All articles · page 10
All published articles on enterprise marketing, executive search, B2B podcasting and building companies, with dated early writing included.
273 articles · showing 217–240, current writing first
Articles
Lead Cookie: moving beyond a productized service
Why I was moving Lead Cookie toward hand-qualified outreach in May 2020, the changes it required, and what I said about the business five years later.
Company buildingEssay
How to Design an Amazing Customer Experience
My April 2020 method for designing a service's client experience: map every touch point in the first 90 days, then fix them, with Content Allies' revamp.
Marketing strategyEssay
The hard emotional side of entrepreneurship
My April 2020 essay on owner decisions that hurt, like layoffs and pay cuts, and the weekly question and one-week pause I used to stop delaying them.
Company buildingEssay
The importance of iteration for entrepreneurs
My February 2020 essay on why no business reaches a perfect state, how Lead Cookie's market commoditized, and why I learned to keep iterating.
Company buildingEssay
The shortcut and shortfall of selling to your peers
My February 2020 essay on selling to peers: why Content Allies' first clients, owners like me, churned, and why I then targeted consultants earning $250k+.
Company buildingEssay
The evolutions of freedom from your business
My January 2020 essay on the six stages of stepping back from a service business, from doing the work yourself to a company that markets without you.
Company buildingEssay
Handing off founder-led sales: how I did it at Lead Cookie
My January 2020 account of handing off sales at Lead Cookie: why my first attempt failed, then the playbook, hire and 90-day plan that worked.
Company buildingEssay
I failed at selling Lead Cookie, here is what I learned
My January 2020 account of trying to sell Lead Cookie in 2019: cleaning up the books, hiring a broker, and an LOI that fell apart in due diligence.
Company buildingEssay
How We Ran Lead Cookie's 90-Minute Weekly Team Meeting
The 90-minute weekly agenda I ran for Lead Cookie's remote team of about 26 in 2019, built from EOS and Chet Holmes, and what has changed since.
Company buildingEssay
The importance of a strong company culture
My September 2019 essay on building culture at Lead Cookie and Content Allies: why it mattered to me, and the onboarding, pay and team habits we used.
Enterprise operationsEssay
How to Conduct a Podcast Interview: A Host's Playbook
How to conduct a podcast interview for a B2B show: research the guest, plan a few questions, open and close well, and ask better follow-up questions.
B2B podcastingPractical guide
The art of thinking through your business model
My July 2019 questions for choosing a business model: what you want, ten-year relevance, platform risk, recurring need, agency or product, and the numbers.
Company buildingEssay
The problem with productized marketing services
Why single-channel marketing services churn by design and work best as a tripwire into an agency: my June 2019 essay, from running Lead Cookie.
Company buildingEssay
Lessons learned for my second productized service
My May 2019 essay on starting Content Allies after Lead Cookie: reducing platform dependence, hiring before the first sale and growing slowly on purpose.
Company buildingEssay
How to Nail Your Value Proposition & Avoid Common Mistakes
My April 2019 essay on how I set Lead Cookie's value proposition: the "can you become #1 in your niche" test, three ways to niche and tips to refine it.
Marketing strategyEssay
What is the "Queen Bee Role" and why does it matter?
My April 2019 essay on the Queen Bee Role from Mike Michalowicz's Clockwork, and how I took admin work off the account strategy role at Lead Cookie.
Company buildingEssay
Your business is a reflection of you
My April 2019 essay on how a founder's stress and focus pass to the team and then to customers, and what my team's weekly work-life scores showed.
Enterprise operationsEssay
The Weekly Metrics Dashboard I Used to Run Lead Cookie
The weekly sheet I ran Lead Cookie on: customers, billed and projected MRR, leads, calls, profit and retention, and what I would add to it today.
Company buildingEssay
The painful consequences of not focusing
My February 2019 essay on running Lead Cookie, a sales role and consulting at once, what it cost, what focus changed, and how my view shifted by 2020.
Company buildingEssay
How My Personal Brand Built Lead Cookie’s Revenue
My 2019 account of how my personal brand drove Lead Cookie’s revenue through podcast relationships, and later lessons on who a podcast should serve.
Company buildingEssay
How to hire rockstar virtual assistants who stay
My process for hiring virtual assistants who stay: what to delegate, an application that tests attention to detail, what to pay and how to keep them.
Recruitment & workforceEssay
Sales call script: the seven-stage Lead Cookie framework
The seven-stage sales call script behind my reported 375 calls and 154 closed deals at Lead Cookie, with supporting emails and what has changed.
Company buildingPractical guide
What is buyer awareness? Four stages and how to use them
Buyer awareness is how much a buyer knows about their problem, the solutions and you. The four stages, two real examples and how to match copy and tactics.
Marketing strategyExplainer
Why your marketing isn’t working (Intro to the 3 M’s)
When marketing fails, check the message, market and medium, starting with the value proposition: my 2018 essay on the Three M's, with Lead Cookie cases.
Marketing strategyEssay