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By Sales Result Inc.
In sales, the main objective is to WIN the deal. In our experience working with many great sales teams, we’ve found one overarching commonality: If you want to win, you must always know where you are in your organization’s sales process, and the next steps necessary to effectively close the deal.
The concept of a sales process is not new. It’s been around for a long time for a reason – it works. A sales process works for direct sales, inside sales, channel sales or internet sales. It works whether your sales price is $10 or $500,000. We guarantee that if you really look at your sales success, it’s been based on a series of steps that you replicate from deal to deal.
So, what makes up a winning sales process?
- Clearly defined steps
- Goals for each step, such as:
- Key activities and milestones
- Key actions to be completed
- Sales tools
- Entry & exit criteria
- CRM integration
Some of the biggest mistakes we see that individuals or organizations make if they do already have a sales process in place include:
- Skipping steps, or key activities within a step. You lose deals by doing this!
- Forcing a canned sales process or methodology onto the sales team that isn’t tailored to the organization’s short-term and long-term goals
- A lack of training and certification for sales professionals on the steps, activities, and tools in their sales process
Understanding your customer (WHO you sell to) and understanding your solution (WHAT you sell) is a clear competitive factor. By institutionalizing a customized, defined sales process (HOW you sell), you can streamline your sales force and reduce costs, increase win rates and watch your organization efficiently scale and grow.
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Sales Result Inc. (SRi) is a sales management consulting and coaching firm. We are dedicated to providing top-line revenue growth through customized services and solutions designed with a Your Culture, Your Clients, Your Way™ approach. For more information, please visit www.salesresult.com, or call toll-free at (877) 427-2490.
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By Ed Kimm, VP, Wow Rack
Have you struggled through the question of whether public or private cloud is best for your company? If so, the first step is becoming educated about the benefits and differences between both options. Each can have clear benefits to your business, but it is important to understand your applications clearly before you choose which way to go towards your hosting needs.
As with many technologies, there are several misconceptions about which one is truly the better solution. To start, here is a simple run-down of the pros and cons.
Public Cloud
Pros:
- Scalable and on demand
- Benefits of having your own “virtual” data center
- Less expensive in the beginning (if under 50 K visits per day)
- Pay-per use model (metered)
- No virtualization expertise needed to deploy
Cons:
- Privacy and security of data
- No common API
3
- Data possession (less control)
- Virtualized but still shared with other users on the same machine
- Can be shaky when it comes to SLA’s
- Possibility of fraudulent use and spammers
Private Cloud
Pros:
- Dedicated hardware, so more powerful and efficient
- Easy allocation of resources with virtualization technology (Add resources as needed)
- Can still virtualize and share hardware but it is private to you
- More efficient disk I/O
- Bandwidth costs can be much less over time
- Easier to budget your monthly costs over time
- Clear SLA’s
- More control over where your data is for better security and compliance
Cons:
- Not as fast to scale or spin up instances (can be limited depending on how much hardware is deployed behind your “Private Cloud”)
- What you pay for in hardware is set no matter how much you use or not
- Depending on the application and bandwidth needs to start, can be more expensive “initially”
- Limited geographic diversity on demand
Overall, both the Public and Private Cloud can be of great benefit. Many companies decide on one over the other based upon their specific needs, while on the other hand, many choose to go with a hybrid approach utilizing both platforms.
Ultimately, companies need to evaluate specific applications, factor in security and compliance considerations, and then decide which application is appropriate for a Private Cloud, as well as which can be shifted to the Public Cloud. A solution for one company may not be the solution for another, so it is important to do your research and consult with a qualified firm before any migration plans are set.
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Ed Kimm is VP of Wow Rack or Coloinseattle.com. Wow Rack is a Seattle-based managed hosting solutions provider. Wow Rack delivers industry leading dedicated server, customized and flexible hardware and Infrastructure as a Service for Private Cloud Computing and Virtualization. Ed can be reached at 206-890-8082, or by email at sales@wowrack.com.
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By Sales Result Inc.
Since 2003, Sales Result Inc. has worked closely with over 100 sales teams in a wide variety of industries, including technology, legal, and retail. Although each of our clients comes with a unique set of needs, we’ve found many similarities when it comes to ineffective management styles.
Below is a list of key issues that we regularly encounter by conducting our in-depth Executive Sales Discovery and Gap Analysis.
- Sales management does not connect with their individual sales representatives with a formalized structure/agenda.
- A weekly or bi-weekly sales meeting/call is crucial for connecting with a sales team.
- Often, sales leaders will put aside 15 minutes for a weekly forecast call. Really, this is not enough time to actually connect.
- We often hear from Sales VPs that they hear from their sales reps every day, but it’s often that case that they are still disconnected.
- So, how do you bridge this gap?
- Sales management does not adopt or embrace a formal sales process with milestones, key activities, exit criteria, etc.
- And they wonder why the deals don’t move forward/why the forecasting accuracy is bad/why they’re unable to close.
- Management cannot articulate key activities from activities
- They are focusing on the wrong thing.
- They do not embrace and implement regular sales training with certification into their sales organization.
- You need to invest in your sales team!
- They do not spend time regularly in the field or on the phone auditing the sales person’s skills, presentations, and sales funnel.
- During the interview process, they do not:
- Have the candidate sell something to them.
- Verify references and W-2.
- Test on key concepts that are crucial to the position
- You need to get to know the person that you’re hiring in order to ensure that they are the right fit for the job.
- Cannot articulate a standard compelling value proposition for their solution throughout the sales organization.
- This kills a sales team’s ability to move forward in a deal.
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Sales Result Inc. (SRi) is a sales management consulting and coaching firm. We are dedicated to providing top-line revenue growth through customized services and solutions designed with a Your Culture, Your Clients, Your Way™ approach. For more information, please visit www.salesresult.com, or call toll-free at (877) 427-2490.
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By Jeanette Mifsud, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Mixtur
Here at Mixtur we get the opportunity to work with a lot of startups, especially ones in the tech sector. Sometimes the entrepreneur behind the company is an experienced marketer, but often they are really smart developers, experts in a particular industry or just people with a great idea. I’m constantly amazed how far some startups get down the road without a good understanding of how they are going to go to market and what it will cost for them to be successful.
The days of “build it and they will come” are long gone, and angel investors and the venture community aren’t lining up to hand out money to startups without a solid business plan.
So if you want to maximize your chance of raising money and launching a successful product or service, take heed of the following marketing tips:
- Know your market – be able to communicate market size, revenue potential and strengths and weaknesses of your competition (and there is always competition!).
- Know your audience – whether business or consumer you need to be able to paint a detailed picture of your audience.
- Make realistic sales projections – you can’t do this unless you’ve done the first two items on the list. Back up your projections with real data.
- Know your message – understand and clearly articulate your value proposition and what makes you unique.
- Understand customer acquisition costs – this one’s a biggie! Do the research and project out what it’s going to cost you to build your customer base. This will directly affect your marketing strategies and tactics.
- Have a great go to market strategy – you can only do this when you’ve done all of the other things on the list. Don’t limit this to advertising and promotions. Think big picture–partnerships, PR, word of mouth etc.
- Know your operational costs – okay we’re stepping out of the marketing realm here, but how can you know if you’re ever going to make a profit unless you’ve done a good job of projecting out your costs of doing business?
- Develop strategies that maximize early revenue streams – you’ll stand a much better chance of raising funds or staying in business if you can bring in revenue as you build out your offering.
It’s all a matter of being prepared and doing your homework. To get more tips and details, download our go to market homework assignments.
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Jeanette Mifsud is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Mixtur, a full service marketing, creative and interactive agency. For more information visit www.mixtur.com, blog.mixtur.com, www.twitter.com/Mixtur; call 206.965.9505; or, email clientservices@mixtur.com.
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By Nick Hall, Senior Strategist, Peak Systems
I'll be bold in making assumptions and say that your goal of participating in social networks is to share. On LinkedIn, you want to share professional content, experiences and connections. On Twitter, you want to share snippets, quips and links to content that interests you. On Facebook, you want to share anything you can, really. There has been intense debate and discussion around privacy concerns, particularly with Facebook's privacy track record and, more recently, with Twitter.
Facebook Places allows me to check-in and tag you; Twitter allows me to mention you; and LinkedIn allows me to reference connections to you based on their expertise or offered services. There are personal settings to tweak how this form of sharing works -- sure -- but by adjusting these settings you would limit others from sharing you, your content, or even restricting their ability to interact with you. You want your reputation, personal image and maybe even your content to be a positive reflection, right?
But what's actually yours?
MSNBC's Red Tape ran an article about Stefanie Gordon's photos and video of the Space Shuttle Endeavor's final launch that addresses "When is sharing stealing?" The contention for photo copyrights presented by Red Tape can be summed up in one breath: the photo you take belongs to you, until you specify otherwise. Services like TwitPic remain in the public eye for quite the opposite reason. TwitPic's terms of service states that content shared on the TwitPic platform belongs to the platform.
There has been recent controversy over†Twitter accounts posting content that violates the UK's celebrity "super-injunction" legislation. In short: in the interest of privacy, any details or evidence presented in the courts cannot be printed in newspapers. An anonymous tweeter shared†sensitive details (and named names) protected by said legislation. UK officials demanded that Twitter provide the identity of the individual(s) responsible for the Twitter account. In the interest of protecting their users and maintaining a global standard for privacy on its platform, Twitter refused to reveal the identity of the "violator." While Twitter's terms of service maintains that "you own your content,"they also "encourage and permit broad re-use of content." Read: They encourage re-sharing content.
Facebook - despite the public backlash each time a new (rumored or actual) privacy setting is rolled out - blatantly states in its terms that you own all of the content and information you post to Facebook. LinkedIn's privacy policy implies that you are responsible for data shared (though they don't use the word 'own').
These networks are intended to enable users to share content with networks and the world. However, users have complained about the level in which their data is shared (with others or used to push ads), causing them to lock down their privacy settings so they only share with their defined network and don't sharing with the world. Unless a platform specifically calls out ownership with your content shared on the network, it's safe to assume that you own everything you create.†There is a psychology around ownership of tangible things that is evolving slower than expected, despite the speed of digital content creation. However, for now you own that data, you own that photo, you own that which you post.
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Nick Hall is a Senior Strategist at Peak Systems in Seattle, WA. His focus is around the social and mobile platforms as a means of engagement with customers, contacts and applications. Self-proclaimed Director of Awesomeness, Idea Generator, Conqueror of the Internets, Entrepreneur. You can learn more about Peak Systems at www.peaksystems.com.
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Referenced Article by GeekWire
GeekWire recently published a telling memo from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicating the company’s plans to increase investment in compensation “across the board” and move towards a model focused more on base salary and less on stock awards.
The article is a must read for every HR professional and business leader looking to recruit and retain talent in the rapidly changing technology job market.
It’s no secret the competition in our state for talent is becoming fierce with Google, Facebook, Zynga, and other tech notables who have opened offices here to reach a talent pool that's increasingly in demand. It’s for this reason the launch of the WTIA Compensation Surveys couldn't have come at a better time. The program offers one of the most reliable regionally focused compensation databases for Washington technology firms.
The tool provides local companies with the data they need to attract, retain and motivate quality talent at a time when it’s needed most.
Learn about the WTIA Compensation Surveys.
Read the GeekWire article.
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Robert Wachter, Marketing & Communications Manager, WTIA
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By Doug Sayed, Applied HR Strategies
Performance follows pay, or is it pay follows performance? It's an age-old question and not easily resolved, but we know there is a connection between the two, at least in high-performing organizations.
I thought you might be interested in the just-published i4cp report Performance Management Playbook: Tools and Techniques for Managing Performance. Performance management (PM) has long been a thorn in the side of many organizations. In fact, two-thirds of the organizations surveyed by i4cp admitted that their performance management processes are inefficient. It's difficult to imagine another process that consumes so much time and so many resources, yet all too often leaves participants feeling dissatisfied. At the same time, most organizations see the need for performance management and consider it important, even if less than effective.
A key element of any effective PM program is leadership buy-in and support. Without leadership buy-in, PM simply becomes a painful experience about which no one is quite sure why they are going through. Nearly three-quarters of high performance organizations say their leaders consider PM to be vital to a high or very high extent. Only about half of lower performers said the same.
I once worked in an organization where late performance and/or poorly completed reviews were considered a serious management deficiency and chronically late managers usually became former managers. As a result, reviews were rarely late or brushed over.
The i4cp PM playbook goes on to highlight six common challenges to PM that organizations face and the solutions to overcoming them. Below are the six challenges the playbook addresses.
- The performance appraisal process is perceived to be too complex and time consuming by employees at every level.
- Leadership does not consider performance management to be integral to overall business strategy.
- There is a disconnect between the pay-for-performance culture and the performance management process.
- Organizations often focus on the wrong aspects of performance management.
- The performance appraisal process is rarely calibrated properly, if at all.
- Performance management is not yet fully integrated with other talent management processes.
Just in case you're wondering if its really worth it to spend so much time and effort on performance management, see the table below and let me know what you think (many thanks to Ann Bares of the Compensation Force blog for allowing me to use her table).
I believe the data coming out of the study clearly shows that it's worth the effort to incorporate effective PM as a key element to becoming a high-performance organization (or working to stay there).
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One of the services most requested by the 1,000 plus WTIA member companies is access to valid compensation surveys on a local level. The WTIA forged a partnership with Applied HR Strategies resulting in a new salary survey designed to give you access to important localized compensation data. Learn more at www.wtiasurveys.org.
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Doug Sayed is the Founder of Applied HR Strategies, a strategic compensation consultancy that specializes in the development of customized compensation related solutions. Contact Doug at doug@appliedhrstrategies.com or visit online at www.appliedhrstrategies.com. You may also read this blog at Applied HR Strategies.
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By Nick Hall, Senior Strategist, Peak Systems
Dear Awesomeness Trainee,
You are the silent famous community manager or strategist behind a brand. You post great content that you want users to see, interact with and share like crazy. You are awesome. However, you're liking your own content and driving me crazy.
If there are multiple community managers for a brand, you could be driving them crazy too: "Wait, did I like this already? I did?!" Because I know you care about our everlasting awesomeness, here's a quick walk-through of how to stop driving me crazy.
First, would you please go to the page or brand you admin and click the 'Edit Page' button in the upper right of your masterpiece. I know, that content you posted this morning is so great, it's ok to watch that video one more time. But when you're done, click this button.
You remember this next page, the one with the settings and goodness that helps you and your fellow Awesomeness Trainees stay on top of things. Let's focus closer to home, there's an option to edit 'Your Settings,' let's check this out.
You are doing so great, taking these 5 minutes is going to save so much frustration and after-dinner fights between us. It'll be nice to argue over who is stuck doing the dishes instead of why collectively we like ourselves. Just one last thing before I go. There's a little check box that needs some love.
Un-check this little guy. Once that's done, you'll be able to like, comment and engage with all sorts of content on your brands page! Whether you post it, I post it or even if Milton posts it. (Actually, we should probably take admin privileged away from Milton, but let's talk about that after lunch.)
Look, I know we've had our differences, but you've always been approachable and understanding and I appreciate your desire to learn more about Awesomeness and provide a better service to both your users and your brand. Thank you for being so understanding.
Oh hey, one more thing. If you do want to engage folks as our brand, click the little 'Use Facebook as [Brand]' link under your gorgeous photo (in the upper right). This will let you like, comment and engage people and brands around Facebook as your brand. This is probably what you were looking for anyway.
Hey if you can stay on top of this, that'll make the rest of your Awesomeness training go really smoothly. I want to see you succeed, you want to succeed, pretty much everyone wins here.
Hey thanks, you're so great!
Love,
Nick.
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Nick Hall is a Senior Strategist at Peak Systems in Seattle, WA. His focus is around the social and mobile platforms as a means of engagement with customers, contacts and applications. Self-proclaimed Director of Awesomeness, Idea Generator, Conqueror of the Internets, Entrepreneur. You can learn more about Peak Systems at www.peaksystems.com.
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By Mark Eissler, CEO, Mixtur
Everyone talks about it, and yet so few do it. The average client prospect that contacts us, meets with us, doesn’t have a bonafide annual marketing budget; instead, they are willing to set aside some amount, on-the-fly, for a particular task. Typically, that task is the one they’ve come to talk to us about and it’s usually aligned with some reactionary goal: “Our competition has just busted out this crazy new campaign and we think it’s going to kill us.”
The “proper” way to do this, of course, is to set aside marketing dollars throughout the year based on some definite goals (growing market share in a particular segment, entering a new market, etc.). If you’re not planning for it, then you’re not marketing with any level of consistency. Outside of a short blip (if that) a large marketing spend over a short period is a waste of time. Marketing is only effective (over the long term) if it’s focused and strategic. A fire sale or thinly disguised plea for help does not build a reputable brand; and because you might be thinking it: nor does a fleet of hungry sales people.
“Sales and marketing.” We hear the term all of the time. Just like that: “sales and marketing.” Repeat after me: “sales” “and” “marketing.” Without marketing you can forget about sales, without sales you can forget about marketing. They feed off of each other.
Marketing is not pretty little brochures, clever ads, fancy websites, and viral videos. We call that stuff “creative” and it’s rooted in the marketing communications process. The activity of marketing is tasked with identifying a market, determining effective messaging, and figuring out the most efficient delivery strategies. Consequently, creative lies somewhere at the end of the marketing process. Your sales team may very well ask for collateral to send out to prospects, but what they really want is a sales tool that carries a compelling message in order to be effective. Usually you need to deploy marketing pros, a creative director, skilled graphic designers, and veteran copywriters to pull this all off successfully.
Marketing (when done properly) is time consuming. It cannot be done effectively as a project (a dab here, a splash there). Furthermore, it’s critical that the team that creates the plan must be the one that executes it. How else can you expect accountability? All of that translates into the point that you absolutely must have a team in place that will work for you over the long term.
So what should you budget for marketing? Depends. It depends on your goals. But it pretty much boils down to a percentage of anticipated gross income (from sales). It also depends on whether you want to hire a team internally (which will easily run a few hundred K per year not including overhead) or 2) hire a multi-disciplined agency on retainer (which will eliminate additional staffing costs). So what, then, is the ideal percentage? In general, 5 to 15%. You might think that’s kind of high but if you’re determined to grow and are faced with tough competition you should be spending more than that. Remember, if your competitors are spending then you need to spend as well. That’s life in the fast lane!
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Mark Eissler is CEO of Mixtur, a full service marketing, creative and interactive agency. For more information on Mixtur visit www.mixtur.com, blog.mixtur.com, www.twitter.com/Mixtur; call 206.965.9505; or, email clientservices@mixtur.com.
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By Kevin Grossman, Grossman Services, Inc.
Integrated, informed process improves your triple bottom line.
Leasing or renegotiating business space deals takes up your precious time – and it can be a great opportunity if approached right. While many deals bog down on marginal differences of rent and expenses, these tend to work themselves through using any experienced, competent broker. Winning value-adding opportunities, however, can be achieved by incorporating important subjective items in the decision making process, producing a triple bottom line result for you and your company.
How important is recruiting and retention, branding and the broad impact of your company on the planet to you? Is enhanced productivity from thoughtful space design, air quality and transportation or mass transit access important? Can you tie the lease back to your business plan? What approach delivers results to you and your firm beyond the typical price and terms approach to the leasing process?
Taking an integrated approach to the process will produce the best cost:benefit scenario for all your organizational objectives. In a broad sense, it’s profit, people and planet. While each client has a different way they like to approach things, there are some basic steps to ensure the subjective items are included in the decision process.
To start with, there should be time invested by you and your broker ensuring that the broker understands you and your business. What is really important? Who in addition to yourself do you want to participate and in what way? Do you have a business plan – whether it’s written or in your head – those ideas and objectives should be integral at every step.
Clarifying space needs to be done early as well. Solid programming should not be left until options have been narrowed down and it is absolutely a mistake to delegate it to the landlord’s space planner. You need an ally with your goals and values in mind assessing the physical layout needs and options. This provides you the best results. The space program influences what buildings may work for you – it often influences which buildings to shortlist for serious negotiations. Landlords will sometimes push back, which makes sense because they have their own agenda not yours first in their mind.
The adjacencies, flow, work areas, sizes and best estimates of downstream needs are critical. Space planners bring that expertise to your decision making team.
Branding and recruiting are influenced by your space. What image do you want? Is there an expectation for your industry or phase of development that will help or hinder your appeal to employees or customers? Should your tenant improvements be old doors on sawhorses, modular furniture in large open studio space or custom furniture along the glass line with the support staff in the core? The trend has been for more open space and for the private offices to be on the inside with work area divisions kept low to bring the most natural light in to the most people – there is an almost unlimited range of solutions to fit your company culture and goals.
Sustainability is a growing concern and goal. I recently completed a negotiation for the first LEED Gold flex tech space in Whatcom County for an engineering and light manufacturing company. The benefits of having this as part of the decision making criteria can impact your people, your profits, and improves the impact to the planet.
Energy has a big impact on the planet and your financial bottom line. Since all costs are either passed through or cost increases are passed through (and the base costs are imputed in the base lease cost anyway), asking the question and pressing for good data on how a building functions and what can be done to improve it is a worthwhile exercise. If you’re willing to have your staff work in a broader temperature range to save energy, can the building system accommodate that request – and would the cost savings flow through to you?
Tenant improvements are another big issue. Material selection for healthy air, recycled or renewable materials and furnishings that are compatible with your company goals is easily accomplished – if it’s an active part of the discussion and decision making criteria.
Functional daily operations are another area to inquire about. In some communities recycling and compost material separation is the norm – but not all jurisdictions. If your firm has a commitment to environmentally handling solid waste and also to getting some financial relief on the garbage bills from your thoughtful behavior, you will want to include it in any requests for proposal.
If you’re a user looking at totally occupying a building there are a range of additional opportunities – especially if you’re looking at a longer lease period or looking at buying or building to meet your needs. Dealing with storm water filtration, roof drainage opportunities for irrigation and use for flushing, and even filtration for potable use of site collected water is possible. Deep energy retrofitting and renovations can be done including incorporating natural lighting (saves money on lighting costs and improves productivity) and attention to the need of people connecting with other people and nature, such as plants and inviting, functional common areas.
There are some very pragmatic elements that often get overlooked in pulling together a broadly integrated team for business space decisions. Your attorney and accountant can help too. While not as exciting to talk about as sustainability, their input is important and you want advisers that understand how to work collaboratively to achieve your broad goals.
A good accountant is valuable as a part of the decision team. How the lease is written and what items the tenant may want to pay for directly, or how they’re dealt with can impact your income statement and tax situation. Anticipated rule changes in how leases are reported are a consideration that they can help with. Another is to assess the opportunity for cost segregation, a specialized area of tax that not all firms have a good handle on. It allows you to take the most assertive credits and deductions for components of the building or tenant improvements (typically worth looking into if you’re leasing medium to larger size space, or especially if you’re building or substantially renovating a property).
Your attorney should be involved in the process as well. Their involvement in working through issues can range from working out a “green lease”, a meaningful work letter (for work to be done to the property – very important in complicated or expensive buildouts ) and review of any related agreements for work done by the tenant, or allocations of decision making and responsibility in the design and construction phases is very important. There are numerous subtle but potentially serious concerns that an experience eye will flag for discussion.
So what’s a good list for an integrated, team approach to ensure you get the broadest benefit from your lease decision making process?
- An experienced, collaboratively oriented broker that can function as the project lead, not just a transaction person
- A space planning firm that has a track record of asking good questions and being able to assess, analyze and recommend options to you for meeting your current and longer range goals
- Any key internal people that can provide input on functional, logistic and operational needs, goals and anticipated downstream requirements
- Experienced account and attorney that are involved as needed depending on the scope and complexity of the project
- For larger lease build-to-suit or single user renovation projects, the addition of a good architect, mechanical engineer, contractor and sub-consultants is important. The mix will vary depending on your company’s needs and emphasis. If it’s a new building you may want an architect leading the team. If you’re more production/manufacturing oriented, or particularly sensitive to energy issues, you may want the mechanical/electrical engineering firm to be the lease group on the design team.
The additional time of taking a collaborative team approach will pay dividends to you in the resulting space and lease agreement (or resulting building if that’s the path you’re on). An integrated process to make well informed decisions will produce value to you financially, in the work lives of your employees and in your minimized environmental impact.###
Kevin Grossman is a commercial real estate broker helping businesses leaders make informed business space decisions. Kevin values getting to understand his client and being an ally in helping them get the most out of the decision making process.
kevin@kevingrossman.com
www.kevingrossman.com
www.businessspacedecisions.blogspot.com
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By Richard Roberts, President of Palazzo Creative
Because a large part of my day to day activities involves social media marketing, internet marketing, and online advertising, I have found it necessary to keep tabs on the rapidly changing ways that consumers use tools to look for information, people, and things. During the last two quarters of 2010, and moving into 2011, it has become increasingly clear that consumers are discovering the power of combining social media with search to achieve results that more accurately satisfy their needs.
While a slight majority of searchers still utilize the major search engines such as Google and Bing, many use social media, and even more go directly to company websites. This is quite different from just a year ago when the bulk of all searches began with search sites.
Interestingly, those that do use search engines still end up verifying their results or actions with family and friends on social networks. And it works the other way as well. Those folks that get a referral or ask for input on a social network take that information to the major search engines to complete their hunt. To me, this is clear evidence that we must consider the two inextricably tied when planning an online marketing push for our brands, or our customer’s brands.
We have known for some time that both search and social media are excellent advertising platforms. But many marketers have not thought about creating brand awareness campaign strategies that incorporate social media and search in a unified manner; feeding each other. This is something we must do in order to get the maximum impact from our on-line marketing investments. And this also speaks to how often marketers must revamp their strategies to adjust for consumer search behavior.
Accurate information related to social media search, and social media spend can be hard to come by, although there are plenty of companies that claim to know and will gladly sell you information. What we do know is that it is increasing, and when you couple it with what advertisers already spend on search engines, and the amount of search traffic they have, it’s clear that thinking of the two in a holistic fashion should be a major part of anyone’s online marketing and social media strategy.###
Richard Roberts is President of Palazzo Creative, a Seattle-based communications firm with a focus on Digital, Social, and Mobile Marketing. Palazzo Creative has developed and executed Social Media Marketing Strategies for companies in the Northwest and nationally.
Richard can be reached at 206-328-5555, ext. 203, or richard@palazzocreative.com.
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By Laurie Myer, Myer Communications
Quite a lot, as a matter of fact. The public relations process is very like the sales process, probably even more than you realize. Every time your PR team secures media coverage for your company or your customers they have, in effect, “closed a sale.” Unfortunately, PR teams don’t usually work on commission.
Helping your sales team understand how the public relations process works can actually foster intra-company teamwork that makes both PR and sales efforts that much more effective. The two disciplines have much in common and follow a very similar process:
Prospecting and lead generation: The PR team carefully targets the publications they work with to obtain coverage. They must evaluate if they reach the right “demographic” for the company, identify the relevant contacts and influencers at that publication (there are usually several), and ensure the ROI is there for the effort expended. Just like sales, the PR team has to focus its efforts on the right prospect group. Your sales team can help the PR process by finding out what publications, bloggers and other sources are influential with your company’s customers and prospects, and then sharing that information with the PR team.
Getting to the first meeting: Once the “hot prospect” list is identified, the PR team works to try to secure a meeting (the interview). In order to get the attention of the reporter they want, they need credibility. That’s where the company’s past visibility within the larger media community can help or hurt, just as the company’s visibility level affects the sales team when they are making that first call to a prospective customer. Buzz can make all the difference when you’re trying to get someone’s attention.
Demonstrating credibility: If the PR team succeeds in getting to the right contact (or anyone at the publication), they have about two minutes to make a credible pitch and get an agreement for that first meeting. To do that, they need a compelling story or “hook” and the proof points to back it up. This is where having the sales team develop customers willing to supply hard data points is crucial. The strongest press release or trend idea, without supporting data, a customer, or something tangible to show, is not likely to win a meeting.
Closing the sale: Once the team secures the first meeting there is still a lot to be done before they can “close the sale” or get the story written. They have to deliver the information, data and a persuasive story that will get the journalist to write. Often the first interview is not enough. The team will need to work with the reporter for several months, and overcome a laundry list of objections, before getting a “sale” on the story. It can take months to secure a robust feature (vs. straight news) story.
Your PR team understands the process sales teams go through and relate to the level of persistence and skill required in order to be a good salesperson. Both PR and sales roles are an exercise in refining prospect lists, gathering evidence to overcome objections, making calls, dealing with “no thank you’s,” telling a great story about your company and its products, and working the effort with everything they have.
Look for ways that your PR and sales organizations can partner and understand each other better. Working together, they can deliver great results for your company.
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Laurie
Myer is the owner of Myer Communications, a Seattle-based strategic
marketing and communication services firm. Laurie can be reached at
206-849-7171, or laurie@myercommunications.com.
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By Dave Wittenberg, Principal of Verax Point Consulting
The most successful companies usually know who they are and who they are not.
I was working with the President of a business that had truly risen from the ashes. Ten years earlier it was a fringe player, bleeding cash and on the verge of bankruptcy. Then they completely overhauled their product strategy to focus on maximum utility for minimal cost to the customer. Wildly successful, the company was now twice the size of its nearest competitor and very profitable.
When asked to name his biggest daily challenge, without hesitation the President responded: “Saying ‘No’ to great ideas.”
He went on to explain. His energized and creative workforce was an unending source of phenomenal ideas – but not every great idea was right for their strategy. Increasing utility while decreasing cost… no bells & whistles, no exceptions. Any time or money spent on initiatives outside of these razor-sharp rules robbed the core strategy of resources, diminishing its future success.
Phrasing the Question
To enforce this philosophy, they funneled every idea for product development, production equipment or IT, through a decision process with a ruthless hurdle at the front end: “How might this idea distract us from our core strategy?”
This was an interesting variation from the more traditional phrasing of, “How does this idea support our strategy?” This question invites self-justification. As a result, distracting initiatives tiptoe past this question with generic statements such as ‘growing the business’ or ‘improving customer satisfaction.’ We can rationalize almost anything under such broad umbrellas!
“How might this idea distract us from our core strategy?” This wording intentionally seeks out contrary evidence, providing better protection for the core strategy. Even though more ideas were declined, those rejections didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of their sponsors:
- They, too, were committed to focusing on the core strategy.
- Receiving a “No” didn’t mean their idea wasn’t great, it just wasn’t right for the company at that time.
Despite this ruthless screening process, the company wasn’t blind to the changing markets. If an idea failed the ‘distraction’ question but represented a strategically large opportunity it was elevated for strategic consideration. The senior management team reviewed those ideas and, if appropriate, refined the company’s strategy, and provided the necessary resources to succeed. But note: this was a carefully considered, intentional decision.
Take-Aways
The success of the company was a strong testament to the power of focus but required a few elements critical to work:
- First, a clear, understandable and energizing strategy that defines both what you do as well as what you don’t do.
- Next, an unmerciful decision process that prevents the siphoning of time, talent and cash resources away from that strategy. (Warning: this is hard!)
- Finally, a mechanism that still welcomes compelling opportunities into the company’s strategy.
A few industries are changing so rapidly, almost monthly, that new ideas deserve a longer leash. For most, however, a dogged determination to protect the core strategy from distracting ideas provides the greater success.
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Dave Wittenberg is the Principal of Verax Point Consulting, changing how we attack decisions. Dave has more ideas for you at CapExCompass.com and can be reached at 206.419.9656 or dave@veraxpoint.com.
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By The McGhee Team
E-Mail is a powerful tool that has the ability to increase productivity when used properly. The P.A.S.S. ModelTM is designed to help you think about your e-mail communications in more depth before hitting the send button. The result: clearly defined messages that produce effective action with a minimal number of communication cycles.
With this simple tool you can reduce the number of e-mail messages you receive in a day!
The P.A.S.S. Model consists of four questions to ask yourself when writing e-mails that are lengthy and take more than two minutes to write.
P – What’s the Purpose of your communication and does it relate to a Meaningful Objective?
If it doesn’t relate back to your Meaningful Objectives consider delegating or disengaging from the assignment.
A – What Action is involved and does it have a due date?
Be clear. Let the recipient know what physical action to take and when to take it by. When using timelines be discerning and hold people accountable to your timelines.
S – What Supporting documentation do you need to include?
Identify the supporting information that the recipient needs in order to complete the requested action successfully. Proper supporting information will reduce the likelihood of your message coming back to you with questions, creating additional e-mail.
S – Have you effectively summarized your communication in the Subject line?
Did you clarify the Meaningful Objectives or projects that the e-mail message relates to? Did you clearly indicate the action requested?
Here are four subject line headings that will improve clarity and increase responsiveness:
Action Requested (AR): Take action
Response Requested (RR): Respond only
Read Only (RO): Read, file, or delete
FYI: Read if relevant, file, or delete
Let us know how the P.A.S.S. Model is working for you.
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©2009. McGhee Productivity Solutions / www.mcgheeproductivity.com / info@mcgheeproductivity.com
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By Richard Roberts, President of Palazzo Creative
If you are like most Social Media Marketers, you regularly face challenges with the production of content. Do you have a content marketing strategy? Do you know how to produce engaging content? Will you have enough and will the variety be interesting and valuable to your customers?
All of us have faced these issues, but the bigger issue is that recent studies show people are not reading because they are swamped with an overabundance of information. It’s hard for us to get their attention, so what can we do differently to make sure we engage the audience we are after?
Perhaps it’s not just words - perhaps it’s strong design. Great design is a critical part of creating great content. And if you don’t have great design available to you, get it now.
Let’s discuss why it’s important…
You already know you need a catchy headline to reel them in. A good headline gets people to read further. You probably also know about other proven techniques like using bullet points, crafting interesting subheads, or highlighting important ideas with bold type. These are the things we do to keep our readers engaged as we lead them to the payoff – that one glimmering thought that encapsulates the idea and establishes us a thought leader or takes them to a call to action.
But it takes more. If the reader isn’t hooked by your written text, what do you have in place as back-up bait?
We are, by nature, attracted to visual information first. We connect with it more easily than text-based information. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? That’s why our communications have to be designed as well as they are written. Given a choice, readers will always select content with the most pleasing and approachable design. It’s really no different than in retail or industrial design. Consider a few companies that completely changed their market position over a relatively short time by simply focusing on good design; Target, Apple, and Mini-Cooper. In the book and music publishing worlds, the power of good design has always been highly regarded. I have purchased many books, albums, and CD’s over the years that I regret buying, simply because the cover design “spoke to me”.
If you regard design as a tool to get a desired response from your on-line readers, you will have a competitive advantage. Stay focused on your message – it’s still important. But don’t let the way it’s presented allow people to decide that it’s not important. Wrapping your content in good design can completely change the way your content is received on the Social web.
Focus on making design part of your content marketing strategy and you will quickly see that it becomes more effective and produces better results - results that are more closely aligned with your goals. Or if you are creating content for a client, you will deliver results that are aligned with their goals.
And when you do that, they will both be back for more.###
Richard Roberts is President of Palazzo Creative, a Seattle-based communications firm with a focus on Digital, Social, and Mobile Marketing. Palazzo Creative has developed and executed Social Media Marketing Strategies for companies in the Northwest and nationally.
Richard can be reached at 206-328-5555, ext. 203, or richard@palazzocreative.com.
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