Selling to family-owned companies
How to sell services to family-owned companies, who really decides, what they care about beyond profit, the signals that matter and an example opener.
3 min read
Blog
The Stage 1 blog Page 8
How services firms find accounts getting ready to buy, get in through people they know, and open conversations worth having. Written by Kevin French.
Q4 pipeline for next year's Q1
Q1 deals are won in the planning cycle before them. How to build pipeline in Q4 that turns into signed work when next year's budgets open.
3 min readState and local procurement signals
Where state and local buying signals live, from council agendas to budget documents and grant awards, and how a services firm reads them early.
3 min readBuilding the market panel of a 3x3
How to build the market panel of a 3x3, using competitors, peers and the voices a buyer follows to find pressure the company itself won't name.
3 min readJob posts tell you the budget is real
A job post for the problem you solve is proof the money exists. Here's how to read one and turn it into an opener a senior buyer answers.
4 min readWhat buyers want from a services firm now
What senior buyers expect from a services firm today, from senior people in the room to smaller first phases, and what that means for how you sell.
3 min readBuilding pipeline in a slow quarter
A slow quarter is the best time to build the pipeline that closes in the next one. Where to point the team, what to research and what to stop doing.
3 min readSelling to professional services firms
How to sell services into law, accounting and consulting firms, who decides in a partnership, the pressures on them, the signals to watch and an opener.
3 min readA connection just landed a buying seat
When someone you know starts as CIO, CTO or VP, you have a 90-day window. Send the congratulations note first. Save the pitch for the second.
4 min readSelling to the CEO of a mid-market company
What a mid-market CEO owns, how they're measured, what they ignore, which signals move them and how to open a conversation that earns a reply.
3 min readThe intro that turns into a referral
An intro is a favor done once. A referral is a connector who sends buyers your way on their own. How to turn the first into the second, step by step.
3 min readReading SAM.gov as a services firm
How a services firm should read SAM.gov, which notices matter more than the RFP itself, and how to use award history to find work before it posts.
3 min readSelling when budgets open up
When buyer budgets open up, every services firm shows up at once. How to win the release of pent-up spend without discounting or chasing every request.
3 min readThe 3x3 for a private company
How to run a 3x3 research pass on a private company with no filings, where to find public record, social context and market facts that hold up.
3 min readSelling to fintechs
How services firms sell into fintechs, who signs, the pressures they carry from regulators and bank partners, the signals that matter and a sample opener.
3 min readMeetings booked versus meetings held
Why meetings held is the number that matters for services pipeline, what a gap between booked and held tells you, and how to close it.
3 min readWhen a company commits to AI in public
A public AI commitment rarely comes with the team to deliver it safely. Here's how to read the announcement and write an opener that isn't another AI pitch.
4 min readResearch before reach. The 3x3 method.
The 3x3 is three sources and up to three facts each, gathered before the first note goes out. Here's how to run it and turn it into an opener.
4 min read