It feels like theory precedes practice, but the opposite is true. Theory follows practice.

It’s not uncommon for people to believe that a new theory is generated, and then that new theory is put into practice, and new and better results are generated. This is exactly backwards. The practice comes first, and then the theory is generated to provide that practice with a concept, a structure, and a set of rules.

Look at something like The Challenger Sale. The idea that salespeople create value by challenging their dream clients with an insight that allows the client to break through their present thinking and discover a reason to change was a not a theory that was converted into a practice. Instead, it was what some salespeople were doing to succeed in creating and winning new opportunities. Only later was the idea codified so that is could be shared with other salespeople. (Watch this YouTube video on why I believe The Challenger Sale is one of the most important books on sales in the last two decades).

While the theorists often get attention and the accolades, it’s the practitioners who are doing the real work of discovery. It’s the practitioner who grabs the machete and hacks a path through the jungle. The practitioner is the one sitting in front of customers making observations about what works, what doesn’t work, and making the adjustments that allow them to create and win new opportunities. It’s the practitioner who wins or loses, succeeds or fails.

The person that provides the map of the terrain and the person that hacked the path are not often the same person. A practitioner would share with you what they know and believe about their map, and the theorist would explain why the map is correct. Another practitioner would show you a different way, and another theorist would happily explain to you how it is the right map. The theorist may have never seen the actual terrain.

Theory is necessary, but not sufficient when it comes to producing better results. It provides a map, a useful tool for understanding the terrain. But if you want someone to guide you through the jungle, you might also be served by a practitioner, someone who as actually seen the terrain for themselves, and someone whose experience allows them to intuit what the right choices are when you run into trouble.

The post The Theorist and the Practitioner appeared first on The Sales Blog.

Costco sells chicken coops. For $380, I can buy a duplex chicken coop at Costco that would set me back $394 on Amazon.

The best part is Costco’s annual membership fee is lower than the price of Amazon Prime. But what if that fee went up, as Costco hinted at in a recent call with analysts? The answer relies on Costco’s clever operational strategy, through which the fees support its lower prices.

And Costco counts lots of fees — about 34 million individual members pay $55 a year, and 10.6 million business members pay $110. If it raises its fee by a mere $5 per membership (some project business memberships could go up $10), then Costco has at least $225 million to gain from the increase.

Those fees go straight to the bottom line, which sounds lucrative. But the real story behind Costco’s success is its operating model and commitment to understanding how behavioral economics, or simple psychology, influence its members to buy more.

This works especially well for Costco because its annual fees, which generated $2.65 billion in fiscal 2016, are directed toward reducing price. And Costco is fanatical about how it approaches this distinguishing element. As Richard Galanti, Costco’s chief financial officer, explained to analysts: “We’re going to invest in loyalty and growth while it’s raining on everybody as it relates to higher levels of deflation.”

The extent of shoppers’ gains therefore depends on a separate basic equation: how much they shop at Costco.

Benefits of Fee-dom

Here are some data points that further illustrate why memberships are so important to Costco:

• Costco posted a fiscal 2016 net income of $2.35 billion, slightly below its membership fee total.

• Yet the fee has not been a barrier to entry. Costco operates 103.2 million square feet of retail floor space. That compares with nearly 240 million square feet at Target (further emphasizing Costco’s store scarcity). Yet Costco’s annual sales exceeded those of Target. In Target’s most recent fiscal year (ended Jan. 30, 2016), it posted $73.8 billion, compared with Costco’s $116 billion. Sam’s Club, meanwhile, posted annual revenue of $57 billion on a total square footage of 87.6 million (also as of Jan. 31, 2016).

Applying simple math and breaking that down to sales per square foot (acknowledging that online sales are not factored in), it shakes out to: $308 at Target, $650 at Sam’s Club and $1,124 at Costco.

• Costco’s commitment to low prices apparently draws shoppers back. Costco’s gross margin is less than 11.4% of total sales. That compares with 25.3% at Walmart, 34.4% at Amazon (fiscal 2015) and 29.5% at Target. This means it is keeping prices as low as possible even when doing so compromises near-term performance.

As Costco states in its annual report: “(We) seek to maintain what we believe is a perception among our members of our ‘pricing authority’ — consistently providing the most competitive values.” This means reducing prices to meet those of its competitors as well as “holding prices steady despite cost increases instead of passing the increases on to our members, all negatively impacting near-term gross margin as a percentage of net sales.”

A Specific Kind of Shopper

Costco’s willingness to take a hit on gross margin is evidence of its commitment to its model, which is designed to appeal to a specific kind of shopper. However, if it increases fees in 2017, Costco will need to be transparent about its intention to keep prices low.

Following are three counterintuitive ways Costco has done this so far, with success:

The Amex switch: In 2015, Costco took the risky move of ending its exclusive relationship with American Express and signed a deal with Visa, making Citigroup its only credit card provider. This may have alienated a number of members, but Costco wagered the move would attract many more. “Limiting payment options and directing all perks through a single partner is yet another way of delivering lower prices and more benefits to customers,” wrote Denise Lee Yohn in her book, “Extraordinary Experiences: What Great Retail and Restaurant Brands Do.”

The selection ceiling: Regardless of the variety of items one can purchase at Costco, from safari tours to caskets, individual product choices do not run deep. In fact, it reportedly only carries about 4,000 unique items at a time. It may offer just four toothpaste brands, while Walmart carries dozens of sizes and brands. The logic behind this limitation is simple: Studies have shown when given too much choice, consumers tend to purchase less.

The line on signs: Among the items Costco eschews in an effort to reduce costs (and therefore prices) are aisle signs that tell shoppers where products are. The upshot is shoppers tend to spend more time wandering its stores, perhaps taking in and following the delicious smells of freshly baked goods. The more time consumers spend ambling around the store, the more likely they are to spend.

That spending may be on an unexpected coffin or a chicken coop. The magic is that by paying a fee to access these items, the shopper leaves feeling a bit privileged. As long as the price is right, that’s a formula for success.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com, you can view the original story here.

The US prices its prescription drugs with a notoriously opaque system.

Although pharmaceutical companies set nominal list prices for drugs, there isn't a whole lot of guidance into other factors like what discounts are applied and what cut the many players in the supply chain take that affect the actual amount of money paid by consumers.

As a result of those opaquely applied discounts, list prices can grow at a startlingly different rate than actual pharmaceutical spending.

To shed some light on how those discounts play out, Express Scripts, one of the three major pharmacy benefits managers in the US, said in a report Monday that for its clients, spending on prescription drugs was up 3.8% in 2016, far lower than growth in average list prices, which were up about 11%. 

That's below the 5.2% spending increase in 2015, the company reported, suggesting that even as list prices climb upward, spending growth is slowing. As a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM), Express Scripts is responsible for negotiating rebates based on the list prices of medications, with the intent of passing those rebates on to patients.

Increasing drug prices have hit people with high-deductible health plans especially hard, since they are often on the hook for paying what can be as much as the list price of the prescription. President Donald Trump has criticized drug prices, calling the growth in spending "astronomical."

While Express Scripts' report adds some color to how much Americans are paying for prescription drugs, there's still a lot we don't know about the rebates drug companies provide for specific drugs. Those rebates are kept secret for competitive reasons, though some companies are starting to share average values for them.

SEE ALSO: A short seller tweeted that Trump could crush a healthcare company, and now the stock's tanking

DON'T MISS: Here's what everyone in the drug industry is talking about right now

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This behavior could kill your chances in a Goldman Sachs interview

Distribution may appear to the untrained eye to be a straightforward industry, but in reality, it is evolving more rapidly than ever before. From increased competition and changing business models to a barrage of new, innovative technologies, the way distributors do business is starkly and fundamentally different than it was even five years ago. In an age of such pronounced structural change and competitive pressures, risking not changing is risking ultimately failing.

Here are the five most important trends for wholesale distributors in 2017.

1. Your Target Market is Online, You Should Be Too

The modern consumer across all parts of the supply chain turns to the internet as the ultimate source of knowledge for purchase decisions – thus, a strong online presence is crucial for continued business success, whether in the world of B2B or B2C commerce. Ecommerce continues to be a key topic and distributors need to be ahead of it if they want to remain relevant and fresh in the face of major industry changes.

2. Competition is Everywhere and They Are Leaner, Meaner and More Tech-Savvy Than Ever

In today’s distribution landscape, it is getting harder to differentiate. With the ever-growing number of competitors, how do distributors position themselves as unique and stay a step ahead? What trends are affecting our industry? Assessing and reassessing these questions on a regular basis is absolutely essential for continued success in the constantly evolving world of distribution.

3. Business Models Are Rapidly Changing

Distributors are exploring new ways of going to market. Between the internet’s pervasiveness among modern consumers and the constant flood of technological advances in the business world, companies have to fundamentally change the way they operate in order to hold up against their competitors.

4. Investing in Tech Is Not Just for the Amazons of the World

To remain competitive, distributors need to continue upgrading their work environments and stay updated on the cutting edge of technology. Gone are the days of paper pushing and manual processes – tablets, scanners, and cloud systems are changing the game and making the modern distributor warehouse sleeker, cleaner, and more efficient.

5. Employee Productivity is Critical for Success

Tech upgrades – although very important – are useless without the employees to act on the efficiencies they bring. Employee productivity for the modern distributor is key to long term success; much of that productivity can be facilitated with new technologies. Warehouse automation, CRM, ecommerce, pricing and analytics are just some of the updates modern distributors implement to streamline their processes while increasing employee productivity to improve the output of their operations.

Although our list of five things may not seem like much, they are completely altering the face of the distribution industry. Even just a year down the line, distributors may look completely different. With that in mind, it begs the question – if change is imminent, what are you waiting for?

For more on how NetSuite can help wholesale distributors, download the data sheet.

Email is one of the most effective ways to turn your passive 'likes' and followers into loyal customers. If you've already built up a fanbase for your business on your social channels, it's time to take the relationship to the next level by inviting them to join your email list. In last week's #EmailChat, we chatted with Brian Peters, Marketing and Social Media Manager at Buffer, to learn how marketers can leverage their social media channels to grow their email list bigger, better and faster! Needless to say, there were a ton of insights and tips that resulted from our chat – all of which I've outlined below.

Here's why email is different than social media

One of the best things about social media is that it lets you reach new fans and audiences in a very public way. People can search for your topic or area of expertise and stumble upon your page at random or through a friend or family member referral. But social media can get crowded. If you're not investing in paid advertising, there's a good chance your posts won't get seen (let alone by the right people). The good news? Engaging your audience is – all you have to do is add email to the mix! The even better news? Your subscribers are likely to be more engaged because they opted in to hear from you. You can set the timing and frequency of when you want to deliver content to your prospects. There's no algorithm to work around. With email, it's super easy to track who your content is reaching and how it performed. (And if you're using a trusted email service provider, there's no question about whether or not your content is actually getting delivered.) https://twitter.com/AWeber/status/827201980720308225 https://twitter.com/Brian_G_Peters/status/827202276519317506 https://twitter.com/indigoevstudio/status/827202757249609728 https://twitter.com/oliviadello/status/827202853320216576

How social + email can work together

Despite their differences, email and social media work better together. Social media is a great way to reach new audiences and communities of people. Email is how to keep them engaged and nurture the relationship. It's a win-win! Leverage both of their strengths to really amp up your marketing strategy as a whole. You might also like: Quick Tips Video: Growing Subscribers via Social Media https://twitter.com/AWeber/status/827203467458535424 https://twitter.com/Brian_G_Peters/status/827203923215659008 https://twitter.com/sanmallya/status/827204166951038976 https://twitter.com/Tejazz89/status/827204291643453440

Tricks to grow your email list with social

So how do you get your followers to sign up for your email list? The answer is surprisingly easy! You can share lead generating resources or content upgrades, like a webinar, PDF guide or ebook, as an incentive in exchange for their email address. Another simple way to boost your list growth is to host a contest or giveaway with a valuable, relevant prize. Just remember to state that entrants will be added to your email list (or give them the option to opt-out). https://twitter.com/AWeber/status/827205383223648256 https://twitter.com/Brian_G_Peters/status/827205623926358016 https://twitter.com/Brian_G_Peters/status/827205843171016704 https://twitter.com/oliviadello/status/827205980610035712 https://twitter.com/indigoevstudio/status/827206753859289088

The platform that's most effective for list building...

...is a tricky one. There isn't exactly a best or worst platform for growing your email list – it's really dependent on where your audience is. Brian suggests Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as good places to start because they are the most "landing page" friendly. And while we definitely agree, don't overlook channels like Pinterest and Instagram. Both are really good places for finding new audiences through search. If you're willing to invest a little, Facebook ads are a great place to promote your list. You set the targeting and budget for your ads. You can also create lookalike audiences based on the profiles of your current email subscribers. https://twitter.com/AWeber/status/827207725138505729 https://twitter.com/oliviadello/status/827207832042930176 https://twitter.com/missmontesa/status/827208098314121216 https://twitter.com/Brian_G_Peters/status/827208562422247425 Check out more tips to growing your list with social media in our free guide.

These tools can help with growing your list

There's a secret that separates great marketers from good ones: the 80/20 rule. Sadly, producing great content isn't enough. You need to reach the right people at the right time to get the results you want. And that's why great marketers spend around 20 percent of their time creating content and 80 percent promoting it. Luckily, there are a few tools out there to automate the process, so you can spend more time doing what you love! Try out a social scheduling tool like Buffer, MeetEdgar or Sprout Social to automate your social media feeds. And don't underestimate the power of the built-in tools. Facebook's Subscribe tab, for example, is a surprisingly effective way to keep your email list top of mind. https://twitter.com/AWeber/status/827209340536885248 https://twitter.com/oliviadello/status/827209514852216832 https://twitter.com/missmontesa/status/827209811540447232 https://twitter.com/Brian_G_Peters/status/827210120962703360

Make your content share itself

Another secret that great marketers know? The power of social optimization! Marketers who have mastered social media know how to find opportunities to increase the likelihood of people sharing their content, whether it's adding sharing links with a tool like AddThis or embedding click to tweets within their blog posts. You can also try syndicating your content on LinkedIn or Medium to maximize its reach. https://twitter.com/AWeber/status/827210916047511553 https://twitter.com/Brian_G_Peters/status/827211276753444864 https://twitter.com/oliviadello/status/827211281929269249 https://twitter.com/missmontesa/status/827211128036024320

Remember these social and email best practices

Whether you're posting to your social feeds or sending an email to your list, it all goes back to the value you're providing. How is your content helping your audience to solve a problem? Testing is also key if you want to continually improve. Keep track of your analytics and try to repeat those successes. https://twitter.com/AWeber/status/827212192772665344 https://twitter.com/oliviadello/status/827212322154352640 https://twitter.com/Brian_G_Peters/status/827212714690883584 https://twitter.com/missmontesa/status/827212875542458368

Save the date

Join us on Thursday, March 2nd at 12pm ET for the next #EmailChat. We'll be talking email automation - you won't want to miss it! https://twitter.com/AWeber/status/827213895320363009 How are you using social media to grow your email list? Let us know in the comments!

The post 7 Expert Tricks to Grow Your Email List with Social Media appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

When a new idea or mission is debuted to a sales team, it can inspire a number of reactions. Perhaps it was something the reps had been clamoring for, making them eager to jump onboard. Or perhaps it represents a significant change in the structure of the company and, as a result, it inspires fear over excitement. Design thinking is coming up again and again as a possible way to get people to come around, and experts believe it can work for customers as well as employees.

Solutions and threats

Companies often get criticized for being unable to change with the times, which is frustrating considering it’s sometimes the employees who dig their heels in rather than leadership.

When anyone is faced with change, they need to make sense of it, and how can they make sense of it if it’s brand new? Without getting too philosophical, plenty of amazing ideas have been ruined by a resistance to something new. Design thinking is essentially the answer to get people to commit to your idea despite having little to no evidence. Design thinking is a way to figure out what people really want, rather than what they say they want.

It can truly help ease the transition from one way of doing things to another.

The underlying principle

For a time, design thinking may have been associated with playing video games at work in an attempt to get the creative juices flowing, but that’s really just one component (and one we don’t necessarily recommend for that same strategy in sales).

Design thinking puts focus on how people are feeling in an emotional context, which is one of the best prediction factors of whether or not they will commit to a new idea. It requires a fundamental shift in thinking, meaning that both employees and employers will need to start looking at the people and the products within the organization with fresh eyes.

As companies rush around trying to get everything done, the emotions of what people are feeling get either lost or brushed aside. The best businesses don’t treat the feelings of people like afterthoughts and, consequently, their employees don’t treat management’s ideas as afterthoughts either.

Applying user engagement

When a person buys your product or service, they’re purchasing a feeling as much as a solution.

Perhaps you’re providing people with business supplies that are more durable than your competitor’s, meaning your client will feel like they’ve made the right long-term investment. Maybe you’re selling a piece of software that saves companies a lot of time, meaning you’re selling both a feeling of convenience and efficiency to the user. When it comes to your employees accepting your idea, you essentially need to sell them in the same way.

Your mission needs to be put in terms they can easily understand and relate to. Meaning, if you want to expand your territories and hire new sales reps, you don’t want your reps to feel as though their job and their time will be threatened by dealing with the new trainees. You’re asking them to feel confident that the company is expanding, which will mean more money, comfort, and security for them. These feelings of hope can be what build long-term loyalty to the company.

Creating momentum

The more time you and your employees devote to design thinking, the more everyone will see the benefits. Before you start though, you need to be as certain as possible you’re willing to stand strong with your plans even in the face of extreme indifference or opposition. You will need to have concrete ways to cope with employees who may try to interfere with changes.

Once you know you are ready to jump in, you will want to come up with solutions rather than define problems. People skilled in this form of thought will often create physical models, such as sketches or digital representations, that illustrate and prototype the idea. This serves to reinforce and augment statements about growth or change in the future that may come across as idealistic to sales reps, and attach some type of realism to goals instead. For instance, you may want to show sales projections to the reps, or put labels on the attitudes you’re hoping to inspire from customers.

Reassure and build confidence

A big part of design thinking emphasizes the value of empathy over statistics, and the success stories are rooted in the ability of a manager to build confidence with their team.

This is another crucial way to create momentum and show the team that they’re expected to be a sustaining part of the new plans. Just one negative employee may do more harm than you think, so you’ll want to show employees again and again that your mission is really going to help the company go from good to great. It will also mean giving extensive praise to those who are able to adapt to the new order of how things work.

Design thinking is not necessarily easy to get salespeople to understand, but it does appear to be worth the effort of applying when it comes to rolling out new plans.

Imagine you were telling a friend about your vacation. Would you spend the most time describing the sights you visited? The music you listened to? The emotions you experienced?

The answer hinges on your individual word catalog. According to Steve W. Martin, author of “Heavy Hitter Selling: How Successful Salespeople Use Language and Intuition to Persuade Customers to Buy,” we interpret the world through three “filters”: Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

People usually favor one specific filter over the others, which influences the language they use. People with visual word catalogs primarily use sight-related words and examples, like “I see what you mean,” and “Looks good to me.”

Those with auditory word catalogs rely on sound-based language. They might say, “I hear you,” or “Sounds great.”

Finally, people with kinesthetic word catalogs speak in terms of touch and feelings. They use expressions such as, “Let’s touch base later,” “I can handle that,” and “I don’t grasp what you mean.”

Why do word catalogs matter in sales? Identifying your prospect’s primary word catalog allows you to put your message in the right terms. Not only will your words resonate more with the buyer, they’ll subconsciously feel like you’re on the same page.

Choosing a Word Catalog Strategy

There are two different approaches to using word catalogs. If you tend to work a limited number of high-value deals, it’s probably worth the time and energy to identify each contact’s primary word catalog. Once you know their catalog, you can use the appropriate language with each.

However, if your deals are smaller or more transactional, you likely don’t have enough bandwidth to figure out the word catalog of every buyer you talk to. Instead, hone in on the most common word catalogs for your buyer personas. Perhaps one of your personas, a sales VP, tends to use a visual word catalog. Another persona, the CEO of a small company, tends to use a kinesthetic word catalog. With this insight, you can choose a word catalog based on your prospect’s matching persona.

Identifying Word Catalogs by Keyword

To identify the word catalog for an individual person or buyer persona, Martin suggests paying attention to the adjectives and verbs they use. He calls these “keywords.”

Each word catalog includes thousands of keywords. Use the following examples to get a sense of which words belong to each catalog.

Visual keywords:

• Clarify
• Clear
• Display
• Focus
• Highlight
• Illuminate
• Illustrate
• Imagine
• Outlook
• Perspective
• Show
• Survey

Auditory keywords:

• Articulate
• Ask
• Digress
• Discuss
• Note
• Paraphrase
• Quiet
• Recap
• Rephrase
• Say
• Talk
• Tell

Kinesthetic keywords:

• Catch
• Clinch
• Draw
• Feel
• Friction
• Hard
• Impact
• Move
• Nip
• Smooth
• Throw
• Walk

Identifying a Prospect’s Word Catalog

To determine a specific contact’s word catalog, print their LinkedIn profile, two or three blog posts, most recent tweets, and any other online content you can find.

Then highlight each type of keyword in a different color (i.e., blue for visual, green for auditory, yellow for kinesthetic). The most frequently occurring color indicates your prospect’s word catalog.

You can also complete this exercise with emails they’ve sent you.

As a bonus, it gives you a list of terms to use with that specific prospect. Incorporating a few of their terms into your messaging has the same effect as physical mirroring: It makes you seem more trustworthy.

To quickly hone in on someone’s word catalog, offer to send them a relevant resource and ask which form they’d prefer.

For instance, you might say, “We have some great resources on migrating data to the cloud. I can send you a graphic, a podcast episode, or a blog post. Which would you like?”

Visual thinkers will usually opt for the graphic, auditory thinkers will choose the podcast, and kinesthetic thinkers will select the blog post. Although this isn’t a definitive indication of the prospect’s word catalog, it’s a helpful shortcut.

Identifying a Buyer Persona’s Word Catalog

If you’re gauging your prospect’s word catalogs by persona, do a similar exercise with multiple emails from multiple prospects.

• Print 10 emails from each buyer persona.
• Create a three-column list for each persona. Mark the columns “V,” “A,” and “K,” for Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic, respectively.
• Read through the emails. Put a tally mark in the appropriate column whenever you find a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic keyword.

The results indicate which word catalog is dominant by persona.

Want to make this process much faster? Ask the other salespeople on your team to do it with you. If you and nine teammates each analyze 20 emails from two separate buyer personas, you’ll have results from 10,000 emails per persona -- in a fraction of the time.

Using Word Catalogs

Once you’ve identified a prospect’s word catalog, adapt your language accordingly. For instance, if you’re emailing a prospect with a visual word catalog, you might write, “Let’s get a fresh perspective … ” But if you were sending a message to a prospect with an auditory word catalog, you’d write, “We might benefit from a fresh voice … ”

You can also use a buyer’s word catalog to choose the most appropriate medium for sales presentations. Suppose you’re giving a demo to a prospect with a kinesthetic word catalog. To drive home your product’s value, you give her samples to hold and touch. If you’re selling an intangible product, like software, you might give her your laptop so she can explore the interface.

Sending your prospect a helpful piece of content? Send infographics, image-heavy blog posts, and videos to prospects with visual word catalogs and podcasts and videos to prospects with auditory ones. You can send any type of content to prospects with kinesthetic word catalogs, but consider incorporating a handwritten letter or physical product brochure so they have something to hold in their hands.

When working with multiple prospects, it’s hard to keep track of each individual’s primary word catalog. Help your memory out by adding “word catalog” as a field in your CRM. Every time you add a new contact, simply fill out this field.

Salespeople occasionally feel like they’re speaking a different language than buyers. Use word catalogs to your advantage, and you’ll never again wonder if your prospects are paying attention.

Article by Ernan Roman Featured on CMO.com

• “When I receive generic emails, it is obvious that you do not care enough to understand my individual needs. Instead, you are trying distill my complex needs into simple generalities to make your email blast easier for you ... and useless to me!”
• “You marketers don’t seem to understand that personalized engagement post-sale is valuable for the customer and ... it forges strong ties with your company that serve as a ‘grace account’ upon which to draw when there is the almost-certain problem or outreach from competition.”

• Traditional segmentation based on modeled “generic” personas does not differentiate individual consumer interests, lifestyles, and connection with the brand/product. Rather, it limits the ability to demonstrate why a consumer should purchase from it versus competitors.
• Human data, based on explicit, self-profiled, opt-in preference information, drives deeper levels of understanding and is therefore the key to developing more significant relationships.
• Poorly executed personalization is viewed as irritating by consumers and not only wastes of marketer’s time and resources, it damages brands.

Without a Positive Attitude…Why Bother?

By Richard F. Libin, President, APB, rlibin@apb.cc, www.apb.cc

Have you ever worked with a colleague or been helped by a salesperson who didn't bring a positive attitude or put forth the effort and performance you expected? The approach salespeople take define who they are and impact their ability to deliver 100% more than any other factor in sales. While everyone has their own style, attitude is one facet of a salesperson’s approach that should be non-negotiable. The formula never changes:

100% Attitude + 100% Effort + 100% Performance = 100% Results.

Attitude

Every day salespeople make a decision on how they plan to approach their work, their customers, their colleagues and every other factor of their day. Either they wake up and start moaning about going to work and the awful day ahead, or they embrace the day positively and with enthusiasm.  The attitude they choose becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The first step in keeping buyers and converting them to customers and eventually to long-term clientele is maintaining a positive attitude.  When salespeople focus on the negative – lower sales, higher overhead, problems with the economy, or even a “bad morning,” their attitudes and negatively impact performance.   

Consequently, customers never have the opportunity to engage with salespeople, they don’t enjoy their experience and they become shoppers who buy elsewhere. Sales decline and managers start to question the quality and skills of their salespeople. Salespeople complain management is not attracting true buyers only lookers. The truth? It all started with a negative attitude by one or more salespeople.

Negative attitudes are apparent to customers in salespeople’s body language and words.  For example, salespeople may be so focused on the sale that they push closing the deal at the expense of finding the right product for each customer.  Words like “No, Don’t, Won’t, or Can’t,” which are by products of negative attitudes, slip into salespeople’s vocabulary and only push customers away.

Performance

First, set goals.  Know what the objective is and what has to be done every day to achieve it.  Is it calling three clients?  Setting two appointments?  Writing five thank you notes?  Attending a networking event?  What has to be accomplished consistently every day, 100% of the time?  Performance is defined by Webster’s as “the execution of an action.”  Once goals are set, it is the responsibility of each individual to perform them fully, 100%.  If you commit to making three calls, make them.  Period.  If you don’t you only hurt yourself, your performance and ultimately your attitude.

Effort

Webster’s defines effort as “a conscious exertion of power; hard work; a serious attempt.”  Once goals are set, every salesperson must give 100% effort toward achieving them.  Turn off Facebook or Twitter, skip the personal calls, and focus on achieving the goals.  With 100% effort, achieving 100% performance is simple.

Results

Everything salespeople do impact their results.  Bringing a 100% positive Attitude, adding 100% Performance and 100% Effort will bring 100% Results.  If you’re having a “bad” day, stop and honestly check these three factors – attitude, performance and effort.   Then, make adjustments and go after the results.

Richard F. Libin has written two acclaimed books that help people of all walks of life improve their sales skills, because as he says, “everyone is a selling something. His most recent book, “Who Knew?” (www.who-knew.com), was published in January 2017, and his first book, “Who Stopped the Sale?” (www.whostoppedthesale.com),  is now in its second edition. As president of APB-Automotive Profit Builders, Inc., a firm with more than 48 years experience working with both sales and service professionals, he helps his clientele, through personnel development and technology, to build customer satisfaction and maximize gross profits in their businesses. Mr. Libin can be reached at rlibin@apb.cc or 508-626-9200 or www.apb.cc.

 

Like the world of SaaS, the restaurant business is not for the faint of heart. And, like building a successful software business, running a successful eatery of any kind requires passion, vision, commitment, strong culture, smart systems, and attention to detail.

Ellie Mirman has been VP of Marketing at Toast for the past two years. This growing, Boston-based SaaS startup provides culinary business owners with an all-in-one restaurant management system that includes a robust point-of-sale (POS) system along with features that measure critical restaurant metrics in real time, giving business managers instant, remote access to the actionable insights they need to run their operations more efficiently and cost-effectively.

“Our wide-ranging customer base is all over the country,” says Mirman, “and includes every kind of business from small cafes and food trucks all the way up to chain restaurants with hundreds of locations and fine dining establishments.” In addition to its exclusive focus on restaurant tech and dedication to that audience, Toast has grown its business by successfully selling to reluctant buyers – people who don’t have much experience buying technology products and / or simply aren’t immediately willing to invest the time and money needed for a technology upgrade. The Toast team uses a number of smart tactics to win these less-than-enthusiastic buyers over.

Know the Buyer

“We engage many different types of buyers,” says Mirman. “Besides the variations in business type, size, and geographic locations, we also have to consider whether they are in a major metro versus a more rural area, how long they’ve been in business, and their comfort level with technology.” In other words, there are a lot of variables in play, some more easily categorized and others more nuanced. A successful sales conversation requires clear insight into the barriers to purchase.

“Ease of use is a big piece of the conversation, for example,” Mirman explains. “Restaurant operators can sometimes be technical people, but oftentimes it’s not their core focus. They don’t want to have to spend time on that side of things, so – if they’re comfortable with something they’ve used in the past – getting them to try something new can be a hard challenge to overcome.” Understanding this buyer mindset is particularly important in the restaurant industry where the legacy solutions in the market run on very different models. “We’re cloud and SaaS based,” says Mirman. “That’s very new to many of these people, so the idea of relying on the Internet and paying monthly for software as opposed to making a hardware purchase has required a really interesting mental shift.” Toast’s sales and marketing teams approach this challenge by being very intentional about educating their audience on the benefits of the SaaS model.

Understanding big issues like discomfort with technology or over-reliance on legacy solutions is important, but it’s also important to understand the day-to-day barriers to a sale. “On top of having to get themselves up to speed on new technology, restaurant owners also have a huge staff to train,” says Mirman. “And there’s also substantial turnover in the restaurant industry, meaning that they are constantly having to train new hires.” To help mitigate these concerns, Toast puts an emphasis on creating an intuitive product that’s easy for staff to learn and use, and they also provide a comprehensive archive of management and staff training materials on the website.

“We definitely try to lean into how our customers operate so we can best provide exactly what they need,” says Mirman.

Create a Consistent & Delightful Customer Experience

“Customer service matters so much,” says Mirman. “It seems obvious, but I think that, because they are in a service industry, our customers value that piece more than most. Service is such an integral part of how they succeed.”

“It’s also something they don’t get from a lot of other companies,” Mirman adds. “Usually, they get really poor service, so if we can surprise and delight them by actually providing great service, our efforts go that much farther.”

Mirman goes on to point out that providing a delightful customer experience must be the norm, not the exception. “In a business like ours, you have many different people in the organization who interface with customers,” she says. “We work hard to ensure that the customer experience we create is consistent and positive. It’s really about getting everyone in the company – especially those who are customer facing – to be aligned in how we work with our customer base,” says Mirman. “After all, you’re certainly not going to be on every single call or be able to anticipate everything a customer might say.”

Establish Credibility & Rely on Referrals

Often, the most persuasive voices a reluctant buyer listens to come from outside the seller’s company. While the restaurant industry might be highly competitive (in some cities, it might even be called “cutthroat”), it’s also a strong community of entrepreneurs and established business owners who share a common set of challenges. For this reason, referral programs and customer stories are incredibly effective for Toast.

“The restaurant industry is a great network where everybody knows everybody and they rely on each other a lot,” says Mirman. “Referrals and references play a huge role in our success, especially when you consider the fact that our buyers aren’t necessarily techies, and ours is a technical product.”

More than the typical consumer tendency to check ratings and reviews, restaurant owners are more likely to go straight to the source. “What do you do if you’re buying something, but don’t have all day to spend evaluating it? You ask your friend who runs a restaurant up the street,” Mirman explains. “You ask which POS system your friend is using, and how they like it.”

Toast makes the most of this network effect with a strong referral program. “We have a referral program that’s actually open to everyone,” Mirman says. “You don’t have to be a restaurant owner or even a customer. Literally anyone can refer a restaurant to Toast.”

While plenty of Toast’s referrals do come from owners and customers, they also come from area influencers and restaurant staff. “For instance,” Mirman says, “a bartender at one restaurant probably also bartends at another restaurant, and maybe they use Toast for one of the restaurants but not the other. The bartender can refer Toast and get paid for that referral.”

In addition to direct networking and referrals, Toast also puts customer stories to work on their website, which features testimonial videos on the homepage and a dedicated customer stories page.

“We love telling customer stories and put as much of that as possible on our website,” Mirman says. “We really try to let customers talk to each other, because they rely on that a lot.”

Build Personal Relationships

“One of the things that plays a really big role in any restaurateur’s decision about choosing a partner is the personal relationship,” says Mirman. “Because of this, we have a lot of people out in the field. Our customers love meeting face to face – they want to see and feel the product.” The Toast team strives to deliver a personalized experience that complements the hands-on approach many restaurant owners tend to take. Sometimes, local reps bring examples of the Toast product to a potential customer, and sometimes they will bring the prospect into another restaurant that’s already running on Toast.

And, when they can’t be there on the ground, Toast does their best to recreate a personal conversation via video. “Since we can’t always be there in person, one of the things we’ve tried to do is use video well to show the product,” says Mirman.

“Videos on our website help buyers see the product in action, get insight into different workflows, and gain familiarity with the hardware. This helps us bridge the gap when we want to be face to face, but it’s not possible.”

Demonstrate Your Product’s Real-world Value

Finally, one of the most effective ways to convince the reluctant buyer is to demonstrate your product’s value in terms the buyer can understand. “In most cases, the biggest thing you can do is tie your product back to a dollar value,” Mirman says. Quantifying a monetary value can be difficult when you’re talking about a product that is designed to save time and increase efficiency, but it’s not impossible.

“One good example scenario we use is the difference between having all orders and other data for a restaurant tracked automatically (and being able to have real-time access to all that data) versus having to track all of that information manually,” explains Mirman. “In addition to losing money because of an inefficient process, there are also very tangible costs associated with manual, pen-and-paper-based bookkeeping, including paying the bookkeeper.”

Another way that the Toast team demonstrates value is by comparing the 24/7 technical support that’s included as part of the SaaS model to the expense of having to hire an IT person to support a piece of technology that was bought outright without any service package.

A more subtle, but broader category of Toast’s value proposition is its ability to improve the operational efficiency in little ways across all of a restaurant’s buying, staffing, and general management tasks. “There’s a serious lack of visibility into a business when you do things manually,” Mirman explains. “When you’re small enough, you can probably manage things, but as you get bigger and make more sales, there are lots of opportunities to increase efficiency around food and labor costs.”

Toast’s automated, real-time data helps managers reduce waste. “Whether it’s overstaffing that leaves people standing around with nothing to do or not enough staff, making it impossible to serve all the customers, there are many fragile pieces of running an efficient restaurant,” says Mirman. “From staffing balance to making sure you have enough food to sell (but not so much that it spoils) we can show how Toast helps cut down on wasteful spending.”

Toast combines demonstrable value with a sense of urgency to further help reluctant buyers take action. “A lot of times, we’re working with customers who don’t have a particular deadline in mind,” says Mirman. “In addition to the general lack of urgency, someone who is going from non-SaaS to SaaS will have a monthly component to the pricing; so there’s no real incentive to start today versus next month.” The Toast team uses the ROI story to help a prospect understand the costs they could be saving if they signed up this month instead of next. And if that’s not enough, occasional promotions help encourage prospects to move now instead of later.

Knowing your customer, creating an outstanding customer experience, establishing credibility and strong relationships, and demonstrating value – these are Toast’s five strategies for converting reluctant buyers into happy customers. And this multi-pronged approach has helped drive impressive growth for the Google-backed company. In fact, the Boston Business Journal reported earlier this year that Toast is scouting for a larger, Boston location to house its growing team. Clearly, they’re doing something right.

The post Selling SaaS to the Reluctant Buyer: A Toast Case Study appeared first on OpenView Labs.

You’ve spent weeks, even months, creating stellar content for your next campaign. You’ve worked tirelessly with your team members in Content Strategy, Marketing Ops, Product Marketing, and numerous other divisions to ensure your messaging and execution are top notch. You design and roll out your campaign and wait for the results to come in.

Sure you may be using a variety of different amplification channels to get the word out about your latest content offering. Social media, paid advertising, blogs…the list goes on and on. But you may be missing one important channel: your sales team.

If this is the case, you’re not alone. In fact, very few companies are extending content and resources to sales reps so they have more relevant conversations. According to HubSpot’s The State of Inbound 2016 report, 70% organizations focused primarily on closing deals, while only 16% prioritized sales enablement. Of course, content plays an important role in that sales enablement mix, which can also include tools and platforms.

You can leverage your sales team to amplify the reach of your brand and content. After all, each of your reps has a unique network of peers and connections across LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, and contacts that they engage with directly on the phone and via email. While it’s great that they share your core white papers, E-books and case studies, there are four key best practices you should follow if you want to turn your sales reps into content marketing champions:

1. Create content cheat sheets: Face it, your sales team isn’t always going to have time to thoroughly read your latest offering, especially if it’s an in-depth research report, E-book or white paper. Quick-hitting content “cheat sheets” can get them up to speed without making them spend precious time away from their work. Include some foundational information, such as the target audience for the asset, the high-level topic or trend discussed, and how the content is positioned. (For example, is it a high-level, trend-focused asset, or is it more focused on your brand, and its solutions and services?) Then, provide a bulleted list of relevant statistics, tips and best practices from the piece so they can easily refer to them as they’re crafting social posts and emails, or when they’re having one-on-one conversations with prospects.
2. Share pre-canned social posts and images: If you want to get your sales team to show support for your latest asset, you should make it as easy as possible for them to spread the word. Up to 79% of sales reps use social media to sell, so creating a list of pre-canned social posts and even approved images will give your reps the ammunition they need to be successful. Create a short link for your content so they don’t go over character counts, and have your social team craft a variety of posts and images. It’s best if you include a variety of different approaches. For example, have a few posts that focus on relevant statistics and have others tease the topics, best practices or case studies that will be discussed. All your sales reps need to do is copy and paste, so they will very likely spread the word.
3. Aggregate content into tailored toolkits: Your business may sell a variety of solutions that serve businesses of different sizes and industries. That means the content your sales team should share and refer to will vary based on their area of focus and their overall expertise. Combine content into easy-to-navigate toolkits so sales reps know which assets are most relevant for their target buyers. Content can be organized based on buying stage, solution focus, company size and industry, among other factors. Ask your sales team what categorization would be most beneficial for them and create customized toolkits based on these parameters.
4. Embrace interactive content: There are a lot of interactive content formats that are extremely effective for sales presentations and one-on-one discussions with prospects and clients. For example, a sales rep can use an ROI calculator to prove the value of an investment. A product selection tool can walk prospects through a series of questions so they’re guided towards the right solution. Finally, an interactive assessment can rate buyers based on their current tactics and offer them recommendations and ways to improve. The best part about these interactive tools is that they help spark conversation.

Of course, the world of sales enablement is constantly changing, and the emergence of new content tools and formats will off your brand a plethora of new opportunities to extend your assets to and through your sales teams. Has your organization embraced these or any other sales enablement best practices? Share your story in the comments section below.

Getting a brand-new business off the ground is tough. Startups are working on limited budgets, face competition from established businesses in the same industry, and have no Yelp reviews or word-of-mouth to lean on. Websites take time to “seed” in Google search results, social media is so flooded with ads that many users don’t pay attention to them anymore, and paid search engine marketing can quickly turn into a money pit.

Postcard mailers can be a boon for a new business that is struggling to get started. Following are four reasons why new businesses should consider using postcard mailers to jumpstart their marketing and get customers in the door quickly.

1. Postcard Mailers Will Get Your Business in Front of Lots of Buyers Immediately

In a digital world, your company website is important, but if you’re depending on your SEO to get the word out about your brick-and-mortar business, you could be waiting a long time. On average, it can take three to six months for a website to rank in Google, and in an industry with stiff competition, it could take as long as a year! A postcard mailer campaign, conversely, can be designed and delivered within a week or two. No matter how hard you work on your SEO, postcard mailers will get your business in front of far more buyers far more quickly.

2. Postcard Mailers Will Get Your Business in Front of the Right Buyers

One of the downsides of internet marketing for local, brick-and-mortar businesses is that the internet has a worldwide audience. A great SEO campaign may (eventually) get your site lots of hits, but a dentist’s office or a lawn care service in Phoenix does not benefit from website visits or social media “likes” from people in Los Angeles or London. They don’t even benefit from being seen by people located 50 miles away. With postcard mailers, local businesses have the advantage of being able to keep things local – really local. Your postcard mailers will be delivered only to buyers located in ZIP codes that your business actually serves. Additionally, you can hone your list further to target customers by criteria such as home ownership status, marital status, age, even whether a household includes children or pets.

3. Postcard Mailers Prompt Quick Responses

Unlike websites, which tend to be static, postcard mailer campaigns are dynamic and time-sensitive. A good campaign will include a tangible offer, such as a coupon or an offer for a free gift, with an expiration date. This prompts a sense of urgency among your readers to respond within a certain period of time, allowing you to get those critical first sales faster.

4. Postcard Mailers Are Cost-Effective

New businesses are usually cash-strapped, having spent a lot of money just getting to the point where they can hang their shingles. Because postcard mailer campaigns are highly targeted and take relatively little time to put together, they are one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing. Instead of waiting for weeks or months, local businesses see immediate results. Additionally, a postcard mailer campaign can be integrated with your business’ other marketing channels, such as your website and social media pages, which helps establish your brand and saves you money.

It can be particularly difficult for new local businesses to cut through the noise and stand out from the crowd, especially on the internet. Postcard mailers provide an inexpensive yet effective way for startups to get their phones ringing and customers coming through the door.

Constant change has always characterized the business world. Looking in the rear view mirror has never been a recommended strategy for determining future direction. However, from time to time the nature of the change takes on a different look. The scale and speed of the changes during these periods can truly be labeled disruptive. In the early 19th century the Industrial Revolution changed everything.

Let’s fast forward to the present and ask the question – are we now in such a period? If you are a VP of Sales, a sales manager or a salesperson, where you come down on this question will dramatically impact what you do as the future unfolds.

The folks at McKinsey answer the question in the affirmative in their recent book – No Ordinary Disruption. The authors summarize their answer as follows: “Today our world is undergoing a dramatic transition due to the confluence of four fundamental disruptive forces (urbanization, technology, aging population, and global connectivity) any of which would rank among the greatest changes the global economy has ever seen. Compared with the Industrial Revolution, we estimate that this transition is happening ten times faster and at 300 times the scale, and roughly 3,000 times the impact. Although we all know these disruptions are happening, most of us fail to comprehend their full magnitude and the second-order effects that will result.”

In Sales, these forces will alter in a fundamental way what customers buy, how they buy, and what they are willing to pay for it. If you are on the sales side of the table, the resulting changes will produce a new set of winners and losers. To be on the right side of that binary choice, sales leaders must up the bar as to the acceptable standard for sales performance.

There are a number of looking glasses through which this reexamination can be viewed. Here, let’s explore the notion that average is over from the perspective of the individual salesperson. What can they do given that superior performance is the new black?

• Emphasize the power of self-motivation. Salespeople need to assume personal responsibility for keeping up to speed. In today’s business environment self-directed learning and personal accountability must be a part of the equation for skill improvement.

The good news is there are more ways and means to accomplish this feat than ever before. Some suggestions: blogs (list of top rated sales blogs) work better than books and self-directed online training (Udacity, Udemy, edX, Coursea) can augment formal company-based training.

To support this idea sales leaders need to emphasize self-motivation both in terms of the selection and ongoing management of salespeople.

• Rethink sales training. Historically in many companies sales training has been a “once in awhile” type of thing. In markets where buyers are reinventing how they do business and the competition is keener than ever, this episodic approach to training is unlikely to carry the day – at best average will be maintained as opposed to being over.

Here again there is good news. Today, there are more innovative sales training companies and the training is more customized and creative than ever before – today sales training is being redefined and the new ideas are exciting and they actually work.

Sales leaders need to divorce from old notions like: “the only time we can do sales training is at our national meeting” or “ we trained all our people two years ago so we’re okay.”

• Revisit sales coaching. The position of front-line sales manager is clearly the pivotal job for creating and sustaining a superior sales team and coaching is their primary role. Too often sales coaching is put off until Friday due to competing time demands and it never happens. How much of their time should be spent coaching? Forty percent is a good round estimate.

The good news – exciting mobile-based coaching software is coming online to support coaching efforts so that coaching can be better, faster and cheaper than in times of yesteryear.

To support this idea sales leaders should put in place a rigorous talent management effort for their front-line sales managers. The development of a superior sales team will always be a bridge too far if the selection, training and retention of front-line sales managers is not a top priority.

LONDON — Stagnant wages and rising house prices have made it increasingly difficult for first-time homebuyers around the world to get onto the property ladder.

However, the situation is improving faster in some countries than others.

Relocation firm MoveHub has compiled a ranking of the fastest-improving countries to buy a first home, by cross-referencing projected salary progression against property price increases in the last year.

The property data used was the Global Property Guide and salary projections were based on the Hays Group Salary Forecast 2016.

Given rocketing house prices over the past two decades, the UK is the 16th worst country on the ranking — but there are some surprises in the top 5.

Take a look at the countries which made the list:

5. Italy — House prices fell by 0.9% last year while wages grew by 2.1%. It seems that now is a good time to invest in Italian real estate. The market has been declining for almost a decade, but investors are starting to turn towards hard assets in the wake of a domestic bank crisis and uncertainty caused by Brexit.

4. Switzerland — Property prices dropped by 0.7% in Switzerland over the last twelve months, while salaries rose by 2.5%. Despite the improving situation, properties still do not come cheap: the median asking price for single-a family home last year was single-family homes was £970,000 ($1.2 million).

3. Singapore — House prices in the southeast Asian sovereign city-state declined by 3.4% last year while wages grew by 3.7% thanks to the resilience of its open, trade-dominated economy — even while neighbouring China experienced a significant slowdown in economic growth.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Are you able to handle all the emotions that come with failing?

If you don’t, you’re definitely not alone. Rejection is the single biggest apprehension of outsiders-looking-in when it comes to sales. Don’t think that all is lost. Sure, being a salesperson, you need to have thick skin—but a big step toward overcoming sales rejection is preparation. No matter how thick your skin is, if you’re not equipped with the right tools and knowledge to respond to sales rejections, then your efforts will most of the time end in naught.

You’ve experienced rejection a number of ways even before you started a career in sales, right? You navigated through the job market and found yourself here, dealing with the challenges that come with a high-velocity career. Sales professionals eat rejection everyday. From prospects who just cancel every appointment last minute, to secretaries who just won’t let you get some airtime with the decision-makers.

To most, the reaction would be to just make more calls. Frankly, those who’ve spent a lot of time in sales know that playing the numbers game is filing your nails too short. Soon enough, you will be burnt out.

Quality prospecting and knowing how to handle reluctance and rejection are keys to not losing your mind and getting wins in sales.

Seasoned salespeople know that rejection is part of the process, therefore they handle it with competence. Those who understand rejection early are those who extend their careers, enjoying long and fruitful lives in sales.

So where do you begin? It’s best to take the practical approach and thresh out scenarios so you’re ready when you’re faced with evasion or a no.

Here are some ways you can respond and handle rejection:

Your prospects can’t make time

You’ve worked so hard getting appointments, presenting, developing authority and trust, and building up a relationship with your prospect. You’ve sensed and sniffed out subtle buying signals. They’re all in. They know you can help them and they love your product. They’ve seen it in action through the multiple times you’ve demoed for them. Money? They’ve made it clear that it’s definitely not the issue.

Why aren’t you able to close the sale then?

“I’m just so busy, we’d have to get the right timing.”

Yes. Your prospect doesn’t have the sense of urgency. At least, not as much as the boiling feeling you get under your skin.

How should you respond?

Identify the weakness of your sales process so far. When this happens, it’s most likely that your prospects see a good fit but don’t think they’ll get an immediate positive impact. They think they can put you off since losing time not using your product doesn’t really net a loss.

People buy with their hearts and rationalize with their heads. You’ve heard it countless times. How come you haven’t applied it to your closing techniques?

There are two avenues you can appeal to when facing a situation like this. Try to make an impact on their emotions and their rationality.

Appeal to rationality

It’s what you’ve been doing the whole time but you may have to fine-tune it. Make the business case for your product vis-a-vis theirs. Talk numbers and determine a timeline for the ROI and succeeding profits.

If you’ve done proper discovery work, you’d have no problems demonstrating the detailed projections your solution will bring the customer. You need to present numbers. When they see the growth or profitability of your solution when applied to their situation, they’ll realize that they are losing money while they haven’t adopted your solution yet. This is how you create urgency.

Appeal to emotion

While some salespeople will scoff at the idea, emotions really play a big part in purchase decisions. So much so, Wharton categorically said emotions drive sales more than anything else.

With this in mind, there are a couple of ways to turn the soft no into a yes. Since you’ve already established a relationship with the prospect, you’d have a good grasp of their hopes and aspirations by now. Focus on these things. We’re not only talking of the goals of the company the decision maker is working for. You would want to have him focus on the imapct of the product on his or her career.

Banking on the accomplishments the prospect can get through your solution, lead with these thoughts:

• How would this accomplishment affect your career and financial situation?
• If you continue with your current situation, how do the next five years look like?
• If you get this done and reach the numbers, what would be the impact on your career?

Getting the sale sometimes mean you need to have the decision-maker emotionally invested in your product. If you’re selling a great solution, there’s definitely no issue with that.

Your prospects think they don’t need it

When prospecting, you’re looking for leads who have the need for your product. Some may already know outright that there is a hole to be filled, but there are also situations where you have to create the need.

When you reach out to a prospect and you build a relationship with them, you will get to explore their side and find out if there is a need to be filled. If there is indeed a need but still they cannot find value in your solution, the responsibility lies on you. There is something to be improved in your technique and process, or you’re just not connecting with the prospect the right way because you don’t understand their needs.

How do you explore the needs of a prospect?

Learn as much as possible about their business

Get a good sense of how your prospect’s business works. Using this knowledge, you can pinpoint the areas where you can add value and provide solutions. Also, research the industry and their direct competitors. What are they missing out on? What are the processes their competitors are doing better? Remember, this will also add points to you in your likability. Prospects prefer salespeople who take time to get to know their company.

Probe and dig deep by asking questions

When you’re engaging with a prospect, remember that there are a lot of times where you just need to keep your mouth shut and let the prospect talk. Uncover meaningful bits of information and don’t be afraid to explore possibilities with your prospects.

Preach benefits not features

It goes without saying that you need to know your solution inside out. When you do, it’s easier to see the product in the context of your prospect’s business even before a trial or a demo. Talk about how you can help them and what they can achieve with your solution, not about how great your product is. It’s all about perspective and angles.

Keep an open mind

When you see an opportunity to present your solution to the prospect that you’re sure will just blow them away, remember not to stop exploring other angles. Your awesome approach may or may not work. If anything, continued exploration and probing will only help you present your solution in a more robust light.

You don’t have the full trust of your prospects

Sometimes rejections stem from prospects not believing you can deliver what you say you will. This is crucial. So crucial that sometimes, even numbers don’t come off believable to them? Remember emotion and rationality? Emotions come into play when the perceived risk from acquiring your solution is magnified because the prospect either does not trust you or doesn’t believe you have the authority to make claims on the business matters you both are discussing.

Cliche warning:

Trust is earned.

How do you gain a prospect’s trust?

Research your prospect

The more you know about them, the better you can navigate situations. Confidence can only be achieved if you’ve done your homework. The prospect will trust you if you can handle conversations about their industry with competence and ease. Especially for high-price point solutions, you need to be trustworthy in the eyes of your prospects. Very basic: treat them with respect. Find out their wishes and aspirations. Start discussions based on how they can improve and be there to advocate for their growth—their own career and their business.

Be an advocate for your prospect

Remember, your prospect is human. A lot of sales professionals get fixated on the quota or the commission, that sometimes prospects are treated like a necessary hurdle just to get to the goal. Well, unfortunately, to get to that goal, you have to build relationships with your prospects. Maintain a positive attitude and be since in helping them out. Ask questions regarding their progress and situation, find opportunities where you can add value. Be likable. Know your limits but don’t be afraid to over-help.

Show sincerity and genuine interest in your prospect’s business

The stereotype of a salesperson is one who is a fast-talking, no-pausing pro, fiddling with their Bluetooth earpiece and an expensive pen. Anybody who’s had a good run in sales will tell you that it’s more about listening than talking. Listening allows you to know your prospect more and find points you can build upon. Strike the right balance between talking about your solution and finding more about your prospect. When you get the chance to talk, present case studies through stories of other businesses you’ve helped with your solution.

Your prospect has budget issues

Objections on pricing are common, especially with a lot of businesses tightening belts and looking for free services that augment their profits. For companies who sell, the pressure to compete through pricing is intense. However, price negotiations are not won only though giving in and giving up.

Avoid applying discounts as they can lower the perceived value of your solution. Instead, follow these tips:

Confirm that there is a real budget issue

People like to object anything related to money. If you can get something for less or for free, why not, right? Listen to your prospect’s objections and confirm that the issue is really with money. Sometimes, they are saying it for the quick exit.

A good way to circumvent this situation is by asking a straightforward question, “If money were no object, what would be the best solution for you?” Forging a common ground with your prospect can jumpstart discussion, making it smoother to work out budget issues.

Be flexible in scope not in price

Avoid the slippery slope of discussing payment options and itemization. This can lead you to get into a discussion where the prospect tries to push back the price and you care forced to say no after no. This will turn the discussion into a bitter checkmate, which more likely will cause you to lose the sale.

Prevent this by focusing on adjusting scope. Whether it’s time or coverage, discuss options where you can meet.

Go straight to the decision-maker

Ideally, you’re pitching to the decision-maker. However, in a lot of situations, schedules and office bureaucracy prevent you from talking to people who directly call the shots. When price is the last hurdle, make sure to ask to talk to the person who pulls the trigger.

Be prepared

Knowing the varied natures of the different types of sales rejections help you prepare for real-world situations. Review these—and device plans for each scenario. This helps you be quick on your feet and face objections with less stress.

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca 

I recently had a conversation with a VP of sales who asked me what I thought of social selling. Not sure where he stood on the topic, I shared my view that for me selling is selling, I don’t have the need like many marketers, to categorize or qualify things. As a longtime proponent of the movement to unhyphenate sales, I have felt that tagging a label on sales, be that Solution Selling, Consultative Selling, Sales 2.0 or Social selling, were just stupid distractions that served little else that the book sales of the person who coined the phrase, rarely those who jump on the bandwagon. As in music, there are many genres, but in the end, there is good music or bad music; there is successful selling, or unsuccessful selling, the rest is theater, theater that distracts from the core issues: Revenue.

Being that we are at the height of earnings season, and that we were both Jewish, I decided to do the tribal thing, and answer a question with a question: “When you look at your quarterly results, do you break out revenue as “Social Revenues”, “Traditionally sold revenue”, “Revenue from resourceful sellers leveraging all resources”? We all know the answer is NO! Revenue (as long as it is attained legally and ethically) is revenue.

Changing the narrative to revenue from sales, puts a whole different light on the subject, especially when you consider that most companies have revenues that well exceed the amount of revenue generated by their sales teams. How is that other revenue attained, how can sales help increase revenue in all channels, not just one, the one they are in? In the end, this all comes down to a simple process of Plan – EXECUTE – Review – Adjust – EXECUTE some more, and over again. I will be the first to admit this may not be as exciting, chic or trendy as social selling, it is much more effective where it counts, revenue.

Labeling or hyphenating sales not only brings unneeded complexity to sales, because now we are doing thigs to satisfy a system rather than for revenue, it also opens a number of opportunities for distraction, and wasted time and energy. I recently met a VP of sales at a company selling an enterprise application, he did not know his BDR’s conversion ratios, but seemed to be up-to-the-minute on the number “likes” his Facebook page had. OK, I thought, and asked “How much is each Like worth in top line revenue?” No idea. Yet when I interviewed his Director, he felt part the BDR’s challenge was that they were spending too much time on social media, learning everything there is to know about leads they were provided, failing to reach out to those leads instead.

Revenue is not hyphenated, revenue is not Social. Revenue either exists or does not. Where it does it is due to execution, and where it doesn’t it is due to excuses.

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The post It’s The Revenue, Stupid appeared first on Renbor Sales Solutions Inc..

Building an overall brand story is essential to effective marketing, and doing so online can be achieved by mixing a little business operations with journalistic procedures.

Documenting a content marketing plan can be simple, and it must be done. Here are nine essential components to consider.

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Documenting a #contentmarketing plan can be simple, & it must be done, says @neilpatel.
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1. Set a tiered goal

Every successful business plan starts with a set of tiered goals. Set quantifiable annual, quarterly, and monthly progress goals so everyone knows what to aim for. One article per day is the minimum goal you want to meet, in addition to at least three posts on each social media platform. These posts are meant to build on the story of the daily article – think of them as the special features on a Blu-ray disc.

When the article is automatically promoted on each social media channel, three posts of conversational subject matter are necessary to keep the social media channels feeling fresh and active.

Don’t worry too much about how much direct traffic you get from each individual post, but do include daily, monthly, and annual traffic in your content marketing and social media reports.

2. Quantify ROI

The only way to know something isn’t working is to quantify it. Lead generation and sales should increase by a certain percentage by the end of the year. Any increases to the content marketing budget should reflect an appropriate lead generation and sales increase by the end of that fiscal year.

It’s important in marketing to track quality and production numbers for operational purposes. You wouldn’t print 1,000 coupons without accounting for usage. Results for every published post should be documented.

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You wouldn't print 1,000 coupons w/out accounting for usage. Document results for every post, says @neilpatel.
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Documented production and quality numbers allow marketing managers to be proactive instead of reactive by identifying weak links in the system when ramping up to 10 or even 100 posts per day.

3. Determine content purpose

Before you create content, you need to identify the reason for the content. The internal focus ultimately is to drive sales, but content marketing isn’t salesy content (I’ll come back to this point later).

Content should be focused on creating a brand image and telling a story. How you tell your story is your choice, which centers on two types of content – evergreen and topical.

Evergreen content is a general truth or comment of the human condition like encyclopedic or academic knowledge – it’s a topic that is always (or almost always) valid and current no matter the year. Topical or time-related content is about current events like news, reviews, and gossip. For example, “corrupt politics” would be an evergreen topic, while “2017 political candidates are corrupt” would be topical content.

Evergreen content is easier to write for long-term editorial calendars, but topical content can drive spikes in traffic. The problem is the interest in timely content fades as the event becomes less current.

Consider implementing an RSS feed to curate current event topics in a sidebar (or on social media) while featuring evergreen content on your website and app.

4. Create an editorial calendar

To keep things running smoothly, it’s important to create a monthly and annual editorial calendar. Use it to work ahead and understand ultimate deadlines while working on multiple projects.

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It’s important to create a monthly & annual editorial calendar to keep things running smoothly. @neilpatel
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With a documented content marketing strategy, in a week you can easily create a three-month plan and plan time to create one or two more quarters in those three months.

An editorial calendar is a quick map where anyone can see the progress on every content project in the pipeline. A formal calendar process also makes changes and updates simpler and less stressful endeavors.

5. Generate clickable titles

If you used a headline such as “Businesses Teach Helpful Things,” you’re unlikely to attract many readers. “12 Business Lessons from Successful Company Owners” would draw more clicks if you wanted to write an evergreen and general article on business. “10 Regulations Everybody in the (Your Industry) Should Know” is even more specific and likelier to get more clicks.

While listicles attract clicks, you don’t have to focus on them. Some content marketing tools like Quora can be great for determining what content people will want to click on.

6. Contract writers, editors, and graphic designers

Once you have an editorial calendar filled, it’s time to hire writers, editors, and graphic designers to execute it. While an in-house editor is best, you can contract one. You also can hire for the project so you can see someone’s skills before hiring him or her.

Graphic designers should be tasked with creating high-resolution and thumbnail images to go along with each title as well as infographics and images to include in the article. (Don’t forget to ensure that the editorial calendar includes at least one image for each piece of content telling the overall brand story.)

In addition to crafting the text content, writers can research statistics and related data for infographics.

Editors are tasked with deep reading and fact-checking all the information. Fact-checking is the most vital component of any content marketing strategy. While marketing managers still should review all materials, most errors should be caught in the editing process.

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Fact-checking is the most vital component of any #contentmarketing strategy, says @neilpatel.
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7. Document procedures and training

Detail the procedures for every job in writing. That way when you expand (or have to replace someone), it’s easy to keep the process going.

Documented company policies and departmental procedures allow everybody to understand how they’re performing based on what’s expected. Meet with your team often to ensure that they’re all on the same page and updating procedures on a regular basis.

To make information more digestible to everyone on the team, create templates, training manuals, and job aides. Provide notepads and pens, encourage process improvements, and engage everyone using these in-house marketing materials.

8. Promote and backlink

There’s no point in publishing content if nobody is promoting it. You can link multiple social media accounts within your content management system to automatically publicize your content as soon as it’s published.

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There is no point in publishing #content if nobody is promoting it, says @neilpatel.
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Also, don’t just publish or share content that links to your site. It’s important in your search engine rankings to link to other reputable resources. Also, if you are a guest blogger, you can link back and forth to your published articles on your own and other sites. Consistent linking allows visitors to browse your brand story seamlessly across channels.

9. Do not sell

You have a shopping cart on an e-commerce site. You have a phone and an office. That’s where you sell. Content marketing is not the same as marketing content. Everything you do in content marketing should be to educate, entertain, or inform.

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Everything you do in #contentmarketing should be to educate, entertain, or inform, says @neilpatel.
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You want to create content that provides real value to your audience. You’re not knocking on their doors to sell vacuum cleaners. If someone wants your opinion on a vacuum, and you happen to sell them, give your honest opinion on what to look for and demonstrate your advantages. Don’t offer to sell a vacuum to them, just talk about dirt, carpets, new advances in technology, recent movies, and pop culture.

Then excuse yourself, tell them to have a nice day, and hand them your business card. They’ll come back when they need someone like you. That’s content marketing.

Conclusion

Content marketing is an important part of any marketing strategy. Too many businesses struggle to quantify and document a content marketing strategy.

By setting goals and building a creative team around a solid editorial calendar, a brand story can be built. Documenting processes and achievements allows the projects to be quantified and show a legitimate ROI.

By creating informative content that’s strategically placed throughout the web, businesses can generate warm leads and increase sales.

Make CMI’s free daily or weekly newsletter a key component of your content marketing training. Subscribe today.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Working on Your Content Marketing Plan? 9 Components to Consider appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

Crafting a great sales email isn't easy. In fact, you may need to try out many different angles, subject lines, questions, and CTAs before you hit on a winning formula.

While experimentation is necessary, it also has an opportunity cost. Every prospect who receives a sub-par email is a prospect who might have responded if you'd only used more effective messaging.

The solution? Use these tried-and-true email templates from HubSpot salespeople as your jumping-off points. Each email's open rate is 50% or higher, so you're guaranteed to see results.

Tailor these messages to your specific industry, market, and recipients -- then watch your own open and response rates soar.

1) Discussing Potential Fit: 64% Open Rate 

This template works well with inbound leads. They’ve already raised their hand to speak to Sales, so make the process as easy as possible for them.

You should always provide value. Attaching a relevant piece of content gives your prospect a reason to return to your message multiple times to find that resource; plus, you’ll position yourself as a trusted advisor from the get-go.

2) Closing the Thread: 63% Open Rate

Going negative frequently spurs buyers into action. Up until this point, they might have been too busy or relatively unmotivated to work with you. However, suggesting you’ll leave them alone creates urgency -- which, in turn, prompts them to reply.

3) Act Now: 59% Open Rate

Everyone loves a deal. With this email, you can re-engage prospects who have gone dark. Although discounting should never be the primary reason you close new business, it tells your recipient they have a limited window of opportunity to get your solution at the best price. They’ll usually be grateful for the heads up.

4) Resurfacing the Conversation: 57% Open Rate

Use this message to follow up with an unresponsive buyer without guilt-tripping them. It will gently remind them of their initial reason for researching your product. Since you're not trying to shame them into replying (which usually backfires), they'll probably decide to schedule a call -- or at least request more information.

5) You Could Be Seeing These Results: 51% Open Rate

Have you ever seen an apartment billboard that reads, “If you lived here, you’d be home by now”? These ads are effective because they inspire regret and jealousy, making the viewer wish they could go back in time and decide to live at that location.

This email has a similar effect. It reminds your prospect their inaction has cost them. If they’d invested in your product when they’d first considered it, they would already have experienced significant gains.

6) Let's Talk About Your Goals: 64% Open Rate

This message is short, sweet, and impactful. The first sentence gives the reader context: She learns why you’re reaching out and that you understand her pain points and vertical. The following question is easy to respond to, so your prospect doesn't need to think too hard before typing an answer.

7) Pick a Reason, Any Reason: 53% Open Rate

Jog the buyer's memory of their initial interest, then give them a few options for exploring it further. This message is best-suited for products you can buy either touchlessly (without working with a sales rep) or with a salesperson’s help.

If your offering requires salesperson involvement, tweak this email so it instead reads:

• You wanted to schedule a demo of [product]. Here’s a link to my calendar: [link].
• You’d like to know more about [accomplishing X results]. Here’s a link to our customer case studies page: [link].
• You want to [solve related goal, capitalize on related opportunity]. This [article, ebook, webinar] will be useful: [link].

8) You're Not the Only One: 54% Open Rate

Mentioning a competitor can be highly effective, as it tells your prospect they should invest in your offering to keep up. It also enhances your credibility -- if similar companies are using your solution, you're clearly legitimate.

Customize these email templates to your audience to make your open and response rates increase immediately. In other words, you can skip the experimentation phase and get straight to the results.

Traditionally, inside sales only involved those made over the telephone — telesales. But thanks to the Internet, inside sales now encompass those made via Skype, email, or any other cyber-communication methodology – as long as the salesperson is working from behind a desk. Forbes contributor Ken Krogue provides an updated term for it: remote sales.

Outside sales, meanwhile, are the exact opposite. The Department of Labor considers an employee an ‘outside salesperson’ if he or she makes sales outside the office, usually through face-to-face meetups with clients.

According to SalesLoft, inside sales are growing 15 times faster than outside sales, mostly due to convenience. That’s 7.5% annual growth versus outside sales’ 5%. However, outside sales reps earn 12 to 18% more than inside sales reps, with field reps’ salaries topping $65,000 a year compared to inside sales reps’ $50,000.

Here are some of the primary differences between the two:

Business Tactics

Since outside sales are essentially conducted during face to face interactions, they have the upper hand when it comes to the variety of business methods employed to entice customers. To quote a Harvard Business Review study: “Field sales are more strategic, meeting with C-level executives and developing strategic business innovation to help them grow their business versus inside which is more quantity and not as in-depth the majority of the time.”

Examples of strategies used by outside sales representatives include presentations, displays, and providing samples. These things work well for them; visual elements are processed 60,000 times faster than text, according to HubSpot.

But inside sales are rapidly catching up. Web conferencing allows inside sales reps to demonstrate their products without the need to meet the client personally. Other strategies involve social media, hosted CRM, screen shares, and integrated telephony tools. There are also low-cost and user-friendly Software-as-a-Service tools that have boosted inside sales and made them more cost-effective.

Quantity vs. Quality

Inside sales vs. outside sales can be likened to quantity vs. quality. Since inside sales representatives do most of their selling from behind a computer screen, they have the ability to pitch their product or service to a huge number of people every single day. They also don’t have to worry about travel impacting the time they have at their disposal, allowing them to maintain the number of people they can reach out to during office hours. This is not to say they only land lower quality customers, but rather that their sales cannot be classified as big-ticket purchases. More often than not, orders are for smaller quantities than sales made via outside sales.

Outside sales focus more on complex quality products and services they can sell for a steeper price. That’s why field reps prefer to meet their clients face to face to explain the intricate functionalities of what they’re selling and make sure the potential buyer understands them. Outside sales reps may reach fewer customers, but they are likely to be very well-targeted ones.

Sales Cycles

Sales cycles are naturally shorter for inside salespeople because of the lesser likelihood of face-to-face interaction. But since the focus of field representatives is on volume, their cycles tend to be longer and more complicated. Inevitably, outside salespeople are likely to foster stronger and longer-lasting relationships with their clients.

Outside sales can be intense; reps often have a lot of preparatory work to do. For example, selling in retail locations means outside reps have to visit the store, set up product displays, and ensure they have a constant supply of products in stock. However, research shows that field reps are able to convert prospects into clients 40% of the time compared to inside reps who only convert prospects 18% of the time.

Skills and Qualifications

Outside sales are best-suited to people who like working independently and managing their own schedule, as they set their own appointments with prospective clients. They should also be able to adapt to new people and environments easily, as they’re always visiting new prospects and doing a great deal of traveling. Since they meet clients face-to-face, field reps are required to look their best and be at their best, even when they’re not much in the mood.

As for inside sales representatives, they need to have a way with words. Because they don’t usually have the means to demonstrate a product or service live, they should be articulate enough to explain the item in an engaging manner that attracts potential buyers. Collaboration with peers is also common among inside salespeople as they work in an office. Inside sales reps should also be able to perform all associated administrative tasks within the workplace.

Costs

Outside sales tend to be the more costly of the two since field reps command higher base salaries. They also travel a lot, which adds to incidental costs and might create work inefficiencies.

On the other hand, inside sales reps leverage cost-efficient technologies like web conferencing platforms, CRM databases, and analytics software to reduce the cost per acquisition.

Inside salespeople also have fixed working hours and schedules, giving them a stable salary that’s easy to anticipate every month. Field reps are often paid on a commission basis, making it harder for the company to predict overheads and revenue.

Though these two sales strategies are opposites, they’re two sides of the same coin. In fact, the traditional divide between the two is slowly disappearing, with many companies adopting a hybrid form of inside and outside sales. For instance, salespeople may call from their company’s office and then travel to client locations to complete a deal. In fact, current research shows that outside sales reps are spending almost half of their work day selling remotely.

But even if the lines between inside and outside sales are blurring, it’s important to understand the distinction so that companies can decide which technique — if not both — would work out best for them.

As an email marketer, you want to make the best use of your time, your talents and your tools. After all, you don’t have time to waste on busywork and repetitive tasks, do you?
Read on to find out eight ways you can work more efficiently today, so you have more time tomorrow to come up with that next amazing idea.

1) Automate your email campaigns – Automation deserves its number-one slot on our list, since it’s probably the greatest efficiency tool email marketers have at their disposal. “Marketing automation allows you to create multiple email campaigns with personalized and specific messages for more engaging email,” writes Ankita Kaushik on the Agile CRM blog.

“Customized automation will schedule and send emails with company details to individuals in no time. You don’t have to waste your hours on emails. Instead, you can automate and optimize your campaigns.”

2) Use triggered messages – We’re cheating here a bit, because triggered messages are a technically a subset of “automation;” however, they are so useful as time-savers that we think it’s worth calling them out separately. The efficiency in triggered messages comes from the fact that you do all your creative work up front – developing messages that serve to welcome new subscribers, commemorate birthdays, remind consumers that they have left items in a shopping cart, etc. We looked at triggered messages in more depth here on this blog last month.

3) Use brief subject lines – When it comes to subject lines, less is definitely more. “Email subject lines will get cut off if they’re too long, particularly on mobile devices, writes Olivia Allen on the HubSpot blog.

“And with 40 percent of emails being opened on mobile first, we recommend using subject lines with fewer than 50 characters to make sure the people scanning your emails read the entire subject line.”

4) Write concise copy – As with subject lines, when it comes to body copy, it turns out that fewer words usually equates to a much bigger bang. “In general, I think shorter is better,” says Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs. “I think brevity always rules. I think if you could say it more simply, you should.” Her bottom line: “Don’t waste the time of your audience.”

5) Delete subscribers from your lists – Can having fewer names on your lists help you be a more successful email marketer? It may sound counterintuitive, but indeed it can. “By regularly scrubbing your email list, you are removing irrelevant leads and contacts that could be harmful to your email marketing success, writes HubSpot’s Corey Wainwright.

“List cleaning decreases instances of unsubscribes and recipients marking you as spam; it helps you better segment your emails and increase content relevancy; it improves your deliverability and sender reputation; it improves your email open rates; it saves you money if you’re charged on a per-send basis; it makes you look like a marketing superstar when your email metrics improve; and most importantly, it keeps you legally compliant.”

6) Find new uses for old content – Coming up with new ideas, along with new copy to express those ideas, can be very time consuming. But, as we discussed recently on this blog, email marketers at a loss for new ideas can often find a perfect solution lurking in their archive.

7) Have just one call to action (CTA) in your message – Although you might be tempted to include more than one CTA in your messages, don’t! “Marketers often try to add too many CTAs in one email to encourage readers to click but, the more, the merrier, doesn’t always hold true,” writes Reshu Rathi at Inc42. “A single focused CTA makes it easier for subscribers to convert rather than too many CTAs.”

8) Send fewer, more-personalized messages – Could it be that you are sending too many emails? Perhaps. “A torrent of email from the same source just makes customers’ eyes glaze over, or worse, turns the brand into a nuisance,” writes Stephan Dietrich at AdAge.

“On the other hand, if executed correctly, a campaign of fewer emails to fewer recipients can result in more purchases than the fire-hose approach. To make this less-is-more strategy work, marketers have to personalize messages in ways that go beyond slotting the customer’s name into the ‘Dear so-and-so’ line.”

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need an advanced degree in social media to understand its metrics. Even though there are many different metrics to look at for your business, the important question to ask yourself with each of them is whether or not that metric is helping you to make choices and take action.

Metrics are divided into four categories: consumption metrics, share metrics, lead generation metrics and sales metrics. Consumption metrics show how many time people viewed, downloaded, or listened to content. Share metrics are how many times people emailed, tweeted, or posted your content. Lead generation metrics show how often your content generates a lead. Lastly, sales metrics show just how often that you make money from your content.

Let’s take a look at 7 ways to better understand metrics:

1. Content Quality—Instead of checking frequently to see if your content gets retweeted or your visitor numbers go up, take a look at the overall picture. For your website or blog, take a look at unique page views, time on page, and total page views. Unique page views means your reach is growing, longer times on page means that your content is interesting, and a larger total page views means that people are checking out more of your website.
2. Referred Traffic—Use Google Analytics to see how much traffic is referred to your website from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or other social media channels. To make this metric work for you, set up goals as to where you want those numbers to be in the future.
3. Interaction Count—Instead of looking at your engagement rate, which is skewed by purchased ads like on Facebook, marketers now look at the total interaction rate. You can then correlate this information with website visits to see how the interactions are stacking up with them.
4. Conversion Rates—Using Google Analytics, you can see where your leads come from each of our social media accounts. You can then see the conversion rate for these leads. You can also use this for email campaigns and newsletters. Learn more about setting up custom campaign parameters here.
5. Share of Voice—SocialMention is a free tool you can use to find the total number of conversations about your business. To find your share of voice, divide the number of conversations or mentions of your business by the total number of conversations of businesses in your market. You can also segment these conversations by channel to see where you need to improve.

Keep in mind that some metrics like page views and downloads are vanity metrics. They make us feel good about the work that we are doing, but they don’t lend themselves to making informed decisions. Taking a careful look at your metrics is the way to carefully guide your business online.

Metrics getting you down? Talk to us in the comments.

Let’s be real, prospecting is not the easiest part of working in sales— but people who are good at it could really rake in a fortune for their company and make a name for themselves.

Prospecting is the process of tying potential customers to the business and manually building connections. You’d have to go around and talk to a lot of people before you find people who are interested in what you’re offering.

Before diving into this rigorous process, sales representatives must have a list of leads gathered through intensive research. Some sales departments have a team dedicated to lead generation. For some, it can be the duty of the marketing department. For smaller outfits, sales reps could be doing it all.

Sure, it’s very tempting to just keep saying that prospecting sales is hard, but repeating it to yourself over and over gets a little draining. That’s why it’s best to keep your head in the game and have the right attitude.

Characteristics of an Effective Prospector

For one, you should be optimistic. Sure, you’ll be subjected to rejections but if you keep your goals intact and negativity at bay, you’ll find yourself succeeding in your calls.

It helps if you engage in light conversation that would make the person feel more comfortable. You can do this not only to give warmth to the call but to be relaxed as well. It’s not surprising that sometimes a call can be turned around because of a rep’s charming and positive personality.

Prospecting is also a matter of repeated methodology. You don’t just receive instructions and deliver them as they are. You have to be analytical and at the same time, instinctive.

Improve your list of prospects further by studying your interactions and develop ways and pitching structures that would make these potential customers interested. This is probably one of the most important attributes that make a good prospector great.

Focus plays a huge role in this aspect. Contrary to public advertising, less here is more. We’re trying to reach prospects within our pipeliness and from there, build solid business connections, which is why we need to narrow everything down. The broader your range is, the more likely you’ll get rejected. Talk in particulars not in generalizations.

What do you do when the prospect seems a little disinterested?

To save face, some would just politely end the conversation and move on to the next contact on their list. An effective prospector is persistent. He understands that the longer you hold the conversation, the more likely the person will respond. This response can go either way.

Now, this is certainly risky business especially since there is a fine line between persistence and harassment but sometimes it takes just a little more to come up with good results. Your challenge here is to be smart enough to put those pitches into words that would spark interest on the receiver’s end. Depending on the situation, you can adjust your pitch to align with the prospect’s level of interest.

Confidence is also one of the top qualities that a prospector should possess. A good prospector has control over his words and the enthusiasm to keep the conversation moving in a pleasant tone and flow. Their speech commands respect— credible and convincing. Some prospects are very keen on this quality. It is confidence that would make you leave a mark in your prospect’s mind.

These are just a few of many. To improve your prospecting skills, it is key to develop habits that are not directly for selling, but improves your ability to speak with both authority and warmth.

Speaking with C-suite prospects

On most occasions, you’ll get the chance to speak with important corporate leaders. These are people who have way too much work on their hands and so little time to cater calls from unassociated parties, like yourself. Usually, they won’t be there to take the call directly, so you’re likely to end up getting a recorded message.

Here’s an opportunity to perfect your pitch before it gets heard. Here are some tips:

1. Study their company

gain, you are expected to study and analyze the person and the company you are calling. After all, these professional decision makers don’t have all the time in the world to educate you. You wouldn’t want to go into battle without the proper gear and weapons, would you?

2. Mention benefits

Ask yourself why your company matters to theirs and what it could bring to the table, but be careful not to use weak value propositions because these people are so accustomed to hearing those words and may even consider your company far from believable. Jill Konrath, a sales gurunoted for her fresh sales perspectives, said that knowing how to present value through your pitches instead of features is the key to sparking buying intent from your prospect.

3. Be clear and straight to the point

As in a lot of areas, being concise is the best way to achieve results. Do not bore them with clichés and sentences that appear to be profound but are just a combination of redundant terms and phrases. If you get to catch these people on the other end of the line, they’d simply say, “Not interested,” which will reflect on what they think of you and your company.

4. Don’t self-promote

Sure, you are pitching your product and introducing it to your prospect but the message should not solely be about you and your company.

You are trying to forge a partnership, a strong business connection in which both parties are vital. Would you be able to endure a business invitation that is not only marked with self-promotion, but also doesn’t properly address you, the invitee?

The art of cold calling

Prospectors are most notorious for cold calls. Cold calling is reaching out to someone you’ve had no prior interaction with. If not done correctly, you may lose the prospect in a heartbeat, but don’t fret for there are numerous ways to warm cold calls.

Social media is a very useful tool in a lot of things, including the art of prospecting. Warm up a contact by introducing yourself through different social media interactions.

You may share their posts on Facebook or favorite the ones on their Twitter and gradually work your way from there. If you have a naturally charming personality, this won’t be a problem. By doing this, you’re not only gaining the trust of your prospect, but you also get to know his or her personality. You’ll be surprised to know how big of a leverage this is. When you finally get to call the prospect, personalize your conversations using the things you’ve learned about her.

When talking to a prospect, keep your tone conversational because the last thing you want is your prospect thinking that they’re talking to a machine. Focus on the effectiveness of your message and your pitch but toss in some fun words as well so that you could somehow steer the conversation away from being monotonous and boring. Don’t just spew out sales words and phrases and bombard your prospects with information because these might not even make sense to them yet.

Prospecting doesn’t end when you have finally secured a business deal with your prospect. Follow up and follow through at all costs.

On average, it takes to six to twelve sales interactions for a prospect to close a business deal. Trust is essential in any relationship, and it applies to this one as well. Take care and nurture your prospect throughout the whole sales process to build a long-lasting relationship.

Follow-up calls

One of the biggest mistakes prospectors make is failing to secure a particular date and time for the follow-up call which should be done towards the end of the cold call once you’ve established the trust and the interest of your potential client or business associate. The right way to do this is by asking the prospect when it is the right time to do the follow-up call. This way, you ensure that your prospect is free to take the call once it comes. It also reduces chances of missed calls or going straight to answering machines.

A follow-up call could be as challenging as a cold call. This is tested and proven by a lot of sales representatives. It’s usually the follow-up call that gets everything rolling so be very careful because it’s only going to get tougher. This is where value will truly be manifested. Worth and value of both parties are finally unwrapped in this stage of sales prospecting as well as the benefits this partnership could bring. So to make sure you ace these calls, you may check out these clever and fool-proof techniques.

When you schedule an appointment with your prospect, do it right. First of all, you have to be polite in asking. Present a range of free days for the prospect to choose from so he won’t be pressured and when you finally agree to an appointment; avoid canceling or postponing it as much as possible because you could certainly lose your credibility.

Timing

As in many other things, timing is everything when it comes to prospecting. Securing time for it and having the discipline to follow every schedule is very essential. When are you going to make these calls? When are you going to schedule business appointments? Now, most people would dedicate a specific day or two in a week to do these calls. It would normally depend on when they are most available; but ideally, you have to base this on the schedule of your prospects.

Spend a whole week making calls and find out when prospects respond the most. Use this information to cover more prospects in lesser time. If you want to ditch the rigorous surveying process, you may turn to the internet for a quick research.

Final notes

Equip yourself with the more than enough knowledge and learn the strategies and tactics that go with it. Not only that, you also have to be able to endure and withstand rejection among many other things so make sure you have an open and optimistic attitude.

There are individuals far smarter and more qualified than I am who love social selling, but it’s a phrase that can mean a million different things. But in general, it’s a way for sales teams to connect with prospects and provide them with value via social media.

Does a salesperson’s activity on social media help with sales? Probably, if he’s not posting too many memes or Buzzfeed articles about which Harry Potter character is his spirit animal.

Thought leadership is unquestionably an important player in developing credibility, which in turn leads to winning new customers. Can one build credibility through writing articles and sharing them? Call me three weeks after this gets published, and I’ll let you know!

All kidding aside, as the CEO of a B2B sales-focused company, I think stats like “78 percent of social sellers outsell in comparison to colleagues who don’t use social media” are bad for business, even if they might be true. They give salespeople license to hide from less glamorous, grittier sales activities that are must-haves for any successful sales organization.

The Problem With Social Selling

Too many salespeople lean on social selling. They’re either too lazy to make cold calls, send cold emails, and research prospects, or they’re too afraid of rejection. Writing an opinion piece on the future of your industry and sharing it with your 17 LinkedIn pals is risk-free. Retweeting an article from the CEO of Facebook requires little grit or time.

Picking up the phone and hammering out 50 cold calls, on the other hand, stinks. Doing research on a company, identifying the ideal decision maker, and crafting a perfect prospecting email takes time. But these tactics work.

Social selling implies that you are selling to prospects already in your extended network. While there are ways to expand your network, this method isn’t terribly realistic for the average salesperson. The chief financial officer of Netflix isn’t going to block off 45 minutes for a face-to-face meeting with you because you emailed him a copy of your e-book. Creating a network you want to sell to is tricky, and even if you are able to do it, decision makers are constantly inundated with whitepapers, case studies, videos, and e-books.

So how do you ensure that you’re steering your sales team in the right direction if you decide against social selling methods? Here are three tactics my team has used.

1. Hire only relentless prospectors.

My sales team is made up of them. It means that they’ve succeeded at prospecting in the past and will do it again. In every sales interview, I ask for examples of how and when the interviewee has taken a prospect from a stranger to a client. If a potential hire can’t give me several concrete stories showing his or her ability to do just that, the interview process is over.

2. Don’t project your own mindset.

Stop worrying about how you respond to being prospected. I know, I know: You hate being prospected, and your inbox is packed with folks trying to sell you stuff. You would never respond to cold outreaches from a stranger. Even if you’d rather have someone favorite your tweet, endorse you on LinkedIn, or direct message you on Instagram, it doesn’t matter. Even if cold outreach goes against what you think is true about your business, test it out.

3. Embrace the cold call.

Some pretentious founders of “groovy” companies see cold calling and cold emailing as inelegant. They must believe that their firms are above the fray and that they can win customers by writing whitepapers, redoing their websites twice a week, and upgrading their logos. Maybe that customer acquisition formula works for them. If so, Godspeed.

But CEOs and CMOs need to put their feelings aside and try the cold call and cold email approach. Ditch the “I am in a relationship business. You can’t start relationships with a cold call” mindset, because it’s wrong. My team has about 150 clients, all of whom we have great relationships with, and nearly all of them evolved as the result of cold outreach.

Social selling may have a reputation for being the best sales tactic of the modern age, but don’t be fooled by the hype. Cold outreach is not dead. Keep these tips in mind when building up a strong sales team.

One thing that really drove me nuts, in every company I’d ever sold for, was how they gave greedy problem customers preferential treatment. They lived up to the saying, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

I see the same thing going on with companies who ask for my help. They don’t understand why they’re not making enough sales, and meanwhile they’re spinning their wheels trying to please problem customers who will never be happy – no matter how much you give them!

In reality, a salesperson – wait, I should say a good salesperson – should not give his or her time to the problem customers. That time should go to your good customers, making sure they’re well taken care of. After all, only the good customers are going to give you referrals.

I remember well those customers who paid full price, and I remember even more so those who drove hard bargains and negotiated hard to get a low price. But guess what – the customers who paid full price had my full attention whenever they needed my help! I was always happy to stop what I was doing, and drive out to their offices when they needed help.

The jerks who drove hard bargains and negotiated low prices? I told them to call the 800 number. Not my problem, buddy.

You Get What You Pay For In Life

Robert Kiyosaki, one of my favorite business authors, points out that those who drive “hard bargains” and negotiate deep discounts usually aren’t smart businesspeople at all. They’re just plain cheap. The excellent book “The 48 Laws of Power” points out that it is always wise to pay full price, because it buys you respect and you will always be taken care of in the future, ahead of all other customers.

Napoleon Hill also said you get what you pay for, whether it’s an automobile or a loaf of bread, in “The Law of Success.”

Dr. Hill also pointed out that those who drive “hard bargains” are actually displaying the fear of poverty, one of the leading causes of failure.

How To Avoid “Squeaky Wheel” Problem Customers

I used to get stuck with these customers all the time, until I got very, very good at one of the most important sales skills of all:

QUALIFYING! Or more specifically – QUALIFYING OUT!

In fact, in my books and programs I take it one step better: Don’t merely qualify prospects. Try hard to qualify them OUT, to make sure you’re not wasting time with the wrong prospects!

Salespeople, especially newer salespeople, will take any lead they can get, run out and sell them immediately, and then they wonder why they spend all of next month dealing with customer service nightmares from people who are just plain unappreciative jerks!

It comes down to the fact that those prospects weren’t qualified, and shouldn’t have been sold in the first place. A qualified prospect WILL mean a happy customer, making your life easier and even providing you with plenty of referral business.

Where to find those highly qualified leads, who will not only buy from you with little or no objections, but will turn into happy customers, the ones we all dream about?

The worst possible way is cold calling. The best possible way is to get mega-networked. I love to tell people, “It doesn’t matter who you know, what matters is who knows you.”

Start right here in LinkedIn – it’s the most powerful networking tool in the world.

And DO NOT let the squeaky wheel have the grease! Not if you want to keep your integrity, anyway.

We all know that the ultimate goal of sales is getting customers to sign on the dotted line. “Always be closing,” as the saying goes. But perhaps even more important than the close itself is the actual deal value and the promise of revenue growth over time. Consider the following statistics:

– An existing customer has a 60-70% chance of buying again, but the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5-20%.
– Attracting new customers costs 6-7x more than keeping an existing customer.
– 90% of customer value for B2B business is obtained after the initial sale.

Clearly, the ability to upsell your customers both during and after the initial sale can have a major impact on your sales performance. Here are 3 tips to help your team stop leaving money on the table and start driving upsells.

Sync Sales & Support

Have you ever called to upsell a customer only to be greeted by an angry voice on the other end of the line? Your contact currently has an open ticket with support and has been trying to get her issue resolved for a week. How dare you try to upsell her when the solution she’s already paying for doesn’t even work! Ouch.

Unfortunately, these are the types of situations that occur when sales and support teams have limited visibility into customer conversations – it’s nearly impossible to provide award-winning experiences. Worst case scenario, it can even result in customer churn. On the flip side, extended periods of calm waters are key indicators for upsell opportunities.

Ensuring that important information like open and closed tickets is made visible to your reps in your CRM enhances team agility as well as helps reps enter conversations with greater context. Spot an open ticket? Now probably isn’t the time for an upsell. Did an issue just get resolved in an efficient and timely manner? Grow your relationship by giving the customer a quick call just to check in. Smooth sailing? Time to pitch that new add-on!

Stay on Top of Stack Changes

Companies use an average of 7 different business management tools, from CRMs, to marketing automation platforms to help desk software. As the importance of data-driven decision making grows, so does the ability to overcome data silos across the organization and connect the dots between each of these systems.

As such, paying attention to your customers’ technology stacks during the initial sale, as well as staying on top of new additions over time, can introduce upsell opportunities that add value through integration. Not to mention, eliminations from customers’ technology stacks mean the potential for you to step in and fill the void with your own offering.

Sales acceleration software like Datanyze is designed to identify the solutions that companies are already using and alert reps when a change occurs. This type of technology, combined with the ability to create custom fields and track this information in an organized way in your CRM, provides reps with the ammo they need to fuel upsell opportunities.

Spot Prime Points of Influence

You may have heard of the study published in HBR a few years back wherein it was discovered that companies responding to new leads within an hour were 7x more likely to qualify the lead than those that reached out just an hour later, and 60x more likely than those that waited 24+ hours. Clearly, when it comes to sales, timing is everything.

Expecting your reps to have perfect timing is unreasonable, but you can provide them with tools to help them identify prime points of influence and take impactful actions that lead to high-value deals or upsells. One way to do this is with CRM notifications that can be triggered when a prospect or customer takes an action that you have defined as important and warranting immediate follow-up, such as opening an email or replying with positive or negative sentiment.

Another way is to team up with your marketing department. Most marketing teams have customer programs geared at retaining clients and driving upsells; open and unqualified leads are often placed in campaigns dedicated to nurture. Implementing an integration between your company’s CRM system and marketing automation platform allows reps to see when prospects and customers engage with these campaigns. For example, if a prospect or customer clicks multiple times on an email showcasing a particular product that was not covered in the sales cycle, this is the perfect opportunity for a rep to reach out and add on.

Maximize Deal Value

Sales will always be about closing, but placing an emphasis on getting more dollars out of your deals and increasing customer value over time will have a serious impact on your short and long-term performance. Follow these three tips to stop leaving money on the table, and for more advice on how to maximize deal value, download our free white paper: Understanding the New Metrics of Sales.

These are five ideas you need to act on to succeed in sales now. They are separate waves, but all part of the same current. They work together to help you create and win new opportunities.

Your Higher Price is Offense, Not Defense

Your price is an indication of the value you create. The fact that your clients pay your higher price and you retain them is proof you are worth paying more.

You don’t beat anyone on price. You win by creating greater value. Price is how you deliver that greater value, and your dream clients know this. This is a business strategy. It’s a model. It’s a big deal.

You Sell as a Peer

You know more about your business than your prospective client and you help them make better decisions. You know as much about their industry when it comes to the areas you help produce better results in. Your vocabulary makes you sound like a businessperson more than a salesperson.

You are a trusted advisor. You are counsel. You are a peer, an equal, not subservient.

Control the Process

The first commitment you need to gain is the agreement as to what the process will be. Controlling the process improves the chances you and your dream client both get the right outcome.

Your prospective client wants control because they are afraid of making a decision to buy. They are afraid of change. You have to help them by knowing how to create the case for change, how to build consensus around that change, and how to execute and produce better outcomes.

Lower Commitments to Get to Yes

By telling your prospect they aren’t going to have to make the decision to buy during early sales interactions, you make it easier for them to agree to the commitment you need right now. That commitment is a conversation that leads to future commitments.

By telling your prospect they aren’t going to have to make the decision to buy right now, you make it easier for them to agree to the commitment you need right now.

Hustle

Being out-hustled isn’t something that happens to you. It’s a decision you’ve made. It’s a form of giving up, of surrender.

You don’t need to be better than you were yesterday. You need to be better than you were yesterday and better than your best competitor today. You control how hard you work, how many hours you work, and whether you do so with a sense of urgency.

The post Five Ideas You Need to Succeed in Sales Now appeared first on The Sales Blog.

Blockchain, the bitcoin exchange technology, is the most promising solution for secure and efficient electronic health records. Doctors are buried in paperwork with the current mishmash of scattered data.

The post Blockchain, of bitcoin fame, may be solution for safe electronic health records appeared first on Digital Trends.

Strategic customer experience results require a strategic approach in the way we collect data and in the way we take action on it. Of all the strategies within a company, what has the potential to be more far-reaching and impactful than how we understand our funders (customers) and how we cater to their propensity to continue funding us? What may come to mind is an acquisition or merger or reorganization or new product. But even so, these same funders are in-play in each of these scenarios. There’s really no way to separate customers, as our ultimate funders, from any other business strategy.

This acknowledgement may shine a new light on what we really should be doing in customer experience management (CXM). In her presentation at a CXPA conference, Erin Wallace of John Deere pointed out that every major undertaking in a company — like new product development, capital investment, market expansion, deployment of a major technology (e.g. ERP), etc. — requires carefully thought-out plans and decisions. Using a tractor as a metaphor, she described the requirements for best-in-class CXM. The windshield represents CXM vision and strategy. The steering wheel represents the CXM organization and governance. The wheels represent CXM processes and tools. And the engine represents CXM measurement.

Let’s talk about those wheels. Robust processes and tools are necessary for strategic action on VoC data. When I was at Applied Materials we had a well-oiled machine in our VoC actioning. First, we researched what it takes to drive action, by talking to action experts outside and inside our company. We identified tools, including a CX improvement facilitator in each business unit (usually from the Quality organization), how to prioritize CX action areas, how to digest customers’ verbatim comments during an action planning workshop with cross-functional teams, how to identify themes and root causes of the comments, how to create specificity in the action plans and sanity-test that they address the root causes, and how to create progress metrics for action plans.

Let’s talk about that windshield. We created a diagram to show the steps and explain how to make changes that customers would reward. We noted things about our culture that could accelerate or hinder adoption, and we created processes and tools to address both sides of that coin. Then we shopped our plan with the C-team. They stewed over our survey results for quite a while, and, facilitated by our VP-CX, they eventually agreed on a company-wide approach to interpreting, acting on, and being accountable for progress, resolution, and prevention of issue recurrence. We worked with people in HR, Marketing, and IT whose help we needed to pull together these tools and processes.

Let’s talk about that engine. In our measurement of customer perceptions, we gave every business unit, account team, and support function their own report — their own cut of the data, to minimize finger-pointing and maximize ownership, or CX adoption and accountability. To identify patterns we studied cross-tabulations, conducted correlation analyses, characterized groups of customers who saw things similarly, linked various customer feedback sources, connected quantitative (ratings) and qualitative (verbatim) data, and explored linkages between customer perceptions, sentiment, behaviors, operational data, employee opinions, and financial data. Patterns were enriched through root cause analysis (ask “why?” 5 times), Pareto charts, scatter diagrams in quadrant charts, and estimating customer lifetime value. Patterns were helpful in motivating collaboration across organizations that had the same top priority.

Everyone knows that whispering “I love you” to someone you just met over some bangin’ beats in the club at 3 AM stands no chance of success. Similarly, suspect claims of honesty or authenticity in business will likely be heavily discounted as cheap talk by a skeptical counterpart. So why make these overtures? Because while the upside is limited, the cost isn’t just cheap, it’s nil; give it a try and hope there’s someone out there who’ll believe you. The challenge facing sellers of some genuine product — be it true late-night love or a Tiffany necklace on eBay — and the buyers in search of them is to prove that they’re not just full of empty words.

This is where Super Bowl ads come in. Airtime during the game is, of course, fantastically expensive. So why do companies bother buying it? For the same reason that gang members get face tattoos: to prove that they’re in it for the long haul.

The classic formulation of this idea comes from Michael Spence’s PhD thesis, published in 1973, which helped win him a Nobel prize, in 2001. The thesis focused not on clubs or ads, but on how good workers reveal themselves as smart or dependable.

In Spence’s formulation, hiring a worker is essentially a spin of the roulette wheel: Depending on what comes up, you might get a conscientious, productive worker or an incompetent, shirking one. There are plenty of steps that employers can and do take to make the hiring decision less of a gamble. They may consider, consciously or not, whether the applicant is short or tall, black or white, male or female. Based on prior experiences or stereotypes they’ve formed, recruiters may make a judgment of what the applicant would probably be like once he starts showing up for work. Whether it’s legal or moral (or even correct), we judge people based on all sorts of characteristics that a person is essentially born into.

Then there are the choices we make in presenting ourselves to a prospective employer: Short or tall, black or white, male or female, you need to decide whether to wear a suit or jeans, or to show up clean-cut or shaggy, or covered in tattoos. On your résumé you can choose to offer up your undergraduate GPA, and mention that it was from an Ivy League institution, or you can avoid saying much of anything about your education.

You might counter that lots of these aren’t exactly choices: Harvard chooses you, not the other way around. That’s correct, sort of. But think of it this way: The cost of adding a credential to your résumé or presenting yourself in a particular way at an interview is higher for some applicants than for others. In a sense, the “cost” for many of getting into Harvard and making it to graduation is just not within the realm of possibility. But for the candidate with the right characteristics – drive, conscientiousness, intelligence — it may not be that difficult to apply, get in, and coast through whatever the Harvard curriculum might throw at them.

In Spence’s model, the attributes that make it relatively easy to get a Harvard degree are the same characteristics that make for a productive employee. If that’s the case, then companies will do well to hire Harvard math majors, even if no one learns anything of practical use, or even any math, at Harvard. In contrast to telling a recruiter, “I’m smart,” a Harvard math degree is not something that less-able applicants can mimic or would even want to, because the cost is too great. It is a “signal,” in economics parlance.

Stripped to its essentials, the Spence signaling model simply requires that there be a link between a desirable yet hidden attribute and the cost of doing something. And that something can be anything, as long as everyone knows it’s cheap for the smart and virtuous to do it, and difficult for anyone else.

For companies, one way of sending a strong signal of commitment to the long run would be to convert the company’s savings into hard currency, cart it out to the street, and put a lit match to it. Only a company that expects to do repeat business with lots of customers is going to be willing to pay this up front “money-burning” cost.

If we don’t see many companies lighting cash-fueled bonfires, economists have argued they do the equivalent — both more credibly and more publicly — through advertising. In a classic article on advertising as money burning, “Price and Advertising Signals of Product Quality,” economists Paul Milgrom and John Roberts describe a 1983 ad announcing the introduction of Diet Coke: “a large concert hall full of people, a long chorus line kicking, a remarkable number of (high-priced) celebrities over whom the camera pans, and a simple announcement that Diet Coke is the reason for this assemblage.”

They also give the example of an even more literal take on advertising-as-pointless-destruction in a Ford Ranger ad from 1984 that “features these trucks being thrown out of airplanes (followed by a half dozen skydivers) or driven off high cliffs.” In both cases the ad is a deliberate act of pointless excess and waste — money burning.

Milgrom and Roberts, in substantiating their analysis of product launch ads as money burning, observe, “These ads carry little or no direct information other than that the product in question exists. But if that is the message being sent, these ads seem an inordinately expensive way to transmit the information. Indeed, the clearest message they carry is, ‘We are spending an astronomical amount of money on this ad campaign.’” The lavish destruction of value is the only way the signal can’t be copied by someone who doesn’t really have the money to burn.

Signaling can produce perverse incentives that can cause those without the hidden quality to try to fake it. That might help explain why, in the year 2000, 19 internet startups spent millions buying advertising time during the Super Bowl. It’s also telling that eight of the 19 — including, famously, Pets.com, with its sock puppet mascot — no longer exist. Ironically, their efforts to signal they had the deep pockets and quality offerings that would allow them to survive the internet’s winner-take-all economy may have helped to drive these big spenders into bankruptcy. You might think that such a failure rate would discourage a repeat, but the trend continues: During the 2015 Super Bowl, startups including Wix.com (a company that helps users build websites) and Loctite (a glue maker) spent $4.5 million each for a 30-second spot. This year, the price has gone up to $5 million.

Signaling is a useful theory for helping us understand why getting a face tattoo is a great decision if you want to show everyone — your rivals, the police, potential employers — that you’ve thrown your lot in with your gang forever. But it’s harder to come up with a signal of your own to show some hidden, but valuable, quality. And even if you have the ingenuity to figure out a strong signal, like Ford burning money on an ad buy, you have to have customers who are smart enough to understand what, by driving a bunch of trucks off a cliff, you’re trying to tell them.

Whitepapers are a valuable content marketing tool used to provide in-depth information to a prospect, typically during the consideration stage of the buyer journey.

A recent DemandGen report indicated that 82% of B2B buyers rely on white papers to guide their purchasing decisions.

And with 42% of respondents planning on using content syndication in 2017, shouldn’t you be too?

To achieve success and drive sales leads to your landing pages for a solution overview, though, you need quality content.

The following is a look at several important strategies and tips to help you generate more sales leads from your whitepapers.

Discuss a High-Impact Topic

Though a whitepaper is used to establish authority and expertise, its primary function isn’t to determine your company’s brilliance.

Instead, provide thorough, accurate and desired information on a topic that’s relevant to your targeted reader.

To succeed in this endeavour, you need a clear definition of the type of prospect likely to download your whitepaper after reading a particular blog post or another piece of primary content.

Spend Time on Design

Don’t make your whitepaper a sales pitch.

Instead, offer readers information they value, thus earning trust and motivating them to consider your company as a source for a solution.

Invest time upfront designing and outlining your content to create an effective whitepaper.

Think about the story you want to tell and the takeaway points for the reader.

Consider visuals, such as process graphics, to help illustrate key points.

Focus on Value and Provide Evidence

Though not a sales pitch, your whitepaper is an opportunity to emphasise value to the targeted reader.

The value correlates with the education provided, and the clarity the information brings to the problem the buyer is experiencing.

If your company specialises in proprietary technology, processes or solutions, the whitepaper allows you to articulate points of differentiation in problem-solving that intrigue the reader.

Whitepapers that drive sales leads also include proof or evidence for strong claims.

When you present information that would raise doubts or questions of validity, provide support.

Process outlines, graphics, visual demonstrations and statistics are common types of evidence you could use in a whitepaper.

Promote It and Execute a Strong CTA

In addition to closing particular blog posts with a call-to-action to download your whitepaper, support this document on your social channels and in your company newsletter.

People who engage with you through these channels will have completed some initial investigation.

Though a whitepaper is a conversation with a reader about a problem he or she faces, include a CTA in your conclusion that points toward your solution.

A well-executed whitepaper encourages the reader to contemplate the next step in problem resolution, which is evaluating solutions.

Wrap Up

Whitepapers are a great opportunity to demonstrate company expertise on a relevant topic, but not in a sales-pitchy way.

Instead, offer valuable information and then use that value to convert sales leads in your CTA.