At least 10% of every inside sales team works virtually and remotely. With all the sales tools available today, it’s getting easier. But do you know what your teams are doing when it comes to having conversations with prospects?

Insidesales.com just released new research revealing that companies are failing to leverage the most effective technologies and methods for generating leads and driving business awareness. This report finds that generating leads and improving the quality of those leads are the most common challenges faced in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, yet salespeople and marketers are giving priority to channels with more perceived than actual value.

Two important events happening in Silicon Valley today can help! 

For starters, the Silicon Valley Chapter of AA-ISP is having their bi-monthly meeting on “Shortening Sales Cycles with Smart Pipelines and Metric Management.” It’s the perfect opportunity to network, share stories, and hear my short talk about Metrics 2.0: The Sounds of the New Sales Activity. Register Now!

Also, insidesales.com is having their High Velocity Sales Tour today. Some of my favorite thought leaders will be there to talk about Prediction, Immediacy, and Performance. Their high-velocity sales enablement platform drives faster, smarter, and more informed sales processes.

 

 

The post Two Important Events Today Will Prevent You from Being a Clueless Inside Sales Manager appeared first on TeleSmart Communications.

The traditional shopping funnel is dead. The funnel no longer ends with purchase, but requires more engagement since competition is so high. As presented in the whitepaper from Nielsen, Digital Shopping: What You Need to Consider, success in the CPG world requires a deep understanding of the shopper, their category needs, and the touch points that influence their behavior within the constantly “on” digital environment we live in today. As CPG brands and retailers take a deeper look at the lifecycle purchase process to create brand loyalists and advocates, they are relying on the rising role of Customer Experience Management (CEM) to lead the way.

This illustrated sales loop shows the different touch points where consumers are likely to interact with traditional and digital influences before and after they have made a purchase.

CPG marketers face a growing set of challenges as consumers have become savvier, often cherry-picking products from different grocery stores, big box stores, and pharmacies to save money; as well as taking stock of the things that are conveniently and inexpensively bought online like diapers, razors, and paper goods can be set up for subscription delivery.

However, marketers can take advantage of this shift in shopper behavior to turn these challenges into opportunities. The biggest asset to marketers today is the ubiquity of the mobile phone. Using mobile search, mobile ads, application push notifications, text alerts, or mobile-enabled direct mail pieces are all ways to insert your product message into the digital shopping loop. With so much information literally at consumers’ fingertips, the barriers to considering multiple brands are practically non-existent.

Let’s talk about a few ways that a savyy CPG brand can turn this to their advantage.

Make sure your website is mobile optimized to support your print, in-store, and digital advertising – include photos, inventory information, product reviews, and a wish list option to make shopping easier for consumers. If a shopper is looking for a product on her mobile phone, she likely has an immediate need for it. The key here is information and convenience. Help her easily find a nearby store where she can buy your product, or offer a mobile checkout on your site. Most shoppers will quickly move on if they don’t find what they’re looking for easily, and that results in a lost opportunity to acquire a new customer or possibly the loss of a usually loyal customer.

Another digital twist on the traditional successful product sample program is to create a Text-to-Sample program. As noted in the Nielsen report, many shoppers want to make sure they like the product, be it a lotion or shampoo, before they purchase. Initiated through the mobile channel, a Text-to-Sample program gives shoppers a tactile or sensory experience. A mobile website is typically used to capture the address of where to send the sample, and this is a great opportunity to earn opt-ins from interested shoppers, as customers are more likely to give their information when getting something in return. This program can be leveraged in your stores or your advertisements and is more cost effective than sending samples en masse via direct mail, FSIs, or magazines that simply target a general demographic or zip code.

Easy access to coupons and incentives can be a big differentiator when consumers are considering a variety of similar products. Use mobile coupons – delivered via text, QR code, or mobile website – to give shoppers another reason to choose your products over your competitors’ products when they are going from store to store, cherry-picking products to take advantage of the best deal.

Check back for Part 2 of Dont’ Mourn the Death of the Sales Funnel which will focus on rewarding and retaining CPG customers. In the meantime, to learn more about engaging with customers throughout the continuous sales loop, download our report Fully Charged: Delivering the Mobile Advantage Throughout the Customer Lifecycle.

Most sales teams have an inherent awareness of how many customers they need to see in order to make a sale – in other words, the key ratios that affect their business. But how do you drill back into your statistics to determine the total number of activity steps needed to achieve a result?

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In my last blog, I referenced a troublesome statistic found when doing some Internet reading. One company’s research suggested 90% of sales training initiatives fail. While troublesome, it wasn’t necessarily surprising. Most research and surveys suggests, at best, short-term impact on sales productivity from investments in traditional training programs for sellers.

I think it’s time to come to this conclusion: sales training, in and of itself, doesn’t work.

The problem isn’t necessarily the quality of the training being offered. Many a company has failed in implementing great programs that could have had a significant impact had they simply executed. If the impact is any measure, a short-term boost in sales should tell us something is working, something is right. Remember, research submits that 90% of initiatives fail. That means 10% succeed. What are 10 companies out of 100 doing the other 90 aren’t?

SUSTAINMENT

If it hasn’t already, sustainment should be the Holy Grail for both sales force development companies and the companies they serve. Those in the business of ‘Sales Transformation’ and thousands before us have sought answers to the challenges of ‘making things stick’, only to find it as elusive and seemingly impossible as peace in the Middle East.

Some in the training industry blame the failure of their programs on the customer’s inability to execute. “If they would simply do what they are told and hold people accountable, they would get the impact they expect.” That may be true, but if it’s so simple, why don’t they do it? With all the brainpower of sales training masterminds, could the failure be the fact that WE haven’t completely thought this through? Could it be that we aren’t providing the process, tools, and structure to guarantee the success of our programs?

SUSTAINMENT starts with the sales force development provider.

WE have an obligation to provide programs and tools that clearly define exactly what needs to happen for impact to be realized.

WE have an obligation to make certain our programs provide clear and simple methodology for measuring all four levels of the Kirkpatrick training efficacy model (see previous blog). WE have to be there with our customers through the entire process. WE have to have methodologies and tools to hold our customers accountable for their commitments to the program at every level in their organization.

I’m not trying to over simplify this. I’m not trying to absolve our customers from any responsibility in a programs failure. I am saying that we should aware of the root causes for program failure and be able to deliver solutions and corrective action for each and every one.

Stay tuned. It’s time to end the problem with sales training sustainment once and for all…

Most marketers have been there -- you’re sitting around a conference room, trying to figure out how to best engage leads and customers, sell more product, or just “stay top-of-mind” for your target audience, and someone decides there’s a solution that can solve all of those problems at once: an email newsletter!

And then suddenly it’s you that’s been chosen to do it. Oh, and make sure that open and clickthrough rates don’t dip. That sound good?

I’ve been in that situation before, and I was worried. Even though email newsletters are one of the most common types of emails to send, they are actually some of the hardest to do right. It’s hard because it includes a mix of different types of content about different parts of your business, including event reminders, surveys, educational information about your product, service, or industry, and promotions. And because it’s not an email designed to serve one purpose -- say, about one promotion, one digest of previously published content, one lead nurturing email, or one transactional email providing order information, email newsletters have a difficult time trying to get readers to complete a call-to-action.

… But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them. If done right, you could develop a really engaged subscriber base, and potentially nurture them into qualified leads and customers. At the very “least,” you could engage your company’s evangelists, and they could help bring in business. And that’s definitely something you don’t want to miss out on.

If you want to ace your new email newsletter project or rejuvenate an old one, there are 10 things you need to make sure to do:

1) Evaluate: Do you even need an email newsletter?

I know it can be kind of scary pushing back on your boss about a project you’ve been handed, but if an email newsletter isn’t right for your marketing, you shouldn’t waste your time working on one.

To establish your case, first do some research. In your industry, are there successful email newsletters that people like to subscribe to? What’s in them? With the resources you have available to you -- budget, time, and internal support -- could you be successful? 

Then, re-examine your business’ goals. Are they trying to increase the number of leads? Better qualify leads to speak with salespeople? Close more deals? Or retain more customers? 

If your industry isn’t really interested in email newsletters or you lack the internal support to send them out, it might be time to reconsider. Or if your goals don’t line up with what a newsletter could accomplish, your time might be better spent setting up lead nurturing email workflows, or not even sending emails in the first place -- perhaps creating content for your blog, instead.

So gather some data, create a plan of action (either for a successful newsletter, or another activity), and go chat with your superior. Even if you disagree with his or her vision in an email newsletter, your boss will be glad you came prepared with a plan for success.

Okay, let’s say you’ve found that you should do an email newsletter. What next?

2) Figure out what kind of newsletter you want to send.

One of the biggest problems with email newsletters is that they are often cluttered and unfocused because they are supporting every aspect of your business. Product news goes right next to PR stories, blog posts go next to a random event week … it’s kind of a mess. Email -- whether it’s a newsletter or not -- needs one common thread to hold it together.

A way to help reduce the randomness of an email newsletter is by keeping it to one very specific topic. So instead of it being about your company in general, maybe it’s dedicated to one vertical.

For example, if HubSpot were to send out a newsletter, we could do one solely on social media for business. In it, we could gather together recent blog posts on social media marketing, events that all social media marketers should go to, and maybe even a quiz of the best social media tools you use. By tying together those pieces of content all under the umbrella of social media for business, the email newsletter would be much more focused and engaging.

3) Balance the content of your newsletter to be 90% educational and 10% promotional.

Chances are, your email newsletter subscribers aren’t down to hear about your products and services 100% of the time. While they may love you and want to hear from you, there’s only so much shilling you can do before they tune out.

Case in point: I have a thing for shoes, and I especially love this one shoe site. I willingly opted in to the company’s email list, but it now sends me emails 2-3 times a day to buy, buy, buy … and when I see it’s sender name pop up in my inbox, I want to scream. Now, if they sent me educational content -- maybe about the latest styles of shoes, or how to pair certain styles with certain outfits -- I might be more inclined to buy from them, or at least start opening their emails again.

Don’t be that company. In your email newsletters, get rid of the self promotion (most of the time) and focus on sending your subscribers educational, relevant, timely information. Unless you actually have an exciting, big piece of news about your product, service, or company, leave out the promotional parts.

4) Set expectations on your 'Subscribe' page.

Once you’ve figured out your newsletter’s focus and content balance, make sure you’re properly communicating about them on your subscribe landing page. 

Get specific: Tell potential subscribers exactly what will be in the newsletter as well as how often they should expect to hear from you. Take a page out of SmartBrief’s book -- on the subscribe landing page, it says this information and even gives potential subscribers a preview link:

As a subscriber, wouldn’t that be awesome? You’d go in with open eyes knowing exactly who you will be receiving email from, what they will be sending you, and how often they’ll be sending it to you. As a marketer, having this information up front will help diminish your unsubscribe and spam rates, as well. 

5) Get creative with email subject lines.

Even if your subscribers sign up for your emails, there’s no guarantee that they will open your emails once they get them in their inbox. Many marketers try increasing familiarity with their subscribers by keeping the subject line the same each day, week, or month that they send it.

But let’s face it, those subject lines get old -- fast -- for subscribers. Why? Because there’s no incentive from the subject line to click on that specific email right this instant. A better approach would be to try to have a different, creative, engaging subject line for each newsletter you send.

One company who does this really well is Thrillist. Here’s a collection of email newsletters I’ve received over the past few days:

I’ve opened every single one of these because of the company’s subject lines. Even though I know that these emails are coming in my inbox every morning, the subject lines are what entice me to click.

If you need help with your email newsletter subject lines, check out this recipe.

6) Pick one primary call-to-action.

Okay, part of what makes a newsletter a newsletter is that you’re featuring multiple pieces of content with multiple calls-to-action (CTAs). But, that doesn’t mean you should let those CTAs all have equal prominence. 

Instead, let there be one head honcho CTA -- just one main thing that you would like your subscribers to do, and the rest of the CTAs are a “in case you have time.” Whether it’s simply to click through to see a blog post or just to forward the email to a friend, make it super simple for your subscribers to know what you want them to do -- and then do it.

7) Keep design and copy minimal. 

Like we said before, a newsletter can easily feel cluttered because of its nature. The trick for email marketers to make a successful email newsletter look uncluttered revolves around two things: concise copy and enough white space in the design.

Concise copy is key because you don’t actually want to have your subscribers hang out and read your email all day. You want to send them elsewhere -- your website or blog, for instance -- to actually consume the whole piece of content. Concise copy gives your subscribers a taste of your content -- just enough that they want to click and learn more.

White space is key in email newsletters because it helps visually alleviate the cluttered feel, and on mobile, makes it much easier for people to click the right link.

8) Make sure images have alt text.

Given that visual content is incredibly important to the rest of your marketing activities, it’d make sense that you’d want to include them in your emails … right?

Right. But email’s a little bit trickier. Most of the time, people won’t have images enabled, so you’ve got to make sure your images have one essential component: alt text. Alt text is the alternative text that appears when images aren’t loaded in an email. This is especially important if your CTAs are images -- you want to make sure people are clicking even without the image enabled.

Each email marketing program is different, but here is one tutorial for adding alt text to email.

9) Make it easy for people to unsubscribe. 

This seems kinda counter-intuitive, but it’s key if you want to maintain an active, engaged subscriber list. Don’t use weird language like “Alter your communication with us.” Don’t hide an unsubscribe button behind an image without alt text. Besides keeping your list healthy, having a clear unsubscribe process will help ensure your email isn't marked SPAM before it hits the rest of your list's inbox.

10) Test, test, test.

I know I just listed out nine things you should do to make sure you’re doing email newsletters right, but you’ve also got to find out what works for your company and your list. Just like different cultures of people prefer different things, different groups of email subscribers prefer different things.

So use these email newsletter best practices as a jumping off point … and then experiment to find your secret sauce. Run an A/B test on subject lines. Change up your CTA copy. Heck, even try not including images. The world is your oyster for your email newsletter, so find out what it likes.

Have you ever sent a successful email newsletter before? What tips do you have? Share them with us in the comments.

Image credit: RaHuL Rodriguez

How do you know which pieces of content are working well for your business? The following infographic by Brandpoint walks marketers through the process of measuring their content marketing and explains why each step is necessary. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

It’s 2013, and e-mail has been a staple of modern office culture for at least 20 years now. Even the oldest of old-timers have spent the majority of their careers taking care of most business with streams of bits and bytes delivered by Outlook or Lotus Notes.

But for some reason, e-mail seems to have more communication difficulties than any other media we use in the office. Why? I’m not sure. But here are some egregious fails to avoid.

The unnecessary reply-all

This is the most egregious e-mail fail in the bunch, and it probably boils each of our bloods, daily. An e-mail message – one that probably didn’t need to be sent in the first place – is sent to a very large number of people. And then, a flood of other people reply-all to that message with one-word replies like “Thanks!” and “Congratulations!” and eventually your inbox devolves into a stream of irrelevant chatter, each subsequent message momentarily stealing your focus and making it impossible to get anything done.

Newer versions of Outlook apparently have a feature built-in that warns users when they’re about to do a reply-all to a large group, but something tells me that won’t end the endless stream of these that pollutes our inboxes every day.

The unnecessary reply-all reply-all

The only thing worse than the unnecessary reply-all is the unnecessary reply-all reply-all, where some angry e-mailer replys-all to tell everyone to stop replying-all. Talk about counterproductive.

My take: while reply-alls are pretty annoying, getting angry at the individuals who do them kind of misses the point. The potential for reply-all abuse is built right into our e-mail programs and to a certain extent is hardwired into our brains. I mean, who doesn’t like attention?

The failed mail-merge

Hello {$INSERT_NAME_HERE}:

Here at MegaCorp, we know that you’re an individual. That’s why we’re proud to offer you {$PRODUCT} based on {$YOUR_BIGGEST_NEEDS}, that we care about, a lot. Contact your personal shopper, {$INSERT_PERSONAL_SHOPPER_NAME_HERE}, to learn more.

Sincerely,

MegaCorp

The inappropriate joke

A priest, a rabbi, and an Irishman walk into a bar…

I’m certainly not above the occasional off-color joke. But unlike a questionable joke told over the water-cooler or in a small group at lunch, e-mail is all-seeing and all-knowing, and it forgets nothing.

Rule of thumb: if you’re not comfortable with the entire company seeing what you write over e-mail, don’t write it.

The presumptive “important” flag

Let’s be honest about the tiny little exclamation points that occasionally pop up in our e-mail inboxes: how many of them actually indicate an “important” e-mail? If your inbox is like mine, very few; most seem to be attempts to move up in the line of tasks I have to take care of on any given day.

Here are some rules for using the “important” flag – ask yourself these questions before using it:

1) Do you need whatever you’re asking for in the next 24 hours?

2) Are you unable to call the person on the phone?

3) Will the company lose money if the request isn’t completed?

If you can’t say yes to those or similar questions, just leave the exclamation point off.

 

MLC members – what other “e-mail fails” have you witnessed? Let us know below.

We need to forget about the idea of mobile marketing and start focusing on smart marketing.

In my second business book, CTRL ALT Delete, I lay out the case for the one screen world. It's not about three screens (TV, Web and mobile) or four screens (some people like to say that the tablet is the fourth screen)... it's about one screen: whatever screen is in front of me. Too many brands continue to build digital ghettos where the Web, mobile, social and even e-commerce occupy and have their own, unique, strategies. These strategies are often run through different departments, managers and teams. Sometimes, the only unifying quality is that they all represent the same brand. In a world where screens are connected, ubiquitous, cheap and in the palms of our hands, perhaps all of those strategies are stupid, and what brands are in dire need of is a smart marketing strategy.

When mobile is less about where you are and much more about who you are.

The indication of mobile used to be about portability and location. Knowing who the consumer is, where they are and what they're doing. In 2013, it really has become about that last part: what we're doing. The context of the situation. In theory, you can be on your mobile device, but sitting on the coach at home. Trying to market against this using a mobile strategy seems almost as ridiculous as trying to get conversion from a QR code that's lambasted on a billboard that is situated on the interstate. So many brands are struggling to understand that mobile is less about the fact that everyone has a phone on them and much more about the fact that these phones are not phones at all. They are, as my good friend Andy Nulman likes to call them: the remote control for our lives. To this day, too many brands are looking at the advertising opportunity (how to get a message in front of these users), instead of the marketing opportunity (how to create something that will add value to their consumers lives) that these connected screens offer the world.

Are we still talking about the need for brands to embrace mobile marketing?

In fact, we are but we should not be. The truth is that the consumers have already made the choice and now brands are woefully behind. You would think that they would have learned their lesson after watching the adoption of websites, then e-commerce, and then social media over the past two decades, but they have not. Just last week, there were a handful of interesting factoids that point us to a post-PC and post-Web browser world that should make brands stand up straight and take notice.

• Factoid #1: Smartphone sales now surpass feature phone sales. This may seem like something that was inevitable, but it has finally come to pass according to the TechCrunch article, Smartphones Finally Overtook Dumbphone Sales Globally In Q2, Android Now At 79%, Says Gartner. With Samsung leading these sales (close to one third of all sales) and Apple in second (at about 14% of all units), the growth may be coming from areas like Asia Pacific, Latin American and Eastern Europe, but sales have grown in all regions (according to the analysts). It won't be long before all phone sales are smartphone sales.
• Factoid #2: Smartphone traffic continues to grow by leaps and bounds. "Smartphone traffic has grown 10 times more quickly than desktop traffic over the past year," stated the Marketing Charts news item, Smartphone Traffic Growing by Leaps and Bounds. We're looking at a traffic growth of about 125% between the first half of 2012 and 2013. Desktop had a 12% growth. Furthermore, the data reports that mobile devices (feature phones, smartphones and tablets) closed in on 30% of all website visits in Q2 of 2013. This is a staggering growth point that seems to be moving at an exponential pace with no decline in sight.
• Factoid #3: Mobile devices account for over one third of online conversions. This is where it gets interesting. We're talking about money spent. Consumers gaining confidence in the platforms and comfort in transacting from these devices. The Internet struggled to find this level of legitimacy in the early years. Many brands thought that the Internet was simply a fad or something for the truly nerdy back when it was first commercialized. There were years of discourse and public outcry about consumers who feared putting their credit card number into a website. Smart devices are driving people to spend dollars. According to the Marketing Charts news item, Mobile Devices Accounting for Almost One-Third of Online Conversions Across Major Verticals, saw that 31% of conversions in the telecom, retail, auto and travel verticals happened on a mobile device, and that 65% of those conversions took place on a tablet. This works out to a growth of close to 30% over the past year. Once again, this is a massive stride from where we were just a few short years ago.
• Factoid #4: Mobile commerce is close to 20% of all e-commerce revenues. According to the news item, Mobile commerce contributes 17.4% of total ecommerce, from Retail Digital we're seeing entirely new ways for brands to provide levels of personalization, service and commerce to consumers. While e-commerce introduced the concept of shopping around the clock on an as-needed basis instead of waiting for regular store hours, being able to transact anywhere and everywhere seems to be a major attraction for consumers and an increasingly easier way for them to connect with brands.

We need to get over the words "mobile," "Web" and "social media."

What this data points to is a smart consumer using smart devices. These could be connected televisions, smartphones, tablets, laptops or anything else. These devices - in a one screen world - are smart. They're getting smarter and more connected and the only thing that brands need to be paying much closer attention to, is just how well they are building a Smart Marketing plan around these consumers. The digital strategy ghettos are rampant in most organizations (both B2C and B2B), and this is primarily because brands don't see smart devices as a business strategy. Sadly, they see them as engines of advertising or engines of commerce instead of being what they truly are: a digital representation of the the business entity.

Let's see if smart marketing can become something more than an oxymoron.

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

• Huffington Post - Is Smart Marketing An Oxymoron?

Tags: advertising android andy nulman apple b2b b2c brand business book business column business strategy commerce connected television context marketing ctrl alt delete desktop traffic digital ghetto digital strategy ecommerce feature phone four screen gartner huffington post huffington post column laptop marketing marketing charts mobile mobile commerce mobile device mobile marketing one screen world online conversion personalization post pc era post web browser era qr code retail digital samsung shopping smart marketing smart marketing plan smartphone smartphone traffic social media tablet techcrunch television three screen web website

Segmentation is one of those things that marketing organizations have to get right. Poorly-designed or outdated segmentation schemes can result in irrelevant marcomms, lost sales, dissatisfied customers and worse. Most marketers consider segmentation a top priority, yet few have reaped the benefits that segmentation can provide. They often struggle to clearly define segmentation objectives, select the right segmentation methods, and execute segmentation across the organization.

When we launched The Marketer’s Playbook, our new resource for marketers looking to get up to speed on modern approaches to the key challenges of the discipline, we knew segmentation had to be a huge part of it. So we put together a resource designed to help marketers do three things, where you’ll hear from companies like LG, Best Buy, Reynolds and Reynolds and FedEx:

Define segmentation objectives. You’ll learn how to gather cross-functional input on segmentation objectives, ensuring that all functions have a say and that segmentation is aligned to functional needs. It’ll also get you buy-in from executives before you begin studying the ways you can segment your customers – something that will avoid a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth down the road.

Selecting segmentation methods. You’ll learn how to select the segmentation method that best fits your organization. Because segmentation models vary in their sophistication, ease of implementation, and resource intensity, there’s no one model that will work for every organization. Our resources will help you pick from a few commonly-used segmentation methods.

Executing segmentation. Once you’ve picked out your method, it’s time to put it in play! You’ll learn how to embed the knowledge you gain from segmentation throughout the organization. Inability to translate segment knowledge into actionable steps for key stakeholders often causes segmentation initiatives to stall, lose momentum, or fail altogether. Our resources will help you prevent segmentation initiatives from breaking down and embed segment voice into the workflows of cross-functional stakeholders.

Please check out our playbook for segmentation, and don’t hesitate to peruse through the whole thing, where you can also learn about topics like thought leadership, performance measurement, and customer understanding.

Those who have been mistreated by companies can now use social media channels to get their sweet revenge.

That makes companies more visible — and vulnerable to criticism — than ever. If your customer service isn't on point, the world will hear about it. Case in point, Redditor tueiq2 recently asked in a Reddit thread: What company has forever lost your business?

The responses are not confirmed but, if true, provide a cautionary tale. We pulled out the best replies, edited slightly for clarity:

PayPal

"I was on the board of a non-profit, and PayPal froze their donation account because they got a big ($5,000) donation from the UK. Wouldn't un-freeze it, wouldn't send the money back so the donor could wire it. Took six months and a lot of threats from our lawyers to get the cash. Their customer service is the worst I've ever dealt with." —user bigshmoo

Comcast

"I seriously hate Comcast more then any company I've ever had to deal with. Every month for the past year I have had to call them due to problems with my bill (which is supposed to be $29.99).

There were months where my bill would say $79.99 for no reason, so I called in to ask about it. Other months, it would say that I am a few months behind on payments when I clearly was not. On multiple occasions I got to a representative and was put on hold for over an hour (a couple of times, I was hung up on) until I finally was able to speak to someone who explained that the pricing was a mistake and assured me that it would not happen again. Google fiber, where are you?" —user peekabear

Expedia

"In my experience in working at a hotel, Expedia has a few bad habits such as selling rooms that we don't have, incorrectly describing room types (we have queen size beds, they say king), and not quickly or at all sending the reservations to our system."

"If a guest has a problem and they want a refund and they paid through Expedia, then they have to go through Expedia to get the refund, which includes them spending a large amount of time speaking to customer service. Then customer service calls us and angrily demands to know what we screwed up and sometimes after we've explained what happened, they refuse the refund. Try explaining THAT to a drunk guest at 3 a.m. Not fun. Especially when whatever is the cause of the refund is something that you messed up." —user codyg553

Greyhound

"Because they have such little competition they think they can get away with anything. And they can. I had a ticket once, but the bus was full and didn't accept anyone. And they wouldn't refund it, no matter how hard I tried. I basically gave them money for no service. Greyhound doesn't respect their customers at all." —user Caspira

GoDaddy

"Using their website has become one of the most painful experiences. You are constantly bombarded with their aggressive marketing campaigns. I had to discontinue a service, and I must have received at least 10 emails during my final month with 'LAST CHANCE TO CONTINUE THIS SERVICE.' " —user dave_za

Charter Communications

"Not only had I put up with incredibly unreliable service from them off and on for a decade throughout several states and locations — but a stand off with a tech ended it for good. We had some issues with our service, so they sent a tech to fix the issue. Apparently a neighbor of mine had somehow wired our line to his own house (it was Fall and leaves were everywhere, so we never saw anything awry). The tech proceeds to sit in my living room and threaten me with jail, accuse me of theft of services, and call me a liar when I denied involvement. If I were involved in that, why would I be stupid enough to have called them and risk being discovered? The tech scoffed at the logic, I told him to GTFO. Called Charter, filed a complaint, and told them to discontinue their service stat because I was done." —user Smokerella

British Airways

"I called prior to take off to say because of a train crash I'd miss the first flight of a 10-stop trip and would catch the following plane in Germany a few days later (I was in the UK)."

"They said it's company policy that if you miss one flight they cancel the whole ticket. And they did. Round the world holiday and all my money gone with no refund." —user Lemacc

Jiffy Lube

"Never take your vehicle there. JL are complete scammers. They will only put in about half the oil your car needs and charge you full price. While running their 'diagnostic check' on the other parts of your car (o2 sensor, cabin air filter, etc.), they don't always put them back in their place or back on the vehicle correctly. And on top of that, their mechanics are not trained properly at all. For the love of God, don't ever take your car there." —user Rico_Rizzo

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Did Google’s New Rules Just Kill PR Agencies? Do you ever blog or guest blog? Comment on forums, blogs or social networks? Or use content such as press releases or articles in your social media marketing efforts? If you do, and include links back to you (or your client’s) website, you may run afoul of … Continue Reading

From Link Love to Hate; Don’t Let Your Content Get Slammed by Google’s New Rules by Bob Geller - Maximize Social Business - Maximize Social Business - Your Social Media for Business Resource ... Featuring Contributions from Global Thinkers . This copyrighted content was originally published on Maximize Social Business and may not be republished on any other website or in any other format without explicit permission from the publisher.

I started my sales career back in the 90s, and to this day, I still consider myself a salesperson. It’s in my blood. And I still enjoy working with prospects, or just jumping in to give a hand on an occasional demo with our team at HubSpot.

One thing I’m constantly amazed by is just how much has changed from when I started my career in sales up until now. In the past, if a prospect wanted a reference, to talk to the CEO, or even to know the price -- they had to go through me. Now, if a prospect wants a reference, they’ll make their way to a review site. If they have a question for our CEO, they can reach out on Twitter. And pricing -- well, it’s right there on our website. In short, all of these critical details that a prospect used to rely on a salesperson for, they can now get themselves.

The shift in how people shop and buy has left sales reps at a disadvantage.

Unfortunately, this shift hasn’t been as easy for sales folks. In many ways, this shift has made what was already a hard job even harder, because salespeople have lost a huge amount of leverage and control in their processes.

Today, salespeople typically get involved much later in the buying process. Instead of managing the flow of information to a prospect, leads now come to sales reps warm and well studied on your product -- but the sales rep has no way of knowing it. Long-term leads are coming and going from your website on their own timeline, but again, your sales reps have no way of knowing it. Leads are sometimes demonstrating “hints” of interest after your sales team reaches out, but ... you get the idea. 

In short, it’s tough to be a salesperson today. The playbook and the tools they have at their disposal haven’t kept up with the changes in how people shop and buy.

Your sales team needs to adopt an inbound sales approach.

At HubSpot, we talk a lot about taking an inbound approach to marketing -- delighting visitors and leads by showing them some value and having relevant, personal interactions with them throughout the process. In a world of increasing choice and waning tolerance for annoying, interruptive messages, a “lovable” approach is the only approach that will prove to be effective over the long haul. 

Those same trends hold true in sales. Buyers have more information available to them, and higher expectations for a relevant, personal experience when making a purchase. Giving them that relevant, personal, “delightful” experience that is driven by their needs and happens on their timeline is what an inbound approach to sales is all about.

Context: The Key Ingredient to an Inbound Sales Process

So how do salespeople even begin to approach an inbound sales process? Especially in a world where they have less leverage and less information about the buyers they are working with? It turns out that the key ingredient to an inbound sales process is context about the buyers they are working with. More specifically, there are a few different types of context that salespeople can leverage:

• Context about who a potential buyer is, their needs, and interests 
• Context about when the right time is to reach out to a potential buyer 
• Context around the level of engagement of a buyer

By leveraging all these details at the beginning and throughout the process, salespeople can drive a relevant, personal experience for the prospect at every step of the way that ultimately makes them more likely to buy.

Bringing Context to the Sales Process: Introducing Signals

But a question remains -- beyond what Marketing can tell Sales about their leads and prospects, where do salespeople get this kind of context around when and how to engage their leads and prospects?

Until now, there really hasn’t been a way to do it. That’s why we are excited to introduce Signals, a new tool for salespeople that gives them the context they need to provide a more relevant, personalized sales experience, and to close more deals and be more efficient in the process.

What Is Signals?

Signals is a notification app that helps you know when and how to engage your leads. It lives in Google Chrome, and connects to many of the other tools that salespeople use on a daily basis. Signals shows you real-time notifications based on “signals” coming from emails you’ve sent, your website, your CRM system, even social media.

What kind of “signals” are we talking about? Here are a few examples:

• When a lead opens or clicks an email I’ve sent from Outlook, Gmail,or Salesforce, I get a notification, giving me insight into the lead's level of engagement and where they stand in the sales process.
• When a long-term lead who I thought was cold returns to my website after months of absence, I get an instant notification, right on my desktop. 
• When a new lead is assigned to me in Salesforce, I know about it and can follow up right away. 

Because we are so excited about the potential Signals has to change how salespeople work, we’ve decided to take a different approach to how we typically introduce our tools. Anyone, HubSpot customer or not, can use Signals for free to get notifications about email interactions. You’ll get up to 200 email notifications for free every month; and if you want to get unlimited notifications, to get lead revisit alerts from HubSpot, or to integrate your CRM system, you can do that for just $10 per month, per person.

A Bigger Shift Toward Becoming an Inbound Company

Overall, the need for companies to start considering an “inbound approach” to sales is only one part of a larger shift we believe is necessary. In a world where buyers have more information, more power, and have a waning tolerance for anything less than highly personal and tailored experiences, it’s necessary to adapt how every part of your organization communicates with your customers and humanize the experience they have. We call this becoming an inbound company, and it’s something you’ll be reading more and more about here on the HubSpot Inbound Marketing Blog over the coming days.

In the meantime, give Signals a try, and let us know what you think. We'd also love to hear more about how you and your team are using it. Feel free to share your stories on Twitter, using the hashtag #GetSignals.

How are you doing in meeting your 2013 goal?

Here are 5 steps you can take right now to close more sales faster:

1. Follow-up.

The single biggest reason more sales aren’t closed is salespeople give up and fail to follow through.

You may have made two calls and think nothing is going to come of it.

Try again.  We’ve all seen studies that show the importance of following up, and yet so few people actually do it.

2. Sell to the customer’s outcome.

It’s not about your product features; it’s about the outcomes the customer wants. Make sure every comment you make and every question you ask are geared around the customer’s desired outcome.

3. Do a referral blitz to grab customers you can close quickly.

Make it a habit to stay in touch with every customer you’ve ever done business with and even those to whom you weren’t successful selling.  Tap into them for referrals. Leverage your personality, and while you’re at it, pass referrals along to them.

4. Follow up with every old lead, regardless of how old it might be.

Surprising to me is the number of salespeople who never do this.  If there was even the slightest bit of interest at one point, you never know when it might come back even stronger.    Reach out to them, stay in touch with them and nurture them to become great customers of yours.

5. Leverage your personality and your confidence.

Nothing is more effective than you and your own level of confidence and personality.  Let it come through and let people see you as being confident. Approach each opportunity with the expectation of success.  People don’t want to do business with losers. They want to associate with people they see as winners.

Opportunities are unlimited.

All we have to do is approach each day with the expectation succeeding.   Let’s have fun making the last quarter of 2013 a huge success, and in so doing, we’ll propel ourselves forward for a huge 2014.

Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.

Sales Training Article: Perceived Conflict of Interest

By John Holland, Chief Content Officer, CustomerCentric Selling® - The Sales Training Company

Throughout my sales career I enjoyed the privilege and benefit of working with many support people that were extraordinary in doing their jobs. It never ceased to amaze me how they could make suggestions and buyers would follow their advice. At the time I realized it had to do with the roles of sellers and support people, but looking back it goes further than that.

On the flip side of those SE's, one company I sold for had just hired a tech support person from a customer environment. I had an account that was encountering throughput issues with their mainframe and needed an SE to assess the problem and suggest alternatives. On the way to the account, the new SE asked what I wanted to sell the account and what he should say. To his surprise I said: "Paul, I want you to make an honest assessment of the problem and to make a recommendation if we have an offering that can address their performance issues." I was astonished that Paul was astonished by my request, His reaction spoke volumes about his perception of salespeople.

What I failed to realize years ago was he elephant in the room in that sellers have a built in conflict in the eyes of buyers. Money, commission and careers are at stake when working on opportunities. Few sellers can (and managers don't want sellers that do) live off their base salaries. They must earn commissions. This is an underlying reason that buyers are leery of salespeople, especially ones they've not done business with before. Buyers may be asking themselves: Is this salesperson trying to do the right thing by me or is his/her primary interest commission and quota achievement? My belief is that the overwhelming majority of sellers are concerned with doing the right thing, but quota and financial pressures cloud those issues.

The ultimate irony of support person credibility with buyers is that many organizations base raises, promotions and recognition for support people upon their involvement in significant wins. Ultimately, the title on a person's business card goes a long way toward determining how much trust buyers will have in their recommendations. This is the baggage salespeople deal with when selling is viewed in the traditional manner as convincing, persuading and overcoming objections by buyers who feel at times they've been mislead or oversold.

Customer centric sellers that focus on empowering buyer to achieve desired business outcomes and value stand a far greater chance of having buyers believe their recommendations.

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Need some help with your sales performance? Take a look at the sales training workshops available to you and improve sales performance.

Read more sales training articles from CustomerCentric Selling® - The Sales Training Company.

Everyone has a different approach when demoing their product to a prospect. For salespeople, developing an effective delivery is crucial.

We interviewed three SaaS experts on how to give web demos. Anthony Zhang, Jordan Rackie, and Mike Piersa all shared their opinions on what makes an effective demo.

Let’s find out what they said:

Anthony Zhang

As Pardot’s first BDR, Anthony operated consistently above quota and provided the basis for the growing team today. Last month he joined our team at SalesLoft, and has already made a great impact.

1. What is your philosophy on web demos?

The big advantage of remote demos (over the web) is that you can run multiple demos daily, they don’t need a whole lot of prep time, and they’re cost effective and efficient (no travel, hotels, or other expenses required).

On the other hand there are some pitfalls. A big one is that you can’t see the body language or true level of engagement of your prospect. Another is that you’re reliant on technology- the internet connection/software/phone lines to actually give the demo. This means that as a sales rep, you’re more reactive than proactive, because you’re waiting for them to show up vs showing up at their office.

2. What are your favorite tips/tricks & best practices for demos?

Be prepared. Take 10-15 minutes to get everything set up beforehand. This includes having tabs, pages, websites, and pricing open, which reduces the amount of clicking, typing and searching you have to do during the demo. Have their company website pulled up to show that you’ve done a little research and put effort into knowing their company. The demo is about them. You can even go back and reference their site during the demo.

It’s also important to take a brief moment to build rapport. Be sincere and ask them how their day has been. Reference an article you read about them. Do something that will make them remember you. In a competitive market where solutions are similar, it’s ultimately you that will be the tie-breaker.

3. What software or tools do you use?

Chrome, Readytalk, DemoSheet, GoToMeeting.

Jordan Rackie

Another previous sales rep at Pardot, Jordan is now Director of Sales at PeopleMatter in Charleston, South Carolina.

1. What is your philosophy on web demos?

Focus on making the demo interactive. When you’re doing a web demo, you want to get the client involved early because there’s so many things they could be doing while on their computer (checking email, browsing the web, etc). For the first 10 or 15 minutes, make sure they’re speaking for about 80 percent of the time. Ask a lot of questions up front, learning about their business, keeping them involved. Interactivity is probably the biggest thing.

2. What are your favorite tips/tricks & best practices for demos?

I like to start with their website being pulled up so the first thing they see is something they’re familiar with. It really sets the tone, and shows that I’m going to spend some time learning about their business and to see if our product is a good fit. Ask the client to drive you around the site and ask the right questions to understand their business.

Emphasize the prospect speaking to you and sharing their goals. If you find yourself talking a lot, take a pause and ask them if everything is making sense. There is power in silence, because it promotes feedback from the client.

3. What software or tools do you use?

We use GoToMeeting for scheduled demos and join.me for more on the fly meetings.

Another tool I like to use is mouselight, which allows you to spotlight and focus on certain areas of the screen. It also allows you to zoom in and out. Try to keep the pointer moving slow and deliberately so that your prospect can see what you’re doing and follow along.

We use GoToMeeting and join.me when we’re demoing software.

Mike Piersa

As Director of Sales at WhatCounts, Mike looks to recruit and train strong sales professionals.

1. What is your philosophy on web demos?

Don’t rush the sales process. Use the 80/20 Rule – 80% of the content should be about your customers needs and 20% should be about your company. Most Sales reps have this reverse. If you can’t make 80% of your presentation about how you are going to solve your customers problems then you aren’t ready to present. Remember you are presenting the solution.

Remember your time is just as valuable as your clients. Don’t waste yours or theirs. Make sure you are presenting to the decision makers. Don’t expect your customers to invite the necessary people to the demo. It’s your job to know who needs to be there. Ask your customers to invite them.

2. What are your favorite tips/tricks & best practices for demos?

Too many sales reps simply read the demo script and cover the “key” features. If you do this you will sound like your competitors. Explain to the customer how a specific feature or service will help them solve their problems. Don’t expect them to make this connection. Get confirmations from the customer along the way.

Rehearse the demo with your team so everyone knows their role. Make sure you can get through your presentation within the set amount of time you have scheduled. Customize the content using the customer’s information so it speaks to their needs. Remember only 40% of what you present will be remembered so make it count.

3. What software or tools do you use?

Be creative and make your slides look presentable. I use visual.ly, Prezi, and Slideshare.net. I also read a lot to keep learning new info.

–

We certainly hope this advice helps. If you have any additional tips or tricks for web demos, please share.

To say sales has changed over the last few years would be an understatement. Not only has sales changed significantly over the last few years, it’s taken on a whole new form with technology changing the way we do business.

In many ways, sales is beginning to shift back to the early days of sales. You see, once upon a time, sales were made face to face with person to person contact. You bought from people you knew and had a connection with instead of the people with the biggest budgets and fancy ad campaigns.

In the industrial age, sales shifted to a spray and pay model where sales professional became less engaged and less human. We forced our products and services on our customers without truly getting to know the core of their needs. This resulted in customer churn and ultimately a business model that was unsustainable.

Today, technology has given us a chance to connect again. To better understand our prospects while giving us the tools we need to better nurture and build or existing relationships. Additionally, these tools are making sales more human again. We’re back to the days of putting relationships first and building sustainable relationships.

The folks at ProMarketing Leads have put together this infographic highlighting the shift in sales over the last few decades. If one thing is obvious, it’s the fact that the Game of Sales is evolving and businesses need to evolve with it.

What are you doing to stay up with the times?

Source: http://www.promarketingleads.net/infographic/

The new Chip and Shannon Wilson School of Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University will be an open, loft-like space designed to maximize natural light, creative collaboration and energy efficiency, says an architect working on the state-of-the-art building. Constructed primarily of timber and glass, the school will emulate the open, airy spaces many creative companies choose to operate out of, said Bruce Kuwabara, a partner with KPMG architects, ahead of an open house Tuesday at Kwantlen’s Richmond campus, future home of the $36-million school.

Nearly half of workers (49%) don't negotiate their first job offers.

Oftentimes, it comes down to a lack of experience in negotiating, which can be a tricky step for most.

A new survey published at CareerBuilder found that the more work experience candidates gain, the more likely they are to negotiate that first offer.

Participants in the study who were at least 35 were 55% likely to negotiate the first offer compared to 45% of workers between the ages 18 to 34. Furthermore, men (54%) tend to negotiate for higher salaries than women (49%).

But whether you have negotiating experience or not, pushing for what you want at the beginning of your career will have payoffs later on in your professional life.

Below, Deepak Malhotra, a professor at Harvard Business School, provides negotiation tips for his business students. We've compiled a few key points:

1. Make the other side believe that you deserve it.

"It's not enough that you believe that you deserve it," says Malhotra. "It has to be believable and justifiable to them." Essentially, don't ever ask for something without giving a good explanation of why you deserve it and why it's a legitimate thing to ask for.

While it's important to fight for what you deserve, Malhotra also says to keep in mind that you still need them to like you at the end of the day. "They need to be able to want to do it for you," he says. Learn to walk the thin line between promoting your successes and coming off as arrogant.

2. Help them justify it to their bosses.

No matter how much someone wants to do something for you, they may not be able to due to internal constraints. Before the negotiation process, "you want to spend a lot of time figuring out where they're flexible, where they're not flexible," he tells Harvard business students.

Basically, you need to understand what they can give. Keep in mind that they still need to sell the deal to their higher ups, so if the company is hiring 20 other people from your school, it might be difficult for them to explain why you deserve a higher salary.

3. Let them believe that they can get you.

It might make them push harder and faster for you if they think someone else might scoop you up, but they also need to believe that they have a real chance at hiring you.

Says Malhotra: "Nobody is going to go fight for you, go to bat for you, expend political or social capital internally for you if they think at the end of the day you're going to say, 'Thanks, but no thanks.'"

4. Know the other party.

People often think negotiating is all about persuading the other person to think the way you want them to, Malhotra says. And although that plays a part, "nothing is fundamentally more important than understanding the person on the other side of the table from you."

Who are they? What do they like? What are their interests? What are their constraints?

Malhotra says you need to learn as much as you can about a company to understand the bottom line and why they're interested in you. Then you can align your interests with theirs.

5. Negotiate multiple interests simultaneously.

If you get an offer and you have a few concerns, bring them up all at once. Don't list a few things, and then list a few more later in the process.

"You can imagine why that's really annoying," Malhotra says. Hiring managers want to get all of your concerns upfront, so that they can go back to their bosses once and come up with a workable solution.

It's also important to say what's most important to you. Otherwise, the employer may think that they've met you halfway, while you feel that they opted to change the least important details.

6. Understand the meaning behind the questions.

There's always a reason the employer is asking you something. To answer adequately, you need to understand why the questions are asked.

"Don't get stuck on what they're asking you," he says. "Figure out why they're asking you." When a hiring manager asks if you're interviewing elsewhere, for example, they're really trying to figure out how fast they need to act to get you before another company moves in.

7. Ignore ultimatums.

Malhotra says that sometimes things that sound like ultimatums will be said as an attempt to show "a position of strength," but it doesn't always mean that it's actually an ultimatum.

If someone says "we never do this," the worst thing you can do is ask them to repeat it. If they find out that they are able to do it for you later, they will be embarrassed if you call them out on it. In short, let them make the ultimatum a big deal, but don't make it a big deal for them.

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Onboarding is one of the most costly necessities of any talent management strategy. Onboarding processes that are labor-intensive and out-of-date can hurt your sales force by increasing turnover and draining company resources. That said, delivering onboarding that is scalable, cost-effective, and relevant for your sales force is an ever-changing challenge.

When a member came to us looking to replace their dated, labor intensive onboarding with more scalable and cost-effective processes, we sent the question back out to the membership. We asked member executives about the: (1) design and delivery of their sales onboarding, (2) key elements of their onboarding program, and (3) recent cost-effective advancements or investments in onboarding.

We profiled five members’ onboarding programs in our latest brief, Delivering Sales Onboarding. The onboarding practices we heard from members helped shed light on how companies are using both in-person and virtual onboarding to increase the efficiency of their onboarding programs. Company perspectives aligned to two main efficiency-increasing priorities; executives at profiled companies either looked to decrease implementation cost (proliferation of virtual channels) or increase delivery effectiveness (enhance in-person training).

Below are three of the most interesting elements from members’ onboarding programs:

Use of managers and experienced sales reps:  Members used both managers and tenured reps to deliver training to new hires. This not only cut costs by erasing the need for a separate sales training organization to deliver training to dispersed reps, but also helped to contextualize training. Managers and tenured reps often develop into mentors for new reps and help to guide them through the onboarding process.

Hold new hires accountable: Keeping new hires responsible for absorption of their onboarding materials proved valuable for members who sought to ensure both the effectiveness of their program and the abilities of their reps. Numerous failed assessments give managers an opportunity to identify underperforming reps before they pose a significant drain on resources.

Build social communities: Social communities (LinkedIn, Facebook, Chatter or internally developed groups) enable new hires to form deeper connections, reinforce training, and share success stories. These communities also allow managers and trainers visibility into reps’ training progress.

CEB Sales Members, check out the full report: Delivering Sales Onboarding and use the profiles to validate or compare your organizations onboarding practices. Also, visit the Onboarding Topic Center.

While you are busy calculating and assigning the sales target for your team, it is always helpful to go back and analyze what brought more deals to a closure. As you ponder over it, you may come across a lot … Continue reading →

This post is about presenting an online demo — when a sales person or a sales engineer presents an online demonstration of their solution for their prospects.  Many inside sales teams deliver demos as part of their sales process. For the last eight months, I have taken a bunch of sales calls for clients and seen a lot of online demos. Some good and some bad. At some point, I was going to write about my experiences. A couple things inspired me to finally write. Last week, I had three conversations with people who complained about bad sales demos they received. Oh, and then I saw this tweet on Friday:

Getting a product demo and the dude is just reading off a script. Come on man, work on your game.

— Chris Lloyd (@lloyder2020) August 16, 2013

 

The online demo is clearly here to stay which is great, but I have developed some opinions (shocker!) that may or may not help but I figured I would share them anyway:

1. The demo is part of the sales process but doesn’t replace selling

I repeat: I like the demo as part of the inside sales process. I just feel like we something happened a couple years ago where the demo has become the pitch. That is not a solid selling practice. There should be a number of plays a sales person makes before putting someone in a demo. These plays will depend on your product and overall sales process, but some very basic fundamental steps to think about are getting the client to agree there is a problem (or a project), needs analysis, qualification, a value proposition tied back to what the sales person heard or knows. In 60-70% of the demos I attended the sales person jumped into the demo before they have even did any actually selling. I wonder if the problem is that we believe the product will sell itself? Not sure, but old sales fundamentals die hard — We used to work backwards from a problem and then helped our clients understand how solve them. Most demos today are about features. Where I am from, features come last. Maybe I am old. (Yes, I have grey hair)

2. Understand the buyer and where they are in the buying process before delivering a demo

I believe that sales and marketing success stems from a fundamental understand of your buyer and where THEY are in the process. A rigid demo-focused sales process is often about what YOU wan the next step to be whether the buyer wants or needs it. Punchline: That is backwards. Let me give you an example:

I was working with a client (no names to protect the innocent) who I felt needed to explore a particular type of solution. They didn’t understand the market or the solutions and couldn’t figure out why they needed it. I felt that the vendors would do a better job of explaining than me. They had pain, they could get budget, and they want to solve their pain. They just don’t understand what to do next.

Vendor #1: Pushed the client into the demo, mentioned end of quarter discounts, and answered clear-cut market questions with feature answers in the demo. The client kept asking questions about the overall market which were answered with “and that’s why we were voted the best by so-and-so analyst firm” and followed by “And let me show you this.” The buyer did not care and was turned off. Their quote: “It was like I was buying a tv.”

Vendor #2: Spent time with the buyer understanding their current situation.  The sales person actually said: “I don’t think we should jump into a demo yet. Let’s start with some examples on how companies like yours are approaching this challenge.” After the presentation, he offered two pieces of content on best practices and how technology helps organizations execute these best practices. He then recommended we regroup: “I believe this is a solution that can help you drive XXX, I want you to believe it too. Lets set up the next time to talk to make sure we are on the same page. From there, I can prescribe next steps.” By the way, on the next call he felt the buyer was ready and then explained to them why they were the right solution for them. THEN he went to a demo. In the demo, he said: “Based on what we have talked about, I want to show you three important things.” Truthfully, I am not sure he needed the demo at that point. As the buyer said: “I trust them.”

Vendor #1 jumped to the demo, but the buyer wasn’t ready. They were eliminated. Vendor #2 realized that the buyer wasn’t ready for product and took a step back.

The demo doesn’t mean a thing to the prospect who isn’t ready. When you map the buyer journey from their point of view and train the sales team on this map, they will know what it takes to truly advance people through the sales process. The sales people can then make a better of assessment on when to deliver the demo and what type of information the demo should emphasize.

Which is another big point, it is important to know which buyer persona you are talking to. For example, most decision makers don’t want demos instead they want their big picture questions answered. They have someone whose job it is to evaluate the product. When you map the buyer journey, map the journeys of multiple buyers because the plays a sales person make will change based on who the buyer is. On a recent sales call with a decision maker, the sales person said “Let’s jump into a demo”. I watched the decision maker go right to his phone. Don’t get me wrong, there are decision makers who want demos, but the rules of buyer-centric selling still apply. You want to give a demo that is right for the decision maker. For example, they may want to see reporting or enforcement. I don’t know, it’s your product . Just remember that developing a fundamental understanding of who the buyer is will allow sales people to be as relevant as possible during the demo process. Otherwise, the buyer will be staring at their smart phone again or worse (see below):

3. Understand the buyer’s environment to make the demo as relevant and personal as possible

Sales people should have a playbook that provides them with questions that help them develop an understanding of their prospect’s current environment, processes, goals, and challenges. The playbook should then outline a set of plays — messaging soundbytes, content to provide, and ultimately, potential demos to deliver the prospect.  The sales people should be trained on what to listen for and how to translate that information into an effective online demo. We had a great demo with one sales person who first said: “Before I jump in, let me play back what I believe to be your current process.” He then said: “Based on what I heard, I believe we can improve X. Let me show you a couple things in this brief online demo that will help you understand how we can help.” Bingo.

4. If the demo is critical to your sales process , then coach ‘em up

We coach and train sales on everything else — the demo is no different. The starting point is to have structured training on giving the demo including role plays based on the answers the fake buyer gives in the opening phase of the conversation. Then, managers need to listen and watch their reps do their demos and provide coaching. It is important to help sales people understand why they are giving the demo. The great sales people deliver great demos, presentations, etc because they know what they are trying to achieve. Many demos today don’t feel like that is the case. They are memorized from a script. Scripts are fine, but the real acid test is the sales person who knows where they want the buyer to be after the demo. That takes training and coaching (and smarts).

5. Focus on the big points

Don’t show me every little thing in the app. Boring…As I went through more demos, I learned my lesson and started to tell the sales reps what they should focus on in the call. Many of the good ones were happy because they were going to ask any way and it sped up their process. Unfortunately, a few still walked us through the entire app including the login process. Remember the story I told earlier about the sales rep who focused on the big needs when demo’ing the product. My client loved him for it.

Truthfully, I focused on the areas that need work, but there were some great demos I witnessed. I wish I c

I hope this helps — what do you think? Tell me below

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic and a co-founder of Topo. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

 

Photo of dude sleeping by Tom Stovall

Some people are set in their ways and they don’t see how sales has been changing over the last handful of years. Sales IS changing, make no mistake.

A lot of the companies that read this blog are big outbound prospectors – they make “warm” – not so cold, anymore, but warm calls to companies that fit as their target buyers.

If you are one of these companies, and have NOT embraced the idea that people are looking for your services on the web before you even know of them, it is time to learn more about what an Inbound Marketing effort could do along with the great Outbound work you are already doing.  [I'll be speaking at Inbound 2013 this week - a whole conference about Inbound Marketing put on by HubSpot. Look for additional posts in the weeks to come.]

What if you received a handful of good leads that are above the efforts of what your team is already doing outbound?

Often a company denotes one person on the inside team as the one who gets handed the inbound leads from the marketing team. It is a good place to start, since a buyer already looking has a number of specific questions you’ll need to have answers for right away. Typically, as more leads come in, they get distributed around the inside sales team and everyone is trained on responding as quickly and professionally as possible.

Buyers who are looking for you today on the web are more ready to buy than anyone you might call on – that is a double-edged sword. The good news is that someone will happen quickly or not – and the bad news is that they may already have selected someone who has beat you to the punch in answering their needs.

Hubspot did a GREAT compilation of stats and facts around Inbound Marketing – take a look at 86 Revealing Charts from the 2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report for more background. Then, if you want more specific ideas, set a time and let’s talk.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2013″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Inside Sales Power Tip 128 – Outbound + Inbound appeared first on Score More Sales.

We had a chance to speak with Barbara Vlacich, vice president of presales operations and sales effectiveness at Kronos, about how Kronos tackles marketing and sales alignment, their business opportunities and challenges, and what to expect from her presentation at our upcoming Marketing & Sales Alignment Conference.

Here is Part #2 of the two-part interview. And, in case you missed it, here is Part #1.  Enjoy!

Q: What are some market opportunities and business challenges you face at Kronos?

Although Kronos has been in business more than 35 years, there are still such amazing opportunities ahead for our company – and for the workforce management industry as a whole.

The fastest-growing aspect of our business is the cloud. Currently, we have more than 8,000 customers running in the Kronos Cloud. Organizations of all sizes are embracing the Kronos Cloud because of the vast benefits associated with a hosted solution.

Over the past four years, we have really been focused on revolutionizing how organizations use workforce management technology.  These days, technology is all about ease of use.  And that’s exactly how our technology has evolved. Simple, intuitive, and engaging user experiences, mobile and tablet technology, enhanced analytics … we believe the opportunities are endless for us to continue to deliver innovative technology to our customers.

Q: What would attendees hope to learn from your session at the Marketing & Sales Alignment Conference?

Before we worked with Corporate Visions on messaging, we came together as a team to understand the challenges the sales team faced and how we could prioritize those challenges. That allowed us to look at the big picture, rather than simply provide more programs on pipeline development. By having a sales leadership council, our field organization is able to see the direct results of their input, rather than seeing their ideas watered down by a committee.

Another important piece of our training programs is providing an upfront management development program before we roll out any new training initiative. This allows me to gain buy-in from management on the program and also to clearly articulate the goals of the program and how we’ll measure success. I will be talking about how we’ve incorporated the value messaging and other services from Corporate Visions into Kronos, especially those that helped us create buy-in from internal customers and sales.

Just like many people in my role, nothing is worse than rolling out a new program, training or process and having sales say, “That won’t help me.” Each sales team needs different things and the “peanut butter approach” to programs doesn’t work in a mature organization.  My mission is to meet specific needs for each sales team.  Creating alignment buy-in with sales is so critical.  I will be sharing some of our successes in that area, including the sales leadership council, a program I started last year.

The first step in creating the council was to do interviews with each of the members to understand the obstacles standing in the way of sales reps meeting their goals. As you can imagine, when we reviewed the responses, we found many similarities.

We found that one-third of the issues reported by the sales managers focused on sales development. The other two-thirds were actually related to operational issues within the company. This exercise provided me with a way to communicate those operational issues to other divisions within the company, so that we could then help sales meet their goals.

The sales leadership council allowed me an opportunity to deepen the relationship with sales in a new way and also allowed the leadership team a voice, without having to pass those concerns through several layers of management.  We are still in the early stages and the relationship is still evolving. I am very committed to its success.

Q: Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to at the Marketing & Sales Alignment Conference in September?

I am excited to meet others in similar roles and find out what they’re doing. In spite of all that we’ve accomplished, we’re by no means the pinnacle of sales development. I am thrilled with our progress, but we could do more, and we’re at a point where we could take on new ideas.

 

 

It is a pleasure to work in a field where research continues to grow and improve. Just a few years back, we were unsure how many sellers there are out there, let alone inside sales professionals. We want to know their habits, strengths, and whether the profession is growing. Everyone has their assumptions, but nothing trumps facts other than, well, data.

Recently a paper came out called Inside Sales Market Size 2013 – published by the InsideSales.com Research Division with Ben Warner who ran and challenged the data. The report was done in partnership with The Bridge Group, Inc, Kraig Kleeman, Software Advice, and Zoominfo,

It covers several interesting topics. The highlights first, then more detail:

• Inside sales represents more than half of sales departments surveyed, and as an industry inside sales is growing faster than outside sales.
• Small companies have a larger percentage of their sales departments devoted to inside sales than mid-size or enterprise companies.
• There are 2.3 million inside sales reps in the United States in 2013.
• 42,400 new jobs are being created in inside sales each year.
• 74% of inside sales departments are generalists or semi-generalists, while 26% of inside sales departments are specialists or semi-specialists.
• Calendaring and CRM tools are the most widely adopted, while training and calendaring tools have the highest percentage saying they plan to adopt them in the future.
• Outside sales reps spend 24% of their time engaged in remote selling.

Of Interest:

The study showed that inside sales positions are more than half of all sales positions when removing retail sales (since we work with B2B companies, it makes sense for us here to use retail free statistics. Not sure I’ve seen many until now)

Not surprising to me, inside sales reps spend MORE time on selling activities than their outside sales counterparts, due to the travel spent fulfilling outside sales quotas. Even so, outside reps also spend about 24% of their selling time as “remote sellers”.

Companies like IBM have had strong success with inside sales teams and the integration of social tools to help their sellers go where their customers and future buyers are. http://www.slideshare.net/JonathanDuarte/ibm-sales-up-400-using-social-selling-with-linkedin-and-twitter

Tools that make it Possible

Because of the growth and improvement of certain web tools, we can work better with buyers now remotely. Improvements in web conferencing, calendaring, and good, simple CRM tools allow for easy connection to dashboards and can inform management and outside sales peers for customer handoff.

The top tools this study showed to be most widely used were calendaring tools, conferencing tools (for webinars and live communication) , CRM, web reporting / dashboards, and social tools.

Inside Sales Structure

Another interesting topic is that there are multiple, defined Inside Sales roles that we’re now beginning to measure. The survey shows that 60% of all Inside Sellers are Generalists, with 16% Specialists and the remainder somewhat of a blend. This means that some positions solely close business, other specialist positions singularly set an appointment then hand-off. The continued rise of success for these specialist roles in quota attainment may be due to more specific and limited skills needed along with a more simple sales process.

You can find the full report here (link) What do you think of the research?

Are you more compelled that an inside sales career is a legitimate, solid part of a sales career?

Would you leave outside sales for an inside position?

Post your comments – we’d love to hear your viewpoint.

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This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2013″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post A Career in Inside Sales – Survey Says Yes appeared first on Score More Sales.

Almost nothing is more important to the success of your online business than your website’s sales page. If your page is able to successful turn visitors into customers, you can survive subpar performance in many other areas of the company, while the opposite situation is almost guaranteed to bring failure. For example, a great promotional and PR campaign that brings high-volume traffic to your website would be essentially useless if none of those visitors became customers because your sales page did not close them. However even a small-scale marketing campaign could yield tremendous profits if your sales page is able to get a high percentage of visitors to click the “checkout” button.

Here are seven features of successful sales pages that can help you convert more traffic into paying customers:

1. A Clear Call to Action. Including a clear call to action on your page is critical. Unless you tell your visitors what they are supposed to do when they get to your page, you are forcing them to guess what they should be doing, which is a surefire way for them to misinterpret the object of the page. Instead make sure you articulate exactly what you want the prospect to do once they’ve gotten to your page in clear, concise language. If they are supposed to sign up for a free trial, say that. If they are supposed to buy now, say that instead. If you want them to join your mailing list, then make that your call to action.
2. One Primary Action. Having a clear call to action for the page is important, but equally important is focusing that call to action exclusively. Successful sales pages have one and only one primary action that dominates the page. That means if you are trying to get someone to purchase your product, the one and only thing that your sales page should be created to do is get people to successfully complete that purchase. Any information, messaging, or design elements that do not serve this purpose should be removed. (More on this in feature #5)
3. One Secondary Action, Only if Absolutely Necessary. If your page must have more than one call to action, then you can add one and only one secondary action. However your secondary call to action needs to be substantially subdued compared to the primary action. If you try to feature them both equally you force your visitors to try to figure out which one they are supposed to click, which again will increase the odds that they make the wrong choice. If you are going to include a secondary action, it must not distract users from completing the primary action.
4. High-Contrast Featured Elements, Low-Contrast Secondary Elements. The most important parts of the sales page that need to capture your visitor’s attention should have high color contrast compared to the background of the page. So if you have a black background, using yellow or orange for the button on your primary call to action would be a good idea. Supporting messages, like your secondary action if you need to have one, should be in lower-contrast colors so that they don’t stand out as much as the primary actions. Otherwise they would take away attention from the more important parts of the page.You will notice many successful subscription services use this strategy. There will be a large, high-contrast button to become a paid user, and then a smaller, low-contrast button to sign up for a free trial. The company makes the primary and secondary actions clear by the amount of contrast they give each element, and therefore the attention they get.
5. No Filler, Distractions or Extraneous Links. It’s not enough to design your page to feature a primary and secondary action; you also have to actively remove anything that is not your primary or secondary action. This includes your navigation bar, for example. You don’t want to give your visitors any way to leave your page without purchasing. If necessary, provide a single, low-contrast and inconspicuous link to return to the home page.Just look at Amazon. Once you click to checkout all of the navigation disappears and the only way to return to the main site is the browser’s back button. Make sure to remove any other features of your website’s template that are not directly in support of your calls to action. They don’t even have to be links. Text, images, videos, and anything else that doesn’t directly support your calls to action should be stripped out.
6. Social Proof. One of the most effective ways to influence potential customers is to show them social proof that other people like them use your product or service. Displaying testimonials is an excellent way to accomplish this, but an even better way is to make sure that your testimonials are from a wide demographic range of customers and also speak to various benefits of your product. You want your prospects to come to your page and see other people who match their demographics, who have the same problem that they have, who are thrilled they use your product or service as the solution to that problem.Another great way to use social proof is to use logos of other companies that you are associated with as indicators of credibility. If you’ve been featured in prominent magazines or newspapers, include a favorable quote from the piece with their logo. If you have a good rating on Yelp or Amazon, show their logo and your score on their feedback scale.
7. Compelling, Benefits-Focused Copy. The copy of the page needs to focus on selling the customer the benefits of your product before it shares the features. If you don’t start with a focus on benefits, your prospects won’t understand how their lives will improve if they start paying you for your offering. By making them understand that you have the solution to a pressing problem they have, you capture their attention and make them want to read more. After that you can use your product’s features and social proof from #6 above to illustrate that you can deliver on what you promise. To learn more about how to promote your brand’s benefits before it’s features, see our blog post “Keys to Copywriting: Distinguishing Benefits from Features.”

What part of your sales page have you found to be most important to your business? Let us know in the comments!

Overall usage on social media platforms is exploding. Millions and millions of consumers are expressing likes on Facebook, tweeting about products on Twitter, and pinning on Pinterest every single day.

Retailers and brands are therefore increasingly focusing their attention on social commerce.

But, many struggle with the question: how do you convert a "like," a "tweet," or "pin" into a sale?

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we look at successful examples of businesses and business models for generating commerce via social media-based strategies, analyze Pinterest's success as a social commerce platform, look at Facebook's potential as a social commerce contender, and examine the e-commerce conversion and order value gap. 

Access The Full Report And Data By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Here's an overview of the converging trends that promise to transform social media into a viable commerce platform:

• The rise of mobile: The rise of mobile, which means shoppers can price-compare and solicit advice from friends wherever they are. Overall, mobile accounts for just under 40% of time spent on social media. Facebook has passed the 50% mobile usage mark and Pinterest is at 48%. Together, they combine for over 56% of social generated e-commerce at the moment, according to social commerce platform, Addshoppers. Given the continued growth of mobile devices, it will only rise. Brands' desire for guaranteed attention in the medium, coupled with this explosion, helps to explain social media's move away from traditional display ads - like Facebook's right-rail ads - and into the realm of social commerce.
• The rise of the visual Web: Sites like Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and Wanelo are becoming repositories for shopping ideas, fashion tips, and wish lists — in essence user-generated catalogs. For example, in a recent survey by Zmags (a mobile catalog company), 63% of online shoppers said they plan to use online catalogs. And 35% said they plan to use Pinterest to make purchases. 
• Demographics: Today's mobile-savvy consumers in their teens and early twenties are accustomed to shopping online and tend to see their smartphones and tablets as their main computing device, and an important shopping tool. Pinterest's average user is between the ages of 30 and 49, which is an age bracket with considerable disposable income. Also, Pinterest users tend to be women (anywhere from 80 to 85% of its user base is female). Marketers know that it is women who usually control the purse strings for household purchases related to clothes, home decoration, and gifts — three strong areas for Pinterest.
• Significant challenges remain: Social commerce — whatever the model — needs to better reflect the fundamental rule of e-commerce, which Amazon has always championed: Consumers will click to buy when it's relatively effortless. That's even more true of a casual shopper who ends up on a retailer's site because of a social recommendation. That intent to buy is fragile and can quickly evaporate. Currently, social commerce strategies involve too many intermediate steps before a user ends up in front of the crucial "buy" button. 
  

In full, the report: 

• Analyzes successful examples of businesses generating commerce via social media-based strategies (such as Groupon, Fab, and Jack Threads)
• Conducts an in-depth look at Pinterest's success as a social commerce platform
• Looks at Facebook's potential as a social commerce contender
• Examines the e-commerce conversion and order value gap. 

To access BI Intelligence's full reports on The Rise Of Social Commerce, sign up for a free trial subscription here.

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