The Competitive Advantage

January 7, 2020

20 Low-cost/No-cost Marketing & Sales Ideas to Kick-Start 2020

New month… new year… new decade! Pretty exciting! But are you starting 2020 with the same ol’ marketing & sales activities? If so, maybe it’s time to shake things up a bit. Below are 20 marketing & sales ideas to help you enhance your business development efforts in 2020. In no particular order…

December 30, 2019

The Top 11 Most-Read Marketing & Sales Blog Posts of 2019

As you may have seen in a post earlier this year, in the 7+ years since starting Harpeth Marketing, I have published more than 400 articles (this one is #420, to be exact!)… making this blog, The Competitive Advantage – the #1 marketing & sales resource in our industry! One of the benefits of writing so frequently is that my writing has developed a bit of a following (both on our website and on my LinkedIn profile). So, at this time every year, I like to look back at the articles I posted over the year and showcase those that were the most popular.

December 23, 2019

5 MORE Easy Sales Hacks for Seller-Doers in 2020

Early last month, I published a blog post about ‘sales hacks’ for seller-doers. The feedback was so positive that I wanted to follow that article up with another one. So, to help you achieve your sales goals in 2020, here are five more easy sales hacks for you to employ next year…

December 17, 2019

Business is Just Business… Keep It in Perspective

I had a really interesting week last week. Over a 3-day period, I met in-person with five different clients and former clients… and while every conversation was a little bit about business, each became more about their lives and what’s important to them. Things that are far more important than the top line or the bottom line.

December 3, 2019

This Seller-Doer Sales Strategy is Right in Your Own Backyard

Let me start with a few questions. As a seller-doer…

#1. Do you live in or near a fairly large city? [Everyone in NY, Chicago, Atlanta, LA and even in places like Nashville & Baltimore are putting their hands up in the air.]

#2. Do you have clients or potential clients (i.e. sales prospects) based nearby? [Most of the hands stay up.]

Final question. Have you visited any of those clients or prospects, in-person, in the past 3 months? [That sound you hear is all of the hands dropping.]

Why is that? Why would we not visit nearby “business opportunities” in-person?

November 26, 2019

9 Things I’m Thankful for at Work 

It’s almost Thanksgiving… and a tradition around many dining room tables, before anyone digs into their turkey and dressing, is to go around the table and have everyone their say out loud what they’re thankful for. It’s a nice way to share something personal and to remind us all how fortunate we are for the things in our life.

So, with that as the backdrop, I’d like to take a minute to share what I’m thankful for regarding my business…

November 20, 2019

Their marketing worked! This time.

I needed a new part for my truck. The armrest was busted and I needed a new piece to fix it. I asked my mechanic about replacing the entire armrest, but was a little appalled at the cost of a new one. And I didn’t know quite where to go to find a piece as specific as the underside plate for an armrest in a Ford truck.

Then, in a huge stroke of luck/coincidence, I saw an ad on TV for a place called RockAuto. So, I went to their website, found the part, ordered it, the part showed up a few days later… boom! The advertising worked for them.

Sort of.

November 12, 2019

5 Easy Sales Hacks for Seller-Doers in 2020

Hey! All you seller-doers out there… how are your sales efforts going this year? Are you going to hit your 2019 sales goals?

If not, don’t be too surprised. Being a seller-doer is hard work. You try to serve two masters, but inevitably, the “doing” gets in the way of “selling”… which makes hitting those sales goals all the more difficult.

Maybe it’s time to try something new. To help you get started, here are 5 easy sales hacks to help you kick-start your selling efforts in 2020…