The Competitive Advantage

November 5, 2019

Stop the Insanity… Make a ‘Change’ to Your Marketing & Sales Efforts for 2020

For the past several years – at about this same time – I’ve written articles with tips & tricks for creating marketing & sales plans that help my readers get ready for the new year.

This year, I want to do something different.

We’ve all heard the definition of ‘insanity’… to keep doing the same things over and over and expecting the outcome to change. Sadly, that describes the marketing & sales efforts of a majority of the firms in our industry. So, maybe it’s time to shake things up.

October 22, 2019

There is Nothing That Rivals In-Person Meetings for Deepening Client Relationships

We had clients visit us in our offices last week. These in-person meetings are a fairly rare occurrence in today’s ‘connected’ world. Aside my ‘road trips,’ most client get-togethers happen by phone or, maybe, video chat. And while those calls are always productive, they still leave me feeling a little disconnected.

So, when this client said they wanted to come to Nashville to meet, we got really excited.

October 15, 2019

Part 2: Hard selling inside of LinkedIn? Stop it, stop it, stop it!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on how NOT to use LinkedIn in your sales efforts (read it here). It was one of our most popular posts all year. Evidently, I’m not the only one who hates hard-sell pitches on LinkedIn.

In a happy coincidence, I was telling a client contact about this post… and she told me a story about how she is using LinkedIn in a friendly, non-salesy and effective way. Here’s what she’s doing…

October 8, 2019

Setting 2020 Sales Goals? That Big Revenue Number is NOT Enough!

For those firms that take the time to set annual sales goals, they generally think in terms of a BHAG… a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal! That is, “What lofty revenue number can we achieve next year?” And that’s fine. Employees need that target to work toward. To inspire and drive them.

In fact, it was about this time, last year, that I wrote a blog post on how to set those annual sales goals. Click Here to read it.

But those big goals are not enough!

September 24, 2019

Not sure what sort of customer experience you deliver? Just ask!

Here’s a short [true] story about an incredibly effective way to understand what sort of ‘customer experience’ your firm is delivering to the marketplace…

We subscribe to a webinar platform called WebinarNinja… and have been a client of theirs for just under three years. It’s proven to be a very good platform for our webinar program and workshops. WebinarNinja is one of those fast-growing tech companies, led by a sharp and energetic leader. In this case, his name is Omar Zenhom.

One of the risks when running a growing company is getting pulled in a lot of different directions and, as a result, slowly becoming ‘distanced’ from your clients. Losing touch with them. Getting so wrapped up in dealing with all of that other ownership and management ‘stuff,’ that you become disconnected from what made you successful in the first place… those clients.

September 17, 2019

Hard selling inside of LinkedIn? Stop it, stop it, stop it!

I love LinkedIn… and I hate it!

It is, by far, the best platform for connecting, communicating and sharing information in the B2B environment. It is also abused far too often and by far too many people. Let me share with you a recent true story of how NOT to use LinkedIn.

September 10, 2019

The 5 Strategic Questions You Must Answer for Success in 2020

The end of 2019 is in sight. And as it nears, wandering minds turn to the future… and what’s going to happen next year.

As a result, over the next few months, many firms will convene their annual gathering around the conference table and talk about what they want to do in 2020 to grow their business. Unfortunately, these meetings seem to end the same way every year, with a bold directive from the boss… something like, “We want a 20% increase in sales next year… now go get ‘em!” And while that might rally the troops a little (though, I doubt it), it doesn’t provide any real direction or guidance for making that happen.

September 2, 2019

3 Easy, No-Cost Ways to Upgrade Your Website

When was the last time you made some major enhancements to your website? Or even just a few simple edits? Did you create your website and then just let it sit there like a print ad in a magazine… or do you treat like it what it really is – the most important element in your entire marketing & sales effort?

If it’s been a while since you’ve spruced up your website, now’s the time… as you start thinking ahead to the new year (and the new decade). To help you get started, here are 3 easy ways to upgrade your website… and it won’t take very long or cost much (if any) money.