A lot of folks in marketing overuse the term “authenticity”, like it’s some kind of commodity you can fake, and thereby increase sales. But authenticity is precious, which is why so many people are trying to fake it. This goes … Read More
conversion
Complexity is the enemy
When we’re deep into our field, we sometimes get so deep that clients and prospects have trouble understanding. Think of a doctor describing an operation to another doctor, rather than to the patient. This is the curse of expertise. But there’s another form of … Read More
Everyone updates the fine print, but what about your website headline?
Happy 2025. Many of you probably updated the copyright notice at the bottom of your website to include the current year. (Although I am not a lawyer of any kind, let alone a copyright lawyer, my understanding is that you … Read More
What’s your secret?
What do you wish your audience knew that would unlock tremendous value for them? Peter Thiel delves into secrets and contrarianism is his book Zero to One. Thoughts on Peter Thiel and his influence aside, I think he’s onto something … Read More
Proposals don’t win deals, they lose them
“Sounds good, can you send me a proposal?” These words used to excite and terrify me. Then, I’d go off to write an amazing proposal to wow the prospect and win the business. So much stress, for so little success. … Read More
AI to make adding contacts easier
AI is the big buzzword, and advances have made it so anyone can get an always on-call, always patient intern. (Here are a few ways I use ChatGPT to help me get contact info into Mimiran.) Now you can paste … Read More
Do you own your own business, or does it own you?
Most of us start our own business because we want more freedom, more control, more spaciousness to pursue our purpose. Sometimes, though, it seems like the business starts owning us– even more than the corporate jobs we left. It’s hard … Read More
The Olympics, Degree-of-difficulty, and Sales
USA and France played 2 amazing basketball games this weekend– the men’s final on Saturday and the women’s on Sunday, As a basketball fan, it’s great to see the games get competitive, with amazing players from all over the world.My … Read More
Sales and marketing automation vs. organization
There are lots of tools for sales and marketing automation, some quite powerful and effective, in the appropriate situation. But all of these tools will fail if you need to have real relationships and you try to “outsource” your side … Read More
If you rely on referrals, what’s your referral strategy?
For years, I relied on referrals, but I wasn’t intentional about it– I didn’t have a referral strategy. I just hoped I’d get a good referral. And even if I didn’t get a good referral, I felt obliged to pursue … Read More