Coaching 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 read
Blog
The Stage 1 blog Page 16
How services firms find accounts getting ready to buy, get in through people they know, and open conversations worth having. Written by Kevin French.
Asking an investor or board member for an intro
Investors and board members can open doors at senior levels if you ask well. How to pick the target, write the ask and protect their reputation.
3 min readCleaning a target list in an afternoon
A practical way to clean a services target list in one afternoon. Cut the wrong fits, sort the quiet from the live, and leave with a list you'll work.
3 min readSelling to manufacturers
How to sell services to manufacturers. Who buys, the pressures on plant and IT leaders, the signals that matter most, and an example opener.
3 min readWhy your CRM is full of dead accounts
CRMs fill with dead accounts since nobody removes them and nothing tells you which ones woke up. Here's why it happens and how to keep the list alive.
3 min readWhat a cluster of engineering job posts tells you
One engineering job post is noise. Several in the same weeks, around the same problem, tell you a decision has been made and a deadline is coming.
3 min readShort is not the same as clear
Cutting words doesn't make an opener clear. Senior buyers need a specific problem named plainly, and that sometimes takes one more sentence, not one less.
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 readPlan next year from the accounts, not the quota
Annual plans built backward from quota produce activity targets. Plans built from real accounts and their signals produce pipeline you can trust.
3 min readThe tech stack hiding in plain sight in job posts
Job posts name the platforms a company runs, the ones it's leaving and the ones it's moving to. Here's how to read them for a services opening.
3 min readThe case against the case study in a first message
A case study in a first message answers a question the buyer hasn't asked. Here's why it backfires with senior buyers and where proof belongs instead.
3 min readWhen they say it's not a priority right now
What "not a priority right now" usually means from a senior buyer, the reply that keeps the door open, and the follow-up habits that close it for good.
3 min readSelling to life sciences companies
How services firms sell into pharma, biotech and medical device companies, who buys, the pressures they face, the signals to watch and an example opener.
3 min readFirmographics are the start, not the answer
Industry, size and location tell you which companies could buy from you. They don't tell you which ones will. Here's how services firms close that gap.
3 min readAsking a former colleague for an intro
How to ask a former colleague for an intro to a buyer they know, how to restart a cold relationship first, and how to write the note they forward.
3 min readSelling to health plans
How services firms sell into health plans and payers, who buys, the pressures on medical cost and member experience, which signals matter and an opener.
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 readLegacy systems in a 10-K are an invitation
When a company names its legacy systems as a risk in a 10-K, it's telling you where the work is. Here's how services sellers should read and act on it.
3 min read