Blog
Stories from the world of BD
To RFP or not to RFP, that is the question
A few years ago, I said no to £100k, switched off the laptop and went home. It was a conscious decision. I was a commercial manager in a B2B agency, we were behind on target, any commission that quarter was looking unlikely and I’d taken it upon myself to say no to a...
Sales collateral 101. Basics basics, fundamentals.
A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with a tech founder and we got onto the subject of the plans for a product launch. And at that moment, this little gem tumbled out: "Oh but that’s the sore point, we don’t have anything to send. For sure, we have clients, we have...
Win at the sell on with video
Still relying on slides in 2021? It's possible to win at the sell on with video. Picture the scene. The New Business push has gone well, the discovery questions have unearthed a need and the demo went like a dream. What comes next? "That’s been great, can you share me...
Asking about business goals? Yeah ok, but give a bit of warning, eh.
Tell me about your goals? When unpicking a B2B commercial strategy, a common theme is to find out the business goals. After all, if we’re going to be building a plan, then it makes sense to know what the direction of travel needs to be. Here’s the thing. If we’re...
Ah yes, it’s the ‘one year in business’ post
One year in business, happy birthday to Make the Break I’ll admit I hesitated a little before putting this one together. However, if this helps even one person who is thinking about taking the jump then that’s a good thing. So in the spirit of JFDI, here’s what I’ve...
I don’t want my accountant to be different, I just want them to be good
We’re not like other accountants. Oh really, not this again Why are some accountants so keen to point out that they are not like their peers? What is it about being tarred with the accountancy brush that is so unpalatable that the very first thing said is ‘oh, we’re...
I love it when a plan comes together, part 3
Welcome to the third instalment in this mini three part series So far in part 1, the discussion focused on people with a customer first approach and in part 2, it was all about the kinds of processes that can help a budding new sales leader. Part 3, yep you’ve guessed...
I love it when a plan comes together, part 2
Assemble the A-Team Last week in part 1, the focus was on high level strategy, the thinking before the doing. Part 2 here is all about getting stuck in and creating the setup for success Let's get practical What if you are the newly promoted sales manager, the first...
I love it when a plan comes together, part 1
No plan, no cigar As a child of the 80s, I spent many an hour in my formative years watching the likes of Knight Rider, Air Wolf and the A-Team. Others wanted to be the Hoff (and admittedly KITT was pretty cool) , but my preferred viewing was always the A-team. While...
Sort your images out
A good campaign is a fast campaign When discussing client marketing, website performance is regularly on the agenda. And in the very next breath, page load speed is usually mentioned. The current website has been up for a while and it’s getting slow.
Staring into the sales abyss
Dare you stare into the sales abyss? When it comes to sales, Nietzsche had it wrong. The sales abyss is not bottomless, it won’t lead to existential torture, there is a way out and there are no monsters lurking. Let me set the scene. As a sales manager you’re tasked...
Climate positive from day one
Being part of the solution, not part of the problem One of the good things about setting up your own thing is that you can do things the way you want to do them. For me, one of those was to be mindful of carbon footprint and support a local Bristol company all at the...
I'm all ears