The first most-common

The other day I mentioned I was working on the second most-common mistake my customers make in their sales proposals.

One of you emailed me back and said, “Nice, Matt, but what’s the first most-common?”

The first most-common mistake, by far, hands down, no contest, is putting themselves in Position #1, and their customers in Position #2. In other words, making yourselves the stars of someone else’s show.

It’s a completely natural thing to do, so cut yourselves some slack. After all, if we humans didn’t have a very strong self-preservation impulse, there’d be, like, a grand total of three of us, and we’d be lucky to be huddled in a cave somewhere while something else ruled the world.

As natural as this impulse is though, it’s causing you to lose deals. It’s causing money to go into someone else’s pocket, not yours.

Related Posts

LinkedIn bites

My clients, whether they are selling a tangible product or a consulting service or simply themselves, are generally looking to sell something abroad. And one of the most common ways for them to go about it is to post stuff and message people on LinkedIn. They try the...

The emptiness of value

The word "value" is empty. Or, more precisely, the word "value" is not empty, it is vague, and it should therefore be on our chopping blocks. Instead of saying "provide value," for example, say "do something people will pay for." Why? Include the phrase "provide...

Wes Wheless

Recently we interviewed a repeat guest on the podcast, Wes Wheless. I took away many things from that interview, but the main one is this: Who you talk to is probably the most critically important part of a presention. You see, we presentation trainers hit on one...