Rnordman

Do you want to make more money out of your content?

Work smarter.

Put your pen down, close that Google docs file (only for a short while), and let’s take a look at what you can learn from the content that you have already published.

In this blog post, I will show you how to utilize Google Analytics data to make some ROI-driven decisions about your next move on the content marketing chessboard.

Please keep in mind that the process I go through should be applied only to bottom-of-the-funnel content. You know, the kind of content that is targeted towards the readers who would consider buying your product.

If you are selling logo design, you can consider “how to make a logo”, “which logo company should I choose”, or, “how much does a logo design cost”, your bottom-of-the-funnel content.

This process has enabled me to find thousands of dollars of monthly profit buried inside Google Analytics data of large blogs. Therefore, there is a high chance that your business may benefit from it as well.

The classic way to measure the ROI of bottom-of-the-funnel content

The classic method relies on utilizing the reporting function in Google Analytics. It’s a fairly known and traditional form of checking your content’s ROI.

How does it work?

In Google Analytics, go to the “Reporting” panel. You’ll see a toolbar on the left.

Click on “Behavior” -> “Site Content” -> “Landing Pages”.

Things to look out for: date range

Before you start dealing with results and analyzing data, take a closer look at the “date range” option.

You’ll find it in the upper-right corner. It might be a good idea to set a longer period here, for example a year (that is, of course, if your page is running for that long). This way you’ll be able to get a greater number of statistically relevant results.

How to analyze your results

All right, so what am I really looking at?

The main window contains a list of all the pages through which users have accessed your website. Filter out a couple of pages like “homepage”, “product page”, and “about us page”, and what you are left with is your content.

On the right-hand side of the table, you’ll find the number of conversions for specific content pages. This number helps you get a better picture of how well your page is fairing.

Warning: These values are not 100% precise. For example, if someone enters your website through a blog post A, then reads through your blog and is persuaded to buy through a blog post B — blog post A gets all the credit for this conversion.

How to supercharge this data to make more profit

While the Google Analytics report created above will give you some insight into your content marketing strategy, it is worth giving this data another dimension (literally).

There are a number of ways in which you can process this data in order to discover the best moves you can pull out to bring you more profit. I am going to show you one of them, which has given me the highest returns so far.

Step 1 – Create a table in Excel

You’ll need to create a simple table in Excel and populate it with the content pages that you have seen in the Google Analytics report. Create two additional columns entitled “Position” and “Number of conversions”. It should look something like this:

Step 2 – Get information about your content position out of Google Search Console

Open Google Search Console and look for the “Search Analytics” option, just under “Search Traffic” on the left.

Check the boxes shown in the screenshot above and click on the double arrow button next to the first content page entry on the list.

After you click on a specific page, change the settings in the menu to the options below:

When this is completed, calculate a weighted average of your position in Google for queries with the highest number of impressions, and put this number into your Excel table. This number will differ from the “average position” value displayed by Google.

Repeat this process for every content page in your Excel table.

Step 3 – Narrow data in the Google Analytics report down to organic traffic only

Return to the Google Analytics report we have looked at before. Click on the “Add segment” button in the upper part of the main window. Search for “System” and click on “Organic traffic” then “Apply”.

Now insert the “Number of conversions” column with conversions from your organic segment data.

In the end, your table should look something like this:

Step 4 – Create the chart

All right, you have your data. Now it’s time to put it all together.

Highlight the “position” and “number of conversions” columns. Click on the “Insert” button on the Excel toolbar. Find the chart section and click on the “Scatter” option. You will get a popup with a nifty looking chart. The x-axis represents the position and the y-axis shows the number of conversions.

To organize the chart a bit better and help you understand what pages you are looking at, right-click on one of the dots on the chart, click “Add data labels”. Then right-click again on one of the numbers next to the dots and click on “format data labels”. From the newly appeared menu click on “value from cells” and highlight the column with your landing pages’ names.

Congratulations, you’ve done it! The end result should look similar to the screenshot below (I did not click on “value from cells” for the purpose of making the chart look clearer).

Analyzing the chart – what am I looking at?

What you have is a chart that shows the number of organic traffic conversions in accordance to the position of a specific content piece in Google.

The main rule – The closer a page is to the upper-right-hand side, the more valuable its potential. And the other way around, the closer something is to the lower-left-hand side, the less valuable its potential.

Ok, but why?

It’s pretty simple, actually.

The pages closer to the upper-right-hand side generate lots of conversions with lower position values. It means that if this content is being actively promoted with various SEO techniques, its position will rise. As a result, it will automatically generate even more traffic and conversions.

With promotion, a piece of content can move to the upper-left-hand corner.

I have found that with this chart you can always find quite a few extremely profitable moves to pull out in terms of content promotion for your business.

It points out what kind of bottom-of-the-funnel content should be avoided (usually everything that is close to the lower-left-hand corner). You can easily map out your priorities in terms of promotion and publication of content and fill your editorial calendar for months to come.

Pro tip – it’s a good idea to set name labels for each page (as we have mentioned before). It will save you trouble and help you to keep your head in the visual cluster.

Speeding things up – how to get almost immediate feedback on the ROI of newly published content

While the technique described above is quite… well… awesome, it relies on measuring conversions levels. This is obviously a good thing, but it also has a drawback.

The fairly slow data gathering speed and long periods of time required to amass all the data makes this technique unreliable for newly published bottom-funnel content. Depending on your audience size, you usually need a few months to see if a particular piece of content will prove to be effective.

Target micro-conversions to speed things up.

You will lose some accuracy, but for those of you out there with smaller audiences, it will be the best thing to do.

Instead of using sales as your “number of conversions” value, focus on micro-conversion events, which are a sign of readers’ potential interest in whatever you are selling.

For example, you can set up a goal in Google Analytics, which counts visits on your landing page as conversion.

This will 10X the speed of your measurement, while displaying a relatively high level of data accuracy.

Other ways of getting ROI insights out of your data

Making the most out of your content is no easy feat to achieve. If you want to squeeze your blog posts until the last drop, you will need all the information about ROI you can get.

I have a few other highly profitable strategies that I use and I would be happy to share them with you in the future.

How about you guys? Have you come across some other data hacks that allowed you to maximize your profits?

Follow These 6 Steps to Get Started in Social Media

Does a small business need to be on social media? Absolutely. The major search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Bing all place some value on how strong a company’s social media presence is when determining the search engine results. Not only does it help search engine rankings, but it allows you ‘free’ access to potential clients to market your services too.

There are seemingly a million different social networks out there these days. And for a small business owner trying to run their own business and be on top of social media, it can be a challenge.

What do you start with ? Facebook? Twitter? Pinterest? Instagram,? YouTube? What abut the less well-known social networks like Digg, Delicious, Tumblr, Last FM, StumbleUpon? Do you really have time to run your business AND market your business properly? Most business owners don’t. Let me give you an idea of where you can at least get started and get the most bang for your buck.

1. First Decide What Social Media Networks To Use.

The obvious thing would be to say, well let’s start with Facebook and Twitter. That may very well be the right place to start. However, it isn’t the best for everyone. Yes, Facebook has the majority of users, however, you need to consider where your followers are.

So for example, you are a tattoo shop, you may have a large portion of followers and potential customers on Instagram or Pinterest because of the visual nature of your business. So, think strategically, and come up with 2-4 social media platforms you want to focus on. I don’t recommend more than that. Anymore than that and you can be overwhelmed and not end up doing any of them very well. For most small businesses I recommend Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and YouTube.

2. Set Up Your Facebook Page.

I would start with Facebook first partly because of the sheer volume of users that its social media for small businesses has. So first set up a Facebook Business Page. When setting it up be sure to add your information as needed and do not copy it from other places online like your ‘about us’ page on your website. Doing so is not a good SEO practice. Fully optimize your page with photo’s, your logo, web address, contact info, appropriate links, good description, etc.

3. Incorporate Social Media Icons On Your Site.

The obvious reason for this is that you want your followers to be able to easily locate your social media networks and follow you. My preferred method of social media icons is to allow users to Like’ or ‘Follow’ you without leaving your site. I have this setup on my website.

4. Engage Your Followers.

You can do this by posting engaging photo’s or by posting status updates that require a response (such as fill in the blank). Another way you can do it is by having contests or special promotions.
Be Consistent. It’s important to consistently provide status updates. Consistently engage with your audience. Give them a reason to follow you, to interact with you.

5. Consider PPC.

If you are having a problem engaging fans, it may be appropriate to consider paying for ads on a social network like Facebook. By doing this you can get hundreds if not thousands of more followers in a short period of time. Doing so will boost your social media presence and relevancy, and ultimately lead to more business for you.

I know, I know, you may be reading this saying that nobody is interested in a painting contractors status updates. Or, who wants to read status updates about a landscaping company. Well, a couple things there. First, the search engines place weight on it. Second, you don’t think like your customers and they don’t always think like you. Everybody is different. Don’t assume that just because you don’t think it is interesting, that others won’t think it is.

6. Social Media doesn’t have to be a chore.

You can make it fun, interactive, and profitable. If you follow the steps above you will be well on your way to improving your social media presence. This guide will help you get started with social media, including showing you how you can use social media to generate leads.

So tell me, what social network have you had the most success with? Just comment below.

How do you read?

You might be a print-book purist, like 38 percent of Americans; you might belong to the 28 percent of people who throw an e-reader or mobile reader app into the mix. Perhaps you identify with the quarter of Americans that didn’t read a book in the last year, but you keep up with news. (If that’s the case, do you usually watch, read or listen to your favorite journalists – and did you know that I can probably guess your answer based on your age?)

Today, writers have a level of autonomy over their work that was unprecedented a decade ago. In the literary sphere, the rise of e-books and self-publishing made it possible for anyone to create, market and distribute a book using their own resources, rather than going through a literary agent and major publishing house. B2B brands have recognized that organizations with blogs receive 67 percent more leads, while blogging is this year’s No. 1 inbound marketing priority in North America. In other words, it’s easier than ever to publish, distribute and reap ROI from your own words – and this opportunity is as inspiring as it is chaotic.

When every voice has the potential to resonate on a global scale, it’s not hard to see why individual perspectives can get drowned out. This applies equally to book authors selling their latest work in the Kindle store and executives sharing their long(ish)form thoughts on channels like Medium, LinkedIn and company blogs. Both groups also share a key ingredient for rising above the competition: they need credibility to convince audiences to listen.

The key to credibility: third-party data

If I didn’t back up my claims with sources, would you have believed how much B2B blogging pays off or the number of people who didn’t read a book last year? Maybe, maybe not. For executives looking to become thought leaders in their industries, however, it’s not worth taking a chance.

Your writing should always demonstrate your mastery of and insights about your area of expertise. BuzzSumo recently highlighted a few content ingredients that tend to attract high numbers of shares and domain links, finding that authoritative voices, strong opinions and trending topics are reliable factors. One common ingredient in every type of content, however, was the use of original or third-party data to back up writers’ insights and tips. By establishing a connection between your claims and relevant data, you can easily produce writing that’s worthy of your readers’ interest, shares, links and subscriptions.

Below are five ways to pepper your brand’s editorial calendar with data and watch as your content becomes more educational, authoritative and valuable in the long run.

1. Collect, distill and deliver the information your customers need to know.

From speaking with experts directly to keeping up with the latest reports about your industry, collecting and analyzing data that helps move the needle for your customers involves a fair amount of legwork. After Metis client Teikametrics co-hosted a webinar with BigCommerce, the team published a blog about winning the future of retail by the numbers – bringing the important figures front and center to help give readers an edge.

2. Dispel a common myth.

Do you ever hear misconceptions thrown around your industry to the point where customers believe them, and that belief puts the well being of their businesses at risk? Neil Glazebrook, vice president of product management at ClearSky Data, noticed that many of his customers were tracking their data storage costs with a narrow measurement approach. By measuring the dollars they spent per gigabyte of storage, those users weren’t taking other cost factors into account – and overlooking some of the ways the data storage industry had evolved in recent years. His blog post, “Three myths about data storage TCO that need to go,” shared insight to help companies update their views and open their minds about new storage options on the market.

3. Look back on an industry’s evolution.

You have a front-row seat to your industry’s evolution. By channeling your observations and adaptions to new trends into a history lesson, you can simultaneously demonstrate your company’s longevity and share insights for newcomers in your space.

When Metis celebrated its 10-year anniversary, we looked back on the massive developments that shaped PR, marketing and social media into the space we know today. Then, we turned our thoughts into a SlideShare and surrounding campaign – which earned the agency a Hermes award.

4. Share details you’re not seeing in the media.

The healthcare industry frequently works with high-value, sensitive data. As a result, organizations like hospitals are a common target for cybersecurity attacks. Shortly after Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles suffered a ransomware attack in early 2016, the hospital paid hackers nearly $17,000 to recover stolen data.

This figure made headlines – but it didn’t represent the full story. DataGravity chief information security officer (CISO) Andrew Hay shared an article with security publication Dark Reading about why the price tag only indicated a fraction of the hospital’s total costs. Between four days of locked computer systems, lost business and compromised brand reputation, the total costs of the breach may have reached $11 million. This sobering figure and the speed with which data breach costs add up gives readers a sense of urgency about better protecting their sensitive data, as well as a reason to look to DataGravity for real-world analysis about security incidents in the future.

5. Use visuals to make your data memorable.

Always source your statistics and third-party research from reputable sources – industry analysts and independent research firms are a great place to start. When you’re looking for a creative way to insert that data in everything from social posts to contributed articles, consult Think With Google, a beautiful, easy-to-use tool that can connect you with a wide variety of statistics. Snippets of data are presented through visual cards, which you can embed in content and share directly on social. It’s an easy way to infuse content that helps ensure your work sticks with your audience. After all, there’s a good chance they’re already looking for more content and new experiences:

When you’re an author, you should constantly aim to inform and intrigue your readers. The idea is an old maxim in the literary world, but it’s possibly even more vital for executives and aspiring thought leaders to keep in mind. Using third-party data to prove your claims and give your readers solid ground upon which they can make decisions is one of the most valuable things you can offer in any piece of content you create.

The days when the majority of compliments and complaints came from phone calls and web forms are ones for the history books. Social media is quickly becoming a breakout candidate for real-time customer service as mobile engagement continues to skyrocket. Here are 5 habits of your social, mobile customers you simply need to know

Studies show that nearly 80% of all social media customers’ activity happens via mobile devices. In addition, nearly 1 out of every 5 minutes spent in the digital world is on social media. With such immense mobile engagement, it’s more important than ever to understand your customers’ purpose in the socialscape, and how you can tap into their social practices and preferences to strengthen your own.

Habit #1: They expect to be heard.

Social Mobile Customers have always taken a “social first” stance to share the good, the bad, and the ugly about their experiences, like this fan’s testament to Physician’s Formula on Facebook:

Take for instance this disgruntled customer with a strong dislike toward their television service provider:

Sorry for just flipping a shit on Twitter, it's just that Comcast literally won't do anything otherwise. This SUCKS. The only option :/ pic.twitter.com/rmOhPPqxC3

— Tim – Holiday Theme (@TimDotTV) November 1, 2016

These customers are no longer waiting until they’re seated at their desk before dishing out the details. Thanks to ever-increasingly mobile flexibility, customers can spew forth rants and praises as well as receive the service and help they need in real time.

Take for instance this tweet from a Virgin Atlantic customer who needed help and received it from the company’s support team that was quick to reply.

@VirginAtlantic hello Virgin Atlantic. me & my Dad @Jeff_W_Goodwin need your help. I am battling bone cancer & have a favour to ask. ✈️

— Alexander's Journey (@alexs_journey) November 21, 2016

Using the immediacy of social media to their advantage allows businesses to create real loyal connection with their consumers. In fact, Virgin Atlantic’s quick response saying they’d take care of the request gained nearly 200 likes, 43 retweets and 29 forwards, and even this response:

.@VirginAtlantic Genuinely impressed by your compassionate response. @alexs_journey

— measured (@measured) November 21, 2016

A study from Convince and Convert shows that nearly 83% of people who complain on social media appreciate a company’s response. Taking ownership and a proactive search for resolution, even when it’s not your fault, can score major brownie points, maybe even enough to retain some business.

Habit #2: They’re impatient

With a world of information right at our fingertips at any given moment, we’ve extended our expectations of immediacy to encapsulate nearly every interaction in our busy lives. As a result, mobile customers exhibit a much shorter threshold for bad service, and they aren’t hesitant to take to the social airwaves to vent their frustrations (sometimes with photographic evidence).

In fact, customers may decide to interact with a brand in a more mature way by privately writing them a message. However, that still leaves a risk of them screenshotting a conversation and addressing the issue on public channels if they don’t get the attention or service they require. There is always a chance for escalation and public venting if your company fails to resolve in time.

The ways we use social media continue to evolve, and the quickly growing need to field customer service issues through social media proves it. A study from Convince and Convert illustrates that 32% of customers who take to social channels for their issues and inquiries expect a response within 30 minutes, and 42% expected an answer within 60 minutes.

It affects your brand a lot more than you may think, like this exchange between a frustrated client and Delta that was trying to take control of the situation.

#delta #deltairlines#internationalflight So annoyed with Delta. Paid for upgrades and they changed the seats to regular with no notice.

— Valerie lovegreen (@Vlovegreen1) November 19, 2016

Conversocial’s the State of Social Customer Service Report indicates that 27.5% of customers who reached out for customer service on social never got a response, while 30% received a response after waiting 30 minutes or longer. Interestingly, 100% of survey respondents indicated they liked the idea of using social for customer service simply because it’s easy. The easier you can make it for your mobile customers to reach out, the more opportunity you’ll have to take care of them.

Habit #3: They demand something in return

How did you get social media followers in the first place? One Nielsen study of Twitter users shows that coupons, prizes, freebies, how-to videos, downloads, and relevant content make great ways to garner fans, and continuously offering these items can ensure they keep coming back.

If you have offered any of the above, it mostly likely worked since customers only interact with you if you have something of value to offer them first. In fact, Sephora has just announced that the brand will offer loyal customers or those who have had issues with customer service Sephora gift cards directly through social media applications.

Your customers want to know what you can do for them, in the moment and in the future, so make sure you’re committed to deliver over and over.

Habit #4: They turn to social when they need help

Your mobile customers want to go social first: these are the channels they own and they are comfortable with. These are the channels they spend the most time on. Unfortunately, brands either have very slow response times on social, don’t resolve in channel on social, don’t know how to have the right tone with social, mobile customers or their customers aren’t even aware that social is an option.

It may seem next to impossible, especially if you don’t have a dedicated team responsible for resolving social media-based responses, but the rewards are insurmountable. Shutterfly, for example, has taken well to the social-media-slash-customer-service fusion, and is leveraging it to perfection, as exemplified here: “I just placed an order BEFORE I had the chance to put my promo code in. My finger was quicker than my brain!! Can you help me?”

Within the hour, Shutterfly responded:“Hi! Please send us a private message with your order details for help.”

Like it or not, your brand is the epicenter of social media buzz, for better and for worse. But at least when you join the conversation and take accountability for what’s being said, you gain the opportunity to end each experience on a high note.

Habit #5: They look for reasons NOT to do business with you

The internet is inundated with fake five-star reviews, which is why some customers tend to seek out the negative before reaching for their wallet. Jeff Hancock took to CNN to unveil that British author RJ Elroy was caught reviewing his own work with fake online identities. Journalists were found to have plagiarized others’ work. Fake reviews continue to scatter the internet in hopes of luring more conversions. Standing in a digitized world surrounded by smoke and mirrors, we see the light at the end of the honesty tunnel that opens up in the social media environment.

Customers will be wary when they can’t find a speck of negativity on your company. Bad reviews aren’t necessarily a deal breaker, but they can be if you don’t respond correctly. When it comes to telling it like it is, your customers take no prisoners, so be prepared with a peace treaty. Since the frustration, questions and comments customers share are illuminating opportunities for a business to change the experience, and hopefully the review, Conversocial has partnered with Google’s Play Store to help brands answer reviews and resolve issues.

HOW to Please Your Social, Mobile Customers

Before you embark on a social media branding frenzy, you must anticipate the consequences of your social presence: Will you gain brand recognition? Will your recognition remain positive? How will you handle negative comments and issues? How will you respond to compliments? What value will you continue to offer followers?

When you grasp your social mobile customers’ habits, these questions tend to answer themselves.

Want to learn more about how you can better serve your social, mobile customers?

Download our Definitive Guide to Social, Mobile Customer Service and start learning how to meet your customers’ expectations on the channels they own.

Marketing automation isn’t just for marketing. As a sales leader or rep, marketing automation is fundamental to understanding your prospects’ behaviors, leveraging them in your follow-ups, and making the right connections.

In my experience as the Director of Enterprise Sales Development at Marketo, I’ve seen firsthand how marketing automation generates more quality leads and contacts that turn into great sales opportunities. In this blog, I’ll share three key areas in which sales uses marketing automation for success:

1. Lead Scoring and Collaboration

Sales and marketing alignment is critical on many levels, but ultimately, it’s essential to have the same vision for what classifies a “hot” prospect and what activities qualify a sales-ready lead, otherwise known as a marketing qualified lead (MQL). This is a critical piece of the puzzle that allows the sales team to focus on the more qualified contacts while your marketing team works on nurturing the rest of the leads.

Lead scoring, which is set up in your marketing automation platform, gives you a view of all the different activities that prospects have completed and how they have engaged with you across different channels. It enables you to personalize and customize each engagement with these leads during your follow-up.

Lead scoring should be agreed upon by both sales and marketing and can help you determine a prospect’s sales-readiness. Prospects can be scored based on their demographics, firmographics, content engagement, behavior, and interest. Once a specific score has been reached, it triggers a new MQL and an email alert is sent to sales. This ensures that all of the stakeholders for leads or contacts are notified when they become new MQLs and can take action in a timely manner.

As a sales rep, what you do with this information and how you leverage it in your follow-up can really make the difference in building relationships with your leads. It can provide you with a leg up on your competition as well as give you a deeper understanding of which leads meet the qualifications of your highest converters. Communicating with them increases both ongoing engagement and saves you and your team time chasing down inopportune leads.

2. Establish SLAs and a Complete Follow-Up Cadence

Leads are expensive for marketing to generate and therefore should be treated like gold. Having an agreed upon timeframe for follow-up can ensure that each lead that marketing is driving is being followed up on quickly and thoroughly. This is where service-level agreements, or SLAs, come into play. Having SLAs in place along with the aforementioned lead scoring can accelerate and increase your lead-to-opportunity ratio and provide a systematic and repeatable process for follow up.

At Marketo, our current agreed-upon SLA for any MQL is 24hrs. If there is no action in this time frame from sales, a follow-up email alert sent to the SDR to remind them of the important lead that needs attention. If there is still no response, the SDR’s manager is also alerted to ensure that no leads get left behind. The exact timing and stakeholders notified will vary based on your market segment, but the idea of having a process in place is paramount to your success.

Having a repeatable follow-up cadence in place is also important to ensure persistent and consistent lead follow-up. These prospects should also be engaged with valuable content, calls, and emails for at least 15 days after they become an MQL to continue to build the relationship. And with lead nurturing streams created by marketing in your marketing automation solution, you can keep your solution top of mind for your prospects. At Marketo, we use our own platform to do just that. Putting a lead into a nurture stream after we have made our follow-up attempts allows us to continue to drive our messaging and keeps our prospects informed and educated on topics that our solution addresses.

A good best practice is to make sure you follow-up again (whether asked to or not) 30, 60, and even 90 days later. Chances are, the priorities and requirements were not 100% baked when the lead first became an MQL, but many times you may find gold again later on in the cycle. You can start the conversation by mentioning the recent follow-up attempts and remind them of their initial interest. Many leads or contacts simply forget these interactions, so this step serves as a good reinforcement.

3. Account-Based Marketing for Outbound Prospecting

Contrary to what you might have thought, B2B sales isn’t all about working with incoming leads. There also needs to be a focus on driving outbound opportunities as well.

Using account-based marketing (ABM) allows your sales team to identify and target accounts with the greatest revenue potential, engage them so they move more quickly through the sales funnel, and easily measure the success in terms of revenue won. This account-centric strategy has become a staple for my team at Marketo. We’re able to view any and all incoming leads and their relative account scores, allowing us to prioritize follow-up based on higher account scores.

As noted in the SLA section above, consistently following up for least 15 days, but no more than 30, is critical to ensuring that each outbound target prospect is approached with valuable messages and emails, but not completely oversaturated either. Research from memoryBlue shows that prospects are more likely to respond to your efforts after the 7^th or 9^th try and not during your 2^nd or 3^rd try, which is what most salespeople tend to do. Another best practice is to make sure you’re following your prospects on their respective social channels for a complete view of what is important to them, what they are responsible for in their job roles, and other triggers that you can leverage in your follow-up.

There’s more to marketing automation than just benefitting marketers, and much more than I can cover in this blog. However, I hope these three key benefits help you understand how to drive collaboration and success for your sales team with marketing automation.

Is your sales team currently using a marketing automation platform? I’d love to hear your success stories in the comments below.

Call analytics is not just about phone calls. The beauty of call analytics is that they reveal insights about your customers, their path to purchase, and how well your marketing is performing.

Do you want to know which landing pages drive the most (online and offline) conversions? Curious about which paid search keywords refer the highest quality phone calls? Or do you need to bridge the online-offline gap in the customer journey? Call analytics can help you do all that and reveal things about your customers you never would know.

Here are 10 things phone calls could be telling you about your marketing:

1. Which Keywords Resonate with your Audience

Without even logging into your AdWords dashboard, you probably already know which keywords are generating the most clicks and conversions. But phone calls can actually show you how your paid search keywords are performing in terms of online and offline conversions. Call analytics also reveal the types of calls generated from your paid search efforts. For example, you can see which keywords drive customer service calls and which keywords result in new customers. With this information, you know exactly how to optimize your bids to get the conversions moist likely to turn into a sale.

2. How Well your Ads/Campaigns/Channels are Working

By only tracking clicks and online conversions, you’re not getting a full picture of your marketing performance. By looking at call analytics, you can see exactly how your efforts are driving conversions and sales online and offline. And for companies that conduct any business over the phone, call analytics are the key to accurately measuring marketing ROI.

3. It’s More Profitable to Optimize for Calls

Here’s the thing: calls are worth far more than clicks. Call analytics not only reveal what marketing sources drive calls, they also show what happens on those calls and how they contribute to the bottom line. You may just find that just 10 calls generate the same revenue as 50 digital leads because calls convert at such a higher rate. This information alone can help you adjust your strategies and budgets to focus on your most valuable traffic.

4. How to Optimize your Landing Pages to Drive More Revenue

When A/B testing and optimizing landing pages, we’re usually focused on maximizing our clicks. But those optimizations could actually have a negative impact on revenue if you’re not also considering offline conversions. To make sure you’re driving more sales and revenue, you need to track click conversions, call conversions, and the resulting revenue. You may find that optimizing landing pages to drive calls may actually result in greater revenue.

5. What Demographics you Should Target

Call analytics help you understand the types of prospects who are most likely to convert. Each phone call comes with a wealth of information about your customers. For example, you can gather demographic information like gender, household income, and geographic location. You can then use these insights to improve your ad targeting to reach demographic groups that are most likely to convert.

6. When to Serve your Ads

By looking at weekly and daily call trends in your inbound call traffic, you can improve your ad scheduling. For example, Mondays receive the highest call volume, with 55% more calls than the lowest volume day, Sunday, and consumers make the most calls from 11:00am to 11:59am, according to Invoca’s Call Intelligence Index. Once you know the days and times you have the highest call volumes, you can make sure not to serve ads when people are less likely to call or when your call center is closed.

7. Who your Most Valuable Prospects Are

Just tracking clicks or calls isn’t enough. You have to know if those clicks/calls ever turn into actual revenue. If you’re generating tons of clicks and calls, but they don’t turn into actual sales, they’re not doing you any good. In fact, they’re probably draining your resources. Call analytics can help you track the entire customer journey so you know exactly who your most valuable prospects are. So instead of just driving clicks and calls, you’re actually generating sales.

8. How to Hone your Messaging

Call analytics, and specifically voice analytics, can be used to discover what’s important to your audience. You can analyze conversations to see if there are frequently asked questions, if prospects often complain about price, or if/how often your competitors are mentioned. You can then use language from actual customer conversations to improve your ad language, landing page copy, and overall messaging of your marketing campaigns.

9. How to Fix Problems in your Call Center

Up to this point, you’ve been relying on digital tools, but once phone calls enter the equation, you open yourself up to human error. So even if your online efforts are on point, you could be losing prospects once you get them on the phone. But you can use call analytics to reveal problems in your call center you may not currently be aware of.

For example, you may discover long hold times or issues with your sales agents’ scripts that result in lost sales. And once you’re aware of a problem, it’s much easier to implement a solution and create happier customers.

10. How to Improve the Caller Experience

Do your call analytics show prospects dropping off the call while they’re still in the IVR (interactive voice response)? Do you notice calls are consistently routed to the wrong place? Or are callers spending too much time explaining who they are, why they called, and what product they are interested in? All of this information can be used to streamline your caller experience. For example, you may find you need to shorten your phone menu, make the language in your prompts clearer, or automate your call routing and filtering so your callers get to the right destination faster.

Who knew that call intelligence could tell you so much about your online and offline marketing efforts? Well, we did. And now you do, too. So if you’re finding that some of your marketing tactics aren’t creating the results you want, it may be time to take a closer look are your call analytics and see what insights you can find.

Pay per Click (PPC) advertising has been around for almost 20 years and PPC Agencies have been managing client’s accounts since before Google AdWords launched in October of 2000. Search Engine Marketing continues to evolve and it appears PPC Managers are becoming better and better at managing their accounts in order to get better returns on their client’s ad spend. But are they really?

What Defines Success for a Traditional B2B PPC Agency?

In order to define success for a traditional B2B PPC Agency, we must first look at the definition of Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): According to Bigcommerce.com, “Return On Advertising Spend, is a marketing metric that measures the efficacy of a digital advertising campaign. ROAS helps online businesses evaluate which methods are working and how they can improve future advertising efforts.”

This is easy to figure out for B2C or eCommerce sites where one can tell the exact amount of revenue that is generated and divide that by the ad spend, but it’s not so easy in the B2B world where the sales cycle could be days, weeks or months. So again, what defines success for a traditional B2B PPC Agency? Most Account Managers would say that the end goal is Conversions and all of the metrics that fall under that umbrella, including a high conversion rate and low cost per conversion. Historically, if a PPC Agency is getting their clients a lot of conversions and the cost per conversion is relatively low, they are viewed as being successful.

What Defines Success for a Salesforce-Focused PPC Agency?

While a Conversion (usually a web form submission) is the end goal for a Traditional PPC Agency, it is just the beginning for a Salesforce-Focused PPC Agency like ClosedOpp.

Once a conversion occurs from PPC, that’s where the story begins. Using Salesforce data, that conversion becomes qualified or disqualified — not every conversion is a success. People may enter false or incomplete data or the conversion is simply not a good fit for the business and becomes disqualified. However, qualified conversions become Leads in Salesforce and if those leads make it to the next stage in the pipeline, they become Opportunities. Anyone who knows Salesforce understands that a B2B Sales rep wants a lot of qualified leads which they can turn into Opportunities and ultimately Closed Deals.

Why is this important?

When calculating ROAS, a Traditional PPC Agency is often at a disadvantage because they can only accurately track data from the point of Search Term cost to Conversion. What happens after that conversion may be a mystery or have incomplete data in terms of the amount of revenue generated.

Integrating Salesforce and AdWords, through Bizible, allows companies to track the exact revenue generated and tie it all the way back to the exact search term that the user initially typed in, as well as the exact ad copy that they clicked. This level of data is instrumental to a PPC Campaign Manager as it helps show that not all conversions are equal. Terms that convert at a high volume and high conversion rate (successful to a traditional agency) do not always turn into leads and revenue. Other times, terms that are more expensive in terms of cost per conversion will become leads, opportunities and closed deals at a much higher rate. Full-funnel PPC Agencies like ClosedOpp, paired with Bizible, take the guessing out of the game and are able to determine the true ROAS by showing Revenue-Based Reporting instead of Conversion-Based Reporting.

How does a Full-Funnel PPC Agency Manage Accounts Differently than a Traditional PPC Agency?

The answer is simple. Using Bizible to connect the AdWords data with Salesforce, they are able to measure their success several layers deeper down the funnel than a traditional agency whose goal is to simply get more conversions. A lot of times conversions don’t even make it into the top of the funnel as they are disqualified before they get there. Instead of seeing which search terms and ad copies drive conversions, and managing the PPC spend accordingly, revenue-based reporting shows which search terms and ad copies drive revenue.

Managing your PPC Spend based on which search terms and ads turn into closed deals is a much more effective way to improve your ROAS and your business.

SaaS businesses are vividly taking over a massive part of the economy. This change has possible due to technology, as it has now become easier and cheaper than ever before to develop software. With over 3.5 billion users having access to the internet, the potential customer base for SaaS businesses is gradually increasing. An open and wide access to more customers has made it easier for companies to develop software instead of hardware.

While technology advancements have triggered software development, it’s the subscription model preferred by a lot of SaaS businesses, which has dramatically transformed it into a booming industry. SaaS businesses usually charge a subscription or signup model for their product, which is delivered and stored within the cloud. The subscription business plan means organizations reach profitability over time and should constantly provide valued services, otherwise your clients will not buy your products.

Whenever it comes to business growth and success, it is critical to strengthen your marketing and lead generation efforts. Here is a list of some smart strategies that every SaaS startup should consider in order to ramp up their lead generation effort that will ultimately generate huge revenue.

1. Tools that Help You Accomplish Your Goals

For any startup, nothing is more important than ensuring every project and resource is on the right track. As businesses grow, they want to efficiently manage their teams and monitor the collaborative efforts made by them in the most efficient way possible. Luckily, the internet is full of online task management software, collaborative tools and business applications.

Startups have a great opportunity to simplify their business processes, accomplish their goals and get the desired result with these tools and services. Savvy startups can take the maximum benefits of these tools and do things faster, smarter and effectively. Here is a list of a few tools that can help SaaS companies to manage their teams:

– TaskQue

TaskQue is a web-based task management software that ensures your team stays on top of their tasks. It offers several functionalities that are important for every emerging startup. Business owners can smartly utilize this tool for assigning tasks to their resources, communicate with one another, track projects, manage complex workflows and monitor user’s performance.

– Optimizely

This A/B testing tool helps startups to improve every experiment. No matter if your marketing team is looking for the best ways to invest in advertising campaigns or your product team is learning how to build the most engaging product onboarding experience, Optimizely can greatly help businesses. The key features of this tool is: mobile website testing, cross-browser testing, visitor segmentation, multi-page funnel testing and more. The plus point is, the intuitive dashboard can easily be integrated with other analytical tools like Google Analytics and KISSmetrics.

– Agile CRM

Agile CRM is an amazing CRM solution that helps startups to manage relationship with customers and prospects. It is a connected rolodex that can help businesses to automate their sales and marketing efforts in one platform. It avoids data outflows and enables consistent messaging. This super-fast CRM solution can enable you to easily track customers and keep comprehensive notes on deals. The marketing automation and tracking functionalities of this agile CRM not only provide great customer support but you can use it for any marketing campaign.

– MailChimp

MailChimp is a comprehensive email marketing platform that offers a myriad of email templates you can use to create targeted campaigns, automate products follow-ups and send back-in-stock messaging. It’s robust marketing automation ensures your email gets to the right people at the right time, so that you can get targeted customers for your business. It offers advanced reporting features that help you monitor sales and website activity with revenue reports, thereby helping your business to grow.

2. Realize the Real Power of Content Marketing

Organizations all over the world are leveraging content marketing to build their brand, gain new visitors to their website and drive more leads. The plus point of content marketing is that it has an obvious return, making it a smart investment that will gradually increase value.

Content has the real power to generate leads, whereas other types of marketing such as PPC advertising, email marketing, social media marketing will only do so for as long as you make efforts or investments. That is the reason, content is an asset that businesses own, while online advertising is rented. Below are some well-known SaaS business that understand the real power of content and use it smartly to generate leads.

– HubSpot

HubSpot is an inbound marketing and sales platform that develops and markets a software product for inbound marketing. Their products help marketers to achieve their business goals in a more personable and empathetic manner. It attracts its potential audience by offering valued content on HubSpot Marketing and HubSpot Sales blogs. The HubSpot Academy and certification courses offer a myriad of user guides, documents and training courses for creating and promoting content that converts into leads and new customers.

– Moz

Moz builds SEO software and tools that make inbound marketing easier. It has established a standing for its thought leadership content. They run a Moz inbound marketing and SEO blog , offer Moz tools , Moz products, beginners guide to SEO as well as offer Workshops and training that help businesses to generate leads.

– Buffer

Buffer frequently shares thoughts and insights on social media and online marketing on its blog. They know the trick of attracting potential customers by using the targeted and quality content which help their brand and drive quality leads. Buffer products make it super easy to share any site you are reading and manage accounts on social media.

While content should be an important part of your strategy it’s important not to overlook content sharing. In short, there is no use investing in content creation if you don’t share it. Therefore, it is highly recommended to invest your time in content distribution in order to get more leads.

3. Product Trials for Lead Generation

Product trials are basically an effective lead generation tool that enables businesses to generate leads with little ongoing marketing investment. For the SaaS industry, product trial has now become an important factor for generating qualified leads. Therefore, SaaS startups should consider making a product trial to ensure your audience have a perfect experience while trialing your product.

If truth be told, product trial can give SaaS businesses a clear indication of buyer intent. All you need is investing your time to get to know your product, because if people running a trial, there is a great probability of buying your product. With ongoing optimization of product trials, SaaS companies can easily get highly qualified leads.

4. Run Google AdWords Campaigns

Inbound marketing can greatly reduce the efforts and money spend on AdWords, but there are millions of people who still click on search engine ads. If you don’t want to miss out this great part of generating potential leads you should run PPC campaigns, because ads will always become more prominent in Google search results. PPC is an effective marketing strategy for a number of reasons. It delivers only targeted traffic to your website and you can increase or decrease the cost based on the requirements of the business on any given time.

Moreover, it has a lot of intrinsic probability in terms of cost and results that attract many businesses to opt for this strategy, especially if they have a limited marketing budget. It is highly recommended to run a series of test and analyze what activity generates higher ROI for your company. Since there is a variation in between different industries and their competitors, but the fact remains the same: you can generate significant level of traffic and leads from PPC campaigns if you pay for it. You can run inbound and paid campaigns both and reap the maximum benefits out of your business.

5. Convert Leads into Customers with Retargeting Ads

No matter if your key conversion metric is a free trial, an eBook, PPC campaign or a task management software, the fact remains the same that most website visitors never take the action that you desire. However, using retargeting also called remarketing can dramatically increase conversions by re-engaging users that left your business.

Remarketing monitors the website visitors and then displays online advertisements whenever they visit different sites around the web. There are many online shopping stores that pave the way with retargeting ads that displays related offers to attract website visitors. Regardless of the industry, you can utilize remarketing to turn a website visitor into qualified lead.

Believe it or not, retargeting is a valuable tool for SaaS startups as it gives your brand a golden opportunity to establish trust and credibility with website visitors. You can retarget anyone who comes to your website by using personalized ads based on the visitors’ interest in your products and services. This will make sure that you are showing the right offer to the right audience.

Bottom Line

These are the best and proven strategies to help SaaS startups to grow and establish, but it is highly recommended to test, evaluate and optimize according to your business requirements in order to check what strategy drives a huge ROI for your business.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

IBM launched its IBM Watson for Cyber Security program in beta on Tuesday, and announced that it already has 40 clients signed up, including global leaders in the banking and insurance industries. 

Companies like Sun Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation will test the ability of Watson — IBM's artificial intelligence (AI) — to identify and fight cyberattacks. Watson will help them more easily identify specific malware programs and provide background on known cybercrime campaigns, as well as more accurately pinpoint suspicious behavior. At the same time, Watson will better learn how to interpret cybersecurity data and improve its analytical capabilities.  

One problem the program aims to solve is a lack of accessible information on past cyberattacks. By working with a wide range of companies, Watson will be able to gather information on how different attacks impact different industries, and how individual firms respond. This will enable it to add to the store of information it has already been fed by developers, making it a central repository for information on cyberattacks. This may help IBM overcome a significant hurdle to fighting cybercrime, particularly in financial services — the difficulty of accessing and interpreting data on previous attacks. Historically, financial firms have been reluctant to divulge details on security breaches, but they may be more willing to do so if data can be anonymously fed into Watson. 

Cybersecurity is a persistent and growing problem for financial services institutions, in particular. In early November, Tesco Bank suffered a £2.5 million ($3 million) hack, and last week, Russia's central bank was breached to the tune of 2 million rubles ($31 million). As banking becomes ever-more digital, banks will be at greater risk of suffering hacks if they do not up their cybersecurity efforts.

We will therefore likely see more solutions such as IBM's Watson for Cyber Security emerging. However, these programs will only work if there is a network of stakeholders in place willing to share information with each other.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on cybersecurity that details the current landscape for companies in critical infrastructure sectors, as well as how companies can protect their control systems from hackers.

Here are some of the key points from the report:

• Companies that operate critical infrastructure sites reported 295 cyber incidents in 2015, up from 245 in 2014.
• Hackers are targeting the industrial control systems that operate critical infrastructure because of the enormous damage they can cause by crippling such infrastructure.
• Industrial control systems typically weren’t designed to be connected to the internet, so they weren’t built with cybersecurity capabilities to ward off hackers.
• The hack that caused a blackout in the Ukraine could serve as a blueprint for other hackers that want to target critical infrastructure, helping them succeed in future attackers. 
• The Ukraine hack highlighted the importance of training employees about cybersecurity and placing additional access controls on industrial control systems beyond firewalls.

In full, the report:

• Explains the challenges that companies face in securing industrial control systems that they are connecting to the internet.
• Breaks down what made the hack against the Ukraine’s power grid so successful.
• Highlights how this attack will impact other companies operating critical infrastructure.
• Details the best methods for securing industrial control systems against hackers.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of cybersecurity.

Join the conversation about this story »

Every day sales teams face the challenge of meeting and beating their quotas using a variety of strategies and systems to support their efforts. Even the most successful sales teams have to find workarounds to get the data they need to close more deals. Having to collect, analyze and prioritize data slows down sales cycles and acts as a constraint to closing deals. Sales integration has the potential to revolutionize sales cycles and deliver higher win rates than ever before.

Sales Integration Simplifies Complex Selling Strategies

Complex manufacturing and services companies often have long sales cycles and many decision-makers involved in the purchasing process. Add to this the fact that these types of companies often customize their products and services to customers’ unique requirements, and the need for tighter sales integration to the company’s core systems become clear. By integrating Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Configure, Price and Quote (CPQ), marketing automation, pricing and service systems together, complex manufacturers and service companies are successfully increasing win rates, driving up deal sizes and saving time across their organizations.

The following four sales integration approaches are successfully scaling complex selling strategies today:

1. Accelerating sales cycles by automating the proposal and quote process across all selling channels in real-time by integrating CPQ, contract management and ordering systems across diverse platforms. Manufacturers are equipping their sales teams with mobile apps accessible from any device, anytime to increase their selling productivity. These cloud-based mobile apps are enabling sales teams to produce quotes, respond to contract, pricing and product queries and be more responsive to customers as well. Companies following this strategy are getting the following results:

• 71% of companies say that having a CPQ system enables them to respond to RFPs more rapidly. Also, the greater the integration of CPQ systems with other systems the faster quotes can be provided and pricing managed more effectively. Source: Aberdeen Study Configure-Price-Quote: Better, Faster Sales Deal Enabled. September, 2014.

• 28% reduction in sales cycles achieved by companies standardizing on a company-wide CPQ system. From Aberdeen Group’s “Breaking the Laws of Physics” (April 2013).

• Reduction in proposal cycle times from 17 hours to 30 minutes by capturing and use product expertise in product configurators. A leading specialty vehicle manufacturer was able to accomplish this by integrating systems to streamline CPQ and product configuration first.

• Sales productivity increased 26% when sales reps didn’t have to chase down product experts in engineering to get responses to their quoting questions.

2. Increasing quoting accuracy by having the latest pricing, services, and product options reflected in each proposal and quote delivered every day via sales systems and platform integration. This makes it possible for your company only to commit to producing the most profitable and buildable products for your company. Companies following this strategy are getting the following results:

• Demand to launch products quickly (42%), position and sell lower-cost products to produce through CPQ (46%) and manage demand for customized, complex products (42%) are three of the most significant pressures on companies today. From the Aberdeen study, Putting The C In CPQ: Configuration Management In High Tech. June, 2015.

• 65% reduction in order cycles times due to a drastic reduction in order-rework that had been caused by inaccurate quotes.

• 95% reduction in order completion costs when the initial quote is accurate and doesn’t lead to order-rework during production. From a custom study of specialty vehicle manufacturer that is part of Ford Motor Company.

1. Driving up win rates with prospects and existing customers by delivering proposals and quotes accurately and fast based on real-time sales integration. The highest performing CPQ systems deliver accurate product, pricing and service configurations quickly that don’t require rework. These CPQ systems are so well-tuned to their company’s manufacturing operations they also often lead to perfect orders being produced. It’s possible to get to this level of configuration, pricing and quoting performance, there are companies doing this today with single-digit order rework rates. Companies following this strategy are getting the following results:

• Selling organizations skilled at CPQ strategies increase customer retention on average 3.9% annually while non-users generate a 0.6% decrease. Top performers also have a 10% higher win rate. From the Aberdeen report, Putting The C In CPQ: Configuration Management In High Tech. June, 2015.

• 48% of companies who have adopted an enterprise-wide CPQ system have a higher probability of their quotes turning into orders. From the Aberdeen Study Configure-Price-Quote: Better, Faster Sales Deal Enabled. September, 2014.

• Market leaders are 50% more likely to capture and reuse knowledge in their CPQ systems compared to technology laggards. From the Aberdeen study, Putting The C In CPQ: Configuration Management In High Tech. June, 2015.

• High-performance CPQ systems are delivering 45% greater proficiency at rapidly and effectively responding to RFPs. From the Aberdeen report, Putting The C In CPQ: Configuration Management In High Tech. June, 2015.

1. Increasing average deal sizes in proposals and quotes by defining the most profitable services, product configurations and options that customers are most likely to buy based on data generated from integrated selling, pricing and finance systems. Companies using CPQ systems and strategies to drive up-sell and cross-sell revenues across all channels measure outcomes in real-time thanks to analytics being a core part of their cloud platforms. Companies following this strategy are getting the following results:

• 33% increase in cross-sells for add-on emergency vehicle options across all vehicle product lines. A specialty vehicle manufacturer was able to accomplish this using an enterprise-wide CPQ solution within a year of it being implemented.

• A complex manufacturer was able to increase the revenue contribution of upselling and cross-sell strategies from 9% to 26% of total deal amounts. Transitioning from manual to automated upsell and cross-sell strategies, this manufacturer was able to leverage the Salesforce1 platform to attain higher sales performance than they ever had before.

• Launching low-margin, high volume products through upsell and cross-sell strategies retains more gross margin and gets volumes ramped faster than traditional means. Cross-sell and upsell strategies also reduce sales cycles, and increase their attach rates with success products by 55% or more. From An AMR Research study on guided selling.

Originally posted on the enosiX blog, How To Scale Complex Selling Strategies With Sales Integration.

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Verne Harnish "Strategic Thinking" Webinar -- I'll be leading a live webinar next Wednesday 14th December at 12pm ET - more below, but first...

Top 5 Biz Books 2016 -- my annual list is on the newsstand (Fortune Dec. 1) and online. Of the roughly 13,000 biz books published this past year, here are my top 5 for scaleups:

• Confessions of The Pricing Man - Hermann Simon
• Pre-suasion - Robert Cialdini
• Right Away & All at Once - Greg Brenneman
• The Coaching Habit - Michael Bungay Stanier
• How to Have a Good Day - Caroline Webb

Please take 1 minute to read my summary/rationale for choosing each.

Four Additional Books -- the five above were in addition to these three widely popular 2016 (must read) biz books:

• The Third Wave - Steve Case (co-founder of AOL)
• The Ideal Team Player - Pat Lencioni (author Five Dysfunctions of a Team)
• Shoe Dog - Phil Knight (founder of Nike - best biz bio of 2016)

And recommended by VC Brad Feld I just finished Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice - the true story of Bill Browder's dealings with/inside Russia - it's a page turner where truth is scarier than fiction.

Worth Doing Wrong -- and this is the title of a book written by one of us - Arnie Malham, founder of cj Advertising (and the Better Book Club). Here is my published endorsement of Arnie's excellent book:

If you're helping lead a scaleup, grab a copy of Arnie's book Worth Doing Wrong: The Quest to Build a Culture that Rocks and enjoy over the holidays.

Meet the Authors -- of the nine biz books highlighted, three keynoted the Growth Summit a few weeks ago (Pat Lencioni, Greg Brenneman, and Hermann Simon). And this spring at the Scale Up Summit Robert Cialdini and Michael Stanier are already confirmed to be in San Antonio May 23 - 24. Cialdini is the "father" of influence, having written THE book on the subject by the same name. Pre-suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade is his first new book in a decade and its equally breakthrough.

It's What You Do Before You Persuade -- Cialdini found in his research of the most effective persuaders that they do something BEFORE they try to influence someone that has a profound impact on the outcome. The opening story about the alarm system sales person is hugely eye opening. Warning: it's a book you'll need to read a few times, like his classic before. It's why we've booked Cialdini, one of the most legendary biz authors, to be the opening keynote in San Antonio next May. The ability to influence is a foundational skill.

Coaching Replaces Managing -- it's been a theme for 2016. No one wants managed; but everyone needs coached. I've been searching for the right practical guru/book to help us all make the transition. This is why we've asked Michael Stanier, author of The Coaching Habit, to also keynote the ScaleUp Summit next spring. Read the reviews on Amazon to understand how influential Stanier has become in this "new" field. Again, coaching is a foundational skill for all leaders.

Strategic Planning Bonus Chapter -- and just a reminder as we move through the season of strategic planning, there is a complimentary bonus chapter to Scaling Up titled "Strategic Planning" which describes how to prepare for and run the process. You can download at www.scalingup.com

Strategic Thinking Webinar -- Business dynamics are changing right in front of our eyes which is why firms must engage in a routine of strategic thinking. You can't just work on strategy once a quarter or once a year. And in strategic planning sessions we've seen too many leaders focused on costs rather than finding new and unexploited sources of profit. If you fail to nail an effective strategy, you'll waste the next few years of execution. So join me for a live webinar on December 14th at 12PM EST where I'll share keys to an effective strategic thinking session for a strong 2017. Reserve your spot here.

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients. Contact us at info@gicoaches.com for more information.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please go to gicoaches.com/becomeacoach for more information. If you determine that we're a fit and wish to join our premier organization, we invite you to contact our Dir. of Coach Engagement at Amy@GICoaches.com or 877.217.2253 ext.700.

TECHNOLOGY:

Align Software puts everyone on the Same Page - Literally! See, in real time every person in your organization and how they are progressing on their priorities - alongside how they Align to the Company Priorities! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com - on your computer and on your phone.

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Launching a full-fledged ecommerce website where people can buy your stuff has become hell lot easier thanks to the availability of numerous ecommerce website builders. Previously, small business owners with tight budget had to look for a web developer from countries like India, Philippines etc to get their ecommerce website up and running without exhausting their small budget. Since small business owners don’t have big budget like other big brands, they simply can’t afford to hire local talents. It is sad but it is the truth and which is why we are seeing the rise of the gig economy and also it is the reason behind the immense popularity of bidding sites like – Freelance, Upwork, Guru etc.

But ecommerce website builders are now changing the rules of the game. They are acting as a disrupter as they are now allowing small business organizations to launch an ecommerce websites with premium features that other big ecommerce sites enjoy without paying top dollars for it.

Factors That Make an Ecommerce Website Builder “The Very Best”

There are hundreds of ecommerce website builders available in the market and this has made it very difficult for a non-tech savvy business owner. So, if you feel clueless and fail to figure out the best ecommerce website builder that will suits you needs and also you small budget, you need to check out these facts before making a decision –

• The best one will be budget friendly and will not charge you exorbitantly.
• They make the job of search engine optimisation and online marketing easier and manageable.
• They offer a full fledged customer support from all directions and at multiple levels.
• They are interactive in nature, and they also offer a user-friendly atmosphere for powerful shopping experience.

Mentioned below are 5 best ecommerce website builder software of 2016-2017.

Shopify

It is perhaps the most prolific and the most powerful ecommerce website builder out there. It has a gorgeous and intuitive interface from where you will be able to manage your website. Designing your ecommerce website is fun with its drag and drop tool. You can add, eliminate or modify the look and feel of your ecommerce website even if you don’t have any basic knowledge of HTML or CSS. Is not that amazing?

In-built templates not only save time, but also provide a professional touch to your website. Currently approx 300,000 online stores are being run on Shopify due to its reliability, security other additional features.

Benefits:

• Above 100 professionally designed ecommerce Website Templates available
• Simple template customization option
• Credit card payment gateway offered
• Well featured shopping cart for your customers
• Unlimited Web Hosting and Bandwidth
• Simple SEO features
• Mobile compatibility
• Shopify Forum- Platform for feedback and ideas sharing
• Shopify Apps
• One stop solution as a ecommerce website builder and hosting services

Pricing:

• Basic Plan – $29 Monthly
• Shopify – $79 Monthly
• Advanced – $299 Monthly

Bigcommerce

This ecommerce website builder suits the newcomers who are planning to launch a simple ecommerce website at the initial stage but have the plan to scale it up massively later. The company claims that its customers are growing twice as fast the market average. It has all the tools and features that you need to launch your ecommerce store and also to promote your store online without paying dearly for it. There are some really cool tools available like – coupons code generation, abandoned cart saver, streamlined checkout etc that will definitely help you boost the conversion rate of your website significantly.

Benefits:

• Great on SEO Tools, Conversion Tools, Marketing Tools and Analytic tools
• Numerous Product Configuration options
• Highly secured website
• Easy and safety payment gateway

Pricing:

• Standard – $29.95 Monthly
• Bigcommerce Plus – $79.95 Monthly
• Pro – $199.95 Monthly
• Enterprise – To be confirmed by Bigcommerce

Volusion

Volusion is a no-nonsense ecommerce website builder that has all the firepower that you are going to need to launch your very own ecommerce website without learning the intricacies of coding at the first place. Once you sign up for Volusion, the company will assign a dedicated account manager who will help you in every stage of the development process so that you don’t feel lost while launching your first ecommerce website. Supports are available 24×7 and there are vast resources that you can dig into to make your website more interactive and amazing. Planning to integrate your website with ecommerce giants like eBay and Amazon? Well, you are in for luck as Volusion allows top-tier integrations with these aforementioned ecommerce giants.

Benefits:

• Simple SEO features
• One page check out feature
• Auto Site Map generation and website backup daily
• Effective Email Marketing tools
• Easy payment processing

Wix

Designing and developing an ecommerce website has never been this easy thanks to Wix. You don’t need to have any programming or designing skills at all to be able to launch your ecommerce website. All you have to do is to choose a template from its vast collection of amazing templates and then start adding images, videos, texts etc on it. Secure Hosting, robust security features, drag and drop features etc are some of the cool features that set it apart from other ecommerce website builders of the market.

Benefits:

• Fastest built up time
• Drag and drop options to simplify the process while designing
• 24X7 help assistance
• Multi-platform optimization for mobile users, as well
• Numerous inbuilt template options
• Easy options for adding blog

Highwire

This ecommerce website builder is meant for those who want to launch a simple ecommerce website with some basic features incorporated in it. It does not have all those ‘amazing features’ that other ecommerce website builders claim to have but it has the simplicity that you might find interesting. It offers multichannel support and also it offers secure checkout which is vital for the health of an ecommerce website.

Benefits:

• Helps in creating innovative, full-fledged ecommerce websites with gallery styled product views.
• Social network integrations, display of discount and other promo codes along with easy payment options.
• Complete customization with user-friendly approach that goes well with other marketing tool etc.

Price: $14.95/month (inclusive of domain name generation, eBay integration and automatic security and backup checks).

Choosing from any of these website builder tools will definitely amplify your ecommerce based website building process and most favourably ease the accessibility standards of the customers too!

How to Train Your Referral Partners in Just 2 Steps written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Have you ever met someone at a networking event and hit it off?

You schedule a time to meet over coffee or lunch…

The meeting goes fabulously well. You both leave agreeing to find “mutually beneficial” ways to help each other, and then…

Crickets.

Your new partner is suddenly whisked into the witness protection program. She’s incommunicado.

What started out with so much promise, turns out to be a dud.

Why Referral Partners Fail You

In my 20 years in business, I’ve found that most everyone I meet is well meaning. If they say they want to help, they do intend to help.

Yet, they often fail to follow through.

The Unpaid, Untrained Sales Force

Stop and think for a moment what you expect from referral partners and clients when you ask them to refer. You’re really asking them to do your prospecting for you.

For most businesses, prospecting–lead generation–is the single most difficult activity in the business. If you think about it, that is the business.

How can we believe that a virtual stranger will effectively prospect, when our paid, and expensively trained sales force struggles to do it?

What Causes Partners to Disappear

Your new referral partner wants to help. It’s just that she’s got to make sales herself. Plus, she’s got a family. And, maybe some friends.

In other words…a full life and a full plate.

Then you arrive in her life and she truly wants to help, but life intervenes.

If Only You Were Easier to Refer

Part of the problem your partner faces is that you’re simply too hard to refer. She’s not exactly sure what you do, or who she should refer.

And, your “first encounter” with anyone she might refer is going to be some form of call or meeting–a sales meeting.

Sales meetings are scary. Nobody likes to go into a sales meeting. They might get sold something!

Sales meetings carry implied sales pressure. You know it. Your referral partner knows it. And the referred prospect knows it. So, it’s often easier to “go dark” and avoid the situation.

We need to make referral marketing easier…

The Answer: Train Your Referral Partners in 2 Steps…

Step 1: The Johnny Carson Method

You might be old enough to remember Johnny Carson–the host of The Tonight Show before Leno, before Conan, before Fallon. Johnny had a knack for introducing people to everyone he knew.

He’d just sit them down on his couch and ask them questions…

And let 10 million people watch it all on TV.

There was never any “sales pressure” to go see a guest like Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy show after he appeared with Carson.

But lots of people did. Spending lots of money.

Johnny was the tastemaker for his audience.

Why Interviewing Your Partners is Perfect Training

Your ultimate goal is to get your partner to share you with anyone and everyone who might be a prospect for you.

But before you can get there, it helps to build some trust. Show your referral partner how to easily get you in front of everyone they know.

You do it by first “introducing” them to everyone you know, through a simple interview.

See, if your referral partner is interacting with your prospects, there’s a good chance they have some expertise or wisdom that your clients would appreciate and value.

An interview takes little time–20-30 minutes. Almost no technology–a phone and a free conference line will do. And, you don’t need anything more than a handful of questions (your partner can provide them) and the ability to have a conversation.

In an hour of your time, total, you can prove to your new referral partner how easy it is for you to share them with everyone in your network.

Just have a valuable conversation, record it, then email a link to the audio to your network of clients, and partners, and prospects.

You’ll be shocked by the feedback

When our clients use this technique the first time, they’re surprised when their own clients call and thank them for sharing the interview.

(The goodwill you create with your own clients is a bonus!)

It’s important that you pass that positive feedback to your referral partner. It’ll make them feel great about being interviewed.

It also validates the fact that people like and value this type of information sharing because…

Step 2: Now it’s time to put their training into action

Once you’ve shared how much your clients appreciated hearing your partner’s interview, with the partner, it’s the perfect time to suggest “turning the tables.”

Say…

“I’m so glad I was able to share your knowledge with my network. They really benefited. I’d like to return the favor. I think your contacts might get a lot of value from knowing more about [insert your area of expertise].

I’d love to have you interview me, so we can help your people the way we’ve helped mine.”

Nine out of ten referral partners will jump at the chance. If you happen to come across the tenth one, well…you’ve just learned a lot about that partner.

How to “control” your interview

There are three things you’ll want to do to ensure you make the most of your interview.

1. Write your questions. Don’t settle for a free-flow conversation, and don’t put any extra work on your partner. Write questions that, when you answer, give the listeners “ah-ha” moments.
2. Do all the logistic work. Again, don’t put any work on your partner. Write the cover note/email. Bring lunch to their office and offer to help them send the email while you both eat. Get creative…just don’t make it “homework” for your partner, or it’ll drop to the bottom of their to-do list.
3. Put a lead generation offer at the end.Doing the interview is great. But a big mistake is omitting any next-step call to action. The best offer in these interviews is to offer what I call a Referral Kit™ (an educational marketing piece).

That gets interested prospects to raise a hand and identify themselves to request your Referral Kit.

But wait, there’s more…

There’s one little hidden benefit of this process…

After you publish your first interview or two, your other partners will want in. Your opportunities just multiplied!

Here’s how to put it all together

So, we’ve covered a lot of ground. Let’s review the process…

First: Offer to interview your referral partner to share their expertise with your network. Distribute the interview to your clients, prospects, and other partners.

Second: As soon as you get positive feedback from your network, share it with your partner and “turn the tables.” Suggest they interview you to share your expertise with your partner’s network.

Rinse. Repeat.

Watch as your list of interested prospects and network of effective partners grows.

About the Author

Steve Gordon is the author of Unstoppable Referrals: 10x Referrals, Half the Effort. Over 7000 people downloaded his free Referral Blueprint for Professional Service Firms.
Free download: Would like to have the exact script I use to get referral partners to say “YES” to an interview?
Click here and tell me where to send it…

“Dude, if you could figure out a way to get paid from having networking and brainstorming meetings at Starbucks everyday, you’d be crazy rich.”

The truth hurts. At the time it was exactly the perspective I needed.

I like meeting new people, learning about their work and figuring out if we can support each other. Most of my business comes from referrals so having an open approach to networking makes sense to me.

However, it’s easy to substitute “networking” for some of the hard, isolating kitchen table effort required of anyone trying to create something epic. Big-idea brainstorming conversations with other people on their own journey feels good. They can prove useful. But the truth is, my predisposition to “coffee shopping” over creation was holding me back and hurting my business.

“Coffee shopping” is how I describe loosely-defined networking meetings and business introductions — which mostly seem to take place in the neighborhood coffee shop.

If you find your calendar consumed with “coffee shopping,” this is the perfect time of year to audit the ROI of the networking meetings you’ve had at Starbucks this year. Is coffee shopping the most productive way to meet your 2017 objectives?

One thing that helped me is developing a system for managing my time and exercising the discipline to maintain it. I’m not perfect, so I’ve delegated most of my scheduling to make sure I keep ample time on my calendar exclusively for creation. Here are a few of my favorite productivity tips that I hope will move you toward better time management in 2017.

The Breakfast Meeting

Breakfast is the most productive meeting time of the day. A 7 a.m. breakfast meeting usually includes a hard stop (I limit them to 45 minutes) and doesn’t interfere with the morning business agenda. In contrast, mid-morning “coffee shopping” can easily kill a half-day of productivity.

The Networking Agenda

An agenda helps you make the most productive use of your time. If both people understand the context of the meeting and show up prepared to contribute, you are likely to accomplish a whole lot more. Always commit to an agenda before the meeting.

The ABCs of Networking

I categorize networking opportunities based on their potential value. An A meeting is high-priority, with clear reciprocity. The C might be an investment of time you make to give back. I want to help others through coaching, counseling, connecting and mentoring, but I also need to manage the amount of time I devote to lending a helping hand.

Set your own definitions of an A, B and C meeting. How many A, B and C meetings have you had in the past 30 days? What is your priority for the next 30 days?

The Email Q&A

Instead of meeting in person, could you trade correspondence to accomplish the business objective? Choosing email instead of a meeting allows you to manage your response in a way that fits you priorities and schedule. I get asked to take calls and meetings with emerging speakers to offer advice on a weekly basis. With a simple template response, I can still lend valuable support, connect people with my coach (Jane Atkinson) and protect valuable time in my calendar.

The No-Alcohol Rule

I am all for celebrating a big win, important milestone or advancing a relationship with some really good wine, but I put those meetings into the proper perspective. When I’m pitching an idea or considering an important decision for my own business, it’s not happening in a bar.

Don’t Let Your Inbox Control Your Day

Take control. Decide when during the day you’re going to check and respond to email. If you are worried about missing something important ,consider this quick audit: Which is more important, the prioritized task I’m working on now or the next email that lands in my inbox (whatever that happens to be)?

What Gets Scheduled Gets Done

If you wake up without a prioritized plan for the day, you’re already a step behind. I find it most helpful to organize my day by “day parts” — chunks of time dedicated to my most important priorities. Also, if exercise is a priority, make the commitment and put it the calendar! I treat my hour devoted to exercise with the same sense of urgency as a client commitment. You simply have to decide and commit to the most critical priorities for you in 2017.

A good day plan also includes white space. Instead of scheduling back-to-back meetings from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., give yourself a little time during the day to think strategically and respond to any true crises that may come up. Taking short breaks to walk around, go outside, or get a glass of water (try working in 50 minute bursts) leaves you refreshed and ready to tackle the next challenge.

Time management is about prioritizing, protecting the calendar and putting more structure and a better system in place for the New Year. We all receive the same gift of 24 hours in a day. I hope these tips help you move toward a more productive 2017.

Good morning! Here's what you need to know in markets on Friday.

David Davis, Britain’s Brexit secretary, says he is "not really interested" in a transitional deal to cushion Britain from the effects of Brexit and that he would consider one only in order to "be kind" to the EU, according to a memo seen by the Financial Times. Finance companies have pressed the government to agree a transition period after Britain leaves the bloc and before new trade terms are finalised, during which current arrangements remain in place.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein may not have voted for President-elect Donald Trump, but he is ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Mr. Trump may turn out to be a much better president than anyone else might have been in that place," Blankfein said in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

Time Inc., the publisher of People, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazines, has hired Morgan Stanley and Bank of America to help it deal with takeover offers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Time Inc. was reportedly approached by the billionaire investor Edgar Bronfman Jr. in November but rejected the takeover offer.

US stocks rallied to record highs again on Thursday as the rally since the election continued. Meanwhile, global bonds sold off after the European Central Bank announced it would extend its quantitative-easing program until at least December 2017 but would scale down its asset purchases to €60 billion (£50.5 billion) a month from €80 billion (£67.4 billion).

Japanese stocks hit a 1-year high overnight, taking their cue from the US. Japan's Nikkei stock market closed up 1.23%. Elsewhere in Asia, the Hong Kong Hang Seng index is down 0.42% at the time of writing (6.30 a.m. GMT/1.30 a.m. ET) and China's Shanghai Composite is up 0.47%.

Samsung will supply semiconductors to US electric car maker Tesla, South Korea's Electronic Times reported on Friday citing unnamed sources. Samsung would contract manufacture chips for self-driving features in Tesla vehicles, the paper reported, without putting a value on the order.

UK trade balance figures are coming at 9.30 a.m. GMT (4.30 a.m. ET). The Office for National Statistics admitted earlier this week that it has miscalculated trade for the last year and a half. Economists are pencilling in a £5.2 billion trade deficit for October but it may surprise given the miscalculation.

There have been more departures from Credit Suisse in recent weeks. Among the New York departures are two equity analysts and the head of execution for programme trading in the US.

Here's the presentation famed investor David Einhorn of hedge fund Greenlight Capital gave at the exclusive Robin Hood Investors Conference last week. In it, he explained his long thesis for pharmaceutical giant, Bayer.

British businesses are not willing to invest in UK research, a situation that has to change, a leading academic has said. UK firms lag competitors in France and Germany, and are below the EU average said Professor Louise Richardson of the University of Oxford told the BBC.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: These are the watches worn by the smartest and most powerful men in the world

Negotiation Strategy

There are a substantial number of skill sets and bodies of knowledge that constitute the discipline of sales negotiation. In the end, however, the ability to craft and execute a thoughtful and creative plan for the negotiation is a bottom line for achieving a successful end result. This is particularly true in major accounts where the negotiation is complex and there is more to lose and more to gain.

In any major account, if the sales team is actively engaged in the negotiation process without a well-conceived and coordinated plan, they are playing Russian roulette with the long-term relationship with the customer and with the profitability of the sales opportunity.

Anchoring your message. In building a well-conceived plan the importance of anchoring is consistently underscored as one of the factors for getting the job done. The concept recognizes the old adage – “how you say it is as important as what you say.” Whether the glass is perceived as “half full or half empty” all depends on how one frames the conversation about the contents of the glass.

In a sales negotiation anchoring is all about presenting your concessions on a given issue in a way that justifiably emphasizes the value of those concessions.

The most practical and best-supported phenomena in anchoring relates to the notion that individuals generally do not evaluate concessions in an absolute sense but rather as a change with respect to some reference point.

So the anchoring challenge boils down to selecting the most effective reference point. Is it: the status quo, a prior contract, a competitive comparison or some industry standard? In the end, anchoring is part of how you help your customer understand the value of your concessions. And, remember anchoring will always occur, so if you don’t do it your customer will.

Building value. It is difficult to overemphasize the importance of anchoring. No concession whether it is on price, technical support or any other issue – has a fixed inherent value.

As part of the anchoring process top negotiators build and verify the value of a concession before they offer it. In doing so in major accounts it is important to remember different people in the account may have different views about the value of a concession. So how you go about optimizing the value of a concession is position specific. In that regard, the opportunity may exist to use others, such as your internal champion, to influence the value with the major players in the decision process.

A final point. The least desirable outcome is offering in good faith a significant concession, only to find out after the fact, that it had very little value to the customer – hence, the deal was lost. Of course the best situation is to provide a concession of significant value to the customer that “costs” you very little. The moral of the story: being smart about customer value is just as important in a negotiation as it is in any other aspect of selling.

Download our free eb00k – Mastering Magor Account Negotiating now.

5 Under Used Strategies to Make Your Customers Feel Valued written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing

There’s a misconception that great customer service requires endless resources and personnel, complex software systems, and outsourced call centers. While those tools can certainly help large corporations feel more connected to their clients — perhaps increasingly so through automation and social media “bots” to jump on quick replies — there are still few substitutes for human interaction and response.

And here’s the good news for small businesses and entrepreneurs: It doesn’t take an endless budget or countless hours to make your customers feel valued and heard.

Below, I’ve outlined five of my favorite strategies for making customers feel valued. All are cost and time-efficient strategies your larger competitors may simply overlook or ignore.

They’re not always flashy or “disruptive” in the Silicon Valley sense of the word, but these techniques are tried and true ways to stay connected with the clients you want to retain — whether you’re Business to Business, Business to Consumer, or somewhere in between.

1. Respond to Inquiries Right Away

While this seems like an obvious choice for companies who want to go above and beyond in customer service, a lot of businesses still get it wrong. That’s because “right away” often gets misconstrued as “within 24 hours.” A business day’s time might still be a timely response, but it won’t come as a pleasant surprise to anyone.

Instead, treat — or have someone on your team treat — at least some of your customer inquiries as extremely time-sensitive messages.

To keep myself accountable, I’ll often have customer messages forwarded directly to my personal inbox, putting their needs front and center among the most pressing concerns of the day. That makes it difficult to not work toward a resolution right away!

Is it a permanent or very scalable solution? The answer is likely no. But even occasionally prioritizing customer inquiries for rapid replies sends an unforgettable signal to clients and customers.

2. Surprise Them With Snail Mail

Letter writing is a lost art, but absolutely nothing beats the feeling of communication you can touch. Handwritten thank you notes, company branded swag, and the occasional fruit basket (seriously) can be cost-effective methods of getting in front of customers who might only think of you when A) something goes wrong or B) a contract is up for renewal.

Don’t leave positive associations up to chance. Small tokens of appreciation are always appreciated. You have nothing to lose beyond a few minutes of writing time, some letterhead,  and the cost of postage.

Your customer retention metrics will thank you.

3. Update Them on Industry Trends

I’ll preface this strategy by explaining what it shouldn’t be: Under no circumstances should your client communication ever feel like a sales newsletter. (After all, our inboxes are already too full.)

But sending customers an occasional update on your industry can have a positive impact on the relationship in two key ways.

First, it helps establish you as an already-knowledgeable resource working hard to stay on top of your game. Bigger companies may rest on their laurels as industry leaders, but not you: Your team is constantly checking the pulse to stay ahead of trends and pass that value on to customers.

Second, it’s a relatively non-invasive way to illustrate the importance of your product or service. Did the industry itself grow? Are more customers than ever looking for the service you provide? A quick industry update can remind clients/customers that you’re one of the best investments they’re making.

4. Celebrate Their Success

This tip is more applicable to B-to-B companies, but it illustrates an important lesson for all entrepreneurs.

There’s a big difference between collecting invoices and truly celebrating your customers as valuable professionals and businesses in their own right. Take time to check for news on their triumphs — like a new fundraise, executive hire, or acquisition — and send them a quick note acknowledging the success.

Clients want to know you’ve got their backs day in and day out. Staying abreast of their successes makes sure you can send the right message when dispositions are at their best.

5. Share Your Triumphs (and Challenges)

Have you recently partnered with another company or organization to give back? Are you expanding service at no extra cost? Certainly, these are all things customers will appreciate hearing. But what if I told you it’s just as important to communicate challenges?

As entrepreneurs, we spend a large portion of our time running around to put out fires big and small. And for the most part, our clients and customers don’t really care: They expect the work to get done, the service to be provided, and the product to be delivered no matter the obstacles we face.

Occasionally it can be good to give customers a peek under the hood — but generally only when it’s an issue you swiftly overcame.

Sharing an anecdote about a potential roadblock you beat or a snag your team quickly disarmed can illustrate your business’ agility and adaptability. This is an especially potent thing to signal for smaller businesses because it gives customers yet another reason to prefer you over a larger, slower-moving industry behemoth.

Ultimately, the best — and often least used — strategies to make customers feel valued rely on clear two-way communication. Use the above tools consistently to signal your unique value. And at the end of the day, who doesn’t appreciate getting a handwritten letter?

About the Author

JJ Ramberg is the host of MSNBC’s Your Business and the founder of Goodshop — the world’s first shopfunding site.

Few recent trends in health care delivery have more power to improve population health, patient and provider experience, and hospital business models than virtual care. But for an industry reliant on, and in many ways limited by, brick-and-mortar facilities, this movement will mean significant disruption for providers. As more commercial and state payers offer telehealth coverage and patients come to expect virtual care as standard practice, meeting the demand is quickly becoming clinically and financially imperative.

Like many hospitals, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is actively preparing for the era of virtual care in order to best meet our patients’ needs. We are at the cusp of this transition. As Medical Director for Telehealth at BWH as well as the Partners Healthcare Center for Population Health, I rarely go a week without hearing about a new practice interested in offering one of our virtual care services, a patient inquiry about our telehealth programs, or a significant change in the reimbursement landscape that may affect virtual care delivery. In spite of this growing buzz, however, virtual care at our institution and most other academic medical centers remains more of a future vision than a daily reality. For smaller or community-based providers, this gap is even wider.

For virtual care to move from an innovation pilot to a standard service, five questions need to be answered by any provider:

• Which clinical services should be offered virtually, and why?
• Which technology tools will meet the demographic, clinical, and business needs for these services?
• Should telehealth programs be offered directly to patients or only among providers?
• How does virtual care create value for my practice or organization?
• How can this value be assessed from the patient’s perspective as well as the organization’s?

Our strategy has been guided by nuanced answers to these questions. Here is what we did at BWH, organized by the three clinical and strategic problems we aimed to solve through virtual care.

Virtual Visits: Improving Access and Population Health in Chronic Disease Management

Our virtual care strategy began with video-based visits for outpatients with chronic diseases. In 2015 we started to engage those clinical departments whose providers saw patients with conditions requiring frequent follow-up visits and infrequent physical exams, and who lived in Massachusetts but had difficulty coming into the office. While a broad set of patients met these conditions, our providers targeted those with inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes during pregnancy, mood disorders, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, prostate disease, and airway disorders. We outfitted exam rooms and provider offices with cameras and trained the providers how to use a secure video platform to connect with patients remotely, while designing practice workflows to effectively move patients through the program. Providers were compensated at a rate roughly commensurate with routine office-based billing, regardless of payer mix. In addition to working with participating providers to target clinical populations for whom virtual care would be appropriate, we asked providers to offer virtual visits to align with BWH population health and access goals. We specifically focused on patients who would not need to come into the office for in-person care in addition to receiving virtual care, so as to avoid increasing overall utilization. And we chose providers willing to open up their schedules to see patients virtually, either more efficiently during their clinical hours or during their non-clinical time.

Insight Center

Approximately 600 visits have been conducted virtually through this program to date, freeing up about 200 hours for participating providers to see patients. Among patients surveyed after their initial encounter, 97% were satisfied with the experience and would recommend the program, and 74% felt that the interaction actually improved their relationship with their provider, allaying some of our concerns that what patients would gain in convenience they would lose in a remote interaction. From a population health perspective, where our goal was to remove some of the lower-value in-person visits to make room in our providers’ schedules for more-complicated cases, we were encouraged to find that 87% of patients said they would have needed to come into the office to see a provider face to face if it weren’t for their virtual visit. The greatest adoption of this program to date has been in our medical and surgical specialties, as well as in psychiatry.

As we grow this program, we plan to evaluate its value in a number of innovative ways. One hypothesis is that we can improve no-show rates by offering virtual care, given the dramatic improvement in patient convenience. Related, we will be tracking different measures of the time saved by virtual care for both providers and patients. Indeed, increasing the time spent at home and work, instead of traveling to see our providers, will be a major victory for our patients. Moreover, we believe that by reducing no-shows and increasing the number of patients who engage with their doctor, we can improve quality and help prevent costly downstream events, such as hospital admissions or readmissions. Finally, as we focus our energy on provider burnout, we hope that virtual care will allow for more-flexible provider schedules over time, permitting clinicians to provide some care from outside their practices if they wish.

E-Visits: Providing On-Demand, Virtual Urgent Care for Simple Symptoms

At the other end of the clinical complexity spectrum, we wanted to offer a virtual care program for patients with common, acute symptoms requiring rapid triage and management but who had trouble fitting into their providers’ schedules. In some ways, we’ve learned from retail urgent care competitors such as CVS Minute Clinic: For certain common and irritating symptoms, seeing one’s provider in the office is often less important than obtaining a speedy and reliable answer. For this reason, we collaborated with a large group of stakeholders across Partners Healthcare to develop a set of short algorithmic questionnaires designed to cover the most common primary care complaints, including cough, red eye, urinary symptoms, and back pain. We made these questionnaires available on our patient portal and directed patients to them to allow for effective asynchronous care. Why depend on a practice voicemail box when you could directly send a brief summary to your provider online and receive a reply that day? The questionnaires appeared in primary care providers’ electronic inboxes as dedicated encounter types called “e-visits,” from which medications and tests could be ordered, and which could be routed to other team members for collaborative management. We compensated providers per question (at about half the rate we paid for video visits) and expected same-day service in return.

After an initial pilot of 700 e-visits among a subset of our primary care practices, we began expanding across our system.  Unlike video-based visits, which take less total time for the patient (because there is no transit or practice wait time) but about the same time for the provider, we expect provider and practice efficiency gains for e-visits to be significant. The efficiency metrics we will assess from our medical record platform (EMR) are still in development, but from early experiences we know that a 15-minute office visit for urinary symptoms or cough can be done in under five minutes through this program. We also plan to experiment with midlevel provider models, where dedicated physician assistants, for instance, would spend part of their time each day answering e-visits, becoming increasingly proficient and responsive to the growing number of patients using the service. As we and other systems consider payment models that incentivize population-based, panel-driven provider work and compensation, we will likely test approaches where provider time is strategically protected for asynchronous care for large groups of patients. We believe this program will become increasingly vital as the market offers more virtual urgent care options.

E-Consults: Broadening the Reach of Specialty Care

In addition to telehealth services offered directly to patients, we use virtual tools to improve care and communication among our providers. Our E-Consult program attempts to solve a daily problem in ambulatory care: A clinical question arises that may or may not require a referral but that the primary clinician cannot answer alone. These questions are often related to referrals (“Does this patient need to be seen by you, by a colleague, or can I manage with your support?”) or other moments of clinical management (“I’m choosing between two medications, can you help me select which is more appropriate?”) that face primary and specialty care providers on a daily basis. E-consults ordered in our EMR provide a dedicated, responsive, and findable communication channel that can be ordered like any medication or test. Providers formulate a question and synthesize relevant information, and then route these requests to established specialist teams we centrally organize, support, and compensate at a rate similar to e-visits.

In the past year of the program, roughly 300 of our providers have sent nearly 2,000 questions to our specialist e-consultants.  Primary care physicians represent 80% of the sending volume, with specialist senders making up the remaining 20%. Among our 20 specialist teams, the highest-volume groups consistently are cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, hematology, infectious disease, orthopedics, and urology.

The program has two strategic aims, targeted at improving access and population health: to better support primary care providers so that more primary care can be managed without referrals, and to assure that when referrals do take place, they are better packaged and triaged by the referring provider so that the specialty consultation is more effective for the patient. In a chart review last year of a large sample of these questions, we found that when a sending physician intended to refer a patient to a specialist but first virtually consulted a specialist in that field, about 50% of the time the referral was avoided. From a cost perspective, this means fewer unnecessary specialist visits — a significant driver of medical spend. From a specialty access perspective, these results suggest that reduced referrals generated greater capacity for complex and appropriate specialty care.  We have also received consistent feedback that e-consults are deeply helpful and supportive to primary care providers and fill the management gap created by challenging clinical scenarios. As this program grows throughout our network, our goal is to maintain the high degree of service our local clinicians have come to expect as our specialists begin fielding questions from new sources.

As virtual care streams toward us from the horizon, there will soon be a day when providers will be deciding not whether to offer telehealth, but how much. Virtual care holds the promise of revolutionizing health care delivery, but it needs to be carefully guided through complex clinical, financial, and technologic decisions in our mixed-payment universe. We’ve focused on three core use cases — complex specialty care, urgent primary care, and specialty consultations. The challenge has not been in finding opportunities for virtual care; it’s been in focusing our work on those with the highest value today.

Since writing my previous post on the 3 most important facts you need to know about Gen Z, I just couldn’t get this group out of my mind.

I started to think more into how marketing is going to change with this new generation coming of age, so I reached out to a thought-leading research and consulting firm, Open Mind Strategy, to gain some more insights into this group. Through its countless research initiatives, Open Mind has “dug into the heads, hearts, hopes, hungers, habits, homes and hashtags” of Gen Z’ers.

Executive VP, Allison O’Keefe Wright, and Brand Strategist, Leah Perlmutter, have done so much qualitative and quantitative research with Gen Z and millennial consumers, you’d expect them to be Gen Z’ers themselves at this stage! Here’s what they had to say about how to reach the growing consumer juggernaut that is Gen Z.

Youth Culture

First off, OMS points out that in some ways Gen Z’ers are “Anti-Millennials” and yet in other ways, they are “Amplified Millennials” or “Millennials on Steroids.” So what does this mean? Well, millennials may be tech natives, but Gen Z’ers have digital in their DNA.

High Expectations

Gen Z expects to be catered to by brands. Period.

They are incredibly informed as they spend countless amounts of time online, researching products, checking social channels and reading reviews (52% utilize social media or YouTube for research purposes). Brands are expected to deliver at very high standards, because if not, then they can just search elsewhere and find a new brand within seconds.

Personalization is key. With digital in their DNA, innovation is also expected (“Why is your website so difficult to use?” “How don’t you know who I am?”). Don’t bother sending them a generic email — they want to know that you remember them and value their loyalty.

Gen Z is the first generation that cannot remember a time in their lives without technology. They have been brought up able to find anything at the touch of their fingers online. As a result of this, they recognize the power of their voices on social platforms.

Social networks are becoming an increasingly popular platform for customer service, and Gen Z’ers are taking the lead. They will reach out to you whenever they want, through any platform they want. This group won’t send an email or call you to complain, they will straight up publically shame you on social. If they reach out to you over Twitter, they want to communicate with you over Twitter, so don’t try redirecting them, as it’s just inconvenient and you’ll most likely lose them along the way.

Looking for More Than Just a Product

Gen Z looks for brands that share their passions and beliefs. Not only should a product satisfy their needs, so should the brand. They need to know their purchases are making a difference to the world. They expect brands to be responsible, environmentally friendly, and to give back to the community in some way. Leah mentions that “over 25% of Gen Z has boycotted companies” as a result of some social incompatibility with the brand.

Hey! Pay Attention to Me

Growing up watching Vines lasting six seconds, you can be sure that it doesn’t take long for this generation to get distracted and look elsewhere. Create snackable content so it’s easy for them to digest.

This generation receives more than 3,000 texts per month from friends; what makes you think they’ll give you any time? Keep your messaging straightforward and short to get their attention fast. The online world is so cluttered that businesses need to reach this generation through a variety of platforms.

Allison highly recommends that companies establish their brand before engaging on social. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. Authenticity is key, so be real with your content. Spend time figuring out your beliefs and passions and create an online persona that users can engage with. Whatever you do, don’t try to fake it!

#NailedIt

Leah, Allison, and I tried to think of brands that knew the behavior of this generation and were leveraging it effectively. Snapchat, Forever 21, and ASOS all came to mind — but as much as people love to hate the Kardashian/Jenner Klan, we had to give them props, too. Kendall and Kylie are the faces of this generation, tapping into this consumer demographic flawlessly!

Here are some specific tactics that Kylie Jenner uses for her Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit to appeal to her Gen Z audience. If your brand is hoping to appeal to Gen Z’ers, feel free to take notes!

Success of Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit:
– Website is effortless, easy to navigate and has classic visuals.
– Social channels messages are straightforward.
– Personalization: Kylie herself writes personal notes to every buyer.
– Influencers wear the lipsticks and sharing content.
– As the most followed user on Snapchat, she posts daily pictures comparing lipsticks and shows “behind the scenes” previews.
– So Instagrammable! The product and packaging are so pretty that word spreads quickly online as buyers are enticed to show off their purchases.

The post Insider Tactics to Reach Gen Z Consumers appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Related Stories

• Top 5 Female Social Media Entrepreneurs
• The Top 6 Snapchat Accounts You HAVE to Follow in 2017
• Is Instagram the Next E-Commerce Giant?

People often ask us how they can tell if their buyer personas are accurate and actionable. In a recent survey we heard questions such as “How do I really know if my buyer personas are right? And, “How can I make sure they tell me what matters to buyers and prospects?”

The short answer is that buyer personas work when they reveal how buyers think about the buying decision you want to influence.

While many companies use interviews to source their buyer personas, most of those interviews are conducted with the company’s salespeople or customers. Instead of a factually correct representation of their buyers, including those who prefer a competitor’s approach, these personas have a strong bias in favor of the company that develops them.

There is a pressing need to eliminate self-serving personas. It makes no sense to invest in describing only the ‘ideal’ buyers who are delighted by our story when those customers represent a small part of the market we need to influence.

Fortunately, the truth about real buyers is readily available through interviews with people who have recently evaluated for purchase a solution, product or service similar to yours.

Important point: this is not what most people mean when they talk about buyer personas, which would be more accurately labeled as buyer profiles in that they focus on describing people, not buying decisions. Even if these profiles are based on solid research and buyer interviews, they fall short of fulfilling our mission to know what we need to do and say to persuade buyers to choose us.

Asking yourself the following questions will guide you to more accurate buying insights:

1. Did your buyers say it matters? If not, it’s a guess or an opinion.
2. Less is more. In every persona segmentation study we’ve ever conducted, we’ve identified the need for fewer buyer personas than the client expected. Why? Because personas should only be segmented based on differences in HOW and WHY PEOPLE BUY – not your product lines, industries or job titles. If buyers are of like minds about the buying decision you want to influence, they will respond to the same sales and marketing activities. You are only making work for yourself by building multiple personas.For one client we looked at several of their major markets, and discovered three buyer personas—based NOT on market or industry, but on unique insights we uncovered about each buyer’s approach to this type of buying decision. A previous vendor had created dozens of personas, confusing everyone and virtually guaranteeing the persona work would sit on a shelf. Don’t get lured into demographic or product-based segmentation. You care about differences in your buyers’ thinking about a buying decision. Besides- who can market to 28 personas?
3. Interview people who have recently been buyers. Find buyers who decided that the status quo had to go and it was time to change, and have invested time or money to solve the same problem. People act and think very differently than they think they will when budget is on the line, which is why so much ‘opinion’ research turns out to be misleading. The interviews that will give you real insights are conducted with people who have a true story to tell about what happened when they DID IT.
4. Your first interview question is: “Take me back to the day when you decided (problem to solve) was important…” Then ask the person to tell you what was special about that day and why they didn’t act sooner. Spend five or ten minutes on this moment and you’ll know a lot about why and when buyers are receptive to hearing from you.
5. Don’t work from a script—ask the buyer to tell you everything they did and thought about as they evaluated their options and made a decision. Whatever they tell you is something that was very important to them or they would have forgotten it by now.If you really listen and are interested in what the buyer has to say, you’ll be amazed at how engaged the buyer will get in telling their story and how much they’ll reveal. Leave your agenda behind. These are golden insights that you’re not going to find if you present your ideas—and God forbid, “Was it less important, highly important, somewhat important, shoot me” – like typical market research involves.
6. Ten interviews may not seem like much, but unless you want to find differences between different segments of buyers, ten is enough. Whatever you hear in interview number 11, 17 or 26 won’t be worth the investment. If you are accustomed to surveys this might sound strange, but remember: you are looking for game-changing insights that a) the competition doesn’t now and b) you can exploit in your marketing and sales interactions – not charts and tables filled with data. If you need certainty, commission a quantitative study after the interviews to validate your findings.
7. Your objective is to capture ACTUAL BUYER QUOTES and comments—not the opinions of your researchers, internal staff or agency. This is a big one. With traditional qualitative research, ethnographic studies and focus groups, you are paying for a research firm’s OPINIONS about what they heard. Your personas should reveal the buyers’ actual words summarized with headlines that reveal patterns across the interviews.

If you follow these seven steps and go to the source for your buyer personas—actual buyers—no one will worry if you got them right.

In a perfect world, every interaction with your prospects would unfold smoothly. But occasionally, tricky situations arise. Although you can’t always control whether these situations occur, you can control your response.

Not only will reacting well to an awkward or difficult moment make your prospect respect you more, it’ll also teach you to remain graceful under pressure. Ultimately, you’ll keep the deal on track while boosting your people skills. These five tricky situations may have an upside after all.

1) You Disagree With Your Prospect

Challenging your prospect can feel like stepping on their toes. If you suspect they won’t react well to a direct approach, dig into the reasoning behind their opinion. Once you understand why they think what they do, you can tactfully present a different view.

Here’s some sample dialogue illustrating this strategy:

Prospect: “I think over-the-top content’s (OTT) rise is overhyped. The cable industry will be fine.”

Rep: “Interesting. Would you mind explaining?”

Prospect: “I read a report from Leichtman Research Group saying 82% of TV households have a paid TV subscription.”

Rep: “How does that percentage compare to a few years ago?”

Prospect: “It’s dropped several percentage points. But eight in 10 households is still a substantial amount.”

Rep: “Can I offer a different view?”

Prospect: “Sure.”

Rep: “A growing number of people are complementing their cable packages with OTT. According to PwC’s 2016 media forecast, 78% of people subscribe to at least one OTT service. I suggest offering smaller, less expensive, flexible cable bundles to appeal to these consumers.”

2) You Made a Mistake

Making mistakes is inevitable. Maybe you gave the buyer wrong information, broke a commitment, or forgot about an important meeting.

If you apologize the right way, your blunder won’t cost you the deal. On the contrary, it might strengthen your relationship with your prospect because you’ve proven you’re human and willing to own up to your mistakes.

Demonstrating humility and honesty is crucial. You should also offer a suggestion or solution.

For example, you could say the following:

“I messed up. When we met last week, I told you I could waive your shipping fees for the rest of the calendar year if you signed the agreement this month. I spoke too soon: My manager won’t sign off on that. I apologize. Can I make it up to you by introducing you to my good friend Richard Thomson? He’s a Graves consultant, and he’d have some great insights into the problems you’re experiencing with your overseas manufacturers.”

3) You’re Dealing With a Hostile Prospect

When you’re working with several stakeholders at a single company, one or more might dislike or distrust you. Don’t simply ignore that person and focus your energy on the others. You’ll have a better chance of pushing the deal forward if everyone involved in the decision supports you (or at the least, doesn’t actively want to block you).

One of the best ways to win over a hostile prospect is to identify what he wants, then help him get it. If you have an internal champion, ask her how the detractor’s job performance is measured, what his personal and professional goals are, and his criteria for this product decision.

Come up with one or two ways you can aid him in achieving his objectives or boosting his reputation. For instance, perhaps he’s a PR manager whose success is primarily tracked by earned media, publicity received from promotional efforts. You might offer to connect him with a journalist so he can send relevant press releases her way. Once you’ve done someone a favor, they usually go from hostile to eager to help.

4) Your Prospect Blows You Off

Many salespeople routinely deal with no-show prospects. Letting buyers break their commitments with no consequence can make you seem less important or worthy of respect -- which unsurprisingly works against you. On the other hand, chastising your prospects for missing your scheduled call or meeting may harm your relationship and cause them to resent you.

The first time a buyer flakes on you, don’t jump to conclusions. They might have a valid reason for not showing up. Send them an email explaining what happened on your end (i.e., “I called your cell at 8 a.m. and didn’t reach you”), then reiterate what you were planning to cover. End by proposing a rescheduled call at another date and time.

If they flake again, you should be more skeptical of their motives. It’s a waste of both your time and theirs to continue the sales conversation if they’re not truly interested in or ready to buy.

To figure out whether they’re ultra-busy or not serious about buying, send them an email along these lines:

This template is direct and honest, but it doesn’t attempt to guilt the prospect. Staying neutral is key: Guilt-tripping may get people on the phone, but it won’t convince them to pull the trigger. You don’t want to invest resources into a buyer who’s talking to you out of obligation.

5) Something Awkward Happens

Awkward moments are inevitable. You forget your prospect’s name, something not strictly professional comes up on your computer while you’re sharing your screen, you make a joke that doesn’t go over well -- the list of potential cringe-worthy situations goes on and on.

But all is not lost. Your prospect will base their reaction on yours: If you’re flustered and embarrassed, they’ll perceive the snafu as a big deal, while if you’re calm and professional, they’ll probably move on quickly.

With that in mind, briefly apologize and then steer the conversation back to your planned agenda.

Here’s some sample dialogue:

Rep: “I’m sorry that came up on my screen. It won’t happen again.”

Prospect: “That’s okay, things happen.”

Rep: “I think you were telling me about your sales compensation plan. What’s the rationale for your current model?”

When you’re working with other people all day, every day, awkward moments and tricky situations are bound to happen. React the right way, and you’ll preserve your relationships with buyers.

Episode 43 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to interview customers to create case studies and get customer stories that sell.

Why did Dos Equis fire the actor responsible for its highly successful World’s Most Interesting Man campaign? According to their vice president of marketing, “We’re trying to reach a new audience.”

That comment says a lot about knowing your business, its competitors, and the audience you are trying to reach.

Content is created to accomplish specific objectives. And that job is to attract, engage and inspire a targeted audience, with the ultimate objective of driving profitable actions for your business.

Your role as the marketer or business owner is to know your audience, the one you have now, and the one you want to attract. Maybe they are the same or not.

Incidentally, Dos Equis’ new World’s Most Interesting Man is younger, more athletic, and he speaks Spanish. That should tell you a lot right there.

Clearly, Dos Equis has done their homework and they are making an intentional shift with their marketing. How about you?

As we’ve previously discussed, talking directly to your customers, one-to-one, is how you create your audience personas. But what’s really exciting is that if you set up those interviews properly you can also develop relatable case studies that can juice-up your marketing.

This much I can tell you from experience.

People want to tell their story and they will deliver some useful surprises if you give them that opportunity. Their relatable stories, examples, testimonials, and relevant keywords can all be used to make your marketing sparkle.

Properly Set Up Interviews

#1 – Choose your best candidates.

You know who they are. They are probably your best customers.

#2 – Create a safe environment.

Explain how the interview will work, and that you would ideally like to record it.

Also, explain how they will be helping you improve your service for them and everyone you serve.

#3 – Explain how you will use the information in your marketing.

Most people want to help, but there are some in particular that love the spotlight. This is the group that will speak openly and give you the freedom to use it all.

#4 – Ask good questions

If you are not a good interviewer you may wish to hire an outside expert to do this because you want to get the right information that will speak to prospective customers just like them.

Asking one or two questions is usually enough to get the conversation going. Once that happens, listen intently for their meaning as much as what is being said. After conducting over 200 interviews myself, I can tell you it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Finally, try to do this in person or via Skype so you can read their body language too.

Listening is selling because it shows you care. It’s inviting your customers to share what will make them happier. And in the process you are getting great marketing material to use for all of your channels.

Avoid The Common Mistakes

#1. Be honest. Explain that you need their help.

Your best customers will grant you this favor.

#2. Do not offer incentives because that will bias their response.

If there is any unpleasant news to share you want to hear it so you can fix what’s broken.

3. Offer to give them the questions you plan to ask.

But explain you would rather not because you want them to spontaneously speak their mind.

You want this to be fun, rather than a professional interview (even though that’s technically what it is).

Call to Action

The call to action for this episode is to interview a few of your customers and use that information to either tweak or build your audience personas, to obtain marketable testimonials and quotes, and for creating interesting and relatable stories and case studies that will speak to the prospective buyers that are not yet your customers.

It's easy to paint Canada’s resource-rich economy with a broad brush of oil and mineral exports, but the country’s wealth is actually far more diverse.

According to the Bank of Canada's July 2016 Monetary Policy Report, the value of commodity and non-commodity exports are now almost even — and both remain firmly on the rise.

This is a positive sign for an economy that has come to rely heavily on its natural resources in recent years, after a strong currency reduced the competitiveness of its manufacturing sector.

But now that the Canadian dollar has fallen away from parity with the US dollar, there is hope that manufacturing is beginning to help the economy regain balance.

_{Source: Bank of Canada Monetary Policy Report – July 2016}

Working towards a balanced economy

The recent upward trend in exports has been underpinned by a weaker Canadian dollar, which dropped from US$1.01 at the start of 2013 to US $0.72 by the end of 2015. As at November 2016, it was buying around US $0.74.

This fall has made non-commodity goods cheaper to foreign buyers.

So as energy exports fell from $114 billion in 2013 to $84 billion in 2015, according to Statistics Canada, foreign sales of motor vehicle parts lifted from $68 billion to $87 billion. Likewise, exports of consumer goods jumped from $52 billion to $70 billion over the same period.

The country’s economic chiefs would like to see this growth in non-commodity trade continue, as is forecast by the Bank of Canada.

It’s important to note the recent US election result has created some uncertainty around the relationship with Canada’s largest trade partner. However, it’s hoped the recent free trade agreement with Europe and others like it will help cushion any shifts in US trade policy.

The benefits of the weaker Canadian dollar will also take some time to fully flow through to the manufacturing sector. But in the interim, the expected lift in non-commodity exports may help Canada move towards a more balanced economy.

If achieved, this balance may attract more investment in the Canadian market.

If you’re looking to access the Canadian market, consider the iShares MSCI Canada ETF (EWC), or broaden your search to other countries.

EXPLORE: Research other countries in the Worldviews series

MORE: Why the best investment in the US could be from outside the US 

This post is sponsored by iShares^® by BlackRock^®.

Visit www.iShares.com or www.BlackRock.com to view a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses and other information that you should read and consider carefully before investing. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

International investing involves risks, including risks related to foreign currency, limited liquidity, less government regulation and the possibility of substantial volatility due to adverse political, economic or other developments. These risks often are heightened for investments in emerging/developing markets and in concentrations of single countries.

The iShares Funds are distributed by BlackRock Investments, LLC (together with its affiliates, “BlackRock”).

This article was sponsored by iShares by BlackRock. BlackRock is not affiliated with Business Insider Inc., or any of their respective affiliates. BlackRock does not control or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information contained in this article or any content linked to this article; or any third parties which produce and provide such content; and does not endorse the views and opinions they express or the products and/or services they may offer.

©2016 BlackRock. All rights reserved. iSHARES and BLACKROCK are registered trademarks of BlackRock. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. iS-19816

Join the conversation about this story »

Emails tend to increase a lot this season. With companies likes yours offering fantastic incentives for customers, it seems like our inboxes are about to explode with newsletters and additional emails. While we all enjoy getting some goodies from our favorite websites and businesses, most of us are already too preoccupied to read through everything. So, if you plan on adding something to your email marketing campaign this December, make sure you avoid causing consumer headaches with these email marketing errors.

Stress Your Customers Out

Sometimes, emails can make customers stress out. You might be wondering how a sweet email offering a large discount on your product could be considered stressful. Well, if that discount expires tomorrow, or your client needs to buy five of that product to get any discount at all, they might become stressed. If you want to offer your customers something nice this holiday season, do so in a way that’s going to benefit both you and the client. Give them enough time to take advantage of the sales and don’t make it too overwhelming.

Leave Out Your Leads or Old Customers

Your leads want to get in on all the action, too. Just because they haven’t bought anything from you yet doesn’t mean they won’t want to now. If your email marketing list has grown recently, then make sure to include those people in your December deals. The same goes for your old customers. Just because they haven’t ordered something in a while doesn’t mean they don’t want to return to your store!

Forget to Research the Competition

So, you’re offering 25% off. But, those guys next store are offering 50% off virtually the same thing. You may think you’re giving away a good deal in your email marketing this time of year, but think again! If you don’t research the competition, you could make yourself look like quite the fool this holiday season.

Send Too Many Emails Too Frequently

We get it. You really want to get the word out there that you’re having a cool sale or a freebie for your customers. But, excessive emails are just…excessive. When people log into their inbox, if they see the last seven emails were from you, they’re probably going to scroll by all of them. One great email is a safer bet than three bothersome ones. Even if you need to send out a hefty batch of emails this month, remember to always segment them accordingly.

Being Too Abstract About “The Holidays”

Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa…Christmashanakwanazaka…whatever you want call it. Nowadays, companies like to use the term “Holidays” as lightly as possible. Just take a look at the whole cup fiasco at Starbucks. At the end of the day, people who are taking advantage of the promos on your email campaign are going to like it whether or not you write “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” While you should be careful with your ‘lingo,’ overthinking what you say too much may scare people off, too.

A strong email marketing campaign is important this time of year. The Mission Suite is here to help you and your customers enjoy the holiday to the fullest. Request a demo today!

Author: Ernesto Castillo

Marketing automation isn’t just for marketing. As a sales leader or rep, marketing automation is fundamental to understanding your prospects’ behaviors, leveraging them in your follow-ups, and making the right connections.

In my experience as the Director of Enterprise Sales Development at Marketo, I’ve seen firsthand how marketing automation generates more quality leads and contacts that turn into great sales opportunities. In this blog, I’ll share three key areas in which sales uses marketing automation for success:

1. Lead Scoring and Collaboration

Sales and marketing alignment is critical on many levels, but ultimately, it’s essential to have the same vision for what classifies a “hot” prospect and what activities qualify a sales-ready lead, otherwise known as a marketing qualified lead (MQL).  This is a critical piece of the puzzle that allows the sales team to focus on the more qualified contacts while your marketing team works on nurturing the rest of the leads.

Lead scoring, which is set up in your marketing automation platform, gives you a view of all the different activities that prospects have completed and how they have engaged with you across different channels. It enables you to personalize and customize each engagement with these leads during your follow-up.

Lead scoring should be agreed upon by both sales and marketing and can help you determine a prospect’s sales-readiness. Prospects can be scored based on their demographics, firmographics, content engagement, behavior, and interest. Once a specific score has been reached, it triggers a new MQL and an email alert is sent to sales. This ensures that all of the stakeholders for leads or contacts are notified when they become new MQLs and can take action in a timely manner.

As a sales rep, what you do with this information and how you leverage it in your follow-up can really make the difference in building relationships with your leads. It can provide you with a leg up on your competition as well as give you a deeper understanding of which leads meet the qualifications of your highest converters. Communicating with them increases both ongoing engagement and saves you and your team time chasing down inopportune leads.

2. Establish SLAs and a Complete Follow-Up Cadence

Leads are expensive for marketing to generate and therefore should be treated like gold. Having an agreed upon timeframe for follow-up can ensure that each lead that marketing is driving is being followed up on quickly and thoroughly. This is where service-level agreements, or SLAs, come into play.  Having SLAs in place along with the aforementioned lead scoring can accelerate and increase your lead-to-opportunity ratio and provide a systematic and repeatable process for follow up.

At Marketo, our current agreed-upon SLA for any MQL is 24hrs. If there is no action in this time frame from sales, a follow-up email alert sent to the SDR to remind them of the important lead that needs attention. If there is still no response, the SDR’s manager is also alerted to ensure that no leads get left behind. The exact timing and stakeholders notified will vary based on your market segment, but the idea of having a process in place is paramount to your success.

Having a repeatable follow-up cadence in place is also important to ensure persistent and consistent lead follow-up. These prospects should also be engaged with valuable content, calls, and emails for at least 15 days after they become an MQL to continue to build the relationship. And with lead nurturing streams created by marketing in your marketing automation solution, you can keep your solution top of mind for your prospects. At Marketo, we use our own platform to do just that. Putting a lead into a nurture stream after we have made our follow-up attempts allows us to continue to drive our messaging and keeps our prospects informed and educated on topics that our solution addresses.

A good best practice is to make sure you follow-up again (whether asked to or not) 30, 60, and even 90 days later. Chances are, the priorities and requirements were not 100% baked when the lead first became an MQL, but many times you may find gold again later on in the cycle. You can start the conversation by mentioning the recent follow-up attempts and remind them of their initial interest. Many leads or contacts simply forget these interactions, so this step serves as a good reinforcement.

3. Account-Based Marketing for Outbound Prospecting

Contrary to what you might have thought, B2B sales isn’t all about working with incoming leads. There also needs to be a focus on driving outbound opportunities as well.

Using account-based marketing (ABM) allows your sales team to identify and target accounts with the greatest revenue potential, engage them so they move more quickly through the sales funnel, and easily measure the success in terms of revenue won. This account-centric strategy has become a staple for my team at Marketo. We’re able to view any and all incoming leads and their relative account scores, allowing us to prioritize follow-up based on higher account scores.

As noted in the SLA section above, consistently following up for least 15 days, but no more than 30, is critical to ensuring that each outbound target prospect is approached with valuable messages and emails, but not completely oversaturated either. Research from memoryBlue shows that prospects are more likely to respond to your efforts after the 7^th or 9^th try and not during your 2^nd or 3^rd try, which is what most salespeople tend to do. Another best practice is to make sure you’re following your prospects on their respective social channels for a complete view of what is important to them, what they are responsible for in their job roles, and other triggers that you can leverage in your follow-up.

There’s more to marketing automation than just benefitting marketers, and much more than I can cover in this blog. However, I hope these three key benefits help you understand how to drive collaboration and success for your sales team with marketing automation.

Is your sales team currently using a marketing automation platform? I’d love to hear your success stories in the comments below.

Marketing Automation for Sales Development: An Essential for Revenue Success was posted at Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership. | http://blog.marketo.com

The post Marketing Automation for Sales Development: An Essential for Revenue Success appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

Google now processes over 3.5 billion searches per day, every single day. No wonder 10 out of 10 businesses want only one thing: to appear on the first results page for keywords related to their industry. This kind of visibility is the promise of a tonne of organic traffic, new leads and sales.

In this case study, you’re going to see how we used SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to push a client’s website from the second page of Google to the second position on the first page, for the desired keyword in the whole of New Zealand.

What’s the real benefit of being on the first page of a Google search?

Well, I’m glad you asked. According to data from the Moz blog, “71.33% of searches result in a page one organic click. Page two and three get only 5.59% of the clicks.”. That means if your website is not ranking on the first page, you lose almost 3/4 of the audience. Imagine you have the opportunity to pitch your business to 10 new clients and, as soon you enter the meeting room, 7 of them just stand up and leave, without you saying even a single word.

Very frustrating.

Have a clear goal in mind

Our client, Baucher Consulting, a specialist tax advisor office in Auckland, wanted to increase the amount of relevant traffic on their website, consequently resulting in more queries for their services. We discussed this necessity and defined the solution to be, primarily, an improved effort on on-page SEO. After researching on the Google Keyword Tool for specific keywords pertinent to the client’s industry and services, we targeted the keyword “nz tax advisor”.

When you buy a desired product, sometimes going local is not a major concern, and ordering from overseas is commonly the case. But services, on the other hand, tend to be a lot more “geographically sensitive” for most of us. If I offered to buy you dinner tonight and asked you to choose a good restaurant, you would Google “best restaurants in [city you live in]“, right? You don’t go just “best restaurants”, because a suggestion in another country, let’s say, is not really helpful. I offered you a meal, not a plane ticket!

Mixing the prominent keyword tax advisor with some localisation as nz just covers the user’s natural behaviour when researching for professional services nearby. Besides, it also gave us a nice long tail keyword to work with.

What we did to improve the client’s website SEO, step by step

After a brief Google search, we discovered the client’s website was ranking in the 12th position for the targeted keyword. It’s not a bad position if you think about raw numbers. However, apart from all sponsored results, a standard Google search shows you only 10 organic results (unless you change this in the options panel). This result was leaving our client on the second page, the internet equivalent of a wasteland. Luckily we’ve been working with this client for quite a while now, so just some fine tuning was needed on the website.

First, we included the long tail keyword as the “title tag” on the homepage, where we could previously see only “Baucher Consulting Limited”.

In other words, “title tag” is what shows on that big blue link beside the name of your website on a search result. It is, in fact, bluntly obvious as a major part of the decision-making process for a person to click on your result or not. Also, we included the keywords in the meta description (the text below the website address on the image), while explaining the services more deeply.

However, working with a single keyword all over your website is not recommended as it can be interpreted as keyword stuffing. In Google’s own words, keyword stuffing can be defined as “repeating the same words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural”. In the past, this practice was all the rage and several websites used this brute force technique to break through to the top positions. Google’s algorithm learned from it and is heavily penalising websites that still do that owing to the fact that it “results in a negative user experience”.

Having that in mind, we diversify the content all around the website using similar expressions to the “nz tax advisor” search query with the help of Google itself. And how do we know other keywords that are related to our search in the great oracle’s brain? Easy. Google spills the beans right in front of our eyes, just at the bottom of every search:

Noticed how we used the word “specialist” in that meta description I showed before? It came from these insightful suggestions. Also, “personal tax advice” is an amazing keyword to target in our current website copy.

The result of our changes

After only two weeks, we performed the same search on Google for “nz tax advisor” and got this result:

Yeah, baby! Yeah!

A lot more SEO optimising to come

SEO can never be seen as an isolated project but a perpetual work in progress. The competition for the first places in search results is fierce. That’s why we still have more cards up our sleeve and a few optimisations aligned to Baucher’s website are still coming. Now that our client’s website made the jump from the 12th to the 2nd position on the Google search, there’s only one way we can go: straight to the top.

If Peter Drucker were alive today and still garnering the attention of marketers around the globe, I think we would be hearing him say some of the same famous quotes about marketing like, “If you want something new you have to stop doing something old.” It’s one of my all-time favorites.

I have been in business development (a.k.a. “sales”) for my entire career. So when I was introduced to Hubspot marketing automation software several years ago, it didn’t take me long to realize that marketing technology could enable what was once considered the impossible; prospects with an identified need or problem could seek ME out for a solution rather that solely relying on traditional marketing practices like cold calling, direct mail, and trade shows. The best part, those prospects were sales-ready, meaning they were ready to buy!

I immediately became an ambassador of inbound marketing and have been relentless in helping to educate business owners and CMOs about the power technology and content have on generating different marketing results versus relying solely on outdated traditional strategies. Drucker’s words continue to shape my conversations.

“If you want something new you have to stop doing something old.” – Peter Drucker

As we round the bend into 2017, let’s mix up your old go-to marketing strategies and give technology a chance. Don’t think you have the budget? Consider investing in marketing automation software in lieu of your next sales hire. With the right strategy and technology, your website can and should be your top performing lead generation source.

5 Compelling Reasons to Incorporate Marketing Technology

1. Unifies Sales and Marketing

Let’s be honest, most days sales doesn’t think that marketing is driving enough leads or the right kinds of leads, and marketing thinks that sales is doing a lousy job at closing them. Having a tool like HubSpot allows the finger pointing to go by the wayside.

When you use this software, you create a centralized way to augment both sales and marketing, with both sides aligned with the same strategy and ownership. After all, when we get rid of marketing silos, we open up the possibilities of the unthinkable! The tool is one platform servicing both sales and marketing at the same time and in different ways.

2. Lead Scoring

Not all leads are created equal regardless of how you acquire them. Some prospects are ready to buy, some you hope will buy from you when they are ready, and others will never be ready to pull the trigger. Having a methodical way to track and measure those prospects with the highest probability of sale will yield the fastest closing rates.

When Peter Drucker said, “Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product or service available,” he wasn’t talking about the benefits of marketing automation — but he could have been. His timeless quote can be accomplished today with technology by scoring leads based upon interest level of buyer engagement, offering a strategic entry point into a sales conversation that again results in a shortened sale cycle.

3. Social Media Analytics

If I were to ask 10 marketers which of their social media platforms have converted into the greatest number of closed sales, I am highly confident that at least 9 would not be able to give a definitive answer. Why? Social media became sort of like the “yellow pages” was back in the 80s. Companies knew they needed to have a presence but they really weren’t sure how it was going to impact their bottom line and what it was going to do to drive incremental sales.

The social media reporting capability within HubSpot can enable your marketing team to now understand the value of a fan, an engaged follower, and a blog view — and most importantly, what your lead to customer conversion is by platform. So long “ROE,” return on engagement, and hello “ROI.”

4. Sales Tools

Never has it been a better time to help your sales team create efficiency with their sales process. The HubSpot sales tools are a suite of productivity that live within your inbox. Your sales team can send personalized prospecting emails, create email templates, and have meetings scheduled without their involvement. There is also a CRM that is FREE!

If your company is not actively using your CRM, consider this one to keep track of deals, tasks, and leads. One of my favorite free tools in the suite is Sidekick, which enables your team to track sent emails which will help them spend less time chasing cold prospects and more time following up on warm leads. Take it from me, the easier you can make a sales person’s job by incorporating automation, the greater their ability to stand out from your competitors and close deals faster.

5. Data Driven Marketing

Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing tactics can be measured. Don’t you want to know how much content you need to create to drive the number of conversions you need to hit your revenue targets? Unlike trade show responsiveness, or cold calling effectiveness, you can leverage your marketing data to have greater control in your leads’ behavior — to tailor communication, content. and offers — helping them make decisions that will ultimately help you grow. As analysts have said, “the goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight”.

Why Marketing Automation and Why Now?

According to Forrester, 66-90% of a customer’s journey is self-directed.This makes it critical for you to find the right customers and help them learn what they want to know about your products and services as they begin their journey. Marketing automation is the foundation of being able to strategically CREATE – CONVERT – ENGAGE – MEASURE. Don’t ring in 2017 without reflecting on how well your organization is helping your customers navigate their buying journey. Trust me, if they don’t find what they are looking for on your website, chances are they will on your competitor’s.

In the (soundless) video above, @thumb_tani demonstrates his masterful coin balancing. (via Laughing Squid)

製作開始から二時間弱。時間を犠牲にした新作をご覧下さい。 pic.twitter.com/11TZp0IkBo

— た　ぬ (@thumb_tani) December 3, 2016

こんな事に1時間も費やしてしまった。
こんな事に。 pic.twitter.com/c5b29pi3tl

— た　ぬ (@thumb_tani) November 23, 2016

コインタワー。久し振りにやると緊張しますね。 pic.twitter.com/Ui6kRct1JC

— た　ぬ (@thumb_tani) October 22, 2016

In a thoughtful New York Times editorial, science fiction giant William Gibson mediates on the difference between the privacy that individuals have and deserve, the privacy that governments assert ("What does it mean, in an ostensible democracy, for the state to keep secrets from its citizens?"), and what this will mean for the historians of the future. (more…)