The Competitive Advantage

February 10, 2026

The Biggest Mistake Seller-Doers Make on the First Sales Call

Stop showing up and throwing up!

OK, I hate that phrase – throwing up – but that’s exactly what happens during most initial sales calls. And everyone who’s been selling for more than a few months has been down this road…

After weeks of swapping emails and LinkedIn messages, a potential client finally agrees to their first ‘sales meeting’ with you. And you couldn’t be more excited! The sales prospect is a high-profile target for your firm, representing a significant amount of revenue opportunity.

You get the initial call scheduled (likely in Zoom or Teams), you prepare properly, and you’re ready to go. The call starts, you say “hello” to each other, then the buyer says to you, “So, tell me about your firm.” And you can’t wait to tell him about all the things you do… and your great team… and how awesome you are!

But here’s the thing… DON’T DO IT!

January 16, 2026

Are Your Seller-Doers Ready for 2026?

Here are 9 questions to ask to be sure.

We are off and running… 2026 is underway. Are you ready? More importantly, are your seller-doers ready?

If you’re responsible for managing your firm’s seller-doers, does a sales system exist that provides a foundation for driving their success? If not, ask yourself the following questions to help you uncover key management elements that should be part of your 2026 sales program…

January 7, 2026

Why Your 2026 Sales Plan Shouldn’t Look Anything Like 2025

“If you keep doin’ what you’re doin’… you’ll keep gettin’ what you’re gettin’.”

That’s one of my favorite business (and life) philosophies. It’s the southern version of, “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things over and over and expecting the results to change period.” And the thing is… it’s true.

Let me ask you this… did you (and/or your firm) hit your revenue goal in 2025? Statistics being what they are… you likely fell short. It happens. So, what are you going to do about it in 2026? Or better yet… what are you going to do differently in 2026 to ensure that you reach your goals?

December 16, 2025

Make Buying Easy

I read an article recently that said buyers – especially younger ones – do not like dealing with salespeople… even more so than most people, in general. If the buying process is not easy… they’re moving on.

Buying, in general, has been trending in that direction for a while now. In one report I read, it stated that 70-80% of the buying process is done before the buyer ever talks to a sales rep. The fact is, buyers want to do most of the buying on their own.

November 17, 2025

Stop Managing Sales Backwards: Lead with Your Pipeline, Not Your Bids

What reports do you use to manage your firm’s sales effort… Year-to-date sales? Sales by service line? Sales by industry? If you had to pick just one report by which to manage your sales efforts, what would it be? What about to manage your own sales efforts?

In both cases, the answer is the same – the ‘sales pipeline report.’ Created and used properly, it’s the one tool that can keep your sales efforts on track, ensure that nothing falls through the cracks, tells you what next steps are with every sales prospect and provides senior management with nearly everything they need to know.

November 3, 2025

Your Best Path to New Business? The Clients You Already Have.

There is nothing in business that’s more difficult than acquiring a new client. Why? Because by definition, you’re ‘stealing’ them from a competitor.

You’re ostensibly saying to them, “I know you’ve worked with my competitor for the past five years – and they’ve done a good job for you – but forget about them. And take a chance with us!”

Not much of a sales pitch, is it? But that’s the reality of the situation. Asking a potential client to walk away from a vendor they know, like and trust requires them to take a leap of faith with you. It fills them with fear! Real fear… that if they take a chance and try you – and you screw up or are not as good as their existing supplier – then they’ll be in big trouble. So, what’s a vendor to do?

October 21, 2025

Stop Chasing New Clients: Focus on Keeping the Ones You Have

When most people think about ‘sales,’ they think about going out and acquiring new clients. And while that clearly is part of the sales function, I would argue that the higher sales priority is to ensure that you keep – and grow – your existing clients.

October 14, 2025

Introverts Can Sell Too: Busting the Big Sales Myths

Over the past several years, I’ve trained hundreds of MR professionals, 95% of whom were seller-doers. And there are two major reasons (ahem… excuses) that I’ve heard from these workshop participants as to why they can’t sell (ahem… don’t want to sell):

• “I’m an introvert!”
• “I’m not a natural born salesperson.”

Sound familiar? Let’s dissect these and bust apart these misconceptions.