Rnordman

I activated my Amazon Echo for the first time in December. It's quickly become one of my favorite tech gadgets ever.

Most people compare Echo to virtual assistants like Siri and Google Now. But Amazon's speaker, which responds to either "Alexa" or "Amazon," is quicker to respond and understands commands much better than those rival services.

And thanks to its excellent audio system, with seven microphones for listening and a 360º omni-directional audio grille for speaking, Amazon Echo works exceedingly well wherever I am in my home. I can hear it — and it can hear me — perfectly.

Amazon Echo has completely transformed the way I live in my apartment. There's just so much you can do with Echo. Take a look.

"Alexa, what time is it?"

Don't bother searching for your phone or a wall clock just to get the time. With Echo, just ask the time from anywhere in your house and get the answer immediately. It's a small thing, but it totally makes a difference when you're rushing in the morning.

"Alexa, play some Kanye."

Amazon Echo can play thousands of songs from Amazon's Prime Music catalog. And compared to other virtual assistants that control music playback, Alexa takes less time to hear your commands and act on them, pausing, skipping and changing songs.

"Alexa, ask Uber to request a ride."

As of February, you can now request an Uber car to pick you up from your residence just by asking Echo to request a ride. Once you activate the Uber skill in the Alexa app, your Echo will let you know how far away the closest car is, and it'll even let you know if there's surge pricing before you accept the ride.

Segmentation is one of the basics of a good marketing strategy. While we introduced some enhancements a few months ago, we thought there was still room for improvement. We received feedback from some users, frustrated for not being able to achieve the level of targeting they were aiming for, or comments saying that the way segments were managed did not fit some companies’ workflows. We heard you, and we are excited to introduce a new logical operator and a re-design segment management dashboard.

Benefit from the OR operator

API users were able to easily segment using the OR logical operator to send, for instance, an offer to VIP Gold customers in NYC or San Francisco. However, there was no simple way to do so using our web interface. Now, you can use the OR logical operator to create a segment that gathers several alternative values for the same contact property.

You can combine two or more groups of conditions to come up with a finely-tuned segmentation that meets your business needs. In our example, we are creating a first block of condition where we select “New York City” and “San Francisco” as the”City”, and “Gold” as the “VIP Status”.

Manage Segments from the Contacts menu

Being able to refine the target audience of a campaign during the campaign creation process is something our users really value. But it doesn’t fit the organisational workflow of every company we work with. We received increased feedback from businesses where the people in charge of targeting and campaign creation are not the same, and where our current setup forced them to draft campaigns just to be able to segment their contacts.

A new sub-menu to manage your segments

Segments is now a sub-entry on the Contacts menu, along with your Contacts, Contacts Properties and Subscription Widgets.

All your previously created segments can be accessed in your account and you can easily identify the applied filter and the last time the segment was used. You can also edit, duplicate or delete a segment.

A new segment edition page

We created a new segment edition screen, to allow you to create and edit segments without having to create a campaign. This new interface lets you recalculate the results of your targeting as you create your filters. It also gives you a better sense of who your targets are, with an extract of 5 contacts to match your query.

Your can now create Mailjet sub-accounts that only have access to your contacts, to allow targeting specialists to create segments.

A re-designed segmentation in the campaign creation process

We think segmentation within the campaign creation process is still an enjoyable feature, so we’re not leaving it behind. We have aligned our interface so you can benefit from all the enhancements to our segmentation process.

We are really excited to introduce the improvements to Segmentation, which is available as part of our additional premium features on each Mailjet plan. If you have any further ideas on how to make it even more relevant, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Trying to overcome objections is useless… unless you’re dealing with the buyer’s true objection. That’s step one in the formula for how to overcome objections.

Tune in to the archives of CONNECT! Online Radio®  for an interview with Mary Anne Wihbey Davis. Mary Anne will share tips from her book “The Sales Messenger, Ten Lessons for Sales Success in Your Business and Personal Life” on how to surface what’s really holding buyers back. She’ll share information about bridging the gap, using language that keeps you from sounding defensive or aggressive when you overcome objections, and how you can be more effective in responding to your customers’ concerns or complaints. Her information is relevant to all industries and has been known to increase her clients sales revenues by up 60 percent.

Excerpts from Deb’s talk with Mary Anne Wihbey Davis  on how to overcome objections.

Deb: “Give us an idea about how you sell and the implications for sellers and non-sellers alike.”

Mary Anne : “I’ve promoted this philosophy that everyone sells. In the corporate world, we may not have the title of salespersons but if we’re not selling our ideas then we’re gonna feel like we’re left over, we’re looked over. If we’re a leader, we have to sometimes sell our people and change where we’re taking them…We’re all selling something at some point throughout our day. These skills are vital to sellers as well as non-sellers alike.”

Deb: “Do you think there is some proof that the overemphasis on selling causes us not to do  such a good job of it?”

Mary Anne: “I think that is where it does come up in the professional sales people. All selling requires great communication skills. It’s not only talking it’s being able to be a great listener.”

Deb: “Let’s go the preliminary step, just making sure that it’s a genuine objection. How do you recommend that sellers do that?”

Mary Anne: “The first objection is very rarely a real one. It’s in our DNA to hold sales people off…. To be able to stay in control of the situation is to “not bite.”

Find out more details on how to overcome objections. Listen to rest of this broadcast.

This is just the start! Listen to the rest of this powerful interview with Mary Anne Wihbey Davis to get detailed information about how to overcome objections. There’s no better way to maximize your windshield time than by listening to CONNECT! Online Radio for Sales Professionals®.

The post How to Overcome Objections with Mary Anne Wihbey Davis appeared first on People First.

William Shakespeare wrote a lot of great plays, but he also coined and popularized a lot of words and phrases that we still use to this day.

We put together a list of our 21 favorites. Check them out:

"Puking"

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. ..."

How Shakespeare uses it: "Puking" was first recorded in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." It was likely an English imitation of the German word "spucken," which means to spit, according to Dictionary.com.

Modern definition: A synonym for the verb "to vomit."

Source: "As You Like It," Act 2, Scene 7

"Vanish into thin air"

"Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away. Go; vanish into air; away!" (Othello)

How Shakespeare uses it: The Clown says this to the musicians in "Othello" to make them go away.

But some have also suggested that there is a darker underlying meaning. Act 3 in Othello is the final act that suggests that all of this might have a happy ending. It gets pretty dark starting in Act 4. So the Clown might be symbolically asking musicians and all happy things to "vanish into thin air" because there's no more room for them in the play.

A similar phrase is also found in "The Tempest."

Modern definition: To disappear without a trace.

Sources: "Othello," Act 3, Scene 1, "The Tempest," Act 4, Scene 1

"There's a method to my madness"

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?"

How Shakespeare uses it: Polonius says it in "Hamlet," basically suggesting that there is reason behind apparent chaos.

Modern definition: The meaning is the same nowadays, although the language is a bit updated into modern terms. It is also a Bee Gees song.

Source: "Hamlet," Act 2, Scene 2

The Internet of Things (IoT) —  a vast network of connected devices — is set to become the world’s largest device market over the next decade, potentially creating trillions of dollars in economic value. However, without a reliable and secure network connection, these devices will fail to deliver that value. Device owners can choose between a number of established and emerging networking technologies to connect their IoT devices and collect data from them for analysis.

BI Intelligence’s new IoT Networks Report examines these different networking technologies, their pros and cons, and how well they are positioned for future growth in the IoT market. We also outline how different networks are best suited for connecting specific types of IoT devices, including connected cars, drones, smart home devices, and wearables.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• The need for interoperability — the ability for different devices to share data with each other — is driving the development of new networking technologies specifically designed for IoT devices.
• How Nest’s Thread network standard is positioned against other standards for connecting the smart home like ZigBee and Z-Wave.
• New developments in Wi-Fi and 4G LTE technologies could make them more suitable for connecting low-power devices like sensors and smart lights.
• New standards for low power wide area networks (LPWANs) could make it more cost-effective to connect large numbers of small devices over large geographic areas. 

In full, the report:

• Examines how different networking standards will best fit the needs of different industries and environments.
• Shows how the lack of interoperability between different IoT devices could damage the adoption of IoT technologies,
• Forecasts the growth of new and established mesh networking technologies designed specifically for the IoT market.
• Explains how existing networks that connect PCs, laptops, and mobile devices can be modified to better suit sensors and other small IoT devices. 

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> Purchase & Download Now

PS. Did you know...

Our BI Intelligence INSIDER Newsletters are currently read by thousands of business professionals first thing every morning. Fortune 1000 companies, startups, digital agencies, investment firms, and media conglomerates rely on these newsletters to keep atop the key trends shaping their digital landscape — whether it is mobile, digital media, e-commerce, payments, or the Internet of Things.

Our subscribers consider the INSIDER Newsletters a "daily must-read industry snapshot" and "the edge needed to succeed personally and professionally" — just to pick a few highlights from our recent customer survey.

With our full money-back guarantee, we make it easy to find out for yourself how valuable the daily insights are for your business and career.  Click this link to learn all about the INSIDER Newsletters today.

Join the conversation about this story »

Gary Johnston shows off Yukon Gold and Ruby Gold potatoes in his Guelph, Ont., home. (Judy Creighton/CP)

On Barack Obama’s table at holiday feasts; on Justin Trudeau’s plate at his White House state dinner; and on the Oscar gala hors-d’oeuvres trays, was a small yellow potato called the Yukon Gold. Alexander York von Sivers, a 59-year-old man in Toronto, is on a mission to make sure everybody knows it. “It’s a story that had to be told,” he says.

York has been working for three years to publicize the 50th anniversary of the invention of this potato, which was bred by researchers at the University of Guelph in 1966. “I’m going after every food editor in the United States,” he says. “I’d like to have potato festivals across Canada. I’ve spoken with Martha Stewart’s executive director five times, and she’s trying to get me a congratulatory letter. If I had my way, I’d have a huge Yukon Gold event in Times Square.”

The Yukon Gold, with its roots in Ontario, has become a posh potato. It was served dauphinoise at the state dinner, and frequently to the Obamas, mashed. At the Oscars in February, 600 kg of roasted Yukon Golds were presented with crème fraiche and Caspian caviar, prepared at the command of Wolfgang Puck. Queen Elizabeth II dines on the potato at Buckingham Palace; Rachael Ray calls for it in her recipes; and Chelsea Clinton endorses it as a personal favourite. But as York says, “the average Canadian is not aware of the Hollywood status of this potato.”

York has spent about 500 hours digging through archives on the potato. His fixation is partly due to his father, Hans von Sivers. Hans was a laboratory technician with Garnet “Gary” Johnston, the University of Guelph researcher who led a team that cross-bred two varieties to create the Yukon Gold. Before its invention, North American farmers only grew white-fleshed potatoes, and Johnston anticipated the appeal of a yellow, small-sized variety, which looks like it’s drenched in butter. “It was a revolutionary concept,” says Hielke De Jong, a potato breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, who knew Johnston. “He was a pioneer. He had the vision for yellow-fleshed potatoes.”

The invention came from a male parent grown in North Dakota (considered male because it spreads pollen), and a female, yellow parent grown in Peru. After 14 years, on the 66th cross of 1966, Johnston created a variety known technically as G6666-4y (“G” for Guelph, 4 for the fourth selection from the cross, and “y” for yellow). Johnston originally named it after the Yukon River—his previous varieties included the Huron and the Rideau—but his colleague Walter Shy suggested adding the word “Gold” in honour of its yellow tint. Not to be confused with “new potatoes,” which are small, sweet spuds of any variety picked earliest in the season, the Yukon Gold has pink eyes and tan skin.

Soon after Yukon Golds hit the market in 1980, chefs were serving it to presidents. “When I started at the White House, it became like the new kid on the block,” says former White House chef John Moeller. “I like the butteriness of it. I do a purée, with added parsnip purée and sweated-down leeks. It’s a nice smooth consistency. When you see a white potato, it just doesn’t look as appealing.” Moeller also cooks Yukon Golds au gratin with garlic custard, and he roasts baby Yukons to serve as marble-sized garnishing. “You can put one potato on your fork and eat it in one bite,” he says.

Alex Docherty, a P.E.I. potato farmer, also recalls the rise of the new spud. “It was known in all of North America as the champion, the best yellow potato that was ever grown,” he says. “If you said ‘I got a load of yellows,’ the first question out of the buyer would be, ‘Are they Yukon Golds?’ ”

Yukon Gold potato. (Photograph by Reena Newman)

Yukon Golds became so sought-after that grocery stores began disguising other varieties as Yukon Golds—a practice that potato breeders say still continues today. “You see it in the grocery stores,” says De Jong. A different controversy arose in 1997 when Hillary Clinton falsely claimed that everything on the menu at a White House state dinner, including the Yukon Golds, was American. A New York Times food editor exposed the slip-up, and the Clinton administration issued an apology, giving the Yukon Gold a marketing boost. “Without the New York Times,” says York, “this potato never would have succeeded.”

Johnston died in 2000, at age 85, of diabetes complications, having never made a penny off his potato (prior to the 1990 Canadian Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, breeders didn’t have intellectual property rights). York now wants to commemorate the man’s work and build a library on the potato. “I want to make sure Gary Johnston isn’t a footnote in Canadian history,” he says.

As a day job, York works as a freelancer chasing interview subjects for radio stations and news outlets, having studied marketing at Ryerson University. He wants to write a book on the potato and film a documentary with footage from inside the White House kitchen. He hopes to crowdfund $200,000 for an agriculture scholarship in Johnston’s memory and raise the status of the University of Guelph. “I want to get this in every relevant textbook in the country,” he says. He also plans to coordinate potato festivals with trivia competitions and book sales to raise money for food banks.

While the Yukon Gold may be celebrated as an innovation story, potatoes in general are rarely celebrated as a vegetable. Sales in Canada dropped 30 per cent between 2004 and 2014. “It doesn’t get the credit that it deserves,” says Greg Donald, general manager of the P.E.I. Potato Board. “It had some rough years there with the Atkins diet, but it’s still there, and it’s still a great vegetable.” The potato is also a reliable vegetable for chefs, compared to greens, tomatoes or carrots, which are less predictable and rot faster. “The majority of the time, the vegetables are my nemesis,” says Moeller. “Sometimes I order baby carrots, and they’re adolescents or adults. Potatoes are definitely consistent.”

Amid more than 150 potato varieties grown in Canada, farmers debate which is the best. Breeders are looking for multi-purpose varieties with higher yields and shelf lives. “Just like cars, they’re looking for newer and better models,” says Donald of the P.E.I. Potato Board. Farmer Peter Griffin, whose company owns the trademark for Bud the Spud, suggests the slightly larger, yellow Annabelle potato, from Holland, is “destined to become a Canadian favourite.” The Yukon Gold also isn’t the only potato with celebrity status; when Islander Adam McQuaid of the Boston Bruins brought home the Stanley Cup, he filled it with a variety called Superior potatoes, and Marcia Cross of Desperate Housewives stars in a commercial for a variety called Rooster. Docherty, who stopped growing Yukon Golds about five years ago, says, “every breeder in the world is trying to find a replacement for the Yukon Gold.”

Proponents of the Yukon argue it won’t fade away. Although the variety is susceptible to certain diseases, such as the “common scab,” De Jong says farmers can deal with its weaknesses. “Potatoes are like people,” he says. “No potato is perfect.” York appreciates that other varieties are emerging, but he says, “a long, long list of famous chefs and foodies are very, very loyal to the Yukon.”

York grows the Yukon Gold in his own garden, and he’s collecting antique potato crates and sacks from the Yukon Gold’s history. Johnston’s colleague, Walter Shy, might have helped York commemorate the potato, but he died in 1995. “He was going to move mountains for the 50th anniversary,” says York. “I felt it was time that Canadians learn the story, especially young Canadians, so they can be inspired to become successful innovators. It’s always on my mind. Who am I going to contact next?”

The post In praise of the Yukon Gold potato appeared first on Macleans.ca.

Much ink has been spilled over the continuing oil price crash and its effect on the global economy.

The effects have been widespread, with among other things, commodity companies seeing profits crushed and oil exporting nations struggling to stay in the black.

But for the average person on the street, the crash hasn't had a particularly visible effect on life, with much of the oil shock absorbed by consumer goods producers.

However, there is one area where Joe Public notices the changing price of oil, and that's in the price of fuel, most notably the cost of petrol, or gasoline as its known.

Since oil prices started to fall, so too have fuel prices globally. Petrol doesn't cost the same everywhere in the world though, with everything from taxation to the number of vehicles on the roads affecting the cost consumers pay at the pump.

One chart from investment research firm Bernstein, shows just how wildly prices for petrol vary across the globe. There's good news if you're a consumer in the USA, where prices are notoriously low. Across the pond in the UK, things are a little more expensive, with British petrol prices the most expensive of any country in the Western world. Here's the chart:

Brits pay such huge prices for fuel because of substantial taxes, in the form of VAT and fuel duty. Fuel duty in Britain is £0.58 per litre, while in the USA, excise taxes are just $0.18 per gallon on gasoline. That works out at just over £0.04 per litre. These tax differences go a long way to explaining price differences, although there are other variables.

As Bernstein notes (emphasis ours):

Changes in gasoline prices usually track changes in crude oil prices, although the relationship is complicated by taxation, currency movements, (the dollar and oil tend to be correlated), and subsidies. Globally, gasoline prices tend to follow a similar trend, although prices can range from US$0.5/liter (in the United States) to US$1.5/liter (in Europe). Following the collapse in crude prices, we saw a greater decline in gasoline prices in OECD countries versus non-OECD countries in 2015, as subsidies were removed in emerging markets and currencies depreciated against the dollar.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: THE STORY OF GOLDMAN SACHS: From foot peddlers to a powerhouse

What do user experience, abandonment rate, and your wallet have in common? Ecommerce. Endless commerce promotions implemented to monetize your audience — but actually destroy your brand. Digital publishers today are struggling to monetize their audiences without relying on infinite affiliate promotions and pesky pay-walls that demand money from their readers. Unfortunately, there seem to be few solutions available to drive a comparable ROI. But, what about content? Where is the data to prove sponsored content can’t outperform commerce? To tackle this topic we are digging in to a recent case study that tested this exact question….

This month, leading B2B Publisher Network RevResponse partnered with digital tech publisher MakeUseOf to measure the impact of content over commerce within their monetization strategy in a good old fashion AB Test. The findings in this test are startling, but let’s first start at the beginning…

The Problem: Cue Nsync’s greatest hit, “Buy buy buy,” (clearly it’s bye bye bye, you get it.

As the world’s leading destination for educational tech content, ranked among the top 1000 sites and armed with a subscriber base of 400,000+ readers, the MakeUseOf audience is a big deal and highly qualified as a test bed for this case study.

A toolkit of commerce posts, onsite ads and email newsletter promotions made up the MakeUseOf monetization strategy; however, utilizing constant ecommerce promotions began to have its draw backs (think Brittney Spears peak and downward spiral).

“Ecommerce promotions [requiring a purchase] have to be marketed more aggressively and frequently. They require more attention,” stated MakeUseOf CEO, Jackson Chung. “We’re responsible for generating sales [with ecommerce partnerships] — there’s potential to annoy the subscriber if we marketed too aggressively.”

As the MakeUseOf Team became more concerned about the constant trade-off they were making to increase earnings they knew it was time to work on a more diversified strategy…making some changes in the band.

The Test: Cue Mission Impossible theme song [insert drama].

RevResponse was challenged to deliver revenue on par with the major ecommerce affiliate networks while offering relevant content — for free. Wait, what? Free content to become a top revenue driver? #skeptical

To measure the effectiveness of content over commerce, RevResponse developed a test strategy to diversify MakeUseOf’s infinite commerce promotions with highly targeted content campaigns (think professional white papers, eBooks, and reports).

The three-month test replaced mainstream tech deals with free relevant content curated specifically for the MakeUseOf audience, including these high-value eBooks:

• 2016 Security Essentials — The Ultimate Defense Kit [Free eBooks]

• Productivity Tools — Developing Your Productivity Skills [Free eBook]

• Getting Started with Cloud Computing [Free eBook]

The Findings: (The home stretch calls for Rocky Theme Song…I’m from Philly #respect)

To produce a win-win for publishers, the RevResponse test needed to prove revenue and user impact was a success. The test was broken out into two key metrics measuring front end user engagement and conversion rates. Starting with their coveted subscriber base, the analysis reported a +613% increase in content request volume over deal campaigns [crowd goes wild]. This combination of a more relevant experience and low barrier to entry proved to be significantly more successful over standard ecommerce deal campaigns.According to the case study, “the RevResponse content campaigns increased the revenue per email campaign by +126%, doubling the revenue per touch point with the subscriber.” [drop the mic]

Clearly the numbers are huge, but bringing the focus back to Publisher perspective and adoption of running content over commerce MakeUseOf CEO, Jackson Chung, shared his two cents on the test:

“We know that our readers come to MakeUseOf to learn new skills. So by offering the opportunity to download useful and educational tech content for free, they’re motivated to stay subscribed to our newsletter. Generally, it’s a win-win: our readers gain useful resources at no cost, while we generate revenue.” #loyalty

Takeaways: Nothing makes you feel more like a King than Queen, “We Are The Champions”.

This report highlights a common misconception among digital publishers today and unveils the power of content. No longer do publishers need to be tied to infinite rounds of commerce promotions.

“It’s no surprise that highly relevant targeted content could outperform commerce among audience standards; it’s the ROI that makes this strategy a game changer for publishers,” stated David Fortino, VP Audience Development, NetLine Corporation.

By diversifying their monetization strategy RevResponse was able to accelerate MakeUseOf’s monthly earnings with fewer promotions and deliver a more native experience for subscribers. What do targeted content, loyalty, and the bottom line have in common? Winning.

See for yourself, read the full case study detailing the AB Test, Content Over Commerce: A Publisher’s Strategy to Increase Revenue +126%.

You: Spent two weeks preparing to deliver a ninety minute sales presentation.

Prospect: “Sorry, I’ve only got a few minutes. Can you just give me a quick overview?”

Aargh! Disappointing to say the least. Everything rides on your reaction when your prospect cuts down the time you need to deliver a well-thought out sales presentation. Unfortunately, the knee jerk reaction of most salespeople is to go along with the request, racing through the presentation like an over-caffeinated auctioneer, dismissing slides right and left.

Resist the urge. Here’s why:

Rushing through your presentation is dangerous and counter-productive. People retain very little when it’s delivered at them from a fire hose. Audience interaction is completely tossed aside in the interest of time, and almost any solution sounds unnecessarily complex when not presented in a strategic manner with associated context and benefits.

You need a better strategy when your prospect only has a few minutes.

Here are three strategies for adjusting on the fly. If you prepare for each option, you’ll be in good shape no matter what is thrown at you. Besides the odd rotten tomato.

1. Reschedule the presentation

Asking to reschedule the meeting when your prospect has more time is often the best option as it allows you to deliver your presentation at a digestible pace and make your most persuasive case. Most prospects will agree to reschedule if you give them a compelling reason to do so by providing an insight and showing value. For example:

“I don’t want to do you a disservice and rush through your proposal. I’ve uncovered some interesting things about your current efforts to increase your social presence – including how you can increase your campaign open rates by as much as 30% − and I want to be sure and give you the full picture. What does next week at this time look like for you?”

If this is your only chance or your prospect insists you just “Run through the main points,” move to strategy number three.

2. Turn it into an impromptu discovery meeting

The best use of time when your prospect only has a few minutes can be to find out more about your prospect to further tailor or adjust a future presentation. Discover if anything has changed in the prospect’s situation since you last spoke that you need to address in your presentation, like a change in priorities, personnel, or strategy. Bonus: Prospects are often more willing to open up in an impromptu discovery setting.

3. Deliver a preview-style presentation

If this is your only chance to present, you need to deliver an abbreviated version of your presentation. Think of this as a movie preview designed to get your prospect to buy a ticket to the movie. Previews don’t typically give away the ending or reveal the entire plot. They provide just enough of the story to hook the viewer. In the same way, you want to reveal just enough of your story to hook your prospect so that he wants to see the entire presentation. Here’s how to do a preview-style presentation using many of the elements from your prepared presentation:

1. Deliver your opening hook. You should have developed a strong opening for your presentation that intrigues your prospect, provides insight, and delivers some value. Don’t skip this step as it sets the stage for what’s to come and heightens attention and interest. Read here for tips on creating a strong opening hook.
2. Pick the one or two (depending on time) topics to cover. You should have prioritized your agenda in your discovery. Take the top one or two challenges or objectives that are of critical importance to your prospect.
3. Deliver the full arc of each topic. Don’t cut it short to try and cover more. Make sure you cover how the topic relates to their challenge, the impact it has on their organization, and the benefit of your solution.
4. Finish with your value proposition and a clear and specific call-to-action, i.e. to explore the full agenda or move to the next step in the sales process.

Photo of Sotheby’s auctioneer Adrian Biddell, courtesy of: FinancialTimes

Your users will make mistakes. It’s inevitable. That’s what error messages are for – but so many companies are doing them poorly, and they’re pissing off potential customers in the process.

So, how can we better design error messages to increase user experience, and therefore, increase conversions?

Error Message Errors and How They Affect UX

Error messages can be so frustrating. How many times have you went to fill out a form to create an account, only to receive a message like this:

It’s the type of thing that makes you want to drop what you’re doing and break something, right?

Another terrible experience is when an error message is ambiguous, probing you to ask, “well, why was that wrong?!” Craig Sullivan has a great example about Amazon:

OK, @AmazonUK – here is the picture. Tell me WHY, instead of this useless error message – stop WASTING my time : pic.twitter.com/h33ofvFr0T

— Craig Sullivan (@OptimiseOrDie) December 7, 2015

Error messages trigger cortisol, a well-known biomarker of psychological stress. This cortisol buildup can turn into anxiety, and eventually, when a user is sufficiently frustrated, they give up.

Image Source (via Brian Cugelman)

Sometimes, the damage isn’t only sustained to the lost conversion, but it also turns someone into an active detractor of your brand. Investing in a better user experience tends to work in the short term (increased conversion rate) as well as the long term (increased retention, brand loyalty, word-of-mouth, etc).

While error messages seem like a dry topic compared to value proposition optimization or gamification, you can vastly improve your user experience just by avoiding a few common mistakes.

A Case Study in Poor Error Message Design

Ever booked a flight with Spirit Airlines? It’s not the best customer experience (to put it lightly). It warmed my heart to note that their error messages were also subpar.

So I started out my form by messing up everything (I’m not a savvy digital citizen):

Uh-oh, I didn’t inform them I was a Mr….Well, I fixed that, but then I was informed I had another error!

Email invalid? Good call. Forgot the .com. Can fix that up rather easily:

But what is this? I also seemed to have had a typo in my matching email! I wish they’d informed me about that when I was fixing my first email :(

Well. Apparently someone signed up with my email already. I guess that’d be okay, but I wish they’d have given me a ‘password recover’ option in case that was my email. Oh, and maybe they could have left the passwords I tried to enter in the fields here. Dammit.

Not all forms are that bad, but many have the same common mistakes. Avoid them and you’ll be ahead of much of your competition. Here are some common mistakes:

Mistake #1: Ambiguity

Your error messages should clearly define what the problem was. Ever got a message like the following?

Image Source

Why? What the hell do I do now?

Bitly sort of pissed me off with this error message, because it doesn’t tell me what was wrong. Username? Password? Both? Who knows. “Nope,” also sounds kinda condescending/not helpful. Finally, best practice is to tell me how to fix it, but I got nothin’…

That’s a common one. I love it, though, when a form clearly demarcates your errors from the valid submissions. Meetup.com shows you exactly where the problem occurred and what to do about it:

Bottom line is, don’t make your users think. Let them know exactly where the error was, why it happened, and what to do about it. Improve your clarity.

Mistake #2: Condescending Language/Blaming the User

One thing you definitely don’t want to do is scare the user into thinking the problem is much worse than it is. You also don’t want to make them feel stupid, like it’s their fault.

As Usabilla put it, “It is also important to be humble, admit you’ve made a mistake if you have. However, even if it is a user error we’re dealing with, NEVER blame the user.” They gave a hyperbolic example of this, but it’s actually pretty common:

Image Source

UXMovement cautions against using negative words, saying “negative words can make users feel like they’ve made a huge mistake, leading them to think the situation is worse than it is.” They also offer a few words to avoid:

Image Source

Mistake #3: Poor Placement Error Messages

UXMovement talks about this in their article on making error messages more reassuring:

“Error summaries magnify the seriousness of the mistakes when they’re grouped in a long bulleted list. When most users see that many errors at once, they’ll likely give up and forget about fixing them.”

What’s more intimidating than seeing something like this after you hit ‘submit’?

Image Source

I like inline validation to solve this one, because you get instant feedback, which is great for learning. More on inline validation later in the article.

But even if you’re not planning on using inline validation, at least make it clear where the error occurred. Positioning of error messages isn’t thought about often, but it’s important. Here’s how Usabilla put it:

“Finally, the positioning of your error messages are key. This all comes down to good User Experience design practice. Logical positioning not only saves you further detailing the situation, but also allows the user to quickly see where they are going wrong and – that word again – recover!”

The following example is better than placing it all at the top, but it’s still pretty bad because you can’t tell where the actual error was (e.g. ‘name cannot be empty’ is between first and last name, making it ambiguous):

Image Source

Users need to know where the error occurred. As Hazel Bolton from Formisimo noted, Netflix is guilty of displaying error messages above the form and only highlighting the error fields red. As she said, “the error could be missed or the fields hard to locate”

Google has some design best practices documentation on this. Read up.

Mistake #4: Unclear Expectations

This mistake is so common and it’s so important to get it right. Even if you have a nice and apologetic message, place it in the right spot, and make it clear what went wrong, you’ll still anger users if it’s not at all clear what they’re supposed to do next.

Many error messages don’t give you a solid next step. Like the example from Spirit Airlines above, they could have given me a few options such as ‘account recovery’ or ‘oh, you have an account? log in here.” Instead, they just said my email had already been registered.

A better option comes from Wells Fargo (surprisingly):

A superior error messages takes the opportunity to educate the user on how to fix it. Look at how great MailChimp is at suggesting a solution to the problem:

Image Source

Even better, if you’re not flexible with the format of certain data, like phone numbers and zip codes (which you should be), then it’s nice to let users know what to expect upfront. To do that, you can write some microcopy.

Using Microcopy to Prevent Errors in the First Place

Microcopy is defined as “the small bits of text/copy that help instruct and alleviate the concerns of your users.” It can help prevent form errors before they ever happen.

For example, Joshua Porter noticed he was getting a ton of form errors on the “enter billing information” page. So he added a tiny bit of copy to remind users to enter the billing address associated with their credit card, and noticed the errors went away, “thus saving support time and increasing revenue on the improved conversion”

Here’s another example of where microcopy could have helped:

Peep was trying to fill out a form on a venue’s website in order to get a quote for an event.

However, he was returned this page with a big red message saying, “there was a problem with your submission” at the top – message plagued with ambiguity of course.

The error was that he entered a range of guests (rational choice, seeing as it’s hard to state an exact number of guests for events), but they wanted an exact number. Of course, they didn’t mention this before he hit ‘submit.’ Microcopy explaining to estimate an exact number would have been helpful.

(Though, with this example, I think there form has more problems than simply a lack of microcopy).

Error Message Best Practices

Good error messages and bad ones have such different results in terms of user behavior. Read this anecdote from UX pro Jennifer Aldrich:

Jennifer Aldrich:

“One day I had two users sitting right next to one another in a lab, one of them working in a 3rd party program and another working in our product. They happened to error out simultaneously. The 3rd party product displayed a giant red X, with the word ERROR in all caps and a pile of crazy script beneath it. The user gasped, closed the browser and shot back in his chair like the screen had tried to bite him.

The user who received the error in our product read a message similar to, “Something weird just happened on our end, sorry about that. Please refresh your screen and try that again.” The error code was listed in small text below the message, as well as an expand option for folks to view the error details if they so desired.

She grinned at me and said, “Oh boy, you’re in trouble now!” And refreshed her screen and continued editing.”

Image Source

While I can’t tell you exactly what text, placement, color, timing, etc will work on your site, I can tell you some design staples and best practices. Then you can dive into some usability research, form analytics, and testing to figure out what works best for your own site.

Error Message Best Practices That Have Lasted Through The Years

NN/g offered the following best practices in 2001 and they still hold up:

• Visible and highly noticeable, both in terms of the message itself and how it indicates which dialogue element users must repair.
• Preserve as much as the user’s work as possible. Let users correct errors by editing their original action instead of having to do everything over again. For example, in presenting search results, show a search box with the user’s original query terms to facilitate revisions. If no hits were found, let users search a wider scope with a single click.
• Reduce the work of correcting the error. If possible, guess the correct action and let users pick it from a small list of fixes. For example, instead of just saying “city and zip code don’t match,” let users click on a button for the city that matches the zip code they entered.

The 4 H’s of Error Messages

UXMas has a helpful framework for error messages that they’ve dubbed the 4 H’s. They say error messages need to be:

1. Human
2. Helpful
3. Humorous
4. Humble

Human

UXMas says the number one rule “is to make sure your error messages sound like they’ve been written for humans.” They give this example as an example of a shitty error message:

Image Source

Sounds like a robot wrote it.

Also, avoid jargon and any technical/nerd speak (unless that’s your audience, I guess). What does this mean:

Image Source

Helpful

According to UXMas, three factors go into making an error message helpful:

• Is it visible?
• Does it explain clearly what went wrong?
• Does it help the user recover?

We talked about this above. Position your error messages in an intuitive way, make them red and clearly visible. Clearly explain the problem. Offer a helpful solution.

Humorous

UXMas says “keeping your tone light-hearted can help to keep the user on-side—especially if this suits the tone of your brand.” However, I think humor is contextual with your audience. Might frustrate them more if you’re making light of their errors. Might also work well. I do know that 404 pages are a great place to add some light-hearted humor (and a strategic redirect).

Image Source

Though Yahoo! has an amazing example of humor in their form validation:

Image Source

Humble

This one is easy: don’t blame the user. We already talked about this above. Take the blame. Apologize and offer a solution.

What About Inline Validation?

Inline validation is a beautiful way to find, alert, and correct errors in real time. Instead of waiting until pressing ‘submit’ to learn of your errors, you are told right away what went wrong.

Here’s an example of inline validation:

Image Source

The research on inline validation is solid. Luke Wroblewski tested inline validation (in 2009) against a control (after-submit validation). Though the sample was small, they found the following results with the inline version:

• a 22% increase in success rates,
• a 22% decrease in errors made,
• a 31% increase in satisfaction rating,
• a 42% decrease in completion times, and
• a 47% decrease in the number of eye fixations.
• 22% more people making it through your forms is well worth the effort – and so is creating a more satisfying experience for anyone filling out the form.

Not bad. Look into inline validation for your forms. A good example of inline validation online is booking.com:

How To Track Errors

It’s nice to implement best practices, but it’s even nicer to figure out where people are falling off on your specific form. How do we do that? Well, we have to set up some way to measure form analytics, error messages, abandonments, and completions.

If you’re using a tool like Formisimo, it’s relatively straightforward, just check out the Most Corrected Fields report:

Image Source

You can see the average corrections per form starter and use that as a baseline. The goal, of course, is to reduce the number of corrections on a form field (and thereby reduce friction on the form):

Image Source

How To Track Errors on Google Analytics

Tim Leighton-Boyce from CXFocus talked about one of his favorite GA reports on a CXL blog post a while ago:

Tim Leighton-Boyce:

“One of my favourite reports when looking for opportunities is a standard report which most people ignore: the Conversions > Goals > Reverse Goal Path.

I use it for error reporting.

This requires being able to configure a goal for errors, which is not always possible on a site. But IF you can set up such a goal then the Reverse Goal Path becomes very powerful.

The Reverse Goal Path works really well in situations where you cannot predict what the steps leading up to the goal are, unlike a checkout funnel. In fact, the steps which lead up to the goal in this use case are exactly what we’re trying to find out.

You can also set up scripts to track JavaScript errors on your page, which you can send to custom events in Google Analytics. Search Engine Watch explained how to set up custom events in order to track form errors:

“Employ a series of custom events on your form with each event representing a field on that form. Your category should define which form is flagging errors; your action should define each form field; and your label can be dynamic, pulling in both a description of the validation rule that triggered the error and the value entered that broke the rule, separated by a pipe (i.e., “|”). This one may require developer assistance.

Once set up, you can then dive into a custom report that quantifies and stratifies the most critical errors on your forms. At that point, you can assess the root causes of the errors by inspecting the values users are entering. Finally, you should then either relax your validation logic or include better help text to minimize the number of errors impeding your most important conversion activities.”

Conclusion

Designing error messages is all about limited the amount of frustration users feel with your form. If they’re too stress – too much cortisol builds up – you risk them giving up to go watch Netflix or something. There are too many better things to do than deal with a crappy, complex, condescending submission form.

So, yes, do usability research yourself, but start with these error message best practices:

• Don’t blame the user.
• Write like a human, not a robot.
• Make sure errors are clear, and the messages are positioned in a place that is intuitive.
• Make sure users know how to fix said errors.
• Don’t list all errors at the top of the page. Inline validation is a good solution.

Error messages ever frustrate you? Let me know some examples of the worst forms in the comments section.

Feature image source

It’s safe to say that Social Selling has arrived and is here to stay. But it’s nothing if not disruptive to traditional sales processes and mindsets. Long established sales orgs are having to rethink a lot of their strategy and newcomer sales orgs don’t have the luxury of simply following in the footsteps of tried and true traditional sales models.

So, as in all sales components, we rely on the experts with a knack for distilling and delivering heaps of learnings acquired through time, trial and error in a way we can all understand. Two of those experts happen to be Jamie Shanks and Jill Rowley, so we decided to collect some of their most valuable social selling insights for one tactic-packed post.

This is just to whet your Social Selling appetite, though, because Jill and Jamie will be delivering even more great insights on stage together at our upcoming Sales Machine conference on June 15th and 16th in New York City.

Jamie Shanks

“The first to the deal wins.”

Jamie often makes one of the most important points about finding success in Social Selling: Being first matters. A lot. With the power of social, we’re able to know with incredible precision when the time is right to pounce.

With the power of social, we know with incredible precision when the time is right to pounce.
Click To Tweet

• Use LinkedIn job change alerts to your advantage.
• Keep in mind that buyers are looking for the easiest and most convenient source to the answer.
• Be on time–65% of deals will be given to you if you are the first one to be there at the onset of when someone starts looking for a solution.
• Be present online. 92% of buyers start their journey by searching online.

“Buyers do due diligence on you–on LinkedIn”

While you’re busy cultivating your online profile, be mindful of the message you’re sending and to whom you’re sending it. You’re in the business of giving your buyers advice, and in order to validate that advice, your buyers go online to platforms like LinkedIn.

• Accolades like “Quota crusher” and “Presidents club member” don’t help your buyer through the buying journey.
• Incognito doesn’t work either. Don’t be a ghost. Prove you know what you’re talking about.
• Remember, Social Selling doesn’t give you the quick win. It has a snowballing effect over time and requires constant maintenance. Be patient and keep improving.

Social Selling doesn’t give you the quick win. It has a snowballing effect over time
Click To Tweet

“Be where your buyers are”

Jamie points out that your prospect doesn’t have to be online for you to still be social selling. Use the tools at your disposal to build social momentum and then integrate that into more traditional modes of selling like the phone or email. 

• Set Google alerts so you know when something is happening with your prospect’s company.
• Share great, helpful content via email
• Be the recruiter. Connect your buyer to people in your network.
• Social surround – If your decision-maker isn’t on Social, connect with his/her colleagues, aka influencers.

Jill Rowley

The times they are a-changin’, and Jill is more than happy to recognize it and adjust. A new generation is rapidly arriving on the scene and beginning to replace or at least work and buy alongside the Baby Boomer generation.

“Rather than convincing stubborn old sales reps to embrace Social, just hire Millennials.”

Who are they, says Jill? Highly plugged in, tech-savvy, always sharing sharing, and living life aloud. They communicate in real time and are used to processing a lot of information, but they prefer it to be delivered in digestible chunks.

Jill doesn’t say to abandon your old methods or team entirely. Rather, she offers this approach for bringing the young and not-so-young up to speed on Social: Help them understand how Social integrates into existing, more traditional sales processes too. 

“Use social networks, not social media”

To quote Jill, “Social media is confusing, it’s chaotic, it’s noisy, it’s unfiltered, it’s the wild wild west of the world wide web.” Rather than intimidating reluctant adopters of Social Selling, simplify what it means in terms all salespeople understand. Salespeople know what networking is. The question should be, “How do we use social networks to do research on our buyers, the buying committee, and the people who influence our buyers?”

Rather than intimidating slow adopters of Social Selling, simplify in terms we all understand
Click To Tweet

“We live in the age of the customer”

Buyers are digitally driven socially and professionally. Today’s generation of customers need social proof in order to buy. Eighty-two percent of the world’s internet population 15 and older is using social networking sites. The power of peer-to-peer recommendation is real and growing. Build your personal brand and optimize your online social presence for buyers, not recruiters.

“Social selling doesn’t stop when a customer signs on”

As Jill says, “It’s not about rushing to signature it’s about coaching to success.” Social selling is as organic as it comes, and the cultivation never ends, not even when the sale is made. Use networks to find, listen, connect, engage, and amplify your customer. Help them get their message out and celebrate their success.

One final note: Don’t forget to grab your tickets for Sales Machine, and we’ll see you in NYC!

The post Greatest Hits from Social Selling’s Dynamic Duo appeared first on Sales Hacker.

Behavioral economists have pointed out dozens of ways in which human behavior deviates from standard economic theory.

As it turns out, our decisions and behavior aren't always rational, but are instead heavily influenced by emotions and cognitive blind spots.

One of the most well-known examples is the endowment effect, which describes our tendency to value things more highly when we already own them. If I'm trying to sell you my car, I might think it's worth $10,000, while you might think it's only worth $7,000.

The endowment effect was first identified by economist Richard Thaler in the 1970s. Thaler gave the example of a man who bought a case of wine in the late 1950s for about $5 a bottle. A few years later his wine merchant offers to buy the wine back for $100 a bottle and the man refuses, even though he's never paid more than $35 for a bottle of wine.

In 1990, Thaler, along with Daniel Kahneman and Jack Knetsch published experimental research that illustrated the power of the endowment effect.

For the study, college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: seller, buyer, or chooser. Sellers were given a university mug and asked if they would sell it for between $0 and $9.25. Buyers were asked if they would purchase the mug for a price in that range. Choosers were given the option at each price to choose between a mug and the same amount of cash.

Results showed that sellers (who already owned the mugs) placed a significantly higher value on the mugs than the other two groups did. Specifically, they required a median sum of $7.12 to give up the mug, while choosers said the mug was worth a median of $3.12 and buyers were willing to pay a median of $2.87.

The question is: What exactly causes the endowment effect?

Behavioral economists initially proposed that the effect occurred because humans are naturally loss-averse. We place more significance on losses (like giving away the car we've had for a decade) than we place on gains (like buying that used car).

More recent research suggests that ownership of an item creates a link between that item and our identity.

In 2012, Sara Loughran Dommer and Vanitha Swaminathan had undergrads role-play a transaction around a ballpoint pen. Specifically, "sellers" were given pens and asked whether they would prefer to keep the pen or exchange it for a cash amount between $0.25 and $10.00. "Buyers" saw the pen and decided whether to take the pen or a cash sum in that range.

Before the role play, experimenters asked some students to imagine a past relationship in which they felt unloved and write about their thoughts and feelings. Others wrote about an average day.

Results indicated that sellers who'd thought about rejection placed a higher value on the pen than students who'd written about an average day. But self-threat did not have the same effect on buying prices.

The researchers write: "After a social self-threat, individuals likely have strong possession-self links because possessions can enhance the self and help individuals cope with the threat." In other words, we may have a hard time separating from things once we feel like they're part of us.

Whether you're involved in a transaction for a mug, a pen, or a car, it helps to be aware of the endowment effect and its influence on our behavior. If you can take a step back and realize why an item is so meaningful to you or to someone else, you may have an easier time negotiating a favorable outcome.

SEE ALSO: 21 mind-blowing psychology findings that explain the baffling choices you make every day

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A behavioral economist explains how your calendar is messing up your priorities

Social selling is hardly a new concept; sales reps have been mining social media for leads, interacting with customers on different channels, and researching clients through personal and professional accounts for several years. Though social selling is not yet fully integrated into the overall sales process in many organizations, its days of being thought of as its own practice are nearly finished.

In a recent Series Pass webcast, Social Selling: How to Connect with the Modern Buyer, featuring Jill Rowley, Founder & Chief Evangelist of #SocialSelling; Keenan, CEO/President of A Sales Guy; Jamie Shanks, CEO, Sales for Life; and Koka Sexton, Social Team, LinkedIn Corporate Communications, we were presented with several new ways to think about social selling as it relates to the broader sales process.

1. Get adoption from the top-down

Cultural shifts within organizations start from different places; some originate with employees and float up, others start from management and cascade down to employees. In the first case, where employees look to change the culture around something like selling, executive adoption is critical to success . “If you want to talk about how you get adoption, you find out who your top reps are,” said Sexton. “Who are the ones that are doing this well? And start building the case studies from them. Eventually, once you get enough case studies — once you’re able to show the revenue impact, the pipeline that you’re able to drive by using social media, you go to the top; that’s all the CEO really cares about.”

Executives can also be catalysts for social selling. Tim Clarke, Series Pass host and Salesforce Product Marketing Director, referenced Sage CEO Stephen Kelly as someone who exemplifies a social executive representative of a social organization.

The company’s attitude towards fostering a social and collaborative culture is evident even in their products. Sage Live, for example, enables collaboration across the back office and front office, giving you the power to analyze, manage, and operate your business in real time.

2. Don’t apply the same old sales tactics to social selling

While social selling has a host of benefits and advantages as described by the panel during the webcast, one important note the guests agreed on was that bad marketing is bad marketing, no matter the channel. “[If you have] an email that wasn’t working before, [if I] leverage it in LinkedIn and think [just] because it’s a different, fresher medium that is not over-saturated, like a Google Mail…well, crap in is crap out. It doesn’t work,” Shanks said.

Rowley echoed that sentiment with an even stronger warning: “If you suck offline, you’re going to suck more online. So don’t suck,” she said. “Social isn’t a channel for modern trickery or modern laziness. Social is an incredible channel to find your buyers, to listen and relate to your buyers, to connect and engage with your buyers.” She further emphasized that to be interesting, you must be interested in something other than yourself. Leading with the customer or the individual buyer are both more effective ways than leading with the product.

3. Understand why prospects share on social media

To Keenan, sales reps have an obligation to do research on their prospects, whether marketing has their back or not. “My team will not make a call to anybody…until we know everything we can,” he said. And we are full-on proud digital stalkers.”

Sexton agreed: “In sales, I would have 15 different tabs open in my browser. I would look at every piece of information I could find on that person before I ever picked up the phone. For every little nugget of insight that I might be able to bring in — where did they go to school? What kind of car do they drive? Do they have a dog? Do they like to ride horses? All of that stuff helps build the story.”

But having that information on hand is not an open invitation to regurgitate it on a first call; the key is to insert those nuggets at the right times. “You have it all in the back of your mind so that when that moment comes up, you can actually have some context around it,” Sexton said. “People put this stuff out on social for a reason. And we put it out there because we want people to see it. How people react to it and come back and use that with us is a whole different thing.”

4. Use social media to add value to the sales cycle

Using the information gleaned from social research is only as good as the business value it provides, Rowley said. The sales process is no longer just about trust and knowing someone. “If you can’t deliver value, I don’t care that I know you, I like you, and I trust you,” she said. “If I can’t get value from you, sorry. I need to get value.” For example: Rowley mentioned hearing a customer on a podcast, or writing about a company need on social. You could respond by sending an article via social media that provides value to help solve the problem, even if it’s completely unrelated to your product.

And it’s not just about adding value once and then immediately selling. Sexton said the key is to consistently add value over time, “Because eventually, the person is going to raise their hand and say, thank you so much. Now what can I do for you? And that’s when you raise your hand and say, here’s what I do. But I’m going to continue to add as much value, (and) throw as much gasoline on that fire as possible, because I want to help you.”

You can watch the on-demand replay of the March Series Pass webcast here.

Consumers are ditching their fitness trackers for the added functionality of smartwatches. And as smartwatches become increasingly easy to use and affordable, they will capture an even greater share of the wearables market, driving down demand for fitness- and activity-tracking bands, like the Fitbit. The fitness-band category will make up 42% of total wearables shipments in 2020, down from an estimated 48% share this year, and a 53% share in 2014.

To win over nontech buffs, smartwatch makers are also offering models that cater to health and fitness enthusiasts. The Apple Watch Sport model, for example, has basic materials like an aluminum case with a rubberized band, similar to the material on popular fitness trackers like the Jawbone Up or Fitbit Force.

In a recent report, BI Intelligence takes a closer look at how smartwatches will siphon market share from fitness trackers in the wearables market, and how Apple's smartwatch might impact the market for luxury watches. We also forecast shipments for both Apple Watch and the broader luxury watch market over the next five years, and examine the pricing and design strategy behind the Apple Watch, the new retail distribution opportunities with this device, and the wider opportunity among tech-savvy consumers.

Here are some key points from the report:

• Potential smartwatch buyers are interested in notifications and health and fitness apps. Apple has the advantage among these buyers: three times as many people are interested in a smartwatch from Apple, over one running the Android platform, according to our BI Intelligence global online survey on smartwatch adoption and purchase intent.
• A significant 27% of respondents interested in the Apple Watch said they already wear a watch and that the added functionality of a connected watch appeals to them.
• Fitness bands have more limited functionality and will cater to a more niche, health-focused audience.
• Fitness bands are aiming to widen their reach by offering designer brand versions of their devices.  For example, Nordstrom carries a Tory Burch-design version of a Fitbit fitness tracker for the more fashion-conscious consumer.
• By 2020, Apple Watch shipments will be equivalent to about two-fifths of the luxury-watch market. Assuming a lower-bound price of $350 for the luxury-watch category, and including Apple Watch in that category, traditional wristwatches would account for ~60% of total shipments in 2020, while Apple Watch would account for ~40%.

In full, the report:

• Looks at the market for fitness trackers, and examines how smartwatches will pose a threat to this device category.
• Forecasts the markets for wearables overall, smartwatches, and luxury wristwatches through 2020.
• Estimates Apple's tiered pricing strategy for its three Apple Watch models.
• Examines the opportunity for Apple Watch to resonate with consumers in the traditional luxury wristwatch market.
• Discusses the new retail distribution opportunities for Apple Watch through apparel and jewelry retailers, including department stores.
• Reviews proprietary consumer survey results that give insight into what consumers are looking for when choosing a smartwatch.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally.» Learn More Now
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store.» Purchase & Download Now

PS. Did you know...

Our BI Intelligence INSIDER Newsletters are currently read by thousands of business professionals first thing every morning. Fortune 1000 companies, startups, digital agencies, investment firms, and media conglomerates rely on these newsletters to keep atop the key trends shaping their digital landscape — whether it is mobile, digital media, e-commerce, payments, or the Internet of Things.

Our subscribers consider the INSIDER Newsletters a "daily must-read industry snapshot" and "the edge needed to succeed personally and professionally" — just to pick a few highlights from our recent customer survey.

With our full money-back guarantee, we make it easy to find out for yourself how valuable the daily insights are for your business and career. Click this link to learn all about the INSIDER Newsletters today.

Join the conversation about this story »

If you want to generate more sales leads, clients and revenue on LinkedIn, you need to eliminate these misguided, mistaken approaches as soon as possible.

As someone who spent 48 straight months studying how to sell products and services using LinkedIn, I’ve seen some incredible success stories.

I’ve also run across the same six misconceptions about the platform over and over again.

My hope here is to put those myths to rest once and for all, along with showing you how to utilize LinkedIn to generate more sales leads, clients and revenue for your business.

Myth 1: LinkedIn is only for job seekers and HR professionals

Try as it might, LinkedIn cannot seem to escape it’s origin story. Yes, it started back in 2003 as a place for job seekers and hiring managers to come together.

Today, LinkedIn has more than 400 million members in 200+ countries and adds two new members every single second. More importantly, it is quietly becoming a one-stop shop for professionals worldwide to:

• Find a job
• Find an employee
• Get industry-specific training and certifications
• Consume industry-specific news and content
• Create and share original, industry-specific content with a global audience
• Network and Engage with industry members, experts and celebrities
• Find vendors, business partners, investors and customers

That’s a far cry from the days of LinkedIn as a “job seeker” website!

Myth 2: Your Customers Aren’t on LinkedIn

At its current pace, LinkedIn should surpass 500 million members by the middle of next year (if not sooner).

The network is also actively cultivating and signing up scores of students, growing that demographic along with the countless business professionals already well into their careers.

Do me a favor: Conduct a simple “boolean search” on LinkedIn like this one and use the job title of your typical prospect or customer. Next, filter those search results based on someone’s location, industry type, company name and much more.

See how detailed it is? See how many potential customers are out there waiting for you to contact them?

Because unless you’re selling hairbrushes to pre-teen girls, chances are very good that your clients and customers are on LinkedIn right now. The key, of course is understanding how to use the network to locate and engage them.

Myth 3: LinkedIn is Boring

Sure, it’s not Facebook or Snapchat, but LinkedIn is far from boring. By making it easy for users to post images, videos thatautoplay in the newsfeed and even embed ready-to-play podcasts and other rich media, LinkedIn is inviting us to be creative and entertaining in how we present and share our content on the platform.

Also, some of my most viral status updates on LinkedIn have had nothing to do with work, reminding me that human beings are still … human beings.

That doesn’t mean silly cat videos and nonstop vacation pics should be the norm on the platform, but occasionally mixing in your personal brand and practicing what I call “info-tainment” (presenting information in a fun and entertaining way) works well on LinkedIn.

Myth 4: Nobody spends time on LinkedIn

Naysayers will cite data showing people don’t spend as much time on LinkedIn as they do on other social networks. So what? After all, the power of selling your product or service on LinkedIn doesn’t depend on someone spending all day, every day reading his or her LinkedIn news feed.

Rather, it lies in locating, engaging and quickly building a 1-on-1, personalized relationship with a prospect you find on LinkedIn, and then getting them off the platform as soon as possible.

Although many LinkedIn users might not actively log into the network every day, they do get email notifications, mobile alerts and other indicators that someone (i.e., you!) is reaching out to connect, sending a personal note or message, or whatever else. That means people do see you!

Myth 5: You Can’t Generate Meaningful Business on LinkedIn

I’ve chronicled elsewhere how I built a six figure business from scratch in just 90 days using LinkedIn, and I can also point to numerous case studies and results I see other professionals getting on the platform.

The key, again, is understanding how to use LinkedIn to generate business for yourself. There is a specific strategy and psychologyyou must adhere to on the network in order to be successful.

Once you have that down, the sales and business deals follow.

Myth 6: LinkedIn is too Expensive

True, LinkedIn’s advertising platform is insanely high-priced, and I don’t recommend using it unless you have Nike or Microsoft-sized marketing budgets.

But, if you invest in a premium LinkedIn profile, you’ll get the critical customer insight and data you need to quickly locate, engage and build the type of personalized, 1-on-1 marketing that works so well on the platform.

Finally, if you invest in some of the automation tools that integrate with the platform, you can save countless hours each week when it comes to the lead generation process.

Add it all up, and you have a winning formula to generate lots of business for yourself on LinkedIn!

Your sales team doesn’t only consist of business development representatives and account executives. Your designer, your customer support rep, and even your engineer all play a role in closing a deal.

Everyone at your company is in sales.

The Journey Begins

A sales cycle begins long before a sales representative has their first customer call. In fact, studies from SiriusDecisions show that buyers complete 67% of their customer journey online.

A prospect may view your pricing page, register for a webinar, sign up for a two-week trial, click a Facebook Ad, or download a white paper.

All of these interactions occur outside of a typical sales funnel, but they play an important role in the process. It’s crucial to have a clear picture of the entire customer journey if you want to close more deals.

Bring the Team Together

Our VP of Sales says that closing a deal is the last chapter in a book. Characters are introduced and developed, plot lines thicken, and then an a-ha moment occurs when the book hits its climax. Like compelling stories, a complete sales cycle includes every interaction a prospect has had with your company — from their first time landing on your blog to the day they sign a contract with you.

Too often, organizations today are only looking at fields within their CRM window to understand the lifecycle of a deal. Incorporating every interaction a prospect has with your company will help you find more qualified leads, shorten sales cycles, and close bigger deals – like having all the chapters of a book instead of just the last one.

Marketing, Customer Success, Product, and Design are all teams that create assets or experiences your prospects interact with.

• Did your prospect sign up for gated content that marketing team created?
• Did your prospect register for a demo to learn about the product?
• Did he or she ask questions during the trial phase that your support team answered?
• Did your the convert to a paying customer on a lower tier at the completion of 14 days?

If the answer is yes to any of the questions above, then you can make two assumptions:

1. Your customer performed due diligence in evaluating your product or services.
2. You can start learning from customer interactions across your company to shorten your sales cycle.

You already analyze Salesforce data: your accounts, campaigns, leads, and opportunities. You can go further than that, though, by adding in data like which customers have viewed your pricing page, never completed their trial registration form, or browsed your product line. With this analysis, you can identify the best content to send prospects, the best industries, titles and companies to target, and the best features to push.

Happily Ever After

It feels amazing to mark an opportunity as Closed Won in Salesforce, but what if you could close even more deals by better understanding the whole customer storyline?

By bringing together your company’s data across every customer touch point — product, support, and marketing in addition to sales — you’ll get new insights into where you fit in the story and how to optimize your chances for happily ever after.

If you want to learn more about how Segment can help you put your data to work, click here to get started.

Always be closing.

Download our e-book to find out how eight different customers are using Salesforce to sell smarter and drive growth.

The US and China are preparing to enter a new, dangerous phase in their strained economic relationship, and in Washington, politicians are preparing for battle.

On Monday, the ranking member of the US Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) fired the first warning shot. In a statement, he accused China of distorting the commodities markets by flooding the market with goods, thereby suppressing price.

"Over the past few decades, China has used market-distorting subsidies and industrial policies to prop up their own industries and rip off American jobs," read Wyden's statement.

It continued:

Steel, tires, solar panels — the same story plays out over and over again. Too often, China's economy is not run by the markets — it's run by government committee. So even though its own State Council has called out the problem of "severe excess capacities," China clings to the same old, destructive policies.

Wyden's right: China has just begun to flood global markets with a glut of certain commodities — specifically, steel and aluminum, for now — that built up during the country's investment growth surge. This process is only going to expand to other commodities over time, and it's unclear when it will be over.

The thing is, what makes this a complicated issue is that China doesn't really have a choice in this matter. In fact, if it wants to become an economy that is actually driven by market factors rather than government planning, it has to sell all of this extra stuff it has lying around that it seems the world is no longer interested in.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the making of a good old-fashioned economic showdown. No one tell Donald Trump.

Steely, damn

China is trying to move its economy from one based on investment to one based on domestic consumption. That means old growth drivers in the country's economy have to die. Unfortunately, these drivers — mostly in manufacturing and commodities-based industries that have built up a lot of debt and supply since China's slowdown started in earnest — have fewer places to be sold.

Of course, that doesn't mean China has turned off the machine. We're talking about massive industries employing millions of people that have to be wound down. Reuters reports that 5 million to 6 million Chinese people could be fired from coal and steel industries over the next few years.

People out of work is bad for the consumption-based model China is trying to build, and the slowdown happened faster than Chinese officials expected. So now, as they try to figure out how to shrink these industries as gently as possible, they're also firing them on all cylinders.

Aluminum is a great example. Check out this chart from Citi showing how production dropped off in early 2016, but then ramped up again:

As Citi pointed out, this is the reversal of an agreed-upon production cut. Now, the bank expects China to have a surplus of aluminum in 2016. Some of that will feed the beast that is China's property market, which is also ramping up again to keep the economy going.

But part of that will also head out to the rest of the world.

"Chinese aluminum exports surged in March to 420kt, up 17% yoy and 50% mom, as restarts occurred," Citi analysts wrote.

Steel has a similar story. Prices have rallied from 2015 lows, mostly on a revival of China's bubbly property market, where sales of commercial and residential — excluding affordable housing — surged 60% from this time last year. Prices in first- and second-tier cities are surging. That usually leads a construction boom.

Conversely, other sectors where steel is used are just seeing "meh" demand.

"Among the six end-use sectors for domestic steel demand, both property construction and infrastructure saw steel demand continue to improve significantly in April, with the former approaching previous peaks in April 2014 and August 2013 and the latter significantly higher than previous peaks," wrote analysts at Macquarie in a recent note.

They continued: "The other four sectors, which are mostly flat steel product consumers, were however much calmer, with white goods and autos orders dropping moderately, while demand from shipping and machinery improved only slightly."

You can also see this in the fact that export demand has ticked up much less than domestic demand. Meanwhile, steel prices are still low.

Bringing it home

For better or worse, politicians around the world are starting to pick up on this issue. In the UK, politicians railed against Tata Steel when it rejected a reconstruction plan that would've stopped it from being sold abroad.

In the US, United Steel has said that it will lay off a quarter of its nonunion workforce because of "depressed steel prices and unfairly traded imports."

That is why Wyden wrote his letter.

It said:

In my judgment, the U.S. is badly in need of a safeguard against this economic tidal wave. That's why I'm standing in lockstep with my friend Leo Gerard and the United Steelworkers, who today filed a petition for relief under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. Without an immediate economic balm, the U.S. is in danger of losing thousands of good, family-wage jobs across the country.

And you know how the US needs its good-paying jobs these days. Both sides have a lot to lose here, and this going to get worse before it gets better.

Check out the full text of the letter below:

Wyden Statement on Senate Floor on Chinese Aluminum Market Manipulation

As Prepared for Delivery

WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., delivered the following statement on the Senate floor today calling on the administration to stand up to China’s market-distorting trade policies and support a new case by the United Steelworkers to defend U.S. aluminum producers:

Over the past few decades, China has used market-distorting subsidies and industrial policies to prop up their own industries and rip off American jobs. Steel, tires, solar panels — the same story plays out over and over again. Too often, China’s economy is not run by the markets — it’s run by government committee. So even though its own State Council has called out the problem of “severe excess capacities,” China clings to the same old, destructive policies. And today I want to address what’s happening now with China’s huge overcapacity of aluminum.

The amount of aluminum Chinese smelters are churning out has gone up by more than 1,200 percent in a decade and a half. In 2000 they produced 2.5 million metric tons. In 2015, China produced 32 million metric tons. When you create a glut of aluminum production the way China has, you send the markets into turmoil and do enormous harm to workers in the U.S.

I spoke last week at a public hearing held by the U.S. Trade Representative and the International Trade Commission about how the overproduction of steel in China is an urgent threat to steel jobs here in America. While China’s steel mills are churning out more steel than ever, American steel towns are suffering or worse. Thousands of jobs nationwide have been lost just in the last year. Even though one third of all steel produced today has no buyer, China continues adding to the glut by producing more steel.

The same story is playing out in the case of primary aluminum: there’s a huge overcapacity in China driven by market distorting government policies. And it unleashes a chain of events that ends in economic devastation across this country. Global aluminum prices have plummeted, undercutting American firms. Between the start of 2011 and this upcoming June, the lights will have gone out at nearly two thirds of the aluminum smelters in the U.S. More than 6,500 jobs will have been lost. And you can bet that sooner or later, the damage will ripple downstream through the entire aluminum industry, which employs nearly three quarters of a million Americans either directly or indirectly.

In my judgment, the U.S. is badly in need of a safeguard against this economic tidal wave. That’s why I’m standing in lockstep with my friend Leo Gerard and the United Steelworkers, who today filed a petition for relief under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. Without an immediate economic balm, the U.S. is in danger of losing thousands of good, family-wage jobs across the country.

It’s my view that the administration should act in this case as soon as possible to defend our workers and businesses from economic ruin. The U.S. and our trading partners must ramp up the pressure on China to stop overproduction. And our trade enforcers must take on the trade cheats using every tool in the box — including the ENFORCE Act, the Leveling the Playing Field Act, and the other measures my colleagues and I on the Finance Committee fought to get signed into law over the last year.

I firmly believe workers in Oregon and across this country can compete with anybody in the world. But the U.S. cannot afford to sit idly by and watch China’s destructive policies cause our aluminum industry to be wiped out. Enough is enough. The Steelworkers are standing up and fighting back, and I’m committed to standing with them.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A new simulator in China shows people what it's like to die and be reborn

Eight years ago, two Marines from two different walks of life who had literally just met were told to stand guard in front of their outpost's entry control point.

Minutes later, they were staring down a big blue truck packed with explosives. With this particular shred of hell bearing down on them, they stood their ground.

Heck, they even leaned in.

I had heard the story many times, personally. But until today I had never heard then Marine Lt. Gen. John Kelly's telling of it to a packed house in 2010. Just four days following the death of his own son in combat, Kelly eulogized two other sons in an unforgettable manner. 

From Kelly's speech:

Two years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 “The Walking Dead,” and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour.

Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines.

The same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda. Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle class white kid from Long Island.

They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple America’s exist simultaneously depending on one’s race, education level, economic status, and where you might have been born. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.

The mission orders they received from the sergeant squad leader I am sure went something like: “Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.” “You clear?” I am also sure Yale and Haerter then rolled their eyes and said in unison something like: “Yes Sergeant,” with just enough attitude that made the point without saying the words, “No kidding sweetheart, we know what we’re doing.” They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, al Anbar, Iraq.

A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way—perhaps 60-70 yards in length—and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck’s engine came to rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a house down before it stopped.

Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of 2,000 pounds of explosives. Two died, and because these two young infantrymen didn’t have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms.

When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different.

The regimental commander had just returned from the site and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses to the event—just Iraqi police. I figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually happened and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I’d have to do it as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general officer.

I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down into the alley and immediately sped up as it made its way through the serpentine. They all said, “We knew immediately what was going on as soon as the two Marines began firing.” The Iraqi police then related that some of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just prior to the explosion.

All survived. Many were injured … some seriously. One of the Iraqis elaborated and with tears welling up said, “They’d run like any normal man would to save his life.”

What he didn’t know until then, he said, and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not normal. Choking past the emotion he said, “Sir, in the name of God no sane man would have stood there and done what they did.”

“No sane man.”

“They saved us all.”

What we didn’t know at the time, and only learned a couple of days later after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged initially in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened exactly as the Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated.

You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before: “ … let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.”

The two Marines had about five seconds left to live. It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were—some running right past the Marines. They had three seconds left to live.

For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines’ weapons firing non-stop…the truck’s windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the son-of-a-bitch who is trying to get past them to kill their brothers—American and Iraqi—bedded down in the barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground. If they had been aware, they would have know they were safe … because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber.

The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had only one second left to live.

The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God. 

Six seconds.

Not enough time to think about their families, their country, their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty … into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight—for you.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The world's 20 strongest militaries

Join the conversation about this story »

Recently, we co-hosted a webinar with SiriusDecisions called Connect Sales Content to Revenue. This session was chock-full of research-backed advice to help you turn your sales enablement efforts into measurable revenue contributions. If you want to take sales enablement to the next level, there are a few important steps to consider, and we’ve outlined them below from the webinar discussion.

It’s important to note that before you get started, you’ll want to meet with sales finance to obtain your organization’s revenue plan. Measuring sales enablement’s impact on increasing revenue is the key to ensuring your efforts drive the greatest impact on business value, and you need the revenue plan to do it. This step often gets missed, and that’s a shame because sales enablement loses out on its “seat at the table” as a result. Don’t lose your seat at the table! Start with sales finance and then use the four steps below to start turning your enablement efforts into revenue.

Four Steps to Turn Sales Enablement into Revenue

1. Map the Revenue Plan into “Sales Plays”
   Once you have the revenue plan from sales finance, it’s your job to convert that plan into specific “Sales Plays” or go-to-market plan. A Sales Play is a specific, executable selling motion mapped to the buyer’s journey. Even within large companies, you’re best off to focus on a very reasonable number of Sales Plays that take the lion’s share of the revenue for the year (three to six buckets at the most).
2. Map the Buyer’s Journey to Sales Plays and Create Playbooks that Ensure Success
   Sales reps need playbooks based on best practices to be able to consistently and optimally execute the Sales Play. But we’re not talking about your run-of-the-mill sales playbooks. Effective playbooks are a guide based on the buyer’s journey that maps all of the available sales content, tools, training and best practices available to help sales reps execute and close deals. For example, this framework from SiriusDecisions captures the information that should be included in a modern sales playbook:
   When complete, it has available content (both customer-facing and sales tools, and training) for each stage of the buyer’s journey. Sales can quickly determine what content to use depending on the buyer’s stage—there’s no room for confusion.

   You may find that you have a lot of content for the first two stages of the buyer’s journey and not a lot for the rest of the journey—this is common. Oftentimes, when building a playbook, companies have to pause and build out the rest of the content that they need to support all of the stages in the buyer’s journey. So, in some ways, the playbook forces marketing to be more complete as well—it gets all of the requirements on paper upfront so there are no last-minute content panics.

   Important note: Rolling out a playbook is not a “set it and forget it” action. You need to make sure someone is accountable to update and maintain the playbook when things change—which they always do—so that sales always has the most current, up-to-date content information. To make playbooks more digestible, break them up by stages of the buyer’s journey and map them directly to the Sales Play and buyer’s stage, directly in your sales enablement and CRM system.

3. Map Playbook Results to Revenue Streams
   With your playbooks complete and in the hands of sales, you’re now armed with the ability to prove how content within the playbook helped closed deals. To do this, you need to create a dashboard that tracks the key business metrics and sales enablement metrics together, and a platform that enables you to measure the impact from Sales Enablement efforts. This example from SiriusDecisions is particularly good, and we talked through it in the recent webinar.
4. Implement Sales Enablement Technology
   Your metrics are only as good as the technology used to track and measure them. A good, modern sales enablement platform like Highspot will provide content usage, customer engagement and revenue influence analytics, and possibly other business metrics such as velocity uplift and deal size uplift. You want a platform that provides in-depth analytics needed to show content usage by sales, and importantly, content usage by clients and prospects. With this information, you can provide direct correlations to sales enablement and revenue numbers. You can know for sure which content directly impacted a sale and which content is ineffective.Better yet, sales enablement platforms provide content effectiveness results in real time, which means you can optimize and deliver what helps sales close deals almost instantly instead of waiting entire six-to-nine month sales cycles to know what works and what doesn’t.

Better yet, sales enablement platforms provide content effectiveness results in real time, which means you can optimize and deliver what helps sales close deals almost instantly instead of waiting entire six-to-nine month sales cycles to know what works and what doesn’t.

If you’re interested in learning more about turning content into revenue, I highly recommend watching the on-demand version of the webinar because we covered this content in much more detail. And, if you need help along the way, we’re here. As part of onboarding, we help Highspot clients conduct a content audit, which is a critical piece of the content to revenue connection. You can download our content audit worksheet here.

The global conservation movement has temporarily mitigated but hardly stopped the ongoing extinction of species. The rate of loss is instead accelerating. If biodiversity is to be returned to the baseline level of extinction that existed before the spread of humanity, and thus saved for future generations, the conservation effort must be raised to a new level. The only solution to the “Sixth Extinction” is to increase the area of inviolable natural reserves to half the surface of the Earth or greater.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here’s why even one drop of water confuses your smartphone screen

Rich people focus on earning — and they often develop multiple streams of income.

In fact, in author Thomas C. Corley's study of 177 self-made millionaires, "65% had at least three streams of income that they created prior to making their first million dollars," he found.

If you're looking to launch an online business, experiment with a side hustle, or make the leap to full-time entrepreneur, there's a costly mistake you'll want to avoid: Forgetting to serve your audience.

"A successful business — a successful anything online — is one that provides value and serves others in some way, shape or form," emphasizes Pat Flynn, self-made millionaire and founder of "Smart Passive Income," a resource designed to help others run an online business and optimize it for passive income.

Flynn would know.

During the 2008 financial crisis, he got laid off from his job at an architectural firm. The then 25-year-old decided to create a website that would help him pass an exam in the architecture industry: the LEED exam.

"Little did I know, this little website I created was generating thousands of visits a day," he told Forbes. "As I was doing all that LEED stuff, I didn’t think of myself as an entrepreneur ... I didn't realize it until after four or five people said, 'Pat, your stuff is so good, I would pay you for it.' That's when I finally took action."

Flynn's accidental entry into the entrepreneurial world quickly turned into a lucrative online business. He made $7,000 his first month, he told Forbes, and $200,000 within one year of going into online business; after six years, he had earned $3 million in passive income; and today, his business can earn up to $170,000 a month — or more — and bring home the bulk of that in net profit.

The key, he says in an episode of his podcast, is putting your audience first.

"A lot of people will build something without doing the proper research — without understanding the pains, problems, needs, and wants of their target customer," Flynn explains. "They just build something."

Taking that step of actually creating something is crucial, he notes, but it's equally crucial to understand who the customer is and how you will provide value to them. You have to "pinpoint a particular niche and truly understand what they're going through — what their pains and struggles are, and what they're looking for that they can't get yet," he emphasizes. "It's when you understand that, that it changes your whole mindset."

"The better you can serve your audience, the more you'll get back in return," he continues. "Your earnings are a byproduct of how well you serve your audience."

SEE ALSO: After more than a year of earning up to $4,000 a month on the side, here’s what I can tell you about starting a side hustle

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch the Air Force drop 8 armored Humvees out of a plane from 5,000 feet

"I'm tired of prospects who want to talk about our product and pricing options on the first call,"  said no salesperson ever.

HubSpot Research completed an analysis of what customers want to talk about versus what sales reps plan to cover in the first sales call. As you can see in the chart below, the disconnect is wider than the Grand Canyon.

(Click to enlarge):

Fifty-eight percent of prospects want to talk price on the very first call, while only 23% of reps are ready to do that. Similarly, 54% of prospects want to learn how a product works on the first call, while only 23% of reps are ready and willing to break it down.

Unfortunately (and ironically), it seems like most salespeople don't know how to (or even want to) handle a product and pricing conversation on the first call. But should they? After all, don’t most sales experts advocate for discussing needs and pain points before pitching a product?

Who’s wrong here -- the buyer, or the seller? Neither. In my opinion, both are partially right. Let me explain.

Learn more about bridging the buyer-seller divide at HubSpot's Inbound Sales Day.

There is a danger in being too willing to talk price and product on the first call -- even if the buyer wants to. In my experience, overly accommodating and optimistic salespeople who are "more than happy" to answer the prospect's every question miss their chance to differentiate and add value over the competition. On the other hand, rigid and selfish salespeople too hell-bent on sticking to their own agenda -- evading their prospect's pricing and product questions and rattling off their own questions instead -- squander their opportunity to earn trust by being helpful.

Presumably, when a prospect wants to talk price or product functionality, they are a serious buyer. Alternatively, they could be a curious, budget-conscious tire-kicker, but that shouldn't stop reps from engaging in a dialogue about product and price when the prospect prompts it.

However, that said, reps shouldn't take "prospect accommodation" too far either. Prospects don't always know best. It's not that they are ignorant or unintelligent -- they just don't know what they don't know. So just because a prospect is ready to talk product or price doesn't mean they are ready or willing to buy. Salespeople must answer their buyer’s questions, but also ask their own in order to clarify needs and uncover opportunities for improvement that the prospect might not even be aware of.

You're probably thinking, "How the hell do I do that, Pete?" No doubt about it -- finding the middle ground between serving your buyer and challenging them to think differently is no easy feat. What's a thoroughly confused salesperson (AKA most of our survey sample) to do? How should salespeople figure out whether or not they have a qualified buyer while also delivering a positive experience for the prospect?  

Here are some recommendations.

Don’t Evade Your Prospect's Questions

First of all, let's be clear that there are no valid reasons to ignore your prospects’ questions. These days, many prospects who reach out to a company are "ready" to buy a solution. They've done their research, narrowed down their options to a few contenders, and want to talk product and price -- in the very first call.

While it's still important that salespeople help prospects understand how their company's differentiation benefits the buyer, most will lose the chance if they ignore the prospect's questions. So don’t do it.

Ask the Prospect What They'd Like to Discuss

In fact, one of the first things salespeople should do is ask prospects what they want to talk about.

Recently, I was reviewing an exploratory call guide for a software company whose primary sales challenge is differentiating enterprise opportunities from smaller ones (at least, that's how they see their problem). Since they have a freemium business model where companies can use certain features for free for life but may eventually have a need for premium paid features, prospects usually reach out to a salesperson once they have questions about the premium product and its pricing.

As should be a part of any sales call, I suggested incorporating an agenda-setting step into their call guide, and they consequently wrote one in. But, after listening to a few recorded calls, I realized that the reps were consistently skipping the question, "What would you like to cover today?" When I asked the sales manager why this was the case, he said, "Reps are afraid that the prospect will go down a rabbit hole." The reps weren’t asking what the prospect wanted to get out of the conversation, and instead focused solely on qualifying the business opportunity. As a result, prospects were not getting their questions answered in the majority of calls I reviewed. Feeling ignored, they weren't forthcoming about their business challenges when the rep went through his or her qualification questions.

Many of the calls ended with the buyer saying, "Okay, great. I'll check out your website and let you know if I have more questions." Translation: "This was a waste of time. I really didn’t want to talk about my business; I wanted to talk about my technical challenge. I'll go to the website and see if it can answer my question there instead since you didn't."

Because the reps were so laser-focused on having the conversation they wanted to have instead of the conversation the prospect wanted to have, they were not only missing opportunities to be helpful, but also squandering the opportunity to turn the lead into an opportunity.

Unfortunately, this thinking is too common on sales floors. What many reps don’t realize is that they will often find a quicker path to a sale if they just ask their prospects what they want and need. Many times, what a prospect wants to discuss is really the same as what a salesperson needs to discuss. And if not? There are plenty of ways to be immediately helpful, and then redirect or expand the conversation (read on for examples of how to do this).

As our survey data suggests, the two topics prospects often want to cover in the first sales call are product and price. Let's talk about how to handle those.

Go Ahead -- Have the Product Conversation

Most salespeople are trained to qualify first and present their product second. I agree wholeheartedly with this approach as most prospects need advice tailored to their unique situation to make an informed decision.

However, if a prospect wants to talk product right away, I have no issue talking about the product. If they're disqualifying your offering, so be it. But, most of the time, they're just trying to understand whether a given product or service can help them solve a problem they've identified. When a prospect comes in as an inbound lead or they're asking questions to compare your solution to ones they already know, you shouldn’t avoid the product conversation -- you should welcome it. It’ll help you understand their needs.

So when a prospect asks for a live demo on the first sales call or says they were expecting one, a salesperson can reply with something like, "I wasn't prepared for that today, but I can adapt. What were you hoping the product would do for you?" Alternatively, you might say, "No problem. Among other things, I'm an expert at how our product works for companies like yours. What specific questions do you have?"

From there, it's best to get an exhaustive list of questions. Sometimes, I'll ask, "Do you have these questions written down? Would it be easier to just send them to me?" On the off-chance a prospect doesn't have any questions and simply wants to learn, propose a few they should be asking that helps them understand the most common reasons people choose your product. Bingo! You're now having the conversation you want to have.

Based on the questions the prospect puts forward, the salesperson can make an informed decision as to whether they can help or not. Usually, when a prospect wants to talk product from the jump, they’re trying to determine if the product will do what they think it needs to do. Why wouldn't a salesperson want to help the prospect answer that question (and discover what the prospect is hoping it will do at the same time)?

The best part about understanding all of a prospect's product questions is that the salesperson can then start to tie down a potential purchase. Find out if the product features are likely (or not) to progress the sale by asking, "If our service can solve this problem for you, would it be a big deal?" and "Do you think you'll use our product if it can do X for you?"

In the event it becomes clear that the product can't solve the prospect's immediate problem, expand the conversation by suggesting other ways you can help the prospect: "Our product won't help you with X, but I'm wondering if you've thought about Y challenge that you'll most likely encounter next?" Or let’s say the product can help the prospect avoid the challenge they're currently facing in future scenarios, but can't do much this time around. In this scenario, you might say, "There are ways to avoid this issue altogether. Would you be interested in discussing how you can prevent this issue from coming up again?" If the salesperson knows someone or something else who can help the prospect, they can say, "We can't help you, but I know someone who can. Would you like an introduction?" (Here are some follow-up email templates to use in this scenario.) 

And if the salesperson can't help the prospect with their immediate challenge, but think they could help in the future, they might say, "I can't help you with that problem. Our product doesn't do that and I don't know how you'd avoid it. But there are a handful of other problems that we solve. While it might not be your highest priority, if we could help you avoid risk X and save cost Y, would you be interested in having that conversation at some point?"

And Have the Price Conversation, Too (It's a Budget Conversation in Disguise)

"How much does your product cost?" shouldn't be a question salespeople are afraid to answer. It’s true that some budget-conscious prospects are simply shopping around, but just because a rep answers the question doesn't mean they will lose the opportunity to establish the potential value of an investment.

We've all heard the old advice "The person who throws out the first price always loses the negotiation." The salesperson who names a number runs two risks: one, the prospect might go elsewhere if they think the price isn't justified; or two, the salesperson might leave money, margin, and commission dollars on the table if they quote too low.

However, there are a bunch of ways to deftly handle this conversation so that no one loses. How you structure the conversation will usually depend on what type of product or service you sell and who you sell it to. In software sales, it's quite common for pricing to be published on the company website. According to a study of 389 SaaS startups, 39% chose to publish their pricing publicly. But another study of more established software companies showed they were half as likely to publish pricing as their younger counterparts.

Similarly, some professional services companies list ranges and packages for their services even though the scope of every engagement varies. Here's an example of a marketing agency that publishes pricing (although most professional services companies don’t):  

The conversation should be fairly straightforward in these instances. I usually start with, “Our pricing is on our website. Do you need help figuring out what your investment will be?”

If your organization doesn’t publish pricing, giving a range is a good way to answer the question even though you don't know what the ultimate cost for that customer will be. Try, "It's a bit difficult to quote you a price without understanding your unique needs. But would you like me to give you a range so we can start to have a conversation about the relationship between your investment and the ROI you should expect?" Prospects usually say “yes” to this because they want to hear the price, so be prepared to respond with something like, "Our typical client pays us as little as $5,000 per year and as much as $60,000 per year. Just based on looking at the size of your business, I'm guessing you'll fall in the $8,000 to $12,000 per year range. Does it make sense for us to talk about your needs a bit so we can narrow that down for you?"

For your particular sale, you should be prepared to handle this conversation in a way that the prospect is satisfied and that you can redirect the conversation towards value. In the past, I've used humor to disarm prospects. When a buyer asked for the cost of a service, I'd quickly answer with, "Our software costs $1 million dollars." After a gasp or a prolonged silence, I'd say, "Did you expect it to be more?" Often times, they would laugh, and I would as well to let them know I was joking. And then, I’d circle back to value, with "I'd never suggest you spend a dollar unless we were both confident you could make at least a few bucks back. Does it make sense to have a conversation about ROI as well as price?"

Once you get to that point, these budget qualification instructions will take you the rest of the way.

Share Success Stories

Prospects want to hear success stories. In my opinion, more reps need to learn how to tell them.

As experts in their space, salespeople should be ready to answer a prospect's questions, but also to ask insightful questions of their own and tell stories as the dialogue progresses. One of the best ways to communicate your product’s value is by telling stories about how similar organizations to the buyers’ have used it successfully. Unfortunately, our research shows that only 33% of reps are ready to tell such stories, even though 44% of prospects say they'd like to hear them. It seems reps are just not equipped to have these types of conversations.

Hopefully, your company prioritizes the publication of case studies. (HubSpot produces new case studies on a regular basis. Our top reps can recite the facts and quotes from many of them.) If your marketing team doesn't do this for you, follow seasoned sales and marketing expert Todd Hockenberry's advice: "Smart salespeople will stop waiting for their marketing teams to create case studies for them. They’ll take things into their own hands. Salespeople will more consistently ask up front for the right to create a case study when they deliver the value promised to their client. Then they'll interview and help craft the case study story, making it about the value delivered to their client in the client's own words.”

Phrase Questions in a Way That Doesn't Make the Prospect’s Alarm Bells Go Off

Another secret of balancing the initial sales conversation so that it serves both the prospect's interests and the salesperson's desire to be efficient is to ask questions in the right way. For example, don't ask "Why does your company need to make a purchase?" As the chart at the top of this post shows, only 37% of prospects want to talk about that. Instead, try "What is your company trying to achieve with the purchase?"

The phrasing might not seem all that different, but the meaning is -- not to mention that our data shows that both prospects (47%) and salespeople (65%) are interested in talking about what the prospect is trying to achieve with a potential purchase.

Let that sink in for a second. That's 10% more prospects who are not just willing, but actually interested in having that conversation simply because the question is phrased a tad differently. My theory for the difference in the survey response is that prospects want to speak positively about what they're trying to do. In the course of talking about their goals and aspirations, they might reveal that they "need" to buy something, but most won’t take too kindly to being asked the question in such a presumptuous way.

The First Call Is Too Soon to Talk Budget, Timing, and Decision Making Processes

According to our study, salespeople are eager to talk about budget (33%), authority (42%), and timing (42%) on their first call with a prospect. In contrast, prospects are ready to talk about budget, authority, and timing only 24%, 15%, and 24% of the time, respectively.

Why is that? Most prospects don't want to talk about these things because they haven't decided to buy yet. Duh!

If a prospect is giving buying signals and expressing urgency on the first call, by all means, ask, "How will you make a purchase decision and who will be involved?", "How much budget do you have set aside?", and "When do you need this solution in place?" These are perfectly fine questions to ask in a purely transactional sale. But for most complex purchases, budget needs to be created and purchases need to be justified before they are sent up for approval. Salespeople should help to figure out budget, timing, and decision factors, not demand the buyer shares them immediately.

To put yourself in a position to help your prospects make budget and timing decisions in complex sales, I suggest focusing on a prospect's goals, challenges, and plans on the first call instead. Once a challenge is identified that is a priority to overcome, ask, "If we could help you overcome this challenge like we have for companies such as X and Y, would you be interested in exploring that further?" If you discover an important goal their current plan isn't going to help them achieve, ask "Would it make sense for us to schedule a longer conversation where we can discuss how we can help you achieve this goal more assuredly than your current plan can?"

When they agree, set the expectation and get agreement that you'll discuss investments, timing, and important decision making factors on the next call.

While salespeople need to discuss budget, authority, and timing eventually, it has to be done in the right order and the right way -- that is, when the prospect is ready to have that conversation. To determine the right time, salespeople must understand where prospects are in their buying journey. When an inbound, educated, ready-to-buy prospect asks about cost, it's okay to talk about the price and budget (in fact, it should be celebrated like the buying sign that it is). But if they are at the awareness or consideration stage of their journey, don’t ask these questions until the prospect has agreed that the solution will help them overcome their challenges and achieve their goals.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask About Competition

Many buyers today have identified (some of) their own problems and short-listed (some) solutions by the first sales call. As a result, more prospects than ever want to talk about pricing options and product features right away. But, even though they want to talk product or price, it doesn't mean they are ready to buy, and it certainly doesn't mean they are ready to buy your solution. In fact, they're probably comparing your product’s features and pricing to several of your competitors'.

What's a salesperson to do in these situations? How does a salesperson differentiate from the competition and establish value when the prospect isn't asking the right questions, and especially when they are asking the wrong ones?

The truth is that buyers don't always know what they need. While they might know what they want, they probably don't know how they can best benefit from a specific product or service. Salespeople do need to answer their prospect's questions. But, they also need to ask questions that help the buyer understand they might not have the whole picture yet.

Salespeople should ask about the competition so that they can determine and influence whether or not their product is preferred choice. To start the conversation about competition, I recommend asking, "What other ways are you considering solving this issue?" or "Are you considering alternative ways of accomplishing your goals other than using our service?” If you can tell which competitor they are considering based on the product questions they are asking, don't be afraid to say, "Based on your questions, I'm guessing you've spoken to competitor X. I often hear these questions when a company is considering their solution versus ours. Does it make sense to have a conversation about how our solutions are different and whether that difference will matter for you?"

Be careful how you handle this conversation, though. Too many salespeople bad-mouth the competition. When reps do this, prospects conclude that the rep is more interested in making the sale instead of helping them find the best solution.

Always focus on helping prospects pick the best solution for them. Do not try to convince them that your offering is the best option right off the bat. Instead, find out what they think they need and what they value first.

To differentiate your offering against a competitor’s without slinging mud, you could ask, "Do you think you'll need X?" (assuming X is part of your product and not the competition's), or even, "Does it make sense to spell out the pros and cons of each product, so that you can weigh them?" If your competitor's salesperson is sowing fear, uncertainty, and doubt, ask the buyer if they’d be willing to share what the rep has said about your product and company so that you can fact check, explain differences from your perspective, and defend where appropriate.

Let's Fix the Disconnect Between Buyers and Sellers

At HubSpot, we spend a lot of calories helping companies fix the disconnect between the way their buyers want to buy and the way they are marketing and selling. There’s clearly a sizable disconnect between what buyers and salespeople want to talk about in that first call. If we don’t fix the divergence in the first sales call, it’ll be hard to fix it later. And everybody loses when salespeople run ineffective sales calls: the buyer, the salesperson, and their company.

So how do we bridge the gap? Prospects want to be in control of the conversation, and salespeople need to be in control in order to spend their time wisely. The good news is that both parties can feel in control if the salesperson handles the conversation correctly. Prospects don't always know best, but ultimately they know their situation better than any third party, and they get to make the final decision about any purchase. Salespeople need to answer their prospect's questions directly, but also ask the questions that help uncover hidden or unknown needs and differentiate their product from the competition.  

In closing, here are a few short maxims to live by:

1. Don't evade a prospect's question.
2. Ask prospects what they want to talk about.
3. Agree on a call agenda.
4. Sell value, but don't be afraid to talk price.
5. Go ahead and talk about product features, but tie them to prospects' challenges and goals.
6. Write, memorize, and share success stories.
7. Phrase questions so that the language focuses on the prospect's goals, not your own. Use words like “goals,” “challenges,” and “plans.”
8. Avoid using words like “budget,” “authority,” and “timing.” Don't even worry about these qualification factors until you've established a need that requires fixing.
9. Ask about and help buyers compare the alternative solution paths they are pursuing.
10. Don’t be afraid to address the pros and cons of competitive offerings.

How are you bridging the buyer-seller gap in your conversations? Learn more about how to focus calls on what buyers want to talk about at HubSpot's Inbound Sales Day, a day of free sales content brought to you by industry leaders like Dan Pink.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and accuracy.

Which of the following two sales pitches do you prefer?

"Our product was voted #1 in customer satisfaction. It is 33% better than service X. It saves time and money."

"Steve at Business Corp. switched to our product from service X about six months ago, and he told me last week that it's saved the company $5,000 and about 10 reporting hours per week. He actually got a promotion for spearheading the transition! And the best part is that his whole staff loves the product."

I'm willing to guess you chose pitch #2 as the more interesting sales presentation. Why? Even though both versions contained the same information, the second used a storytelling framework to deliver the message. And humans are hard-wired to connect with stories, as shown in the following infographic from Ethos3.

While facts and figures are great, there's nothing quite like a customer story to capture buyers' hearts and minds. Check out the image below to dig into the neuroscience of storytelling, and learn how to spin a maximally effective yarn.

Image via Unsplash

Large companies live or die based on their data, so you’d think that marketing data would be strictly controlled and carefully recorded and maintained. But this is not always the case. In fact, in non-tech companies, where marketing automation adoption rates were only 3% in 2014, this is almost never the case.

Database maintenance is not at the top of anyone’s priority list. Combing through thousands of contacts is a daunting task, but it can and will pay rich dividends. Read on to find out why every marketer should prioritize a clean, tidy, and up-to-date marketing database—and why doing so can maximize company revenue.

1. Keep Track of Customer and Contact Data Expiration Dates

Like meat on supermarket shelves, milk in the fridge, or prescription medicine sitting in your cabinet at home, all customer contacts and data have a use-by date. While each contact is obviously different, experts estimate that up to 25% of your data expires annually.

This figure may seem stunning at first glance, but it makes plenty of sense. In today’s fast-paced economy, the average job is held for about two years (after accounting for turnover, promotions, etc.). Add to that the fact that most lead lists can be up to 15 months old at the time of generation or purchase, and cleaning out data immediately becomes a clear priority.

2. Understand Your Target Market

Know your audience, and you will succeed. This is as true for comedians and actors as it is for businesspeople and marketers. With clean data, market reporting and analysis is easy to conduct and execute. (highlight to tweet)

Most importantly, you’ll notice that clean data generates actionable business intelligence, which can be used to further hone your marketing techniques, generate updated and reliable reports for Salesforce, and make your analytics that much more useful and workable.

3. Organize, Innovate, and Personalize Your Marketing

If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there. How can you know where you’re going without a proper map to begin with? Clean data will drive any large-scale sales strategy because it allows you to plan and execute new marketing campaigns with a reasonable degree of accuracy and efficiency.

Without clean data, there is simply no way you can have dynamic, engaging, and (most importantly) personalized marketing. By its very nature, personalizing marketing and outreach demands that you have the most current info on your customers. This includes logging their recent purchases, website activity, and (if possible) life developments like getting married and new additions to the family.

4. Avoid Inconsistency and Incompleteness

“To be able to correlate data quality issues to business impacts, we must be able to classify our data quality expectations as well as our business impact criteria,” said David Loshin, President of Knowledge Integrity, Inc.

Is all the information you need available? Are there expectations that data values conform to specified formats? Do distinct data instances conflict with the same data object? Are values consistent across data sets? What data relationships are missing important linkages?

These are all questions that must be answered. Analysts can better determine the scope of underlying root problems and address data quality issues only by reviewing data completeness, conformity, consistency, accuracy, and integrity.

These are all factors that contribute to the loss of leads and revenue. Instead of having to constantly sift through every contact line, hoping to correct poor leads and bad data passed over from legacy systems, clean data can help save time and money by avoiding poorly organized, mass uploads.

5. Segment and Target People With Content Aligned to Their Persona

Problem: Campaigns don’t turn out the way you’d like, and opt-outs always seem to be on the rise. If this sound like you, chances are you’re suffering from implementing a “one-size-fits-all” approach to marketing.

Solution: Relevance drives conversion. Or, relevance = conversion = revenue. It’s a simple equation. You need to target prospects based on who they are as well as what they do.

Clean data is the first step to segmentation. The right solution allows you to match, cleanse, de-duplicate, and standardize all your data. Any time a new contact enters your database, they’re automatically categorized into discrete segments.

For example, depending on how you input your data, the simple title “Chief Financial Officer” could exist in 20 different permutations. Marketing automation solves the problem by filtering and mapping many different permutations to a single segment.

6. Avoid Duplicate Leads

Imagine emailing someone twice, with the same message, in the span of five minutes. The loss in trust caused by that redundant email is hard to overstate. It can turn off a potential client, cause them to unsubscribe from your list, and lose you potential revenue and goodwill.

This happens with expiring data, but it’s an absolutely avoidable mistake. These duplicate emails happen because there are duplicate leads—quality leads that were classified wrong or entered twice.

Another problem is when leads don’t end up receive any follow-up messages, which is equally damaging to your bottom line. Thankfully, there are apps and third-party programs to help you get around the issue of duplicate leads, which makes the cleaning data process that much easier.

7. Save Money and Scale Affordably

If you’re having problems with dirty data, the simplest solution could be to use the advanced data cleansing solutions in your current marketing automation system. Reducing the contacts in your marketing automation database can help you save money. Deleting contact data that is hard-bounced, unsubscribed, and invalid will help you save money.

Which brings us to my final point…

8. Boost Your Revenue

When looking at data hygiene as a whole, clean data will boost your revenue and increase earnings. But it’s not just a matter of money—with increased revenue comes efficiency, a newfound sense of confidence, and a new, improved outlook. Cleaning data can lead to improved morale for sales teams, too.

According to VentureBeat, over one fifth of all companies that adopt marketing automation boost their revenue by a staggering 75% or more. One fourth of all companies boost revenue by 30 to 50%, and over one third of all companies boost their revenue by at least 5 to 10%.

Don’t Serve McDonald’s at a Black Tie Party

Having expired data and poor leads as an enterprise organization is a little like serving McDonald’s at a black tie party. Despite having every resource at their disposal, some enterprise organizations do just that. They fail to accurately identify their lead and customer needs, and end up trying to close or upsell with irrelevant offers and promotions, which just leads to more wasted resources.

Data cleansing is a simple fix that could save millions in unoptimized marketing campaigns, poor alignment between marketing and sales, and a tarnished brand image.

Of course, before you can clean up your data, you need to admit that it’s dirty!

Get more content like this, plus the very BEST marketing education, totally free. Get our Definitive email newsletter.

Bottom line: Enterprises are impatient to translate their investments in cloud apps and the insight they provide into business outcomes and solid results today.

The following insights are based on a series of discussions with C-level executives and revenue team leaders across several industries regarding their need for an Intelligent Cloud:

• In the enterprise, the cloud versus on-premise war is over, and the cloud has won. Nearly all are embracing a hybrid cloud strategy to break down the barriers that held them back from accomplishing more.

• None of the C-level executives I’ve spoken with recently are satisfied with just measuring cloud adoption. All are saying the want to measure business outcomes and gain greater insights into how they can better manage revenue and sales cycles.

• Gaining access to every available legacy and 3rd party system using hybrid cloud strategies is the new normal. Having data that provides enterprise-wide visibility gives enterprises greater control over every aspect of their selling and revenue management processes. And when that’s accomplished, the insights gained from the Intelligent Cloud can quickly be turned into results.

Welcome to the Era of the Intelligent Cloud

The more enterprises seek out insights to drive greater business outcomes, the more it becomes evident the era of the Intelligent Cloud has arrived. C-level execs are looking to scale beyond descriptive analytics that defines past performance patterns. What many are after is an entirely new level of insights that are prescriptive and cognitive. Getting greater insight that leads to more favorable business outcomes is what the Intelligent Cloud is all about. The following Intelligent Cloud Maturity Model summarizes the maturity levels of enterprises attempting to gain greater insights and drive more profitable business outcomes.

Why The Intelligent Cloud Now?

Line-of-business leaders across all industries want more from their cloud apps than they are getting today. They want the ability to gain greater insights with prescriptive and cognitive analytics. They’re also asking for new apps that give them the flexibility of changing selling behaviors quickly. In short, everyone wants to get to the orchestration layer of the maturity model, and many are stuck staring into a figurative rearview mirror, using just descriptive data to plan future strategies. The future of enterprise cloud computing is all about being able to deliver prescriptive and cognitive intelligence.
Consider the following takeaways:

• By 2018, 40% of B2B digital commerce sites will use price optimization algorithms and configure/ price/quote (CPQ) tools to dynamically calculate and deliver product pricing. (Source: Gartner Inc., Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, March 9, 2016)

• By 2018, Cloud Becomes a Preferred Delivery Mechanism for Analytics (Source: IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Cloud 2016 Predictions — Mastering the Raw Material of Digital Transformation, Nov. 2015)

• By 2017, 50% of large B2B organizations will invest in predictive analytics solutions for prospect qualification, opportunity automation, forecasting automation or renewal management. (Source: Gartner, Evaluate Emerging Sales Performance Management Technologies to Improve Sales Execution, September 15, 2015)

• 9 out of 10 enterprise leaders believe analytics is essential or very important to their overall business strategies and operational outcomes.Also, 84% of high performers are projecting that the importance of analytics will increase substantially or somewhat in the next two years. Source: Salesforce Research Defines The 2015 State Of Analytics. November 1, 2015.

• 81% of enterprises are relying on analytics to improve their understanding of customers and their purchasing process (Source: 81% of Enterprises Are Relying On Analytics To Gain Greater Customer Insights, Forbes, July 26, 2015).

Who Is Delivering The Intelligent Cloud Today?

Just how far advanced the era of the Intelligent Cloud is became apparent during the Microsoft Build Developer Conference last week in San Francisco. A fascinating area discussed was Microsoft Cognitive Services and their implications on the Cortana Intelligence Suite. Microsoft is offering a test drive of Cognitive Services here. Combining Cognitive Services and the Cortana Intelligence Suite, Microsoft has created a framework for delivering the Intelligent Cloud. The graphic below shows the Cortana Analytics Suite.

Apttus, a leader in Quote-to-Cash automation, cloud-based enterprise software is announcing the Apttus Intelligent Cloud today. The Apttus Intelligent Cloud drives desired behaviors from everyone on the revenue team and provides prescriptive information to company decision makers to significantly enhance Apttus’ category-defining Quote-to-Cash applications, maximizing revenue for Apttus customers. The Apttus Intelligent Cloud includes the full Apttus Quote-to-Cash Suite, Incentives Suite, and Intelligence Suite. The graphic below defines the Apttus Intelligent Cloud. In the interest of full disclosure, I am an employee of Apttus.

If you’re among the many professionals making this mistake on LinkedIn, it’s costing you countless potential clients and new business. Here’s how to fix it.

To this day, it kills me.

I can’t believe I’d been making what now, in retrospect, seems like such a massive mistake with my LinkedIn profile.

But it wasn’t entirely my fault. (More on that in a moment.)

Here’s the important part: Once I fixed this mistake with my LinkedIn profile, it helped me generate six figures in just 90 days for my brand-new business.

I’ve seen others utilize the same remedy I discovered to earn five figures on a monthly basis along with generating 1,000+ new sales leads in 60 days. All from LinkedIn.

Before I share what this big gaffe was and how to fix it, I need to explain why the mistake was happening to begin with.

LinkedIn – Then and Now

When LinkedIn was first launched in 2003, it was hyper-focused on helping connect job seekers and hiring managers with one another.

As a result, everyone joining LinkedIn was trained, in a sense, to set up his or her individual profile page to read like a virtualrésumé.

As a result, most of us set up a profile page that was all about us – where we worked, our job titles and duties, where we went to college, etc.

We even talked about ourselves in the third person, something you normally associate with egomaniacal pro athletes and celebrities!

Fast forward to today.

With 400 million members in 200 countries, LinkedIn has mushroomed into the world’s #1 online platform for professionals to engage, interact, create and consume industry-specific content and much more.

Most important, it has become, in my opinion, the single fastest, easiest and most effective place online to sell your product or service to your ideal clients and customers.

The Big Mistake

With all that said, far too many of you reading this right now are making the same sales-crushing mistake I once did – having your LinkedIn profile read like your résumé.

And, moment of honesty here: Aside from your mom, nobody cares all that much about your workplace history, accolades and awards you’ve earned or even what your job title is.

Rather, your ideal clients and customers on LinkedIn care about themselves. They care about getting their problems solved. They care about finding a product, service or person that helps them achieve their goals.

If you truly want to create a killer LinkedIn profile that attracts clients and generates warm, inbound sales leads, it’s critical to stop making this mistake.

The Solution

Instead of having your profile read like an online résumé, you need to make it all about how you can help a specific, targeted audience of customers and clients achieve their goals by utilizing your service or product.

Go back through your LinkedIn profile (especially your Summary section) and try to answer this question: How is what I’m sharing here going to help my ideal client or customer solve his or her biggest problem? How is what I’m writing right now going to help my ideal client make more money, save time and solve core challenges I know he or she faces every day?

More good news: I have an entire copy-and-paste template you can steal to make this transition easy.

For instance, you can start with a fill-in-the-blank sentence like this for your LinkedIn profile’s “Summary” section:

WHAT I DO: I help [MY AUDIENCE] achieve [THEIR GOAL] by providing [MY PRODUCT or SERVICE].

See how client-facing that is?

(Note: Go here to see some great examples of how other professionals in various industries have applied this one sentence to their LinkedIn profiles.)

It’s all about flipping the old, outdated view of LinkedIn as a job seeker/hiring manager network upside down, and instead building a personal brand that makes it clear who you are, what you do, and the unique value or benefit you can bring a specific audience in the workplace.

Once you have your profile in order, going out on LinkedIn to find, engage and sell to your ideal clients and customers becomes far easier.

Making This Mistake on LinkedIn? Fix it ASAP!

So what are you waiting for? Go swipe this template, fill in the blanks, and within a few minutes you can have an all-new, client facing LinkedIn Profile that will set you up for the same type of success these professionals are enjoying on the network.

Get to it!

Think about it. If a sound strategy consists of the profile of your ideal client in terms of demographic and psychographic, in addition to how you are uniquely positioned to help, then it’s unequivocally true. Your salespeople are setting your company’s strategy.

I’ve led plenty of strategy sessions with executives, and the strategy created at the boardroom table is always excellent. It never fails! The predictable failure points are in the field, when decisions and actions aren’t in sync with the strategy.

Sales professionals make decisions every day about what prospects and customers they will call on, what products, services, or advantages they will emphasize, and even how they highlight components of your value proposition. More often than not, those decisions are made based on what it is going to hit a quota for the month/quarter/year.

Sometimes it works out just fine when a sales representative achieves their target selling entirely to clients that make up your ideal profile, and selling precisely the mix of products and services you intend. But that is frequently the exception that proves the rule. So if you want your strategy to work, in the field where it comes to life everyday as your sellers interact with your prospects and clients, consider these guidelines for execution.

Get disciplined about which companies your salespeople invest time and resources calling on.

When I started my career in sales, the prospects and customers I called on had more to do with their receptivity than whether or not they were in the sweet spot of our market. Why? I had a number to make and like many other sales professionals, when you have a quota to hit, any business can look good. There is a caveat here though. It’s great to be opportunistic, especially when you find the proverbial “bluebird” and it is easy. But when you consider the effort put forth pursuing new opportunities, all of your efforts need to be directed toward acquiring accounts on the bulls-eye of your target market. If not, you become like one of those companies that says they work with Fortune 1000 companies, yet 85% of their clients are comprised of organizations that aren’t’ on that list.

Its one thing to identify the right clients—those most likely to benefit from your products and services, recognize that value, and be able to pay the fees you command. Leaders need to carefully translate that to specific accounts or geographies and make sure that if opportunities are being pursued that aren’t in line with the strategy, that salespeople can explain the rationale. Marketing campaigns and leads that are poured in to CRM’s need to be filtered to ensure quality and fit are prioritized over volume.

Of course, there are exceptions to be made in pursuing short-term revenue needs, but when these are more the norm than an exception, your objectives for product mix and client base suffer. Clarity and focused attention to the early stages of the pipeline is the key to ensuring that time, effort, energy, and resources are directed to strategic opportunities.

Make sure that sales is engaged with the right buyers.

In a lot of industries, today’s buyers differ from those of last year. As companies roll out additional services to complement products, people from different parts of the company may need to be involved. A technology distribution company I’ve worked with has added services to provide greater value to clients. They are offering installation, hardware management, and a variety of data center services as part of their strategy to provide “solutions” to customers. You’ve probably experienced a similar kind of situation in your own business or as a customer of another. The buyer for this company is different though, so its no longer sufficient to call on IT managers or purchasing staff where they had comfortable, even cozy relationships. The grants of authority of these expenditures now require talking with senior managers all the way up to the CIO. When you are offering more complex solutions to clients, it is vital to make sure that you are engaged with those buyers who are in a position that has the authority and resources to make a decision. If not, your sales team will waste unbelievable amounts of money and time trying to work buyers who can’t say yes to your value proposition, as they only have the ability to say no.

Develop a laser focus on the value your sales team creates for clients.

You don’t want your sale professionals to be a talking brochure. They need to not just communicate your competitive advantage, but be part of that competitive advantage. I’ve written in Harvard Business Review about how a sales force creates value, not just in the products they sell but in how they sell.

While the concept of consultative selling is over three decades old, I’m often shocked at how few sales professionals (even top performers) adhere to the practice. I’ve observed over 1,000 sales calls, and I still hear more “old-school” style pitching and closing, than in-depth discussions about the client’s needs. One of my clients, Centene, a Fortune 500 Insurance company added more than $50 million dollars in new sales last year, and will drive over a billion dollars in new revenue due in large part to the sales team’s ability identify multiple client circumstances that are ripe for them to address, and construct an integrated offering. While that is a textbook definition of the solution sale, that approach still remains elusive to many sales professionals.

Help the sales team to understand what kinds of growth opportunities will they help prospects to surface? Where can they identify unintended consequences and implications of decisions to help customers achieve a new perspective? How do sellers understand client circumstances and configure your products or services in a way that makes the client say, “Oh, I didn’t realize we could do it that way”? It’s consultative selling, sure. But don’t assume that a training program or two has gone beyond developing an understanding of these approaches and created the proficiency and mastery you need to execute on them.

At the end of the day, it’s what a company does—not what its strategy says—that leads to success. The way your prospects and many of your clients experience this is through the interaction with your sales force. When you carefully connect how the business strategy drives action, your sales force become true team players.

Download our free e-book to learn how to put together a stellar team to crush your sales goals.