Getting started in a new year can be tough. Maybe you’re like me. In this first week back at work it’s easier thinking about negatives, before moving ahead with positives.

Here are three negatives in selling and marketing to get rid of quickly in 2012. Onwards and upwards.

• Magic Words
• Visual Noise
• Hubris

Magic Words

There are none. No secret words injected into proposals, brochures, or web pages guarantee results. Yet many sales reps and marketers hold onto that belief – that magic ones are out there, they only have to be found.

Time to let go.

Here is the only magic to sales and marketing:

Persuasiveness in a consultative process.

And this magic comes in many different words. It’s the music, not the notes.

Onwards and upwards. Positively do this:

First – find out what customers want & need

Second – communicate to them you understand their wants & needs (otherwise they wont listen)

Third – communicate you have a solution that delivers their wants & needs

Lastly – all other communications validate you can deliver

Visual Noise

Think about the 1,000s of marketing messages that flash across your retinas every day. From those overly busy web sites with 100s of widgets, flashing animations and graphic display ads – to the wildly desperate print ads sitting cheek-by-jowl on page after page in trade magazines.

They’re all exhausting in their attempts to suck you into a call to action. Visual design is overloaded.

Time to let go.

White space is the new magnet. It directs viewers’ focus, raises their engagement and increases their retention of information. When they can see it, (and it’s relevant and valuable) they’re yours. Google proved that.

Onwards and upwards. Positively do this:

First – ruthlessly refine & distill the kernel of the message you’re trying to communicate into a purity that is almost painful

Second – eliminate everything that distracts from that single pure kernel, then eliminate more

Third – go with the almost painfully pure look & design

Lastly -  trust in that one message (if you want to communicate something else, do it separately)

Hubris

Hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance, which many reps and marketers suffer from when they believe they were the sole cause of their success.

Time to let go.

Obviously chances of success increase the harder and smarter one works but luck is its own being. Success at any level has a healthy portion of luck (in addition to effort and smarts).

Onwards and upwards. Positively do this:

First – change “No” as the first out of your mouth to “Why?”

Second – pay heightened attention to diverse ideas & opposite opinions (leads to innovation)

Third – listen empathetically, think judiciously

Lastly – strive for humility & self-confidence in equal measures

What negatives will you let go of in 2012?

How do you get customers to listen to you?

Give to Get is one marketing strategy to do that. But first, a brief philosophic moment before this post winds up with actions you can use.

Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. and whatever the true history of this holiday may be, or its practice today, it is based on a traditional virtue in many cultures and religions; altruism .

By definition altruism is the unselfish concern for the welfare of others. And surely no one can argue its worthiness.

From a karmic view, giving something of value for the welfare of others will eventually return some benefit to the giver (it just may not be in this lifetime).

Altruism at Work

Altruistic behavior already exists at work in company and employee donations of money and time. Donations are often publicized on web sites, press releases, proposals, etc.

Does this make the value of giving any less?

I don’t think so. It may raise questions about motives. But business motives are typically clear; make profit, increase sales, and raise brand value. And working the Give to Get strategy is part of that.

Give to Get: Pragmatic Sales & Marketing

In both personal selling and company marketing, the Give to Get strategy can achieve these goals.

1) Permission for Customers’ Attention
2) Credibility & Visibility for You & Your Company

1) Permission for Customers’ Attention

The delete button, spam reporting or the office waste basket are your enemies.

Permission is what customers give you first, before they’ll pay attention to what you’re saying (marketing or selling).

With customers’ attention you can:

• Raise brand awareness
• Pre-position as leading solution to customers’ problems
• Educate customers to unrecognized needs & wants
• Motivate customers to contact you when they’re ready to buy

The catch is you have to get customers’ attention before you can get their permission. Give to Get is the latest and most powerful strategy for gaining customers’ permission.

Give to Get for Permission

Below are several things to give to gain customers’ permission. You give these away for free, and in return customers opt-in to your subscription or mailing list (in return you get their attention).

The more value you give in this exchange, the greater customers will engage with you.

NOTE: Minimize your sales-marketing promotion in the giveaways as the business motives may look to outweigh the “unselfishness” of giving.

Consider giving:

• free eBook
• free plans or templates
• free industry or benchmark reports
• free white papers
• free webinars
• free in-person seminars
• free calculators, tool applications (web-based, digital, etc.)

2) Credibility & Visibility for You & Your Company

You, and your company want to be recognized for your expertise, capabilities and uniqueness.

While these can be achieved through a one-time event, i.e. webinar or seminar, they’re best achieved through on-going customer conversations.

So seek Permission for Customers’ Attention and use the same actions listed above for Give to Get for Permission.

Costs & Price of Give to Get

Yes, you’ll have a cost producing whatever you giveaway. But the return is the best there is; engaged customers willing to listen to you.

Yes, you don’t have to give it away for free, you could charge something. But strongly resist that urge. Free is the new price, especially in the attention-deficit workplace.

Summary

• Give to get is a human strategy
• Use it in personal selling & company marketing
• Customers’ give permission to talk to them in return for something you give of value
• Free is the new price to gain customers’ attention

How do you get customers to listen to you?

Get familiar with the difference between outbound and inbound marketing. You don’t need to become an expert but a little knowledge is needed with tight marketing budgets.

While both outbound and inbound marketing have their merits, inbound is recognized as the more effective for its low cost per lead and its engaging relationships with buyers. Engaging buyers before they buy puts sellers in positions of influence. Ask any salesperson and they’ll tell you they’d rather be talking to buyers early and often to position themselves for when the buying opportunity arises. Inbound marketing can do that.

It can also deliver the holy sales grail – buyers who contact sellers. Buyers coming to sellers who are pre-qualified, ready to buy, and see the seller as their leading solution provider. Sellers wouldn’t have to beat the bushes to make quota – they’d just open up to the fire hose and take orders.

Like anything new, inbound marketing is a new discipline to learn, and even more work to sustain. New and strenuous. That’s not bad when considering its effectiveness and low cost.

Inbound in More Detail

Inbound marketing is about developing a relationship first, and then enabling buyers to engage sellers. Although relationships from inbound marketing can occur quickly for simple inexpensive online purchases, it takes more time for larger, complex sales. Large sale relationships often require many online interactions before buyers are willing to actively engage sellers.

Here are three categories that comprise inbound marketing (content, social media, search).

Content First: Insight for Eyeballs

Examples: Blogs, videos, ebooks, white papers, etc.

Content is key to inbound marketing. It must be valuable to buyers, who then give permission to be contacted again in the future. This permission based marketing requires content first before buyers opt-in.

Publishing content has become much easier for sellers through technology such as content management systems (blogs), email subscription services, YouTube, Google Docs and Presentations, etc.

After the initial learning curve to publish content, the real burden of inbound marketing comes from creating high value content continually. If you don’t have content how are you going to keep buyers engaged?

Social Media

Examples: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Social media are web-based and mobile applications that turn communication into interactive dialogue.They enable buyer-seller conversations that build better relationships, lead to better buys, and more sales.

As social media is the hyper-hyped darling of the moment, many marketers feel inadequate because they’re not fully linked in, twittering, friending, liking or YouTubing.

In the facility service market, contractors are slowly figuring out what their social media goals are and which social media to use. Contractors (sellers) will eventually get over this hurdle, and once they do they’ll be able to:

* Better understand buyers’ pains that need fixing & improvements buyers want to make

* More easily get access to buyers who have engaged with them through social media (hey, it’s easy to get introduced virtually)

* Put a human face/personality to their service business as buyers see sellers’ interactions as individuals (seems counter-intuitive doesn’t it?) – think Facebook page with contractors’ employees posting successes & news that buyers can see

In social media, the seller’s strategy is indirect, they must avoid the Pavlovian desire to sell because it sticks out like a sore and avoidable thumb. Instead, sellers’ social media goal is to build buyer relationships, which is done through:

• Sharing content (sellers or others that are relevant)
• Answering buyers’ questions
• Providing buyers’ information & insight (education)
• Keeping buyers aware of industry trends & advances
• Becoming a resource worthy of buyers’ attention

Search: Yo, I’m here!

Examples: Keyword searches using Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.

Buyers are searching for insight, Googling for answers. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) gets sellers’ content found in buyers’ organic searches.

Search is about keywords (surprise). Ideally, sellers optimize their keywords’ position in online content to end up one of the top 3 results on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Research into Google Organic Click Through Rates shows that as much as 70% of clicks come from positions #1 and #2. Below the fold (content not visible without scrolling down)? Might as well forget about being found.

Keywords used early in titles and headings, and frequently in content near the front helps optimize search results. The hard part here is the knowledge to define and refine keywords, and their placement in online content.

While content should be optimized for search engines, it still is meant for humans. Overly manipulated content for keywords hurts the very reason sellers provide content in the first place – to build a relationship with buyers.

As you can see in SEO, content is still king but it requires some specialized knowledge and effort for optimization.

NOTE: Pay Per Click (PPC) could be considered part of inbound’s search category. PPC are paid links that display near organic search results for selected keywords.

In essence buyers self-select those sellers that match their keywords. However, the emphasis is on converting visitors to sales immediately on a landing page, and not generally about building long term relationships.

Buyers’ Give Permission by Opting-In

Inbound marketing needs buyers permission first. That first step opting-in looks differently depending on the programs used. Here are some examples:

BLOGS: Subscribe to RSS feeds, or opt-in for email subscriptions (most services follow a double opt-in procedure and closely adhere to CANSPAM email laws)

SOCIAL MEDIA:

FACEBOOK: Like and/or Friend a company’s page or an individual seller

LINKEDIN: Connect to an individual and/or follow a company

TWITTER: Follow an individual or company

SEARCHES: Keyword searches act as self-selectors as buyers opt-in to sellers’ online content through their choice of keywords

With all the benefits of inbound marketing it’s fair to ask why bother with outbound marketing? What has outbound to offer that inbound doesn’t do, and do better and cheaper?

The necessity of outbound marketing becomes clear when a seller launches an inbound marketing program.

Launching Inbound Marketing

To launch inbound marketing sellers must first get buyers’ permission. Their opting-in is a seller’s primary conversion goal.  But how do you get their attention in the first place?

Imagine this. You’re a seller. You have great online content, not sales brochures but valuable information about what buyers should be doing, case studies, free assessments, etc. You’ve set up your social media accounts and email subscription services. You’ve dedicated resources, creative and editorial. You are ready.

But no buyers show up. They don’t know you’re out there. It’s as if you held a party and no one came.

And that’s the catch. When launching inbound marketing programs how do buyers know sellers are out there, online, ready and waiting to engage?

You forgot to send out the invitations to buyers. That’s the trigger that’s not being discussed online – the invitation part. You know once buyers notice sellers’ value they’ll opt-in and then everything is hunky dory. But until that happens, sellers and their value are invisible online.

So how do sellers first get buyers’ attention online?

Remember the invitations to your party mentioned earlier? Sellers must use outbound marketing to get those invitations to buyers. Outbound techniques are the secret trigger to inbound marketing.

Yup, that’s right. Traditional, outbound (interruption) marketing techniques must be used to make buyers aware, to gain their attention for that first online interaction – for that first buyer opt-in.

So outbound marketing has its place in the brave new world of inbound marketing. It’s at the beginning, at the launch of inbound programs. Sellers need outbound to raise their hands in the air and get noticed by buyers.

NOTE: Inbound marketing programs can be launched using search (SEO) only. However, getting sufficient numbers of buyers to opt-in can take a long time. Time which is often in short supply when sales are needed.

Using Outbound Marketing to Launch Inbound Programs

Multiple outbound techniques can be used to launch inbound programs. They all include a call to action that is not a sales pitch but a call to opt-in. Typically they include an incentive, a freemium (free premium) such as an ebook, research report, etc. For example:

* DIRECT MAIL promoting a contest or drawing with a gift as prize for buyers to sign up

* ADVERTISING: Print & online ads promoting a freemium, contest or drawing

* SPONSORSHIPS at tradeshows promoting free education seminars

* COLLATERAL pieces promoting the freebies for salespeople to leave behind

Summary

At the end of the day sellers are marketing (outbound) the opportunity to begin an interactive dialog with buyers (inbound). Through this conversation sellers have better relationships, greater buyer loyalty and better sales. But the beauty of inbound marketing can only begin with sellers raising their hands to get buyers’ attention and immediately converting that notice into buyers opting-in.

Simple, but hard. What’s worthwhile having that isn’t?

Facility service contractors are not known for their marketing prowess – they’re hyper-selective and cautious at best. But for those who market it may seem as if there’s a war between traditional outbound marketing and its newer, sexier cousin, inbound marketing.

Though not a war, it is a skirmish between outbound and inbound marketing for supremacy over budget and headcount.  Surprisingly both types of marketing are in a symbiotic relationship – they work better together. However, there’s a trigger between the two, which must take place before the inbound side shows its power and effectiveness. That trigger’s vital role appears to be a secret – while the spotlight falls on inbound’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

In next week’s post I’ll address that secret trigger. But in this post let’s first start with a shared understanding of outbound and inbound marketing.

Simplified Marketing Definitions

Outbound Marketing Defined

Advertising, PR, telemarketing, direct mail, and tradeshows push messages out to anonymous buyers. It’s inefficient and costly (“you spent how much on tradeshows last year?”). Commissioned salespeople fall under this form of marketing as well.

It’s also called “interruption marketing” because it is. Look at the direct mail pieces in your wastebasket, spam in your inbox, ads in newspapers, and on TV and radio. Outbound marketing is about trying to buy people’s interest in what you’re selling.

Success rates for all types of outbound marketing are typically very low, from 1 – 3%. As a result, they’re also costly per qualified lead generated.

Inbound Marketing Defined

Blogs, social media, organic search (SEO) and paid search (PPC) are more effective at targeting customers and are far more cost-efficient – 62% less costly per lead than outbound marketing according to HubSpot’s “The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing“.

Inbound marketing is about “earning people’s interest instead of buying it”. It’s a long-term process where marketers exchange insight (valued information with context) for buyers’ attention. But this only occurs when buyers give permission – they opt-in (forms vary with the social media)

For a number of factoids on the digital age as they relate to outbound and inbound marketing view HubSpot’s “It’s Time to Transform Your Marketing“

Outbound & Inbound Marketing Goals Differ

Outbound Marketing Goals

#1 Right-place, Right-time Sale

The short-term goal of the shotgun approach is to reach a buyer at just the right time – when they’re ready to buy.

Like roulette, the odds of success are not favorable. This approach takes huge numbers to make it worthwhile, which is costly, disruptive to buyers, and doesn’t make for very respectful relationships between buyers and sellers. But hey, a seller might get lucky.

#2 Raise buyer awareness

The long-term goal of outbound marketing is to raise buyers’ awareness to the seller’s brand and offering.

Sellers seek top of mind awareness, so when a buyer thinks about buying they’ll think first about the seller’s brand and offering. This can be very costly as it takes many interruptions before the seller’s message gains a foothold in the buyer’s overloaded consciousness.

Inbound Marketing Goals

While inbound goals are similar to those of outbound marketing, they manifest themselves within a buyer-seller relationship that is more valuable, meaningful and respectful. As a result, conversion rates are higher and cost per lead lower than outbound marketing.

#1 Buyers contact the seller when they’re ready to buy

With inbound marketing, buyers contact sellers when they are motivated and actively seeking a solution. At the time they reach out to the seller they:

* Know they have a problem & want to to fix it, and/or
* Have identified improvements they want to make

This is what all sellers want from their marketing: pre-qualified, motivated buyers contacting them.

#2 Buyers see the seller as the leading solution

In a strong relationship, buyers see the seller’s firm as the leading solution to their needs/goals. Not the only solution, but the leading one, and that’s a great position for a seller to be in. This often occurs simultaneously with goal #1 above.

The position of thought leadership has multiple benefits when buyers eventually contact the seller. Benefits such as:

* Higher value associated with the solution (less price sensitivity) as buyers better understand the cost of no action, or poor execution
* Foundation for a respectful, mutually beneficial buyer-seller partnership
* Greater loyalty to the seller as knowledge leader than competitors
* Better defined service scope as buyers become more knowledgeable (see #3 below)

#3 Buyers become more knowledgeable

Often buyers are unaware of the impact poor facility services have on their overall business. Inbound marketing, over time, has the ability to educate buyers to better understand the connection between service cause and business effect.

Buyers don’t necessarily want to be taught – however, most want to learn. Inbound marketing provides that self-selected, self-paced learning opportunity.

Keys to Success

There are many things that must be in place for both types of marketing to succeed. Here are some of the most important.

Outbound Marketing Keys to Success

• Laser-like targeting of prospective buyers
• Compelling messaging that speaks to buyers’ wants & needs
• Many repetitions of the message (aka impressions or interruptions)
• Substantial commitment in money & expertise (often outsourced)

Inbound Marketing Keys to Success

• Provide value first before gaining buyers’ attention
• Consistent creation & sharing of valued content
• Long-term commitment to buyers, their business & the industry
• Managed presence interacting & monitoring social media (dedicated headcount)
• Secret trigger to gain buyers’ permission to like/follow/connect with sellers –> and that will be addressed in next week’s post

The Secret Trigger to Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is in many ways superior to outbound marketing. However, getting started in the permission game can be a mystery. Can you guess what the trigger is? And why it’s important to inbound marketing? Comment on this post. We’ll see what your thoughts are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ

Better than shooting in the dark, prospect profiles (aka targets or ideal customers) make sales and marketing more successful.

They screen out the undesirable and demote the mediocre, making efforts more effective, optimizing investments and producing more desired results (leads, meetings, bids, sales, etc.).

Traditional profiles are good for bucketing prospects’ demographic criteria, such as:

• geography – state, MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), zip code
• prospect company size – revenue, employees, square footage, etc.
• estimated contract size – annual $s, FTEs, or HPWs (calculated from company size)

Traditional Profiles Stuck on Demographics

However, demographics aren’t the whole picture.

Psychographics (the attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles)  can highlight a true affinity between a contractor and desired future customers, instantly identifying prospects.

Psychographics of people and companies can include:

• socially conscious (eco-green) or personally ambitious (profits) only
• prompt payers
• politically savvy working bureaucratic processes
• detailed down in the weeds or 50,000 foot visionary
• open, honest & with integrity
• fun to work with
• data-driven or fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants
• blame-oriented or personally accountable
• loyal
• risk averse/tolerant
• experienced old-hand or arrogant greenhorn
• people who value your contributions & expertise

Yet these aren’t captured in demographic data.

Profiles target Companies, Not People

Traditional prospect profiles target companies only, not people – and companies aren’t as friendly or accessible as people.

Instinctively people relate to a company as if the company is another person.

Think about how you feel when stuck in a long line to board a plane, or when holding that first, hot cup of Starbucks on a cold morning.

Whatever made you feel that way was definitely human, and since it’s highly unlikely you know the individual, you associate those feelings with that company. Voila! From that point on that company feels like a someone to you (until they do something out of character and you revise your feelings).

That’s a major drawback because traditional profiles aren’t energizing, they aren’t a welcoming beacon.

Keeping Sales People Motivated

Sales people must continually overcome the day-to-day obstacles of convincing prospects to become customers. Anything your firm can do to help them move forward increases sales’ ROI.

That’s what a motivating, energizing profile should do – pull sales people, like an extreme magnet, inexorably towards prospects.

Not just ordinary prospects, but to perfect prospects,  because the point of perfect prospects is that they become perfect customers when sold. Perfect customers are always worth extra effort.

A New Type of Prospecting Profile: Personas

Personas can be a tool for enhancing sales motivation and accuracy towards generating the perfect kind of new business.

Originally created for software programmers, personas are an archtype of the perfect customer. They’re a fact and story based description that includes psychograpic and demographic data.

Personas are based on data from live prospects and customers.

Through research in surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews, qualitative data forms the basis of the persona’s pyschographics . Quantitative data forms the basis of its demographic data.

Both are combined into a narrative about a specific, fictional, yet representative person. The research identifies the number of personas to be used, but typically there can be 3 to 5 different personas.

A persona works at a company of:

• a particular size
• in an industry / market vertical
• in a geographic area

They work:

• in a specific position/role
• overseeing a service contract of a certain size
• employing a type of contractor -or- in-house staff
• within a budgeting / bidding cycle & schedule
• in a company culture of A/P & reporting practices

The persona also includes descriptions of their personal and job-related:

• goals
• motivators
• objectives
• personal profile

Additionally, the persona includes:

• a picture
• quotes
• anecdotes
• personal stories

3 Powerful Reasons to use Personas

Personas used to profile perfect prospects deliver three key benefits.

#1 Glitteringly Clear Picture

Using personas presents diamond like clarity for targeting perfect prospects.

Personas enable our minds powerful ability to pull partial information about people and then create a coherent bigger picture, which can then be projected into new situations.

This is exactly what profiles should do – point prospecting efforts unequivocably towards perfect prospects.

#2 Energizing the Quest

Personas provide sales people a warmer, welcoming target to go out and seek. That keeps them at it.

When sales people are looking for someone they like and who likes them, they’re more confident. This helps get novice sales people over the starting hump and reinforces experienced sales people to continue.

It’s like looking for a known friend out there amongst strangers.

#3 Multiplying the Uses

In addition to prospecting activities, personas guide marketing and social networking efforts as well.

Personas provide a specific target audience for developing marketing messages. Think how much easier and effective copy writing for ads, web sites, and brochures will be when speaking to that perfect reader, the persona.

Personas also provide a process for uncovering where perfect prospects live, work and socialize. That’s developed during the creation of the persona, and shows sales people where they should go to network, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, or Chamber of Commerce mixers.

People & their personas make the world go round

For selling and marketing it’s all about people: prospects, customers and sales staff.

Using personas makes the early out reach efforts clearer and more enjoyable, which for sales people means more likely they’ll continue doing it well year after year.

Good luck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue IQ

The bathwater. The baby. New is better.

Too frequently a “new” sales practice comes out that’s the next answer for every sales woe (and you should buy the book and attend the seminar too).

With the “new” comes the exhortation that the “old” was a failure, or else why would you need the “new”?

But some of the old sales practices (used appropriately) are still valid, and required. For example, the sales process in the book “Never Cold Call Again” needs a few “cold calls” in the beginning to get started. That in spite of its clever title.

Starting a new opt-in, permission-based mailing? You’ll need help getting the attention of potential subscribers.  An effective way  is to use online ads or direct mailings offering promotions to subscribe. Yes, the new millennium still has a place for ads and direct mail.

Even though online commerce has changed many things, there’s still a need for the intelligent use of traditional sales and marketing.

The (really) new sales practice: MarSpecTing

Here’s my attempt at marrying the best of the old with the new: MarSpecTing. Making up a new word? Yes. Hypocritical? Yes.  Clever title? No.

MarSpecTing is for individual sales people. It combines selling 2.0 with the relevant bits of old-timey selling. It’s evolutionary, not revolutionary. And as you may have guessed, MarSpecTing is a combination of:

• Marketing-by-salesperson
• Prospecting
• Networking

As you’d expect, prospecting and networking are legacies from old-timey selling – though they’re flashier now because of the web (twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).

And as most facility service contractors don’t have marketing departments, that leaves marketing out in the cold. MarSpecTing fixes that by folding marketing into individual sales practices. Voila! Marketing-by-salesperson.

But marketing-by-salesperson is only a part of MarSpecTing, and with the other practices can help sales people achieve their individual sales goals.

Marketing-by-salesperson

WHAT: One-way messages out to the anonymous masses in your marketplace. Maybe you’ll reach a qualified prospect, maybe not. Align your expectations with reality: marketing never made a sale, it can lead to, but not finalize the deal.

BENEFITS:

• Raise prospects’ awareness
• Establish your credibility
• Earn the opportunity of sales speaks with prospects

HOW:

• Ads
• Direct mail & email blasts
• Digital newsletters
• Seminars
• Publishing articles, blogs, sharing subject matter expertise
• Trade shows & sponsorships
• PR

AVOID: Misplaced expectations & overspending (match investments with measurable goals)

Prospecting

WHAT: Seeking the first LIVE contact with a qualified prospect for a two-way conversation. Phone calls, web meetings and IM chat can allow you to more efficiently identify a prospect from a suspect. However, most facility service sales require a face-to-face at some point to get down to the nitty-gritty of data gathering.

BENEFITS:

• Luck out with the “right-place, right-time” prospect who is actively seeking what you provide right now!
• Begin developing long-term relationships
• Gather data on individual prospects

HOW:

• Telemarketing for face-to-face appointments
• Smokestack for drop-ins (old-timey definition: drive around until you see a smoke stack, then drive in)

AVOID: Wasting prospects time by NOT knowing anything about them and/or NOT having a concise positioning statement (why would they spend their time with you?)

NETWORKING

WHAT: Accessing qualified prospects through the people you know. It’s critical that you’ve defined your targets very well. Knowing who you want to talk to drives who you may know that knows them.

BENEFITS:

• More face-to-face warm meetings & returned calls
• Access higher ups within prospects’ org
• Understand the inner politics, situation & lay of land inside prospects’ firms

HOW:

• Social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, twitter, etc.)
• Professional networking groups
• Traditional networking events (Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, etc.)

AVOID: Falling into social media’s sink hole of squandered time & DON’T throw handfuls of business cards into the air (ala confetti) in the stadium when your home team scores a touchdown.

The new millennium ain’t like the old one, but that doesn’t mean leaving behind that which works. It only means being selective, intelligent and working diligently. But you’re doing that, right?

Good Luck

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue IQ

I’m recovering from the flu and as you can tell by this post’s title my crankiness hasn’t left. So here are a few gripes about business dealings as seen from the customer’s POV (point of view), that’d be mine.

And if there are business lessons here, they’re about how we should be mindful of what we say, or do to our customers. Or we’ll get a message from them saying “What’s Wrong With You?” (which I’m fully expecting after this post). Here’s what we’ll look at:

• Framing the Conversation with a Sledgehammer
• A Bill by any other name, would still smell…
• The Pit of Despair: Phone Message Options

Framing the Conversation with a Sledgehammer

Watch for messages with titles that leave no doubt as to which side of an issue the publisher is on. Here are a couple of examples framing different sides of the same topic (politics).

#1 CNN’s special programming called “Broken Government“

If you watch CNN, you’ve probably seen their graphic of Broken Government as they present an issue, or in the upcoming window on screen.

By framing the conversation in the title this way it leads one to think:

Broken Government = Current Administration is broken = Obama’s presidency is broken

I searched and couldn’t find CNN running this special programming during the Bush presidency. So, the way CNN has framed this title says they’re against Obama’s presidency (my observation).

However, CNN’s implication of government being broken highlights several underlying assumptions:

• Government is something that can be fixed
• Government was fixed at some time in the past
• CNN knows when Government is fixed

Those assumptions put me into rebuttal mode with:

• What if the nature of Government is to be constantly changing, always fluid?
• What if Government will never be fixed because it’s unfixable, like water?
• Is there a trusted source that could tell us when/if it’s fixed?

#2 Moveon.org’s email: “Washington’s Broken”

Here’s one from the liberal citizens’ movement Moveon.org. The same sledgehammer approach to framing the conversation. This time the rationale goes like this:

Washington’s Broken = Must Fix It Now Or Bad Things Happen = Take the Action We Want You To

One can identify the same underlying assumptions, and my rebuttals that go to this messaging. It’s just trying to get the audience to do something different than CNN’s messaging.

Takeaway for Businesses

When framing the conversation is done heavy-handedly, it becomes manipulation. And when it’s that obvious, it raises hackles and throws objectiveness and credibility out the window (some might say it shoves the BS meter off the charts).

That’s a shame because there may be valuable information to be gained if one starts with an open mind.

For your customers: when composing messages, titles, banners, headlines, etc. seek some level of objectivity. Otherwise you’ll lose that which you’re seeking: customers’ open minded attention.

A Bill by any other name, would still smell…

Comcast provides a bill online, Ecobill, and you can discontinue the paper bill. They”re greenwashing it as an ecologically responsible way to pay.

That’s really stretching the green thing. Yes, I’m not receiving paper, and that makes it green. But the company is saving millions in not printing and mailing these dinosaur bills.

When is doing something that’s just plain better for a company’s bottom line going to get pushed in customers’ faces as doing something for the environment?

Takeaway for Businesses

A little more honesty upfront and you can still keep the self-serving catch phrase.

In Comcast’s case, if they’d included a little honesty that they were saving money, then the message would be more believable.  Ecobill could have stated they were passing those cost savings on to customers by keeping their costs down (see, didn’t even cost them anything).

The Pit of Despair: Phone Message Options

Here’s a great example of developers not working with users for a better interface.

Of the many different phone services that have voice mail options, few get the order of instructions right. There are many different phone services, not all have you press the same key to just leave a message.

Some services say just hang up, or press #,  or press 1, or press 79, or press.

You get the idea, there’s a different instruction with different services. Not all have you do the same thing.

Here’s  the problem. Almost every service doesn’t tell you what that key to press to leave a message UNTIL the end of a long list of other options, such as review, revise, delete, priority, etc.

And leaving a message is probably the most common choice 95% of the time. So why wait to the end to tell us that? Start the instructions by telling us how to do what we want to do 95% of the time?

And while I’m at it, why don’t all the phone services get together and decide on a common key for leaving a message, or replaying, or re-recording, or appending, or deleting, or…? Create a standard messaging system protocol, make it easier on all customers.

Takeaway for Businesses

It’s almost too obvious, but getting customer input in the development phase is crucial, even for a facility service offering. If not through focus groups, then one-on-ones with friendly customers/prospects.

Time to Rest

Hoping to return to some form of normalcy shortly and shake the flu. Maybe this post has prodded you to consider where in your customer communications or interactions you’re getting it maddeningly wrong.

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Chris Arlen
President, Revenue IQ

Service contractors can should learn a great deal from web marketers.

Web marketers are data diligent and process aware.

They’re  focused on “conversions” – points in their online process that are measurable, lead to a tangible next step, and eventual sale.

They track performance at those points and with that data continually tweak presentation and offering for incremental improvements.

Conversion results are regularly reviewed and improvements continuously made.

Stuck in the mud

Compared to web marketers, service contractors are prehistoric. They focus on “advances” – those major steps in the selling/buying process.

Contractors rarely define their new business process at the granular level, not to mention measuring and improving steps in the process. It’s almost entirely done on an ad hoc basis.

Conversions in contract service sales

Switching one’s thinking from “advances” to “conversions” can increase  sales by focusing on the data and process in manageable chunks.

Then focusing on accomplishing the smaller goal directly in front of you.

It helps that you can see what needs to be improved and have the measurements to assess results.

Start at the web

The truth is that almost every prospective customer will check out a contractor’s web site. Even if the contractor was referred by a trusted source. Web site’s are a quick and easy check. Who doesn’t Google or Bing?

Starting at the web for conversions makes sense.

The thought and discipline used for online conversions can be used with customers off line as you begin selling.

Getting started on the web requires setting up web analytics, which…

…requires defining your conversion goals, which…

…requires defining customers’ actions in measurable ways, which…

…fully shows all the steps you need to secure contracts, which…

…provides metrics to track results and identify improvement areas, and which…

…shows the improvements you need to make on your web site and in your sales process.

All these conversion activities are valuable to the off line sales process. Even more so when you consider that sales don’t occur until the end of the process. A lot of effort, time and money can be spent up front and then lost in the end because the final off line steps were weak.

A quick look

The following graphic highlights common conversion points that can be tracked. Once tracked,  they identify easily managed improvement projects. What’s to stop you?

How are your conversion points?

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Chris Arlen
President, Revenue IQ

Last week’s post, The Greatest Sales Question, drew numerous reader responses. A number of them were around a common sales issue facing service contractors.

Why aren’t customers more (open / responsive / interested / curious / concerned) about how to improve their service?

To simplify this would be to say:

Why won’t customers talk with me about how I can help them? -or- Why won’t customers let me sell them?

It’s All in the Mind of the Customer

Sales and marketing activities must be (should be) dictated by the customer’s place in their buying cycle.

That’s in their buying cycle. Not where we are in our selling cycle.

Recognizing where customers’ minds are focused is a sales essential.

It’s like going fishing and standing at the river but not knowing:

• What kind of fish you’re fishing for
• What they eat
• Where they’re safe from predators
• Where they hang out to conserve energy
• What kind of food they eat
• What part of the river they find their food in

The 1,000 Word Picture

Describing how to deal with this sales situation can be very wordy.  So I’m presenting the following graphic to put a voice to where customers are at, relative to our wanting to sell them. It’s all about hearing their voice, and then directing our sales and marketing actions accordingly.

Here’s the graphic:

What to Do

If you haven’t already read the 3 Stages of the Buying Cycle you should. It lists specific sales and marketing actions to move customers towards selecting your firm depending on where they’re at.

By starting from where the customer is at, your actions will be more effective and eventually produce the results you want, whether that’s:

• A returned call or email
• An introductory appointment
• Getting on their bid list
• Making their short list in an RFP competition
• Securing their contract
• Re-securing their contract

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Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ

What’s important to you?

Or put another way, what is your single most pressing challenge today?

That pressing challenge is the one keeping you from getting or enjoying what’s important to you.

So, that’s it. That’s the question – what is your single most pressing challenge today?

As a reader of Revenue-IQ you are……my customer. You’re developing new business and/or holding onto what you already have.

I want to know because…

The more I know about your challenges, the better I can share industry and market knowledge that might not have come across your radar screen.

Your Answer

Not looking for a perfectly worded,  formatted or even rational answer from you. Just what’s on your mind regarding getting new, and/or keeping existing service contracts.

How to Answer

Post Comments Online

Try posting your comments on this blog. Use an anonymous screen name if you like. Here’s a quick
8 Easy Steps to Start Posting Comments.

Email Me

If commenting online isn’t for you, just email me at carlen@serviceperformance.

Heads up: If this is the first time you’re emailing me, you’ll have to prove your human. That is, I use SpamArrest, a web service that asks you one time to verify you’re not a spam mail robot.

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Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ