When did you last review your company’s sales process? If you have to think about the answer, it’s been too long. When business is booming and sales are high, we know that it’s easy to get wrapped up in your success and to not take the time to stop and reflect. Nonetheless, it’s very important […]

When it comes to B2B lead generation, what is the most effective (and cost-effective) way to benefit your bottom line? Before we answer that, it’s important to understand what lead generation actually is and how it has changed over the years. Lead generation is the process your business goes through to identify potential prospects and […]

Picture this: you walk into a networking event and someone immediately asks, “what do you do?” At which point you breathe a sigh of relief because you didn’t have to be the one to strike up a conversation first. (Although when you need to strike first, try one of these great networking event pick up […]

Growing your business’s bottom line is essential to its financial health and wellbeing. But successfully doing so doesn’t always mean pounding the payment to find new clients so that you can do more business with more people. While networking is an effective way to grow your business (and a necessary component of every business development […]

Businesses that sell services sell something intangible. The buyer can’t see it, can’t touch it and can’t take it out of the box to try it out. Instead, during the sales process, the buyer purchases a promise from the service provider and must simply trust that that promise will be delivered as expected. So how […]

As a small business, selling to another small business is a fairly straightforward process. You approach the owner or designated person within the business, make your pitch, explain why they need your product or service and (hopefully) make a sale. But selling to mid-sized businesses requires a completely different tactic. That’s because the employee who […]

We all make mistakes; it’s a part of life and it’s certainly a part of being a business owner. Sometimes we can see our mistakes coming from a mile away and other times we only see them when they kick us from behind because the decision seemed like a good idea at the time. But, […]

All of the holiday cheer associated around this time of year is a great excuse to log some business development hours. After all, market research continuously proves that businesses need to make contact with (or ‘touch’) a potential customer many times before making even one sale. How many times depends on several factors, including the […]

For many small business owners, marketing efforts don’t have a sense of direction or purpose. Marketing, in fact, is almost an after-thought; an “oh yeah, we need to post social media updates” or “that’s good enough, people will find us if they want.  If your business is well established and is the only kid on […]

Yes, you read that headline right; today’s topic is all about the best ways to ‘pickup’ at a networking event. Because networking events can sometimes feel like singles night at the bar  — there’s a room full of strangers and as a business owner, your goal is to strike up a conversation with as many […]

At the end of 2016, we wrote about hitting the business development sweet spot. Business owners (or the person responsible for generating new business) needs to spend between 20% and 30% of their time on business development activities to maximize growth and generate sales. So, in a typical 40-hour work week, that means spending between […]

Blogging is essential to your B2B inbound marketing strategy The business world works differently than it did just a decade ago. Where it used to be that the sales department felt the pressure to generate leads and increase business through traditional outbound marketing tactics; today, much focus is on developing effective inbound marketing strategies.  These […]

What TIFF has in common with your marketing strategy It’s that time of year again where, for a 10-day period, you’re most likely to find our Kevin Maynard taking in one of the dozens of movies playing at TIFF movie screens across the city. (Ok, maybe he does manage to squeeze in some work between […]

The traditional marketing role has evolved in the last decade or so. According to a 2014 study of B2B Internet users, more than 80% research products online before purchasing. That’s a lot of people now focused on making their own decisions, rather than being swayed by traditional marketing methods.  So, if your potential new customers […]

Once upon a time, sales and marketing were a straightforward concept. You promoted your product in flyers, ads, billboards, TV and radio spots and people would buy it. The more effort you put into promotion – a.k.a. outbound marketing – the better your results usually were. But thanks to the Internet, marketing has evolved. Consumers […]