Board reporting on pipeline
How services firm leaders should report pipeline to a board, with fewer stage totals and more honest evidence about which deals are real.
3 min read
Blog
Leadership Page 2
Posts on leadership for services firms selling $50K to $500K engagements.
Practice leads as sellers
Practice leads are the most credible sellers in a services firm. How to get them selling without burning out delivery or the people doing it.
3 min readGetting partners to sell
Partners hold the relationships in a services firm, yet they rarely sell. Why they hold back and how to make selling fit their week.
3 min readUtilization pressure and the sales calendar
Services firms sell hardest when the bench is full and stop when it empties. Why utilization pressure wrecks the sales calendar and how to fix it.
3 min readPricing conversations start in Stage 1
Services firms lose margin at the proposal, but the damage starts earlier. The problem you name in the first conversation sets the price you can charge.
3 min readWhy your website loses the first meeting
A senior buyer checks your website before saying yes to a first meeting. Here's why most services firm sites lose that moment, and what to change.
3 min readThought leadership without the ego
Thought leadership for services firms works when it helps a buyer think through their problem, not when it tells them how smart your partners are.
3 min readContent that sells services
Content sells services when a champion can forward it to their boss and it makes their case. Here's what to write, who it's for and what to skip.
3 min readWhen to hire marketing in a services firm
A services firm should hire marketing once sellers have a working motion to support. Here's how to tell when you're ready and who to hire first.
3 min readSales and marketing in a 50-person firm
A 50-person services firm needs one revenue plan, a narrow target list and marketing that feeds named accounts. Here's how to set up sales and marketing.
3 min readWhat a fractional CRO should fix first
A fractional CRO should fix who the firm sells to and why before touching process or tools. Here's the order of operations for the first months.
3 min readThe weekly pipeline meeting for small firms
A small services firm needs a thirty-minute weekly pipeline meeting built around accounts and next moves, not a forecast ritual. Here's how to run it.
3 min readCoaching a seller on openers
How to coach a services seller to write better openers. Review the research first, fix one part at a time, and stop rewriting their drafts for them.
3 min readRamp time for a services seller
Services sellers ramp slower than product sellers, and that's normal. Here's what ramp looks like, what to measure early, and how to shorten it honestly.
3 min readSDRs in services firms. Yes or no
Should a services firm hire SDRs to book meetings? A direct answer on when the model works, when it backfires, and what to build in its place.
3 min readComp plans that reward Stage 1
How services firm leaders can build sales comp plans that pay for real first conversations with the right buyers, not just closed deals or raw activity.
3 min readFounder-led sales and when to hand it off
When a services firm founder should stop being the only seller, what to hand off first, and what the founder should keep doing for good.
3 min readWhy great delivery people struggle in sales
Great delivery leaders often struggle when moved into sales. Here's why the skills don't transfer on their own and what helps them make the switch.
3 min read