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What prevents you from selling more and co-creating new possibilities for your customers and direct reports? What’s the leading cause of frustration and emotional reactions which also erodes trust, gets in the way of asking better questions and prevents you from being more curious? If you want to boost your sales volume and develop champions, it all starts with how you think.

If closing more business and delivering great coaching to your sales team was as easy as following a proven coaching framework and asking strategically positioned, well crafted, open ended questions, then more salespeople and managers would be world class coaches and I wouldn’t have to travel all over the world to deliver my two-day intensive, coach the coach program for thousands of people each year.

If you’re a manager, it doesn’t matter how good of a salesperson you were or are today. It doesn’t matter how much you know about your company, product or service. And it doesn’t matter if you’re an authentic subject matter expert. The ability to become a best-in-class coach has everything to do with how adept you are at detaching from the outcome during every conversation. That means suspending your agenda, judgement and your need to control every outcome. And this same truth applies to salespeople as well.

I know. It sounds easy, right?

If my sarcasm hasn’t fully translated, then let me be clear. This is probably the most difficult thing for a manager to do well and do consistently, especially during challenging times, or when it’s the end of the quarter and you’re 20% down from reaching your sales targets.

Victim of The Result Driven Culture

The ability to park your agenda and detach from the outcome and your personal expectations during a conversation with your direct reports, peers, boss, even your customers, is certainly one of the most challenging parts of selling as well as coaching; especially for managers.

For most number focused, KPI and metric driven people who are on a quest to hit their business objectives and sales targets every month and every quarter, it’s difficult in a conversation with a customer or a direct report to take a step back, surrender your agenda and expectation in the conversation, listen deeply, be patient and ask questions to assess what is really going on, rather than assume the facts. However, it is possible to achieve this simply by changing your thinking around what it means to detach from the outcome.

Detaching from the outcome sounds virtually impossible to do and for good reason. “Are you telling me to forget about my goals and business objectives? How can you detach from your own outcome, goals and expectations during a conversation when there’s so much at stake? How is this even possible when there’s a direct correlation between your team’s performance and the manager’s success?”

After all, for most managers, their career, compensation and how their performance is evaluated is based upon how well their team performs. And for salespeople, their income and tenure is also based on the results they achieve. It’s simple, right? Either you’re hitting your sales targets or you’re not.

I get this. I even make it a point to share this truth with every manager and salesperson I work with when delivering my management coach training program. “It’s certainly easier for me to coach your direct reports than it is for you to coach them, putting skill set and experience aside. Why? Because, they aren’t my direct reports, I don’t work for your company as a manager and for the most part, my success, tenure, compensation, reputation and career isn’t dependent upon them and their performance.”

This is a component that makes detaching from your own agenda and goals so incredibly difficult for salespeople and managers. However, the better news is, it can be done!

What Are You Attached To?

Let’s make certain we even the playing field around what an attachment actually is. An attachment is simply a way of trying to control the outcome of a conversation or situation. Here are several examples of the attachments people have to a specific outcome during a conversation.

You can be attached to:

• The need to be right/look good. (Avoiding being wrong/looking bad/hearing no.)
• The need to be understood or prove your point/ have people agree with you
• The need to control (your agenda, the outcome)
• The need to give value (You can be attached to people’s potential.)

When this happens, the conversation becomes a struggle for power and control. Needless to say, this also creates a heightened level of stress.

Here’s a telltale sign when you know you’re pushing your agenda. When you walk away from a conversation feeling frustrated, short-tempered, impatient, drained or exhausted, then there was something you were attached to in the conversation.

The Greater Cost

While no one is arguing that putting your agenda aside to co-create an entirely new possibility or solution is challenging, it’s important to acknowledge the greater cost when attached to your own agenda inside a conversation. When focused solely on pushing your agenda forward, attachments:

1. Limit the ability for a new or better possibility, solution or outcome to surface. After all, you have your blinders on when you’re solely focused on the outcome you want.
2. Create a filter in your listening, preventing others from contributing. In essence, you’ve ‘already listened’ or stopped listening to the other person because you’re more focused on driving the result you want in that conversation.
3. Invalidate the other person by not respecting their point of view. And if you’re not listening to them or respecting their opinion, then why should they listen to you and respect yours?

The byproduct? You erode trust.

But that’s not all you erode. What about the greater cost to you? The quality of your life. After all, if you’re always focused on what’s next, whether you’re pushing to achieve a goal or driving towards an outcome you want during a conversation, then you aren’t focusing on what’s now, the present.

This is where your life happens. And when you fall victim of this toxic thinking, you are no longer fully engaged with others, yourself or your surroundings. Instead, you are disengaged and disconnected from what’s occurring in the moment, missing out on all the seemingly insignificant daily miracles that happen, both at work and at home and stepping over all of the opportunities to contribute and add value to others, especially through coaching.

Since you now have a greater level of awareness around these costly implications when attached to the outcome, then how do you actually detach from the outcome? Over the next several blog posts, I’m going to share with you the essential mind-shifts to adopt in order to do so.

Photo Credit: pinkypills (via shutterstock)

We get this wrong all the time. Businesses seek "brand awareness" in order to position their brand prominently in a given category. Unfortunately, while this is all fine and dandy in theory, it is inevitably followed by salespeople complaining about the marketing departments feeble attempt at positioning the qualities of their products and services relative to competitors. Getting your image right sounds like the over-riding priority, but the issue for many businesses is having their brand considered by buyers at all.   In this blog, Hugh helps you think about positioning a little differently, and suggest two approaches and eight tactics you might want to consider.

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Problem: Being a good qualifier is the most important skill for a salesperson to possess in a relationship-based sale. Yet despite hours of training, most salespeople are mediocre qualifiers at best. Digging down to uncover the real problems, openly discussing money issues and getting in front of the real decision makers are very challenging for most of us. As a result we experience long selling cycles, low closing rates and frequently feel the need to offer discounts or other concessions to motivate reluctant buyers. This can be a tough business! But it may not entirely be our fault.

Analysis: When it comes to selling, Mom and Dad may have been our worst enemies. Clearly their well-meaning advice is contradictory to the realities of selling. Look at some of the head trash they unwittingly saddled us with:

• They said, “Don’t talk to strangers,” and now we have to initiate contact with strangers by making cold calls.
• They said, “Don’t bother important people,” and we have to call high up in the organization to get to the decision makers.
• They said, “Don’t ask so many questions.” but we need to ask questions to be a good qualifier.
• And they said, “It’s impolite to talk about money,” but we need to initiate a discussion about money to find out what their budgets are.

No wonder it’s tough. If you heard those admonitions frequently growing up, they’re still in your head creating all sorts of conflict and hesitation when you’re in front of a prospect. But let’s not blame this on Mom and Dad. They meant well. (And they weren’t worried how this might
impact our ability to sell because they didn’t want us to go into sales in the first place.)

Solution: Beliefs drive actions, actions cause results, and results reinforce beliefs. The first step is to acknowledge the problem exists. Next make a list of the negative consequences the problem has for you. (For example, believing that you shouldn’t bother important people will inhibit you from calling at the top, thus forcing you into a position where you are making presentations to people who can’t say yes. This slows down the sales process, lowers your closing rate and reduces your sales.)

Commit yourself to overcoming the problem. Re-write the non-supportive belief. (“I must call at the top in order to be successful.”) Tell it to yourself over and over until your subconscious now has a new belief. Your new belief will cause you to act differently. No longer will you consider it acceptable to present to non-decision makers and you’ll find your sales cycle shortened and you’ll close a higher percentage of your proposals.

First things first… you have to change your beliefs if you want to change your results.

Good Selling!!

If your lead generation and SEO efforts are still desktop-based, you’re way behind the signs of times. Mobile usage is slowly but surely claiming the throne from consumer PCs, and the evidences just keep getting bigger.

People no longer have to boot their computers to do a query on Google; they can do that on their mobile devices. But tablets and smartphones are not limited to regular people – even business buyers are apparently part of the revolution. And for a Business-to-Business (B2B) marketer, you have to respond to that challenge.

Hence, SEO has crawled into the realms of mobile. Not everyone is on it yet, and most are just beginners. In his mobile marketing column at MarketingLand.com, Bryson Meunier, Director of Content Solutions at Resolution Media, shares 5 to-dos to help you initiate a mobile-based SEO campaign:

1. Read a Mobile Marketing Book

Books are only so helpful for a field that’s evolving so rapidly, as they can become outdated quickly. Still, there are some great published resources for those who want to get started in mobile search but don’t know where to start.

Google’s Mobile Playbook, by Jason Spero, is one of the best, and it has recently been updated for 2014. It contains best practices and case studies to inspire your own mobile marketing efforts, and a section for growing your organization to adapt to the new mobile reality.

2. Understand Your Mobile Searcher

The first thing many people do when doing mobile SEO is choose a mobile site configuration (i.e. responsive vs. adaptive vs. dedicated mobile site), but they should be figuring out what their users want first.

Get an edge on your competitors by understanding what mobile searchers who visit your site want, and give it to them with your content.

3. Secure Budget for Mobile SEO

The budget necessary to do mobile SEO depends entirely on the type of organization you have and the type of agency or consultant you’re looking to hire.

But if you’re looking to do mobile SEO, there’s only so much that you can do on your own with no budget. If you need approval to secure the budget, get it now before another banner year for mobile marketing passes you by.

4. Make Your Content Mobile According To That Mobile Searcher’s Needs

Once you understand your searcher, you’ll know which direction your mobile site configuration strategy should take. Have a blog, news or information site where your searchers are looking for information? Go responsive.

But if you decide based on understanding your searchers’ needs, you will not be able to make a mistake on this point.

5. Verify With Google Webmaster Tools & Run Mobile Crawl Errors Report

Whether your mobile site is a dedicated URL, adaptive or a responsive site, you must verify with Google Webmaster Tools and run the mobile (smartphone and feature phone) crawl errors report.

Smartphone Crawl Errors Report in Google Webmaster Tools gives you errors Google sees that are frustrating mobile searchers. Regardless of whether you have a mobile site, use the report to identify those errors that make the mobile user experience so terrible. Fix them regularly and you’ll be a lot better off in mobile search than those people who claim the best mobile SEO strategy is not to have a strategy.

This content originally appeared at Callbox Blog.

“We need to know who our buyers are.”

I hear this often today. From Chief Executive Officers, Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Operating Officers, and Chief Sales Officers, the confounding question of – Who are our buyers? – is asked repeatedly. Even in mature established B2B businesses, this question is often asked. In fact, more mature B2B organizations run the risk of realizing too late they have moved distantly away from their buyers. Like the frog that realizes much too late the water has reached boiling temperature.

Guess Who

As I have helped many B2B organizations in the past 15 years with insights-based buyer research, this question continues to pop up very often. Ranging from beliefs buyers are at the most senior C-Suite levels to the most active users in B2B settings being the buyers also. And, everything else in-between!

Unfortunately, without committing to understanding buyers deeply, this question will continue to cause heated debates within B2B corporate walls. A potential risk is efforts are initiated to “force fit” acceptance of a specific view of who the buyer is. More often though, the game of “guess who” is played throughout in attempts to definitively pin down who is the buyer.

The Wrong Starting Point

This question often gets asked at the onset of most sales initiatives, marketing campaigns, new product launches, and etc. It is supported by supplier-centric, product-centric, and decision-criteria thinking. I have seen buyer profiling – or profiling efforts masked as buyer personas – actually dig a deeper hole for organizations. Anchoring down profiles with the wrong view of “who their buyers are.” Finding out as much as two years later – they had it all wrong.

What may sound counterintuitive is this – starting with the question of “who are our buyers?” may actually be the wrong place to start. It is simply not enough. All the scurrying around of resources at trying to answer this question can certainly be put to better use.

Where To Start

More so for B2B than B2C, there is the element of complexity in buying as well as an increasingly growing number of people involved in complex B2B purchase decisions. Thus, trying to answer the question of who are our buyers becomes complex as well. Trying to answer the question with a single buyer in mind just may not be realistic for B2B in today’s complex world fueled by digital technologies.

How does a B2B organization then get to a deep understanding of its’ buyers and where should they start? In the larger broad stroke, B2B businesses should start first with buyer insights research. Beginning with exploring problems associated with a lack of insight into buying behavior. Exactly where to start however is still what perplexes most B2B businesses. Here is where the essential principle behind buyer insights research provides the clue:

Buyer insights research is the qualitative gathering of insights on the why and how of buying decisions.

It is through this important form of B2B organizational research we can best then get to the root of who in addition to what, where, and when. Simply put, as we begin to learn more about why and how, we begin to see who is involved and what role they playing in complex buying scenarios.

Telling Stories With Buyer Personas

Gathering insights on buyers through qualitative research often requires a way of breaking down the complex into an understandable as well as actionable story. This is one of the key purposes of buyer persona development. To serve as a way of telling the story of buyers based on the insights gathered. And, help to illuminate who in the why and how story.

A pitfall for many who explore buyer personas is they start with who and end with who. Producing descriptive profiles labeled as buyer personas yet lacking in the right form of qualitative research directly with buyers. Ultimately lacking in truly understanding the story of the why and how of buying decisions and who is involved. And, even more unfortunate, never really getting the answer to the question of – who are our buyers?

Not Enough

For B2B organizations today, especially those in complex buying environments, understanding who your buyers are is not enough. It is important to arrive at a profound and deep understanding of the why and how of buying decisions. Uncovering who, not through guesswork or through a focus on the wrong facts, but through qualitative insights gathering on why and how buying decisions are made.

Every week we bring you the FreshMinds Friday picks – ideas to help you make the most of digital technologies and understand how they are helping brands to grow and innovate. This week we’re looking at how brands can use digital tools to help business decision-makers get up close and personal with their customers – from using social media listening data, to working with Ambassadors, video and the digital consumer.

A customer closeness programme can be an effective way bring to life customer insight for decision-makers across a brand. From helping buyers from grocery firms to experience how their customers really shop, to helping Boards see how customers use the products their firms make, spending time with your customers can help to spark innovation and reinforce decisions based on what customers actually do. The best customer closeness programmes are often a mix of offline and online events, but digital tools can offer ways to enhance some processes and make it easier for executives to connect with customers.

1. Display customer Tweets outside the CEO’s office

There can sometimes be nothing as effective at sparking conversation and questions as showing what people say about your product when they discover it and use it. And a simple way of showing this, especially for products that drive a lot of conversation online, is to show how customers talk about your product, the photos they share and the words they use. This isn’t about giving a comprehensive view, but just about connecting executives with snapshots of conversations.

2. Social media listening dashboard on desktops

This could be extended to showcase actual interactions with customers to the whole business. Often there is a concern about how to cascade the information that brands can get from social media listening tools – a simple way to enable people across the business to get slower to customers is to set desktops across the business to show feeds from your social media listening – maybe how a set of advocates discuss your products in real-time, or a curated set of conversations and mentions from the previous day. Enabling people across the business to see and explore customer opinions from their desk.

3. Online Ambassador programmes

Influencer programmes are too often thought of just as a way for brands to share their content. But much greater value can be got from identifying real Ambassadors online – people who share similar beliefs, objectives and passions as the brand, and who can act as true ambassadors for them with their audiences. These people will often enable brands to unlock access to new audiences or to get permission to talk to audiences in new ways. But Ambassador programmes should be two-way, they can be true ambassadors in your organisation for the audiences they represent online. Bring them to Board meetings, run events with them, get them talking to your team – not about themselves but about the audiences they engage with on a daily basis online.

4. Consumer video mashups

Increasingly consumers have the ability to take and share videos online – from tools like Instagram and Vine which allow consumers to storyboard their own short videos. Get your customers to send you videos of how they cook meals with your product, perhaps, or ask them to film their next shopping trip round your store. Capturing video content, ideally with consumers providing voice-over, provides you a direct insight into what they see and do when they are using your product.

5. Meet the digital consumer

Finally – for many brands it is important for them to understand the new digital consumer. How they get information, shop and purchase items. The devices they use and the role that different networks and tools play in their lives. As part of a fuller Customer Closeness programme there is a real value to a bringing these digital consumers together with executives – get them to work on tasks together, shop together, brainstorm together. Getting the senior team at any brand to spend time with and understand how these new digital consumers engage, research, interact and make decisions will spark real questions and debates about how the brands products and services should adapt to appeal to them.

Research companies such as Forrester and Gartner are shedding light on the growing shift of technology spend. Increasingly, CMOs, COOs, line managers and others in senior management are becoming the lead decision-makers for IT purchases.

Why are CMO and other business executives expanding their responsibilities to this area? Isn’t that the CIO’s job?

In order to engage as marketers with a buyer of less technical experience, it’s important to understand why this shift is happening. Here are three key drivers of this trend:

1. Technology Drives Business Results

A study from MIT Sloan Management Review shared that most company leaders believe technology is the key to business transformation. Increasingly, it’s believe that technology can have a direct, and often immediate, impact on the bottom line by helping brands:

1. 1) engage and nurture potential buyers
2. 2) improve customer experience
3. 3) streamline operations, and
4. 4) create or improve business models.

How strong is their faith in technology meeting business goals? Apparently, strong enough they’re spending their own resources. Of the 891 business executives from Forrester’s study, approximately 24 percent reported spending their own budget. Not just a small portion either, but a whopping 21 percent of the unit’s budget was spent on acquiring IT. To give you an idea, that accounts for over $31 billion in expenditures.

Senior management in sales and marketing were the top spending business functions. The use of social media, analytics, mobile and embedded devices have contributed to the increase in spending in these business units.

2. Business Leaders Understand Their Needs

Who better understands a business unit’s pain points than the respective manager? Senior management in marketing, sales and operations are conducting research and participating in vendor selection because, frankly, they don’t see it as being IT’s strong point.

CIOs and their teams have enough on their plate. If a CMO can either conduct or assign the vendor research and selection, this will save time and be more likely to produce the desired outcome. Business leaders have become increasingly impatient with what they perceive as longer buying cycles when purchases are led by IT.

3. Technology Is No Longer Intimidating

The rise of smartphone, tablets, and everything else the average consumer uses on a daily basis is contributing to the way we’re using technology in business.

John McCarthy, the author of Forrester’s study on tech spend, shared that 33 percent of high spenders say their technology IQ has increased and they’re more comfortable working with IT. Another 20 percent say that their use of consumer technology has changed their expectations of how technology can be used.

How IT Departments Fit into the Tech Spend Picture

CIOs may not be making the initial decision as to which tech vendors make it into the final consideration set. But they are still held responsible for ensuring all the web platforms and technology services work together.

Companies are starting to view CIOs and IT departments as a kind of business consultant when it comes to tech spend decisions. For example, it may make sense for a business unit to use Salesforce. But IT may identify a benefit to purchasing the enterprise license for use by the entire company rather than a single unit. CIOs ensure the company’s big picture is taken into account so that all technology is compatible.

As analyst Andrew Bartels puts it:

The ideal tech-buying process is one in which the business and the CIO’s team work together to identify a need, find and fund a solution, choose the right vendors, implement it and manage it.

On Monday, we’ll discuss how to reach today’s tech buyer by crafting a buyer’s journey for sales conversion.

For the past few years, B2B technology companies have seen an unprecedented shift in buying responsibility among their customers. Today, it’s often no longer the CIO, but instead the CMO, line manager or other business buyer who has emerged as the decision-maker on technology purchases.

The rise of this new buyer — typically senior management in marketing, sales and operations — has presented enterprise tech companies with new challenges. One of these challenges is how to create content to engage a buyer with less technological expertise and perhaps more focus on cut-to-the-chase results than IT buyers of the past.

Business buyers don’t conduct research and reach conclusions in the same ways as CIOs. They often start by seeking out high-level information to give them a grounding in a technology or industry niche, and then create a short list of prospective vendors based on a combination of third-party endorsement (such as via analysts, the news media, and social media influencers) and persuasive vendor content.

If you are looking to get your enterprise technology into the consideration set of more business buyers, here are some things to remember about this new spender.

1. Heavier Reliance on Social Media

Buyer Behavior: A report from IDG Connect showed that a majority (57 percent) of B2B technology buyers are using social media as part of the decision-making process. If you think about it, this makes complete sense. Social media is easy to navigate and provides relevant information from hundreds and thousands of sources. Technology users are sharing experiences, setbacks and general opinions about particular vendors and products.

Vendor Solution: When was the last time shouting facts about your service offerings on a street corner secured you new business? You’ve probably never even tried it. You know that to be successful, you have to be strategic in your conversations. You have to network with potential buyers and people with influence in the industry. This purposeful approach is exactly what B2B technology companies need to replicate online via social media. Initiate conversations with people who have the authority to influence buyers’ decisions. Ask current customers to give testimonials and reviews. Share educational content to online groups and circles where this new buyer mingles.

2. Preference for Simple Language

Buyer Behavior: Research shows that 33 percent of high-tech spenders say their technology IQ has increased and they’re more comfortable working with IT. While this may be true, it doesn’t mean that they understand or want to consume technology jargon. What business buyers are browsing the Internet for are solutions explained in simple, clear language. From the buyer’s perspective, if a vendor can take a complex topic and make it easy to understand, perhaps the vendor’s solution can address the buyer’s challenges simply and elegantly as well. Tech speak isn’t going to be effective with business leaders. They need something they can digest quickly and easily.

Vendor Solution: Provide content that’s straightforward and compelling. Technology companies should work with marketing writers who can understand their complicated products and services and can translate the information in simple, direct language. A qualified writer will interview a vendor’s subject matter experts, such as company executives, and create content that relays the message in ways business leaders understand. The right writer will even convey the same excitement and urgency a president or CEO feels toward the offerings his company provides. Tech spenders pick up on this and in turn get excited about the solutions, too.

3. Research Conducted During All Times of The Day

Buyer Behavior: Just because a CMO has expanded her responsibilities to include tech spend doesn’t mean other obligations have fallen off her plate. This has her conducting research at all times of the day. Early mornings, lunch hours, and late night commuter flights become prime times for researching new technology. (Another reason we see social media being a popular source for purchasing decisions.) She wants the needed information when she wants it. If she has to wait to receive it, she’s going to bounce to the next source. More times than not that source is a competitor.

Vendor Solution: Break down the barriers to retrieving desired information. Tech companies need to focus on how to provide the right content at the right time. This means embracing marketing automation and other software that helps capture, segment and nurture potential buyers into customers. What’s great about email and other automated communications is it 1) puts a website visitor on the right path to obtaining the information needed to make a decision and 2) makes information available regardless of the time of day.

For B2B technology vendors, marketing automation delivers the invaluable benefit of enabling you to track the behavior and actions of people coming to your website. This means marketers can test and optimize the delivery of content in efforts to improve a potential buyer’s online journey.

Embrace The New Tech Buyer

B2B technology companies that traditionally have made a living selling into IT departments may find the shift to a non-tech buyer audience a bit unnerving. Fortunately, however, a targeted inbound PR and marketing program can be an excellent solution for embracing this important emerging buyer.

Any good salesperson will tell you that building rapport with a potential customer is fundamental to closing more deals with less effort. Rapport helps people feel like they are in sync with one another, a powerful first step in building the trust and confidence required for a successful sale.

Rapport is defined as a close and harmonious relationship in which the people concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well. In one-to-one sales situations, techniques such as discussing common interests, maintaining eye contact, and mirroring all can be used to build rapport. But how can you leverage these rapport-building methods when your sale is made mostly, or entirely, online?

Creating rapport with potential customers through your website is certainly more challenging than doing it face to face, or even on the phone. But it is possible. Here are eight ways you can translate traditional rapport-building methods to the online environment.

Commonality

In a traditional sales environment, the salesperson can build a sense of camaraderie and trust with the buyer by finding things they have in common – shared interests, dislikes, challenges, that sort of thing. To build commonality with your online buyers, consider these tactics:

• Use photography that is genuine and will remind your audience of themselves or things that are important to them. Steer clear of impersonal stock photos as much as you can. You might even consider incorporating images of your staff so that people feel like they have more of a personal connection to you.
• Post reviews written by your satisfied customers – especially those that demonstrate how your company helped to solve a specific problem. Your audience will be able to find the commonality with their own challenges and better envision how you might help them.
• Show a little personality. People want to do business with people – not a company. You can show the human side of your company is subtle ways, like using the term “we” in your text (instead of using the third person), leveraging your “about us” section to really show the people behind the company, and showing you care by offering guarantees and excellent customer service.

Mirroring

Mirroring is a way of getting into a rhythm with a person on as many levels as possible. Salespeople use emotional mirroring by empathizing with a buyer’s emotional state, being good listeners, and repeating back to the buyer key words and phrases that he or she uses. Other types of mirroring include tone and tempo mirroring (matching the tone, tempo, and inflection of a person’s voice) and posture mirroring (matching the general “energy level” of the buyer). To translate these techniques to your website, you need to be able to anticipate the emotions, voice, and energy of your visitors before they even arrive at your site, and then give them an experience that feels like mirroring.

Develop your site around personas and user scenarios. User scenarios are anticipated paths a specific group of users will likely follow in order to complete a given task on your site. Combining personas and user scenarios really helps you understand the needs, concerns, and general mindset of your visitors so that you can provide them an experience that matches their emotional state. Imagine you’re a jeweler selling engagement rings. The future bride and groom both may visit your site, but with very different emotions and concerns. He will be concerned about budget and quality, and will probably have a lot of anxiety about selecting the right ring without putting himself in lifelong debt. She, on the other hand, will be looking for the ring she’s been dreaming of for years. She’ll want to see lots of pictures so she can visualize wearing the ring and showing it off to friends and family. She may not even look at the prices.

Write your headlines and copy using the same language your audience would use. You may not be able to mirror vocal inflections online, but you can certainly use terminology and a sentence structure that matches how your buyers would speak. Listen in on some sales calls and take note of how customers define their problems – what words they use, what their hot-button issues are, etc. Then use that insight to write copy that speaks directly to those issues by incorporating the same keywords and adjectives that buyers themselves use.

Make sure your website design reflects the level of professionalism your buyer would expect, and use colors that will be in sync with your buyers’ preferences. A software company can get away with using lime green or bright orange, but a hospital website might not be as successful with those hues. The point is, you don’t want your design to shock or surprise your visitors. You want it to mirror their needs and expectations.

Reciprocity

Did you know that giving gifts or doing things without expecting anything in return can trigger feelings of obligation? This is not the same as giving a customer a free demo of a product, because any customer using a demo would surely understand that there is a hope and expectation that they might later buy. But there are plenty of other ways you can leverage the power of reciprocity on your website.

• Provide a content-rich blog that freely gives the same sort of advice or information you might give a customer or friend. Make it useful and meaningful so that people want to come back frequently for more information. Once you have them hooked, they’ll be more likely to come to you when they’re in the market to buy.
• Offer guides and videos that help solve your customers’ problems. For example, if you sell cellphones you might have a video series on how to set up your new device – offering a different version for each device. A financial institution might offer a free loan calculator wizard or a B2B service provider might offer downloadable case studies or a free webinar.

Better Rapport = Quicker Sales

Whether your website is directed to consumers or other businesses, building rapport with your visitors is essential to increasing conversions. Every element of your site, from its design and copy to photos and fonts, will either help or hinder your effort to build rapport. And remember – rapport is subtle. Visitors may not be aware that they have built a rapport with you, but they will definitely know if they didn’t.

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Image credit

This article originally appeared in Tim’s ClickZ column February 18, 2014

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Choosing Your Sales Process Instead of the Buyer’s Process is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

Mistakenly, some salespeople (and sales organizations) believe that their buyer’s process is actually their sales process. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of their prospective clients have a buying process that is inherently transactional—and inherently bad for value creation.

Choosing the Buyer’s Process

The buying company determines what they need on their own. Then they develop their own idea of what a solution should look like. After they’ve done this work, they ask salespeople the salesperson to respond to a request for a proposal. The buying company evaluate the bids, often selecting the lowest bidder, and then they make a purchase.

This process eliminates the ability for a salesperson or sales organization to create value for that buyer. By doing so, the purchase is “arm’s-length” and transactional.

This is not a sales process. It’s not. It’s a buying process.

Choosing a Value Creating Sales Process

The sales process begins when a salesperson helps their dream client discover and determine their needs together. This is part of what a salesperson does to create value. The salesperson then helps their dream client develop an effective solution, creating even more value. In a larger, more complex sale, the salesperson works inside the organization to help build consensus around that solution. This creates a tremendous amount of value for the salesperson’s prospective client.

If the buyer does evaluate options, and many times when you follow a process like this is that they don’t, by creating value the salesperson has positioned themselves to win the opportunity. If it ever goes to purchasing or a pure economic buyer, the salesperson has the ability to combat a pure price discussion by leaning on the value that they created throughout the process.

This is a sales process.

The Difference Is the Difference

By mistakenly believing that a buying process—especially a transactional buying process—is a sales process, the sales organization and salespeople who subscribe to this belief end up competing on price in what is a pure transactional purchase. By believing that the buying process is a sales process the salesperson eliminates their ability to create value as well as any opportunity to capture value.

As it turns out, you cannot capture value unless you create value first.

The right answer is to push very hard to follow a sales process that allows you to create value instead of following the buyer process that eliminates the ability to create value.

Questions

How does a transactional buying process destroy value creation?

What is the difference between a buying process and a sales process?

How does following your process allow you to create value?

How does your process allow you to capture the value you need to deliver?

Chances are, if you’re doing great business and delivering an outstanding customer experience, your customers are spreading the word. Did you even know it? Take moment to check out social media, and you may find out that people are talking about you. Am I making you blush? Be proud – you’ve got brand and dealership ambassadors doing the work for you, and you didn’t even know it! This is known as social referral. That’s nice of them, isn’t it? But don’t rest on your laurels – banking on buyers to do this on their own, day after day, is wishful thinking.

20 years ago, you sold a car to Jane. Jane loved it. She went home, and told her family and neighbors how happy she was about the car buying process. She told her hairdresser and her kid’s soccer coach how helpful your staff was. They listened, and maybe they came by for a test drive. That was nice of Jane.

Today, Jane’s son Bob bought a car from you. He, too, had a fantastic experience. But instead of telling his friends in person, he went on Facebook and Twitter, and called your dealership out by name. He linked to your website, and your social media handles. He raved about the great deal he got.

Instead of telling 10 people in person, like Jane did, Bob broadcasted his experience to his entire social network – all of his college friends, his bowling league, his quizzo team, his gym buddies, his co-workers. Probably over 1,000 people saw what Bob had to say about YOU.

So what can you do to encourage other people to be more like Bob? What can you do to get more people on social media networks talking about your dealership, getting them into the showroom, and driving away in a new car?

1) Get them talking

Why SHOULD Bob mention you? Because you did something amazing and made him stand out. Make the car buying experience something he should brag about. Snap a photo of him before he drives off the lot in his new car. This gives him a reason to check out your page and share it. This connection is something their friends will see, and at this moment, his word is gold. His friends are likely to comment on the photo – weighing in, because maybe they want a new ride now too? Whatever they say, and whatever questions they ask, it’s on your photo so you’re there to respond and engage!

2) Give out an offer

It’s no secret – everyone loves getting stuff! You can’t expect a customer to rave about you for nothing. So Bob is going to ask, “What’s in it for me to tell my pals about you?” Ask him to leave a review on Facebook. Ask him to share a free car wash coupon with 5 of their friends through email. Something along those lines. In return, he’ll get a gift. Maybe it’s a free oil change. Maybe it’s a gift card or even cash. Be proactive, encouraging customers to spread the word and make it EASY for them to do it. Think to yourself- what’s an extra sale worth to you?

3) Be available

So you’ve got a few leads from Bob’s handy work on social media. “I want to redeem my free car wash…I got it from Bob, he Facebook messaged me about it.” AWESOME. Don’t disappoint! Be responsive, both socially and in person. It’ll leave a great first impression. Bob has already said great things about you – so keep the good vibes going and keep his network of friends happy too. If they leave with a good experience, they’ll share it with THEIR social network. It goes on and on.

4) Keep on listening

When you’ve got loads of people talking about you, you’ve got to monitor that conversation! When customers leave stellar reviews, say thanks! When they aren’t happy – let everyone on social see that you’re being 100% helpful towards resolving their issue. Shout out loud that you’re there and ready and willing to help. Showing that you’re attentive to their needs, and thankful for their feedback, speaks even more volumes.

In summary

You can sell and sell on social all you want – but if no REAL people have anything to say about their buying experience, you may as well be invisible. Social media, when being used as a referral tool, allows you to have an authentic message that reaches thousands of potential buyers. While it does require a significant amount of time, planning, and investment, it’s worth the effort to take a closer look at your customers’ preferences and overall presence. Dealerships that establish themselves as providers of helpful answers and creative content, as well as presenting themselves as leaders of their industry, will leave a lasting impression.

In a person’s quest for a new ride, they’re likely to choose the dealership that’s got all of angles covered, backed by happy customers, decent reviews, and a responsive team that’s there to clear up any doubts.

Be quick. Be smart. Be reciprocal. Be thankful. Be engaged. Be there to sell, and in return, they’ll be there to buy.

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At the Duck’s Nest preschool in Oakland, Calif., a fluffy blue robot asks a group of toddlers,”I want to be your friend. Will you please be my friend?”

Robotics experts are testing this low-cost and affable robot, called Romibo, at schools across the country. According to its creator, Audrey Shick, special-needs children can benefit most from social robots like Romibo – particularly those with autism.

Indeed, behavioral experts say that human facial features can overwhelm those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Researchers at Vanderbilt University found that autistic children are more comfortable looking at a robot than a human therapist.

“The robot is safe. The robot’s facial features don’t change,” Laura McGuire, the mother of Liam, an autistic child, told PBS NewsHour.

“There’s not so much to figure out with talking to a robot, where there was a lot to figure out in talking to a human being.”

Recent studies have shown that social robots provide therapy (or co-therapy, in combination with the efforts of a human expert) and potentially even help teach autistic children new skills.

And when used in a clinical setting, these talking robots may even help diagnose autism earlier. Most autistic children aren’t diagnosed with the disease until they are at least 3 years old. But studying eye movement in high-risk babies (those with an autistic family member) can lead to an earlier diagnosis. A sophisticated social robot with cameras for eyes could study such movement in an infant over periods of time to detect signs of autism.

In 2013, interest in social robotics grew when the University of Notre Dame published results from a study of 19 children with autism, which may be the largest trial to date for this technology. The researchers purchased a $14,000 talking robot, nicknamed Kelly, to coach autistic children to make eye contact or take turns talking. Kelly is a Nao “humanoid” robot, developed by French parent company Aldebaran in collaboration with eight universities and robotics companies in the U.K., France, Switzerland, Greece, and Denmark.

The results were promising: Social robots do seem to help autistic children.

Social robotics for the mass market

The challenge to mass-market adoption, however, is price. Most of these smart robots do not come cheap.

Since the 1990s, the field has attracted a great deal of attention from university professors armed with ample grant money. Funding for research has increased in the past decade, with autism labelled a public health “epidemic” in the press. A frequently cited 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 50 children between the ages of 6 and 17 have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. This represents a more than 70 percent jump in the diagnosis since 2007.

In recent years, the space has finally opened up to lower-budget researchers and hardware entrepreneurs, who are raising money for their early prototypes on crowdfunding sites. Social robotics is no longer an obscure area of research — it’s now a viable business opportunity.

“It’s a prime example of what becomes possible with the new hardware ecosystem,” said Matt Turck, the managing director at New York-based venture firm First Mark Capital. ”You can build a niche solution like this at low cost using a cheap, versatile computer like the Raspberry Pi, and through crowdfunding, you can get it funded by people who care passionately about the issue.”

While the Kelly robot used in the Notre Dame study cost thousands of dollars, Shick intends to sell Romibo for a few hundred dollars. Later this year, she’ll launch a campaign to raise funds on Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

“Finally, we’re developing low-cost robots and putting them into people’s hands,” she said. ”These robots are now affordable for researchers with less of a budget, [as well as for] schools and families.”

In Boulder, Colo., another team is building its own low-cost robot for children with special needs. The founders of Robauto are raising funds on Kickstarter for a new social robot they call One (the company has already raised $50,000 from the Healthbox startup accelerator and others). Developer kits cost just shy of $150, and the One robot is both customizable and portable. It runs off the Rasberry Pi micro-computer and is designed to gather data about autism.

The One Kickstarter campaign is trudging along slowly. It has raised a little more than $4,000 of a $50,000 goal with a week to go. The campaign may struggle to connect with potential buyers as the One isn’t particularly cuddly or human-like. It’s not nearly adorable as the Romibo, which resembles a 21st-century Furby.

Still, Robauto’s founders are convinced that One will find its market, if only because it’s one of the most affordable options.

“Cost was a big hindrance for social robotics,” said company spokesperson Jalali Hartman. “So we set out to bring the costs down to less than [the cost of] an iPad.”

Can these robots replace human therapists?

Romibo, One, and the slew of other new social robots are inexpensive, in part because they do not incorporate artificial intelligence.

Shick said it was an intentional choice to steer clear of A.I. She doesn’t subscribe to the school of thought that a robot should replace or fill in for a therapist or exhibit human-like sentiment. Rather, Romibo is designed to be an assistive device for a behavioral expert or teacher. Shick’s goal is to use technology to promote social behavior, not just to have the child solely engage with the device.

Other scientists believe that the most successful robots are smart enough to interact with a child. Kelly incorporates A.I. and is capable of developing and displaying emotion. Like other Nao robots, Kelly can also walk, talk, and dance. When the kids succeed, the robot can even give them in a celebratory high-five.

Questions remain about the type of robot that will have long-term success with an autistic child. It’s still too early to know whether special needs children will respond better to simpler robots like Romibo or a more sophisticated device like the 23-inch-tall Nao. It’s also not yet clear why some children respond to social robots and others do not and how well the learned skills translate to the real world.

“What we’re all hoping to do is present the theory and procedure for how to effectively use the robot in the field — no background or research expertise needed,” said Shick.

“We’re finally leveraging these robots for the mass market to really make a difference.”

Don’t miss the video below to see how preschool children engage with the Romibo. 

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AUSTIN, Texas — With all the craziness that the annual South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) event brings, local startup incubator Capital Factory decided to kick things off with a demo day featuring the newest companies admitted into its program.

This crop includes companies tackling agriculture, subscription services, loyalty programs, and more.

Cratejoy

Cratejoy is an interesting startup that lets you launch your own monthly subscription service, like The Fancy Box and similar businesses. Yes, that’s right, your dream of launching a “golf sock of the month” club can finally become a reality. Cratejoy’s software platform gives clients a way to manage an online store for subscriptions, tracks and automates shipping goods, and provides a set of analytics to assess how subscribers are interacting with the service. In an interview prior to the demo day, founder Amir Elaguizy told VentureBeat the company already has 12 clients that have collectively signed up over 27,000 subscribers. Each client pays a monthly fee for use of Cratejoy’s platform, plus $1 for every person that signs up. The startup currently has five full-time employees and is seeking funding.

Local Plant Source

Local Plant Source does exactly what its name implies — it runs a marketplace for all the available plants you can buy from local vendors. And it can get away with such a straightforward name because there isn’t anyone offering a service like this. The startup’s platform is useful for landscape companies and the like, which typically run into problems when one of the plants they’d originally planned to use is no longer available. Local Plant Source can show you other nearby vendors with the same plant and can suggest alternatives that are native to the region. The company does $20 million in revenue from plant sales annually and makes money by taking a five percent fee from transactions. Fletcher said the startup has plans to expand into the other large agricultural states, such as California and Pennsylvania.

Mahana

Mahana is awesome because it’s attempting to provide the next step up in loyalty programs for restaurants — one that doesn’t require a damn key chain fob. The startup uses Apple’s iBeacon devices to sense when people enter a venue and keeps a record of their ordering activity, frequency, and more, provided users opt in to the service. Restaurants can sync this up with their point of sales software and really grow the business by offering unique rewards to customers. From the consumer end, Mahana offers an app that allows you to see your activity, chose and redeem rewards, and use the iBeacon technology to check a restaurant’s wait time.

Weeva

Weeva wants to help your family keep a record of its best stories and has built a content platform that lets you easily write about memories, share photos, upload videos, and more. Each story can then be translated into a physical book, which I imagine many families will find appealing. I mean, who wouldn’t want a book about their life instead of a lame family lineage tree that is tucked away with important deeds, bills, and other valuable documents? Weeva stories that get turned into books can range in price from $30 to $200. The company is also working on a way to make the digital version of these stories into something that could be referenced and shared on their own, founder Hunter Sherman told VentureBeat. Weeva was founded in 2014, and the startup’s three founders are currently seeking a seed round of funding.

RailYard

For companies that need commercial-level telephony and Internet services, there’s not really a good way to compare what’s available. RailYard has created a platform to help such companies with scheduling, pricing, and more. Its clients specify what they’re looking for, then they receive 3 to 5 offers, making commercial-level services compete for the business. Founded in 2013, the startup has five employees and has raised about $500,000 in seed funding.

Spokefly

Aiming to add bicycles to the growing lists of ride-sharing options, Spokefly is a bike subscription service with all the convenience of hailing a cab, as VentureBeat reported yesterday. The company enables people who aren’t using their bikes to rent them out to others. Those who wish to rent a bike but don’t really want the responsibility of keeping up with it all day, can choose to sign up for a monthly subscription service ($15 for 5 rides or $30 for unlimited rides). So when you’re done riding, you just lock up the bike and check in with Spokefly’s iOS and Android apps. You can even reserve a bike ahead of time. Right now the service is only available in Austin, but it’s geared to work for big, dense cities.

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In the last few years, we’ve recognized that a startup is not a smaller version of a large company. We’re now learning that companies are not larger versions of startups.

There’s been lots written about how companies need to be more innovative, but very little on what stops them from doing so.

Companies looking to be innovative face a conundrum: Every policy and procedure that makes them efficient execution machines stifles innovation.

This first post will describe some of the structural problems companies have; follow-on posts will offer some solutions.

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Facing continuous disruption from globalization, China, the Internet, the diminished power of brands, changing workforce, etc., existing enterprises are establishing corporate innovation groups. These groups are adapting or adopting the practices of startups and accelerators: disruption and innovation rather than direct competition, customer development versus more product features, agility and speed versus lowest cost.

But paradoxically, in spite of all their seemingly endless resources, innovation inside of an existing company is much harder than inside a startup. For most companies it feels like innovation can only happen by exception and heroic efforts, not by design. The question is, why?

The enterprise: business model execution

We know that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. The corollary for an enterprise is:

A company is a permanent organization designed to execute a repeatable and scalable business model.

Once you understand that existing companies are designed to execute then you can see why they have a hard time with continuous and disruptive innovation.

Every large company, whether it can articulate it or not, is executing a proven business model(s). A business model guides an organization to create and deliver products/service and make money from it. It describes the product/service, who is it for, what channel sells/deliver it, how demand is created, how does the company make money, etc.

Somewhere in the dim past of the company, it, too, was a startup searching for a business model. But now, as the business model is repeatable and scalable, most employees take the business model as a given and instead focus on the execution of the model — what is it they are supposed to do every day when they come to work. They measure their success on metrics that reflect success in execution, and they reward execution.

It’s worth looking at the tools companies have to support successful execution and explain why these same execution policies and processes have become impediments and are antithetical to continuous innovation.

20^th century management tools for execution

In the 20^th century, business schools and consulting firms developed an amazing management stack to assist companies to execute. These tools brought clarity to corporate strategy and product line extension strategies, and they made product management a repeatable process.

For example, the Boston Consulting Group 2×2 growth-share matrix was an easy to understand strategy tool – a market selection matrix for companies looking for growth opportunities.

Strategy maps are a visualization tool to translate strategy into specific actions and objectives and to measure the progress of how the strategy gets implemented.

Product management tools like Stage-Gate emerged to systematically manage Waterfall product development. The product management process assumes that product/market fit is known, and the products can get spec’d and then implemented in a linear fashion.

Strategy becomes visible in a company when you draw the structure to execute the strategy. The most visible symbol of execution is the organization chart. It represents where employees fit in an execution hierarchy; showing command and control hierarchies – who’s responsible, what they are responsible for, and who they manage below them and report to above them.

All these tools – strategy, product management, and organizational structures — have an underlying assumption: that the business model (which features customers want, who the customer is, what channel sells/delivers the product or service, how demand is created, how does the company make money, etc.) is known, and that all the company needs is a systematic process for execution.

Driven by key performance indicators (KPI’s) and processes

Once the business model is known, the company organizes around that goal and measures efforts to reach the goal and seeks the most efficient ways to reach the goal. This systematic process of execution needs to be repeatable and scalable throughout a large organization by employees with a range of skills and competencies. Staff functions in finance, human resources, legal departments, and business units developed Key Performance Indicators, processes, procedures, and goals to measure, control, and execute.

Paradoxically, these very KPIs and processes, which make companies efficient, are the root cause of corporations’ inability to be agile, responsive innovators.

This is a big idea.

The goals for public companies are driven primarily by financial key performance indicators (KPI’s). They include: return on net assets (RONA), return on capital deployed, internal rate of return (IRR), net/gross margins, earnings per share, marginal cost/revenue, debt/equity, EBIDA, price earning ratio, operating income, net revenue per employee, working capital, debt to equity ratio, acid test, accounts receivable/payable turnover, asset utilization, loan loss reserves, minimum acceptable rate of return, etc.

(A consequence of using these corporate finance metrics like RONA and IRR is that it‘s a lot easier to get these numbers to look great by 1) outsourcing everything, 2) getting assets off the balance sheet and 3) only investing in things that pay off fast. These metrics stack the deck against a company that wants to invest in long-term innovation.)

These financial performance indicators then drive the operating functions (sales, manufacturing, etc.) or business units that have their own execution KPI’s (market share, quote to close ratio, sales per rep, customer acquisition/activation costs, average selling price, committed monthly recurring revenue, customer lifetime value, churn/retention, sales per square foot, inventory turns, etc.)

Historically, human resources was responsible for recruiting, retaining, and removing employees to execute known business functions with known job specifications. One of the least obvious but most important HR process (and ultimately the most contentious) issue in corporate innovation is the difference in incentives. The incentive system for a company focused on execution is driven by the goal of meeting and exceeding “the quarterly/yearly plan.”  Sales teams are commission-based; executive compensation is based on EPS, revenue, and margin; business units, on revenue and margin contribution, etc.

What does this mean?

Every time another execution process is added, corporate innovation dies a little more.

The conundrum is that every policy and procedure that makes a company and efficient execution machine stifles innovation.

Innovation is chaotic, messy, and uncertain. It needs radically different tools for measurement and control. It needs the tools and processes pioneered in Lean Startups.

While companies intellectually understand innovation, they don’t really know how to build innovation into their culture or how to measure its progress.

What to do?

It may be that the current attempts to build corporate innovation are starting at the wrong end of the problem. While it’s fashionable to build corporate incubators, there’s little evidence that they deliver more than “innovation theater.” This is because internal culture applies execution measures and performance indicators to the output of these incubators and allocates resources to them same way as to executing parts of company.

Corporations that want to build continuous innovation realize that innovation happens not by exception but as integral to all parts of the corporation.

To do so they will realize that a company needs innovation KPI’s, policies, processes, and incentives. (Our Investment Readiness Level is just one of those metrics.) These enable innovation to occur as an integral and parallel process to execution. By design, not by exception.

We’ll have more to say about this in future posts.

Lessons Learned

• Innovation inside of an existing company is much harder than at a startup.
• KPI’s and processes are the root cause of corporations’ inability to be agile and responsive innovators.
• Every time another execution process is added, corporate innovation dies a little more.
• Intellectually, companies understand innovation; they lack the tools to put it into practice.
• Companies need different policies,  procedures, and incentives designed for innovation.
• Currently, the data we use for execution models the past.
• Innovation metrics need to be predictive for the future.
• These tools and practices are coming…

Think back to your last demo, customer conversation, or client interaction. Do they remember what was said? Did they remember you? How do you know? Why did they remember?

Customers, prospects and buyers don’t remember what you said, they remember you and how you said it. Only then does the information take hold.

We are inundated with information. There is no escaping it. Information sticks when it’s different and it’s the sales person who makes it different.

How are you different? How do you get your information to stick?

To get your prospects or buyers to remember you and what you said, you have to be different. By different I don’t mean gimmicky or by acting like a clown. Save the gimmicks.

We remember because the sales person knew something about us no one else knew.

We remember because the sales person explained why “it” mattered.

We remember because the sales person explained why “it” didn’t matter.

We remember because the sales person knew where the industry was going.

We remember because the sales person helped us see things we hadn’t seen before.

We remember because the sales person kept us from making a mistake.

We remember because the entire engagement was different from everyone other engagement we normally see.

We remember because the sales person isn’t pushy and yet still challenges us.

We remember because we feel better about our challenge AFTER they had left.

Are you a different sales person? Most of sales people aren’t any different and that’s a problem. Most sales people haven’t developed their own, conscious approach to selling that differentiates them from the crowd.

Ask yourself, why do prospects, and buyers remember you. Ask if why they remember is because of something you do deliberately. If they answer is yes, do more of what you’re doing. If the answer is no, and for most of us it is no, then it’s not too late. Start doing things that will make you memorable — just don’t be a clown.

As marketing tools go, email is definitely not “sexy” anymore the way social media is now. That doesn’t mean that email marketing isn’t worthwhile though. Done right, it can still be a powerful tool for lead generation. Leads are the metric that marketers live and die on because leads mean money. Here are five tips for using email as a lead generating machine.

1. Data is your friend. If your list just has names and address, then it is sadly lacking and will not be very effective. Get as much data on your prospects and current customers as possible. You can use this data to segment your list and create highly targeted mailings. Things to keep in mind when do you segmenting are job title, company size, and industry, etc. The issues faced by the start-up are very different from those faced by a mid-sized company in the same industry and if your emails are targeted by industry and don’t take size into account, then you’ll miss out on leads. The more you can customize your emails, the more likely they’ll be read and acted upon.

2. Nail the landing. If your emails direct customers to your homepage, you’re probably wasting your time. If your homepage is like most people’s homepage, it’s not a great lead generator, and even if it is, the homepage is not specific enough a destination—you don’t want your customers to have to search on your website to find the event info they were promised in the email (they won’t search for it).

Just like you target and segment your emails, you’ll want to create customized landing pages for each of your campaigns. These landing pages should resemble the email in content and appearance as much as possible. That means, if you send out a mailing about an ebook, don’t put all four ebooks you have up on the landing page. Put the one you promised in the email up and only after your customers download it, should you put up links to the other ebooks you want to share. This keeps your landing pages simple and reduces customer confusion.

3. Give them a reason to read you. How many emails do you get each day that get deleted without ever being opened? If you’re like most people, you probably get quite a few emails that never get opened and I guarantee that your customers certainly don’t open all of their email. If you want them to open your mailings, you have to give them a good reason.

That reason starts with a compelling (and customized!) subject line. The subject line should be short (30 or so characters), create a sense of urgency, and also give readers some indication of what to expect when they open the email.

Once you get them to open your email, the battle is not done. If your email is too long, your recipients will likely skip your message. Keep your message short and get to the point quickly. To use a news term, your main message and call-to-action should be “above the fold.”

Bonus tip: since many email providers strip images out of emails, make sure that nothing essential is included in the graphics (or if there is essential info in the graphics, include it in the text part too).

4. Measure everything. Any good email marketing program will provide you with an abundance of data, measuring everything from who opened your email, clicks, and much more. Dive into this data and use it to refine your campaign. The best part of digital marketing is that you can easily make corrections mid-flight. And if you make a mistake, you can fix that.

5. Use the 5-second test. When your email is all ready to go, have a friend or colleague look at it for 5-seconds. Can they quickly tell what your call-to-action is? What your message is? If so, you’re good to hit “send.” If not, it’s back to the drawing board!

Social media gets most of the attention these days, but it’s not the only tool in the B2B marketer’s tool chest. Just like you wouldn’t stop using a screwdriver just because it was old, you shouldn’t stop using email.

The B2B market comprises of individuals. Not just individual people but individual companies. Each one has a unique set of problems that you can’t compare to the other (ideally at least). That’s why appointment setting campaigns strongly emphasize on planning ahead because salespeople still have much to prepare from the information they received.

Although, is planning ahead only good for B2B appointments? What about planning for an upcoming season or a possible new trend?

Watching the trends constantly can be tiring. It’s like reacting to every new change on Twitter’s list of trending hashtags. The worst part is that these can have a lifespan of as much as two hours.

But from that, you realize that it’s likely better to just forecast a large, major shift that will predict what will be on most prospects’ minds by the time you start reaching out.

You’re like a lost ship at night and your only hope of charting your course are the stars above. What are the signs that will help inform your predictions?

• Seasons – The first choice of trend watchers, seasonal marketing is almost as old as the seasons themselves. Even B2B appointment setters should make a mention of the season, whether they’ve just started the conversation or are just about to set the date.

• Market predictions – Roughly seven years ago, the internet was considered the beginnings of a new era. Today, you are now well in the middle of it with social media and mobile becoming the next steps. Major forecasts like this aren’t just for the big players you know. Similar predictions in your industry could indicate where to steer.

• Announcements – Be it products, events, or even changes in management, the very purpose of announcements is to inform those who need to prepare. In your case, it lets you prepare your pitches and scripts because you now know what it will take to time them perfectly.

• Current events – Don’t focus on just news in the business sector. Politics and pop culture have their own ways of predicting what can happen a few months from now. There might be a bit of speculation thrown in the mix but at least you have something to start with once the appointed time nears.

Think of it as the larger, market-sized version of setting an appointment. Like any appointment setting strategy, your goal is to foresee what a prospect will bring up during the sales meeting. Looking to what future trends might bring up can help your entire marketing effort reel in sales leads (and eventual sales).

Are you in the process of optimizing your landing page and wondering if you’re missing anything?

You know that it can sometimes be the smallest variables that make the biggest difference in landing page optimization.

So here are a few of those small optimization details that can make all the difference. I’ve pored over landing pages from all around the web (both B2B and B2C) to find the five ways that language impacts on conversions.

Check out these five ways you can use language to convert your landing page traffic.

1. Give people something instead of telling them what to do

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You need to communicate value immediately and constantly in your landing page. Value is expressed in your USP, your value proposition (of course) but also your list of benefits and even your CTA.

People respond unconsciously to tone in our daily lives. We meet somebody and for no reason we like them, or we don’t, based on the most minute physical and emotional cues.

We unconsciously react to someone whose arms are crossed on their chest versus at their sides. We tend to trust someone more who sits confidently, with an open attitude, good posture, and a slow speech-pattern.

Landing pages are no different.

In fact, the smallest change in your CTA (from demanding to offering value) can rocket your landing page’s conversion rates.

Here are a couple un-optimized examples from a dental clinic’s landing page:

Here are a few examples and recommendations:

• Instead of “Buy Now’, try “Check out our price page”
• Instead of “See how it works”, try “Get your Free Demo”
• Instead of “Order Now,” try “Get Access to Leads”
• Instead of “Book an Appointment”, try “Get the time-slot you want”

These small changes will affect the tone of your landing page. When coupled with a personable, smiling (non-model) image, a USP that denotes value to your audience, and easy-to-understand benefits, your landing page will be friendly and awesome – and your conversion rates will reflect that.

2. Positive Achievement vs Negative Avoidance

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“You getting all scienc-ey on us now, James?”

Well yes I am, random reader I just made up.

This subject is an ongoing, and controversial, discussion going on in the field of advertising psychology (actually a real masters degree that you can take from real universities). The question, basically, is this:

Do people respond more actively to avoidance of a negative result, or to bringing about a positive result?

This is something you need to test, because the improvement may depend entirely on your product, your audience, or even the individual words you use.

I would genuinely recommend you A/B split test two USPs (unique selling propositions): one that frames your service in terms of positive achievement, and another that frames it in terms of negative avoidance.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

• “Increase conversions by 50%” VS. “Save 50% of your marketing budget”
• “Protect your 401k with our proprietary security systems” VS. “Avoid scammers with our proprietary security systems”
• “Our 100% commission-based fee means we only win when you do” VS. “Save your hard-earned money with our 100% commission-based fee”
• “Stay warm with our trademark AcmeDown fleece jackets” VS. “Keep out the cold with our trademark AcmeDown fleece jackets”

Now, you might think that these small changes can’t actually meaningfully influence your landing page’s conversion rates. I’m here to tell you they absolutely can – and are more than worth testing even if you don’t believe me.

3. Make it skimmable

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I’ve said many times in other articles, as well as the complete guide to landing pages, that you should keep your landing page simple and to-the-point. Keep your image and USP front and center, and your variables separated and distinct.

How you write – how you express your sales points in your landing page – is as important as anything else on that page. People don’t actually read every word on your landing page: they’re looking for the single thing that sets you apart from your competitors. They’re looking for the thing that makes them say ‘Sold!’ and click through.

If they can’t find it (either because it’s not there or because you’ve hidden it in a long paragraph talking about your business’ origins), they’ll bounce. Never to return (unless you use re-targeting, but that’s a whole different article!)

Here are my recommendations for how to write easy-to-read, skimmable, copy:

• Use bullet-points: If possible, use small icons that get the idea across as bullets
• Use headers and a single sentence description: I recommend four or five “mini-USPs” that give value to your audience. Follow these USPs (bolded and independent) with a descriptive sentence that gets the meaning across easily
• Keep your landing page simple: Provided you have an excellent toolbar at the top of your page that links to relevant pages throughout your website, you don’t need to include a huge amount of information on your primary landing page. Keep it simple. Keep it short. Keep it clear.
• Use simple language: Unless you’re using jargon to create a personable and inclusive page (see below) I recommend you keep your landing page language simple and easy-to-understand.
• Gauge your target audience: Is there a level of understanding and vocabulary you can assume or will a certain lexicon exclude first-time-buyers? Test this for yourself!

4. Speak to your audience

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Your landing page needs to be focused not on how awesome your business is, but on how awesome you can make your clients. It’s about them.

Yes you need to sell yourself, but sell yourself in terms relevant to them. There are many tactics to do this (including my first strategy above, in which you tell site visitors what they get rather than what they should do).

But there are smaller, subtler techniques that communicate your business as customer-centric. There are things that your audience may not even consciously notice that nonetheless gives them a feeling of inclusiveness and friendliness.

Check out this example from Hootsuite’s Social Network Management Landing Page:

Notice how “you-centric” this short paragraph is:

• “Save your time and your sanity”.
• “[…]your social networks”.
• “[…]designed for you and your team”

Immediately the landing page visitor is thinking about how this tool can help them. It’s not really even about how amazing Hootsuite is – but how useful you will find it.

Here are a few examples and recommendations:

• Use “you” and “us” to create a personable and relatable landing page
• Use language and jargon that your audience knows to create the feeling of a club they’re privy to
• Use customer testimonials that tell a story about how your tool specifically helped with something your audience can relate to (for instance, “The AcmeSaaS tool was so helpful I now have more time to spend with my kids!”)
• Include a headshot of your customers when quoting their testimonial. This hugely impacts on their trustworthiness (and therefore yours)

5. Speak to Google

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As long as your landing page isn’t based on Javascript, Google will be “seeing” every word you write. The landing pages that are, basically, yelling louder at Google will be higher in the search results when a possible customer types their keywords.

Just as you prioritize SEO when creating content, prioritize SEO when writing your landing page copy.

Here are a few strategies to ensure you’re yelling louder than your competitors:

• Choose a few simple keywords that your landing page is focused around: It’s likely these will probably be closely tied to your benefit list
• Bold words and headers (h2 and h4, etc) are seen differently in Google’s algorithm than plain text: So be sure whatever you’re bolding is actually what you want your landing page to focus on
• Remember long-tail search: Google’s algorithm has (with the integration of the Hummingbird update six months ago) started to focus on and reward long-tail search terms like “how to I increase conversions on my landing page?” Consider what your audience is asking for in Google’s search bar when creating your landing page copy
• Ensure your landing page copy is original: Just because one of your competitors has a value proposition or USP that you think fits your company perfectly doesn’t mean you can use it. Google’s algorithm will punish plagiarism in their algorithm, and your landing page won’t be found as often as it might otherwise

SEO is a complex series of strategies and tactics that are developing on a monthly and weekly basis. Just because the strategies I’ve given above work now doesn’t mean they’ll work in a month’s time. Keep up to date with what Google likes to see and change your landing page accordingly.

Conclusion

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Hopefully you now have a better idea of how the small changes in language can have a positive (and negative!) effect on your landing page conversions. Ensure your landing page is personable by using personal pronouns, telling a story, including customer testimonials (with a headshot) and making the value of your business all about your customer.

Have you noticed any small language changes having an effect on your landing page conversion rates? Have you ever A/B tested your CTA button text? Let me know your story in the comments below!

By James Scherer

Email marketing is the oldest and least expensive form of digital marketing and yields the highest return on investment. Many times, marketers are often tempted to “spray and pray” – over-blasting their list hoping for optimal results. Definitely not the best idea. You can ensure successful e-mail marketing conversions and avoid costly unsubscribes from your list using the following best practices.

1. Use Value to Capture Emails

Before you even think about creating an email, you need to focus on how you’ll capture the email addresses of your target audience. The number one reason marketers fail to do this is by not effectively communicating the value proposition. Why in the world would I want XYZ company to ever email me again?

Value

Remember – anytime you ask for a person’s email address it’s like approaching a toll booth on a highway. There is legitimate cause for pause for that individual. Why should someone be expected to give you their email address? It’s like giving you a key to their “digital home” – their email inbox. In fact, the more information you request in your forms, the less likely someone is to convert. Keep the “cost” side of your forms down and the “benefit” side as high as possible. Communicate the value proposition of your forms with clarity and offer truly valuable content to prospects.

2. Design Using Data Not Committees

Email designs are highly subjective and emotional. As marketers, it’s easy to become attached to a design or concept we personally like and root for it, even if the design doesn’t actually resonate with our target audience. Move beyond your intuition, likes and dislikes, and seek a systematic approach to designing your emails, one that helps you discover what your customers actually respond to with their opens and clicks.What types of emails have worked in the past? And why do you think they worked?

3. Writing Email Subject Lines

By nature, email is a push medium and can sometimes be a source of hype and spam making it challenging to gain access to your buyers’ email inboxes. Overcoming this challenge requires a focus on your Subject and To and From lines to capture your subscribers’ attention. Companies that personalize the “To” and “From” address fields see an average lift of 16% in email open rate, while optimized subject lines can see an increase of anywhere from 5% – 30%.

4. Getting Email Clickthroughs

In order to ensure high email clickthrough rates, it’s important to align email copy with the thought process of buyers. Effective emails commonly consist of an attention-grabbing headline, followed by body copy (typically with imagery), followed by a call to action. Each section of the email guides the reader through a logical structure that keeps them engaged. Finally, the call to action asks the reader for just the right amount of commitment relative to the subject matter of the email.

For example, if the email is targeted to top of the funnel leads, don’t ask this audience if they want a demo or to purchase something. Ask them to subscribe to your blog or potentially download an introductory piece of content. You’ve just met. Don’t try to jump in the sack on the first date. Those types of relationships tend to end badly. Very badly.

5. Converting Email Clicks to Sales

It’s easy to assume that our work as marketers is done when an email is clicked. However, it’s important to think from a higher level about the value proposition you’re offering to your prospects. You should ensure that every element of the page in your offer reinforces the value proposition from the email. Every stage of the conversion process after the landing page should also guide the prospect through a consistent process.

Minimize Friction

By the time your prospect has reached the landing page, they’re tired. Every point after that click is simply additional friction that may prevent a more important conversion point. It’s important that your landing page answers the following three questions as quickly as possible:

1. Where am I?
2. What can I do here?
3. Why should I continue?

Minimize Anxiety

The degree of anxiety felt by your prospects is often disproportionate to their measure of risk. What may seem to you like a very minimal effort will be felt by your prospect as a major issue. You can minimize anxiety in the conversion process by being specific, staying relevant, and dialing up the intensity of your offer. If your prospect is making a purchasing decision, think about adding a satisfaction guarantee to address quality concerns. Add testimonials to address concerns about reliability or reputation. Third party security seals can address security concerns about transmitting personal or payment information.

If you approach the email marketing lifecycle through the buyer mindset and journey, you’ll see excellent conversions and increased ROI. If you’re going to “spray and pray” you’ll just be throwing money (and conversion rates) out the window.

Photo Credit: Kalense Kid via Compfight cc

If you have to beg…you’re probably not working on the right leads. 

Planning, executing, and closing the sales for your venture are arguably the most important tasks in starting a business. Too many new entrepreneurs (myself included) decide to go for the gold, and aim directly for customers, without putting in all the work it requires at the beginning.  Unless the customer search is strategic, you may find yourself begging for someone, anyone to buy your products and services.

Here are the biggest mistakes and #entrepreneurfail examples that new entrepreneurs make when working on marketing and sales:

1. Targeting anyone and everyone and not focusing on a niche: I recently mentored students creating business plans. One student was targeting all women ages 12-65. Would a pre-teen girl want the same product as her grandmother?  Probably not! The key is to imagine an ideal customer profile and then find him/her (instead of convincing everyone to become the ideal customer).
2. Focusing on leads that are not able and willing to pay: I would love to provide free services to everyone I could, but that wouldn’t result in a sales funnel. Qualifying leads for ability and willingness to pay is key.
3. Providing no compelling education in marketing or lead magnet: If you have no way of identifying “hot leads” how will you make any sales? Some examples include ebooks and videos.
4. Forgetting to reach out to people you know to see if they can refer qualified leads: I often forget about my own networks when we start searching for clients. Even if my contacts are not my ideal customer, they may know someone who fits the bill!

Was it tough knocking down that first lead? Tell us about your experiences it in the comments below.

This post originally published here: #entrepreneurfail: Startup Success.

While many small businesses have been excited to convert their marketing strategies to the inbound methodology, larger corporations and enterprises haven't been as quick to the draw.

But the good new is this: inbound marketing wasn't designed for a specific size or type of company; it was designed to respond to a new type of consumer.

This week in HubSpot content, we focused on everything from companies just getting started to well-established enterprise-level corporations, offering insight to help businesses of all shapes and sizes integrate inbound into their marketing campaigns.

Oracle Adopts an Inbound Approach With New Focus on Social Sales

Oracle has pulled out in front of the enterprise crowd as a vocal advocate for changing the ways CMOs, CIO, and industry leaders think about marketing. At HubSpot, we're thrilled to see a mainstream, enterprise-level adoption of the concepts that we’ve been preaching for the past eight years.

In this blog post, discover how Oracle is carrying out a strategic marketing shift toward inbound using social selling.

7 Reasons Most Enterprise Websites Fall Short

Just because enterprise businesses have large marketing budgets doesn't mean that they'll automatically be the most successful online. Although many enterprise companies pour tremendous chunks of money into their websites each year, a great deal of those websites are still missing the mark.

In this post, learn the reasons that most enterprise websites fall short of spectacular, and how you can optimize your website.

The Case for Enterprise Sales and Marketing Alignment [SlideShare]

Regardless of how large your company is, at some point, there's bound to be some friction between your sales and marketing teams. Sales relies on Marketing to attract quality leads, and marketers expect salespeople to follow up with the leads that they worked so hard to acquire.

This blog post will discuss why sales and marketing alignment is particularly important at enterprise businesses, and how you can prevent conflict between your sales and marketing teams.

Why Most Startups Get Branding Wrong (and How to Fix it)

If you have any experience launching a startup, you know how painful the entire process can be. Countless hours go into the venture, fueled by a roller coaster ride of emotions. Despite your hard-work, it often feels like your entire future hangs in the balance as you pour everything you have to give into launching the company.

Once startups "go live" and start generating revenue, the focus switches to building and optimizing your brand. In this article, you'll learn all about building a brand -- everything from the common pitfalls to the best practices for establishing and growing your brand's identity.

The Benefits of Using Content to Show Your Nonprofit's Impact

We spend a lot of time at HubSpot discussing how you can use content to fuel your marketing and sales. Recently, we've gotten a lot of questions from our followers about why organizations need to make their content strategy a priority. Here, we discuss four simple but significant benefits of using content to show your nonprofit's impact and to help increase awareness, support, and funding for your cause.

7 Inspiring TED Talks to Rejuvenate Your Nonprofit's Social Media Strategy

TED talks are supposed to fall into the realm of technology, entertainment, and design -- but really, they cover topics about almost anything you can imagine. In this blog, we've compiled a list of the top seven TED talks that we believe will benefit nonprofits looking to focus more on social media marketing and engagement. Enjoy!

Channel partners can grow your sales and spread the message about your products or services. But to have an effective channel partner program, you have to recruit the right channel partners to achieve your goals. This post explores channel development tasks from partner profiling to lead generation and qualification.

Create a Channel Partner Recruitment Process

1. Strategy and Partner ProfileA strong channel partner program starts with a strategy. You size up your company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the market opportunities and competitive threats. You use this information to set your goals. Then you can define your ideal channel partners based on your goals and your target market’s needs. Once you’ve identified the channels to pursue, you need to develop a channel partner profile.

Bear in mind that although we tend to think of long-term strategies, in today’s rapidly changing market, strategies will likely to need to be adjusted more frequently. And when you amend your strategy, profiles also change. Thus, even if you have an established channel partner program, you need to re-evaluate your partner-selection criteria every year.

That means applying changes in your channel partner profiles not only to new partners, but also to existing ones. This assures partners will have the potential to meet your goals, and a win-win relationship can continue to flourish.

• Answer the Question, “What’s in it for Me”?That win-win relationship starts with defining what your partners are going to get out of the program. Why are they going to want to divert their time to selling your products and solutions?

If potential partners already sell to your target customers, your products are a natural add-on sale to their current customers, and you’re offering an attractive margin, then you’re more likely to attract and retain partners, and reach your goals. Also, you can sweeten the deal by offering partners lead generation and qualification programs.

Once you’ve determined the benefits your program provides to your partners, create promotional materials or content you need to share with prospects.

• Find Channel PartnersYou now know what you want in a channel partner, but how do you find them?

  You need a list. There are only two ways to get lists of prospects: generate your own list from lead generation activities, or obtain an existing list of businesses.

  Leads your company has generated often contain the best prospects because potential partners have responded to your marketing message, or have been contacted by your sales team. An external list, however, that’s obtained from a reputable source can provide more contacts faster. It also gives you more control over selecting contacts that match up with your channel partner profiles. Finally, buying a list often ends up costing less than creating your own list.

  Where do you find a list? Good resources are media outlets, including industry newsletters and professional journals, as well as list brokers.

• Start DialingThe best way to reach out to potential prospects is to call them. That’s because you need to have a conversation, understand where they’re coming from, and see how a partnership with your company might fit their needs. This is a high-level conversation and cannot be scripted, but create some bullet points on areas you would like to cover.

  When you talk to potential partners it’s important to screen them before you recruit them. Find out how they are selling their current products, the types of relationships they have with clients, the support they provide, and anything else that’s critical based on your partner profiles.

  Screening and recruiting is a time-consuming activity. So it’s often best to complete the task by using agents who are experts in screening and recruiting by phone. If you don’t have the internal resources, outsource this to a business-to-business teleservices company that will act as an extension of your company.

• Nurture Your PartnershipsOnce you’ve screened and recruited new channel partners, it’s not over. Now it’s time to nurture the relationship and provide the support they need to drive sales.

It's difficult enough to get noticed in the job hunt. Employers get stacks of applications and they all look the same, so every chance to stand out counts. As Business Insider suggests, one way to do this is to briefly list qualifications in your subject line.

Read more...

College is more than job training. It's your chance to explore, make friends, and grow as a person. Unfortunately, college is also more expensive than it's ever been, so you have to balance your exploration with some hard-nosed practicality. Here are some things we wish we knew while we were still in college.

Read more...

Why Your Dream Client Trusts Their Problem More Than They Trust You is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

Your dream client knows that they have a problem (go here for a definition of dream client). They know that their problem is serious, that it is hurting their results, and that it is costing them money. But for some reason, they won’t change.

Why won’t they change? Because they trust their problem more than they trust you.

A Trusted Companion

They know their problem well. They lived with it for a long time. They may have learned to work around their problem. They’ve learned to talk about the problem in a way that makes it unsolvable, part of their identity. They trust their problem to always be there.

Their problem is safe. It’s the devil they know. That devil gives them a sense of security, a sense of certainty.

You: Rabble-Rouser

Your dream client hasn’t spent any real time with you. You talk about their problem in a way that makes them uncomfortable, and they don’t believe you know them well enough to be able to talk so authoritatively. You want to make change.

You are the devil they don’t know, and that means they could have even more problems. You give them a sense of uncertainty and insecurity.

Unless and until you have done the work to be known—and known as a value creator—you are unknown. Until your dream client trusts you more than they trust their problem, you aren’t going to help them make the changes they need.

Trust removes fear, doubt, and friction. It dislodges things that are stuck. If you want to help your dream client make change, work first on winning the battle for trust. And remember, the status quo is the toughest competitor in this fight—and it has many allies.

Questions

Do you have any dream clients who hang on to their problems, even though they know they could do better?

Why is it so tough to make change in any organization?

What can you do now to generate more trust?

What is the problem that you trust? Be honest.

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The glory days of the chat room are far behind us. These days, the term “chat room” is just a vulgar way of saying “group chat” — much like excusing oneself to use the poop room instead of a restroom. Yet, new social app Banter makes a compelling case for why chat rooms deserve a second chance.

The startup, which was cofounded by iChat creator Andrew Busey and former Zynga engineer Tony Chen, launched new iOS and Android apps that enable you to seek out conversations about a particular topic with strangers. The app also lets you follow other users you speak with often, and it lets you send private messages.

This is not a new concept by any means. However, the Banter team succeeds in ways that Facebook and Twitter fall short.

“I think we have to identify what we’re doing as chat rooms because that’s what people know and understand,” said Busey in an interview with VentureBeat. “That doesn’t mean they can’t be improved.”

Banter rooms differ from the old-school chat rooms of the ’90s in some pretty big ways. For starters, the service isn’t really interested in grouping chat rooms together by arbitrary categories. Instead, there’s more of an emphasis on matching people with good conversations. And messages aren’t restricted to a mix of text and stupid emoticons. Banter chats let you send photos, summaries for URLs, and the universal language of our generation, animated gifs.

Also, the service doesn’t log every single thing that’s said. Public chat records are only available for 24 hours, while private chats stay archived for six months. Banter also wants to allow its users to set basic requirements for those who wish to participate. For instance, you’ll be able to create a room that’s specific to people with the same geolocation data.

By comparison, Facebook logs virtually every action you make and generally isn’t good for randomly striking up conversations with people outside your social circle.

In an interview with VentureBeat, Busey mentioned how people use Twitter to live-tweet a current event, linking their thoughts — and the thoughts of everyone else commenting about it — by adding a hashtag. But trying to follow a conversation by reading through a stream of hashtags is difficult. And responding to someone else rarely grabs the attention of more than a handful of others.

“You just end up blasting back and forth, [occasionally] stopping to respond to someone,” Busey said, adding that this gets old after a while if all you want to do is find a good conversation.

That said, Banter does provide a consolidated feed of messages from all the chat rooms you’re currently participating in, should you feel the need to quickly scan where conversations are going. These are individual bits of a conversation like on Twitter, so if you read something interesting, you can always delve in.

Founded in 2013, the Austin, Texas-based startup has raised $800,000 in seed funding. For a closer look at the service, check out the demo video below.

This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Inbound Hub.

Call it what you will: brand journalism, corporate journalism, corporate media. More and more companies are creating “journalistic” content. Some are even hiring journalists and camera crews, building studios, and launching dedicated news sites to cover themselves and their industries.

Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, and Oracle all operate newsrooms. Maersk, the shipping company, has a news operation. So does Nissan, the Japanese automaker. LinkedIn has a managing editor. So does GE. Three big venture capital firms in Silicon Valley — Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Battery Ventures — have hired in-house journalists from the Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Forbes, respectively.

It’s not just big companies. Kapost, a small startup in Boulder, CO., hired Jesse Noyes, a former Boston Herald reporter, to run its content marketing operation. I’m another example. I’m the former technology editor at Newsweek, and now I’m a blogger at HubSpot.

If you’re the CEO or CMO of a mid-sized or large brand, you may have started thinking about building an in-house news operation of your own. To help you get there, we’ve created an ebook, The CMO’s Guide to Brand Journalism.

The book will help you structure a team and figure out what obstacles you should expect to encounter and how to get over them. We also explain the structure of a newsroom, and how to map that structure to a corporate environment.

Also provided is an explanation of four business models adopted by various companies. The four models are explained via case studies developed by interviewing journalists and executives at Microsoft, IBM, GE, Intel, Adobe, and other companies.

We also include a section explaining the unique challenges that a small company faces when trying to build a news or publishing operation. Finally, there are a set of “best practices” that apply in mainstream media and make sense for corporate news operations, as well.

Four Models

There are lots of ways to go about creating media inside a corporation. We’ll look at four models that are in use today. They are:

Brand Awareness

You’re publishing stories because you want people to know about your company. You’re not trying to generate sales directly from those articles. Examples: GE and IBM.

Industry News

You write about your own company and your industry, creating coverage that supplements the work of mainstream media. Examples: Intel and Microsoft.

Create and Sponsor

You want to establish your company as a thought leader, so you create an independent site. Example: Adobe’s CMO.com.

Lead Generation

You use content as a way to generate leads that can be converted into customers. Example: HubSpot.

Best Practices

There are some ways in which corporate journalism and traditional journalism should play by the same rules. Here are some best practices from the world of mainstream media that you can and should adopt in your corporate publishing operation:

Be transparent. Be honest about who you are and why you’re publishing this article. Sometimes you can’t avoid having a conflict of interest. That’s fine, but you should disclose it.

Don’t write ad copy. You can (and should) write about your company and your products. But there’s a way to do this that feels honest and legitimate.

Tell the truth. Ethics are the cornerstone of what you’re doing. Just like a newspaper reporter, you should be seeking to tell the truth at all times.

Have an opinion. People respond to content that comes with a point of view. Your point of view is what distinguishes you in the marketplace and defines you to customers.

Admit mistakes. If you goof up, admit it. Express your regret, and apologize. You will be amazed what happens next. Fessing up makes people trust you more. It shows people that you are human — and honest.

Get people to contribute to your blog. Seek out people I call “megaphones,” meaning they have a huge presence on social media. When they write for you, they will promote their article, and your brand will go along for the ride. If you can’t get them to write for you, the next best thing is to write about them.

Be promiscuous. Promiscuity is a virtue, at least in the world of publishing. LinkedIn, Huffington Post, Forbes, and others have huge audiences of business-savvy people. Try to write for them, or get them to syndicate articles that have already appeared on your blog. Do the same with industry publications from your market space, and the local paper. Your goal is to be in as many places as possible.

This is an excerpt from our new ebook, The CMO’s Guide to Brand Journalism. Download your free copy if you want to learn more about how to build a news organization, big or small, inside your company.

 

Sending an email newsletter requires juggling a lot of moving pieces. You've got to worry about proofreading the copy, creating compelling calls-to-action, designing the email to work for multiple inboxes and devices, avoiding any spam triggers, and brainstorming clickable subject lines, all while staying within the confines of email law.

(Oh, and if you mess any of it up, there's no "redo" or "update" button.)

So if you're wondering how to make sure you won't miss any steps, keep on reading. Inspired by an old post from HubSpot Academy Leader, Mark Kilens, we pulled together a completely updated and comprehensive checklist for anyone looking to send an email newsletter. If you're sending newsletters, bookmark it in your browser or print it out and hang it up on your cube -- you don't want to miss out on one of these crucial steps. 

1) Figure out your newsletter's goal.

Before you start drafting a single word, make sure you're fully aware of the newsletter's goal and how it fits into your larger content strategy. (Have one in place? Go ahead, skip to the next section.)

Is your newsletter supposed to help you generate leads? Get more email contacts? Send traffic to your website? Figure out your goal and let the rest of your decisions flow from it. 

This metric should be something besides opens and clicks, by the way -- it should be more closely tied with your overall marketing and business goals. Opens and clicks can give you an indication of the newsletter's performance, but they shouldn't be the only numbers you care about.

2) Gather your content.

Once you have a goal for your newsletter, you'll have to find content for it. Depending on how early you set your newsletter's goal and how often you plan on sending a newsletter, you could be able to actively or passively find content. Active means you're going on the hunt for content that'll solve a specific goal. Passive means that you'll randomly stumble on it when browsing for other content, but realize it could fit in nicely. 

When I used to put together newsletters, I tended to do a lot of active searching ... but I could have saved myself a lot of time if I were passive. Since I knew a newsletter needed to be sent each month, bookmarking links throughout the month would've been a great timesaver. Instead, I usually spent several hours clicking the "Back" button on my blog, hunting for content. 

However you like to gather content is up to you, but great places to look for content are your company's blog, social media accounts, lead gen content, internal newsletters, and training documents.

3) Design your template.

Make sure you've got an idea of how your newsletter will look before writing copy. That way you'll know exactly how much space you have to promote a piece of content -- there's few things more frustrating than trying to squeeze copy into too tight a space. 

Your template doesn't have to be flashy or anything -- even newsletters with minimal text and color formatting will look great. The design just needs to make it easy for your recipients to read, scan, and click elements of the email. This means it should be mobile-friendly, too -- according to data from Litmus, 51% of all opens occurred on mobile devices in 2013. 

If you want to get some inspiration for great email newsletter design, check out this post. I'd also recommend looking into pre-made templates if you're not familiar with designing emails  -- it can save you a lot of heartache down the road. If you're a HubSpot customer, you'll have a bunch of pre-made templates in the email tool. 

4) Add in body content.

Next up: filling in the template with words and pictures. This will be the meat of your email newsletter, so spend time perfecting it. Most people keep the copy short and sweet to encourage clickthroughs, though some notable newsletter take the opposite approach. This post can help you with email newsletter copy if you need it. Be sure to add in some images if they can help support your copy.

Don't forget to edit your email thoroughly -- maybe even send it on to one of your teammates for a once-over. Remember, once you send the thing, you can't fix those embarrassing typos like you can with web content.

5) Add in personalization tokens and smart content.

The best email newsletters I get feel like they've been written personally for me -- like a friend actually took the time to put together a newsletter with things only I would like. I open them, I click on them, I share them ... pretty much every time.

If you want your newsletters to feel that personal, you should do three things:

1. Segment your emails and choose content that group of people will love.
2. Add in personalization tokens. If your marketing software supports personalization, this is a really easy thing to implement that could have big results for your conversion rates. That being said, only add in a few personalization tokens -- you don't want to creep out your email recipients. ;)
3. Also add in smart content. This is content that shows one thing to one part of your audience and one thing to another. An example would be a Smart CTA -- your leads would see a CTA for talking to your sales reps and your customers would see one about getting tickets to a customer-only event. Neither audience would want to see the other audience's CTA, so smart content will show only the right CTA to the right person.

6) Choose your subject line and sender name.

Your audience may like different things, but we've found that having a sender name from a real person increased opens and clickthroughs. Try running an A/B test to see if it works for you, too. Whatever you choose, make sure it's something recognizable so recipients aren't confused as to why they're receiving your email.

Subject lines are a little trickier. Lots of things can help you put together a click-worthy subject line, including brevity and an immediately actionable value proposition. That being said, some really great marketing emails have been sent with the subject "Hey." Use the subject line best practices as a jumping-off point, then run your own A/B tests to see what your audience loves. 

7) Tidy up loose strings.

At this point, you'll have the email pretty much ready to go. While going through the steps above, I'm guessing you forgot two absolutely crucial things (I know I forget them almost every time I make an email): the alt text and plain text. 

Alt text is the text that appears when a picture isn't loaded. Since not all email providers load images properly, you have to make sure the alt text is there so your recipients know what they're looking at. If you're including a CTA that's an image, your conversion rates will definitely suffer without alt text. 

Some email clients also won't display HTML properly, which is why you need to make sure your emails look great in plain text. Make sure the links are easy to click and that it's clear what the email is about without the photos. 

8) Make sure you're legally compliant.

Before you hit "Send," be sure that your emails are all good from a legal perspective. The biggest law you need to worry about? CAN-SPAM -- it requires that you have a footer in your email with your address and an easy way to unsubscribe from emails, among other things.

Check out this post to get the down-low on CAN-SPAM -- you don't want to get dinged for sending out something unintentionally illegal.

9) Test different browsers and email providers.

Email providers don't all read email code the same way -- what looks fine on Gmail in Chrome will look terrible in Outlook, for example. So you need to test out emails in the most popular browsers and email providers.

If you have HubSpot, you can test emails for different providers in the tool. If you don't, check out Litmus, or create a bunch of fake email accounts and test everything manually.

10) Send.

The moment of truth! Click "Send" and then wait for the data to roll in.

11) Analyze and iterate.

Fast-forward a few days: The data's in. What do you do next?

Check to see how your email newsletter performed on the goals you set back in step one. See which parts of your email got the most clicks, and which parts of the newsletter contributed most to your goal. If you have closed-loop analytics, measuring this all will be pretty easy.

Once you have that data, you have a direction to go in for your next email newsletter send. Whether your next send is in a day, a week, a month, or a quarter, you'll have insights to make the next newsletter even better.

What other tips do you have for creating successful email newsletters? Share yours with us in the comments. 

For many businesses and organizations, the advice surrounding social media is often loud and clear – “you need to engage or die”. The thinking behind this type of advice is that companies not already on social media are living on borrowed time and are already falling behind their competitors.

The problem with this advice is that it approaches organizations from a one-size-fits-all mindset.

It implies that, no matter what your goals are and how finite your resources may be, you need to be on social media now and interacting, engaging, responding, etc. While that’s true to a certain degree, it’s not necessarily the right approach for you.

In fact, the smartest approach for any organization today is to take a three-pronged approach to their social media involvement and make strategic decisions based on that.

Step One: The Research Stage

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, and how niche or mainstream your product or service is, you’re putting up your own barriers if you don’t implement a strong research program first.

Despite what everyone may be telling you, you don’t need to be on social media – your clients or customers determine that for you.

One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to social media is the “we need be everywhere” mindset that’s encouraged by consultants and social media gurus that should know better.

Being on social media is like any other business decision you make – you research and validate, and then strategize on what the implementation will look like. Some ways to research your own presence there include:

• Ask your email list. If you have a strong email database of your clients or customers, ask them if they’re online and how they use social media. Base your own strategies around their responses.
• Learn from Point-of-Contact. Following on from your email list, you can learn from your existing contacts if they’re on social media. A Social CRM platform like Nimble, for example, will look at the email addresses of your database and find their social profiles elsewhere. This gives you an instant idea on whether social media would be a worthwhile investment for you.

Step Two: The Intelligence Through Listening Stage

If there’s one area of social media that is sorely underutilized by the majority of businesses and organizations, it’s gathering intelligence through social listening.

While it’s true social media allows for a fantastic forum for interaction and customer-to-brand dialogue, it’s the part before that – listening – that offers the biggest opportunity, especially when listening with goal-driven intelligence.

- For organizations, intelligent listening is perfect for sales, lead generation, competitor contract renewals, new hire opportunities and more. Social CRM platforms like the afore-mentioned Nimble can be integrated into your existing CRM or pipeline funnel, along with social listening tools like Hootsuite, Salesforce and Pulse Analytics to offer a holistic view of opportunities for different arms of your organization.

- The culture of the organization can be improved, as you identify first-hand not only what your customers or leads are saying about you, but also your company overall, as well as your competitors. From an HR angle, for example, intelligent listening can highlight public perception of how you treat your employees, and you can address that internally to attract the top talent externally.

- Brand reputation can be repaired before it even takes a hit. One of the biggest fears many organizations have when it comes to social media is that of brand reputation and how to cope when a crisis erupts. Using tools like TrendSpottr and Lymbix, you can identify those conversations – positive or neutral, as well as the actual emotion around them – that have the potential to become viral and an issue for your brand. You can then use this data to identify the external friendly voices that could partner with your organization to defuse a situation before it even becomes one.

Step Three: The Influence Stage

With the data and insights the combined Research and Intelligent Listening stages provide, the final piece of the intelligence-driven approach to social media can be initiated – utilizing the strengths of influence, in all its multi-faceted opportunities.

For many businesses, influence can offer the traction and trust that would take a brand new to social media months and years to grow.

However, for many brands, influence is seen as a promotional tool, that can help drive brand awareness, product launches, etc.

The intelligent social business sees the bigger picture, and where influence can come into play:

• Competitive analysis. How does your marketing or ad campaign(s) impact your competitor? How does a product review from an influential media source or blogger impact their shares? How do news stories impact your competitors, and how can you use influencers to benefit your business?
• Customer retention. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, or what size your organization is – without customers, you won’t survive. Influencer outreach can be used to identify who your customers are and who influences their decisions at any given moment in the purchase life cycle. From a retention angle, influencers can be crucial at smoothing the after-purchase emotional cycle – “did I make the right decision”, “this isn’t living up to its promise”, “should I have compared more”, etc. Meeting and answering the customer’s after-sales needs is just as important, if not more so, than providing them with pre-sales answers.
• Crisis communications. One of the most underused areas of influence today is that of brand reputation and managing a crisis. When your brand comes under attack on social media, often the first line of defense is PR-driven output. Yet this often comes across as company spin. Instead, working with influencers that are respected in their field, which also happens to be your industry, is a far stronger solution. Allow access to the issue, be transparent about the cause, and share what you’re doing to correct and improve, and use their audience to drive that improvement. It’s crisis comms taken to a whole new, and much more authentic, level.

Influence can also be used from a consumer level to impact B2B organizations and their purchase decisions. In the Influence Marketing book, we share the story of MV-1 Canada and how we used influencer outreach to impact the RFP process of a provincial government and their allocation of contracts around mobility vehicles.

By targeting the very people that mobility issues impacted – the “sufferer”, their caregivers, their doctors, their families, their physiotherapists, etc. – we were able to measurably impact provincial finance decisions based on popular as well as care-led emotions and logical decisions.

The Path Forward

As you can see, there are many ways to be active on social media, without being “truly active”. Your own implementation will be defined by your goals, resources and – ultimately – buy-in.

By placing the customer at the heart of all you’re doing, you’re building a massively important and effective persona-led database that will drive all your campaigns, that will help you move from the short-term mindset that campaigns are known for, and building a longer-term advocacy model that benefits everyone.

However, even if you’re fully active or not, one thing cannot be ignored – social media and all that comes with it, including influence, is truly one of the most important toolsets in any organization’s strategic armory today.

Implementing a solid listening campaign, and knowing what to do with the intelligence gathered, will set you apart immediately from your competitors who are still in the consideration phase.

What you do next is up to you – but the fact you’re doing something is what will set you apart and improve your organization internally as well as externally. That alone makes the next step an easy one to make.

image: Kristina Alexanderson