Newsletter Archive
Great businesses are built on the hearts and minds of customers
“Do you deserve to be in business? Profit aside…if your business disappeared… would anyone care?”
Familiarity is an obstacle on the way to success
People are adaptable. But getting used to things isn’t always good.
Treat the source of the sales problem, not its symptom
There's a big difference between a problem with sales and a problem that affects sales. Problems that affect sales aren't going to be solved the same way.
Getting to the root of the problem is the only way to find an effective solution
If you want sustainable solutions to boost sales, you have to get to the root of the problem.
Sales problems are usually much deeper than they seem
If you aren’t prepared to address the real problems standing in the way of growth, you’ll never get sustainable solutions.
Value proposition has to be clearly defined at the top
Far too often businesses rely on salespeople to figure the value proposition out. And many sales professionals will. But they shouldn't have to.
5 questions to ask when sales are stuck.
When your car won’t start, you don’t look at the speedometer. You follow the diagnosis it provides: Check the engine. How do you address stuck sales?
A clear foundation is what helps businesses scale
Hitting that wall, that plateau, or that ceiling often requires reassessing the growth strategy altogether. And in some cases, building one from scratch.
Tactics are nothing without a clearly defined strategy
When you pick the tactics before you have a clearly defined strategy, it's easy to end up with good individual pieces that don’t work well together.
Surface level solutions do not solve core problems
It’s easy to treat the symptom or avoid going deep. But surface level solutions have a way of coming back.
Change is about people, not plans or strategies
All change leads back to people. Regardless of where change is needed, these things have to be considered.
Invest in building a great culture
Does culture eat strategy for lunch? It may be a bit chicken & egg, but one thing's for sure: great culture accelerates great strategy.
The things to look for to figure out what is really working
If sales in your business are stuck, consider looking at what is working to get unstuck. Here are some of the things I usually look for.
Do you have a sales problem? Or a revenue problem? And what to do about it.
What’s the difference between a sales problem and a revenue problem? Learn the difference and why it matters if you want to grow your business.
Embrace criticism to build a company that wins
If you want to build a company that wins, you have to embrace criticism. This means embracing what may seem like negativity.
[Forbes] 16 top tips for identifying new market opportunities during a downturn.
A Forbes Business Council post I was featured in helps entrepreneurs pivot and grow, even when times are tough.
To fix sales, find the right problem first
"We need to fix sales" - easily the most common thing I hear from CEOs. But a Rx is only as good as the diagnosis.
Taking a step backwards now can mean having permanent benefit in the future
I took a pay cut going from sales to management. I thought it was a "step backwards." But that was the wrong way to look at it.
Blaming will not solve your business’s problems
Blaming is a bad habit. Blaming your prospects & customers is even worse.
Good sales do not fix bad business
If you aren't getting the results you want, the problem may be in the engine, not necessarily the speedometer.