Last week, we explored the idea that email marketing is about earning the audience’s permission to keep talking. I suggested that there were two equally important elements – intent and content – that had to be in sync if you want to stick around in someone’s in-box. Now it’s time to talk about being helpful. […]
Value
Earning Your Spot in Their Email Inbox
Weird as it sounds, with all of the new technologies, email seems almost old school today. It’s been around for decades and much like other mature mediums, we value and loathe it at the same time. Part of the loathing comes from the daily experience of being barraged by emails we didn’t ask for, don’t […]
Our Value Creation Starts Within Our Own Company
Recently, I wrote, “Sales People Don’t Have The Time To Create Value With Customers…” Clearly, this is unacceptable if we are to drive business results. If we aren’t taking the time to create value with customers, then customers have no reason to waste their time with us. In the post, I suggested sales people don’t […]
Make Yourself Discount-Proof
Are you often asked to discount your fee or price? Typically, when a prospective customer or client balks at your price, it’s because they believe that the value of your offering is less than what they are being asked to pay. But, not always. There IS another reason. It’s this… They subscribe to the theory […]
5 Signals to Evaluate to Test the Value of Your Brand
Brands are people first. Customers are people too, so customers tend to take their relationship with a brand personally. Thus it’s not a surprise that people love their favorite smartphone brand, cringe when you mention their cable company, or even hate the mention of a particular bank. Startups, as well as every existing business, need […]
5 Ways to Turn Today’s Leads into Tomorrow’s Customers
There are a lot of statistics out there that say successful businesses should end up closing about one out of every three calls. But I know from experience that this is often not the case, and I’ll tell you how I learned that. A few years ago I was driving a plumber phone leads from different ad campaigns like […]
Are You Really Different?
We know the importance of differentiating ourselves in attempting to win business. We try to do this at our web sites, often posting comparisons and charts showing how we have more features and functions than the alternatives. Too often, we think differentiation is about checking more feature boxes, having a richer product, than the competition. […]
Avoid the Race to Zero
When do you sell your company? Obviously we all want to sell at the top. And there is the problem. How do you know when you are at or near that right point to sell for maximum value? Those of us in the business of calculating (guessing) this mythical peak in value often make the […]
Is Cold Calling Contrary to Being a Go-Giver?
A reader recently emailed me the following: “Hi Bob, I love being in sales and want to make a difference. The company I just started working for is very focused on cold calling, and closing on the first appointment, which seems contrary to the approach in your and John’s book? I love this company but how […]
When Did Profit Become a Bad Word for Entrepreneurs?
As a startup advisor and investor, I find that more and more entrepreneurs avoid using the term “profit” in pitching their new venture. They seem to feel it conveys a message of personal enrichment at the expense of others. My view is that the purpose of every business is to make a profit, as fuel […]
