Twice in the last two weeks I have been asked to drop my fees. And both times I’ve said no, even though I know that I will probably win the work if I lower my fees. Am I mad? Arrogant? Misguided? Or I am just naïve in my negotiation tactics around fees? Actually, this is …
What do you do if a potential client asks you to lower your fees? Read More »
Tyre-kickers. Not a particularly nice word, which is often used to describe prospects who don’t want to buy your service. Let’s be honest, we’ve all been tyre-kickers at some point, and we’ve all experienced tyre-kickers wasting our time. You know and I know, that your business development time is very limited. Whilst you still have …
6 clues to help you identify and stop wasting time on clients who will never sign up Read More »
From time to time, I get asked if I am interested in accepting adverts on my two blogs. However, because none of the advertising companies that have approached me have been prepared to adopt a ‘principled selling approach’, I’ve never said yes, to what effectively is ‘free money’ for me. Today was one of those …
Be honest with potential prospects – a cautionary tale! Read More »
No word of a lie, word-for-word, this was what greeted me in a recent e-mail from my client. It’s a question I pondered for literally years until I spent some time working with Jon, my business partner, and former sales trainer for BP. Typically most potential clients are not yet ready to buy on their …
How do I follow up without p*ssing my potential client off? Read More »
It was all going so well. In fact, as it turned out too well… All I needed to do was agree dates with the client for a series of workshops worth nearly £10k to us. That should be the easy part? Right? Wrong! I delegated the job of agreeing dates to my chief organiser, Lisa. …
7 reasons why your potential client is not returning your call Read More »
Continued from yesterday: 5. Don’t solve their problems before they buy This one sounds strange, because surely we should be proving our worth before our clients buy? So, helping them to take action and commit to working with us. Actually no, very often if we solve our potential client’s problems before they commit to working …
8 ways to help prospective clients sign up quicker – Part 2 Read More »
If someone could wave a magic wand, one of my three wishes would be that potential clients would turn up cheque book in hand asking me where to sign and when to start. I’d then have to spend less time wooing them and helping them through the process of getting to the all important signing …
8 ways to help prospective clients sign up quicker – part 1 Read More »
Have you noticed, that even though ‘selling’ is a vital part of what every ambitious professional does, no one calls it selling? I’m guessing it’s called ‘BD’ or ‘Business Development’ in your practice. However, Business Development is everything which helps your practice grow- this means it includes: client service marketing – i.e. generating leads selling …
Let’s put selling back into Business Development Read More »
