Earnest Consulting Group

Sunday Sales Spark: Lead with What Matters

June 22, 2025 | Government, Sunday Sales Spark

In government sales, first impressions aren’t just important, they’re everything. Whether you're cold emailing, pitching in a capabilities briefing, or introducing your firm at a matchmaking event, how you position yourself in those first few seconds sets the tone. Unfortunately, many contractors make the same mistake: they lead with things that don’t move the needle. They lead with what they are, not what they do. They talk about certifications, registrations, and labels. They assume that saying “We’re SDVOSB-certified and on the GSA Schedule” is enough to stand out. It’s not. That’s why this week’s focus is on helping you shift…

Midweek Summit: The Lack of Sales Blame Game

June 18, 2025 | Government

Our culture has a blame problem. You see it in sports all the time. A team loses, and fans immediately turn to the officials. Bad call! Missed strike! Phantom foul! But the box score tells the truth: missed free throws, dropped passes, unforced turnovers, lazy defense. If those mistakes didn’t happen, most of the time the outcome would have been different. It’s not that the refs don’t make mistakes, it’s that the team made more of them. Sales is no different. Especially in government sales. We tell ourselves a story about why we’re not winning. We externalize failure because it's…

Midweek Summit: How to Build the Community That Will Accelerate Your Government Sales

June 11, 2025 | Government

In Sunday’s Sales Spark, we talked about the things that accelerate success; Community, Accountability and Expertise. But let’s get tactical: how do you actually build a community around your government sales efforts, especially if you're not part of a larger organization? When you work for a big company, the structure often bakes in your community: National sales meetings Weekly team huddles Internal mentorship programs Built-in accountability But what if you're running your own company or leading the government sales push for a small business? That’s when it starts to feel like the Wild West, lone ranger style. And that’s exactly…

Sunday Sales Spark: Don’t Go it Alone

June 8, 2025 | Government, Sunday Sales Spark

Salespeople who work for large companies often have something built-in that many small business owners don’t: a sense of community, accountability, and a constant sharpening of their skills. Now, whether or not salespeople take advantage of it is a completely different topic. They’ve got sales managers. Teams. Pipeline reviews every Monday morning. Weekly sales meetings. Quarterly business reviews. National sales meetings. The machine keeps them moving. But when you’re the owner of a small business, and sales sit squarely on your shoulders, it’s a different world. You're out there like it's the Wild West. I know. That’s exactly where I…

Selling to Sam #016 – If your pipeline is measured in pages, not conversations, you’re doing it wrong.

June 6, 2025 | Comic Strip

The Tactics Behind the Metrics: How to Actually Measure Your Government Sales Performance

June 6, 2025 | Government

In government sales, it’s easy to say: “Know your numbers.” Revenue targets. Pipeline size. Prospect touches. Conversion rates. You’ve heard them all before. But most companies don’t just struggle with what to measure; they struggle with how to get those measurements in the first place. So let’s get tactical. Today, we’re not talking theory, we’re talking tools, habits, and processes you can implement to finally get your hands on data that drives your sales strategy forward. 1. Don’t Just Use CRM, Design CRM Most companies think buying a CRM tool is the answer. It’s not. The answer is building a…

Sunday Sales Spark: The Data-Driven Discipline of Government Sales

June 1, 2025 | Sunday Sales Spark

Let’s talk research and metrics. Government sales gives you a ton of information to work with. That’s both the good news and the bad news. You have more data at your fingertips than any other market. But so does everyone else. The companies that win aren’t just the ones pulling reports. They’re the ones who know what to do with the data. If you’re going to grow in this space, you have to develop two skill sets: Researcher Analyst Both feed your strategy. But neither means anything if you don’t convert them into action. Here are the types of research…

Selling to Sam #015 – Rest isn’t quitting. It’s reloading. Grizz gets it. Dash… he’s still learning.

May 30, 2025 | Comic Strip

Rest isn’t quitting. It’s reloading. Grizz gets it. Dash… he’s still learning.

Midweek Summit: 7 Ways to Fuel Up When Running on Fumes

May 28, 2025 | Self Help

Last Sunday, I wrote about stripping things down to the essentials. This Wednesday, I want to flip that perspective. Because there’s a difference between cutting activities to avoid burnout and doing things that actually recharge your battery. In government sales, the engine is always running. Opportunities don’t pause. Deadlines don’t disappear. But if you’re not careful, you will. You don’t have to hit a wall to know you’re running on fumes. So here are seven real-world ways to refuel, not some fluffy advice, but practical strategies that actually work when your energy is low and your output still matters. Get…

Sales Never Stops, But Sometimes You Need to Strip It Down to the Essentials

May 25, 2025 | Sunday Sales Spark

Sales never truly stops. But after a big push, even the best of us hit a wall. I just returned from the #VETS25 conference the week before last. And when executed well, conferences are a full-contact sport. There’s the prep beforehand, getting decks ready to present, lining up meetings, and making sure everything back at the office is handled before you leave. Then there’s the conference itself, speaking engagements, 1:1 strategy sessions, walking the exhibit hall, and hitting the networking receptions. And after it’s over? You’re not done. You’ve got to follow up with new connections while catching up on…