Like many people who suddenly realize how bad their financial situation is, we dove hard into frugality during the first few months of our financial turnaround.It makes sense, really. Frugality is the best personal finance tactic there is for seeing immediate results.
Sometimes prayers work real fast. On 14th September 2016, Monks had released an article on various HTML email hacks while coding for Gmail and we were hopeful for a miracle. As a recent update, Google’s Developer Page came out with news that sent shockwaves around the email marketing world.
Google Announced Embedded Styles and Media Query Support …
This bold move from Google is all set to translate into a very well-developed end-user experience. With media queries being supported, Gmail (mobile and desktop) and even inbox can easily display responsive emails. So, no more squinty eyes and constant zooming in and out (who has that patience!!!) to read the miniature text incase the desktop layout of your email is displayed in their mobile or Gmail automatically bumping up the font by up to 50%, thereby destroying your email design and many such catastrophes.
Even though Google has been playing cat-and-mouse assuring that Gmail supporting media queries is a priority for 2 years, the announcement on their app developer blog is a sign of Google actually implementing media query support and adopting of embedded CSS styles in Gmail is an added bonus.
Nothing is written in stone but the code written for any responsive email shall work in Gmail too. To emulate responsiveness in Gmail, email developers code first without media queries and then enhance it using media queries to get set in hybrid layout. This will no more be required as simply using media queries would now support responsive emails.
The rule of thumb for developing any email was to be a mobile-first approach, keeping in mind that Gmail often renders the desktop layout in mobile. That’s how the design was restricted to either single or max two columns.
In large displays (23” and above), Outlook often wreaks havoc to email layouts. In such cases, the emails are coded using fix widths on all elements. On the other hand, for the Gmail app, without a media query, it was mandatory to let elements in percent to allow them to float and stack in mobile or smaller screens. So DPI for outlook can never be mixed with Responsive in Gmail app.
Gmail earlier stripped away classes and IDs and this meant individually providing inlining for every line of code that we wish to style. With Gmail supporting embedded styles, any change in the stylesheet shall be reflected in the body of the email. Thereby reducing the overall coding and in turn reducing the file size of email significantly.
Now the prospect of a separate mobile layout of the same email wherein different elements to be shown on mobile would be possible, to make it more appealing or clickable. For example, showcasing CTA on top in mobile, which might be at the bottom in desktop, can now be achieved using different content on mobile and desktop.
Monks had also pointed out the lack of support for background-position. Even though not supported by Outlook, it shall be good to experiment with responsive background with support on Gmail desktop and Gmail app.
We dream of a time when all email clients shall offer WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get). No email should be unsubscribed due to poor layout rendering. Share your thoughts on how excited you are on Google’s newest advancements.
Email marketing is a tough game to play. Though most people communicate through email more than any other avenue today, using email as a means of marketing is another story. This is because there are a lot of reasons why email marketing can fail. Sometimes, people aren’t interested in subscribing for whatever reason, and those who are subscribed just don’t have the time or the appeal to read them.
Each and every day, marketers are trying different approaches to email marketing, some of these being new tactics and trends. That being said, is it possible we’re already in the future of email marketing? Let’s see.
If companies want to know whether not their email marketing strategy is working, they need to look at a few select things. One of these things is data. By analyzing the data revolving around user behavior, companies can learn a lot about themselves and their customers. We may tend to think that only some companies are using data to help with their email marketing. But, it’s actually likely that more companies than not are relying on data to completely direct their strategy.
And, what they’re doing with that data says a lot about our “presence in the future.” In the past, companies would look at their email marketing data, but not necessarily know what to do with it. But, the future of email marketing means that this has all changed. Marketers are using specific information to personalize emails, target audiences, and use promotions as a means of bringing in more profit. Perhaps not every company is utilizing the data they have to the fullest, but we’re likely to see companies turnover very quickly.
As email marketing strategies are learned, people’s attention spans decrease. Companies are finding more efficient ways to get their customers to do what they want, without deterring them by having too much text. One of these ways is the easy-click email.
An easy-click email is exactly as it sounds. Behold, a way for customers to waste absolutely no time checking their emails and providing companies with useful information. Some examples of easy-click emails include hotel or booking companies asking clients to rate their stay. This may be selecting how many stars you feel represent your experience, or simply clicking a face that represents your feelings. If your company is already doing this, then congratulations; you’ve made it to the future. If your company isn’t quite on board yet, then you still have some time before easy-click emails become the norm.
These kind of emails are truly a “blast from the past.” Sending out one email to a ton of people seems to be a lot easier than sending a personalized one to each person. But, the future of email marketing means that personalizing emails does not need to be stressful. The Mission Suite makes it super easy to do a task like this, so you can spend more time making deals with each one of your customers.
Whatever the goal of email marketing was in the past, that ship has sailed. It’s not so much about people opening their emails or even reading them anymore. The future of email marketing is solely about engagement. This means anything from using those easy-click links, to adding social media and sharing icons directly in the email to get people to engage. It’s about offering incentives to those who read your emails, like discounts for referring a friend, or subscribing. The future of email marketing is not just about who can get more emails read. It’s about how many people are actually engaging in those emails.
If you’re focusing on engagement now, then it’s likely you’ve already gone through the email marketing time machine.
There’s a lot of talk about the future of email marketing. However, if you take a look at what your company is doing, it’s likely you’re already there.. In the meantime, request a demo to see how Mission Suite can help you with your email marketing strategy overall.
It’s safe to say he knows a few things about making online, isn’t it?
We’ve been begging him for months (seriously) and he’s FINALLY agreed to host a closed-door workshop which only 25 of you can attend.
Registration is open for only 48 hours (until Friday, September 16th, 11:59 PM CST).
Register here (only 25 slots available)
For those who are accepted, you’ll join Ronak in a private workshop where he will:
One thing: In order to participate in the workshop and learn everything Ronak has to share, you’ll need to get SumoMe Pro to begin with.
Since you’re reading this, you’ve seen our newsletter signup pop-up box – that’s SumoMe in action. Before SumoMe, we struggled growing our email list. We tried different list builders – free and premium – but they didn’t give us the experience and results we wanted.
Then a fellow writer told us about SumoMe and we decided to give it a go. Guess what? Our email subscribers skyrocketed.
It’s not only about the numbers, though. We’ve decided to stick with SumoMe because it’s easy to use – the Pro version is easily integrated with your existing email platform (Aweber, Mailchimp, etc.) and it has a lot of added features (analytics, A/B testing, a lot of beautiful templates, to name a few). From the design to settings – everything’s all set up so you don’t need a lot of technical know-how.
That being said, make sure to get SumoMe Pro first so that you can take advantage of Ronak’s experience. The plan costs $20 per month and is normally payable annually. For participants of the workshop, however, the option of paying per month is available.
These 25 spots won’t last long so register here right now.
Remember, you have 48 hours to register!
If you’re looking to seriously grow your freelance business and not waste any more time, take action and join this workshop.
We’re looking forward to seeing you!
You have the spark, the idea, and the drive. You want to take on the status quo, change the world and leave your legacy. You are an entrepreneur, ready to sleep 4 hours a day, and work 18 hours on the idea.
You sweat, toil, and stress for months on end and finally launch your idea. After months of hard work, you are ready to present your idea to the world as a reality. How does the world respond?
*Crickets*
Yep, the world doesn’t know about your idea. You have no press coverage, no social media attention. You are lost in the noise. You need to act fast and get discovered, but how!?
Don’t despair, the complete guide to getting free press is here to save the day.
A general rule of thumb is the more press you get, the more business you will receive. Press is free exposure to hundreds of thousands of people. One press mention can change the course of your business in a matter of days.
A single press mention is enough to set you up as an expert in your field, generate you thousands of new clients and crash your website servers from the online traffic.
Crashing your servers isn’t great news, but damn is it cool to have your website crash from too much traffic.
… it really sounds like I am a lobbyist for a major PR firm. Trust me I am not!
I am sure there are many reasons to hire an expensive PR firm on retainer for $5,000 or more every month. Personally, I have never found the need since I have become a one-man PR team.
However, not everyone can be “in like Flynn.” For those who need a bit more help, I have 4 resources.
Haro stands for “help a report out” and it is the number 1 tool I use to generate massive exposure. The concept for HARO is extremely simple. Reporters need sources for articles. Coincidentally, sources need exposure. Reporters send out a request on HARO like: “Experts in online marketing needed to talk about new trends for small business.”
Experts in online marketing send in answers. The reporter gets to pick and choose the best answers and will credit the source. This is usually done with the source’s words in quotes, and a link back to their website.
This system is a win-win for reporters and you as an expert. You get free backlinks from major websites and reporters generate awesome content for their readers. Google gets mad at you when you purchase backlinks, but free ones are completely acceptable.
As someone who has been on both sides of the HARO equation, reporter and source. I have mastered the art of answering HARO requests, and I believe I have it down to a science. There are some simple guidelines that will net you a much more positive experience.
As a reporter, I don’t care who you represent. The only caveat is if you represent Tim Cook CEO of Apple and I get to talk to him directly. Reporters are busy people, they don’t want to jump through hoops to get the info they need.
I get it, you want to pitch yourself as an expert. You want to talk about how amazing you are and how perfect you are as a candidate, your qualifications, and what you had for breakfast that day. Again this goes back to the previous section, reporters are busy.
Instead take the time to fully answer the question. This doesn’t mean write a 4-page thesis, or a two-word blurb. Take about 5 minutes to write 1-3 paragraphs fully answering the question giving actionable advice. Your job is to provide a ton of value for the readers. This works extremely well if you can bring in statistics, images, and other forms of proof.
As an expert you are competing against 20-30 other experts, so your advice has to be the top of your game.
HARO sends out 3 emails a day Monday thru Friday. Each email has about 20-30 requests from reporters. Subjects range from health and wellness, business, tech, and just general knowledge. Obviously, you will not be able to answer all the requests. Some days there are literally zero that I feel comfortable answering. Other days I end up answering 5-10 requests, and then I do a happy jig.
When there is a HARO request that you feel comfortable answering, jump on it! Don’t wait past 48 hours to answer the HARO requests, the reporter has already found their sources. Time is of the essence!
I am not an expert in press releases. I do not run a $5,000 retainer PR firm that sends out hundreds of press releases. Personally from all my experience, it seems to be a dying medium. That being said, there is still value in sending out a press release.
Press releases as part of an SEO strategy can be extremely effective and powerful. One press release sent to thousands of news outlets can generate you hundreds of backlinks. These backlinks from high authority sites can do wonders for your businesses ranking in SERPS (search engine results pages).
A couple of sites I have used for press release syndication are:
#1 PRLOG
#2 PRWEB
Most press release distribution websites have a paid version of their service. These paid versions give you further reach, more links, ability to link videos and much more. The paid version may be worth it, that is up to you to decide.
Disclaimer: I have never used either of these services and don’t vouch for them, but it might be worth testing as it would cost under $20. Could be a win!
Double disclaimer: There is a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to press syndication networks and their viability. Press releases won’t directly help SEO, but if picked up by a media outlet it will. Your chances of being picked up may be extremely low.
Want to get featured on Entreprenuer.com? One of the easiest ways is to write a guest post for them.
Most online blogs like Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, and Forbes have a webpage where you can submit guest posts. These are like giant black holes that suck in your hard work and they never see the light of day.
On the other hand, almost every major online news source has a “masthead.” A masthead is a place where you can find a listing of all the people who work at the company and the positions they hold. These are invaluable resources for finding the right editor to with which to submit your guest post.
The average writer or editor gets about 90 pitches directly into their inbox a day. They don’t have time to go through the black hole that is called a guest submission page.
That is why having direct access to an editor to pitch to, is much stronger. But how do you get those coveted email address, especially if you can’t find the masthead?
Imagine being able to find anyone’s email at Huffington Post, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company or any other website. Yep, I got a sneaky 100% free tool for you. It is called email hunter, and it will search any website for the email address for which you’re seeking.
Find anyone’s email from any website.
Just like that, you can get the email address of whatever website you need. From there you can use the mastheads to find the right editor and send your blog article directly to them. On top of that, you can connect with all those editors on Linkedin.
Protip: If your business uses LinkedIn for B2B prospecting, this tool becomes amazing for landing those whales of clients. Connect your way to the top!
iTunes is the place to go to find podcasts in your niche. Podcasts are the modern day equivalent to being on a radio show. Speaking on a major podcast can generate massive exposure. Some of the top podcasts like John Lee Dumas Entrepreneur on Fire, Lewis Howes School of Greatness, or Tim Ferris 4hourworkweek podcast have millions of listeners.
That being said, you don’t need to get on those top sites to generate some really good buzz. Find 100-200 podcasts in your niche and send each of them an email. Create an email template with your pitch and send it out.
Very quickly you can have 10-20 podcasts you are speaking on and generating really good buzz. Once you are done with one podcast, ask the host if they know anyone else who is looking for your expertise. Podcasters know other podcasters and are very willing to share a really good guest.
Public speaking is networking on steroids. If you got to a traditional networking mixer you might be able to talk to 5-7 people in a given hour. If you are lucky 1 of those people might be a decent fit for your business and niche. The rest will be in real estate, finance, or law.
When you grow the balls and learn how to public speak, what ends up happening is you talk to a room of 30-50 people or more. They have to listen to you, and the listeners who are going to help your business will find you afterwards to talk.
Make sure to “call out” your audience in your presentation. These are the people you’ll typically want to follow up with after the keynote. A simple slide that says “Hey, I am looking to speak to these types of people, come up and talk to me after the presentation.”
If you are deathly afraid of public speaking there are two major things to do. First, join your local Toastmaster’s group. Toastmasters is a group that gathers with the sole purpose of everyone becoming better public speakers. It is a great organization to help you practice because they will make you better while supporting you.
The second thing you can do is bite the bullet and just go practice in front of real people. After about 100 attempts you will start to not suck. After 10,000 it will be as natural as breathing.
Plus every time you give a major talk, local news publications want to know. This is perfect type of content to feed to their ever hungry media engine.
Traditional forms of marketing and advertising are pretty much dead. Ok, maybe not 100% but they got an odor about them that is driving people away. Generating free press and hype is easier than ever, with the power of social media at our disposal.
New forms of social media are absolutely amazing and generating massive discoverability. Facebook Live, Periscope, Live.me, Musically, Snapchat, and Instagram stories all offer unique ways to engage with your audience. They key to each and every one of these mediums is to create great content for the platform, build an audience, and be consistent.
Social media gives us the power of a TV broadcast station like FOX or NPR right in our pocket. Stop being afraid, hit record and start telling the world your story. If the world likes your story you will get discovered.
All in all, this is by no means an exclusive list in generating free press. This just happens to be the ways I know and have utilized.
Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban vigorously defended the Clinton Foundation against allegations of "pay to play" that have swept up headlines in recent months.
In a recent interview with Business Insider, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank" said the media is missing what he considered to be the two most important questions regarding the foundation. Those two questions, he said, would provide much more clarity to the situation.
The first question, he said, is "What's the market for [former President Bill Clinton's] speeches?"
"I know how much I get paid," Cuban said. "I can get $250,000 for a speech if it's a big organization. And I'll ask for more if you're making my ass travel somewhere f----- up."
He said, if Clinton were engaging in a pay-for-play, he'd be asking for a lot more than market value for those speeches and engagements on behalf of the foundation.
"If you're doing pay for play, you better get a whole lot more than the market value for the risk you're taking," he said. "Why hasn't anybody asked the question?"
The second, he said, is asking what the former president's "sales pitch" is.
"What's the sales pitch? Why are they giving you the money?" he asked.
Cuban was recently searching through WikiLeaks for information on Qatar, and stumbled upon one of Hillary Clinton's leaked emails.
That email was from Cherie Blair, who runs a foundation for women and is the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and it was focused on how Qatar’s young crown prince, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, wants to build an international profile as a fighter for global food security. Blair wanted to set up a meeting between the two. The former secretary of state agreed to meet.
"So that's what, that's not unusual," Cuban said. "Who has the best brand in the world or global brand for dealing with health initiatives? Bill Clinton."
He added if he wanted his daughter to have a great global brand regarding the issue, there's no doubt enlisting the former president's services would be the best course of action.
"That's what he's selling!" Cuban exclaimed. "No one asks what he's selling. I mean it's perfect for Business Insider: 'Learn from the Bill Clinton sales pitch for the Clinton Foundation.'"
The billionaire called Trump and his foundation the "perfect contrast" to the Clintons.
Whether the dealings of the Clinton Foundation while the current Democratic nominee held her post at the State Department are controversial comes down to whether a "premium" was paid.
"If there's no premium, then either the guy's an idiot or there's no pay for play."
The latest allegations of impropriety against the foundation came after Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog organization, published emails that it said proved Clinton gave donors special access to the State Department while she was running it.
Clinton had denied such allegations in July, and her campaign chairman dismissed them in an August statement.
"The Foundation has already laid out the unprecedented steps the charity will take if Hillary Clinton becomes president," campaign chair John Podesta wrote.
Multiple outlets' editorial boards have called for Clinton to cut ties to the foundation, and Trump has seized on the foundation controversy in his attacks against the former secretary of state.
Trump's foundation is embattled in its own "pay to play" controversy regarding a 2013 campaign donation it made to a group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was considering whether to pursue fraud allegations against the defunct Trump University.
Bondi did not pursue the investigation.
Trump was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine to the IRS over the $25,000 donation. The Washington Post found that the foundation did not list the contribution in its tax filings, and Trump later reimbursed the foundation for the donation. A Trump Organization senior vice president told The Post that it was "an honest mistake" that the contribution wasn't properly listed.
On Thursday, Donna Shalala, the president of the Clinton Foundation and the former secretary of health and human services, told CNN that the foundation does "magnificent work" and that "there was a process set up to make sure their lines were not crossed" while the former secretary of state was in power.
But, she added, "when she's president" the foundation will have to "actually eliminate any aspect of conflict of interest."
Cuban endorsed Clinton at a rally in Pittsburgh, his hometown, in July. He called Trump a "jagoff" — a demeaning slang term frequently used in western Pennsylvania — during the event. In recent months, Cuban has ripped Trump repeatedly on social media in recent months.
Earlier in the cycle, Cuban expressed interest in serving as either Trump's or Clinton's running mate before souring on the real-estate magnate's candidacy. In a tweet last month, he wrote that he knew there "was no chance [that being picked as a running mate] was happening."
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: Why you won't find a garbage can near the 9/11 memorial
Recent research shows a third of consumers prefer that companies thank them in the form of points or miles – indicating the pervasiveness of loyalty programs. But retail interactions occur well outside purchase, and recognition extends beyond loyalty programs. How some retailers are thanking customers in fresh ways.
Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images
If love means never having to say you’re sorry, then loyalty should mean always having to say thank you.
It can come as a verbal word of gratitude, or in the form of rewards points. One factor does not change when it comes to retail: Consumers like to be thanked and recognized for their patronage.
That’s my takeaway after reviewing the results of a recent survey by TD Bank, which measured consumer attitudes about giving and receiving thanks in both personal and commercial settings. Not surprisingly, when it comes to being thanked by others, 84% of those surveyed said they prefer their thanks to come in person.
However, just how consumers like retailers and other companies to deliver their thanks is a different story.
For instance, 33% of those surveyed prefer companies to thank them with points, miles or other loyalty rewards. This is a great boost for loyalty marketing and rewards programs, but I don’t think the takeaway should be so cut-and-dry. Retail interactions involve much more than a purchase, and a rewards program will realize its full potential only if a retailer shows its thanks across all shopper touchpoints, such as the online experience, its social channels and customer care.
There are ways to generate customer recognition beyond traditional loyalty programs, as Apple, Lululemon and REI have proved. Let’s explore them; but first, let’s look at the research.
Gratitude Generates Loyalty
More than three-quarters of consumers surveyed (77%) said they are more likely to be loyal to a brand that expresses gratitude, according to TD Bank’s online survey, which took place in July.
That loyalty figure skews slightly higher among consumers ages 18 to 34 (81%) and women (80%). Meanwhile, 60% of the respondents said a direct thank you is more genuine, while 44% find a personalized thanks to be more authentic.
However, when asked specifically how they would like a company to thank them, 68% of all respondents chose rewards such as points, miles or other loyalty program benefits. Just 34% chose a verbal thank you.
As earlier stated, one-third of the respondents said loyalty program rewards are their most preferred way to be thanked (a close second to freebies). Just 13% of the respondents chose a verbal thanks as their most preferred form of recognition.
Other findings:
3 Fresh Ways of Giving Thanks
It is not a revelation that consumers crave acknowledgment, but it is surprising to me how few consumers, across age groups, prefer a verbal or written thank you to a reward or freebie. I suspect this is a sign of conditioning because of the pervasiveness of loyalty programs.
But with that pervasiveness comes a higher bar – to stand apart and remain relevant as a retailer and a brand. This means resonating with the shopper, and making him or her feel genuinely appreciated, at all retail touchpoints as well as in unexpected places. Here are a few examples.
Teach them something new (about you): Retailers can invite customers to free events that educate them about products or processes central to that brand – further ensuring their relevance. REI, the outdoor activities company, offers a broad selection of free courses, from bike maintenance and GoPro training to land and water conservation. (Fee-based classes such as photography are discounted for those who become REI members.) Similarly, Apple offers free workshops that extend from the basics of using its products to digital photography, as well as free field trips for kids and teachers.
Bowl someone over: Retailers are familiar with the concept of surprise and delight – wowing a shopper with an unexpected gesture that will remain fondly in his memory for years. The classic example is when a call center employee at Zappos.com sent flowers to a customer whose mother died. In this area particularly, loyalty programs help because the insights they gather enable more tailored communications. Morton’s The Steakhouse once blew a customer away after he tweeted the chain jokingly requesting that a steak be delivered following a long day of business travel. To his surprise, an employee met him at the airport with a porterhouse steak, a colossal shrimp, a side of potatoes and silverware to boot.
Feed their passions: People choose brands that support their lifestyle interests; they stick with brands that encourage and share them. Lululemon, the seller of yoga, workout and athleisure clothing, provides its regular shoppers complimentary in-store yoga classes led by local instructors. For those who are not near a store or cannot make it, Lululemon offers free online classes. By extending these free services, Lululemon is reinforcing its support of a passion that is increasingly shared by its best shoppers. And so the bond strengthens.
Thanking customers across all touchpoints is good practice simply because it is good manners. It also could be good business. If practiced genuinely, an unexpected thank you brings its own rewards in the form of many welcome returns.
This article originally appeared on Forbes.com, you can view the original story here.
Forming Partnerships, or Strategic Alliances, is one of the key elements that make up the business development function in technology companies. I believe that alliances are underutilized in many ways. Conceived and executed properly, alliances can greatly extend each of the partner companies reach in the marketplace.
VARIOUS AND SUNDRY PARTNERSHIPS
There are many types of collaboration that fall under the umbrella of “Partnering”. Let’s take an expanded view and examine a few of the most common:
Formal Third Party Programs—Probably the best understood category of partnering. Partnering in this manner is generally low risk, but low reward for both parties. A program usually consists of many smaller partners gaining modest benefits from a larger company. The larger company gains (at least the illusion) from having a large number of partners working with their product/technology.
Industry Consortiums—Represents another well-understood category. Mild benefits are usually obtained by the participating parties, including some publicity, a stamp of approval, and the opportunity to network with other consortium members. The unique aspect of this form of partnering is its one-to-many relationship, as opposed to “one-to-one” or “one-to-few” relationships found in most partnerships.
Sales Agents—Many people might not consider sales agent relationships partnerships; or at least not strategic. But they certainly are. There is usually a minimum of entanglement here; usually simply a contract that provides a commission for sales generated or leveraged. The product doesn’t change hands between the partners and there is often little training and support involved, relative to other partnership types used for product distribution.
Service Agreements—These agreements occur when a company doesn’t want to relinquish the sales function for its products, but for some reason it needs a third party for servicing. These agreements are most common in high-end hardware markets, where 24/7 on-site support is critical. Storage Hardware and Mainframes are good examples. They are also seen in more commodity-type markets, where a company has decided that service/support isn’t their core competency and that a third party can handle service/support at a lower cost. The use of Indian Call Centers by PC manufacturers such as Dell is an example of this concept.
Distribution Agreements—This is a common but often poorly executed form of partnership. The errors usually occur when the Channel partner is treated like an end-user to be sold to, rather than a hybrid or a true partner as should be viewed. Distributors and Resellers need to be treated as an extension of a company’s sales force, although of course they still need to be “sold to” as end-users due. Sadly they often are not, leading to such misguided policies such as channel stuffing and over-distribution, which lead to problems that become extremely difficult to resolve.
Joint Marketing—Cooperation on marketing matters should be where most companies reap the greatest benefits. Partnering in this area is really low risk, can have great benefits and is a great way to get started with a new partner. There are so many ways that companies can cooperate in joint marketing; the list is really only limited by your imagination. Some of the ways I’ve been able to utilize these types of partnerships include discounted product promotional bundles, trade show space cost-sharing, joint press releases (of course!), sharing of prospect and customer lists, prospect referrals and joint direct mailings. The great thing is that there are many different areas to explore to find overlap in the two companies interests.
Product Integration—Integrating the products of two companies is what often comes to mind when you think of partnerships. It can make great sense and the potential rewards are great. However, there are some reasons for caution, prior to jumping straight into this, as I’ll discuss below.
POTENTIAL PITFALLS
As discussed above, a partnership or alliance can take many forms. As a result, there is a lot of confusion and disagreement as to what even constitutes a “good” partnership. Let’s take a closer look at two frequently seen partnering categories and some common missteps:
The PaRtnership
You see a great many press releases go out trumpeting the partnership between company A and company B. The release goes on to discuss the great benefits that will accrue to customers and the two companies making the announcement. The language tends to be vague and laced with buzzword terminology like “synergy” and “market leading value proposition”. More often than not, that initial press release is the high point of the partnership and little is heard about it subsequently. You may have heard the term “slide-ware” to describe products that exist only in PowerPoint. This type of partnership is the PR alliance equivalent to slide-ware—I call it a “PaRtner-ship.”
Product Integration Fiasco
On the other end of the partnership pitfall spectrum are technical folks who usually think of alliances in terms of product integration. Technical integration can be the basis for a great partnership. However, it’s a lot of work and a big commitment for both parties. The danger is that the partners too quickly dive head long into the product integration work, basing their decision on an impulsive belief that it “makes sense”.
In a not unusual scenario, the two products are complementary and from an engineering (and often customer) perspective it looks like a marriage made in heaven. Several dangers are lying in the weeds, however. First of all, any product development effort runs a high risk of failure. When you put together two disparate engineering teams who have never worked together on a project, that risk rises exponentially. Usually both engineering departments have their own product releases to worry about concurrently, which are always higher priority. Lack of communication, low priority, cultural differences and ego can easily conspire to lead to a failed integration project, or at least one lacking the features to be of much leverage in the market. At this point, the partners have spent a lot of money and precious engineering resources with little in return, leaving finger pointing and a search for scapegoats as the next step.
In addition, it takes much more than good product integration for commercial success by the partners. If there isn’t a solid plan for marketing cooperation and distribution (see above!), even technically-elegant product integration partnerships will leave both parties disappointed. Alliances that are born from product integration, unless carefully thought out and efficiently executed, can lead to disappointment by one or both of the partners.
There are many “gotchas” involved with working together to push and pull the combined solution in the market. It helps to have some practice working together prior to making the big bet on technical integration. That’s why I often recommend to my clients that product integration is usually best as a step down the road in an embryonic partnership, not as the beginning of one.
PARTNERSHIPS MAKE SENSE—BUT EXECUTION IS KEY
So are partnerships to be avoided? Not at all! They are one of the areas that can make be a huge differentiator for your company in a competitive market. But the take-away message here is that too many partnerships are conceived as great ideas—and peak right there. Like most business activities the devil is in the details and execution is the key to success. When I’m working with smaller clients with limited capital for marketing and sales, I often recommend an aggressive partnering program. If executed correctly, the company and its partners can gain cost-efficiencies and marketing economies of scale far exceeding their own size. But I have two final key pieces of advice before you embark on a new partnering program:
1) The very definition of a partnership is a “win-win” relationship for BOTH parties. Takers don’t build winning partnerships—givers do. Offer to take the first step, do the first piece of the project. A partner that believes you are acting in his best interests will be very impressed and willing to provide support that you never dreamed of. Build that relationship by being the first to “give”; the trust you build will came back to you multiple times and set the stage for a profitable, long term partnership.
2) Do start, but start small. I’ve discussed above the many pitfalls of moving too fast. It’s best to pick something easy with obvious benefits to both parties. Working successfully on a small project creates momentum and helps build the trust and familiarity that is crucial to success on more ambitious future projects. I will often suggest a simple list swap of prospects as an initial step. If either party views even that with suspicion, a blind mailing can be done to each company’s list where the actual lists don’t change hands. Building a prospect or customer list is very capital-intensive; by partnering with just one other company, you can each double your lists overnight. It’s almost a certain Win-Win, creating excellent leverage, and no financial investment by either party. It’s easy to succeed, and sets the stage for discussions on additional collaboration.
I’m sure you get the picture—does this make sense to you? Post me a comment below with your own partnering success stories and failures.
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I recently watched the documentary “When We Were Kings,” which examines the 1974 heavyweight championship boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. It was a fantastic film, but beyond its entertainment value, it also contains a valuable lesson for salespeople.
Going into the fight, Foreman was the favorite. Young, brutal, and viciously strong, the odds were on Foreman to defeat the older, smaller, and less powerful Ali. The only way Ali even stood a chance of winning, according to boxing experts, was if he avoided Foreman by dancing around the ring, making use of his impressive speed.
But when the fight started, it was clear that Ali was not going to use this tactic. Instead, after briefly going on the offensive, he switched to defense and simply absorbed Foreman’s hits. Punch after punch, Ali stood and took the blows.
Everyone thought he was crazy -- what kind of a tactic was this? Isn’t the point of boxing to not get hit?
However, Ali’s strategy began to pay off in the later rounds of the match. After throwing so many powerful punches, Foreman was exhausted. Ali took advantage of his opponent’s fatigue and went back on the offensive, knocking him out in the eighth round. He was declared the winner, and awarded the championship title.
How does this apply to sales? Reps often fall prey to the belief that the only way a prospect will buy is if they can effectively overcome each and every single one of that buyer’s objections. They think buyers will only purchase something they’re 100% on board with.
But that’s not true at all. All that a salesperson needs to do to win business is prove that their offering is the best option among all the alternatives -- not that it’s a 100% exact perfect fit. Similarly, not every objection needs to be “overcome” -- sometimes it’s smarter to pick your battles and simply absorb the punch.
In sales, “absorbing the punch” means accepting an objection at face value, without trying to negate or overcome it. Here’s what this might sound like in conversation:
Salesperson: “Hi Dana, I’m Mike calling from Acme Corp.”
Buyer: “Oh … we already evaluated Acme Corp. six months ago, and it wasn’t a fit.”
Salesperson: “Ah. Well, if you looked at us six months ago and came to that conclusion, you were probably right.”
Instead of arguing against the prospect’s decision, the salesperson simply accepts the information. And here’s where the beauty of this tactic comes in: Because the prospect is so used to salespeople fighting back in similar scenarios, they’re not prepared for this unexpected conversational detour. And this leaves a valuable opening for the salesperson:
[Silence]
Salesperson: “The good news is I can determine in five minutes if things on your end or our end have changed to the extent that our product would be a better fit now.”
Buyer: “Oh, uh … sure, that makes sense.”
Whereas before the prospect was running on autopilot and ready to hang up the phone, they’re now engaged with the rep and ready to have a conversation.
Here’s another example:
Salesperson: “Hi Sam, I’d like to talk to you about how your design team works.”
Buyer: “Well I’m not the right person to talk to about that.”
Salesperson: “Oh, okay.”
[Silence]
Salesperson: “Well, what do you do?”
Instead of following up the buyer’s objection with “Who is the right person?” -- the question the prospect expects and is prepared to dismiss -- the rep accepted the information, and pivoted the conversation in a different direction. After building some rapport with the contact, it’s far more likely they’ll be willing to introduce the rep to the buyer for the design team.
Besides getting buyers to lower their guard, there are a few other benefits to absorbing the punch every now and then:
The next time you get a hasty brush-off objection like one of the examples above, don’t rush to deflect the punch -- try absorbing it instead. By strategically absorbing the punch from time to time, you might just find that you emerge “victorious” at the end of the match, with a new customer to show for it.
See how you can make Jeff’s proven sales strategies and techniques work for you at our San Francisco and Boston fall workshops -- both happening in October. Learn more here.
Mobile apps are garnering a lot of attention in the world of B2B eCommerce. In a recent survey of global product and supply companies, 65% of respondents said that they offered a mobile optimized site. The same percentage said that they offered B2B mobile apps. More than two thirds of these companies cited brand awareness and customer engagement as their primary motivations for offering B2B mobile apps, while nearly half gave increased sales as their primary objective.
Surveys like this underscore the growing importance of mobile for online marketing success. We recently noted that there are more than 176 million mobile users in the US, and that more than 75% of B2B buyers use mobile at some point during their purchasing process. While mobile traffic today accounts for around 16% of B2B eCommerce visits, the vast majority of B2B decision makers believe that number is only going to grow, making mobile the future of B2B eCommerce.
So, is it time for your business to consider introducing B2B mobile apps into the mix? In this post, we’ll talk through your two key mobile options – mobile optimized web or native B2B mobile apps – and some reasons why native mobile apps offer significant advantages over a standard mobile website.
There’s a significant difference between a mobile optimized site and a native B2B mobile app. A mobile optimized site is generally more readable on a mobile device than a non-optimized site. However, the layout and navigation of the site may not change much from the desktop version. The purchasing functionality may also be more similar to a desktop experience, with components such as pull down menus and fill in boxes that can make the mobile user experience more challenging.
A native B2B mobile app, on the other hand, is more than a mobile optimized site. A B2B mobile app is essentially a complete rethinking of the user experience for the needs of a mobile user. It avoids components that don’t work well on the small screen, such as pulldowns, opting instead for slider bars, large buttons that are easy to see and use on the small screen, and simple, consistent navigation.
B2B mobile apps may also be centered around a specific function. A B2B company could, for instance, offer a branded mobile order app that incorporates a barcode scanner to allow users to scan an item as it goes out of stock and automatically order from the app. The app could also allow them to research past orders to create a reorder for the item.
Mobile users account for a growing number of B2B buyers, but they remain a comparatively small percentage of online sales. B2B users show a preference for using mobile in the research portion of their purchasing cycle, but they tend to make the actual purchase in another channel. B2B mobile apps help to overcome one of the major obstacles in mobile eCommerce: converting site visitors into buyers.
Research indicates that mobile users spend the majority of time on their mobile device inside of apps – that is, using apps like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Why do mobile users seem to prefer apps over mobile optimized sites?
For companies that want to deliver on the promise of mobile, B2B mobile apps offer a way to increase engagement with mobile users, and turn more of their site visits into actual purchases. Furthermore, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vendors are making these kinds of apps more accessible than ever, and companies at all sizes and stages are beginning to implement them.
A few years ago I created a list of the best books sales people should read to become a badass. You can see the list here. The list included some amazing books. What made that list so special was the surprising number of books that WEREN’T sales books. The original list of must read sales books for sales badasses included some books that address traits and skills that are critical to sales, but aren’t solely sales related.
This updated list is a little different. This list is all sales books.
A lot has changed in the sales world in the last 13 years. Inside sales, inbound, outbound, Account Based Marketing, lead generation, buyers journey, etc. are just a few of the new terms that have penetrated our sales vernacular. Therefore with all the changes, keeping up with the new and valuable selling methodologies of today is critical to success.
This list was built to help sales people and sales leaders crush it in the sales world of 21st-century.
Growth is critical to success, and deliberate learning is the best and most productive way to achieve that growth.
If you’re interested in expanding your skills, broadening your understanding the new world and learning new skills these are the sales books for you. (To order or read more, simply click on book thumbnail)
This book should have been called, “The Anatomy of a Sales Person” because that’s what it describes. With chapters like Self-Discipline, Optimism, Competitiveness, Story Telling Diagnosing and more, The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need will snap you in shape. Anthony’s direct approach lives little for interpretation. Broken into, two Parts, Mind Set and Skill Sets, Anthony walks you through how these two very different elements to sales come together to create a powerful description of what it takes to become a true badass sales person.
If you haven’t read a sales book in a while, this is the first one you should read. It will revive those parts of your skill set and mindset you already had AND help you develop new ones to be successful in the 21st-century.
If nothing happens until something gets sold, then nothing gets sold until you can prospect. Prospecting is where everything happens. It’s how we build our pipelines. It’s how we position ourselves for success. If your prospecting is suspect, nothing can save you. Jeb has written a killer book designed help you build a solid pipeline faster. Learn about the 30-day rule, the law of replacement, the P’s holding you back and more. If you want a bigger pipeline, this book can help you get it.
This book completely surprised me. It tackles the most difficult challenge salespeople struggle with, getting prospects to respond. Stu Heinecke triggers your mind to think in entirely different ways. Leveraging his own unique stories and those of others, How to Get a Meeting With Anyone, teaches you how to get the attention of your buyers and get them to respond to you. This book is not about email meetings, but rather how to build targeted, specific campaigns for your most valuable prospects. This is a must have compliment to any organization doing ABM (Account Based Marketing)
In full disclosure, I consider David Brock a mentor. When I first started my consulting company, David offered amazing insight, support and most importantly confidence building. He convinced me I was capable of things I wasn’t sure I was ready for. That’s what makes David’s book Sales Managers Survival Guide so valuable. David has practiced and lived sophisticated sales leadership for decades and he’s good at it. This book should sit on EVERY sales managers desk and be part of the on-boarding for new sales manager. Sales Manager Survival Guide covers everything from hiring and firing to comp plans, to performance reviews, to succession planning and more. David has written the definitive guide to sales management. Go get it.
Tim 
has written the book for large, complex selling. As you’ll see in the next book I share, the complexity of selling is drastically increasing. This increase is being driven by more and more buyers in the decision process. To drive deals forward in today’s complex selling world that has an average of 5.4 decision makers per sale, sales has to leverage the entire organization. Deal Storming walks you through how to leverage all the intellectual capacity of your organization to compete and win the deal. Deals Storming helps sales people get deadlocked deals unstuck and helps capitalize on the creativity of the entire organization. Deal Storming leverages a 7-Step process that has helped Yahoo, Conde Naste, and Career Builder win their big deals. Don’t lose a stuck deal again, read this book.
Our customers buying process is going through dramatic change. Deals are no longer made by one or two people, they’re made by committee and that “committee” is made up of 5.4 people on average. That’s 5.4 people you need to get behind saying yes to your product or service. The Challenger Customer is a fantastic follow up on it’s predecessor, The Challenger Sale (on the first list). Leveraging their research on the 7 types of buyers and what it takes to move them to a yes, The Challenger Customer helps you understand the different buyer types and whether or not they are friendly “mobilizers” or “blockers.” If you sell to large scale organizations with long sales cycles, The Challenger Customer is a must. Combined with Deal Storming, you’ve got a powerful combination.
Broken down into 6 key elements or parts, The Sales Development Playbook takes you on a journey towards sales growth and acceleration. The 6 Parts: Strategy, Specialization, Recruiting, Retention, Execution, and Leadership, are carefully and meticulously laid out in a fashion that doesn’t let you forget the others. Trish had done a masterful job of framing what a winning 21st-Century sales organization should look like. If you’re a CRO, Sales VP and responsible for sales development in your organization, this book should be on your shelf.
As the digital landscape has changed buyers’ habits it’s increasingly difficult to reach them early enough in their decision-making process using traditional sales methods. Developing relationships with decision-makers through social networks has become an increasingly critical skill – enabling sales professionals to engage early on and ‘hack’ the buying process. Social Selling provides a practical, step-by-step blueprint for harnessing these specific and proven techniques. Social Selling is real people, Tim’s book is a winner that will make you that much more web popular and improve your digital engagment. Don’t start social selling without it.
Have you ever wondered if there were a way to close a deal with out being pushy and obnoxious? This book is your answer. Using science, James Muir offers sales people a simple two-question close that will do just that. In The Perfect Close Muir shares his approach to get customers to close with a 95% closing percentage with zero pressure. Many of you know my thoughts on closing. Closing is a journey and Muir’s book helps you go on that journey with respect for your prospects.
Yeah, 
yeah, I know two prospecting books, really? Well yup, because prospecting is that important. Plus, Jeb Blount wrote the foreword. High-Profit Prospecting helps sales people maximize the time they spend prospecting in order to fill their pipelines faster and with better opportunities. I especially liked Mark’s don’t cold call, inform call thesis. High-Profit Prospecting addresses everything from email, social media, to gate keepers, referrals and more. Read this and Jeb’s book and watch how fast your pipeline grows.
If there is a new sales bible for sale reps, this is it. There are number of new sales books coming out every year touting a new and complex selling methodology and some of them are good. The problem is, like many other things, if you don’t have the basics, those books can’t help you. New Sales Simplified is all about the basics. I recommend this book to every new sales person or any salesperson who feels they need to “hone” their skills. New Sales Simplified is fantastic book that delivers the sales basics with a punch. If every new sales rep read this book before they ever made a sales call, the profession of sales would have an entirely different brand. Get it, read it every two years or so, and don’t deviate from it.
We’re in a global economy and yet their are so few books on selling to global account. Barbara leverages the expertise of fourteen current global practitioners and current sales experts to help readers navigate the complex world of global selling. Whale Hunting with Global Accounts walks you through a 4 strategy approach that will help you compete for and win global accounts.
Social Selling is so critical to sale today, I would have felt I was cheating you if I didn’t recommend both of these books. Jamie Shanks is the CEO of Sales for Life, a social selling training company. Sales for life is the permenant social selling training company in the world. Therefore, technically speaking, you could say Shanks wrote the book and training on social selling. Social Selling Mastery helps sales people connect with their buyers and prospects where they live. Social Selling Mastery provides a blue print for sales people trying to engage with prospects all across the Internet. Leverage his companies training curriculums, provide readers with the insight and information required to be seen by their prospects as valuable resources, not pesky sale people pushing and agenda. Social selling is a real thing and Social Selling Mastery makes sure you do it right.
K, there you have it. The world of sales has changed drastically in the past 15 years. Products, methodologies, systems, that are dominating the sales environment that didn’t’ even exist 5 years ago, never mind ten or fifteen years ago. The best salespeople and the best sales leaders stay abreast of the changes and maintain their stock in what it takes to sell in the 21st-century. These 13 books are the foundation to staying ahead of the curve and on top of your game.
Well that is for the next few years. Things change pretty fast these days.
Enjoy folks.
If there’s a book you guys thing should be added to this list, feel free to share in the comments. I’m curious to see what everyone else is reading.
Prospects and salespeople seem to hate cold calling with equal passion. It’s intrusive and annoying for buyers, and it’s ineffective, time-consuming, and draining for reps.
If cold calling is the schoolyard bully, social selling is the new kid on the block. Fortunately for everyone, social selling is more than capable of winning the fight.
Case in point: A study by the Keller Research Center at Baylor University shows that a mere 1% of cold calls eventually become opportunities. Meanwhile, a 2014 Forrester Research report found that social sellers realize 66% greater quota attainment than those using traditional prospecting techniques.
To get more details on how cold calling and social selling stack up, check out this infographic from Sales for Life.
Social media is better at one-on-one–B2C–marketing, right? Wrong. According to marketing gurus Kipp Bodnar and Jeffrey L. Cohen’s The B2B Social Media Book, Becoming a Marketing Superstar, B2B companies “are a better fit” for B2B for a variety of reasons.
B2B companies tend to have a more focused understanding of their clients. Their depth of subject matter expertise and expert marketing on a budget make social media a great tool for proselytizing clients and nurturing their B2B relationships with followers, who are likely to become loyal clients and promote brand reputation.
Bodnar and Cohen also point out that long before Twitter and Facebook became the social media magnetic magnates they are today, B2B marketers were out front telling their stories and marketing their content through snail mail and pre-information age approaches–brochures, ad campaigns, etc.
However, successfully using the social media tool requires an understanding of how social media works works and how, unfortunately, it can sometimes fail. Any failed business promotion endeavor can be costly in terms of wasted time, money and resources.
The bottom line is return on investment, both short-term and over the lifetime of the company. The former may take immediate precedence over the latter, but wise inbound marketing is never shortsighted.
Here are seven typical pitfalls that can lead to costly social media marketing failures:
When it comes to marketing, according to Kipp Bodnar, “B2B social media is about lead generation.” Sure, building communities and educating your fan/clients base is a worthy long-term endeavor, but, again, according to Bodnar, “if you don’t present lead conversion opportunities, you will never generate the revenue needed to fund your social media marketing efforts.” Stray from the ROI path, and social media marketing could end up in your rearview mirror.
Takeaway: The path back to ROI is through providing a way for social media visitors to complete lead conversion forms for follow-ups to convert leads to sales.
Leads don’t become ROI until they become actual clients. Guessing about how well social media marketing is going, or simply tracking likes and numbers of followers are not the metrics of marketing success.
Takeaway: Analyzing actual user data across a variety of marketing channels requires time and effort. Measuring the ROI for social media marketing will gather the concrete metrics that make social media inbound marketing worth the effort.
With the bottom line always at the forefront, it is tempting for marketers to concentrate on the high-quality leads with high-average sales. B2B marketers often overlook the exponential phenomenon of social media reach and how B2B marketing content can spread across the Internet.
Takeaway: Do not ignore the potential enormous reach of social media. Inbound marketing on Facebook and other social media accounts like LinkedIn can pay dividends in building a B2B outreach. Read how to do that in this informative piece by Lindsay Kolowich.
Yes, most online social media platforms are free, and it is tempting to add them to the marketing mix because they are there. Adopting social media as a dilatory experiment and just letting it all happen will handicap your B2B social media marketing from the outset, virtually guaranteeing failure.
Takeaway: The reality is that social media marketing always requires more time and money than most marketers expect. Figure on spending twice the time and come up with a strategy for diverting efforts from other nonproductive marketing activities.
Social media visitors aren’t looking for boring product descriptions or product-focused content. It is the marketer’s job to hype interest in the product. Using social media to hawk prosaic products misses the mark.
Takeaway: Instead of hawking your wares, publish social media content that specifically relates to your clients’ problems and needs and how your product or service solves and fulfills the latter.
It is a mistake to rely on social media as a replacement for offline marketing. Social media marketing is but one piece of the marketing pie and works best as a part of an integrated inbound marketing strategy.
Takeaway: Look for opportunities to include and integrate social media with traditionally productive marketing programs. For example, add links to your social media in your next direct mail campaign.
Last, but never least, the biggest mistake you can make is to forget about search engine optimization. SEO may be joined at the hip to your website outbound marketing, but forgetting that treasure trove of keywords can nullify the web crawler as a powerful tool to elicit followers to your media message.
Takeaway: Break out that unified keyword list and build it into your social media presence. You need to get on the same page and present a united front for your inbound marketing strategy. SEO, coupled with great content, is the key to unlocking your B2B presence on the Internet.
Social media marketing is both an art and a craft. It straddles the fine line between what everyone is looking for in ROI: instant returns, and payback over the life of an organization.
Recently I had a chance to interview Mark Hunter, author of new book High-Profit Prospecting. I’ve known him for years. His stuff is good.
If you're looking for ways to be more effective at prospecting and to get better sales leads, listen in on our recent conversation. I promise you’ll learn something!
TRANSCRIPT:
It’s no secret that an effective sales enablement strategy requires interdepartmental alignment. A study from MarketingProfs found that companies with aligned sales and marketing functions can generate up to 208 percent more marketing-sourced revenue and 38 percent higher sales win rates than those that are misaligned, and that number can only increase when product, operations, and human resources teams are involved as well. But sales enablement success also requires alignment with the c-suite. Practitioners that have successfully executed a strategic sales enablement function stress the necessity of executive buy-in through building an internal business case for sales enablement, and no one has more experience with this than Tamara Schenk. Tamara, Research Director at CSO Insights, focuses her research on establishing frameworks and models that help sales and enablement leaders navigate the complexity of modern selling. Through her research, Tamara has established a maturity model that helps sales and enablement leaders assess the maturity of their organization’s enablement function, and then recommend the right plan of action to the c-suite.
Tamara was a recent guest on the Sales Enablement Shift podcast, where we talked about this maturity model, how it fits into the bigger picture of building an internal business case, and why this is imperative for getting executive buy-in for sales enablement. You can listen to the full episode here, or learn how to build an internal business case for sales enablement below.
This process is crucial for any sales enablement practitioner looking to get executive support and buy-in for an enablement initiative. Thank you to Tamara for sharing her valuable insights with our listeners and readers—you can connect with Tamara on LinkedIn or Twitter.
You’ve made a solid business case for your new content marketing effort. You’ve collected the best statistics, trends, and examples to secure executive buy-in. You’re good to go.
But then, when it comes to strategy and execution, you’re getting pushback on any content that isn’t strictly focused on promoting products and services. It’s like everything you said about valuable, relevant, audience-centric content was forgotten, and the decision-makers really just want thinly veiled advertising materials.
This kind of sales-focused mindset is one of the most common pitfalls preventing successful content marketing programs. It feels like an endless cycle of two steps forward and one step back when a program is approved but executives don’t understand how something that doesn’t directly drive sales is of any value.
What else can you say when you’ve already offered all the data and research available?
Try an appeal to common sense. Sometimes, all it takes to understand effective content marketing is to put it in relatable terms. While numbers and case studies are crucial for validation, experience tells us that often a simpler approach, using analogies and metaphors drawn from everyday life, is likely to be more effective in gaining buy-in and breathing room to create content that works.
To gain #contentmarketing buy-in, use analogies & metaphors drawn from everyday life says @leeprocida
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Here are six such common-sense reasons why content should go beyond products and services.
Dating is a classic analogy to explain effective marketing. When you’re dating, you’re marketing yourself, and we all have some experience seeing what techniques work and which approaches are downright embarrassing.
Here’s how David Beebe, vice president of global creative + content marketing at Marriott International, explained it to The Washington Post: “It’s kind of like being on a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there’s not going to be a second date.”
Now, it is true that you’ll still have one-night stands. If someone’s desperate enough or just has low standards, it almost doesn’t matter what you say. But take your mother’s advice — going home with any old thing isn’t how you build a valuable, long-term connection. Word gets around, and your brand gets tarnished.
If you want people to really form a favorable opinion of your brand, consider their interests, and indulge those interests through your content. You’ll find that they keep coming back for more.
Many executives question how an article, video, infographic, or any other piece of content contributes to sales if it’s not solely pushing a product or service. But even effective salespeople don’t solely push a product or service!
Consider this example from a piece of content marketing itself. In 1908, a niche oil-and-chemicals company named Houghton International launched a magazine for its sales agents named The Houghton Line. The company president was also editor of the magazine, and in the debut issue this is how he described his editorial philosophy: “All the talk is not going to be relative to our goods or details of their sale, any more than all the talk of a personal call would be so.”
Isn’t that a clear and compelling rationale for why content marketing shouldn’t just focus on selling? He’s absolutely right — no savvy, effective salesperson only talks business. People who do are boring, impersonal, and unlikable.
#Contentmarketing shouldn’t just focus on selling says @leeprocida.
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Meanwhile, people who make good small talk, share personal information, and tell entertaining stories are more friendly, trustworthy, and charismatic. Do you want to be a bore or a charismatic brand?
Typical outbound promotion is about pushing people to take an action. Content, conversely, is about pulling people in. It’s a new dynamic, and in many cases pulling offers more leverage than pushing.
Outbound promotion pushes people to take an action. #Content pulls people in says @leeprocida.
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Consider the martial arts. Annette Simmons, in her great book The Story Factor, compares storytelling to aikido, a martial art in which you use your opponents’ momentum against them. You actually pull an attacker toward you, destabilizing the person, and then moving the individual in the direction you want that person to go (typically the ground).
Simmons makes the analogy to content: “The physics of story may run counter to your instincts when faced with a situation where you want to influence so much that every fiber of your being tells you to ‘do something!’ If you push, you activate resistance. The pull strategy of story taps into the momentum living in your listeners rather than providing momentum for them.”
Too many marketers want to box their consumers into submission. And sure, you might win sometimes. But you’ll find that you won’t spend nearly as much energy or money by pulling rather than pushing.
Everyone’s heard the old personal-finance line, “Don’t work for your money; make your money work for you.” That’s smart advice if it leads you to investing in funds that grow in time using the power of compound interest. See Prudential’s brilliant, record-breaking branded video series for evidence of that.
Interest is powerful in content marketing, too. If people are interested in your content, more and more people will find it and share it, continuously generating returns over time. If it’s something that’s not interesting to your audience, few people will seek it or share it, limiting its ROI.
CMI’s Joe Pulizzi has made that point exactly: “You can increase the bottom line while, at the same time, help your customers live better lives or get better jobs. Content marketing is the only kind of marketing that provides ongoing value, whether you purchase the product or not.”
#Contentmarketing is the only kind of marketing that provides ongoing value says @joepulizzi.
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That’s only true, though, if you hit both those goals — making money and making people happy. Product-centric content might create short-term returns, but it’s audience-centric content that truly builds brand equity.
Audience-centric #content truly builds brand equity says @leeprocida. #contentmarketing
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We’ve all had friends we’ve fallen out of touch with over the years. You might have been best friends with someone years ago but now you never talk to them. Instead you have a new set of friends you talk to every weekend. Maybe you had a falling out, maybe you no longer have anything in common, or maybe you both just stopped communicating for no particular reason.
In business terms, customer relationships can change for all the same reasons, like a bad service experience or a change in lifestyle. Similarly, if your company is only out there promoting its products and services, and not what your audience is really interested in, you’ll only get tuned out. Audience-centric content marketing is a way to make sure you keep communication channels open; that way you’re still in touch when they consider a purchase decision.
At a recent Contently event, Mark Walker, head of content marketing at Eventbrite UK, explained this comparison: “Marketing is like a friendship. There are lots of pivotal moments in a friendship, like parties, but you don’t get invited if you’re not part of the regular conversation.”
We often get so myopic thinking about “the consumer” that we forget who the consumer really is — your friends, your family, and yourself. Would you share a sales deck with your friends, a promotional brochure with your wife or husband, or read some other advertising collateral in your spare time? Of course not. Why do we think other people will?
The idea that marketing should be interesting and entertaining for the intended audience isn’t a new one. David Ogilvy said the same thing about advertising decades ago: “Never run an advertisement you wouldn’t want your family to see. Tell the truth but make truth fascinating. You know, you can’t bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them in buying it.”
How do you create content that isn’t boring, and is something you’d ultimately want your own family to see? Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs, offers this brilliant perspective: “When we create something, we think, ‘Will our customers thank us for this?’ I think it’s important for all of us to be thinking about whatever marketing we’re creating, is it really useful to our customers? Will they thank us for it? I think if you think of things through that lens, it just clarifies what you’re doing in such a simple, elegant way.”
When creating #content, ask yourself, “Will our customers thank us for this?” says @marketingprofs.
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Would you thank a company for writing something that shamelessly promotes itself, or tries to trick you into buying something, or that doesn’t seem to care about your needs and concerns?
Probably not. And there’s nothing more common in terms of common sense than understanding what you, yourself, would want.
Next time you feel like you’re being pressured to sell out your content, forget the stats, facts, and charts, and try a little common sense.
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Cover image by Ryan McGuire-Bells Design, Gratisography, via pixabay.com
The post Get Buy-In From Executives With These 6 Common-Sense Reasons appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.
According to Demand Gen Report’s 2016 Demand Generation Benchmark Report , 77% of B2B marketers say email is the top channel for driving leads. And, the Direct Marketing Association states that email has an average ROI of $38 for each $1 spent. It is no surprise that email is considered a major driver for today’s marketers. But, with people complaining of overflowing inboxes, it is time to move beyond the old spray and pray approach to throw as much out there as possible to see what sticks. Instead, here are five tips to optimize email efforts to achieve the best results.
Remember the Ingredients of a Good Email
Most recognize the basics of a good email – the content and call to action or offer. But what are the other key ingredients?
Good Subject lines- You only have one chance to make a first impression, and–as far as your email is concerned– the subject line is it. You don’t have a prayer, if your message isn’t even opened. Most people know to avoid words like “free” in their subject lines but you should also avoid common words associated with sales, like “help,” or “reminder.” These words don’t always trigger a spam filter, but many recipients with ignore them. Tell them exactly what they’re getting such as “New Research Report,” “Industry Infographic,” or “Webinar Invite.” And finally, test subject lines to see what works best.
Proper List Segmentation- The goal of segmentation is to match the message with the buyer and ensure you are communicating relevant information. This includes firmographic and demographic elements such as industry and geography as well as behavioral data points such as the person’s interactions on your website, responses to campaigns and preferences.
The Right Format- There is a time and place for everything so be sure to consider whether your next email is HTML or Text. While HTML are beautiful “marketing” messages, Text comes across as more personal (even if sent through an automated process). HTML is typically appropriate for formal invitations or announcements as well as ebook promotions or newsletters and text gives the impression of a one-to-one outreach as if giving someone a special invitation.
Responsive Design- We are all on the go and have a number of technologies and devices available for use. With this in mind, it is essential to build emails with responsive design that will adjust based on the size of the screen for a mobile or desktop device. And, don’t forget the number of email clients and internet browsers. Make sure you have tools in place to test how your emails will render across all the different platforms.
Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Deliverability
You can have award-winning creative and copy, but it won’t generate ROI if the emails never reach the inbox. Email deliverability is a critical component of email marketing strategy but it is most often neglected. There are many factors that affect deliverability but the single most important is a clean and up-to-date list. Additionally, you must protect your sender reputation. Sender reputation is the scoring of a sender’s emails based on thousands of data points to determine the quality of mail sent. If you have a poor reputation, you will have difficulty getting your emails through so it is important that you are only mailing to subscribers and following good practices so you don’t damage your reputation in a way that would prevent your emails from making it to the inbox.
Incorporate Email as Part of a Broader Strategy
To truly be effective, email should be part of a broader strategy. MarketingSherpa states that an alarming 79% of leads never convert to sales, so if you are just sending one-off emails with a bunch of disjointed messages, you are missing a huge opportunity.
Traditional bulk email is manual to produce and is quickly becoming less effective. It is critical for marketers to take a more engaging approach and find a scalable way to deliver personalized content at the right time during a buyer’s journey via multiple channels including social, calling and advertising. Nurture campaigns are designed to do exactly that. They can help you develop relationships with leads by surfacing content that’s uniquely relevant to them at the right time during the buying cycle. Once set up, these automated campaigns run without marketing’s involvement.
As you get more successful with your email efforts, you will need a way to prioritize quality leads. Lead scoring helps marketing prioritize and process leads through the funnel at the right time to help sales improve the efficiency of their outreach. A lead scoring model works by applying values to key lead engagements, such as clicking on email, visiting a web page on your site or completing a form. As your leads engage with your digital content, they accumulate a score based on the values assigned to each action. Once a lead’s score reaches the threshold you determine for being sales-ready, the lead is automatically pushed to the CRM and assigned to a salesperson.
A lead scoring model can dramatically improve your overall lead management strategy, create efficiencies within the sales process and improve conversion rates.
Arm Yourself with the Right Technologies
The need to create a consistent experience across all prospect and customer interactions and the amount of data involved makes it impossible to do without technology in place. To facilitate alignment and ensure no leads leak out of your funnel, ensure you integrate marketing automation and the sales CRM. You will save time and resources by having a process and system in place to prioritize outreach and coordinate activities.
Measure and Adjust
There are many different metrics but is important to track performance so you can understand your campaign effectiveness and make improvements where needed. For email, you should measure opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes and inbox placements. There is no right answer for what these results should be as every organization is different. You simply should strive to make incremental improvements with each new email campaign. And, be sure to move beyond these basic metrics. Marketing shows its real value by showing the number of sales accepted leads delivered, marketing’s contribution to pipeline, cost per lead and contribution to revenue to name a few. The important thing is to measure results so you can improve performance.
The PDF (Portable Document Format) was created by Adobe Systems in the early 90s as a way for companies and individuals to efficiently and reliably exchange electronic documents.
Since then, they’ve become an invaluable tool for marketers, businesses, students, designers, teachers – basically everyone – and they’re used for everything from white papers to case studies, to menus and mock ups.
Today there are millions (maybe billions?) of PDFs living on the Internet. The problem: There are some limitations on the content and copy of those PDFs, specifically for marketers.
In this post, we’ll explore the history of the PDF as well as the limitations it faces in a modern context, as well as what’s being done to address those issues.
Before the PDF came around, there wasn’t an easy way to make different file formats work together and interpret each other’s files nicely. You had systems like Mac, MS DOS, and Windows – all of which had their own formats. When you tried to open another system’s files – it wasn’t pretty.
To remedy this issue, Adobe’s co-founder John Warnock and a team came together to work on a project they code named “Camelot.”
Leonard Rosenthol, PDF Architect at Adobe, said the goal of of the project was to address “The inability to exchange information between machines, between systems, between users in a way that ensured that the file would look the same everywhere it went.”
What came as a result in 1993: Version 1.0 of Adobe Acrobat, the first software program that could interpret different file formats, which they called “PDFs.”
Now, let’s all pause for a second to think about how much more complicated life would be if you couldn’t send a locked file format that worked seamlessly across devices and systems. Can you imagine the headache?
What’s amazing is that despite the functionality of the new tool, it didn’t take off at first.
Because it was a paid product and thanks to still very slow download times, it would still be a while before the PDF gained traction as a beloved tool in the business and marketing realm – and eventually as a tool for everyone. However, over the next ten years, Adobe continued to improve functionality and features with new plugins and tools.
Today, PDFs are used daily by millions of people around the world.
The modern PDF may be taken a bit for granted, if you think about it. Think of the many ways they touch our lives on a daily basis. We use them to electronically sign documents, to scan paper files into secure, electronic formats, to share high quality files online, and to maintain photos and design integrity.
Long gone are the days where PDFs were solely used in a business context. PDFs are for everyone, and thank goodness for that. However, marketers and businesses do still use PDFs for some of their most important business assets – their sales and marketing materials.
These are the documents they leverage when trying to convert leads, when they’re making sales pitches, when they’re communicating with clients, etc. We see marketing and business PDFs come in the form of:
And while all of these resources are extremely valuable (and often take considerable time and financial resources to develop) the trouble is: The content and copy that live within them are often locked away from search engines and provide very little data.
When content teams work hard to develop and create these incredible assets that can be used for sales enablement, this is a major downside.
Recognizing that our reliance on the PDF format can be overlooked and create limitations for us, we have to ask the question: What do marketers hope to achieve from their PDFs without metrics or analytics to provide any data for benchmarks for success?
We can assume they want easy, informative, versatile content for their users, but also the ability to measure effectiveness, gain leads, and optimize for the web.
Once someone gets past the lead gate of a PDF, what do they do? We have zero idea. Again, since PDFs have no metrics or analytics functionality, it’s hard to say – so we asked some marketers to see what their goals were when they create and launch a PDF.
Danny Margulies, a freelance writer and marketer, said, “I created a simple PDF to attract email signups. So far, I’ve gathered over 1,000 subscribers.”
Ross Simmonds, a content marketer, said his goal for PDFs is twofold: “(1) Deliver value to an audience that could be a potential client or customer and (2) ensure that the value is worth giving an email for. Once I have the email, they’re placed in a marketing automation funnel which is used to get feedback on the resource, nurture the relationship and eventually close a sale.”
Midas Media’s Managing Director, Ed Leake, said, “My team strives to create PDFs that remain in the ‘favorite’ folder–or better still – get printed out and sit on a desk somewhere. The thought of that makes me happy, because I know with time, that goodwill and upfront value will repay us.”
Jacob McMillen, a content strategist, said, “PDFs I send out online are always geared toward email leads for me.”
Copywriter Aaron Orendorff uses PDFs to create lead magnets around some of his most popular content: “Right now, I’m reverse engineering a PDF on my highest ranking Google content,” he said. “Instead of just letting that post collect traffic and hoping my popups grab subscribers, I’m building a special PDF expanding on the key lessons from that piece and will offer it in the introduction and conclusion. Then, I’ll also create Facebook ads driving traffic to it. The goal is pretty simple: continue to build my email list but segment these signups so I can offer them two copywriting products: (1) one-on-one coaching and (2) a video and written course.”
Lead generation and value are clearly some of the forerunners for PDF goals, but in a world where marketers are becoming accustomed to advanced, in-depth metrics for things like page views, shares, time spent on page, etc., it will be interesting to see what the future holds for this content format.
The PDF is here to stay, that’s for sure. With its utility, ease of use, and widespread adoption, there’s no way we’ll be seeing this file format fade away any time soon.
The question is: What can be done to make the PDF even more valuable than it already is? And what are marketers trying and doing instead of the traditional, static PDF?
We’re already seeing interesting alternatives like microsites, PDFs repurposed into interactive content, explainer videos, and engaging content that produces amazing results – so shouldn’t more marketers be taking note and creating similar types of content?
Twitter today is rolling out a series of new features designed to help users better connect with businesses offering customer support through their official Twitter accounts. Now those businesses will be able to clearly display on their profile if their account offers customer service, as well as which times those accounts are active. The business can now indicate if it offers service via a… Read More
Insulin has been around since 1923, so it came as a surprise in July 2015 when Cole LePere's doctor told his mother, Janine, to prepare to pay a lot at the pharmacy for it.
Cole, who was 10, had just been found to have Type 1 diabetes, which typically strikes in childhood. But even the pharmacist was shocked to see the price.
Over and over, the pharmacist told Janine LePere, "This is really expensive." Each time she would respond, "I know, thanks, but I still need the medicine."
The pharmacist finally gave the LePeres the supplies — and a bill for $1,550.
That was after a $350 coupon.
As lawmakers and the public scrutinize dramatic price increases for other old drugs — most recently with the Mylan-owned EpiPen, which saw its cost go up by 500% in the past nine years — the next flash point may be insulin, a drug both ubiquitous and complicated.
And the story of why the LePeres are now paying as much as their mortgage payment on insulin, even though they have insurance and even though there are competing drugs on the market, is really the story of what has happened to the healthcare industry in America since the start of the century.
The human body produces its own insulin. Some people can't.
When he got the diagnosis, Cole LePere found himself one of nearly 29.1 million Americans known to have one of the two types of diabetes. Cole's kind, known as Type 1, is an autoimmune disease. His body mistakenly kills so-called beta cells that are supposed to make the body's insulin, a hormone that helps people absorb and process the sugar in food. The roughly 1.25 million people in the US who have Type 1 diabetes need to inject insulin to live. Type 2 diabetes, the more common form, is something that develops either based on genetic or lifestyle choices, and doesn't always require that you need to take insulin.
These days his mother says she spends $1,100 out of her pocket each month on his diabetes supplies. The list price of the drugs he takes, called Humalog and Lantus and made by the drug companies Eli Lilly and Sanofi Aventis, have risen by about 300% over the past decade.
Many patients don't pay anything close to that sticker price. Some families Business Insider spoke with had their insulin mostly or entirely covered by insurance.
But at the same time drug companies were increasing prices for many drugs, insurance plans have been going through their own transformation, leaving more families like the LePeres on the hook for far more of that cost.
In half a dozen conversations with mothers of children with Type 1 diabetes, we heard stories like Janine LaPere's. The anxieties of these families don't just end with their monthly paycheck. Diabetes is a lifelong disease, and they worry too about what their children will do when they no longer have their parents' insurance covering them.
One reason Janine LePere is paying so much for insulin is that the LePere family has a high-deductible health plan. Before the insurance company pays a penny toward drugs, she and her husband have to spend $7,000 each year. To make matters worse, that deductible is increasing to $10,000 in December, she says.
And these plans are rapidly becoming more common. In 2006, only 4% of people who worked were enrolled in a high-deductible health plan. A decade later, that's up to 25%. And the amount that people are paying for deductibles is rising as well. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that deductibles had gone up 63% in the past five years, 10 times the rate of inflation.
LePere was a salon manager, but she recently went to school to become a nail technician to earn more money to help pay for Cole's medication.
"This cost problem is yet another headache on top of complicated disease," Dr. Elbert Huang, a primary-care physician who has researched the cost of insulin, told Business Insider.
High prices particularly affect the US, though some other countries have trouble getting access to the medication in the first place, said Sarah Lucas, the CEO of Beyond Type 1, a nonprofit aimed at helping educate young adults living with Type 1 on how to live with their disease.
Given insulin's history, and the fact that more than one company makes it, it might seem odd that prices have been going up so dramatically.
Researchers first figured out how to manufacture insulin in animal pancreases back in the 1920s so that it could be injected into people. The doctor who developed it, Dr. Frederick Banting, won a Nobel Prize for the discovery in 1923.
Since then, there have been some big changes. In the 1970s, scientists figured out how to use recombinant DNA to manufacture real human insulin, so that it no longer had to come from animals. But in drug years, that is old, and those insulins are still in use.
The most prescribed types of insulin are called analogues, which are slight variations of human insulin that aim to help diabetics' bodies function more closely to how they would if they were able to produce the insulin themselves.
This is the kind Cole LePere's doctor prescribed. A 2011 World Health Organization review, however, did not find that analogue insulins had any advantage over human insulins, and at about twice the cost, the WHO said they're not worth the price.
Drug companies have a history of marginally improving drugs and then charging higher prices for the new versions. And doctors, who have little info about how patients pay for drugs, often prescribe what is seen as the latest and greatest, even if the extra benefit is small.
In most industries, competition drives down prices. But the market for insulin looks more like airline tickets. When one company raises the price, the others quickly follow. And in some cases the companies even seem to increase prices simultaneously.
Look at this chart featuring two similar short-acting insulins: Eli Lilly and Co.'s Humalog and Novo Nordisk's Novolog. The prices, gathered by Truven Health Analytics, are in such lockstep that you can barely see both trend lines.
It's a similar story with long-acting drugs like Sanofi's Lantus and Novo Nordisk's Levemir.
All these drugs serve similar purposes and have seen similar price hikes.
What's missing in the marketplace — despite insulin's age — is generic competition.
Unlike chemically derived drugs like statins to lower cholesterol, or pain medication like ibuprofen, insulin is made of living cells. The industry calls it a "biologic" product. It's a lot more complicated to manufacture.
A "generic" version of insulin would be something called a biosimilar, which is riskier to make. The drugs might have different reactions in your body.
So that's left the industry to three main players: Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi Aventis.
The companies do have competing drugs. For example, Humalog (Lilly's) and Novolog (Novo Nordisk's) are the two most prescribed short-acting insulins, while both Novo Nordisk and Sanofi make long-acting insulins (Levemir and Lantus).
But instead of driving prices down, the competitors appear to increase prices step-by-step (which is why the charts above look like a staircase), something that's referred to as "shadow pricing." It's not just the insulin market that is doing this: The same thing happened with the EpiPen market when a competitor came in around 2013 and with multiple-sclerosis drugs.
Ashleigh Koss, a spokeswoman for Sanofi, told Business Insider that Lantus had not had a price increase since November 2014 in the US. "In fact, because of aggressive discounting and rebates to insurance plans, PBMs, and government programs, the net prices of Lantus over the cumulative period of the last five years actually went down," she said.
When asked about pricing, Sanofi, Lilly and Novo Nordisk all highlighted discounts they provide, and also pointed the finger at health insurers.
"We know that many Americans with diabetes struggle to pay for their healthcare and, in some cases, this includes paying for medicines produced by us," Ken Inchausti, a spokesman for Novo Nordisk, told Business Insider in an email. "High deductible plans are still growing segment of all insurance plans. In addition to the significant rebates we provide insurance plans (including those who offer high deductible plans) to secure formulary positions, we fund co-pay cards and vouchers that commercially-insured patients can use for up to two years to offset those out-of-pocket costs they're incurring."
And while the drugs themselves might not change, the facilities in which they are made and the ways the insulin can be delivered have been upgraded. Gregory Kueterman, a spokesman for Lilly told Business Insider that the company spent billions of dollars on eight facilities that are used to produce and package insulin.
"We're spending a considerable amount of time studying this issue internally and talking to experts externally in this space. ... There are no quick and easy answers, because the system is complex and complicated," Kueterman said. "Even just simply lowering prices, while that seems like an easy answer, it wouldn't necessarily lower the prices of the high-deductible plan. They'd have to keep paying till they hit that deductible."
The high prices don't affect all patients. Diabetes tends to be a condition that is well covered by insurers in comparison with other chronic diseases, like for example, hepatitis C. And many of the people living either with diabetes or with kids who have diabetes called themselves "blessed" to be able to manage the cost of care. For some, their copays were only $40 a month, and some kids were even covered under state plans.
But that doesn't keep parents from worrying about what happens once their kids age out of the state programs or out of their parents' insurance. Carole Andrew, a mother whose 18-year-old son learned he had diabetes a year ago, used the financial gravity of how much insulin costs to make sure her son takes his insulin.
"He wasn't as careful until I showed him the prices. It had a real impact," she said. Now that he knows how much it costs, he's been better about managing his blood-sugar levels.
Jessica Parkes, a 29-year-old who learned she had Type 1 diabetes when she was 20, found herself going into credit-card debt to pay for her supply of insulin. She had lost her job, she recalled, and her pharmacy benefit manager asked her to pay $400 in 2013 for a 90-day supply of insulin at a time when she didn't have health insurance. So she put it on her credit card and paid it off when she could. "I need my insulin to work and pay for the things I need," she said. "So I made my own payment plan."
The cost conversation could be entirely different by the time some of these kids have to leave their parents' insurance. Already, a drug called Basaglar is set to launch in the US in December as an alternative to Lantus.
Although we won't know the price until it's announced later this year, it's unlikely to be significantly cheaper.
But in the end, this isn't a disease these kids and young adults will outgrow. There will always be a need to get insulin in their bodies, no matter the method or price.
"What makes me angry is that people are taking advantage," LePere said. "They know that we will do anything, I will do anything, to make sure my son has medicine the rest of his life."
SEE ALSO: 'People are still getting sick': The lasting health impacts of 9/11, 15 years later
DON'T MISS: The EpiPen isn't the only drug that has more than doubled in price
Join the conversation about this story »
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Decision-making skills are highly desirable in the job market. An April 2014 report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that companies identify critical thinking and problem solving as top competencies they consider to be an “essential need” in college graduates they’re looking to hire.
While these skills are important for your career, they also help with every facet of your life. A decisive person is confident, results-oriented, and gets things done.
Whether you’re a student trying to find your calling or even a manager who struggles to lead, you can benefit from learning decision-making skills because they make you a better self leader.
Self leaders have a refined sense of self-awareness. They know what they can do, are persistent and creative problem solvers who strive for autonomy, and make daily decisions that enable them to reach their full potential.
Here’s how you can be more decisive and find your inner self leader:
Be Aware of Common Mistakes
This is a great place to start. You have to know what most people do to hinder their decision-making. What’s standing in your way?
One of the most common problems is procrastination. Those who tend to push tasks off do so because they find decisions to be overwhelming. To avoid this, break down each task into smaller, more manageable tasks that take a short amount of time.
Being systematic is key, and failing to have a system or process in place is another common mistake. Structured approaches eliminate bias and force you to look at a decision objectively and thoroughly. This way, you aren’t overlooking anything because you assess the big picture and focus on the critical elements.
The most obvious oversight is a lack of communication. No matter the choice, your decisions affect others. Consider your circle and inform them about any changes or solutions you come up with in a timely manner. Provide context, explain how you made your choice, and detail how it will affect your audience.
Ask for Advice
Another communication error is not speaking up when you need help. Sometimes, you get stuck in your own head and need some outside perspective, which is why having a strong support system around you is key.
Surround yourself with people you respect and trust. Professional groups are great for seeking out advice and learning more about yourself.
A survey conducted by my team at HonorSociety.org in June found that 65 percent of the 1,295 professionals surveyed agree that their professional organization is great for expanding their network, meeting new people, sharing ideas, and inspiring them to achieve their goals.
When you’re faced with a decision you need some insight on, ask around. You will get a variety of perspectives and hopefully a selection of alternatives, as well.
Make Pros and Cons Lists
So many people struggle with analysis paralysis — where you are so fearful of making the wrong decision, you spend too much time overanalyzing every option without ever coming up with a clear choice. Pros and cons lists are old school, but they work. They force us to create a visual that removes bias, the gut feeling that tends to lead us astray.
Once you structure your “pro” and “con” columns and list the advantages and disadvantages, factor in favorability by assigning a numeric value to each point. This addresses the fact that some pros and cons hold more weight than others. For example, if one point is clearly obvious, give it 5, but if it is subjective, give it a 3.
In the end, count out the totals. If you use the favorability system, add the numbers and select whatever side has the highest score. If you just list them, count whichever side has more items listed.
This traditional model is also great for teamwork because it allows everyone to present their perspective on a subject.
Adopt a Six Hats Technique
This unique framework, created by Edward de Bono, considers all kinds of mental states that tend to cause bias. Here’s a quick breakdown of the six hats:
This technique forces you to think in six different modes. Assign a facilitator to help take notes if you prefer. This way nothing is left unexamined and the takeaways are recorded for future analysis. In the end, you’re faced with several different opinions where you can evaluate the one that makes the most sense to the situation.
How are you developing decision making skills to become a self leader?
6 Case Studies That Show How and Why to Focus on Building Consumer Trust written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing
photo credit Unsplash
If you’re tired of trying to crank out endless marketing initiatives and manage the high costs of advertising in hopes of generating returns, you’re not alone. Marketers everywhere are struggling to keep up engagement with their audience.
But perhaps paid advertising isn’t where your focus should be. Here are six brands that used simple, even less-expensive methods to build consumer trust, which resulted in big gains.
In 2011, Lexus Sweden was the first automaker in Europe to provide customers with a voice through the use of reviews and incorporated them into its overall marketing and branding strategy. Since then, Lexus has relied on reviews as a major component of creating and building consumer awareness. This has proven to be a successful strategy, with 99% of reviewers saying they would recommend the automaker to friends and family. Among those reviews, the average customer rating is 4.7 out of 5.
Reviews work because they bring credibility to the brand and promote engagement within the domain of Lexus. Passionate customers become vocal brand ambassadors. That benefits both the brand and the resellers because Lexus can get a better idea about their customers’ needs and then act upon that feedback.
A lot of brands are using retargeting to try to win back customers. One King’s Lane is among them, but the home décor brand developed a new approach. To increase ad spend efficiency, the company uses custom audiences to target those who have expressed interest in the brand. It then serves content recommendations from publications and sites like the New York Post, Vogue, and Apartment Therapy. The content typically provides a wealth of advice, including how to replicate home décor from popular designers. As a result, the cost per acquisition was cut by 50%, and conversion increased by 4x with a 1.5x increase in click-through rates.
This is a smart campaign approach. Rather than simply retargeting customers with product ads in social media or other channels, One King’s Lane focuses on providing value. This builds trust and memorable experiences with the audience.
It might be surprising to hear that companies have been leveraging user-generated content well before social media skyrocketed to popularity. In 2009, Burberry launched a new website called “The Art of the Trench,” where users could share and comment on pictures of everyday people wearing products from the brand. Following the site’s launch, Burberry saw a 50% year over year increase in e-commerce sales.
It’s important to know what interests your audience. Find ways to engage them that leverage their passions and interests. For Burberry, the website focused on fashion and style with real people, not models. Seeing a growing number real people enjoying a product creates trust, as well as heightened interest in the products and brand.
In 2010, Target pledged $500 million to support education and later aimed to double its donation to $1 billion with a competition centered around students sharing their acceptance letters. The campaign involved customers submitting videos showing acceptance letters being opened. Target collected its favorite submissions to create a commercial, which was used to highlight and expand the visibility of Target’s philanthropy.
The millennial generation wants more from companies: they want to be part of something that has real impact on the world, both at work and in their personal lives. Utilizing user-generated content presents Target in a way that’s more attractive to a younger generation, building trust through philanthropy and humanitarian efforts.
The Coffee For Less company wanted to improve its organic visibility to increase conversions from the targeted traffic. Instead of aiming for general optimization, it upgraded the reviews and comments section of its products. This gave users the ability to easily submit reviews and share their comments with others. As a result, the number of comments grew by 6,000 within three years. According to MarketingSherpa, the comments and reviews on the Coffee For Less website generated a 10% lift in organic search traffic and a 125% boost in conversions.
Nielsen research has shown that over 92% of consumers trust peer reviews over other forms of advertising. Turning those reviews into a source of organic visibility and traffic will establish trust before the customer even lands on your site. It’s an excellent way to leverage user-generated content and offer customers outlets for expressing their opinions.
In 2005, McDonald’s was faced with diminished trust among its UK audience for a number of reasons, necessitating a revitalization of the brand. The changes included revamping the menu and décor, as well as other improvements based on consumer feedback. McDonald’s efforts also brought about a change in communication. There was no mainstream social media marketing at the time, so McDonald’s created a website that allowed consumers to ask any question and it would be answered honestly.
This direct engagement, something the company had never done before, paid off big and improved trust and interest in the brand. By the end of 2008, McDonald’s in the UK saw 11 consecutive quarters of growth, with sales growing by 8.5% in 2008.
One of the best ways to improve trust is to consistently and transparently engage your audience. The channel you use to communicate is less important than the authenticity and sincerity of the message or response.
What are you doing in your marketing efforts to build consumer trust? Share your thoughts with me in the comments below:
Aaron Agius is an experienced search, content, and social marketer. He has worked with some of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, including Salesforce, Coca-Cola, Target and others, to build their online presence. See more from Aaron at Louder Online, his blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
This summer I hosted a group discussion of 20 VPs and Directors of Marketing from e-commerce, finance, travel, B2B, and non-profit backgrounds. All of these marketing leaders were interested in personalization. They understood the value and didn’t need to be convinced that it would move the needle for their businesses. But they all felt overwhelmed. They wanted to pursue personalization but didn’t know where to start.
Here’s what I told them: things have changed, and it’s not as hard as you think. With the right solution, you can get started today and iterate your way to the future.
While their concerns were certainly valid, they could all be addressed. Here are the top personalization challenges I heard from this gathering of marketers and others I’ve met, and my advice for overcoming them.
How do I find marketers who have the right skill set to implement my personalization strategy?
You need to find someone with three attributes:
You already have these people on your staff. You can find them on your web team, your email marketing team, your product marketers and, if you have them, your analytics staff. If you use a personalization solution that doesn’t require coding or coordination of large project teams, you will dramatically increase your chances of being able to use the skills and talent of your existing staff.
Once you prove that personalization works for your organization, you may want to hire someone to work on personalization full time. We have some tips for hiring a personalization specialist.
How do I get quick wins so that I can convince the organization to invest further?
While there are many types of complex, cross-channel campaigns you can run, there are also many types of simple campaigns that can show results quickly. For rule-based personalization, you can start with progressive calls-to-action or by targeting visitors based on their relevant attributes or behaviors. For example, Gardener’s Supply Company began using Evergage by presenting visitors with relevant messages based on their referring source — and saw a 3x increase in conversions in traffic from that source.
Algorithmic recommendations sound more complex, but are often even easier to roll out. For example, you can feature a row of trending products or content that is prioritized by individual category or keyword interest.
We don’t currently have any process for personalization in place, and I don’t want it to get out of control. How do I put a governance model around personalization on my site?
While your process will differ depending on your company’s needs, I recommend setting up role-based access control. For example, create one set of users who can create campaigns, but not publish them. Create another set of users who can test campaigns. Then create a final set of leaders who can deploy campaigns into a published state.
This structure will ensure that your campaigns are only deployed when the right members of your team review and sign off on them.
If I want to target different personas with relevant content, don’t I need to create a lot more content? Aren’t I multiplying the content I need to create by the number of personas that I have?
First, you have a lot of content that is probably written for different personas already. For example, on the Evergage website we offer eBooks for Travel, Finance, E-commerce, B2B E-commerce, B2B Tech, etc. Each of these pieces of content is targeted to a specific industry, as each industry has its own unique challenges and needs.
Personalization can be used to bring all of this content to the forefront to each visitor on your site. Rather than rely on the visitor navigating to your resources page and selecting the right eBook, you can recommend it on any page of your site and when it’s most appropriate for each visitor. Essentially, personalization can surface your existing content, products, and promotions to the right people.
Once you have proven the successes from personalization, you can invest in some additional content if you find that you need it.
We want to get to 1:1 personalization, but can you truly get to 1:1 as a medium-sized organization?
Given the complexity of personalization rollouts historically, there is a well-founded belief that true 1:1 personalization is something only companies like Google or Netflix can do. That is no longer true!
Next-generation, marketer-driven solutions like Evergage have brought 1:1 personalization into the purview of medium-sized businesses and individual marketers. The size of your company no longer dictates what you can accomplish with personalization.
How do you measure the impact of personalization? I’m worried about a black box driving my experience and affecting my brand.
Measurement and attribution should be a standard feature of your personalization solution. Some platforms will not let you test or tune your algorithms, or will report a single number: “we made you $X million” even when it’s obvious your bottom line did not increase by $X million. But how are you supposed to understand the effectiveness of each individual campaign if you can’t measure how it impacted your key KPIs?
With next-generation platforms like Evergage, you can test and tune algorithms before you deploy them and conduct detailed attribution reporting based on views, clickthroughs, revenue/user, AOV, sign-ups, and any other goal of your choosing. For more on how we view attribution, check out The Truth Behind Attribution Reporting.
Personalization doesn’t have to be hard, and it definitely should not be overwhelming. Download The Power of 1 whitepaper to explore how Evergage can help you deliver true 1:1 customer engagement and avoid the pitfalls of out-dated solutions.
Every startup begins with a great idea. Ask the founders of a lot of young companies, and they’ll tell you theirs is the product that will change the industry and lead the market on its next logical leap forward.
Sure, first-time entrepreneurs get excited when they realize their concepts have potential, but many of them quickly learn that promise alone can’t carry an idea to its apex.
New businesses must meet potential investors and raise funds to take an offering from development to fruition and beyond. Then, the right hires must be implemented, operations must be built out, and structure must be established to ensure the company continues to scale.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to keeping your startup afloat. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the aforementioned challenges — and several others — lead one-third of the approximately 500,000 new businesses that open annually to close within two years.
One thing many entrepreneurs don’t realize — sometimes until it’s too late — is that they can rely on each other in the earliest days of their companies.
Why Startups Need Each Other
The business world, at times, resembles the type of predatory environment only seen during a “Sharknado” movie. Customers place a very high premium on authenticity, but so do other businesses. As a new startup, it’s important to establish trustworthiness early because others in the same position look to the most trusted businesses for advice and connections.
Once a rapport and connection are built, startup leaders should pick each other’s brains for survival hacks. If one company has an elegant, effective solution for a common challenge, passing it on benefits other companies immensely; in turn, trust is formed and bonds grow even stronger.
With so many businesses starting each year, there are tons of new ideas to compete with. Every startup needs a product that effectively meets the unique needs of its customer base. By connecting, sharing, and discussing products, startups can better assess whether their products are unique enough to stand out from the pack.
Lending a hand to a fresh startup can lead to partnership or investment opportunities down the line. Think of it as the “know somebody who knows somebody” principle. Being generous with your insight to a struggling startup today might be reciprocated with a crucial contact down the line.
How to Build Those Bridges
In general, the startup ecosystem is stronger when everyone involved collaborates on all matters. The more that startups contribute to the startup environment, the more support and opportunities grow.
Support is often needed at each stage of the business life cycle. Even more developed startups can benefit from a strong support group, which might be comprised of newer and older businesses. The brainstorming and new ideas generated through a support network assists companies of all sizes.
Making new connections always requires some legwork on everyone’s part. In order to help other startups, a company should practice these habits:
1. Lead by example. A great way to connect is through mentorship. An Endeavor Insights survey reports that 33 percent of startup founders with successful mentors experience success themselves, with the founders of Etsy, Dropbox, and Facebook as notable examples.
Mentoring can take several forms such as growing existing networks, sharing stories, and participating at accelerators or incubators. Startups that shone during their investor pitches can help new companies prepare for their own meetings with investors.
Utilize mentorship with young startups, but keep the lines of communication open with those who helped you attain your current level of success.
2. Take your knowledge public. Panels and events are great ways to get the word out on your company while connecting with those you wouldn’t normally link up with. Find showcases and conferences in both your industry and geographic area that will give your company a chance to brainstorm, gain exposure, network, and share experiences.
3. Publish your expertise. Blogging and thought leadership are ways a startup can get its name out and distinguish itself as an industry trailblazer. Other startups in need might come across a post on your company’s blog that helps them and then decide to get in touch. Publish high-quality thought leadership to strengthen your brand and attract potential collaborators.
As the startup ecosystem continues to grow, companies that offer the most value will reap the biggest rewards. Find ways to help other founders and the connections you generate will take your business from just another promising idea to a viable, helpful solution.
I just received an email that was promoting a blog post that was proclaiming that email marketing is dead! Are you kidding me? Well, as you can imagine, this got me thinking about the whole email marketing is dead debate that has been going on for at least 10 years that I can think of. So I’ve decided to take you on this little journey of email marketing tips.
I did a quick search on Google for the phrase email marketing dead and received over 205,000 results
I can’t believe after all of the years, articles, and surveys that there are still people that are claiming that it’s just a matter of time before email will no longer be used for marketing!
It’s hard to believe that so many people can be so wrong for so long.
Well, after all, I couldn’t just go back to what I was doing, I had to get the facts! eMarketer recently published results from a couple of surveys on the value and the ROI of email marketing. The results are really pretty impressive.
Another fact that was published by eMarketer was that in a survey done by Epsilon (an email provider) open rates on their platform in North America are around 33.3% and deliverable rates at 95.6%. These numbers are huge! When was the last time you saw a campaign that had 33% of the people exposed to the campaign actually look at it?
Now, I’ll be the first to say that if an email campaign is going to see these kinds of numbers then it has to be done correctly! The days of batch-and-blast are long gone. If you’re not performing regular maintenance on your list, segmenting the messages that you are sending based on your list, and providing information that your audiences want to hear, you will never even approach these numbers.
But, do it right and the email channel will provide your company or organization with a lot of great success. Here are some email marketing tips for doing it right.
But what does “doing it right” mean?
The answer to that is complicated. Every business and every audience are going to be very unique. But, there are some basics that everyone should be doing to make sure that your email efforts are going to maximize results.
Next, you’re going to increase the likelihood of being blocked by spam filters. ISP’s are very suspicious of bulk email sent via Gmail accounts…
Whew, glad I got that off my chest
Once you have the people segmented, now make sure that all of the emails that you are going to send to them are highly relevant to the people that are receiving the message.
If you take the time to help them learn about your product or service the chances are going to be higher that they are going to buy from you, with fewer objections when they end up at the bottom of the sales funnel.
Yes it is. But there are no shortcuts, especially when it comes to digital marketing and especially email marketing. But, there are tools and systems that will make this a lot easier. marketing automation is one of the greatest time savers and highest performing marketing channels that we’ve seen in a very long long time and will really lighten up the work involved with a solid email marketing process.
Recently, one of my team members logged into LinkedIn and found 12 new messages from different salespeople waiting in her inbox.
As you can see, virtually every single rep had used LinkedIn’s default message to wish her a happy anniversary. They came across like selling robots -- rather than real people genuinely wishing my coworker congratulations.
Even worse? The “anniversary” was the date she had updated her profile with her freelance design work, so it wasn’t actually a real milestone. The salespeople would have realized this if they’d done even a little investigating.
Social selling, or “the process of researching, connecting, and interacting with prospects and customers on social media networks,” can be highly effective.
Those who incorporate social media into their strategy reach their quota 66% more often than their peers. Companies with social sellers enjoy a 22.2% higher revenue increase than those whose sales reps eschew social media.
But you won’t reap these benefits without investing time and energy into your outreach. I see far too many salespeople applying outdated and selfish tactics to LinkedIn and Twitter and calling it “social selling.”
Newsflash: Using the same slimy tricks on a different platform won’t fool buyers.
If you want to use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks to accelerate your sales, steer clear of these five terrible tactics.
Using LinkedIn’s default messages to engage with prospects might seem efficient -- but saving a minute or two won’t matter when your boilerplate line destroys your credibility.
Do you think my coworker wrote thank-you notes to any of the salespeople who congratulated her when it was obvious they hadn’t done any work? Not a chance.
Not only did she ignore their messages, but she was turned off by their clear lack of effort. If those salespeople were unwilling to invest three seconds to send an actual message, they definitely wouldn’t be willing to do the work necessary to provide her with targeted guidance and advice.
LinkedIn will suggest what to say when you request to connect with someone, congratulate someone on a new job or work anniversary, or ask for an introduction.
In all of these cases, the suggested message is just that: A suggestion. You’re meant to take the general outline and personalize it to the recipient and the situation. For instance, if you’re congratulating someone on a work anniversary, you could write:
Hey Ali,
Happy three-year anniversary at Cacti Media! I love reading the agency’s annual “state of media” report -- It’s always informative and engaging. Looking forward to reading more great content from you and the team.
Best,
Ella
This message could only have been intended for its recipient. Not only will it stand out from the other “happy anniversary” messages, but it’s far more likely to make an impact.
Blasting prospects with your generic pitch is equally bad whether you’re emailing them or messaging them on LinkedIn. Just because the medium has changed doesn’t mean an irrelevant, unsolicited, generic outreach attempt is suddenly welcome.
In fact, it’s almost worse to send this message on LinkedIn, where there’s a ton of information about your prospect right at your fingertips.
When prospects open a terrible sales pitch (like this one), their typical reaction is, “Wow, this person cares so little about getting to know me they didn’t even look at my profile.”
You need to customize your InMails for your buyer’s persona, background, and unique situation in the same way you’d customize an email.
(Need more guidance? Check out our guide to crafting an InMail that gets results.)
Every once in a while, I’ll get a direct message from a Twitter user thanking for me following them. It’s usually obvious the message is automated, since it doesn’t include my name or any personal details.
Sometimes it’s really obvious:
(In case you were wondering, I chose not to continue the conversation over email.)
These auto DMs are annoying and destructive. If you’re trying to create a connection with someone, spamming them won’t help.
Instead, favorite, retweet, and respond to their tweets, as well as post your own valuable content. Your outreach attempts will be much more successful if you first establish yourself as a thoughtful, engaged user and generate meaningful interactions.
Liking a prospect’s tweet doesn’t mean you can email them two minutes later and expect an enthusiastic response.
As in real life, creating relationships on LinkedIn and Twitter takes effort. One casual interaction -- even several -- doesn’t mean you suddenly “know” a prospect.
For instance, one time I got a message from a salesperson who said he’d decided to reach out after we’d “synced up on LinkedIn.”
I checked. He’d liked my comment on a group discussion.
Mentioning a piece of content your prospect shared on social media and providing your thoughts on it or suggesting a related piece is a strong way to kickstart a relationship. However, make sure you’re not confusing “liking each other’s comments” with “having memorable interactions.”
I can’t tell you how many LinkedIn connection requests I’ve gotten that begin with something like, “Saw that we’re both connected to Joe Schmo -- very cool. I’m reaching out because …”
If I knew Joe Schmo, this message might make an impact. However, nine times out of 10, the name doesn’t sound familiar.
Many LinkedIn users have hundreds of people in their network, so it's highly unlikely they know every one. Referencing a mutual connection your prospect doesn’t recognize makes your message fall flat. Plus, it can make you seem less trustworthy: If you were actually tight with Joe Schmo, you would’ve checked whether he knew your prospect.
The easiest way to circumvent this issue is to ask your mutual connection before you send an email. With their blessing, you can be confident their name will register.
Reps need to be careful. If they try to bring over obsolete selling methods to new platforms, they’re going to fail. And buyers have zero tolerance for bad behavior -- so “social spammers” could destroy the usefulness of social networks for every salesperson. Give your prospects the respect they deserve, whether you’re interacting with them on the phone, via email, in person, or on Twitter and LinkedIn.
When you’re interviewing, it’s easy to think the hard part’s over by the time the hiring manager asks, “Do you have any questions for me?”
But in reality, this is another chance for them to evaluate you.
Pose a question about salary or the vacation policy, and they might assume you’re more interested in money or perks than the company’s success. Say you don’t have any questions, and they’ll assume you’re not curious.
So, what should you ask? The 16 questions below, sourced from real sales recruiters and hiring managers, make an excellent impression (not to mention tell you valuable information about your potential employer).
According to HubSpot senior sales recruiter Devon Brown, this question demonstrates that you’re committed to exceeding expectations from day one.
“It also shows you’re focused on finding a good fit,” she adds.
Pay close attention to the hiring manager’s answer. A good one will know what distinguishes the top reps on their team so they can actively cultivate those traits in other reps.
Most interviewers will want to make sure you’re a good cultural fit before they hire you. After all, a candidate who prefers to work alone won’t do well in a highly collaborative environment, and vice versa. With this question, you’ll show that you’re carefully evaluating whether the company is a good holistic fit for you.
“It’s great when candidates ask training-related questions,” says Katie Donohue, who leads HubSpot’s sales recruiting team. “It shows that you’re committed to fully transitioning from your current role to this new one.”
An interest in product training also bodes well for your quota-carrying abilities, since successful reps know their product inside and out.
Brown recommends this question if you want to show your interviewer you’re ready to hit the ground running.
As a bonus, their answer will tell you how healthy the sales culture is. Companies that don’t allocate enough time for ramping up usually take a “sink or swim” approach with their reps.
Being curious about your relationship with your future manager is a good sign, Brown says. Different organizations promote different management styles. For example, HubSpot sales leaders focus on training and coaching their reps rather than micromanaging their process, while managers at other companies may be more hands-on.
Before the recruiter extends you an offer, they’ll want to know whether your preferred style of being managed aligns with their company’s standard style.
Brown says this question implies you’re coachable and receptive to feedback.
“In sales, getting constructive criticism is inevitable,” she explains. “You can even broaden this question by asking how often reps meet with their managers and what coaching sessions are like.”
Digging into the company’s selling process shows that you’re curious -- and curiosity is one of the most important traits a salesperson can have.
“People who are genuinely curious won’t have to pretend to care when digging into customers' problems -- they actually will care,” explains SmartBear Software VP of Sales Jim Schuchart. “This rep will be following the right blogs, know a ton about your prospects' business challenges, and not be shy about asking questions. And curious people usually ask the best questions.”
To really impress the hiring manager, follow up with more questions. For instance, if they tell you 10% of their leads are generated from referrals, ask if they have a company referral program.
“This line of questioning shows you’re curious about what’s been working for the company,” Brown says.
Some reps are slow to adopt new technology, even though sticking to manual processes or neglecting data entry ultimately slows them down and makes their manager’s job harder.
That’s why asking this question will immediately make you a more attractive candidate. It suggests that you’ll be open to trying new tools -- and might even be a rallying force to get other reps on board, too.
This is one of Donohue’s favorite questions. First, it demonstrates that you’re thinking about the team’s success, not just your own. Second, it makes you appear thoughtful and experienced. Some reps rush into a new job with blind optimism, only to be disappointed when everything’s not completely rosy. By inquiring about the team’s challenges, you’ll show you’re clearly not wearing blinders.
You wouldn’t ask this if you weren’t thinking about the tactical, ground-level details of the job. This question shows foresight and pragmatism.
It’ll also tell you which activities will be most important to your success in the role. Will you be spending the majority of your day dialing? Using social media to prospect? Giving demos? If you don’t enjoy the part of the sales process that’s going to consume the majority of your time, it’s probably not the right job for you.
At this stage of the application process, you probably know whether or not you’ll have a quota. But that number isn’t the only way your sales manager will be gauging your success. They’ll also be tracking metrics like the length of your sales cycle, how many opportunities you’re generating, and average deal size.
Qualitative measures of success are important as well. Your manager will likely be focusing on how your understanding of the company’s buyer personas, ability to correctly qualify and disqualify prospects, willingness to learn new strategies and techniques, time management skills, resourcefulness, and product expertise, among other things.
With this question, you’ll show your interviewer that you understand success is multifaceted -- while simultaneously getting insight into what they value most.
This question usually sticks in your hiring manager’s mind long after the interview. It shows you’ve done your homework, and signals that you’re thinking about the company’s principles and how they’re carried out on a day-to-day basis.
They’ll be excited to hire someone who’s highly likely to contribute to their sales team’s culture.
Donohue loves getting this question, as it shows the candidate is intellectually curious.
“I usually interpret this as intellectual curiosity,” she says. “They clearly want to build a long-term career in sales. That’s especially important because not every candidate has sales experience. So we want to see that commitment to building a long-term sales career.”
Teamwork is essential within every selling environment, whether you have several BDRs supporting an inside sales rep, each salesperson handling their own process from prospecting to closing, or something in between. Sales managers know that if their reps don’t share feedback, support, and insights with each other, the team’s process won’t improve over time.
By inquiring about the level of collaboration, you’ll tell your interviewer that you’re a team player.
Being overly focused on the company’s promotion opportunities at the interview stage is generally frowned on in other professions -- not so in sales. Regular career advancement is baked into most organization’s sales teams, so this line of questioning demonstrates interest, commitment, and ambition.
“Salespeople get promotions directly based on results,” explains Brown. “We’re looking for people who want to come in, crush it, do well, get promoted, and make more money.”
By asking this question, you’ll tell hiring managers that you have lofty goals and will hit the gas pedal to achieve them -- which will benefit the entire company.
Both Brown and Donohue say researching your interviewer before the interview will boost the impression you make.
“You should be researching prospects before you call, so demonstrating that you’ll do that for an interview is really valuable,” Donohue says.
So if you know who will be interviewing you, find them on LinkedIn and take note of their current responsibilities, former jobs, and any promotions they’ve received at this company. During the interview, use this information to ask specific questions that show you’ve done your due diligence (like the one above).
Donohue advises candidates to end with this question. It gives you a chance to learn where you stand and potentially resolve the hiring manager’s concerns.
For example, if the interviewer brings up your lack of experience in a certain field, Donohue says you can point to the related experience you got at a previous company or discuss how you’d apply a similar experience to this new job.
And if you can’t address the interviewer’s reservations, that’s a sign that this job isn’t an ideal fit.
Want to really blow sales hiring managers away? Prepare for the 25 questions they’re going to ask you. If all goes well, you’ll soon have an offer in hand.
In sales, the right mindset is crucial. It doesn’t matter how amazing your product is or how many leads you’re getting -- if you’re holding on to self-destructive beliefs, you’ll likely sabotage your deals.
But before you can overcome these negative beliefs, you need to identify them. Read on to learn eight common self-limiting beliefs.
Do you believe that great salespeople are born, not made? We’ve got good and bad news. The good news: Selling is a skill, like running or public speaking. Some people might have an easier time picking up sales techniques than others, but anyone can do it with hard work and the right attitude.
The bad news: Now you don’t have any excuse not to become a top rep. Success is yours if you work for it.
New salespeople can start with HubSpot sales director Dan Tyre’s guide to first-time selling.
If you’re more experienced, check out 7 Qualities Only the Best Sales Reps Possess.
You’re 88% more likely to get a first meeting with someone if you’ve been introduced by a mutual connection.
Plus, referrals convert into clients at a higher rate than prospects you found through proactive outreach.
But even though getting referrals makes you far more likely to meet quota, many salespeople are reluctant to ask for them.
“They worry that they’ll come across as pushy, arrogant, or salesy,” explains Craig Elias, creator of Trigger Event Selling™.
Elias tells reps to shift their mindsets. Referrals benefit everyone involved.
“The sales rep gets a new client, the prospect gets introduced to a valuable resource, and the referral source gets to help out two people at once,” he says.
It takes guts to push back on buyers, whether you’re digging into their reservations, showing them they’re missing the bigger picture, redirecting the conversation from price to value, or questioning something they’ve told you.
Insecure sales reps often decide to take the easy way out and say nothing. However, this response actually makes you less valuable to your prospects. If you’re simply going to reaffirm their existing thoughts and beliefs, then you’re not helping them in any way.
Your role is to teach them something new and take them out of their comfort zone.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you should be aggressive or rude. Learn the one question that’ll let you ask prospects the tough questions without pissing them off. Then, brush up on how to diplomatically handle prospects who aren’t telling you the truth.
A lack of time is a common justification reps give for neglecting high-effort, high-reward activities like researching prospects before they reach out or attending training events.
But this defense doesn’t hold up. If you’re not allocating time toward something, it’s because you don’t truly see it as a priority. Make sure you’re always focusing on the right things by regularly assessing what’s moving you forward and what’s not.
For example, you might save a couple minutes every time you pick up the phone without looking at your prospect’s LinkedIn profile -- but ultimately you’ll waste time during the call asking them questions you could’ve answered yourself. Your lack of knowledge will discredit you (and may lead your prospect to ignore your next call).
No matter how many negotiations you’ve been a part of, asking for more is usually nerve-wracking. You don’t want to damage the relationship you’ve carefully built with your prospect -- nor do you want to make them walk away.
But remember, a good negotiation focuses on identifying the best possible agreement for all parties involved. You need to request concessions from the buyer if you want to arrive at a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Some reps hesitate to contact or follow up with prospects because they’re worried about being annoying.
That’s a valid fear if you’re sending mass emails, calling people without doing any research, or trying to sell before you’ve first provided value.
However, if you’ve embraced the “Always Be Helping” mantra, then you’ll never be a bother to buyers. First, you’re focusing on prospects with problems that you can solve -- so you’re guaranteed to be relevant to their lives. Second, you’re using your expertise to help them not only with this specific business pain, but with their entire business. Third, you’re tailoring your approach to their stage of the buyer’s journey and how their organization’s process works.
This thoughtful approach makes you the opposite of irritating.
Even the most experienced sales professionals can be vulnerable to this fear. Bill Caskey, author of Same Game, New Rules, co-host of the Advanced Selling Podcast, and founder of Caskey Achievement Strategies, says he still worries about “being smart enough to go toe-to-toe with the CEO at a big company.”
Overcoming this mental block is crucial for a couple reasons. First, “calling high” is still a best practice -- even if you end up working with someone lower in the organization.
Second, Caskey explains that directly reaching out to the decision maker allows reps to add more value.
“If you’re trying to have the biggest impact possible on this company, the way to do it is call the person who probably has the most pain: The person at the higher levels,” he says.
So, how does Caskey defeat this self-limiting belief? He tells himself that at their core, C-suite executives are just people. Approaching them requires a different strategy, but that doesn’t mean you should feel intimidated.
In fact, remember that you probably have greater expertise than they do. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be talking to you.
You should empower your prospects and prioritize their needs and agenda over your own. But that doesn’t mean you should be a bobblehead who automatically agrees to everything they ask for.
Use your hard-won knowledge to guide prospects in the right direction. If they ask for an outcome you know is impossible, be upfront and tell them so. If they request a discount during your first call, refocus the conversation on value. In other words, make sure that you’re not so eager to say yes that you sabotage your own interests.
Changing your mindset isn’t easy. But once you’ve gotten past these mental roadblocks, you’ll likely see a noticeable difference in your results.
I was scared. The only thing holding me back from starting Tribal Impact earlier was fear. Fear of selling. I’m not a sales person. I am a marketer. However, my company has been operating for just over 1 year and in that year I haven’t picked up the phone to ‘sell’ my company to anyone. The business has grown purely through referrals and relationships.
A social business approach.
You see, I don’t think you have to be a hardened sales person to get on with social selling.
You just need to be passionate about what you do, understand the value you can bring and be good at building and growing relationships (both on and offline). These are skills that every employee can develop to become more customer centric.
Since starting Tribal Impact I’ve been lucky to work with businesses in and outside of the tech industry and it’s opened my eyes. I’ve seen the tech industry continue to focus solely on social selling as a priority but other industries taking a wider, more inclusive perspective…a social business perspective.
Connecting the enterprise is key to the customer experience. So, before you sign up to that next social selling summit or hire your LinkedIn branding consultant, think about the wider impact of your program. Your social business strategy.
Here’s a checklist of things you might want to consider and who you might want to approach internally to help:
We already know the importance of employee trust when it comes to brand advocacy. However, there’s another ingredient that needs to be included.
According to Altimeter, 80% of those companies with a successful employee advocacy program also had internal social enterprise systems in place e.g. Yammer, Jive Software, SAP Jam etc.
Fostering a social culture internally sets the a good foundation for social business success. Leaders who aren’t afraid of transparent feedback being sent across the management layers via internal social infrastructures build trust and engagement with their employees.
Yes, it can get uncomfortable sometimes when you read comments you don’t want to see from your employees, but this is part of the transformation you have to go through if you want to become a connected enterprise.
Tip: Leaders, listen to your internal communications team.
I honestly believe that content and training will unite sales and marketing in a way I have never seen in my 20+ years in marketing. We’ve spent way too much time throwing leads across the wall and debating over how qualified they are.
In one of my recent blog posts I discussed how sales have their ear to the ground, they know what customers need, the language they use, the questions they’re asking. Marketing knows how to socially listen to buying signals, trending topics and creating impactful content.
Put these two together – it’s the secret to driving a competitive advantage when it comes to social business.
Tip: Sales, talk to marketing. Marketing, talk to sales.
Leave no stone unturned when it comes to mapping out the customer experience. Detail out every single interaction point that a customer has with your company from accounting to the receptionist.
From your homepage to your Google Adwords, from your LinkedIn company page to your logo on the outside of your building, from the people driving your support vehicles to the CEO.
Every single interaction – whether it be a person, digital or object. List it. Fix it. Tell your employees about it.
Tip: Operations, talk to marketing.
Every employee listed in your ‘customer touch point’ exercise needs to understand (as a priority) the company purpose and how their role contributes to the wider story.
They also need to know how to tell the company story in a way that they can explain it to their kids. Keep it simple. Remove the technical jargon. Simplify the language in such a way that anyone can understand the value the business brings.
This is so important because your employee network has the potential to connect you way further than just your sales team. Referral networks are hugely important when it comes to social selling. You could potentially extend your sales infrastructure without hiring another sales headcount.
Tip: Marketing and internal communications, define a clear brand story
So in conclusion, I get it. I understand why organisations that are sales driven feel that ‘social selling’ is an investment just for sales but I have first-hand experience (with my own business) where opportunities arrive from places you least expect. I’m pretty sure that your business has the potential to grow their sales team massively without the need to hire anymore headcount.
What are you thoughts? Agree? Disagree?
Let me know if you want to learn more about how your business can grow their sales potential via social business and employee advocacy.
If you’re like most Americans, you’re bombarded by 3000+ marketing messages a day.
Catching your prospect’s attention is getting tougher everyday.
Don’t be afraid to be bold and specific. Specifics sell.
And without their attention, you don’t have a hope of selling anything.
The #1 job of your headline is to catch your reader’s attention.
Writing a Scroll Stopping Headline Starts with Knowing Two Things:
1-WHAT you’re selling —
Might sound crazy but a lot of people don’t have a clear message. Whether you’re selling blue widgets or health coaching, be clear.
And yes, your “sale” may be a click.
As in, asking someone to download something or even click to read your post. One step leads to the next.
2- WHO you’re selling to —
There’s an expression “the riches are in the niches.” What that means is don’t try to sell to everyone. Sell to YOUR specific ideal audience for the best success.
Here’s an example of a good headline by Bidsketch, a company that sells proposal templates for creatives.
Their headline is clear. “Create professional client proposals in minutes.”
If you create client proposals in your work…this DEFINITELY grabs your attention.
Their subheading is a testimonial that says, – “Cut down my proposal time from three hours to 45 minutes…”
It’s a seamless process leading you to sign up for the free trial IF you’re the intended audience.
For Women Over 40 Who Want to Lose 15-20 Pounds Safely and Permanently
For Business Owners Who Want to 10x Their Business…in the Next 12 Months
See how those are SPECIFIC?
They have a specific target market AND they show a useful and valuable benefit.
When you’re writing your scroll stopping headline, don’t be vague and don’t be boring. “Check out my latest blog post” won’t get you raving fans.
Think Buzzfeed not borefest.
There are dozens of proven models for writing headlines that get results. It has nothing to do with being a “writer” or English major and EVERYTHING to do with being a helpful sales person.
You know those times when you’ve bought something and the experience was wonderful? The salesperson answered all your questions and made sure you got just what you needed?
That’s the purpose of copy. It’s “sales in print.” And if you want to make more sales, you need to get clear on who your prospect is. This applies whether you’re writing a blog post, a sales page, a subject line for an email, or anything else.
3 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Improve Their Headlines
1- Being specific about your intended prospect. This is MOST important.
2- Use one of the many headline formulas as your starting point. “How to…” “Who else…” “If, then…”
3- Don’t start with the headline. That can bog you down. Instead, write your piece first. Then think about the biggest benefit your prospect can get from reading it and use that in your headline if you can.
Remember, your goal is to get your intended prospect to stop scrolling and read your post. You can write scroll stopping headlines when you’re clear on your ideal prospect.
