Rnordman

I don’t know about you guys, but there is something perversely comforting about greeting the New Year with half-hearted resolutions, a limited capacity for change and delusions around my ability to outrun my own laziness. I know come the end of March, I’ll be crawling my way back to regular dinners of Chinese takeout, and the treadmill at my gym will fade away into a hazy memory that lurks like an annoying ex-boyfriend somewhere in the back of my mind.

Some call me a predictable fatalist, but I like to say I’m consistent.

Putting my future egg roll transgressions to the side, however, there is one thing to which I will remain steadfastly committed this year – my crusade of one for better content.

Why am I on a crusade for better content in 2016? Because while the notion of content marketing has become a little less hipster and a little more mainstream in recent years, I’ve noticed an alarming trend. Somewhere along the line, content became a homogenized product, where marketers seem more focused on “checking the box” rather than creating something meaningful and valuable.

If you’re like me – and I hope you are, because I’m pretty fantastic – this realization is quite upsetting. Thankfully, the easiest way to rise above the white noise of mediocrity in the land of content is to start by breaking some of the bad habits you may still be clinging to. Here are three to help you get started.

Don’t Use the Second Person

One of the biggest misconceptions about blogging for business is that you need to “play by the rules.” The most common of those rules being the use of second-person narrative, which is defined by the use of the pronoun “you,” as if you’re addressing someone directly. It’s not bad per se, but it often leads to boring, instructional writing that’s devoid of personality.

If your blog is made up of multiple contributors or a single individual looking to establish thought leadership, and you’re using a second-person narrative in your content, I implore you to kick that habit to the curb. Step into the role of a true storyteller and leader in your area of expertise with a first-person approach. It may seem contrary to usual rule of not talking about yourself, but blogging in the first-person allows you to share expertise rooted in your own personal and professional experiences. And in a world where business is still conducted fundamentally at a relationship level, allowing people to hear your voice – or the voices of your team members – through your blog will reinforce the legitimacy of your brand with authenticity and authority, as well as the person-to-person connection people crave in this technology-driven world.

The selfish only child in me loves that it’s just plain easier and more efficient to write in the first-person, since I don’t have to run my tone through some overly polished filter of what I think a professional blog should sound like. I can just be me.

TL;DR: Writing in the first-person saves time and is more interesting and engaging for readers.

Don’t Play It Safe

One of my favorite Quintain blogs from 2015 was Kathleen’s post on radical honesty being the key to inbound marketing. In it, she says having some personality and authenticity in your content isn’t enough to stand out from the pack. In order to build real trust with consumers, you have to go big with proactive transparency – from sharing your pricing right on your website to speaking candidly about where things have gone wrong in the past. (This can be a big challenge for organizations and individual professionals who are more concerned with painting a brand as being attractive with traditional spin and public relations strategies.)

So don’t play it safe this year. Be radically honest content creators. Share the lessons you’ve learned from a project or business relationship gone wrong. Be open about who your services are and aren’t for. Don’t just spoon-feed your readers with what you think they want to hear. In addition to that kind of pandering content being boring, consumers are becoming better B.S. detectors who are actively seeking authenticity and proactive honesty from brands.

TL;DR: Be radically honest. Otherwise consumers will consider you boring little spin machines working for the man.

Don’t Always Write Your Blogs

Visual content is kind of a big deal. From social media to infographics, there is tons of data out there demonstrating tremendous lift in engagement rates when visuals are introduced into the content equation. I don’t find this too surprising. Given that I have the attention span of a concussed goldfish, I know that I tend to gravitate toward content that includes compelling visuals that clearly convey concepts, because I have to do less heavy-lifting brain-wise to figure out what’s going on. So it stands to reason that every blog shouldn’t always be driven by the written word.

However, I know that for me, not always writing my blogs is going to be my biggest challenge for 2016.

At my core, I’m a writer. I live for commas and got way too excited when I received Write More Good by the Fake AP Stylebook crew as a gift a couple of years ago. (Every time I try to read what I consider to be a knee-slapping, laugh out loud passage from this book to my IT professional husband, he just stares at me like a deer in the headlights. The journey of a word nerd is often a lonely one.) So thinking outside the box in terms of blog format is something I consider to be way outside of my comfort zone, as well as my area of expertise. But it’s something I’m willing to try because (a) it works, (b) visual blogs don’t always have to be super complex and (c) I’ve seen some stellar examples from our own clients that are truly inspiring.

For example, our client Carlos Sera of Financial Tales is a truly gifted storyteller who transforms what could be snooze-inducing finance and investment-based content into engaging narratives that are as funny as they are touching. But he also creates fun – and easy, from a content creation standpoint – video blogs. And in our own backyard, Jessie-Lee and Kathleen recently did a Blab-based blog.

TL;DR: Using visuals to reach your attention span-compromised audience is a great strategy.

I Want to Hear from You

Now it’s your turn! What do you wish you saw less of on business blogs? What bad habits are you trying to break? Do you agree or disagree with anything I’ve shared here? What blogs are getting it right? Let me know in the comments, or you can reach me on Twitter at @naptownpint.

B2B companies may be eliminating some of the need for a sales force by offering different types of functionalities—from tiered pricing to cross-sells and upsells—to customers on their website. Newsletter sign-ups are the top features, according to 2015 research.

The new year is here, and with it comes new opportunities to expand your marketing agenda, grow your customer base, and increase revenues. Whether you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, marketer, or even freelancer, the following lists ten marketing resolutions you should make for 2016.

1. Focus on customer retention and repeat business first

Every business wants more customers, but we also know it’s far cheaper to retain a customer than to find a new customers. Never take your current customers for granted; instead, come up with clever ways to reward them for their loyalty. Make your customers feel part of your team, or family, and they’ll reward you with lifelong business.

2. Work toward making customers ambassadors

This goes hand-in-hand with customer retention and repeat business, but takes it a step further: think of ways you can get your customers to be brand ambassadors. What can you do that will make your customers feel your company is so amazing, they’ll just have to tell their friends, family, and co-workers about it? There’s no better marketing than word-of-mouth advertising, but you have to earn it.

3. Focus on new customers next

Once you’ve developed a customer retention and ambassadorship strategy, you can turn your attention to acquiring new customers. Of course, these things are done simultaneously at all times; but the point is to make sure you have your current customers accounted for first. How can you find new customers? By expanding your marketing and trying new marketing strategies.

4. Don’t ignore what works…

In effort to be progressive, many companies risk losing what they’ve built by abandoning tried-and-true customer acquisition strategies. If direct-mail postcards have worked in the past, it doesn’t make sense to cut into that budget in favor of Facebook marketing, for example.

5. … but don’t be afraid to try new strategies

If you enjoy year-over-year growth, then your marketing budget should grow annually. It makes sense to allocate more of your budget into proven strategies, but also be sure to save some of it to try new marketing channels. It’s important to evolve with your customer base and always be on the lookout for new, lucrative marketing ideas.

6. Find areas to cut costs

Don’t ignore how initial investment impacts your ROI. New technologies, alternative service providers, and more affordable marketing tools are constantly being developed. Stay abreast of alternatives and take time every quarter to survey the market to see if you can get the same services, at the same quality, for cheaper prices. A discount printing company, for example, might slash your printing costs in half without sacrificing quality – which would allow you either expand your marketing or instantly realize greater returns.

7. Try a partnership

Seek out non-competing businesses that share your target audience and see if you can come up with a mutually-beneficial package to offer customers. A restaurant, movie theater, and massage therapist could work together to offer a special “Date Night Package,” in which each offers a ten percent discount to offer couples reduced pricing on dinner, movie, and a couples massage.

The three businesses could share marketing costs and also promote the packages individually. In this manner, you can reduce your marketing investment while tripling your reach, and still offer customers a discount. It’s a win for everyone!

8. Delegate whenever possible

You need to be free to work your business and work on growing your business, not constantly implementing marketing campaigns. Hire employees or outsource work to contractors to write your blog posts, maintain your website, handle ad placement, and design your marketing materials (or, use free online design tools, which can also cut costs). If you use direct-mail, have your printing handle addressing and mailing so you don’t have to. The more you can free yourself to work on business growth, the faster you’ll realize your business goals.

9. Learn analytics or hire someone who understands them

Many small businesses today still do not use analytics tools such as Google’s free Analytics or even coupon tracking. How can you know what marketing strategies are working so you can invest efficiently in business growth if you don’t know the numbers your campaigns yield? If you don’t have time or the inclination to learn analytics, hire someone who does (see “delegate whenever possible”).

10. Take (calculated) risks

Once you achieve a certain level of success, it’s very easy to get comfortable right where you are. But if you truly want to grow your business, you’re going to have to constantly take risks. Risk should be calculated, no doubt, and not all will pan out – but if you don’t take risks, your business will stagnate. A few fails along the way are fine as long as you hit a few out of the park!

What marketing resolutions will you make in 2016? Let me know in the comments!

Brussels (AFP) - Three Italian consumer groups lodged a far-ranging anti-trust complaint with EU regulators against US fast food giant McDonald's, urging Brussels to investigate the company's franchise system which they say harms consumers.

Codacons, Movimento Difesa del Cittadino and Cittadinanzattiva said McDonald's exploits its franchises in several European countries by locking them into overly long contracts and charging exorbitant rents that far exceed market prices.

If taken up by the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation European Union, the probe would join a separate investigation by Brussels over the fast food giant's tax deals in Luxembourg.

"The coalition calls upon the Commission to take action against the unlawful and restrictive contracts McDonald’s imposes on its franchisees, which negatively affect consumer choice, pricing, and quality of service and food across Europe," the groups said in a statement.

In its compliant, the groups say most of McDonald’s revenue in Europe comes not from selling hamburgers, but from collecting rent.

"These rents are often significantly higher than market rents and those paid by direct competitors," the consumer groups said a statement. 

In France, where McDonald's dominates the fast food market, these margins on real estate reach between 63 and 77 percent, the statement said.

The commission, which is under no time constraint to decide on the issue, confirmed in an email to AFP that it had received the complaint, "which it will now look into."

If found guilty, McDonald's faces penalties that could reach up to 10 percent of global sales and an obligation to profoundly restructure its business.

But it is far from certain the complaint will bring about a second investigation into the company by the EU, which would first examine the sector more largely to form its own opinion on the issues raised.

The powerful US labour union, SEIU, offered backing to the compliant as it tries to drum up support to pressure McDonald's to boost wages worldwide instead of prioritising low costs and higher profits.

"It's because of McDonald's super-size impact on the global economy that the actions being taken here today are so important for efforts around the world to hold the company accountable," SEIU director Scott Courtney said at a news briefing in Brussels.

The global leader in fast-food, McDonald's has more than 36,000 restaurants in more than a hundred countries around the world.

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It's a new year, and it's looking bright. If you're like many professionals, you're probably thinking about how to approach your employer to finally get the raise you deserve. 

I've been writing about management and careers for nearly a decade, and I've heard all the advice about how to successfully get a raise. 

Get the timing right. 

Do your research, and know your worth. 

Bring a list of specific accomplishments that showcase your value. 

While that's all good advice, the best tip I ever got is a little different. A former mentor of mine told me: The best way to get an employer to invest more in you is to get them excited about your future together. 

Instead of dwelling on the past, you're better off painting a picture of your potential and the future value you'll bring to the company. 

In practice, that means talking about new potential revenue streams, projects you want to launch, and ways to expand your role. 

The idea is backed by science. According to research led by Stanford professor Zakary Tormala, high potential can be more appealing to managers than high achievement.

"Uncertain events and outcomes can stimulate greater interest and information processing — more thought — than more certain ones," Tormala told Insights by Stanford Business.  

"When all the available information about a person is positive and compelling," he said, "imbuing that information with some uncertainty by describing it in terms of potential — 'This person could become great!' rather than 'This person has become great!' — can get people to attend to the information more and ultimately be more persuaded by it." 

So when you sit down with your boss, go ahead and talk about what you accomplished last year. But then, tell them what you plan to do next. It may make all the difference.

SEE ALSO: 13 signs that you're underpaid

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NOW WATCH: 10 habits you should break to be more productive in 2016

Proving that your social media marketing efforts are worth your company’s budget and time can be a challenge. Social media after all, despite its ubiquity, is a relatively new phenomenon that can be hard to make projections from. Even though 84% of B2B marketers are using social for marketing activities according to Aberdeen, a study by Adobe notes that 52% of marketers find it hard to accurately measure social ROI.

So you might ask: How can you, as a B2B marketer, prove that social media will work wonders for your lead generation and conversion efforts?

One of the best ways to do this is to go after a few quick wins. If you can jumpstart your corporate social media presence with a few fast achievements, it becomes a simple task to present the promise of social to senior management. Once you’re actively engaging with real people that represent real prospective customers, and establishing a clear possible path via social for those prospects to convert to customers, the case is made: social media is worth an investment of your B2B company’s time and money.

Here are some ways you can score “quick wins” and demonstrate the power of social media marketing.

1. Measureable Metrics from Social Media Advertising

You’ve probably heard of “organic” inbound marketing methods: put your marketing messages out there where prospects can see them, and they’ll be naturally drawn into your website and sales funnel.

Organic works in social, too, and should probably constitute the bulk of your social campaigns. But it takes time.

A much faster way to see results from social media is to invest in social advertisements. Such ads are often as effective and “natural” in prospects’ eyes as native social posts are, and you can you’re your company’s senior management that social ads can make good use of the buyer personas and marketing intelligence your company already has. Within a relatively short period of time, you can demonstrate that it is possible to generate new leads via social, and as a bonus, you’ll have some data on what works for your company in building a social audience.

Whether you’re using Facebook ads to target people by their interests and connections, or LinkedIn’s Sponsored Updates to reach prospects of predefined aspects such as job title, company size and seniority, social ads provide a plethora of ways to drawing leads in very quickly. It’s just one way you can prove social will be indispensable to raising marketing ROI.

2. Rich Social Engagements and Influence

While social ROI can be promised via advertising, you’ll want to make some efforts to engage with your social audience via organic, unpaid content.

Much of the power of social media marketing lies in its power to increase a brand’s influence in an industry. The building blocks of this influence are very small: often they’re simple comments, likes, shares, retweets, and other small pieces of social media collateral.

But they can quickly become real evidence that your social initiatives are engaging prospects’ minds and hearts.

After setting up your social media profiles with a professional bio and your company’s logo—and making sure profiles are consistent across networks—here’s how you can prove ROI through social engagements and slowly-growing influence:

• Suggest a short-term strategy. You might provide senior executives with a detailed, short-term plan to build social leads. Your presentation should include the presence of prospects on social networks, exactly how those prospects fit existing customer profiles, and a short calendar for the types of messages that should resonate with those prospects and why.
• Build in content curation. By curating content—sharing the work of existing influencers the industry, in a useful way to your audience—you can very quickly establish key industry relationships with those influencers and position yourself as a source of key information. And that’s great evidence of the potential of social media. An example would be to round up the 10 most insightful Tweets or the 5 most groundbreaking blog posts in your industry, and then share the compiled work with your prospects via social.
• After producing some content, immediately engage in some discussion groups. It takes little effort or time to join a Google+ Community or LinkedIn Group, and ask a question or add to a discussion. Doing so is a great way to show your company’s decision makers how immediate social engagements can be.
• Integrate social efforts with current initiatives. Let your social engagements be informed by your current marketing knowledge and resources—whether that’s marketing automation software, detailed demographic and psychographic profiles of your ideal buyers, or a plethora of analytics from in-progress marketing campaigns.

One of the biggest advantages of social is how quickly a polished social presence can be a springboard for lead generation and engagement. Use this to show that social can and will increase ROI over time.

3. Increased Web Traffic and Downloaded Content

One of the easiest ways to prove the positive impact of social on ROI is to demonstrate increased web traffic and downloaded content as a result of click-throughs on social media.

The process is simple: prospects notice that you exist on social. They’ll then click on one of your offers (whether it’s a direct advertisement, or you’ve linked to your marketing collateral organically) and end up on your corporate website or blog. From there, they download resources and are drawn into your sales funnel.

And there you have it: your social prospect becomes a real lead.

To show your company leaders that social has promise in increasing web traffic and downloaded content, craft your short-term social strategy—including social ads and organic messages—around the value delivered by your downloadable content, whether its webinars, whitepapers, or detailed, convincing customer testimonials.

Now that your prospects are entering the top of your sales funnel, things like bounce rate and overall time spent on your website can be measured with your social analytics tools. From there, you can demonstrate how the refinement of your social strategy can help improve user experience once prospects do reach your site, and conversely, how user experience can inform your social strategy.

The ultimate goal: leads will have a seamless experience from the time they meet you online to the point-of-sale. And the value of a superior user experience, even if there’s not yet much hard data to present to your colleagues, is hard to argue with.

Social media quick wins are easy to come by…

…relative to other, older marketing types, that is. Social advertisements can begin to reach prospects from the day they’re created, social engagements are often highly personal and immediate, producing results right away, and web traffic from social highlights how quickly you can create a connected experience for prospects.

All in all, you might not be able to provide a full picture of ROI from social until you have a campaign fully in place. But by going after the above “quick wins” and sharing short-term social media metrics—data that can translate into conversions and revenue—with your colleagues, you’ll show that social deserves a place in your company’s marketing efforts.

Want to learn more about how you can #win at social? Enhance your social media strategy with the 4 steps in the free Salesforce e-book.

Are chats coming in like a wrecking ball? It’s a great problem to have, but how do you manage them all? I’m here to share some tips we use on the Pure Chat support team that helps us manage a high volume of chats efficiently, while still providing excellent customer service to everyone.

Organize the madness.

Do you have five chats at one time? 10? 15?! You can’t respond to all of them at once. At the same time you don’t want to get caught up on one conversation. Respond to a user, then move onto the next customer awaiting an answer. You don’t need to stay focused on one chat at a time. Your visitors will see that you are still engaged in the conversation and will be less likely to leave prematurely out of rage or disappointment.

Share the wealth.

Is everyone on your team taking chats? If not, they should be, at least for small portion of their day/week. Checking in with your customers can help you learn a lot by hearing what they have to say no matter what role they play in your company. It can be eye-opening when a developer hears feedback directly or your head of product sees what their users are struggling to understand. With the whole team taking some of those chats off your plate, the customer experience improves, the product improves and sales increase. Everyone wins!

Prioritize by difficulty of completion.

There are chats that require a lot of ground work; more so than others. If someone is seeking a simple answer that you know off the top of your head, knock that chat out quickly. You can create canned responses (quick answers to FAQs) that make resolving those quick chats even easier. If you are getting hung up on a time-consuming chat, you are missing out on engaging with these other potential leads that are easier to resolve. Taking care of those easier chats more efficiently allows you to have more time to spend on difficult chats that require more work.

Communication is key.

This might seem obvious since you’re… well, chatting with your users already. Let them know you need a moment to figure out their issue or need to research something. This can be valuable time spent also managing the other users you’re chatting with. People are willing to wait (to a certain extent) if they know an answer is coming. If you spend a little time answering other chats while still trying to solve a website visitor’s issue, it’s all the same to your customer as long as you don’t forget about them.

Do you have to let it linger?

You haven’t forgot about your customer, but they may have become distracted by another cat video (like this one: http://i.imgur.com/fqd9uUj.gif) and left the chat open. When you get a chance, just give them a little nudge to see if they’re still there. After more idle time, just let them know you are going to close the chat, but if they need more assistance when they return to just start another chat with you. This allows you to focus on other more active chats so you don’t get overwhelmed by the high number of conversations that you are actually in.

I totally get that it can become stressful quickly. When there are twelve people needing you at one time, it can be terrifying. No matter how busy it gets, just keep in mind they are all current or potential customers. Then ask yourself, would you rather be in a ton of chats or none at all? Give them all the best possible chat experience you can so your business continues to grow.

Following these tips will help you manage those busy hours of the day so that everyone leaves the chat happy. This will also help increase the number of smiley face ratings you receive. :) Who knows, maybe all these chats convert into sales for your company which makes it possible to hire more team members to assist with your chats!

At the end of last year, I was invited to participate in an all-day discussion with a small group of sales leaders from high-growth tech companies. The goal of the day was to share the challenges we are facing, instigate discussion around potential solutions, and collaborate on best practices we are seeing across the industry.

As a sales leader, it is hard to justify time out of a busy quarter for learning along these lines. However, I have always walked away with groundbreaking ideas after these discussions. This event was no different.

The participants were:

• Jim Steele from InsideSales.com
• Larry D’Angelo from LogMeIn
• Tom Bogan and Scott Parsons from Adaptive Insights
• David Skok from Matrix Partners
• Mark Gally from Zaius
• John Davagian from Salsify
• Steve McKenzie from InsightSquared
• Warren Utt from Placester
• Brian McDonough from Unidesk

Thanks to Tim Bertrand and his sales leadership team at Acquia for organizing and facilitating the event. Below are my notes and a few opinions on the commentary.

1) Incent salespeople to remove friction from the buying process.

Sales leaders are trying to figure out how to get their salespeople to avoid making the first deal with a new customer too big. Big deals unnecessarily increase sales cycle, revenue churn risk, and cost of customer acquisition. They are also not aligned with how the customer wants to start the relationship. However, many salespeople are stuck in a legacy mindset that they should capture as much opening revenue as possible.

My opinion: The old notion that salespeople should be compensated more for new customer revenue rather than upgrade revenue puts salespeople at odds with the customer and the business model efficiency. Experiment with compensation plans that align salespeople more effectively. For more on this subject, check out this blog post.

2) Compensate SDRs on downstream production rather than dials or appointments.

Most organizations compensate SDRs on the number of appointments they set each month. However, organizations are struggling to align SDRs and salespeople around appointment quality and quantity.

My opinion: Compensate the SDRs on a metric further down in the funnel. If you have a sales cycle of 90 days or less, compensate SDRs on the revenue generation of the salespeople they set appointments for. If you have a sales cycle of more than 90 days, compensate SDRs on their revenue contribution to the pipeline. Enable either strategy by creating small teams of SDRs and salespeople as opposed to having large bullpens of each. This approach will create better alignment and encourage salespeople to mentor SDRs.

3) Preserve salesperson accountability in the new world of SDRs and inbound leads.

The rise of SDRs and inbound lead generation has made it more complicated for sales leaders to hold salespeople accountable to their quota. A decade ago when salespeople were given a quota and a territory, the only excuse salespeople could make for under-performance was the quality of their territory. Today, they can blame inbound lead quality, SDR performance, and other factors. Most organizations are addressing this issue by assigning salespeople a patch of accounts, either through geography, industry, or a list of names. Then they establish best practices that salespeople, even in the world of SDRs and inbound leads, still need to generate demand on their own.

My opinion: I think the industry is still figuring out the best practice here. The key point is to understand that this issue will exist as you scale and to have a strategy for it.

4) Use technology to enable better selling rather than automate bad behaviors.

Everyone is implementing technology to automate the sales process.

My opinion: Exciting! However, avoid automating ineffective behaviors. Technology that helps salespeople understand buyer context is great for everyone. Technology that helps salespeople more efficiently spam buyers with mass emails will likely insult the prospect and hurt the company’s reputation in the market.

5) Leverage team compensation between hunters and farmers.

Smaller initial deals and larger revenue expansion post-sale is good for both the buyer and the seller. However, this dynamic introduces complexity on how to properly compensate hunters and farmers for revenue upgrades. Most organizations are “double comping” hunters and the farmers for any upgrade revenue in the first 12 months of a new customer lifecycle.

My opinion: I agree with the approach, although I would label the strategy as a “team-based” compensation strategy as opposed to “double comping.” In my opinion, “double comping” means the company is over-paying commissions on that account. However, most finance departments can estimate with reasonable accuracy the upgrade revenues from accounts and factor this assumption into the commission rate calculation to make sure the overall pie for commissions is sustainable. Ultimately, this “team-based” approach is crucial to incenting hunters and farmers to work together to maximize long-term customer success.

6) Create a competitive advantage by using SDRs more strategically.

Most organizations pass all leads to and originate all appointments via SDRs.

My opinion: I think the industry is making a mistake here. If a CEO from a perfect-fit company comes to your website and requests a demo, do you really want their first contact with your company to be with a relatively inexperienced SDR? That lead should be passed directly to your best salesperson. SDRs are an opportunity to drive efficiency in the sales cycle but the industry has swung too far. Take advantage of this insight as an opportunity to leapfrog over your competition.

7) Avoid using channel partners too early.

Many early stage CEOs are intrigued by the allure of selling through an external channel sales team, avoiding the cost and headache of setting up a sales team of their own. However, in the early stages of go-to-market strategy development, there are significant learnings the company needs to navigate through, such as the buyer’s journey, buyer’s concerns, ideal sales process, etc. An open communication line between the front-line sales conversations and the rest of the organization is needed to properly learn and iterate on the model. Selling through channel partners too early jeopardizes this opportunity.

8) Prioritize customer success when measuring the success of channel partners.

When selling through channel partners, measure the performance of these partners on the success of their customers, not just the revenue the partners produce.

9) Consider specializing post-sale roles as well.

More organizations are specializing post-sale roles in addition to pre-sales roles. For example, rather than have one team of customer success managers, have separate teams specializing in technical setup versus product onboarding versus long-term account management.

My opinion: We have had a lot of success increasing customer success with this strategy at HubSpot. However, be strategic about how information is passed across each post-sale resource to make sure the customer has a seamless experience. This strategy is better for larger accounts and more overhead than it’s worth for smaller accounts.

10) Specialize by inbound versus outbound leads when diversifying go-to-market channels.

Some organizations have the luxury of scaling to a certain size exclusively through inbound leads. However, due to market maturity or accelerated growth goals, most organizations need to add outbound lead generation into the mix. Under this context, consider creating a separate team that does not receive inbound leads and is expected to produce only with outbound generated opportunities.

“Sales is rejection. Plain and simple.” -Warren Greshes, "The Best Damn Sales Book Ever"

One of the biggest differences between weak and strong salespeople is how they react to rejection. The worst salespeople have to take a walk around the building to recover every time they get rejected, while top salespeople recover right away when it inevitably happens.

But top salespeople also have another trick up their sleeve -- they use the right phrases, words, and questions to help them avoid rejection more often than not.

There’s a relatively simple fix if you want to be rejected less often: Stop saying certain words and phrases that signal you're there to sell something. Instead, use every word you say to indicate you're an expert who is graciously and generously making yourself available to help them.

Here are nine rejection-provoking phrases you should avoid at all costs, and what to say instead.

1. "Thank you for your time."

This one is my biggest pet peeve. Here's my rant: Don't ever thank a prospect for their time. When you thank them for their time, you're implying that they did you a favor, but that’s not the way they see it. They gave you their time because you were helpful, and they'll continue doing so if you continue to be helpful.

Not to mention that if the prospect does ultimately buy from you, they should benefit disproportionately more than you or your company. So at the end of your selling process, they should be thanking you for your time and expertise.

Many salespeople say this as they're getting off the phone with a prospect. It's a difficult habit to break, especially if you don't have something to say instead. I suggest swapping this phrase out with, "Was this call helpful for you?" Assuming you were helpful and they say "Yes, thank you," do not say something like "No -- I should be thanking you," or "No problem." (Ugh. It hurts just to write that.) Instead, follow up with a simple "You're welcome." It’ll be awkward at first. But do it anyways.

If you really want to know how good of a job you did, ask, "Why was this call helpful for you?" or "Good to hear. What are your takeaways from this call?"

2. "Just checking in."

Usually when a salesperson is "checking in," it's because the prospect didn't show up for their last appointment, or didn't respond to the last email or voicemail. Now, I'd advise you to avoid ever needing to "check in" by getting clear buy-in and commitment from prospects at the end of every interaction. But if you do need to check in without a scheduled call, you should be prepared to add additional value.

You can add value in multiple ways, but it usually depends on how far along you are in the sales process. If it’s early, ask some insightful questions or offer a tip that will be immediately useful to your prospect. If you're in the middle of your sales process, call to clarify something they said on an earlier call, and tell them you have an additional idea to share with them if they have a few moments. In this way, while you might have an agenda for "checking in" (like clarifying a decision making process or budget), you can avoid this played-out phrase by framing it around additional value -- just be sure to offer the value first, and then move on to your own agenda.

If you have trouble shaking this phrase, modify it by elaborating on why you're checking in. For example:

• "I'm checking in because I had an idea that might help you."
• "I'm checking in because I realized I might have missed something important. I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to help you effectively on our next call if we don't talk about it. Do you have a few minutes?"
• "I was reviewing my notes with my manager and they pointed out that I glossed over something you said that is probably an important detail. I'm really sorry about that. Do you have a few minutes before our next call so that I can make sure I understand your situation completely?"

3. “Touching base."

Not dissimilar to "just checking in," salespeople tend to use this phrase when they're waiting on a prospect to sign a contract. To avoid this phrase, get the prospect to sign the contract while you're meeting with them or while you're talking to them on the phone. Signing the contract should ideally happen at the end of the call -- or in the middle even!

When it comes to closing time, if for some reason they can't sign the contract without approval or some other legitimate reason, then set up another call. However, don't make "signing the contract" the focus of that call -- after all, they probably don’t need your help to sign a contract, and, if they’re not ready to sign, they’ll just blow you off. Then you're back to the dreaded "touching base" strategy.

What I recommend, once again, is scheduling a call where you continue to add value. For example, there might be an implementation step you can do now, or a checklist of next steps you can review with them. Nine times out of ten, I find that prospects sign the contract before this call. But if they didn't, "Why didn’t you sign the contract?” becomes a natural part of the conversation since you're going to talk to them about implementation or operation of your product.

Same as with “just checking in,” you don’t have to get rid of “touching base” entirely. You just have to finish the sentence to make your value clear: "I'm touching base because ... "

4. "I wanted to ... "

This is the second most annoying phrase to me on this list. Whenever I hear a salesperson on my team say this one, I usually ask them, "Who gives a sh*t what you want?" Your prospects don't care about you. They care about themselves, their needs, and their own agenda.

Unlike some of the other phrases on this list, this one is really easy to change. Salespeople often use this phrase when starting a call and trying to introduce an agenda. To avoid it entirely, simply change it to "Would you like to ... ?"

While you might be afraid that they’ll say “no,” it’s better to keep the prospect engaged by including them in the agenda-setting process. Also, when you introduce your suggestion for the call, make sure you highlight the value they’ll receive. For example: "My suggestion is that we discuss how I've helped other companies like [adjectives that describe companies like theirs] facing [challenges they're facing]. Does that sound like a good plan?" (Just so that’s clear, here is a real example: “My suggestion is that we discuss how HubSpot has helped other high-growth SaaS software companies who were struggling to get past product/market fit. Given you mentioned that as your main struggle the other day, I’m wondering if that sounds like a good agenda from your perspective?”)

At that point, you should pause, listen, and restate what they say using your Active Listening skills. Then ask, “What else do you want to discuss today?"

5. "Do you have budget for this?"

Long gone are the days when you call a prospect, find out they have a problem they really wished that someone cold called them to talk about long ago, introduce a solution they immediately believe they can't live without, and ask whether they have a budget for it.

Today, buyers are much more empowered. They diagnose their own challenges and find their own solutions. Increasingly, pricing information is online for most types of products and services. Even if your company doesn't publish pricing, I bet that one of your competitors does, or the buyer can formulate a reasonable estimation from an online forum or review site. Heck, buyers can even discover how much you and your competitors are willing to discount on the internet these days. Talk about having the upper hand, ha?

So it's silly to ask a company whether they have a budget for your offering early in the process before you've differentiated yourself. If they want to keep talking to you, they'll say they do (even if they have no idea whether this is actually the case). If they don't want to keep talking to you, you just gave them an easy out by letting them say "No." You’ve also opened the door for premature negotiation: "You're way too expensive compared to competitor X."

Luckily, there’s an easy fix: Stop asking this question -- especially early in your process before you've established value and agreed upon ROI.

6. "Are you the decision maker?"

Just like the budget question, this question is dated. Today, there is rarely one decision maker. More than ever, decisions are made by committees -- formal or informal. More than ever, a full implementation plan is required before making any buying decision.

So the better question to ask is "How would your organization make a decision like this?" If you want to take a page from Sharon Drew Morgen (the inventor of Buying Facilitation®), another strong alternative is, "How would your organization know when it's time to make a change?" That's the start of the conversation.

For more tips on handling the authority issue, read Morgen's book, Dirty Little Secrets: Why Buyers Can't Buy and Sellers Can't Sell and What You Can Do About It.

7. "I don't want to waste your time."

Salespeople often say this when they realize that a prospect isn’t a good fit for their product or service, and they're trying to politely get off the phone. The problem with this early disqualification approach is that it leaves a dead end for the prospect, as you're basically giving up on trying to help them.

Today, we're all more connected than ever, so I try extremely hard to make sure the prospect -- qualified or not -- felt like they got value out of our conversation. You never know who will one day become a good fit prospect, or who might be able to refer you into a great fit account. Don't get me wrong -- I am still a proponent of disqualifying prospects if you have no way to help them directly. But I'm not a fan of doing it before you've really evaluated whether you can help them with something.

If you realize they aren't a fit for your service, but do have a need, I will often recommend an alternative service that does fit their needs, connect them with someone else they can speak with who might know how to help, or send them some useful content. If they take your advice and it leads to good things, they'll be an advocate for you.

On the other hand, sometimes salespeople say "I don't want to waste your time" when they're about to give up on a difficult prospect. In this case, if a prospect is being disagreeable and difficult, try to get them to drop their guard. Say something like, "Today, I feel really off. You’re the third call in a row where I feel like I'm just wasting everyone's time. Is there something I'm doing wrong you think?" If they're being a jerk, this politely encourages them to give you a shot -- even if it's just because they feel sorry for you. And if you're really not adding any value, they might be willing to give you advice on how you can help them.

8. "Can I send you some information?"

For decades, old school sales experts have advised against saying this. You might have heard something like "Sending information is not selling," or "Direct mail is an excuse for salespeople who are afraid to pick up the phone." The argument is that if you can't establish a prospect's need over the phone, your prospect isn't going to take the time to read your information. Not to mention that if a prospect asks you for some information early in your process, they are most likely just trying to get rid of you.

I tend to agree with this logic for the most part. But these days, given that prospects are going to do their own research online anyways, you should be willing to send information to prospects if it'll truly be helpful. If they're going to complete two-thirds of their buying process without you, you at least want your content to shape their decisions along the way.

However, you have to be sure you're sending the right stuff. So don't ask this question before you can determine what to send them. And replace "Can I send you more information?" with "I was talking to someone that expressed a similar need to me the other day. I sent them X, Y, and Z resources and they found them extremely useful. If I sent you something on that, do you think you might find it valuable?" Along the same lines, if a prospect asks you to send information, your question should be, "We have lots of information that I could send you. So that I can send you the most relevant information, could you tell me what things you are working on right now?"

If you're later in the sales process, content can be a powerful tool. Just be careful not to overdo it. Some salespeople send 10 links in an email. Most prospects will never read all of that, and they'll think you're being lazy by letting your content do your selling for you.

If you're going to send something that's important for them to read, be bold about it and say "I'm going to send you three articles that you need to read before our next call. It'll take you 15 minutes. These resources will help you understand how to solve your XYZ challenge. Can you do that?" In other words, get commitment that they'll read it. Then, make sure you use that as the start of your next conversation.

Most importantly, make sure you're using software that lets you track which links they're clicking in your email and which pages of your website they're viewing.

9. "Honestly" or "To be honest with you."

This is the coup de grace for most sales pursuits, and a fitting phrase to end my list. This has to be the worst phrase you can say to a prospect. Why? As soon as you say "honestly," you imply that you've been lying before.

Some salespeople say this so frequently it's insane. There is no alternative -- just don't say it. If you have been lying, do us all a favor and stop. Not only does it do more harm than good to you, your company, and the world -- it's just not necessary. Every business that's in business adds value in some way. Focus on that and identify the prospects you don't have to lie to.

10. "Trust me."

Is there anything less trustworthy that a salesperson saying, "Trust me?" I don't think so. Like our friend, "Honestly," this is a quick way to plant a seed of doubt in your prospect's mind about whether what you're saying is true or not. 

Instead of saying, "Trust me," back up your points with data, contracts, and previous success. Show your prospects you're serious, instead of asking them to put faith in you. Because, let's face it, you're virtually a stranger to them. Make your case airtight by backing up your claims.

11. "I haven't heard back from you."

Well, congratulations, you've just stated the obvious. Your prospect already knows you haven't heard back from them. So, why are you wasting time giving them a reminder? 

If you're reaching out after a period of silence, start by engaging them with a non-work-related question like, "Did you see last weekend's game?" or "How was your vacation to Hawaii?" Once you get them talking again, ask your question and move the deal forward.

12. "If I don't hear back from you."

Ah, the threats. Don't be this desperate. It will turn your prospects off, and it only moves deals forward from a place of guilt. That's not how long-lasting customers are made. 

Instead, try personal, lighthearted phrases like, "I don't want to take up more of your time," or "I'll touch base in six months to see if this is more of a priority for you." 

This leaves the door open for future business and avoids giving your prospect an ultimatum -- never a good move.

If you're guilty of using any of these words or phrases, I hope you'll start employing the alternative phrases and approaches listed in this article. Or if you have better alternatives, share them with us in the comments. If I’ve missed any words we should all avoid during sales calls, please share those in the comments too.

At HubSpot, we're on a mission to help the sales profession establish a reputation of being honest and helpful, trustworthy and credible. “Honestly,” due to overuse of many of these words and phrases over the decades, we’ve done our entire profession a big disservice. And now that reputation is coming back to bite us -- one rejection at a time.

I don’t think it’s too late to break the cycle, however. We just have to start replacing these words with better selling practices. I hope you'll join us -- one word at a time, one less rejection at a time.

Let’s take it back to the old school–elementary school.

Demand generation marketers spend their careers building out complex lead acquisition and engagement engines, but sometimes it’s good to take it back to the basics—way back–as in, back to the things we learned in kindergarten that still hold true in today’s marketing landscape.

Just as the ABCs are fundamental to reading and writing, some of the basics like data, content, and segmentation are key to your lead generation programs. Chances are, with all the lead-gen pressures we face, it might be tempting to push best practices aside–which is why it’s important to review some elementary teachings that you’ve most likely forgotten along the way. Take a look at these five lessons below that you should apply to your lead generation efforts:

1. Use Your Inside Voice

No one wants to do business with a marketing loudmouth. Your customer doesn’t want to feel like you are mass marketing to them, but that you are engaging with them in a 1 on 1 conversation. You should strive to personalize your messaging when possible by segmenting your database out into personas. This will allow you to be more strategic in catering to each of your audiences, understand the customer that you are trying to attract, and relate to them as human beings.

2. Hand-Raisers Are Encouraged

What’s better than a cold lead? A warm one! And this answer rings true for both marketing and sales. A “hand-raiser” is a warm lead, someone that identifies themselves as a prospective customer by opting to share their information with your company, usually with the understanding that they will be contacted. To increase your conversion rates, you should review your calls-to-action (CTAs) to make sure there is a clear value proposition and people know exactly what will happen after they click. Optimize your CTAs by testing out different creatives (design and copy) to find a winning creative that is both eye-catching and compelling. This can be done by A/B testing both your email and landing page content. Also, be sure to account for the audience personas you built out. While one CTA might perform well for one segment, it’s possible it can cause friction for another.

3. Walk, Don’t Run

Just as kids tend to get excited and want to run from point A to point B, marketers can have similar reactions with wanting to convert a newly acquired lead to a sale. Jumping into a hard sell too quickly is only going to push your prospective customers to want to make a run for it themselves, away from you! So map out a lead nurturing process to develop a relationship with your prospects and walk with them through their buyers’ journey. If you start off with smaller asks, like watching a video, attending an event, or signing up for a newsletter, you can create a pattern of behavior that makes it easy for your prospect to follow through with the final CTA, the sale. It’s all about the baby steps!

4. Clean Up

This is one task that kids and marketers alike are inclined to put off, which never really does anyone any good. Your database is one of your organization’s most valuable assets. However, its value can quickly diminish if you don’t keep it clean. In order for your data to be actionable, it needs to be accurate and up-to-date, or it will cost you both time and money. In fact, neglecting to clean up your database can cost your company as much as 10-25% in revenue, according to information governance expert Larry English. Scary, huh!? Scrub dirty data from the start and standardize the data that comes into your system as often as possible. Make sure you validate email addresses at least once a year to get rid of inactive accounts that are most likely skewing your metrics and remove duplicate leads to get a clear picture of your audience size.

5. Treat Others as You Want to Be Treated

We all know this “golden rule,” and it’s named that for good reason. It should be carried with us from kindergarten throughout our lives and into our careers. Remember that you are marketing to people, so put yourself in your customers’ shoes as you think through the engagement process. Are you emailing them too often? Are you providing appropriate content and offers? Are you helping them connect the dots on why they should buy from you? If you only think of things from your own perspective, you are most likely going to have a hard time growing and maintaining your customer base.

As we kick off the New Year, now is the perfect time to reinstate those maybe forgotten best practices back into you lead generation plan. Are there any other lessons you think we need remind ourselves of from time to time? If so, please share in the comments section below.

On Thursday, Facebook announced there are more than 800 million monthly active users on Messenger. While we can assume they’re all at least chatting with each other, there’s a whole lot more you can do in the app beyond instant messaging. Over the last year, Messenger has shown it wants to be a one-stop shop [...]

Chances are when you’re searching for flights, you’ll check Kayak or Orbitz to find the best price.

But a new travel website called Tripdelta claims to have created an unique algorithm that searches for “hidden airports” and can save travelers as much as 80% compared to the bigger websites.

The website has been in the works for over two years now and was put together by a team of developers who created a complicated algorithm that could smart-search for deals like a seasoned travel hacker.

The algorithm finds these so-called “hidden” airports by searching for connections from nearby airports or connections between two different airlines.

“Flight searches are not able to make out the right hidden connection,” Tripdelta founder Maximilian Ibel explained to Tech Insider. “It requires a self-improving, self-learning, and predictive algorithm to solve this problem.”

Tripdelta compares as many as 500 times more flight combinations per search than competing websites, according to Ibel, and combines different carriers and routes to find the best possible option. 

“For example, if you want to go from Berlin to New York, one option would be to stop over in London,” Ibel said. “Both flights are probably being operated by British Airways. Usually all major airlines provide a flight option to your destination. However, in this case it might be cheaper to take a low-cost carrier like Ryanair to Stockholm and from there take a flight with Norwegian to New York.”

“The problem is that Norwegian and Ryanair do not operate in the same alliance and do not have a codeshare agreement,” he added. “Therefore, they are not found together by other flight searches. That makes Stockholm a secret airport and this route hidden.”

Essentially, the same search tricks you could do yourself by combing websites like ITA Matrix or Skiplagged, Tripdelta does for you.

Here’s a recent example. I searched for the same flight from San Francisco to Berlin on Kayak as well as Tripdelta and saved $20 on the same lowest priced flight. Kayak flight prices then jump up another $200 to $537 while Tripdelta found flights for under $400.

I did, however, discover that the website didn’t always give travelers the cheapest option. When I searched New York to Berlin, for example, Kayak’s lowest result actually beat Tripdelta by $15.

Still, travelers who want more options on where to check flights and compare prices will appreciate Tripdelta for doing the work for them instead of spending hours manually searching for the best possible route.

So far, Ibel said tripdelta has over 100,000 users and Ibel himself said he’s saved thousands by using the search engine.

“The thing about tripdelta is that we give you a lot of additional, unique options with every search,” he said. “Sometimes the flight is cheaper, sometimes the connection is better and shorter, and sometimes the original search is the best. But we try to make sure that you have every option in one search available.”

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Sharing pricing with potential customers is often debated across teams regardless of industry or product.  For some, pricing is not presented freely on the website, and only introduced during a sales conversation.  This is often the case within professional services or where RFQ’s are necessary.  For others, pricing is right up on the website for all to see.  Many SaaS-based products do this as a way to show scalability and components of different product levels.  There are certainly pros and cons for each.  This blog will give some clarity around at what point pricing should be shared with potential customers.

When to share pricing early

As mentioned earlier, many online tools or SaaS solutions share pricing initially on the website.  This is most often setup on a pricing page, in a table, or when discussing package options.  Many companies feel that this level of transparency is a great way to build trust with their audience, as nothing is being hidden.  Additionally, some industries use a pricing sheet or rate card, which can be downloaded or viewed off of the website.  This is often the case with product-purchasing or eCommerce sites.

It can be a good idea to consider your competition when discussing at what point to present pricing to potential customers.  A question to ask would be “does my competition show pricing on their website?”  If the answer is yes, then you should think about doing the same, as it might be a competitive advantage to them showing that level of visibility, whereas your site may not.  Another question with regards to competition is “how does my price compare to the products/service of my competition?”  This is important as many potential customers “window-shop” early and check out prices as a way to create an initial list of vendors to reach out to.  If your pricing is competitive or even lower than others, this is certainly something to highlight.  To further this idea, if you have a unique scaling model or bulk pricing, this can be another important advantage to show early on.

When to hold off on sharing pricing until later

When considering competition, it might make sense to hold off on pricing information until sales has followed up with a potential customer.  If your price is significantly higher than others, you may not want to show that without context on the website.  Instead, sales can do a great job of selling the value of your product or service and then offer pricing as they have already explained the premium value of your solution.  Another reason not to show pricing early on is when customization is necessary.  Often, certain industries or solutions require a custom proposal or unique price that can only be calculated after sales has learned about the client’s needs and goals.  In this case, showing price on the website can be detrimental to the sales process as there is very little context with the price.  Some may see a high cost associated with your company and move on immediately, without understanding the value or options available within that price.

As you can see, there are two sides to the coin.  In many situations, it can be a great idea to show pricing early in the buyer’s journey.  This is often displayed on a pricing or product page within the website, and is accompanied by features and benefits found within the solutions.  In other scenarios, cost is something kept under wraps until the time is just right.  This can be as a result of competitive analysis or unique proposal requests necessary within sales.  There is no right or wrong answer, however I would encourage you to consider your unique business and discuss whether or not a change to your pricing visibility can positively impact your sales.

How many times have you struggled to write your first cold email? A lot depends on your creativity, that’s for sure, and you can’t wait forever for inspiration. But the good news is that an effective first cold email can be dissected into pieces. Such analysis will give you a clear pattern to follow in your every first cold email. Let’s get to it!

When you are building your cold email campaign, you probably already know to remember about the Ideal Customer Profile. There are certain types of emails which align with certain segments of your prospects. So now you have three types of emails to choose from:

1. The referral email, where your goal is to find the right decision-maker. It has to be kind and interesting enough to convince your recipient to either forward it or give you the required email address. There’s no point in blasting your emails to many recipients – it’s better just to ask. Here’s an example of a referral email:

The short direct pitch is a perfect solution when you know there’s no sense in wasting time, because the prospect is your ICP and decision-maker, and your product will resolve his key pain. Convince him or her to jump on a call with you like this:

The long direct pitch is all about storytelling. Your goal is still a call, but if you assume that your recipient is a fan of long forms and your product fits into the pain/dream/solution approach, then that’s a template for you. Check out this example:

When you’ve decided on your email type, it’s time to build it based on a given pattern:
intro + benefit + social proof + call to action.

Yes, it’s that simple. Why does it work? Let’s check each element.

Intro

Our attention span is probably as short as eight seconds, so there is no way to sell anything in that time. You have seconds to convince a total stranger to open and start reading your email. How do you do this? Firstly, focus on your subject and preview. Use smart personalization in the subject, and don’t waste your preview on introducing yourself and your company. The intro is a perfect place to use events. These are simple connectors, attention catchers, which show the relevance of your message. You can use situations like press releases, attendance at the same event or mutual friends on LinkedIn. Here’s one of our examples:

Benefit

So what’s in it for me? Why should I talk to you about your solution? This is the moment when you have a one-sentence chance to convince me that I’ll benefit from using your product. Don’t talk features, talk benefits. Remember to adjust the benefit to your recipient (decision-maker). Here’s one of our templates where you can notice a clear benefit:

Social Proof

Social proof isn’t effective only on your website – you can also use it in your cold emails. It’s even better if you do, especially if you’re targeting one vertical, because your potential customers know their landscape very well. Take a look at our social proof:

Call to Action

There’s a universal marketing rule which also applies to cold mailing: aim for one CTA. Your CTA is an answer to this question: What do I want to achieve with this email? Leave your recipient with an obvious task to do – that’s why it’s convenient if it’s yes-or-no question. You can also leave the question open (i.e. “Do you have time to talk next week?” This is our effective CTA in action:

And that’s it. Writing an attractive cold email isn’t rocket science. To wrap it up:

• Keep your email structure right: intro + benefit + social proof + CTA.
• Choose an email type appropriate to your target – referral, short or long direct pitch.
• Try not to sell your product. Introduce how you can solve a problem. Have a reason to contact them and work it into the email.

If you want to learn more about smart personalization and automation in cold emails, check out our Complete Handbook of Cold Mailing.

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When it comes to making it in the macho world of the trades, a few women are thinking pink and profitable.

According to JudyLynn Archer, president of Women Building Futures, an Alberta-based organization that recruits women into the trades, women represent four to six per cent of workers in the industry, and “that’s very generous.” Archer says numbers are low not because construction is an unwelcoming place, but because it’s often outside a woman’s frame of reference when looking at careers. The biggest issue is not getting the job, it’s more about staying in the job, because she says women often arrive with fewer skills than their male counterparts. “It’s a tough place to work and it’s not for everybody,” she says.

Some women, though, are capitalizing on their gender. Each of the following entrepreneurs are using their influence to encourage other young women to enter the trades. But they have more in common than X chromosomes. A combination of hard work, savvy, and positive mentorship played a role in their success. But the bottom line is they’re good at their jobs.

Hilary Noack

Hilary Noack was the only woman in her autobody apprenticeship at Centennial College in Toronto for all three levels of the program. So when she was searching for an idea that would set her business apart, she knew she had to start something that would help the few women in her field. “Throughout the years working in the trade, I met a lot of really cool, awesome, talented females, so that’s when it clicked,” she says, about starting Toronto’s first female-owned and operated autobody repair shop, Ink & Iron. “It captures people’s attention. Whether they are saying something good or bad, it’s different,” says Noack, who has been on the receiving end of both praise and criticism, even being accused of discriminating against men.

Most of her clients have been men since she opened up her shop in Mississauga, Ont., in April, and Noack credits the steady influx to her social media presence (her Twitter handle is @autobodybarbie) and crowdfunding efforts: she relied on the website Indiegogo to raise more than $5,000 in start-up money . She earned $10,000 herself by fully restoring a green 1969 VW Karmann Ghia.

Formerly a teacher at Centennial, Noack wants to help mentor young autobody repair technicians, and plans to take on a female apprentice. At a larger shop, it’s easy for a technician to get pigeonholed into doing one repetitive task, says Noack. At her smaller shop she wants to give students an array of learning opportunities. She also knows the importance of having a mentor in a male-dominated industry. “You’ll probably get doors closed in your face. Be strong willed, be persistent . . . you have to have thick skin and just go with the flow.”

Lara Murphy and Karen Ryan

You might not expect two women to show up at your door after calling Ryan Murphy for a quote, but that’s exactly what co-owners Karen Ryan and Lara Murphy want. Why the name? “Because it sounds like a man,” says Ryan, point blank. The attention-grabbing name is only one reason that this pair, who have made the Chatelaine/Profit magazines’ W100 list of Canada’s top female entrepreneurs for three years in a row, have made an impact on the Calgary construction scene.

Throughout her history and political science degree at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., Murphy had been doing small jobs to pay tuition through a company she started called Handy Student Maintenance, but her plan was to go to law school. It wasn’t until her Mount A soccer coach pointed out: “I think you could have a multi-million-dollar construction business one day,” that she considered a career change. Murphy moved to Alberta during the economic boom of 2006-07, where she met Karen Ryan on a construction site in Banff. Ryan’s knowledge of the retail and commercial side of the business was a good fit. Together they became the first female-owned and -operated construction company in Calgary that does both residential and commercial work.

Ryan and Murphy have also found a niche working on accessible and barrier-free housing for people with disabilities, something that few contractors do because of complex guidelines and requirements. “Being an office full of women, we are good at the details,” says Murphy. They employ mostly women and a few men, something that happened “accidentally on purpose.” Through the company’s exposure on social media, women—including architects and engineers—have often approached them to become part of a team.

The women are well-received in the community, but “one customer made a comment about a hen party. I just blocked his number,” laughed Murphy. For young people, the Ryan Murphy team stresses the importance of finding a supportive mentor, and communication and collaboration with other women. “It opens doors like I’ve never experienced before,” says Murphy. Most importantly, she says, “know your business, know what you’re doing, and then the respect comes.”

Tammy Buchanan

The pink faucet logo of Small Jobs Plumbing was designed “to put a little spin on the plumbing world, the way we all perceive it to be,” says Tammy Buchanan, the only certified female plumber in Halifax. She left a corporate job after 20 years and began an apprenticeship at her brother’s plumbing company, but he could not afford to keep her on for long. Before incorporating the business in 2013, Buchanan faced layoffs, unequal pay, and an eight-month stint of unemployment that shook her family financially. Now she and her business partner, Sherri Lee, have a solid client base and have a strong social-media presence.

“There’s a lot more people out there who are realizing that female plumbers are a great thing,” says Buchanan. “They’re more comfortable and a lot of them are amazed because it’s so rare.” Women have most of the purchasing power when it comes to household tasks, and “nine out of 10 times it’s the female that’s home” during the day when Buchanan makes house calls. The comfort level she provides, along with support from other local female-owned businesses, has contributed to the success of Small Jobs Plumbing.

Buchanan and Lee are hopeful that, with new organizations like Women Unlimited, a Halifax non-profit that offers career exploration courses at Nova Scotia Community College campuses, they will be able to hire more women. Buchanan intends to take on a female apprentice within the next two years, but with such a new business she cannot afford to hire someone inexperienced just yet. In the meantime, she tells young women to suit up, put on their boots and gloves, and find a company who will allow them to do the job for a month. “That will give you a true test.” And a word of wisdom from someone who’s been there. “There are jerks everywhere.”

The post Thinking pink and profiting: Women in trades capitalize on gender appeared first on Macleans.ca.

HALIFAX – The federal finance minister spoke of pitch-black moments in his morning shower and some darkening clouds for the Canadian economy as he kicked off his national budget consultation tour in Halifax on Monday.

Bill Morneau drew chuckles from a business audience at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce as he described a morning power outage that occurred while he was covered in soap lather.

The minister said it’s just the latest in a series of challenges he’s facing as he sets out to prepare his first budget amidst a declining economy.

Within a few minutes of beginning his speech, Morneau launched into a series of slides that painted a bleak picture of economic growth hampered by plunging commodities prices.

He repeated prior statements that the Canadian economy is suffering from slower growth than originally projected by the former Conservative government due partly to oil prices that are less than half those of 2014.

“We knew when we were campaigning we were facing a slow-growth environment,” he said.

“The challenge is greater than we expected.”

The minister said there’s hope that oil prices will improve, but as it stands a declining tax base means his department is expecting a $15 billion per year reduction of GDP beginning this year, compared with what was projected in the last budget.

“It’s important to have a frank view of where we’re starting from,” he said.

Morneau is travelling across the country this week to seek input as he draws up his first federal budget.

The finance minister spoke on the same day as the Bank of Canada’s latest business outlook survey was released indicating companies’ investment in equipment and hiring intentions for the next year are tumbling to their lowest levels since the 2009 recession.

The former executive chairman of a human resources firm told reporters the survey indicates his party’s infrastructure spending will assist in retaining business confidence.

He also repeated the party will keep its campaign promises to bring in middle class tax breaks and spend billions on infrastructure.

But during a news conference, Morneau offered few details when local reporters asked about how Ottawa will stimulate the Nova Scotia economy and help with the upkeep of aging infrastructure.

He said he couldn’t comment on whether the number of federal ships being built in Halifax yards will remain.

He also said he had little information about the Victoria General, an aging Halifax hospital beset by routine floods and leaks, and couldn’t say whether helping fix the problem falls within the planned infrastructure spending.

Randy Delorey, Nova Scotia’s Liberal minister of finance, said in an interview he’s content to wait for more details about how his federal counterpart’s infrastructure program will work — and whether he can ask for help with the decrepit facility.

During a news conference, the federal minister was also asked whether Ottawa will continue efforts by the former Conservative government to create a national securities regulator.

He said his government will work with provinces who want to create the regulator, but respected that Alberta and Quebec weren’t interested in proceeding with the plan.

“We do favour a collaborative national securities regulator,” he said. “We recognize we’ll do this together with those provinces willing to be part of this initiative. We think it’s important for Canada find a way to be efficient in all things we do.”

Late in the day, the minister answered a wide-ranging series of questions from students at Dalhousie University, the first of series of forums that will be held at universities.

The post Federal finance minister paints bleak picture of economic growth prospects appeared first on Canadian Business - Your Source For Business News.

In its latest Winter Business Outlook Survey conducted by the Bank of Canada, the adverse effects of the oil crash continue to spread beyond the resource sector to other regions and industries.

The Bank’s quarterly report surveys around 100 businesses for their outlook on a range of economic issues. Business leaders’ investment and hiring forecasts have dropped to their lowest levels since 2009, when the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis were working their way through the global economy. Firms cite their concerns about the strength of domestic demand, uncertainty about the regulatory and tax environment, insufficient foreign demand and low commodity prices.

 

The steep fall of oil prices has depressed the outlook in Alberta and beyond. Firms directly tied to the energy sector expected further declines in their sales volumes, and companies that sell to energy-related customers suffer along with them as they adjust to an environment of weak demand.

On the upside, nearly all firms expect the U.S. economy to expand over the next year, and close to half expect this to help with their sales. Exporters not connected to the commodity sector foresee a more significant growth in sales than other firms, and the depreciation of the Canadian dollar has boosted the sales of domestically-oriented firms as a result of an increase in tourism-related activities. The pitfall of the low Canadian dollar is that the majority of firms now have to deal with higher costs for imported goods.

MORE ABOUT THE ECONOMY:

• Canada’s 50 most important economic charts for 2016
• Bay Street’s blue Christmas might usher in a happier new year
• The housing bubble has already popped in some parts of Canada
• Canada’s effect on the U.S. economy might be bigger than you think

The post Canada’s hiring forecast shows the weakest outlook since 2009 appeared first on Canadian Business - Your Source For Business News.

Cancer in its many forms kills millions around the globe every year. It's the second-leading cause of death in the US, after only heart disease.

It's an illness that starts when something somewhere in our body goes wrong and cells begin to divide uncontrollably.

One key part of helping more patients survive is finding new ways to catch cancer sooner, so doctors can treat it before it has time to spread.

Catching cancer early is an incredible challenge, but a new way to detect it in the blood may totally revolutionize cancer treatment in just a few years.

On January 10, leading gene sequencing company Illumina announced the creation of a new company that's trying to invent a blood test that could hopefully find all cancers in their early stages, something that would be a tremendous help to those trying to detect the illness before it is too difficult to treat effectively.

The team behind the announcement is not the first to attempt something of this nature, and previous efforts by other companies have been criticized for having too little research behind them or focusing too much on detection rather than treatment. Crucially, this blood test does not exist yet, and while scientists will be working furiously to try to make it happen, it doesn't mean they will succeed.

But this latest bet is one of the best-funded, with a number of illustrious scientists already involved — and Illumina's backing may give it a crucial boost.

The new company, called Grail (as in, it's trying to achieve something considered the Holy Grail for cancer researchers) hopes to have a pan-cancer blood test by 2019, an extremely ambitious goal. 

That would mean that anyone could add such a test onto their annual physical — no need for separate tests for different types of lung cancer, prostate cancer, or any other form of the illness.

Grail is launching with $100 million in Series A financing, backed by Illumina, Bill Gates, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions. Illumina and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are partnering to help launch a study to see if Grail's test can actually do what they hope it will do.

"We look forward to a day in the not too distant future where there would be a simple blood test for every form of cancer," Dr. Richard Klausner, former director of the National Cancer Institute and a board member of Grail, said on a press call on Sunday.

The key to this effort is the ability to detect what's known as circulating tumor DNA, or CTDNA. In recent years, doctors have discovered that the genetic material from cancerous tumors starts circulating in our bodies.

"It's abundantly clear that these molecules are in the blood," Illumina CEO Jay Flatley said on the call.

So, along with Memorial Sloan Kettering, Grail plans on following hundreds of thousands of patients over the next few years and trying to see if they can detect CTDNA in those patients whenever they develop cancer.

That research will be crucial: An earlier effort by another company, Pathway Genomics, to create a "liquid biopsy" for cancer was greeted in September by a stern letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning that the agency had "not found any published evidence that this test or any similar test has been clinically validated as a screening tool for early detection of cancer in high risk individuals."

Flatley is well aware of the minefield Grail is entering. "If you look at this business, it’s littered with failures. With a few exceptions, screening tests have been invariably horrible," he told the MIT Technology Review. "It’s a big challenge."

If Grail's trials show its test can detect stage 2 cancer, Flatley says the market value of those tests could be from $20 to $40 billion. If CTDNA can accurately identify stage 1 cancers, that would give them a $100 billion value, according to Flatley.

Doing something like this does also comes with risks for overdiagnosis, even if the research is successful; a regular test for cancer risks causing many people to receive potentially dangerous treatment for cancers that wouldn't have seriously impacted their health in the long run, according to José Baselga, Physician-in-Chief and Chief Medical Officer of Memorial Sloan Kettering.

But the ways that CTDNA screening could work, and the opportunities that screening creates for early treatment, could revolutionize cancer treatment in ways that "cannot be overemphasized," according to Baselga.

"We must diagnose cancer earlier," he says.

Join the conversation about this story »

Your sales team is crushing it. They’re closing deals left and right. Revenue is way up, and your growth looks off the charts. At this rate, that huge valuation you’ve been dreaming of seems well within reach.

Three months later, it’s all fallen apart. Half of those new clients have cancelled their subscriptions, they’re badmouthing your product, and your churn rate is through the roof. You’re no longer meeting your revenue goals, let alone exceeding them. And that valuation you were hoping for? Not going to happen.

It’s a classic sales mistake. In their haste to close all those deals, your salespeople didn’t stop to think whether they were the right deals. It’s only natural. They’re hustlers—the idea of turning away a willing customer and leaving a commission on the table offends them.

But, selling to the wrong customers is toxic for your business. It’s your job to get your salespeople thinking about the company’s health beyond the immediate deal.

Side note: If you want to work with an obsessively customer-focused team, check out our current job openings, we're hiring in all departments!

What happens when you sell to the wrong customers?

Selling to the wrong customers will kill your SaaS business in several ways, not all of which are obvious:

• Customers who don’t get value from your product will have extra training needs, frequent support requests, and endless complaints. In addition to costing time and money, constantly hearing bad things about the product will crush your team’s morale.
• Those customers will leave sooner rather than later, which will lead to high churn. Churn will make it nearly impossible to hit revenue goals since you’ll constantly need to replace old customers. Plus, churn rate is one of the first things investors will ask about—if it's too high, your company’s valuation prospects are doomed.
• It’ll destroy your company’s brand. Customers who leave will tell their friends and colleagues about their bad experience with your product. And believe me, nothing will be more frustrating than hearing people who should have never been using your product in the first place go around telling everyone how much it sucks.

Kayako, a startup which provides help desk and customer service software, knows firsthand the pain of a wrong fit:

"We had a big contract in hand, sure. But we were spending way less time building value that would help our many other customers advance. [...] We ignored all the warning signs that BigCo was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, and we were helping them mash it in."

Kayako eventually cut the cord early and parted on good terms with BigCo but not without significant cost to team morale and productivity.

This is what really differentiates SaaS sales from sales in any other industry. Other businesses can thrive selling a product to someone just once—it’s a transactional sales process. But with SaaS, your customers have to continuously justify paying you each month, and can cancel their subscription at any time—in some ways, you’re reselling the product again and again.

You need to build relationships with customers who will grow as you grow, and you can only do that if you’re reaching the right people.

3 ways to get your sales team selling smart

As a leader, you need your salespeople to understand that their job is about more than just maxing out sales quotas. It’s about giving real solutions to real problems, providing expertise, and finding the right customer fit. They need to look at how the sales they make affect the overall health of the company, and learn to pass up customers who aren’t a good fit. That’s the kind of team that will get out there and sign up a roster of committed clients you can build your company on.

1. Educate your team

Education is an important part of building a successful sales team. Your whole team needs to understand the metrics upon which your company is built—not just their individual numbers.

This requires a change in the way your reps think:

"For sales reps – especially veteran ones who largely operate on autopilot – this ownership of the churn rate SaaS metric requires a mindset shift. They need to migrate their thinking from one of 'Let’s sell software to every potential customer we can," to one of "Let’s sell software to customers who truly need our product and will derive real value from actively using it.'"—InsightSquared

Drill in the importance of lifetime value (LTV) and churn, and how the decisions your sales team makes affect them. Make them understand why SaaS companies that only focus on short-term sales fail.

Beyond that, make sure that finding the right customers remains a priority in practice as well. Here are some ways to keep the whole team focused on the big picture:

• Keep score of how many of each salesperson’s customers unsubscribe. To play off salespeople’s natural competitiveness, lots of companies keep a scoreboard of everyone’s sales. By reapplying that concept and keeping score of how many clients they lose, you communicate that it is an equally important number.
• Track each individual's churn rate for the customers they sign up. By viewing it alongside the company’s overall churn rate, salespeople can see their impact on the larger health of the company.
• Have each salesperson talk about their most recent customer who unsubscribed during sales meetings. The team can discuss why they think the relationship didn’t work out, which will help them learn what signs to look for in the future about whether a customer is a good fit for the product.

Your sales team has to understand that success at your company is measured by more than the sales they make.

2. Demonstrate how it’s done

It’s not enough to just teach your salespeople to sell to the right customers. You also need to lead by example. The team needs to see you turn away bad business: “I’ll be 100% honest with you. We’ve been talking for a while, and I hate to say it, but our product just isn’t right for you. Let me help you figure out a better direction to go.”

Think about it—a company’s values mean nothing if the people in charge don’t act on them. At that point, they’re just something nice to talk about. If you’re going to tell your salespeople that setting customers up for success matters more than getting a quick sale, then you need to show them that the rule applies from top to bottom. You’re not asking your team to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself—and when they see this, they’ll go the extra mile.

Take responsibility and show your salespeople that finding the right customers is an expectation for everyone, regardless of job title or tenure.

“Lead by example, not by title.”—Ross Kimbarovsky, the founder and CEO of Startup Foundry

3. Incentivize long-term thinking

If your salespeople are only rewarded for the volume of new business they bring in, then guess what? They’ll sign anyone under the sun.

"I often hear business owners complain that their sales team is not selling the products and services they would prefer. For example, the sales team appears to be spending their time on less profitable products and on accounts that aren’t in the company’s best interest. Business owners are sure the problem resides with the sales team and their lack of focus on what is truly important. Often, after reading the sales compensation plan, I realize the problem is in how the sales plan was written [emphasis added]." — John Lee, VP of Sales at Sales Xceleration

Building a commission structure that reflects your company’s values is important because people’s actions are driven by their incentives. Yes, you should give sales commissions. But, compensation has to align with the company’s primary objective: providing customers a great long-term value.

Consider:

• Give bonuses to salespeople whose clients have the highest renewal rates.
• Take away commissions from salespeople whose customers churn within five months.

Think about it from the salesperson’s perspective—if she’s only rewarded for the sheer amount of upfront revenue she brings in, then why bother asking if the customers she closes are the right ones? She’ll ask herself, “Well, if the company really cared about this, wouldn’t they pay me for it? Wouldn’t they reward that behavior?” And she’d be right!

Money talks louder than anything else. It doesn’t make any sense to tell your sales team to do one thing but then pay them for another. Adjust your compensation plan to match the behavior you want to see and, as the startup mentor and angel investor Gordon Daugherty advises, “identify loosely defined rules or 'gray areas' that can be exploited.”

Hungry for the right customers

Hungry salespeople will enable your team to grow. But left to their own devices, they’ll sell to customers who will actually hurt your business. They need proper management to fully tap into their potential and spread your product to the people who need it.

After all, why did you start a SaaS company in the first place? You saw a problem and knew you had a great product to solve it—you didn’t get in this game to sell people stuff they don’t need. So don’t do it! Cultivate this problem-solving, customer-centric mentality in your sales team, and you’ll achieve the best kind of success possible in SaaS—sustainable success.

Recommended reading

Selling to the wrong customers will kill your startup
Failing to find the right audience for your business will guarantee a startup's failure. As founders tend to be fanatical about closing their first customers and hustling their way to initial traction they need to keep in mind that not all customers are created equal.

How to design a winning startup sales commission structure
If you're faced with the challenge of developing a commission structure for your first sales hire as a startup, there are two very different ways you can go about it.

Why sales leaders should fail in front of their team
I hate failing. I hate failing publicly even more. Yet, I do it all the time, and so should you if you’re managing a sales team.

SEO is a constant source of anxiety among business owners and marketers; especially in recent years, as Google has introduced and increased its focus on “contextual” search.

The Knowledge Graph is one of the best examples, because it presents a tremendous opportunity for quicker and more detailed viewer engagement – but only if you know how it works and how to get yourself listed.

With the above in mind, in this article we’ll go over what the Knowledge Graph is, why it should matter to you, and how to best optimize your website for inclusion.

What is the Knowledge Graph?

The Knowledge Graph is a knowledge base used by Google. It was created in 2012 by Google so that it could better understand the world the way people do by using ‘entity-based’ searches.

Entity-based search is conducted not just by viewing strings of information, but by integrating knowledge of objects – people, places, and things. It contains over 500 million objects and 3.5 billion facts about (and relationships between) these objects.

Google’s dream is that the Knowledge Graph helps deliver results that are personalized, not computerized. In their words, “The perfect search engine should understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want.”

To put it another way, instead of taking your generic keywords literally and at face value, Google is able to process your query contextually, allowing them deliver astonishingly accurate results.

Why Is the Knowledge Graph Important?

In a nutshell, the Knowledge Graph raises brand visibility and helps to increase user engagement.

In a study conducted by Hubspot, 76% of viewers determined that the most important aspect of web design is quickly accessible information. Not only that, but Google has claimed that the most important moment in the buying cycle for customers is the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) – when potential customers go online to research a product or a service they are considering purchasing.

Thanks to the Knowledge Graph, potential customers are able to understand your company before even visiting your home page. This is true across the board – for companies, brands, people, healthcare, and so on.

Let’s see how this plays out with some practical examples.

Companies and Brands

As you can see from the above screenshot, the Knowledge Graph compiles all of a company’s important details and organizes it in a viewer-friendly box.

If you Google “apple” you will find the Knowledge Graph’s neat box on the right-hand side of your screen detailing all of the quick information you might need: Apple’s website address, stock prices, and important information about the company, such as when they were founded and where their headquarters are located.

People

The Knowledge Graph is also great at making ‘people brands’ more accessible. Type in “Elon Mask” and you will likely find not only what you were looking for – such as the name of his projects – but also some highlights of his private life.

The results you see in a basic Google search are now personalized and specific, allowing for people to have more say in their online presence.

Local Businesses

Local businesses are among the greatest benefactors of the Knowledge Graph.

Say you’re new to the area and someone has just recommended their favorite bakery to you – Corina Bakery. Before the Knowledge Graph, if you wanted to know times of operation, their specific location, and wanted to read a few more customer reviews, you’d have to go to three different sites.

Thanks to the Knowledge Graph, though, at a quick glance, you can discover everything you need to know about Corina Bakery. It offers you a storefront photo, their location on an interactive map, their Google Reviews rating, a link to their website, hours of operation, and so on.

Movies, TV Shows, and Books

If you are interested in seeing In the Heart of the Sea, you don’t need to look any further than the first page of your Google search. Everything you need to know about a movie is listed within the Knowledge Graph box: synopsis, ratings, cast members, the director, etc.

The Knowledge Graph truly bridges the information gap between query and website. Can a customer get the information they need without the Knowledge Graph? Yes, but they’ll have to dig a lot deeper, and may get fed up before they find the answer your website provides.

By compiling the most pertinent information from a company, brand, or local business, the Knowledge Graph answers a researcher’s questions right away, thus giving companies, brands and local businesses the ability to engage them sooner.

I’m sure you’re wondering, though, how Google does it.

How Does the Knowledge Graph Work?

There are three sources that Google officially collects data from for the Knowledge Graph: Wikidata, Wikipedia, and the CIA World Factbook.

There are also a few unofficial (yet still highly important) ways to influence the Knowledge Graph, include leveraging Schema Markup and content found from “high-authority” sources.

Wikidata.org

Wikidata.org is a collaboratively edited knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia foundation. It can be added to and edited by both humans and machines. Structured data is its main focus.

Structured data is information that is specifically organized to be seamlessly included in relational databases and to be searchable by simple search engine algorithms. In layman’s terms, it is a type of data (or markup) that abides by a set of predetermined rules that are maintained by multiple platforms looking to be included as “high authority” or credible sources.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is “a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation and based on a model of openly editable content.” Wikipedia is rather strict about what they allow on their database; being one of the world’s largest reference websites, they pride themselves on quality and unbiased content.

CIA World Factbook

The CIA World Factbook, like Wikidata and Wikipedia, is a reference resource. It is produced by the Central Intelligence Agency and provide almanac-style information about countries across the globe.

It was created for US Government officials, and is styled accordingly, but is used by a number of resources including academic and journalistic research – and, of course, by the Google Knowledge Graph.

Schema Markup

Schema Markup is an agreed upon code that all major search engines use to gather the context of your website’s context. It, too, is a type of structured data. It is an active way that web developers can ensure their search engine visibility. After all, 36% of search results draw from schema markup.

High Authority Sources

To Google, credibility means authority. This means when their super-smart machines are “crunching numbers”, they’re looking at more than just contextual relevancy; they’re looking at the age of a page’s domain name, the number of quality links on a page, the number of relevant and informative pages on a site, and so on.

Now that you know where the Knowledge Graph gets its information from, let’s talk about what you can do to influence what it displays.

How Can I Influence the Knowledge Graph?

Influencing the Knowledge Graph isn’t as simple as signing up for a “knowledge graph” subscription and filling in the data you want present.

But don’t be discouraged! Here are five things you can do to influence the Knowledge Graph:

1. Optimize Your Site’s Schema Markup

Schema.org is supported by Google developers – so the good news is you’ll be going right to the source, not through some third party. Via schema.org you can directly customize the logo, contact numbers, and social profile links that appear in your business’ or brand’s Knowledge Graph box:

2. Get Listed in Wiki-World

Getting listed on Wikipedia and Wikidata can be tricky, as only verifiable, unbiased references are allowed.

But this is, in a way, a good thing – it levels the playing field, ideally ensuring that no one is able to “enhance” elements of their brand/company/general topic. For further information, check out this article on how to successfully set up your Wiki page.

3. Get on Google+ and Google Maps

If you have a physical business location, you need to be registered (and active!) on Google+. Make sure your information is detailed and up-to-date.

Most importantly, make sure you actually use your Google+ account. It is a great way to collect and share reviews, connect with customers, and promote your business. On the other hand, not regularly updating your Google+ profile is a great way to show how inattentive you are.

Check out the difference between these two companies using Google+:

30 Lines has all details filled out and their Google+ profile looks full and active. Mastercard, on the other hand, offers little information, causing their Google+ profile to look sparse.

(Just for fun, check out these huge companies and brands who are failing at Google+.)

4. Use Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords go hand-in-hand with the idea of “entity-based” searches: both are embedded in context and both will get your viewers where they want to go. WordStream puts it best – “Managing long-tail keywords is simply a matter of establishing better lines of communication between your business and the customers who are already out there, actively shopping for what you provide.”

Long tail keywords provide easier SEO rankings, weed out competition through specificity, drive more traffic to your site, and lead to more pages being indexed by Google.

Check out Neil Patel‘s article if you need more convincing on long tail keyword searches, and if you’re ready to begin your search, check out Rank Tracker.

5. Make Use of YouTube

youtube image

YouTube is a win-win-win because it falls under “high-authority” sites, has a huge user base, and is connected to Google through various Google products. Because of this, anything posted to YouTube for your company or brand will likely be acknowledged by and included in the Knowledge Graph.

Conclusion

SEO is one of the most effective ways to increase awareness of your website and brand, but it’s evolving rapidly with a focus on “entity-based” search.

Now here’s the good news: it’s not going to take much to get you started.

In order to be acknowledged by Google’s Knowledge Graph, just follow the five simple steps we’ve addressed here. Make sure you optimize your site’s schema markup, get listed on Wikipedia and Wikidata, invest time in your Google+ profile, focus on your site’s long tail keyword searches, and get your brand on Youtube.

Have you already implemented this new markup? What have your own results been so far influencing and adopting Google’s Knowledge Graph? Let us know in the comments below!

Image credits

Featured image: Twin Design / Shutterstock.com

Example of knowledge graph results are screencasts taken by the author in December 2015

Youtube image is from Social Media Online Classes infographic

When is selling the most fun? Certainly when you have a superior product. Perhaps it’s even a “killer product,” like the Xerox copier vs. the mimeo machine.

Unfortunately with global competition and advanced manufacturing technologies, those days are rare and if they do occur they are difficult to sustain. Today even when you have a superior product a competitor is likely come out with one that is just as good or better than yours in half the time of yesteryear. Or you come face-to-face with the dreadful “it’s good enough” response.

So let’s take the worse possible case. You are selling in a market where the competition either has products that are just as good as yours or they have products that are perceived by the customers to be “good enough” compared to yours. How do you adapt your selling strategy to these market scenarios?

Here are two strategies:

• Better understand the competition as viewed by the customer.
• Adjust your sales strategy to the undifferentiated market reality – you have to do some things differently.

Let’s take at look at both strategies starting with developing a better understanding the competition.

Managing the competition. As the old saying goes – “you have to keep your eye on the ball” and the ball is the customer. Particularly in an undifferentiated market, keeping an eye on the customer is key when it comes to executing an effective sales strategy for beating the competition. It is easy to take your eye off the ball and fall prey to the trap of getting in a defensive mode by reacting to the competition. It is critical to stay focused on the customer’s needs, challenges and concerns. Top sales performers focus on the customer and manage the competition.

If you focus on the customer and can answer these four questions (CAPS) about the competitor you have a better chance of executing a sales strategy where you win and they come in second:

• Capacity. What is the customer’s perception of the competitor’s major capabilities and limitations?
• Assessment. Why is the customer considering the competitor for the present opportunity?
• Performance. If the competitor is presently in the account what are they doing exceptionally well and poorly and why?
• Strategy. What is their sales strategy for the present opportunity?

Adjusting your sales strategy. How can salespeople differentiate themselves from their competitors in an undifferentiated market? Over the years, we have asked that question to sales managers. Here is what they said:

• Sell a total solution. To differentiate, sales reps must move beyond the product and identify the value-adds that will help the customer achieve their business outcomes.

• Understand all aspects of the competition. The competition isn’t just the other company or its products – it’s also the company’s sales reps. So know the competitor’s sales reps, their histories with the account, and their relationships with the customer.

• Don’t underestimate the importance of relationships. Although effective B2B selling is not just about building relationships, selling is still a personal business. People buy from people they know and like – so get to know all the people that are engaged in the buyer’s decision journey and understand what value means from their individual perspectives.

• Be an effective communicator. Do what you say you are going to do, if you don’t know don’t pretend, if you make a mistake admit it, correct it, and make sure you don’t repeat it, have unbridled enthusiasm, and convey a compelling belief in your company.

• Create an accurate picture of the competitive landscape. Learn your natural supporters and adversaries and spend time developing willing and able internal champions. Determine how much impact the various players have on the buying decision and have an accurate picture of the competition’s perceived position from the customer’s view.

• Look at the big picture. Understand the external issues facing the company – e.g., economic shifts, regulatory changes, and industry trends.

• Leverage your experience. Bring breadth to the sales environment by helping the customer see how other companies have tackled similar issues – have the stories available to bring that experience to life.

• Be aware of passive competitors. Passive competitors are products or services that aren’t direct competitors in that they don’t do what your product or service does – but they are competing for the same bucket of money. This happens more often than one might think – a medical device, for example, not being adopted by a hospital because resources will be dedicated to buying capital equipment.

• Helping the customer understand the consequences of inaction. It’s very common to go through a sales cycle and find out at the end that the customer decides that doing nothing is preferred course of action. Sometimes this happens for good reasons – like the customer decides they are not ready to make a purchase or the resources required aren’t available. In other cases, they don’t want to deal with the disruption that the purchase might bring. Here you can sometimes beat the competition by helping the customer see the consequences of inaction.

In the end, if you are going to beat the completion in an undifferentiated market you must distinguish yourself by how you sell, not just by want you sell. You have to be the competitive advantage.

In today’s new economy, we’ve become information hounds. We demand information at all times. We want to be educated. We want to be taught. We want to be motivated. We want to be inspired. We want to be entertained. We want to be challenged. We scour the internet looking for information and with it the people that can help us do our jobs, raise our children, improve our relationships, help our pets, make more money — make our life better.

We have become intolerant of the lack of information and have little time for those people or companies who don’t or won’t provide the value we expect when it comes to information.

Understanding this, those who deliver on this value proposition, the creators of information will be the winners in the 21st-century.

Everyone who is serious about success needs to create content. It’s really that simple.

Content creation will be a success force multiplier in the new economy. If you want to accelerate your path to the top, creating content is the key. Content builds your intellectual repository, a bank for your ideas and insight. It’s where and how you establish credibility for what you know and can do. Without content, you’re digitally obscure and that’s suicide.

Meet Ann Handley

Ann is the queen of content creation. She’s a Wall Street Journal best-selling author and the Chief Content Officer of Marketing Profs.   Ann has been named by Forbes as one of the most influential woman in social media and as one of the top 20 woman bloggers. Do you see the pattern? You’re gettin’ now. Uh? Ann is a badass when it comes to content creation.

What I love about Ann, no surprise, is her incredible writing style and contagious personality. Ann has an uncanny, ability to get people to believe in their capacity to write. Her writing is fluid, funny, engaging and easily connects with the readers.  Ann gets you to think you can take over the world, and for those who are struggling to create content, this is EXACTLY what you need to feel.

This excerpt from her book Everyone Writes is great.

. . . the two kinds of people are not the haves and the hapless. Instead, they are those who think they can write and those who think they can’t. (And, too often, they both are wrong!)

Ann is fantastic at helping people embrace the power and importance of creating content.

Although Ann’s strength is writing, she is great at understanding how content inspires people to action and can teach you how to use all the mediums of content development; podcasting, video/YouTube, blogging, ebooks, and more.

Creating content is a requirement in the new economy. The 21st-century will not be kind to those (individuals or companies) who are unable or unwilling to share their knowledge, wisdom and insight via content. Learning how to create compelling content is critical and Ann Handley is one of the best teachers you can have.

Ann can make you a better content creator

As you inevitably embrace the cold dark truth, that you must become a content creator Ann is quickly going to become your best friend. Ann will be your guide, your virutal handbook, your sage and your creative mentor.

Read her books:

1. Everybody Writes
2. Content Rules

Check out Ann’s website:

• Ann Handley.com

Read Ann’s blog:

There are no “cobbler’s children” going on here. Ann drops mad content and writing wisdom on her blog that will help you stay on track, know what the track is and soon lay your own track for others.  While you’re at it be sure to sign up for her Newsletter as well.  Get all the content goodness you can sent right to your inbox.

• Ann’s blog

Follow Ann on social;

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. Instagram
4. Pinterest

And be sure to check out her company MarketingProfs

I graduated H.S. after 5 years with a 1.6. GPA.  My grammar sucks. (As you can see.) I took me until I was 42 to finally get my college degree. Yet, today I write for Forbes. This blog has been named a Top Sales and Marketing Top 50 Sale Blog for 4 years straight. My book is quickly becoming a must have for 2016.  If you would have told my H.S. teachers this was my future they would have all laughed and asked what your were smoking. Yet, it is my world.

My point, Ann is right!!!

Anyone can become a writer or content creator. They just have to commit. Go for it and follow Anne, she’ll get you there!

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The Taught Leader series is a weekly series highlighting those who exemplify the tools and skills discussed in my new book Not Taught. 

Each week I highlight a different chapter and share the killer stories and examples of the people who have become experts in a particular area. I provide readers with all the wonderful goodness these early adopters and 21st-century success stories have to offer. The goal, to help you learn the new rules to success and crush it in the 21st-century.

What, you haven’t read Not Taught? Then get it here. Hurry up, you’re already late.

 

 

Requesting appropriate fees speaks to the value placed on your work. But in order for others to value your work, the process starts with you. It begins by establishing credibility and trust prior to ever placing anything on the market.

By building credibility first you are then able to sell value.

Social Media

Whether you are selling to a single entrepreneur or a corporation, everyone takes their own work and ideas seriously. Research the person with whom you are about to meet, and the executive team too, should one exist. Research the popular social media sites in order to gain personal insight about each person prior to meeting.

Profiles usually indicate what the individual holds to be most important to them. Next, glance through their postings and tweets for improved understanding.

Website

Click every tab on the client-to-be website. Take note of what catches your attention. Your notes become the best conversation starters once you advance passed the introductory small talk.

Read up on the industry represented and how the company rates among their competitors. Next, read up on the top competitors in the industry. For added knowledge, compare the competitive company clientele list with that of the company you are about to visit.

First Impression

Your homework done ahead of time empowers your conversation. Trust and credibility are quickly built. Once this is accomplished, you will have the right formula for building a well-recognized personal brand.

One of the initial rewards for having done your homework is that your conversation becomes friendlier. The process will put you far ahead of your own competitors. On occasion, you will be instructed on how to win the business because your prospective clientele enjoys speaking with you.

Poor Entrepreneurial Example

In the early stage of entrepreneurship, it was expected that services be given away for free in order to build credibility. But there comes a point in time when no one can afford to continue down this path.

Have you reached your limit of giving services away for free?

Sell Value

Frequently it is the lack of self-confidence that is called into question. Review past accomplishments and list them. If you are active on social media, review the nice comments received. What is the common thread for all of these? Focus on the commonality to build talking points for your clientele. Marketing pieces may be created around these as well. This becomes your grassroots branding program at its best.

Setting a fee for services also requires research. You will need to decide if you wish to be at the top of the scale, mid-way, or at the bottom. There is an emotional tie in all of this. Imagine yourself at a department store first drooling over the expensive designer section and then timidly walking over to the reduced pricing section.

Where you would like your services to appear – designer or reduced?

The way in which to build credibility, that produces referrals and testimonials, is to charge a fee that is fair to all (including yourself) and deliver on and possibly beyond the expectations of your clientele.

As long as you produce highly credible information, outstanding customer care, and exceed expectations, you will produce a clientele that sees the value in your work.

The best news is you will have developed a returning and referring clientele known as the Smooth Sale!

Your internal team may not have time to create the content you need to drive a successful digital marketing campaign, and that’s okay! Digital marketing is such a diverse and complex field that leaning on a professional writer makes sense for creating consistent, high quality, and economical content that helps you turn a profit.

But have you ever received content that was just left of the mark? Maybe it was written beautifully, well-researched, and on time, but it didn’t quite match what you had in mind. These pieces of content aren’t wrong, but they’re not as productive as they could be for your purposes. You can get spot-on content every time you place an order by providing the information writers need to hit the bullseye.

Think Content Development First

When you begin working with an outside team, a contract writer, or a new in-house writer, take some time to talk strategy. There was a time when any content was beneficial for SEO. Today, everyone from small family practices to large, multi-national corporations produces some form of content. They write blogs, develop product descriptions for Amazon, and try to earn the spotlight in industry-related publications. Without targeted content, you might spend money on articles that fade away in 24 hours instead of helping you reach your goals. Ask yourself:

• What is the purpose of this content or campaign? Beyond adding value, think about what you’re trying to accomplish. You may want to primarily inform an audience about your company’s offerings or background. You may want to earn a following connecting you to a certain cause (e.g. the (RED) campaign that so many companies support each December). Having a clear focus will help you direct the content development process, and it provides a performance indicator you can use to measure success.

• Who makes up your primary audience? Tap into your marketing personas and start thinking about your ideal customers. Create well-rounded lists of what those people find important in life beyond your product offering. These types of idea maps will facilitate the creation of multi-dimensional content that resonates. Don’t stop with “established professionals looking for x, y, and z.” Use statements like, “established professionals who value high quality work in x, y, and z but who also appreciate letting their hair down on the weekends.” Appeal to the person, not just the consumer profile.

• Where can I find fresh ideas? Go beyond your marketing team or consultant, and tap into your company’s natural intellectual capital. Talk to sales reps, customer support specialists, and accountants. Everyone who interfaces with clients will have a different perspective, which may provide valuable insight for content.

While you can use big data to really focus in on creating targeted content that drives results, taking a little time to flesh out campaign directionality goes a long way. You know more about what your audience wants to read than you think. Write down everything to keep your strategy focused.

Voicing Your Needs

Next, you need to get your content desires across to your writing team. Professional writers can create content with little direction, but it may not be optimized for SEO or your target market. More information is infinitely better than less. Here are the tips you need to get results:

• Your writer doesn’t automatically know your angle. You have a vision for a piece of content. However, your writer may not know your perspective or much about your company, for that matter. An excellent website “about” section and further guidance from you can help launch writers with the right voice, style, and mission. If you don’t have an effective “about” section, commission or write one ASAP.

• Spend more time on initial assignments. Once a writer or writing team has a feel for your style, you can grant more freedom with subject matter. However, initial assignments will make or break your relationship with a writer. Give him or her the tools needed to succeed. Fill out voice documents and company profiles, and include a list of topics or angles. Guidelines produce results.

• Always ask for pitches. Writers tend to be high achievers and feel terrible when they miss the mark. Pitches provide a way for both parties to get on the same page before writing a commissioned piece. Some companies prefer to offer their own pitches and resources, while others provide writers with the freedom to create. Either way can be a wonderful launch pad.

• Create a scope. Many clients get into a groove with a writing team. They want X number of pieces per month for blogs or certain publications. Some leave the topics up to the writers. If you commission several topics per week or month, you may want to help writers expand their scope in an industry-appropriate way.

Some niche industries only have so much readily-available research information. Offer links or publication names to help them generate new ideas, create guidelines for when it is and isn’t okay to recycle old content, and list some tangential fields that add value to your target market. For instance, a recipe blog may expand into table décor, foodie technology, and local restaurants.

• Communicate as needed. You’re a busy professional, which is why you’re relying on a writer to help you develop highly relevant content. However, communicating clearly is an essential skill for commissioning effective material.

Phone calls are helpful for understanding content campaigns, but following up with an email provides hard guidelines that won’t get overlooked. If you don’t have time to list out your needs in an email, ask your client representative to email a review of the assignment request for your approval. This additional communication will prevent errors.

Professional writers offer value in the form of well-researched pieces at a fast turnaround rate for an affordable price. If we do our jobs right, you should see more engagement and online traffic to support your business goals. Make sure your company gets the best value possible with strong communication from the beginning of each project.

Many of us who have been in B2B marketing for some time know that marketing has been undervalued or plain neglected in a majority of small and mid-sized companies. As Doug Davidoff of Imagine Business Development points out: “as recently as five years ago, it was not unusual for me to meet with companies that were several hundred million in revenue who had no marketing department or focus whatsoever.”

Marketing was seen in some quarters as just a pretty face, a cost center responsible for advertising, PR, white papers, tradeshows, and other unquantifiable expenses. Marketing was staff, not line, so not a revenue generator, and so not particularly powerful.

How things have changed! Now marketing is rapidly emerging as the engine of the company, touching all aspects of the B2B business. In this blog, we will discuss four major trends that are causing this dramatic shift:

1. Emergence of SAAS business model
2. Value of Internet as a research platform
3. Customer success becoming an integral part of Sales, and
4. Consumerization of B2B

Let us examine each of these trends in detail. As will be shown, these trends are interrelated, but each one deserves to be evaluated on its own merit.

1. The emergence of the SAAS business model

B2B business used to be all about selling large one-time deals. Once the deal was done, the vendor wasn’t very concerned about the new customer for many years. Because of the large deal sizes, this process necessitated the involvement of certain key people for the successful closure of the deal:

• Top-level executives from the prospect’s side, with the authority to sign off on a big purchase
• A heavy-hitter sales person from the vendor, with the authority to negotiate, to see the deal through

Lots of these deals happened even though the end users of the prospect had many concerns, but the final decision maker was influential enough or powerful enough to make the deal happen.

The emergence of software as a service – SAAS – has changed that dynamic. To begin with, the deal sizes have shrunk dramatically because of the inherent economics of SAAS model. It’s a subscription model, and that customer typically pays only one year’s worth of subscription at a time. The shrinkage in deal size and resulting lower visibility reduced the necessity of the top-level exec and the heavy-hitter salesperson. (Has this contributed to the demise of the business lunch? Just speculating.)

This in return gave more bandwidth (and more seats in the room) for the opinion of the customer company’s rank-and-file in the decision process. More people get to weigh in and are heard. To accommodate this new sales framework, vendor businesses found they need to inform and empower multiple customer stakeholders (end users and decision makers), which marketing is uniquely equipped to do. This need for more communication ensured the ascendancy of marketing in businesses.

2. The role of the Internet as the research platform

Before the advent of the Internet, it fell to sales team to educate a prospect on the benefits of the product or service they were offering. Now with the Internet widespread and as necessary as air, it has impact on the buying process as well. “Today’s buyers might be anywhere from two-thirds to 90% of the way through their journey before they reach out to a vendor,” according to Lori Wizdo, a principal analyst of Forrester Research.

Ms. Wizdo’s insight is corroborated by other studies. According to a report by CEB and Google, “Today’s business buyers do not contact suppliers directly until 57% of the purchase process is complete.”

The result of the buyer’s self-education: sales has a smaller, shorter role to play. Traditional sales efforts have been reduced by more than half. Consequently, it has fallen to marketing to educate and nurture that potential customer, while that purchaser is doing the research as part of their buying process.

This requires marketing to create a variety of content targeting different stakeholders and knowledge levels – content including blogs, eBooks, webinars, calculators, and more. Once developed, the content needs to be deployed intelligently through the company website and other channels, and of course, through a marketing automation platform.

Thus the emergence of the Internet medium ensured the ascendancy of marketing as a business engine.

3. The growing importance of Customer Success

As mentioned before, the focus of B2B in earlier times was to sell the “big deal,” with lower (if any) focus on whether the customer successfully implemented and adopted the new product.

In the new SAAS model, the vendor has to take more responsibility in working with the customer so that this buyer first successfully adopts the product, and then takes full advantage of the functionalities offered. (Anything less and that customer is likely to cancel the service mid-stream). While traditional customer support continues to play an active role in this adoption, marketing’s role as a primary communications agent has expanded to educate and empower the customer at various functional levels.

A related requirement of the SAAS model has been to develop communities of customers so that they can learn from each other and derive more value (while also reducing reliance on customer support). Marketing does very well both online and offline in organizing and maintaining customer forums. Just think of the roaring success of Salesforce’s “Dreamforce” annual conference, which continues to be the standard bearer for such initiatives.

4. The consumerization of B2B

We are also experiencing an ongoing merger of media landscapes of consumer and business. B2B spending is on the ascendancy on Facebook and Instagram, which provide alternate, consumer-focused channels to reach B2B decision makers and stakeholders. It’s a new way to prospect within a company or within a community. Marketing is uniquely equipped to identify and deploy such channels, and to help sales with company-approved messaging.

To understand how central marketing can be to a business, one needs only to look at a typical B2C company, particularly an eCommerce business. In such a company (Amazon or Zappos, for example), marketing assumes the role of sales as well as traditional marketing. Thanks to highly attributable channels like Google PPC and affiliate partners, these companies can connect the dots directly between marketing investment and revenue.

Many SAAS companies, especially those with low price points, have moved closer to a marketing-only model. They’ve lowered the emphasis on sales – indicating that the consumerization of B2B business is here to stay.

Conclusion

All these trends and their implications illustrate clearly that we are moving to a golden age for marketing and marketers, as marketing is increasingly seen as a business engine for managing change and driving revenue.

Marketers should see this as an opportunity, embrace the challenge, and go for the risks and rewards associated with it.

For more information on the new expanded roles of marketing, take a look at the comprehensive study from Gleanster and Act-On – Rethinking the Role of Marketing in B2B Customer Engagement, to learn how how top companies are taking control of the full customer lifecycle with new metrics, technology, and a refined focus.