Rnordman

The role of Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a very trying first job to have. It can bring with it its fair share of stress and strain. There are quotas to fill, metrics that keep changing every time, and you also have to deal with a ton of rejections. It’s no wonder that this particular job has one of the highest turnover rates when it comes to first jobs.

Part of your job as a manager is to keep your SDRs happy. You have to confront these facts head on and figure out how to deal with them. How do you keep your SDRs happy, even when they’re facing so many challenges? What course of action can you take? How can you ensure sustainable growth in your team and that it is following the correct road to long-term efficient development? Most important, however, is the question of how you can stop your team from getting bogged down by exhaustion.

It might not be easy, as many managers and executives will gladly tell you, but it isn’t impossible. All you need is to have the right principles and you’re good to go. These will guide you in your daily interactions with your team, telling you how to respond to their needs as they come up. There are some helpful tips you can immediately put to action to save your team and get them on track. Here are some of our most effective ones.

#1. It all starts with the hiring process

If you’re going to build a solid SDR team, you have to start right at the root of the whole building process: the hiring. You need a group of people in your team who you’re already confident will flourish in the business before you begin to build them up.

Individuals who are already naturally inclined to being good SDRs are also likely to be in it for the long haul, making them more reliable assets to your company. In order to score the right people, you need to pay attention. Observe keenly the personality traits of the candidates during interviews and other parts of the hiring process to figure out who they are. They need to generally have dispositions that are aligned to the tasks that they will likely be performing on the job. Not just anyone can make a good SDR. It takes a very special kind of brain to be able to work its way through the everyday challenges faced by an SDR.

But what, exactly, is that special kind of brain? What kind of personality makes a great SDR, the kind that rises through the ranks to become an account executive?

To begin with, a good SDR is a problem solver. They will actively be looking for solutions to the challenges that face them on a daily basis. Sure, this sounds like a quality anyone applying for just about any job position should have, but it is especially important for an SDR, almost to the point of being paramount. Consider the situation where an SDR is facing competition. A normal person might be motivated by resentment and jealousy to overcome the competition. Now, resentment and jealousy aren’t good emotions to let motivate you, but they work well enough in a lot of fields to get people ahead. As an SDR, the last thing you want motivating you is resentment, or jealousy. They will drain you of your energy and lead to exhaustion fast. A good SDR would instead focus on personal excellence in such a situation. They would ask themselves how they can personally improve their skills and innovate, rather than how they can beat the next guy.
Another quality good SDRs have is being self-motivated. They are self-starters who can take the initiative when they need to. Something that every profession has to deal with from time to time is monotony. There are times when doing the same thing every single day just gets to you. A good SDR will find ways to automate little repetitive tasks without sacrificing quality so that their mental energy can be freed up to deal with other problems that need a more custom and creative approach.

An SDR needs to be ever curious and willing to learn. They should also be receptive to coaching. Consider the situation where an SDR keeps getting no response to their emails. Someone who isn’t willing to adapt will keep sending out the same email each time and wondering why nothing’s changing. They’ll keep doing the same thing over and over again and wondering why they aren’t getting a different result.

A good SDR will try to find out why. They’ll carry out tests, tweaking different parts of the email and sending it out to different groups of recipients until they find something that works. They will keep asking themselves: “What can I do to make my messages stand out and have a better chance of being responded to?” They will constantly experiment and seek to improve their techniques.

This is the most important step to take, and it is precisely because it is the most important step that it is the first one you should take. First, acknowledge that there is a special set of qualities that predisposes people to being good SDRs, and then actively seek out these qualities in candidates that apply to work at your organization. If you find people who fit the role like a glove, then you will have found people who will be able to withstand the challenging work environment of the SDR department. These are the kind of people you can achieve sustainable growth with in the long term. Slack on this and you will be setting yourself up for failure before you even begin.

#2. Transparency is key

One of the biggest problems facing SDRs is that they don’t have a clear path to promotion. A common piece of advice given to people in just about every profession is “trust the process”. It makes sense intuitively. All you have to do is roll up your sleeves, keep your head down, and follow the path laid out before you with determination. Think of someone trying to chop down a tree. They know that if they keep hacking, eventually, that tree will fall. So they commit themselves to doing five of their best hacks with their trusty axe every single day. That’s all they have to focus on every day: 5 good hacks. No matter how long it takes, that tree will eventually fall. That is someone who trusts the process.

It isn’t easy to trust the process as an SDR when the process isn’t even defined. This is where you come in as the manager. Make sure the path to promotion and mastery is clearly defined, complete with goals, major accomplishments, and systems for reward. The SDRs should fully understand what it takes to advance in your organization. When they can clearly see a light at the end of the tunnel, they’ll walk the tunnel with a lot more enthusiasm.

Define the benchmarks your SDRs should follow and try to emulate. As they achieve these benchmarks, reward them with increasing autonomy. You can do this by giving them very clear goals, such as booking a certain number of demos, sending a certain number of emails, trying different lead generation techniques and so on. The point is to reinforce productive behavior. Don’t give them tasks and goals that they can easily manipulate or game as this will only defeat the purpose. As they accomplish these goals, you can give them the freedom to tweak the standards a bit. That way they can have the motivation to achieve the goals as they will see this as a way to move up the ladder.

This transparency is a fundamental part of being a good leader. You’re basically giving them the rules of the game and telling them you’ll give them the autonomy to tweak the standards as they gradually succeed at their tasks.

#3. Stay aware of your staff

Fatigued SDRs won’t come to you for help that often. They probably won’t even tell you they’re fatigued. The thing about burnout is that it doesn’t just happen all of a sudden. It builds up over time, creeping up on the SDR, and your organization, till it’s almost too late. If you pay attention to the warning signs, however, you’ll be able to identify burnout risks early enough and do something about it.

Here are some things you can watch out for that will tell you if a particular SDR deserves more attention:

• They are complaining more of late, as compared to actively finding solutions
• Their productivity has gone down
• They interact a lot less with the rest of the team than they did before

You should also bear in mind that the position of SDR is an entry level position. As such, it should typically take one about 1.5 years at the maximum to land a promotion and climb higher up the ladder. If they’re taking longer than that, you might want to find out why.

#4. Take appropriate action

When you do notice that something is amiss, the best thing to do is take immediate action. Bring the SDR in for a chat so you can understand what the matter is. You’re not calling them in to give them a telling off, or to threaten them with a sacking if they don’t perform. That never gets anything done. Instead, have a polite and encouraging conversation with them to find out what it is that is standing between them and success.

Always focus on the positive in such circumstances. Each member of your team will have different strengths. They can use these natural strengths in different ways to achieve their workplace goals. Some of them might not be very good with phone calls and emails, but might nail it on socials. Encourage each member of your team to play to their strengths. Communicate with them every day and remind them that the organization cares about them and respects them. When you call them in for a chat, remind them that they’re not in any kind of trouble, and always remind them that their role as an SDR is the most important in the company.

#5. Foster growth, trust, and creativity

We already talked about how important it is to be transparent, but how can you leverage this transparency to promote the growth and development of your team?

A good place to start is mentorship. You’re ultimately looking to develop your team into one of the leaders. Why not show them what a leader still-in-development looks like? You can do this by sharing some of your own experiences with them. What did you do when you were faced with some of the challenges facing them today? Surely, you must have some anecdotes of people you know who’ve overcome the same challenges and solved the same problems and can share with your team what these people did that worked so well for them. There might be specific problems and challenges that you want to give your SDR team a heads up on as they join the organization so they can look out for them. With something solid to mold themselves, your team of new recruits will be so much better at their job.

You don’t have to do it yourself. You can mentor individuals, as well as groups, but you should also enlist the help of senior SDRs and account executives to help you in this endeavor. They can help the new recruits to adopt a mindset of leadership, which will help them grow and firmly entrench in their mind the comfort of working in an environment that is both safe and supportive.

As your new recruits spend more time at the company and cover milestones, encourage them to try new things. Encourage them to transition into leadership roles within their own teams, such as training new recruits and being innovative with prospecting, etc. Make sure to always align this freedom with their accomplishments, however.

The point is to celebrate the little victories as well as the big ones. Let your team always feel like they’re making progress, no matter how small. That way they’ll feel like they’re in control of their growth and they will be in a constant cycle of self-improvement.

One of the most powerful of all business models is one in which each user gains you more users. If you can achieve this and you are delivering sustainable value to your users, you have a big winner. The standard measure of virality is known as k, and the standard way of calculating it is given below. The equation and most of the ideas behind such self propagating systems come from epidemiology, and yes, from the study of how a virus spreads through a population.

k = (Number of Current Users x Number of Invitations Sent by Current Users x Percent Conversion Rate) / Number of Current Users

This is sometimes simplified to: 

k = Number of Invitations Sent by Current Users x Percent Conversion Rate

These two formulas give the same value for k. The advantage of the latter is that it is simpler and focuses attention on the two metrics that matter. Do your current users invite additional users? Do those users accept the invitations?

There are other things to consider of course. The two most important things are (i) what is the time cycle? and (ii) what is the churn rate? It makes a big difference to growth if the time cycle is one week, one month or one year. Also, if users convert but have a high churn rate (if many users fail to renew) then a high k is not all that helpful.

One can sharpen this equation by specifying the time unit and seeing how k changes for different time units. In some cases, a user will only invite new people in the first week or not at all, in which case k week = k month = k year. While in other cases a user continues to invite in new users over time so that k week < k month < k year.

One can easily adjust for churn by multiplying k by (1 - churn), being careful to use the same time scale to calculate k and churn.

So what does all this have to do with pricing? It all comes back to value and differentiated value, as is the case with all pricing that does not involve commodities. Let's look at each variable in the viral equation using a value lens.

Number of Invitations Sent by Current Users

Why would a user invite another user to use your software? Just because they like it? Probably not. There has to be some more tangible value. As we know, value has emotional and economic dimensions and it is hard to get traction, at least in B2B, without some of both. If you expect people to invite their networks into your application, they need to be confident that they are getting value and that the people they invite will get value. This value needs to be part of the natural outcome of using the software and not some sort of external incentive like a discount in return for making referrals. External incentives can help of course, and they have become common. But they only really work if there is real value for both parties. Below we look at how DropBox struck a balance with this.

The critical business question to ask is,

1. How does the user get more value by having other users join the system?

Percent Conversion Rate

Getting users to send out invitations is necessary but not sufficient. The invitees have to accept the invitation. Why should they? Is the value proposition clear to them? Is there some advantage to accepting this invitation rather than that of another user? (Perhaps User A  can provide more value than User B, and if this is clearly communicated they are more likely to respond to User A than User B. We often join clubs based not on the club's facilities but on who the other members of the club are.)

The critical business questions to ask are,

1. How do the new users get value by joining?
2. Is there a difference between the conversion rates for different users? If so, why?

Churn

It costs money to attract and bring on users, so you want to keep them. You will only do this if you provide value. This is where customer journey maps with the three value layers, are so important. (See Value creation and communication across the customer journey.)  It is critical that value is being communicated and delivered in the months and weeks before the renewal decision is made.

Time scale or Cadence

Marketers often do not spend enough time thinking about cycle times or cadence. Your business model looks very different if your customers are sending out an invitation after one week rather than one month. The customer journey map is useful here as well. When in the customer journey does a customer get value from inviting in new users? Can you move this forward so that they get the value earlier? Is there a natural rhythm that you can get rolling that would make it meaningful to invite in new users on a regular basis?

Dropbox as an Example

Dropbox is an almost perfect example of a viral business model for B2B. The core value propositions of Dropbox are (i) save money on storage and (ii) better collaboration on documents. It is the second that drives virality, but the two interact in interesting ways. Take some time to study the Dropbox pricing page and look for the ways in which it encourages virality. Look for the words 'user' or 'team' and 'sharing' or 'collaboration.' 

Collaboration is the driver of the DropBox business model. You can think of it as 'store once, charge many times.' If you share a document with me on DropBox,  it is only stored once but we both pay for it. The angel fund we work with (E-Fund) uses DropBox for due diligence and I have had to upgrade my account several times to cover all the documents generated in the due diligence process . Look at the above pricing sheet. There is a storage fence for standard (a generous 2 terabytes) but no limits on storage at the Advanced tier. These fences are guiding heavy users into the advanced tier.

LinkedIn and metcalfe's law

One of the most successful viral businesses is LinkedIn. It is a great example of the value of a network as described in Metcalfe's Law. LinkedIn is of limited value to one user, but the value grows with N (the number of active users) such that

Value = N * (N-1) /2 which approximates to N squared.

In networks where the more connected nodes are more valuable, which is most business and social networks, the relationship between Value and N is closer to n × log n . In any case, it is the number of users that is driving the value. (If you want to go deeper into this, check out the research comparing the Chinese network Tencent and Facebook - Tencent and Facebook Data Validate Metcalfe's Law by Xing-Zhou Zhang, Jing-Jie and LiuZhi-Wei Xu in the March 2015 issue of the Journal of Science and Technology.

This is why LinkedIn is free. Every new active user adds to the value of the network.

LinkedIn charges for people who get exceptional value from its network. Some of these are Premium users (I pay for a Premium account), others are recruiters, sales and marketing, with human resources and talent management being added.

Each of these have very different value metrics and thus a different pricing model. As a Premium User I am mostly interested in getting more value from my own account. The more people I am connected with the more value my Premium Account is to me. The more active I am on LinkedIn the more valuable my account is to me. LinkedIn encourages me to grow my own network and to be as active as possible. This increases the value LinkedIn provides me and my Willingness to Pay (WTP).

The value proposition for Recruiters is very different. Recruiters want to identify and reach out to other people. They benefit more from people having complete profiles than from user activity. They need access, good search, and tools to manage and filter search results and put them into their applicant tracking systems. As Recruiters get paid for filling positions, the value proposition is very clear. That is why LinkedIn was initially focused on optimizing this business model.

Recruiters and Premium users play very different roles in the LinkedIn model. It is the Premium users that drive activity and generate the invites that push up K. The Recruiters feed on the value created by Users and Premium Users, though some would say that the Recruiters make LinkedIn more attractive as many people are on LinkedIn or update their profiles when they want to find new jobs.

In any case, think about K as you design your pricing strategy. Here is a simple checklist.

• Do current users get value when new users join?
• When do the current users experience the value of having new users join?
• When do the new users experience the value of joining through an invitation?
  (Dropbox is so powerful because the value is immediate.)
• Are invitations from some users more valuable to the invitee than other users?
• Does your pricing model encourage or discourage invitations?
• Does your pricing model encourage or discourage acceptance of the invitation?
• What is the cadence of invitations and can it be accelerated?
• Are users experiencing value in the period before renewal?

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Money skills can often be boiled down to the elements of budgeting: controlling your costs through awareness and management. However, there’s one business skill that’s often underrated in terms of its financial impact: negotiation. Negotiation saves your business money.

This action allows you to work toward a lower price for your common expenses, making sure you pay less for the things your business wants or needs. But it also helps you earn more money from your clients, investors, and financiers. You can negotiate almost anything, and if you practice it often enough, you could save your business thousands of dollars in regular expenses—and make thousands more throughout your operations.

Opportunities for Negotiation

So, where are the best opportunities for negotiation? Again, you can hypothetically negotiate anything, but these are some of the most promising areas for financial gain.

Most entrepreneurs think of negotiation primarily as a way to secure more favorable contracts—and it’s a valuable application. When securing a new deal with a client, you’ll likely enter a round of negotiation, debating points like the price, the timeline, and the terms of the deal. You’ll have the opportunity to tilt these elements in your favor, earning more revenue from the same job or at least securing better terms that allow you to operate more efficiently.

There are some recurring bills that won’t have much room for negotiation. For example, you won’t be able to negotiate with the city to have your water bill lowered. But you can adjust your rates for many recurring business expenses, such as the Internet. Threatening to leave a provider for a competitor, citing your history, and offering to extend a long-term contract are all valuable possibilities that can help you lower your bills.

Other Areas to Negotiate

Here are some other ways negotiation saves money for your business:

• Interest rates and loan terms. For example, you can negotiate the interest rates on your credit card payments, or position yourself for more favorable terms for your business line of credit. The rates you get will depend partially on your credit history and business prospects.
• Salaries and benefits. When you hire a new employee, they’ll likely negotiate with you over salary and benefits. This area is tricky. You’ll want to give your employee enough compensation to keep them interested in the job. Yet, starting them at a lower salary can save money.
• Lease agreements. If you’re leasing an office or retail space, you might be surprised how easy it is to negotiate the terms of that lease. With the right positioning, you can almost certainly land a lower price point, and you might get some extra perks out of the agreement while you’re at it. Your success here will be dependent on demand for real estate in the area, but it’s almost always worth pushing for a better deal.
• Insurance rates. For the most part, insurance is a logical, mathematical, and straightforward process. Your rates will depend on the calculated risks your business faces in several areas. However, you may be able to negotiate better rates by making certain concessions or combining policies.
• Anything used. If you’re buying inventory or equipment used, you’ll have tremendous leverage for negotiation. The value of used goods is somewhat subjective. Your seller may be particularly motivated. The extra value of each deal ensures maximum profitability.

Fundamentals for Negotiation Success

Thankfully, the same core skills and tactics can help you become successful in almost any application. Follow these tips to find success:

• Do your research in advance. One of your most important keys to success is doing your research, long in advance of the actual negotiation. Before walking into your negotiation meeting, you should have a good idea of the market rate for whatever you’re discussing—and data points to prove it. The research will equip you with the knowledge and anchor points necessary to get the right price and will make you seem more confident and knowledgeable in the conversation itself—which should be able to tilt things in your favor.
• Project confidence. Speaking of confidence, the more confidence you’re able to project, the more likely you’ll find success; confidence implies knowledge and conviction, which is hard to overcome. There are many ways to project confidence, including speaking slowly and deliberately, remaining calm, and maintaining good posture throughout the conversation.
• Develop a personal connection. If you can, work to develop a personal connection with the person you’re negotiating with. It may seem like negotiation is a cold, impersonal business tactic, built on logic, but there’s an emotional component to it as well. People will be far more willing to cut a better deal to someone who seems like a friend than a stern, demanding businessperson out for a profit. Make friendly conversation and use charm to establish a bond before you get too far in negotiations.

Other Negotiation Tactics

Beyond the initial strategy, consider these negotiation tactics to get what you want:

• Give yourself room. You’ve likely heard this one before; make sure you start the negotiation at a higher or lower price than you actually For example if you want to make $5,000 off of a contract, ask for $6,500. If you want to buy a used computer for $500, start at $350. This gives you a chance to beat your goals outright and gives you wiggle room to work with if and when your opposing party starts to negotiate.
• Disclose your goals. One of the easiest ways to gain someone’s trust is to offer transparency early. You can do this by disclosing your goals, and any mitigating circumstances affecting your decision. For example, you might tell a client how eager you are to land a deal or admit that your budget is lower than you’d like. This may seem like it makes your position weaker since it volunteers information that could be kept secret, but it makes you seem more personal and approachable, so it’s often worth the tradeoff.
• Ask for (and offer) intangibles. You won’t always be able to get the price you want or even budge the price through negotiation. Even so, you’ll have a chance to tip the scales in your favor. Instead of asking for price movement, ask for “intangible” items, such as an option to lower your interest rate in the future, a bonus for signing the contract, or an extension on the terms of the deal.

Important Negotiation Actions

Yet, there is even more that’s possible when it comes to ensuring you negotiate in a way that saves your money business like these actions:

• Always trade; never give things away. During the course of negotiation, the opposing party will inevitably ask you to make concessions, such as dropping the price or including an extra benefit. Avoid giving these things away without asking for something in return. For example, if your new hire wants a $1,500 credit to help with moving expenses, consider offering it—contingent on the employee starting a week earlier than originally intended.
• Tailor your strategies to the individual. Sometimes, your client will request a negotiation. Other times, you’ll be the one initiating it. Sometimes, you’ll be dealing with a conservative, stubborn CEO. Other times, you’ll be dealing with a flexible, young entrepreneur. Get to know your audience as well as you can, and tweak your strategies accordingly. The same tricks won’t work on every negotiator.
• Avoid timeline pressure. It’s tempting to introduce a deadline to pressure a close to the deal. For example, if you’re having a hard time settling on a price, you might claim you’ll walk away if the deal isn’t closed within a week. However, it’s usually better to allow more flexibility; undue timeline pressure can make your opposing party more hostile, or make them more likely to walk if and when they encounter an unfavorable condition.

Negotiation is All Business

Finally, try not to take things personally. You’ll encounter all types of people in your business negotiations. These include those who drive a hard bargain and make no concessions.

When this happens, it’s easy to get offended or even angry at the person you’re working with. Remember, negotiation isn’t personal. If the conditions become too stressful or if the terms of the deal become unfavorable, it’s better to walk away calmly.

Final Thoughts on the Art of Negotiating

Try not to be intimidated at the thought of negotiation even if you’re new to the strategy. Only through experience will you develop the confidence, positioning, and interactive skills necessary to land better deals. If you’re under-experienced in this field, consider using hypothetical scenarios and engagements with people you know. These training exercises perfect your skills. Then, put them to work every chance you get.

Searching for a distributor can feel like a daunting task, but it’s not as overwhelming as most may fear. The best way to streamline the selection process is to do your homework, so you can have a clear understanding of exactly what you’re getting yourself into from the very beginning. Before you finalize your decision, there are a lot of variables to consider. To make sure you start this journey with your best foot forward, let’s discuss three major variables that could make or break the outcome of this venture.

Understand the Value of this Relationship

At first glimpse, this journey may seem like you’re meant to commit to endless meetings where you stand doe-eyed before a prized distributor pitching your product’s value to the company. When you really take a look at how this relationship is formed, you’ll begin to realize that benefits are shared across the board. In short, the distributor should be catering to you too!

It’s no secret that distributors can be really selective of the manufacturers they work with, but that’s for a good reason. Not only do these brands impact the distributor’s reputation – they benefit their bottom line as well.

You need to be as confident in your distributor as they are in you. While you’re searching for a provider that’s interested in expanding their horizons with the amazing product you’re laying out on the table, make sure you walk away from the situation feeling confident in the company’s ability to nurture your brand.

To find your business on the receiving end of the geographical expansion and skyrocketed sales that comes through joining forces with the right distributor is such a satisfying milestone in a budding company’s career. Just remember that you’re bringing plentyto the table as well.

(This is especially true if you decide to take the risk to partner with a distributor who hasn’t broken into your industry. There’s a lot to consider before making a commitment of that magnitude but, if you did, you’d send that distributor’s reputation into a brand new territory. Successfully carrying your brand would prove to future partners that they’re capable of managing their accounts as well.)

Search High and Low

The distributor you decide to partner with will leave a literal imprint on how well your brand impacts your industry on a regional, national, or global level. You may need to interview multiple prospects (possibly even choosing to work with more than one) to give your product the greatest advantage over the long term. Start building relationships with distributors even if they aren’t the right fit for you. You never know who they will know or how your circumstances may change.

To serve your immediate needs, make a short list of distributors you really want to work with. Do your homework. Vet them and make sure they carry products in your category and reach stores that service your demographic. Before finalizing your shortlist, make sure that you’ve done everything possible to locate prospects with the most potential.

1. Ask around to get a list of the distributors your retailers trust
2. Find out what distributors your competitors already have contracts with
3. Look for distributors that manufacture allied or industry-related products
4. Attend meetings, trade shows, and sales expos to network with market influencers
5. Search libraries and online databases to find published directories and reviews (Make sure they’re updated!)
6. Post ads and inquiries in trade publications or online forums to get insider information

Numbers Don’t Lie

In business, we all know that numbers are the name of the game. When we evaluate your strategy, from both the manufacturer and distribution company’s perspective, numbers dictate every move you make. Pay attention to the message the numbers relay – and don’t stress yourself with too many unknown variables.

1. Request information or statistics that prove the distributor’s sales, growth, diversity, and marketing ability. Think about what the company can offer, in terms of reach – both geographically and its retail affiliations.
2. Double check the stats shared by the distributor’s referrals and compare them to your intended projections.
3. Prepare a detailed report explaining your current sales and marketing research and listen to the distributor’s plan to take your numbers closer toward your goals.
4. Pay attention to the distributor’s current inventory and weigh it against estimated activity created by adding your brand.
5. Evaluate the proposed distribution schedule – then assume it may take longer than expected – then match that timeline with your own plan.

Costs, fees (processing or storage), and payments are also some very important numbers to keep in mind. How much will you have to pay out of pocket to partner with each distributor? How much do you stand to return from that investment?

Overall, you need to find a distributor with core values you’d hang on your own wall. If you can mirror each other’s vision, you’re much more likely to benefit from a partnership.

One term you are starting to hear more of in the world of online business is Repurposing. It’s really not new though – I’ve been talking and writing about it for years! You create content for social media, for your blog, your webinars and more. All this content creation can become overwhelming at times. To manage the load, start repurposing now. Repurposing allows you to get more mileage out of each piece of your content.

Another reason to repurpose your content is that it has a very short productive lifespan on the internet. As shown in this graphic:

From: @AffLeaders

So where do you start?

Review Your Current Content

The first step in repurposing your content is to take stock of what you have. In my work with entrepreneurs, they frequently tell me they have “a ton” of content. So I’m excited to get started making it work for them and then I hear, “But I need to find it.” Did you feel my high spirits just crash? So let’s start at the starting line:

Dig all of your content out of your hard drive and have a look at it. Here is what you need to consider for each piece:

• What content is completely out-of-date and can’t be salvaged?
• What content needs to be edited or added to?
• What content can be kept as-is (in other words, it’s as relevant today as when you wrote it)?
• What topics haven’t you covered that you could cover now?

Evaluate Which Past Content Performed Well

You should also review your past published content and look at which content performed the best. In other words, which content got the most engagement in terms of traffic, comments, shares, and so on. Take a good look at this content and ask yourself why it performed so well. Use this information to create new content. This high-performing content should be given first priority in repurposing. It worked before and it’s likely that it will work again.

By now, you should have a decent list of content to start repurposing.

Here is how you can repurpose past content:

• Keep your blog posts effortlessly bringing your target audience from your social media platforms to your website for an entire year with Missinglettr.com.
• Pull key ideas from your longer content to create social media content.

• Pull key ideas from your content to create motivational graphics. Do you have a tip or quote that you can place over a relevant image? You can then share the graphic on your blog and on social media sites.

• Use key ideas to create a video. This can be particularly effective if you have a report, eBook, or online learning program. You can simplify the information and use the video to motivate purchases.

• Combine short pieces from relevant content to create a live event, eBook, or online learning program. You’ve probably already published enough information to create a fuller product. Blog posts can be pulled together to create a report. Reports could be compiled to create an eBook or a downloadable course.

• Record live events and have them transcribed to create tons of written content that can be used in your newsletter, blog posts, or for downloads.

• Transcribe videos and use the information on your blog.
• Pull key facts and statistics together and create an infographic.
• Review old content and look for opportunities to update it with new facts, examples, and information.

• Explore how you can present old content in a different format. For example, product reviews could be used to create a product comparison.

The list of ideas is extensive and with proper planning and attention, you can repurpose just about every piece of content you’ve created. The key is to make small changes to your content so that you’re providing relevant information and value to your audience.

Having a repurposing strategy is just one way to take your content marketing to the next level. It makes the most of your assets and saves you valuable time, energy, and money.

Five years ago, the subscription model still seemed niche and unfamiliar to most consumers. A decade ago, subscription boxes like Birchbox didn’t exist.

Now, almost every type of product is offered through a subscription box. From 2014 to 2017, subscription box sales grew 800%.

For the top subscription boxes, greater sales boil down to solid e-commerce practices. Unique branding, curated customer experiences and more features have attracted consumers and driven more and more purchases.

12 E-commerce Lessons From Subscription Boxes

Gaining buyers’ trust takes persistence as an online seller. You’re not meeting your customers in person, so you have to creatively use digital methods to communicate your brand, build buyers’ trust, and encourage purchases.

Subscription box companies tackle these online selling hurdles head-on. Offering curated product experiences, these services attract buyers by providing them exactly what they want. They don’t need to meet with customers to increase sales—their digital ways of delighting buyers and crafting their brand already encourages purchases.

To learn from the best, we’re breaking down twelve e-commerce lessons from subscription boxes that can help sellers improve their customer experience and boost their profits.

1. Define the niche you’re filling.

You can’t expect to win every customer. Make a value proposition that’s too broad, and you’ll leave buyers confused and unmotivated to check out your business.

Subscription boxes win buyers by defining the niche they’re filling. These companies carefully research their market to determine the exact problem their box is solving. With this understanding, they craft their messaging around the box’s purpose, so customers realize why they should subscribe to it.

The grocery delivery service Farm to People, for example, states exactly what makes their Fresh Box unique on its landing page. Key phrases— “farmer’s market,” “sourced from local farms”—indicate that the Fresh Box is oriented around locally sourced ingredients.

Like subscription boxes, your online store should clearly state your business’ value to attract buyers. State this value as specifically as possible and target customers will immediately understand your product’s benefits and be driven to purchase it.

2. Product presentation matters.

The experience of shopping online can sometimes feel impersonal. Without any merchants or employees to meet, a poorly curated online store will seem cold and uninviting to shoppers.

To compensate, subscription box services delight customers with stunning presentation. Thoughtfully and professionally designed, these boxes give buyers the warm feeling of opening a gift when they receive them. Plus, the packaging often comes in bold colors and fonts that leave customers energized and feeling happy.

The Candy Club subscription box delights customers with a bright, happy teal color and pink tissue paper that makes it feel more like a present.

[Source]

You can delight customers in the same way by rethinking your product presentation. Emulate the aesthetic of what your target buyer loves in your product’s visual elements, such as its landing page or its packaging. Crafting this presentation around buyers’ interests will make them eager to purchase.

3. Personalize your product offering.

According to SaleCycle, 34% of online shoppers abandon their carts because they’re “just looking.” In other words, they don’t feel ready to buy.

To ease these hesitant customers into purchasing, many subscription boxes offer multiple options, allowing customers to customize their box to fit their needs.

The meal kit box Blue Apron, for example, asks subscribers to choose between two-person or four-person plans and list their dietary preferences. Based on this input, the service develops personalized weekly menus for customers.

As an e-commerce seller, find ways to personalize orders from your business, and shoppers will feel ready and excited to buy from you.

4. Let customers try out products.

Unable to see products in person, online shoppers can question whether they should buy an item. If they feel especially unsure, they won’t commit to making a purchase.

Subscription box companies build buyers’ confidence in their purchase by not making the order feel like a commitment. Through a variety of tactics—such as generous return policies or offering products in sample form—these businesses encourage purchases by making a box order feel like a minor investment or easily reversible.

Birchbox, for example, eases customers into subscribing by letting them try a few samples of beauty products at an affordable monthly price of $10.

Make customers feel more comfortable purchasing by framing an order as a non-risky investment. Offering generous return policies, selling products in smaller sizes, and more, can all help shoppers feel ready to buy from your store.

5. Survey customers about their interests.

In any type of business, e-commerce or not, knowing what your customers want is a competitive advantage. The more closely you understand and can meet buyers’ needs, the more you’ll stand out from other merchants.

Subscription box services ensure that they understand their shoppers by asking them about their unique product preferences. Many of these subscriptions start with a customer questionnaire about their product, collecting valuable information that helps companies to meet their customers’ needs early in the relationship.

The clothing subscription box Trunk Club asks shoppers to complete a style questionnaire when signing up so they can pick clothing that the user would want.
[Source]

Understand what customers want from your product, and you can adjust your items to meet their needs and encourage more sales. Alternatively, you can drive more orders by making product suggestions to customers through targeted ads, product page sidebars, and more.

6. Ask for feedback on orders.

Surveying buyers about product preferences is just step one. If you don’t follow up with customers after they make a purchase, you won’t know whether they enjoyed your product or were dissatisfied. Without that knowledge, you lose control of whether the buyer stays or goes.

Subscription box companies preserve their customer relationship by consistently requesting feedback from subscribers. Knowing whether buyers liked or disliked the products that they receive, these companies can improve their offering in the future to keep customers happy.

The clothing box Stitch Fix, for example, asks buyers to leave their stylist feedback on every item they receive so they can send better selections in the future.

[Source]

By consistently for post-order feedback, you can always improve your business with customers to keep them satisfied and loyal.

7. Wow buyers with stunning product photos.

From their screens, online shoppers can’t lay their own eyes on the actual products they’re browsing—they only have item photos. If these pictures are low-quality, buyers are going to be discouraged from making a purchase.

Subscription box services push customers towards subscribing with clear, gorgeous product photos. These images boost buyers’ confidence in the box’s quality since they can clearly see the item details. Beyond clarity, the lighting and staging of these photos can also improve buyers’ perception of products.

The vegan meal kit service Purple Carrot features beautiful photos of the meals that can be created with their boxes to motivate shoppers to subscribe.

[Source]

Every e-commerce seller, not just subscription box services, should use high-quality product photos to attract more buyers. Nail down the lighting, staging, image size and more, and shoppers will be drawn to your items and feel ready to buy them.

8. Launch UGC campaigns.

A major motivator in online purchases is social proof, the psychological phenomenon of people ascribing correctness to what they see others doing. If a shopper sees that many other buyers enjoyed a product through reviews and ratings, they’re going to be much more likely to purchase the item.

Subscription box services use the power of social proof by launching UGC campaigns on Instagram. They know that potential buyers are interested in seeing what’s in their boxes, so they encourage shoppers to share pictures of their orders through hashtags and giveaways. Seeing other shoppers share their love for these boxes gets people ready and excited to become subscribers.

The fashion box FabFitFun launched a UGC campaign where subscribers could enter a giveaway by sharing photos of their boxes with the Instagram hashtag #fffgiveaway.

Like these box companies, you can launch a UGC campaign to help your buyers build trust in your products. To learn more about this tactic, check out our guide on e-commerce UGC campaigns.

9. Partner with social media influencers.

Along with friends and family, shoppers tend to trust industry experts for advice about products in their field. If a notable person recommends a product in their industry, buyers assume that the item must be worthwhile.

Box companies have capitalized on this social proof by partnering with social media influencers. Getting social media users with tons of followers who are well respected in their industry to praise their products is a way for these services to reach more people and gain new subscribers.

The snack box NatureBox partnered with lifestyle blogger Joanna Goddard, who has roughly 130K followers, to share a positive image on Instagram relating to their product.

[Source]

Partner with influencers to get your product in front of new audiences, and you’ll be able to spread brand awareness further and gain more subscribers.

10. Encourage product gifting.

Depending on the type of product you sell, shoppers might not immediately think of your items as potential gifts. If your product is especially practical or utilitarian, buyers could easily pass it off as a possible present for someone.

The key to winning more sales through gifts is to frame your products as presents, like subscription box services do. Almost all of these companies have a section of their website dedicated to gift packages that’s easily visible. Beyond accessibility, these gift pages offer simple, clear options for sending the box as a present. With visible and understandable gift options, these companies encourage shoppers to buy their box as a present.

The shaving box Dollar Shave Club prominently features ways to send their product as a gift.

To encourage more orders, show shoppers how your product could easily be sent as a present. You could create a gift guide with your products or offer a present wrapping option. Giving shoppers these options will boost sales as more people see how they could order your products as gifts.

11. Embrace content marketing.

Your relationship with online buyers doesn’t need to be limited to placing orders. Beyond selling your products, find other ways to provide value to your shoppers.

Many subscription boxes provide extra value to their shoppers through content marketing. Whether it’s an article or video, they post content that their customers care about to not only delight returning buyers, but also spark new interest in the brand.

The subscription box Causebox, for example, hosts a blog called Good News. It focuses on positive stories about wellness, charity, and more to attract their key buyers who appreciate ethically sourced goods.

Provide extra value to shoppers through content marketing, and they’ll appreciate and stay interested in your brand.

12. Buyers appreciate transparency in value.

Online shoppers often don’t know the precise value of the items they’re shopping for, so they may feel unsure about whether they’re worth purchasing. According to Forbes, buyers are more likely to be attracted to brands and products if businesses disclose the value of products.

Understanding this trend, subscription boxes often share the full value of their boxes to buyers. The total cost of the products is typically higher than the box price. Realizing how much of a deal the box is, buyers are motivated to subscribe.

The beauty company Allure, for example, clearly states on their site the full value of the box to show shoppers how much they save by paying only $15 per month.

Build confidence in your shoppers by being transparent about your products’ value. Showing how much items have been marked down or even disclosing the cost breakdown of products, like Everlane does, helps buyers realize why your items are worth purchasing.

Look to Boxes for Exemplary E-commerce Practices

It’s easy to think that subscription box sales have soared in the past few years because the business model is relatively new and exciting to consumers. While that’s true to some extent, the majority of subscription box success is due to companies following tried-and-true e-commerce practices.

Having clear brand missions, pleasing product presentation, and customization are just a few of the ways subscription companies continuously delight buyers and drive more business. Reviewing the subscription box strategies with this guide, e-commerce sellers can improve their own businesses to create a more engaging customer experience and win more sales.

By Tibor Shanto

I was talking with a rep from an IT reseller last week, who was facing what she felt was an insurmountable challenge. She was facing a renewal for a product with one of her clients where the product being resold had gone up in price by some 300%. I’m not talking about Martin Shkreli type increases; to be fair to the manufacturer the product was solid, clients loved, but being innovators, they just hadn’t got around to reviewing the pricing since its release years ago.

She was frustrated because she was expecting the renewal the be a routine, now she has to work, and it may cause the client to look at other things they were buying from her. Adding insult to injury, she felt the manufacturer was not helpful, even though they were willing to let existing customer ramp to the new price over three years rather than an instant hit.

After some discussion, I had to tell her that while it may be unusual and “cruel” to have to sell a 300% increase, it is doable.

I know some people at the manufacturer in question, they sell “add-ons” or “extensions” that address significant deficiencies and enhance the capabilities of a widely used platform. Clients love it, and it sells itself, not only because of quality and reliability but because it was woefully underpriced for years; people were not buying it but stealing it at the price. Something they discovered when they stepped back looked at their business, talked to existing and potential customers, all of which influenced the price increase. Notable fact: new customers not aware if the old pricing, did not push back on the new pricing other than the ritualistic prerequisite need to bargain no matter what.

Compounding the frustration was her inability to understand why the manufacturer was not helping her, “why is he out to get me?” Turns out “he” was not out to get her, just looking for her to sell the value of his product, not the price.

I listened to her call with the manufacturer, and it had all the earmarks of poor salesmanship. Rather than focusing on understanding why the manufacturer was trying to help her make money, she had one goal in mind: “I need you to tell me what features were added to the product so I can explain to my client why they have to pay more.”

Rep: Well did you add any features?
Manufacturer: Does the extension work?
Rep: Yes
Manufacturer: Can you say that about all the extensions, did they all work after the last update?
Rep: No
Manufacturer: That’s a good feature, one they would like to have said about the extensions that failed, did you get any complaints about our extension after the update?
Rep: No
Manufacturer: But you did about the others?
Rep: Yes
Manufacturer: What did that cost them in downtime and clean up, and uncertainty?
Rep: Not sure
Manufacturer: Go ask, we did, and in the process, we learned a lot including the value of what we provide we provide our clients and yours in helping them get to where they set out to get.

The manufacturer went on to explain that when they engaged with the buyers for more than just webinar notices and renewals, they began to see how clients were using the extension in ways they did not initially anticipate. They started to see that they were enabling the clients to derive a different set of values from the extension. This value was not feature based but experience and outcome based, not list of features here.

The reseller, and her company, again let’s remember someone put her up to what she was doing, were stuck on selling by the pound. Add some features – raise the price. The manufacturer had moved on to selling value, what were the capabilities in the extension worth when measured by contribution to the outcome, not from a cost component view. She could not get her head around selling value because she did not understand value as defined by the buyer.

The question is not one of skill; selling is selling, it is a question of mindset: what are you selling? Looked at via the lens of your prospect’s controller “you’re either a cost centre or a profit centre.” Apply that to the sales style, and you are either cost – selling features, usually to a cost centre type of buyer; or you’re profit – selling to people tasked with driving the company’s future. The choice is yours, the effort is about the same. You can waste time trying to list features or highlight outcomes that drive the buyer’s objectives.

Just as an aside, when listening to the call, there was the following exchange:

Manufacturer: I am curious, were you on the account last year or the year before or over the last four years?
Rep: No
Manufacturer: Did you guys raise your pricing over the last five years?
Rep: Yes, why
Manufacturer: Well, I checked in our CRM, and there is no record of you guys calling asking why we had not raised our pricing while making improvements, I did not see that you informed us that you were raising prices and maybe we should consider doing so as well. What prompted you to call now after five years?
Rep: (silence)

The post Selling Outputs Not Inputs appeared first on TiborShanto.com.

B2B marketers want to know how their marketing ops and demand generation performance compares to industry benchmarks. I commonly hear from colleagues and clients that they want to see industry standard benchmarks.  This is especially common from SaaS executives with engineering backgrounds because it’s easy to measure things like uptime and speeds and feeds. I get it. It’s natural for managers to want to compare how well their teams are performing. Benchmarks are a problem, however, because the averages are not based on comparable organizations.

Marketers can sign up with expensive analyst firms who will provide their own benchmarks based on the companies they have surveyed in their client base and how they uniquely index conversion stages.  Interestingly, these benchmarks vary from firm to firm. These same firms should also provide the same disclaimer I’m giving here.

Think about how misleading benchmarks are in our everyday experiences.  Government figures tell us what the median income is.  The median income in Seattle or San Francisco is likely 1.5x or more than the national average.  Real estate services tell us what average home prices are nationally and in various markets. There are national and state benchmarks and averages on high school GPA, graduation rates, SAT scores and more. The point is these benchmarks are mere guidelines that rarely align with specific individual experiences.

Industry benchmarks in B2B marketing must be viewed with pragmatic caution.  I think too many times benchmarks compare sprinters to marathoners.  There are too many variables to make benchmarks a perfect fit for every organization.  Depending on who the benchmarks are sourced from, the data can be incredibly misleading with wide variations from one source to the next.  A high performing company could show an average comparison to ‘best in class’ orgs surveyed by an analyst firm, yet annual growth could be at triple-digit rates. Why is that? Here are just some of the variables:

• Industry – healthcare, security, financial services
• Market – regulated, SMB, enterprise, government, regional, international
• Type of product or service
• Early to market, emerging, established market, commodity
• Pricing models
• Go to market strategy
• Marketing content
• Marketing tech infrastructure
• Management team
• Staffing
• Funding
• Competition
• Data health and quality
• Email deliverability performance

I am sure in the future that data science and AI will help create accurate marketing performance benchmark models that take into account all of the variables I listed above.  Maybe then we can confidently rely on benchmarks for individual marketing performance. (Did I just come up with a new marketing technology category?)

It’s much more valuable to establish an organizational baseline on marketing performance.  Every company collects data on their demand generation program and marketing performance.  These data points can be used to establish a baseline on funnel conversion points, sales alignment, top performing channels, and budget effectiveness. When creating a baseline it’s critical to look at the WHAT (data points) and analyze the WHY.  Unfortunately, many marketers and executives focus solely on the WHAT with the data.  (What happened in the past month or quarter mainly with activity.) These numbers are then jammed into some spreadsheets and meaningless slide decks. There’s no context and very little guidance into future guidance. The WHAT is only a small piece of the story.

The missing component is the WHY.  Why are conversions happening at current levels? Why are certain campaigns great at creating leads? Why is the SDR team only calling 70% of leads? Why are some marketing channels better than others for lead creation? Why are sales cycles so long? Why is the average deal size decreasing this year? Benchmarks from other companies won’t answer the WHY for your organization.

Identify the baseline for your organization. Dig into the WHY behind the WHAT.  I guarantee the effort will reveal more about marketing performance effectiveness than any industry benchmark comparisons.

The post Benchmarks versus Baselines in B2B Marketing appeared first on Heinz Marketing.

There are plenty of activities where, at any point during the task, you can objectively know whether you’re failing or succeeding.

Playing a sport? Glance at the scoreboard.

Taking a class? Look at your grades.

Unfortunately, determining how well (or poorly) you’re scaling a new software-as-a-service (SaaS) company is not so straightforward – unless you know what to measure.

If you want to make the leap from startup to a full-fledged company, make sure you’re tracking these five SaaS metrics.

1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

What Is It?

The average amount a business invests to acquire a customer. Traditionally, CAC is calculated by adding the total sales and marketing expenses for a given period and then dividing that amount by the number of customers gained during that same period.

Why Does It Matter?

Knowing the average CAC gives your company insight into the efficacy of each sales strategy and marketing channel. You can see where the company is getting the most bang for its buck and which campaigns and approaches have a less-than-stellar ROI. This SaaS metric helps your startup more effectively allocate budget and resources.

Your company shouldn’t have a single target CAC for every customer type. Different kinds of accounts will bring different levels of revenue. So for more profitable accounts, it makes sense to have a higher CAC threshold. But if your SaaS business uses the same target CAC for an enterprise-level client as it does for a client with a basic subscription, it will definitely impact your margins.

2. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

What Is It?

Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is actually the end result of calculating four other SaaS metrics:

1. New MRR: Total revenue of all new accounts acquired during a set timeframe
2. Expansion MRR: Revenue gained from upgrades and add-ons to existing recurring accounts
3. Reduction MRR: Revenue lost from clients that have downgraded their subscription due to a reduced need for the solution
4. Churn MRR: Revenue lost from cancelled accounts

MRR = (New MRR + Expansion MRR) – (Reduction MRR + Churn MRR)

Why Does It Matter?

In a traditional business model, a customer pays once upfront, the company receives the revenue, and the transaction is over. But SaaS providers rely on recurring monthly subscriptions for their revenue. So it doesn’t make sense to use the same calculation a non-subscription business does. Software companies don’t experience the same unexpected peaks and valleys in performance that traditional businesses do.

The advantage of MRR is that because it’s pretty consistent and predictable, it helps your company more accurately forecast. Plus, calculating MRR encourages a growing SaaS provider to focus on achieving the essential short-term objective of building a steady revenue stream.

3. Customer Retention Rate

What Is It?

The percentage of customers who have continued using your product over time.

Why Does It Matter?

A fatal mistake many SaaS startups make is concentrating too much on acquiring customers and not enough on retaining them. This is despite the fact that study after study show it costs more to obtain a customer than to keep one. Customer retention rate directly impacts a company’s MRR and, in turn, the future of the business.

Say a startup’s sales reps usually brings in 100 new accounts per month. But each month the company consistently loses ⅓ of its existing customers. The sales manager is focused on maintaining that 100 account/month gross acquisition and totally ignores the number of customers the company’s losing.

All it takes is a couple slow months in a row, and before they know it, the business has lost more customers than it’s gained this year. Now it has to play catch-up. And unfortunately, once a startup’s fallen behind, it’s much more difficult (and expensive) to get back to where it was.

4. Churn Rate

What Is It?

Churn rate is the exact opposite of retention rate. It is the percentage of customers who cancel their subscription during a specific timespan.

Why Does It Matter?

Of course there’s no way to prevent 100% of churn since there are factors your startup has no control over. For example, a customer may pivot its brand and no longer need your software. Or maybe a customer’s company just straight up goes out of business. But a high churn rate is a good indication that either…

• The subscriber base is unhappy with your product
• Your competition is killing it with their marketing campaigns and it’s time for your company to step up its marketing game
• A new, less expensive and comparable product has entered the scene

If your business has a high churn rate, you need to nip it in the bud. Reach out to the customers who recently cancelled. Ask them why they left. Was it a problem with the platform? Does a competitor’s solution offer a feature yours doesn’t? Or was it an issue with support? It may be as simple as offering additional training through the customer support department so they can better assist clients.

If it’s an issue with the software, the development team should prioritize fixing that problem first. Or if there’s a feature customers want that the solution doesn’t have, dev should get to work on adding it (if possible, obviously).

5. Lead-to-Customer Conversion Rate

What Is It?

The number of leads, both inbound and outbound, that convert to paying customers.

Why Does It Matter?

While your SaaS company certainly wants plenty of active monthly users, it won’t survive if it doesn’t monetize its subscriber base.

One of the advantages of calculating lead-to-customer conversion rate is that it gives the sales team an opportunity to define and score leads. Lead scoring is essential for effective lead nurturing. A sales rep should never send an invitation for a free trial to a prospect whose only interaction with your business has been to sign up for your blog. Similarly, if a potential buyer has downloaded a few pieces of your gated content and viewed several high-value pages on your site such as the Contact Us page and product overviews, it doesn’t make sense to treat them as if they’re a high-funnel lead.

If your company’s lead-to-customer conversion rate is too low, it either means the sales team is targeting poor quality leads or they’re not properly nurturing leads through the funnel.

As your startup scales, the number of SaaS metrics you’ll need to track will increase, as well. However, it’s important for your business not to concentrate on complex metrics prematurely. You can’t build a house without a foundation. Consider the five measurements above the bedrock of your company.

The post 5 Key SaaS Metrics Every Software Startup Should Track appeared first on OpenView Labs.

At the Run Like Clockwork event a few weeks ago, Mike Michalowicz had us do an interesting exercise to try to identify our most important role in our business.

He asked us to write out several roles on sticky notes, and then one by one, we were told to eliminate those roles — not delegate them or train someone else, but completely eliminate them — until there was only one role left.

Believe me, there was a lot of internal debate and hand-wringing going on for a lot of people!

When it came right down to it, my biggest contribution to my company — the thing I couldn’t possibly delegate — isn’t sales, it isn’t even delivering strategy sessions. It’s thought leadership.

What I mean by thought leadership is the marketing strategy that I sometimes refer to as “show up and be useful.”

When I write a blog post, or an article for another website, or do a webinar, or come in as a guest expert in someone else’s community, that is thought leadership. And that drives leads and referrals for me.

But what was happening for me is that thought leadership has fallen into the “important but not urgent” quadrant of my to-do list. It’s not an activity that directly leads to more money in the bank for me the way working on a project for a client does, so it tends to get pushed down and put off — until some weeks it falls off the to-do list entirely.

But when I look at it through the lens of Mike’s exercise, it’s clear: nothing else in this business exists without me putting myself out there.

If I don’t do the thought leadership work up front, if I don’t take the time to “show up and be useful,” I won’t have a steady stream of new leads and referrals coming in, and before long, I won’t have those tasks that do lead to money in the bank on my to-do list, either.

That’s a sobering and important realization.

The difference between selling blog posts and customers

Last week I was having a conversation with my CFO, and he said to me, “You don’t sell blog posts. You sell customers.”

He was trying to point out the difference between what we do and what any other random copy writer does.

If I just sell blog posts, I’m competing with every copy writer on UpWork who wants to sell blog posts. And I can’t — and don’t want to — compete with every freelancer out there on price. I will lose that game every time.

If I sell content marketing strategy, on the other hand, I’m in a much smaller pool of competitors. If I sell a strategy that will get you more customers and clients in the next six months… I’m in an even smaller pool of competitors.

But the only way I can convey that what I deliver is more customers and paying clients is to show up and be useful, to talk about it, to toot my own horn and explain to people (sometimes over and over again) why what I do is different and useful.

Are you a thought leader?

If you are a coach, or a speaker, or an author; if you provide some kind of strategy as a service; if you have a strong personal brand or soapbox that differentiates you and your business from the competition — AND if your perspective, point of view, opinions, strategy, formula, framework or vision is what helps you sell your products — then you are a thought leader.

My CFO’s analogy is apt:

• Freelancer who will write a blog post for you — not a thought leader
• Strategist who will write a blog post for you that fits into a big picture strategy to attract more clients — thought leader.

See the difference?

If you are a thought leader and your unique selling position is predicated on that, then the next question becomes: Are you prioritizing your thought leadership?

Or is it falling off the to do list in favor of more “urgent” tasks with alarming regularity?

Prioritizing thought leadership (with a little help)

So many times, I hear business owners talk about how much time it takes to write their blogs, create their videos, record their podcasts, etc. And often, if pressed, they can’t even really say with any confidence whether all that effort is “worth it” — whether they’re actually gaining any traction from creating content.

Because it’s difficult to see the ROI, and the task seems overwhelming, it’s easy to convince ourselves that it’s OK if it falls off the radar. It’s OK if we don’t write a blog post this week.

(Until this week becomes next week; and next week becomes three weeks; and suddenly it’s been a month since we posted anything — but we were so busy!)

Yet if you go back to Mike’s exercise… Does your business even exist without that engine churning underneath, sending you new leads and customers?

The thing is, just because it’s your thought, your leadership, doesn’t mean you have to be the one to produce it.

I have many examples of personality-driven brands on my client list that have engaged us to help them produce the content that will be a vehicle for their thoughts.

It’s still their thoughts. It’s still their vision, their formula, their framework that we’re sharing.

But they don’t have to be the one to write the post.

A great writer can take your thoughts, your vision, and put the words to the page to make them sing.

A content strategist can do that and work with you to fit it into the big-picture strategy that helps you get that message out to the world, bringing in more traffic, more leads, more customers.

One writes a blog post.

The other is a partner in launching your vision.

Which one you choose to support you is up to you.

Too many salespeople simply avoid making prospecting calls.  They make excuses instead. But this doesn’t have to be your reality.

In my book, “High-Profit Prospecting,” I give you specific tools on overcoming your hesitancy and fear of making prospecting calls.

With this book , you can move to the next level of success — the level that top sales leaders around the world are mastering every day.

A coach can help you excel in your sales career! Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

Copyright 2018, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results

How to Make Social Media and SEO Affect Sales

As an entrepreneur, you know that the basic idea is that SEO and social media help you increase your sales. As Lenny Johnson says, social media has exploded: 58 percent of consumers follow brands through social media. Your business simply cannot ignore social media marketing anymore. In this blog, you will learn how social media measures up in today’s SEO and how to turn your social media traffic into sales.

How social media measures up in today’s SEO

According to Susan Gilbert, both content and conversations through the top social networks send out social signals, which ultimately has an effect on your brand’s visibility online. Back in 2014, Matt Cutts explained that Google’s SEO algorithm is not directly crawling social activity due to privacy concerns and changing data. Still, your posts and interactions can attract visitors to your website, thus creating a signal and increased brand awareness.

A Hootsuite experiment

Hootsuite ran a controlled test, which measured social engagement, organic search, and rankings based on a number of factors including:

• 30 articles not promoted on social media or through paid ads,
• 30 articles sent out to the major social networks,
• and 30 articles that were promoted through social advertising

The results revealed an increase in search visibility with a direct impact from social activity. Their control group that had no organic or paid sharing resulted in very little visibility. After a week of observations, the other two groups showed positive results.

“There is a strong correlation between the number of websites pointing to a piece of content and relative rank,” Hootsuite explains. “Overall, there were more improvements in rank associated with social engagements than observed ranking losses.”

Take advantage of social signals to build higher rankings

In order to establish a strong presence online, you need to be producing valuable and original content. Social media and SEO both work together to accomplish this. Ultimately, your website ranking will increase as your social influence and relevance go up. In order to effectively take advantage of social signals to build higher rankings, Susan gives you the following tips to follow:

1. Make sure your fans and followers are the real deal

Most likely paid or promoted content on social media will attract a larger audience, but not people necessarily interested in what you have to offer. In order to be authentic, you need to have a strong following based on building relationships with your community. The quality of your connections matter and you will want to evaluate your current networks to eliminate as many spam accounts as possible. There are many different online tools to help you find and remove fake accounts.

2. Targeted hashtags and links to your website still matter

You will want to include any important website links and relevant hashtags in order to build social proof and attract inbound links that matter to your audience.

3. Use visual marketing to attract a larger audience

Your brand will need to catch the attention of your visitors quickly with images and videos that inform and encourage interactions. Examples include infographics, native video, podcasts, etc.

4. Get your brand established in live streaming and Twitter chats

The video marketing spectrum is expected to continue to grow as more people tune in to find information on their smart TVs and mobile devices. In order to reach people where they are, your brand needs to be available as their go-to source and answers. Using these two tools can dramatically increase your following and bring people directly to your website.

The resources you spend on social media have to lead to sales

Lenny says states that your business simply cannot ignore social media marketing anymore and if you are already marketing on social media, there is always room for improvement. It is not enough to simply create an account or run ads. The resources you spend on social media have to lead to sales. He offers the following five tips:

1. Create a sales funnel

The biggest mistake Lenny has seen brands make is trying to sell a product through an ad directed to people who have never heard of them before. It does not work and is the fastest way to burn money on social media. Before anyone will buy what you are selling, you need to establish a level of trust first. That means the customer has to have multiple interactions with your brand first (Salesforce says it takes up to eight interactions). This is why you need a sales funnel first.

A sales funnel is made up of three stages:

• Top of the funnel: The person is unaware of your brand.
• Middle of the funnel: The person has now had some interactions with your brand.
• Bottom of the funnel: The person has now had plenty of interactions and is ready to buy.

The way you move people from the top of the funnel to the bottom of the funnel is to offer relevant information and build a relationship with them over time.

To ensure that you get the best bang for your buck on social media, you have to prioritize getting your visitor’s contact information. That way, you can build the relationship until they are ready to buy from you. How you get their information depends on your audience and your offering. E-commerce stores can offer a discount in exchange for an email address, and service-based businesses can offer free eBooks or a consultation. With a form set up to capture your visitor’s contact information, usually their emails and names, you can move onto the next step.

2. Analyze your social media channels

Once you have established a social media presence, you need to know which of your social media channels are driving the most growth. There is no ‘one size fits all’ for this; it depends on who you target and what you do. Some channels will be better than others.

Another mistake you can make when marketing on social media is trying to be everywhere at once. It is better to have one great channel that works than seven mediocre ones.

The only way to know which channels are actually driving sales and not burning money is to audit your channels. Your priority here is to know which of the social media platforms are supplying you with a steady stream of customers and potential customers.

3. Set a goal

You cannot really know how well your social media campaign is doing if you have nothing to compare it with. Once you know what channels to focus on, you have to set targets. Your goal cannot be too high or low.

4. Optimize your funnel for social media

You can take advantage of the fact that your visitors are coming from social media platforms to boost both conversion and promotion. For instance, you can include a social signup button. Generally, the less information you require from your visitors, the more likely they are to sign up. Adding a social signup button means there is less for your subscribers to do. Another example is adding share buttons. Your visitors are probably already logged in to their social accounts when they visit your website, so why not encourage a share after they sign up or as they view your content?

5. Get active on social media

There is no ‘set it and forget it’ fix on social media. At this point, you have optimized your website for converting social media traffic to valuable leads. Now you have to get busy with your account and create a presence.

• Engage with your audience

Regularly share meaningful content with your customer base. It is crucial not to focus on promotion at all times. People will not establish a relationship with your brand if you are always pushing them to buy. A good ratio is 20 percent promotional content and 80 percent engagement content.

• Use retargeting ads

A retargeting ad is the greatest feature in your social media toolkit. It allows you to continue building a relationship with a visitor who might otherwise never have another interaction with your brand. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter allow you to retarget your website’s visitors on their platforms.

• Use social listening tools

As your brand becomes more active on social media, it will start to receive more mentions from people on the platform. The only way to stay on top of issues involving your brand is to use a social listening tool. Such a tool notifies you when your brand name is used so you can join the conversation and address inquiries or complaints.

Storytelling is as magical as it is ancient. While many of us appreciate the power of story, we all could benefit from learning the art and science of storytelling and how it can help every facet of or professional and personal lives.

Anyone who knows me, is well aware of my love for Disney. I’ve spent years studying the work of Walt, Imagineering, Pixar, et al. During the development of X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, I partnered with former Pixar storyboard artist Nick Sung. I wanted to learn the importance of storyboarding and everything from character development to story arcs to audience engagement. All I can say is that I was and still am humbled.

There is a promise and a reality of storytelling…

I recently had the privilege to exercise those developing skills on a new project with LinkedIn and GapingVoid, Once Upon a Digital Time: How to be an amazing storyteller when everyone is a storyteller. Please take a look when you can. There are lessons in there for everyone.

Following its release, the team at LinkedIn invited me to their offices in San Francisco for a live interview on the rooftop about storytelling. WOW! The views were incredible. The conversation was inspiring. And, I’d like to invite you to the newly released video (see below).

Can Storytelling Save Marketing?

Did you know that over half a million marketers list storytelling in their profile on LinkedIn? Marketers have become obsessed with telling stories. As a result, has storytelling fallen into the bucket of marketing buzzwords — a bucket full of words like authentic and transparency? Words we use in our marketing jargon but don’t actually take seriously and put into action?

Tune in for our latest episode of Live with Marketers to hear from master storyteller & LinkedIn Influencer Brian Solis and learn:

• What storytelling really means for marketers
• How our discipline needs to evolve in order for storytelling to thrive
• How storytelling can make an honest impact on the way you engage with your audience

Brian Solis

Brian Solis is principal analyst and futurist at Altimeter, the digital analyst group at Prophet, Brian is world renowned keynote speaker and 7x best-selling author. His latest book, X: Where Business Meets Design, explores the future of brand and customer engagement through experience design.

Invite him to speak at your event or bring him in to inspire and change executive mindsets.

Connect with Brian!

Twitter: @briansolis
Facebook: TheBrianSolis
LinkedIn: BrianSolis
Instagram: BrianSolis
Youtube: BrianSolisTV

The post Once upon a time, there was a meaningful conversation about the art of storytelling appeared first on Brian Solis.

A good channel partner stays on top of leading trends within the field. This includes researching what other companies and channel teams are doing to stay ahead of their competition and grow their business.

Here are 3 things leading channel managers and teams are doing to achieve success within their given market space.

Make Improvements to Channel Partner Training, Processes and Strategies

Channel partners who are open to trying new tactics are the ones who will achieve success.

Michelle Accardi, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Star2Star Communications mentions that to grow and improve their channel partner program, they will be enhancing training opportunities, pricing strategies, ordering process, and end-to-end support services. With the goal of

“automating our support efforts to help our Partners become more efficient and focus on what is important: building relationships and closing deals.”

It is a strong approach to optimize your channel partner program regularly. Providing channel partners with up to date training materials, collateral and even learning modules will increase their knowledge and understanding of the business. This will not only bring your company success, but it will also bring success to your channel team.

To read more about optimization, checkout out our blog, 4 Ways to Increase your Channel Sales and Optimize Sales Channel Strategy using a PRM Portal.

Gain Insights from Channel Partners to Improve Partner Experience

Understanding channel partners is key to creating success.

Sara Straley, Assistant Vice President – Channel Marketing at AT&T Partner Exchange, prides her team’s success and growth on

“keeping a close pulse on what they need to succeed and equipping them with the offers, marketing tools and training to get there.”

By understanding her partner’s pain points and what they need in order to succeed in their role, brought Sara’s team success.

Take the time to analyze how your channel partners are working and where they can use collateral and resources to close deals.

As a leader, also ensure that you are not only providing material support to channel partners but leadership support as well. Push your partners to their full potential and create drive and passion within your team.

Prosperity comes in understanding your channel partners and your channel team as a whole.

Launch a Channel Partner Portal

Providing channel partners and channel teams with the right tools is the base of a successful channel program. Without tools, there would be no building, and therefore no growth.

A partner portal, or platform, is a tool that enables channel managers, partners, teams, and customers to work together in a secure digital workplace.

Users are able to access all collaterals they need, register deals, on-board, collaborate, and more.

Catherine Cruz, Director of Business Solutions at D-Links mentions in her interview with CRN Women of the Channel, that her overall goal is to provide a tool like this to her channel teams.

“I also want to enable and empower our sales team and arm them with tools such as partner scorecards and social selling skills, which will help drive stronger partner relationships throughout the channel.”

Catherine’s goals are strong and will bring her channel team success. With the right tool of implementation, the channel sales team will be sales enabled and empowered with knowledge and support.

There are further benefits to a partner portal, read our blog 7 Things About a PRM Portal your Management Team Will Want to Know to learn more.

Follow the trend, learn from it, and lead the force

Whether you’re new to the channel partner world or a leader, keeping up with business trends will propel you to greater heights.

As a channel partner, look to your channel managers for growth opportunities and learn from them. Analyze the way they think, the way they interact etc. Doing this will get you closer and closer to your individual career growth.

If you’re a channel manager, you may be looking forward to your next career jump, as you focus on creating a channel team of champions. Keeping your focal point on your channel team’s success will demonstrate how strong you are as a leader. Grow your team, provide them with the necessary tools plus more and you’ll move forward in your own career as well.

 

We recently had a major overhaul of our pricing and landing page and wanted to get a good idea of what a high-converting pricing page looked like. We turned to the experts.

There are a lot of best practices for SaaS pricing pages out there, with giants like HubSpot, ConversionXL and SixteenVentures being the authorities.

I thought the best way would be to look at the pricing pages of the SaaS 250 — a list compiled by Montclare of the most successful SaaS products in the world.

To see this data in the form of an infographic, you can skip straight down to the bottom on this page.

Before we start — why did 80% of companies not have pricing pages?

Before jumping right in, it’s interesting to note that of these 250 companies, only 48 had pricing available. The rest had pricing available on request by contacting the sales people.

Jason Lemkin, CEO and Co-Founder of EchoSign, says that most companies have a very good reason for this. Writing on Quora, he outlined 5 key reasons you might be better off not showing pricing on your website.

1. Deals will get more complex as you grow. Some day you’ll do a deal so large and complicated it wouldn’t have been able to be expressed in $/user/month. Products with integrations and add-ons will be priced so confusingly, it’s simpler to just get them on the phone to sales.
2. Discounting will become difficult. With a preset rigid pricing structure, you’ll put off enterprises. Jason says “Your champion will require a discount. Then, it will get sent to procurement. Procurement’s bonus will be tied to the next discount they win. If you have rigid pricing, you’ll blow the deal.”
3. A $700k deal is sold differently to a $100k deal. When it means the difference between an everyday deal and a huge account, you’re going to treat the customers differently. Pushing both down the same track is risky because you want to make sure that the big customers are on the phone to sales straight away.
4. Enterprise customers just want to buy. Jason says that price doesn’t matter for enterprises. More than 80% of the time, they just want to get set up with a solution as efficiently as possible. Price comes after features.
5. Looking as if you’re ‘all about price’ is a bad look. Pricing can make your product look cheap, and not enterprise-oriented. Jason says, “If your competitor says “Call Me” and appears more or equally enterprise-grade and trustworthy — your transparent pricing may say “cheap”. “

So, 202 of the SaaS 250 have good reasons for not being transparent with their pricing. Let’s look at what I found when analyzing the SaaS pricing pages of the remaining 48.

The study’s highlights

Granted, there is quite a bit of data here. Here are the highlights of the study to make it easier to get some perspective.

• The average number of packages is 3.5
• Only 50% highlight a package as the best option
• Just 69% of companies sell the benefits
• 81% organize prices low to high
• 38% list their most expensive package as ‘Contact us’
• The most common call to action is ‘Buy Now’
• 36% don’t use a contrasting CTA color
• 63% offer a free trial
• Just 4% of companies offer pricing on a sliding scale
• 81% of packages are named
• Only 6% show a money back guarantee on-page

Now for a detailed dive into my findings and some great examples of pricing pages for your inspiration.

The average number of packages is 3.5

My results show that the number of packages ranged from 1 (New Relic‘s Mobile product) to 10 (GitHub), with the most popular choice being 4 different packages to choose from.

Why?

Because customers are paralyzed by choice. HubSpot’s fantastic article about decision fatigue included a study which showed customers who were presented with 6 options instead of 24 were 10 times more likely to buy.

The same logic applies for feature lists longer than Infinite Jest — if someone has to read a 50-row spreadsheet before they can figure out the difference between plans, they’ll become confused, tired and rethink their decision to buy. That’s why you should cut the options down as much as possible, as well as only listing features that are relevant and the benefit of which is easily conveyed to the potential buyer.

Here’s a concise pricing table from LivePerson, giving visitors an at-a-glance overview of the features and prices available:

Only 50% highlight a package as the best option

ConversionXL’s article 10 Principles of Effective Pricing Pages notes that the best pricing pages highlight one particular package as the best option. Why? Well, there are a few reasons, some more sneaky than others.

1. By highlighting the most profitable plan, you would generate more revenue.
2. By highlighting your most expensive plan, it acts as an anchor — a standard all visitors will set their expectations by. When they see 2-3 other plans much cheaper than the first one they saw, visitors will believe them to be cheap in comparison, and more likely to convert.
3. “Sneaking” your most profitable plan in the middle of your pricing page means that more visitors will click on it because people generally prefer something in the middle.

The way Freshbooks highlights their middle option is interesting, and beautifully designed:

Just 69% of companies sell the benefits

You’d think that the biggest SaaS companies in the world wouldn’t have to be reminded to ‘sell with benefits, support with features‘. It’s the most basic rule of copywriting.

Very few people care about your multi-band high-gauge ultra-optimized whatever-it-is, but they will care that it can make them more money or make their lives easier.

Zendesk‘s pricing page shows the benefits of each package for each persona it’s aimed at:

Side note: ‘Essential’ is a reasonably popular name for low-priced packages, but not nearly as popular as it should be. It describes the product well (the bare essentials) but also hints the product is a must-have.

81% organize prices low to high

The eye scans left to right just as we expect prices to escalate from left to right. When prices are unevenly displayed, it can throw us off balance a little. Is that a bad thing? Lincoln Murphy from SixteenVentures thinks not.

A left to right, high to low approach seems to provide a statistically significant lift every time.

This works in the same way as highlighting your most expensive package — it provides a price anchor for customers to use as a reference point and determine how ‘expensive’ or ‘cheap’ your other packages are.

When selling someone a product, it’s been proven that starting with a more expensive product then working your way down to a cheaper one makes the customer more likely to buy a higher priced product because it skews their perspective of how much something ‘should’ cost.

Lincoln would argue that Bill.com, and 81% of the analyzed companies, are doing it all wrong by displaying their prices low to high.

38% list their most expensive package as ‘Contact us’

As Jason Lemkin has pointed out, the more expensive a product is, the more complicated the sales and discounting process is. Instead of listing a large fixed price for enterprise customers, SaaS products should opt for a ‘contact us’ or risk blowing big deals.

In the interest of keeping it simple, ‘Contact us’ sometimes is the best option. It can avoid pricing structures like this:

$400/user/month + $200 for 10,000 contacts then $150 for 10,000 after that, and an optional full setup fee of $4500 (depending on the amount of contacts, users and how much sleep your sales rep will get).

Here’s an example of this structure (and a lot of complexity avoided) from Hightail:

The most common call to action is ‘Buy Now’

This is a weird one. More than a quarter of the companies analyzed used ‘Buy Now’ as their main call to action (CTA).

It’s weird because split-test veteran and ConversionXL founder Peep Laja says “I yet have to see a test where ‘buy now’ performed better than the alternatives (‘add to cart’, ‘get started’, ‘choose plan’ etc)”.

Are these companies just too big to care?

The most popular CTAs were, in order:

1. Buy Now (27%)
2. Sign up (23%)
3. Start your free trial (8%)
4. TRY (6%)
5. Contact Us (4%)
6. Other — including oddities like ‘More info’ and ‘Fill out the form’ (32%)

Here’s an example of Xero using the popular ‘Buy now’ CTA:

36% don’t use a contrasting CTA color

The famous red button test by HubSpot saw the company improve conversions on Performable’s pricing page by 21%. How? By changing the CTA button color to a contrasting one. Performable’s main color was green, so having a green button wasn’t standing out as well as it should. As the only eye-catching color on the page, the red CTA made a big difference.

Dropbox’s CTA is the same color as its logo and main brand color:

While Box uses an eye-catching green CTA to compliment it’s blue brand color:

63% offer a free trial

While a free trial is an extremely important part of a product’s funnel, only 63% of companies analyzed offer it.

According to Pierre Lechelle, SaaS free trials are often misunderstood by their providers who don’t understand how giving away something for free boost revenue. In the case of the SaaS 250, however, it’s understandable.

For products which cost more per month than an average salary, it makes more sense to treat the customer to a little concierge onboarding by offering a demo and a sales rep willing to talk endlessly about the benefits and get the customer set up properly.

This is a great alternative for complex products which need a high-touch approach because if you let the CMO of General Electric play around inside your product without the most helpful 1-on-1 guidance, you’ll be pissed when they go
no further than the trial.

Just 4% of companies offer pricing on a sliding scale

Sliding scales allow customers to be ultra-specific with their needs and pay for only exactly what they’re going to use. Plus, according to Peep Laja, giving users something to play around with will keep them sticking around for longer and subconsciously soaking in the details and pricing of your product.

Atlassian’s BitBucket uses a slider as a way to simplify their pricing to the extreme, and as another way of saying $1/user/month or $200/month for unlimited users.

81% of packages are named

PriceIntelligently suggests you create one package for each persona you’re selling to.

It’s no use targeting a persona if they don’t realize they’re being targeted and can’t work out which package would be best for them. That’s why companies like Huddle name their packages based on the kinds of businesses they’d be good fits for.

Here’s an example from Huddle, who (unlike companies who offer ‘Lite’, ‘Pro’ and ‘Pro+’) are pretty specific about personas.

Only 6% show a money back guarantee on-page

Why do so many companies not want to reassure their customers?

There are two sides to the argument.

One is that it quells your buyer’s fears of ‘what if this won’t work for me’. The other is that it conveys the message that they might need to cancel (or that your company is used to being cancelled on so has a system in place when it happens).

Abscense of money back guarantees amongst the SaaS 250 could be because plenty of the products offered lock you in for a year (one I saw even did it for FIVE), or already offer 30 days free trials in place of a 30 day money-back-period. I’d be willing to bet that it’s mostly a case of not wanting or needing to provide such an offer.

Here’s one of the rare cases from Constant Contact:

What can this teach us about SaaS pricing pages?

This shouldn’t teach you not to offer pricing on a sliding scale because only 4% of the most successful SaaS companies does it.

It also doesn’t mean you need to cut your price packages down to 4 (or 3.5) because that’s a secret number that makes people buy even if they aren’t interested.

What this really means is that there are a lot of different standards.

Even the most successful SaaS companies in the world don’t conform to the ‘best practices’ laid out by conversion specialists.

That’s because they each have different audiences. Maybe your customers are longing for a massively detailed feature list, or CTA copy which reads ‘Buy Now’.

The only way to find out is rigorous split-testing! And we thought it’d be as easy as looking at what the most successful SaaS companies are doing…

Here’s the infographic version I promised at the start of the post:

This infographic was made with the Infographic maker Venngage.

There have never been more avenues available for marketing than there are these days—TV, radio, billboards, website ads, social media, and so on. But even with all these channels to choose from, 80% of marketers agree email marketing remains one of the most effective strategies.

With marketing automation in place, it’s tempting to “set it and forget it” when it comes to email marketing. But, just like life, what you get from email marketing depends on what you put into it. The best way to maximize your gains is to pair a great marketing automation system with a robust email marketing strategy that reflects your customers’ needs and the buyer journey.

We’ve gathered a list of tried-and-true email marketing strategies for you to put into practice for your business this year:

1.  Personalized and Segmented Emails

Sometimes low-hanging fruit is as easy as it looks. Personalizing emails, as well as segmenting them—a marketing technique that teases out your subscriber list to send relevant emails to specific subscribers—can offer significant returns. Segmenting emails allows you to target specific groups of subscribers, which leads to substantial increases in click-through rate.

Starting your subscriber emails with “Dear [First name]” instead of “Dear valued customer” can make a world of difference. Something as simple as a personalized greeting can offer a six-fold increase in transaction rate, but 70% of brands still fail to personalize their emails.

Take personalization emails a step farther, and you can customize your call to action (CTA). Focus on understanding buyers and how their roles fit within their organizations. For example, a marketing director and a technical director may have entirely different goals and perspectives when they open up your email. If you offer a unique CTA for the two groups, they are more likely to engage with your email and more likely to convert.

Here are some different ways to segment an email subscriber list:

Demographics: Certain demographics like age, gender, job title, and other information that informs your buyer personas can be a good way to segment customers and customize messages. For example, a financial company may want to send retirement-themed emails to customers seeking information on offering their employees benefits and emails about college loans to university-based customers.

Open and click-through rates (CTRs): Knowing who are engaged customers (those who open most emails and end up making purchases) versus inactive customers (who haven’t opened any emails in months) can be invaluable. Marketing campaigns announcing a new product should absolutely include those engaged customers, while re-engagement campaigns can be created to try and entice the inactive customers.

Location: Businesses that offer local service, such as a lawn service company, obviously need to target local customers, but regional, national, and global companies can also benefit from location-based personalization. Consider running special campaigns for customers in a specified location based on regional events or what’s happening at your local office.

Interests: This is a big one, and Amazon is a prime example of the impact it can have. Recommendations are made based on purchase history, which offers a more personalized message that is more likely to drive engagement and, ultimately, a purchase. What are the bottom-line interests in B2B marketing? How your product or service saves time, money, and resources.

Phase in the customer lifecycle: Targeting customers based on where they are in the customer lifecycle is perhaps one of the biggest ways to reach them. These are some examples, based on the buyer journey:

• Welcome emails to new subscribers
• Re-engagement or follow-up emails to customers who seem stuck or hesitant
• Follow-up emails to prospects who completed a trial/demo but did not move on to a purchase
• Confirmation or thank-you emails to customers who completed a purchase

There are many more ways to segment your audience for effective email marketing—the full possibilities are almost endless. Keep in mind that segmentation should be customized to your business or marketing plan: segmenting that works for a technology company wouldn’t necessarily work for a boutique.

Marketing automation plus a personalized email marketing strategy enables sophisticated personalization, bringing you closer than ever to your customers. Use it and love it.

2. Drip Campaigns

A drip campaign is a set of scheduled marketing emails sent out automatically after a particular trigger. These campaigns can be used to turn prospects into leads, turn leads into customers, and turn customers into highly engaged customers. Drip campaigns have shown to result in up to a 98% conversion rate for qualified leads.

Drip campaigns can be configured to respond to customer behavior triggers like a new subscriber, a resource download, or a request for a demo. When this action is recorded in the system, it triggers your drip campaign workflow, which sends a follow-up message after a set time interval.

A trigger can also be a passive customer behavior, such as not opening your last few emails, not logging in to use your service for a while, or downloading a product without downloading the tutorial or an important related resource. These types of drip campaigns can help re-engage customers who were moving through the customer lifecycle but have somehow gotten “stuck.”

A drip campaign paired with marketing automation can help you:

• Move leads through the marketing-sales funnel faster.
• Educate your leads about your product and your industry.
• Give your leads more opportunities to engage with your content.
• Give your sales team more data about “warm” leads.
• Re-engage customers that have been inactive.
• Encourage customers to try other parts of your product or related products.
• Reward your most engaged customers with special offers or inside info.

Drip marketing is one component of lead nurturing, the process of developing relationships with buyers at every step of the buyer’s journey. Segmenting your audience and creating a drip marketing strategy that speaks to these different segments is a great way to listen to the needs of your prospects and provide the answers they genuinely need.

3. Full-Funnel Campaigns 

The marketing funnel used to be simple—customers enter the top of the funnel and some eventually come out the bottom with a purchase and retention. Omnichannel marketing has made this funnel much more complicated, even including pre- and post-purchase phases of the customer lifecycle.

Enter full-funnel campaigns.

Full-funnel marketing is a newer digital marketing strategy that focuses on spending time and money on the most valuable, profitable returns. (And with 67% of the buyer’s journey done digitally, email marketing is a nice platform match.)

Full-funnel campaigns also take into consideration how the marketing funnel has morphed over the years. The old school of thought had a top, middle, and bottom part of a funnel, where customers went in at the top and left it after making a purchase. The funnel has evolved into a customer lifecycle that includes those pre- and post-purchase phases mentioned earlier.

In the customer lifecycle, sometimes customers skip or repeat phases.

Here’s a walk-through of how the customer lifecycle integrates with full-funnel marketing:

• Awareness (formerly the top of the funnel): In email marketing for full-funnel campaigns, the purpose of this phase is to educate and build trust with the customer, delivering engaging content rather than pushing sales. This is the stage where customers first learn about your products, so make sure to keep it informative and relevant, rather than driving to free trials, discounts, or other special offers designed to drive conversions.
• Engagement (formerly the middle): Email marketing strategies for this phase deliver education and then point to a product’s benefits, offering a gentle sales lead. Customers have a growing interest in your product, but some might stay in the engagement phase for a while—perhaps visiting your social media pages to find out more about the product before purchasing. If customers are going to abandon the sale, it’s likely to be in the engagement phase, which is where re-engagement email campaigns come in.
• Purchase (formerly the bottom): This phase should drive the sale, such as a free trial or discount offer. These messages can be much more direct and sales-oriented since these customers have indicated they are closer to a purchase than others. In this phase, it’s important to keep your emails focused on the primary call to action (CTA) and make sure the transaction is as easy as possible. Some companies opt to offer post-purchase set-up assistance or support to help customers move from engagement to purchase.
• Retention/Loyalty and Growth: At this stage, the customer purchased a product, used it, and keeps coming back. As the customer gets to know the product, your email marketing campaigns should focus on ways to maximize the value of the product, find new ways to use it, and potentially add on other related products or services. Customer loyalty is a key part of company success, but growth goes hand-in-hand; your email marketing should support a strong cross-selling and upselling strategy. When you identify complementary products for customers, you continue to provide increased value. These full-funnel campaign emails can have a slightly stronger sales lead than in first-time engagement, but keep it gentle if you’re trying to sell a product that’s new to the customer. Also, keep in mind that customer loyalty isn’t as strong in B2B as it is in B2C, so continue to remind customers of how your products or services save them time, money, and resources.
• Advocacy: The old adage of “word of mouth is your best marketing” is still true today. When a customer loves your company or products, they tell others about it. Social media and online reviews are some of the strongest purchase influencers. To capitalize on the advocacy stage, identify your happiest customers and see if they’ll spread the word with a review or testimonial. If you have a referral program where you offer discounts or other rewards for bringing in new business, make sure this program is a big part of your email marketing strategy for devoted customers.

Full-funnel campaigns provide insight into where your marketing efforts are paying off, as well as ROI, no matter where in the lifecycle they hit customers.

4. Interactive Campaigns

With all the pings, alerts, and beeps vying for customers’ attention, the average human now has an attention span of eight seconds—less than a goldfish. This makes it more vital than ever to include interactive content in your campaigns.

Every stage of your email marketing campaign should have engaging content. 93% of interactive content is somewhat or very effective at educating the buyer, which is almost 25% higher than non-interactive content.

Interactive campaigns are a platform that can glean information from your customers because customers are more likely to engage, learn about your product, and purchase.

For example, a young company experiences growth and considers purchasing an employee health insurance plan but knows little about options. A health insurance company offers an online quiz with questions such as what state the company resides and what employee health benefits laws apply based on the number of employees, what to look for in health insurance offerings, etc.

What did the health insurance company gain from this interaction? Valuable data.

• This customer is interested in company-wide health insurance (a products/services sales lead).
• This customer doesn’t know much about Questions X and Y (pain point identification and possible opportunity to provide more learn-intent content on those topics).
• This customer has the revenue and interest to offer employee benefits (a products/services sales lead and an opportunity to suggest complementary products, especially upsell opportunities as the customer hires more employees).
• This customer is in the awareness/engagement stage of the buyer journey (a cue for audience segmentation).

What did the young company gain from this interaction? Valuable information about employee health insurance plan laws and plan options, plus a meaningful interaction with a brand that may be able to help them (AKA, save them time, money, and resources).

Customers who gain value from an interaction are more likely to trade an email address, thus opening the doors to personalized marketing campaigns and your ability to guide the customer on to a purchase. Interactive content generates conversions moderately or very well 70% of the time versus 36% for passive content.

Here’s some interactive content that can be included in email:

• Infographics: This is one of the most shareable forms of content, plus humans are highly visual creatures. On average, companies that use infographics have 12% traffic growth over those that don’t—one company even reported a 756% increase. When creating an infographic, tailor it to your audience, make it simple, and offer value.
• Video: Recall how humans have attention spans shorter than a goldfish? The higher the customer is in the lifecycle that it’s targeting, the shorter the video should be. With 43% of consumers wanting more video content from brands, it might explain why landing pages with video see 80% more conversions than those without.
• Surveys/polls/quizzes: Keep them short and select questions wisely to gain insight into your subscribers. Quizzes, in particular, are growing in popularity and have a 33% lead capture rate and a high chance of being shared.
• Calculators: A calculator offers customers a lot of value with minimal effort on their part and instant gratification. Even a simple price calculator (e.g., “How much does it cost to buy a house?”) can have impressive results: companies report lead conversion increases of more than 25%, plus a nice boost from social traffic. Offering a calculator as a call-to-action is a sign of your intent to solve a customer’s problem and add value, boosting your brand image for customers who aren’t ready to commit.
• Images or custom font: Even spicing up a plain text email to include a GIF, background image, or unique font can help engage customers. Images, in particular, could earn the page up to 94% more traffic. Be sure text is legible and images are high-resolution—an unprofessional email is a fast way to send a customer running.

Keep in mind that every email doesn’t need to be a sales pitch either. Sometimes emails that provide sheer entertainment for customers help your brand stand out. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy an unexpected laugh?

5. A/B Testing Campaigns

A/B testing, or split testing, is one of the most powerful tools in a marketer’s toolbox. It compares two versions of the same campaign on email, websites, or other channels.

A/B tests are typically performed on one variable at a time—even something as seemingly minor as background color—to test opportunities to improve conversions. A/B testing collects data on deliverability, open, and click-through rates to see if one version is superior to the other.

Segmenting emails comes in handy when performing A/B testing. It allows email marketers to serve the test to similar sets of customers to help ensure reliable results and rule out results stemming from chance. However, random changes can’t be made without a strategy, or skewed or worthless data will be derived. Here’s an example to walk through:

Your subscriber list has been growing rapidly, but the click-through rate (CTR) has remained stagnant. What’s going on? Your first instinct is that your subject lines are too dull, but you don’t want non-engaged customers to skew the results.

You split your email subscriber list into “cold” vs. “warm” leads so you can compare similar groups of customers in this test. You prepare two versions of your email—one with the normal subject line, and one with a much shorter, punchier subject line. You send half of your cold leads the normal subject line and half of your cold leads get the new, exciting subject line. You also send half of your warm leads the normal subject line, and the other half get the new subject line.

A few days later, the results come back. In both groups (cold and warm leads), CTR is much higher with the new subject line. However, the average CTR for the cold leads is much lower than the warm leads.

This A/B test indicates that engagement is one problem, but your subject lines are an even bigger problem—and one you can solve right away. CTR rates are understandably lower among the less-engaged group, but you saw engagement increase with a punchier subject line, so there is room to improve CTR among cold leads. CTR rates are higher in the more engaged group, but with a better subject line, this rate could go through the roof.

The combination of segmentation and A/B testing lets you test different theories and helps prevent customers from falling out of the lifecycle.

The beauty with A/B testing is possibilities are endless. However, it’s important to stay focused on your goals and not get caught going down rabbit holes with endless testing that won’t deliver ROI.

What variables can be A/B tested in email? Here are a few:

• Subject lines
• Messaging
• Call-to-action
• Personalization
• Landing page
• Target audience
• Sender name
• Design
• Images

This list of variables that can be split tested could go on and on, so use it wisely. Most email marketing automation programs realize the value of A/B testing and offer it on their platforms.

Driving Impact with Email Marketing

When marketing automation is paired with a customer-centric strategy, the results can be amazing. For every $1 spent on email marketing, expect an ROI of $43. This is not only due to a decrease in manual labor, but also because email marketing automation can target and guide readers who are at various points in the buyer journey.

Email marketing strategies have the potential to be a strong revenue generator. What new email marketing strategies have you tried out this year? Tell me about your experiences in the comments.

The post 5 Email Marketing Strategies to Try in 2018 appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

If your content marketing is failing and your business isn’t growing the way you want it to, it’s probably because you’re being too nice.

If you’ve been hanging around here long enough, you probably know that one of my favorite email subject lines is “How Can I Help?”

Now, that’s not just because it gets great open rates (seriously, give it a try sometime). I’m also genuinely, to a fault, obsessed with being helpful to you guys… and I realized recently that I’m probably being too nice.

Helping People Is Awesome… But Being Too Nice Has Consequences

I love the feeling of teaching someone a new skill, opening their eyes to the very real and achievable success that lies in front of them, making introductions that spark amazing connections between people, and sharing processes, tools, and systems that make an immediate impact on their businesses, careers and lives.

You’ll see this phrase — “How can I help?” — peppered throughout our content, our website buttons, and the workshops and webinars we host. Since the day I started this business, I knew my purpose was to help people be successful and feel confident in their business and career goals.

I also believe that being truly helpful and providing value to those around us is a primary ingredient in every recipe for success. But… and it’s a big but… it can also be a disastrous habit.

Being helpful without restraint and boundaries is a major reason why content marketing fails, even when you feel like you’re doing everything right.

This Is Why Content Marketing Fails — You’re Being Too Nice, and in Business, That’s a Recipe for Disaster

Here’s the funny thing about just offering up help — no strings attached, out of the goodness of your heart, high value, at no cost, help — the people who clammer to take you up on these offers of help:

1. Often won’t understand the value of what you’re giving them.
2. Because of the low perceived value, they won’t act on the help you give them.
3. They may even be offended or upset that your free help didn’t immediately, and without any pain or effort, fix their problem.
4. They probably won’t reciprocate the help in any way — not even a thank you.

We spent years teaching in-depth, multi-part workshops, giving away templates and worksheets that unlocked our most awesome of awesome sauces in a no-brainer format, and even tacking on extra services, coaching and training time for our clients and prospects at no cost, all because we have it deep in our hearts to help as many business owners and marketers as we can…

And It Wasn’t Working — We Were Being Too Nice, and Our Content Marketing Was Failing

All this hand holding and giving away the farm wasn’t actually helping a damn person. It especially wasn’t helping us. It was why we felt, at the time, that content marketing fails more than it works.

We were being too nice for our own good, and it was hurting the bottom line.

I spent more time than I’d like to admit feeling burned out, taken advantage of, and generally Scrooge-like as a result of years spent being the giver of all and receiver of none of the business benefits I not-so-secretly desired.

Here’s what I’ve learned walking this tightrope, between having a true desire to help every person I connect with enjoy success, and my belief that giving of yourself and your talents is the magic ingredient to success.

Stop Being so Nice — Helping Does Not Mean Doing It All

We were offering too much, and we were being too nice for our own good.

Savvy folks know they need to bust some hump to reach their goals, and our “everything on a silver platter just because we love you” approach sounded way too good to be true.

It either threw up red flags about our true intentions, or they assumed the quality of what we had to offer was subpar.

Those who were attracted to our insanely generous free offerings expected a silver bullet that would solve all their problems without requiring a bit of hard work.

We’ve shifted our approach from handholding and putting everything on the table with no investment required (of money or time), to putting the hard work squarely on their shoulders, where it belongs.

The failure of others has nothing to do with you or the help you give them. Their failure does not mean your content marketing has failed.

Instead of in-depth, multipart, free workshops we now offer one-off lunch and learns and webinars that impart the knowledge and tools necessary for people to DIY it, that send the listeners home to put their heads down and get the work done.

The workshops are still available, but they require a significant investment that is in line with the value we deliver.

We’ve also added a price tag to some of our best ebooks and templates. You can still access these wells of knowledge and help, but you’ll have to make an investment.

To truly help and offer value, you’ve got to set the expectation that the folks you help will be doing hard work and making an investment.

They will be putting in time and energy (and probably some money).

They will require commitment and effort to reach their goals, and you will be there to provide some guidance, structure, and all the cheerleading they need.

Helping Others Does Not Make You Responsible For Their Success

There is little that feels worse than pouring yourself into creating materials and workshops and content for others, only to have them proclaim failure of those assets because they didn’t reach their goals.

Or worse, to learn they never really even tried to implement the tools and resources you gave them. It makes you feel like your content marketing efforts have failed, that your attempts to provide useful, valuable content to create a relationship were wasted.

If you’re like me and want to see every person around you doing their absolute best with the strategies and tactics you offer, it can be deflating to witness these failures.

The failure of others has nothing to do with you or the help you give them. Their failure does not mean your content marketing has failed.

Being Nice and Helpful and Providing Value Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Ask For Help In Return

There’s this assumption that being altruistic and providing value to others is all give, give, give, and as a helper, you aren’t allowed to make your own needs known.

And while I do truly believe giving and helping others is mandatory for success, it is also imperative that we make our own needs known, ask for help, and willingly accept it without shame or ickiness.

Here’s The Help We Would Appreciate From You

1. When you need help with your marketing, I hope you will call us. Understand that we are excellent at content marketing, website design, and branding, and while we want to help you with the free and inexpensive resources we publish on our site, at the end of the day, we are a business that thrives on providing digital marketing services.
2. Tell other business owners, marketing directors, and people in charge of business growth about us. Maybe you’re not ready to hire a team to help you, but others in your network may be. So, if you find our content and resources valuable, then help us by spreading the word.
3. Use the resources. Put the information and advice to work in your business. Don’t forget the mission that led you here in the first place. Put your head down, do the work, and see the results!

So, How Can I Help? No, Really. How Can I Help You?

If you’re here and reading this, if you’re participating in our content by reading it, sharing it, using it to grow your business, and telling other people about the work we do, then I want to help you.

Seriously.

Who can I introduce you to?

What topics can we cover?

What questions can we answer that will help you get where you want to be in your business?

Let me know in the comments.

And don’t forget to put those resources to good use.

The stigma of asking for or being assigned an executive coach is vanishing quickly. The growth of the industry tells us so. In the U.S. alone, $1 billion was spent on business, personal and relationship coaches last year, according to IbisWorld, up about 20% from five years earlier. And the number of business coaches worldwide has zoomed more than 60% since 2007, according to one coaching association. But while executive coaches have improved the performance of many already-good managers and sanded the rough edges off many less effective ones, they aren’t a miracle cure. In fact, we have seen many companies waste considerable sums by assigning coaches to managers who just aren’t ready to be coached, no matter how effective the coaches may be.

So how do those who control the coaching purse strings — HR, talent managers, and other buyers — avoid throwing money away on uncoachable executives? Considering that a year’s engagement with a top executive coach can cost more than $100,000, it’s an important question.

From nearly 35 years of coaching hundreds of executives, our firm has noticed a pattern of red flags that indicate when a coaching investment will be wasted. Here are four things to watch out for:

1. They blame external factors for their problems.

When things go wrong, does this person always have an excuse? Maybe they point a finger at the quality of their team, a lack of resources, or even their boss.

When leaders argue about the validity of your reasons for offering coaching, or offer excuses or defenses for poor results, it can be a sign that they lack self-awareness. Before any coaching can be effective, they need to wake up to the ways their actions affect others.

One CEO we worked with was known for his smart turnarounds of a large media company. But he was struggling to get along with his executive team. Finally, several board directors suggested he should seek out a coach. After multiple sessions, he had shared little information about himself, and we were no closer to figuring out the root of the problem. Stymied, we suggested that we observe the next executive team meeting.

Suddenly, all was clear. We were shocked by how he controlled the conversation in the room. He simply spoke over other people with a volume of words that was unfathomable. When he left the room to take a call, his team members erupted with frustration. It was obvious that this CEO was completely out of touch — something that became even more apparent later on, when he asked us to tell the board how positively he was responding to coaching.

Leaders like this often ignore criticism if it doesn’t jibe with their view of themselves — and such feedback is easy to ignore if it’s buried in a performance review or mentioned briefly in a larger conversation. Conducting a non-judgmental, just-the-facts 360-degree review could help them see the reality of their situation. Until they can see what others see and why it matters, they won’t examine their behavior, and coaching will be useless.

2. You can’t get on their calendar.

Some leaders claim to be receptive to coaching but just can’t find the time. They may cancel sessions at the last minute, constantly reschedule, or, when they do show up, be visibly distracted. They lack space for coaching both in their calendar, and in their mind.

Unlike the oblivious leader, the too-busy leader is often quite likable. They will apologize for being hard to pin down, and be very direct about how busy they are. Don’t be surprised if they’re flattered to be offered coaching. But coaching can’t be crammed into the schedule of a leader who wears their busy-ness as a badge of honor. Their inability to prioritize is a sign they need coaching, but their unwillingness to make room for it suggests they won’t be a good coaching investment.

A brilliant engineer we know had been promoted three times in four years, and by the time he was nearly 30 he was a group president at a U.S. manufacturing company. Diligent, humble, and smart, he could hold a room spellbound with only a marker and a whiteboard as he worked out solutions to highly technical problems. However, as adept as he was at the technical aspects of his job, he now had 20 people reporting to him whom he had no idea how to manage.

After three months of coaching, his superiors could see it was going nowhere. The executive often rescheduled his sessions, telling his coach he didn’t have the time. He believed he couldn’t set aside the time to improve himself. That made him uncoachable.

HR managers should do some reality testing to ensure the too-busy leader is willing to make room for coaching. To benefit from coaching, too-busy leaders must make the space to be fully present, both during the coaching sessions and after, doing the difficult work of developing new mindsets, skills, and habits. Ask this person what tasks or responsibilities they’d be willing to give up or delegate, even temporarily, to make time for coaching. If they struggle to think of any, give them a gentle but firm ultimatum as part of a career planning conversation: that they have plateaued at the company and won’t go to the next level until they make time for self-development.

3. They focus too much on tips and tactics.

Some leaders eagerly agree to coaching, but then avoid the deeper inquiries required for meaningful transformation. They’re willing to modify behaviors, but not beliefs. They view coaching as medicine that, if taken regularly, will help them get ahead.

The quick-fix leader becomes frustrated when their coach asks questions that require self-reflection. They want answers, not questions. “You’re the expert, you tell me,” they’ll say in response to questions from the coach, or “What if I did this?” Everything comes back to tactics. (A related warning sign is if a leader asks how quickly the coaching can be finished — especially if they demand that the cycle be compressed.)

Although coaches sometimes offer suggestions, their real job is to help executives uncover the assumptions driving their behavior. Only then can a coach help them challenge self-limiting beliefs that block their development. However, the quick-fix leader has little interest in this process.

One CEO we worked with was leading a family business that had recently been sold to a large company. He was told by a leader in the new parent company (who himself had benefitted from coaching) that coaching would help him make the transition. The CEO gladly accepted, wanting to be seen as a peer.

However, it wasn’t long into the first coaching session that he showed his entire focus was on “doing whatever other successful people did.” The coach worked tirelessly to shift the conversation to the CEO’s purpose and goals. Each time, however, he shifted the discussion back to the “secrets of success” of other organizational leaders he wanted to emulate. Ultimately, he was passed over for a permanent role on the parent company’s leadership team, and left the organization.

To prompt this kind of leader to be open to self-reflection, remind them of all the other times they vowed to change but were unsuccessful. They then might realize they need to work on more than just changing their game plan. Or, introduce them into a preliminary mentoring conversation with one of the leaders they admire. Tell the mentor to share their experience of struggling to develop.

4. They delay getting started with a coach to “do more research” or “find the right person.”

To be sure, it’s important to have a good fit between a leader and his coach. But a continual rejection of qualified coaches should give you pause. A related red flag is if the person is acting confused, and asking repeatedly why coaching has been suggested. Assuming you’ve clearly explained why coaching is necessary, this could be a defense mechanism and a signal that the person is not ready to confront their shortcomings. It usually stems from insecurity.

Being coached can be daunting, and not everyone is ready to take it on. We remember a physician leader who was hired to turn around a business unit of a large medical center. When his staff challenged him, he became emotional. Told by his boss that he needed a coach to help him control his emotions, he was hurt and angrily asked “Why?” — failing again to control his emotions. He was too full of hidden fears for the coaching to be useful. His boss eventually reassigned him, and ultimately he left the organization.

Reframe coaching as an investment the organization is making in their development rather than a personal fix. Tell them your firm provides this resource for high-potential, top performers to accelerate their success. If this leader can view coaching as something positive to help them achieve their goals, they may warm up to the process.

When Going Coach-Less Is Not Viable

After hearing us say that a certain leader is not a good candidate for coaching, an executive who brought us in will often say a variant of this: “Well, he must be coached. We can’t let him continue to manage others the way he has, but we can’t fire him easily either because we need his skills badly.” But imposing coaching on someone who just can’t handle it at the moment isn’t going to help anyone. Companies are better off directing their people development investments elsewhere — skills training or academic programs are often better options.

Invest your coaching budget in people who have shown the willingness and the capacity to change, and you’ll get a much better return on your investment.

Today’s case covers a common issue within sales departments, when salespeople waste unnecessary time with unqualified leads. This often happens when appointments are set by marketing or poorly trained SDRs, leading to inefficient use of time by highly paid salespeople.

When starting a business, the responsibility falls on the CEO to wear multiple hats, one of which is being a sales rep. At first, this can be hard – especially if you have no prior background in the art of selling.

As a founder, however, you have one vital advantage: Vision.

It’s your product, and people are buying into your vision. If you can convince them to do just that, then your sales skills are better than you thought. Through sheer will, trial and error, and a great product or service, you soon begin finding the right market fit.

As demand increases so does the need to widen your reach. And you need sales reps to push the brand forward and expand. However, it can be hard sourcing people that are the best fit if you don’t come from a sales-driven environment.

We’re Hiring

Hiring good sales reps is more than merely sifting through the best CVs. There are several factors to consider. Identifying them isn’t always straightforward.

You want to build a sales team to reproduce – and surpass – the success already achieved. The process hasn’t reached full industrialization, but it’s the beginning of the path.

Here are some essential tips to help you determine which sales reps are best suited to your company.

Game Recognize Game

Those first hires are the most important. You start building a team and the reputation of your company and don’t want to ruin it by taking on bad salespeople. A good first step is to think about your own experiences as a consumer with salespeople. What did a rep do that made you feel good about a product or service?

It is also important to reflect on your own sales skills. The company has grown to the point where you have closed several customers and have some revenue, which indicates you have found a solution that returns an element of success.

Draw on your own experiences of being a salesperson and what went well and what didn’t when you pitched your company. Identifying these traits places you in a healthier position when it comes to hiring your own sales staff.

It’s important to teach your new reps about the company but also be open to learn from them and their experiences.

What Type of Reps do you Need?

At this stage, it’s important not to get too ahead of yourself and hire a Vice President of Sales. You are expanding, but unless your revenue is north of $1 million, essentially you need someone who you will work with on a frequent basis. You aren’t going to stop selling, but you want them to eventually have the capability to manage a small team.

Even if you’re not 100 percent comfortable with the selling aspect, you managed to get this far and scaled a product that fits the market, so it’s important to build on that success. Hiring reps to help with increasing demand is where you should focus your efforts.

The First Hires

Finding the right reps that are a good fit for your company is imperative. Initially, you may be tempted to cut costs and go for people with little or no sales experience but with lots of ambition. If you don’t have a vast knowledge of sales, however, it’s best to avoid going down this route.

The first bona fide sales reps to walk through the door don’t have to be all-star sellers. But it’s helpful if they have previous experience and a grasp of what a sales process entails. Four to five years of experience is ideal. Even if that’s not possible, try and steer clear of someone with little or no prior understanding of selling.

Be Bold

Finding the right person with previous experience can be a struggle in itself. The temptation might be high to go to a Fortune 100 company and hire the top reps, budget permitting. But even if you do have the money for this kind of hire, it’s best to avoid these salespeople.

While reps from blue-chip companies are likely to be good at selling, they also benefit from the safety blanket of working for a huge brand. Placed in a market where you are still establishing yourself could be a step too far out of their comfort zone.

It will also cost too much money if it fails. It can take between six and nine months to establish whether or not a sales rep is a poor fit. Such a wait could have negative ramifications on your company.

Finding reps that have previously struggled with an inferior product might be a better route. They’ve had to work harder for their leads and will have an appreciation of grinding as opposed to those who were served everything on a silver platter.

Enthusiasm is Key

As well as experience, it’s important to find people that fit the culture and personality of the company – or will at least help to define it. You want people that have intellectual curiosity – reps that are curious about the world and are interested in more than just themselves.

Those traits will help them emphasize and relate to prospects and listen when dealing with leads.

Above all else, a willingness to learn is the most important aspect of hiring sales reps. The ones who are willing to act as a sponge and absorb information about the company are more likely to prosper and increase success.

You’re at the beginning of your company, and the product/service will evolve, so you need to find someone capable of evolving with it and who can help you push it in the right direction. You’re not yet at a place where you set up your final sales process; you need to discover it first.

And it’s not just from a learning perspective where reps need to be listeners. The most important part of selling is listening after all. If you want to close deals, you need to listen to the problems of the customer and find solutions.

Many reps believe the way to successful selling is by talking continuously. This isn’t the case, however. As Debussy once said: “music is what happens between the notes”. Listening is the key to success.

How Many Reps

While you might think that hiring one rep is a good starting point, in reality, you should aim for two.

The idea of hiring two can seem daunting, especially if money is tight. But reps aren’t as expensive as many believe. Salespeople don’t get their bonus unless they close revenue, and closing revenue is a sign of growth.

Hiring two allows you to A/B test and improve your process. If you just have one – even if they are performing above expectations – you don’t have anything to measure against. It is hard to tell why they are successful.

Two reps who perform well help you better understand your sales process and make you more confident when it comes to future hires. Aim for one with four to six years of experience and another with one to two years. Also if one is bad, the good thing is that you can rely on the other one to lessen the possibility of losing six months’ worth of time.

Bonus tip when recruiting:

• Don’t believe the Rolodex. Do not hire someone because they have a network. People don’t buy a product because they know the seller; they buy because the product solves their problem.

• When interviewing, if your internal alarm is ringing, believe in your gut instincts. You will not find the perfect person, but don’t underestimate the warning signs. Don’t think that because something is easy for you it is the same for other people.

Build a Culture and Hire a VP

Word travels fast in industries, which is why you want people to talk positively about your working setup. A good culture will lend itself to others wishing to be part of the company and join the journey.

If you scale quickly and revenue increases beyond $1 million, the final piece of the puzzle is hiring a Vice President of Sales. Whether through promoting from within or hiring externally, the VP will round out your team.

In the end…

By hiring people who are hungry, ready to listen and learn, and all pull in the same direction, you will be well on your way to creating a lasting culture that will define your company.

And all that starts with a couple of sales reps who are ready to win.

The post How and When to Hire Your First Sales Rep appeared first on OpenView Labs.

If you want to beat the competition, you don’t necessarily have to be bigger or stronger. But you do have to be faster. Optimization is every SaaS company’s secret weapon. But where do you start?

Fine-tuning your SaaS sales machine is all about getting the most out of the resources you have today. By following these 5 steps, you’ll be able to outperform and out-sell the competition, even if they have 10X the staff and millions more in funding.

Step 1: Design a simple sales funnel

Your sales funnel is the backbone of your entire sales process. It’s the path your prospects take from having no idea who you are to becoming happy, paying customers. Yet so many SaaS startups don’t take the time to really understand and optimize their funnel.

Let’s start with the basics. Regardless of what you’re selling, every sales funnel follows the same steps:

1. Understand who your ideal customer profile is: Who exactly are you selling to? (Everything else in your sales funnel doesn’t matter if you get this wrong, which is why we spend so much time talking about the importance of customer intimacy)
2. Discover where those ideal customers spend their time: Where are they and how can you get in touch with them?
3. Qualify them as good leads: Are these actually the right people who will get value from your product or service?
4. Convert your qualified leads into customers: Can you successfully sell them on your value?

That’s the flow you want your customers to go through. But to make it even more clear, we use a simple framework called the ACQ funnel: Activity, Quality, Conversion.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re running a sales calling campaign and you dial 100 prospects, reach 15 of them, qualify only 10, and close 5. In this case, your sales funnel will look like this:

• Activity: 100 dials
• Quality: 15 reaches and 10 qualifiers
• Conversion: 5 closed sales

The reason it’s so important to break down your sales activity into a funnel like this is that it allows you to see where you need help.

Let’s look at our example campaign again, only this time, let’s say we’re only closing 1 customer from every 100 calls. The problem might seem obvious (you’re not closing enough deals). But without a sales funnel, you don’t have enough information to pinpoint exactly where to experiment and optimize.

Maybe you called 100 people, reached and qualified 1, and closed that 1 person.

Or, you called 100 people, reached 30, qualified 20, and only closed 1.

In the first case, your reach rate at the top of the funnel is broken. While in the second, there’s something wrong further along when it comes time to close.

Your goal in both scenarios is to improve your close rate, but only by having a funnel and understanding where the issue truly is can you fix it.

2. Start at the top of the funnel

Your sales funnel will tell you where your sales process is breaking. But there’s one part of it that will always benefit from being optimized: the top.

I touched on it before, but none of your funnel matters if you don’t know your ideal customer profile.

When you know your ideal customer the downstream impact on your sales funnel is massive. It will be easier to reach them, qualify them, and close them, because you already know they’re a good fit for what you’re selling. Otherwise, you’re just wasting all that activity on low-quality prospects.

Look at your top customers and see what they have in common. What are their shared attributes or qualities? What size is their company? What’s their annual revenue? What’s their job title? Find out as much as you can about them and target them aggressively.

The better the quality at the top of your funnel, the better the results will be at the bottom.

3. Create never-ending learning loops

The more you know about your sales process, the faster you can optimize it. And there’s one incredible source of insight you’re probably not using enough: Your customers.

Your customers will tell you everything you need to know, from what you’re doing right or wrong to how to change your pitch or timing of your cold calls.

For example, let’s say a prospect booked a product demo. Before jumping into the sales conversation, ask them a simple question:

“Hey. I know you’re super busy and get tons of emails every day. Before we start the demo, I’m curious what made my email stand out to you?”

Let them tell you what made them curious and interested (and what might make other prospects interested). Let them educate you about what worked with your approach.

On the flip side, you can also find out what didn’t work. If a prospect opened an email but never responded, call them up and ask what happened:

“Hey. I sent you an email yesterday about our business. I assume you’re not interested and I’m not trying to pitch you. It’s just that as the founder of a small startup, I was hoping to get a bit of advice from someone as experienced as you about how I can make my pitch better. What was it about the email or my pitch that made you not interested in responding?”

All of a sudden, you’ve created empathy and a connection with a non-customer to find out what went wrong. Instead of just writing them off, you’re able to learn from them.

There are so many opportunities to bake this kind of customer learning into your sales process. When you close a deal, ask them why they chose you over the competition. If you’re getting pushback at a certain part of your funnel, ask prospects what their concerns were and why they said yes or no.

Don’t just sell to prospects. Make them the R&D department for your SaaS sales process.

Step 4: Eliminate all complexity

Complexity is toxic when it comes to the predictability and scalability of your SaaS sales funnel. It makes it harder to sell, lengthens your selling cycle, and confuses and wastes your sales reps’ time.

In my experience, there are three main places where SaaS companies usually introduce unnecessary complexity into their sales process:

1. Building sales processes that are too reactive: Your reps have a number of tasks they need to do to be successful—lead gen, demo calls, answering emails, negotiations. However, if they’re spending all day zigzagging from one task to the other, they’ll end up working harder for worse results. Instead, bracket tasks by day of week or time of day (i.e. lead gen on Mondays and follow ups on Wednesday). Focus, flow, and excellence only happen when we’re able to repeatedly do a task and learn from it.
2. Supporting a discount culture: Every time you give a customer a discount, you’re essentially adding complexity into your sales system. Yet discounts are still the most abused tool in SaaS sales. Not only do you have to track and deal with all these unique deals, but you’re also essentially telling your prospects you’re not confident enough in your product, company, and brand to charge them full price. You need to kill your company’s discount culture before it kills you.
3. Closing bad deals: If somebody wants to buy your product, your reps are going to find a way to justify selling to them. But closing a bad deal is worse than closing no deal at all. Bad deals are going to ruin your business, by adding tons of noise, extra work, and negativity when they eventually churn (and they will). Your investors might be happy that you hit your monthly revenue number, but you’re setting yourself up for long-term failure.

Step 5: Shorten your sales cycle

It’s an old cliche, but time really is money. And one of the best ways to optimize your sales funnel is simply to close deals faster. The shorter the sales cycle, the less it costs you to close a deal, the faster you can learn, react, and improve, and the more profitable you become.

To shorten your sales cycle, there’s really just three steps you need to follow.

First, waste less of your reps’ time and attention. SaaS sales teams give away their time too freely. You don’t need 60-minute calls to do a demo. Thirty is more than enough. Plus, the longer you schedule for tasks, the more your day gets disrupted when something comes up. Rather than lose 20 minutes because a prospect didn’t show up for your demo, a whole hour is wasted. And that adds up quickly.

Next, use the power of now. When you’re talking to a prospect, make decisions right away instead of ending the call with a big to-do list for everyone. Is there a next step your prospect needs to take? Help them do it right then and there. Do they have questions or concerns? Answer them now. As much as possible you want to make prospects take action now. Not later when they can be easily distracted.

Finally, map out the buying process for them. If you want to get to the close faster you need to know what’s in your way. It might feel awkward asking what it’s going to take to get the deal, but if you’ve properly qualified your prospect this should be a no-brainer. Ask them to outline the process from now to the close. Then, map out every stage of the buying journey. Every stakeholder you need to talk to. Every hoop you have to jump through to go from where you are right now to them becoming a customer.

Once you know these steps, not only can you point out any red flags, but you can start to run steps in parallel. For example, instead of waiting until after a 3–6 month pilot to talk to legal, why not ask to send them your contracts now? That way, if the pilot is a success, you’re not delayed an additional 3–6 months while legal finds time to look them over.

To optimize your SaaS sales machine, you need to dig into the details, root out unnecessary complexities, and find where you can get the most return on the least effort.

Start by designing a simple funnel. Focus on improving the top of it. Create continuous customer learning loops. Eliminate complexity. And shorten your sales cycle as much as possible.

If you do all of these things, you’re guaranteed to have an incredible SaaS sales machine. But even if you do just one or two, you’ll still be doing more than the competition. The key is to just start. Every small step you take puts you that much closer to leaving your competitors in the dust.

Want to fine-tune your SaaS sales machine? Get a free copy of our book "From 0 to 1,000 Customers & Beyond".

Get our saas sales book

Admit it, you hate getting emails from strangers. In fact, a recent experiment showed most people do. While cold outreach can have impressive open rates, the reply rate is less than 2%. So, what does this tell us? Cold outreach might be salespeople's past, but it's not their present or future. And it's not the only way to source new leads.

Building a relationship with prospects -- before reaching out over email -- allows you to foster trust, provide value, and ask for their email personally, which skyrockets your chances of a reply.

Need more convincing? I've rounded up a few reasons why you should kick cold outreach to the curb, and how to responsibly find almost anyone's email address -- because buying lists is so Glengarry Glen Ross.

Why You Shouldn't Conduct Cold Outreach

There are a host of tools available to help you find any email address you wish. And, who are we kidding, we've all looked up the email address for someone at Company X and replicated the formatting to reach the person we have in our view.

But is this really the best way to reach prospects? You only have one chance to make a first -- and possibly only -- impression. To avoid the open > blank stare > delete cycle, consider how to earn your prospect's attention. Create content, useful materials, and videos targeted toward their unique needs.

How not to find email addresses

Think buying emails sounds like an easy way to infuse your pipeline with new leads? It is, but it also comes with some big downsides.

One of which is that you may buy a list with spam traps, which are fake email addresses that have never been used and are included with the purpose of trapping spammers who buy robotically harvested email lists.

These email addresses have been gathered without user permission. If you're caught in a spam trap, your sender reputation can be damaged causing bounce rates to increase, your IP address can be blacklisted, or your sending domain can be blacklisted.

What to do instead

If Mary works at a manufacturing company you'd like to do business with, find or create a piece of content that speaks to how your product has reduced widget machine mistakes by up to 45%. Share that content with Mary over LinkedIn, a professional group you're both active in, or Twitter.

Once you've provided value and engaged in casual conversation, gauge the situation to discern when to ask for Mary's email. For example, you might send Mary a LinkedIn message saying:

"Hi Mary,

We've been exchanging comments about my article on error reduction for widget manufacturing machines for a while now. I'd love to tell you more about how our product works, because I think we could produce similar results for your company. If you'd like to share your email, I'll follow up with you directly.

Thanks, Meg"

If you've provided enough value to Mary and you have a product she's interested in, she should be open to sharing her email address with you. If not, Mary might need more time interacting with you and your product from a distance -- or she might not be the right person for you to speak with at Company X.

Of course, there are times when all you need is an email address. You might have lost a prospect's contact information or you might be conducting warm outreach to a prospect you've made initial contact with already.

Regardless, there are appropriate ways to access a person's email address that won't make your skin crawl.

1. View the "Contact Us" page of their company website.

Every company has a "Contact Us" page. Use the contact information listed there to call the company directly or send an exploratory email to their main mailbox. With either approach, try a message that goes something like this:

"Hello,

My name is Meg and I work with XYZ Widget Solutions. I wonder if you could help me? I'm hoping to learn more about how you manage your widget manufacturing machines, would you be able to connect me with the right person to talk to about that?

Thanks, Meg"

People love to help other people. And, chances are, the administrative coordinator monitoring this inbox or voice mailbox will have no problem connecting you with the appropriate stakeholder. Plus, because you've kept your email vague and non-salesy, you should pique the interest of your audience and earn a reply.

2. View their author page.

Has your prospect written for their company blog? View their author bio and check for "contact me" information. At the very least, you'll learn more about them and perhaps gain access to their LinkedIn or Twitter accounts to begin relationship-building. At the most, they'll include their email address or other contact information, making it easy for you to reach out and share just how much you've enjoyed their work.

3. Use LinkedIn to build rapport.

As a writer for HubSpot, I get lots of LinkedIn spam I open and immediately delete. The messages I respond to are not necessarily from people I know, but are thoughtful, personalized, and don't include a pitch.

If you're asking to connect with a prospect on LinkedIn, include a message that tells them why you're a fan or their business or work, share a valuable piece of information, and tell them why you'd appreciate a connection. Here's what that looks like:

"Hi Mary,

I'm a big fan of the work you do with Company X. I saw your recent comments on an article about widget machine errors and they really resonated with me (I've seen my fair share of terrifying widget errors).

Just wanted to say hello and that I'd love to connect here. Thanks for the work you're doing!

Best, Meg"

You've flattered the prospect's work, asked for a simple "close" (i.e., "Can we connect?"), and left things friendly and balanced. Once you've connected, share articles you know are relevant to your prospect and continue to engage with the content she shares. Once you've built enough rapport, reach out and close for Mary's email address.

4. Reach out on Twitter.

Does your contact have a Twitter handle? Google search: "Mary Smith Twitter" to find out. Then, check out Mary's Twitter description for clues to other websites she may be active on -- in case you want to engage with her there. If that doesn't work, follow your contact and tweet at them directly.

A simple introductory message like, "@MarySmith, I Loved your recent post on widget error reduction. Do you have any other posts to share on the topic?"

You've flattered your prospect (in a non-creepy way) and asked for them to share more information with you, thus engaging them in casual conversation. If Mary replies with another article link, it might be time to share a few of her most salient points through a Direct Message.

If that conversation goes well, consider popping the question: "Mary, could we continue this conversation over email?"

5. Subscribe to their email list.

Most companies today send a daily or weekly email newsletter. Subscribe to these emails, read them, and reply to the authors via email, Twitter, or LinkedIn with your praise, thoughts, and questions.

They might not be the prospect you're trying to reach but building a relationship with these company employees can help you get your foot in the door. Once you've built rapport with the authors, it's easy to ask for an email introduction to key stakeholder(s).

6. Use HubSpot's CRM and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

For every CRM record pulled, you need a tab to track down that lead or LinkedIn profile. And is the answer to any of life's problems ever "more tabs?" No. LinkedIn Sales Navigator now lives directly inside contact and company records in HubSpot's CRM which means no new tabs, no hassle, and less time wasted.

Track related leads, mutual connections, common interests, and -- yep -- email addresses without ever leaving your CRM. It keeps data entry at a minimum and ensures you're sourcing quality leads responsibly and efficiently.

Once you've set up the integration, navigate to any contact or company record in the CRM to see the person's job title, company, time in role, location, and industry. You'll also have access to three additional tabs (in this case, a good thing) including "Icebreakers," "Get Introduced," and "Related leads."

The "Icebreakers" tab highlights shared connections, experiences, and interests and includes a link to the lead's recent activity stream. "Get Introduced" makes it easy to ask a mutual connection to make a quick introduction. And "Related Leads" allows you to find and save other leads at the company to your leads list.

7. Pick up the phone.

Before you try this strategy, make sure you've tried all the methods below to get in touch with someone electronically. If you're not getting responses through this manner, and you have reason to believe the person you're trying to reach hasn't received those messages, you can try picking up the phone. However, if they've expressed that they're not interested in your outreach, or if they've read your emails or social media messages and haven't replied, this is probably a sign that you should continue outreach.

If not, contact the main company line, and ask if you can be connected with the person you're trying to contact, or if you can leave your email address for them to reach out to you.

How to Find Company Email Addresses

If you're trying to catch the attention of a specific company, consider account-based marketing (ABM). For this approach, you'll work with your marketing department to create a personalized outreach strategy for specific companies you wish to reach. This is especially helpful if your addressable market is small and you offer a highly specialized or enterprise-level product. Here's how it works:

1. Identify relevant accounts

Sales and Marketing should work together to identify and select relevant accounts. Company size, number of employees, location, and annual revenue help you decide which accounts to target. Buyer personas are also great for determining what type of content and channels to use to approach them.

2. Expand your content

When making account-based sales, buying decisions are often made by numerous stakeholders in the company. The expand stage allows you to create unique, company-specific content that speaks to each stakeholder you'll be selling to. If finance is concerned with pricing and Operations is focused on user access, you'll create targeted content that speaks to each person's unique concerns and goals.

3. Engage with your stakeholders

If one stakeholder prefers email, marketing should equip salespeople to provide helpful, relevant messaging through the channel. The engage stage is all about getting to know your prospects and developing valuable relationships with each one.

4. Advocate

Modern buyers don't need you to drone on about your product -- they have the internet for that kind of research. Instead, the advocate stage is about providing value to the prospect and discussing the product/service only when necessary.

For example, if I'm a salesperson for XYZ Widget Solutions, I might focus my messaging on how much time and money my prospects will save by experiencing fewer widget machine malfunctions -- instead of listing out a roster of features XYZ Widgets can offer.

5. Measure your results

Reporting is crucial to understanding what's working and what's not. Reporting on company growth, revenue, job titles, and engagement at the account level gives you important insight into whether ABM is working.

Tips for When You Just Need to Fill Your Pipeline

And if you're just trying to fill your pipeline, turn to good ol' inbound prospecting. The steps are as follows:

1. Research

Determine the quality of your lead by reviewing qualifying dimensions (a set of criteria used to evaluate how probable it is this lead or prospect will become a customer), and enter the information into your CRM.

2. Prospect

Connect with your leads by identifying and making contact with the gatekeeper and decision maker at your prospective company. The gatekeeper is generally the person in charge of communication or preventing information from reaching the decision maker -- most likely, this person is a receptionist or executive assistant.

3. Connect

Close for that next meeting. You want to set up a discovery call, which is the first contact a rep makes with a prospect to qualify them as a lead for the next step in their sales cycle -- usually, a demo.

4. Educate and evaluate

It's time to evaluate and qualify needs by identifying your prospect's pain points and business goals. This information allows you to tailor your sales approach and communication to provide value to your prospect. This is also the stage in which objections begin to arise.

Objections often sound like, "We just don't have the budget," "I don't have the time to implement this," or "This isn't a priority right now." Your job is to answer and counter those objections and provide value to your prospect in these areas.

5. Close

Turn your opportunities into customers by asking for your prospect's business. The outcome will be one of two possibilities: Closed-won is when the buyer purchases your product/service, and closed-lost is when the buyer does not purchase the product/service. If your prospect doesn't close, it might be time to walk away from the deal and consider revisiting it when the company is in a better place to buy.

There's a type of virtual currency that's highly guarded, rarely provided, and coveted by all. And it's not bitcoin, it's the email address.

It seems like it will solve all the salespeople's problems -- but it will only create more if you attain and use it in an unprofessional way.

Do the research, build the relationships, and ask for the email. The results will speak for themselves and your sales career will be built on a strong foundation of honesty, trust, and sweat.

To learn more, read how to improve your email prospecting strategy next.

Email drip campaigns can be a gift and a curse. Done well, they can help you build trust with potential buyers over time, laying the groundwork to eventually convert them into customers.

However, done wrong, drip emails look a lot like spam. For every great cold email you send, it only takes one impersonal or poorly timed follow-up message to lose a prospect (and damage your reputation) forever.

Here’s a good example of a well-structured drip email workflow that Pardot uses to connect, nurture, and convert its prospects into customers.

The idea is intimidating enough for marketing teams using complex marketing automation platforms. We’ll do our best in this article to simplify the entire process of how you can implement drip emails.

What is Drip Campaigns?

Drip campaigns are series of automated content sent to leads at specific times to nurture them to take specific actions and move them down your sales funnel. They’re also known as Nurture campaigns or Campaign automation.

They’re usually triggered by an action taken by your subscriber. Your drip campaign will come to an end when you send the last message to the prospect; usually via email. You can judge the performance of your campaign by how many subscribers performed the intended action.

This action could either be to buy your product or register for one of your services. It could even be to sign up for your free webinar.

Whether you’re in the e-commerce market or blogging, you need drip campaigns. And you need to get it right for your specific market. According to Email Monks, companies that excel at drips generate 80% more sales at 33% lower costs.

So what are the ways you can structure your drip campaigns to get more conversions?

Let’s consider the 6 proven ways that thousands of businesses; both large and small structure their Drip Campaign email series:

1. Top of Mind Drip Emails

When your leads are ready to buy a product, they check out the company that comes to their mind. Staying on top of your subscriber’s mind means they think of you when they’re about to buy the type of product you sell.

At this stage, you have a lot of new leads who are yet to make a decision. Several of them are already on your email list, while others are simply regular blog readers, social media fans, and so on.

When they enter through your funnel by subscribing to your newsletter, you have to dazzle them with awesomeness so they will remember you when(ever) they’re ready to buy the product.

 

So how do you stay on top of their mind?

Simple: Provide content that shows value to your leads. What are the benefits of your product to their lives or business?

You can send this type of content regularly in form of blog posts, videos, webinars, etc.

This type of drip emails also works when a customer has shown an interest in your product. If one of your subscribers has checked your car sales page, for example, it could trigger the first drip emails.

You could send an email to such a subscriber about coming to your dealership office for a test drive of the car they just checked out. If you get a “No” response, you can send another message encouraging your lead to come for another test drive.

If they end up coming for the test drive and bought the car, then you send a ‘thank you’ message and transfer your customer to another drip campaign. Isn’t that impressive?

But if they fail to buy after the test drive, you can send another message with details of the car and discount or other incentives to encourage them.

The aim of this drip campaign is to make sure your potential customer doesn’t forget about you during the sales process.

This is an example of a top of mind drip campaign. Your lead continues in the sales funnel if they click-through your email. If they don’t, you can define another action. This could be sending a variation of your first message.

You can also set the time for delivery. In this example, there’s a wait time of two days. It’s also sent on weekdays and during work hours when people will be able to see it and take action.

The campaign with the messages look like this:

2. Educational Drip Emails

Many times, people want to be sure they’re making the right decisions. Even when they want to buy a shoe, T-shirt, or even, an information product (e.g., ebook, software, online course). They want to know they’ll get value for their money.

The goal of this email is to take your timid subscriber/prospect from that state of indecision to a confident and hot prospect who is ready to take action without seeking other people’s opinion. That’s the purpose of education!

Through educational drip emails, you can give them the information they need. This would outline how your product will benefit their personal life, business, or career, as the case may be.

You’ll tell them all the areas of application of such product. Case studies of companies that have used it.

This is an example from Wishpond, which follows two educational content with a soft sell. I received this in my inbox when I subscribed to the company’s email list.

This is for the first email.

This is followed by the second email.

And the third that delivers a soft sell.

You can set and schedule an email every three days. You can also A/B test ‘timing’ to find your best time interval.

This is another example of educational content from a Content Marketing Company, CoSchedule.

3. Competitive Drip Emails

The reality is that there will always be competition for your product or service. Another company is probably targeting the same lead. This is all good for the consumer as they have different choices.

If you integrate your email marketing software with a CRM tool, you’ll be able to track users’ online behavior to a certain degree.

In turn, this lead intelligence best practice will help you communicate in a way that draws the prospect to you when you send a competitive drip email. After all, you understand them better than the competition does.

But your business has to be on top of the competition or you lose. What is your product’s unique selling point (USP)? What are the benefits users get from your product?

Do you provide a great support? Are you offering a promo? The aim of this drip email is to show your lead that they’ll get the best product/service when they purchase from you — instead of your competitors.

This is an example of RIP CURL showing the unique selling points of their SearchGPS wristwatch.

You can send this to customers who are qualified leads or to those who have checked the content that’s relevant to the product.

This type of drip email should show your subscribers what they will gain when they buy your product. You should also tell them what they’ll lose if they don’t use it. Given that people generally hate to lose, they will likely take action right away.

4. Promotional Drip Emails

Providing incentives to buyers is one of the strategies that motivate them to buy. When you have a discount for your product or a coupon code, let your subscribers know.

The aim of this is to tip those who are on the fence to buy your product. When your buyers are in the purchase stage, this is vital. It could encourage a subscriber who is still skeptical about your product.

This is an example of a promotional email from Optinmonster.

This is another example from Bath and Body Works.

You can see they look totally different. Your promotional drip email will depend on your industry. You have to indicate the end of your promo period and urge subscribers to hurry.

Often times, a promotional drip email will have a single email if the user opens and clicks-through. If the user doesn’t open or click-through, you can send one or two more emails within the promo period.

5. Behind-The-Scene Drip Emails

Sometimes, customers want to know if you’re following the due process in manufacturing your products. This is especially important for health products or high-risk manufacturing.

The product should be its own best salesman. Not the product alone, but the product plus a mental impression, and atmosphere, which you place around it.” — Claude Hopkins

Show them the behind-the-scenes details of how your pharmaceutical product go through the hygiene standards. Show them the safety standards that ensure your workers’ lives are not at unnecessary risk while making a product.

This is quite popular in the movie industry. Behind-the-scenes capture viewers attention and show them exactly how the movie was shot, and so much more.

If you’re website developer, you could share videos on how you come up with design ideas, the first stage of the design, and how you write codes. Anything that will be relatable will inspire the prospect/subscriber.

This improves trust and can trigger a positive word-of-mouth campaign for your company. You can achieve this through videos, in-depth blog posts, SlideShare presentations, or PDF reports.

Below is an example of a behind-the-scenes content by Carrie Green with a link to watch a video at the end.

This is another example by Schlitz on how they make sure their beer is healthy for customers.

6. Client Onboarding Drip Emails

Many times, businesses make this mistake. They think their work is done after selling their products. That’s a bad strategy.

When customers buy your product, it’s a risk. When you take them through the onboarding process, you’re eliminating this risk. Period!

You have to send training materials to them and answer frequently asked questions (FAQ). This helps customers to use your products effectively — which, in turn, leads to happier customers and more business.

How soon should your onboarding drip email start?

Immediately a customer buys your product.

Are you still confused? Do you need help on how to get started? Why not schedule a Strategy Session with Bloominari. We’ll guide you.

In this case, your emails could be frequent. Your customer wants to know the most important features of your product quickly. This is especially important if your product is technical.

Here’s an example of an onboarding drip email sequence by Klaviyo. This aims to encourage active a user who has just signed up for a free trial. This is the first message.

Followed by the second message.

Then the third email 3 days later.

And finally the last one.

You can see the shortest interval is 3 days. This is due to the user signing a trial version. You don’t want to be too aggressive in this case.

Below is an example of an onboarding email from Dropbox.

Conclusion

Sending drip emails to your subscribers reduces the time you spend on your email campaigns. But more importantly, improves email campaign’s performance both in the short and long-term.

If you’ve not been sending drip emails, you should start with your email marketing software. You can craft as many as you want and define their triggers.

If you create content, you likely also spend a significant amount of time publishing, promoting and amplifying that content.  And without realizing it, those tasks can take an inordinate amount of time mostly through manual, siloed steps and processes.

Lately attempts to streamline and automate much of content publishing, promoting and re-purposing.  It’s one thing to automatically schedule and promote new content, yet another thing entirely to schedule recurring promotion of that content over time.

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is to push new content initially then move onto the next, fresh content – rarely if ever promoting the previous content again.  If for no other reason, Lately is worth checking out to address this opportunity.

The post Matt’s App of the Week: Lately appeared first on Heinz Marketing.

By Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing

Sales Pipeline Radio, airs live every Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Pacific.  It’s just 30 minutes long, fast-paced and full of actionable advice, best practices and more for B2B sales & marketing professionals.

We cover a wide range of topics, with a focus on sales development and inside sales priorities. You can listen to full recordings of past shows at SalesPipelineRadio.com and subscribe on iTunes.

We were thrilled this last time to be able to talk to Kevin Eikenberry, Chief Potential Officer, The Kevin Eikenberry Group

This episode entitled,  “How to Manage Remotely – Best Practices for Leading Remotely” is inspired by the book Kevin co-authored, called The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership.

With more and more companies going remote, they’re forsaking having everybody in the office five days a week. They’re letting people work remotely, and I think as an individual contributor that can be fantastic. As a manager, that can be particularly challenging.  I asked Kevin, how this topic come about and how to manage remotely and do it well.  Listen in or read our great conversation below.

Matt:  Thanks everyone for joining us on Sales Pipeline Radio. Baseball season radio special edition. We are here every week at 11:30 Pacific/2:30 Eastern on Thursdays joining you live. I know we’ve got a lot of people that join us live each week. Thank you very much for doing so. If you’re joining us through the podcast, thank you so much for subscribing. It continues to be very humbling to see the number of people that are catching on to the show and joining us each week on demand, on their commutes, and during their workouts and everywhere else. Every episode of Sales Pipeline Radio, past, present and future can also be found at SalesPipelineRadio.com. We are featuring every week some of the best and brightest minds in B2B sales and marketing. Today is no different.

I am really excited to have with us Kevin Eikenberry. He is the Chief Potential Officer for the Kevin Eikenberry Group and the author of the book The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership. Kevin, first of all, thanks so much for joining us today.

Kevin:  Hey, it’s a pleasure to be with you.

Matt:  I have been following you for probably my entire time here at Heinz Marketing. You’ve been an author and a thought leader and someone who’s been super influential in the sales space. Talk a little about where first of all your organization focuses and what exactly a Chief Potential Officer is.

Kevin:  Well, I’ll start with the last question first, Matt. When it’s your company, you can call yourself whatever you want, and my goal was to have a title that number one, would be unique, and number two, would generate conversation. As you did just prove it again, as it always does. We are in the business at the Kevin Eikenberry Group of helping leaders and their teams and by definition their organizations become more successful and reach their potential. So I really do believe that we are in the potential business. So we work with teams in all parts of the business. Obviously lots of sales teams and lots of sales leaders, but we spend time with leaders in pretty much any industry and pretty much any function over time.

Matt:  Awesome. Well, I want to talk a little bit about the idea of being a long distance leader. Early today here in Seattle, we hosted a CMO round table. So we got about 12 CMOs from B2B companies around the Puget Sound area and got together and just kind of shared what’s working and what’s not. One of the conversations was working and leading remotely. It wasn’t around the sales side. I think sales is in particular I think a sticky wicket. But the more and more companies are going remote, they’re forsaking having everybody in the office five days a week. They’re letting people work remotely, and I think as an individual contributor that can be fantastic. As a manager, that can be particularly challenging. So I was excited when I saw that this was coming out.

How did this topic come about for you. I imagine that you had a lot of clients struggling with this and sort of dug into figure out what was working, but talk about the impenitence for this particular focus on the long distance leader and how that came about.

Kevin:  Sure. So a couple things. First of all, the co-author with me on the book is a gentleman who’s business I bought several years ago. His name is Wayne Turmel. He is one of the best in the world at creating effective communication at a distance. So we merged the work that he had done there with our work around leadership. The impenitence behind the book really was twofold, Matt. One, I’m doing this every day. I’ve got a team of folks spread out across the United States. I’ve got someone in Seattle today although she lives in Phoenix most of the time. I’ve got folks from Richmond, Virginia to Chicago, Illinois and everywhere between and a few of them even here in Indianapolis where I live. So I’m living this and our clients are living it to your point. I think the third and maybe the biggest impenitence for the book is this, and that is that people woke up one day and realized that half the desks were empty. It wasn’t because the team had shrunk. It’s because their team moved. They went home. They went on a client’s site. They went wherever and they’re not in the office. They’re not in the office ever or they’re only in the office one day a week or whatever.

As challenging, Matt, as it is to lead human beings, it’s even more so when they’re not all in the same place. When we can’t see them, when we can’t build relationships with them in the same way, when we can’t communicate with them in the same way, when we can’t build trust with them in the same way, when we can’t coach them in the same ways. This is the reality that we live in now and that we’re leading in. So we wanted to really create a book that addressed that in a way that no one had quite done yet.

Matt:  Talking today on Sales Pipeline Radio with Kevin Eikenberry. He’s the author of the book The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership, which is a topic that, as you just discussed, is prescient today. You’ve got people that are working geographically far distance from the parent office. You’ve got people that are working from home more often. They can get up out of the office and go down to the coffee shop and be just as productive.

What are some of the keys to doing that well from a manager perspective? I mean, like you said, the individual contributors love it. Are there tricks to make sure just sort of strategies, maybe not tricks, that help managers keep employees focused and motivated and aligned with what the company needs while still not having them physically in the office as much?

Kevin:  Well, Matt, step one is buy the book The Long-Distance Leader at LongDistanceLeaderBook.com. But in all seriousness, there’s a bunch of things that we can do. There’s some very specific things that we can do that the people who are listening whether they’re live or listening to the podcast later can do right now. Number one is that we can get far more intentional. So let me give you an example.

So if I have people in the office, which I do today, right? And they come in and I see them, I say, “Hello,” and we have a short conversation. It happens naturally. We don’t have to think about it. I don’t have to say, “Did I talk to Marissa today?” She’s right here. I said hello. We chatted for a few minutes. We had the chance to move from the non-business to the business stuff. We took care of that, but I’ve got 12 other people, none of whom I’ve seen today, and am I going to have these conversations with them? Only if I’m intentional about it. Right? So what am I going to do to make sure that I’m connecting with people, that I’m checking in with people, not checking up, but checking in, right? How’s it going talking about the baseball game, if that’s what your thing is, but really what’s going on in the business. What do we need to do? How can I help? Those kinds of things. Those things will often naturally happen if we see them. They won’t if they’re not there. So that’s just one example of we need to be more intentional.

We also need to be much clearer about expectations. Matt, I would say that in working with leaders for over 25 years, one of the consistent messages that I share is that we don’t set clear enough expectations with people, they don’t know what those expectations are, and so frustration arises, productivity is reduced, conflict happens, etc., etc. So as important as expectations are, they’re even more important at a distance, and here’s why because not only now do we need to have clear expectations about what the work is and what the right outcomes are. But now we have to have expectations, mutually understood expectations about how we’re going to do the work, right? How are we going to catch up? How are we going to touch base? How are we going to communicate? What tools are we going to use? Etc.

So the short answer to your question to start is think about being more intentional and think about being much clearer and broader about your expectations.

Matt:  So I took that out of two words, clarity and communication, right, which can obviously be a problem for managing people when they sit 10 feet away from you, right? There isn’t necessarily fully clear alignment around what’s important. There isn’t great communication. You get innuendos and you get, “What did that eyebrow raise really mean?” You can get all kinds of challenges on that, but I think that clarity and communication has to lead to a level of trust that you don’t see on a regular basis that is still getting the work done, that is still doing what it takes to achieve the objectives.

How much does having really clear expectations and having really clear common metrics really drive this and how much of this is really just making sure you’ve got the right kind of people that can work remotely?

Kevin:  Well, we can talk about the second thing, but you got to have the first two. We’ll have leaders sometime say, “Well, Kevin, if my people go work someplace else, how am I going to know if they’re getting their work done?” To which I would say unless you’re looking over their cubicle, how are you knowing they’re getting their work done anyway? You should have metrics, some dashboard, some way of knowing that. If you don’t have that, then we got a lot more work to do than dealing with the remote piece, right? So that’s absolutely true.

Now the second thing, your second point is a really interesting one. Are they the right people to work remotely, which can get us into a whole conversation about how do you hire a remote team member? We can certainly talk about that. Not everyone loves it. You mentioned earlier, a lot of people love it and thrive in it, and that’s all that sort of thing. But there are downsides to being that remote employee like I don’t feel as connected to others, I don’t feel like I’m really part of a team, I don’t get much of my boss’s time. I’m not sure I’m going to be seen when it comes time for promotions and all those sorts of things.

If you’re in the situation of moving some folks from in the office to out, you really need to think about how are we going to prepare them and support them in that transition so they can be successful in a new world. If you’re hiring people to work remotely, I think you need to take that into account and how you do your hiring process. I’m happy to talk about that if you’d like.

Matt:  Yeah, we’ll definitely get into that. We got to take a quick break here in a second. Make sure you check out KevinEikenberry.com. You will see links to buy his new book The Long-Distance Leader. You’ll also see a ton of great content. Click on the blog link, you will find just a ton of great information. You’ll see episodes of Remarkable TV, which is Kevin’s video content. You can download his secrets to becoming a remarkable leader. Just a ton of great content about not just sales and leadership, but just how to be a better learner as well.

We’ll be back in just a couple minutes with more with Kevin Eikenberry. This is Matt Heinz. You’re listening to Sales Pipeline Radio.

*Break*

Matt:  Thank you very much, Paul. Well, thank you very much for joining us on Sales Pipeline Radio. We next week Paul and the studio are going to be dark. Paul’s taking a week off. He’s going to be at the parade. He’s going to be full red, white, and blue attire.

Paul:  Absolutely.

Matt:  He’s running a couple firework shows, but we will still be here. The pipeline never rests. In fact, as soon as we are done with this live episode with Kevin Eikenberry today, we’re actually recording next week’s episode. We’ll have Dave Gerhardt. He’s the VP of marketing at Drift. If you’re in B2B marketing, you have not heard about Drift, you’ve got to check these guys out. They are creating an alterative to landing pages and form fill outs for marketers creating through chat and other engagements getting the prospect to talk to you. Next week join us for a recording version of Sales Pipeline Radio with Dave Gerhardt. Then we’ve got Amy Holtzman. She is the Vice President of Marketing for Splash an event marketing technology company. We’re going to be talking with Amy about GDPR. If you are in B2B and you don’t know about GDPR, your company is at risk, and we’ll talk about what that means in a couple weeks with Amy.

But today a little more with Kevin Eikenberry. He is the author of the book The Long-Distance Leader. Some good content and good discussion today on how to manage and work with people remotely. Before the break, Kevin, we started to talk about attributes of remote employees. What are the things you recommend hiring managers look for in an employee that’s going to be successful working remotely?

Kevin:  Well, I think the first thing is you want to find out if that’s really what they want to do and if they can be good at it. So there’s certainly things we can do in the interview to ask those kinds of questions. What has your experience been in doing that, etc.? What are the challenges and all that sort of thing. But the big thing that I would say that you want to do in the interview process when you’re hiring people remotely is make part of the interviewing process remote. Even if the person you’re hiring lives down the street, right? Even if they’re going to be in the office part of the time, do some of the interviews on Skype or Zoom or whatever tools that you use. Include some email communication in part of your process. Engage them with some of the other remote team members as a part of their interview process. The more that we can see their comfort and their ability in those areas, the better sense we’re going to have about how successful they’ll be.

Matt:  Totally agree with that. If you’re looking for someone that is going to work remote but interviewing them remotely as part of the process to check out communication style certainly important. I think what we’re seeing a lot with our clients, we’ve certainly seen I our business as well is employees that start local and end up moving. If they’re important employees to you, we had some of those and they move off somewhere else. They go from being someone that sits next to you in the office to being remote. What are some of the keys to transitioning to that, both for the individual contributor that may be working remote as well as for the manager who’s now managing a remote employee?

Kevin:  Yeah. A couple things. One is we ought to have a real conversation between me as the leader and that person about what the expectations are. We’ve already talked about that. We want to make sure that that person is going to have a workspace that will be conducive to them, and we ought to understand what that’s going to be, right? Are they going to have a separate office, are they going to work from their kitchen table? I’m not saying that neither of those or one that’s better necessarily that the other, but we as the leader ought to know what that looks like so that we can help them think through how they can be successful. One of the challenges that people have when they first move remote is that they lose the social interaction. They miss that. So we got to help people work through that and think about how they’re going to get that need met. Another one of the challenges is not that people get distracted but rather that they never stop working. So we want to help people think about how they maintain the balance that they need in their life, how we help them think through when they’re going to tell the folks that they live with that they’re going to turn it off, and they’re going to be a human and not just an employee.

So I think the more that we can help people think it through ahead of time, the better off we’ll be. There’s logistical stuff about equipment and all those sorts of things and make sure that they can be successful in that regard. Make sure they’ve got a webcam and they’re not afraid to use it, and encourage them to talk to some of the other members of the team who are already remote, that have been through that transition as well.

Matt:  Kevin, I’m going to take a little bit of a left turn in our conversation and talk about the content that you generate for your own business. I mean, it goes without saying that you are a bit of a content machine across a variety of different channels and a variety of different formats. The one piece that I’ve been really impressed with and I want to talk a little about is Remarkable TV. Talk a little bit about what that is, how you named it, and how video has emerged as a large part of your own content strategy.

Kevin:  Yeah. Sure. Happy to do that, and thank you for that.

So first of all, one of my books is called Remarkable Leadership. You mentioned in the subtitle of this book is, “The long distance leader rules for remarkable, remote leadership.” So remarkable is a word that we have branded around and people have come to know since being about remarkable. My podcast is called The Remarkable Leadership Podcast. So it seemed to make since that we would call it Remarkable TV. I wanted to create, I wanted to get into the video word. If I look back at the early episode in terms of production quality, I sort of cringe. But I’m so glad we didn’t wait. I think what a lot of people do, they wait until they figure out how they get it all figured out. Well, just start. Keep getting it better. If you look at episodes that came out one new one each week on the blog, you’ll find it there or you can find it on YouTube. You’ll see that the production quality is pretty darn good. It’s gotten a lot better over time because we kept doing it.

So we use it as another medium for people to engage with us and with me. I work pretty hard to, in all of my writing, to inject my personality and that sort of thing into it as a strategy. I’m pretty comfortable on video. I’ve gotten good feedback about that. We find that that’s a way to further inject that as well as just simply being another way for people to engage us, right? I’m not a reader. I like to watch. Whatever. It puts us in different channels. It does all those different things.

Matt:  I want to talk a little bit about people’s reticence sometimes to do video. I mean, I have a print journalism background. I like the written word. I was convinced/coerced into starting this podcast about two and a half years ago and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I believe I have a face for radio. I think there’s a lot of reasons why people feel like they want to be more formal, they want to get all their act together, like you said. For someone who is reticent to give it a shot, what can you tell them having sort of been over that hump and now seeing a lot of the benefits from it?

Kevin:  Just try it. Right? First of all, when you first try it, not the whole world’s going to see it anyway. So try it. If you really are that concerned about it, record a couple things and share it with some people, maybe some of your clients, maybe some of your colleagues and get some feedback and use that as a starting point, right? If you’ve generated content in writing a blog, for example, you know that it took you awhile to find your voice. The same will be true. I’m sure that you found in doing this podcast, Matt, just like I did. We’re about the same length of time in. About two and a half years. But it took a while to find your voice. You got better at it. That’s the natural progression of things.

So if you’re really reticent with the video because of the whole I got a face for radio kind of thing or whatever, just shot some and get some feedback. Get some feedback on the video quality and all that stuff. But get some feedback on you, and maybe you’re wanting to be more straight laced or professional. I mean, I would like to think that I’m professional even though I use strange props and all that sort of thing. Work on finding your voice. At some point, just put it out there and try it. You’re going to have to try it. Nothing is ever perfect when you start so just start.

Matt:  I love it. Well, we’ll wrap it up here. I’ve got a couple more minutes with Kevin Eikenberry. He is the Chief Potential Officer for the Kevin Eikenberry Group. Definitely check out his book. Go to KevinEikenberry.com. You’ll find a link to his new book The Long-Distance Leader. Kevin, before we let you go, first of all, really appreciate you taking the time do this with us today, and the question we ask a lot of the leaders that come onto our show, who are the people that have inspired you? Who are the authors or speakers or mentors, they can be dead or alive, that really helped shape who you are today that you might recommend other people check out as well?

Kevin:  It’s a long list. I got asked that question just yesterday as it turns out. Someone asked a slightly different question who should I be reading as a new leader. I said anything by Tom Peters, anything by Peter Drucker. I’m a big fan. One of my mentors who I’ve never met, of course, is Abraham Lincoln. I think the things we can learn from Lincoln in terms of being a principled leader, in terms of persistence, in term of strong belief are incredible. So I think being a student of great leaders whomever you choose is worth doing. I would always recommend The Leadership Challenge by my friend Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. There’s a tremendous amount of great content, whether it’s in a book, whether it’s in a blog, whether it’s in a video, whether it’s in a podcast. The best leaders are readers. So find someone that you can resonate with and read them and find someone that challenges you and read them.

Matt:  Love it. That’s a great answer. Well, thanks again so much. Kevin Eikenberry. KevinEikenberry.com. Kevin Eikenberry Group, you can check him out, find his book The Long-Distance Leader, his blog post a couple days ago The Power of Thank You, which as also an episode of Remarkable TV. Check that out as well. Join us next week, we won’t be live, Paul. But we will be here. 11:30 Pacific/2:30 Eastern on Sales Pipeline Radio. We will have Dave Gerhardt. He’s the Vice President of Marketing for Drift. We’ll be talking about how to better engage your prospects in an age when the landing page and the form fill may be on its last leg.

But thanks very much again today for joining us. For my great producer, Paul, this is Matt Heinz. You’ve been listening to another episode Sales Pipeline Radio.

The post Sales Pipeline Radio, Episode 121: Q&A with Kevin Eikenberry @KevinEikenberry appeared first on Heinz Marketing.

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You can find the complete list at this link.

This is an easy way you can pick up phenomenal insights.  If you have followed my blog for awhile, you know I am a huge fan of continually learning and sharpening your skills.

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Copyright 2018, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results

Closing more deals doesn’t happen instantly and needs planning at least a month before. To close a certain number of deals, you need to

1. Know how to close a sales deal and
2. Have a step-by-step plan as these deals won’t get closed right when you need to get them closed.

There are a the basic steps we all know from being in sales, but following these steps on correct time matters. If you really want to know how to close a sales deal, here are six ways.

1 Analyse Your Leads/Deals and Choose Which Can Be Closed at the Earliest

To close particular amount of deals in a month, you need to check your contact base and list of open deals.

This planning has to be done at least a month in advance. Why?

Because deals don’t get closed right when you want them to get closed. For this, check your open deals and try to get in touch with each and every deal at regular intervals.

How long to wait before contact is really a matter of how your sales funnel is set up and how long the buying cycle tends to be. If you haven’t figured these things out, take a look at calculating your sales velocity.

A CRM will help you with managing this pipeline as it will help you visualize which leads can be closed at the earliest.

• Keep detailed notes about the objections and requirements your open leads have — Check if you can really fulfill their needs.
• Try to solve them as only then there will be a possibility to close the deal.Check if you were able to solve their queries and check their pending issues your deal still has.
• Make sure you’re dealing with the decision maker and not someone who is wasting your time.

2 Understand Their Pain Point

People can only be convinced that they need a solution when they understand that they have a problem.

If they started looking for your products, that’s easier to do. Understand why they started looking for a solution and why they reached out to you. If you reached out to them, you’ll have to gauge if it’s the right time and if they’re possibly looking for a solution.

Once you understand their core problem, selling can really begin.

Key Point: The better you understand where they’re pain is AND they understand how your product can alleviate that specific pain — you will naturally close more deals.

Some Examples of Prospect Pain Points

• They have no product/service at the moment to solve their issue and hence they started looking for it. Might be looking for more variety in products and good quality.
• They do have a product/service but it does not completely fit in their requirements. There might be lot of manual interventions which are required even when they have this solution. Using the current system might be time-consuming due to manual efforts.
• Bad after-sales support can be a reason. The current vendor might not be able to give them a proper support and might not be available to solve their queries right when they need help.
• Price. The biggest issue might be the price. They might change to another solution as the current product/service might be highly expensive for them and even after paying that cost, the product/service might fail to add value in their process.
• The team is not very tech-savvy and needs a solution that can be easily used by the team.
• The product/solution is not customizable, which increases dependability on the vendor for support.

3 Don’t Just Sell, Build Rapport, Use a Personal Touch

Knowing how to close a sales deal is a lot like know how to make friends. There are tons of solutions to solve one problem but people will buy your solution when you have built a rapport with them.

At the end, relationship matters.

Your solution might not be as full-featured as others, but they will still give a thought to go with you IF you have a relationship with your prospect.

How well do you follow-up with your contacts and deals on casual basis also makes a difference. Not just before, but even after the sale. Not just to sell but to build the rapport. It is important as it gives a sense to your clients that they are not being remembered only at the time of renewals or while the deal is closing.

Editor’s Note

Do it for real. Too many people in sales are fake. Are you selling the product because you think it’s the best solution for your ideal customers? If not, why not?

Building a good relationship with leads will help you close more leads immediately, but it will also create better future prospects from leads who aren’t ready to buy. Not to mention that the customers that come onboard will likely last longer if you genuinely got to know them and helped them find the best solution.

Ask Yourself Few Questions Before You Sell.

1. Have you wished your Deal/Prospect a happy birthday?
2. What kind of conversations have you had? Do you talk the most?
3. How much do you know your prospect/influencer? Do you know about his/her hobbies, likes and dislikes and how many times have you spoken with them about these?
4. More importantly: Do you know about their specific role? Either by listening to them or industry research, you should know what they do.

Have your list of contacts in such a manner that will help you get clear picture of dates when you can touch base with them or contacts that have not been contacted recently etc.

These are just a few questions or steps that might sound unnecessary to close deals, but, trust me, they will in one way or the other help you to make that rapport with customers/prospects, which is necessary to close deals.

If you empathetically solve client’s issues and keep in touch with them, your prospects will readily make a purchase without any questions and will not look for any other solutions.

4 Create Urgency

Sometimes you think that your prospect will sign up with you or go for your solutions right when you reach out to them. But in reality, they never purchase anything.

Here, it will be your role to create that urgency even if there was no urgency on your client’s end.

If you create a need for “right now”, half the work is done.

You can make them realizse that if they do not sign up with you, they will be wasting time in going by their current process. You can ensure them how fast your solutions can fetch them results.

Let’s take an example from mutual funds, real estate and/or insurance companies.

In India, the financial year starts from April to March. As soon as December ends, these insurance and mutual fund companies start advertising and reaching out to the target audience. They’re also successful in generating sales because from the beginning of January, people get focused towards saving income tax and this is the best time for these companies to create that urgency.

5 Know and Get in Touch with Decision Makers but Don’t Forget Influencers

Decision makers are important but it is not always necessary that a decision maker will be the end user of your product/service.

Try to check the influencer/champion, ask him/her to use your solution, and solve his/her problem. He/She will be the one who will influence the decision maker and convince them to buy your solution if you address his/her problem.

Let’s assume you are a lead generation, digital marketing, or CRM company and cater to problems faced by the sales/marketing team of any organization. It is not necessary that CEO or MD is a part of the sales or marketing team.

In this case, check below points:

• Check if you are in touch with the manager/team leader.
• Check what problem he/she has. He/she might be generating less leads/deals or does not want to waste his team’s time in cold calling and gathering data for generating leads.
• Check their current sales and marketing process and how you can fit your solution there.
• He/She might have issues around controlling his/her team’s work. Eg: he might not be able to assign tasks to the team, check how many deals they are handling currently, might not be able to control who sees which data etc.

In such case, CEO or MD might not be much aware of the problems their sales manager or team leader is facing but if you are in touch with the manager and solve their problem, he/she will be the first one to recommend your solution to the CEO or MD.

6 Try to Cross Sell

Cross-selling is the best option if you are unable to find leads that will close quickly.

If you have multiple products/services that can be sold to your existing customer, feel free to try cross selling. This will save your efforts on convincing a new prospect to go for your solutions.

Plus, trust and rapport building should already exist. If you’ve done it right, your customers will trust you if you sell them something new.

Let’s say you have developed HR software. Three products that cover payroll, leave and attendance respectively. And your target audience, in this case, can be HR or accounting team.

For payroll calculation, leave and attendance calculation is equally important. You might have sold payroll software to a client already but there is a possibility that he can also buy your leave and attendance management software, too.

In such case, you can definitely cross-sell your leave and attendance management software which can make a complete solution for your clients’ HR payroll management process.

Cross-selling might not always be apt but yes it can be worth a try.

The concept of a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is common in the business world, yet for some customer support teams it may be new terminology. A KPI is a measurement of your operations that you can compare over time to see how your business has changed. With more companies realizing that customer support is a profit center and not a cost center, measuring KPIs in the industry has been a hot topic. Some of the more traditional customer support KPIs – like abandonment rate and first response time – are classic KPIs borrowed from departments like sales that aren’t always a natural fit.

Let’s refresh the customer support KPI concept and look at what indicators are emerging in the industry…

1) Customer Distress (CD) or Customer Happiness – Customers are the lifeblood of a business and keeping them happy is a top priority. Leverage software that can easily tell if you if a customer is distressed or getting there based on factors such as their ticket volume and the tone of their messages. Some solutions have a Customer Distress Index (CDI) built in for quick information, and sentiment analysis to identify potential dissatisfaction. You can even factor in customer value and longevity as well to understand exactly how much attention a support team should pay to a specific customer.

2) Cost Per Ticket (CPT) – This is the total cost of running a customer support team divided by the number of tickets received. Arguably the largest impact on this KPI is an efficient team that is well-structured and has employees with a variety of complementary skills. You don’t want a team with glaring weaknesses, such as a lack of agents that are good on the phone. In addition, collaboration with team members on difficult customer tickets helps to resolve issues faster and keep customers happy.

3) Monthly Ticket Volume (MTV) – Sure, MTV might have been a television station you watched decades ago, but ticket volume is serious business. Track the total number of tickets received monthly and compare them not only to the previous month but also on a YoY (year over year) basis. Spot trends via customer support reporting and understand how the volume directly correlates to business decisions being made in other departments. This metric is also very valuable for staffing and recruiting as some companies do have seasonal volume fluctuations.

4) Average Response Time (ART) – This KPI is represented by a single question… How long does it take to respond to customers? Evaluating this indicator closely is a good indicator of customer happiness because nobody likes to wait for a reply. It can also show you the complexity of the requests you are receiving from customers, with highly complicated issues taking longer to solve. It’s essentially an evolved and more exhaustive version of the “first response time” KPI.

5) Average Ticket Severity (ATS) – Lastly, the ATS indicator lets you understand how different issues within your business are directly affecting support. You can calculate this by assigning a number to each ticket severity level (i.e. 3 = critical, 2 = high, 1 = normal), adding them up, and dividing by the total number of tickets. If there is an influx of critical or high severity issues, it likely means that other departments aren’t doing their job well enough and support is needing to pick up the slack. Too many months with a high ATS may indicate support needs to speak up to business leadership because some major problems are present in the company.

We hope these KPIs help in monitoring the success of your customer support operation. The more actionable metrics customer support leadership can bring to the table, the more likely they are to prove their worth and value to the company. By keeping your KPIs focused on your customers, it can only help to create an environment that adds value to the bottom line.

If it seems like your neighbors are receiving more packages these days, you’re right. According to Mary Meeker’s 2018 Internet Trends Report, online shopping makes up 13% of retail sales worldwide. Although e-commerce has steadily won a larger share of physical retail over the last decade, it doesn’t mean online companies can rest on their heels.

As greater internet access and technology improvements make online shopping more convenient, it also increases the number of competitors. Successful companies are growing by taking the lead from their digital customers.

E-commerce evolves to match consumer habits

The 2018 Trends Report found that companies are relying more on collecting and analyzing data from mobile users. The insights gained enable e-commerce companies to identify new revenue opportunities and improve services to keep customers coming back.

How well companies analyze data may determine their success as online consumer shopping habits continue maturing. Years ago, consumers used search engines to begin product searches. Nearly half (49%) start their search on Amazon today, only 36% begin with search engines.

By analyzing online consumer habits, companies are helping shoppers find—and purchase—products more efficiently. Data influenced Amazon to create new features and services like 1-click purchasing and Amazon Prime to increase customer usage.

Data allows social media platforms to personalize the ads inserted into news feeds. By presenting targeted ads to the right audience, share of social media referrals to e-commerce sites rose 6% in 2017, up from 2% in 2015.

COMPANIES THINK LONG-TERM

As the digital world continues vying for consumer attention, the return on ad spend (ROAS) is decreasing. “In performance-based [digital advertising] channels, competition for top placement has reduced ROIs over the years and been a source of margin pressure,” says Glenn D. Fogel, CEO and president at Booking Holdings.

The increasing cost to acquire customers increase (CAC) is causing companies to focus on increasing customer lifetime value (LTV). One popular way to increase LTV is by turning products from one-time purchases into subscriptions.

MOBILE SHOPPING IS THE NEW ENTERTAINMENT

Of the many things people can do with their smartphones, shopping is the most popular and fastest activity at 54%. Companies are adapting to the quick-paced mobile platform by making shopping appear like entertainment.

Shopping sites and apps are increasing user spend by gamifying the experience with slick visuals and deals that last as short as 90 seconds. Companies are also pulling a social component in by offering additional discounts for referring a friend.

Although it’s still in its very early stages, what’s emerging now is what Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, calls “New Retail.” In his vision, New Retail blends offline, online, and logistics so that every business, including mom-and-pop shops, become e-commerce order and delivery stations.

E-commerce influences the offline world

From the beginning, online companies used technology to make shopping more efficient and increase convenience. As a result, relative household spending for food, entertainment, and apparel fell over time.

However, spending on costs like shelter rose over time. This means a household’s biggest expenses have continually gotten higher. However, e-commerce technology can be used to drive down these costs by helping people get more out of what they have.

Through sites like Airbnb, you can rent out rooms in your home to generate extra income, which can be used for spending money or expenses like your mortgage. Online technology can also spread other benefits to the offline world. Not only does the Airbnb host earn more money, the people they serve usually pay less than if they used traditional options such as renting a hotel room.

The outlook is clear: Physical retail sales growth will continue dropping as e-commerce continues rising. To gain and maintain customers, companies must increase their perceived value by improving their online features and services. How to do that lies in analyzing the data clues left by online shoppers.

Forecasting isn’t easy. Even if you try all the common tactics, like having three times more opportunities in the pipeline than you need to reach your goal in a quarter, it still isn’t easy to get forecasting right. And like everything else in sales, shortcuts only tend to make things worse. Some sales organizations try discounting to move deals forward, not recognizing that a lower price isn’t what is motivating change. Nor is it addressing the internal conversations they must have to agree to move forward at all.

Even if you inquire about every opportunity every day, it has no impact on the forecast itself. There are, however, conversations you can have that will improve your forecast.

Asking the Client Their Desired Go Live Date

Much of the time, the date the client would like to go live is a date that drives all the milestones between the time you ask and the time they go live. If you need 60 days from the day the client signs the contract in order to implement and begin executing their solution, you now have the information you need to ask the client whether they can work on that timeline.

The client’s timeline is a more accurate guess, even though it still contains an opportunity to push. That said, it’s much better than an uneducated guess as a placeholder in your CRM.

Asking the Client to Commit to Providing Resources

In some cases, when what you sell is complex and requires information and analysis, being able to move forward in the process requires the client provide you with information. Someone has to acquire that information and provide it to you. Asking the client to commit the resources to provide you what you need to create and present a solution gives you an indication as to whether or not you’re going to be able to keep a deal on track.

Missed commitments on the client side, especially when it’s something as easy as providing information, may be an indication as to how well they’re going to keep greater commitments in the future. If you are unwilling to ask the client to commit to providing those resources by a specific date, trying to close their business by an artificial date that a salesperson put in the CRM isn’t going to be any easier.

Asking the Client About Their Process

We spend a lot of time talking about our sales process and the importance of doing all the things we need to do to create and win an opportunity. I am sales process agnostic, believing they all have value while recognizing they are mostly an orienting generalization; they are a map and not the terrain. A large part of how well things go as you work through your process depends on how much you know about what the client has to do on their side. More often than not, you’ll be surprised to find out that the client hasn’t really thought through all of the things they need to do on their side. In The Lost Art of Closing, I wrote about commitments like collaboration, where you tailor your solution for the client, and consensus, and you bring in the stakeholders who are going to be impacted by a decision to change to get their buy-in.

Asking the client about what needs to be accomplished on their side massively increases the odds of building a plan they can agree to and one that you can help them manage. This will improve your forecasting.

There are also conversations you need to have with your salespeople.

Asking the Salesperson Whose Date

If the date a deal is projected to close is the end of the month at the end of a quarter, those are salespeople dates, not client dates. Clients don’t tend to think they need to sign a contract the last day of the month or the last day of the quarter, and when they do it’s because they know you are likely to cave-in on your pricing. Salespeople use dates as placeholders, believing they can close the deal by that date. Mostly, they are wrong. This is why dates shift around quite a bit, and it takes us back to the first conversation, the one in which we ask the client what date they would like to go live.

Your client has no idea what your timeline is, and so there is no way they can be committed to the dates that you are looking at, as they lack any awareness of that date.

Asking the Salesperson What Still Needs to Happen

Having a conversation about what needs to be accomplished between the date you’re having a conversation and the date you are forecasting the client’s deal to close will give you some idea as to how close you are to being on course, or more likely, how far off you are. When there has been no collaboration, no consensus, no review of the solution, and no conversations about what execution might look like, you are right to be skeptical about the date being forecast.

If you want to improve your ability to forecast, these five conversations will help you tremendously. More still, they will help you understand where you are when it comes to reaching your goals, and what you need to do about it.

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