The Primal Scream of Low Price
This week I spent several days training a contractor’s sales staff. Inevitably during training, the primal, fearful scream of low price comes up. And it usually sounds like this: [...]
RFPs = Written Interviews
Imagine you’re in a job interview. You want the job. The interviewer needs to hire someone to fill an open position. Simple enough. In the beginning, the interviewer tells you lots of [...]
Naming Names: Matching Customers’ Words
Tolkien created wonderful character names like Gollum, Gandalf, and Gimli. These names belong to a unique world. When you hear them you know where you are. The same is true for customers. They [...]
Uneven Specifications: Bidding on a Level Field
As service contractors, we often hear customers telling us they’re bidding “apples to apples” and on a “level playing field”. Those are noble ideas. Fundamental to [...]
Change is the Hostage of Subtext
Business improvement (aka change) is a hostage to subtext. Change doesn’t occur until subtext becomes text. You know what subtext is. It’s when we say “No”, but mean [...]
