Creating a Heart-Centered Decision-Making Machine
In the beginning of a business, there is a LOT riding on making the right decisions, because when you don’t have any financial slack the wrong decisions can sink you. Then, later in the business, the number of decisions that need to be made seems to multiply. Although each individual decision may not seem so […]
How to Tell Potential Clients to Hire You
You ever have those moments when someone so obviously needs you and what you offer that you just want to tell them, “Just sign up! You need this!” Maybe you’re tempted to grab their lapels and shake them. The funny thing is, if you’re feeling this, chances are the other client has at least an […]
How to Bore Yourself Horribly Into Profitability
I remember when one of our clients, who had had a string of fairly successful course launches, was looking like he was going to flop one big time. He had made some assumptions based on previous launched, had put it all together in a smart, well-thought-out way, had even surveyed his audience to make sure […]
How the Heck Long Should You Follow-up With Someone?
It’s awkward. You know they’re interested in what you offer, you’re not just making it up. Frustrating. You know they need what you’re offering. They know they could sure use it. And the first of the month is coming up again. Yet, they haven’t bought yet. It’s been weeks (months, really). When do you give […]
The Magnetics, the Wrong People, and Why Things Aren’t Really That Hard
I was talking to a friend recently, and he was explaining how he was struggling to get clear on his business message. I asked him what he had so far, and he told me. “Hmmm… that seems pretty clear to me. And good. I’m not really getting where you’re stuck.” As he started to explain, […]
The Underlying Reason Why People Aren’t Saying Yes
The last few weeks I’ve been writing a lot about that twenty to fifty minute conversation you have with prospective clients, sometimes called the “sales conversation.” For such a shortish conversation, there’s a lot that goes into it and lot that comes out of it. It carries all of our hopes and fears as business […]
How to Tell When Someone Really Does Need to “Think About It”
I bet if you could listen in on the tens of thousands of conversations happening right this very second between business owners and potential clients, you’d hear this phrase a lot: “Let me think about it and get back to you.” For the business owner, it’s a spine-chilling, hope-killing, exhausting thing to hear. For every […]
The Cliff Edge Moment in the Sales Conversation
You know that moment I mean. You’ve been chatting along nicely with your potential client for fifteen, or maybe fifty, minutes, and suddenly things feel different. A bit wobbly. A bit… on the edge? The energy changed in the conversation, in ways both subtle and dramatic. Nothing you said, nothing they said. But suddenly, you’re […]
The Two Things You Love Most Are Muddying Up Your Business
“Bwoke!” My two-year old son was sitting in the bath trying to find the missing piece to one of his bath toys. Of course, being two years old, “looking for” consisted of looking at me with a truly pitiful expression, and saying “Bwoke!” (his version of “broken”). The soap had clouded the water, so as […]
Sticky Notes Versus the To-Do List Tsunami
Earlier this year I replaced our kitchen sink. At one point I was faced with having to tighten down the basin drain, which comes in two parts: the metal ring on top of the drain hole, and the bottom part which screws into the top part, allowing water to drain down the pipe, instead of […]