You're likely not as targeted in growing your business as you think. Most service-based business development efforts are too diffuse. You have too many vague opportunities without a clear, actionable path to increase your chances of winning any of them. Your team is smart, dedicated, and hard-working -- but their efforts aren't resulting in meaningful progress.

In the ever-evolving realm of sales, the conventional pursuit of securing a “yes” may often lead to frustration and missed opportunities. This article focuses on the art of analyzing prospect responses reclassify a successful pitch with receiving an answer rather than just a “yes”.

Within your organization, you may have noticed that top performers are meticulous planners. They understand that success doesn’t happen by chance and, as a result, they spend time at the beginning of the sales process preparing a well-thought-out strategy for “planning to win.” In our previous article, we explored the importance of understanding what matters most to your customer’s key stakeholders, and the types of questions that can help you discover and align their objectives and challenges with your solutions and unique business value.

Back in 1957, two engineers invented a textured wallpaper they were sure would become a big hit. Instead, it flopped. After some modest success repurposing it as an insulation for greenhouses, their failures became blessings in disguise, forever altering the history of packing and shipping worldwide, while de-stressing millions.