Although it launched months ago, Google +1 went live in June.
If you are in marketing, you should get a baseline on it. You should understand the +1 ramifications to your paid and natural search.
Here is a great summary from Smart Insights (http://www.smartinsights.com)
My favorite implication mentioned in the article is that Google +1 offers “social proof” to search – analogous to Facebook “likes.”
That’s the question posed by Mark McGuinness in his great post on the fact that all attention is not good attention. Have a read: http://ow.ly/5s3pg (via @markmcguinness)
Reading #SNAP Selling by @JillKonrath on #Kindle. Breatkthrough concepts. If you’re in sales, get on it! Love the “3 Decisions” concept.
Good Post: Why Content Matters http://t.co/ktay616 via @TMGmedia #contentmarketing RT @ajhuisman
Work on your Elevator Pitch Lately? RT @jwhite: Killer Elevator Pitch That Will Land Big Business – by Dumb Little Man http://fb.me/Xwd7FKsa
Interesting visual: marketing channels 10 years ago: http://t.co/JwfJZGI and today: http://www.smartinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Social-CRM3.png @medianton: #marketing
#Salespeople take note. Good stuff… For most, hearing criticism is painful. How to get over it: http://t.co/tfBIRcC PRT @meredithmbell #feedback
7 Ways to get Retweeted http://bit.ly/hqLPat RT @AnnTran_ RT @keewood
Begin rant here…
If you look at it from the perspective of the sales representative, one of the principal benefits of CRM (and I’ve selected, implemented, and used them all – Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com, Oracle CRM, Sugar, you name it) is creating a “book of record” for opportunities and client touch points.
I know where my opportunity stands. I know the sales stage we’re in. I know the people making the decision. I know our allies and our detractors. I have all my correspondence to and from our buyers. I have the latest feedback from the influencers. I’ve documented our partners on the deal. Ditto the competition. I know our relative strengths and weaknesses. And, here is the coolest part – SO DO YOU! In fact, everyone in the organization has this information in one, centralized spot.
This is why my pet peeve is doing perpetual deal reviews for various members of a pursuit team – catching them up. As the Sales Rep, this consumes untold cycles of my time.
If you want to know about a deal, please go review the notes on it in CRM!
Otherwise, why am I doing this typing? (I’m the one who already knows this information, remember?)
…Rant ended
Parents who have watched their children growing up playing soccer can appreciate this. It’s the phenomenon I call “swarm-ball” where the young kids cluster around the ball, eyes fixed on it, and move as a swarm up and down the field, flitting around to the brink of exhaustion.
Years go by. Then, something magical happens. All the coaching sinks in and like a light-switch, the players lock into the concept of playing their position. Suddenly all the lost energy becomes focused and efficient. Players are making passes, assists, and goals more often with less exertion and more accuracy.
Sales people have a position to play in a selling process too – and it’s changed. Radically.
In recent years, as the internet has exploded and buyers are more educated than ever, sales people can no longer afford to just “chase the ball.” Buyers don’t like it. They won’t tell you – they just won’t buy from you.
It boils down to this, you are no longer the source of information on your product or service. Whether they have it or not, clients will come to you feeling as though they have all the knowledge about their purchase (want proof of this trend? Ask your Doctor if Web MD has caused her any frustration in this area with the medically “brilliant” patients she now must deal with). Clients do their homework first. We all do this when we buy.
My respected friend, Ardath Albee (follow her on Twitter immediately if you don’t yet – http://twitter.com/#!/ardath421 ) is a thought-leader in content marketing. This is the art and science of generating interest, attention, value, and engagement (that leads to YOU and the active selling position you play). Here is Ardath’s new concept of a sales funnel:
The bottom line is that you as a sales person no longer work the entire funnel. You and your organization need to need to put good, valuable content out there to capture the interest, gain the attention of, communicate value to, and Engage potential buyers. This is where your position kicks in. At this point is where you can make a huge difference as a sales person. You can have more qualified sales conversations, and close more sales, if you play your position.
Don’t to shoe-horn your clients into being “sold” on your product. Instead, play your position by leveraging content marketing techniques to engage clients in the front end of the funnel while you bring value to buyers in key conversations and their decisions to buy. Be the best possible player you can be from “engagement” onward in this funnel and you will score more goals!
We don’t always do the best job that we can at preparation. But one thing is for sure – there is no shortage of meetings each day, especially in sales and marketing. Due to the collaborative nature of selling today, those meetings burn not only y0ur time, but the time of other valuable people in your organization. It pays to do them effectively and efficiently. So when is the last time you pre-planned an important meeting?
On my better days, this makes the difference between a highly successful meeting or one that lacks specific direction and outcomes.
You can do a pre-meeting plan in a phone call, or more formal written document. But whatever form it takes, I guarantee that you will have better meetings, and accomplish more in them if you take a few minutes and plan ahead. It works for non-sales meetings too.
So what comprises a good pre-meeting plan?
To fit your unique situation, you’ll ultimately need to answer that for yourself. But here are some suggestions from my “g0-to” pre-meeting plan document to get you started:
1. Meeting Logistics:
Communicate the time, date, exact location, attendees from both organizations, dress code, and a reminder to bring business cards. It seems simple, but at least one or two of these are almost always missed. By the way, your client will give you points for asking for this information ahead of time.
Not all their vendors come off this organized!
2. Client Snapshot:
Include a brief, relevant overview of the client organization to baseline the participants. Especially in the age of the internet, you never look so unprepared as when a team-mate asks a basic question that they should have known going in.
You’re on for preparing them!
3. Client Goals, Problems, Needs:
What does your client need from this meeting? How often do you go in to a meeting without the answer? Too often if you ask most clients. Preparing for this item is the only way you can know that you will deliver “in-meeting” value.
Provide “in-meeting” value or your follow-up won’t matter!
4. Sales Objective for the Meeting:
What do you hope to accomplish from this meeting? Some people are not comfortable with this prep question. I don’t know why. Clients know that we are all in business to give and get. Don’t just go in for a visit.
What’s annoying to them is you being unclear on what you want!
5. Main Agenda Topics and Topic Owners:
Being organized ahead of time to avoid confusion or conflict makes a huge difference on the impact of the meeting . The collaborative nature of selling has introduced a variable that did not exist in the “1 vs. world” model of sales meetings. We all think we’re smart and we all hate silence. Have this mapped.
Someone will say something dull unless you script it out!
6. Potential Objections, Planned Responses, and Owner:
If you can do just one item on this list before your next meeting make it this one. This is the most critical item and most often missed opportunity. Prepare for objections before you get in there. Here is a fun exercise to run before the meeting: Ask 4 participants what our ideal answer to a client’s question/objection will be and watch how far-flung the responses are. Practice this, or at least plan for it, and your meeting will be many times more effective.
A crisp response to a tough question can mean a win or a loss!
So there it is, your starter “Pre-Meeting Plan.” Now go make it yours and watch your meetings soar.
Good Selling!
Pop quiz…You see a slimy lizard crawling on the forest floor. Do you:
a.) Run away, or
b.) Grab it and see how COOL it looks close up?
I recently spent the week at Shawnee National Forest with my family over Spring Break. Getting lost in the wilderness was wonderful (our National Park system is truly a treasure), and I was reminded of a valuable life lesson that often comes from spending extended time with children. It’s an attitude I call – “I’m All In!”
I am happy to say that my wife and I have raised 3 kids (1 boy and 2 girls) who are only too glad to grab the varmint and ask questions later. In fact several creatures, including the one pictured above, came back to us for inspection during our trip. Kids have this impulsive and inquisitive quality that I think we tend to lose as we “grow up.”
And so it can be with selling. You start out with a fire in your belly, eager to take chances, lean into the wind and be aggressive. You go out and grab that new client, working a bare new territory into results, whatever the situation calls for – You’re All In.
Over time, there is a tendency to grow cautious. Sometimes for good reasons, after all you don’t want to chase any unqualified opportunity that comes along. But sometimes, it’s just plain old complacency setting in. Before you get involved, you want the “Glengarry Leads,” safe and predictable.
Get out of your comfort zone! Remember that child-like instinct and just go ahead and grab that creepy crawly. You can always put it down later if it’s too gross. But it might just turn out to be that big deal you’ve been searching for. I’m All In!
It may seem completely counter-intuitive. I’m the sales rep. I’m supposedly the person who never met a deal he didn’t like. The one who will drag our company’s resources through any unqualified pursuit to the bitter end – all the while golfing, wining, dining and fretting away the company’s resources – or so legend has it.
So why did I do it? Why did I let this deal go?
1. It was the right thing to do for the prospect: Our stepping back was the most transparent and powerful message my firm could send the client. We know the right way to do this engagement, and we are not going to compromise your success or our reputation by short-cutting.
2. It was good for my business. Here’s a question: What is the WORST hand in poker? The SECOND best hand. That’s the player who stays in, doubles down, fattens up the pot (drives up their cost of sale)…and then loses.
3. It will free up precious time. Let’s face it, time is more valuable than money at this point in your life. You only have capacity for x number of deals per year. This client will take all the time and information that you offer, but they are not going to buy at your solution/scope/price. What is the opportunity cost to you for not spending that time on other opportunties?
4. It was good for my psyche. Training/re-training yourself that not every deal is a good deal is an important lesson to learn and reinforce. Nothing is more powerful than the will to walk away. It’s good for your sense of self as well as your ability to offer more objective counsel to your customers going forward.
So (never thought I’d say this…) what are you waiting for? Go out and fire a prospect today!
I was just informed by a client that I lost a large project for which I was told I was a finalist. It’s a long story, but the bottom line is that I was mislead.
Lying certainly does not fly when I’m the customer, but I found out today that it also does not work for me when I’m the seller.
There were many times throughout the buying process when this client could have warned me or signaled me that there was not a chance for me to win. I know what you’re thinking, maybe he needed me for leverage. In this case, it turns out no – the alternate solution was not a similar service. The only thing I did not get was the truth, and I was asking the hard qualifying questions all along .
In the karmic nature of the universe, this type of behavior tends to pay us back , so I’m not dwelling on what to do next with this client. I’m sure it will work itself out. I just don’t think that the fibbing is worth the energy. Paraphrasing Mark Twain, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember everything you said.”
One good thing will come of this situation, however. This was a solid reminder to treat those with whom you work with transparency and honesty. I think that if you do, you will get it back in return.
Do you offer your clients “Date Certainty” – You should…via #SethGodin’s blog: http://ow.ly/41hxv
Think you can let your social media team tweet away and not monitor the mentions and results?
Well, this week the American Red Cross, they learned a sobering lesson (pun intended) that you better be listening. They were, and they recovered…
There was an accidental tweet of a personal nature launched over the American Red Cross Twitter account. It referred to a staffer partying with friends drinking Dogfish brewery’s Midas Touch beer – and it lit up the Twittersphere. Here is a link to the full story on the Huffington Post. Better yet, jump into the Tweet Stream on this topic and get a load of all the traffic this thing drove: http://twitter.com/#!/RedCross
With some quick thinking and some quicker action, The Red Cross has turned this potentially embarrassing gaffe into a fundraiser.
This proves once again that if you can show that you are listening in social media, and that you are a part of the community, the community will reward you with the benefit of the doubt, and maybe even some donations. You might even say the Red Cross has the Midas Touch!
That’s right, I said hiding right in front of your face.
There’s a lost art in sales today called eagle-eye prospecting. With all of our sales and marketing automation, conference calling, web leads, emails, social media, etc. – sometimes some good old-fashioned field work wins the day.
Here’s how I landed a $100k deal this week using this technique.
On Tuesday I had one scheduled meeting when my daily goal is two. I needed that extra meeting.
While visiting my first client, I checked out the surrounding area and found that I was very near a new prospective client. I gave her a call to see whether I could ‘”pop by to say hello,” and the rest is history.
She said “yes, that will work well this morning.” We refreshed a conversation about a project that we were discussing in November that had just been green-lighted and I closed it on the spot.
How many times do you do your first meeting and then go back to hide in the office hitting the phones, emails, or administration tasks?
In sales, we make the biggest difference when we are face to face and belly to belly.
My new client’s direct quote? “…sometimes these spontaneous meetings work better for me than trying to schedule one anyway.”
So take a minute to do a search in your CRM by zip code, or just eagle-eye a new prospect while you’re out. Then challenge yourself to snag that extra meeting.
You could find $100,000!
Have you been using Twitter? Well, 190 million people have found some valuable reasons to. Perhaps it’s time for you to check it out. Once you do, don’t expect to become an expert or to fall in love right away. It takes some getting used to.
Here’s an example: Aaron Lee, who is a great “Tweeter” on social media topics, “Re-Tweeted” (forwarded) Jay Oatway‘s tweet about the info-graphic above in November. It’s posted on pop-culture blog TopCultured and captures your learning curve better than anything I’ve found out there. Without Twitter, I would never have known it existed. He breaks it down into 4 Stages:
Stage 1: You begin – “Crazy morons…” and “…I tried it for a day, it’s stupid!”
Stage 2: You will progress to being curious: “…I had a burger today.”
Stage 3: The light bulb comes on: “…I think, therefor I am.”
Stage 4: You are a full convert: “Hey, @Tim_Kocher – Thx for re-tweeting!”
Once you get there, you’ll find Twitter can be your most valuable source of targeted, real-time, and interactive information. It’s like a cable TV channel that you build over time with the most relevant and up-to-date information that exists for you.
So get started, you have a few stages to work through!
I’m reading The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. I have it in hardcover. It may not be the best novel ever written, but I’m really enjoying it. One side-effect of being bombarded by so many messages (it is hotly contested statistic but most media experts agree we’re exposed to thousands daily) is that a little quiet time away from a screen is a rare treat.
You don’t even realize it until you stop and think, but much of your day is spent on “screen time,” and not just TV. For Marketers, I’ve found that an interesting model to ponder is the “5 Screens.”
This entry in Wikipedia summarizes the historic line of Communication Screens:
Not many of us deal with the first and second screens much, unless we are working with global brands. It is notable that only these first two screens were widely available before 1995. Which brings us to the others…
You most likely have an active effort around the third screen (your website, this blog, web applications, etc). How if at all are you working with the fourth screen (mobile applications/internet, phones, tablets)? Finally, the fifth screen is exploding in Point of Sale, Point of Wait and Point of Transit installations. It is expected that millions of these screens will be deployed over the next five years in places like Retail outlets to promote sales of products, or while waiting in line as at a bank, and in transit, such as Digital Billboards on highways.
A lot of screens to think about, both as a consumer and a marketer.
But first I think I’ll knock out a few more chapters of my book.
I could not resist looking through the red and white lens for this week’s post. There are a lot of analogies to be drawn here. I’ll skip the most obvious (we should all be thankful to our clients for the gift of business they give us…) and get to some of the other comparisons:
…He sees you when your sleepin’… You may think you’re getting away with it when you are dogging it at work in a sales role. You may even pull one over on your boss. But, your clients will notice. In a world where product differentiation provides only the slimmest advantage, responsiveness and even proactivity remain your key strategic differentiators. If you slow down, your clients will sense it. There is a great book on this concept called “Selling the Invisible,” by Harry Beckwith. Read it.
..He knows when you’re awake…If you are a solution-maker for your client, you will get their attention. If not, you’re toast. You need to work on these relationships in earnest. What have you done for your client that is truly different or better than anyone else? What has your firm done to stand out as leaders in your industry? What are you doing to show that you’re awake?
…He knows if you’ve been bad or good…It used to be that your customer would need to try your product/service and let you succeed or fail a few times before learning if you were bad or good. What’s changed? The internet and Social media are the new norm. You don’t go car shopping without knowing the VIN#, invoice price, and full specifications of the car your buying, and your client doesn’t buy from you without knowing your offerings as well or better than you know your own. They now also know what your other customers think about you– BEFORE they even contact you. Better be on your toes!
I hope your year is winding down to a successful end this week. The next 10 days are a good time to reflect on 2010 and prepare for an even better 2011.
Customer Experience Mashup 
