What does it mean to have a buyer-centric strategy? When it comes to strategy, everyone has an opinion. People will say to you “all you need to do is…" – and that's your cue to tune out completely. But what should you tune into? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3nK65GQI60&feature=youtu.be In a buyer-centric strategy, pay attention to product life cycle needs Today, I’ll share a bit of detail around tuning into your buyer's needs at different points in your product life cycle, as well as some examples of contemporary companies that have made their strategy really buyer-centric. You may have seen a READ MORE ›

How do you make more money than your competitors? That's what Michael Porter set out to answer in his trilogy and what I’ll explain very briefly in today’s blog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ4YawXFz4E You may remember Porter’s ‘Five Forces’ from school. He used this model to explain why some industries are more profitable than others. Ultimately, we can't control our industry - but we can control the business that we're in. And that's why one of Porter's lesser-known ideas is more actionable for most of us. Choose the right profit model Increased profitability for your business comes down to deliberately READ MORE ›

How do you fundamentally change your momentum? Is it innovation? Is it expanding into new markets? Is it charismatic leadership? How do you kick the curve? That's the question Jim Collins answers in his second book, ‘Good to Great’, and what I want to talk to you about today. https://youtu.be/kTjLRALE95Q 7 Keys to Kick the Curve In his book, Jim Collins explains how businesses change their momentum. Over the course of 15 years, he looked at businesses that had achieved adequate market success. Then they had a clear transition, and then they kicked the curve – meaning READ MORE ›

You might be close to the action in a start-up, or a cog in a big business. Either way, you have a critical role to play in the sustained success of your business. Today, I'm going to show how you can do just that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb0sHeqfLRg I'll be drawing on the work from Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their fantastic book, ‘Built to Last’. They gathered their conclusions by comparing 18 highly-successful companies against 18 companies that did reasonably well. Both groups had the same capital, technology and start time. Despite having similar opportunities, the comparison companies READ MORE ›

Telemarketing scripts are aimed to help the uncomfortable get comfortable, and the poor get good. They rarely do either. Today I’m going to show you a number of telemarketing scripts, summarise them, and make one big change to that summarised set to help you get more effective at telemarketing for complex B2B selling. https://youtu.be/5jVSY_Ihml4 Telemarketing needs a flow, not a script I’ve reviewed practical recommendations from three sites and summarised them. I found generally that they’ve tended to be all about manipulation, trying to manage a conversation. In complex B2B, there are some really important elements going READ MORE ›

There are no obviously good ideas in strategy. The very same strategy that you saw somebody else employ to great effect, could be completely the wrong idea for you. And, the same strategy that you have employed previously might just be the wrong strategy as well. How you set your target market, your channel, your product, your pricing, your competitive strategy - that is everything - depends on the answer to one simple question. Get that right and strategy's a walk in the park. Get it wrong and you're dead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pMwRuWVYS0 Set your strategy around your buyers' READ MORE ›

The best way to build a go to market strategy is to copy someone else. Unless you want to make money, or grow consistently, and then it's not such a great idea. Let me show you why with three classic go-to-market strategy examples. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pMtCHq3WYk The right strategy doesn't depend on your product, but your buyers. Let's take a look at the companies, their buyers, and their strategy. At the end I'll give you a model for working this out for yourself. Desktop Computers For my first example, let's take a company that wants to own the desktop READ MORE ›

How would you like to increase your revenue every year without increasing your sales quotas? Steady - I'm not selling some networking marketing method, or even a product. I just want to show you something obvious that you can do in your own business without paying anybody, or signing up for some crazy system. This is business 101. https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hz2PK_lxS4w The answer is simple and probably obvious. To grow revenues without increasing sales you need recurring revenue, which comes from selling recurring products/services. Below, I will make a very quick case for recurring revenue.  This will be READ MORE ›