Positioning your consulting practice is perhaps the most critical sales and marketing decision you can make, but it’s also hard, so a lot of consultants don’t really do a great job with it. This leads them to struggle unnecessarily. Why … Read More
customer segmentation
As a consultant, are you a business owner or a subcontractor?
The phone rings and you can see the name of your client. What’s the feeling in your gut? Is it, “oh, great, I’m looking forward to talking to so-and-son”? Or is it, “not again, this so-and-so is draining the life … Read More
Competing against bigger firms
If you run a small firm, or perhaps your firm is you, you’ll sometimes find yourself competing against bigger firms. This can feel intimidating. These firms have more people, bigger budgets, slicker marketing, and often dedicated sales people. If you … Read More
Our own beliefs are the biggest sales obstacle
Sales is hard for anyone, but especially when you start your own professional services business, your own beliefs are often the biggest obstacle to sales. I started with some strange, self-limited beliefs about sales. Over time, I realized that I … Read More
Call Scripts for People Who Hate “Selling”
Call scripts get a bad rap, because they can be terrible, especially if you use them wrong. But call scripts can be really useful to: Give you a game plan for a call, instead of struggling over what to say. … Read More
LinkedIn Automation Gone Wrong Stories?
LinkedIn is a great place to curate a your professional network, keep track of people changing jobs, launching new venture, and sharing interesting content, but LinkedIn automation has filled our inboxes with spam. Some recent connection requests in my “inbox” … Read More
Marketing Planning for 2020 (and the 2020s)
All set with your marketing planning for next year? (And since we’re rolling into a new decade, for the 20s, as well?) No? Here are some links to get you started: Understand that you run a media company, whether you … Read More
Reasons you don’t have a Lead Magnet on your site
After I published a 3,000 word article on using a Lead Magnet to generate leads for your professional services business, responses ranged from “hey, this is exactly what I needed”, to “this would never work for me.” Within the “never … Read More
Should You Narrow Your Niche? Here’s the One Question to Ask
Should you narrow your niche? And what’s all this talk about niching, anyway? And if you’ve got a niche, how do you know if you should make it wider or narrower? Let’s dig in. What’s a Niche? Think of your … Read More
How not to connect on LinkedIn
Here’s a recent screenshot of my LinkedIn connection request screen: They’re both using the same spam template. Without accepting either request, I asked who was running their LinkedIn campaigns. (No response yet.) I get a lot of connection requests like … Read More