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.

September 16, 2025

It’s Only September… But 2025 is Already Over!

At least from a sales & marketing perspective.

It’s September and you’re a little behind on your revenue goals for the year. So, you decide to double down on your sales and marketing efforts for the next several weeks.

Logical, right? But the fact is, for most MR agencies, it’s too late to impact 2025. With the typical sales cycle being 6 to 12 months long, your efforts in September and October aren’t paying any dividends until Q2 or Q3 of next year.

Sure, you might get lucky heading into Q4 of this year, but for the most part… you’re done!

August 19, 2025

Inside the Mind of a Research Buyer, Part 5

This is the 3^rd installment (post 1, post 2) in our current blog series (and 5^th overall in this series) based on interviews with research buyers I’ve had the opportunity to meet recently. They have all been kind enough to share with me how they like to connect with (and ultimately, be sold to by) research vendors/agencies. If you work in any capacity for an agency, this series will help you better understand your clients.

Name: Nicole Whitlow
Title: Head of Global Consumer Insights, KitchenAid
Company: Whirlpool
Years at company: 6

August 12, 2025

Inside the Mind of a Research Buyer, Part 4

In our last post, we continued this blog series based on interviews with research buyers I had the pleasure of meeting over the last couple of months. Their insight into how buyer’s buy should be required reading for all MR agency employees. Here’s #4 in that series…

Name:  Brett Garrison
Title:  Manager, Market Insights
Company:  Aflac
Years at company:  8