What if ROI (Return on Investment) and similar indicators of value are only smokescreens to protect the buyer from harm if things don’t work out? Afterall, decisions don’t demand a demonstrable ROI.
Read moreA Fable about Prospecting and Networking
When you want to find a bear, look in the woods.
Read moreSir Isaac Newton, Business Consultant
Sir Isaac Newton may have applied his three laws of motion to business as follows. Law 1: A business at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by a crisis. Law 2: A change in momentum requires forces and time. Law 3: For every metric there is an equal and opposite counter metric.
Read moreMarket Share’s Value as a KPI
There are three truths about market share:
1) A company can have at most 100% market share of its uniquely identified niche
2) A company has 0% market share of customers that don’t buy from it
3) Any other market share metric is a misleading estimate
Read moreThree Very Difficult Things To Do...And What To Do About It
Getting someone to 1) recognize, 2) admit to, and 3) do something about a problem are among the most difficult things to do. There are important implications.
Read moreHow to Succeed at Aligning Sales and Marketing
Erik Host-Steen, Founder of SMP Alignment, shares his best practices for aligning your sales and marketing teams. From effective handoffs to qualified leads and using technology to smooth out the process, Erik talks about how to get your sales and marketing departments to work together. Link to the podcast here.
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BUSTING THE SMALL BUSINESS MYTH: "WE DON'T DO THAT HERE"
Limited resources and size constraints often force small businesses to forgo a formal sales, marketing, or product development team and claim “We don’t do that here.” In fact, any company that has at least one paying customer DOES “do that here.” For the full blog post on the Boulder SBDC website, click here.
Six Ways Marketing Supports a Sales Team →
The purpose of marketing is to support sales. In a blog for a leading global sales training organization, Erik Host-Steen describes 6 support tools the marketing team should provide to the sales team. Click here.
Smarketing is Missing the P (for Product)
Smarketing is great, but what happens when the product is wrong?
Read moreHow to Identify Misalignment of the Commercial Team
Get a free, no-obligation assessment of your team's alignment.
Read moreStrategic Planning Season: Make it Count
Keep these four things in mind to make next year's strategic plan a better one: be different, make choices, focus on changes, and share it.
Read moreA CEO’s Tip for Keeping the Best Sales People
"The way you keep the best sales people is you need to give them something easy to sell. Otherwise they just go somewhere else." -- Jack Barker
Read moreThe Sturdy Step Stool of SMP Alignment
The step stool provides a simplified model that illustrates the interdependence of sales, marketing, product development, and strategy. Flaws in any one of the parts will make it an unstable platform.
Read moreThe ABCs of Engaging a Participating Advisor
Business is tough. Jack Welch calls it “messy and chaotic.” Answer an easy multiple choice question for some relief.
Read moreShoot for the Right Goal
Stephen Covey’s The 8th Habit sites a poll result that claims only 37% have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why. That would be like only 4 of 11 on a soccer team know which goal is theirs.
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