Rnordman

Early last year I wrote a post about the The Joy of Coaching Top Performers, and just recently an individual who I worked with in the past came back and basically insisted that we resume his coaching. I tried to respectfully decline because I felt like I’ve shared everything I could with him over the couple stints of working together, but this top dog would not take “no” for an answer.

Honestly, the whole exchange with this guy made me smile. It only further highlighted the dramatic differences between rock star high performers and most average salespeople. So many times when I’m brought into a company or facilitating a workshop, it’s typically the middle-of-the-pack guys who are quick to make the case that I probably can’t help them because I don’t know their business. These are also the same guys who try to avoid meeting with me 1:1, or who won’t reveal too much when management forces coaching upon them. Compare this — at best skeptical, and at worst hostile — attitude toward coaching with that of top producers I’m privileged to coach. Like this client who insisted on reengaging me, top producers not only seek out coaching, but they’re the most transparent, the hardest on themselves, and the most insistent that you be brutally honest with them. They beg you to be tough; they take advantage of every second you’re with them looking for constructive criticism, your best ideas, and the best practices of other reps.

Oh, and have I mentioned this other common behavior of top-producers? They regularly send me sales reports or screen shots of their company sales team rankings! They’re uber competitive and obsessed with coming out on top. The real reason the client mentioned above reengaged with me is because he had slipped to Number Two in his very large division’s sales rankings. That’s right. Number Two of hundreds of reps. For him, that. was. not. good. enough. Even better, because he wanted to get off to a fast start, he asked for some pre-work because he was headed off to some exotic place for his company’s annual award trip which would prevent us from restarting coaching as fast as he’d like.

Before I even share some of the “work” I assigned this guy, may I be so bold and ask many of you reading this who wish you were top sales producers how closely your attitude and approach to your job resembles the guy I’m describing to you?  I hear a lot of wishful talk about wanting to improve, but let’s be honest. It’s pretty darn rare to find someone with both the attitude and commitment to improve. Talk about improving is one thing, but action and commitment is another altogether!

Here are some of the questions I planted in this top-producer’s head to help get his mind right and on track to retaking the Number One position in his division:

• Looking back at your big wins over the past couple years, who made the decision? How tied in were you to various stakeholders? How many contacts were you working? What won the deal for you, and how can we apply that to opportunities you’re currently pursuing?
• How solid is your current target account list?  Are we darn sure we are pursuing the right accounts?  Can we separate out a handful of giant dream prospects from the batch — those that deserve special focus — so we can put a special plan of attack against them?
• Heading into the second half of your fiscal year, what truly are you three or four highest-value activities that must dominate your calendar? Do not answer this lightly. You have to know with absolute confidence which activities will most move the revenue needle. Then we have to ensure that you spend 90% of your work hours laser-locked solely on those activities.
• You are too nice and too low-maintenance. How can you make your company better support you and your sales effort? What else can we get them to do for you? Is their some admin or marketing support they can contribute? Is there some special treatment that top-producers should be getting or that other guys get that maybe you haven’t asked for?
• In the past we’ve worked hard on powering-up your presentations. But maybe we can do better discovery work and come across as more consultative and more of a value-creator by asking tougher, deeper, more penetrating questions of key contacts at your prospects? Is it time to sharpen your probing questions to help you be more provocative and more effective earlier in the sales process?
• Lastly, what hasn’t been working that you need to stop doing. And/or, what low-payoff activities have been sucking your time? If you are going to get to Number One, you’ve got to say no to more things and lighten your load, allowing you to run faster and focus on moving the needle. That means getting out of the crap that slows you down and distracts you.

I hope you’re challenged reading about the drive and attitude of this sales rock star and these questions I asked to get his mind right and our coaching off to a fast start.

Later this week, I’ll have a post for you recapping highlights of the 12-Week Sales Manager Survival Series my friend Dave Brock and I did for OpenView Labs. You won’t want to miss that!

The word “no” is used a lot by liars trying to cover up their tracks. According to a former FBI counterintelligence agent, the way someone says it can truly reveal their deceptive behavior.

Read more...

Earlier this week, the price hike of a critical, 62-year-old drug threw many people into a flurry of outrage.

The drug at the center of the controversy is Daraprim, which treats people with parasitic infections. Overnight, it went from costing $13.50 to $750 per pill.

The hike caught the attention of Hillary Clinton and several others, sparking a congressional investigation and serving as the example for Clinton's drug pricing plan. After the hike, the 32-year-old CEO of the company that owns the drug's US marketing rights, Martin Shkreli, announced to ABC World News that he would lower the price, although he wouldn't specify by how much.

But Daraprim wasn't the first drug to suddenly see its price inflated — or even the first time Shkreli has done this — and it certainly won't be the last.

Here are some of the other drugs that shot up in price after being acquired by another company:

RELATED: This isn't the first time the CEO who jacked up the price of a drug by 5,000% has tried this

UP NEXT: Here are the world's sharpest young minds on how to test for Ebola, treat cancer, and solve the food crisis

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Animated map shows how European languages evolved and spread

Knowing the stage of your buyer — and the best way to reach them — is crucial to your sales process. Whether you’re at the prospecting phase or the closing end, each step requires attention to detail and personalization.

In today’s sales tips video below, SalesLoft Account Executive William Bond and Sales Development Team Lead Mitch Touart share their tips on how to match your sales process with the buyer’s stage, and the best ways to get in front of them.

You wouldn’t start talking about weddings on a first date, right? Just as you do in any social interaction, you should always recognize the stage of the buyer’s process and match that stage to your sales steps. William’s advice on aligning your messaging in your sales process will help both parties stay on track and lead to stronger conversions.

Establishing your messaging is important, but knowing how to creatively reach your buyer is another common challenge in the sales process that Mitch addresses. By stepping outside of your comfort zone (i.e. LinkedIn) and using other platforms (i.e. Twitter and CrunchBase) to prospect, you’re more likely to get in front of those interested buyers.

These guys are experts at finding ways to perfect each and every step of the sales process. And they’re committed to providing your sales development team with the knowledge they need to become an efficient and specialized customer acquisition machine. Stay tuned for more sales tips from our SDR veterans!

The post Match Your Message to Your Buyer, A Sales Tips Video appeared first on SalesLoft.

Your best brand representatives are your happy clients. Receiving good referrals from them can multiply the number of quality leads coming your way. According to a study by Ascend2, 50% of B2B marketers say that client referrals are the most efficient lead generation strategy.

Even better, customers who come through referrals are the most likely to convert compared to those who come in through other channels. Specifically, customer referrals generate a 3.63% conversion rate. (Source) Compare this to 1.55% of websites, 1.47% of social media and 0.99% of paid search.

So how do you create and sustain an effective client referral strategy? Here are a few tips that will help.

1. Be referable

Before you start looking for B2B referrals from your clients, ask yourself whether you actually deserve it. Are your past and current customers happy with your service delivery? Look at your business from a client’s perspective and see whether you would recommend it to others. If you are not so sure that your customers would refer you to others, it is time to make a few changes. Focus on customer satisfaction through efficient service delivery and excellent customer service.

2. Ask for referrals

Many businesses tend to ignore this obvious client referral strategy. By simply asking your customers, you will be surprised to discover how many are willing to recommend you and were just waiting for an opportunity. According to a study by Advisor Impact, 83% of satisfied customers are very willing to recommend you.

Whether you ask them through email, on your website or in person, the most important thing is to be simple and clear about your request. You also need to choose the right time to ask. Just after a successful transaction with a customer, you are highly likely to get a good referral. You can even do it in the midst of service delivery.

3. Make it extremely easy for clients

Most of your happy clients would readily refer you; they just do not know how to go about it. Your work is to make it easy for them. For example, send them a form with simple and clear questions that they can answer. Examples include, “Why us?” and “How do you rate us?”. If the referral is done on your website, make it easy to locate and fill being careful not to ask for too many personal details or lengthy answers. Additionally, give them clear instructions on how to refer you on review sites such as Yelp and on social media.

4. Refer clients to them

Consider reciprocating some of the good that your B2B clients have brought your way. If you know a client who would benefit from their products or services, do not hesitate to refer them to your customer.

5. Keep reminding them

Do not ask for referrals once and then forget about it, it is important to keep reminding your clients to recommend you. The best way to do this without bugging them is by making the reminder a fixture of your newsletters or emails. You can also remind them each time you complete a transaction.

By increasing the amount of B2B referrals you get from clients, you will be surprised at the drastic and immediate positive change to your bottom line. Finally, do not forget to say thank you each time you get a referral.

Sweden is one of the Europe's biggest countries for technology startups. It's home to giant billion-dollar companies, video game studios, and small startups working on some big ideas.

We ranked some of Sweden's best technology companies according to how big they are, how unique their technology is, and the amount of funding raised.

10. Truecaller can be used to figure out who's calling you.

What it is: Truecaller is an app that helps users to screen and block unwanted calls. The platform has a global directory of millions of numbers, so there's a good chance it can identify who's calling — like your bank or a telemarketer — even if that number isn't stored in your phonebook. 

You can also search for phone numbers on Truecaller's platform and see the top reported spam numbers in your area. 

The company raised $60 million (£39 million) in 2014 from investors including Atomico and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. 

Total amount raised: $80.1 million (£52.1 million)

Headcount: 148

9. SoundCloud is a popular music streaming site.

What it is: Europe loves its streaming sites and SoundCloud is in the forefront of that. Started in Sweden in 2007, SoundCloud has become the go-to place for DJs and musicians to share their latest music. SoundCloud has moved its head office to Berlin and currently has over 400 employees. It has embarked upon an ambitious plan to monetise, introducing premium accounts and deals with major record labels.

There were reports in May that Twitter and SoundCloud were in talks about a possible acquisition to create a music feature on Twitter, but it doesn't look like those conversations ever amounted to anything. 

Total amount raised: $123.3 million (£80.3 million)

Headcount: 478

8. The Pirate Bay is a well-known file-sharing site.

What it is: The Pirate Bay, founded in 2003 by a group of Swedish men who believed content should be free, has become one of the world's most well-known illegal filesharing websites.

Though the site was shut down for several months earlier this year for copyright infringement, we considered it on this list because it has changed the way people consume media. 

Users can browse the site to find pirated movies, music, TV shows, and books, and then find torrent links to download the files. The site earns money through advertising on its pages.

The site is now run by new, anonymous owners that are not connected with The Pirate Bay's original creators. 

Total amount raised: Unknown

Headcount: Unknown

Did you know that 8 out of 10 people will read your blog post headline but only 2 out of 10 will bother to click on it and read your content?

I looked at the most cutting edge research and combined it to create an infographic detailing exactly what constitutes a killer headline.

Infographic source: Jadite Inc

So here’s my take on what makes headlines irresistible.

1. Negative Superlatives

According to Outbrain.com, headlines with negative superlatives get a higher CTR than headlines with positive superlatives. They analyzed approximately 65, 000 paid link titles that ran in their network between April and July of 2012.

My Take:

So I did my own little research…

I typed two different phrases on Google: “25 things you should stop doing now that you’re 25” vs. “25 things you should start doing now that you’re 25”.

I decided to go with the first two results that came up on Google since one was a positive headline and the other was a negative one. And the two posts were from the same blog…, which was great because I could make a real comparison.

I used Buzzsumo to see which of the two posts got the most shares. And this is what I found…

As you can see, the title “25 things you should start doing now that you’re 25” got 13.4k shares on social media.

And the post with the title “25 things you’re too old for now that you’re 25” got 41.2k shares on social media.

So why do positive headlines seem to perform poorly compared to negative ones?

Well, there are a few theories on why this might be:

• Positive superlatives have been overused so people don’t really care to click on headlines with words like “best”, “always”, etc.
• Negative headlines activate the element of surprise. For instance, it’s unexpected to come across a blog post that talks about what you should STOP doing once you turn 25. So when you come across such a title you’re more intrigued to click on it.
• Negative words make people curious. When you see a headline stating you should STOP doing these things when you turn 25, you’ll click on it because you want to find out if there’s something you’re doing that you should stop doing.

2. Odd Numbers

Outbrain analyzed over 150, 000 titles and found that titles with odd numbers had a 20% higher click through rate than headlines with even numbers.

My Take:

To find out how true this was, I once again went to Google. This time, I typed “20 ways to open a beer bottle”

Three results came up but the first one was a video. So I decided to go with the second and third post.

As you can see, “20 ways to open a beer bottle” got fewer social media shares than “21 ways to open a beer bottle”. This is despite the fact that the posts ranked differently on Google.

This discovery led me to one interesting conclusion….

Traffic from social media does not necessarily influence your rankings on Google. Clearly, the Buzzfeed post had plenty of shares but still ranked lower than the Popular Mechanics post, which had less than 100 shares on social media.

3. Brackets

Hubspot analyzed over 3 million headlines and found using brackets in headlines increased CTR by up to 38%.

The reason why brackets make such a huge difference is that they give people a “sneak preview” into your post. So if your post is a free eBook, an infographic or a case study, let people know before they click on it.

My Take:

So which headline are you more likely to click on between these two?

“The leading causes of divorce in America” or “The leading causes of divorce in America [A case study]”?

4. Violent Language

Startupmoon.com reviewed posts from over 100 blogs and they found something interesting.

They discovered titles that made use of certain words or patterns were among the top 20% of search engine results. Titles with words like “War”, “fear”, “kill””, “deadly”, “dark,” “bleeding”, etc. got more shares.

And by the way, their research was on tech blogs so the posts didn’t contain any information related to bleeding, war or killings.

My Take:

I used Buzzsumo to find out if using violent language actually increased CTR and social media shares.

I compared two headlines…

“Great blog post ideas” and “killer blog post ideas”.

And these were the results…

Results for “great blog post ideas”

Results for “killer blog post ideas”

From this information it’s clear that violent language in headlines seems to entice people to click and share posts.

5. Big numbers

Headlines with bigger numbers do better because numbers add drama and specificity to a headline. It’s even better if you put a number at the beginning of a headline instead of at the end.

My Take:

So I typed into Google “websites that pay you to write”…

I analyzed these two posts using Buzzsumo and these were the results:

As you can see, these two blog posts are from the same website and there’s a huge difference between the number of social media shares each one got.

The post with the biggest number in its headline got a lot more shares than the other one, which proves that the bigger the number in your headline, the higher the CTR.

6. Bold claims

Ripenn analyzed 2,616 headlines from websites known to elicit clicks. They analyzed websites like Wimp, ViralNova, UpWorthy and Buzzfeed and found they didn’t shy away from making bold claims in their titles.

My Take:

I decided to find out if any of these sites made any bold claims in their titles and if they did, were they getting as much buzz as Ripenn claimed? So I chose to go with Buzzfeed.

And here’s what I found:

The first post on Buzzfeed got over 2 million shares. The bold claim in their headline was “Make you re-evaluate your entire existence…”.  The second post got 1.4 million shares and its bold claim was “things you know only if you’ve been best friends…”. So bold claims do increase CTR.

7. Action words

Danzarrella.com analyzed over 200, 000 links containing tweets and found that tweets which had more adverbs and verbs had higher CTRs than tweets which had nouns and adjectives.

My Take:

Titles aren’t the best place to place a bold call to action. If you want great results, your call to action has to be discreet or implied. Viral sites have discovered a way to use action words in their headlines without putting off their readers.

Below is an example of what wimp.com has done with some of their most shared posts in the past year. Note how they use the word “watch” as their discreet call to action in their headlines.

What Do You Think?

Now that you know what makes an irresistible headline, don’t forget that great content also counts. You can grab your readers’ attention with your killer headline but if your content stinks, you stand a slim chance of keeping them around.

If you think I’ve left out a key ingredient that makes headlines irresistible, let me know in the comment section below.

P.S. If you got something from this post, feel free to share it.

This article was originally posted at Jadite Inc.

C-Suite executives are known for pulling in a pretty penny. But as it turns out, doctors make even more.

That's right: On average, those sporting scrubs and stethoscopes bring home fatter paychecks than those donning suits and ties, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates survey.

The survey, which reflects May 2014 salary and employment data gathered from more than 1 million businesses, found that 16 of the nation's top 30 highest-paying occupations are in the medical field.

The best-paying job of all: anesthesiologist.

On average, anesthesiologists in the US earn an average annual salary of $246,320.

According to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, these medical doctors are responsible for the safety and well being of patients before, during, and after surgery. In the US, they're required to complete a four-year undergraduate college degree, four years of medical school, and a four-year anesthesiology residency program. Most anesthesiologists become board certified, and many complete an additional fellowship year of specialty training.

A 2014 physician compensation report by Medscape found that nearly 80% of anesthesiologists spend 40 hours or more per week with patients.

Here are the 30 highest-paying jobs in the US:

SEE ALSO: 27 jobs to avoid if you hate stress

30. Physicists

Mean annual pay: $117,300

Number of people who hold this job in the US: 16,790

Projected growth (2012 - 2022): 10%

29. Pharmacists

Mean annual pay: $118,470

Number of people who hold this job in the US: 290,780

Projected growth (2012 - 2022): 14%

28. Compensation and Benefits Managers

Mean annual pay: $118,670

Number of people who hold this job in the US: 16,380

Projected growth (2012 - 2022): 3%

Prospects are interested in your products. They’ve already interacted with your company by signing up for your email newsletter, accessing a free ebook, or tweeting at you on social media. You’ve been building trust, and you think your prospects are finally ready to make a purchase.

To ensure that prospects make that leap and become customers, you need to create content specifically for the bottom of the sales funnel. (highlight to tweet) This content aims to reassure prospects that they’re making the right purchasing decision and decreases the amount of risk involved in spending their money.

The following are four types of content you should produce and curate for customers at the bottom of your sales funnel.

Customer Testimonials on Product Pages

You can talk all you want about how great your company is, but consumers might not listen. Online reviews and testimonials from other customers are what will convince them to use a certain product or service.

According to a recent survey conducted by Bright Local, 88 percent of consumers have read reviews to find out the quality of a local business. Another survey by Bright Local revealed that 73 percent of consumers trust a business more when they see positive online reviews about it.

You should proudly display your customer reviews and testimonials on your various product pages. Here’s a great example from ModCloth, which shows customer reviews and ratings on every single one of their products. Allow customers to give you a star rating, as well as write their own thoughts about your products and company. These testimonials will speak for your company and demonstrate that you only sell quality products.

Detailed Product Reviews and Videos

A picture and a product description won’t suffice for many products. Customers want to see products in action and understand how they really work. Detailed product reviews and videos help customers envision themselves using your products and enjoying them.

Some excellent product reviews reside on the bidetsPLUS product pages. All the products they sell have accompanying videos to show prospects what it’s like to use them. ModCloth does the same thing by making videos that show their clothing on models. These videos bring the products to life and demonstrate their usefulness to prospects.

Most people are visual learners and can’t decide whether or not they’d like to purchase a product without first seeing a demonstrative video. If you’re selling a product that people are going to use on a daily basis, or one that is highly technological, a video is extremely crucial.

A Follow Up Email and Discount

Let’s say a prospect logged onto your website, put an item in his or her shopping cart, and then decided to abandon it for some reason. This may sound rare, but according to Shopify, 67.45 percent of shopping carts are abandoned before prospects have a chance to complete their sales. You need to track these carts, and then send emails to prospects offering deals on the items they abandoned.

On the Shopify site, you can check out examples of effective abandoned carts emails. One email sent by Nomad.com reminds a prospect about cables he abandoned in his cart, and then offers him a code for 15 percent off his purchase.

Prospects may hesitate before spending money on your product. However, if you’re there to remind them about it and sweeten the deal via email, they’re going to be more likely to reevaluate their decision.

FAQ Page Showing Your Company’s Policies

You need to include a frequently asked questions page on your website that shows your return and exchange policy, customer service contacts, and hours of operation. This will reassure customers that if there’s anything wrong with the product, they can get their money back or exchange it with ease.

For some inspiration, check out the FAQ page from Zappos.com. It’s comprehensive and goes over everything prospects need to know about payments, returns, how the company works, how to write reviews, and what to do if there are any issues.

Creating Your Bottom-of-the-Funnel Content

You’ve come so far. Now it’s time to close the deal. By creating these four types of content, you can rest assured that prospects are going to be more willing to make a purchase and become loyal customers.

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

Last month, Google announced the creation of its new parent company, Alphabet, which will house the Google we know along with lesser-known experiments like Calico and Google Fiber.

This isn’t news to you, but here’s what makes it interesting: If you were to search LinkedIn for “Google Alphabet”, you’d find a collection of articles written by CEOs, Presidents, and Ph.Ds. One titled “Google’s Alphabet in 2050 from A to Z” aims to predict future Google holdings. Another titled “Google’s Tragic Alphabet Soup”  discusses why this decision will kill Google’s brand value.

In fact, even under “In the News,” one of the top results is a Forbes op-ed:

Each of these pieces offers a different take on what Alphabet means for Google and our society, but half of them aren’t “news”—at least not in the traditional sense. Op-eds are becoming a main source of timely information for many consumers, giving inbound marketers more opportunities than ever before to lead discussions.

With the rise of brand newsrooms, obsession with content, and desire for social media engagement, op-eds on company blogs and sites have more potential than ever to deliver their particular take on any given topic to a news-hungry audience. The company op-ed also has the task of delivering news that is relevant to readers and the company itself—otherwise, it will be ignored.

Right in the Action

Let’s take a look at the article “Kim Jong Un Will Make You a Better Leader.” Written by TalentSmart President Dr. Travis Bradberry, the article uses the headline-making leader of North Korea (who is practically in the news on a weekly basis) to teach his readers how to be better leaders. For many, this intersection of news and content is both engaging and informative.

Another example comes from the controversy over Starbucks’ “Race Together” campaign to address race issues. This op-ed-style Harvard Business Review piece is at the top of Google’s search results. Meanwhile, Techonomy Media executive David Kirkpatrick asks his readers in a LinkedIn op-ed to be open to the idea that Starbucks is actually trying to do good.

What do all these stories have in common? They are all replacing traditional news. The first gives direct steps that readers can take, making it a form of “actionable news,” while the next two encourage readers to open up to different ways of looking at trending, newsworthy topics. None of these pieces were written by journalists or published in traditional newsrooms.

Everyone’s an Expert

Today’s brands know that advertising is no longer the future of selling. From banner blindness to ad blocks, recent history has shown that people don’t like being sold to.

Now, even the humble startup or SMB has the opportunity to voice its thoughts in a thoughtful and engaging manner. Content strategy is king, and the rise of brand newsrooms fills the need to provide audiences with relevant, trending information. This is what we blanket label “inbound marketing.” But that’s not entirely accurate, as it isn’t just marketing. More and more frequently, inbound marketing is actually replacing news. (highlight to tweet)

Take GE’s Newsroom, for example. In a recent Inc. article, Thomas Kellner of GE Reports explained that, with the myriad of businesses GE is involved in, it was necessary for leadership to unite them all under a single voice. So while the news topics in the GE Newsroom are varied, Kellner said they are each given a similar spin by focusing on GE’s core value of innovation.

Companies aren’t just targeting trending topics, either. Evergreen topics, or topics that are relevant to readers year-round, are a huge opportunity for brands to establish their authority. Purina’s homepage is full of articles on pet care, ranging from the basics of cat training to a dog breed selector. While there are links to view Purina products, the site gives the impression that selling is not their top priority (it still is).

Missing the Products, Missing the News

But op-eds are double-edged swords: If readers come to expect only actionable advice from their news, what happens to news that isn’t as applicable?

While it’s arguable that a clever copywriter or marketing campaign can make anything relevant, this will inevitably be easier with certain types of content and certain topics. Newsworthy stories will potentially be skipped in favor of “actionable news” that can be spun into a digestible lesson for readers. Anything un-actionable may be ignored.

On the other hand, a focus on relevant, news-related op-eds runs the risk of readers overlooking the branded source itself. In a recent BetaBoston article, Karen Guglielmo (content marketing strategist at Iron Mountain, Inc.) expressed these concerns. She explained that there seems to be a disconnect between her company’s created content and their return.

Which Side Are You On?

Each article on Alphabet tries to be unique and offer up a new angle, while also soft-selling a product or encouraging an action or specific line of thought. Readers will look to these “newsworthy” pieces for thought leadership, and read them just as if they were traditional news.

But what if the most relevant topic in an industry doesn’t serve the best interests of its businesses? What if popular opinion is against them? In other words, just how impartial can the branded op-ed really be?

Of course, one option for brands is just to say nothing. Another is to give the unfavorable topic a new spin. It can be argued that both these approaches would be no different from what traditional newsrooms do today.

But curiously enough, branded blogs and articles almost never face the kind of public outcry that, say, FOX News does. For readers, op-eds exist in a gray space between “the news” and “a good read” that makes them feel like they’re just listening in on a conversation, or even participating in a discussion. This makes it easier to overlook the author’s bias; perhaps it even justifies the bias.

So what does all this mean for news? Won’t readers ultimately seek out news from leaders that share the same opinions as they do and ignore everything else? Will people actively seek differing opinions?

In fact, a recent study conducted by the Media Insight Project examined how Millennials get their news, and their findings seem to support this. 85% percent of respondents said that keeping up with the news was important to them. The study explained the material consumed is a mix of lifestyle news, hard news, and “news you can use.”

Furthermore, 86% of respondents said they see diverse opinions through social media. What’s more intriguing is that of these respondents, three-quarters claim to seek opinions that are different from their own. While the potential of self-selecting news is present, it seems that Millennials are open to searching for other opinions.

Time Will Tell

Of course, there’s always the possibility that the trend could reverse and audiences will simply return to content that aligns with their beliefs. Some may say that the op-ed is just one piece in a company’s overall content strategy, and that too much is expected of them.

Every business wants a loyal audience, and every influencer wants their opinions heard. While today’s digital environment make this more possible than ever before, it’s important to remind thought leaders and brands that, whether they like it or not, they are now in the business of reporting the news.

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

It’s easy to stand out as a tourist when you don’t follow the social norms of a country’s culture. Beyond that, there are some seemingly harmless habits that can actually get you in a bit more trouble. Smarter Travel runs down eleven weird laws in other countries that tourists should know about.

Read more...

Child care policy is a key policy battleground in the current federal election. Into this fray comes a new research paper evaluating the long-term impact of Quebec’s low-cost child care program on things such as the health of teenagers and even how much they fall afoul of the law.

This research comes from the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass., which published a new working paper this week by me, Michael Baker from the University of Toronto, and Jonathan Gruber from MIT.  What economists call “working papers” are not peer-reviewed, but are posted online so that others can offer feedback on the completed drafts. In today’s fast-paced, Internet-based world, controversial working papers sometimes capture immediate attention, and this new child care paper did just that.

The study found: “a lasting negative impact on the non-cognitive skills of exposed children, but no consistent impact on their cognitive skills. At older ages, program exposure is associated with worsened health and life satisfaction, and increased rates of criminal activity. Increases in aggression and hyperactivity are concentrated in boys, as is the rise in the crime rates.”

In 1960s Michigan, a famous randomized experiment took 123 preschool kids from disadvantaged backgrounds and randomly assigned around half of them to a high-quality child care program, with the rest of the kids getting nothing. The Perry Preschool program was the “Cadillac” of child care: a new learning-based curriculum with four experienced elementary-school teachers for 20 to 25 preschool kids, and also featured weekly home visits to each family to involve the parents directly. The Perry Preschool experiment has been followed now for nearly 50 years, spawning a large number of long-run evaluations comparing the 58 kids in the program to the 65 kids who were randomized to receive nothing.

The research on Perry Preschool uncovered important long-run improvements in the life of kids who were randomized into the program. Earnings are higher, females are more likely to attend college, and males are less likely to get in trouble with the law. Most important, recent findings from Nobel Prize-winner James Heckman identify non-cognitive skills (such as not disrupting the classroom or being aggressive or other forms of externalizing behaviour) as being the driving factor behind the Perry Preschool success story. Better non-cognitive skills led to better life outcomes for the Perry Preschool kids.

Now we can fast-forward to Quebec in the 1990s. Quebec introduced a $5/day universal child care program in 1997, phasing it in fully by 2000. In the next decade, three independent research teams evaluated this Quebec program by comparing Quebecers before and after the program was introduced to residents of other provinces.

In peer-reviewed studies, all three research teams reached similar conclusions. My own team (with Baker and Gruber) found that the subsidized care in Quebec led to a big boost in women working, but had a negative impact on many non-cognitive aspects, such as aggression. Steve Lehrer and Mike Kottelenberg found similar results, and showed that the results were driven by children who took up the child care in response to the policy. Finally, a Quebec-based team also found that the work-boosting impact of the program persisted through time.

Now for a quick methodology break, since that’s where our critics have focused their comments in recent days. When you’re trying to figure out the effect of a program, you can’t just compare the “takers” to the “non-takers.” Why? Because you mix up the true impact of the program with any background differences between the people who are “takers” and “non-takers.” We social scientists call that a self-selected sample, and we try to avoid it as much as we can.

One way to avoid self-selection problems is by taking the whole population of one region that experienced a policy change and comparing them to other similar regions. This so-called “natural experiment” approach has become an anchor of program evaluation in the social sciences. This method is akin to a full randomized experiment such as Perry Preschool, but on a larger scale. All three research teams studying the Quebec child care program used this method extensively, and published the findings in reputable academic journals.

The stage is now set for our new study. If better non-cognitive skills in Perry Preschool led to better life outcomes, what effect will the worsened non-cognitive skills in Quebec have for kids in the long run? The new research tries to find out. We show that the change in non-cognitive skills uncovered in the first wave of studies persisted to school age. This is just like the result of the Perry Preschool program, but in the opposite direction. Then, looking at kids in their teens, we find indicators of health and life satisfaction got worse, along with teens being in more trouble with the law.

The implications of these findings for policy? If the evidence is correct, the case is even stronger for building the best possible environments for developing early-life skills for kids. When the environments are strong, Perry Preschool tells us at-risk kids get a big boost. When those skills are weakened, the new research suggests the kids are doing worse. Rather than finger-pointing, I’d much rather the debate move toward how best to improve the quality of kids’ early-life environments.

As with any study, there are conditions and caveats. In particular, this working paper has not undergone peer review and some problems may be uncovered as scholars kick and prod the results to see if they hold up. Also, we may just be seeing a transitional impact as the program went through its growth, or the negative impact may disappear at still-older ages when we have more data. The new research is not the first and, we hope, not the last word on this important topic; more research always helps to refine what we know.

But, the evidence is mounting that a renewed focus on making sure kids’ early-life environments build skills is fruitful for the long run. Which exact aspect of the early-life environment will achieve that goal? I don’t know. But the new research reinforces the idea that the absence or presence of stronger early-life skills is an important determinant of later-life success. Myself, I think more kids are helped by investigating whether the Quebec program is improving early-life skills rather than just assuming it does.

Kevin Milligan has contributed to policy discussions with officials from all three major parties, most recently as an outside economic adviser to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. These discussion did not include childcare policy. A full disclosure statement is here.

The post Want to help kids? Build skills instead of pointing fingers. appeared first on Macleans.ca.

A Burrowing Owl rests outside a geothermal power plant in Imperial County, CA on April 18, 2015. The Salton Sea serves as a refuge for a variety of wildlife. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Getty Images)

University of Victoria biologist Julia Baum and her colleagues didn’t intend to lambaste the Harper government in the middle of an election for failures to protect Canadian fish from extinction, but if the coincidental timing of their just-published study calls attention to a devastating environmental calamity, so much the better. After all, nothing in the election campaign so far would suggest that wildlife in Canada and around the world is disappearing faster than at any time in human history. The pace of species loss—about 1,000 times faster than the natural rate, say scientists—now rivals the “great extinctions” of the distant past, such as the last one that obliterated the dinosaurs. But, as party leaders make speech after speech promising millions for this and millions for that, even the global threat of climate change warrants barely a mention. No wonder the growing number of vanishing fish, mammals and other species just hasn’t come up.

What’s odd is that Canada is supposed to be an international leader in wildlife conservation. More than two decades ago, the country became the first industrialized nation to sign the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (UNCBD) to halt the disappearance of the world’s wildlife by 2020. Canada is the permanent host of the convention’s international secretariat in Montreal and, in 2010, it joined almost 200 other signatory countries in Aichi, Japan, to set benchmarks. But, with just five years to the 2020 deadline, conservationists and researchers warn that the Harper government is nowhere close to meeting its key targets for protecting species or setting aside conservation lands.

Take marine fish, for instance. Rather than helping the 62 fish declared at risk of extinction by its own expert panel, since 2003, the government has denied protection or ignored three-quarters of them, says Baum, co-author of the just-released report in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. And it’s not just fish. Simon Fraser University’s Arne Mooers, a professor of biodiversity and evolution, worries that the government now habitually uses a loophole in the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), one that sets no timeline for sending its expert committee conclusions to cabinet, so it can avoid listing a species as “at risk” and triggering legal protection. The minister of the environment, says Mooers, “can simply sit on the recommendations and ignore them.” Since 2011, none of the 67 species recommended for listing by the expert panel (and without previous protection under the law ) have been listed—except for three bats whose emergency listing as endangered was demanded by the government of Nova Scotia. Currently, 713 wildlife species in Canada are recognized as at risk by the expert panel, but 192 of them are without legal protection after the federal government has either denied them official listing or—as is increasingly the case—simply not made a decision.

Not that wildlife is any further ahead if it finally is listed. In a recent paper in the journal PLOS ONE, Memorial University biologist Brett Favaro and colleagues found SARA’s legal protection and mandated recovery efforts have done little good since the law was passed in 2003. “Eighty-six per cent of species in Canada that were in the system [and assessed more than once by the government’s arm’s-length expert panel] either deteriorated or stayed at the same level of endangerment,” he says. No surprise, says Baum, since the government can take between three and four years to prepare its (routinely late) species-recovery plans. Cutbacks to science, and the end of habitat protection in the Fisheries Act and the Navigable Protection Act (formerly the Navigable Waters Protection Act) hasn’t helped either, says Mooers.

The government’s UNCBD targets also promise to set aside large tracts of wildlife habitat, but that pledge looks hopeless, too. A July report by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), for instance, says Canada’s commitment to protect 17 per cent of its land and water for wildlife by 2020 is a long shot, considering just 10 per cent is protected now (far less than most other signatory countries). “We’re not on track to get there,” says Alison Woodley, national director of CPAWS’s parks program. At the current pace, “it will take us more than 50 years to get to the 17 per cent, not five.” And while the government promises protection for 10 per cent of marine and coastal areas, little more than one per cent is protected currently, and most remains vulnerable to fishing and development.

No one from Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq’s office or Environment Canada responded to interview requests from Maclean’s for this story. Instead, a written statement explained that “the Government of Canada is committed to protecting species at risk while supporting responsible development in Canada’s natural resource sectors.” It pointed to, among other things, 2014’s National Conservation Plan, which provides $252 million over five years to (mainly) protect more wildlife areas. However, calculations by University of British Columbia scientist Sarah Otto suggest the investment might add another 0.1 per cent to the nation’s protected land, at best. “It is very difficult to know what the National Conservation Plan is supposed to achieve,” says Woodley of CPAWS, “because there isn’t really a plan there.”

Nor—in the haze of campaign-trail dust—is a viable alternative especially clear. Liberal and NDP environment critics were not available for interviews before publication. The Liberal election platform does address conservation, committing to Canada’s UNCBD promise on protected land and marine areas. There are also pledges to return $40 million to ocean science previously cut by the Conservatives and to “review” changes to the Fisheries Act, among other laws. From its website, the NDP appears to focus on climate change and energy and their impact on the environment.

The Green party’s environment critic, Andrew Park, did respond to the request for an interview. “The issue of biodiversity conservation has surfaced not at all during this election campaign,” says Park, who describes his party as policy-ready but otherwise unable to get the issue to the election table. “It’s a slow-motion crisis that’s largely taking place under the radar of the average Canadian.”

Many global targets agreed to in Aichi face long odds halfway to the 2020 deadline. But for Canada, says Mooers, it should be easy. We’re home to the world’s longest coastline, 20 per cent of its wild forests and nearly a quarter of its wetlands. “Canada was the leading champion of the convention on biodiversity,” says Mooers. “This is one where we should really be leading the world.”

The post In this election, conservation has become a dirty word appeared first on Macleans.ca.

Building a strategic content distribution plan with measurable results against your unique business objectives is a tall marching order. It begins with a foundational understanding of the digital environment in which you compete: who your audience is and where they spend their time; who their influencers are, where they publish and why; and how to amplify your efforts through the strategic use and development of your own advocate communities.

Sound a bit overwhelming? That’s because it is. Or, at least it can be, if you let it.

When putting a puzzle together, which is what a personalized comprehensive strategy will feel like, it helps to occasionally look at the picture on the outside of the box for perspective. Keep this in mind as we explore and answer the question, “Why invest in a strategic content distribution plan?”

Knowledge is [Em]Power[ing]

Peter Drucker’s “Age of Discontinuity” is said to have first coined the term “The Knowledge Economy.” Opening U.S. trade borders with the 1993 signing of NAFTA caused a surge in the shift of textile and other low-wage, low-skill industrial jobs. Politicians and economists of the day popularized the term “knowledge workers” by emphasizing the importance of increasing technical education to meet the coming demand for a more skilled workforce.

Today, according to Silicon Valley Techflash, “the competition for tech talent has never been more fierce,” emphasizing the explosion of generally free access to knowledge. Mobile phones are now pocket-sized computers more powerful than the vintage super computer of 1969, the year “Age of Discontinuity” was first published and NASA “placed two astronauts on the moon.” As a result, there is a glut of published knowledge online, and most of it is generally accessible to all. So how does one stand out in such a crowded environment?

Do More Than Paper the Town

In her 2014 article, “Beware Parochial Content Marketing,” Rebecca Lieb declares, “Smart marketers know… that the best content begins with a strategy. Not with a channel.”

Papering the town in the 60’s meant posting fliers or posters on buildings, fences and utility poles to affordably increase awareness of an upcoming event such as a concert or festival.

In 2015, papering the web with your content is just as ineffective. People see it, but it doesn’t fuel excitement or sell tickets or goods unless some secret sauce causes it to go viral and become the talk of the town. That’s so rare and unreliable that many people believe that when it happens, it’s pure luck.

What Smart Marketers Ask

The first objective of a strategic plan is determining exactly what to be strategic about. But what really goes into a content distribution plan that provides measurable results?

In his “2015 Digital Marketing Pricing Guide,” author and content strategist (and Relevance contributor) Jason Falls points out that “no marketing effort is optimally efficient without some degree of market research.” Market research, then, is one of the first steps in developing a solid strategic content distribution plan.

An MBA student will tell you that research requires you to know the management dilemma, the right information to pursue, and the right hierarchy or structure of questions to develop. So for content distribution, this is the beginning of your strategic planning:

1. Who are your customers? (I’ll assume we all already know the answer to this one)
2. Where do your customers spend face time?
3. Why and what other benefits do they gain in the same location?
4. If they spend time in multiple channels, what is the context of each?
5. Who are your customers’ influencers?
6. Where and how do those influencers publish to attract an audience?
7. Why and what tools do they use to streamline their effectiveness?

As this discussion is around distribution, the question of where seems one of the most important. However, as you can see, there are relevant related topics so, as we’ve glanced at the outside of the puzzle box together, keep that picture in front of you as we work through this plan. Remember, this is not the era you grew up in, even if you’re a millennial.

We’re Just Getting Started

Stay tuned and work diligently with me through this. It is the same process I’ve used successfully for more than 100 clients over my career, and the same I am using for ALPFA as their Chief Branding Officer.

As we near the completion of this six-part series, I’ll ask for submissions of your in-process plans. I will then select a winner who will receive a three-hour strategic planning review session with me (either remotely or onsite, depending on availability and other factors).

In the meantime, be sure to ask questions in the comments, send me a message via LinkedIn, and be alerted to the next articles in the series by joining my sharing community here.

Up Next: Measurable Impact = Reliable Business Results

SHENZHEN, China (AP) — In China's factories, the robots are rising.

For decades, manufacturers employed waves of young migrant workers from China's countryside to work at countless factories in coastal provinces, churning out cheap toys, clothing and electronics that helped power the country's economic ascent.

Now, factories are rapidly replacing those workers with automation, a pivot that's encouraged by rising wages and new official directives aimed at helping the country move away from low-cost manufacturing as the supply of young, pliant workers shrinks.

It's part of a broader overhaul of the economy as China seeks to vault into the ranks of wealthy nations. But it comes as the country's growth slows amid tepid global demand that's adding pressure on tens of thousands of manufacturers.

With costs rising and profits shrinking, Chinese manufacturers "will all need to face the fact that only by successfully transitioning from the current labor-oriented mode to more automated manufacturing will they be able to survive in the next few years," said Jan Zhang, an automation expert at IHS Technology in Shanghai.

Shenzhen Rapoo Technology Co. is among the companies at ground zero of this transformation. At its factory in the southern Chinese industrial boomtown of Shenzhen, orange robot arms work alongside human operators assembling computer mice and keyboards.

"What we are doing here is a revolution" in Chinese manufacturing, said Pboll Deng, Rapoo's deputy general manager.

The company began its push into automation five years ago. Rapoo installed 80 robots made by Sweden's ABB Ltd. to assemble mice, keyboards and their sub-components. The robots allowed the company to save $1.6 million each year and trim its workforce to less than 1,000 from a peak of more than 3,000 in 2010.

Such upgrading underscores the grand plans China's communist leaders have for industrial robotics. President Xi Jinping called in a speech last year for a "robot revolution" in a nod to automation's vital role in raising productivity.

Authorities have announced measures such as subsidies and tax incentives over the past three years to encourage industrial automation as well as development of a homegrown robotics industry.

Some provinces have set up their own "Man for Machine" programs aimed at replacing workers with robots.

Guangdong, a manufacturing heartland in southern China, said in March it would invest 943 billion yuan ($148 billion) to encourage nearly 2,000 large manufacturers to buy robots, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Guangzhou, the provincial capital, aims to have 80 percent of manufacturing automated by 2020.

A relentless surge in wages is adding impetus to the automation revolution. China relied on a seemingly endless supply of cheap labor for decades to power its economic expansion. That equation is changing as the country's working age population stops growing and more Chinese graduate from university, resulting in a dwindling supply of unskilled workers, annual double-digit percentage increases in the minimum wage and rising labor unrest.

Deng said Rapoo's wage bill rising 15-20 percent a year was one big factor driving its use of robots.

"Frontline workers, their turnover rate is really high. More and people are unwilling to do repetitive jobs. So these two issues put the manufacturing industry in China under huge pressure," he said.

China's auto industry was the trailblazer for automation, but other industries are rapidly adopting the technology as robots become smaller, cheaper and easier to use. It now only takes on average 1.3 years for an industrial robot in China to pay back its investment, down from 11.8 years in 2008, according to Goldman Sachs.

Companies such as electronics maker TCL Corp. are using robots to produce higher-value goods. At one factory in Shenzhen, TCL uses 978 machines to produce flat screen TV panels. At another TCL plant in Hefei, near Shanghai, steel refrigerator frames are bent into shape before being plucked by a blue Yasakawa robot arm that stacks them in neat rows for further assembly.

Fridges and big washing machines have heavy internal components, so "if you use automated robots to make them, they also let you cut your labor intensity by a lot," said TCL Chairman Tomson Li.

China held the title of world's biggest market for industrial robots for the second straight year in 2014, with sales rising by more than half to 56,000, out of a total of 224,000 sold globally, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

There's plenty more room for explosive sales growth. China has about 30 robots for every 10,000 factory workers compared with 437 in South Korea and 152 in the United States. The global average is 62. Beijing wants China's number to rise to 100 by 2020.

The switch to robots has raised fears that it will contribute to slowing job though there are few signs that's happening yet.

Deng said Rapoo hasn't had to resort to layoffs. Rather, the company is just not replacing workers who quit.

"It's not simply replacing the operation of workers by robot. We do more than that. We are making a robot platform" in which humans and machines work together to make production more flexible, he said.

On a recent tour of Rapoo's factory, Deng pointed out the efficiencies.

As a conveyor belt carried circuit boards out of an industrial soldering machine, a robot arm removed them from metal jigs and placed them on another belt. Human workers typically do this job in other factories, Deng said, but turnover is high because of the heat and repetitiveness.

In a glass-walled room, robots assembled receivers for wireless mice, tasks that were previously done by 26 people, Deng said. Now, one or two humans supervise as a laser automatically fuses shut metal USB plug housings, four at a time, while steps away, robot arms slide the plugs into plastic sleeves.

Automation means "accuracy can still remain very high and there are seldom failures for the robots," said Deng.

Boosting quality also helps China's companies achieve another national goal of shedding their reputation as shoddy, low cost producers to compete with global rivals.

Automation will allow Chinese factories to grab a bigger share of industries where accuracy and precision are crucial, such as aerospace, medical devices and optical components, said Derick Louie, of the Hong Kong Productivity Council.

Makers of toys and other low-profit consumer goods, however, "probably will have to move outside of China due to rising labor costs and environmental taxation," he said.

Join the conversation about this story »

Who doesn’t love new stuff? Whether it’s news, gossip, or the latest fashion trend – we all want a piece of the action. FOMO (fear of missing out), it seems, is very real and not just some strange social media slang. No one likes feeling left out, so we do our best to be in the know on all the new things happening around us.

But do you sometimes get tired of catching up to all the hype?

On the subject of content marketing, for instance, I often find myself reading and enjoying the more comprehensive older posts more than I do the new, rehashed ones from syndicate sites. It’s not that I don’t find the new ideas awesome – it’s usually because older (or evergreen posts) tend to have a better grasp of the topics I care to know about.

Example: Entering “how to write great content” on Google search displays several results from posts dated 2012 or 2013 (a few may be older, as they don’t have a time stamp). In digital marketing, that’s considered “old content” because updates are so common in the field, that what we know today may not apply tomorrow.

Still, why are these older articles trending when they are years behind?

The answer is evergreen

As content marketers, we all know why these results appear – that type of content is “evergreen.” In other words, these posts are about ideas that hardly change with the passing of time and, thus, are always relevant, especially to beginners.

In content marketing, for instance, samples of evergreen content topics would be “common questions about blogging,” “top online resources for creating content,” or “where to find great content ideas.”

I like to compare evergreen posts to the foundations of a house. You may put up new wallpaper, patch up the roof, or even change the tiles on the floor – but rarely do you need to change the foundation of the house.

For those who don’t have an evergreen content strategy, it’s never too late to begin. While industry pros may enjoy your expert articles, at some point a newbie will come along and you’ll be disappointed because you don’t have any content to help him out.

Now I’m not going to tell you how to write evergreen content, as there are plenty of great articles for that. Instead, I’m going to show you how to make evergreen content work effectively.

1. Make sure evergreen content is comprehensive

What does all evergreen content have in common? The articles are typically longer. If you study the best evergreen content by top digital marketers, such as posts by Brian Dean and Neil Patel, you will see why more words is a better plan. They allow you to:

• Elaborate on the subject
• Insert more semantic keywords, which is great for SEO purposes
• Include more reliable resources that you can later use for outreach campaigns
• Have the ultimate guide, FAQ, or resource on the topic

Even people who don’t like to read will be drawn to your content as long as you keep the following things in mind:

• Usefulness (Can readers take action immediately?)
• Clarity (Did you properly outline your thoughts?)
• Tone (Is your writing tone friendly, approachable, and full of expert advice?)
• Shareability (Can they easily bookmark or save your work in their favorite social media sites or apps?)

TIP: You don’t need to make it longer unless your content requires it. For instance, there are plenty of evergreen articles about how to grow a rosebush. Unless you tell your personal biography or use fillers, you’re not going to end up with 2,500 words.

TIP: Using shorter URLs can help users better remember your evergreen content. They look cleaner. If they’re done well, they also give the gist of your article before users open the page.

2. Don’t forget to update

One of the best things about going evergreen is that there’s always something new. For instance, after publishing your how-to-grow-a-rosebush guide a year ago, you discover a better alternative to the suggested mulch. Simply scratch out the dated content and update with the new information, and voila – your content is as good as new again.

In fact, updates on evergreen content serve two awesome purposes. They are good:

• For readers who seek current information
• For SEO because Google counts content freshness as a ranking factor

Updating also gives you the chance to scan your content again for links that are outdated or missing. We all know how 404 errors can slow loading speed; checking on the links once in awhile will ensure you provide quality posts all year round.

TIP: When you update, don’t forget to inform users with a date stamp. Now, some may not use them, but having an “updated on” date is useful for letting people know that you are constantly providing current information.

3. Market on the right social media platforms

Creating evergreen articles is only half the battle. Sure, you may have the most amazing comprehensive guide on how to take care of rosebushes, but if nobody knows it’s still there, how can they read it?

You’re all familiar with promoting on social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, but how about sites that are evergreen-friendly? One of those evergreen promotional sites is your blog.

Make sure visitors have a chance to see your evergreen content by putting direct links to it on your most popular posts. Another great way to lead readers to your evergreen content is to incorporate them as related articles after viewers have read something on a similar topic.

TIP: Use social media channels that don’t drive on trending topics like Twitter and Facebook do.

Promoting on Pinterest and Google Plus could help boost the rankings of your evergreen posts. They tend to have longer shelf life because their users care more about relevancy than freshness. Hence, that’s the reason why you see Pins from 2010 appear.

To ensure that folks on Pinterest care about photos from your evergreen content, use images that are:

• Stunning or original (preferably resized to ideal Pinterest dimensions)
• Infographics because they are both lovely and educational
• Step-by-step image instructions

Don’t forget to include your URL and a clear description of your photo’s subject.

Google+ made evergreen content promotion a lot easier when it introduced Google+ Collections, a feature that lets users gather related posts under just one URL. With every Google+ Collection, you can neatly organize all the topics you have written for your blog (from the start) and other relevant topics you have posted in your feeds. Because every collection has a unique URL, you can use it for a source, forum, answers on Q-and-A sites, a Twitter chat resource, or as a link for new social media updates. It’s easy, convenient, and looks great.

On LinkedIn, you can showcase your evergreen content by way of syndication. After posting your article on your own site, wait about two weeks or more (until it gets indexed) then you can publish it on your LinkedIn profile. Just remember these three rules:

• Avoid copying and pasting the original text. Alter a bit by adding a different introduction, changing a few words, etc.
• Make sure to link back to the original article (you can even post a teaser and link to the full article on your website).
• Promote only on relevant groups to target your real audiences.

4. Offer downloadable goodies along with your evergreen content

Who doesn’t like free stuff? Let’s face it: Although a lot of people love comprehensive guides, they often don’t have the time to read all that content. Often, they bookmark it to read later, or scan it and go straight to the bullet points.

That’s why evergreen content needs to be flexible. Text and pictures are great; but let’s offer something more, not only to entice audiences to read your stuff, but to ensure they love it so much they want to share it.

The secret? Freebies in the form of downloadable content or TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) designation.

Say you have a 1,500-word guide on how to take care of rosebushes. While some gardeners will sit down and enjoy it, others want to go straight to their gardens and try your suggestions. Be ready for this kind of readers by having a ready-to-download-and-print file for their convenience.

Brian Dean of Backlinko does an awesome job with this strategy for his comprehensive posts.

Another method to add value to your evergreen content is to solve the potential TL;DR challenge. Create either an infographic or a slideshow to showcase the main points of your evergreen content, emphasizing the most helpful points for your audience. Share the abbreviated content with other slide- or infographic-sharing sites, which is truly ideal to spread the message of your evergreen content. Although adding these elements takes more time, they are well worth the effort because your TL;DR audience will appreciate the gesture.

BONUS TIP: Make sure your evergreen content is mobile-friendly.

According to 2015 statistics, about 97% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 use their mobile devices to access the web. If you don’t know the basics of going mobile, it’s never too late to begin. After all, Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm updates in real time, so you can enjoy its benefits the minute you switch to responsive content. If you host your evergreen articles on a different website, make sure it’s mobile-friendly. Otherwise, that’s a lot of lost traffic opportunity.

Conclusion

Trends may change, but some ideas always remain relevant. Investing time and effort into creating awesome evergreen content will surely pay off in the long run. Besides, we were all once beginners looking for basic information. Why not return the favor and share your skills with those who are just starting out in the industry?

Want to get more guidance on finding the content marketing tactics to put your business on the path to success? Check out CMI’s guide to Building the Perfect Content Marketing Mix: Execution Tactics.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 4 Practical Tips to Win With Evergreen Content appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

Volkswagen's share price seems to have reached its lowest ebb, after a 35% drop on Monday and Tuesday.

But the emission scandal that has engulfed VW is far from over — and far from limited to just the German car maker.

In the aftermath of the revelation that VW's was juicing the emission figures for its diesel cars, analyst have been trying to work out just how badly it will hit the company and Europe's car manufacturing industry more widely.

The answer? Very badly. 

To recap: the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Friday that 500,000 vehicles on US roads that had initially passed emissions tests were actually in violation, after more rigorous real-world tests.

It's since emerged that this happened because of a clever piece of software that could identify when it was being tested and reduce harmful exhaust so it looked like the cars met requirements

Speculation began over the financial hit the company could take, with a potential fine running to $18 billion (£11.76 billion). 

But the problems go further than just fines, say analysts, and won't even end with VW — every major auto maker in Europe will feel the pain.

In fact, they already are. While Volkswagen lost a third of its value in recent days, the Euro Stoxx 600 automobiles & parts index has dropped 10%, signalling that there is something of concern about the whole industry:

Bernstein researchers Max Warburton, Yu-Yu Lin, Robin Zhu and Gavin Kennedy called Volkswagen "the Lance Armstrong of Automakers," a veiled jab at the doping scandal that engulfed professional cycling. 

In a September 20 note, Bernstein interviewed an ex-EPA emissions export, who told them he didn't know if other firms would face the same issues: "I would hate to accuse another OEM of any wrong doing without some justification."

But he added: "I am quite sure, however, that other German OEMs' products will be looked at using Portable Emissions Analyzers on the road. There’s blood in the water."

In a follow-up note on September 22, Bernstein said there's a serious risk that not only would VW be found to have been doing something similar in Europe, but that "the whole industry is likely to face a rapid increase in test standards, intensity, and enforcement," leading to lower profitability. 

The good news for VW is analysts seem to agree that there's far less risk of a massive fine, simply because the US regulators are much more clear that what the company has done is completely forbidden. 

In the words of Bernstein's researchers: "The ambiguity of the European rules suggests to us that even if VW were found to have used complex software to 'cheat' the tests, it would be difficult to fine the company."

But the reputational damage and scrutiny from angry regulators is likely to be severe.

Even without the US's regulatory infrastructure, European ministers have been climbing over each other to express their outrage. Barclays researchers summed up some of the reactions:

• "France: Environment Minister Segolene Royal has announced a comprehensive investigation as to whether VW bypassed regulations in France"
• "Italy: Environmental Minister Gian Luca Galettii has asked VW for evidence that it has not tampered with its Italian-sold cars – and has said that otherwise it should recall the vehicles and stop selling them in Italy."
• "UK: Transport Secretary Patrick McLaughlin has called for an EU-wide investigation."

What almost everyone agrees on is that regardless of what happens with European fines, the regulatory regime is about to get tightened severely. The "real world" tests that tripped up VW will become EU-standard in 2017, and there will undoubtedly be political pressure to make them as stringent as possible.

European auto manufacturers have invested billions in the image of and technology behind diesel cars, and this scandal risks unraveling a huge amount of that. The idea of "clean diesel" may become as tarnished as the idea of responsible financial capitalism was after 2008.

In fact, what's about to happen to the auto industry may be similar to what happened to banks in the post-financial crisis era. Difficulty finding growth markets, a pile of additional regulation, and constant reputational concern about the industry will all drag on performance for years.

A research note from Deutsche Bank's auto analysts shows how damaging the effect of additional regulation could be on the company, and by extension every other auto manufacturer with a similar structure:

We think the impact on the operational business – namely volumes, residual values, pricing and costs — is even harder to estimate and is the key concern here. A main element of our buy case had been significant cost cuts. We now believe that rising costs for diesel cars will offset most of the effects. Most importantly, we have taken a more cautious stance on the growth outlook for VW and Audi and believe pricing will come under pressure due to the reputational damage.

The scandal is just the latest headwind for the auto industry, particularly in Germany. Companies like VW found growth in China during the stagnant post-crisis years in the west, but frothy expectations for that expansion are rapidly cooling. Some economists think in the years ahead China will be unable to grow much faster than 3-4% per year, as little as a third of the rate it often recorded before the crisis.

Without Chinese consumers driving sales, and with a huge crackdown from regulators around the world, Europe's car makers could be facing a brutal few years ahead.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is what separates the Excel masters from the wannabes

We’ve all heard the numbers: between 35 billion and 220 billion devices hooked up to the Internet of Things (IoT) by 2020; $1.4 trillion USD in annual sales. The pace of progress is dizzying. Competition frenzied. Opportunities unlimited. And bumps in the road are already showing up.

Approximately 30-40 percent of consumers trying to install home automation run into problems, and it’s twice that rate for first-timers. The majority of all consumer electronics returned for refund are in perfect working order – the devices were just too hard to install or use – and, to top it off, the demand for home automation actually dropped in the first six months of 2015.

The good news? A revised approach to support can stop that backlash. To do so, support has to move away from waiting for things to break and then fixing them, and morph into helping consumers realize value from their technology purchases.

We’ve identified five specific “imperatives” to help the metamorphosis:

1. Provide support throughout the customer’s entire experience of the product
2. Design the product with support in mind
3. Make support a natural part of product usage, not a separate experience
4. Provide contextual guided assistance to both support personnel and customers
5. Gather data aggressively and optimize continually, on both the service and the product sides

For a full description of each of these, I invite you to download Support.com’s IoT white paper, “New Rules for a New World: Five Support Imperatives That Can Save the Internet of Things.”

Lee Gruenfeld is Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at Support.com, makers of Nexus® cloud software that optimizes support for professionals and self-service users. He is responsible for long-range technology and service strategies, including the company’s IoT positioning.

Copyright © 2015 Support.com, Inc. Support.com, the Support.com logo and Nexus are trademarks or registered trademarks of Support.com, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Sponsored post: 5 ways that support can save the IoT originally published by Gigaom, © copyright 2015.

Continue reading…

I had not considered how much I take predictions—large and small—for granted, until I opened Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. Philip Tetlock’s new book explores prediction as an acquired skill, not a birthright bestowed upon a lucky few. Superforecasting is a natural byproduct of Tetlock’s Good Judgment Project, an ongoing research project-cum-contest in which participants are filtered through series of tests that help draw conclusions about what makes the best forecasters, or superforecasters, as the project calls them. One outcome of GJP seems to be that Tetlock and his team have made a great deal of measurable progress toward finding out what makes a good forecaster, even such that GJP forecasters have frequently outperformed intelligence agents with access to classified information. I would like those skill please, so I continued reading.

Throughout Superforecasting, Tetlock and co-author Dan Gardner steadily unveil the ideal characteristics of a good forecast and those traits that make up a superforecaster. One case the book cites is the US Intelligence Community’s misjudgment of Iraq and that country’s possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Blowing through one of the most fundamental of Tetlock’s points—to welcome uncertainty in a high-stakes decision or recommendation—the IC concluded plainly to the public that Iraq had WMDs.

The eventually obvious fact that Iraq did not actually have WMDs draws Tetlock to another key point, and really the keystone of Superforecasting and the work of GJP: carefully analyzing the outcomes or predictions and adjusting future forecasts based on what was measured. Connecting the Iraq WMD debacle to the birth of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, Tetlock contrasts the old IC “thinking”—thinking in which bad forecasts were more often criticized with political rather than constructive motives—with newer thinking dedicated to learning from previous forecasts in hope of making more accurate forecasts in the future.

In another chapter, Tetlock demonstrates how exchanging obviously unknowable questions for smaller, hopefully easier questions can allow a forecaster to suss out at least partial knowledge to the greater question. He cites the physicist Enrico Fermi’s question to his students: how many piano tuners are there in Chicago? The question, especially at the time when Fermi posed it to his students, was seemingly impossible—there was no stored means by which to simply “look up” this answer (e.g. the internet). But what Tetlock shows (and he credits Dr. Daniel Levitin’s earlier presentation of the same Fermi question) is that this seemingly unknowable question actually contains many sub-questions for which answers can be found. There do still remain unknowable pieces and Tetlock makes “black-box” guesses at those. But even the black-box guesses at the smaller questions are much more likely to be close to the mark than would be a black-box guess at the big question. With the small questions answered, Tetlock then pieces the big question back together to conclude there are sixty-three tuners in Chicago—not far from Levitin’s own eighty-three.

Later in the book, Tetlock touches on something that should underscore many professions—a person’s view of his or her own abilities and a receptiveness to growth. He cites psychologist Carol Dweck’s “growth mindset,” the belief that a person’s abilities are subject to effort. Looking at the growth mindset and how it might benefit forecasters, Tetlock delves into the importance of objective measuring and adjustment after a forecast.

In 1988, when the Soviet Union was implementing major reforms that had people wondering about its future, I asked experts to estimate how likely it was that the Communist Party would lose its monopoly on power in the Soviet Union in the next five years. In 1991 the world watched in shock as the Soviet Union disintegrated. So in 1992-93 I returned to the experts, reminded them of the question in 1988, and asked them to recall their estimates. On average, the experts recalled a number 31% higher than the correct figure. [...] There was even a case in which an expert who pegged the probability at 20% recalled it as 70%.

Hindsight bias is an inevitable part of remembering events when no objective measurement of an event is there to remind us what really happened. Tetlock’s recommendation, then, is rigorous language in making forecasts and an objective eye when measuring the accuracy of a forecast.

On the surface, Superforecasting is an extremely useful list of qualities and practices that Tetlock and the Good Judgment Project have identified as essential to good forecasting. True to his tendency toward optimistic skepticism, Tetlock is always pushing the reader toward his or her own skepticism, and providing plenty of good case material to hopefully convince us of the value in these pages. The flap-copy predicts Superforecasting is “destined to become a modern classic.” Thanks to his own book, I don’t have to wonder what Tetlock would think of such a forecast.

Technology waits for no one, as the saying goes. That’s especially true in sales these days. New tools and technologies are changing how buyers buy and causing companies to change their delivery and sales models. Fail to adapt, and companies can expect to see sales go to competitors that do change.

Just because a prospect answers their phone doesn't automatically mean the salesperson will get a chance to engage them in conversation. Buyers are busy people, and this is why reps often kick off their calls by asking, "Is this a bad time to talk?" or "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

With this question, salespeople seek to demonstrate respect for the prospect's time and be sensitive to their schedules. These are noble motives. However, while the question might achieve these favorable ends, it also results in a less favorable outcome: It shoots the rep in the foot.

Starting off a connect call with "is this a bad time?" creates a plethora of problems that kill the sale out of the gate. Here are the top seven reasons reps should never ask this seemingly innocent question.

1) You're stating the obvious.

A sales call is by definition an interruption in the buyer's day. So let me ask you: When's the best time for an interruption? Exactly.

Salespeople don't need to ask if it's a bad time to talk, because it most assuredly is. Professionals at all levels of seniority and in every industry are busier than ever before, and they certainly don't have time to answer obvious, useless questions.

Stating the obvious can only stand to annoy prospects. Not to mention that ...

2) You're making the prospect think about their workload.

Sometimes you're not really aware of a certain situation or feeling until someone calls your attention to it. For instance, have you ever forgotten to eat lunch, only to realize your hunger when a coworker commented on your growling stomach? Suddenly you can't get to a sandwich shop fast enough.

Similarly, when a salesperson asks a prospect "Is this a good time?" the rep calls the buyer's attention to their (likely massive) workload. Now having reflected on all the tasks they have in front of them, the buyer truthfully answers, "No, it's not. I have a ton to get done!"

Needless to say, a packed agenda is not a good place to direct your buyer's focus when you're trying to earn a minute of their time.

3) Everyone asks it.

To get a prospect to buy from you and not a competitor, salespeople need to stand out. They need to make it clear that the experience the buyer will get with their company will be drastically different -- and better -- than what the prospect will go through elsewhere.

But what happens when a rep starts a buyer conversation with "Is this a bad time?" The buyer thinks, "Ugh, another salesperson. Let's see how fast I can end this call ... "

If you want to sound like every other salesperson your buyer has ever spoken to, by all means, check to see if it's a bad time. If not, ditch this overused question.

4) You're wasting the opportunity.

As I mentioned above, there's really no good time for an unplanned interruption. On the other hand, there are absolutely terrible times for an unplanned interruption. And when buyers absolutely, positively can't answer their phone? They don't.

So the very fact that the prospect picked up the phone means they could talk for a bit if they felt the interruption was worthwhile. But if you ask if it's a bad time right off the bat, they'll likely say "No," and the crack in the door slams shut.

5) You're putting buyers on the defensive.

You might think asking, "Is this a bad time to talk?" empowers the buyer by allowing them to choose whether or not they'd like to engage with you. However, it actually puts prospects on the defensive.

Think about it: By asking about the businessperson's time, it automatically implies that you'd like to take some. Uh oh. You've just encouraged the prospect to protect their limited hours ... by hanging up on you immediately.

6) You broadcast insecurity.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" ultimately seeks permission from the prospect to continue speaking. While seeking permission is sometimes a good thing for salespeople to do, it can also communicate insecurity. And who wants to buy something from someone who doesn't seem sure of themselves?

Some sales reps also ask this question as an easy way to let themselves off the hook. It's a fair assumption that the prospect will say, "Yes, it is a bad time," and the call will end. And that's a perfect outcome for a nervous rep who doesn't truly want to push through a prospecting call that will potentially end in rejection.

7) Buyers expect it.

According to sales trainer Jeff Hoffman, salespeople won't get anywhere on a prospecting call unless they find a way to disrupt the buyer's flow. In other words, if you start off with the traditional "sales-y" phrases buyers have been conditioned to tune out (such as, "How are you today?" "My name is X and I'm with Y," "I was wondering if you'd be interested in Z ", etc.), the call will end before it begins.

So with this in mind, perhaps the worst thing about the question "Is this a bad time?" is that buyers expect it. And when buyers expect a sales question, they're prepared to squash it without a second thought.

To prompt a second thought (and a third, and fourth), skip the stale sales questions buyers have heard time and again -- or better yet, flip them on their heads.

For instance, sales expert Colleen Francis recommends the following:

"It sounds like you're busy; are you sure this isn't a bad time?"

But won't that just serve to anger the prospect? Not necessarily.

"When it comes to receiving a sales call, it's always a bad time, so having the person who's making the call recognize this upfront is refreshing," Francis writes in a blog post. "And when you use this approach, two things will happen. First, your prospect will laugh or chuckle, and say 'It's always a bad time!' The laughter's important, because it shows you're building rapport. Second, they'll probably follow with 'but what's up?' or 'but what have you got?'"

Conversation started.

Time on a sales call is precious, so don't waste it by asking questions like "Is now a bad time?" Provide the prospect with something of value and you can turn the worst time into time well spent.

Sales qualification streamlines the process of turning potential buyers into serious prospects.

When done well, sales qualification reduces the time required to determine if you’re talking to the right person. Are they interested in what you’re offering? Is there a specific business challenge your product could help them overcome?

While it requires practice, great sales qualification is more than worth the effort. Ready to get started? We’ve got you covered with our ultimate guide to finding and keeping qualified sales leads.

• What is sales qualification?
• Why is sales qualification important?
• Sales Qualification Stages
• The Lead Qualification Process
• What is a qualifying question?
• What is a qualified prospect?
• Levels of Prospect Qualification
• When to Disqualify Prospects
• How to Qualify a Lead with Lead Qualification Frameworks

Without sales qualification, you’d probably talk to hundreds of leads a day — only to wind up with just one or two closed deals to show for your effort.

Sales qualification allows you to work smarter, not harder. This process is essential to any successful sales workflow. But why is it so crucial? Let’s take a look.

Why is sales qualification important?

Simply put, sales qualification is important to sales organizations because it significantly improves close ratios. Without sales qualifications, you risk pursuing leads who aren’t a good fit. They may have incompatible budgetary constraints or organizational challenges.

Sales qualification allows you to pursue the leads who are most likely to purchase the product, saving you time and energy.

Here are more reasons sales qualification is so important:

• You can move on when the lead isn’t qualified. You’ll then spend more time on the prospects who are more likely to buy.
• You can focus on a smaller, specific segment of buyers. You can then deliver a more personalized selling experience.
• You can learn the ins and outs of the buyer’s challenges and deliver a better solution.
• You can guarantee that most of your activities lead to a positive impact on revenue.
• You can create different sales qualification processes for different verticals and keep a list of pitches that still feel personalized.

Let’s say you try to sell your product to a lead you haven't qualified. If the product is a poor fit, the customer might return the product for a refund or go on a social media tirade.

By intentionally qualifying prospects through a discovery call, you can deliver a highly tailored solution that improves post-purchase satisfaction.

What does the sales qualification process look like as a whole? Let’s walk through that below.

Sales Qualification Stages

Stage 1: Create an ICP.

The first stage of sales qualification is creating an ideal customer profile (ICP). In other words, it’s about identifying the type of customers best suited to your product or solution.

For example, let’s say you sell a SaaS software tool that helps companies manage warehouse and inventory processes. Your ideal market might consist of brands with high inventory volumes and diverse supply chains.

Within an ICP, it’s also worth developing buyer personas that describe specific individuals within target organizations. These individuals are those with enough experience to understand business pain points and enough authority to make purchasing decisions.

The creation of an ICP is a collaborative process between sales, marketing, and product development teams. Creating an ICP requires effort from all departments. However, the end result streamlines sales qualification, making the exercise time well spent.

Stage 2: Identify key criteria.

Next, identify criteria for sales leads before they’re placed in the qualification pipe. This process helps eliminate leads that are less likely to convert from interest to investment.

Common qualification criteria include:

• Business budget.
• Buying authority.
• Urgency to deploy a new solution.
• Fit with existing company frameworks.

For example, imagine a sales lead with urgency and authority. This prospect lacks the budget required to bring on your solution. Despite interest and intent, they won’t be able to afford what you’re offering. Your sales efforts would be better spent elsewhere.

Pro tip: Create a checklist for these criteria that you can distribute to salespeople. This ensures that all employees are using the same method to evaluate sales potential.

Stage 3: Put technology in place.

The amount of data required for successful sales qualifications is substantial. You’ll need sales and research data, prospect activity, customer information, and other details. Even experienced teams can get overwhelmed.

As a result, it’s worth deploying technologies such as customer relationship management (CRM) solutions capable of capturing this data for future use. This software provides a single source of truth for sales and marketing teams.

Your team can also track emerging trends in customer behavior to help create more effective sales strategies.

Stage 4: Do your homework.

The more you know about your leads, the better.

Here’s why: From start to finish, the sales process is about creating and building relationships. Even if you have the best product on the market, sales numbers will never match expectations if your team isn’t able to build reciprocal relationships with customers.

Achieving this goal means understanding as much about your leads as possible — before getting in touch. Start by researching your prospect. What is their role at the company? Have they made any company website blog posts? Personal social media posts?

It’s also a good idea to track down any relevant company information. This might take the form of a recent news article or a report posted on their corporate site. You can gain more context to the conversation.

Stage 5: Make contact.

The last stage in the sales qualification process is reaching out.

With lead data in hand, get connected via phone, email, or social media sites and set up a qualifying call. The goal of the call isn’t to make a sale, but rather to get a sense of where your lead falls in the decision-making process. As a result, you’re looking to walk away with more information about pain points, budgets, needs, and the overall decision-making process.

More importantly, you’re looking to kick-start a relationship. If you go all-in on sales tactics during the first call and this approach doesn’t work, you’ve burned a bridge.

Focus on gaining a better understanding of your customer. This means that even if your current lead doesn’t end up being the best sales fit, they could help point you in the right direction.

The Lead Qualification Process

The lead qualification process begins with a pool of leads that have been generated by your marketing, sales, acquisition, and product teams. If you work on a smaller team, this pool of leads may come from website form submissions and may not have a specific designation.

In a sales organization, there are several types of leads. That includes the following:

• Unqualified leads. Unqualified leads haven’t been nurtured enough in the flywheel to be forwarded to a sales team.
• Marketing qualified leads (MQLs). MQLs are leads who are fit to receive marketing communications such as email campaigns, content offers, and more.
• Sales qualified leads (SQLs). SQLs are leads who are ready to connect with a sales rep and begin the sales process.
• Product qualified leads (PQLs). PQLs have indicated a strong interest in the product by either starting a freemium subscription or signing up for a free trial.
• Conversion qualified leads (CQLs). A CQL is any lead who has converted on your website, either by submitting a form or by pressing a click-to-call button.

These leads are then fed into a lead qualification framework, where you can then ask a series of qualifying questions to find out whether they’re a good or poor product fit.

From there, the leads are divided into qualified and disqualified leads. The qualified leads are then fed into the sales process. Disqualified leads are placed into a nurturing sequence, where they’ll ideally warm up to the product and make a purchase later down the line.

Let's take a look at three of the most crucial aspects of the lead qualification process: qualifying questions, qualified prospects, and frameworks you can use to qualify leads.

What is a qualifying question?

A qualifying question helps the salesperson determine their prospect's fit for one criteria. That might be need, budget, authority, sense of urgency, or another factor.

A good qualifying question is typically open-ended. Avoid close-ended questions, like "Is this a priority right now?" You may unintentionally box the buyer into an answer.

The better version would be "Where does this fall on your list of business priorities?" You're not leading the prospect to an answer. Your prospect’s response will usually be more honest and revealing.

Here are some strong qualifying questions:

• What business challenge can this product help you solve?

• What has prevented you from trying to solve the problem until now?

• What does your budget look like for this project?

• Are you using any solutions to solve this problem? If so, why are you switching?

• What is your principal priority in terms of solving this problem? Which functionality would be most important?

• What does success look like for your company after using this product?

• Who in your team would use this product on the daily?

• What are some points of friction in your day-to-day that you feel this product can help you streamline?

• Which decision-makers would be involved in the purchase of this product?

• Would it be all right if I followed up on mm/dd/yyyy?

The answers to these questions would then result in you qualifying or disqualifying the prospect.

What is a qualified prospect?

A qualified prospect has gone through the lead qualification process and is now ready to be entered into the sales pipeline.

You’ll typically do the bulk of your qualification during a discovery call, but it certainly isn’t where qualification starts or ends. At every step of the sales process, you’ll continuously evaluate prospects for more and more specific characteristics.

A qualified prospect has most or all of the following attributes.

1. Clear Pain Points

Every potential lead is looking for a solution. However, a vague business challenge isn’t enough to make them a PQL. If a prospect can only provide blanket statements, you likely won’t be able to nurture them all the way to a closed deal.

Ask questions to elicit clear pain points. The more specific the need, the better when you can tailor your pitch.

When asking discovery questions, try to figure out whether your prospect is acutely aware of their own pain points — the more aware they are, the better.

What to Look For

• Highly specific answers about their own pain points. A qualified prospect should be able to have a detailed answer to each of your probing questions.
• Problems with their current product or solution. A qualified prospect must be in desperate need of a change. One way to measure that is by prompting them to share the problems they’re having with their current solution.

2. A Budget (or a Willingness to Make One)

Have you ever had several calls with your prospect, only for the deal to die because they can’t afford your product? When qualifying prospects, you should aim to learn about their budget as quickly as possible.

Consider posing this simple question: “How much are you planning to spend on [CRM, sales, website, etc.] software this year?” Talking about money right away may seem like a faux pas, but it will save you time. You can then focus on prospects who can afford your solution.

A qualified prospect will have the budget and make that clear from the onset. For instance, they might already be using a similarly-priced product or are having expensive problems.

Be sure to ask about a range, not a fixed price. There’s a possibility of upselling your prospect if their need is dire enough. However, that will come after you’ve built sufficient trust with them.

What to Look For

• A budget range that matches your prices. Your prospect might not have an exact number for what they’re looking to spend, but their range must match your fees. Ideally, they have an upper range that’s well above your prices.
• A clear disposition toward making a purchase. If you sense any doubt from your prospect about spending X amount of money on a solution, then they’re not a qualified prospect.

3. Purchase Power

A qualified prospect will be able to either make the final buying decision or sway the stakeholders who make the decision. As early on as possible, try to identify whether your prospect is a gatekeeper, decision-maker, influencer, or blocker.

Most often, they’ll be an influencer, but they must be the right type of influencer.

Throughout the course of your career, you might have to chat with coordinators and even interns, who usually research solutions on behalf of their manager. These are influencers — not your qualified prospects.

If they’re an entry-level influencer, gently circumvent them so you can get to an upper-level influencer: The actual manager who’ll be presenting the solution to the decision-maker.

The decision-maker will likely be a leader, and usually not the person you’ll talk to during the prospect qualification process.

Don’t forget to take business size into account. A manager at a large company, for instance, is much farther from decision-makers than a manager at a smaller company. Do research on LinkedIn or their website to learn where your prospect falls on their organizational diagram.

What to Look For

• A mid-level job title. A qualified prospect will ideally be in the middle of their career — not so upper-level that they’re the decision-maker, but not so entry-level that they hold no sway.
• An exhibition of influencer power. Try to get them to share previous examples of successful software or product purchases that they’ve spearheaded. For instance, you might ask, “Have you tried any other solutions in the past?”

4. A Deadline or Strict Timeline

A qualified prospect will have an urgent need to find and purchase a solution before a certain time range arrives: Before next quarter, next month, or next year. Your prospect needs to have a reason to make their purchase as soon as possible.

Another way to tell? They might cite a dangerous decline in business performance that they need a new solution to recover. If they also cite a dropping ROI on their current product, you have a qualified prospect on your hands.

What to Look For

• A timeline. A qualified prospect should have a rough date for when they need to finish the purchasing process. This is an easy question you can ask directly without seeming too forward.
• An urgent reason to purchase. Whether it’s because of external pressure or declining performance, a qualified prospect will know they need to act now.

5. A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

A qualified prospect will understand that you’re genuinely trying to help and that you can both help each other succeed in your roles.

Remember: You’ll likely be speaking to an influencer. The influencer, in the end, wants to shine in front of leadership.

You can make that come true by providing a solution that helps you meet your quota, and that helps them and their team do their work better.

What to Look For

• A trust in you. Does the prospect seem put off by you in any way? Have they even started to ghost you? That’s not a qualified prospect. A qualified prospect will lean into the selling process and show unambiguous trust.

Levels of Prospect Qualification

Sales reps must qualify prospects at three different levels — "organization-level," "opportunity-level," and "stakeholder-level" qualification. We’ll discuss each below.

Organization-Level Prospect Qualification

This is the most basic level of qualification. Here you’ll determine whether you should do more research. If your company has buyer personas, reference them when qualifying a prospect. Does the buyer match the demographics of a given persona?

Questions you should ask at this stage include:

• Is the prospect in your territory?

• Do you sell to their industry?

• What’s the company size?

• Does the account fit your company’s buyer persona?

Opportunity-Level Prospect Qualification

This form of qualification is probably what you thought of when you read the title of this post. Opportunity-level sales qualification is where you determine whether your prospect has a specific need you can satisfy. You’ll also find out if it’s feasible for them to implement your particular product or service.

The other half of a good buyer persona, opportunity-level characteristics give insight into whether a prospect could benefit from your offering.

To determine whether your prospect is qualified on an opportunity level, ask the following:

• Is the prospect familiar with the type of product you sell?

• Do they have a challenge that your product can help them solve?

• Do they have a team or a person who’ll be using the product?

Stakeholder-Level Prospect Qualification

Let’s say you’ve determined that your prospect’s company is a good match for your solution and fits your ideal buyer persona. It’s time to get into the nitty-gritty. Can your point of contact actually pull the trigger on a purchase decision?

To determine this, ask your prospect the following questions:

• Will this purchase come out of your budget?

• Who else is involved in the decision?

• Do you have criteria for this purchase decision? Who defined them?

When to Disqualify Prospects

The three levels above are listed in the order you should use them to disqualify.

For instance, if your prospect is a complete departure from your company’s buyer persona, it’s safe to disqualify them right then. Maybe one day, you’ll serve their type of buyer, but right now you don’t. Don’t waste time trying to shoehorn your offering into their business.

Similarly, you could be speaking with the CEO of an organization with complete budget authority who passes stakeholder-level qualification with flying colors. But if there’s no problem, there’s no need for your solution. Qualify for business pain first.

Keep in mind that unless a prospect can be qualified on all three levels, you shouldn’t advance them in the sales process.

For example, if you ask your prospect about the company’s strategic goals and they’re unable to answer, it’s a good sign they’re not close enough to the decision process. You should disqualify this contact at the stakeholder level, even though they pass at the opportunity level.

Why Disqualifying Isn’t a Bad Thing

Many salespeople are loath to disqualify prospects and shrink their pipelines.

Their instinct is to work with as many leads as possible, but this isn’t the best approach. The quality of your leads matters more than the quantity.

As a salesperson, your most precious asset is your time. Focus on a handful of your best prospects instead of spreading yourself thin across dozens of leads. Trying to close every deal that comes along is only going to result in dead ends, while you neglect prospects likely to buy.

Up until now, we’ve discussed qualifying questions and what a qualified prospect looks like. You can organize all of the processes we’ve discussed thus far using lead qualification frameworks.

How to Qualify a Lead with Lead Qualification Frameworks

A qualification framework is essentially a rubric that salespeople can use to determine whether a prospect is likely to become a successful customer.

Every customer and every sale is different, but all closed-won deals share commonalities. Sales qualification frameworks distill those shared characteristics into general traits reps can look for when qualifying.

The BANT Qualification Framework

The Old Faithful of sales qualification frameworks, BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) is used at a variety of companies and in a variety of markets.

Originally developed by IBM, BANT covers all the broad strokes of opportunity- and stakeholder-level qualification.

BANT seeks to uncover the following four pieces of information:

• Budget. Is the prospect capable of buying?
• Authority. Does your contact have adequate authority to sign off on a purchase?
• Need. Does the prospect have a business pain you can solve?
• Timeline. When is the prospect planning to buy?

Here are a few examples of BANT questions in the context of a prospect conversation:

Information to Uncover

Questions to Ask

Budget

• Do you have a budget set aside for this purchase? What is it?
• Is this an important enough priority to allocate funds toward?
• What other initiatives are you spending money on?
• Does seasonality affect your funding?

Authority

• Whose budget does this purchase come out of?
• Who else will be involved in the purchasing decision?
• How have you made purchasing decisions for products similar to ours in the past?
• What objections to this purchase do you anticipate? How do you think we can best handle them?

Need

• What challenges are you struggling with?
• What’s the source of that pain, and why do you feel it’s worth spending time on?
• Why hasn’t it been addressed before?
• What do you think could solve this problem? Why?

Timeline

• How quickly do you need to solve your problem?
• What else is a priority for you?
• Are you evaluating any other similar products or services?
• Do you have the capacity to implement this product right now?

BANT Limitations

While BANT addresses many opportunity-level requirements, it misses the mark on others.

The “ultimate” buying authority could be more than one person. Make sure you engage all relevant stakeholders early on in the process and secure each individual’s buy-in.

“Timeline” is another area where BANT falls short today. A strict BANT qualification might tell you to cycle a lead who won’t be ready to buy until next year.

MEDDIC

MEDDIC (Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion) was pioneered by Jack Napoli when he was at technology company PTC.

MEDDIC requires sales reps to understand every aspect of a target company's purchase process, down to whether you have an internal champion.

This framework is incredibly valuable for increasing forecasting accuracy, something that's crucial for businesses that sell to enterprise companies. After all, losing just one deal can be debilitating when each is worth several million dollars.

Image Source

“From $0 to $100 million, [PTC was] successful because we sold a better widget,” HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan said. “From $100 million to $1 billion, we sold a shift in technology. MEDDIC became important because it's not just any old purchase — it's a transformation of the business.”

You should consider using MEDDIC as a qualification framework if your company sells a product that requires a transformation in behavior or the average sales price is incredibly high. Understanding exactly how a prospect buys, why they would buy, and who's championing you internally is crucial to maintaining an accurate pipeline.

CHAMP Sales

CHAMP (Challenges, Authority, Money, and Prioritization) is similar to ANUM but places Challenges ahead of Authority.

CHAMP also defines authority as a “call-to-action,” not a roadblock.

If your initial contact is a low-level employee, you can safely assume they won’t be the decision-maker. That doesn’t mean you should hang up the phone. Instead, ask questions that help you map the company’s organizational hierarchy to determine who to reach out to next.

GPCTBA/C&I

Yes, it’s a long acronym, but a useful one. Developed at HubSpot, the qualification framework GPCTBA/C&I (Goals, Plans, Challenges, Timeline, Budget, Authority/Negative Consequences and Positive Implications) is a response to changes in buyer behavior.

Buyers come to the sales process increasingly informed, so salespeople need to add value on top of product knowledge.

But value isn’t something sales reps can just "add" — to truly act as an advisor, you must explore beyond the scope of the discrete problem that your product or service could solve. This means understanding a prospect’s strategic goals, their business model, and how the specific issue you’re discussing fits into the larger picture of their professional life.

Image Source

Here are some of the questions you should ask at each step.

Goals

The purpose of the following questions is to find out your prospect’s quantitative goals. You can help clarify or set goals with your prospect if their response isn’t well-defined.

• What is your top priority this year?

• Do you have specific company goals?

• Do you have published revenue goals for this quarter/year?

Plans

Once you understand your prospect’s goals, find out what work they’ve already done to achieve them. Determine what’s worked and what hasn’t, and make suggestions for improvement.

• What are you planning to do to achieve your goals?

• What did you do last year? What worked and what didn’t? What are you going to do differently this year?

• Do you think XYZ might make it hard to implement your plan?

• Do you have the right resources available to implement this plan?

Challenges

Defining your prospect’s challenges — and reinforcing that what they’ve already tried isn’t working — is crucial. Unless they understand that they need help, a prospect won’t become a customer.

• Why do you think you’ll be able to eliminate this challenge now, even though you’ve tried in the past and you’re still dealing with it?

• Do you think you have the internal expertise to deal with these challenges?

• If you realize early enough in the year that this plan isn’t fixing this challenge, how will you shift gears?

Timeline

Your most important asset is your time. So while a prospect that doesn’t want to buy now or in the near future isn’t necessarily a lost cause, they should move down your priority list.

• When will you begin implementing this plan?

• Do you have the bandwidth and resources to implement this plan now?

• Would you like help thinking through the steps involved in executing this plan, so you can figure out when you should implement each piece?

Budget

Just asking "What’s your budget?" isn’t a question likely to get you valuable insight, according to HubSpot sales director Dan Tyre.

Instead, try asking:

• Are we in agreement on the potential ROI of [product or service]?

• Are you spending money on another product to solve the problem we’ve discussed?

Then, go in for the kill. Databox CEO and former HubSpot VP of Sales Pete Caputa suggests phrasing the budget question this way:

"We've established that your goal is X and that you're spending Y now to try and achieve X. But it's not working. In order to hire us, you will need to invest Z. Since Z is pretty similar to Y and you're more confident that our solution will get you to your goal, do you believe it makes sense to invest Z to hire us?"

Authority

Unlike in BANT, qualifying for authority under this framework isn’t necessarily trying to determine whether your contact is a decision-maker. Your contact might be an influencer or a coach, two types of internal champions who can give you insight into the decision-maker’s thought process.

If your contact isn’t the economic buyer, ask them:

• Are the goals we’ve discussed important to [the economic buyer]?

• Amongst their priorities, where does this fall?

• What concerns do you anticipate they’ll raise?

• How should we go about getting [the economic buyer] on board?

Negative Consequences and Positive Implications

In this part of the qualification process, you’re finding out what happens if your prospect does or does not achieve their goals.

“If your product can significantly help them avoid consequences and further aid in achieving even bigger follow-up goals, you’ve got a very strong value proposition,” Caputa says.

Here are some C&I questions to ask prospects:

• What happens if you do or don’t reach your goals? Does the outcome affect you on a personal level?

• When you overcome this challenge, what will you do next?

• Do you stand to get promoted or get more resources if you can hit your goal? Would you lose responsibility or be demoted if you don’t?

The benefit of GPCTBA/C&I is that it allows salespeople to gather a huge amount of information. If your product is complex, highly differentiated, and stands to become an integral part of your prospect’s business strategy, having these insights is incredibly valuable.

However, GPCTBA/C&I might not be right for every sales force. Depending on what you sell, such thorough qualification may not be necessary.

ANUM

ANUM (Authority, Need, Urgency, Money) is an alternative spin on BANT. When qualifying using ANUM, a sales rep’s first priority should be to determine whether they’re speaking with a decision-maker.

FAINT

The RAIN Group advocates using FAINT (Funds, Authority, Interest, Need, Timing) to qualify sales leads. FAINT is designed to reflect the fact that many purchase decisions are unplanned and thus won’t be associated with a set budget.

Like ANUM, reps using FAINT should look for organizations with the capacity to buy, regardless of whether a discrete budget has been set aside. FAINT also adds Interest into the mix.

Image Source

According to RAIN Group’s John Doerr and Mike Schultz, Interest is defined as “[generating] interest from the buyer in learning what’s possible and how to achieve a new and better reality than the one they have today.”

Sales Qualifying: Good Signs and Red Flags

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: “It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it.”

This phrase is the root of countless arguments, but it’s as good as gold when it comes to sales qualification.

Here are some tip-offs (both good and bad) to listen for when qualifying a prospect that can help you determine whether to advance the sales process or disqualify ASAP.

Good Signs to Move a Prospect Forward

Excuses

Wait. How can excuses be a good thing?

Excuses help resolve our actions with who we want to be. During a sales conversation, your ears should perk up if your prospect tries to explain away previous inaction regarding business pain.

This indicates one of two things: Either the excuse is legitimate, or your prospect wishes they had done something earlier and is trying to rationalize why they didn’t. Either way, it confirms their pain is real.

Specificity

Prospects who can give specific answers to questions such as “What are your goals?” and “When do you need to see results?” have thought carefully about their problem. Listen for sequential plans, thought-out explanations, and statistics.

Specifics also indicate that your prospect feels real pain. After all, people without real problems don’t spend time thinking about why they exist and how to address them.

Of course, the caveat is that specifics must be accompanied by reality. A prospect who says, “I want to quadruple revenue in the next two weeks,” is using specifics to demonstrate that they don’t have strong business acumen.

Knowledge

Specificity’s partner is knowledge. A knowledge check is your best bet for qualifying at the stakeholder level.

True decision-makers will have intimate knowledge of company goals, challenges, and needs. A contact who doesn’t have access to this information likely isn’t going to be valuable in the sales process.

Red Flags in the Sales Process

Inconsistency

A prospect whose answers contradict each other is likely one who wants to be helpful, but can’t because they don’t possess adequate knowledge.

However, this isn’t a dealbreaker — prod them to tell you who does know the answers, and continue qualifying the opportunity with another contact.

Short answers

True business pain permeates an organization — executives lose sleep over it and employees have to deal with it on a day-to-day basis. If you give the impression that you can help alleviate the pain, prospects will want to talk to you.

A prospect who’s giving you one-word answers isn’t someone who feels there’s a basis for a conversation. It could be that the problem is a non-issue, or the contact isn’t clued in enough to feel its severity. Depending on what you think is going on, disqualify or try reaching out to another member of the organization.

Over to You

Sales success rests on effective qualification. Your ability to find good-fit prospects will make or break your business. Prospects who turn into happy customers mean not only revenue, but increased word-of-mouth, referrals, and the possibility of cross- or upselling.

Our guide can help you streamline your qualification process to find better leads, get them interested in what you’re offering, and put them on the path to ongoing purchases.

SPONSORED:

This sponsored post is produced in association with Citrix GoToWebinar.

How do you know if the webinars you painstakingly plan, schedule, and promote are doing the job they need to? No question, webinars can be a terrific lead-gen and retention tool, but if you’re not using the right metrics to determine their effectiveness — and optimizing as you go — they’re likely not living up to their potential.

While most companies will look closely at that front-end data — registration versus actual attendees — they aren’t always utilizing the back-end data, the in-depth analytics that reveal greater details about potential customers.

What they’re missing is a wealth of other data that can give a much more detailed analysis of the effectiveness of their webinars against specific goals.

For example, if you want to look at something like demand generation, it’s important to understand how much the webinar actually costs relative to getting new leads. If you want to nurture the leads you already have — or engage and retain existing customers — taking a close look at the actual questions being asked during the session is as vital as the registration/attendee ratio.

The top 10

There are always dozens of ways to slice and dice data, and with a robust reporting tool, you can customize the data to meet your needs.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the top 10 kinds of data available to get you started, both quantitative and qualitative.

1. Attendance ratio
2. Time spent in webinar
3. Key drop-off points
4. Day of week and time of day performance
5. Questions and comments during the webinar
6. Answers to polls offered during the survey
7. Engagement ratio (% of attendees who asked questions or offered comments)
8. Devices used to access the webinar
9. Conversion rate (% of attendees who took the next qualified step)
10. ROI: Total cost of webinar to # of qualified leads 

What back-end data will tell you

Back-end data will tell you a lot you’re likely missing. You might discover your content isn’t relevant, your webinars are too long, or you’re assuming too little knowledge from your attendees. Here are the kinds of things you can answer:

• Do you have the right audience for your message? If you’ve gone after a certain audience and they didn’t connect with the webinar’s message, you can learn if it was the wrong audience or if the message itself was off. A range of metrics will inform this, so you want to take a broad approach. (Key metrics: Attendance ratio, questions asked, engagement ratio, time spent)

• Are attendees sticking around? Analyzing back-end data can help you learn whether or not attendees are staying until the end — or if they’re checking out early. If you notice that attendees are logging off early but the reviews of the webinar are positive, it may mean that the webinar is too long. Or the time slot for the webinar is inconvenient for registrants, so you might want to change times or offer repeats of the webinar on different days or times. (Key metrics: time spent, drop-off points)

• How educated on the topic is your audience? Through surveys, feedback, and even the questions asked, you can find out if you are providing the right level of information for your audience. If the audience is educated about the topic, are you building on what they already know or are you rehashing information? Conversely, sometimes you may think your audience knows a lot about a certain feature or product, but through the webinar feedback, you discover that they aren’t using the feature or product at all. Again, by knowing these details, you can create webinars that are more specifically targeted to the type of audience you hope to gain. (Key metrics: questions and comments)

• Are you offering the right topics? The question-and-answer period and post-webinar polls can tell you a lot about what your attendees want to learn. You can draw out trends or figure out areas where they want to see personal and professional growth. Once you learn this information, you can build a portfolio of webinar topics better tailored to the attendees’ needs. (Key metrics: questions and comments)

• Are you optimizing for the right platforms? An increasingly mobile workforce may be listening rather than watching, or attending the webinar on a smartphone or tablet. How well is your webinar material adaptable to the mobile user? The presentation should be mobile-ready, and also recognize that some users aren’t in a position to look at slides, which means the discussion should be conducted with greater details. If it turns out that most of your attendance is mobile, you may want to consider your webinar in terms of a radio show or podcast rather than a visual presentation.

Who reaps the benefit

Using the analytics derived from back-end data will help improve the webinar experience itself, but it will also benefit a lot of people within your company. Who does it help the most?

• Sales. If you can feed your salespeople specific information about potential customers based on their participation in a webinar, that’s a great introduction for a sales call. You’ll also, of course, improve your qualified leads — which makes for a very happy sales team.
• Marketing. By knowing what attendees are discussing and want to learn during a webinar, the marketing team can gain a clearer picture on how customers are using the product, who those customers are, and develop a more targeted marketing strategy.
• Customer care. If you’re doing a product-demo webinar, for example, you can learn where customers have concerns and questions. This can lead to more detailed FAQs on your website and help customer care develop better responses.

The right tools to gather back-end data

So, you know you have all this great data. Now you have to mine it to make it useful. That requires learning the tools within your webinar application that can help you dig out the right data for your specific needs. Built-in reporting features on tools like Citrix GoToWebinar can run and export reports enabling you to manipulate the data any way you like. And for quick insights, you can create charts with analytics that provide a more visual view of how attendees use webinars.

In turn, this information can create lead scoring for the sales team, assigning values for the types of attendees, the types of webinars they are attending, and how they rank as potential leads for sales.

Webinars provide real-time data on the people who are interested in your company and the services you offer. They are a way to draw in potential customers through an active experience, rather than through a passive channel like visiting a website or reading a white paper.

But while you may think that your webinar was a success and is opening doors for future sales, it’s the back-end data that provides the whole story to fill your funnel and generate truly qualified leads.

Sponsored posts are content that has been produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. The content of news stories produced by our editorial team is never influenced by advertisers or sponsors in any way. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.

This holiday season, consumers in the US are looking for retailers that offer them the best options when it comes to delivery costs. Notably, many online shoppers prefer to have free shipping over fast shipping, if they had to choose just one, according to a survey from Pitney Bowes. In addition, many will order more in order to reach the free shipping threshold.

• 93% of consumers consider general shipping options to be a very important factor in the overall shopping experience.
• 88% prefer free shipping with a 5-7 delivery date to paying a delivery fee for 1-2 day delivery.
• 60% of consumers state that they have increased their online order total in the past in order to qualify for free shipping. 

This story was originally sent to professionals just like you in this morning's E-commerce INSIDER newsletter by BI Intelligence, a subscription research service from Business Insider. Get 2 weeks risk free »

 One potential reason for the emphasis on free shipping is that consumers are starting their holiday shopping earlier than ever this year, eliminating the need for some last-minute 1-2 day deliveries. Many retailers in the US and the UK say they will begin implementing online holiday promotions this month, according to a survey from ChannelAdvisor cited by Internet Retailer. And according to the Pitney Bowes survey, 30% of US consumers plan to do a majority of their shopping before Thanksgiving. As the holiday shopping season begins earlier and earlier every year, consumers are looking for the best deal over last-minute fixes.

Here are other stories you need to know from today's E-commerce INSIDER:

• How Amazon became a search engine
• Smartphone adoption drives m-commerce
• Companies in the news: Petco, PetSmart, Home Depot, Target, Walmart

Don't miss another day of breaking developments. Stay ahead of the curve and gain insight into the latest news & trends. Join thousands of other professionals who start the day with  E-commerce INSIDER. Subscribe to any of our INSIDER newsletters for less than $2/week »

Join the conversation about this story »

I spent the weekend mostly with millenials: two of my kids and their spouses, and two nieces and their spouses/significant others.

And once again, I simply didn’t experience all the negative things people of my generation tend to say about people of this new generation. Lazy? Every one of them is gainfully employed and working hard. Entitled? None of them seem to be expecting to have things handed to them on a silver platter. Disengaged? All of them are passionate about the things that matter to them.

In fact, we had many wonderful conversations all day and into the night – and I was continually impressed by their insights, humor and curiosity.

Now, they are skeptical about the things that deserve their skepticism: corporations, the government, advertising. But when it comes to the important stuff: love, connection to other people, finding work that has meaning for them, being stewards of the planet – no skepticism at all: 100% in.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to understand why Boomers and Gen Xers are so dismissive of Millenials. I believe part of it is simply the age-old and continuous disregard for every new generation by every preceding generation. I think of it as the why-in-my-day phenomenon: “Why, in my day, we had to work hard, and we didn’t expect…” I’m completely convinced that grown-ups in Pompeii were complaining about their young adult kids in just this way even as the lava rolled in.

But part of it is also based on a misinterpretation of the Millenials’ values. I was working with a senior group at Facebook a couple of weeks ago and the head of the group said, “Millenials as a group care most about meaning, challenge and flexibility.” I agree, and I also think that millenials see work as one of a number of elements in their life that can give them these things, AND that they believe they have the right, perhaps even the obligation, to look for those things in work – and if they’re not getting them, to ask. And if they’re still not getting them – to leave.

For example, my assistant Dan and his wife Jen are parents of a 10-month-old daughter, Teddy (short for Theodora). They recently decided that they didn’t want to raise her in NYC– both because it’s so brutally expensive and because they wanted for her the kind of childhood they had both experienced: a house with a yard, grandparents nearby, a less frenetic pace. (That’s “meaning,” for those of you keeping track.) Dan came to me and said that he really likes and values his work with Proteus (meaning), that he thinks there’s still a lot more for him to learn, and lots more the company wants to do that he could help with (challenge), and that he’d like to figure out how to make it work for him to work long-distance (flexibility). From what I understand, Jen had a very similar conversation with her employer.

Now, if I were looking through the lens of millenials-are-bad, I might very well have interpreted Dan’ announcement and request with indignation: Who does he think he is? I might have thought. Does he think we’ll change the way we work just for him? How entitled!

But I don’t see it that way at all. I think the millennial generation looks at their whole life and wants it to be a quality life, with meaning, challenge and flexibility. And they see work as one aspect of creating the kind of life they want. In other words, they’re not willing to put aside their life in order to meet the demands imposed by work. And to most baby boomers, who have done just that for thirty or forty years years, it seems uppity.

Fortunately for Dan, it turns out that I’m kind of millenial in my view of the world – meaning, challenge and flexibility are key to me, as well, and – unlike many folks of my generation – I’ve been crafting my life to deliver those things for a long time.

So, we’re trying to make things work with Dan’s new circumstances, and I’m pretty sure we can shift to accommodate.

And I know that he will be even more focused and excellent than he already is when we do. Because one thing I’ve learned about millenials is that when you collaborate with them in their quest for a life of meaning, challenge and flexibility, they respond with all of their considerable energy and passion.

I actually think the world is going to be in good hands as this new generation takes the reins over the next few decades.  I’m excited to be a part of it.

Wal-Mart has announced it will sell the self-balancing scooters called "hoverboards" that are taking over. 

And Mark Cuban isn't happy about it. 

The famous entrepreneur and billionaire recently reached an agreement to buy a patent license for the popular item, according to Buzzfeed. 

"They are in for a nightmare," Cuban wrote in an email to Buzzfeed after learning Wal-Mart plans to sell the scooters online this holiday season. 

The "self-balancing scooters" will go on sale at Wal-Mart starting around November 1, according to Sapna Maheshwari at Buzzfeed. 

The electric scooters have been described as a "hands-free Segway."

Executives at Wal-Mart anticipate this will be the hot new holiday item. The hoverboards will only be for sale on the website at first. 

"We’ve bought deep in this item because our buyers expect it to be a hot holiday gift, possibly as hot as the Razor Scooter since it skews more towards adults," a Walmart.com spokesperson told Buzzfeed. 

Celebrities including rapper Wiz Khalifa and singer Justin Bieber have been seen riding hoverboards in recent weeks.

We've reached out to Wal-Mart and will update if we hear back.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The most surprising brands millennials love

According to a report by SiriusDecisions, 2015 State of Account-Based Marketing (ABM), more than 60 percent of companies plan to invest in technology for ABM to better align sales and marketing over the next twelve months. Is ABM the Holy Grail to lead generation or just another black box solution destined to cost a lot of money, distract marketing and end up getting more bad leads to sales faster than ever before?

I recently posed this question to fellow industry experts. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is hot right now, and the responses I received were excellent. In fact, five of the twelve went into so much detail the only way to do them justice is to run them individually. This will be a five-part series—the first of which is a compilation of eight brief but power-packed responses. The remaining four stand-alone blogs will follow.

Craig Rosenberg, aka The Funnelholic:

The operative words in the statistic from SiriusDecisions are “ABM technology.” While I am all in favor of ABM technology, marketers will fail if they fundamentally view Account-Based Marketing as technology. It’s not—it’s bigger than that. It’s a sales AND marketing strategy supported by a process managed by people and enabled by technology.

I started with Craig’s response because I think it is succinct and 100% on point. When you read about ABM you often read about selling to “markets of one.” As with other technologies, automating a bad process just leads to more bad results.

Matt Heinz, Heinz Marketing:

I see ABM as a response to inbound marketing. Inbound is great, but it’s really like waiting for the phone to ring. You don’t have control over quantity and quality. You also can’t afford to wait until those Named Account targets happen to find your contact information and download something… Strategy first, technology second. The tech simply enables the right strategy, not the other way around.

Similar to Craig’s comments, Matt adds the dimension of ABM being a response, or what I would call a reaction, to the over-dependence on inbound marketing for the past 4 – 5 years. I am in total alignment with Matt that with inbound you get what comes in (or what Jon Miller at Engagio refers to as fishing with a net). With ABM you fish with a spear (again, this is from Jon Miller, co-founder of Marketo and founder of Engagio.) You can find a couple of great SlideShare presentations from Jon and Engagio here: Fishing With Spears and The Big 5 Metrics for Account-Based Marketing).

Ardath Albee, Marketing Interactions:

I think it will take a while for marketers to develop the skills they need to pull it [ABM] off. However, for B2B marketers who already use personas—if they have been created with depth, signed off on by sales, and are actively used to inform content marketing strategy and sales enablement, then the shift to ABM should be easier… Like anything else, ABM is not one-size-fits-all.

Absolutely right, Ardath! My concern is that ABM will become another black-box solution in which technology supersedes strategy—continuing the trend of poor quality leads being dumped on sales AND more distance between marketing and sales.

Kyle Porter, Sales Loft:

ABM goes hand in hand with logo based sales process… We have personally seen good lift using retargeting solutions to help “totally surround” our prospects in addition to world-class sales development outbound programs.

Kyle, because of the solution he offers, introduces the IP-based marketing element of ABM. IP-based marketing may or may not make sense if you have a small market— such as several hundred total prospects.

Ginger Conlon, Direct Marketing News:

Front-office technology of any kind is only as good as the strategy it supports and the adoption it gets. So, whether account-based marketing (ABM) tools will be an asset that helps marketing and sales teams to collaborate and generate leads more effectively—or will face a fate similar to the high-tech treadmill that eventually serves only as a place to hang clothes—will wholly depend on the team who “owns” its adoption within an organization.

Let’s hang the clothes outdoors on a wooden rack, start small, and use the high-tech treadmill to drive incremental improvement.

Jamie Turner, 60 Second Communications and frequent CNN guest:

Yes, ABM is the new big thing, but it’s more than just a flash in the pan. If the technology plays out the way many people hope it will, ABM will improve close rates and conversion rates for the businesses that put it into action.

One way to look at this is to say that assuming the same amount of time is available (marketing and sales resources) AND ABM increases the amount of time per prospect, it will be important to pick your prospects well. And, it might be that you will end up with the same close rate but with a higher average deal size.

Sangram Vajre, Terminus:

Think of ABM as revenue generating—NOT lead generating. Focus on the right accounts to move the needle. Marketing and sales must sit down together to determine which accounts to target—this is where true alignment comes in. ABM aligns marketing and sales.

True alignment has been elusive. The earliest article I have read about marketing and sales alignment was written in 1993 (and there are probably earlier examples). It may be that contact information and marketing intelligence OR leads come before revenue. I would not expect sales to align with marketing unless they see incremental value.

David Raab, Raab Associates:

Here’s one way to view ABM: Think of it as a way to apply the traditional idea of target accounts to the new world where it’s possible to target messages and track behavior much more precisely than ever before.

Raab Associates provides consulting to help select the right tools and deploy them effectively. Targeting and tracking are keys to successful ABM. Just remember that the right strategy and process comes first, technology later.

Great insight from our first eight experts! Over the next two weeks we will run the remaining four blogs on the topic of ABM:

Part 2: Adam New-Waterson, LeanData
Part 3: James Obermayer, Sales Lead Management Association
Part 4: Scott Vaughn, Integrate
Part 5: Megan Heuer & Matthew Senatore, SiriusDecisions

Stay tuned!

One challenge that we are all not immune to is a downturn in business…and this often leads us down the path of what am I doing wrong.

As someone that has spent the bulk of my career in sales and marketing, I understand that more often than not the old adages of “not having the money,” or “this not being the right time” are usually not absolutely true. They are true in the context of the value you are expressing, but they aren’t absolutes.

Which leads me to the big answer to the big question of what am I doing wrong when I am in a slump…

Most of the time, you aren’t communicating your value in a compelling way.

Every professional conversation we have should be built on the back of the tangible value that we are looking to add or achieve.

For some of us that is easier said than done, but no matter if you have trouble with the concept or not, thinking about it and applying some of these ideas will pay real dividends.

1. How does your product or service improve your prospect’s life? 

For a moment I want you to rewind your last prospect conversation and ask yourself whether or not the conversation revolved around ways that you would save time, money, or make money?

Or, did the conversation generally move more towards the actions you were going to take like designing a brochure, writing copy, installing an IT system, etc.?

If you did more of the first, you are in a good position because you are talking value.

If you did more of the latter, you are talking about actions and actions can easily become commodities. Which you never want to become.

To improve your value statement, can you quantify some of the improvements you help your clients’ achieve?

Like:

“We improved our clients inbound marketing leads by 15% in 3 months.”

“We identified process improvements that saved our clients 50 man hours a week and cut their labor costs by 5%.”

Those are two examples, but think about how you can do the same.

2. Are you speaking the right language to your prospects?

One challenge we have when we are discussing value is that our topics fall on deaf ears.

Here’s an example, let’s say your target customer is the CEO…that is going to be a much different value conversation than one you might have with the CMO or the VP of Sales.

So when you are directing your value proposition at your target, are you having the right conversation and using the kind of language that will have a positive impact for you and help you achieve the kinds of conversations you want.

To use the CEO as an example, can you talk about “revenue growth,” “profitability,” “improved customer retention,” or some other meaningful expression of value?

3. Are you missing your mark? 

By this I mean, are you going to where your potential clients are?

It seems like a simple thing, we have so many marketing and content tools now that we can fall into the trap of just spewing our message to any audience that will have us.

But the truth of the matter is that more likely than not, by not targeting our marketing and value messages, we are missing our most likely buyers and we aren’t delivering the value message that we want to have the conversations we need to have to have success in our revenue efforts.

To overcome this challenge, it takes a bit of effort and thought.

First, you need to make sure you are locked down on what the tangible value you are providing is. This is the most basic building block of anything strategic and sales based.

Second, you need to understand who your buyer is and what is important to that buyer.

Finally, you need to spend some time understanding what that buyer uses to make decisions and how you can be a trusted resource for that buyer and not just a mass marketer.

What this means in practical terms is that if your potential buyers read a certain magazine, how do you get your message and value in that magazine? Write? Interview?

Do they attend one conference a year that has one specific focus? Can you attend? Produce a roundtable discussion? Or, speak on a panel?

Do they make many of their decisions based on the referrals of their trusted colleagues? Do you have a referral plan in place? Do you know any of these trusted colleagues? Is there a way that you can get in front of these kind of colleagues?

In the end, your slumps and ups and downs are likely driven by a loss of focus on the core value you create and deliver for your clients.

A lot of times it becomes obvious in hindsight, and hopefully these questions and ideas will give you a little help in shorting the time that you are not focusing on the value you provide.

Let me know how these help!