A new report from CSO Insights is their This research study–19th in CSO’s series–looked at more than 100 metrics and garnered responses from 1200 companies. Essentially, this piece is a summary of the study, with more detailed information on various metrics available through CSO Insights–industry specific responses, for example. What always strikes me about the […]
Everyone’s heard of a “niche” market as one way to differentiate your company from others. Perhaps you sell business-to-business, and you sell only to schools, or to salespeople, or to entrepreneurs, or to HR Directors, or to manufacturers. Or you sell to consumers, perhaps to men, or to teens, or to lawyers or gardeners.You might […]
A few days ago we had an air conditioning company come to the house for a seasonal check-up of our system. The guy who came out was polite and seemed knowledgeable and thorough, and after his inspection he told us about the few things that should be repaired or replaced. And, he said, since our…...
What is it that makes your company special? How are you different? Why should a customer buy from you rather than from someone else? Learning to express your distinct value proposition is a key requirement for growing business with bigger customers–especially if you are a small company going after customers that are significantly bigger than […]
Are you one of the executives who still think social media is frivolous, trivial, and unrelated to your business? Think again! In this article, I explain the value of just one of the social media tools to find a personal introduction into a new large account prospect, to locate employees and past employees that you […]
I did an EDGY Perspectives teleconference on this topic, which is essentially an overview of some of the key principles of Whale Hunting. There's also a discussion of how the RFP process fits into your overall whale hunting process. Here's a link to the audio recording. And my thanks to Dan Waldschmidt for featuring me! I am […]
I had a very happy phone call today–the kind that pleases me more than all others. One of my clients called to report that on the previous night, the school board of his customer (a 50,000 student school district) had unanimously approved a five-year, $6.3 million contract for educational software that my client’s company sells. […]
Whenever you hold the position of “the best” for a period of time, you become vulnerable to many kinds of attacks. You can’t afford for your team to become complacent about your #1 position.
Are you developing your products and services in concert with your customers, or are you internally focused?
Even when you have the best solution, if you overkill with your message you will not win the sale.
When your brand message is stale, it’s time to refresh.
When you have rigid rules for customers, you will lose business.