Professional development Archives - Page 3 of 91

When people say you’re too expensive, do this!

By Jim Connolly | March 12, 2026

fee sensitive, price sensitive, selling by price, marketing,

Photo by Kaboompics at Pexels.com

When you ask why they didn’t buy from you, prospective customers or clients often say that your prices are too high. And it could be true.

However, it usually isn’t. Here’s what you need to know to overcome price/fee resistance.

Let’s start with some far more likely reasons for their decision.

What makes them say you’re too expensive?

Your marketing could be suffering from Toxic Complexity. This is dangerous and extremely common.
You might be marketing to the wrong people.
You could be contacting them at the lowest point of their cash flow cycle.
You could be asking people to make a decision before they have all the information they need.
Your marketing could be failing to clearly demonstrate enough value, making your price seem higher than they expected.
Your marketing promises could be too similar to those offered by your lower priced competitors.
Your payment terms may not be flexible enough for them.
Your branding could be positioning you as a lower priced provider than you actually are.
You could be responding to enquiries too slowly.

And there are lots of other reasons. None of which have much to do with your prices or fees, and more to do with your marketing and how you sell your products or services.

Solve the problem. Win big!

Lowering your prices can be tempting. It’s a quick and extremely easy way to make your products or services seem better value. But it’s a trap. A trap you need to avoid. A trap that can put your business in a dangerous race to the bottom. You do not want to be in a race to the bottom!

A far better alternative is to find out what’s actually causing people to think you’re too expensive. And to massively improve in those key areas. The least expensive way, the fastest way and the clearest way, is this way.

If you’re not sure where to start looking for answers, the brief list above is a useful place to begin. Try to look at each item on that list from the perspective of a potential client. Remember, most prospects will have done at least some research. So check your competitors to see how your; services, marketing, payment terms, promises, guarantees, branding and response times, etc., stack up against theirs.

And make lowering your prices the very last thing you consider.

Massively increase your sales with tiny improvements

By Jim Connolly | March 4, 2026

increase sales, more sales, marketing tips

I have a beautifully simple, yet powerful marketing tip to share with you today. It’s all about how you can spectacularly increase your sales, by making some tiny improvements.

Let’s go!

Though it was years ago, I vividly recall speaking with the owner of an office supplies company. I’m going to call him John. He was introduced to me after a talk I gave and said he had something he’d like to share with me.

He explained that for years, he’d been frantically trying to work out why his biggest competitor was doing so well. That’s because on the surface, they seemed very similar to John’s business. And yet they’d grown 5 times bigger than John’s business, serving the same marketplace.

Then he discovered their secret!

John hired a former employee of his successful competitor. He quickly discovered the root of their success. It wasn’t any one thing or tactic that made that competing business so successful. Instead, it was the cumulation of lots of little things. These little things compounded, just like compound interest. It resulted in an outstanding difference, which their customers adored and their prospects were attracted to.

It was also undetectable to the competition, including John.

John had been looking for a mountain and totally missed the many molehills, which made all the difference. With a large number of relatively small improvements, John was able to significantly increase his revenues and profits.

In short, if you create enough molehills, you end up with a mountain. By looking for small improvements to the way you look after your existing customers, and the way you attract new customers, you can achieve spectacular sales results.

The Andy Warhol guide to business success

By Jim Connolly | February 25, 2026

andy warhol, campbells soup, marketing, small business

Photos by Jon Tyson & Girl with red hat

Today, I’d like to share one of the most valuable lessons in growing a super-successful businesses with you. It comes from an unusual source: Andy Warhol. And it starts with a quick look at the story behind his masterpiece, Campbell’s Soup Cans!

Here’s the story along with a proven way for you and your business to succeed.

When Warhol’s collection was first exhibited in 1962, very few people attended. The exhibit was arranged by West Coast art dealer, Irving Blum. It was Warhol’s first solo exhibition.

Those who attended the exhibition at the Ferus Gallery either made fun of the art, dismissed it or ignored it. Very little art was sold. It was a huge failure. And to make matters worse, Warhol saw and heard their reaction.

Blum decided to buy the Campbell’s Soup Cans canvasses. He paid Warhol $100 a month for 10 months. Just $1000. Though many believed it was $1000 far more than they were worth.

Of course, despite his disastrous, first solo exhibition, Warhol refused to quit. He kept on creating his art. He also kept on promoting it; getting his work in front of prospective buyers, believing that if the right people saw it, they’d see it for what it was. Art that would change the landscape for ever.

Here’s how Warhol turned things around.

Warhol did the work required

Instead of working from a studio like every other artist, he worked from what he called The Factory. This was a very deliberate strategy. He created as much art as he could and took every opportunity to showcase his work.

As you know, his belief and work finally paid off. Warhol became one of the most important names in art of the 20th century and his work is even more valued today.

Irving Blum’s $1000 investment in the Campbell’s Soup Cans, which people laughed at, was sold to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1996 for $15MILLION.

This was seen partly as a gift from Irving Blum, as the art was valued at well over $100MILLION.

Without persistence and passionately promoting his art, there would have been no Andy Warhol. Certainly not the internationally respected artistic genius we know today.

Had Warhol decided to quit after his initial, disastrous exhibitions, a genius would never have flourished. At that time, he was being rejected by his peers and his work was being insulted.
Had Warhol created the same great art, worked just as hard, but refused to become exceptional at promoting himself and his work, both he and his art would have remained undiscovered.

Instead, Warhol did the right things, correctly. Creating and promoting great art.

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Business without the promotion required

How many small business owners have worked hard without the success they could have enjoyed, because they failed to market their work correctly?

How many small business owners reading this post, are struggling because too few people know how amazing their products or services are?

How many small business owners are not putting their ideas into action, because they allow fear of failure to stop them?

I honestly don’t know.

What I do know is that some amazing people, providing great products and services, fail to get the rewards they deserve.

Why?

Because unlike Warhol, instead of doing 100% of what is required, they do 100% of the things they’re comfortable with.

So, in 2026, during one of the fastest-changing economies in living memory, they dabble. They refuse to do what’s required; opting instead to drift along doing what’s familiar, even though it’s failing them. I find that fascinating.

There’s a proven, better way

The alternative is simple. By simple, I mean everyone reading this can do it. Everyone reading this can turn an average business into a successful business or turn a successful business into an even more successful one.

So long as we embrace all the tasks required in order to succeed.

This means changing things, because you can’t improve and stay the same. So, you have to choose.

The choice to stay the same is made by default. It’s what happens when you allow yourself to drift without an aim.
The choice to improve is a deliberate, intentional decision. When backed up with a commitment to do the right things, correctly, you become an unstoppable force.

You can do it, my friend. But only if you choose to.

Stop selling. Start inviting!

By Jim Connolly | February 23, 2026

sales, marketing, invite people, small business

Photo by Aaron Burden

When we stop thinking of sales as a transaction and start thinking of it as an invitation, everything improves.

The pressure evaporates. The awkwardness fades. The conversation becomes more human, more helpful. And most importantly, it becomes more successful, too.

This isn’t just about semantics.

Unlike me, most small business owners didn’t start their business because they wanted to be a salesperson or a marketing person. You probably started your business because you have something useful, meaningful and valuable to offer.

At some point early in the life of your business, you will have been told that you’ll need to learn how to sell your services or products. And it never quite sat right, did it? In many cases, the whole selling thing feels, at best, awkward.

There’s a reason: most sales advice is rooted in old thinking. It’s transactional. Borderline manipulative. At worst, you’re told to hustle, hustle, hustle.

That’s not how to make ongoing, high-quality sales from people who like you and recommend you. No. That’s how to be avoided.

But there’s another way.

Think like a host, not a hunter

As is often my way, I’d like you to imagine something.

Imagine you’re throwing a dinner party. You’ve planned the evening, cooked the food and set the table. The doorbell rings. You open the door. One of your guests is standing there. Do you welcome them with, “So, what’s it going to take to get you to wolf-down this lasagne tonight?”

Of course not!

You smile. You welcome them in. You offer them a drink. You say, “Come and join us.”

That’s an invitation.

Why invitations work

Now imagine applying that same invitational approach to your business.

Not pushy.

Not needy.

Just clear, warm, and open.

“Here’s what I do. Here’s how it helps. You’re welcome to join.”

That switch, from selling to inviting, makes a huge difference in how people respond to you. They don’t feel like targets. They feel like people. They feel ownership of the decision. It was their choice. Their timing. Their move.

And that makes them far more likely to hire you, buy from you, engage deeply with you, refer others to you, and stick around with you.

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Effective

You might be wondering: But is this effective? Isn’t selling supposed to be a bit more pushy?

No.

Not if you’re playing the longer-term game. And that’s what’s required in order to grow a successful business.
Not if you want to attract good-fit clients, earn their loyalty, and build something sustainable.

I haven’t sold my services to anyone in 30-years! I’ve explained what I do, how it will help them and then, they choose to hire me or they don’t. It always feels like two people exploring whether something wonderful could happen between us.

Sometimes the answer is no.

Sometimes it’s not yet.

And sometimes, it’s a resounding “YES!” and the beginning of spectacular results, which they hadn’t even dreamed were possible.

ALL of those outcomes were better than pushing someone into a yes they weren’t ready for. That kind of yes usually leads to headaches later.

What this could look like to you

Well.

If you’ve been dreading sales calls.
If you feel awkward or cringe when you write your marketing messages.
If you’re attracting people who aren’t quite right, and you don’t know why.

Try this.

Stop selling. Start inviting them to join you!

You don’t need to push. You don’t need to close. You don’t need to chase.

You just need to extend a clear, thoughtful, honest invitation to the right people, at the right time.

And let them hire you or buy from you. It works amazingly well in every economy. But especially now, when your prospects are nervous about spending money and run a mile from pushy salespeople!

Can you see the money?

By Jim Connolly | February 20, 2026

marketing 2026, small business, jim connolly

Photo by Olena Bohovyk

A former client of mine sold a business back in 2024 for almost $6 million. When she purchased it in January 2020, it was valued at $250k. Here’s how she did it and how you can blow the roof off your financial potential in 2026!

To start, I’d like you to ask yourself the following question. If I work hard and smart for the next 4-years, what’s the maximum I could sell my business for?

Here’s why that question is so valuable

I clearly remember my former client, Jill, calling me. She started by saying she had some good news. The sale of her business had just gone through. We had been waiting for weeks. It was so exciting.

I was working with Jill when she bought the business. It was already in pretty good shape. It didn’t need any meaningful capital investment. What it did need was an owner who could see the financial potential of the business. As she told me when she purchased it; ‘He just couldn’t see the money.’

The previous owner saw the potential value of his business as $250k.
Jill saw the potential value as $5 million.
Interestingly, they were both proven to be right.

What happened over those 4-years to make all that money?

The core difference was that the previous owner made decisions based on a $250k payday. Jill made decisions based on a $5 million payday.

Our beliefs

When we believe that our business has the potential to sell for a certain amount, we act accordingly. It looks like this.

Jill believed that the business she bought was potentially worth $5 million, so she bought it.
As owner, she made $5 million decisions regarding her business… decisions consistent with her valuation.
Her decisions led to $5 million actions, actions consistent with her decisions.
And her actions saw her make $5.8 million.

The key here is that we need to be able to see the money. That’s the spark. We need to genuinely believe in the potential value of our business. Only then will our decisions and the actions we take, be consistent with achieving the potential.

Why am I sharing Jill’s story, from 2024, with you today?

It’s 10 times more important in 2026!

Think of the small business owners you know. They can’t see the money. They are focused on the economy and the uncertainty. Most of them would settle for just getting through the year.

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Now let’s go back to Jill: Do you remember what happened a few months after Jill bought her business? She bought it in January 2020. Just a few months later, the pandemic came. Nothing was certain. Its impact on lives and the economy was unlike anything in living memory.

Regardless of what was happening around her, Jill needed this to work. I reminded her to keep her eyes on the money, so that’s what she focused on. We put some ideas together on how to adapt the business so it could make money during the uncertainty, and those multiple lockdowns. It became evident very quickly that Jill’s business came out of the pandemic in much better shape than her competitors. She then carried that momentum forward.

What is guiding your business decisions today?

I hope it’s the financial potential of your business and the enormous opportunities all around you.

Enormous opportunities?

Yes.

Your competitors are in survival mode, just like Jill’s were in 2020. They’re making decisions based on, at best, treading water. They are leaving the market wide open to you, or any competitor, with the vision to see the money that’s being left on the table, and plan ahead accordingly.

The best time to make your move is when your competition is standing still, frozen with fear. And that is what’s happening around you, right now.

Like every opportunity, this moment will pass. Don’t let it pass you by.