Never ignore your competitors
We find frequently that some of our clients know nothing about their competitors. They might know who they are — as in they can name them — but they don’t know much about what they’re doing or how they’re approaching a similar market. This makes no sense. There is a ton to learn from your […]
The value of process: Sales engines and gasoline
New article from First Round Review trying to debunk the idea of “growth at all costs,” and this paragraph stands out: It’s a tale as old as time. Founders push sales orgs for growth to hit the numbers needed for the next round of fundraising. The ask stems from a need to show product/market fit […]
Relationships can actually be dangerous (bad!) for service companies
Some years ago, I’ve been at a conference in Chicago at the HQ of a mostly-ventured-back SaaS product. They’re somewhere around Round C, meaning that eventually they need to start selling/producing/generating their own revenue, or that venture “line of credit” is gonna go away right quick. And that seemed to be the problem. The sales […]
At what point in a sales process should an executive enter?
We don’t discuss this question enough in sales “thought leadership” — that’s what this is, right? — and it needs to be chopped up a little bit. It’s a bit of a Goldilocks question: too soon feels weird. Do you bring your mother to a first date? Usually not. And if you do, a second […]
What is a “predictable sales canvas” and what should it mean for you?
Technically this article is about: Sales triggers, entry point offers and ideal sales conversations. In reality it‘s about: Being human, being sequential and don’t ask for marriage on the first date. Yes, asking the wrong questions too early hurts!
Forget your product. People only buy transformations.
Here’s a question I bet many people would struggle and debate with, even though it sounds pretty easy when asked: What has Apple been selling since Day 1? Here are some of the answers you tend to get: “Tech” (pretty generic) “Intuitive products” (not wrong, and ties in with the Steve Jobs/Sean Lennon story) “Well-priced […]
The five core elements of predictable selling
The first question you need to ask yourself is … … is selling actually predictable? There’s been a debate about this for years. First off, throw marketing out of this discussion. Marketing is a support structure for sales in many organizations. It can have repeatable success, yes, and can claim to be data-driven — but […]
What are “the five whys” and why do you need them for selling?
We’re going to walk through a very systematic approach here called “The Five Whys,” which has been tweaked and redone in a few different contexts over the years. The basic idea is that there are five steps of a buyer journey that are triggers for your B2B outbound sales actions — we’re previously talked about […]
How to close more enterprise deals
Simple question that’s often hard to answer: why do so many sales opportunities suddenly stall? And, on the flip side, how can you close more enterprise deals? The basic breakdown of the answer is a discussion about indirect sales. See, if you sell SaaS to Pro Users and small businesses, then oftentimes it’s a 1-to-1 […]
Product Splintering: How to make it easier to buy from you
Let’s say your product is a $25,000 software or service, or a $4,000 monthly retainer. That’s what you want you prospects to buy from you, right? Even though you’ve outlined the sales and marketing speak, it’s still a very high wall for most of your leads and prospects to be climbing. If someone has just […]
