Posts Tagged Sales Strategy
The Importance of Understanding Buyer Needs
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 19, 2016
Virtually all companies claim to be “customer-centric,” but set many of their salespeople up for failure with the prodigious amount of product training they provide. Sellers’ comfort zones become talking about offerings rather than exploring business issues. While tolerated at low levels within organizations, it often shortens sales calls made on executives or abruptly ends them. Executives have neither the time nor the desire to be “educated” about offerings by salespeople.
Early in calls it’s important for executives to conclude sellers are sincere and competent (Steven Covey’s definition of being viewed as trustworthy). This conclusion is a prerequisite for executives to share their desired business outcomes or problems with salespeople. Buying cycles only begin when Key Players share desired business outcomes they’re willing to spend money to achieve.
As with many things in life, a seller may want to step back and realize there is work to do before Key
Players will be willing to share business goals. Sadly, many B and C players lack the patience to learn about buyer needs. Once a business outcome is shared they believe its permission to present their offerings and tell prospects how good it’s going to be. Some sellers have the audacity to begin product pitches with the words: Here’s what you need. In general, people don’t like to be told what they need to do, especially by salespeople. I believe sellers should earn the right to talk about their offerings by asking questions first.
Taking a step back, let’s look at it from an executive’s viewpoint:
- Executives are unaware of the reasons they can’t achieve business outcomes. In my mind the first step in learning buyer needs is asking questions in an attempt to uncover barriers to achieving goals that can be addressed by capabilities within a seller’s offering. If buyers knew the barriers to achieving desired outcomes, they’d try to address them without a seller’s help.
- Unless executives feel their needs are understood, they aren’t ready to have sellers tell them the solutions. Beyond that, unless sellers can quantify the cost of not achieving the desired outcome, prospects won’t understand the potential value of the offering being discussed.
- Without first asking questions, the solution will be the seller’s opinion. Given previous experiences with sellers, how much credibility does someone trying to make a sale have with a buyer? Sellers diving into product run the risk of wasting time by offering parts of their offering that aren’t relevant to the business issue being discussed. If sellers could be more patient in doing diagnoses first, they could shine a flashlight on buyer needs. Without doing so they blindly proceed.
- By asking questions first, sellers earn the right to talk about only those features that can allow the desired business outcome to be achieved. When done this way, sales can be viewed as a hurt (diagnose buyer needs) and rescue (offer relevant features based upon the way the buyer answers questions) exercise.
Executive buyers appreciate sellers that focus on business outcomes, help understand the barriers to achieving them and articulate the relevant capabilities that can be used to address them. Once compelling value has been established, buyers are incented to accelerate the decision process as they realize delays mean benefits are not being realized.
Simply said, the seller that best understands buyer needs is more likely to win the business.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Marketing Management Blog by Frank Visgatis on April 4, 2016.
Tell a Story Versus Pitch a Product
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 11, 2016
One of the most common traps in selling is talking too soon and talking much about your product.
Now, if you travel back in time there was good reason why many sales reps fall into the “product pitch” trap. They were constantly being taught the “101 tips for doing a perfect feature pitch.” They were just doing what they were taught.
Fortunately times have changed. Companies have completed the shift from a product-centric to a customer centric approach to selling. Lessons about great scripted product pitches are best viewed as historical tales to be told around the campfire.
So, if it is all about customer value, what is the substitute for the product pitch script? One answer to that question is – tell a story.
It is one thing to talk about a list of reasons why a customer should do business with you; it is another to be able to relate past success stories that bring that list to life. The latter is memorable and repeatable – the former is just another list of features.
So what are some tips for the art of storytelling in Sales?
- Make it personal. If you want someone to care about making sustained behavior change, you have to individualize the story. The more personal you can make the link between the story and the desired behavior change, the greater your chances of success.
- Keep it positive. A positive story narrative moves a customer along a path towards change. Interjecting negative outcomes that might result if the status quo is maintained are unlikely to be helpful.
- Probe why a customer would make a change. Learn early on why a customer would change from one product to another and why they won’t. Weave this information into the story.
- Stay on message. What is the primary goal that the customer wants to sustain over time? How can you craft the story so that it illustrates how working with you and your company can help them move closer to achieving their goal?
Storytelling allows you to translate your sales message from a feature pitch to a positive customer experience with business outcomes. It is worth noting that great stories are not usually created on the spot. Like most things that have high impact, they take time to develop and they require practice and feedback.
Here it is important to note that individual reps should not be the ones that have sole responsibility for creating the stories. Marketing needs to help for a whole bunch of reasons. This help is particularly important in companies where a lot of new reps are being hired.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Janet Spirer on March 15, 2016.
Ten Spring Cleaning Tips for Small Business Owners
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 29, 2016
We’re on the back end of winter, and many across the country are looking forward to the warmer temperatures and sunshine that come with spring. However, there is one chore that often comes with the new season that many aren’t always so excited about. I’m talking of course about spring cleaning.
Regardless of your feelings on spring cleaning, what many don’t realize is that taking part in doing so should go beyond the home. For small business owners, spring is an ideal time to make some changes around the company.
Here are 10 ways business owners can apply the spring cleaning concept to their company.
- Clean Up Your Website
If a small business’s website is due for an upgrade, spring is a great time to dig in. It doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul, and sometimes just some tidying up is all that’s needed. This can mean reworking the way information is presented to make it easier for Web users to digest, or aiming for a cleaner design. Pamela Springer talks about this in her piece for American Express’ Open Forum.
“Because more people browse the Internet these days before buying, it’s crucial that your website’s user-interface be friendly and easy to navigate,” she says. “Avoid providing all the information about your company—such as hours, offerings and location—on the homepage. Instead, list topics that link to different pages. When you’re updating information on the Web, make sure your network is also aware of the changes, since online connections can often help small businesses generate referrals and leads.”
- Consider the Cloud
Some small business owners may still be wondering, “What is the cloud?” Or perhaps they just haven’t had the time to analyze the different ways it may benefit their business. The flexibility cloud technology provides alone is worth exploring, Andre Lavoie writes for Entrepreneur.com.
“One of the most alluring benefits of cloud computing is being able to access work-related files and information from any device in any place at any time,” Lavoie explains. “We live in a mobile world. Long gone are the days where files are stuck on a single server on a single computer. As the workplace begins to cater to more remote workers and flexible working arrangements, being able to access work materials, when not at work, is essential for employees. Not only does cloud computing make it easier for employees to work outside of the office, it makes it easier for small-business owners to manage their business at any time of day, from anywhere.”
- Get Mobile
A simple website doesn’t cut it in today’s Internet-obsessed environment. Mobile sites should make it easier for people to view content from their phone or tablet, and mobile sites are arguably more important these days than desktop versions. Mobile has the potential to lead to additional revenue opportunities, which is why incorporating a responsive site for your business is so crucial. Rieva Lesonsky discusses this in a story for Small Biz Daily, which includes a 2014 study that shows mobile technology’s impact on businesses today.
“If your business is not mobile-friendly, you are likely losing revenue opportunities,” she says. “According to new research from hibu, SMBs that don’t accept mobile payments could be losing out on as much as $1 trillion in annual revenues. The study highlights the paradox of small business and mobile technology: While the SMB owners themselves predict mobile sales will grow an astounding 630 percent this year, 91 percent of them don’t have mobile-optimized websites. What’s worse is only 15 percent plan to upgrade and optimize their sites, which is a prescription for failure.”
- Upgrade Technology
If budgets allows for it, spring can be a good time to purchase equipment that improves a business’s processes and workflows. Sheen Chen talks about the impact this can have in an article for Business 2 Community, noting that these purchases are often eliminated during leaner times and can ultimately hold a business back in the long term.
“For your business spring cleaning, you should replace malfunctioning computers, monitors and other defective hardware,” Chen explains. “Having malfunctioning equipment can easily disrupt business productivity by potentially breaking at a critical time (e.g. POS system malfunctioning) and causing your small business to lose sales. If you have held back on regularly updating your software, your system may be susceptible to viruses, therefore immobilizing your business.”
- Inventory Assessment
Just as spring is a great time for homeowners to take on that long-delayed garage project or closet cleanup effort so too can small business owners with inventory. Set aside the time to examine what’s on hand and what should be cleared out, Madie Hodges explains in her piece for Kabbage.com.
“Spring is a great time to go through your entire inventory and get rid of damaged, aged, or expired products,” Hodges writes. “You are taking this time to make your business a better place, and your product or service is the bread and butter of your company. So taking this time to improve the options your customers have can really make a huge difference in your sales. This is also a great opportunity for you to look into new types of vendors and products. Spring is the best time to expand because it’s the start of a new, high volume-selling season!”
- Clean Out that Inbox
When emails go unread and begin to pile up, it can become a legitimate nuisance that damages your ability to be productive. A lot of it may be junk mail that just needs to be deleted, but it’s also possible that you’re missing important information in an email buried deep in that unread pile. Springer addresses some other problems of this in her American Express piece.
“It’s no surprise that you feel bombarded by quirky spam, given that an estimated 247 million emails are sent every day, according to Email Marketing Report,” she says. “If it’s difficult to decide what’s trash and what’s treasure, it’s time for a deep-clean of your inbox. This doesn’t mean sacrificing your weekend to delete junk mail; instead, take 15 to 20 minutes at the end of each day to sort emails into appropriate folders. Most email providers offer support for automating cleanup, through use of tools including searches, labels and filters.”
- Consider Security Measures
Hackers are constantly lurking on the Internet for people and businesses to take advantage of, so it’s a smart call to analyze your company’s security measures. Lesonsky examines this for Small Biz Daily, saying that small businesses are often easy targets for these destructive individuals do to the oversight of implementing strong security protocols.
“What do attackers want from companies as small as yours?” she asks. “Think about the valuable information you have, particularly customer lists, contact information and credit card or other sensitive data. And while the payoff is likely bigger when they attack bigger businesses, the fact is it’s easier to hack into businesses like yours, since you’ve very likely not kept your cybersecurity up to date. You need to make sure you install the latest security patches and updates as soon as they become available to keep attackers from breaking into your system.”
- Evaluate and Acknowledge Good Work
Spring brings with it a sense of renewed energy and intentions of improvement. This doesn’t just apply to business owners but to their employees as well, making spring a perfect opportunity to encourage their good work. As Hodges writes, springtime can be the right time for employers to evaluate their employees overall performance, and to reward them for all their hard work during the often stressful holiday season.
“Go through and do employee evaluations and reward those who deserve it for their hard work, and trim what doesn’t seem to fit,” she says. “Now is also the best time to adjust your budgets and find out where you can add bonuses to your payroll. The most effective way to handle employee evaluations is to sit down with your management team first and discuss your employees’ objectives. Then sit down with each individual employee and go over their measurable results. Remember to always ask for their feedback about your management styles.”
- Get Social
In addition to a cleaner website and effective mobile capabilities, social media presence has become a must for modern businesses in today’s world. The ability to connect and engage with consumers helps increase awareness of your business, which can translate to revenue gains from attracting new customers. Chen talks about this in his Business 2 Community story.
“When used appropriately, social media can be a great platform to attract new business,” he writes. “Depending on your business, you’ll need to find the appropriate social media platform to engage your customers. You can also help spruce up your company’s image by adding a blog to your website and keeping your customers informed and improving your website’s SEO.”
- Literal Spring Cleaning
Yes, taking the time to literally get into taking care of things that need some serious cleaning can be a worthwhile exercise around the office. This can apply to the overall cleanliness your equipment and the office, Lesonsky suggests in Small Biz Daily.
“Your hardware and peripherals are likely much dirtier than you think. Take some time to clean your keyboards (use compressed air), monitor screens and check the batteries in your mouse or wireless keyboards. Check your printer as well. Do all the parts move smoothly? Are you up-to-date on manufacturers’ updates? Is the printer free of paper bits? Make sure you have extra cartridges on hand, so you’re never caught short without ink.”
This article was originally posted to the Business 2 Community blog by David Kiger on March 12, 2016.
Three Social Media Best Practices For Small Businesses
Posted by Rick Pranitis in Social Media on February 24, 2016
For small business owners, social media marketing is one of the most underutilized marketing tactics.
How can you say that?
Everyone has or should have a Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, Twitter account, and Google Business page. While it is true that most companies have dabbled with social media channels and set up their pages, most small companies pay little or no attention to these low cost and potentially high impact marketing opportunities. Most small company social media accounts are a barren waste land of blank avatars, little to no postings and small followings.
If you are a small business and are looking to kick start your social media efforts, here are 3 best practices to get you started and impact your bottom line this year.
Update Your Profile
Your social media profile is an extension of your business brand. For savvy customers particularly the growing in influence millennial generation, social media channels are one of their first stops in their decision-making process. If you have blank avatars on your Twitter or Facebook pages, or profiles that look like they belong to a different company, you’ve got a problem. When someone checks you out on Facebook, Twitter, Google, or LinkedIn, you want them to know that they are dealing with the same organization. Use the same colors, logos, and similar images as you do with your other marketing collateral, so that it is instantly recognizable.
Also make sure that you use a consistent tone or voice. If your brand is professional, maintain that vibe, changing it up to a youthful and snarky tone will only confuse and potentially alienate your ideal customers. While your business may serve different customers, your marketing should be aimed at your target audience.
Consistency is Key
Arriving at a Twitter account or Facebook page and seeing that the last post was two years ago says something about a business. Unfortunately for many of the small businesses that we come into contact, this is precisely what we encounter. Publishing once in a while is a step in the right direction, but it will not yield the primary results that you are looking for – building and audience and driving targeted traffic to your website.
Determine which social media channels will yield the best results for your business and then work with your team to establish a regular publishing schedule for each channel that you will be working with.
Our friends at Buffer (yes, we are clients) have a great social media posting guide that can help you determine the ideal frequency to post for each social media channel. Regularity, like brand consistency, helps establish a sense of reliability in your audience (a very important trait in a company you’re considering doing business with).
At a minimum if you are just getting started, consider the following schedule.
- Twitter: 3-5 original tweets a day (morning, afternoon, and evening)
- Facebook: 1 post a day (original content or shared, ideally mid-day or early evening)
- LinkedIn: 1-2 posts a week (original content or shared)
Once you have maintained some consistency, you can start to track the impact of your postings and determine the appropriate frequency and timeframes for your posts.
Speak With, Not at Your Audience
Whether its Google, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn the goal of your social media activities is not to close sales. While increased sales can be a by-product of an effectively operated social media strategy, its biggest opportunities lie in creating awareness for your product or service, or maintaining communication with your legions of satisfied customers. It is important for companies to dialogue with their audience and avoid engaging in a one-sided conversation.
Unfortunately, many small companies just starting out with social media make the mistake of making overly salesy posts, or just posting a few pieces of content and never engaging with their audience.
Active engagement is the key!
Participating in group discussions on LinkedIn, or hosting chats on Twitter are just a few of the opportunities to speak with your audience and not at them. What are your followers concerned with? What problems are they struggling with? Are there solutions that you can provide to these issues? Will some of the content that you created answer their questions?
Regardless of the channel, social media offers your brand or company the opportunity to connect with your ideal customers on a personal level. Don’t take it for granted!
This article was originally posted to the Business 2 Community Blog by David Cuevas on February 14, 2016.
Why sales forecasts go wrong – and what to do about it…
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on January 29, 2016
Sales forecasts are an aggregate of individual opportunities. When organizations are in growth mode, the outcome of every opportunity – and particularly the larger ones – has a material impact on the overall revenue performance.
Unlike high volume transactional sales situations, in low volume complex B2B sales environments you cannot rely on high-level trends and indicators to predict overall sales volume – you have to make deal-by-deal judgments about whether or not an individual opportunity is likely to close.
And in a quarterly-driven environment, making over-optimistic assumptions about the timing of deals that do end up closing – but at a later date – can have a damaging impact. Timing matters: you don’t have to lose the deal in order to lose the confidence of your investors.
Depending on too few decisions
As anyone who follows weather forecasts will know, predicting complex systems is extremely difficult. It’s equally impossible to perfectly forecast the outcome of a complex buying decision. So one of the primary reasons why sales forecasts fail is that there simply isn’t enough slack in the system to take account of unpredictable (or unpredicted) factors.
Therefore one key way of ensuring that future forecasts are more achievable is to ensure that there are more opportunities that have a realistic chance of closing in any given period. This is NOT a short term fix, but one of the key ways of reducing this dependency is to ensure that your marketing and business development efforts are introducing more high-quality opportunities at the top of the funnel. You need to start fixing this problem now – in future quarters, you’ll be very glad that you did.
Over-estimating the prospect’s true position
Let’s face it; most sales organizations contain many more optimists than they do pessimists. Most sales people have a natural bias to believe that the prospect is further advanced than they really are in their buying decision process, and to play down the risk factors that can slow down any complex buying decision.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you need to recruit pessimists into your sales organization – we can both probably think of dozens of reasons why this would be a bad thing (and why it wouldn’t be a short term fix, either). But you need to balance the natural optimism of your sales team – and their desire to tell you what they think you want to hear – with a process that constructively challenges the sales person’s assumptions, and causes them to recognize what they don’t know or have naively assumed about the opportunity.
Over-estimating the prospect’s willingness to act
There are very few cases in complex sales environments where a truly “compelling event” exists – and even those that do often have an uncomfortable habit of becoming less critical just at the moment you have come to depend on them. It’s hard to create a single compelling event, and risky to depend on one.
If you’re selling software, the movement from selling upfront licenses to selling Software-as-a-Service and the consequent shift from CapEx to OpEx has also eliminated many of the “spend it or lose it” end-of-year considerations that used to drive Enterprise Software sales. It’s also harder (and more damaging) for SaaS vendors to perform the ridiculous contortions that many Enterprise Software vendors were willing to do to squeeze a deal into the last quarter of the year (just ask anyone who has sold for SAP, Oracle or any of the other big players).
The other factor that causes sales people to over-optimistically estimate the prospect’s willingness to act is that fact that most major purchases today require the consensus of a large group of key stakeholders. It’s much less likely that a single powerful individual is going to force a decision through without the informed consent of their colleagues.
The most effective remedy for this problem is to build a compelling case for change that is bought into by (and reflects the interests of) all the key stakeholders, and where the costs and consequences of inaction are compounded the longer a decision is delayed. Without this, many decisions will slip – and some will anyway, even if the cost of inaction continues to rise. But at least you will have done your best to make the case for change.
Over-estimating your sponsor’s ability to drive the change agenda
Another common reason why sales people underestimate the time taken for a deal to close is that they over-estimate the ability of their sponsor to drive the change agenda and secure the informed consent of all the other key stakeholders.
I’ve found though various win-loss post-mortems that many sponsors actually don’t know or are unwilling to recognize just how long, tortuous, political and sometimes downright ugly this consensus-building process can be.
And the compounding effect of an optimistic sales person multiplied by an optimistic and well-meaning sponsor can result in some seriously inaccurate calculations about when an opportunity can truly be closed – not just a decision in principle, but a recognizable order.
Mis-identifying or under-estimating the opposition
Ralph Waldo Emerson has been famously misquoted as saying “build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door”, but product superiority is no guarantee that you will win the business over a competitor.
In fact, as long as the competing solutions are regarded as sufficiently competent, having the best product is often a relatively minor consideration when compared to the prospect’s perception of risk.
Decision risk can come in many forms, but often includes the risk that the solution won’t work or won’t deliver the results that have been promised. Company risk is another key consideration, which is why early-stage companies have to work particularly hard to displace an incumbent vendor or compete against a well-established player unless the competitor has been particularly incompetent (and even then, their demise is by no means assured).
The clear message here is: don’t rely on the superiority of your solution. Rely instead on getting the prospect decision team to agree that you are the lowest risk-option of all the alternatives available to the prospect – and that includes the risks associated with doing nothing.
You can do better!
Anybody who has managed a complex sales organization for any period of time will know that forecasting cannot be reduced to a science. But you can’t rely on gut feel or untested assumptions, either.
The best way to improve sales forecasting is through a blend of art and science. Start by implementing a sales analytics solution that can help you identify patterns of success and failure, and enable you to recognize when sales people are relying on unnatural acts in order to achieve the numbers they are forecasting.
And then, on a deal-by-deal basis, you need to adopt a forensic mind-set that isolates and constructively challenges the assumptions that are being made in coming up with the sales forecast.
One final thought: as managers, we need to not only constructively challenge the assumptions being made by our sales people. We need also to insist that they constructively challenge what they are hearing from their own prospects, and really dig into the assumptions that underpin what they are being told. Simply saying “I’m only relaying what the prospect told me” can never and should never be an acceptable excuse for an inaccurate forecast.
This article was first published on LinkedIn under the title “Why sales forecasts go wrong – and how to avoid it“.
How To Find Your Product’s Remarkability
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on January 26, 2016
When I was a kid, my mother would buy me and my brother popsicles. My favorite flavor was orange. After I finished eating the frozen treat, I would read the joke at the end of the Popsicle stick. It was usually something silly like, “What did Mr. & Mrs. Hamburger name their daughter?” The answer: “Patty!”
Yeah, the joke was pretty corny, but I did something with that joke. I told my brother about it. The creators of the Popsicle inserted remark-ability into their product. I shared that joke like how I share a message from a fortune cookie.
We as humans like to share our messages, opinions, and experiences to others. However, we are more likely to share information that is really interesting rather than information that is not. That’s what remark-ability is all about. We tend to share and market things that we see as remarkable.
Case Study: Blendtec
A blender to most people doesn’t seem interesting at all. The only people I think that will be interested in a new blender are people who love to cook and fitness buffs looking to make a smoothie. But Blendtec makes the blender seem really cool with its YouTube channel, Will it Blend? Its founder, Tom Dickson, was able to find the remark-ability of his product by filming the real-time blending process of products like the iPhone, a remote, and even an Airsoft gun. Viewers stare in awe of how products start to disintegrate piece by piece until they are rubbish. Their videos gets millions of views, and they have over 800K subscribers!
How to Find Your Product’s Remark-ability
In order to make your product share grow like wildfire, you need to figure out what makes it attention-grabbing:
Figure Out What Makes Your Product Interesting
Ask yourself, what about my product is interesting? What features or benefits will grab someone’s attention? Can it be used with another product, or person to emphasize its features? For example, Febreze markets its air freshener by spraying it onto smelly homes and filming the user reaction to show the effectiveness of the product.
Determine If It’s Good Enough to Share
Sometimes the people most attached to the product don’t have the best judgment in whether or not their product is good enough to share. Demonstrate its remark-ability to others to determine whether it’s worthy of attention.
Try to Make It Relevant in Pop Culture
The most remarkable products are the ones that seem relevant to our time. Blendtec grabbed people’s attention by using iconic items like the iPhone to blend. A lot of young people can relate to the significance of the product and are curious to know whether it can blend or not. Buzzfeed uses pop culture and social issues to relate to Millennials so they will be the first person to share their content.
Create a Conversation
Snapple does this better than the popsicle stick. It inserts fun facts into its bottle cap so when a drinker sees it they will be like “Huh, I didn’t know this.” Then the drinker shares the fact with another person starting with “Did you know…?” Snapple is creating a beginning to a conversation through random facts because we have the habit of sharing new information. Buzzfeed creates conversations differently with controversial videos like “10 Things Straight People Say to Gay People.” They are creating these humorous videos in hopes that people will talk about the social significance of it in the comment section.
This article was originally posted to the Business2Community Blog by Beth Romelus on January 5, 2016.
Five Ways to Generate Successful Leads
Posted by Rick Pranitis in MARKETING, SALES BEST PRACTICES on January 22, 2016
The argument that all you need is a smart sales executive and a bit of intuition to succeed at selling is now redundant. Technology-enabled selling is now key. Making sure the sales process is successful requires coordination across multiple facets of a business, involving sales, marketing and almost any customer facing member of staff. CRM systems, marketing automation technology and existing relationships all need to be tied together with a thorough understanding of your company’s target audience.
Key analytics need to be leveraged to discover customer insights with leads carefully nurtured through well thought out campaigns to drive the demand funnel. These are my five essential means to generate successful leads:
Use accurate marketing data
Accurate data is the base of successful marketing programs. Without it, you could end up targeting the wrong people or worse, missing out on particularly strong leads. Accurate and relevant information about a person’s role, responsibility and decision making power is critical to understanding how best to approach them. This all sounds obvious, but too often sales calls go unanswered and emails bounce back. In my view, this is usually a result of out of date or incorrect data. Your sales and marketing team needs to reach out and communicate directly with people that are verified decision makers. In order to do this, you need to ensure your current marketing database stays up-to-date and accurately maintained.
Automate marketing across the organization
Automated marketing is not only reliant on accurate data, but when used across an organization, it can produce some great insight. Integrating existing CRM and data systems with inbound leads from website data will build stronger customer profiles and help sales and marketing teams to better understand audience behavior and learn where leads are in the sales funnel.
Use a CRM system
Understanding existing customer patterns is essential to getting new ones. Retargeting previous customers is a great way to securing future sales. But failing to understand them won’t do you any favors. A customer relationship management system should by default contain highly detailed information about every customer; from what products they’ve bought, down to the best means to contact them. By fostering an understanding of existing customers, a CRM system allows sales and marketing teams to communicate to leads exactly how they can solve a clearly defined and relevant business problem, whilst developing a detailed market and vertical knowledge.
Ensure sales and marketing teams have domain expertise
Few things are more embarrassing for a salesperson than being told they don’t understand a prospect’s business. As you develop a marketing strategy and automate aspects across your business, ensuring all teams have strong vertical sector knowledge is key. Failing to understand and sympathize with the needs and demands of prospects will hinder any chance of making a sale, throwing away any previous successful marketing efforts. Hiring salespeople with relevant domain expertise and sales process knowledge can be a great first step. These individuals can help to enable other new hires and team members to have a high level understanding of customer business requirements and sales planning.
Create a collaborative culture between sales and marketing teams
Marketing supports sales, and marketing departments are reliant on the business that sales teams bring in. The two departments are intrinsically linked in function, and often even use the same databases. In a data driven environment, field sales should understand the role of marketing and vis-versa. Fostering collaboration between the two departments and ultimately uniting their culture will pave the way for more effective lead generation with the two working in full tandem together.
In short, generating sales leads is all about focus and collaboration. Data needs to be accurate and relevant, and teams need to be focused on their target customer sectors and business needs. Chatty and confident salespersons are of course still important, but without the support of accurate data, effective CRM and automated marketing alongside a deep market knowledge and a collaborative environment between sales and marketing, lead generation will be limited. Following just one of these suggestions simply isn’t good enough. They need to be implemented in tandem, as each is intrinsically reliant on the other to succeed. Following all will ultimately result in more successful leads, sales and consequently a higher bottom line.
This article was originally posted to the Sales&Marketing Management Blog by Varun Chandran on January 6, 2016.
Five Things You Should Be Doing In Social Media Marketing In 2016
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on January 12, 2016
Below are five of the top social media efforts that marketing professionals should consider utilizing next year in order to make an impact and better connect with their audiences.
1 – Engage With Bloggers and Social Media Influencers
You’ve likely heard of brands partnering with bloggers and social media influencers or celebrities, and it’s for good reason – it works. According to RhythmOne (formerly Burst Media) marketers made an average of $6.85 in earned media value for every $1 of paid media spent on influencer marketing in 2014. By all estimations, this is only set to continue or even increase. Nielsen has reported that 92% of consumers trust earned media (such as recommendations from friends and family) above all other forms of advertising; and with ad blocking likely to become a larger problem for marketers in 2016, gaining earned media will become exceedingly important.
2 – Start Live Streaming
Whether you’re B2C, B2B, a non-profit or a personality, live streaming is something to try in 2016. Consider these ideas: B2C companies or personalities can show the “behind-the-scenes” perspective or “the face behind the brand” to humanize themselves and forge connections and loyalty. B2B companies can stream valuable information to their current and potential customers by explaining how their offerings can benefit the viewer, or provide tips to help the viewer do their job with better quality, efficiency or results. Live streaming can allow non-profits to pull on heart strings by showing the real time impact they are making or the hard work and dedication of their team. This is just scratching the surface of the many beneficial uses of live streaming for brands. It’s no longer just Meerkat and Periscope (not to mention Google Hangouts) as options either. There are now companies like blab.im and most recently Facebook, proving the growth of live streaming is likely to continue.
3 – Social Media Advertising
Let’s start by being clear those organic social media efforts, such as posting to your brand’s social media channels or engaging in online conversations, is different than paid social media efforts, such as Facebook or Twitter advertising. They are separate practices that both appear on social media channels, but they co-exist and benefit each other in many ways. According to Forrester Consulting, seeing ads on social media channels is the top way social media users find out about new brands, products or services. Since the majority of U.S. adults use social media, this is impactful. eMarketer also shares that between 20-25% of people visit the store or website after seeing a social media ad on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest; and between 14-17% bought the product or service. If you’re not already utilizing this channel, it’s time to develop a social media advertising strategy (and budget) for 2016.
4 – Offer Deals or Promotions
Would you like to develop a larger audience base, gain more customers, and measure conversions from social media in 2016? Treating your social media fans to special offers is a great way to achieve all three. Your loyal customers might connect with your brand on social media because they love you. But eMarketer reports that most people do so because they are interested in buying your product, receiving an incentive (i.e. sweepstakes, discount, or gift card) or to get regular coupons and promotions. Mixing special offers into your content calendar is a way to keep both the brand and consumer happy.
5 – Begin Employee Advocacy Campaigns
Most companies spend a considerable amount of time trying to get external audiences to talk about their brand. But what about activating your internal audiences (i.e. employees)? It’s generally easier and less expensive than other advocacy campaigns, and who better to promote the brand than your own team? As mentioned previously, more people will trust this word-of-mouth marketing (even if coming from an employee) than they will hearing it from the brand itself. Brands such as IBM have succeeded with employee advocacy campaigns and today’s social media managers can get assistance from several platforms that exist solely for this function.
This article was originally posted to the Forbes website by Brent Gleeson on December 17, 2015.
Today’s Buyers Are Not Mono-Channel
Posted by Rick Pranitis in MARKETING on October 5, 2015
I was recently in the market for a new car and while I was fairly certain I knew the car I wanted, I was intent on doing my research. Like most people in today’s digital age, I went to Google and typed in “best all wheel drive vehicles” and scanned through the results. Several more searches on key terms led me to a manufacturer’s website as well as some good consumer blogs. As a result, I had narrowed my search to three cars specifically and it was a pretty quick and efficient way to research.
A few days later, I went to Edmunds.com to further my research, as I wanted an independent review. In addition to my online research, I talked to a few friends (some in person, others online) who had the makes and models of the cars that were on my short list to ask about their experiences. During this process, I also received a direct mail piece from one of the manufacturers that aided in my decision making process.
The later stage of research (speaking to friends and scanning the web) was done over the course of several weeks. In addition, I emailed various dealers in town with questions and specifications of what I was looking for and simultaneously researched my best financing options.
All in all, I used multiple channels during my purchase process (web, social medial, word-of-mouth/peer referral and email) and it took about two months. I used four channels just to end up buying a car, but this is the digital age and as the buyer,I have access to all of these channels easily via my phone. Why not use it to my advantage as the thought of walking onto a car lot and dealing with a car salesman was not an option.
I am no different than other consumers in this scenario. We conduct our own research, we ask questions directly, we collect information, and we read independent reviews. This applies to buying a car or picking a place to eat…we use multiple channels to consume information that may or may not lead to a purchase. If this is how we operate in our personal lives, why is it that B2B vendors lose this concept when marketing to their buyers?
According to recent articles and blogs the best approach to a B2B demand generation program is mono-channel. Advice like how to have “The Best Email Campaign”, “Tips to Accelerate Your Social Media Strategy,” “How to Implement a Webinar Program” and the list goes on focus on mono-channel solutions. However, today’s buying process is more multi-channel than ever with buyers consuming content across an array of mediums and sharing across the buying committee. If this is true, then the idea of a one-channel program or a strategy designed for one specific content channel is a waste of time, effort and money.
There are a few key changes that B2B organizations can make to address this issue and better align with their buyers and their purchase process:
1. Break down the Departmental Silos: Many of the B2B marketing departments I encounter are designed by channel or function. Email teams, web teams, social teams, content teams, event teams, etc. Each has their own focus and measurement and in reality, they each only ever own a fractional part of the buyers journey. They work in silos and have no vision into the full approach their buyers take to buying. This needs to change. Companies need to begin looking at holistic demand generation that encompasses the full buyers journey and design their organizations accordingly. Without this holistic approach, content will not properly align to the buyer and organizations run the risk of poor communication in general, not to mention wasting valuable resources on ineffective content, leaving buyers less than impressed.
2. Theme First, Channel Second: I speak to many marketers who begin planning their approach to demand generation with the content asset in mind – white paper, eBook, webinar, video, etc. However, this should come secondary. The first thought needs to be the topic or theme of the content piece. What needs to be said to the buyer at this stage in their purchase process? Once that is determined, then the channels and asset type can be determined and most likely the theme will be used across multiple channels.
3. Gain an Understanding of Your Buyers Content Consumption Patterns: The best way to understand the channels your buyers use during their purchase process is to ask them. Simply asking your customers and buyers how do you like to consume content, where do you consume content and what type of content serves you best during the purchase process will help drive the content strategy. Without this buyer-centric understanding, everything else is a guess.
The multi-channel approach we take in our consumer lives is not all that different than how we participate in buying in our B2B lives. Organizations need to adapt to this approach and understand it is a multi-channel (and not always digital) world.
This article was originally posted to the Annuitas Blog by Carlos Hidalgo on September 1, 2015.
Who is the Real Decision Maker? Find Out or Lose the Sale
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on August 11, 2015
The prospect tells you, “I only need one more approval and the order is yours.”
For joy, for joy — the order is mine! — Eh, eh, eh — don’t celebrate too soon. The one last person needed to approve, is the real decision maker. The boss. The guy you were supposed to be talking to in the first place. The one person who can say “no,” and there’s no possibility of reversing it. Rut-row.
Throw some water on yourself, pal. This sale hangs by a thread — and what are you doing about it? Going home and bragging “it’s in the bag,” or saying over and over — “I hope I get it, I hope I get it?” Neither will work.
Here’s what to do: The words “I only need one more approval and the order is yours” must trigger your response to the prospect — “Great, when do we all meet?”
Get the prospect to agree to let you attend the final decision meeting.
If you’re not present when the last decision is made — odds are you will lose the final battle of the sales war without being able to fire one bullet. Try this: (In a non-sales, friendly way), say to the prospect, “I’m an expert at what I do, and, Mr. Jones, you’re an expert at what you do. Surely as you discuss our service, questions about productivity and profitability will arise. I’m sure you agree that the right information needs to be presented so that the most intelligent decision can be made, true? (You need get a commitment). And questions might arise about our service. I’d like to be there to answer questions about my expertise so you can make a decision that’s in the best interest of your business.”
If the prospect (customer) agrees to the meeting, he or she considers you a resource, a partner. They trust you. If they don’t agree to let you in the meeting — they just consider you a salesperson.
When others need to “final approve” the deal, besides learning to know the buying process better, you must take these five action steps or the sale is in jeopardy…
- Get the prospect’s personal approval. “Mr. Prospect, if it was just you, and you didn’t need to confer with anyone else, would you buy?” (The prospect will almost always say yes). Then ask, “Does this mean you’ll recommend our service to the others?” Get the prospect to endorse you and your service to the others, but don’t let him (or anyone) make your pitch for you.
- Get on the prospect’s team. Begin to talk in terms of “we,” “us,” and “the team.” By getting on the prospect’s team, you can get the prospect on your side of the sale.
- Arrange a meeting with all decider’s. Do it any (ethical) way you have to.
- Know the prime decider in advance. “Tell me a little bit about the others.” (Write down every characteristic). Try to get the personality traits of the other deciders.
- Make your entire presentation again. You only have to do this if you want to make the sale. Otherwise just leave it to the prospect. He thinks he can handle it on his own, and will try his best to convince you of that.
If you think you can get around these five steps, think again. (It’s obvious you’re looking for shortcuts or you would have known the buying process in the first place.)
If you make the mistake of letting your prospect become a salesperson on your behalf (goes to the boss or group instead of you), you will lose. Most every time.
Here’s 2.5 ounces of prevention (for next time):
- Qualify the decision maker as the “only” by asking a seemingly innocent question at the beginning of your presentation — “Is there anyone else you work with (confer with, bounce things off of) on decisions (situations) like this?” The object is to find out if anyone else is involved in the decision BEFORE you make your presentation.
- Prevent the situation from occurring by saying in your initial presentation: “If you’re interested in our ——-, when we’re finished, would it be possible to meet the CEO and chat about it?”
2.5 The most powerful qualifying question you can ask is (AND IT MUST BE ASKED EXACTLY THIS WAY): “Bill, how will this decision be made?” Bill will give you an answer. AND YOU FOLLOW UP WITH THE QUESTION: “Then what?” And Bill will begin to give you the saga about how the decision is really made. You ask “then what?” four or five times and PRESTO! you’ll have the name of the real decision maker.
The number of sales you make will be in direct proportion to the number of actual decision-makers you sit in front of. The problem with the lesser successful salespeople is they are sitting in front of someone who has to ask their mommy or daddy if they can buy it or not.
Real salespeople sit in front of real decision-makers. How real are you?
This article was originally posted to the Eye on Sales blog by Jeffrey Gitomer on May 26, 2015.
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