James White https://www.jameswhite.business The Sales Expert Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:02:02 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://www.jameswhite.business/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/James-Site-Favicon-100x100.webp James White https://www.jameswhite.business 32 32 Time to drink my own champagne https://www.jameswhite.business/time-to-drink-my-own-champagne/ Sat, 30 May 2026 09:47:30 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=25126

In today’s edition, we explore one of the biggest mistakes I made in my first business, why “small businesses” is not a target market, and why it is finally time for me to drink my own champagne and focus on a niche within a niche within a niche. Let’s get to it.

One of the things I talk about a lot is niches.

 

In fact, if you’ve listened to my podcast, attended one of my talks, or worked with me directly, you’ve probably heard me say the same thing over and over again.

 

Be something to someone. Not everything to everyone.

 

And yet, if I’m being completely honest, this is advice I haven’t always followed myself… which means it is time to drink my own champagne.

 

For years, we have helped business owners from a wide range of industries improve their sales performance. We’ve worked with manufacturers, professional services firms, software companies, consultants, construction businesses and many others.

 

The challenge with serving everyone is that eventually your message becomes too broad.

 

You become relevant to lots of people.

But highly relevant to very few.

And relevance is what drives sales.

 

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my first business was saying our target market was “small businesses”.

 

There were millions of them. At the time, that sounded fantastic – a huge market with endless opportunity.

The problem? "Small businesses" isn't a target market. It's far too broad.

Looking back, we should have focused much sooner. For example:

Accountants.

  • Then a specific type of accountant.
  • Then a specific challenge within that market.

 

A niche within a niche within a niche.

A quote by Bonnie Gillespie - "If you try to be everything to everyone, you will be nothing to anyone"

The businesses that win are rarely the ones trying to appeal to everybody.

They are the ones that become known for solving a specific problem for a specific group of people.

Which brings me to the point of today’s email.

From June onwards, we are going to be focusing much more of our content on MSPs (Managed Service Providers).

I will still be sharing lots of sales content that is applicable to all industries, but the examples and focus will be MSP-driven. I appreciate that if this isn’t your area, then you may decide my email is no longer for you. If that’s the case, then I totally respect and understand that.

Why focus on MSPs?

  • Because it is our sweet spot.
  • It is the audience we understand best.
  • It is where we know we can create the biggest impact.

And it is where we see the same sales challenges appearing time and time again.

  • Businesses that rely heavily on referrals.

  • Founders who are carrying too much of the sales burden themselves.

  • Companies with excellent technical delivery but inconsistent lead generation.

  • Sales processes that exist in someone’s head rather than in a repeatable system.

A quote by Austin Kleon - "The more specific you are, the more universal your appeal becomes"

The fear many people have is that focusing on a niche means turning opportunities away.

I don’t see it that way.

 

The service can always be adapted.

 

The real question is whether your message is relevant enough to get attention. Because when somebody reads your content and thinks, “That’s exactly my situation”, everything changes!

  1. Your marketing improves.

  2. Your sales conversations become easier.

  3. Your positioning becomes stronger.

  4. And your prospects are more likely to engage.

 

So from June, expect more content around:

  • Generating leads for MSPs

  • Building predictable sales pipelines

  • Creating sales processes that don’t rely on the founder

  • Increasing client value and retention

  • Winning larger and better-fit opportunities

  • Building a business that can grow without everything depending on you

This isn’t a change of direction.

It’s a sharpening of focus.

It’s us doing exactly what I encourage other business owners to do.

 

Finding our sweet spot.

Doubling down on relevance.

And becoming something to someone rather than everything to everyone.

 

So let me leave you with three questions.

  1. Is there enough of them?

  2. Are they prepared to pay?

  3. And do you actually enjoy working with them?

 

If the answer is yes to all three, don’t be afraid to focus.

 

In fact, it may be the most important growth decision you make.

 

For us, the answer is clear, which is why it’s time to drink our own champagne.

 

Focus isn’t limiting. Focus is liberating.

 

Thanks as ever for being part of my community.

 

Have a brilliant sales week ahead and remember: Eat or be Eaten.

]]> Referrals Aren’t a Growth Strategy https://www.jameswhite.business/referrals-arent-a-growth-strategy/ Sat, 23 May 2026 13:31:30 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=25115

In this week’s edition, we will dig into why you cannot rely on referrals alone if you want to build a business that has long-term value and which can operate without you! And remember, if your business can’t operate without you, then it’s a job, not a business. Let’s get to it.

Referrals can win you business. But they don’t create predictable growth.

Most companies rely on referrals because they’ve worked well enough for years. The problem is they’re inconsistent, reactive, and usually tied to the founder’s relationships.

That leaves you with two choices

Stay Referral-Dependent

  • Win work when it happens to come in

  • Rely on timing and relationships

  • Carry growth personally

  • Deal with an inconsistent pipeline and revenue

Build a Predictable Growth Engine

A business that:

  • Generates opportunities consistently
  • Creates predictable recurring revenue
  • Scales beyond the founder
  • Increases in long-term value

That’s the difference between a business that creates income… and one that becomes a real asset.

Every Marketplace Is Changing

AI, automation, cybersecurity, and rising client expectations are changing the business landscape fast.

Clients no longer want what they did before. They want certainty, protection, and outcomes.

The companies that are growing the fastest today aren’t relying on referrals alone. They’ve built:

  • Consistent lead generation

  • Structured sales processes

  • Strong client retention systems

  • Predictable revenue models

What Predictable Growth Actually Requires

Not more hustle.
Not another salesperson.

A scalable sales engine:

  • Consistent pipeline generation
  • Structured prospect nurturing
  • A repeatable sales process
  • Strong account management and expansion

What Predictable Growth Actually Requires

When those systems are in place, growth stops depending on the founder alone.

That’s the shift. Not sure how to do it?

My Sales Plan Audit is the HOW

Want clarity on what’s holding your business back from predictable growth?

The audit will help you identify

  • Gaps in your current growth model

  • What’s limiting pipeline generation

  • Weaknesses in your sales process

  • How to build a scalable sales engine that can propel you forward

]]> The Value Gap https://www.jameswhite.business/the-value-gap-2/ Sat, 16 May 2026 07:45:55 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=25105

This week, we are going to explore one of the most important factors in why any business buys your service and what you need to do to close the Value Gap. Let’s get to it.

When faced with a decision to buy something, every buyer makes a choice.

And it is a simple one.

Is the product or service I am looking to buy worth the money that the other person or company is charging?

To make this decision, the buyer will consider a number of factors. Here are five of the most important aspects below.

1. What they can physically afford.

Everyone has limits on the money and resources they can access or borrow. We might all want to buy a private jet to take us around the world, but if we don’t have, or can’t borrow, the £50m+ needed to buy or lease the plane, then we can’t buy it. Reality.

2. What they are prepared to spend.

Everyone has their own limits on what they feel comfortable shelling out for a specific item. Whilst some may feel investing over $32m in a giant spider sculpture is good value, others wouldn’t spend that as long as they had breath in their lungs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

3. The extent of the pain and problem they have.

A bottle of water would normally sell for £1 to £2, but if you were walking through a desert without water and needed some to survive, would you spend £20,000 to stay alive? I bet you would. Life with no money is better than money with no life.

4. Their confidence that the solution can solve their current position.

I may be intrigued by a £5,000 tablet that allows me to eat what I want and still lose weight each week, but if I don’t have confidence that it will work and do what it says it will, then I’m not buying.

We covered building belief a few weeks ago. Here is the link if you missed it.

5. The emotional feeling that the end outcome will give them.

Can you put a price on seeing your beloved sports club win a trophy live for the first time in your life, even when the ticket costs thousands of pounds? Many would say, “You bet.” They will always look back and say, “I was there, and that feeling was priceless.”

An illustration showing a the value gap between a user's current position and their desired future position

These (and other factors) contribute to what is known as the “Value Gap”.

The Value Gap is the distance between the buyer’s current position and their desired end position.

If the gap is too large, the buyer stays where they are and the seller loses out.

Sellers will often hear phrases such as:

  • “I can’t justify spending that amount.”

  • “We simply don’t have those funds available right now.”

  • “I like it, but I just don’t like it enough.”

  • “I just can’t see how it will work for us.”

It’s painful when that happens. All that built-up emotion and energy for the sale just gets lost. But it can AND SHOULD have been avoided.

Your job as a seller is to bridge the gap.

You do that through insight, information and evidence.

But how do you know what they think? And what they really value?

You have to focus on ‘bridging the gap’, but it’s not that easy, I can hear you saying.

You want to understand what the buyer DOES VALUE and how you can take them on a journey they BELIEVE in.

But how??

How can you find out what the buyer REALLY values and what they think to those 5 key points?

By getting inside their mind. By understanding them. By getting to know what makes them tick.

And how do you do that?

By becoming an expert in asking the right questions in the right way at the right time. When you do this, the layers of the onion start to peel away.

If the buyer lets you inside their world or through the layers of their onion,

AND

The buyer truly believes that you are there to help them rather than take advantage of them, then your sales world opens up.

Your Sales Super Power becomes real.

If you want to build the Sales SuperPower, then understand there are levels of questions, and that different questions will need to be used in different scenarios.

  1. First contact outreach

  2. First call

  3. First meeting

  4. Networking meeting

  5. Second call

  6. Demo

  7. Dealing with objections

  8. Closing, etc.

You need ALL of them in your toolbox. Each situation will require a different set of questions.

You must ask questions in the right way, with the right tone and approach to wear the SuperPower cape, though.

We get inside their mind by asking questions, by learning something new about them and their situation.

  • What concerns them and what excites them?

  • What worries them and what gives them comfort?

  • What starts their engines, and what stops them from starting?

The Sales SuperPower comes from listening and asking the right questions.

When we become an EXPERT in asking the right questions, at the right time, in the right way, you can cross the Value GAP in the mind of the buyer, and when you do that, you win business!

Does this cover a challenging sales or business situation you have had?

If not, then what sales question or area would you like me to cover in a future newsletter?

Let me know. I read all replies, even if I don’t have time to reply to them all.

Thanks, as ever, for being part of my community.

Have a brilliant sales week ahead, and remember, Eat or be Eaten.

]]> Knowledge matters… https://www.jameswhite.business/knowledge-matters/ Sat, 09 May 2026 08:18:43 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=25092

In todays edition, we will cover why knowledge of what you sell is vital if you want to really impress those you engage with. And what should you do if you lack knowledge?

It taught me so much

I want to share a story that shaped my approach to sales. At the time, that lesson made me feel one foot tall, but looking back now, it taught me so much.

Around 6 months into my first job after I left university, I was asked to go and present to a group of people who worked for Nokia in Helsinki. I had recently joined a computer networking company called 3Com after university, and I had started working in the product sales team selling SuperStack switches. Our team was responsible for communicating the product’s value and supporting the sales team and partners who implemented these products worldwide.

I was lucky in this role that I got to travel the world, and the 7 years I spent with 3Com taught me so much. But I had to start somewhere.

After getting familiar with the products and learning more about the industry and technology, the team believed I was ready to ‘go out into the field’.

It was my first trip abroad and we were about to launch 2 products, the SuperStack 1100 and 3300. Our team was asked to visit customers and our offices across Europe, and my manager Nick asked me to represent the business in Scandinavia. I was asked to travel to Finland first before heading down to Norway and Sweden to share details of the exciting new products we were launching.

The first presentation was seen as an easy starting point. I was asked by the Country Manager of Finland to give a 1-hour presentation to around 20 technical people who worked at Nokia. They were big users of the earlier version of the product, and the sales team were keen to get them to upgrade, as they were a big customer of 3Com at the time.

To give you some perspective, I had completed a computer systems degree but, being honest, technical systems and products were not my strong point. I was confident, had rehearsed my presentation and learned as much as I could about 10/100 switches, but I was better at the talking part than the technical bit.The day of the presentation came along and I ensured I looked smart. I met Teemu, the Country Manager for Finland, outside my hotel and he drove me to the Nokia office.

Nokia aren’t well known now but back in 1997 they were a BIG deal.

Most of the early mobile phones made were Nokias, and I still love my old Nokia 3310. Ask anyone over 50, these phones were used by everyone!!

Introductions were made and I looked out at the audience of 30-plus (others had joined as they had come to listen to the expert ☹) engineers and started talking.

It is safe to say that the 60-minute presentation/meeting was one of the longest hours of my life.

I shared what I knew and what I had learned, but what I knew was superficial and basic compared to what 12 network engineers knew about switches. It became clear quite early on that I was a beginner and most of these guys were advanced!

I barely knew what the 7-layer model meant (look it up if you haven’t heard about it, but it’s a bit techie), but they knew all 7 layers and knew more about my product than I did.

Whilst I was able to talk about features at a very top level, they wanted the guts.

Why did you build the feature in that way?

Why does it only support 7 VLANs?

Does it support 802.1 P and Q?

It became clear after a short while that I was out of my depth.

I used my lack of knowledge to go deeper into features which I didn’t know that much about, and that itself made me look even more like an idiot. I read out lines from a product manual whilst these guys were doing the practical implementation daily, which I hadn’t done.

I must have looked at the clock some 30 times during that 1-hour period and every time I looked over at the Country Manager for Finland, I could read his thoughts of, ‘Why have they sent this junior idiot over to me?’

What made it worse was that I didn’t, at this stage, know the best way of handling questions you don’t know the answer to.

Nowadays, when I get asked this, I will respond with, ‘That’s a great question, tell me more about your thoughts here’ or ‘Interesting, what made you ask this?’

Or, if needed, reply with, ‘This is an area I am not totally sure on. I could give you an answer, but I want to ensure it’s correct, so let me come back to you on this.’

This can work with 1 or 2 questions, but if you are continually saying it then there is a problem.

I could have (and maybe should have!) fessed up and said we needed to bring an engineer in to speak with them, but I thought I was the ‘Daddy’ travelling overseas as a 22-year-old and I was schooled. It was a valuable lesson I have learned from ever since.

To make matters worse, the Head of IT at the end of the presentation came out, looked sorry for me and said with a sigh, ‘Sorry about my guys in there, they just thought you knew lots about the devices. Not to worry.’

He felt sorry for me, I could tell, but the Country Manager didn’t. He felt I had cost him a deal and it’s not a surprise that I wasn’t asked to come back!

The illustration show james recalled a life lesson that later became a guidance to how he approach sales

The moral of the story for me?

Build knowledge of your subject area before you present OR become an expert at asking the right questions to dig deeper into what made the person ask the question in the first place!

But ideally, become an expert in your field. Know what the challenges are in your market. Know what interests people and takes up their time and attention.

Nokia stayed as a customer because 3Com was a big enough company to cope with my average performance that day, but you may not get a second chance in your business.

Get a PhD in your customers’ world and problems. Know more about their space than they do and, if you do, it can allow you to open up strong conversations which build trust, respect and very often lead to new business.

Go in blind and knowing very little and you will look like I did 28 years ago — a novice.

Does this cover a challenging sales or business situation you have had?

If not, then what sales question or area would you like me to cover in a future newsletter?

Let me know. I read all replies even if I don’t have time to reply to them all.

Thanks, as ever, for being part of my community.

Have a brilliant sales week ahead and remember: Eat or be Eaten.

]]> Create Urgency Without Discounting https://www.jameswhite.business/create-urgency-without-discounting/ Sat, 02 May 2026 09:29:40 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=25069

In today’s edition, we’re talking about urgency… and more importantly, how to create it without immediately reaching for a discount when things get uncomfortable.

People love a deal. That’s never going to change.

If a buyer thinks there’s even a small chance they can get what you’re offering for less, they’ll usually take that opportunity. Not because they’re difficult, but because it’s human nature.

The problem is what happens when you give in.

Because the moment you drop your price to “get it over the line,” you’re not just winning a deal, you’re setting a precedent. You’re showing the buyer that your pricing is flexible and, more importantly, that pressure works on you.

That’s a tough position to recover from.

Quote, "The moment you discount, you stop selling value and start selling price"

The Reasons for the Urgency?

It’s worth asking yourself a slightly uncomfortable question here…

  • Why do you feel the need to discount in the first place?

  • Is it genuinely because the price is wrong?

  • Or is it because you need the deal more than they do right now?

Targets, deadlines, pipeline pressure… it creeps in quickly. And before you know it, you’re trying to solve your urgency problem with their wallet.

But here’s the reality—your timeline and their timeline are rarely the same.

And when you try to force urgency through price, it usually backfires.

How to Create Urgency

So if discounting isn’t the answer, what is?

It starts with understanding, not pushing.

When you take the time to really uncover what’s going on for the buyer (the real problem, not just the surface-level version) they begin to feel understood. And when that happens, conversations move forward more naturally.

From there, you need clarity on timing. When do they actually want to solve this? If it’s not a priority for them now, dropping your price won’t magically make it one.

You can also introduce urgency through real constraints:

  • your availability,

  • your capacity, or

  • timelines that exist regardless of price.

These are far more credible and far more effective.

And then there’s the most important piece…

Helping them understand the cost of doing nothing.

What happens if they wait? What continues to frustrate them? What gets worse?

When that becomes clear in their mind, urgency no longer needs to be manufactured.

If you don't believe in your price, your customer never will

Your Rates Are There for a Reason

I was talking about this on a podcast recently using the example of flights.

You don’t negotiate with an airline. The price is the price.

You either see the value in that seat, at that time, for that journey… or you don’t. And that’s exactly how your service should be positioned.

Because the moment you introduce a discount at the point of decision, whether you realise it or not, you’re sending a signal that your original price wasn’t solid.

It doesn’t build trust. It raises questions.

Your pricing exists for a reason. It reflects the value you deliver, the work that goes in, and the outcomes you create.

And if you don’t stand behind it, why should anyone else?

So next time you feel that pull to “just drop it slightly” to get the deal done…

 

Pause.

 

Go back to the problem. The impact. The consequence of waiting.

That’s where real urgency lives.

 

Have a brilliant sales week ahead, and remember: Eat or be eaten.

]]> it’s 3 or 4 https://www.jameswhite.business/its-3-or-4/ Tue, 28 Apr 2026 11:12:48 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=24963

In today’s edition, we explore why you need more deals in your pipeline than you think to achieve your revenue goals—and what the implications are if you don’t have this in place. Let’s get to it.

We always need more than we think.

Especially in sales.

I was asked a question some time ago about how you can ensure you hit the targets that you have.

  • Do you need to be lucky?

  • Do you need to work incredibly hard?

  • Do you need to charge higher prices?

All these things help, but there is one simple way of hitting your targets, and that’s to build a pipeline full of leads.

So, what do you need in your pipeline? And what should a good pipeline look like?

I always work on a simple rule:

Ensure that your pipeline and the final stages of your sales process are a minimum of 3 (and ideally 4) times the value of the target you want to hit.

Let’s break it down a bit more.

A quote by Brian Tracy depicting the importance of continuous prospecting.

Let’s say your business wants to achieve a new
revenue target of £500,000 for the year.

You may have certain months that are stronger or weaker than others, but for the sake of this example, let’s say the target is spread across a 12-month period.

To achieve your target, you will need to hit a revenue of £42,000 per month.

So, to hit this number, what should the value of your pipeline be?

The answer is a minimum of £126,000, but ideally £168,000. Let me explain why.

There are two main reasons:

  1. We don’t win all the business that we have (or think we will)

  2. All too often, deals don’t come in when we want them to

I was once told some sage advice by an old Sales Director:

“Plan conservatively but execute optimistically.”

Put simply, don’t do what most salespeople do
and expect that everything will come in. Be realistic.

We always need more than we think.

We might have a good feeling about all the leads we have, but if you are converting more than 2 in 3 leads at the final stage of your sales process, then you are probably too cheap. Even the very best salespeople in the world wouldn’t expect to convert more than 2 out of 3 in the final stages.

In addition, even good deals that will happen often get delayed for different reasons. A person has left or just joined the business, a budget has been put on hold for a few months, or a bigger, more important priority has come up.

Whilst we always try to avoid these issues, they happen. It’s life.

What matters is that we don’t totally rely on them to achieve the targets we want. Doing this means we become prisoners of hope—and no one wants to be a prisoner of anything.

When our pipeline is the same as, or just over, the target, we also exude desperation—which is always a bad thing in a sales deal. We make rash decisions and push prospects to do things “just to hit the target,” and invariably that works against us.

Yet when we have a funnel full of leads that we are engaging with and having good conversations with, the pressure is off. That comes through in the way we work, and that “hidden 10%” is the secret to winning more.

The best way to see your pipeline is like people spinning plates. They continue to put plates up on tall needles and spin them so they can keep adding more. They keep an eye on each plate and give them a nudge now and again to keep them going—until the end of the act, when all the plates come down in an orderly way.

So, what is the best way to build up a 3 to 4 times pipeline?

ABP – Always Be Prospecting.

All too often, people do some prospecting, add some good deals to the pipeline, and then get overconfident. They assume that because they have £500,000 in their pipeline, the year is done. They relax. They take their foot off the gas—and when this happens, the car comes to a stop.

The way to avoid this is to put time aside daily for new prospecting.

Whether that’s contacting people through LinkedIn, sending prospecting videos, making calls, or another form of outreach—build it into your routine.

Make it a discipline. Set yourself mini targets: connect with 3 people a day, create 5 videos, or make 10 calls.

When you do this (alongside your existing sales work), you give yourself the best chance of adding new leads—and you also subconsciously take the pressure off the current deals in your pipeline.

What’s the worst that can happen?

  • You have too much business coming in?

  • You can choose who you work with?

  • You can raise prices due to demand?

None of these are bad outcomes.

So, work on the rule of 3 or 4.

Commit to doing something daily to build your pipeline.

You can never have enough leads—and when you have more than you need, good things start to happen, and targets start to get hit.

Try this out and let me know how you get on. A good starting point is to look at your current target, review your pipeline (especially the final two stages), and identify the gap. If it’s not 3 to 4 times the target, get to work.

Does this cover a challenging sales or business situation you’ve had?

If not, what would you like me to cover in a future newsletter?

Let me know. I read every reply, even if I can’t respond to them all.

Thanks, as ever, for being part of the community.

Have a brilliant sales week ahead, and remember: Eat or be eaten.

]]> You can’t scale without it https://www.jameswhite.business/you-cant-scale-without-it/ Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:55:29 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=24853

I spend much of my time talking to CEOs and business owners and helping them build plans for growth.

Growth is normally a pretty simple equation.

More customers and/or larger customers + increased prices – lower costs of customer acquisition and delivery = profitable growth

An illustration showing a strategy to profit growth

Profitable growth = smiley-faced CEOs and leaders 🙂

Whilst it seems simple enough, achieving that growth is not a simple task, and especially not for time-poor leaders. The business needs more leads to be converted into customers, and quite simply, this needs to happen without them needing to be involved.

Quite simply, they don’t have the time to engage in all of these conversations when they have other aspects of the business to focus on.

They want business to be brought in and for the tills to buzz whilst they focus on partnerships, delivery, raising money—the list goes on. In their heads, winning business is easy. They did it at the start, and it’s why the company has grown.

All of this is true, but one of the biggest mistakes I see business leaders making when they want to grow their business is not creating a sales playbook or blueprint for success.

The leader has a clear idea of how they want to grow and what others should do to bring new clients on board. For them, sales or winning new business is easy. It happens as a result of the knowledge and skills they have developed over time.

Just because they know what to do, however, doesn’t mean that others are automatically going to know what to do and how to approach certain situations. I always remind CEOs and sales leaders that their sales teams aren’t mind readers or psychics.

Without clear guidance and a blueprint to follow, it is highly likely that the team will drift off course and fail.

We have put together several ‘Business Growth Playbooks’ for organisations over the last few years, and there are three critical factors which we would advise you put in place if you want your future growth to be consistent and strong.

Point 1: Identify past areas of success

Work out where you were strong in the past and use this as the starting point to help others achieve success.

  • Why did the customers you signed up start to work with you?

  • What was it that you offered that made them commit to you?

Try to identify two to three common characteristics that stood out from those early successes and use these as the basis for others to build on. Don’t just choose anyone. Know where you achieved past success and what problem you solved for this group of people, and make that the starting point of your playbook.

Either document it yourself or bring someone in to document it. My company can help if you don’t have time.

“Scaling a business is not about doing more yourself; it’s about building systems that allow others to succeed without you.”
Author Unknown

Part 2: Understand your sales journey and process

Whilst you would love to think as a leader that you won every bit of business that you went for, we both know that’s not true.

You had success, sure, but you didn’t convert every call into a meeting or every meeting into a confirmed sale. There were times when you would have shared proposals which didn’t get through, and you learned as a leader that this was all part of the sales process and journey. Your team is going to go on the same path as you.

Outline the journey that you went on with new customers. At what points in the journey did you know when prospects weren’t a good fit? What were the steps in the process that you used when you won a deal? Did you do a demo, a site visit, or arrange for another customer to speak with them?

Help your team to understand the ideal buyer journey and process you went through and what rates of conversion you had at each stage. It will not only help them win business, but it will help keep everyone realistic about what can and can’t be achieved.

“Process is what turns individual success into organisational success.”
Michael Gerber

Part 3: Identify how to handle inbound leads and approach outbound prospecting

This is the nuts and bolts of good selling, and it’s vital that there is a playbook for others to follow. This is especially important if you want your company to be represented in the right way. This sets out the behaviours and ways of operating that you want from your team.

  • How should they engage with new inbound leads?

  • What should they do, and what should they not do?

  • What questions should they ask?

  • What questions did you ask that got you results?

  • How did you qualify leads to know whether it was right to spend more time with them?

The list goes on—and this is just with inbound leads.

There is a right and wrong way of engaging with those who don’t know your company, and if you let the team just do whatever they want, you will get the business version of the Wild West, which can cause lots of issues.

Protecting & Converting hihg-value inbound leads

Want my simple guide and playbook on this?

It’s here:
Download here

Build a clear plan of how to go about winning new business and document it within a playbook which is a live, iterative plan that gets updated and used. Make it something that the team relies on and which you can use to measure results.

It is also vital within this part of your playbook that you include how they should react to typical responses. What should they say or do when someone ignores their call or doesn’t turn up for a meeting?

Don’t forget these small but critical elements. They are vital. And always remember—you may know how to handle these situations, but they may not. Give them the tools to know what to do and say, and you stand a far better chance of achieving the business growth plans that you desire.

As ever, if you need support or want to talk through how you can start to scale and grow your business, my team and I are here to help.

Have a brilliant week sales week ahead and remember: Eat or be Eaten.

Until the next time,

James

]]> Do the “Which means” task five times https://www.jameswhite.business/do-the-which-means-task-five-times/ Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:07:26 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=24681

In today’s edition, we explore why this simple technique is a way to really find out what it is that you do with the service you sell and why, when you get it right, incredible things can start to happen with your messaging and sales engagement. Let’s get to it.

Stop for a minute this morning and look at what it is you sell.

It could be a range of things.

Photography, insurance, financial advice, marketing, IT, or, as in my case, sales services.

But in all cases, what you have outlined that you sell, IS NOT what you sell. Or rather, that is not what the buyers are buying.

You might think it is, and many who sell for a living get caught up in features, functions, and discussions around moot points which, in the grand scheme of things, don’t really matter.

Prospects do not buy the service you provide. They are buying the OUTCOME of that service.

Put bluntly, if the prospect could achieve what they want without having to speak to you or any other salesperson, they would.

But they can’t (for different reasons), and so they enter into sales conversations which, in many cases, frustrate them. They are pitched at, sold functions or details which don’t really matter.

They are talked at by salespeople who don’t really understand their position and situation, and so when someone comes along who truly gets the outcome of what they are actually selling, they win the deal.

Let me explain in a bit more detail and give you a very simple method to really identify what the outcome is that you sell.

The "Which Means" Method

I have a customer who sells IT support and services. They are very good and work very hard to deliver a great service, but when I started working with them, I changed the narrative.

They have a strong offering related to cybersecurity, which is a big issue for many companies now. But sadly, most business owners don’t really understand what it means when they are being sold the feature or function.

But when they are sold the outcome, things change.

We used the ‘which means’ method five times to really dig into what they sold.

  1. We sell cybersecurity services to help keep companies safe, which means…

  2. the customer has a reduced risk of being hacked or having some form of ransomware attack, which means…

  3. they can continue to operate their business as normal, which allows them to generate regular revenue, which means…

  4. they can continue to stay afloat in business and earn income, allowing them to pay themselves and any people that work for them, which means…

  5. they keep people from the worry of not having money to pay for the basics in their lives, such as food and shelter.

So suddenly, instead of selling cybersecurity services, the company is selling peace of mind to business owners to ensure they can continue to operate and earn income.

A quoter by Peter Drucker

By using the ‘which means’ method, or digging further into the actual element of what is being sold, you are able to really find the outcome and what people are buying.

No business owner who is being sold cybersecurity really wants to buy that. Many don’t understand what it even is, but the real outcome (which happens if the service is not in place) is something that they do understand and get concerned about.

By taking this approach to dig further into what that feature or function means, you can really find out what is going on in the buyer’s mind or what the potential implications for them are.

Doing this exercise takes a bit of time, and it needs you to understand the person you are selling to, but when done well, you unearth some gems that you can include in your wider marketing.

I know in my case, I don’t sell sales services…

  1. I sell sales services to help businesses generate more revenue, which means…

  2. they have more consistent and predictable sales coming in, which means…

  3. they don’t have to worry about where the next deal is coming from or whether the business will survive, which means…

  4. they feel less stress and pressure around money and the future of their business, which means…

  5. They can be more present, relaxed, and focused on the people and things that matter most in their lives.

I sell people having a better time with their loved ones, as they are not having to worry about money not coming in, and their business failing.

When sales flow regularly, their mind is free to focus on the people and things that really matter, but when it’s not, it consumes them, which means they aren’t present for the most important people in their life.

So here’s a simple challenge for you.

Take what you sell and run the ‘which means’ exercise five times. Don’t stop at the obvious, don’t settle for the surface-level answer, because somewhere between step three and five… that’s where the real value lives.

And that’s what your prospects are actually buying.

The gold isn’t in the service. It’s in what that service means for the person buying it. And when you get that right, everything changes.

Thanks, as ever, for being part of my community.

Have a brilliant sales week ahead and remember: Eat or be Eaten.

]]> The 3 E’s https://www.jameswhite.business/the-3-es/ Sat, 04 Apr 2026 09:05:00 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=24658

In today’s edition, we explore one of the simplest but sadly most unused elements of sales, which, when done well, will make you into a sales superstar. It’s the point I talk about more than any other when I speak about sales, and it’s the most critical part of the sales process. Questions, and the way you ask them to uncover PAIN! Let’s get to it.

I saw an advert the other day from Cadbury’s. It’s Easter time, and so, for many kids around the world, this weekend is the time for Easter egg hunts.

The advert said, ‘better the hide, better the hunt’.

I was for a moment thinking about my nieces and nephews wandering around a garden looking for eggs and thought about the look on their faces when they find, from nowhere, an egg that was hidden but which is then theirs!

The joy and elation from finding something that was previously hidden is incredible for them, and it made me think about the power of the hunt in our sales conversations.

“The better the hide, the better the hunt” is the Cadbury slogan.

What the hell does that have to do with sales, you might be wondering?

Well, the same concept applies.

The feeling of uncovering the REAL pain with a prospect. The moment when, through effective, engaging and empathetic questioning, you get to the REAL pain or issue that a prospect has.

I always share in the sales training sessions that I run that kids are the best salespeople in many ways. They will continually dig and dig with their ‘why, why’ comments until eventually the parent gives in and explodes: ‘Because of this reason,’ and in that moment, the kid has reached the critical point.

Our sales conversations need to operate in similar ways. Not in an annoying, kid-like way, but in the way in which we probe, dig and find out information about what is REALLY going on in the mind of our prospects.

When we really find the pain that our prospects feel and really get inside their heads to know what they are really thinking, sales conversations become easier.

So how can you do that? How can you ask the questions on a call with someone you want to work with that really uncover their real pain?

I mentioned 3 E’s above and those traits are critical when it comes to finding out what really matters to the prospects you speak with.

An image with 2 kids advocating for better communication by listening to understand and not to reply.

1. Effective

The first element of finding out what matters is through effective questioning.

What do I mean by effective?

The questions we ask must be relevant and effective.

  • They must speak to the person.

  • They have to show we understand their world, their situation and circumstances.

The world has moved on and questions such as ‘What are your biggest pain points or challenges?’ don’t work anymore. Prospects want to feel like you know them. Even if you don’t. They want to feel like you understand the challenges they face, even if you aren’t directly in their shoes.

Start your questions with knowledge and insight.

‘I know from my research that some of the biggest challenges in your market space are x. How are you dealing with these?’

Or

‘When I talk to <insert their job role here>, they tell me that <problem x and problem y> are causing them some concern. How do these challenges affect you and the business?’

When you ask questions like this, you stand out from the crowd. You show yourself to not just be the same as others but someone who has tried to learn and understand the situation the other person is facing. That will buy you respect and

it will mean the prospect is open to sharing more.

When they respond and talk about these challenges, RESIST the urge to talk about you and your solution. Probe. Dig.

‘That sounds like a big issue, talk me through how that affects you and the business,’ or ‘This sounds difficult, what’s been the impact of not having that in place?’

Probing after effective questioning opens up the prospect to then share more and more, when done in an engaging way of course…

2. Engaging

How we ask the questions is always the clue to the answer we get. I wrote an article some time back about the hidden 10% and what that means to get deals done.

It’s about care. It’s about real consideration of the other person and their challenges, and not just about what you want. When you lean in, when you engage and when you ask questions in a way that shows the other person that you really care about them and the answers they give, then don’t be surprised when they start to open up more.

Lean in, show interest, and listen intently to what is shared with you. Engage with the other person and make them feel like, at that moment, they are the most important person in the world. Make them feel special. Make them feel like you do care. If you don’t, then it will show through, but when you really engage in a conversation and make the other person feel like they are being listened to, good things happen.

They start to trust you and when trust is there, they share more. They talk about the REAL issues and challenges because they don’t feel like you are a salesperson who will try to take advantage of them.

When we ask effective questions and engage in a positive and thoughtful way, prospects start to share more about their situation.

3. Empathetic

The final part of the question-to-pain discovery challenge is empathy. I think it’s the most important skill of all the ESI sales skills that I talk about. When you put yourself in the shoes of the prospect and REALLY start to think like them, then amazing things happen.

‘I get totally why, in your position, you would be sceptical about x. I mean, why would you care about Y and Z when your first focus is on xx?’

When you share those types of insights with the right voice tonality, which shows you have really understood what could be going on in the prospect’s world, then they start to believe you care. They start to think you aren’t the average, self-serving salesperson who wants to feather their own nest, but are someone who wants what’s best for them.

Someone who isn’t a salesperson, but a problem solver.

And this makes them share even more. They now respect you (effective), like you (engaging) and respect you (empathetic), and these 3 elements combined mean they open up to you. They share their hidden egg, which is the key to the deal.

If you can fix the problem, of course. That’s a topic for another separate email, but when you get to the bottom of the issue through great questions, you uncover real pain. You get to know what really matters and with that secret, you can plan your next sales approach.

Don’t be a smarmy salesperson, though, and undo all the good work you have done by quickly moving to the solution.

The better the hide, the better the hunt.

The moment of finding something should give you meaning. It should give you pleasure, just like the kids this Sunday, finding eggs they thought were hidden.

It should give you the insights to plan the next move. Knowing that you have got to the core of the onion. Knowing you have understood what REALLY matters and what is REALLY going on in the mind of the other person.

When we realise these sales superpowers, the whole job of turning a prospect into a customer becomes much easier.

That’s my view anyway…

Do you agree with me?

Would this work for you?

Does this cover a challenging sales situation you have had?

If not, then what sales question or area would you like me to cover in a future newsletter?

Let me know. I read all replies even if I don’t have time to reply to them all.

Thanks, as ever, for being part of my community.

Have a brilliant sales week ahead and remember: Eat or be Eaten.

]]> The most important word in sales https://www.jameswhite.business/the-most-important-word-in-sales/ Sat, 14 Mar 2026 10:40:33 +0000 https://www.jameswhite.business/?p=24629

In today’s edition, we explore why one of the biggest discussion points in sales campaigns: why so many are reluctant to narrow their focus, and why having a clear focus and specific target audience is key to winning new business.

I had to learn the hard lesson.

And even after that, I still got it wrong.

It’s a hard one to accept sometimes, but it’s vital.

Let me explain.

When I started my first business, I was focused on helping small businesses. I loved working with them. I first came up with the idea back in 2004 when I visited shows and saw many companies selling products, but not taking contact details of the customers they were selling to.

I decided to fix it, and (in my head) EVERY business could benefit from the service.

If they sold a product to any person, it would make them suitable for what we offered. I wanted to build this clever contact management and communication system that did everything in one platform.

I was right. But I was wrong.

I carried on building the business, but it was hard work. I worked for over 10 years, grafting and dedicating hours and hours each week to talk with any small business.

This was my target market.

I even used the size of this market when I raised investment funding. Working with over 4.8 million small businesses meant we had a big opportunity. We did, but in trying to go big, we ended up making a mistake.

If you try to be everything to everyone you end up being nothing to anyone

Just a few years earlier, Mailchimp was founded with a clear goal.

Become the single, go-to platform for small companies to do email marketing.

What has all of this got to do with business and sales?

I made the mistake of being everything to everyone and not something to someone, and it cost me.

I have even done the same thing with my content and materials.

Being a generalist is good in many ways, as it allows you to attract different types of people.

I know that within the readership of this email, I have people who run small businesses and who sell manufacturing equipment, engineering equipment, IT software, networking and drinks.

I have a mixed bag, and although the key connector for me is ‘sales’, I know I should be more focused.

The most important word in sales, I believe right now, is RELEVANCE.

How relevant is what you say and offer to the people you engage with?

Successful sales campaigns target a specific group of people who have a specific problem.

When you target small businesses, it’s a bit meh…

When you target CEO Owners of IT service businesses who have revenue of between £2-£3m who sell high value services and software, then those you are targeting start to go, “hold on, that’s me they are talking about!”

When you then share in that campaign about really key problems that they face, then although they are sceptical, their attention is grabbed.

You start to create questions in their mind, such as:

  • Who are these people?

  • How do they solve this problem?

  • Who have they done this for before?

If you then show examples of people VERY similar to themselves who had the issue and then fixed it, people are open to conversations.

Relevance is everything, and the reality right now is that the companies that have really clear positioning and speak directly to a specific audience win the game.

I was reluctant to do this years ago.

I told myself that if I focus on one particular group, I would put off others. If I appealed only to Accountants, then Lawyers and Financial Advisers wouldn’t engage.

So, I stayed with a generic message which wasn’t relevant, and that meant I got ignored (which is painful in a sales situation).

In fact, I was reviewing some of my content only in the last week, and it was clear to me that I am not being specific enough. It’s why I am going to change.

The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said and making your message relevant to the person receiving it

My YouTube channel is going to focus solely on videos relating to those selling IT systems, services and Software. I know that this may mean some don’t engage, but if I have picked my target correctly (there are enough of them, they value what you do, and you enjoy working with them), then I will have plenty of potential customers to aim for and work with.

One of my best friends sold his business a few years ago. We started our first businesses at the same time, and I remember speaking with him and saying, “Are you sure there is enough of a market in that particular niche?”

He said yes I am sure. When he sold his company in 2018, he only had 18 customers, but he did well enough from that sale to retire, and so you could say he was proven right.

Being relevant doesn’t mean you have to pick one specific vertical. It doesn’t mean you can only sell into one particular industry.

But my simple questions to you are these:

  • Who are you the very best solution for right now and why should they buy from you?

  • How are you different to everyone else in the market?

  • How relevant is your communication and messaging to that particular group? Are you specific for someone or everything to everyone?

When you get complete clarity on these questions and then implement effective sales campaigns linked to this, results start to happen.

But maybe you disagree. Maybe you think otherwise?

Let me know.

If you aren’t sure, reply, and I will send you my simple positioning game, which can reinforce this message.

I know this approach (and word Relevance!!!) to be right, as I had to learn the hard way. I don’t want you to be in the same place and go through the same pain as I did!

Let me know. I read all replies, even if I don’t have time to reply to them all.

Thanks as ever for being part of my community.

Have a brilliant sales week ahead and remember: Eat or be Eaten.

James

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