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A Paper Girl with Six Changes, by Sue Clark - Flickr: Paper Girl with Six Changes. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

On this week's Marketing Companion, my co-host Mark Schaefer and I tackle a grab-bag of topics with our usual verve and panache, including one of my not-so-private pet peeves, the current thinking on "buyer personas" in content marketing. Anyone who has seen me speak over the past year or so has probably figured out that I take a dim view towards much of the received wisdom about personas currently in favor with content marketers, and in light of my spontaneous rant on the podcast, I thought this would be a good time to spell out exactly what I think buyer personas are good for, and what they are not.

First, a thought exercise. I'm going to make some statements; you agree or disagree. Ready?

1. If you are pursuing a content marketing strategy, then distributing that content is at least as important as creating it. 
2. If that is the case, then your "competition" in distributing your content marketing is not your direct product competitor, but Buzzfeed, Viralnova, Business Insider, The Onion, and your Aunt Ida. In short, anyone else vying for the attention of the eyeballs you are trying to capture.
3. Those competitors (besides Aunt Ida, who has a strategic moat) are in the business of attracting audience. This makes them media companies.
4. If you are going to create and distribute content so compelling that can wedge its way into an audience's otherwise daily diet of cat videos,  the best/worst things ever, and things-that-happened-next-that-one-wouldn't-believe, then you, too, must think and act like a media company.
5. If you are going to think like a media content, then you need to begin with an audience strategy, not a content strategy.

The latter statement has been the core of my public speaking engagements for the past year or so, and may be the most contentious, perhaps, with content marketers, who typically don't think about audience. How do I know this? Because much of the prevailing best practices I've seen about creating content marketing start with buyer personas. Buyers are not the same things as an audience. Case in point--are you reading this right now? Are you now, or likely ever to be, one of my customers? Statistically, of course not. You are my audience. A small percentage of you might convert into buyers, and sure--I've got some additional content for you that is designed to help you through the sales process. And yes, buyer personas are good for that--as a tool to generate sales collateral. But as a tool for demand creation, or (I hesitate to say) to create content that either entertains, challenges, or otherwise attracts an audience? Not so much. 

Here's what buyer personas, no matter how many you create, all have in common: they are all based on your stuff. Product-centered content is very helpful in the latter stages of the consumer journey. It's also really boring, tedious, and thoroughly not compelling for people who aren't in the latter stages of the consumer journey. Like 99% of you, reading this blog (though I'm happy to sell any of you some research. Operators are standing by.)

If you are crafting content designed for "Outsource Oliver," "Spends-a-lot-Sam," "Activist Amy" or any other fakey-town people, you are writing brand-centered content, not audience-centered content. Long before you craft that content, you need to understand your audience, and your audience is NOT your "buyer." For that, you need an audience strategy, not a "content" strategy, which I would define simply as figuring out which people could be your customers --based on what they believe, value, think and feel -- and why they would be.

I'm fairly new to the field of content marketing (and we ALL are, yes?) but I've been providing audience strategy and audience research to media companies for two decades, and I can tell you this: media companies do not start their content creation process with buyer personas. They start with audience segments. Buyer personas might come in to play, but they are about Step 8 in the process. Only with a sound audience strategy, based on what you know about your audience (as I've defined it above) can you be assured that your buyer personas are on the mark, and that your content is based upon their stuff, and not your stuff. In other words, if your content creation process begins with what you need to say about your stuff, it is by definition not audience-centric content, no matter how spiffy your personas might be.

I realize this is potentially provocative for some, and I do invite discussion in the comments below. Again, I am not saying that buyer personas are bad, or wrong. I am merely stating that beginning the content creation process with "buyer personas" is a great way to make your product marketing director happy, but a terrible way to attract an audience the way that your media company competitors are. And if you are relying on a content marketing strategy, guess what? You're a media company.

Let me leave you with an example that I hope makes this distinction crystal clear. A number of years ago I provided audience research for a floundering New York City country music radio station, whose goal was to attract an audience of Women, 25-54. The station had nearly a million listeners, but we believed we could attract and retain a much larger audience by doing something a little different with the content.

Now, had we started with buyer personas, we might have dissected what we were doing on the air for content, and divided our "audience" into "Traditional Country Lovers," "Weekend Hat-n-Boot-scooters," "Crappy Line Dancers" and "Garthies" or some such. In other words, we would have looked at our "buyers" and repackaged our country music. That might have given us some incremental gains, but it certainly doesn't fit my definition of a strategy based around attracting an audience--which, again, is a strategy that defines which people that could be your customers --based on what they believe, value, think and feel -- and why they would be.

Instead, we did some work to determine what made Women, 25-54, in NYC tick. What were their hopes? Their dreams? How did they want to feel? What we learned was that this was a period in New York's history in which people started to feel good about the city again, and also good about going out. Times Square was cleaned up, and beginning to resemble the Vegas-cum-Disneyland that it does today, and not the crime-ridden outdoor brothel it used to resemble. 

We asked them what they remembered about their best moments in NYC--what they remembered about going out when they were younger, and what they missed. We learned that what these women wanted was to relive those days--to feel good, to go out (even aspirationally) and to have a similar experience to those days, which in New York were defined by disco and Studio 54. They wanted to dance, or at least hear dance music that triggered those positive feelings. So, that's exactly what we gave them--we started with figuring out the audience's "why," and then moved to the "what," which was content research (in this specific instance, music research).

We relaunched this country station as a dance music station, and it debuted in the top 3 with women 25-54 and stayed there for many, many years.

Here is your brain-teaser of the day: did we change the product?

...

The answer is no. The product remained exactly the same--the efficient delivery of women 25-54, to advertisers who desired to reach them with targeted messages. The content we used to attract that audience changed, and changed dramatically, but we were reaching many of the same women, and many more joined the station as new audience. 

Had we started with "buyer personas," we would have just played the same country records in a different order.

Buyer personas help you write useful, helpful content, and that will get you far. But "useful" and "helpful" are table stakes for the content strategist. The real path to an audience is writing content that does one of three things:

• Entertains
• Challenges
• Comes from true subject matter expertise (and not content marketing expertise)

Buyers are but a small part of the universe you need to understand in order to write that kind of content. So use personas, but do the work to truly identify their place in your audience.

Do you need buyer personas? They are a good idea, of course. They help you write FAQs and other sales support content. But they are not the path to compelling, sharable content that cuts above the din. And if you dive right into buyer personas without first understanding your potential audience, and why they might gravitate to your content, you risk writing some craptastic content indeed, and missing opportunities to attract and develop audience that you might not have even realized. 

--

Oh, do listen to The Marketing Companion, if you haven't checked it out yet. We promise every show will be intelligent, provocative, and funny. This week's is a good place to start!

Or click here for episode 29 of The Marketing Companion:

Other Ways to Listen to this Podcast:

• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe in iTunes
• Click here for the show’s RSS feed – for Android listeners.
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Intro to Linux is normally a $2,400 course from the Linux Foundation, but it's being offered for free now on edX. If you've ever wanted to learn how to use the open source operating system, there's no better time than now.

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Marc Lore, the former CEO of Quidsi, just raised $55 million to launch a new e-commerce startup, he writes on his blog. 

In 2010, Amazon bought Quidsi — the e-commerce company responsible for Diapers.com, Soap.com, Wag.com, and other sites — for $540 million. 

Quidsi's founders, Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara, made a killing, but the sale wasn't entirely sweet. 

Before the acquisition, Amazon had more-or-less declared a pricing war against Diapers.com. Amazon started offering deep, deep discounts on diapers, trying to undercut the smaller company. This was not the first time that Amazon was willing to lose money temporarily to stave off a competitor. Not long after Amazon started its aggressive price chopping, Quidsi sold. 

Lore and Bharara stayed at Quidsi for four years on contract after Amazon bought it, but they both left last July.  

Now, Lore has assembled a team of more than 30 employees (including many former Quidsi people) to launch an ecommerce company called "Jet," Re/Code's Jason Del Rey reports. Bharara will reportedly not be involved. 

The site won't launch until later this year, partially because of a non-compete clause from Amazon that hasn't run out yet, Fortune sources report. Jet will operate out of Hoboken, New Jersey, and is working on an innovative logistics network, though we still don't know what the site will actually sell (Lore promises to share more details in the coming months). Because Lore has already been up-close-and-personal with Amazon's most brutal competitive tactics and strategies, he's better prepared than anyone to take it on. 

"At Jet we will make use of the latest advancements in technology to create a new shopping experience that will empower customers like never before," Lore writes. "Jet will bring unprecedented transparency and efficiencies to the overall e-commerce market, and as a result, will transform the customer experience in a way that, until now, has not been possible." 

In other words, watch out Amazon.

Here's Lore's full post:

This morning a story was published in Re/code speculating on the funding of my new venture. 

I’m happy to confirm that we’ve raised a $55M Series A round of funding led by NEA with participation from Accel Partners, Bain Capital Ventures and MentorTech Ventures. While it is too early to delve into the specifics of the business we are building, I wanted to share my excitement for this new venture. 

As we all know, e-commerce has come a long way in just two decades, altering our expectations around price, selection and service. We now expect the lowest prices, infinite selection and overnight delivery right to our doorstep. This transformation in customer experience is undeniable and, at the same time, I believe there is still a massive opportunity for innovation. 

At my previous company Quidsi, we built a brand (Diapers.com) that forged deep personal relationships with moms (and dads) by creating a focused and efficient online experience with amazing customer service. Behind the scenes, this started with logistics – ensuring that customers received their goods quickly. Consumers responded to this idea by becoming champions for our brand and sharing their experience with friends and family. 

But there is still more we can do. A lot more. 

At Jet we will make use of the latest advancements in technology to create a new shopping experience that will empower customers like never before. Jet will bring unprecedented transparency and efficiencies to the overall e-commerce market, and as a result, will transform the customer experience in a way that, until now, has not been possible. 

We’ll share more details in the coming months. In the meantime, thanks for your interest in what we’re up to. It’s an awesome time for e-commerce and I couldn’t be more excited.

SEE ALSO: There's A Terrifying Android Vulnerability That Could Let Hackers Completely Take Over Your Phone

Join the conversation about this story »

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts on our latest research: Creating Customer Consensus. To read more, click here.

In a previous blog post, we showed evidence that the increasing number of diverse customer stakeholders we must face in consensus deals is leading to dysfunctional buying group behaviors. And worst of all, it is leading to the commoditization of our solutions, as dysfunctional groups, marked by diverging mental models, are unable to agree on anything other than price.

Now you may still be wondering why dysfunction in the customer organization is any of your reps’ business. But here is what is crucial to understand about buying group dynamics: our research shows that coping with increasing consensus requirements is less about helping reps sell differently and more about helping your customers buy differently. At the end of the day, individuals who are part of a buying process need to connect with each other and agree on shared priorities and interests in order to address broad challenges and pursue big opportunities. It is precisely the inability of stakeholders to align on a problem to solve that leads decision groups to default to the basic common desire to either save their company money or avoid organizational risk.

What our data also revealed is that buying groups that manage to create greater overlap in terms of individuals’ goals, priorities, means, and metrics are more likely to interact in a functional manner and therefore purchase more ambitious offerings. In other words, while stakeholders in dysfunctional buying groups have diverging mental models, stakeholders in functional buying groups have converging mental models.

So what does the research say about what sellers can do to encourage convergence among otherwise diverse stakeholders? At a very high level there are three things that can drive stakeholder alignment:

1. A common language. Building communication bridges between stakeholders who speak IT or speak Marketing is crucial for identifying common objectives and creating greater overlap between stakeholders.
2. Collective understanding of individual perspectives. Alignment will not be reached without ensuring that everyone understands not only what each stakeholder wants but why.
3. Overcoming biases. Being open to consider new ideas requires abandoning both individual biases (e.g., my team is not agile enough for this change) and company biases (e.g., internally-built solutions always meet our needs better).

In essence, convergence can be achieved through the process of people learning from one another in order to establish common ground and collective expectations, or what behavioral psychologists refer to as “norming.” And that is precisely what our research this year found. Stay tuned for our next post on this series addressing what the single largest driver of high margin purchases in a consensus sale is.

CEB Sales members, listen to the webinar replay and review the key findings from the study. Also, register for one of our upcoming meetings on the topic.

“Leads today are the stream of consciousness of everyone with two thumbs, a keyboard or Siri, expressing themselves on this great new communication channel we call social.” — Jim Keenan

Social Media have the responsibility of building brand awareness, generating buzz and providing customer service. Increasingly, however, social media is being used for lead generation.

A lead is considered someone in your target demographic and in your target market, who has expressed a need and is open to learning more about the solutions you have to offer.

But why wait for someone to express a need? Why wait for someone to mention you? Why even wait for someone to know who you are?

As a discovery method though, it’s reactive. If you really want to reach new people, you’d be better served to find and target those who tweet about topics and keywords relevant to your brand, follow similar and complementary accounts compared to your company and/or have related interests listed in their bio. In short, just because someone is not explicitly mentioning your brand name, doesn’t mean he or she is not interested in what you have to say. Stream searching for mentions of your brand and your competitors is a great way to jump into existing conversations. For example, you may create streams for #needcoffee, @Atlantacoffeehouse, and #atlcoffee. This tactic will help you catch satisfied or unhappy customers and even Atlanta coffee addicts so you can respond with helpful, relevant advice and provide customer support, and yes, result in generated leads.

Now that you have found the right people, engage with them. Send them relevant pieces of content that are educational, entertaining, inspiring and enlightening. Note which word was missing from that list (Hint: promotional.) Optimize your site so when they are searching, information is findable. Develop contests and sweepstakes exclusively for followers that attract and convert non-followers. Retweet posts and comment on statuses.

Once they are responding positively, you can begin your sales pitch.

However, if you are having difficulty, getting them to warm up, check out this guide to social media lead nurturing.

I share a lot of advice about outbound sales - thus many people naturally assume I'm an outbound advocate. I'm not. It's just one of the things I do, outbound is a part of the puzzle of success in business to me. But I don't think every startup should do outbound sales.

When it comes to inbound versus outbound, I'm not dogmatic - I'm pragmatic!

Fun fact: Close.io is doing zero outbound sales. All our growth is 100% inbound generated! There will come a time when we get outbound sales going, but right now we're too focused optimizing and scaling the inbound part of the business.

Cons of Outbound Sales

Outbound sales has taken a lot of flak - for several reasons...

Public Enemy Number One

Nobody wants to be cold called, even sales reps who cold call don't want to be cold called. I'm more receptive than most to cold calls because I'm a sales aficionado, I appreciate good salesmanship - but even I don't look forward to being pitched.

Interruption

When you're doing outbound sales, you're interrupting people. Everybody is an expert nowadays on filtering out interruptions. The average US citizen is bombarded with more than 2000 marketing and sales messages every single day (number varies depending on methods used to measure, but 2000 is actually the low end). It's like our brains have a subconscious TiVo or adware program running in our brain that immediately blocks anything that triggers the sales pitch alarm. You basically have to buy, beg or bug your way in.

High-pressure Sales Tactics

These are still commonly used and encouraged in outbound sales organizations - but you can (and should) be a smooth operator rather than a sales bully.

Time Inefficiency

Outbound sales reps waste a lot of time on mind-numbing tasks. They spend only a small part of their workday practicing their core skill: closing deals. (Which is something we're mitigating with our outbound sales software, but it's still a major pain point).

Finity

Outbound sales stops working as soon as you stop working. One of the big advantages of inbound sales is that it keeps generating leads even if you stop doing it. But as soon as you stop doing outbound, it stops generating new business.

Pros Of Outbound Sales

Now let's look at the flipside of the coin.

It Works

Yes, it's 2014. Yes, 'the buying cycle has changed', we're living in unprecedented times with social networks having changed the game of sales. But the fundamentals of salesmanship that worked in 1914 are still working now, and will still work 2114. Outbound sales brings home the bacon.

Predictable & Scalable

Once you have developed a sales process, you have a predictable, scalable growth mechanism for your business. Hire a new sales rep? You know how the actions you take now will affect your revenues three, six, nine months from now. Ask any business owner - that kind of simple formulaic predictability is a beautiful thing.

Power To Choose Your Customers

Outbound empowers you to pick your customers. Outbound is hunting - you pick a target and go for it. Inbound is fishing - you hang a fishing rod in the water and hope that a fish will bite, but your control over what kind of fish will bite is miniscule.

You Determine The Timing & Medium

Outbound sales gives you control to determine when you want to interact with prospects. This is the flipside of the "interruption" coin - rather than having to wait prospects to reach you through inbound requests when they are ready, you reach out to them when you are ready.

You also determine the medium of your interaction - be it an email, a phone call, meeting them at industry events or even knocking on their doors.

Immediate Results

Outbound sales can generate new business quickly, whereas inbound takes a long time to build up. If you want fast growth now, outbound is your friend.

Targeted Reach

If you're selling to professionals, outbound allows for much more targeted lead generation. This kind of laser focus allows you to execute with a higher level of precision and accuracy, and thus be much more effective. Want to reach the VP of marketing Citigroup? Good luck trying to get his attention with inbound tactics. 

Higher Level Of Engagement

The most impactful and influential sales outreach possible is a human one-on-one interaction. It allows you to truly engage with the buyer. Everything else pales in comparison when it comes to the impact you can have on an individual buyer.

Is Outbound Right For You?

It really depends on what the focus of your business is now, how fast you want to grow and what kind of business you want to run.

Your Strenghts

Whether or not you've got what I call the "hustle DNA" and are a natural born sales person - you should be doing some outbound sales, just for the lessons it'll teach you. But don't try to force yourself and break your back over making outbound successful if you have other means for growth.

Your Market

Are there other companies doing outbound successfully? If yes, how are they doing it? Study their outbound sales process and learn from the market.

Your Results

Ultimately base your decision on the results you get. Outbound is probably the least trendy, hip, cool, awesome, amazing thing a startup can do to grow the business. But you're not in business to get admiration from your peers and the press, it's not a popularity contest.

Business is about the bottom line. The only thing that matters is: does outbound sales make your business more successful or not?

People are so quick to dismiss telemarketing as a relic of a regrettable era of marketing. Privacy was disrespected. Pressure was applied when customers really wanted to say no. Who wouldn’t want an end to that era?

However, is telemarketing the only medium that generates disrespect and other questionable lack of ethics? Apparently, there are now those who think that digital and electronic marketing and culturing their own breed.

You’ve heard about the many times telemarketers are seen as intrusive, pushy, and even creepy at times. How many times have you heard about people being distracted by the many emails, social media notifications, and anything else that pops beep from their smartphones?

Chances are, blogs like this would be the umpteenth time. What’s really telling though is that this type of behavior is the kind that digital marketing techniques thrive on. On the bright side, it shows how engaging your content (from your emails to your blogs) must be if your prospects are hanging on to every word.

Yet, how often does it come at the cost of disconnecting your prospects from everything else that’s around them? Remember, as convenient and far-reaching digital marketing is, it’s still a pretty distant connection. And while a telemarketing call can be another distraction in of itself, the things that make it effective also strive for a closer connection:

• A real voice is a step to real conversation – Hearing someone’s voice, as opposed to plain text, is at least an indicator that you’re talking to a real person. Nobody needs to be reminded on how sketchy it gets when you try to automate that aspect of the process. Furthermore, talking with another person on the other end is another indicator that you’re well capable of talking in a live meeting.

• Attempts are (and should be) a little far in between – While it’s a lot more tolerable to receive an email frequently, it also leads to addictive habits. On the other hand, you think the telemarketing industry doesn’t take no for an answer? If it didn’t, why is it still standing? The truth is there are plenty experts in the industry that aren’t idiots. They know the fine line between persistence and pestering.

• The length of the conversation correlates with connection – Logically, the longer the conversation, the more engaged the prospect. They’re asking more questions. They’re thinking of meeting a sales rep. The exchange also happens a lot faster than when you’re exchanging emails because you’re speaking the words as they come out of your month, not when you’re still drafting the message. Finally, it’s also quicker to end the conversation instead of glancing at your phone for the next email.

Now there is still plenty of room (and necessity) for digital marketing. However, it should never come at the cost of disconnection and another form of disrespect. It makes it pointless to complain about the ills of telemarketing in the first place.

Ok, the title is a little misleading. “Go make me a viral video” is the call of the CEO these days. To their defense it seems so easy – make a crazy or controversial video and get spread across the Internet. Why doesn’t everyone do it?

That’s because often it’s the luck of the draw that makes a viral video. However, you can increase your chances by following the tips below. You may not have the next Gangnam Style, but you could at least have a Chocolate Rain or Charlie the Unicorn on your hands.

Keeping it Simple

Try to keep in mind your viewers have short attention spans. This isn’t an insult – it’s the truth. Imagine if this blog was 5,000 words rather than 500. Would you read through the whole thing? You might say yes to pad my ego, which I appreciate, but in truth you would probably end up clicking the way in the middle of a post to find something else more bite-sized.

So rather than aim for the YouTube version of War & Peace, keep it simple. Each video should have one central idea or focus. If it gets to be too complicated, cut it down to a couple different videos. Keep the running time down, too, though be sure don’t make it too short, as it’s hard to get some real meat across in just a few seconds. There’ a reason we haven’t had the great viral 7-second Vine video yet…

Be Funny, Be Terrifying, Be Interesting, Be Something

Literally the worst thing you can do when making a video you hope to go viral is to be a bore. If you want your video to sit at the dreaded “10 viewers” mark forever then you should be dull, lifeless, and scared to try anything crazy. That will surely scare everyone – but not in a good way.

There are zillions of videos on the web. You have to put yourself in your viewers’ shoes. Why would they take the time to watch your video over all the others? Not only that, but why would they watch it again and again and then share it with their family and friends? If you can’t think of a single reason why someone would watch it twice, you’re in trouble.

Strive to be funny, or scary, or weird – something! If not, there’s no reason why even your own family will watch it.

Make It Remixable

The first time I actually heard about Gangnam Style was through one of the (then) hundreds of parody videos. In fact, it was only after a few months did I actually watch the original video as I had already experienced the whole thing through the “remixes.”

One of the big traits of a viral video is their ability to be teased and parodied. People enjoy having their own brush with fame so they make their own videos which generate their own buzz. Remember the Dramatic Gopher video? That one even made it onto South Park.

Try to have a few key moments in your viral video that are easily copied and parodied. It may be what ultimately gets the original video across the web in front of excited fans.

What’s your favorite viral video?

We all know there's markup on most things we buy. The seller has to earn a living, after all. But the markup of some items might surprise you. Coupon site Sumocoupon analyzed some consumer data and put together an infographic revealing the markup of 37 products.

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Email can quickly pile up and be a distraction with its constant notifications—especially those short back and forth messages. Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, says you should get into the habit of using "if...then" statements to reduce these.

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Take Real Vacations

I’m just back from a family vacation on the Oregon coast where I stayed about 97% off the grid. The only online activity was posting a few photos on Instagram because the sunsets into the Pacific were too good not to share.

I feel like a new person after getting away from the daily grind of email, content and workshop prep, social media scanning and updates, travel planning, and email (did I happen to mention email?). Not sure I’ve been this energized and focused coming off a vacation in a long time.

While away I took my own medicine from Chapter 15 in New Sales. Simplified. stemming from the advice of several great executives who mentored me to take real vacations. Their reasoning was simple: You need to get away from the daily grind, not just to refresh and relax, but so that your brain can work on bigger things. Said differently, when you cheat on your vacation you actually cheat yourself out of the business benefits that would accrue to you. Sure, it’s obvious that if you spend a few hours every day playing with email and calling customers or the office, that you’re cheating yourself and/or those with you, but these mentors helped me understand that beyond the relational/family damage caused from “working” while away, the business actually needs you to take vacation. And the best I can explain it, in today’s work environment, staying off of email is the most essential element to maximize the “business value” of your vacation. Whether you work for a tiny company or a corporate behemoth, nothing sucks you back into low-level, reactive, day-to-day crap and minutia like email does.

But the alternative is wonderful. You see, I worked plenty during this vacation. I brought a legal pad and pen to the beach. I made lists and prioritized projects. I revisited goals for the year. My wife and dreamt about what we wanted the next few years to look like. And I read a book that will prove to be extremely valuable as we launch online content later this year. How was I able to do all of this (working on bigger, high-value topics) without disappointing my family or getting trapped in the same junk that sucks our time and energy everyday? Because I stayed offline and away from email!

My challenge to you: Instead of staying connected to work and email during your next vacation, how might you and your business benefit from having you unplugged for a week?

Stop Whining That You Can’t Sell because It’s Summer Vacation Season!

We all know. It is summer and lots of folks are away, or on holiday as our friends across the globe like to say. And if you’re not whining about your prospects and customers being impossible to reach because of vacations, you certainly have teammates driving you crazy saying it everyday.

Here are two thoughts (updated from a post several summers ago) to help combat the “I should just coast through the rest of summer until vacations are over and it’s Selling Season again” mentality. First, EVERYONE is not on vacation, and certainly not at the same time. Let the lazy under-performers who don’t want to proactively works prospects cry about vacation season. While they’re making excuses, you beat them to the punch. Make the call. Send the uber-creative email. Take advantage of your competitor’s complacency to get noticed and get in.

Second, how about taking advantage of this slow time  to work on your game? If you’ve got extra time on your hands then put it to good use. Here are just a few things you can do — investments you can make — that are sure to pay dividends:

1.  Sharpen your Sales Story and freshen your Sales Weapons. When is the last time you took a good hard look at the words you’re using – in emails, on the phone, in your voicemails, in your Linkedin profile, and in presentations, follow-up materials and proposals? Your Sales Story is your most critical weapon because bits and pieces end up in all your other weapons. Have you slipped into talking more and more about your offerings, what your company does, and how great it is – you know, the stuff that only matters to you but doesn’t get the attention of prospects or help lower their instinctive resistance to a sales approach? Almost nothing will help make you more effective in sales than taking the time to ensure you’ve got a succinct, compelling, client-issue-focused and differentiating sales story. If you’d like some help, Chapter 8 of New Sales. Simplified. offers a valuable exercise to walk you through sharpening your own story.

2.  Revisit your Target Account List. If you’re like many salespeople, there’s a good chance you’ve had your head down plowing away. Or maybe you are on Autopilot flying the course that was programmed  a long, long time ago. Whatever the case, a slow period is a great opportunity to revisit the list you’re targeting. Ask the hard questions: Are you pursuing the right types of prospects and growable existing customers? Are you targeting the right contacts at those accounts? Do you have too many Targets on your list? Or too few? Selecting and segmenting your Targets is one of the few chances you have to be strategic. Take advantage of think time or research time during the summer slowdown to work on your list.

3. READ! What would happen if you spent an hour a day investing in yourself, working to raise your own sales game? There are so many great sales books out there and an abundance of sales blogs where you can go to sharpen your sword. And I’d be remiss if I did not point you to my good friend, Anthony Iannarino’s new book, The Lost Art of Closing, that will be released in two weeks. Anthony, in my opinion, is the smartest and most in-touch guy in our business, and he’s one of the very few people I turn to for sales counsel. Go grab a copy of his new book. It’s killer.

If you want direction on which sales books might be right for your situation, shoot me a note with a description of your particular sales role and what you are looking for, and I’ll point you to a few favorites.

4. Rest and Recharge. Maybe you should take a clue seeing so many others on vacation and take some legitimate time off yourself. By legitimate, I mean truly unplugging (disconnecting actually) from  your smartphone and your email addiction as described in the first part of this post! Have some fun. Laugh at the phantom phone buzzes on your thigh as you suffer withdrawal symptoms from being off email. Go see an old friend. Visit a national park. Sit on the beach. Burn up some of those hard-earned frequent flyer miles. Rest, recharge and refocus. I much prefer you take vacation now because it makes me nuts when salespeople take off during the Fall Selling Season just when everyone is back to work and getting serious about business again.

While your peers or competitors are bellyaching about everyone being on vacation, take advantage of the opportunity and position yourself to win big!

The dichotomy facing sales leaders now is how they reconcile the fact that most corporations today provide less upfront training for their sales staff than in years past, yet attach increasing importance to staff development?

This should not come as a surprise, because current stock market thinking provides a powerful disincentive for firms to invest in their people on an on-going basis.

You see, an organization’s investment in their human capital, in the form of training and other forms of education, is not separable from general expenditure – it therefore appears as a cost on the corporate balance sheet.

Unfortunately, as a consequence, most sales leaders have concluded that their only realistic option is to cut back on training and instead look to recruit sales professionals who, in theory anyway, already possess the necessary skills needed to do the job. They then send them out to win business armed with what they know.

However, most of those same sales leaders are discovering just how difficult it is to find skilled salespeople who have all of the essential skills and personal traits. And anyway, it is not possible to equate experience or seniority with success. As I have said on numerous occasions: “Some front-line sales professionals do have ten year’s experience, but most have one year’s experience ten times.”

In skills development there are many similarities to sport – i.e. does an athletic champion stop training as soon as they win their first medal? In music, does a concert pianist stop rehearsing as soon as they have given their first recital? In art, does the artist stop improving after they have enjoyed the first exhibition of their work?

The answer in all cases is obvious, and we should apply the same common sense principals to the on-going development of our sales teams.

The reality is that selling in today’s climate is both an art and a science. Selling is a profession that demands a far wider range of skills than ever before, skills that require continual fine-tuning and constant practice.

In summary – On-going reinforcement and development is essential: The operative word here is “on-going.”Even if salespeople have undergone progressive sales training, there’s no guarantee that they will be successful. It is common knowledge that skills grow “rusty” over time and salespeople are prone to pick-up bad habits along the way, or to simply skip steps and take shortcuts that can lead to long-term trouble.

Perhaps even more important these days is the fact that markets, competition, technologies, and customer preferences are all in a constant and accelerating state of change. This fact requires that sales people are able and willing to rethink their sales strategy and approach frequently and receive a regular top-up of skills and motivational coaching.

Our people are the most valuable asset we have – doesn’t it make sense to invest in that asset and increase its value?

Is Content Marketing Headed for a Tech Revolution?

Are you ready for the fourth wave of content marketing? According to Scott Brinker:

“the fourth wave of content marketing, now emerging, is the proliferation of interactive content with responsive web marketing apps.”

In Scott’s ebook, The New Brand of Marketing Scott argues that marketing is now a technical discipline where art gives way to code. Whereas that might sound like a huge leap, it’s got to be worth hearing out and this article introducing it is a great read, I’ll summarise and expand on this below.

So what are the three waves preceding this?

We know content marketing is pretty popular and interest in it has grown dramatically in the last couple of years….

So what’s the story of the first wave? If we agree to share the waves view that in the chart above? The first wave is the birth of owned media, at least from a digital perspective. Companies essentially publish as much as they wanted on their websites, and pretty quickly evolving blogs, basic online media platforms and of course social media. But let’s be clear about the “first wave” we might credit much as originating much earlier, that wave being 118 years old and credit John Deere (yep, tractors) with its media publication The Furrow – the truth is things change, but they’re not as radical as you might think. Imagine The Furrow in 1895 – a branded journal “for the American Farmer.” Now that was new. Either way we might agree that the first wave, all 118 years of it, was largely text. Eventually the same text Google made currency in the late 1990’s. Giving way for that text to underpin search engine optimisation, link building and inbound marketing.

The second wave? You might guess in light of the popularity of YouTube and infographics is rich media including videos, graphics, slideshares and crafted ebooks. I concur with Scott that rich media is behind the success of branded content in social media marketing and a slow move away from relying on search engine optimisation – our content needed to get smarter – shorter, more visual and less taxing to take in. We’ve certainly witnessed a pursuit of crass re-tweets, comments, shares and Likes – very often for the sake of vanity.

The third wave, the current wave according to Scott – shares a common fact with the first two in that it’s still passive, the audience still consume it, the third wave is around personalisation, the focus now is helping audiences to combat the sheer scale of noise that now fills social media, indeed the Internet. Programmatic marketing (which more often means advertising) or personalisation holds much promise, and it requires data about prospects in order to make educated guesses about which content is right for them, is that data that enough brands have? We’re more likely to have that at the bottom of the sales funnel (customers) than at the top (prospects).

The 4th wave: Consumer Experience & Marketing apps

Which leads us to the fourth wave – where ‘marketing apps’ will create interactive experiences with programmatic flow and logic. Do you agree?

• Participatory not passive
• Interactive and responsive
• Think: assessment tools, calculators, quizzes, game-like, interactive ebook, real-time polls, adjustable data visualisations

What I like about Scott’s idea is that what was passive content is brought alive – it becomes interactive – we might have the same content but re-worked, smarter, so that it provides a values add for the user. We have long since referenced such tools in our content marketing matrix here:

We have seen this already – of course, the popularity of marketing quizzes, assessments and polls is some distance from new. Look that the tech companies, like Wildfire, that flourished on the Facebook platform.

There’s no question that apps can be powerful lead tools, my own experience of a ‘freemium quiz’ for consumers looking to teach English abroad was created whilst working within TUI Travel in 2008, 6 years ago. The bespoke built ‘TEFL Taster’, as it became known, enjoyed consistently high completions rates and delivered lead volumes way about that of standard downloads and passive content. It was, and I understand still is, the marketing team’s most powerful lead tool because it added value to prospects – it delivered the most rich and immediate experience of the service and delivered a tangible reward for minimal effort.

 ‘Experiences’ is it all about tech?

Whereas I’d agree with Scott about the evolution of content marketing and a heading towards creating consumer experiences – I am not convinced that experiences means tech, necessarily, or that it’s that linear where a wave disposes of its predecessors to easily or must even build on its predecessor. We might say that Lego has only this year done the most successful piece of marketing ever with the Lego movie? And, before them Red Bull with the Art of Flight, amongst other epic ski and snowboard films. Do they not provide experiences, and what of the events industry – again let’s stick with Red Bull on the slopes of ski resorts the world over that gave rise to the X Games? These are rich brand experiences – no app in sight.

Content marketing: It’s horses for courses

The point though is sound, as our poll showed, content marketing is growing, ever more popular and arguably – as Seth Godin once said – marketing’s last stand.

I do agree with Scott that users demand experiences – this is the opportunity for brands. It’s our duty to dial up the production quality – I don’t feel it’s purely about technology at all. Tech is one powerful tool. Humans still enjoy passive, to ‘veg out’ in front of a great movie, to just watch and be entertained. To feel. Marketing apps becoming important and more affordable – absolutely no question – but they’ve got to be fit for purpose, they’re not fit all. And underneath it all – as Scott says “observing prospects interact with marketing apps can feed valuable data into personalisation algorithms to better tailor other content offers to them,” this is the key insight to promote investment in your team – marketing apps have to walk a very careful line of serving the marketing function through data capture, and serving the consumer through improved experience, and ideally the latter comes first.

In the last two post of this series, we discussed why stories present ideal contexts for learning and shared a helpful infographic about why elearning provides more effective training and improves retention. As a buyer of elearning, you want products that teach concepts effectively, and as a seller you want to offer content that rivals the best elearning products as the most effective, engaging, and fun courses.

As a seller, how can you incorporate stories and challenges into your course? As authors, George Lucas, JK Rowling, and J. R. R. Tolkien did something right. They created series, or sagas, that excite audiences and continuously prompt questions. Readers or viewers can’t wait to see what happens next. However, there are not many elearning courses that blend the best of a saga like Star Wars with the educational content of a top-notch lecture. Let’s examine what Star Wars did well and see how you can incorporate those components into your training.

Aside from the exciting action of the first scene of the first episode, there is a continuous prompting of questions throughout each episode that keeps viewers hungry for more—not only do they want to watch the entire episode right then and there, but they might also want to watch the rest of the trilogy, or both trilogies, immediately. As I mentioned in the first post of this series, continuously prompting questions increases the likelihood that a new concept will form when the question is answered. So maybe figuring out why Princess Leia is being held captive is not particularly educational, but swap out that knowledge with some concept that is relevant to your course, make learners wonder why, and expect them to remember that fact much longer than if they heard the same thing in a boring lecture.

Star Wars also has complex characters who we follow from episode to episode. These characters encounter real human issues viewers can relate to (even though many of them are not human). People like relating to characters. Why? The more a viewer relates to a character, the more self-immersive the content becomes (see the first post of this series to find out why that is important). Suppose you have to figure out if characters, say Alice or Tom, got from point A to point B faster during an elearning course. You probably won’t really care much who wins and you’ll likely breeze through the problem to get it over with. However, if you relate to Alice or Tom because you know something about them and have seen their characters develop throughout several courses, you may take more time to think about the problem and put more effort into fleshing out an answer, as well as identifying implications.

The graphics, sound effects, and realistic videos in Star Wars have always been ahead of their time. Though the original trilogy seems fairly low-tech to us today, it surpassed many people’s expectations when it was first released. eLearning sellers could incorporate the same techniques that George Lucas used in his Star Wars trilogies. Though most sellers do not have nearly as high of a production value, virtual reality technologies and other helpful tools will likely make high-quality and interactive experiences more affordable and accessible. In not too many years, sellers could blend excellent graphics with appropriate sound and lighting effects to excite learners and activate concepts at the appropriate time.

Though creating a program with as high of a production value as Star Wars would be quite challenging, the Star Wars saga offers many valuable hints and techniques for captivating an audience and introducing valuable content. As a creator of elearning, you can borrow the techniques that George Lucas used in his exciting saga to create excellent elearning content that excites consumers.

In the July/August issue of HBR, Ram Charan argues that the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) role should be eliminated, with HR responsibilities funneled in two separate directions — administration, led by traditional HR-types, reporting to the CFO; and talent strategy, led by high-potential line managers, reporting to the corner office. While my colleague and I vehemently agree that HR’s status quo is an inhibitor to growth, it is with the same fervor that we disagree with Ram’s proposed solution.

Really? Break up a strategic function in response to underperformance in the wake of severe market disruptions? Put the most strategic pieces into the hands of up-and-comers passing through the leadership-development revolving door? What would the capital markets look like today if a similar tack had been taken when the CFO role was ripe for transformation?

CHROs are standing at essentially the same crossroads that CFOs were, beginning in the 1980’s. Back then, CFOs (inclusive of the role’s predecessor titles) were squarely focused on accounting, controls, and preparing financial and tax statements. Fast-forward to today and the corporate bean-counter of old has become the CEO’s closest partner in driving strategy — and increasingly a candidate for the top job. How did this happen and what can be gleaned from it to inform the transformation of the CHRO?

Let’s think about the realm of the CFO and how it’s changed. As growth became a competitive imperative, business leaders began seeing the firm as a system of investment rather than a system of production. Financial capital was recognized as the scarce resource and its shortage a significant constraint on growth. At the same time, alternative approaches to accessing capital and funding projects proliferated, forcing financial decision-making to become increasingly sophisticated. Those conditions elevated the work of the finance function to the point that, today, the CFO helps to set the course of business, advancing an organization’s growth and improving its competitive position by identifying and resolving key financial constraints. This transformation took time to play out and involved both displacements of incumbents operating in outdated modes and the emergence of new “feeder” roles for those aspiring to the C-suite. A glance backward reveals how radically firms’ expectations have shifted in regard to the CFO’s breadth of background and the caliber of talent the position attracts. Baseline financial skills are still essential, but international experience, industry knowledge, investor relations acumen, technology expertise, and strategic prowess are now just as much part of the package.

Now compare that to the context and condition of today’s CHRO role. These days, the scarcity impeding firms’ growth is not of capital — it’s of talent. Nearly 40 percent of the 312 CFOs and other executives participating in Deloitte’s 2013 Global Finance Talent Survey said they are either “barely able” or “unable” to meet the demand for the talent required to run their organizations. And HR’s credibility deficit doesn’t help the matter. A recent survey of CEOs reveals that HR is overwhelmingly viewed as the least agile function. In our own conversations with CFOs we consistently hear that their attempts to work strategically with HR are the most trying. Business leaders concur, with nearly 50 percent reporting that HR is not ready to lead. Even HR itself agrees. In a March 2014 global survey, HR and talent executives graded themselves a C-minus for overall performance, citing a large capability shortfall, with 77 percent of respondents ranking the need to re-skill the HR function among the top quartile of their priorities.

While we disagree with Charan’s solution, we think he’s on to something when he asserts that the best CHROs have line and/or operational business experience.

Lynanne Kunkel, VP-Global Talent Development and HR-Asia for Whirlpool, is a case in point. After earning a degree in chemical engineering and spending eleven years in production roles at Procter & Gamble, Lynanne was drawn to P&G HR where she spent the next ten years in various roles, before moving over to Whirlpool HR four years ago. What Kunkel is particularly known for is bringing a cross-functional perspective to talent strategy at the consumer products companies she serves. In addition, she believes that a few noted CHROs elsewhere are beginning to set the standard and emerge as top-notch leaders within their respective organizations. “There’s a flaw in the perception that the only thing HR is good for is administration. HR strategy is an expertise that takes years to fully develop.”

The cutting-edge HR leaders we’ve met, like Kunkel, are thinking more boldly and blurring the experience line with a fresh understanding of talent. Couple that with comprehensive functional expertise and soon we’ll have a generation of CHROs that consistently brings and activates strategic, holistic perspectives. What will it take to accelerate the shift within HR and recalibrate the role of the CHRO? We offer three pieces of advice.

Focus most on where strategic value is created. In the early 1980’s, sixty percent of corporate value creation emanated from the optimization of tangible assets. Today, we live in an era where eight-five percent of value creation stems from brand, intellectual property, and people — all intangible assets. Delivering HR-related operational, compliance, and administrative tasks with distinction is important, but let’s be clear that doing so is table stakes. The CHRO must step up to the implications of the new world of work.

Recalibrate and reskill HR to ensure its relevancy. Kunkel says that “while ‘good with people’ may have been the mantra for those attracted to the field in the past, the new mantra should center around the effective use of people to effect intended business outcomes.” Relatedly, organizations need to be deliberate in the design and implementation of development programs aimed at helping HR professionals acquire and hone an increasingly wide range of sophisticated skills, not only in talent areas but also in understanding the dynamics of how the business works, makes money, and competes.

Bring on the quants. For the CFO, analytics is a native language. Beth Axelrod, CHRO for eBay and someone who pivoted from consulting on strategy (as a principal at McKinsey & Company) to running an HR function, acknowledges that HR leaders have traditionally set their agendas based on qualitative metrics and shied away from quantitative analytical tools. That needs to change. Google is probably the best-known case of a company that uses analytics to inform a slew of daily HR transactions and interactions. Its managers use data to determine everything from whom to hire and promote to how much to pay them and what benefits are most valued, all segmented by a variety of contextual attributes. According to Prasad Setty, Vice President of People Analytics at Google, their goal is to have all people decisions informed by data. “We want people, no algorithms, to make people decisions, but we want the decision-makers to make decisions informed by data and analytics.”  Using analytics to drive, design, defend, and activate a growth-oriented agenda will bring newfound credibility to HR leaders, and will be the hallmark of the great ones.

Rethink the division of labor. Bifurcating leadership between those who focus on what needs to get done and those who focus on how it gets done is an effective means for HR organizations to step up to the demands of  today’s talent marketplace and growth challenges. Instituting an HR chief operating officer (COO) role, charged with optimizing how HR services are delivered is an emerging trend. The COO has a clear mandate to drive the design, development and implementation of HR services—optimizing operations while ensuring compliance across HR disciplines. Not only does this role free up the CHRO to focus on strategy and the larger talent agenda, thereby eliminating growth constraints, but it also preserves the crucial cohesiveness of the HR functi0n overall.

* * * * * * *

So, kudos to Charan for starting the conversation.  The problem to which he is responding is real; indeed, as CEOs turn their thoughts to growth again, many will find the gap between the need for talent and the CHRO’s ability to deliver it greater than ever before. Success demands a far more diverse set of experiences and skills. But, as with CFOs before them, the solution resides in CHROs and the teams that support them.  Just as financial management became increasingly sophisticated, so can talent management. CHROs can step up to meet this challenge — and they must, or someone else will step in to do it for them.

95% of marketers say “tailoring to diverse stakeholders” is a top priority for their organization. That’s no surprise given that 78% of suppliers also report bigger customer buying teams. And our survey of 3,000 B2B buyers confirms this. The average B2B purchase is now made by 5.4 people from a wide variety of regions and functions. In a world of diversity, messages designed for the primary decision maker don’t cut it. That’s why Marketing is investing heavily in message tailoring and targeting software.

But tailoring efforts aren’t working – and can even be dangerous. Despite investments in tailoring, groups of buyers are still far less likely to complete a purchase than single buyers. Indeed, two buyers are 26% less likely to buy than a single buyer and a group of 6+ is 50% less likely.

That’s because tailoring efforts often miss the point.

Here’s the typical approach: Marketing works out which business benefits are relevant to each stakeholder’s role or function and tailors messages accordingly. For example, a technology provider might focus on risk reduction for the CIO; improved customer experience for the CMO, and long-term profits for the CFO. The goal here is purchase intent from multiple stakeholders.

At first glance, this approach seems to work. Tailored business value messages make buyers 44% more likely to express purchase intent. However, there are two flaws:

1. Purchase intent is not enough. In a group purchase, individuals must be both willing to buy and also willing to advocate, i.e., willing to take on the personal effort and risk of convincing others. Today, only half of willing buyers are also willing to advocate for desired purchases – a major cause of purchase stalls. Unfortunately, messages about function-by-function business benefits (e.g., achievement of organizational goals) have little impact on buyers’ motivation to advocate because they don’t compensate for personal effort and risk.

Now, if marketers hit upon a stakeholder’s personal performance targets, they will see some impact on willingness to advocate. But there’s a risk here too.

2. Stakeholder-specific business value messages don’t unite diverse stakeholders. The more suppliers tailor messages to each stakeholder’s unique business goals, the less there is for them to agree upon. A marketer who pitches a software purchase to the CIO and CFO by focusing on customer experience improvements may not get much traction. Stakeholder-specific business value messages can actually hurt consensus.

So what’s the right approach? The answer lies in a critical distinction: some messages are designed to motivate buyers to speak up; others are designed for buyers to discuss.

Since purchase discussions usually focus on business outcomes, Marketing must ensure that business-focused messages highlight shared needs and benefits. This will simplify consensus.

When it comes to motivating buyers, however, the opposite is true. Marketing should tap into buyers’ deepest motivators by understanding what makes them tick as humans. The best way to do this is to appeal to buyers’ identity and offer a boost to their self-esteem. Data shows that suppliers who make buyers feel more proud of their work or more respected and popular at work see by far the biggest lift in willingness to act. In fact, “identity value” has twice the impact of any other type of value on buyers’ willingness to drive consensus. Few buyers will discuss their self-esteem with a buying group, but self-esteem gains will certainly make them more willing to speak up about purchase.

Put simply:
To motivate advocates, tailor messages to each stakeholder’s identity as much as possible.
To equip advocates to convince others, avoid tailoring as much as possible and focus on shared business needs and benefits across diverse stakeholders.

Only by providing both types of message can you win the consensus purchase battle.

Members: learn more about the right way to tailor messaging here or register for an upcoming webinar on the topic.

Webinars on Tailoring:
3rd Sept: Differentiating Your B2B Offer With Identity Value
2nd Oct: Creating a Unique B2B Customer Experience

Nearly 90% of people in Brazil have Android phones, and almost none of them have Apple's iPhones, according to Kantar. That astonishing statistic, and the equally dramatic news that Android has more than 75% of smartphone market share in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, gives you an idea of the headwinds facing Apple's new iPhone 6 when it launches in September.

These are modern economies with millions of phone users but they also have huge numbers of poor consumers. Few of them will be able to afford the iPhone 6.

Yet, Apple is about to go to war with an iPhone 6 that will likely cost nearly $700 per unit. It will be competing in markets where a slew of $100 and $200 large-format Androids are about to be launched.

The Kantar numbers suggest that even Microsoft's Windows phones actually have a greater market share than Apple's iOS mobile devices in some Latin American countries. eMarketer has slightly different numbers, but even then it's clear that no matter how you measure it the stats show iOS is an also-ran mobile operating system in many modern but still developing economies. In Spain, for instance, Android's market share declined from 93% to 87% mostly because it lost share to Windows, not Apple.

This is important because as more and more of the world comes online via mobile, all the growth is going to be in poor countries. Apple doesn't even have distribution in some of these countries. It only just opened its first store in Brazil last year.

The term "poor" here is being used in the relative, macroeconomic sense as a contrast to the "rich" countries of North America and Western Europe. To put this in perspective, per capita income in the U.S. is about $47,000 annually. In India it's $3,560, according to the World Bank. That is significant because an iPhone in the U.S. costs $700. iPhones are nearly $1,200 in Brazil and more expensive than the U.S. in every other country where they are sold. In the U.S., you can save your wages for a couple of weeks and buy a new iPhone. In Brazil or India, you'll have to save more than a month of your wages.

If you're an Apple user, you can say one good thing about Android: It sure helped bring down the average selling price of an iPhone, if only briefly. Average iPhone prices have gone beneath $550 since Apple began selling the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S as entry-level models at discount prices in places like India.

Arguably, the iPhone 4 range is Apple's competitor to cheaper Androids: It's the iPhone you can get if you want to pay $0 down and walk out of the store with an Apple.

But now there are questions about that strategy, too. Those iPhone 4 models will be going up against the new Android One, Google's bare-bones Android for India, which will cost $100.

There are a range of Chinese companies undercutting the bottom of the market with cheap Android copies of Samsung phones. Many of them, particularly Android One, are likely to be much better value for money than an iPhone 4 or — if you're poor and every penny counts — an iPhone 6. The cheap, modern Androids have big screens and the same apps and features as the older iPhones.

Apple's strategy is not to care about the bottom of the market. Apple has always wanted to dominate only the most profitable, high-end section of the market where all the profits are.

The strategy appears to be working, for now. Samsung may get hurt most in the short-run — why bother with an expensive Samsung Android when a cheap Xiaomi Android will do? But a cheaper, better Android would be more of a threat to Apple than Samsung is now.

What is the point of a mobile platform that only 20% of the world uses? Most developers want their apps exposed to as many people as possible, not a select few. And why would you want a tiny old 3.5-inch iPhone 4 when you can get a 5-inch Android for the same price?

That is why it would not be a surprise to see the iPhone 5C get offered at a further discount once iPhone 6 launches. Its screen is larger than the iPhone 4 series, and it's still a pretty good phone. But it probably won't fall as far as $100 for most buyers — and that is where it will be interesting to see how Apple responds.

• You're Delusional If You Think The Price Of The iPhone 6 Won't Be Crucial To Its Success

• Proof That Android Really Is For The Poor

• I Ditched My iPhone For A Samsung Galaxy S5 And Was Blown Away By What I Was Missing With Apple

Join the conversation about this story »

How would you react if you told someone, “I have this week’s winning lottery ticket and I want to give it to you”, and the individual responds by saying, “No thank you, I already bought 5 tickets”? I would definitely be stumped!

Stumped I was last week when I was talking to Ben who is a senior executive at a client organization. I was sharing with Ben the unique advantages of the 360° view provided by a transformational B2B lead generation program. He made no effort to hide the fact that he was impressed and even excited about it. BUT, when I asked him if he was interested to try it, he said no. The reason he gave me was that they already had a lead generation software in which they have invested a significant amount of money and time, hence, change was not possible. I would call it a lame excuse for saying no but I recognize the reality that the same ‘excuse’ is given by many B2B organizations. And that excuse for not wanting to change for the better is simply, legacy issues. We need an ice-breaker for companies to get past these hurdles.

There is a tendency for executives to make decisions that aren’t in the best interest of the organization due to these legacy issues. It’s the narrow-minded attitude of “it’s how we’ve always done things”. The driver of this attitude may also have its roots in political reasons; i.e. the executive wants to maintain a good relationship with the company and will not make any move that may jeopardise that relationship. The risk of facilitating change is perceived as a far greater risk because it may put the executive’s job in danger.

I strongly suspect that Ben was weighing these very same risks during our discussion. Was he also scared that he may lose control to a new process? Or did he feel anxious that his role may become less relevant with a solution that delivers more and costs less? Would this new system and process bring in a whole new level of efficiency and results tracking to make him dispensable? In my opinion, it was all of these thoughts wreaking havoc in Ben’s mind. That is why he was not willing to make a change even after being convinced that I offered him a better, more efficient and less expensive solution for both, B2B lead generation and channel partner marketing.

Become the Water in the Bowl, Not the Ice Cube!

The above anecdote is indicative of the B2B industry’s “state of the union”. Most of us in this industry have spent years trying to CONTROL – control our teams, control the tactics, control the process, control social media, control content marketing, and so on. We want to control how prospects react to our marketing. We want to control how buyers behave so we can shorten the sales cycle, make them buy more, keep them loyal; we keep at it to somehow get in control. But at the end of the day, these control issues are the biggest impediment of success.

I’ve said before that it’s time to declare our independence as B2B marketers and take control of our B2B lead generation. So let me clarify that I am not contradicting what I said earlier. All I’m saying is that it’s a new day and we can’t keep doing things the way we used to.

It’s time to become the water in your glass, not the ice cube. Let me explain this analogy. Think about what an ice cube does. It used to be fluid water until it was put in a box, frozen and taken out again in an attempt to change the temperature of a liquid. When it gets tossed into a glass of water, the liquid gets cold but the ice cube slowly melts, loses its shape and is no longer effective. Now, the scene would be quite different if you ever coloured water. You put in the colour and soon it swirls and dances with the water. Eventually, even if you don’t stir the water, it changes colour. It becomes red, green, blue, etc. It’s almost impossible to change the water back to transparency after all of the colour has been integrated.

In the world of B2B lead generation, we now have a better mousetrap—a PROVEN track record of success that meets every criteria. And yet, in our effort to control and be the ice cube, Ben and his counterparts in the industry will deny their teams and their organizations real success.

Let the meltdown begin. Break the ice. Shed the shackles. Be prepared to take responsibility for change and you’ll see how easily you find yourself steering your organization towards greater success.

Are you the ice cube in your B2B company’s lead generation efforts? Would you like to become the driver, the motivator and the leader for change? Let’s discuss how you can bring about a transformation and get past your company’s legacy issues. 

Image credits: Shutterstock

Whether it’s an expensive piece of medical equipment, software or a consumer gadget, the job of selling has turned into a complicated game of hide and seek. Buyers hide from sales people with all sorts of creative forms of avoidance. Sales teams, in turn, are constantly inventing new ways of seeking out buyers. The problem is particularly vexing when sales teams try to engage the C-Suite…

To read the rest of the Forbes article, click here.

The post Want To Drive More Revenue? Stop Selling appeared first on Christine Crandell.

Translating Price Objections is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

Sometimes what you hear isn’t what is said. Fortunately, I am fluent in “client,” and I can translate. You thought you heard a price objection.

Your price is higher than your competitors.

Translation: I don’t perceive the value and you haven’t differentiated that value.

If you are creating more value than your competitors, you need to be able to help your dream client perceive that value. If they don’t perceive the value, it’s likely you have not differentiated your offering from your competitor’s.

I need you to sharpen your pencil.

Translation: I can’t justify your higher price.

Your dream client doesn’t know how to justify your higher price to his bosses. He doesn’t know how to explain why he is paying more for something instead of taking the lower bid. You have to provide them a defensible justification.

I need your best and final offer on a three year deal.

Translation: I am looking for a final concession on price so I can be very sure I squeezed you hard enough.

Purchasing tactics. No matter how well you negotiate in good faith, professional buyers are going to try to take a final bite of the apple. . . just to make certain. If you are here, you are very likely already chosen, and the person you are sitting across from is simply doing their job by checking you.

I can’t take this price to my boss.

Translation: I really had no idea that the outcome I need is going to cost this much. I’m really embarrassed. [Alternative: I am going to start laying the groundwork for value capture right here and now].

Sometimes your dream client has been lied to for so long that they have come to believe that that they can have better, faster, and cheaper all in one package–if only they choose the right vendor. It takes a serious investment of time to educate them and help them educate their team.

Sometimes the person you are dealing with believes they are going for a win-win negotiation. They win, and their company wins. The right answer? “I can help with that. I’ll be happy to take it to your boss for you.”

What was one of the fastest growing ecommerce sectors in 2013?

Believe it or not, it was auto parts.

According to a comprehensive study by the Sydney Morning Herald, the average online automotive store saw a revenue increase of 89% – in one year.

Clearly, there’s demand for aftermarket car parts and accessories. But how can an auto parts store increase their sales to reach more customers who want what they’ve got?

I’ve been scouring the internet, researching online auto stores. I’ve found a lot of room for online marketing improvement. With a hot market these sites could increase their profits even more by implementing an optimized sales funnel that gets results.

Here’s 6 steps (with a bonus tip) to increase your online auto store revenue.

1. Online Marketing for Auto Parts Stores: Optimized Landing Pages

For an ecommerce site, having an optimized landing page for your products increases your sales. The easier you make it for a customer to buy from you, the more likely they will click your “add to shopping cart” button, and follow through to your “thank you for purchasing” page.

For an online auto parts store, a good product landing page should:

• Show an image of the part
• Include a headline with the part name
• Give a description
• Include the auto part number
• Give the auto part price
• Have a clear, easy to see CTA (such as “Add to Cart”)
• Have directional cues towards the CTA
• Be free of friction (by reducing the number of CTAs and other distractions on the page)

In this example, from O’Reilly Auto Parts, the product page has the basics of a good converting landing page, as outlined above. Their CTA stands out by using the same color as their logo. They have ample product details, compatibility and which stores it’s available at. They show the part, and include the part name in the headline. It includes the price too.

To increase sales they should:

• Lower the friction on the page. There are too many distractions with the sidebar CTAs with “click to chat” and more shopping opportunities.
• Make a standalone product landing page without the top menu adding too many clickable options.
• Include better directional cues to direct attention to the green “Add to cart” button.

2. Online Marketing for Auto Parts Stores: Google AdWords

When you’re an ecommerce business, it only makes sense that you spend your advertising dollars where they work. Online advertising drives traffic directly to your site.

By using Google AdWords, you can reach your customer exactly when they are searching for your products. You can target your Google search ad by:

• Keywords – To show your ad when prospects search for your specific product words. Keywords are hands down the most important part of getting your ad to show to the right people, and increasing your click through rate.
• Location – To target by country, region or city. If you have shipping restrictions, or have pick-up only items, narrow your ad reach to get clicked by the right customers.
• Device – Target ads to show on prospect’s computer, mobile or tablets
• Negative keywords – You can exclude keywords to sharpen your audience targeting. For example, if your ad is for “front brake calipers”, you can exclude searches for “rear brake calipers”.

The highest converting PPC ads have a strong correlation to the destination landing page. An optimized Google Ad should include the keywords from the product landing page and have the same (or very similar) headline. Making your ad match your landing page increases the trust factor – and conversions – with your market.

Here’s a great example from AutoAnything. I searched for “brake calipers”. Their Google ad showed up as a side ad (which tends to have a 2-3% click-through rate).

What I like about the ad:

• The Headline is clear and uses the key search term
• The Headline matches their landing page headline
• They use the keyword in the body of the ad
• They tell their unique selling point (USP) and give benefits like “in stock”

3. Online Marketing for Auto Parts Stores: Facebook Ads

If you’re not using Facebook ads in your online marketing yet, you’re missing out.

Facebook ads are some of the cheapest advertising options right now – the average cost per click is about $0.45 (yeah, that’s it). And you can target your market using all the massively rich personal data Facebook has on its 1.18 billion users.

Facebook recently added ‘Automotive Targeting’ within its behavior targeting category. You can actually target your ads based on when someone last purchased a vehicle, the year and make of their vehicle, and the likelihood of someone buying specific auto parts soon.

For auto parts stores, Facebook Ads can be particularly lucrative. As my colleague James Scherer explains:

“Let’s say your business sells car air filters – an aftermarket accessory that needs to be changed about every 24,000 miles (or, say, 18 months). Automotive targeting will allow you to show an ad promoting your air filters exclusively to people within the US who bought a car 13-24 months ago or who bought an air filter two years ago and may need another one.”

With Facebook ads, you can hyper-target based on:

• Demographics – You can reach your market by specific age, gender, relationship, education, job title and more.
• Interests – You’re able to reach your consumer based on interests, hobbies and Pages Liked on Facebook (for example, target to people who like car, truck or motorcycle Pages, or who have auto-related hobbies).
• Behaviors – You can even target based on previous actions, such as likes and devices used to access the platform
• Location - Like Google Ads, you can target to consumers where they live – based on country, state/province, and city. You can also target based on phone number and zip code – to reach repeat customers in your database.

Some Facebook Ad providers make it super easy to create your ads. All you need to do is create your Headline, Ad Copy and Image. Then select your targeting (or let Wishpond choose your targeting options for you) and daily budget.

Here’s a few tips to making a high converting Facebook ad:

• Use eye-catching images – The image is what grabs attention on Facebook. Make your image match your ad campaign and landing page, and use an image that’s easy to recognize.
• Use action words in your Headline – The more you can instill a sense of urgent action, the more likely you’ll get immediate clicks.
• Be clear in your Headline and ad copy – Use the product name in your ad, show your USP and consumer benefits to leave no doubt that you’re the best place to get the product from.

4. Online Marketing for Auto Parts Stores: Ad Retargeting

Ad retargeting gives you a huge competitive advantage.

Even with all your highly targeted marketing efforts, most people (like more than 95%) exit a site they’ve visited for the first time – without converting. They’re just not ready to buy from your immediately.

Unlike a bricks and mortar purchase, an online buy doesn’t require the time and effort of physically going to your store, potentially meeting with your sales staff and then making the purchase. In an online environment, it’s easy for visitors to get distracted or just browse and shop around to your competitors.

Imagine if there was a way to go and chase after that customer who just left your online store.

There is.

Ad retargeting enables you to follow that bounced traffic.

You not only get to remind your visitors to come on back to your store, you’re pretty much 100% guaranteed to reach your demographic with people who’ve already visited your site.

In a nutshell, ad retargeting:

• Gives your website visitors a cookie.
• That cookie in their browser triggers your ad to show on websites that are part of the Google ad display Network (and there are literally millions of websites in the Network).

You don’t have to guess where your potential customer is – your ad shows wherever they are.

Being on sites your consumer visits (and trusts) tends to increase your own trust factor – and amplifies brand awareness through multiple touchpoints.

5. Online Marketing for Auto Parts Stores: Coupon Landing Page

Who doesn’t like getting a great deal on auto parts? As a business marketer, you know the power of giving away discounts and deals.

Direct your prospects to a coupon landing page on your website.

AutoZone is the second largest auto parts dealer in the US. In this example they give a 20% discount and other exclusive online-only deals:

It’s actually pretty simple to technically setup up a coupon on your website (or Facebook Page and Twitter).

To make an online coupon:

• Sign into your coupon app provider
• Click on “create a coupon”
• Make your coupon, with a title, details, image and fine print
• Create a unique landing page on your website and insert the coupon
• Customers get their own personalized (i.e. trackable) coupon code to redeem at your store

Advanced tip: A really smart and savvy way to implement a retargeting campaign is with offers and coupons. You can chase your lost customers around and show how much you value their business by giving an exclusive online coupon.

6. Online Marketing for Auto Parts Stores: Email Automation

Once you’ve got a conversion or sale, you’ll have the email address of your customer. Use it, but don’t abuse it.

A repeat customer is worth 3 to 7 times the cost of a new one.

The better you can nurture your lead, the more likely they’ll buy your products – and keep coming back for more. An extremely cost effective way to initialize your relationships is with email automation campaigns.

Setup triggered email automation campaigns to send a personalized “thank you” message with the customer’s name and product details.

Keep the relationship going by sending out weekly updates (if they’re opted in to your newsletters). Send out deals and new auto products you’re getting in.

It’s pretty simple to technically set up a triggered email automation campaign. You can craft your first email and schedule to send it out, say 1 minute after the initial conversion. Then write and schedule more lead nurturing messages to be sent out over the next few days or weeks.

An email automation campaign gives you the opportunity to stay in touch with customers, and create a super personalized message.

A real key to getting your email opened and read is your subject line. Craft your open enticing line by:

• Personalizing your subject line – include your customer’s name
• Be specific and clear about your message
• Ask a question
• Offer another discount or coupon for repeat consumers

Advanced tip: For auto stores with the resources and large enough customer base, I’d highly recommend segmenting your email database list. Customers buying parts for their Ford Fairlane aren’t interested in the same stuff as people needing a battery for their 2010 Mazda.

Send out segmented, personalized emails to speak to your customers like you’d connect with them in your brick and mortar shop.

Bonus Online Marketing for Auto Parts Stores: Pop-ups

Want to know a little known secret? One that’ll get you tons more leads?

Use website pop-ups.

Yes, I know, they’re controversial – and they’re still relatively new to mainstream marketers. If you use them too much, they’ll backfire and you seem like a spammy company. But if you’re smart and you set up website pop-ups with your customer user experience in mind – you really can build your email list by a lot.

The only auto parts store I found who use pop-ups right now is Napa:

Beat out your competitors and get a larger piece of the hot automotive parts market. Be one of the first to use website pop-ups in your sector.

Check out a whole lot more about the ins and outs of setting up website pop-up campaigns.

Conclusion

A well planned, comprehensive online sales funnel will increase brand awareness, generate warm leads and bring you more profits.

Start with an optimized landing page, spread your message with online advertising and drive bounced traffic back with retargeting ads. Create incentives to convert and purchase with coupons. Follow-up to nurture your new prospects with well crafted marketing automation campaigns. To really add fuel to your lead generation, incorporate pop-ups on your website.

What do you think? Have you started an ecommerce site? How do you market your business online?

Most companies have that one sales rep who just can’t lose. Deal after deal gets closed and the rest of the sales force is left scratching their heads, wondering how they can get a hold of some of that star power. To help, here are six habits that highly effective salespeople are known to employ.

They Set Objectives for Every Sales Call

A star sales rep never goes into a sales call without having some objectives laid out. Knowing exactly what she wants to accomplish enables her to stay focused, ask the right questions, and never lose sight of the end goal.

They Listen

There’s often this idea of salespeople as have-an-answer-for-everything slick-talkers. But the best salesman is the one who listens. Instead of shoving the pitch down the prospect’s throat, the effective salesman listens to what is being said in order to be well-versed on all the pain points he might be able to target. It sounds like a no-brainer, but too many times, salespeople are talking instead of listening, and if they’re not listening, they’re cutting themselves out of a deal.

They Use Tools That Help Them Close

Successful salespeople know that the right tools in their arsenal can mean the difference between a deal and a dud. Tools like call tracking and call routing can provide sales reps with all the information they need about incoming calls to better prepare them to close, and highly effective salespeople do everything they can to make use of them. Then there’s voice broadcasting, another tool that can be used to re-engage with leads marked as cold. If a salesperson’s business isn’t equipped with these kinds of tools, real sales stars make management aware of the benefits they could provide to the sales force as a whole. Not only does the entire department get a boost in productivity, but the original salesperson looks like a go-getter.

They’re Patient and Persistent

Recent studies show that it takes an average of cold call attempts to reach a prospect, but the average salesperson only makes two attempts. But if you are a salesperson who is above average, then you understand the value of patience and persistence. Staying after a lead until it becomes a sale is the difference between average and all-star.

They Follow Up Fast

It’s been proven that if salespeople follow up with web leads within 5 minutes, then they’re 9 times more likely to convert them. Salespeople who are bent on success understand the value of following up fast and do everything it takes to make it happen. Some tools enable users to automatically trigger a phone call that connects agents with those web leads instantly. Rock star sales reps know and use those tools whenever possible.

They Keep in Touch

Some sales cycles are longer than others. Not every sale closes in one phone call. But the trick of keeping the lead alive is finding ways to be in touch with their prospects. This means following up and keeping the conversation alive, or directly sharing relevant content created by the company’s marketing team. Sometimes leads go cold, but sales all-stars do everything they can to keep them warm.

These are just a few habits of highly effective salespeople. Want to learn more about tools your department can use to close more leads? Download our white paper, How Sales Teams Use Virtual Call Centers to Close More Business.

Few if any developments in history have had the effect on marketing the Internet has. A lot of companies have used it to build empires.

But as useful as it is, the Internet is used by people. And people are social by nature. Consider the explosive growth in the popularity of social media. We crave connection with our fellow human beings. But we must have more than just an online connection. We need face-to-face interaction with other people.

Live events can be a great tool to help you build your customer base, and they can strengthen the bond you have with your existing customers, leading to those very important repeat sales!

So even though you and I, as marketers, can leverage the power of online marketing and profit greatly from it, we can enjoy even more success by adding in-person events to our marketing toolbox. And we can create a powerful synergy that will help increase our sales in a big way when we use online marketing technologies to effectively promote live events, and then effectively use the event to bring attention to our powerful online marketing presence.

A Snowball Effect

So today lets talk about how marketers like you and I can use online technology to promote in-person events (we’ve just talked about why we would want to hold these events in the first place) and specific steps we can  take to harness the power of these events to develop an even stronger online marketing presence.

Certain businesses, by their nature (for example, local retail establishments) are more likely to employ live events. But many more could benefit greatly by holding such events than are currently doing so. A lot of business owners may be suffering from the misconception that live event equals expensive, hard-to-manage large trade show or convention. It doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed, for most businesses, it shouldn’t be this way.

Live events can be small, and in most cases should be. Depending on the business you run, events you may want to consider hosting include

• Seminars and workshops
• “Lunch and Learns”
• Speaking engagements with guest speakers
• Grand openings or re-openings
• In-store sales
• Open houses
• Product launches/demonstrations

The event doesn’t always have to be one that you sponsor, for you to benefit. You could arrange to be a vendor at an event or tradeshow sponsored by another company or organization. Be properly prepared and market your services or products well, and you could give your business a very nice boost, even as a guest vendor.

Regardless of the type, size and scope of the event, and regardless of whether you are hosting it or are a guest at someone else’s event, you must be prepared beforehand, and you need to actively promote your event. There are lots of ways you can do this, both online and offline:

• An email to your subscriber list
• Announcements through your social media channels
• PPC ads
• Direct mail to previous customers
• In-store displays
• Etc.

But don’t stop with merely announcing the event and giving details such as time and date. Harness the power of great copywriting to sell the event. Tell the readers of your event announcements why they would want to be there, how it will benefit them to be there.

Use very powerful persuasion techniques such as scarcity – mention that only a certain, specific number of event attendees will be allowed, and have an expiration date for registration. Make it abundantly clear in your copy that no one will be allowed to sign up once the expiration date has passed.

With online marketing, you can successfully promote an event. But here’s something you don’t want to forget: Use your in-person events to build up your online marketing presence. On all printed event-related marketing collateral include your URL and social media addresses.

At the event, “sell” attendees on joining your email list. Collect their email addresses for addition to your email database in exchange for something of value, perhaps a half hour free consultation or in-store discount.

After the event, keep the goodwill and marketing momentum you just gained rolling. Send each attendee a Thank You email that also subtly sells them on the idea of buying from you.

Add those who requested to be included to your email list. Is there something you promised them, or something they requested, such as a free consultation?  Follow up with them to see that it happens.

How Landing Pages Can Help You Increase Event Attendance

The role of landing pages is conversion. And when you are promoting a live event, you are selling, in a sense. You are trying to convert the reader into a signed-up event attendee. You could try to get great conversion results from an online event signup service. This might work for you. But don’t you agree  you could convert readers into event attendees much more often with a first-class landing page?

A landing page powered by persuasive copywriting? And clean, uncluttered design and graphics, including relevant images that give readers a vivid idea of what they can expect and how they can benefit from attending your event? A landing page where every single element is properly set up to help you accomplish your conversion goals?

Also, consider this scenario: you have worked hard, investing a lot of time and effort to put on your live event, whether it was a trade show, a seminar, or an in-store sale. You’ve smartly placed interested event attendees in your marketing funnel.

Through your email and content marketing activities, you’ve lead them through your funnel, and now many are on the verge of making the leap from lead to customer. And given all the time, effort and money you’ve invested in guiding them through your funnel, doesn’t it make sense to use a powerful landing page to help you enjoy a higher conversion rate?

Not using a landing page could very well cost you a lot of post-event sales. After all the hard work you did to put on a great event and draw attendees into your funnel, you could still suffer the loss of many great sales opportunities by not harnessing the power of a great landing page.

Selling your services as a freelancer or a small shop is tough enough as it is. Selling to a small-town business that might not even see the need for a website adds an extra level of difficulty in turning a profit.

I’ve provided web design services to small-town businesses for the past few years, having had many happy outcomes, but also a lot of negative experiences from which I’ve learned hard lessons. One of the most important things I’ve learned is how to sell the value of the web. Many of my clients needed to be convinced that a website would actually be good for their business. A lot of them were almost naive about the web and about the impact and reach that a professional website and online strategy would have for their small business, even one whose target market lies within a 15-kilometer radius.

My experience with selling to small-town clients comes from running my tiny web design shop, Hetzel Creative, for three years now in rural Iowa. I started from a blank canvas after having moved to this town and building a clientele that now includes over 80 small businesses, mostly in southwest Iowa. I’ve gotten to the point that most new businesses around here are referred to my company, on the strength of my successful track record and portfolio.

For the purpose of this article, let’s assume you live in a rural town like mine, with a population of about 5,000. You’re a great designer and developer, and the compelling idea of breaking out on your own drives you to look for your first client. You’ve landed a meeting with Ned’s Remodeling. Ned heard about you through mutual friends and is interested in a website for his small construction company.

After your initial meeting, in which you gathered information, you hit Ned with the numbers.

“That much to build me a website?!” Ned is shocked. “Forget it! I have a nephew who could give it a shot for free.”

Now’s your chance to sell the value of the web.

A Website Is An Investment

Cash flow is often tight for small businesses, and you don’t have the luxury of dealing with department heads who aren’t closely tied to the money they’re spending. When a small-business owner writes a check, that money is very dear to them. So, Ned is obviously going to be put back when he hears a realistic estimate of what a properly designed and developed website should cost. Still, the only thing more important to him than his bank account (and his family, friends, etc.) is the future and growth of his company. The trick, then, is to sell Ned on a website’s return on investment.

¹

Aside from the popular “Your business will be open 24/7” argument, you can sell Ned on a professionally designed and strategic website in many ways. Listed below are just a few, but you can easily get creative and tailor your responses to different clients, whose understanding of the web will probably vary.

Everything Is Trackable

With just a free Google Analytics³ account, you can track so many more metrics for a website than you can with print ads and other traditional advertising channels. This is a wonderful selling point, because it will reassure Ned that he can always look at the metrics and visualize whether his investment in the website is paying dividends. And if the results are not ideal, then those metrics will tell you what to tweak.

Your Image, The Way You Want It

A website serves as a central online destination for the whole brand. Ned needs to know that without a website (or with one that is poorly designed or that lacks compelling content), his online image will stretch as far as Google reviews or the Better Business Bureau. That might not give potential customers enough information for them to pick up the phone, especially if a competitor is dominating local search results for home remodeling and has a website that projects a compelling, trustworthy image.

Effective Advertising

The money spent on online advertising to drive prospective clients to a website is much more manageable and trackable than money spent on traditional advertising like newspaper ads, flyers and phone book listings. Online ads and listings, SEO and web content are in a unique category of advertising. Not getting as many hits as you would like? Adjust! Change your content and experiment. Not on the first page of Google for a particular term? Optimize! Rewrite some content and change some keywords.

Spend your advertising dollars to get your website into a high-traffic area that your target audience will see. Spending as much as, if not more than, an offline budget for online advertising is a no-brainer because you get so many metrics and insights on how an online campaign is performing. Ned wouldn’t have such control and accuracy with his advertising if he didn’t have a website, so this is a great point to sell him on the investment.

Productivity Enhancement

This is probably the last thing Ned expects from a website, but if properly thought out, a website can certainly enhance a small business’ overall productivity and free up time that is used for manual tasks. Take a simple contact form. More people are willing to submit a form online than to pick up the phone. It’s just easier and a lower barrier. Not only will Ned gain more leads, but now he has more time to research thoughtful answers than he would have had he gotten questions over the phone. And he can set aside a certain time of the day for written questions, which is better than being distracted by a phone call while drawing a blueprint or repairing a roof.

You Get What You Pay For

If you’ve convinced Ned that he needs a website for his business, then his most pressing concern will still be the wad of cash he’ll have to drop to pay for it. Even if he does view a website as an investment, investing in anything without some disposable income is still tough. At this point, he’s probably thinking of ways to spend the absolute least that he can, which is most easily done by pushing you to the backburner to find someone cheaper.

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The key here is to make absolutely sure that Ned understands he will get what he pays for. You could remind him that he would advise his own potential clients not to trust just anyone to remodel their home; likewise, he should be willing to do the same for the online face of his business. Clients should trust experts to perform the services that they’re good at. Sure, he could get a free WordPress theme or use some cookie-cutter website-building service, but that’s like using duct tape and cardboard to fix a broken window. It might work, but you wouldn’t get the efficiency and beauty that a professional would provide.

Explain The Possibilities

Many people like Ned simply don’t know what they can achieve with a website: bill payments, sales, content management, newsletter registration, customer portal, email drip campaigns, subscriptions — the list goes on. If Ned is clear on what can be done, he’ll understand that an expert is needed to pull it all off.

Make sure, however, that you’re not just selling a list of features. You want him to see you as a partner who will share in the joy of the success that your services will bring. The features are only part of what a client wants. After all, thousands of freelancers can design and code as well as you can. Ned has to trust that the other guys don’t care as much about him and his success as you do.

The Importance Of Design

Even in a small town, where your reputation hangs almost solely on word of mouth, having a professional image is still critical. You understand this because you’re a designer, but Ned probably doesn’t. Without getting too deep into research on brand recognition, make sure you can back up your claim that good design is important to Ned’s small business. Here’s a great quote from a Razorfish’s report on branding⁶ that you can have ready (it’s five years old but still makes a great point):

According to our findings, 65% of consumers report that a digital brand experience has changed their opinion (either positively or negatively) about a brand or the products and services a brand offers… For those brand marketers still neglecting (or underestimating) digital, it’s as if they showed up to a cocktail party in sweatpants.

Break Out A Statistics Sheet

If Ned still needs convincing on why he needs you, show him some statistics. I’ve prepared a document for new clients that lists statistics on the number of Americans online, the number of people browsing on mobile devices (for selling a responsive solution), figures on how consumers are persuaded by a brand’s online image, and more.

Plenty of statistics are available for you to refer to in your sheet, like this one from a September 2013 report by BIA Kelsey⁷:

94& of the consumers surveyed have gone online for local shopping purposes within the last six months. Among those surveyed, 59.5% have completed a local purchase of merchandise or services online, within the last six months.

Or this one, from a September 2013 survey by Web.com and Toluna⁸:

83% of surveyed US consumers reported that having a website and using social media was a factor considered of high importance when choosing small businesses.

Or this one, from a June 2012 survey by 99designs⁹ (a great one to show Ned that others in his position think professional design is important):

80% of small business owners consider the design of their logos, websites, marketing materials and other branding tools either “very important” or “important” to the success of their companies.

Analyze Competitors

Another great way to convince Ned of the need for a website is simply to do a Google search right in front of him. If “glenwood iowa remodeling” brings up a list of all of his competitors, then he’ll see that he’s missing out. Even if you don’t offer SEO, Ned has to have a website in order to optimize it. If you do offer some SEO (or even include basic optimization in your service), then Google some of your current clients in front of him to show how you have helped companies get to the top of search results. Just don’t lead the client on if you don’t have the results to show for it — especially if they can so easily check how capable you really are.

Aside from search rankings, analyze some of Ned’s competitors’ in front of him. Point out what’s good and not so good about them. I always like to tell clients what I would do differently with their competitors’ websites because that helps them understand our expertise in a context they’re familiar with.

Bring Social Into The Mix

Several clients have come to me looking for the whole online package: website, Facebook page, Twitter account and branding, etc. Other clients had to be sold on these “extra” services. If you’re looking for extra angles to hook clients, offer a broad range of services, because — let’s face it — Facebook and Twitter are highly visible these days (Ned probably has a Facebook account already). The average client already has (or at least should have) an active Facebook page for interacting with customers and marketing to the public. So, offering a social strategy, or at the very least designing a nice profile and cover photo, is usually an easy sell.

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Beware of working with clients who solely want to use Facebook or Twitter, though. Many small businesses start with Facebook as their only online presence. While it’s a cheap way to get online, clients need to understand that their social pages should ultimately drive people to their “home”: their website.

How Did We Meet Ned In The First Place?

Contact with a prospective client can come from many different sources. The things that have always landed me contracts are word of mouth and a strong portfolio. Of course, I had to build my reputation for people to refer me, and that can be done in various ways.

The single most important thing that I did for my small business was to join the local Chamber of Commerce. I got leads simply from being listed on its website as a trusted local service provider, but the more important leads came from attending its events and talking to people. I never went to an event (coffee nights, banquets, golf outings, etc.) to land a contract that day. Rather, I went to become more acquainted with other business owners and to build their trust so that, when they did need a website, they would call me first.

Other ways to get your name out there include joining a committee (I was on the Chamber of Commerce’s marketing committee), attending events for entrepreneurs (who are your target market, after all), doing some pro bono work if you’re starting out, and giving current clients 10% off their next invoice if they refer you to someone. Just being around other business owners and making friendships in their circles should be enough to get you at least one contract; if you do a great job with them, the referrals will start coming in.

I’ve definitely tried things that don’t work, too. For instance, don’t waste your time on newspaper ads, cold calling, phone book listings or mass emails. You’re in the business of selling value, not just a service. Your best clients will arise from trusted relationships and from their belief in your ability to increase their bottom line.

Above all, make sure that your own website is killer. Experiment with different content until you’re at the top of search results for local web design and development. Of course, make sure to show off all of your latest and greatest projects. Case studies do a great job of selling (especially if the website visitor is in the same industry being profiled). Plenty of resources are out there to help with your online strategy, so don’t skimp on the quality of your website.

The Sky’s The Limit

Hopefully, this article serves as inspiration for those of you with the same target demographic. Keep in mind that working in a small town is not necessarily your best bet to raking in a ton of money and designing glamorous websites. But you’ll sleep well knowing that you’re benefiting the community by providing expert services. And keep your eye out for other markets to get into. With the number of fully distributed companies on the rise, you can do business with just about anyone from the comfort of your home.

Remember that selling to small-town businesses is a lot about education. Ned doesn’t know just how much value a website can provide. Educating him on the possibilities and the state of the web might just convince him to go with you, without your even having to explain “why me.”

(ml, al)

Footnotes

1. 1 https://www.flickr.com/photos/9731367@N02/6988181354
2. 2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/9731367@N02/
3. 3 http://google.com/analytics/
4. 4 https://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/7408506410
5. 5 https://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/
6. 6 http://feed.razorfish.com/feed09/the-bottom-line/
7. 7 http://www.biakelsey.com/Research-and-Analysis/SMB-and-Consumer-Research/Consumer-Commerce-Monitor/
8. 8 http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Consumers-Favor-Small-Businesses-of-Their-Customer-Focus/1010771
9. 9 http://99designs.com/customer-blog/99designs-business-design-survey/
10. 10 https://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/4646164016
11. 11 https://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/4646164016

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