Pictured Above: Music in the park of Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara
A Weekend in Lisbon
Last week’s blog was not fully developed into a normal blog post, so I will to turn it into a post about my favorite spots and tips for a weekend in Lisbon. I’ll make sure to post the link here when it’s finished.
In short, I had a wonderful weekend in Lisbon. The food was delightful, I was in good company, and the city and its people were welcoming. I returned to Amsterdam on Monday night. My mother having had a meeting earlier in the evening, picked me up from the airport. It was incredibly nice of her to do, shortening my time to home by an hour or so. Then the week would begin.
Challenger Sales & Predictable Revenue
One big benefit of taking public transportation to work is the time it provides (if used wisely) to think, write and read. Next to daily written goal setting (a morning ritual I picked up from Tim Ferris’ Tools of Titans), I’ve been reading two sales books: Challenger Sales, by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon, and Predictable Revenue, by Aaron Ross. The former has prompted me to review how I take on my sales pitch, such as in client meetings. Specifically I took the pitch deck I had been developing and thrown it on its head. I asked myself how i could better explain the WUA product, the Digital Sales Scan. At the same time, I wanted to make sure I challenged the prospect or client to understand how our solution would truly help them.
On Wednesday I had a web call with a big prospect coming up. So I decided to put my newfound lessons to the test. CEO Klaas stood by as I went through the conversation, presenting my new format to the prospective client. The call went well and next steps booked. Klaas, happy with how it went asked me to prepare the presentation to a Google Team on Friday. The Google team was interested in our work for increasing conversion on mobile sites. Friday morning came along, the presentation was given in person. Ferocious note-taking, understanding nods, and prodding questions ensued throughout. A small round of applause followed. Walking out, I can only think to myself that something is going right. Such events motivate me to keep learning through reading, and implement immediately.
The other book, Predictable Revenue, is more about the sales process. Such as how to put together sales teams, go after outbound mail, and other tips. It’s still a work in progress, but it will surely aid me as I build up the business and team in the United States. Speaking of which, WUA is officially becoming incorporated in the US. As Secretary of the corporation, I find this development incredibly exciting. This comes on the heels of one of my first deals in North America, with a Canadian company as it were.
Brothers at WUA
As I shared two weeks ago, youngest brother Ivar has started his internship at WUA. For three days a week, he empowers me through content-writing in the marketing department. It’s a pleasure to have one of my greatest friends working with me. Though he has a lot of work experience already, this is his first time in an office environment. I enjoy seeing how he is learning the ropes of a B2B company. There is a great deal of potential to come out of our working together. What’s fun is that we now make the 2nd set of brothers at the company, after the founders (Henk and Klaas). 2 brothers heading the company, 2 brothers taking on the market of the United States. I fly back to the United States on May 2nd. Until then in the Netherlands, I have additional time to build an effective working relationship and process for when I’m across the pond again.
