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Win Without Pitching®: Thinking

Process

The Diversification Trap

The closer a principal gets to his target exit age, the less risk he takes. At some point, within the five year window, the firm quits evolving altogether, and just when he should be building something strong that will survive the transition to new owners and therefore be easy to sell, the firm begins to deteriorate. The last few years in the business are poor ones. If it gets sold at all, it’s not at the price hoped for. The result is underfunded retirement for a burned out entrepreneur who put all his eggs into the end-game basket. The journey was unnecessarily painful and stressful because of the decisions deferred, and the payout wasn’t there in the end. Lose, lose.

Trust Your Gut

We need to trust our guts more – in business, in life and in particular in sales where we’re prone to acting against our intuition for long periods of time, all the while knowing that this story ends with the client hiring someone else or not having the budget or the authority or just being The Client From Hell. In hindsight, the evidence was always there. We saw or felt it early and we chose to ignore the signs to our detriment.

Letter to a Drowning Agency Principal

I know everything looks bleak. You feel like things are so far gone that you wonder if the only avenue left to you is to shut it down. It’s difficult in times like this to have clarity on your situation and know what to do next, but if you still have the fight in you and want to make this business work, I can help by telling you what you need to do. Then it’s up to you to do it.

The PowerPoint Problem

There are many patterns one sees after working with hundreds of creative and marketing firms on their approach to business development, and one of them is an over reliance on presentation software like PowerPoint. When I spot a strategy document written for a client or the firm itself that was composed in PowerPoint I know we have a problem and I can immediately identify the co-presenting symptoms.

 

The Only New Business Indicator That Matters

If you want to predict your likelihood of winning new business (and therefore whether or not it makes sense to pour resources into the opportunity) just ask yourself this one question.

Seven Universal Truths About Money

Money, money, money. Most of us, I believe, have poor relationships with money. Another belief of mine is that some of us have warped or skewed views on the topic that we think are universally shared by others when they are not.

The Problem With Service

Although I think I do a good job of masking it, I remain scarred by the dozen years I spent working in advertising agencies and design firms before I began advising them. The scar that marks me, and perhaps you, is the service scar.

A Fair Price

Should you be pursuing as much as you can get from your clients or should you be driven by the idea of a “fair” price? Many economists would say that any price paid is by definition a fair price otherwise the buyer wouldn’t pay it. They’re wrong.

This Should Be Fun

A proper approach to selling should be energy positive. It should be sustainable. And it should be fun – even when you lose…

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