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 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.

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.

March 24, 2026

Don’t Waste Another Minute! 3 Proven Ways to Protect and Grow Your Key Accounts.

All clients matter… but BIG clients matter more. They just do. Big clients are your business’ foundation. They are what allow you to make payroll and keep your lights on.

But there’s a problem with big clients. For most firms, there are 3, 4 or 5 clients that account for 40, 50 or 60% (or more) of your revenue. Which is great… until you lose one. You never want to lose any clients, but the loss of one of your big clients can be catastrophic!

March 9, 2026

You Can’t Manage What You Don’t See

Great sales management happens IRL (in real life), not on a spreadsheet.

Here’s a fairly common scenario… one of your seller-doers is not hitting her sales goals. But it’s not a question of activity level levels, she’s doing all the right things… and plenty of them. But she’s still falling short.

So, if it’s not the choice of her activities or the quantity of them, it must be the quality – how well she’s doing them.

February 24, 2026

The Fastest Way to Improve Sales Performance? Model What Already Works.

We’ve all heard the phrase that, “You learn more when you fail than when you succeed.” Well, that may not be exactly true when it comes to selling, especially inside of research agencies. Maybe your salespeople can learn to be better at selling when they model their sales behavior after the most successful performer(s) on your team.