The distinction between new business and existing business is complete nonsense. So, as far as I'm concerned… Stop that. "I only do new business acquisition." "I am an account manager for existing customers." Wrong. Every customer is new business. Every day again. New department you're not in yet? New business. New problem you haven't solved yet? New business. New manager you don't know yet? New business. A good account manager is constantly selling. Not managing. The service

Don Draper (Mad Men) pulled off the most powerful sales move I've ever seen. What did he do? He threw the deal away… Don Draper, the protagonist of Mad Men, is the creative director of an agency. He had a customer who had doubts. And instead of fighting? He said this: "Guys, we're quitting. You don't believe in your own story. How can we ever do good advertising if you don't believe in it yourselves? Don't believe in what your customers can bring to the forefront?" The custom

"Sir, can I wash your car for three guilders?" My voice trembled slightly when I first rang the doorbell at the age of twelve. The neighbor raised his eyebrows. He looked from me to my bucket, to his dusty Opel Kadett, and back to me. "And will I actually get it clean?" he asked with a mischievous smile. I nodded resolutely. "The rims too, sir." That Sunday afternoon in 1978, I washed my first car. Five more followed on the same street. Before sunset, I'd earned more than an

It's no wonder you don't want to be "that salesperson" when your inbox is flooded with pushy salespeople. But aren't you leaving money on the table? I get it all too well. Your inbox is full of pushy salespeople. Your LinkedIn is flooded with AI-generated messages. This is absolutely not how you want to be. Only in the tech sector do I see the opposite problem: professionals who are so afraid of being pushy that they become passive and miss opportunities. So isn't your fear o

"What's your value proposition?" I asked the sales team at a tech scaleup. And they all pointed to the same slide in their presentation. You won't get away with that with me. "And how do you use that in your sales conversations?" Silence. Confusion. Shuffling feet. Here's the problem: most companies see their value proposition as a statement, not as the DNA of their sales process. A working value proposition isn't just marketing copy. It's the essence of why customers choose

In sales training sessions, I sometimes like to compare rock-solid sales with one of my football icons, Marco van Basten… I was fortunate enough to see him play in his heyday. One of the few truly world-class players the Netherlands has ever produced. What made him so special? Two things that I translate directly into my sales philosophy: Being available when it matters. Van Basten had that rare gift of being in the right place at the right time. It wasn't a coincidence. It w

Everyone's saying these days that AI is going to take over all sales and marketing jobs, but consider this: Would you ever buy a €20K+ solution from a chatbot? Of course not. That's not how we humans are wired at all. In recent years, the B2B world has been flooded with new tools and technologies, all supposedly helping you sell faster and more. CRM systems that collect data, but are they really getting the most out of your customers? AI applications that send impersonal mess

In my opinion, technical professionals and consultants have incredible potential that they don't see themselves. The reason: In practice, you still associate 'selling' with being pushy. With manipulation. With anything that goes against your integrity and professionalism. As a result, you abandon sales activities and trust that sales will come your way. After all, you are good at your job, right? EXACTLY. And that's exactly why you can become the perfect trusted advisor. Your

Grateful to partner with Bas van der Putten and the Growthdotcom team. It is fantastic to coach their growing customer base on how to move from conversation to deal. The photo above shows us as a team at the SMA event. A funny comment from a prospect that day? "You can't replace sales with AI, can you?!" He asked back: should they actually reinforce each other? Because how great would it be if conversations were initiated and conducted for your company at scale (approxima

Hi network Finally!! My new website is live: www.fritswillembakker.nl For over three years now, I've been fully focused on empowering courageous professionals to be effective in sales. Some context was needed. Because this isn't about sales like "in the movies"... pitching and pushing. It's about how to turn your content into a contract. And do it with integrity, in keeping with your story, relationships, and personality. So, are you a service provider, consultant, data scie