Subject notebook
Positioning, fit and a selling routine that survives client work.
129 entries · Editorial years are reading-sequence years; historic years are capture years, not publication dates.
Editorial essay · 2024
Business development often disappears when delivery becomes busy. It returns with urgency when a project ends. The resulting feast-and-famine pattern is partly a capacity problem and partly a design problem: selling has been left to whatever energy remains.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Editorial essay · 2024
"Let me know what you think" sounds polite but often leaves the recipient with unnecessary work. What kind of response is required? An opinion, a meeting, approval of scope, or permission to contact someone else? The seller has left the next action undefined.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Editorial essay · 2024
A spreadsheet full of company names can create the impression of commercial momentum. It may contain very little evidence that anyone is considering a purchase. The distinction matters because time allocated to imaginary opportunities is time unavailable for real ones.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Editorial essay · 2024
A prospect can have money, urgency and an attractive brand name while still being a poor client. Qualification that considers only the likelihood of a purchase misses the likelihood of a workable engagement.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Editorial essay · 2024
"We work with ambitious businesses" tells a buyer very little. Almost every business would like to qualify. A useful niche helps the right buyer recognise a familiar problem and understand why the adviser is likely to handle it well.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Editorial essay · 2024
Confidence can make a weak recommendation sound strong. That is why "be more confident" is incomplete advice for a professional seller. The useful question is what the confidence rests on.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Editorial essay · 2024
The adviser who answers every question immediately can become indispensable without becoming commercially viable. Prospects learn that expertise is available on demand. Existing clients learn that the contract is only a starting point. The adviser becomes busy, resentful and reluctant to enforce a boundary that was never stated.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Editorial essay · 2024
Some professionals dislike selling because they associate it with pressure. Others dislike it because selling makes their value open to judgment. Those are different difficulties, and a motivational talk will not resolve both.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Editorial essay · 2024
A consultant can spend a week improving a presentation without asking whether the meeting ought to happen. The slides become clearer. The opportunity does not. A polished explanation cannot repair a poor match between the client's problem and the work being offered.
Selling expertise · 2 min
Historic resource · 2017
Historic article · Archive capture 2017. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
Historic resource · 2017
Historic article · Archive capture 2017. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
Historic resource · 2016
Historic article · Archive capture 2016. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
Historic resource · 2016
Historic article · Archive capture 2016. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
Historic resource · 2013
Historic article · Archive capture 2013. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
Historic resource · 2012
Historic article · Archive capture 2012. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
Historic resource · 2016
Historic article · Archive capture 2016. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
Historic resource · 2017
Historic article · Archive capture 2017. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
Historic resource · 2017
Historic article · Archive capture 2017. Original source and contemporary practice notes.
Selling expertise
