Stop caring too much for closing the deal. When you approach your customers to try to close them, you get overinvested. You feel you have more at stake. The fear of missing out on this opportunity kicks in. While, yes, they're qualifying you, you're also qualifying them. The more you care, the less power in the negotiation you have. Approach it and stop your convince-mode. Go, evaluate if it makes sense for both of you to work together, qualify. If it works out, great. If it doesn't, great, too. But it is in your power to decide so. :) |
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One way that makes the process of articulating what's different about you simpler (not less painful, though) is through your insight. April Dunford defines insight as "the thing we understand about the market that the others do not." It starts with what you see in the market that doesn't make sense, that makes you cringe, that pisses you off. And the way you approach it that's in another direction from what everybody else does. It's your understanding. That's what makes you different.
They're all a by-product. You don't look for them as the main focus, they are the result of what you do in service to your customers.
A common pattern that I see in people who are new in leading positions is they try to maximize the results. What's that even mean? That in order to get the best results, you have to seize the right time. At uni, it might work. In real-life... not so much. Because it's about waiting. Waiting for the right time. Time that might never come (as perfect as expected). In business, the right time is not too early, nor too late. The right time is when you make a decision. A decision that might be...