Another Horrific Client Termination Story: Your Sick Parents Preclude Continuation (and you got me no results also)

So, last July, I sent a prospecting email to a New Jersey based company that had an interesting staffing technology. Out of nowhere and quite surprisingly I had received a response with interest in speaking further. We talked and agreed to work together, not for the staffing technology, but for an LIS system for clinical/medical laboratories. After ensuring there was no competitive conflicts with other clients, particularly SMARTFormulator (which is not an LIS), we engaged. Having done little…


Adventures in Prospecting: Why Did You Even Want to Talk to Me?

This happened also. So, I do some research and find this interesting technology company that has an RPA solution for IT Service Management. One of the salespeople, a channel guy, is located in New Jersey - not far from me. I see that he is relatively new. With a little further investigation, I find that the company has like two very junior salespeople - the daughter of the owner and some kid who worked at Best Buy and like 8 people total. OK. I have knowledge in this space and thought he…


Adventures in Prospecting: The Contract Fit for A Corporation - Not Trial Engagement

So, I found this interesting company offering a "breakthrough" Health Digital Assistant solution and call the CEO who was advertising a part-time sales development job on Indeed. Long story short, we talked, it was a good fit - I was a little more 'expensive' and had less hours to offer than what he was looking for - but he liked my approach an experience. He was "concerned" because I waived a commission or incentive for the first three months - a trial period. I sent him a proposal. He was…


Adventures in Prospecting: The Crazy Guy Responds

So, this literally happened today. I recently had a client terminate an engagement in favor of hiring 2 full time people to more rapidly grow the business. It is laughable how many clients end engagements thinking that things will go faster or better with more of more, when the challenges they had were not resolved in the first place. I find this company that offers an innovative technology for sales intelligence using AI. Having been a Sales Intelligence Manager and a pioneer of account…


A Week's Worth of Work Isn't A Go-To-Market Effort

I work with client on a fractional basis, no more than 25-32 hours per month providing focused, strategic prospecting. Strategic because it is more tailored to the prospect and the conversations are deeper, I don't just sell - I want to learn more about the prospect and their situation. Usually it is a validation of a hypothesis created to prove out that this particular buyer is a target for the solution being offered. When working with pre-revenue startups or early stage companies, they have…


Marketing Can Be A Waste of Time If Not Sales Focused

Recently, one of my clients hired a Marketing Manager. A much needed resource as the company has very little public presence and needs professional branding, a lead generation engine, and a update on verbiage. The company is in a rather commoditized sector and has a fair amount of competition as well as other strategic and non-strategic issues. So, I meet this person who has a substantive background in the industry, does a lot of the branding and marcom stuff I am not good at and is very…


My coworker/friend isn't speaking to me - A COVID Crisis Story

So, in addition to my "day job" as a new business development guru for start-up and entrepreneurial companies...I work both essential and non-essential retail. Jobs I love with great people, particularly the management. During the pandemic - my essential retail managers scheduled me for whatever hours they could offer and called me in to work - I was blessed. Scary as it was - getting out of the house and making a little money while being productive really helped me keep my sanity. Recently,…


If I told you about this client termination - you would not believe me (see I am Negative post)

So, I had another client termination - a scarier one. I had worked with Aretove for about 4 years. I met the CEO once in a while at a shared office space in Piscataway. Occasionally, there were some minor disagreements, but nothing that would indicate any serious issues. About 6 months ago, I indicated that the website needed improvement because it did not match what I was saying to people or giving any indication of what I had been speaking of in terms of services. That was the first major…


You are terminating the engagement because - are you kidding me?

So when I had the disasters in October and November with National Executive Search Inc and The Sourcing Institute...the Sourcing Institute made good on their promise and paid me after three months of non payment and one month of no action....and National Executive Search Inc apparently was found to be out of business - not just recently, but apparently went out in July 2018.... I had to find two new clients. I reached out to a former client a price optimization software company. Had a super…


You are so NEGATIVE. Why analytical feedback that can help is viewed, well, Negatively.

After my last employment stint ended - about 14 years ago - I had gone to see a therapist for a while. The situation was so bad that I actually had to seek out professional help to work through it and handle the severe depression that resulted from the ending of that job. I told the therapist about how people said that I was negative when I would share observations about a particular situation....and usually I share very directly - as I am a very direct person. She stated, after I gave some…