Video mystery shopping service is the most powerful and useful tool used by mystery customer to provide information to the shopping agency. Generally, mystery customers are supposed to roam around the shop, talk to the employees, and check their service and the facility thoroughly. Once they are out of the shop, they can note down all the observation in a diary. After returning home, they can prepare the report on the shop. But, usage of a video recorder while you shop makes the whole procedure pretty easy. Also, the client can view the attitude and behavior of his employees towards the customer.
You being a mystery customer can use this facility to satisfy the client. For a video mystery shopping service you would perform just same as you do for normal shopping. You should check the cleanliness of the service area or shop, through the eye of the camera. You have to record the whole event, as you converse with the staff or talk to the help desk. You might have to visit all the departments of the store, if it is instructed by your shopping company. Depending on the requirement, the shopping and recording process can take longer time than usual.
The equipments to carry out video mystery shopping service are just a digital button sized camcorder and attached battery pack. You can easily keep these hidden within your clothes or accessories. The camera can be placed within a button hole or in a piece of jewelry. The battery pack can also be kept hidden within the belt or purse. But, you should be trained enough to handle this camera, so that you can record properly. Otherwise, your shop is going to give useless result. So, before you go for a real video shop, you should better rehearse yourself meticulously to get the required outcome.
Your shopping company may ask you to go for few test video mystery shopping service , to be familiar with the instrument. Unless you feel confident in recording, do not go for any real video shop. The shopping agencies prefer to recruit experienced shopper, for this type of assignments. If you are a new comer, then you have to train yourself, so that you can compete with the experienced shoppers. The best way to learn is to watch the video recordings you have made for your test shops. You can very well judge your work, and thereby improve the technique for better production.
The highest advantage of video mystery shopping service is that the client can watch the recording. In case of written reports, there is a chance of missing important information. But it is not so, for a video recording. The client can see the exact reality at his stores. The staffs can also watch their performance in reality. Thus the client can take his own discretion to analyze the overall situation. This video can also be used as an ideal training tool, to show others who are doing well and who need to improve.
Generally the video shoppers are rewarded with higher amount than the normal shoppers, which can range from 30 dollar to 150 dollars. The shopping company will provide you with the equipment. If you are interested in this area of shopping, then prepare yourself carefully before applying for the assignments.
Monday, 20 October 2008
Sales Leadership Styles
THE CONTROLLING LEADER
Basic Profile: Extroverted and Organized
Who are they: Great decision makers who value doers and results. Has strong direct posture and communications.
Credibility to them is: On Time, Bottom line, Getting the task done, Results Orientated, Efficient, No Frills
Under Stress: My way or the highway attitude, Argumentative, Unbending
Leadership Strengths: Works harder under pressure. Commanding presence. Quick accurate decisions. Eye for the bottom-line.
Leadership Weaknesses: Can lead solely on title, not on relationship or empowerment. Can be insensitive and offensive to other styles. Not very personal, it’s always about the bottom line. Has a hard time delegating
To break credibility: Be late, be indirect, be too personal, break commitments, get emotional or stressed out, be too flashy, take too long to make decisions
========================================
THE PROMOTING LEADER
Basic Profile: Extroverted and Disorganized
Who are they: Very expressive, great rapport builders and motivators, often very optimistic.
Credibility to them is: Wit, Humor, Big Picture Thinking, Flexibility, Recognition, Fun, Expressiveness,
Creativity
Under Stress: Loses track of time and details, verbally attacks others, shifts the blame
Leadership Strengths: Naturally inspiring. Great starters, well networked with team and well liked, highly creative and intuitive.
Leadership Weaknesses: Lack follow-through, fails to maintain relationships, can be manipulated easily due to big need for recognition. Miss fine details needed for effective leadership. Thinks out loud before thinking about the consequences.
To break credibility: Criticize them or one of their ideas, be unexpressive or quiet, be too serious, be too rigid, dress in an understated way, be too focused on the little things and not the big picture
========================================
THE SUPPORTING LEADER
Basic Profile: Introverted and Disorganized
Who are they: Nurturing, supporting personality who values intimate relationships and connection.
Credibility to them is: Intimacy, Morality, Safe thinking, Family and Relationship Oriented, Easy Paced, Heart Felt
Under Stress: Fits in, Gets Highly Emotional, Feels very overwhelmed
Leadership Strengths: Consistent, very aware of each team member’s feelings, desires, hurts and passions. Great supporter and nurturer
Leadership Weaknesses: Too lenient on people, gives too much and can lose respect, too personal, easily emotionally affected, loses track of time and important deadlines, generally disorganized and attached to tradition.
To break credibility: Disrespect loved ones, make off color jokes about other people, be too flashy, hurt peoples feelings, make unethical moves.
========================================
THE ANALYTICAL LEADER
Basic Profile: Introverted and Organized
Who are they: Detail orientated system builder. Highly quality conscious. Plans almost everything.
Credibility to them is: Accurate information, Detail, Staying the path, understating, statistics, planning, quality
Under Stress: Hides or retracts, Sticks to what is familiar, freezes or fails to take action
Leadership Strengths: Builds great systems, manages risk well, assesses risk well, accurate and well planned, humble and non-intrusive
Leadership Weaknesses: Too black and white in their thinking and can lack spontaneity and lateral thinking skills. Can take forever to make a decision. Can be boring or uninspiring. Holds grudges.
To break credibility: Be inaccurate or make assumptions, produce low quality work, be late, invade their personal space or bubble. Be too flashy.
========================================
The way to use these profiles is to identify where each of your team mates falls in the style grid and then begin to evaluate how you can more effectively connect with them by appealing to their core values while avoiding any major credibility killers.
This like any other skill takes time and may feel awkward at first as you shift your communication style to increase your leadership effectiveness. Over time with practice, you will find that shifting style and behavior becomes more and more natural for you and eventually it will become part of what you do at an almost unconscious level.
Remember your receptivity to others often determines their receptivity to you!
Shane Gibson is Executive Vice President of Knowledge Brokers International, a Global sales performance and leadership development company with offices in Vancouver, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. Shane can be reached at SHANE@SALESACADEMY.CA
Basic Profile: Extroverted and Organized
Who are they: Great decision makers who value doers and results. Has strong direct posture and communications.
Credibility to them is: On Time, Bottom line, Getting the task done, Results Orientated, Efficient, No Frills
Under Stress: My way or the highway attitude, Argumentative, Unbending
Leadership Strengths: Works harder under pressure. Commanding presence. Quick accurate decisions. Eye for the bottom-line.
Leadership Weaknesses: Can lead solely on title, not on relationship or empowerment. Can be insensitive and offensive to other styles. Not very personal, it’s always about the bottom line. Has a hard time delegating
To break credibility: Be late, be indirect, be too personal, break commitments, get emotional or stressed out, be too flashy, take too long to make decisions
========================================
THE PROMOTING LEADER
Basic Profile: Extroverted and Disorganized
Who are they: Very expressive, great rapport builders and motivators, often very optimistic.
Credibility to them is: Wit, Humor, Big Picture Thinking, Flexibility, Recognition, Fun, Expressiveness,
Creativity
Under Stress: Loses track of time and details, verbally attacks others, shifts the blame
Leadership Strengths: Naturally inspiring. Great starters, well networked with team and well liked, highly creative and intuitive.
Leadership Weaknesses: Lack follow-through, fails to maintain relationships, can be manipulated easily due to big need for recognition. Miss fine details needed for effective leadership. Thinks out loud before thinking about the consequences.
To break credibility: Criticize them or one of their ideas, be unexpressive or quiet, be too serious, be too rigid, dress in an understated way, be too focused on the little things and not the big picture
========================================
THE SUPPORTING LEADER
Basic Profile: Introverted and Disorganized
Who are they: Nurturing, supporting personality who values intimate relationships and connection.
Credibility to them is: Intimacy, Morality, Safe thinking, Family and Relationship Oriented, Easy Paced, Heart Felt
Under Stress: Fits in, Gets Highly Emotional, Feels very overwhelmed
Leadership Strengths: Consistent, very aware of each team member’s feelings, desires, hurts and passions. Great supporter and nurturer
Leadership Weaknesses: Too lenient on people, gives too much and can lose respect, too personal, easily emotionally affected, loses track of time and important deadlines, generally disorganized and attached to tradition.
To break credibility: Disrespect loved ones, make off color jokes about other people, be too flashy, hurt peoples feelings, make unethical moves.
========================================
THE ANALYTICAL LEADER
Basic Profile: Introverted and Organized
Who are they: Detail orientated system builder. Highly quality conscious. Plans almost everything.
Credibility to them is: Accurate information, Detail, Staying the path, understating, statistics, planning, quality
Under Stress: Hides or retracts, Sticks to what is familiar, freezes or fails to take action
Leadership Strengths: Builds great systems, manages risk well, assesses risk well, accurate and well planned, humble and non-intrusive
Leadership Weaknesses: Too black and white in their thinking and can lack spontaneity and lateral thinking skills. Can take forever to make a decision. Can be boring or uninspiring. Holds grudges.
To break credibility: Be inaccurate or make assumptions, produce low quality work, be late, invade their personal space or bubble. Be too flashy.
========================================
The way to use these profiles is to identify where each of your team mates falls in the style grid and then begin to evaluate how you can more effectively connect with them by appealing to their core values while avoiding any major credibility killers.
This like any other skill takes time and may feel awkward at first as you shift your communication style to increase your leadership effectiveness. Over time with practice, you will find that shifting style and behavior becomes more and more natural for you and eventually it will become part of what you do at an almost unconscious level.
Remember your receptivity to others often determines their receptivity to you!
Shane Gibson is Executive Vice President of Knowledge Brokers International, a Global sales performance and leadership development company with offices in Vancouver, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. Shane can be reached at SHANE@SALESACADEMY.CA
Warming Up a Cold Call
I have seen many articles, blogs, and books professing to help sales people never cold call again. I like the idea myself. In fact, I wish people would give me business without ever writing a proposal or having another meeting again. Unfortunately as the old cliché goes: “Sales is a contact sport.”
Networking, publicity, great websites etc. are all great tools for generating warm leads. What happens if you need to double the size of your sales pipeline in 30 days? Unless you have a huge database already or a considerable advertising and marketing budget the cold still is an invaluable tool. With that said here are many variables that need to be addressed before this prehistoric version of SPAM becomes a useful sales tool.
The cold call isn’t dead; it’s just grown up and has become more sophisticated. Today’s executive is busier than ever. Their e-mail inbox is overflowing with mission critical messages and topped off with an extra helping of SPAM. They’re overbooked, and getting pitched on the phone, fax, PDA, PC and every other communications tool imaginable.
We need to get above the noise, and enter the prospects world with a different positioning than “another pitch artist telemarketer.” At the end of the day it’s an art. Everything from tonality, and time of day to pre-call research and how you handle their first question is critical. Most cold call strategies focus on volume almost exclusively; focus on value and people instead. Here are a couple of things to do to warm up your call:
1) Talk to the right person
This seems like its so common sense that I shouldn’t even mention it. Instead of saying “talk to the right person,” maybe I should say “stop kidding yourself.” It feels good to make a whole bunch of calls sometimes; but if they’re to non-decision makers just realize you’re just doing it for your own entertainment and self delusional reasons. It looks good on our call sheet in month one.
We might even put these prospects in our funnel. In a couple of months it will become obvious to us and those were accountable to that our funnel is full of fluff. Spend the time researching and finding real decision makers. Spend the time networking with people that connect you with or at least inform you about decision makers. Spend it servicing existing clients. Go a read a book even. Non decisions makers drain our energy, and time. Stop calling non-decision makers.
2) Ask Permission
When you prospect answers the phone, introduce yourself briefly and then ask them if you’ve caught them in the middle of something. More often then not they’ll make the time for you right away or give you a time to talk to them later. The alternative is to launch immediately into a sales monologue where your prospect says hello. This usually results in them checking their e-mail and their watch until you stop to take a breath. When you stop to breath they politely interject and request that you send something by post or e-mail or more directly tell you they’re not interested. The reason? You forgot to ask permission.
3) Delete in advance
Prospects have a tendency to delete cliché’s when we call them. I once had a senior executive for a fortune 500 company tell me “If I have one more person call me and tell me they’re going to save me time and money I’m going to lose it.” Sales people, especially those selling in the same industry or region tend use the same jargon and value proposition, often laden with useless terms and acronyms that prospects don’t care for anyway. We say we provide a “value-added”- “end to end” -“scalable” telecommunications solution, and that we have a “customer centric philosophy.” And all they hear is that we’re in “Telecommunications.”
Get rid of the jargon, resist the temptation to pull buzz words off competitors web-sites or from the latest flavor of the month business book. Simplify, differentiate, hire a writer to help you expand your corporate vocabulary if need be.
4) Get into the long-term mind-set
In reference to point number 2, when we ask for permission to chat with them our real goal is not to close them in most cases. Our goal is to set the stage and begin the development of the relationship. Cold-calling is planting seeds, not harvesting a database. Close them, but not on the deal, on the next step and then get off the phone sooner than later.
5) Use a rifle not a shotgun
Simply put; know who wants and uses your stuff. Break down a set of criteria that can define your ideal client industries, regions, and behaviors. Know their core pains, history, needs, names, details, trends etc. before picking up the phone. Become an authority on your ideal customer. Use that information to find more ideal candidates and spend 80% of your time, energy, money, ability, and reputation calling those types of clients.
6) Know why
Before picking up the phone figure out why you are calling, from the clients perspective. Ask the question what benefit, insight, or value can I legitimately bring to this prospect today? If it’s just to flog products or services; don’t pick up the phone. Know why it’s important to them and what it can do for them. It can be anything from solving a critical business problem to just making them laugh. Remember, the more value you add today to the relationship the more receptive they will be to answering our call tomorrow.
Shane Gibson is President of Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd, and can be reached at shane@kbitraining.com or 604-331-4471.
Networking, publicity, great websites etc. are all great tools for generating warm leads. What happens if you need to double the size of your sales pipeline in 30 days? Unless you have a huge database already or a considerable advertising and marketing budget the cold still is an invaluable tool. With that said here are many variables that need to be addressed before this prehistoric version of SPAM becomes a useful sales tool.
The cold call isn’t dead; it’s just grown up and has become more sophisticated. Today’s executive is busier than ever. Their e-mail inbox is overflowing with mission critical messages and topped off with an extra helping of SPAM. They’re overbooked, and getting pitched on the phone, fax, PDA, PC and every other communications tool imaginable.
We need to get above the noise, and enter the prospects world with a different positioning than “another pitch artist telemarketer.” At the end of the day it’s an art. Everything from tonality, and time of day to pre-call research and how you handle their first question is critical. Most cold call strategies focus on volume almost exclusively; focus on value and people instead. Here are a couple of things to do to warm up your call:
1) Talk to the right person
This seems like its so common sense that I shouldn’t even mention it. Instead of saying “talk to the right person,” maybe I should say “stop kidding yourself.” It feels good to make a whole bunch of calls sometimes; but if they’re to non-decision makers just realize you’re just doing it for your own entertainment and self delusional reasons. It looks good on our call sheet in month one.
We might even put these prospects in our funnel. In a couple of months it will become obvious to us and those were accountable to that our funnel is full of fluff. Spend the time researching and finding real decision makers. Spend the time networking with people that connect you with or at least inform you about decision makers. Spend it servicing existing clients. Go a read a book even. Non decisions makers drain our energy, and time. Stop calling non-decision makers.
2) Ask Permission
When you prospect answers the phone, introduce yourself briefly and then ask them if you’ve caught them in the middle of something. More often then not they’ll make the time for you right away or give you a time to talk to them later. The alternative is to launch immediately into a sales monologue where your prospect says hello. This usually results in them checking their e-mail and their watch until you stop to take a breath. When you stop to breath they politely interject and request that you send something by post or e-mail or more directly tell you they’re not interested. The reason? You forgot to ask permission.
3) Delete in advance
Prospects have a tendency to delete cliché’s when we call them. I once had a senior executive for a fortune 500 company tell me “If I have one more person call me and tell me they’re going to save me time and money I’m going to lose it.” Sales people, especially those selling in the same industry or region tend use the same jargon and value proposition, often laden with useless terms and acronyms that prospects don’t care for anyway. We say we provide a “value-added”- “end to end” -“scalable” telecommunications solution, and that we have a “customer centric philosophy.” And all they hear is that we’re in “Telecommunications.”
Get rid of the jargon, resist the temptation to pull buzz words off competitors web-sites or from the latest flavor of the month business book. Simplify, differentiate, hire a writer to help you expand your corporate vocabulary if need be.
4) Get into the long-term mind-set
In reference to point number 2, when we ask for permission to chat with them our real goal is not to close them in most cases. Our goal is to set the stage and begin the development of the relationship. Cold-calling is planting seeds, not harvesting a database. Close them, but not on the deal, on the next step and then get off the phone sooner than later.
5) Use a rifle not a shotgun
Simply put; know who wants and uses your stuff. Break down a set of criteria that can define your ideal client industries, regions, and behaviors. Know their core pains, history, needs, names, details, trends etc. before picking up the phone. Become an authority on your ideal customer. Use that information to find more ideal candidates and spend 80% of your time, energy, money, ability, and reputation calling those types of clients.
6) Know why
Before picking up the phone figure out why you are calling, from the clients perspective. Ask the question what benefit, insight, or value can I legitimately bring to this prospect today? If it’s just to flog products or services; don’t pick up the phone. Know why it’s important to them and what it can do for them. It can be anything from solving a critical business problem to just making them laugh. Remember, the more value you add today to the relationship the more receptive they will be to answering our call tomorrow.
Shane Gibson is President of Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd, and can be reached at shane@kbitraining.com or 604-331-4471.
Sales Prospecting Tips
When meeting new contacts instead of trying to be interesting and entertaining be “interested” in them and be totally present and aware. People enjoy to be listened to and will often share more information and feel more connected to us if we have truly listened to them. This information can often tell us about their needs, values and long term business goals. This information is critical to landing them as a client in the future.
Relax, we’re just sorting
I once set a goal to add 50 new prospects to my sales pipeline and turn five of those prospects into customers. I would set out at each day with a high level of anxiety and self induced pressure. Often my approach would seem unnatural or forced and my prospects quickly found a way to avoid me or put me off. Talking later on to my mentor he suggested that I focus on building trust and credibility with everyone that I met. I could sort through my new relationships later on. By focusing on “beginning” a relationship instead of the $ sign on the forehead I was able to relax, be genuine and build my network. Relax, build the relationship and sort later.
Be on all the time
Some of our best clients can come out of chance encounters where opportunity has met preparedness. Be naturally inquisitive at all times. I’ve met two clients on airplanes over the past couple of years just by being curious and asking a few questions. Another client of mine scans local headlines everyday for new potential clients and industry trends, he often discovers clients and new market niches before his competitors know they event exist. After talking to a consultant for twenty minutes at a function we found we had similar target markets and were able to refer more business to each other.
Persistently add value
Be persistent. Remember 81% of conversion business is done from the 5th call and onward. Also, remember people trust you 70% more on the 3rd contact with you than the first time. Follow-up and follow-through is critical. Persistence isn’t enough though. We need to ask ourselves the question: How am I going to add value with this call, meeting e-mail etc? Persistent contact + Added Value = receptive prospect. Only 12% of sales people make 3 or more calls and keep going and they earn 80% of commissions that are paid out. [statistical source: American Dry Goods Association and John C. Maxwell]
The New Economy
"The big don’t eat the small, the fast eat the slow.” When we prospect and make new contacts the velocity of our follow-up is often one of the biggest credibility makers or breakers. We all want results and resources now. Act fast, deliver more than they expect, deliver on our initial commitments faster than promised to get the prospects’ attention.
Put a top of mind program in place
We all roll out the red carpet for big profitable clients. Why not put a loyalty and “top of mind program” in place for those people who refer great clients to us. Some of these people are capable of referring us dozens of clients. Too often we are too informal and inconsistent with those people who refer business to us. Get them on a mailing list, call them frequently, take them to lunch, and refer business to them too.
Relax, we’re just sorting
I once set a goal to add 50 new prospects to my sales pipeline and turn five of those prospects into customers. I would set out at each day with a high level of anxiety and self induced pressure. Often my approach would seem unnatural or forced and my prospects quickly found a way to avoid me or put me off. Talking later on to my mentor he suggested that I focus on building trust and credibility with everyone that I met. I could sort through my new relationships later on. By focusing on “beginning” a relationship instead of the $ sign on the forehead I was able to relax, be genuine and build my network. Relax, build the relationship and sort later.
Be on all the time
Some of our best clients can come out of chance encounters where opportunity has met preparedness. Be naturally inquisitive at all times. I’ve met two clients on airplanes over the past couple of years just by being curious and asking a few questions. Another client of mine scans local headlines everyday for new potential clients and industry trends, he often discovers clients and new market niches before his competitors know they event exist. After talking to a consultant for twenty minutes at a function we found we had similar target markets and were able to refer more business to each other.
Persistently add value
Be persistent. Remember 81% of conversion business is done from the 5th call and onward. Also, remember people trust you 70% more on the 3rd contact with you than the first time. Follow-up and follow-through is critical. Persistence isn’t enough though. We need to ask ourselves the question: How am I going to add value with this call, meeting e-mail etc? Persistent contact + Added Value = receptive prospect. Only 12% of sales people make 3 or more calls and keep going and they earn 80% of commissions that are paid out. [statistical source: American Dry Goods Association and John C. Maxwell]
The New Economy
"The big don’t eat the small, the fast eat the slow.” When we prospect and make new contacts the velocity of our follow-up is often one of the biggest credibility makers or breakers. We all want results and resources now. Act fast, deliver more than they expect, deliver on our initial commitments faster than promised to get the prospects’ attention.
Put a top of mind program in place
We all roll out the red carpet for big profitable clients. Why not put a loyalty and “top of mind program” in place for those people who refer great clients to us. Some of these people are capable of referring us dozens of clients. Too often we are too informal and inconsistent with those people who refer business to us. Get them on a mailing list, call them frequently, take them to lunch, and refer business to them too.
Cold Calling
Looking at the commonly agreed shortcoming of cold calling - rude people, random calling, interruption - they're process and execution oriented. In other words, they're complaints against poor form and technique. When I say form and technique in this case, I don't mean having a poor script and being well rehearsed in objection handling - I mean not doing their homework and acting too much the stereotypical salesperson.
Being interrupted is fine, if the interruption is something we value. And if the company contacting us profiled their market and target accounts, the odds of calling us because we're the person they need to contact are great.
I'm not a big proponent of cold calling, I prefer calls in follow-up to direct mail campaigns...which could be argued as merely semantics.
I've created and led many lead generation campaigns targeting executives in F1000 and public sector organizations. There are limited means to reach such people directly. What I've found is cold calling is pretty effective.
When you profile the purchase cycle and people involved; determine their biases, interests, concerns, challenges and opportunities; position your offer in business terms, addressing a recognized opportunity or challenge; and use your first contact as an introduction and offer to discuss the opportunity to work together in a meaningful way...cold calling works.
If you call people randomly, attempt to sell your product or service on the call, tell the person on the phone all about your features and functionality, ignore their business concerns, and press them to take an action outside of the purchase cycle...cold calling fails miserably and merely becomes an interruption not worthy of our time. The equivalent of email SPAM.
Although I'm not fully prepared to explain it, I've also found cold calling senior executives at larger companies results in greater response than calling large-company mid-level managers or small business executive teams.
In the public sector, I've found most anyone can be cold called - large and small organizations alike, including elected officials - IF AND WHEN you do your homework, position yourself as a peer, and call about something the receiving party really cares about....that's the rub.
Cold calling is a hot button topic of sales and marketing. My sincere opinion is it's poorly used and abused. I see it as a legitimate tactic that should be used when it makes sense...nothing more or less. Like all marketing tactics, it has a place and fits in some situations better than others. When it doesn't fit, it should be used.
Being interrupted is fine, if the interruption is something we value. And if the company contacting us profiled their market and target accounts, the odds of calling us because we're the person they need to contact are great.
I'm not a big proponent of cold calling, I prefer calls in follow-up to direct mail campaigns...which could be argued as merely semantics.
I've created and led many lead generation campaigns targeting executives in F1000 and public sector organizations. There are limited means to reach such people directly. What I've found is cold calling is pretty effective.
When you profile the purchase cycle and people involved; determine their biases, interests, concerns, challenges and opportunities; position your offer in business terms, addressing a recognized opportunity or challenge; and use your first contact as an introduction and offer to discuss the opportunity to work together in a meaningful way...cold calling works.
If you call people randomly, attempt to sell your product or service on the call, tell the person on the phone all about your features and functionality, ignore their business concerns, and press them to take an action outside of the purchase cycle...cold calling fails miserably and merely becomes an interruption not worthy of our time. The equivalent of email SPAM.
Although I'm not fully prepared to explain it, I've also found cold calling senior executives at larger companies results in greater response than calling large-company mid-level managers or small business executive teams.
In the public sector, I've found most anyone can be cold called - large and small organizations alike, including elected officials - IF AND WHEN you do your homework, position yourself as a peer, and call about something the receiving party really cares about....that's the rub.
Cold calling is a hot button topic of sales and marketing. My sincere opinion is it's poorly used and abused. I see it as a legitimate tactic that should be used when it makes sense...nothing more or less. Like all marketing tactics, it has a place and fits in some situations better than others. When it doesn't fit, it should be used.
3 Steps of Cold Calling
. Talk to the right people - make sure the people you cold call fit a logical profile of who might need or want what you do.
2. Don't waste their time - get in, accomplish what you came for and be done you don't get branded a self-serving time waster.
3. Plan your calls - know what your goal is, what you'll say and how to respond to different situations. Practice if you need to or write it down in front of you.
2. Don't waste their time - get in, accomplish what you came for and be done you don't get branded a self-serving time waster.
3. Plan your calls - know what your goal is, what you'll say and how to respond to different situations. Practice if you need to or write it down in front of you.
Cold Calling
Looking at the commonly agreed shortcoming of cold calling - rude people, random calling, interruption - they're process and execution oriented. In other words, they're complaints against poor form and technique. When I say form and technique in this case, I don't mean having a poor script and being well rehearsed in objection handling - I mean not doing their homework and acting too much the stereotypical salesperson.
Being interrupted is fine, if the interruption is something we value. And if the company contacting us profiled their market and target accounts, the odds of calling us because we're the person they need to contact are great.
I'm not a big proponent of cold calling, I prefer calls in follow-up to direct mail campaigns...which could be argued as merely semantics.
I've created and led many lead generation campaigns targeting executives in F1000 and public sector organizations. There are limited means to reach such people directly. What I've found is cold calling is pretty effective.
When you profile the purchase cycle and people involved; determine their biases, interests, concerns, challenges and opportunities; position your offer in business terms, addressing a recognized opportunity or challenge; and use your first contact as an introduction and offer to discuss the opportunity to work together in a meaningful way...cold calling works.
If you call people randomly, attempt to sell your product or service on the call, tell the person on the phone all about your features and functionality, ignore their business concerns, and press them to take an action outside of the purchase cycle...cold calling fails miserably and merely becomes an interruption not worthy of our time. The equivalent of email SPAM.
Although I'm not fully prepared to explain it, I've also found cold calling senior executives at larger companies results in greater response than calling large-company mid-level managers or small business executive teams.
In the public sector, I've found most anyone can be cold called - large and small organizations alike, including elected officials - IF AND WHEN you do your homework, position yourself as a peer, and call about something the receiving party really cares about....that's the rub.
Cold calling is a hot button topic of sales and marketing. My sincere opinion is it's poorly used and abused. I see it as a legitimate tactic that should be used when it makes sense...nothing more or less. Like all marketing tactics, it has a place and fits in some situations better than others. When it doesn't fit, it should be used.
Being interrupted is fine, if the interruption is something we value. And if the company contacting us profiled their market and target accounts, the odds of calling us because we're the person they need to contact are great.
I'm not a big proponent of cold calling, I prefer calls in follow-up to direct mail campaigns...which could be argued as merely semantics.
I've created and led many lead generation campaigns targeting executives in F1000 and public sector organizations. There are limited means to reach such people directly. What I've found is cold calling is pretty effective.
When you profile the purchase cycle and people involved; determine their biases, interests, concerns, challenges and opportunities; position your offer in business terms, addressing a recognized opportunity or challenge; and use your first contact as an introduction and offer to discuss the opportunity to work together in a meaningful way...cold calling works.
If you call people randomly, attempt to sell your product or service on the call, tell the person on the phone all about your features and functionality, ignore their business concerns, and press them to take an action outside of the purchase cycle...cold calling fails miserably and merely becomes an interruption not worthy of our time. The equivalent of email SPAM.
Although I'm not fully prepared to explain it, I've also found cold calling senior executives at larger companies results in greater response than calling large-company mid-level managers or small business executive teams.
In the public sector, I've found most anyone can be cold called - large and small organizations alike, including elected officials - IF AND WHEN you do your homework, position yourself as a peer, and call about something the receiving party really cares about....that's the rub.
Cold calling is a hot button topic of sales and marketing. My sincere opinion is it's poorly used and abused. I see it as a legitimate tactic that should be used when it makes sense...nothing more or less. Like all marketing tactics, it has a place and fits in some situations better than others. When it doesn't fit, it should be used.
What is the difference between sales and marketing?
Suze Bragg
What is the difference between sales and marketing?
August 4, 2008
I was having a discussion with an online forum this morning about the role of marketing in a sales organization. Having worked in both marketing and sales, I stated there is a huge difference between the two and they should never be mixed, nor lumped into one description. Every company should market themselves successfully and many don't. Hence the reason sales and sales support have to work so hard. Work the marketing of a company brilliantly and you've conquered 90% of the battle over your competitors. Ignore it--or do it for sales support only--and you have to work 100% harder than necessary.
Why is that?
Marketing is the company's story - the branding and all the components of its messaging - and sales takes the awareness marketing has created and sells to the people who now know not only about the product, but now want it. Marketing includes figuring out what makes the company tick, creating a need for it, leveraging customers emotional responses, providing the materials for the sales teams so they can close the deal, placing and creating advertising, running campaigns, handling social media marketing and all aspects of Internet marketing, launching products successfully (press releases, packaging, etc.), creating the style sheets for everything to look the same, etc, etc. In many medium and large sized business, the marketing team is divided into two now: e-commerce/Internet marketing and regular marketing. Both combine the necessarily awareness to propel the brand to the next level. If every sales team handled the awareness building, they'd never have time to close any sales.
In my 16 years in business, I've only worked with one sales person who could tell me why the best campaigns worked, or even cared about it for that matter. Salespeople normally want three pieces of information: who the company is, what are the features and benefits, and what will it take the close the sale. Marketing's role is to create demand. Sales' role is to find these people and distribute the supply. There's also a big difference in salary between sales and marketing. Sales people have the $$ incentive and receive commission. Marketing folks don't.
Understanding this relationship will make a company's success much easier, and much more profitable. This is one of the reasons some companies have attained cult status...Think of it this way: when people think of Apple, do they think of the sales people closing the sales, or do they think of the brand and have an emotional desire to buy the latest iPhone? That's marketing in its simplest representation.
Posted by Suze Bragg
What is the difference between sales and marketing?
August 4, 2008
I was having a discussion with an online forum this morning about the role of marketing in a sales organization. Having worked in both marketing and sales, I stated there is a huge difference between the two and they should never be mixed, nor lumped into one description. Every company should market themselves successfully and many don't. Hence the reason sales and sales support have to work so hard. Work the marketing of a company brilliantly and you've conquered 90% of the battle over your competitors. Ignore it--or do it for sales support only--and you have to work 100% harder than necessary.
Why is that?
Marketing is the company's story - the branding and all the components of its messaging - and sales takes the awareness marketing has created and sells to the people who now know not only about the product, but now want it. Marketing includes figuring out what makes the company tick, creating a need for it, leveraging customers emotional responses, providing the materials for the sales teams so they can close the deal, placing and creating advertising, running campaigns, handling social media marketing and all aspects of Internet marketing, launching products successfully (press releases, packaging, etc.), creating the style sheets for everything to look the same, etc, etc. In many medium and large sized business, the marketing team is divided into two now: e-commerce/Internet marketing and regular marketing. Both combine the necessarily awareness to propel the brand to the next level. If every sales team handled the awareness building, they'd never have time to close any sales.
In my 16 years in business, I've only worked with one sales person who could tell me why the best campaigns worked, or even cared about it for that matter. Salespeople normally want three pieces of information: who the company is, what are the features and benefits, and what will it take the close the sale. Marketing's role is to create demand. Sales' role is to find these people and distribute the supply. There's also a big difference in salary between sales and marketing. Sales people have the $$ incentive and receive commission. Marketing folks don't.
Understanding this relationship will make a company's success much easier, and much more profitable. This is one of the reasons some companies have attained cult status...Think of it this way: when people think of Apple, do they think of the sales people closing the sales, or do they think of the brand and have an emotional desire to buy the latest iPhone? That's marketing in its simplest representation.
Posted by Suze Bragg
Powerful Sales & Marketing Ideas of $100 Million Companies
So let’s imagine that you do sell office equipment and it’s your turn to give your speech and the audience is full of CFOs. If you’re a little strategic, you might go with something like: “The Five Ways our Office Equipment Can Benefit You.” Again, an approach like this appeals only to those who are “buying now,” and possibly those who are “open to it,” but pretty much 90% of your audience is leaving.
So what title would have a broader appeal? How about: “The Nine Ways You’re Wasting Money in your Operations and Administration.” I’m not saying this is going to rivet the executive to their chair, but they’re not leaving either. They’ll stay to hear a little more. This is also true for an ad with that headline. It’s definitely going to appeal to the top two tiers, but it also appeals to everyone in that stadium.
Everyone is interested in saving money in their operations and administration costs. Certainly every CFO is interested in that and, therefore, they would stay in the stadium. And if everything that follows has some substance to it, you’ve now taken your marketing and selling activity to an entirely new level.
The hardest thing we need to do today is grab the attention of the potential buyer and keep the attention long enough to help them buy your product. This approach of offering some education of value to them gives you a significant opportunity to attract more buyers and build more credibility. I call this “educational based marketing” and here’s a line you should write down: You will attract way more buyers if you are offering to teach them something of value to them than you will ever attract by simply trying to sell them your product or service.
As another example, I had a merchant services company as a client. They primarily target retail stores. So in their audience are retail storeowners. If they walk out there and start off with: “I’m going to show you why our merchant services are better than anyone else’s,” the 90% are leaving as they are not in the market for merchant services right now. So what could you say to keep every retailer in their seats to hear a little more? Here’s a great title: “The Five Reasons All Retailers Fail.” The tactical executive reading this is already saying: “But if all I really want to do is sell merchant services, than why would I bother with all this?”
Answer:
1. Because offering an education that helps the buyer is going to get more buyer interest.
2. If the information is actually good and useful, it automatically repositions you in the mind of the buyer as much more of an expert than all your competitors. (You’re teaching them things about their own business that they might not know.)
3. If you think and plan strategically, you will find a way to weave that information in such a way that ultimately sells your services far better than you could ever sell them by simply flat-out pitching your product.
For more information visit www.howtodoublesales.com
So what title would have a broader appeal? How about: “The Nine Ways You’re Wasting Money in your Operations and Administration.” I’m not saying this is going to rivet the executive to their chair, but they’re not leaving either. They’ll stay to hear a little more. This is also true for an ad with that headline. It’s definitely going to appeal to the top two tiers, but it also appeals to everyone in that stadium.
Everyone is interested in saving money in their operations and administration costs. Certainly every CFO is interested in that and, therefore, they would stay in the stadium. And if everything that follows has some substance to it, you’ve now taken your marketing and selling activity to an entirely new level.
The hardest thing we need to do today is grab the attention of the potential buyer and keep the attention long enough to help them buy your product. This approach of offering some education of value to them gives you a significant opportunity to attract more buyers and build more credibility. I call this “educational based marketing” and here’s a line you should write down: You will attract way more buyers if you are offering to teach them something of value to them than you will ever attract by simply trying to sell them your product or service.
As another example, I had a merchant services company as a client. They primarily target retail stores. So in their audience are retail storeowners. If they walk out there and start off with: “I’m going to show you why our merchant services are better than anyone else’s,” the 90% are leaving as they are not in the market for merchant services right now. So what could you say to keep every retailer in their seats to hear a little more? Here’s a great title: “The Five Reasons All Retailers Fail.” The tactical executive reading this is already saying: “But if all I really want to do is sell merchant services, than why would I bother with all this?”
Answer:
1. Because offering an education that helps the buyer is going to get more buyer interest.
2. If the information is actually good and useful, it automatically repositions you in the mind of the buyer as much more of an expert than all your competitors. (You’re teaching them things about their own business that they might not know.)
3. If you think and plan strategically, you will find a way to weave that information in such a way that ultimately sells your services far better than you could ever sell them by simply flat-out pitching your product.
For more information visit www.howtodoublesales.com
Did the Internet Kill Direct Mail?
Did the Internet Kill Direct Mail?
By Carol Oliver
It's hard to think direct mail still reaps benefits when everyone is resorting to online marketing. Put simply, many marketers now see the internet as an untapped chunk of potential markets waiting to be uncovered. This resulted in the boom of internet marketing websites, forums, and seminars. So did the internet kill offline marketing techniques such as direct mail? Many people will say it did, but there are always two sides of the coin. Let's look at this topic from a fresh perspective.
The world has become so internet oriented that you can hardly have a conversation without weaving internet website or tools into it. People who don't have basic internet skills are now met with raised brows and sometimes even jeers. So how does this relate to direct mail? When all marketers shift to a different technique, you have an advantage once the coast is clear. An average internet user has become so used to those flashy ads on blogs and websites that a paper under their door can definitely grab their attention more at this point.
Before internet advertising, one would receive heaps of junk mail under his door and would toss it away instantly. Now with companies shifting towards internet marketing, less are sending out direct mail. Chances of exposure now are much higher than they were in the past. The trick now is to grab your prospect's attention in an unconventional way - a way that totally goes against internet basics.
Let's put this scenario, your prospect wakes up, pours juice and checks the mail. You have up to one minute to grab your prospect's attention. In the internet world, at the moment, you have up to 8 to 10 seconds to grab the surfer's attention. That's the first benefit of direct mail over the internet marketing techniques.
Let's look into the factor of personalization. When your prospect surfs the internet, he is aware that at least thousands are being exposed to this ad in the very same second. This puts your prospect in the "impersonal, indifferent" mode. With direct mail, the ability of the prospect to touch a postcard or brochure addressed to them creates a sense of intimacy or connection. That is yet another benefit of direct mail over internet advertising that can reap enormous rewards on the long run.
The last factor that kicks in is your prospect's curiosity. While in both offline and online campaigns you can pique interest via design, copy, or incentives, when a prospect curiosity is minimal due to distractions. Let's see how this applies to a daily scenario. Let's say you're online, you find an ad that says "Are you broke?" While this may pique your interest if you're indeed broke or bored, you may click the website only to find it's a paid service and close the window.
The attention span of an internet surfer is very low. How about someone who's on the couch, bored to tears, with a direct mail catalogue on the table? Most people will look at catalogues for hours just for the heck of it. Their attention span amounts to how bored they are. That's a huge advantage for any company looking for exposure.
This effect is only maximized by targeting market segments. This can be done by distributing direct mail to those in need of your product.
You can't find such information? Acorn Marketing, a team of dedicated direct response marketing specialists, can help you maximize your direct mail recruitment today!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carol_Oliver
http://EzineArticles.com/?Did-the-Internet-Kill-Direct-Mail?&id=1558236
By Carol Oliver
It's hard to think direct mail still reaps benefits when everyone is resorting to online marketing. Put simply, many marketers now see the internet as an untapped chunk of potential markets waiting to be uncovered. This resulted in the boom of internet marketing websites, forums, and seminars. So did the internet kill offline marketing techniques such as direct mail? Many people will say it did, but there are always two sides of the coin. Let's look at this topic from a fresh perspective.
The world has become so internet oriented that you can hardly have a conversation without weaving internet website or tools into it. People who don't have basic internet skills are now met with raised brows and sometimes even jeers. So how does this relate to direct mail? When all marketers shift to a different technique, you have an advantage once the coast is clear. An average internet user has become so used to those flashy ads on blogs and websites that a paper under their door can definitely grab their attention more at this point.
Before internet advertising, one would receive heaps of junk mail under his door and would toss it away instantly. Now with companies shifting towards internet marketing, less are sending out direct mail. Chances of exposure now are much higher than they were in the past. The trick now is to grab your prospect's attention in an unconventional way - a way that totally goes against internet basics.
Let's put this scenario, your prospect wakes up, pours juice and checks the mail. You have up to one minute to grab your prospect's attention. In the internet world, at the moment, you have up to 8 to 10 seconds to grab the surfer's attention. That's the first benefit of direct mail over the internet marketing techniques.
Let's look into the factor of personalization. When your prospect surfs the internet, he is aware that at least thousands are being exposed to this ad in the very same second. This puts your prospect in the "impersonal, indifferent" mode. With direct mail, the ability of the prospect to touch a postcard or brochure addressed to them creates a sense of intimacy or connection. That is yet another benefit of direct mail over internet advertising that can reap enormous rewards on the long run.
The last factor that kicks in is your prospect's curiosity. While in both offline and online campaigns you can pique interest via design, copy, or incentives, when a prospect curiosity is minimal due to distractions. Let's see how this applies to a daily scenario. Let's say you're online, you find an ad that says "Are you broke?" While this may pique your interest if you're indeed broke or bored, you may click the website only to find it's a paid service and close the window.
The attention span of an internet surfer is very low. How about someone who's on the couch, bored to tears, with a direct mail catalogue on the table? Most people will look at catalogues for hours just for the heck of it. Their attention span amounts to how bored they are. That's a huge advantage for any company looking for exposure.
This effect is only maximized by targeting market segments. This can be done by distributing direct mail to those in need of your product.
You can't find such information? Acorn Marketing, a team of dedicated direct response marketing specialists, can help you maximize your direct mail recruitment today!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carol_Oliver
http://EzineArticles.com/?Did-the-Internet-Kill-Direct-Mail?&id=1558236
Email Marketing-Less Is More
Here’s an idea about email marketing: your customers should want to hear from you more often then they do.
They should be so excited when they see your message that it’s the first thing they click on in their inbox.
For most companies, it’s hard to achieve that if you send a daily or weekly newsletter -– especially if you send them regardless of whether you have real news. I get a bunch of newsletters from companies or groups I’ve signed up to hear from. I normally glance at them –- unless I’m busy, unless there are more than five or six piled up, unless I have email from friends to read and respond to.
But if I’ve signed up to hear from a group, and I don’t hear from them often, I tend to look at the message they do send.
I know this is a complicated problem that gets more complicated the bigger your organization is. But for a small company, what would happen if you didn’t set up a regular newsletter? Instead, if your company has news that customers might actually want to hear (not just something you want them to hear) the CEO writes a brief note and sends it to the list.
The temptation is to send more, not less. But can you do something with seven emails a year that you can’t do with 52 or 250?
The numbers don’t matter as much as the idea: your customers should want to hear from you more often then they do.
I found a good starting point for thinking about this on this post from Seth Godin, who cites the example of a Daily Candy reader: “He was upset because for three days in a row, his Daily Candy newsletter hadn't come. That's permission.”
If you send something out every day, and a few days of silence makes your customers take notice, that’s probably a pretty good business. Helps explain why Daily Candy, with 55 employees, was sold to Comcast earlier this month for $125 million.
If you skipped your next three emails to customers, how many do you think would notice?
They should be so excited when they see your message that it’s the first thing they click on in their inbox.
For most companies, it’s hard to achieve that if you send a daily or weekly newsletter -– especially if you send them regardless of whether you have real news. I get a bunch of newsletters from companies or groups I’ve signed up to hear from. I normally glance at them –- unless I’m busy, unless there are more than five or six piled up, unless I have email from friends to read and respond to.
But if I’ve signed up to hear from a group, and I don’t hear from them often, I tend to look at the message they do send.
I know this is a complicated problem that gets more complicated the bigger your organization is. But for a small company, what would happen if you didn’t set up a regular newsletter? Instead, if your company has news that customers might actually want to hear (not just something you want them to hear) the CEO writes a brief note and sends it to the list.
The temptation is to send more, not less. But can you do something with seven emails a year that you can’t do with 52 or 250?
The numbers don’t matter as much as the idea: your customers should want to hear from you more often then they do.
I found a good starting point for thinking about this on this post from Seth Godin, who cites the example of a Daily Candy reader: “He was upset because for three days in a row, his Daily Candy newsletter hadn't come. That's permission.”
If you send something out every day, and a few days of silence makes your customers take notice, that’s probably a pretty good business. Helps explain why Daily Candy, with 55 employees, was sold to Comcast earlier this month for $125 million.
If you skipped your next three emails to customers, how many do you think would notice?
Promise the Customer Less
You may have shrugged off the bestseller “The 4-Hour Workweek,” particularly if you run your own business and manage more than a few employees. But a four-day workweek? Sure, it’s a still a stretch but at least it fits within the confines of most entrepreneurs’ imaginations.
Check out this column by Bill Taylor on Harvard Business Publishing. It’s a look at a growing company called 37Signals that recently instituted an official four-day workweek. It’s also a paean to a counterintuitive approach that could change the way you do business.
When you’re competing against companies that have so much more, the only answer is to do less,” Jason and David told me. “Do less than your competitors to beat them. Instead of one-upping other companies, one-down them. Instead of out-doing other products, under-do them.”
I get it, I responded: Less is more, right? Jason and David shook their heads. “No, less is less—because more is not better! Everyone tries to do too much: solve too many problems, build products with too many features. Our goal is to do less, to build half a product rather than a half-assed product. So we say ‘no’ to almost everything. If you include every decent idea that comes along, you’ll just wind up with a half-assed version of your product. What you really want to do is build half a product that kicks ass.
It’s a good example of the type of news, trends, and ideas we’ll be posting regularly on our staff blog, The New Entrepreneur.
Let us know what you think,
Nick Leiber
Small Business Channel Editor
Check out this column by Bill Taylor on Harvard Business Publishing. It’s a look at a growing company called 37Signals that recently instituted an official four-day workweek. It’s also a paean to a counterintuitive approach that could change the way you do business.
When you’re competing against companies that have so much more, the only answer is to do less,” Jason and David told me. “Do less than your competitors to beat them. Instead of one-upping other companies, one-down them. Instead of out-doing other products, under-do them.”
I get it, I responded: Less is more, right? Jason and David shook their heads. “No, less is less—because more is not better! Everyone tries to do too much: solve too many problems, build products with too many features. Our goal is to do less, to build half a product rather than a half-assed product. So we say ‘no’ to almost everything. If you include every decent idea that comes along, you’ll just wind up with a half-assed version of your product. What you really want to do is build half a product that kicks ass.
It’s a good example of the type of news, trends, and ideas we’ll be posting regularly on our staff blog, The New Entrepreneur.
Let us know what you think,
Nick Leiber
Small Business Channel Editor
The Sales & Marketing War
by: John Caddell
The most recent Harvard Business Review features the above article by Philip Kotler et al on the eternal conflict between sales and marketing, and how it can be resolved. Rather than rehashing the article, which is well worth reading in full, I wanted to lay out my perspective on this issue.
Having worked on both sides of the fence, I've observed the following:
Salespeople think marketing wastes money and doesn't really understand the customers for their products and the customers' needs.
Marketing people think salespeople are untrustworthy, won't follow direction and will sell anything they can, whether or not it can be built or delivered.
And I've observed this as well:
Salespeople desperately want great products to sell, and want great communication/promotion/etc. to help make selling easier.
Marketing people desperately want a great sales force to make their visions for conquering a market become reality.
So, therein are seeds both for discord and for cooperation. I've worked a lot in the new product development process, especially around B2B products with complex service characteristics (such as hosted solutions). In that situation, a strong collaboration between sales and marketing is essential for success.
A new product requires lots of feedback from the market, while it's being developed, in order to closely fit the customers' needs. Sales also needs lots of information about the product so they can talk intelligently about its capabilities and get usable feedback to product marketing.
A team approach has worked best for me, with sales, marketing, service and development forming a product team that has the following roles:
Sales works to gather feedback from prospective customers, tests ideas that marketing's research has come up with, and provides input as to what features/architectures/etc. can best be sold in the marketplace. And perhaps most importantly, they bring one or several first customers through the sales process so the product can be sold and installed as a reference for future sales.
Marketing takes the sales feedback from prospective customers along with data about broader market needs and creates and maintains a roadmap for the product.
Development takes requirements from marketing and sales, recommends suitable architectures, provides feedback as to features that are more or less difficult to create, and ultimately builds and tests the product so that it performs to specifications.
Service Management creates service requirements from sales' and marketing's input and ensures that those service attributes are built into the product or the service wrapping around the product, as appropriate.
In the best situation, this team works as a seamless group, under a single executive, to create and incubate the product, until such time as it is ready for a broader market rollout.
And who on this team is responsible for product management? All of them together.
Original Post: http://shoptalkmarketing.blogspot.com/2006/07/ending-war-between-sales-and-marketing.html
The most recent Harvard Business Review features the above article by Philip Kotler et al on the eternal conflict between sales and marketing, and how it can be resolved. Rather than rehashing the article, which is well worth reading in full, I wanted to lay out my perspective on this issue.
Having worked on both sides of the fence, I've observed the following:
Salespeople think marketing wastes money and doesn't really understand the customers for their products and the customers' needs.
Marketing people think salespeople are untrustworthy, won't follow direction and will sell anything they can, whether or not it can be built or delivered.
And I've observed this as well:
Salespeople desperately want great products to sell, and want great communication/promotion/etc. to help make selling easier.
Marketing people desperately want a great sales force to make their visions for conquering a market become reality.
So, therein are seeds both for discord and for cooperation. I've worked a lot in the new product development process, especially around B2B products with complex service characteristics (such as hosted solutions). In that situation, a strong collaboration between sales and marketing is essential for success.
A new product requires lots of feedback from the market, while it's being developed, in order to closely fit the customers' needs. Sales also needs lots of information about the product so they can talk intelligently about its capabilities and get usable feedback to product marketing.
A team approach has worked best for me, with sales, marketing, service and development forming a product team that has the following roles:
Sales works to gather feedback from prospective customers, tests ideas that marketing's research has come up with, and provides input as to what features/architectures/etc. can best be sold in the marketplace. And perhaps most importantly, they bring one or several first customers through the sales process so the product can be sold and installed as a reference for future sales.
Marketing takes the sales feedback from prospective customers along with data about broader market needs and creates and maintains a roadmap for the product.
Development takes requirements from marketing and sales, recommends suitable architectures, provides feedback as to features that are more or less difficult to create, and ultimately builds and tests the product so that it performs to specifications.
Service Management creates service requirements from sales' and marketing's input and ensures that those service attributes are built into the product or the service wrapping around the product, as appropriate.
In the best situation, this team works as a seamless group, under a single executive, to create and incubate the product, until such time as it is ready for a broader market rollout.
And who on this team is responsible for product management? All of them together.
Original Post: http://shoptalkmarketing.blogspot.com/2006/07/ending-war-between-sales-and-marketing.html
Sales Account Map
The reason that many organizations have some of the issues above is that quota pressure pushes reps into focusing on “what can I close today or this month?” Rather than really analyzing, thinking through and building a set of defined objectives, strategies and action plans to map their way to more fully realized territory or major account.
What if you could see a visual of your territory that plotted all your existing accounts, your pipeline accounts, and those similar companies across your entire territory that you haven’t touched yet? Instead of working every lead that comes your way (even the ones that aren’t a fit), consider what it would be like to have the ability to make clear choices on where you’d spend your time, who you spent it on, with action plans to drive execution. In effect, using tools like territory and account planning and mapping plots the map to not only meeting your quota, but builds insurance so you can exceed it, AND prime the pump effectively for next year.
Territory or account planning provides a set of tools that will enable sales reps to effectively & efficiently penetrate their assigned territory or major accounts. It allows reps and sales managers to leverage resources to achieve the greatest gains from territories or major accounts. And it enables Sales Management to consistently evaluate the effectiveness of the territory or account strategies selected and executed. A territory or account plan and map drives success through 5 key elements:
1. Analyze The Territory Or Major Account
2. Make Informed Choices of the Best Targets/Strategies
3. Build Targeted Objectives & Actions
4. Work The Defined Plan
5. Manage To The Plan
Without a plan and a defined process and tools to create one, millions of dollars are left on the table by corporations and their sales people. Territory and account planning bring much needed strategy to “tactics-only” reps. Opportunistic selling can only take you so far. Creating and documenting a strategy with an action plan provides the means to ‘work the plan’ for deeper and more focused revenue generation.”
So if you want to cure “deal-blindness”, consider implementing a territory or major account planning and mapping process. Without a map, any road can get you somewhere. With one, you can get directly to where you want to be, and know what that destination is in advance.
By Lisa Dennis - About this Author
President, Knowledgence Associates
ldennis@Knowledgence.com
What if you could see a visual of your territory that plotted all your existing accounts, your pipeline accounts, and those similar companies across your entire territory that you haven’t touched yet? Instead of working every lead that comes your way (even the ones that aren’t a fit), consider what it would be like to have the ability to make clear choices on where you’d spend your time, who you spent it on, with action plans to drive execution. In effect, using tools like territory and account planning and mapping plots the map to not only meeting your quota, but builds insurance so you can exceed it, AND prime the pump effectively for next year.
Territory or account planning provides a set of tools that will enable sales reps to effectively & efficiently penetrate their assigned territory or major accounts. It allows reps and sales managers to leverage resources to achieve the greatest gains from territories or major accounts. And it enables Sales Management to consistently evaluate the effectiveness of the territory or account strategies selected and executed. A territory or account plan and map drives success through 5 key elements:
1. Analyze The Territory Or Major Account
2. Make Informed Choices of the Best Targets/Strategies
3. Build Targeted Objectives & Actions
4. Work The Defined Plan
5. Manage To The Plan
Without a plan and a defined process and tools to create one, millions of dollars are left on the table by corporations and their sales people. Territory and account planning bring much needed strategy to “tactics-only” reps. Opportunistic selling can only take you so far. Creating and documenting a strategy with an action plan provides the means to ‘work the plan’ for deeper and more focused revenue generation.”
So if you want to cure “deal-blindness”, consider implementing a territory or major account planning and mapping process. Without a map, any road can get you somewhere. With one, you can get directly to where you want to be, and know what that destination is in advance.
By Lisa Dennis - About this Author
President, Knowledgence Associates
ldennis@Knowledgence.com
What are YOU DOING?
The media is asking that quite a bit right now.
What are you doing to secure your financial future?
What are you doing to protect yourself from the recession?
What are you doing to secure your kids financial future?
What are you doing to protect your community from the recession?
What are we going to do in these "Terrible" financial times?
I have to be honest, the media has created a self fulfilling prophecy. If all every one talks about, looks for and sees is financial problems they will come true.
It even has my wife asking "What are you doing?"
I have to ask the same question. What are you doing to show confidence in the market? What are you doing to look for the positive things. What are you doing to change things up?
What are you doing to secure your financial future?
What are you doing to protect yourself from the recession?
What are you doing to secure your kids financial future?
What are you doing to protect your community from the recession?
What are we going to do in these "Terrible" financial times?
I have to be honest, the media has created a self fulfilling prophecy. If all every one talks about, looks for and sees is financial problems they will come true.
It even has my wife asking "What are you doing?"
I have to ask the same question. What are you doing to show confidence in the market? What are you doing to look for the positive things. What are you doing to change things up?
Treat Your Budget Like an Investment
A better way to justify your marketing budget is to think of it as an investment that incurs costs today but delivers benefits for many years. This has two key implications:
Marketing expenses must be justified with a rigorous business case
Marketing expenses should be amortized over the entire "useful life" of the expense
In most organizations, any significant investment needs a bottoms-up business case that demonstrates it will deliver a minimum rate of return (called a hurdle rate). If the business case is made, the CFO generally approves it. Marketing spend should not be any different.
Demand generation spending is the easiest marketing investment to tie to ROI. Some programs generate leads, others nurture leads as the move through the marketing funnel. When the leads become ready, they are transferred to sales and become opportunities, some of which eventually close and translate to revenue. With the right marketing measurement tools, the entire process becomes measurable, the interactions between different marketing programs become understandable, and the future return on today's spending becomes quantifiable.
Other marketing investments, such as brand building and PR, are harder to tie to revenue without making assumptions. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Assumptions are common in business-case-building and will be familiar to the CEO and CFO. One common way to get agreement around assumptions is to make "worst case", "expected case", and "best case" assumptions to show the range of possible outcomes.
For all types of marketing investment, the returns are usually not immediate and often come months or years down the road. The principle of matching expenses with the revenue generated by means of those expenses implies that marketing investments should be capitalized as an asset and not treated like simple expense items. In other words, the dollars spent on marketing should be amortized over the entire period in which those dollars deliver benefit to the organization.
Thinking of the marketing budget as a long-term investment can be especially important for smaller, fast growing companies. By amortizing investments in brand building, awareness, and pipeline that will pay back over many quarters, the percentage of marketing expense that is recognized in any given quarter will more closely match the current levels of revenue.
Summary
By treating your B2B marketing budget like an investment in the future, you can help build the perception that marketing is an asset that drives revenue, not a liability that simply incurs costs.
As important as this is, I am not trying to oversimplify a difficult and complex problem. Making the business case for each marketing investment is easier said than done given the tools and processes available to today's B2B marketers. My company, Marketo, will continue to research this topic and invest in building B2B marketing software to help. I appreciate hearing any feedback or comments you have.
Bookmark thisBlinkBits BlinkList Blogmarks Buddymarks CiteUlike Connotea Digg FeedMarker feedmelinks Furl Give a Link Gravee igooi Lilisto Linkagogo Linkroll ma.gnolia Maple.nu Netvouz Onlywire RawSugar reddit Scuttle Shadows Simpy Spurl tagtooga TalkDigger Wink Yahoo MyWeb
Posted by Jon Miller on January 21, 2007 in Accountability , Budgets , Marketing Funnel | How To Sell Your Marketing Budget To Your CFO
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/1109259/7581364
Marketing expenses must be justified with a rigorous business case
Marketing expenses should be amortized over the entire "useful life" of the expense
In most organizations, any significant investment needs a bottoms-up business case that demonstrates it will deliver a minimum rate of return (called a hurdle rate). If the business case is made, the CFO generally approves it. Marketing spend should not be any different.
Demand generation spending is the easiest marketing investment to tie to ROI. Some programs generate leads, others nurture leads as the move through the marketing funnel. When the leads become ready, they are transferred to sales and become opportunities, some of which eventually close and translate to revenue. With the right marketing measurement tools, the entire process becomes measurable, the interactions between different marketing programs become understandable, and the future return on today's spending becomes quantifiable.
Other marketing investments, such as brand building and PR, are harder to tie to revenue without making assumptions. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Assumptions are common in business-case-building and will be familiar to the CEO and CFO. One common way to get agreement around assumptions is to make "worst case", "expected case", and "best case" assumptions to show the range of possible outcomes.
For all types of marketing investment, the returns are usually not immediate and often come months or years down the road. The principle of matching expenses with the revenue generated by means of those expenses implies that marketing investments should be capitalized as an asset and not treated like simple expense items. In other words, the dollars spent on marketing should be amortized over the entire period in which those dollars deliver benefit to the organization.
Thinking of the marketing budget as a long-term investment can be especially important for smaller, fast growing companies. By amortizing investments in brand building, awareness, and pipeline that will pay back over many quarters, the percentage of marketing expense that is recognized in any given quarter will more closely match the current levels of revenue.
Summary
By treating your B2B marketing budget like an investment in the future, you can help build the perception that marketing is an asset that drives revenue, not a liability that simply incurs costs.
As important as this is, I am not trying to oversimplify a difficult and complex problem. Making the business case for each marketing investment is easier said than done given the tools and processes available to today's B2B marketers. My company, Marketo, will continue to research this topic and invest in building B2B marketing software to help. I appreciate hearing any feedback or comments you have.
Bookmark thisBlinkBits BlinkList Blogmarks Buddymarks CiteUlike Connotea Digg FeedMarker feedmelinks Furl Give a Link Gravee igooi Lilisto Linkagogo Linkroll ma.gnolia Maple.nu Netvouz Onlywire RawSugar reddit Scuttle Shadows Simpy Spurl tagtooga TalkDigger Wink Yahoo MyWeb
Posted by Jon Miller on January 21, 2007 in Accountability , Budgets , Marketing Funnel | How To Sell Your Marketing Budget To Your CFO
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/1109259/7581364
How will you grow your business?
There are only four ways to grow your business:
Mess around with the products/services you sell…
Mess around with the markets/people you sell to… or
Some combination of the two or
Keep doing what you are currently doing.
That’s it.
At the Growth Strategies Conference in London, they asked the audience the question “How do you plan to grow your business?”
The results of the vote was as follows:
I plan to grow the business:
33%: existing product/existing market (No. 4 above)
17%: new product/existing market (No. 1)
36%: existing product/new market (No. 2)
14%: new product/new market (No. 3)
So what does this tell us?
69% of the voters are sticking to selling their existing products (phew!) (Nos. 2 & 4)
31% of the voters are using a new product to grow their business (Nos. 1 & 3)
14% have gone for the high-risk new/new option (No. 3)
The above can be translated into a 2×2 matrix and is the only really stunning piece of business school theory that is really valuable (it is referred to as the Ansoff Matrix).
Mess around with the products/services you sell…
Mess around with the markets/people you sell to… or
Some combination of the two or
Keep doing what you are currently doing.
That’s it.
At the Growth Strategies Conference in London, they asked the audience the question “How do you plan to grow your business?”
The results of the vote was as follows:
I plan to grow the business:
33%: existing product/existing market (No. 4 above)
17%: new product/existing market (No. 1)
36%: existing product/new market (No. 2)
14%: new product/new market (No. 3)
So what does this tell us?
69% of the voters are sticking to selling their existing products (phew!) (Nos. 2 & 4)
31% of the voters are using a new product to grow their business (Nos. 1 & 3)
14% have gone for the high-risk new/new option (No. 3)
The above can be translated into a 2×2 matrix and is the only really stunning piece of business school theory that is really valuable (it is referred to as the Ansoff Matrix).
Recession blues
Since this recession I’m losing my baby, Because the times are getting so hard”
BB King, Recession Blues
Surviving the downturn is the hot topic of the moment. We watch every minor movement in the economy and convince ourselves that the recession is here and with the downturn will be the ultimate decline of our business.
The last person to listen to is the old grey-hairs who start the conversation with the phrase, “When you’ve survived as many recessions as I have…”. (Well, that’s what I thought when I was in my twenties and setting up my first business!)
Please note that, despite what they say, there is no evidence that their actions saved their businesses. What we have here is called “survivorship bias” – we only listen to what the survivors claim made them successful and assume these actions caused their success – the old cause and effect (or chicken and egg) conundrum. What’s important to note here is that we ‘listen’ to the winners but not to the losers; and both justify their position by (re-)writing their own history to fit the results; so listening to their side of the story may not be that helpful.
Most ‘research’ ignores the key fact that the difference between the winners and the losers is marginal. There are more similarities than differences. Maybe the big difference is just luck: being in the right place… or bumping into the right people… or randomly deciding the right price… or making ‘that phone call’. Meanwhile the successful, the survivors, attribute their ‘results’ to their skill. Nonsense – success comes from doing the right things and being in receipt of a generous dose of good luck!
Surely it is more than a decent dose of luck and a jammy role of the dice!
BB King, Recession Blues
Surviving the downturn is the hot topic of the moment. We watch every minor movement in the economy and convince ourselves that the recession is here and with the downturn will be the ultimate decline of our business.
The last person to listen to is the old grey-hairs who start the conversation with the phrase, “When you’ve survived as many recessions as I have…”. (Well, that’s what I thought when I was in my twenties and setting up my first business!)
Please note that, despite what they say, there is no evidence that their actions saved their businesses. What we have here is called “survivorship bias” – we only listen to what the survivors claim made them successful and assume these actions caused their success – the old cause and effect (or chicken and egg) conundrum. What’s important to note here is that we ‘listen’ to the winners but not to the losers; and both justify their position by (re-)writing their own history to fit the results; so listening to their side of the story may not be that helpful.
Most ‘research’ ignores the key fact that the difference between the winners and the losers is marginal. There are more similarities than differences. Maybe the big difference is just luck: being in the right place… or bumping into the right people… or randomly deciding the right price… or making ‘that phone call’. Meanwhile the successful, the survivors, attribute their ‘results’ to their skill. Nonsense – success comes from doing the right things and being in receipt of a generous dose of good luck!
Surely it is more than a decent dose of luck and a jammy role of the dice!
Creativity, is it dead?
So in the IT sales business it is important to take the same solution and sell it over and over.
Recently I have watched several TV shows that are lacking creativity.
First is Knight Rider. The new one. I really enjoyed the first one with David Hasselhoff. The high tech stuff, computers and such. Now the new one is so predictable. KITT (The Car) can transform into virtually anything. What is hard about fighting crime if you have a tool that will do anything? Anyway, Michael is after some bad guy that stole some secret. The show has to have a girl in distress, somehow the car has some mechanical issue, there is a "SPY" party. You know, the tux, gambling and dancing. Then the hero comes through and a high speed chase. Pretty much no change in the formula. How boring.
Then is Chuck. Similar story. Geek wants hot girl, Super cool spy gets hot girl. Geek disappointed. There is the "SPY" party, and Geeks saves the day. HOW BORING
OH yea, I forgot that most of these people have a way of doing things that no one could ever possibly do. You know get blown up and live, jump 3 stories and run and know some type of karate that beats everyone.
And pretty much every show these days has some type of technology that is impossible. Holographs, cars that talk, voice recognition that works, artificial intelligence and so on.
So I am a bit down on entertainment today. I will just turn on my 3d glasses and enter the holadeck.
Clearly the networks have good marketing, I have wasted hours on their terrible television.
Recently I have watched several TV shows that are lacking creativity.
First is Knight Rider. The new one. I really enjoyed the first one with David Hasselhoff. The high tech stuff, computers and such. Now the new one is so predictable. KITT (The Car) can transform into virtually anything. What is hard about fighting crime if you have a tool that will do anything? Anyway, Michael is after some bad guy that stole some secret. The show has to have a girl in distress, somehow the car has some mechanical issue, there is a "SPY" party. You know, the tux, gambling and dancing. Then the hero comes through and a high speed chase. Pretty much no change in the formula. How boring.
Then is Chuck. Similar story. Geek wants hot girl, Super cool spy gets hot girl. Geek disappointed. There is the "SPY" party, and Geeks saves the day. HOW BORING
OH yea, I forgot that most of these people have a way of doing things that no one could ever possibly do. You know get blown up and live, jump 3 stories and run and know some type of karate that beats everyone.
And pretty much every show these days has some type of technology that is impossible. Holographs, cars that talk, voice recognition that works, artificial intelligence and so on.
So I am a bit down on entertainment today. I will just turn on my 3d glasses and enter the holadeck.
Clearly the networks have good marketing, I have wasted hours on their terrible television.
Market Leader Strategy
In StockByte, Jerry established a clear vision and opportunity early on and went after it fabulously and whole heartily with great success. That is $135M worth of success when Jerry sold his companies last year.
With the vision at the very start and quickly establishing that they were ahead of the market, Stockbyte established themselves as market leaders and acted accordingly. StockByte were innovative on business model, marketing, delivery of their offering and collecting feedback from the market.
I really really liked:
1) how they marketed the ‘personality’ of the business to set them apart.
2) the constant objective to drive more streamlined scaleable business across the entire business
3) the fast response feedback loop to generate new product directions
4) the focus on high quality, high value and premium service at a relevant high margin price
5) the fast pace
6) the fun of it all – constant innovation coupled with constant business growth – there’s nothing better!
Well done Jerry.
This story and how Jerry delivers it should be bottled and used by Enterprise Ireland as one potential model in building an international successful business. BUT it’s definitely a lesson that it’s well achievable with the right mindset to start with.
I’m going back to work…….
also see great write-up on the event at http://www.waveson.com/itcork-and-jerry-kennelly/trackback/
Technorati Tags: Case Study, Entrepreneurs, Good Business Principles, Industry Development, it@cork, jerry kennelly, market leader, murphys, Sales and Marketing, stockbyte
With the vision at the very start and quickly establishing that they were ahead of the market, Stockbyte established themselves as market leaders and acted accordingly. StockByte were innovative on business model, marketing, delivery of their offering and collecting feedback from the market.
I really really liked:
1) how they marketed the ‘personality’ of the business to set them apart.
2) the constant objective to drive more streamlined scaleable business across the entire business
3) the fast response feedback loop to generate new product directions
4) the focus on high quality, high value and premium service at a relevant high margin price
5) the fast pace
6) the fun of it all – constant innovation coupled with constant business growth – there’s nothing better!
Well done Jerry.
This story and how Jerry delivers it should be bottled and used by Enterprise Ireland as one potential model in building an international successful business. BUT it’s definitely a lesson that it’s well achievable with the right mindset to start with.
I’m going back to work…….
also see great write-up on the event at http://www.waveson.com/itcork-and-jerry-kennelly/trackback/
Technorati Tags: Case Study, Entrepreneurs, Good Business Principles, Industry Development, it@cork, jerry kennelly, market leader, murphys, Sales and Marketing, stockbyte
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)