The Competitive Advantage

July 21, 2026

The Conference Networking Playbook: Before, During, and After the Event

It’s about to get busy in our industry: Quirks NY takes place next week, then the ESOMAR Congress, then the Corporate Researchers Conference… not to mention a whole bunch of smaller events mixed in. Which ones are you going to?

From a networking and selling perspective, in-person events should be at the top of your list! If you believe that buyers won’t buy from you until they get to know you, then like you, then trust you (and I do), nothing initiates and accelerates those buy-sell relationships like meeting each other in-person at a conference.

But you can’t just show up and hope all goes well. Success at these events requires you to plan for and work through activities before, during and after the event. To help guide you, here is a checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything:

July 14, 2026

What Happens When Seller-Doers Miss Their Sales Goals?

There’s an accountability gap that’s hurting your firm’s growth.

Here’s the scenario… as a leader in your firm, part of your job is to manage your firm’s small team of seller-doers. And you’ve set them up for success! They’ve been through sales training, you’ve established a generous commission plan and there’s a well-thought-out sales plan to guide them. You hold weekly sales team meetings, and coach each of them individually on a regular basis.

But even with all the support and resources you’re committing to sales, one of your seller-doers is failing. Falling short of their goal… by a lot.

June 30, 2026

What 600 Blog Posts Taught Me About Marketing, Sales and Growth

Yes, this actually is blog post #600. I started writing them shortly after I founded Harpeth Marketing in April 2012. Since then, I’ve written three or four posts every month. And you don’t do something that frequently and for so long without learning a few things about it. So here goes…

June 23, 2026

Why In-Person Meetings Still Win in B2B Sales

I’m old… and I’m old school. I started my career in the 80s as industrial sales rep for the Dupont company. I had a territory and would drive around from city to city, visiting clients and prospects and (hopefully) making some sales. And what was true then is just as true now – and maybe more so – that nothing enhances client relationships or advances the buy-sell conversation faster, or better, than spending time with buyers in-person.

June 16, 2026

If You Win on Price… You’ll Lose on Price

Since the first Neanderthal was going cave-to-cave with his “luxury animal skins,” selling on price (that is, lowering the price when the buyer objects to the cost) has been a standard M.O. for the vast majority of “untrained” sales people.

And, to be fair, there is an understandable logic to doing it… often, it will win you the sale. But doing that also brings with it a number of problems… and why you should never sell on price:

June 11, 2026

Do Your Seller-Doers Have Permission to Sell?

Yeah, I’m sure you have given them some sort of tacit permission (“Mary, I’m promoting you to seller-doer… now go sell something!”)… but do they have PERMISSION?! Have you created an environment where your seller-doers want to succeed and really can succeed… and not fall back into the trap of defaulting to doing project work? Let me explain…

May 26, 2026

The Biggest Mistake Most Sales Meetings Make (and How to Fix It)

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of being invited to sit in on a number of my clients’ sales meetings. These were all small-to-midsize firms with a team of 3 to 15 seller-doers (and in some cases, full-time salespeople). All of these meetings were very similar… and all of them made the same mistake!

In every case, the person responsible for managing sales would spend most of the time going around the room (or the zoom) and asking each seller-doer for a recap of their current sales activity and pipeline.

WHY?!

May 5, 2026

2026 Is 33% Over! Are You on Track to Hit Your Sales Goals?

As of last Thursday (April 30^th), the year is already 33% gone! Hard to believe. But it’s also a chance to reflect on and assess what’s happened so far… and maybe to make some tweaks to your plans for the rest of the year.