your name mentioned across a crowded room. Self-interest sparks and you immediately wonder what they’re talking about and why. Your [...]
Why great marketers are storytellers
Have you ever wondered why some books, movies, plays or TV series become best sellers and endure while others, equally good, flop? All enduring stories follow particular structures. Be they origin stories [...]
Why specialising is important…
Many years ago a mentor who’s an extremely wealthy businessman hammered a concept into me. You can be the Jack of all trades, and master of none. Or you can be a [...]
To niche or not to niche, that is the question
I’m going to put a stake in the ground and say every professional consultancy should niche down, narrowing their target market space. Now, I can hear some of you saying, “If I [...]
How to start a sales conversation with a high value prospect
Steven Covey popularised the phrase, start with the end in mind. Something that’s especially important when sitting down with a prospect for the first time. Today we’ll go over how to start [...]
How to structure a successful sales meeting
You’ve finally got the meeting with a Big Prospect. You’re sitting in her office. You’ve established rapport. She looks at you expectantly. Now what? There is a golden rule that governs every [...]
Confusing the Urgent and the Important
Over the years we’ve observed many small business owners, especially professional consultancy firms confuse the urgent and the important. So rather than focusing on activities that produce financial stability and predictability of [...]
Why you should focus on $10,000/hour versus $10/hour work
Michael Gerber of “E-Myth” fame asserts that the vast majority of business owners start off as “technicians”. People who are very good at the technical nature of their profession – be they [...]
The availability trap
Do you drop everything when a prospect or client calls? Or do you have a business posture which says, "I provide real value and my time and knowledge deserves to be respected". [...]
5 traits all successful business owners share
Over the last 18 years we’ve been privileged to have worked with some exceptional business owners where we’ve learnt as much as we imparted. In our experience successful business owners all understand [...]
How to avoid discounting your services (Video)
A client recently asked how to handle a price objection. Their prospect wanted a major discount which would have meant shaving almost $5,000 off the price. Before I recount how I told [...]
What’s your success potential? (Part 1)
Having observed and worked with successful people I wondered what makes some people more successful in business than others. What are the irreducible factors that contributed to their success? Ultimately it comes [...]
When opportunity knocks…
….open the door! Years ago we walked into a store. Met a salesman. Well actually he wasn’t. He was a service technician called Carlos. Carlos was no fool. He realised an opportunity [...]
How to avoid price objections
Ever thought you had the sale in the bag, only to get a price objection right at the end? How could you avoid this in the first place? There are four critical [...]