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Looking for some great new ideas that will bring people in your target market to your website? Try online advertising.

But not just any type of online advertising. It’s too often the case that digital marketers play a “shoot in the dark” game when they’re running ads on other websites.

Afterwards, they justify their actions by saying that they’re doing split-testing.

In other words, they’re playing guessing games and hoping that something works. Often, both the “A” and the “B” side of their split-testing equation isn’t very effective.

If your text loses, all you did was waste time!

It’s not enough to just try an advertising strategy in hopes that it’s a better than another option. It’s best to put principles of great advertising into place at the start and split-test the finer points of a campaign with an outstanding track record.

Along those lines, here are some proven ad hacks that will send a stampede to your sales funnel.

1. Get Thee to Copywriting School

If you want to get more clicks from your ads, you need to give people a reason to click. That’s best accomplished with outstanding copywriting.

If you want to be effective at copywriting, you’re going to need to learn from the pros. Fortunately, that’s easy to do thanks to Amazon.

For some reason, many marketers discount the effectiveness of outstanding ad copy. That’s a shame, because it can literally make the difference between an effective campaign and one that loses money.

Ask yourself this question: why did you click on this article? Chances are pretty good that it was because of the catchy title. That kind of title is exactly what you should use in your ad copy.

So before you invest another penny in graphics, keyword research, and consultants, learn the basics of producing compelling copy that begs people to click.

2. Tell Them About Benefits, Not Features

There are simply too many ads in existence that describe features over benefits. It’s not likely that they have a very high click-through rate.

Why? Because features don’t answer the all-important WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) question.

When writing your ad copy, envision people in your target market asking “What’s in it for me?” as they read you advertisement. Make sure that you answer that question by describing benefits and not features.

If you’re unclear on the difference between features and benefits, here’s a primer:

• Features describe product attributes. For example, features of a laptop include its weight, RAM, and hard drive space.
• Benefits explain why the customer will appreciate the product. For example, a benefit of a laptop is that it has lightning-fast processing, enabling its users to accomplish more in less time.

Do you see the difference? Sadly, many marketers to this day don’t see the difference because they keep on advertising with copy that describes features and not benefits.

Your ad copy shouldn’t just describe your product, it should compel people to want to purchase it.

3. Enlist the Aid of Experts

If you’re running an ad on a network that severely limits your headline character count (we’re looking at you, AdSense), you’re going to have to rely on something catchy to reel in customers.

One tried-and-true trick that goes back to the Dark Ages of copywriting involves using experts to make your case for you in just one sentence.

Here’s an example of an expert-driven ad headline: “Tom Brady Explains His Treadmill Routine for Staying Fit in the Off-Season.”

That’s a great headline if you’re selling treadmills. Think about it: you’re not trying to convince someone about the importance of using treadmills to stay fit, you’re letting Tom Brady convince your customer about the importance of using treadmills to stay fit.

It’s safe to say that most Americans view Tom Brady as someone who’s physically fit.

The secret here is to scour news sources for expert tips related to your niche (as you see with the Tom Brady example above). Then, rewrite those news stories into ad copy that sells your product or service.

4. Share a Secret

Another oldie but a goodie that still works wonders is to let people in on a secret. It’s an effective strategy because human nature hasn’t changed since copywriters started using it decades ago.

The trick here is to create a headline that lets people know that you’re sharing a “secret” that’s only benefited a select few (or even just one person) up this point.

If we stick with the Tom Brady theme, a “secret” headline might read something like this: “Tom Brady Shares His Secret to Staying Fit in the Off-Season.”

That’s okay but the word “secret” seems to be a bit overused these days. A more effective copy might read: “Finally: Tom Brady Explains What He’s Been Doing to Stay Fit in the Off-Season.”

That second headline has the “aura” of a secret without actually using the word. Good secret-themed headlines often use words like “unlock,” “hidden,” or “reveal.”

Secret-themed headlines also work great with the aforementioned expert source, as we see in this example.

5. Make ‘Em an Offer They Can’t Refuse

Another way to turn your ad into clickbait is to simply make an irresistible offer in the headline.

Legendary copywriter Ben Settle cites this example as an offer headline: “Free Fuel for a Year With Purchase of a New Car – Today Only.”

That headline is powerful for a couple of reasons.

First, who doesn’t want free fuel for a year? That’s an obvious benefit to any consumer that you don’t even have to explain.

Second, note the sense of urgency that the headline creates. The offer is good only for today. That’s enough to get people hooked right away, even when it comes to making a major purchase like a car.

Of course, an ad like this will definitely have an impact on your cash flow. Run the numbers and find out what you can afford to offer people that they absolutely can’t resist.

Then your ad accordingly.

Get Started Now

The key to advertising, social media, content marketing and more is copywriting. Get good fast to maximize your marketing.

The idea of creating and using personas to help create a better user experience and engagement was birthed in the software industry 30 years ago. Computer software was clunky, hard to use, and had a terrible user experience. Allen Cooper, a software inventor and architectural consultant, interviewed actual users and used the information and feedback they gave him to help shape and create more user-friendly software. The persona was born. Over the years personas have become the foundation of good development not just in the software industry, but in the design and marketing worlds as well. While I believe they are essential to success, the way many develop personas is outdated.

Context is the key to effective communication. It sets the tone and the basis for understanding what is actually being said. Good marketing and design start with good communication. It’s the duty of the communicator to set the context and tone of the message in a way that makes it more palatable for the end user. Persona development is key in helping marketers and designers create a better context for their message.

The Problem

Because of the lack of real research during the persona development process, many questioned the effectiveness of personas. If we are to create personas that are actually useful and user-driven we must be willing to do the hard work. This means not settling for assumptions and going deeper than surface level.

Persona development involves dissecting and breaking down intrinsic and extrinsic data. While the hard data such as demographics, job titles, and geographic location are easy to collect, it’s the intrinsic data that is hard to collect and make use of. Just having one or two phone calls with a current or potential user isn’t going to give you the information you need.

Personas are supposed to be as close a representation of your ideal client or users as possible. When interviewing people we have to remember one thing, they are human. While we hope they would give us authentic answers, an interview rarely produces 100% accurate results. What people say and what they do are usually very different. So trusting your interviewees to give you all the info you need is a dangerous assumption.

The Fix

People are emotionally driven creatures. We base much of our decision-making on how we will feel after making the decision. This is true for both intellectual or relational decision making. The more we uncover the emotional motivation for why our personas do what they do, the better we can understand their needs. Developing empathy skills is crucial for marketers, designers and researchers.

One practical way to hone your empathy skills is to learn how to listen. Listening is not about waiting your turn to ask another question or make a comment. Listening is about stopping, hearing and trying to understand the other person’s point of view. As Zeno of Citium said, “We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.” When you listen more, people tell you more. It shows you value what they say and are interested in them. This allows them to open up and tell you the truth.

As I stated above, what people say and what people do are usually very different. This doesn’t mean we should forgo the interview process during persona creation. It just means we shouldn’t necessarily take our interviewee at their word. Today we have some amazing software that can help compare what people say and what they do online. This will help us find the intersection where their words and actions come together. When you find this, you are on the right track. Here is a list of a few of my favorite tools.

• Hotjar: Hotjar is a heat mapping tool. It gives you an understanding of how your user naturally uses your site. You can even set up recording and watch how users browsed your site and content.
• BrightInfo: Brightinfo is a personalized marketing platform. Where it’s really helpful in persona development and understanding users is in the analytics. Using the data you can see where your users are similar in their likes and interests.
• HubSpot: HubSpot is mostly known for marketing automation, but it also helps you understand your users. The timeline tools that show how an individual contact has journeyed through your funnel is very insightful. While the full software is an investment, they are getting ready to release a free version. Learn more here.
• Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a great tool. The demographics, interest, and behavior data are very helpful in better understanding your users. Best part, it’s free!

Traditional marketing segmentation and persona creation focused a lot more on demographics then psychographics. The internet has really made the world a lot smaller. This has blurred a lot of the traditional regional demographics, making them less reliable. If we are to understand our persona’s real motivation, we must understand why they do what they do. This is where psychographics comes in. Personality profiling using Myers Briggs is a great tool, as is the Four Temperaments Assessment. These assessments will give you a clearer picture of the “why” behind your users’ actions.

Personas are extremely important for marketing, advertising, and UX design. As the world evolves and changes, so must the processes. We cannot rely on outdated methods to deliver the same results. If we are truly going to be able to effectively reach our audience and help our customers engage, we must get to know them on an emotional level. Below is a link to our updated buyer persona template. It is designed to help you go deeper in your persona development. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Customer success is a strategic and vital part of any organization that spans multiple departments and people. For customers, their lifecycle with your organization begins when they receive that first marketing email and it (hopefully) won’t end for a long, long time. The customer/organizational relationship is usually quite long, and every single interaction influences its health. While customer success as a whole can be comprised of a complex series of events, relationships, and decisions, the mission of customer success can be boiled down to four strong milestones.

Four Fold Mission of Customer Success

1. Implementation

The first stage of any new customer relationship is the kick off or implementation process. A customer has decided to buy your product and is ready to get started. This can actually be one of the most important stages of your entire customer lifecycle because it is the first time your new customer has worked directly with your team outside of the sales process.

Here are some ways to make sure that your team and your new customer hit the ground running:

• Understand exactly why they purchased your product. What are some quick wins your team can knock off early in the implementation process? What are possible risks?
• Know right off the bat what your new customer expects from your team. Will you need to be available to answer emails late at night? What are the best days of the week for a recurring meeting?
• Realize where roadblocks might occur down the road. The sooner your team can identify potential roadblocks on both sides means the sooner you can begin to strategize a plan to overcome them.

2. Adoption & Value

Now that your customer is up and running with your product, it’s time for them to start realizing value. To achieve recurring revenue, you need to deliver recurring value. How do you know if a customer is feeling comfortable with your product? Ask them!

Having clear, honest conversations with your customers is key to making sure they provide you with feedback (and success stories!) in the future. You can also take the insider route and gauge whether or not your customers are actually using your platform. It’s not enough to just have an administrator or team lead logging in a couple times a week. It’s imperative for customer success teams to monitor customer adoption in the first few weeks and months of a new implementation to make sure customers are not falling off the wagon early. Keep your eyes open for common on-boarding issues, such as:

• End users don’t fully understand how to use the product or service
• The product that was implemented is not the same as what was sold
• There is a clear lack of educational materials, documentation, or training offerings
• Hands-on help isn’t available to end users

Once customer adoption grows, then true value begins to emerge. This is when your team can ask your successful customer to participate in a success story. You don’t want to scare your customer off, so it’s important to tread lightly and casually. Make this a repeatable process that all customers go through for maximum success.

3. Growth

Growing adoption and unlocking value for your customers opens the door to growth. Adding new users, new product offerings, or new features is where customer success organizations can begin to attach an ROI to their efforts. The key here is for your customer success team to uncover the value in your product and then transform that value into dollars.

Set expectations early on. When your team knows what they are responsible for and your customer knows what they are responsible for, projects can move quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, if your team can deliver on projects ahead of a deadline, it’s a sign that you prioritized your unique customer relationship. Ask for customer feedback and act on it. This is key. Customers are on the front lines of your products. They know what’s working and what isn’t. Opening up these direct communication channels is key to improving customer relationships. The more customers trust you and your organization, they more they will invest in your product.

The growth milestone of the customer success mission is one of the most important strategies. As your customers unlock value, you unlock pathways to new departments, more users, and new product sells. Expansion revenue is key to drive SaaS profitability and big time growth.

4. Closing or Renewing

If all three milestones above are met, a renewal is imminent. If for some reason you miss one of the above steps, closing a deal requires re-selling the value, and for customers who have seen everything, this can prove to be very difficult. If your team does find itself facing a particularly difficult renewal conversation, don’t worry! There are plenty of ways to open up conversation with conflicted customers:

• Ask what made them decide to partner with your organization in the first place.
• Try to determine as a group where things might have fallen off the rails.
• See if your customer ever referred your company to others. Why did they do this?

Opening up an unbridled dialogue with customers shows them that you are dedicated to their partnership and are determined to do whatever it takes to salvage their relationship.

Looking at customer success as four fold mission allows customer success leaders and managers to clearly segment out activities and decisions to reach the end goal: renewal.

Back in the early 1990s, the corporate world was seized by a concept called “business process re-engineering (BPR),” the goal of which was to rethink business from the ground up, questioning every assumption, and redesigning processes from scratch to achieve massive gains in efficiency and competitiveness.

BPR spawned conferences, books, and countless consulting engagements, but there’s little evidence that anyone benefited from it other than the authors and consultants. It’s not that BPR was a bad idea; rather, few organizations are capable of the kind of massive change it demanded.

This year’s version of BPR is “digital transformation,” and the chart to the right pretty much tells the story. A Google search on that phrase turns up 7 million results, and the term has become a staple of press releases and corporate collateral. Is digital transformation destined to change business as we know it or will it wind up on the scrapheap with BPR?

Unfortunately, the latter is more likely. Interest in digital transformation has been spurred by the success of a few disruptive companies and egged on by technology vendors eager to find a way to sell more gear. But scroll down that list of Google search results and you’ll notice something interesting: there’s lots of talk about how to digitally transform, but very few examples of companies that have done it.

Corporate structure resists transformation change. While top executives may see opportunity, the people below them tend to see only layoffs, paycuts, retraining, and long hours with little reward. Middle-managers, whose value is often defined by the size of their budgets or staff, have no incentive to change anything. They are the tripwires of transformation.

McKinsey has estimated that the failure rate of large-scale change programs averages 70%. “For individual organizations and their leaders, disruption is episodic and sufficiently infrequent that most CEOs and top-management teams are more accomplished at running businesses in stable environments than in changing ones,” analysts Michael Bucy, Stephen Hall, and Doug Yakola wrote in a recent report.

About the only time transformative change does occur is when a business confronts its own mortality. IBM largely reinvented its business in the early 1990s, when demand for mainframes tanked, but it reduced its workforce by half in the process. Domino’s Pizza became a hub of digital innovation in its market only after its shares sank to $3 per share in 2008 and its brand was becoming a social media laughing stock.

Such examples are rare, though. More typical is the example of the newspaper industry, which was forced to transform when advertising revenues collapsed, but found that its operationally-oriented executives had neither the vision nor the willpower to make the necessary changes.

The more practical approach to transformation is incremental. Find those cells of creativity within the organization and put them to work on small projects that can yield short-term, tangible results. Build and expand on successes. The most important cultural change you need to make is to stop penalizing failure. Unfortunately, even that objective has proven difficult outside of Silicon Valley.

Former Cisco CEO John Chambers has been frequently quoted for his prediction that 40% of today’s largest companies won’t exist in 10 years. He’s probably right, but fear is only a motivator for people at the top. To get organizational buy-in, everyone has to envision an upside for them. Without hard examples of success to point to, digital transformation runs the risk of ending up as another good idea that was too big to make real.

Image via Pixabay

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Amazon is increasingly positioning its popular Echo product line to be utilized throughout the home, rather than simply in one central location.

Two recent moves reinforce this market strategy by the online retail giant:

• The Echo Dot is now available in a three-pack bundle, giving buyers a $20 discount off the retail price. Upon releasing the revamped Echo Dot earlier this year, the company announced the Dot would be available in six- and twelve-pack bundles for slight discounts, so this falls in line with these earlier offerings.
• The company will be discounting the original Echo and the Dot as a centerpiece of its Black Friday sales, according to Mashable. The original device will have its price lowered from $179.99 to $139.99, while the Dot will be priced at $39.99 for the day, down from $49.99. The discount of the Echos will begin November 20, several days before Black Friday. The company likely hopes to allow consumers to use their newly purchased Echo devices to increase their spending in the holiday season.

Amazon is lowering the price of these products in part to incentivize consumers to place Echos around their home. When Amazon first released the Echo in 2014, the company positioned it as a portable device that could be transported throughout the home. Without a built-in battery, however, it seems consumers haven't adapted to this usage model. Now, though, it appears that the company is trying to leverage the revamped Dot to encourage Echo users to integrate the Alexa voice assistant that powers the devices throughout the home.

The retail giant is counting on its Echo Spatial Perception (ESP) to allow these duplicate devices to coexist. The ESP system allows multiple Echo devices to be in contact with one another, so that when a user starts talking to the device, the nearest Echo unit activates and responds, rather than multiple units reacting simultaneously. With this technology in place, Amazon can move to take advantage of it through Echo Dot multipacks.

BI Intelligence expects that companies will follow Amazon’s lead, eventually offering voice control as a platform within the smart home space. The popularity of the Echo prompted Alphabet to release the Google Home earlier this year, while Samsung and Apple are also reportedly working on competing devices. Apple, through its recent revamp of HomeKit, already offers voice control throughout the home, though it's through its mobile devices rather than through a speaker. While voice control throughout the home will not likely represent a huge monetization opportunity for Amazon in itself, it gives the company a way to enhance its existing revenue streams, namely selling goods.

The U.S. smart home market has yet to truly take off. At its current state, we believe the smart home market is stuck in the 'chasm' of the technology adoption curve, in which it is struggling to surpass the early-adopter phase and move to the mass-market phase of adoption.

There are many barriers preventing mass-market smart home adoption: high device prices, limited consumer demand and long device replacement cycles. However, the largest barrier is the technological fragmentation of the smart home ecosystem, in which consumers need multiple networking devices, apps and more to build and run their smart home.

John Greenough, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the U.S. smart home market that analyzes current consumer demand for the smart home and barriers to widespread adoption. It also analyzes and determines areas of growth and ways to overcome barriers.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Smart home devices are becoming more prevalent throughout the US. We define a smart home device as any stand-alone object found in the home that is connected to the internet, can be either monitored or controlled from a remote location, and has a noncomputing primary function. Multiple smart home devices within a single home form the basis of a smart home ecosystem.
• Currently, the US smart home market as a whole is in the "chasm" of the tech adoption curve. The chasm is the crucial stage between the early-adopter phase and the mass-market phase, in which manufacturers need to prove a need for their devices.
• High prices, coupled with limited consumer demand and long device replacement cycles, are three of the four top barriers preventing the smart home market from moving from the early-adopter stage to the mass-market stage. For example, mass-market consumers will likely wait until their device is broken to replace it. Then they will compare a nonconnected and connected product to see if the benefits make up for the price differential.
• The largest barrier is technological fragmentation within the connected home ecosystem. Currently, there are many networks, standards, and devices being used to connect the smart home, creating interoperability problems and making it confusing for the consumer to set up and control multiple devices. Until interoperability is solved, consumers will have difficulty choosing smart home devices and systems.
• "Closed ecosystems" are the short-term solution to technological fragmentation. Closed ecosystems are composed of devices that are compatible with each other and which can be controlled through a single point.

In full, the report:

• Analyzes the demand of US consumers, based off of survey results
• Forecasts out smart home device growth until 2020
• Determines the current leaders in the market
• Explains how the connected home ecosystem works
• Examines how Apple and Google will play a major role in the development of the smart home
• Some of the companies mentioned in this report include Apple, Google, Nest, August, ADT, Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Lowe's, and Honeywell.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

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

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With 69% of all internet traffic expected to be video by 2017, can your business afford to avoid vlogging?

Is your business vlogging? Do you even know what vlogging is?

And just in case you’re not sure, it’s not pronounced “vee – log”, it’s “vlog” – like blog.

Vlogging is blogging, but with videos. (It’s video blogging, hence vlogging). It’s a lot less polished and produced than traditional ‘explainer videos’, and is expected to be delivered on a regular basis – maybe sharing weekly snippets or daily tips.

Many individuals vlog nowadays, but is your business vlogging? Should you be?

It’s a scary prospect for most Marketing Managers – letting your staff loose on YouTube available for the whole world to see. But customers now expect a more personal approach, and they want to see what individuals are saying – it feels more authentic; an increasingly central theme in a lot of the content we now produce for clients. But it’s now becoming more prominent in business’ Content Marketing strategies (read about the different types here).

Rather than a faceless entity talking to you, people are connecting with people. It’s obvious, when you think about it.

Cisco believes that by 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic (read more in this Guardian article) so it’s something that businesses can’t afford to ignore, and doing it now before the market is completely saturated is key.

But videos have been around for ages, so why haven’t they been delivering for you?

Well, for one thing, consumers are getting bored with the traditional video case study – the format is too familiar and we almost know what to expect before we’ve seen it. It’s become stale, and B2B customers want something more dynamic – they want to see the type of videos they are engaging with on YouTube from the brands they love. Now, I’m not saying that your favourite cloud service provider should start posting shopping hauls a la Zoella, but it may be of interest to you to see your tech provider’s Network Architect giving a tour of their datacentre and responding to an issue in real-time. Or perhaps a Facebook Live Q and A session on a new product launch?

It’s difficult to strike the balance between being company approved (or at least in line with social media policies) but without the overtly corporate overtones of traditional videos.

The other reason in favour of exploring vlogs is the fact that your buyers are now likely to be a mix of generations; with many being heavy social media users and regularly consuming videos and live streaming through Facebook and Twitter. You have to be where your buyers are. And you have to be there now, even if the buyers are only going to get there in a year or two.

So, how can your business harness vlogging?

1) Who is going to do it? As with written content, select a few key individuals within the business to focus on – or if you’re thinking of being the lead, think of why you’re the right person for the task.

2) What is the general direction for the topics going to be? You don’t have to have every video title laid out in advance, but it’s good if you can start with a clear direction so that your followers will know what to expect. What can you become a leading voice for? What is your niche topic area?

3) What kit do you need to film? You will likely already have a phone good enough for filming a vlog – the finished video doesn’t have to be polished as it’s supposed to be quick to record and quick to share pieces of content to keep you connected with users.

4) Where are you going to film? In the office? On location with a customer? In the street on your way to lunch? What will work best for your type of business? How can you best showcase what it is you do in an appropriate way for what you are selling.

5) Who else can you get involved? Vlogging doesn’t have to be a solo effort. Like podcasting, vlogging engages users when there is a sense of engagement and interaction. Who from your contact base might be up for promoting their own profile alongside sharing some insights? It could be colleagues from within your business, or perhaps customers or business partners. Maybe it could be interviewees at an industry conference?

6) Where will you share it? Promoting your blog is just as important. It’s likely you will upload it to YouTube, but what next? You could share it across your social media platforms, or even record it natively into Facebook through the Facebook Live feature (p.s. there are some great university professors delivering their lectures from Facebook which are worth checking out).

7) Be prepared for feedback. You can’t control who sees it if you’re publishing publically so just be prepared for a bit of friendly, and not-so-friendly feedback. It’s a necessary evil…

Can you envisage your company vlogging anytime soon?

We know we need to be customer focused. We know that we are most effective when we focus less on what we sell, but how we help the customer with their opportunities and challenges.

For many, just this shift in focus, moving from internal focus on pitching products, to focusing on the customer is a huge challenge.

But the reality is, we and our buyers, need a larger perspective. We and they have to look beyond themselves, if they are to succeed with their initiatives for change.

Helping our customers look beyond themselves, the problems they are trying to solve, the opportunities they seek to address, has at least two contexts:

• What’s driving their customers/markets and how does this buying initiative impact that?
• What are the priorities of their organization/top management and how does this buying initiative impact those?

The problem is probably rooted in human nature. We tend to be “self” or internally focused. As sales people we struggle to shift our focus from our own goals and what we want to sell to our customers.’

Likewise our customers tend to focus on themselves–their department/function, or their own personal goals and aspirations. Good sales people recognize this, becoming buyer focused.

But our buyers don’t exist in isolation, they are driven by the organizations they must work with, internally, as well as by the needs of their customers and markets.

Helping your customers identify growth opportunities: Recently, I had conversation with the VP of Sales for a company that sells basic materials (think chemicals). Their product is, largely, undifferentiated with that of the competitors. They seek to improve their differentiation with quality, supply chain management, ease of doing business, and this causes them to win many opportunities.

But their growth with these customers was limited. They sought to figure out, “how do we drive greater demand for our products within these customers.” The trick ended up not being to focus on their customers and expand their share, but in helping their customers focus on their own customers and markets. They worked with their customers trying to help them identify areas in which they could grow with their customers and markets.

This VP of Sales had realized their ability to grow was largely limited by their own customers’ abilities to grow. Helping their customers address these issues enabled my client’s company increase their value to their customers, as well as drive their own growth with these customers.

Helping your buyers align with their company priorities: With another client, the situation was quite different. They had actually won the decision for a multi-million Euro system with their customer. The buyers had made the decision to buy my client’s solution. The challenge was, the order never came!

What happened was, their customer’s division president had gone to top management requesting approval to move forward. The division already had the funding in their budget, but they needed to align with top management. The business case was compelling, this was an important initiative to this division, they were excited about moving forward.

The project was stopped dead in it’s tracks. Top corporate management didn’t approve the project. It wasn’t directly aligned with the top priorities they had for the organization. In fact, they wanted to take the funding the division had committed to this project and divert it to another division with a project that was more aligned with the top priorities of the organization.

Our customers are competing within their own organizations for management attention and the allocation of scarce resources/funding. Unless our customers can connect their buying initiative to the impact on the top priorities of their companies, the liklihood of getting approval is very small.

In the case of this client, we worked with them and their customer to refocus the business case on the impact on top company priorities. Ultimately, they got the project approved.

The bottom line: Shifting our perspectives from our own goals/priorities to those of our buyers is just one step to achieving our goals. We have to help our buyers shift their own perspectives from an inwards focus on their own needs to how those needs/requirements align with the needs of their customers/markets, and within their own company priorities.

Last week, I spoke at Inbound, where 19,000 people attended this sold-out event in Boston.  Ironically, I spoke to a crowd that wanted to learn how to be more effective at engaging prospects by phone and converting those conversations to meetings.  Why is it ironic?  Well, the promise of the Inbound movement is that cold calling is dead. Salespeople will reap the benefits of inbound leads from prospects who had already expressed interest.  Has that happened?

We heard it loud and clear; companies are paving the way for new digital marketing strategies in the coming year. And, while digital marketing can refer to a ton of different things, we’re talking about videos.

Making the switch to video marketing means a lot of adjustments to your current content, including finding people at your company who know how to do a little acting! Okay, not quite. But, creating meaningful videos as a part of your digital marketing strategy is no walk in the park.

If you’re hoping to utilize this trend without any prior experience, you’re going to need some pointers. Here’s how to incorporate video marketing into your content strategy for the new year.

Analyze Your Budget

How much can your company realistically invest? If you’re going to take video marketing seriously, you may need to purchase new equipment, as well as hire a person or a team that knows how to put the whole thing together. However, if video marketing is just something you want to experiment with, then maybe hold off on dropping a large portion of your budget just now.

Regardless, if this is something you think you will want to get into eventually, it’s going to be an investment. Discuss this with your team and remember, a good video marketing campaign will mean more leads and a higher profit.

Don’t Get Sidetracked

No one is expecting your company to come out with the next Steven Spielberg movie. That being said, you don’t really get a free pass when it comes to making videos. It still needs to look good and be effective. The easiest way to accomplish both these criteria is by sticking to one main idea, without getting sidetracked. What are you trying to show your audience with this video? What’s the goal? Is it a replacement for your current written content, or a supplement? Whatever it is, make sure the video is short and to the point. About 15-45 seconds for a short video, and two minutes for a longer video.

Where to Host Your Video

If you’re going to start creating videos as a way to bring in leads, you should also think about who is going to host the videos. While some companies seek out Youtube or Facebook, others will just use their own website. We can’t really tell you which one is best for you, but consider the competition before choosing one method over another.

Couple Your Video with a Promotional Strategy

A video on its own is just a video. In order for it to mean something, it has to have a promotional strategy that goes along with it, just like any other type of content. Don’t think that simply making a video is going to have the leads lining up at your door. Decide how you’re going to promote this video, whether it be through email, social media, or at an event you’re hosting (or all three).

Don’t Wing It If You Can’t Manage It

Despite the fact that video marketing is becoming hot with users, creating videos isn’t for everyone. If video marketing doesn’t suit your business or just isn’t even the budget right now, then take your time. Most likely, the idea will still be around for quite a while. At the end of the day, if you don’t put your heart into everything you do, your potential leads will sense that. So, if you’re currently doing well with your written content, stick to that.

Whether you’re trying to sell via e-mail, calls, or social media, there tends to be an awful lot of guesswork involved. Trying to get someone’s attention, especially in a “cold calling” situation, is a tall order with a relatively low success rate.

But believe it or not, there are a few tricks to it that can dramatically improve your success rate. We’re going to break down some sales statistics for you, and explain how you can use them to become a more successful seller.

Before we break things down, here’s an infographic to give you a high-level overview:

1. Most e-mails are opened at the end of the work day

According to Mailchimp, the majority of e-mails are opened between 2 and 5pm. That means if you send your sales e-mails out first thing in the morning, they’re getting buried under potentially dozens of other things before your target even gets to it. By then, they may just skip it.

2. Tuesday e-mails have the highest open rate

You’re probably going to be sending out e-mails just about every day of the week, so this may not be hugely important. But an Experian study on e-mail marketing shows that there’s something about Tuesday that gets people opening their e-mails. Maybe they’re making up for being so sluggish on Monday. You can use this information to double up your e-mail marketing on Tuesday, or perhaps to send the extra-important stuff that day.

3. 35% of people decide whether or not to open an e-mail based solely on the subject line

This is actually good news for you if you’re trying to “cold call” for sales via e-mail. While some people may delete e-mails from anyone they don’t know, some can be enticed by a subject line that interests them. That makes this next point very important:

4. E-mails with long titles are e-mails that stay unopened

Of course you want to put as much info out front as possible, and so you might think the best way to go is to load up your subject line with details. Actually, the opposite is true. The open rate on e-mails drops by over 60% when the subject line is longer than 3 words. Keep it short and concise, and also…

5. Having the right keywords in your subject line is crucial

It can feel like desperate click-bait, but the reality is, words like “Alert,” “New,” and “Free Delivery” really do improve the clickthrough rate for B2B customers. Meanwhile, words like “report” and “learn” tend to turn people off.

6. 57% of e-mail recipients will mark a message as spam, even if they know the sender

It’s cold, but true. E-mail is easy to ignore, and “spam” is just e-mail shorthand for “not interested in this right now.” Even if it’s a buyer you do a lot of business with, even if it’s personalized, they won’t hesitate to throw it in the spam bin if it doesn’t resonate with their needs right now. Even still, it’s important to get your message in front of prospective buyers, because…

7. Only 2% of cold calls result in an appointment

This may sound like a bleak figure, but what it means is it’s important to warm up your leads before calling. Send an e-mail, a tweet, something to put you on their radar before you show up on their phone. If they have an idea of who you are and what you want, they’re less likely to avoid your call. Which is good, because…

8. The average sales rep spends 25 hours a month leaving voicemail

Given an average of about 70 voicemails left a day, and 60 seconds to do it (roughly 30 seconds to listen to a greeting, and 30 seconds to leave the message), that’s roughly 25 hours a month, or 15% of a sales rep’s total time. You should consider whether leaving voicemails is necessarily the best use of time, considering…

9. Most of your voicemails go unreturned

According to RingLead, 80% of calls go to voicemail, and 90% of first-time voicemails go unanswered. There are ways to maximize voicemail returns, but one of the ways to make your voicemails more efficient is simply to shorten them. The Sales Hunter says the optimal voicemail length is between 8 and 14 seconds.

10. The best hours to make calls or leave voicemails are at the beginning and end of the workday…

The best rate of return on voicemails comes between 6:45 and 8:00 am, and between 4:30 and 6:30 pm. Think of it this way. People are likely to check their e-mails at the beginning and the end of the workday. If your message is at the top of the pile at either of those times, you’re in good shape.

11. …but not Monday morning or Friday evening

The beginning and end of the workweek are not the most productive times on the schedule. Early Monday, people have too much to catch up with, and late Friday, they have too much else they want to get to. The last thing anyone wants to deal with at these times is a sales call. Respect that, and slide those in to other parts of other days.

12. The average sale requires 5 follow-up calls

So let’s say you actually have someone’s attention. You’ve met with them, you’ve given them your best pitch, and they seem mildly interested. You follow up with them and don’t really get much further. This is where about 44% of salespeople give up and move on. Don’t be one of those people, because about 80% of successful sales came after 5 or more follow-up calls.

13. 86% of how you communicate on the phone isn’t about what you say

Only 14% of your phone communication has to do with the words you use. The remaining 86% is how you say it. With no way to communicate through gestures, smiles, or other non-verbal means, the tone of your voice has everything to do with what you’re getting across to people.

14. Sales reps who use social selling are 79% more likely to hit their sales goals than those who don’t

This is according to a study that was done back in 2012, and social media has only continued to grow since then. E-mails and calls are still the most tried-and-true method, but if you’re not including social as one of the tools in your arsenal, you’re doing it wrong. In particular,

15. 96% of sales firms use LinkedIn an average of 6 hours a week

It doesn’t just have to be a way to contact people – sales reps can use LinkedIn to search for leads and research a company for a better insight to their needs.

16. 77% of B2B buyers don’t talk to salespeople without doing independent research first

This makes social selling an absolute must. Maintaining a social presence doesn’t just pay dividends in terms of direct contact – in many cases, it’s about putting information out there to be found independently. In many cases, their first impression of your business isn’t from your first call.

17. B2B Marketers have better luck using Twitter on weekdays

An Argyle study of Facebook and Twitter engagement showed that B2B Twitter users saw 7% better engagement on weekdays, while B2C has higher engagement on the weekend. Know who you’re trying to reach before you decide when and how.

18. Over 10% of sellers can trace 5 or more sales back to social media

They may not have been fully, start-to-finish social selling jobs, but social worked its way into these closed sales. Maybe the buyer became a warm lead through social marketing. Maybe the seller used LinkedIn to research the company and make a better pitch. Whatever the circumstance, today’s most successful sellers are using social media in a variety of ways.

19. 80% of organizations in 2012 said their sales teams would be more productive with stronger social media

Most companies now have people or entire teams on board to handle social media. In other words, it’s unlikely to fall to individual sales reps. However, it’s important to know how you can leverage the social media presence you do have. If your organization is making a strong push to improve its social media presence or running a special sort of promotion through it, be aware of that. It’s possible your buyers may be familiar with the campaign without even making the connection to you.

20. 84% of B2B buyers start their decision with a referral

It’s simple. One of the best ways to convince someone that your organization does quality work is an independent vote of confidence from a trusted friend or adviser. This is a total team effort, as it requires great customer service well after the sale is finalized, but it also highlights the importance of social selling, and maintaining an image of quality even while not actively engaged with a potential buyer.

There is a lot happening in the world of Customer Success, everything changes fast, and it can be difficult to see the bigger picture and to locate yourself on the map. We love statistics, numbers, all the fun stuff… So we looked everywhere and aggregated the most striking Customer Success numbers to help you understand what’s really happening.
About the profession:

62% of Customer Success professionals report having less than 3 years of experience in Customer Success, and 9% reported having worked in the field for 10 years or more. (source)

50% of Customer Success teams are stand-alone organizations reporting directly to the CEO, whereas 20% are still considered part of Sales. (source)

The most popular compensation plan is base salary + bonus, and only 13% of CSMs get paid some sort of commission. (source)

The average cost of a CSM ranges between 75K and 100K annually. Directors of Customer Success make on average 125K to 150K per year, and finally, a CCOs and VP salary averages between 150K and 175K. (source)

In 2016, 60% of Customer Success Organizations have been around for 2 years, or less. (source)

90% of teams have an account segmentation strategy and 67% segment their user base by account size. (source)
About the customer:

Only 4% of dissatisfied customers will raise their voice about an issue. (source)

As early as 2009, the number one request from customers was “better human service”, which they placed above the integration of different channels and enriched content. (source)

A bad customer service experience will have a reach twice as large as a good experience, and it will take 12 positive experiences to make up for a single bad one. (source)

About the industry:

Only 23% of B2B marketers claim that their organizational structure is customer-centric, as opposed to channel or product-centric. (source)

As early as 1990, a study from the Harvard Business Review showed that increasing customer retention rates by 5% leads to profits increasing by 25% to 95%. (source)

The probability of converting an existing customer is 60% to 70%, whereas the probability of converting a new prospect is 5% to 20%. (source)

Those companies who prioritize customer experience generate 60% higher profits. (source)

A 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits by 25% to 125%. (source)

There are 21.8 million pages featuring Customer Success indexed on Google.

Cold calling as a sales strategy is effective–there’s no denying it.

In fact, many successful businesses have been built and continue to be built on cold calling alone. But unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and many business owners are now searching for tips on how to generate leads without cold calling.

They’re just not happy with the results anymore, and the statistics speak for themselves:

• In a period of just 6 years (from 2007 to 2013), the number of attempts needed to reach a prospect via cold call increased from 3.7 times to 8 times
• Only 2% of cold calls result in an appointment
• The average salesperson makes 8 dials per hour and prospects for 6.25 hours to set just 1 appointment
• Cold calling doesn’t work 90% of the time

(Source: Slideshare – 20 Shocking Sales Stats That Will Change How You Sell)

It’s easy to see that, as business owners, we need an alternative. We need a system that we can rely on to generate a predictable flow of leads & sales for our business.

But does such a system or solution exist?

Turns out it does, and this 7-step process is as close as you’ll come to an automated system for generating new business leads.

Let’s start from the top…

Step 1: Identify Your Personas

A persona is a fictional representation of your ideal client. You’ll want to create one or more personas that closely describe someone you’d love to do business with.

Think of your current customers. What do they all have in common? Gather client-facing employees from your company and go through a persona discovery exercise with them.

When you’re done, you’ll know what your prospects’ questions, challenges, pain points & concerns are so you can better address their needs.

You’ll need this valuable insight for the next step in the process.

Step 2: Establish Medium, Messaging & Frequency

Armed with the data & insights you collected in step 1, now it’s time to establish your content marketing plan.

Your goal is to create educational content that answers all the questions, concerns & push backs that you discovered in the persona discovery exercise. Doing this establishes your business or company as an expert in your industry.

By providing answers & addressing any concerns your prospects have, you’ll earn their trust and they’ll be more likely to choose your products or services as a solution to their problem when the time comes.

In this step, you’re going to want to ask yourself these three things:

1. What channel will you use to publish content, and what form will it take? In other words, are you going to write blog posts, design infographics, produce videos, podcasts or other? Once this content is created, are you going to publish on your website or elsewhere on the web?
2. What kind of messaging will you use? Are you going to create content that has a friendly tone or are you going to stick with something more corporate, rigid and formal?
3. How often are you going to publish? Can you commit to one piece of content per month? Per week? Twice per week? Every day?

If the personas you discovered in step 1 don’t typically listen to podcasts, then don’t spend time & effort creating podcasts. If your personas read Forbes, Entrepreneur, and other business related magazines & websites, it may be wise to focus distribution on those channels, too.

The key is to choose a publishing frequency and stick to it. Start slow and increase your frequency as you get better at creating quality content.

This next step is a crucial part of the process.

Step 3: Keyword & Topic Research

Now that you know what your personas are concerned with in regards to your product or service offering and you’ve decided on medium, messaging & frequency, it’s time to find out which keywords & phrases your prospects are actually searching for.

If you discovered that your prospects are B2B business owners that have trouble getting more leads for their business, you’ll want to do keyword research to find out if they’re searching for:

• how to get more leads online
• how to get more leads with my website
• how do I get more leads

or any other related keywords.

The possibilities are endless, and you’ll want to use a keyword research tool that can give you an estimate of the monthly search volume for each term. There’s no use putting 10 hours of work into a piece of content optimized around a keyword or key phrase that no one is searching for. This will also help you prioritize which keywords are worth spending more time on.

You should also consider the difficulty of the keyword. If the keyword is being targeted by many other businesses, it’ll take more effort to snatch up a piece of the monthly search volume.

Don’t skimp out on this step. It’s crucial if you want to build up organic traffic that grows over time.

Step 4: Plan Your Premium Content Offer

What’s the one thing your prospects & customers always ask you? Is it related to pricing? Is it about product features? Is it related to the use of your product?

Take the time needed to come up with a topic your prospects would want to learn more about, and then create a downloadable piece of content on the topic to give away for free in exchange for an email address. It can be something as simple as a pricing guide, a product feature brochure, or even how to get started with content marketing if that’s what your prospects are interested in.

Make sure your premium content offer is well designed and provides enough value to your prospects that they’ll be willing to give you their email address for it.

Once your premium offer is complete, it’s time to make it available to your website visitors.

Step 5: Install Opt-in Forms & Landing Pages

When it comes to generating leads from your website, opt-in forms and landing pages are your best friend.

If your website is built on WordPress, there are a myriad of plugins that make creating opt-in forms and landing pages a breeze. Going this route also means you won’t have to hire a designer to make your forms look pretty as these add-on plugins come with beautifully designed templates. Any one of these plugins will do the trick, and a quick Google search will provide you with the most popular options to choose from.

If you’re not all that technical, you’ll have to hire a web developer to set all this up for you in order to start generating new leads from your website.

Once your opt-in forms & landing pages are created, link them to your email marketing platform so that you can deliver your premium content offer and begin nurturing prospects into customers.

Step 6: Create, Capture, Promote

Now that you’ve discovered your personas, found the right keywords, planned out your content and made a premium offer available for download on your website, it’s time to start creating!

Set out to create content optimized around the keywords your prospects are looking for (based on your keyword research), and make sure each piece of content asks your prospects to download your premium offer for more information.

While not all visitors will give you their email address for more information, a small percentage will which means new valuable leads for your business.

In order to maximize the reach of your new content and get it in front of as many people as possible, you need to promote it. Email influencers in your industry and let them know you’ve created new educational content. If they’re receptive to your message, ask them to share it with their audiences. If you’re active on any social networks, be sure to share it there as well.

Don’t be shy to amplify your content with paid advertising if it starts to pick up traction on its own. Even just a few dollars can go a long way.

Step 7: Marketing Automation & Lead Nurturing

Now that your machine is set up to generate leads without having to cold call, it’s time to nurture your new leads into sales.

The best way to nurture leads into sales is to drip feed them relevant content over time with regards to which stage they’re at in the buyer’s journey. You’ll want to send different content to prospects in the awareness, consideration, and decision stages.

This can be done with marketing automation software. There are many different solutions available to you based on your business size & needs, but they all help you achieve the same goal: to get the right message in front of the right prospect at the right time.

If you implement marketing automation & lead nurturing into your strategy, you’ll soon realize how powerful this cold calling alternative is. You’re no longer interrupting prospects, but rather having them find you. It completely changes the sales dynamic, and your prospect will no longer feel like he’s being pressured or forced into listening to your sales pitch.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, your cold callers are no longer as useful as they once were.

If you were wondering how to generate leads without cold calling, I’ve just laid out a proven strategy that works. This strategy is what many businesses are turning to as their go-to marketing method for generating leads. It takes more time to implement, but it’s also less expensive and more successful in generating new business leads down the road.

Besides, a cold caller must keep calling in order to get leads. With this strategy, a few well-planned blog articles, videos, and premium content pieces like eBooks and infographics can generate leads for years to come without any additional work after hitting ‘publish’.

Let go of some or all of your cold callers and make the switch to this proven system. I dare you!

Note: Want to learn 15 proven tactics for turning website visitors into valuable leads & sales that help grow your business? Download this guide and learn how to get started!

This article was originally published here.

The post Situational Awareness – Your Secret Weapon in Sales appeared first on Sales Hacker.

Demand generation should be a core component of a Blue Ocean Strategy - instead it is frequently confused with either brand awareness or lead generation Demand generation is a critical theoretical component of the 'new' marketing- a catch-all term for the kind …..

The post Demand Generation Definition appeared first on Smart Insights.

How does your pricing stack up against your peers?

A few years ago, Warren Buffett shared the secret behind his incredibly successful investing strategy: focus on pricing power. In his view, pricing power is “the single most important decision in evaluating a business,” and the best indicator of whether a company has an enduring business. Yet most SaaS startups are only beginning to contemplate their pricing power, let alone at a stage when they can fully leverage pricing as a strategic growth driver. They typically ask how to get started on their pricing journey, what they should be doing and what success looks like.

To determine the maturity of your pricing and get advice on reaching the next level, we’ve created a simple interactive pricing maturity survey. The survey diagnoses where you excel and where you have room to improve, then recommends next steps for your business. As we collect more data, we will be able to benchmark your performance against peers at the same stage of growth and who sell into similar customer segments. Click the button to get started, and please leave any feedback and suggestions in the comments!

Take the Survey

The post SaaS Pricing Maturity Calculator appeared first on OpenView Labs.

The pound is sliding on Monday, falling off recent highs, thanks to a strengthening dollar on the day.

Sterling charged higher on Friday, reaching its highest level since the "flash crash" that caused a massive drop in the currency's value in early October, but it has now all but erased those gains after US bond yields surged in overnight trade, pushing the dollar upwards.

Around 3.50 p.m. GMT (10.50 a.m. ET) sterling is lower by roughly 1% against the greenback, dropping back under the psychologically significant $1.25 mark on the day. Here is the chart of how that looks:

US bond yields soared in Asian trade, which in turn, lit a fire under the US dollar which is rallying hard across the board.

Donald Trump’s pro-growth stimulus plans, even before specific detail is known, are creating a massive re-think across financial markets.

The move in US yields has seen the dollar rip higher in response with the US dollar index up more than 1%, something that in turn is driving sterling and currencies across the board, lower.

The pound had been steadily climbing in the past week or so, buoyed by the High Court's ruling that parliament must be given a vote on the triggering of Article 50, as well as an initial slide in the dollar after the shock election of Trump, which has now reversed.

By contrast, the pound has actually gained a little on the euro on Monday, up roughly 0.5% on the single currency. Here is the chart:

The euro's recent struggles are continuing on Monday, with the single currency falling to its lowest level since January against the dollar, extending its run of losses. Monday marks the sixth consecutive session that the euro has tumbled. Here's how it looks against the dollar today:

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: JAMES ALTUCHER: This is why owning a home is financial suicide

I was a sophomore in high school, anticipating my first-ever “session.” A session is a term used to describe 20-30 minutes spent playing a musical instrument, by yourself, in front of your music director to be assessed for a chair in the school’s band. (Oh, and former band geeks – I am looking at you, because you know exactly what I am talking about. Don’t hide).

This harrowing collection of minutes was made even more terrifying by the fact that your “chair” represented how skilled you were at your instrument. First chair = the most skilled. Last chair = the least skilled. In Manchester, NH at the ripe age of 15, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

I’d spent hours practicing my scales as well as all the prepared pieces (to this day, I find the best cure for anxiety is preparation), and I was thinking I had a terrific shot at first chair. On the day of my session, my parents wished me good luck and I skipped off to the bus, hopped on and made it all the way to school. …without my clarinet.

The moral of the story is this: it doesn’t matter how well you execute the hard things if you can’t get the easy things right. By easy, I mean common sense, non-strategic tasks. Clever offers are can be rendered useless by poor deliverability, and real-time personalization becomes irrelevant for mobile users when websites aren’t responsive.

Below are my top four ways that B2B marketing technologists forget their clarinet:

Lead Routing

The first time a credible lead is misrouted (or worse, not routed at all) to the follow-up function, your reputation takes a crippling roundhouse to the gut. You don’t get unlimited chances to get lead routing right – so don’t roll it out until it’s fool-proof.

Speaking of foolish, many demand marketing organizations base their lead routing on legacy business rules that are nearly impossible to automate. The best thing you can do is intervene before an error occurs and have a frank and honest conversation about this with a sales management or operations function. One of two things typically occurs: the rules are slowly modified to something that’s more standard and easier to automate, or human intervention is permitted to ensure better accuracy.

Naming Conventions

Chefs, you can’t cook an epic meal in a messy kitchen and expect to serve it on time! Naming conventions, while not the sexiest topic to tackle when you’re bringing a new piece of technology into the fold, are critical to the productivity of the application’s users.

Come up with an intuitive convention that will meet the needs of the users, and be reasonably self-explanatory to those who are not intimate with the application and teach it as part of your training and/or onboarding process. If you don’t, two years from now you’ll be staring down the barrel of a massive renaming exercise; and trust me, your time is better spent.

Lead Forms

I could probably write a whole post on how lead forms can be mishandled, but this is about getting easy things right. So, integrate your forms to post to the marketing database first, and let the marketing database automation standardize some of the submission data prior to updating CRM. It doesn’t take a long time, and you’ll thank me later when you don’t have 150 leads named Mickey Mouse in Salesforce.com.

Also, use some field validation for both required fields AND field formats. Don’t want @GMAIL.COM or @YAHOO.COM? Prevent submissions with these addresses. Want phone numbers in XXX-XXX-XXXX format? Use validation to set the formatting prior to submission.

Personalization

Personalization is different than dynamic content in that it typically occurs at the field level. Therefore, field formats and hygiene on fields used for personalization as well as overall restraint is critical! Stop me if you’ve seen this one before:

Dear ASHLEY ,

Management/consulting can be a tough business. We help companies of your size 0-10 employees all the time. Give me a call if you want to discuss the different ways that we can help. I’ll also be in BOSTON, MA next month if you’d like to meet up!

Sincerely,
etc. etc.

Sincerely? Really? Because there is no way a human wrote that message.

Personalization is backfiring all over the internet because marketers don’t keep merged fields tidy, don’t use restraint, and don’t test their personalization at scale.

Now it’s your turn: Which ones did I miss? What are your biggest headaches?

Article by Ernan Roman Featured on CustomerThink.com

There is a chasm between what customers are expecting in terms of personalization and what marketers are providing. According to findings from research conducted by TimeTrade; “93 percent of retail decision makers claim that personalization is a strategic focus but only 25 percent of shoppers say they receive a consistent, personal experience across channels.” According to TimeTrade CEO, Gary Ambrosino, “to remain successful … brands must … ensure that service is prompt, personalized and consistent across channels.”

1. Your customer, BtoB or BtoC, is a human being, not a cohort or data segment. Personalizing their full brand experience across all channels and touchpoints lets them know that you are listening and customizing interactions/solutions per their individual needs.
2. Showing your shoppers how a product can solve a problem or enhance their lifestyle in a meaningful way lets them envision the brand as a true partner in their life. The brand becomes less about the sale of and more about a long-term ongoing solution.
3. Today personalization is about putting the consumer in the driver’s seat to determine how they want to engage, what they want to engage about, and when that engagement should take place. Brands need to become nimble in order to provide the types of personalized experiences their unique customers require.

As a kid growing up in Brooklyn New York I spent countless hours with my best friend. We were neighbors and always together. Whether going to the movies, playing ball or doing other “kid stuff”, we had great times together.

Moving forward many years I sat down today to write a new article on what makes great customer service. As I listed specific characteristics I realized how much in common they have with a good friend, a BFF (best friend forever).

Here’s 8 Ways Great Service is Just as Special as Your BFF

A Warm Smile

Your eyes widen, your stress and anxiety lessens and your day seems a little brighter. That’s what your BFF’s smile does for you. The world is a better place because of him/her.

When we enter a business nothing starts the interaction off better than a warm welcome –

“Good afternoon, welcome to ___________, how may I help you today?” Follow next with a sincere smile and you are off to a great customer service start. Great businesses hire for personality first and train for the job skills second.

No Lies

Best friends don’t lie.

Great businesses don’t lie to their customers either. They sell products/services that work as intended with no hidden surprises. When something goes wrong they face up to it and make it right.

Show Empathy, a Good Listener

Best friends “feel the pain” when one is sad, hurt or in trouble. They quickly understand the situation, show compassion and do their best to ease the discomfort.

A great customer service representative doesn’t have to be told when the customer was wronged, they realize it immediately. They use LEAP (Listen, Empathize, Apologize, and Problem Solve) to correct the customer’s issue right away.

Give the Benefit of the Doubt

BFF’s don’t second-guess one another. They take the other at his/her word – no handshake or contract is needed. They have full faith that each will do as they say and will complete the task to the best of their ability.

Customers do the same with the businesses they frequent. They don’t assume anything will go wrong. Delivery will be on Wednesday? No need to think otherwise. Dinner reservation is for 7pm? I know my table will be ready. Great businesses deliver on their promise to provide great customer service.

No Shortcuts

Best friends wouldn’t think of undercutting or shortchanging the other. You just don’t do that to your BFF.

An honorable business that respects their customers acts the same. They don’t use substitutions, nor lower quality ingredients and never use “bait & switch” tactics. How else can you provide great service if your product doesn’t match your word?

You Know What to Expect

You can count on your BFF when needed, no question she’ll be there. You can tell what dress she’ll wear to the dance and what power-tie he’ll have on for the big job interview. Your friend is the model of consistency and security. No surprises there…

As a customer, you expect the same from the businesses you frequent. You want the same shopping hours, same quality of product, similar pricing structure and you love dealing with the long term employees you have become “friends” with over the years.

That is part of your customer-first appeal. Your motto: “To do what’s in the best interest of the customer”.

You Show Appreciation

You can always count on getting a card or phone call from your BFF on your birthday or other special occasion. The regular communication confirms your relationship as mutually beneficial and valuable. You treasure these moments.

“Thank you for your business” cards, frequent shopper discounts, special membership days, behind-the-scene tours and customer appreciation days are some of the many ways a business shows how much they value your business. This continues each day after by providing you with great service.

Acceptance of Change

Life is a journey and so is a friendship. Tastes in music, dress and appearance will outwardly change your friend as you know him/her. That doesn’t mean the person “inside” has changed or their beliefs have morphed away from what originally attracted you to each other. This is the next phase in their life and you accept this as any great friend will.

I have heard customers complain about the new carpet or wall coverings of their favorite business and loudly show their disappointment. The product hasn’t changed, the service hasn’t changed nor has the management. Only the superficial trinkets that make up the décor have been upgraded, as is needed from time to time.

This is no reason to complain or become resistance to change. I bet if they didn’t make renovations you would complain about their failure to reinvest in the business, correct?

This leads to the last item…

You Forgive

During the course of a friendship not all is perfect. Words are said or actions taken that put stress on the relationship. But, when a friendship is valued, you see through difficult times toward the moment when all is right – and you jointly work to get there.

It works the same in business. There will be times when service falters or expectations aren’t met. Does that mean you stop doing business with that company? For some the answer is yes. But for most this is a minor setback that is quickly mended.

A valued relationship takes time and is worth the effort because great service is just as special as your BFF.

image courtesy of viralnova.com/best-friends, with some help from me…

The massive talent shortage in tech has all kinds of weird effects: the inability to outbid tech giants means that badly secured hospitals get devoured by ransomware; it means that companies that value diversity get to outmaneuver much better-resourced competitors; it means that companies that pledge to be ethical can edge out their competition (and that unethical conduct can have real costs); and it means that companies get so desperate that they form industry-wide criminal conspiracies to try to short circuit the seller's market for tech skills. (more…)

Over the past 10 years of consulting I have written and reviewed hundreds of Statements of Work (SOWs). One can get so bogged down in the details that they can miss these major oversights in all delivery methodologies. Whether you are looking at a PowerPoint proposal or a 30 page contract SOW, here are 5 quick things to ensure are in all SOWs. While these tips may seem like common sense, I have found one or all of these details missing from nearly 100% of the contracts I have reviewed.

1) Business Outcomes

This is the foundation of every project so it should never be missing from the SOW, and likely the first section. Almost all problematic projects are due to an unclear vision. If you are still in the process of defining the requirements, it is best to start with a workshop and then move on to a full SOW. Use the SMART method to determine if the right amount of details are in scope: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. If a coworker or family member cannot explain what the scope is and what success looks like then, this foundational section needs to be updated until it is crystal clear.

2) Explicit Details

If its not written down, don’t assume it will get completed. Make sure you understand all the assumptions and details up front. If an SOW states that some objective will be completed, always question how much work (how many days, how many tasks, how many widgets). Do not stake your success on an outcome based (generalized outcome) contract only. You should, instead, ensure the contract includes assumptions on effort, time, and quantity that will be required to complete the stated objective. This is good for all parties involved.

3) Project Schedule (Work Breakdown Structure) and Resource Plans

A Project schedule does not have to be complicated but should a visualization that will easily point out these three things.

How long is the project going to take and what are the phases? Don’t get caught in big bang approaches. You want to start showing value as quick as possible, on short sprints, and with increasing functionality. You do not want to get to the end of a 9 month project, and find that none of the expected functionality and value has been implemented. The iterative approach may seem to extend the timeline, but it almost always shortens the full length of the project.

What does the resource plan look like? Know who the players are, what are they doing, and what are their deliverables (including samples if you can). Look for resource overhead that matches your organization’s expectations. If its a simple project in a simple organization then you may find 0-20% overhead fairly common (basic project management). However, if your organization requires a lot of project management alignment, detailed documentation, increased UAT or burn-in time, or lots of change management then expect to see upwards of 50% overhead. Be realistic and don’t underestimate the need.

Do you know your own resource plan? How many people are you going to have to pull out of work during the design session? If they are not available this will extend the contractor’s hours. If this is a teach to fish approach (which it should be), how many people will you need to dedicate to meet the project goals? Make sure your resource planning matches your expectations of budget and schedule.

4) Out of box functionality.

But 80% of functionality is really standard accross all industries, especially companies within each industry. That means that you should focus only on what makes your business unique. Otherwise you will be spending money trying to recreate a very proven well designed wheel.

With that said, the key thing to focus on in an SOW is the differences. The extra 20% of customizations makes up more than the 80% additional cost. Make sure the proposals separate these costs out. This is good for all parties because it will help you understand why something that you thought might cost $10K now cost $1.5M. Every change in base functionality comes with a hourly cost to build plus overhead.

5) Adoption planning

Adoption plans are often an afterthought; left out or minimized in 90+% of SOWs I have seen. You bought into the value of the product but now you need to focus on how you are going to get the value. Skimping here can have much greater costs down the road. While it is ultimately your responsibility to lead the adoption, let the experts provide the guidance. Adoption planning starts at the beginning of every project with proper communication planning, marketing, champion growth, stakeholder involvement, rolling out training plans, etc. The additional effort here will be absolutely essential to the overall success and ROI of your project. Define the appropriate amount based on the business outcomes and vision, but make sure you have a clear outline of how adoption planning will be delivered.

Following these 5 tips will help drive strong communication between you and the consultant. This kind of communication and clear expectations up front will make for a much more successful project and happier stakeholders. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (Benjamin Franklin).

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca 

As an outsider, I find watching the reaction to the elections in the States on Tuesday interesting from a sales point of view. To be clear, this isn’t one of those hollow “What can sales people learn from the USA elections?” It is almost like every event has some lesson or insight for sales people, considering that more things that businesses consume are sold rather than bought, there is bound to be a parallel between almost everything and sales. Sometimes obvious facts and realities are lost on the “80%”, because they spend most of their time “taking orders” from self-motivated buyers. So when they are actually involved in a real competitive “sale”, and have to do things to win the order (other than discounting and negotiating with their own company rather than the prospect), and it doesn’t go their way, how they react becomes the measure of those reps.

This post is about the reaction to the outcome, specifically the reaction of those who did not get the order. I had no horse in the race, it’s not my country, so far be it for me to lecture our neighbors to the south, just I don’t want any none Canadians pontificating on Canadian politics and policies.

But the reaction is worth exploring. It is a reaction I and many are familiar with having watched reps’ reactions after having lost a deal, or during a pipeline review, where it is clear that most of the opportunities in the pipeline have about as much chance of closing as Lincoln Chafee had of winning his party’s nomination. A reaction which I am sure would have been the same had the other side won.

It seems that in both sales and politics, it is easier to look for blame outside of your control, than to spend time understanding what you could have done differently to change the outcome. Sure it is easy to blame the product, the familiar chorus of “What-ifs, Maybes and Might-Have-Beens”, but if the product could sell itself, then what role would we in sales have? (Oh ya, take the order). As a friend of mine once told me, “if it was easy, they would not need us”.

Great sales people look to understand what they could have done differently, so they can do it differently and better next time. They don’t waste time and energy looking for excuses and outside factors that they feel – but can’t prove cost them the sale. Real sellers understand that there are things they cannot control or change, and things they can, the best focus on those things they CAN change and influence, and work to understand how things they can’t control can impact them and their desired result. The also-ran “80%”, resist change, which leaves them

The parallels also extend to the pundits, those wagon jumping sages, who can always tell you what will happen, and why when it does not, why they couldn’t see it coming. Same in sales, despite the data available, many are to inwardly focused and lining up with the latest fashions and labels, rather than sharing practical, proven and experience based executable insights. Instead on Monday they’re Sales 2.0, Wednesday Social Selling, Friday ABM, what next?

You want different results, do things differently, there is usually a lot less risk in trying change than the results of sticking with it, then complaining when you failed. You can’t change the past, but you can the future; you can learn from the past and do things differently the next time. Time to start executing rather than excusing.

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The post Get Over It appeared first on Renbor Sales Solutions Inc..

Getting a meeting with a junior or mid-level prospect is challenging enough. Getting a meeting with a member of the C-suite? That can feel nearly impossible.

To earn time on an executive’s calendar, a salesperson usually needs to do something out-of-the-box.

Professionals at the top of the ladder are incredibly busy -- and therefore highly protective of their time. They usually delegate these meetings to their direct reports, waiting to get involved until it’s time to approve the purchasing decision.

Reps can circumvent the traditional buying process with these five ideas, which will help them get an executive’s attention, make a good impression, and ultimately, win a meeting or phone call.

1) Send a Book to the Prospect

A rep can usually connect with even the busiest executive by sending them a well-chosen book. Not only will the executive be impressed by the creative gesture, she’ll also likely feel obligated to get in touch (at the very least, to say thank you).

As an added bonus, the executive will remember the rep every time she sees the book in her office.

Salespeople can use a few methods to pick out the right read. First, they should search “Goodreads + [executive’s name].” If prospects have Goodreads accounts, they’ll have indicated which books and genres they enjoy, which is incredibly valuable information for reps. It’s relatively simple to find a similar book -- especially if salespeople use the “People have also enjoyed” section of Goodreads.

Social media can also give reps insight into which books prospects would like. For instance, if an executive regularly posts articles about productivity hacks, he’d probably like a productivity-focused book.

Books about the prospect’s industry or vertical are also typically safe bets.

2) Mail Them Your Ideas -- With a Post-It Note

Reps should always strive to add value to buyers’ lives by sending them ideas for improving their business. It’s easy to do this via email, but research suggests mailing executives a physical copy of your notes can be vastly effective, provided you do one thing: Put a Post-It on top.

Randy Garner, a behavioral science professor at Sam Houston State University, ran an experiment testing various methods of getting 150 professors to complete a survey. Fifty professors got a survey with a sticky note attached asking for the return of the completed survey, another 50 got the same survey with a handwritten message on the front page instead of a Post-It, and the last 50 got a survey with a cover letter, but no handwritten message.

The professors who received the survey with the sticky note had the highest response rates by far: 76%, compared to 48% for the handwritten message and 36% for the typed one.

Garner hypothesized Post-Its are so effective because they’re personalized and visual. They also make the recipient feel special.

To capitalize on this effect, salespeople can type a brief or helpful tip sheet and put a sticky note on the front saying something along the lines of, “Could you give me a call after you read this to share your thoughts?”

3) Suggest a Speaking Opportunity

Many executives use public speaking to build their personal brand. But it’s not always easy to find relevant speaking engagements. Reps can win the C-suite’s ear (and gratitude) by suggesting an upcoming conference or event that would be a good fit for their expertise.

Here’s an example:

To find appropriate events, salespeople should look into these opportunities:

• Business networking groups (ideally located near the executive)
• Colleges and universities
• Industry conferences and webinars
• Local service and Rotary clubs
• Relevant Twitter chats

It’s also a good idea to set Google alerts for “[executive’s industry] + event”, “[executive’s industry] + conference”, and “[executive’s industry] + speakers”.

4) Go to Their Event

Attending prospects’ existing speaking engagements can also lead to relationships. Salespeople can stay up-to-date on executives’ speaking gigs by following them on social media, reading the “Announcements,” “Updates,” or “News” section of their company websites, and setting Google alerts such as “[executive name] + speaking”, “[executive name] + panel”, and “[executive name] + presentation”.

Because reps might be attending along with hundreds or even thousands of other people, it’s crucial to have a strategy for connecting.

A week or two before the event, salespeople should email the executive or reach out on social media to say something along the lines of, “I’m excited to see you at [event]. Will you be covering [relevant topic]?”

They can also propose a 20-minute meeting with the goal of providing value in some way. For instance, a rep might suggest meeting to discuss which initiatives the executive’s competition is investing in.

Salespeople should also try to make contact at the event itself if possible. Since executives are usually mobbed by attendees, a quick “thanks for speaking” is probably the best reps can hope for. But if they manage to get more face-to-face time, salespeople can leverage it by asking an insightful question about the executive’s presentation, congratulating them on a recent business or career development, and/or suggesting a relevant resource (like an ebook or white paper related to their prospect’s talk).

After the event, reps should send a thank-you message including a relevant nugget of value. For example, a salesperson could write a blog post about the executive’s speech and link to it in his email. Alternatively, he could suggest an idea for his prospect’s next presentation.

5) Create a Custom Cartoon

Stu Heinecke, author of “How to Get a Meeting With Anyone,” says he has seen ROI in the millions of percent on personalizing cartoons for his target accounts.

To borrow Heinecke’s technique, salespeople can commission a graphic designer or artist. Upwork, PeoplePerHour, and Guru are good sources for finding budget-friendly freelancers for these types of projects.

Wondering what to include in the cartoon?

“The trick is to steer the choice of cartoon based on the truth it reveals, and how that relates to the issue you want to address with the recipient,” Heinecke says.

For example, imagine a rep’s research showed the executive’s company just acquired a startup, and she’d like to offer her company’s IT integration services. She might send a cartoon of two employees discussing the complexities of unifying two technical systems.

If salespeople are mailing a physical cartoon, Heinecke suggests putting a message on the back of the cartoon “proposing a meeting and explaining why it’s worthy of the CEO’s consideration.”

Sending a digital one? Attach the cartoon to your email and write your note in the email body.

Because these strategies are time and labor-intensive, salespeople should reserve them for especially valuable or hard-to-penetrate accounts. For example, if their average deal size is around $3,000, spending twice as long to close a $6,000 deal would make sense -- but doing so for a $3,500 deal probably isn't the best use of their energy or time.

In one sense, the distinction between B2B buying psychology and B2C is a false one. Companies don’t buy services or products — human beings with concerns, fears, dreams, and goals do. In either case, we’re dealing with people. Whether you’re a B2B or a B2C company, you need to know how your buyers think and what motivates them to take action. But B2B psychology has a few nuances that you should know about if you’re selling business services or products.

1. Motivations of the B2B Buyer

The B2B buyer is often motivated differently than a B2C consumer. While both buyers’ motivations are founded in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, they manifest differently in work life versus personal life. Here’s what motivates the B2B buyer:

• Pain Points – Prospects care about their pain points and what your products or services can do to solve those problems. Pain points can be overarching issues that the business is facing or more personal challenges a buyer faces, such as not having enough time to fulfill the requirements of a boss.
• Gain – The opposite side of the pain coin is gain. B2B buyers want to get the next level and improve their lives, not just avoid pain.
• Social Influence – Human beings are hardwired to first trust recommendations from people they know. Because of this, they look at reviews, case studies, testimonials, and what their connections are saying on social media.
• Familiarity – One of the best predictors of future behavior is past behavior. B2B buyers are motivated by their past experiences. This line of thinking follows the theory that “what’s worked in the past must work in the future, and what hasn’t worked in the past won’t ever work.” To sell change, you’ve got to overcome this hurdle.

2. B2B Pricing Psychology

Some B2B industries tend to price well. SaaS comes to mind, with their focus on levels of what the software does for the user. But professional services companies are notorious for using bad pricing psychology.

When you’re shopping for a car, you don’t ask the salesperson for an itemized timesheet of all the hours that went into building the car. You look at the results of that labor: the style of the car, how fast it can go and how quickly it can get up to speed, how well it navigates turns, the comfort level of the ride. . . . Why, then, do we ask professional services companies for an hourly account of their time? And why do professional services companies want to price this way?

B2B buyers are focused on the value a service will deliver, and professional services firms should be too. Your pricing strategy shouldn’t be built on things the buyer doesn’t care about. If you want to be profitable, you’ll need to tie to your pricing to the value you provide, or at least be able to present it in terms of that value.

3. Emotionally-Charged Decisions

With the majority of B2C purchases, the worst a buyer has to fear is the loss of a few hundred or thousand bucks on a bad purchasing decision (and maybe having to listen to his or her significant other lecture on how dumb the decision was). With B2B purchases, often the buyer is risking much more — potentially his or her job if things don’t work out and the company loses a lot of money as a result. The stakes are higher. You’ll need to build trust and position your company as an expert authority on the issues the buyer is facing. Use case studies, testimonials, and other forms of social proof (such as online reviews).

Remember that as a B2B firm, you’re selling to people, not a faceless entity. Invest in the necessary research to understand your particular buyers and what they care about, what drives them, in their purchasing decisions. When you focus on their individual concerns and address their emotional needs as human beings, you’ll see your revenue rise in proportion to the value you deliver.

Words matter. People may not read everything, but they do scan. And they process information subconsciously at lightning speeds to determine if they’ll click or bounce within a few fractions of a second.

So while some words, like “Submit” on your button, may seem innocent enough… they could be costing you dearly, turning away visitors in droves.

Here’s why, along with a few other conversion-sabotaging words you need to replace in your emails, ads, and landing pages ASAP.

Conversion Killer #1: “Submit”

“Submit” is a derivation of submission. And therein lies the problem.

We ain’t talkin’ kinky 50 Shades of Grey stuff, but a negative connotation with yielding to someone or something superior. People, as a general rule, don’t like yielding. (Remember that whole Revolution bit?)

Especially when even the slightest suspicion of required payment might be involved.

This was proven definitively years and years ago by Dan Zarella and HubSpot. They took a look at the conversion rates of over 40,000 customer landing pages and quickly noticed a huge discrepancy…

When CTA buttons included the word “submit,” conversion rates tended to drop immediately by a few percentage points.

To further validate, they queued up another test that would rotate CTA text randomly between a few different options. Here’s what they found:

Unsurprisingly, at this point, the word “submit” performed worse than a few other common CTA text options like “click here” or “go.”

The hypothesized reasoning is that these other variations feel much less committal and imply a lower investment of time and effort.

The negative connotation is one problem. But another is the vague, generic nature of the word.

In general, the best CTA’s are as specific and actionable as possible. That means you start with a verb, or action oriented word, that describes what a person’s going to get (e.g. “Click Here to Get My Report”).

Here’s why generic quickly devolves into meaningless.

Conversion Killer #2: “Synergy”

What’s the fastest way to learn terrible copywriting?

Get an MBA.

Because in just a few short weeks, you’ll find yourself spewing out “synergy,” “competencies,” and a host of other clichéd, meaningless words that have old professors nodding their heads in approval. (This, coming from someone who has their MBA.)

As evidence, go visit almost any B2B website outside of marketing and advertising.

Your eyes will glaze over, your face will contort, and a sudden bout of narcolepsy might hit at any moment.

Many times, clients and bosses don’t notice anything wrong at first either. They’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid too long, like your crazy cat-lady aunt who doesn’t notice that her house reeks of cat nip, hair balls, and litter boxes.

Thankfully, the kind people from Unbounce came out with the amazing Dejargonator to quickly and humorously diagnose these issues for the people we answer to.

The problem with “best in class” and all other common business jargon (besides the fact that it also appears on every competitor’s website) is that customers can smell the BS from a mile away.

The best explanation comes from Peep at ConversionXL who points to cognitive fluency and “the heuristic that Easy = True”.

Sounds stupid, right? But Peep points to research that shows easily pronounceable company names perform better in stock markets (hardly the barometer of rational decision making), and simple fonts are more believable.

In other words, as the Boston Globe points out, “it turns out that people prefer things that are easy to think about to those that are hard.”

But wait, there’s more!

The first problem is that the average person’s reading comprehension ain’t that good. So anything above a 7th or 8th grade reading level will be too difficult and complex (which is like, really low dude).

The second, is that people aren’t focusing or reading online; they’re scanning and multitasking and browsing and tweeting while also (kinda) looking at your page.

The solution in most cases? Cut the BS. Rewrite anything with the faintest resemblance to what you learned in skool school.

Conversion Killer #3: “Spam”

No, not the canned mystery meat kind. The graymail kind that your customers are already overwhelmed with.

They’re being bombarded with hundreds of emails each day. Trillions are being sent by marketers each year.

So you’d think, logically speaking, that assuring visitors you won’t spam them would help conversions. Right?

Unfortunately that’s not the case. “Spam” is a huge stop word – or no no – that causes people to become apprehensive and hesitate.

A test carried out by Michael Aargaard showed the surprising ramifications. He added the seemingly harmless line of “100% privacy – We will never spam you” in between the form fields and submission button.

Typically, these extra credibility indicators surrounding a CTA can help to give conversions a nice little boost. But not in this case.

Huh. Strange. You’d think a statement assuring people of their privacy would help. But this time it backfired by over 18%.

So Michael switched it up.

He wanted to reinforce the same message, but alter the wording to change from a negative connotation (i.e. bringing up something like “spam” that people weren’t really considering before) to a positive one.

The winning variation provided a 19.47% lift, landing on: “We guarantee 100% privacy. Your information will not be shared.”

Michael has even repeated this process several times, finding similarly poor results when placing the possibility of “spam” in people’s minds.

The lesson?

Avoid words with a negative connotation (as we saw with “submit”) in general, and use additional messaging to reinforce the positive aspects of what someone is about to get.

Conversion Killer #4: “We”

“We” opens a door. It’s like the gateway drug of bad copywriting.

One small hit, and you’re quickly off to dabbling with bigger, badder things.

While it might seem harmless at the time, “we” puts you on a path to jonesing for a fix of “synergy” and “best in class” in no time.

But keep in mind, that as a general rule, people don’t care about you. Instead, they want a “better version of themselves.”

This is especially so for all those visiting your site at the top of the funnel, who haven’t realized a need for your product or service yet. They’re Googling solutions for drilling a hole in their wall so they can hang a picture… they’re not looking for a drill (just yet).

That means the focus of messaging should be centered around said problem and solution, not a tool, product or service.

Joanna Wiebe says it goes back to trust. Or lack thereof.

She points to a quote from Rohit Bhargava on Likeonomics: “The first and most basic reason for distrust is because there are so many companies and people who choose to lie to us either by making misleading claims or simply by hiding the truth.”

Instead of “we”, Joanna recommends:

1. Begin with “you”… or
2. Begin with no pronoun at all (like a question or a command / call to action)

Conversion Killer #5: “Your”

The copy on most websites is written in the second person. And that’s a good thing!

Copywriters are taught to use “you” instead of “they” when explaining the benefits derived from the latest product or service.

Take the completely hypothetical example of writing a blog post that discusses which words hurt conversions. To drive your points home for maximum resonance, you would write tips and takeaways to a specific audience by speaking to “you” as much as possible.

But as always, there are exceptions.

When focusing on a CTA or specific conversion event, the “possessive determiner” should switch back to first person.

Another test from Michael Aagaard proves the point. Michael initially thought that “your” in the CTA button copy would work best. It’s commonplace all over the interwebs after all.

But here’s what he found.

Almost a 25% difference, just by switching a single word.

He then repeated this process on an Unbounce landing page, switching “your” free trial with “my” free trial and saw similarly significant results.

Most landing pages and blog posts should write directly to a single person, using “you” and “your” liberally.

However…

When writing CTA copy, switch to “my” to give people ownership of the benefit they’re about to receive.

Conversion Killer #6: “Free”

You’d think, on the surface, that “free” increases conversions. And it does in most cases.

The last example a few seconds ago used a “free trial” to generate more interest (and clicks).

But as always, there’s exceptions.

The first (albeit tiny) issue is that the word “free” can trip up spam filters in email messaging.

The second, bigger problem though is a curious case of over optimization.

For example, less form fields will typically mean a higher conversion rate. Just by whittling down your landing page form fields from the oppressively long 11 to only four you can boost conversions by 120%.

The problem is that more conversions isn’t always better.

A Totango study showed that 70% of the people who sign up for free trials are useless, with only around ~20% of those actively evaluating the product.

Software company Moz found this out years ago, where the most profitable customers didn’t convert on the first or second visit, but only after 8+ visits. “Many, many visits are often correlated with high purchase prices,” Rand Fishkin reported.

So while the word “free” can (and will) increase initial conversions, you should be optimizing for sales and revenue – not vanity metrics like leads or impressive (but hollow) conversion rates.

Robert from Neuromarketing says: “if you are trying to encourage sampling of a product that appeals to a specific audience…a very modest charge will throttle demand but will eliminate most samplers who have no use for the product.”

Conversion Killer #7. “Save Time & Money”

So far we’ve seen that vague, meaningless, overly generic phrases are bad for conversions.

The culmination of them all – the cherry on top and the pièce de résistance – is “save time and money.”

This simple, albeit ever-present phrase is a (non)favorite of Joanna Wiebe’s, who lovingly refers to it as “lazy ass messaging.”

Yes, this seemingly harmless phrase raises vitriol in seemingly one of the nicest people around the interwebs. Why?

Because it takes a piece of everything bad from the previous six words and rolls them up into one terrifyingly conversion-repellent Frankenstein.

In other words, it breaks one of the very first rules of copywriting that says you should write to a particular audience. And Joanna shows in the last link that people either value one or the other, not both equally.

The easiest solution isn’t actually a copywriting trick at all, but a strategy one. Employ inbound funnel segmentation to try your hardest at getting only one audience to a dedicated page (by linking your content to a specific acquisition channel or segment).

But what if there’s no way around it? What if you HAVE to cater to multiple audiences – like on your homepage?

Then roll up your sleeves and dig a little deeper into who you’re speaking to, and what they value most.

Again, Joanna gets all the credit with her flashy Venn diagram skillz:

The key is to ferret out those few ingredients that make your offering awesome & unique, which both audiences value.

You want the stuff that overlaps, which will help you create a specific value proposition that reinforces your primary aim (of driving conversions), while avoiding the same generic crap showing up on each of your competitor’s websites.

In Conclusion…

Not every successful landing page is a long-form squeeze page with thousands upon thousands of words. Many, if not most, are just a few simple lines with a killer headline and strong CTA.

In these cases, making each and every word work its hardest is imperative. You literally and figuratively can’t afford words and phrases that don’t pull their weight.

Online, that includes “stop words” and words which turn the focus away from your audience and selfishly onto yourself.

Thankfully, many people have already done the research and testing to show us the light. We just need to be aware of it and then follow it.

7 Surefire Tips for Generating New Website Leads written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Generate a little business buzz with a few simple methods.

A staple of your marketing strategy, lead generation can help stir up additional interest in your products and services. Companies of all sizes can and do benefit from implementing multi-channel efforts to boost website leads, from an email newsletter to social media and more. But website lead generation doesn’t need to rely exclusively on online channels to be effective. With a balance of both web and in-person strategies, you will gain leads in places you may not have thought to look.

1. Take your pitch on tour

Find some events where you can come in as a speaker to talk about your areas of expertise.  Conferences are great venues for this, as the attendees tend to be on the wealthier side and are open to new ideas. And while you probably won’t be pitching your products and services directly, you can negotiate terms with the event organizers. For example, ask them if you can get your business listed as a sponsor rather than receive a personal speaking fee. Of course, you may need to speak for free, to begin with, as you build up your speaking reputation.

2. Give your audience a voice

Make your social media followers more excited about your business by asking them to contribute to the conversation. Asking a question is one of the best ways to facilitate this kind of engagement. For example, you could ask your followers if there are retailers where they’d like to see your products made available. This kind of question would inspire your followers to go to your website to first see what products you carry before they make suggestions. It also does wonders to build personal relationships with your followers, as you ask for their ideas, respond to them (in a timely way!), and follow through on getting your products into more retail establishments.

3. Reach out to brand influencers

Brand influencers typically gather their subscribers through social media outlets like blogging or video blogging. While viewers are aware that some product promotions are sponsored, they also tend to feel a bond of trust with the influencer. They trust that they would not be pitched an item if the blogger didn’t truly think it was worth it, which is often true. But before you begin cold-emailing every blogger under the sun, take the time to learn about their niche market and determine if your brands and values align with theirs. Then develop a strategy to reach out to them.

4. Spruce up your email signature

This technique will take you a few minutes upfront, but from then on won’t cost you a second. Simply set up your default email signature to direct them to your site. Here’s an easy example (without images, but feel free to add one!):

Best,

Sally Sanders

CEO & Founder, <Company name here>

<Company website URL here>

5. Broaden your networking

If you’ve been networking within the same circles over and over again, you may not be reaching as many new leads as you could be. Consider joining some national groups, larger online communities, or hit up a networking event the next time you travel. Don’t forget to add some variety to your contributions as well. It’s okay to tell people about your company, but your peers will also appreciate the advice, resources, and a genuine interest in their businesses from a fellow small business owner.

6. Go looking for questions to answer

Check out some of the more heavily trafficked general question forums like Quora. Look for questions that you and your company can help to answer. Some forums will allow you to link back to resources, which will give you an opportunity to plug your website. But be careful to make it genuine, helpful, and relevant to the question. Otherwise, such a blatant advertising plug may deter leads.

7. Offer incentives

Incentives are an effective draw to any website. Promoting elements like sales, scarcity, or limited time deals can spur some immediate leads. Use your email newsletter and social media to draw leads in, but also remember to add a welcome message (some use pop-up messages) to your website when the visitor initially arrives. This will make the sale obvious and/or provide them with the necessary code to access it at checkout.

As a small business owner, I recognize that you’ve probably got a lot on your plate already. So if taking on a full-scale digital marketing plan doesn’t fit into your schedule, it may be worth it to hire an assistant to help get it started. The help will pay for itself as you generate new leads and therefore new purchases. Of course, you can also wait until a few techniques have given your company more growth before bringing in a marketing assistant or full team. Either way, by incorporating the above tips into practice, you’re surely set for success.

Sophia Mest is a Content Manager at BizDb, where she aspires to put her writing passion into practice and spread her words across the world. She spends her free time traveling and exploring the wonders of nature. Follow her on Twitter @MestSophia

Lead nurturing is a critical skill for any company that hopes to sell its product to new buyers. It’s a tricky business that’s part art and part science, requiring both the human touch and hard data crunching.

What’s worse, lead nurturing requires completely different strategies for inbound and outbound leads, and a poorly executed strategy can be disastrous for the bottom line. To have any chance at successful lead nurturing, your sales and marketing teams need to be on the same page.

But how exactly do they get there, and what’s the most crucial piece of lead nurturing advice that you should be giving your sales team?

Having the Talk

Lead nurturing requires your sales and marketing teams to interact and interact constantly. It’s not enough to simply agree that marketing will pass leads to sales when the time comes. Both sales and marketing need to figure out exactly what a lead looks like, and what the best practices for nurturing leads are.

It’s also important to coordinate so that wires don’t get crossed.

If your sales representatives are working on their outbound leads just when marketing is launching a new email campaign, you might end up blasting the leads with the wrong message.

Bringing Sales and Marketing Together

Lead nurturing is also valuable because it helps to get the sales-marketing relationship off on the right foot.

When you have a string of failures with your leads, sales and marketing can end up in an unproductive standoff, where sales is disappointed in the quality of the leads and marketing suggests that the sales representatives have to capitalize better on the opportunities.

Talk to your sales representatives and ask them about their ideal prospective leads. Once you’ve gotten a clearer picture of what this looks like, you can use your marketing database to start targeting specific people or groups that resemble these criteria, rather than using a vague, one-size-fits-all approach.

When you talk with sales representatives, remind them that sometimes at the beginning they’ll get leads that are bad or that need more work than others. However, as you learn how to have the right conversations with the right people, you’re going to get leads that are really good sales opportunities.

Marketing, on the other hand, needs to put effort into nurturing sales qualified leads to the point where they’re ready for sales, and also needs to remind the sales team that not every lead will pan out. Have your sales representatives send feedback to marketing after they’re done pursuing a lead so that the two teams can learn from each other and get better at what they do.

It’s All About Expectations

The best piece of advice for lead nurturing that you can follow is to establish realistic expectations early on in the process. Let people know that this is a team effort and that there’s not going to be an immediate windfall of sales opportunities at the beginning.

If you promise a constant supply of great leads to your sales representatives, they’re going to be seeing dollar signs right away, and they’ll inevitably be disappointed when things don’t pan out quite as they envisioned. Lead nurturing needs to start from square one and it needs time to evolve and develop.

Set your expectations at a realistic level and have clear definitions for lead nurturing and sales qualified leads for the best chances at success.