Business Development Insights

There is a sentence that used to make me feel like I was winning. “Can you just send over a proposal?” Early in my career, I heard that sentence and did what most hungry salespeople do. I took it as progress. A proposal felt like movement. It gave the conversation weight. It gave me something concrete to work on. It made the opportunity feel real. So I built the thing. And not some lazy one-page estimate either. I built the thoughtful version: recommendations, structure, time

He came in as a referral. Which means my guard was already down before the first email landed. And not just any referral. A client I'd built a real relationship with. Someone who always showed up like a partner. The kind of person you assume keeps good company. You assume the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Sometimes you assume wrong.

When I first started my business I did not have a framework for what a good client fit even looked like. I just had ambition, a pipeline I was building from scratch, and the belief that selectivity was a luxury I had not yet earned. You take the meetings. You sign the contracts. You figure out the rest later. What I did not know then is that the clients you say yes to in the beginning do more than fill your roster. They shape your standards, your reputation, and your sense o

228 leads in your pipeline isn’t impressive—it’s a warning sign. Here’s how to spot bad clients, clean up your pipeline, and protect your time, energy, and revenue.

You know what costs more than losing a deal? Winning the wrong one. Q1 is in full swing, and everyone's hustling to hit numbers. I get it. But here's something that will save you way more headache than chasing one "big deal" ever will: spotting bad clients before they become your problem. I had this exact conversation with my neighbor at our holiday party a few weeks back. He was venting hard about a client who built him up like he was Superman at first—talking about ho

Tangier is booming right now, and I understand why. The city is beautiful. The history, the light, the energy. It pulls you in. But when you’ve spent your life in sales, it’s hard to turn that part of your brain off. Even on vacation.

Picture this: It’s 7:30am. You’re sipping coffee, trying to get your head into the day, when you look out the window and see your neighbor being dragged down the sidewalk by a floppy, golden-furred ball of chaos. The puppy? Adorable. The behavior? Absolute madness.