We Help You With Customer Discovery Q: Why don’t you ever blog about User Experience Research (UX)? The short answer is that we do customer discovery not user experience research. Our Clients Want Leads and Deals My clients come to me for help generating leads and closing deals, so that narrows my focus. We don’t […]
User Experience Research vs. Customer Discovery Read More »
Q: I have looked at your website and based on some of your blog posts you seem to provide a full range of tactical services–content, outbound messaging, SEO, videos, newsletters, demos, etc.. Why do you talk about “leads and deals” instead of focusing on the full range of services that you offer? Founders Want Leads
Founders Want Leads and Deals Read More »
Map the customer buying process, needs, and situation before you invest time sending a detailed proposal. A quick request can mean you are column fodder. Q: We are still trying to close our first paying customer. We have a website up and have talked to a number of people. More or less out of the blue
Map Customer Buying Process Before Sending a Proposal Read More »
The prisoners dilemma thought experiment that posits a single isolated transaction as the entire relationship does not offer a good model for business and dealing with prospects, customers, partners, suppliers, employees, or really anyone. Q: Is the Prisoners Dilemma A Good Model for Doing Business? Q: I am currently working on a degree in Computer
Q: Is the Prisoners Dilemma A Good Model for Doing Business? Read More »
If you have demonstrated domain knowledge and expertise, a plan for having a significant impact on a customer problem, and are in the process of exploring the early market for your offering or trying to build on a handful of early customers, we can help find leads and close deals. The majority of our clients
We Help Teams of Experts Find Leads and Close Deals Read More »
If you want to be a succeed as a bootstrapper, start with what you’ve got: you have an insight into an opportunity, a marketing edge, a particular problem where you’re going to bring distinctive value.
Successful Bootstrappers Are Trustworthy Salespeople Committed to Customer Satisfaction Read More »
When you are interviewing a prospect don’t ask your next question before you learn from the last answer. If they are not asking you questions it’s deteriorated into an interrogation.
Don’t Ask Your Next Question Before You Learn From The Last Answer Read More »
One of the hallmarks for success in a business-to-business market is the ability to form personal relationships as well as professional business relationships. Both require building trust. I am always dismayed when I read advice that advocates bait and switch or other forms of con games that erode trust and make it difficult for any
Building a Business Requires Building Trust Read More »
After every Great Demo! workshop we contact the attendees with a short E-Mail that reads in part: I want to check-in to see how you have been doing using the ideas and skills we covered in our Great Demo! Workshop three months ago. Specifically, I’d like to hear: What have been the results so far?
Great Demo Workshop Attendee: “Holy Crap! My Demos Have Too Much Detail” Read More »
Looking for advice on lead generation or closing deals? Consider scheduling “office hours” to walk around your current sales process or a particular opportunity you are trying to close. SKMurphy functions as a startup advisor to help you understand the process of building a business. We understand the challenges of selecting an advisor–and advising entrepreneurs–and have blogged
Office Hours: Schedule Time To Walk Around Your MVP Read More »
Without a revenue hypothesis your business model is just a list of activities users are engaging in. You need to map customer actions to revenue and costs.
Without A Revenue Hypothesis Your Business Model Is a List of User Activities Read More »
Q: We have started selling and are looking for resources for a lean approach to sales, in particular for new product introduction. Lean Approach To Sales at Lean Startup Conference 2012 Scott Sambucci and I presented a workshop at Lean Startup 2012 on “Engineering Your Sales Process.” The deck is posted at http://www.slideshare.net/SalesQualia/engineering-your-sales-process About 70%
Q: Resources For A Lean Approach to Sales, In Particular New Product Introduction Read More »
Peter Cohan from Second Derivative offers some of the best sales demo/pitch training and hands-on learning that we have seen. So we are honored to offer these interactive workshops to startups. Here is the upcoming schedule: March 5&6, 2014 “Great Demo!” San Jose, CA May 21&22, 2014 “Great Demo!” San Jose, CA October 15&16, 2014
Improve Your Sales Pitch Read More »
It can be difficult to put a price on a new product service, much less to develop a pricing model you can use to offer pricing to many different prospects. Here are some tips.
Q: How To Pull The Trigger On A Pricing Model Read More »
A talk I enjoyed by Simon Sinek (@simonsinek) on “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action Some great insights from Apple, Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Wright Brothers: Why -> How -> What Start with Why Why is not “to make a profit” that’s a result.. Why is your purpose, your
Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action Read More »
Here are three sales pitches that never really work with some suggestions for how to improve them.
Three Sales Pitches That Never Really Work Read More »
It’s especially important to price based on your value to a particular customer’s situation when you bring unique expertise and insight to a problem. This post is based on a real engagement that started with the conversation in “Living In Anticipation With Schrodinger’s Leads.”
Price Based On Your Value To The Customer’s Situation Read More »
It can take a while to determine what to ask in an opening conversation and which leads constitute opportunities. You have to follow up.
Living in Anticipation With Schrodinger’s Leads Read More »
Here are six tips or writing an E-Mail to a prospect or potential partner: the Hollywood approach, the schoolboy approach, add a middleman, quit typing, begin at the end, and sketch a picture.
Six Tips For Writing An E-Mail To A Prospect or Potential Partner Read More »
Just a heads up that the early bird rates for our next “Engineering Your Sales Process®” Workshop close Sun-Jan-28. This is the same workshop that Scott Sambucci and Sean Murphy offered at the Lean Startup Conference in December 2012 but we are limiting the attendance to 12 entrepreneurs to allow it to be even more
Engineering Your Sales Process Workshop Feb-8 Early Bird Closes This Weekend Read More »
