The Incumbent’s Dilemma in B2B Services
Why incumbent service contractors should worry and what they can do about it. It’s a fact of life (FOL) that B2B incumbents have it rough from their customers. Customers know when their [...]
21 Rules of the Competitive Proposal Game
Selling a B2B contract is a game where buyers pick winners by judging sellers’ proposals. If sellers blow the proposal (aka losing) they’ve wasted all their time, effort, and money on that [...]
Selling Only Your Part of a Bigger Solution
Often, we sell one part of a large solution. It happens when our service/product solves a portion of a bigger problem than our offering alone can solve. However, selling one part of a solution [...]
Service Intangible
B2B services are i n t a n g i b l e. That’s their nature. You rarely (if ever) see, taste, feel, hear, or smell a service before it’s bought. [...]
Words Matter to the Voice in Customers’ Heads
When B2B customers read suppliers’ proposals, each individual hears a voice in their head as well as seeing the written words. This subvocalization is a natural process that all humans do when [...]
Storytelling Means Business
Everything’s a story in business. Customers understand complexity from a story. They rationalize their buying from a story, which means sellers sell stories. Sales reps pitch gel electrophoresis [...]
Who Needs an Engaging Big Story?
Trot out the same old tired sales pitch and watch the competition eat your lunch. Meaningful business stories sell because they engage customers to buy. But sales and marketing folks often fail [...]
Best Time for Improvements?
The best time to make improvements is when your competitors are hunkered down waiting for the fear to end. Like now, in this current economic gloom and doom there’s plenty of whitewater [...]
