Articles - Page 5 of 49

Week 4 Challenge: Hold a Great First Conversation

In Week 4 of this challenge, you’re going to improve your effectiveness at holding first meetings–for right now, let’s call them “first conversations” since you will most likely be meeting by phone or on a video conference. Be sure to read Week 4 of It Starts with Clients, as it provides an in-depth overview of the […]

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9 Techniques for Developing New Ideas for Your Clients

By Andrew Sobel Clients say they want new ideas from their advisors and suppliers. But how do you come up with those new ideas? Read on. (Note: this blog is excerpted from my new book, It Starts with Clients: Your 100-Day Plan to Build Lifelong Relationships and Revenue, from “Week 11–Be a Brilliant Big Picture Thinker”). […]

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What are the best questions to help start a new relationship or conversation?

By Andrew Sobel After a recent live interview that I did with my friend and bestselling author Dorie Clark, a listener wrote in and asked this question: As an introvert I would love to know from Andrew what are the top three opening questions that he recommends to start a relationship/conversation? It would be poor […]

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Is Virtual Selling Really Different? Here are the Facts

By Andrew Sobel In the last few weeks my inbox has been bombarded with articles about how you need to dramatically change your business development approach in order to sell in a virtual environment. Puzzling Headlines I’m actually a little puzzled by all these headlines. My own client development strategy is based on two pillars: […]

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Finding New Opportunities in a Shrinking Market (It Starts with Clients–Part 3)

In most areas of the economy, fundamental demand has shrunk. Some markets have actually grown (videoconferencing and eLearning, anyone?), and a few large ones have evaporated (retail, travel). Are you doomed to sink to the level of the average decline (or worse), or can you find or create new opportunities to help your clients and […]

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Week 3 Challenge: Gain Access and Set up Meetings

In Week 3 of this challenge, you’re going to begin a systematic outreach to your clients and prospects. What do I mean by outreach (singular)? An “outreach” is when you communicate with an executive to learn more about their agenda, build trust in you/your firm’s ability to help them with their most urgent problems and […]

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Week 2 Challenge: Get Recognized

Which comes first–recognition for being really good at something, or relationships that lead to your being recognized? In 1969, a 19-year old James Taylor landed in London. His original band had collapsed, he was broke, and he was trying to break a fearsome drug addiction that had gripped him. He played his guitar for friends and even busked […]

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Week 1 Challenge: Review Your Client Base and Accelerate Your Outreach

One of the secrets to building clients for life is starting with the right clients. I lived in Italy with my family for four years, and I learned–similarly–that one of the secrets to Italian food is that the Italians always start with super-fresh ingredients. In contrast, It’s hard to make a delicious salad with rock-hard […]

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