What's really going on

“ … all of us hold on tightly to many things we don’t really have.”

This line from Patrick Rhone’s book - This Could Help - got me thinking about our attitudes toward pipelines, relationships, and services.

Pipelines

I’m an advocate for strong qualification and pruning sales pipelines ruthlessly where necessary. Self-deception is rife when it comes to decisions about removing deals from pipelines. We hold onto dead opportunities, hoping they’ll close one day … somehow.

Relationships

For most of us, 80% of sales and profits come from just 20% our customer base. Yet we treat all clients equally, with disproportionate support for the lower paying ones. We hold onto a belief that these small accounts can grow ... someway.

Services

While delivering projects we develop all kinds of know-how and intellectual property. We package this up, adding yet another service to our portfolio. We hold onto this menu of propositions thinking it will attract more clients ... someday.

The bottom line

Holding onto these somehow, someway, and someday things distracts us from finding better deals; wastes time on unproductive relationships; and dilutes our core proposition.

How prepared are you to step back, take an objective view, and let go of those things you don't really have?