Think about the way you watched television five years ago. You probably sat on the couch, snack nearby, focused on the program in front of you. A technologically-savvy person could choose a program from the DVR to watch and then fast forward through any commercials or boring portions

Compare those habits to the way you consume television and movie content now. When you sit down to relax, you likely have a smartphone or tablet in front of you and scroll through your social media accounts or search Google while you watch. There are probably other times where the TV or movie content you are consuming isn’t even happening on a television set at all, but is streaming through a mobile device.

This consumer behavior that is defined as the “second screen” is turning the marketing world on its head. Eight-eight percent of consumers are looking at mobile devices while watching TV, and Millennials often skip TV altogether and watch streaming content on smartphones or tablets.

ZenithOptimedia predicts that television watching will peak in 2015 before beginning a decline for the first time ever the following year.

It used to be that networks had to compete just with each other for consumer attention; now the entire internet is a competitor. So why should people outside of traditional TV marketing really care? The answer is simple: the second screen trend is indicative of a bigger shift in consumer expectations. Some of the lessons for small business owners include to always:

Provide convenience. Make it really easy for consumers to find information on you and your business. If they have to spend too much time searching, they will move on. Consumers have become accustomed to having everything they need literally at their fingertips and small businesses must adjust with mobile friendly sites, updated search engine listings, and a strong social media presence.

Be engaging. Just as consumers are no longer content to just sit still and watch TV, they aren’t attracted by small business brands that are flat. It is not enough to be online – you must find ways to be interactive with your target base. That includes posting social media content that will prompt discussion, and not just lie flat, and being sure to include visuals like videos, photos and infographics. Make people want to engage with your small business by providing content that facilitates it.

Look for new ways to deliver content. Even if your business has been around for a decade or more, you should always look for new ways to reach your target audience. Do some research into which social networks work best in your industry (perhaps Pinterest isn’t a good fit, but Instagram is) and have your website updated annually. It never hurts to try a new marketing avenue. You never know – it may end up being a revenue stream you had never considered before.

As consumer behavior changes, so do the expectations. Remember to look for ways to be part of the latest trends while keeping your message on point.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold may have had some issues, but we still have all the details on the world's biggest phone, including when it will be rereleased.

Security and privacy are constant concerns these days as we and our children are browsing the Internet. There are antivirus protection and other software tools that help to keep us safe from major threats. But, sometimes we just want to protect our privacy from simple tracking, cookies, or Web requests. These 10 extensions for Firefox are just that – simple tools that can help with keeping your privacy private. Please Stop Tracking Me Many Google users are not fond of being tracked. They want the sites they visit to be their own business and do not want their clicks recorded....

Read the full article: 10 Simple Firefox Extensions to Protect Your Privacy

 

I found this email in my Gmail yesterday and it immediately looked odd to me. First of all, I’ve never received an email like this from LinkedIn, and secondly, most of LinkedIn’s correspondence originates in LinkedIn. (Makes sense, right)?

THIS IS NOT A LEGITIMATE EMAIL FROM LinkedIn

I went to the Help Center. (Go to your photo in the upper right corner, hover over your photo and click on Help Center at the bottom).

LinkedIn wants you to ask a question before submitting a ticket. Lots of questions can be answered through LinkedIn’s Help Center.

You can search for the question or issue you are having and then click on Contact Us at the top of the screen and LinkedIn will open up a ticket for you. The more complete the ticket, the better. If you have a Premium Membership you will most likely have a quicker response from LinkedIn.

Once I created and submitted a Support Ticket, I received an acknowledgement in my Gmail account.

A couple of hours later I had a response from LinkedIn both in my Gmail and in my Support History within LinkedIn’s Help Center. For your own protection, please note what LinkedIn says in their response.

This Security Footer, while not a total guarantee, will serve as a strong indicator that this email originated with LinkedIn and is not fraudulent.

As a result of this original email, I quickly emailed LinkedIn at phishing@linkedin.com to report the email.

Secondly, I changed my LinkedIn password; probably not a bad idea to do frequently, anyway. Note that the Security Footer shows here just as LinkedIn mentioned above.

There have been a lot of changes within LinkedIn lately and the original email actually could have made sense but when I thought about it, it didn’t. My advice is to hold off from clicking too quickly and try to discern whether a legitimate company like LinkedIn would ask its members to reveal their information.

Keep safe.

SEO is hard.

It can be difficult for seasoned vets, much less some noob hoping to get to Page One on the cheap. SEO takes time. It takes knowledge and a strategy in order to make it to the top.

But here’s where it gets really difficult: choosing the right SEO service.

Beyond the tactics used, the pricing structure of SEO is about as consistent as a contradiction. You can pay by the hour, by the project, monthly or based on results.

Most people pay monthly for SEO services, but a growing number of companies offer customers the ability to pay AFTER their rankings go up.

What Is Pay for Performance SEO?

Pay for performance SEO is exactly how it sounds: you pay for results. If you don’t see an increase in rankings, you don’t pay.

This new pricing model can be a bit intimidating for those in the SEO industry, particularly companies that do not have the capability to scale. The value proposition for consumers is huge, but many an SEO will be quick to tell you:

• Pay for performance is BS
• Pay for performance is too good to be true
• Pay for performance is black hat

You get the point.

Most of the people yelling these battle cries (not surprisingly) offer SEO services that are in direct competition to the model they are speaking out against. Is that to say that one beats out the other? Not entirely.

How Pay for Performance SEO Really Works

Do you know what Moz, Ahrefs.com, Raven Tools, and Majestic SEO all have in common?

No, they’re not part of a clandestine SEO power circle laughing maniacally in smoke-filled backrooms, cigars in hand, plotting their next Google takeover.

Still can’t figure it out? I’ll give you a hint: data.

They build tools to take search data (keyword traffic, rankings, and fluctuations in the SERPs) and turn it into actionable insights for their customers. By gathering this data over time they are able to make educated inferences into how Google ranks web pages. Do they have a blueprint to Google’s algo? Of course not. Do they have enough data to recognize patterns and signals that contribute to rankings? Without a doubt.

Does your SEO company do that? Probably not.

What Google, Moz, Ahrefs and Raven Tools have in common with real PFP companies — analyzing SERPS and logging data.

As much as SEO is an art, effective pay for performance SEO is data-driven. Google updates its algorithm at least once per day. It’s in constant flux. While pay for performance SEO might not make much sense to an independent consultant or small firm, a company who has been doing SEO for years can always approach things differently.

Here’s how to spot the real PFP companies from fake ones.

• They have years of data and experience. Experience is critical, but data even more so. Measuring the correlation between SEO activities and rankings helps build processes that earn higher rankings. In turn, those processes create a more efficient way of getting results.
• They have worked with hundreds of customers. A reputable pay for performance SEO provider typically has been in the industry for years and served hundreds, if not thousands of customers. No SEO tool or blog article can ever give you insights like these.

Pay for Performance SEO: Cleaning Up The Misconceptions

#1 – Pay for performance SEO is blackhat.

Invariably, the most common complaint you hear against pay for performance SEO is that rankings are manipulated using shady tactics so the client can be billed.

Are there performance-based companies that will blackhat your rankings and take your money? Absolutely. Are there SEO companies that will charge you every month and still not get you any rankings? You bet.

The pricing model is not the culprit. This is a problem that exists in the SEO industry, just as every industry has its own bad apples. I have a friend that is the most generous person I’ve ever met. Want to know what he does for a living? He sells cars. Generosity is not the the first thing that comes to mind when you’re talking about someone who sells cars now, is it?

#2 – Performance-based companies guarantee rankings.

This has been stated a million times on the internet, but for the sake of consistency I will repeat it one more time: never trust a company that guarantees rankings in Google.

However, this should not be confused with a guarantee that you will not pay unless your rankings increase. If you are using a performance-based service, you absolutely should have a guarantee that you won’t be billed unless your rankings go up!

#3 – Your rankings won’t last.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Success compounds. When you do things right, your site goes up in authority, rankings follow, and so does traffic. Once you rank for a keyword, it’s much easier to sustain those rankings. The real battle is getting there.

Pay for performance companies have a vested interest in maintaining your rankings because they can keep getting paid. If your rankings drop, you pay less or end up paying nothing at all.

So Is Pay For Performance SEO Better?

It depends. For most small businesses or first time SEO investors, performance-based SEO can make a lot of sense. Even more so if you are on a shoestring budget.

On the same token, the scope of work performed under pay for performance SEO is very controlled for obvious reasons — we have to balance getting results for clients and ensuring profitability for the company. Essentially, the “business risk” is transferred from you (as a customer) to us (as your SEO company).

Now, if you can afford to invest thousands of dollars into SEO per month, it makes much more sense to invest in inbound marketing. When you pay upfront and sign a contract this allows the agency you choose to allocate time and resources to give your campaign success. More times than not you’ll also get help with content and social media when taking this route.

That being said, if you are a local business on a shoestring budget, a reputable pay for performance SEO company can help you see ROI from organic search with out you having to pay upfront.

Would you rather pay monthly or for results?

This article was originally published on RankPay.

Brand loyalty isn't what it used to be. Consumers can now google your product or service and immediately see whether a competitor's pricing or location works better for them. Here's how you can still win them over. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Linkedin Is The Place For Moving Ahead As A Professional

I recently wrote an article, Time to Change the Way I Use LinkedIn and it has been the difference maker for me. Let me explain how it can be an asset. Also, let me give you a piece of advice. With any type of asset, you need to make sure you manage it well and continue to understand how it can pay dividends for you over time.

A Strong Blog Audience

I have been blogging for seven years, both personally and professionally. Over the past year, I have replicated these articles over to the LinkedIn Blogging Platform and have found a new audience. My blog site will always be an asset because I own it, but I am willing to take the risk and invest time and energy into a platform that I do not own. The key for me is I get to experience an audience hungry for good, sound business information. Also, your post goes directly to people who are interested in your information. It is a win-win.

Great Business Professionals

LinkedIn’s core base is business professionals. That is really the key for me. On Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ how do you know if you are connected to a professional. You have limited information to go on. On LinkedIn, you can check out people’s information and learn more about them in a couple of minutes. Know your audience and spend time with the type of people you want to connect with.

Helps Market Your Profile

When people search for your on Google, what do you want the first item to be? If you are active on LinkedIn, your LinkedIn Profile should be the first item under your name. This helps you establish instant credibility with your audience.

Taking Networking To A New Level

There are some extremely talented, gifted and smart people on LinkedIn who are willing to share their opinions with you. I especially love it when my ideas are questioned. This site is not about connecting with people who always say “yes” to the material you write. These people will tell you if you are off-base and provide you with examples. I LOVE IT!

The Great People Rise To The Top!

On LinkedIn, the people who rise to the top for me are those people who share from their own experiences. Over the last couple of years, I have grown tired of receiving content or news that is shared. If I want that type of information, I will go over to the Newsfeed sites like Facebook or Twitter. Yes, LinkedIn has some of that too, but the best part is you can quickly find another contact who has something much better to say.

Connect With People In Different Areas Of A Company

How cool is it that you can now connect with companies at different levels and different departments. This information has helped me connect with current executives and upcoming stars. Also, you can go directly to specific departments and identify key people in the organization. Remember not all decisions are made at the top of the organization.

Summary

Get on LinkedIn today. Don’t wait for someone to explain how it works or how to join a group. The best way to use LinkedIn is to get on it everyday and start connecting with people. Look at the updates and see the type of information people are posting. Look at some of the Pulse articles and start learning. Once you get comfortable, take the leap and share some content with your connections. Start by sharing from your experiences and think of ways to add value for other people.

[Photo Credit: DSC_9855 via photopin (license)]

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GUEST:

About a year ago, a video titled “the transformation of the desk” showed how nearly every task we execute has moved to mobile. And yet, as app marketers, you know how incredibly hard it can be to get users to adopt a new mobile habit — namely, your app.

So how do you catch people’s interest and then keep them active on your app until it becomes a new routine for them? Here’s how it’s done:

1. Take a Deep Breath

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From VentureBeat

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Brace yourself, because it’s not going to be easy and it will probably take some time. If your app is meant to change people’s daily habits, bear in mind that the process of educating the market will not only require some patience on your behalf, it will cost serious money as well. Strategies and time your funding rounds accordingly, and prepare investors for what can be realistically expected in the near future. Waze wasn’t mapped in a day, you know.

2. Hit Them Where (and When) It Hurts

The first thing you should do is communicate to users the exact need your product is here to address. What is it that keeps wasting their time? Frustrates them on a daily basis? Makes them fight with their spouse? Answer these questions and then focus on that using a determined message. This also means finding the right moment to tell them “it would have been easier if you used our app” and not a minute later. Remember: you’re asking users to change their behavior, which is an annoying and difficult thing for them to do. You must solve a problem that is far worse if you want to make it worthwhile.

3. Explain Yourself

The actions your app involves do not come naturally to users just yet. Your onboarding process and tutorial must explain the process clearly and articulately. If it makes sense, include videos to demonstrate exactly how it’s done. You should use the beta stage to prepare for the struggles users will face by following testers’ actions and learning from them. Tools like AppSee allow you to follow users as they interact with the product and see which features were ignored and which were used frequently.

4. Stay on Target

What are the obstacles users are most likely to face when first meeting your app? If there are a few different hurdles to overcome, you must target users wisely and answer each and every concern. Map out the segments that are most likely to face a specific problem when interacting with your product: who will find it difficult to use a gadget instead of a pen and paper? Who is worried about their privacy being compromised? Who has never even thought of making a certain task easier?  Send each segment the right message and let them know you’ve got it covered.

5. Jog Their Memory

Old habits die hard. Even if users have installed your app, there is a good chance they will go back to their old ways of doing things and forget about you. You need to remind them that you’re here, and you’re better. Timing is everything, so plan your notification strategy to take into account exactly when you assume your app should be put to use. If possible, use beacons to send location-based reminders, and, for example, get to users right before they shop at the local mall without first comparing prices on your app.

6. Form a Habit

Dr. Maxwell Maltz is most famous for claiming that people take a minimum of 21 days to form a new habit. Give users a well-planned adjustment period, using a reward system and gamification elements to keep them going until your app becomes second nature. Show them exactly how much time and money your app saved them, tell them they are doing a great job, and give them constant value until they are convinced your product is the way to go.

7. Go on Sale

Promotions are a great way to introduce a new product. Before you charge users full price for something they’re used to living without, give them a free trial period and encourage them to invite their friends to join the party. This is also a good solution for apps that need to overcome the registration obstacle and get users to provide their personal details. I mean, who can resist a freebie?

Educating users is a challenging process, but it is one you simply cannot move forward without. Getting users on board with your idea and explaining your product’s value and purpose will either make or break your business. Carefully implement the above tips into your mobile marketing strategy and you will significantly increase your chance for success. Good luck!

Gilad Bechar is the founder and CEO of Moburst, a global mobile marketing agency. Gilad serves as a mentor to rising startups at Microsoft Accelerator, The Technion, Tel-Aviv University, Unit 8200, and for strategic Moburst clients and is the Academic Director of the Mobile Marketing and New-Media course at Tel-Aviv University.

by Trevor Young, {grow} Community Member

It’s pretty crazy out here in the marketing world. We have apps for this, tools for that … technological solutions are springing up daily, promising to solve the challenges currently faced by business owners and marketers.

This is understandable, of course, as the demand for “silver bullet” solutions heats up, it’s only natural tech savvy entrepreneurs will attempt to satiate the need.

Unfortunately there are no silver bullets and technology by itself isn’t going to be the savior you’re hoping for. But use the technology to deepen the intensity of connection you have with customers – now you’re talking!

Engagement as differentiation

There was an interesting article in the Sloan Management Review recently about how active social media engagement might be more important than marketing (or maybe it IS marketing). I think I have a case study for you that demonstrates this.

Husband-and-wife team Brian and Rachel Goulet don’t let technology get in the way of good old-fashioned passion, humanity, generosity, and helpfulness.

Brian and Rachel run The Goulet Pen Company, an online store that sells fountain pens, paper, ink and wax seals (don’t you just love the irony here, marketing and selling such ‘old school’ items via the internet?).

The thing is, Brian and Rachel understand social media and content marketing – indeed, marketing generally as it pertains to 2015 – better than most high-priced marketing directors.

The Goulets have discovered that basing one’s marketing communications on the triumvirate of content, conversation and community is an effective and cost efficient way to cut through the clutter and build one’s brand in today’s noisy social age.

The Goulet Pen Company is just six years old, employs 30 people, occupies a 12,000 square foot office/warehouse complex in Ashland, Virginia, and since inception has posted annual growth of between 50 to 100 percent.

That Goulet is growing at such a steady clip is testament to the company’s product offering and exceptional customer service, but there’s a lot more to it.

Having a great product is table stakes today – it’s a given if you simply want to even have a chance of competing in the marketplace.

Take a look at the Goulet blog. Don’t just look at the first page – scroll through a few of them. Notice the effort that’s gone into its production, the depth of thought contained within the copy, the love that’s gone into the images they create.

Now swing by their YouTube channel. That’s right, the one with nearly six million views. Watch one of the many Goulet Q&A videos (92 at last count), weekly episodes that run close to an hour-long each, in which Brian painstakingly answers questions people submit via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Check their Facebook Page and Twitter account. Notice how responsive they are, how, dare I say human (as opposed to a scripted drone).

Check out Reddit, where Rachel Goulet stops by for a chat (or to respond to comments made about their business, good, bad or indifferent).

Taking a different approach pays off

Many (most?) business owners and company executives approach their marketing with the overarching question: How many leads will our social media and content marketing effort squeeze into our sales funnel, what sort of conversion rate can we expect and ultimately how much revenue can we generate?

Brian Goulet, on the other hand, takes a different approach. He asks: “How can we help the most people?” – and then sets about creating rich, useful original content that educates customers, solves their fountain pen and ink issues and problems, and inspires them to become more creative.

Guess what? Folks love it!

• “You guys are awesome. I tell everyone I know about you, even if they have no interest in writing or writing products.” (SOURCE – Goulet Blog)
• “I love the video tutorials, I love the personal touches in each order, I love the fast feedback on emails. I hope you guys are in biz for a long long time. Live long and Prosper!” (SOURCE – Goulet Blog)
• “Not really a question, but I just wanted to thank you for all the hard work you guys put into the site, videos…” (SOURCE – Reddit)

When was the last time any of your customers thanked you on Reddit, or hat-tipped your brand on Yelp, or bothered to stop by your blog to proclaim: “You guys are awesome”?

Longer term solution

When I wrote earlier there are no silver bullets when it comes to effective marketing today, I may not have been entirely truthful There is just one silver bullet, albeit it’s coated in gold and it’s a longer term solution. It’s called humanity.

In coming years, using social media and online publishing platforms without humanity and all that comes with it will put you at a distinct disadvantage.

Businesses such as Goulet inherently understand this (even though it might not be obvious at first) and that’s why they’re thriving with their marketing while everyone else is trying to find a way around Facebook or Google’s latest algorithm change.

Remember: People are now empowered and they love it! They have more information at their fingertips than ever before. They have connections and influence. In a world of abundance, they don’t need you or your products and services. So how are you going to appeal to this increasingly discerning customer base?

The answer is inject a spirit of generosity into your business, bring your people out from the shadows and humanize your organization, add value by publishing helpful and relevant ‘non-salesy’ information, but most of all, lead with your heart.

The last word

In response to a question posed by a viewer of the Goulet Q&A online video show about how Brian and Rachel manage the brand’s social media efforts, Brian says:

“We’re all grassroots here,” he says. Social media is less about having a lot of experience and “more about understanding who our audience is on each platform.”

Understand your audience, answer their questions – be ever useful, helpful and relevant in your content efforts, and responsive to your customers’ needs via social media (and email).

That, my friends, is how you nail marketing today. Anything else is just window dressing.

Trevor Young is a speaker, blogger, podcaster and founder of the PR Warrior, a consulting and training agency that specializes in Content-Driven Social PR. Trevor’s book – ‘microDOMINATION: How to leverage social media and content marketing to build a mini-business empire around your personal brand’ – is out now through Wiley Publishing. Learn more about Trevor at trevoryoung.me or follow on Twitter @trevoryoung.

Feature image via gouletpens.com

 

 

The post Case study: Social media engagement as a point of differentiation appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

"If you can find good people, they can always change the product/service. Nearly every mistake I've made has been in picking the wrong people, not the wrong idea." - Arthur Rock

Selecting sales personnel is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, challenge for any organization. Failure to achieve revenue targets, manage customer relations, and deliver service can be traced directly to hiring salespeople unequipped to carry out their assigned roles.

Recruiting is a commitment; it should consume about a fifth of the sales leader's time, and the process should be as well organized as the company's sales methodology and forecasting systems. The following mini tutorial is taken from my online video training program for sales managers. Follow these steps to recruit the best possible team that can bring about the best possible results.

How to Build a Sales Team

1. Define the Ideal Profile

The key to building a winning sales organization is understanding whom you want to hire. Why? Because thorough development and analysis of the ideal sales representative profile heightens your chances of recruiting the right person.

Here's how to start:

• Make your own list of essential salesperson characteristics. As the hiring manager, start by writing down your definition of a great sales representative.
• Ask company leaders to make a list. Ask management and members of the sales team to identify desirable sales traits.
• Test your top sales representatives. Ask your company's most successful sales representatives to complete a personality profile or psychological test administered by a third party. Record the data and look for common denominators among your top salespeople.

2. Think About Behavioral Types

Reviewing the basic personality types often encountered in sales can provide additional insight into hiring effective sales representatives. Understanding an applicant's most typical behavioral style when interacting with others can reveal how that person solves problems and makes decisions. And you can learn how flexible the applicant is in dealing with contrasting personality styles.

The four types:

1. Dominant: A dominant individual loves a challenge and is always ready to take on the competition. Dominant people are direct, positive, and straightforward. They continuously seek new horizons and like to make decisions quickly. Some consider dominants restless, because they become impatient and dissatisfied with the status quo. They are generally resourceful and adapt readily to new situations.
2. Cautious: Cautious people are humble, loyal, and non-aggressive. They are usually conservative, slow to make decisions until they have absorbed all available information, and sticklers for detail. Cautious individuals want to be appreciated and will go to extreme lengths to avoid stepping on someone's toes. They strive for a stable, ordered life, and tend to be more task- than people-oriented.
3. Interactive: These individuals are outgoing, persuasive, gregarious, and generally optimistic. Interested in people, they're poised in social situations; at an initial meeting they may greet you warmly by your first name, as if you've been friends for life. Interactive types may act on emotional impulse, making decisions based on a cursory analysis.
4. Steady: Usually amiable, supportive, and relaxed, steady individuals appear contented and laid back. Patience and deliberateness are their defining characteristics. People high in steadiness strive to maintain the status quo and avoid rocking the boat. They value relationships that they have worked hard to establish, and operate well in a team environment.

Matching the salesperson's personality to the job -- or even to the type of client he or she interacts with -- makes sense. But remember that people often display characteristics of two or more personality profiles.

3. Measure the Profile

Once you've compiled all your information on the sales position and the applicant's desired personality profile, boil it all down to five or seven objective, measurable characteristics. Why so few? Because you need to focus on key responsibility areas that drive success.

For example:

• 100% percent quota achievement for a minimum of five years
• Articulate
• Experience with opening new territories
• Regional sales experience
• Specific industry expertise

Create a measurement scale for each characteristic, like this:

[Ineffective] -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, N/A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 [Effective]

and use it to rate each candidate during the interview session.

Don't be fooled by the profile's simplicity, or the fact that it measures only five characteristics. This is the distillation of sound input from numerous sources, as well as benchmark data based on the personalities and performance of your top sales representatives. Focusing your work in an easy to understand, simple format places the emphasis on implementation and results.

It's important to make this profile document available to everyone involved in the interviewing process, including recruiting firms.

4. Refine the Profile

To derive the most benefit from your new recruiting tool, interview a minimum of three candidates for each position, and make sure that every interviewer in the process rates each candidate from -5 to +5. Continue to refine the profile by gathering input from both internal and external sources.

Studies show that successful sales managers spend 15 to 20% of their time on recruiting. Whether or not there's an opening in your sales ranks, take the time to meet new candidates or reacquaint yourself with candidates whom you have been courting. When you least expect it, your top candidate may become available.

5. Strive for Consistency

Now that you have a plan to fill the pipeline with quality candidates, the next step is to systemize the process for choosing and winning the right candidate time after time. Communicating an established process to all involved parties not only saves time, but sends a clear, unified message to candidates that this company has its act together, increasing their desire to join the sales team.

The following model has worked in the past. Consider it as a foundation for your sales recruitment process.

1. Identify and document each stage in the interview process, and who (at least three people) in your company will participate.
2. Perform personality testing on your top sales reps. This provides a benchmark for evaluating candidates in one-on-one interviews.
3. Distribute to all participants an outline of the interview process, the ideal sales candidate profile, the interviewing scorecard, a list of base questions to ask every candidate, and the candidate's resume.

It takes effort to build a recruiting process, and even more to ensure that everyone follows the plan. But the result -- the creation of a winning sales team -- is guaranteed to make life less stressful for any sales leader.

To learn more, check out these hiring practice recommendations next.

Growing up on a Missouri farm, Walt Disney developed a love for drawing after his neighbor, a retired doctor known as “Doc” Sherwood, paid him to draw pictures of his horse. Disney later became a newspaper cartoonist and commercial artist, where he learned how to make commercials from cutout animations. His fascination with animation inspired him to establish his own cartoon studio and eventually become the face of the golden age of animation.

I heard this story during my onboarding process when I worked as a research consultant at Disney Imagineering a few years ago. In the weeks after I heard the story, I found my mind returning to it whenever I was feeling uninspired by the work I was doing.

Examples like this one illustrate how even simple stories can be an effective source of inspiration. In fact, they can be even more powerful than that: stories can influence our decisions and behavior. By presenting vivid examples of people who faced the challenges we face, they not only last across time but also are contagious.

That behavior is contagious is a well-known finding in psychological research, even in contexts in which we believe our actions are primarily determined by our internal motivation. Consider the case of dishonesty. Simply seeing another person cheat can lead us to cheat, even if we care about being honest. My colleagues Shahar Ayal, Dan Ariely, and I demonstrated this in a series of laboratory studies.

In one study, we asked a group of college students to solve 20 math problems in a very short time. No one could realistically solve all the problems within the allotted time. We told participants that we would pay them for whatever problems they reported they had solved. The money they could earn was placed in an envelope on their desks. After the allotted time was up, students were supposed to check their own performance, pay themselves, shred the test, and leave. The math task, however, was just a pretense for the real experiment, which concerned cheating.

Shortly after the students began working on the problems, one of them (a paid actor) announced to the room: “I’ve solved everything. What should I do?” Everyone in the room knew this was impossible and concluded that he had blatantly cheated. He also took all of the cash available to him, as if he had achieved a perfect score, and left without any consequences.

Seeing their presumed peer cheat increased the overall level of cheating in the room. We were able to conclude this by comparing the students’ self-reported performance (which, on average, was equal to about 15 math problems out of 20) to that of students in a control condition (which, on average, was seven math problems), where there was neither an actor nor a shredding machine. One of the people conducting the experiment checked students’ work before paying them. We replicated the same finding in later studies that used a fake shredding machine (so that we could determine for sure that people cheated by over-reporting their performance).

The morale of the experiment: dishonesty can be contagious when we witness one of our own engaging in unethical behavior.

Behavior can be contagious even when it’s simply described in a story. Organizational founders and executives often share their own stories and examples of past behavior in their companies. Examples abound. At McKinsey, employees are highly familiar with stories about long-time managing director Marvin Bower’s integrity, and at Starbucks, stories are widely told about CEO Howard Schultz’s commitment to employee welfare. Stories can also come from employees low on the organizational hierarchy. At Ritz-Carlton hotels, for instance, employees widely share stories about doormen, cleaning, and maintenance staff, and other employees going above and beyond for customers or for one another.

These stories are positive examples of organizational members upholding company values. Others are stories in which the protagonist violated the organization’s values. In a recent field experiment conducted by Sean Martin of Boston College, over 600 newly hired employees at a large IT firm were presented with stories of organizational members as part of their onboarding process. Some stories had a main character who occupied a high-level position in the company. Others were about a person in a low-level position. In addition, the stories varied on whether the protagonist engaged in behaviors that upheld or deviated from the organization’s values.

The result: stories about low-level organizational members engaging in values-upholding behaviors were more likely to encourage similarly positive behaviors and reduce deviant actions than those about high-level organizational members. But when the stories were about organizational members engaging in deviant behaviors, fewer value-upholding behaviors were observed if the story was about a high-level rather than a low-level member. It seems we are especially lifted up by stories of those at the bottom behaving generously and particularly discouraged by stories about higher-ups misbehaving.

Even reading works of fiction can have a marked influence on a person’s behavior. Research by Geoff Kaufman of Dartmouth College and Lisa Libby of Ohio State University found that individuals who lose themselves in the world of a character often alter their attitudes and thoughts to resemble those of the made-up person. “Experience-taking” — that is, feeling the emotions, beliefs, and internal responses of those we are reading about — can lead to real changes in the lives of readers. In one study, participants who related strongly to a character who worked hard in order to be able to vote were more likely to take part in a poll themselves.

Telling and listening to stories are traditional, even ancient, means of passing on wisdom and culture. As the research I’ve discussed suggests, stories can help organizations more effectively communicate both simple and complex knowledge about values, norms, and the solutions to difficult problems. In most organizations, there are plenty of untapped stories that could be told that would change behavior for the better.

Winning Sales Approach – Asking vs. Telling

Over the past year, I’ve been involved in a number of significant sales training initiatives at Richardson with companies that had first invested heavily in other types of sales performance improvement programs. Each had been trying to make fundamental changes in their sales approach to match the constantly evolving B2B buying environment.

As one of our clients, a recently relayed chemical distribution company’s salespeople had taken another flavor of sales training, and while they liked the training, there was no sustainment of the learning. They weren’t using their new skills or changing their behaviors. Implementation and execution had suffered, and so they approached Richardson for sales training in blocking-and-tackling skills that could help in delivering the expected results.

When I have asked other clients about their experiences and why they’re interested in Richardson’s Consultative Selling Skills, they say things like this: “My guys have been trying to provoke new thinking and ideas, but they don’t have the credibility. They’re 24-years-old and trying to tell executives how they should run their business instead of asking good questions and establishing a meaningful dialogue. They just end up sounding arrogant.”

Age isn’t the issue here; it’s strategy and preparation. At Richardson, we believe that the strategy of telling vs. asking, especially without the proper preparation, can chill many deals. We are, after all, human beings, and we typically prefer a dialogue over monologue.

A consultative selling strategy is steeped in meaningful dialogue with thought-provoking sales questions and strong objection-resolution skills. Salespeople take control but in a different way than other sales approaches advocate. They know what they want to accomplish at every point in the dialogue, taking the time to probe, learn, and gain a thorough understanding of the customer’s needs, decision criteria, and other relevant information before discussing any product.

My overall sales questioning strategy is like a funnel. At the top are open-ended questions that show some insight and preparation. It’s not coming in and saying, “Tell me about your business.” That type of question will only win a quick exit out of the door.

A good high-level, open-ended question is one that gets the customer talking. “I see there’s an effort underway to change the financial regulations in a manner that could have a significant impact on how you do business. Several of my clients are quite concerned about this. What has been the reaction in your company?”

The next question will depend on the customer’s answer, which means listening closely and intently to what is said and, if possible, determining if there’s something left unsaid that needs further probing. Through active listening and observation, salespeople should be able to pace the dialogue, moving between asking questions that seed understanding or seek confirmation, and providing insights that seed new ideas or influence thinking. At Richardson, we call this the Sales Conversation Pendulum.

There’s value in provoking thought and being a bit disruptive, but to be effective with customers, such provocation has to come from the right questions and insights. If the foundation isn’t there, the salesperson will likely be hammered with objections. And, while the Richardson model includes a multi-step model for resolving objections, it’s better to be prepared and avoid going down that path if you can.

As the dialogue progresses, and depending on the level of people involved, the salesperson may get to what I call the bottom of the funnel questions. These explore the specifics related to things like strategy, infrastructure, attitude, and culture.

Whether asking sales questions at the top or the bottom of the funnel, all should be designed to provoke a rich conversation that does two things. First is to demonstrate that the salesperson has done the homework, is well prepared, and has earned the right to be listened to and considered. Second is to show that the salesperson possesses real knowledge and insights that are relevant and timely to the customer, making them a good choice as a business partner.

This kind of consultative approach, with good questions and insights, creates a strong foundation for interacting with customers and executing more productive sales calls.

Learn more about Richardson’s Consultative Selling Sales Training Solutions.

The post A Winning Sales Approach – How Sales Questions are like a Funnel appeared first on Richardson Sales Enablement Blog.

Being promoted to manager is a good sign you’ve been successful to date — however,  the road from this point forward gets trickier to navigate. Your job is no longer just about getting the work done. You’re more likely now to find yourself juggling conflicting demands, delivering difficult messages, and addressing performance problems. While there is no guidebook of straightforward answers to your new challenges, having a clear philosophy can provide a firm foundation from which to operate.

With respect to your career, a philosophy is simply a cohesive way of thinking about your role. Very few people take the time to establish one. Most managers live in a reactive mode, responding to issues based on gut feelings, past experiences, and examples set by others. The success or failure of this approach is often determined by your temperament (some people are naturally more gifted managers than others) and the caliber of your role models—two factors largely out of your control. Whether you’ve been lucky in these areas or not, having a core philosophy can help guide you through the day-to-day and the job’s tougher moments.

The idea of “servant leadership” is a great place for new managers to start. Robert Greenleaf coined the term 35 years ago, but the concept is still vital and empowering. Granted, “servant” doesn’t sound nearly as powerful as “boss,” but it has the potential to deliver far more of what most of us are really after: influence.  The reason is simple. When you have a servant mentality, it’s not about you. Removing self-interest and personal glory from your motivation on the job is the single most important thing you can do to inspire trust. When you focus first on the success of your organization and your team, it comes through clearly. You ask more questions, listen more carefully, and actively value others’ needs and contributions. The result is more thoughtful, balanced decisions. People who become known for inclusiveness and smart decisions tend to develop influence far more consistently than those who believe they have all the answers.

You and Your Team

Servant leadership is most powerful when applied to managing employees. The first step in embracing this mindset is to stop thinking that your employees work for you. Instead, hold onto the idea that they work for the organization and for themselves. Your role as servant is to facilitate the relationship between each employee and the organization. Ask yourself, “What will it take for this employee to be successful in this relationship?” And, “What does the organization need to provide in order to hold up its end of the bargain?” When these questions drive your thinking, you advance both parties’ interests. (The same principles apply to managing products, supply chains, and customer relationships, but we’ll keep our focus on employees here.)

Does servant leadership prohibit telling people what to do or correcting their behavior? On the contrary, it means that you must do these things to facilitate an individual’s success within the organization. The key is that your mind is in “servant mode” when you perform the daily tasks of management.

For instance, assigning work should be a thoughtful process that balances business goals with an individual’s interest, skills, and development needs. Not every routine task has to be so thoroughly considered. But whenever significant assignments are made, putting them into context maximizes their impact. An employee who understands why she has been asked to do something is far more likely to assume true ownership for the assignment. When she owns it, you become more guide than director. You ask how you can support her and how she would like to report progress rather than tell her these things. An employee who believes her boss understands her strengths, values her input, and encourages her growth is likely to stick around for the long-term.

Clearly, the servant approach to assigning tasks requires more thought and preparation than simply dishing them out. It takes time. But remember that you are actually multitasking—you are making sure the work gets done while simultaneously strengthening the individual’s relationship with the organization.

Adopting the servant philosophy should also make it easier to provide corrective feedback. You are merely a facilitator, and facilitators aren’t angry, frustrated, or resentful when they deliver feedback, because it isn’t about them—it’s about the relationship between the two other parties. For that reason, exercising the servant frame of mind makes development conversations feel less personal. You aren’t disappointed in your employee’s actions; you are simply explaining how they get in the way of what he’s trying to accomplish for himself and the organization. When your only agenda is setting someone else up for success, your words tend to be received more openly. True upset happens when either party’s interests are allowed to suffer over time without intervention. It must be the manager’s primary concern to balance those interests.

By definition, developing a reputation takes time. However, when you are consistent with the servant approach, people know what to expect from you and trust ensues. Trust, combined with the smart, inclusive decision-making discussed earlier is a surefire way of gaining influence.

We’ve just scratched the surface of the many challenges that you will confront as a first-time manager. There is simply no way to anticipate them all. But a core servant leadership philosophy will provide critical guideposts to help you manage in real time. Whatever your temperament, a serving mindset will keep you out of the reactive and self-protective patterns that can impede your success. Servant leadership may not appeal to those who are attracted to a more traditional idea of power, but it should be the choice of those interested in influence and results.

The problem with sales as a profession is there are so many events out of your control that can and likely will impact your success. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great way to earn an income, travel, and grow as an individual, but it is so darn difficult to be successful, it makes me wonder is it worth it?

To answer my own question, I think it is! That is why I want to help all the young sales professionals out there to learn to be more effective and try to mitigate the external effects on your success. I believe there are four realities you are going to have to deal with in your career in sales. The first is: Buyers now control the “sales” process.

You may think you can control the sales process but you cannot. There are techniques you can use to try and influence a buyer to move in a certain direction, but ultimately you are not in control of the sales process. The first technique you can use is to identify issues your prospect is facing, that you know you can solve better than your competition. Begin by doing some homework on your own products and services. Identify the top ten issues you believe your prospects are facing. Next establish a code to identify the ones where you have a more superior solution than your competition. Finally, create questions that drive prospects back to these issues. For example. If your solution reduces inventory carrying costs better than the competition, then create questions that help your prospect feel the pain of paying all those carrying costs. These questions then will establish the existence of an issue, and set up your competition because you have a better solution.

This technique requires you to take the time to really understand the industries issues, pains, and goals, and your economic impact on them. This technique really works if executed properly. You may not be able to control the sales process, but you should be able to control the data flow between the buyer and the various vendors they are considering.

Keep in mind you will need 8-10 of these value propositions. So take the time and create your value inventory so you know the problems in the market and where you are superior at delivering a solution.

The next reality is millennials communicate differently than baby boomers or as I like to say “normal people.” By the year 2020 about 70% of the workforce will be millennials. The challenge for sales professionals is that these same millennials today are going to be the decision makers in the next decade. Millennial buying patterns are far from what we would call normal. Millennials don’t rent cars, they use Uber, or Zip Car. They don’t stay in hotels they use Airbnb. Today’s sales professional will need to become more adept with social media to stay relevant in the eyes of the next generation of decision makers.

The third reality is strategic buying decisions have moved from the shop floor to top floor. I know this is being tossed around by everyone that provides sales training. However, it appears to me that without training sales professionals are still not able to effectively communicate with the C-Suite. The challenges begin with the ability to effectively articulate your value. This problem is compounded by the lack of training on executive presentation. This is one of the least trained skills for sales professionals, yet the payback is significant, and can be measured.

The last reality is we are part of a global economy and competition is going to become even fiercer. Depending upon what you sell, competition in almost every industry is going to see more pressure from global companies. To survive you need to be thinking globally. The cost to expand into other markets has dropped dramatically in the past decade. One of the biggest challenges facing US companies going abroad is the employment laws. The US is one of the few places on earth where work is “at will.” Which means you can be fired and the company owes you nothing. In other parts of the world it is difficult to hire and fire at will. Most countries force the employer to pay the (former) employee for several years…including benefits.

The employment challenges aside, no matter where you are in the world there is going to be added competition from other parts of the world. China, Africa, Russia, Ukraine, and now Cuba are prime spots for expansion for US goods and services. Just like the US is primed for goods and services from competition from all over the world.

In this age of social media savvy our digital footprint has led to a marked change in the buying process, with buyers and sellers able to research each other extensively regardless of where you are from. No longer is the same “sales process” easy or straightforward, and as a result of the lack of effort and understanding in the past today’s sales professionals are currently paying the price, with a lot more emphasis put on risk mitigation. It is clear going forward we must adapt or fail.

Michael Nick is the author of ROI Selling, Why Johnny Can’t Sell, and Amazon top 10 Business Book, The Key to the C-Suite. Michael is available for Keynote addresses, workshops or breakouts. Visit www.roi4sales.com for more information or call Michael at 262.338.1851. Follow Michael on twitter @mjnspw

The post Control Your Sales…No Buyers Cycle appeared first on ROI4Sales.com.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read or heard that “email is dead,” even though 247 billion emails are still sent every day. Likewise, the phone is proclaimed “dead” over and over – most recently via articles in Vanity Fair and The Atlantic.

The Atlantic article argues that “the ‘phone’ part of a smartphone is turning vestigial as communication evolves, willingly or not, into data-oriented formats like text messaging and chat apps.” Now, no one can deny the meteoric rise of texting and messaging apps like Snapchat and Whatsapp. I have teenage kids…trust me, I know.

When it comes to coordinating with friends or ordering take-out food, circumventing a conversation makes sense. However, what’s lost in the rhetoric about the phone being dead is that there’s an incredible number of circumstances where the need for human interaction is alive and well. When was the last time you texted your insurance broker?

Phone Calls Are Skyrocketing

Calls to businesses from mobile devices will reach 162 billion by 2019 according to BIA/Kelsey. This is more than double the roughly 77 billion calls generated last year from mobile devices. What this means is that despite all the communications technology advances that have been made in the past 20 years (email, social, SMS, etc.) ultimately, we are all still humans. And humans, by nature, crave actual live interaction with other humans.

Why?

A conversation makes us feel more confident about a purchase. A conversation reassures us in tricky business situations. A conversation helps us decide who to do business with. It is the tipping point in so many situations. Often, just getting off email and picking up the phone can help you make important decisions more quickly.

Do Millennials Really Hate Talking?

And this need for human connection is not limited to a certain age group. Just because millennials are addicted to Snapchat doesn’t mean that they don’t want to have a conversation. Heck, WhatsApp expanded beyond a messaging app to a fully loaded communication tool for phone conversations and Facebook is now giving users more information about who’s calling with its Hello app.

Millennials are talking. Yet, the Atlantic article claims that the “improvisational nature of ordinary, live conversation can feel like an unfamiliar burden [to the millennial generation].” Let’s give young people more credit.

Humans talk when it’s important. Buyers talk when the purchase is meaningful and expensive. As millennials mature and buy meaningful things, they will talk even more. What’s more, if you think about how the human need for interpersonal connection intersects with the power of today’s mobile technology, it’s no surprise that phone calls to businesses will increase to 162 billion in the next few years.

I’m confident that human conversations won’t lose their place as technology advances into every part of our lives. The qualities that make us human are more valuable today than ever before.

Culturally we are conditioned to look for a SINGLE reason, element or root cause to solve any problem. Remember Curly’s “One Thing” in the City Slickers movie? Well, this concept of singularity does not work in customer experience management by definition because of the complexity of customers perceptions’ “management”. Yes, how do you manage someone else’s perceptions? I have addressed this question before, but the answers did not offer a single step path to CX heaven. The answers call for a review of the existing business processes and practices, and that costs money. Money to pay for analysis and improvement of these processes, money to pay for technology to automate these improvements, money for change and adoption management, etc. These is the money that would surely increase quarterly earnings per share and management bonuses, but instead will possibly increase “what and when”?

US Nobel-laureate economist Herbert Simon, in his 1982 book “Models Of Bounded Rationality” introduced the term satisficing:

“Examining alternatives until a practical (most obvious, attainable, and reasonable) solution with adequate level of acceptability is found, and stopping the search there instead of looking for the best-possible (optimum) solution.”

Satisficing is a valuable survival skill for decision making practitioners, who deal with endless uncertainties, but a liability for strategy/vision developers who are suppose to navigate the course to the best future destinations. That explains why visionary leaders have a better grasp of customer experience concepts than functional managers and corporate executives, who came from their ranks.

Until the advent of Customer Experience rising to prominence, corporate management was very busy minimizing the cost of everything associated with customer support and services, which is a part of the domain. For years they enjoyed the blissful illusion that the technology investments, they have made, allowed them to increase profitability without reduction in customer satisfaction. Is it really that surprising the same technology vendors re-name their products to pitch “new” solutions to the same buyers? The pitch may have changed, but the singular focus on cost reduction did not. And that will turn CEM into another fad like it did turn CRM into more efficient, i.e. inexpensive way to provide sales management reporting and low cost customer support infrastructure.

We preach that long-term growth cannot continue without an adequate improvement of customer experience, but a short-term reality check shows our managers that customers, both consumers and business, are still focused on the price more than the experience. There is strong evidence of trends that make our case more persuasive, but we need to spend less time on playing with “tools” and work more on re-framing the concept of customer experience management as an engine of growth, before it becomes a domain of corporate IT.

“I’m building a snowball the size of continents. The catch: it sometimes moves at a glacial pace.”

This quote from Tim Ferriss, who has to be one of the most influential people I’ve read, really hit home with me and how I go about preparing for writing content.

His point is that he isn’t interested in collecting a bunch of one-and-done users. He wants a readership that sticks around and absorbs his content, who trust and value his opinion and will continue to do so.

He’s rolling snow balls, not sifting through sand. He’s setting up his content so that the people who latch onto to his product are here to stay. While that tribe may build slowly, once it does there are few things capable of stopping a ‘glacier’.

Key Elements of Writing a Blog Post

In this post I want to go over some of the key elements of writing a blog post. There’s no simple solution to pumping out great content on a consistent basis, but I’ll share some frameworks which should help.

Quality takes time and practice (not to mention quite a bit of patience), but with the right first steps, I believe people can create content which not only promotes their brand, but builds a lasting and trusting readership.

In this post I’ll be going over my techniques and strategies for:

• Blog Research
  • How to Know Which Topics are Popular
  • How to Research Topics
  • How to Write a Post Framework
  • How to Submit the Framework for Approval
  • How to Give Feedback
• Writing Blog Posts
  • Titles
  • Images
  • Content Outline
  • Headings
  • Paragraph Structure
  • Length
  • Influencers
  • Bulleted Lists (like this one!)
  • Quotes
  • Links
  • Call to Action
• Other Blog Post Considerations
  • Conclusion
  • SEO
  • Comments

Blog Research

The first step towards creating content people want to read is finding out what they are looking for.

Contrary to popular belief, successful bloggers and marketing experts don’t pull ideas out of a hat (wouldn’t that make it easier?).

People look to content for answers.

Success in content creation comes from knowing your audience and answering questions they are asking, perhaps even before they know who you are.

Research isn’t always as glamorous as writing a killer post or making a stellar landing page, but it is just as important. Proper research will make your content relevant and desirable, after which you can make the content worth reading.

How to Know Which Topics are Popular

So how do you go about finding what people are looking for? The key is to look where your audience is and observe what they are saying. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:

Develop Your Buyer Persona

Who is your audience? What do they do? What are their interests? Their lifestyles?

You want to be specific with this. It isn’t beneficial to say “male, middle-aged.” You need to delve into who these people are and what they think – and how they feel. This is where creating a buyer persona comes in.

There are plenty of great resources for identifying who your buyer is, just check out co-founder, Trent Dyrsmid’s video on building a quality template below.

Top Shared Posts On Popular Blogs

Find popular blogs that serve your audience, and see what the authors are writing about. Find out which posts are popular and where people are sharing them in large numbers. These people will be your Influencers and they will important throughout the process.

Influencers draw a large audience and command the attention of that audience. If an Influencer has an audience who may be potential leads for your content or product, learn about these people and what they are saying.

I write for marketing agencies and business professionals looking to produce quality content. My Influencer list includes Copyblogger Founder and CEO Brian Clark, Leadership Guru Michael Hyatt and top online marketer and multi-company founder Neil Patel. These are the big guns, game-changers in their fields. Find the heavy-weights and watch what they do. Chances are you’ll learn a thing or two.

Once you find your Influencers, take a look at their most shared posts. Don’t just read the posts themselves – check out the comments section and shares. Find the people who are talking about the post. See what they’re saying and what questions they’re asking.

Gather a list of ideas from multiple followers and generate a few ideas for post topics. You can even just write down the questions and answer those questions in your posts.

Keyword Research

Once you have an idea of what questions your audience is asking, start forming some search terms they might be using.

For instance, if you are selling ad space and are looking for people who need online promotions, try starting with “best online ad buyers.” Look at the other terms related to that search.

You want to focus on words with high searches and low competition. Some of the top searches may yield more traffic, but the competition is normally higher and harder to rank for.

The analysis above is from SECockpit, my favorite keyword search tool (I go into more detail about SECockpit – and why I like it so much better than anything else I’ve tried – in this post). There are other decent free options for keyword research as well, including Google Keyword Planner and WordStream’s Keyword Tool.

Try using longer terms in your search as well. These are called Long-Tail keywords and are more specific and easier to rank for. Instead of “shoes” you can try “discount women’s summer shoes”. Longer keywords can mean the difference between being on page 3 and being on page 1.

How to Research a Topic

Let’s go back to the Influencers we talked about earlier.

In the same way you used your Influencers to get ideas on what topics to write about, you can utilize their knowledge when researching the topic itself. Look at their previous posts and find relevant content. Chances are these people have addressed similar ideas before.

Specify the points you want to make by going back to the comments sections. A great post idea is simply taking a question from the comments and answering it in detail.

Be sure and answer a few of the comments that have gone unresponded to. If you have a point to make, give those questioning the information they’re looking for – they’ll begin to identify you as a resource for the future. This allows you to help the Influencer’s page as well as your own.

When including facts and ideas, link to everything. Not only will this give you more credibility, but it is a way to get backlinks to higher traffic blogs, which is a win for everyone.

What Kind of Framework Should I Use?

The first thing I do after picking a topic is to look at the idea and ask “why should I care?” Put yourself in the reader’s shoes: would they care about the rest of the article based on the material?

My Infamous Sticky Note

To keep myself on point, I actually have a sticky note plastered to my monitor to remind me what I need a post to do.

Using a quality framework, I can begin writing in a way that makes sense. You don’t have to use my exact framework or phrases, but you likely will want to include most of these concepts:

• What is it I’m talking about?
• Why is it important?
• How should the reader get started?
• What are common mistakes people run into?
• What are the key take-aways from this post?
• List of Resources

Use this guideline or create your own, just make sure you have a goal before you begin.

After a topic has been researched and links provided, write up an outline with brief talking points to include in the post. The format is usually:

Heading>Sub Heading(s)>Resources and Ideas.

Here’s an example:

Research>How To Find Popular Topics>Keyword Analysis, Influencer Posts, etc.

As you develop the framework, you’ll break the article up into sections. Each section will have questions, and each question will have solutions. The examples are short but descriptive. The framework should be straight-forward and give a clear picture of what material will be in the post.

How To Submit A Framework For Approval

When you have multiple writers submitting content, you’ll want to be sure their general outlines are reviewed before they spend a lot of time creating detailed content. I suggest an initial review of the framework.

Even if you are the only one writing content, it can be a good idea to get another pair of eyes on it when possible. If the structure makes sense to an outside reader, it will make sense to an audience.

Next, the framework is reviewed and adjustments are made depending on feedback.

How to Give Feedback

The ability to give good feedback not only makes the person receiving it less offended, but can resolve issues and let work get done faster and more efficiently. This can help yourself as much as it can help the person receiving the feedback.

This article from Forbes lists 5 steps to take when giving quality feedback:

1. Ask For Permission – Just asking the person ahead of time allows them to be mentally prepared and open, rather than startled and defensive.
2. Tell Them Exactly What You Saw – Give them your full viewpoint and why you felt that way. This allows them to understand your concerns better while addressing the specific areas you felt needed to be discussed.
3. Tell Them The Impact – Explain what happened as a result of their actions, be specific. Try using your observations like “I noticed” and “I felt that”. It lessens the chance for an open debate and gets the point across.
4. Let Them Make Comments – Stop. Let the explanation sink in and and give them a chance to understand the information. You had time to formulate your responses, they should be given ample time as well.
5. Give Specific Next Steps – After you notice an area of concern, it helps the recipient if you give them about one or two specific next steps to take to improve. No one likes to be told it isn’t working and then given no ways to fix the problem.

Writing a Blog Post

The Importance of Great Blog Post Titles

How important are titles? Imagine a great post with tons of great content, but no one compelled to read it. Well, without a good title you have no click-thru, which means no readers and no exposure. You might as well be writing in your journal, because a lousy title means no eyeballs on your post and no new business generated from it.

Got your attention yet? Titles creates interest. Reading the subtitle above makes you think “how does this save my business?”, which may have compelled you to read further.

So how do you write good titles? Here are some ideas that will help.

The Opening

Before we get into writing a title, I want to point out another crucial step in writing a blog post that will get reader’s attention.

Did you see how this section was opened? It made you interested and gave you encouragement to read further right? This is one technique to writing an opening and getting people to read your work.

Tim Soulo, writing as a guest blogger on ProBlogger, shares ideas on an how to begin your blog post. He explains using the well known formula AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

• Attention – The first line in the section gets your attention. It asks a question to which you want an answer.

• Interest – The next line explains why it is so important and why it can affect you.

• Desire – After reading the first two lines you have a desire to write good titles. You know what it can do if they aren’t written well and you are looking for a way to make it better.

• Action – The final line is me telling the reader to continue reading if they want solutions. This is the action I want them to take and the reason they will continue to read the post.

Title Ideas

All right, after all that I should keep to my word and give you some advice on writing titles. Here are four techniques I want to share with you:

1. Create a Working Title

Get something in place and keep it as a placeholder. Titles don’t always come to people instantly. Sometimes I even like to write my title last, after all the content is delivered and I have time to let my subconscious work on it. A placeholder as simple as “How To Write a Blog Post” is one way to keep your focus and gives you something to come back to.

Speaking of focus…

2. Keep The Title Focused

The content should not surprise the reader after they see the title. While it’s great to make a catchy title, if it doesn’t make sense with the content the reader will be turned off. Remember to always come back to the content.

3. Make it Flashy

This probably comes as no surprise. You want it to stand out and get people’s attention. Don’t be afraid to step-outside-the-box a little with your ideas. Here are some starting points to consider:

• Alliteration, Amazingly, Attracts Awesome Attention – Even if it’s just a few words, “Content Creation”, it is eye-catching and can be subtly enjoyed.

• A Good Pun is its Own Reword – Corny? Absolutely. Gets your attention? Of course it does. Don’t be afraid of throwing in a little humor, especially if that’s part of your style or brand.

• Use Strong Language Damnit – Use need instead of want. Hate instead of dislike. Keep it interesting – but be careful not to use overly strong words every time, as it tends to get repetitive.

• Value Proposition – Make it obvious what the reader will get from your post. Give them a strong reason to commit.

4. Keep it Short

Readers should be able to get the idea in as few words as possible. Make sure your title is as short as possible, while also long enough to give all the necessary description.

Want more title ideas? Check out these from Corey Eridon over at Hubspot.

Opening Ideas

Earlier I talked about how the AIDA format does well for an opening. AIDA as your standard opening is a great starting point. For some more tips on opening formats, Brian Clark of CopyBlogger has 5 ideas to get you going:

1. Ask a Question
2. Share a Story or Quote
3. Draw a Picture (with your words)
4. Use Creative Writing (Metaphors, Similes, or Analogies)
5. Use an Interesting Statistic

Typically it works to write a single sentence and get the reader thinking, followed with a short paragraph for context, and then into the main content. The point of the first line is to get them to read the second, the second prompts them to read the third, and so on.

All About Blog Post Images

Images are to blog posts what icing is to cake. In fact, images are the coconut-pecan frosting of German-Chocolate cakes, essential to the character. Use images to give readers a unique experience reading your blog.

Images look good when someone is scanning a post, and remember – you’re writing for scanners. Like headlines, images break up the content and give readers focal points to help hold their attention. So, what size to make your images? Here’s a great post from Dan Norris at WP Curve on image sizes.

Full-Sized Images

These images highlight the main points in your article. You should have one at the beginning of the post (we refer to these as the ‘top image’) and a few in the article if need be. They should be the full width of the blog writing space.

People are naturally drawn to images and they will be a key component in retaining readers throughout the post. These will the most viewed portions of your article. We use images that are 580 wide.

Side Images

Normally 250 x 250 (size is more flexible)

These images should be used throughout the post and should highlight points made in the content. Use them to explain specific points or actions.

Avoid using cheap or generic looking images. They are easy to spot and make you seem lazy.

One great way to generate original images is to take screen shots and place them in the post. These are all unique and really illustrate your point.

Where are Images Placed?

Right-Aligned.

As a general rule, don’t use left-aligned images. English speakers read left-to-right and when an image is placed first it disrupts the reading process. It also looks terrible next to lists. Just avoid it.

As for full-sized images, you can use them at main headlines to separate content. This is a good way for users to see how the content is structured and gives them a sort of “resting point” to prepare them for a new line of thinking. They can also be good for pointing out an important piece of information.

How to Write a Post Outline

Before I go about filling my posts with information, I like to make outlines of the material I want to cover and the questions I want to answer. Using this with the framework I made earlier, I can create content which is specific, because I know where I am going with my ideas.

Here are a couple great post outline guides to help you get started.

I have shared the above diagram from Social Triggers before, but it really is a great representation of how a blog should look and engage the audience.

Here is another great post from ProBlogger Founder and Editor Darren Rowes. His basic rules are:

• Titles are important
• Short, punchy paragraphs
• Use images frequently
• Break up posts with Headings and Sub Headings
• Lists are reader friendly
• Format important sections to stand out
• Use a Call to Action (which we will go over later)

Nearly all of these “rules” follow the same idea: the reader will scan.

It’s just the way we read things on the internet. We gloss over the material and take in the information we need. When you provide your content in a format which allows readers to scan, you get better responses from your readership.

How Many Headings Should I Use? What Typeface?

This kind of depends on the content you are writing. Are you creating a list of “5 Best Resources for Online Marketing”? Obviously five headlines would make sense in this case. No matter how many headlines you use, you want to break up the content into relevant and independent points.

The number of headings generally depends on the length of the blog post. Make the headings break up natural talking points, like chapters in a book. Unlike book chapters, make the sections between headings relatively brief.

The typeface (font) depends a lot on the type of content you’re writing.

Typically, the body should be legible and straight-forward, as people get tired of reading embellished script for long periods of time. Consider using something more flashy for the headlines, depending on the message you want to send with your content.

Ginny Soskey at HubSpot Blog has created a nice list of possible typefaces that help make your content pop.

Sentences per Paragraph

Two to Three

Remember, your audience is scanning your content. Paragraphs should normally sit around 2-3 lines, and no more than 3-4.

Look for natural breaks in the sentences and if necessary, break up longer paragraphs. You won’t lost points (or readers) for too many short paragraphs, but you will for too many long ones.

Number of Words in the Post

This is a little tricky for blog writers, and there seem to be as many experts who prefer short posts as those who prefer longer posts.

On the one hand, most readers like to consume information quickly, and many of the third party posts I’ve cited earlier are short and sweet.

These contain great content and are written for quick access to information. They work well for their intended purpose.

For an argument on the side of longer posts, look no further than master blogger Neil Patel. Curious about how his front page would convert if shortened, he ran an A/B Test with his original 1700 word page, compared to a new 500 word page. Turned out, his original page converted 7.6% better and with better quality leads.

This may seem counter-intuitive, but other studies show similar results.

The graph on the right from serpIQ shows an analysis run on the top 20,000 keywords.

The graph tells us that the average content length for a web page that ranks in the top 10 results for any keyword on Google has at least 2,000 words.

At first you might think this is because Google values higher word-count content in its searches, but the fact is, people tend to like longer content – SEOmoz found a positive correlation between the length of the post, and the amount of links to that post.

So what does this mean?

Truth is there is no “best” way to do it. Find out what your audience likes and write for them.

While shorter content tends to be easy to read and easy to digest, longer content tends to link better and rank higher in searches. It is probably a safe bet to stay in the ~2500 word range for your posts.

If that seems like a lot, write a long post every 2 weeks or so while submitting shorter ones once or twice a week. Make sure the content is consistent and high quality and you should see positive results from both worlds.

How Many Influencers Should I Mention?

You want your content to be read, and you know Influencers can help get the word out.

This is one of the best ways to promote your content and make solid business connections. However, you don’t want to milk your resources dry.

We normally mention one or two influencers in our posts.

Longer posts (such as this one) tend to have more, but it shouldn’t feel excessive and should give the Influencers you do mention some really good praise – if you have 15 people you link to in bullet point form at the end of your post, chances are you won’t turn a lot of heads.

Keep the sources credible, relevant, and highlighted. Give your Influencers a good shout-out next to your links, and chances are some of them may help promote your post.

For ideas on how to get started on an Influencer strategy, read this post by Joe Pulizzi. Joe gives great ideas on how to get noticed with Influencers, and steps to take to stay on their radar.

What’s With Bulleted Lists?

With the amount of information people consume on the internet each day, they need a way to organize the data. They will look for ways to quickly absorb the most important information.

Bullet points are a great way for people to scan and access information. They act as sort of mini-headlines, focusing on relevant information and giving the reader an idea of what they are about to read.

Numbered lists and bullet points are great ways to compartmentalize information for readers and highlight key points of interest. Here is a great post on CopyBlogger on why bullet points are important and how to use them effectively.

Why Use Quotes?

Quotes can be one of the greatest forms of flattery on the internet.

Quoting others (Influencers!) will help gain their appreciation, and if they are an authority in their field, their quotes tend to have a much greater impact on your readers.

You can also quote yourself, especially if you have (or would like to) establish yourself as an authority. Either way, use quotes to highlight important points.

What Kind of Links Should I Include in My Content?

When it comes to linking to other sites on the internet, there are a few personal rules I like to follow:

• Is it relevant?
• Is this the original source? Is it a reliable source?
• Is the information I’m citing easy to find from my link?
• Am I using information from an Influencer? (if possible)

Don’t just use links for the sake of seeming credible, make sure the information is relevant and makes sense with the content. When citing statistics, go to the original source of the information instead of linking to other articles that cite the stats.

Obviously, you’ll want to link to a post versus the main page of a blog. If you’re referencing something that is tucked away halfway through an article, consider whether it’s really a necessary link.

And lastly, use those Influencers. Link to their sites to help them get more backlinks and get more page authority. It’s possible they’ll return the kind favor with a link or shout-out.

Always Use a Call To Action

Every. Single. Post.

What good is spending the time to develop useful content to drive traffic if you don’t do anything with that traffic? You got the attention of your audience and kept them engaged so they continued reading, now they want to know the next step. That’s what a good call to action (CTA) does, it gives a definitive next step.

Make the language actionable and the prompt timely. People should feel compelled to do it now. Give people a value proposition as well, to let the reader know your product or service can solve their needs.

If you need some more ideas on writing convincing CTAs, take a look at Ginny Soskey’s CTA Checklist on HubSpot’s blog; it’s quite comprehensive and will be helpful.

Other Considerations

What About SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is the practice of constructing your content to become more visible to search engines on the web, and therefore to your audience.I’m not going to get into too much detail in this post, but SEO should be considered an important part of your online strategy.

I use WordPress SEO from Yoast to optimize my title and meta description. This, along with the initial keyword research, gives me a pretty good idea of how likely my keyword is to compete against similar sites against organic (search engine) traffic. SEO is an important consideration if you want your content to be seen.

How To Get More Comments

Nothing is better confirmation for me than seeing someone take the time to comment on my posts. It’s reaffirming.

Comments also serve to validate my content; they’re one way others can tell that the content is worth the read. There’s strength in numbers.

Here are some things I use to encourage people to comment on my content:

Pre-Publish For Linked Sources

When I include Influencers or previous guests in my posts, I like to give them an early sneak-peek into what I’m writing. This gives them a chance to review the work as well as a chance to comment on things they like or think should be changed.

Great! Not only do I get feedback but I get an initial round of comments from some of the industry leaders. They may link to their own sites in their comments, which gives them recognition from those who end up reading the article. A win-win.

Comment Contests

On some blogs we have managed in the past we ran contests at the bottom of each post where we gave away a copy of a paid information product for the best comments. I like to encourage engagement, and a great way to do that is to incentivize the process.

You can offer similar offerings, discounts, or at a minimum, a response to each comment.

Just Ask

It seems so obvious, but you’d be surprised the number of sites who seem to skip this step. If you talk with your audience and simply ask them to contribute, you’ll get a much better response than if you don’t interact with them.

Conclusion

What have you found to be beneficial in your writing process? What strategies do you use? I look forward to your comments.

There is a stat out there we see often. It’s the stat that says most buyers are 60% through the sales cycle before they reach out to a salesperson.

This is a sucker’s stat.

Good sales people don’t wait until a buyer needs their service or has a problem before they try and sell them. Good sales people create demand, they don’t react to demand. Therefore a buyer who is “60% through the sales funnel” is of little consequence to them. Finding a buyer who has recognized they have a problem you can solve, realizes they want to solve that problem using a solution like yours is a gift, it’s a freebie. Or, it’s a nightmare, and either way it’s not how you make your quota.

Take a look at the deals you’ve closed this year. How many of them were from a prospect that already knew they had a problem and were looking for a solution?  Was it eighty percent of your deals? Was it 60%? 40% 20%? 5%?  I’m willing to bet it’s no more than 10%. Therefore, this stat is a useless stat offering little to no value to a real salesperson.

If you or your company’s sales strategy is built around finding customers who are already looking for a solution, you’re fucked. Because whether they are 10% of the way through the buying cycle or 80% it doesn’t matter, because the majority of your business shouldn’t be coming from those looking, but rather from those who don’t realize they have a problem yet or don’t know how to solve it.

Demand creation should far out weight demand reaction in a healthy sales environment. When this happens, it doesn’t matter how far a prospect is in their buying cycle. You’re not focused on recognized demand, you’re focused on latent demand. Your value as a salesperson is not taking orders, but rather helping companies identify AND solve problems they don’t know exist or haven’t started to solve. Let the rest of the world fight over those customers who are already more than half way done with the sales process. That’s a sucker’s bet.

The prospects that really matter are the ones you create on your own.

Become a demand creation machine and the let this stupid stat clutter the minds of everyone else.

 

When should you use bandit tests, and when is A/B/n testing best?

Though there are some strong proponents (and opponents) of bandit testing, there are certain use cases where bandit testing may be optimal. Question is, when?

First, let’s dive into bandit testing and talk a bit about the history of the N-Armed Bandit Problem.

The Multi-Armed Bandit Problem

The multi-armed bandit problem is a classic thought experiment. Imagine this scenario:

You’re in a casino. There are many different slot machines (known as ‘one-armed bandits’, as they’re known for robbing you), each with a lever (and arm, if you will). You think that some slot machines payout more frequently than others do, so you’d like to maximize this. You only have a limited amount of resources – if you pull one arm, then you’re not pulling another arm. Of course, the goal is to walk out of the casino with the most money. Question is, how do you learn with slot machine is the best and get the most money in the shortest amount of time?

Image Source

If you knew which lever would pay out the most, you would just pull that lever all day. In regards to optimization, the applications of this problem are obvious. As Andrew Anderson said in an Adobe article:

Andrew Anderson:
“In an ideal world, you would already know all possible values, be able to intrinsically call the value of each action, and then apply all your resources towards that one action that causes you the greatest return (a greedy action). Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in, and the problem lies when we allow ourselves that delusion. The problem is that we do not know the value of each outcome, and as such need to maximize our ability of that discovery.”

The Practical Differences Between A/B Testing and Bandit Testing

A/B split testing is the current default for optimization, and you know what it looks like:

You send 50% of your traffic to the control and 50% of your traffic to variation, run the test ‘til it’s valid, and then decide whether to implement the winning variation.

Explore-Exploit

In statistical terms, a/b testing consists of a short period of pure exploration, where you’re randomly assigning equal numbers of users to Version A and Version B. It then jumps into a long period of pure exploitation, where you send 100% of your users to the more successful version of your site.

In Bandit Algorithms for Website Optimization, the author outlines two problems with this:

• It jumps discretely from exploration to exploitation, when you might be able to transition more smoothly.
• During the exploratory phase (the test), it wastes resources exploring inferior options in order to gather as much data as possible.

In essence, the difference between bandit testing and a/b/n testing is how they deal with the Explore-Exploit dilemma.

As I mentioned, A/B testing explores first then exploits (keeps only winner).

Image source (courtesy of Matt Gershoff)

Bandit testing tries to solve the explore-exploit problem in a different way. Instead of two distinct periods of pure exploration and pure exploitation, bandit tests are adaptive, and simultaneously include exploration and exploitation.

Image Source (courtesy of Matt Gershoff)

So, bandit algorithms try to minimize opportunity costs and minimize regret (the difference between your actual payoff and the payoff you would have collected had you played the optimal (best) options at every opportunity.). Matt Gershoff from Conductrics wrote a great blog post discussing bandits. Here’s what he had to say:

Matt Gershoff:

“Some like to call it earning while learning. You need to both learn in order to figure out what works and what doesn’t, but to earn; you take advantage of what you have learned. This is what I really like about the Bandit way of looking at the problem, it highlights that collecting data has a real cost, in terms of opportunities lost.”

Chris Stucchio from VWO offers the following explanation of bandits:

Chris Stucchio:

“Anytime you are faced with the problem of both exploring and exploiting a search space, you have a bandit problem. Any method of solving that problem is a bandit algorithm – this includes A/B testing. The goal in any bandit problem is to avoid sending traffic to the lower performing variations. Virtually every bandit algorithm you read about on the internet (primary exceptions being adversarial bandit, my jacobi diffusion bandit, and some jump process bandits) makes several mathematical assumptions:

a) Conversion rates don’t change over time.
b) Displaying a variation and observing a conversion happen instantaneously. This means the following timeline is impossible: 12:00 Visitor A sees Variation 1. 12:01 visitor B sees Variation 2. 12:02 Visitor A converts.
c) Samples in the bandit algorithm are independent of each other.

A/B testing is a fairly robust algorithm when these assumptions are violated. A/B testing doesn’t care much if conversion rates change over the test period – i.e., if Monday is different from Saturday, just make sure your test has the same number of Mondays and Saturdays and you are fine. Similarly, as long as your test period is long enough to capture conversions, again – it’s all good.”

In essence, there shouldn’t be an ‘a/b testing vs. bandit testing, which is better?’ debate, because it’s comparing apples to oranges. These two methodologies serve two different needs.

The Benefits of Bandits

The first question to answer, before answering when to use bandit tests, is why to use bandit tests. What are the advantages?

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Google Content Experiments uses bandit algorithms. They reason that the benefits of bandits are plentiful:

“They’re more efficient because they move traffic towards winning variations gradually, instead of forcing you to wait for a “final answer” at the end of an experiment. They’re faster because samples that would have gone to obviously inferior variations can be assigned to potential winners. The extra data collected on the high-performing variations can help separate the “good” arms from the “best” ones more quickly.”

Matt Gershoff outlined 3 reasons you should care about bandits in a post on his company blog (paraphrased):

1. Earn While You Learn. Data collection is a cost, and bandit approach at least lets us consider these costs while running optimization projects.
2. Automation. Bandits are the natural way to automate the selection optimization with machine learning, especially when applying user target – since correct a/b tests are much more complicated in that situation.
3. A Changing World. Matt explains that by letting the bandit method always leave some chance to select the poorer performing option, you give it a chance to ‘reconsider’ the option effectiveness. It provides a working framework for swapping out low performing options with fresh options, in a continuous process.

In essence, people like bandit algorithms because of the smooth transition between exploration and exploitation, the speed, and the automation.

A Few Flavors of Bandit Methodology

There are tons of different bandit methods. Like a lot of debates around testing, a lot of this is of secondary importance – misses the forest for the trees.

Without getting too caught up in the nuances between methods, I’ll explain the simplest (and most common) method: the epsilon-Greedy algorithm. Knowing this will allow you to understand the broad strokes of what bandit algorithms are.

Epsilon-Greedy Method

“One strategy that has been shown to perform well time after time in practical problems is the epsilon-greedy method. We always keep track of the number of pulls of the lever and the amount of rewards we have received from that lever. 10% of the time, we choose a lever at random. The other 90% of the time, we choose the lever that has the highest expectation of rewards.” (source)

Okay, so what do I mean by Greedy? In computer science, a greedy algorithm is one that always takes the action that seems best at that moment. So, an epsilon-greedy algorithm is almost a fully greedy algorithm – most of the time it picks the option that makes sense at that moment.

However, every once in a while, an epsilon-Greedy algorithm chooses to explore the other available options.

Image Source (Courtesy of Matt Gershoff)

So epsilon-greedy is a constant play between:

• Explore: randomly select action certain percent of time (say 20%)
• Exploit (play greedy): pick the current best percent of time (say 80%)

This image (and the article from which it came) explains epsilon-Greedy really well:

Image Source

There are some pros and cons to the epsilon-Greedy method. Pros include:

• It’s simple and easy to implement.
• It’s usually effective.
• It’s not as affected by seasonality.

Some cons:

• It doesn’t use a measure of variance
• Should you decrease exploration over time?

What About Other Algorithms?

Like I said, a bunch of other bandit methods try to solve these cons in different ways. Here are a few:

• Upper Confidence Bound (UCB)
• Thompson sampling
• Bayesian Bandits

Could write 15,000 words on this, but instead, just know the bottom line is that all the other methods are simply trying to best balance exploration (learning) with exploitation (taking action based on current best information).

Matt Gershoff sums it up really well:

Matt Gershoff:

“Unfortunately, like the Bayesian vs Frequentist arguments in AB testing, it looks like this is another area where the analytics community might get lead astray into losing the forest for the trees. At Conductrics, we employ and test several different bandit approaches. In the digital environment, we want to ensure that whatever approach is used, that it is robust to nonstationary data. That means that even if we use Thompson sampling, a UCB method, or Boltzmann approach, we always like to blend in a bit of the epsilon-greedy approach, to ensure that the system doesn’t early converge to a sub-optimal solution. By selecting a random subset, we also are able to use this data to run a meta AB Test, that lets the client see the lift associated with using Bandits + Targeting.”

Note: if you want to nerd out on the different bandit algorithms, this is a good paper to check out.

When To Use Bandit Tests Instead of A/B/n Tests?

There’s a high-level answer, and then there are some specific circumstances in which bandit works well. For the high level answer, if you have a research question where you want to understand the effect of a treatment and have some certainty around your estimates, a standard a/b test experiment will be best.

According to Matt Gershoff, “If on the other hand, you actually care about optimization, rather than understanding, bandits are often the way to go.”

Specifically, bandit algorithms tend to work well for really short tests – and paradoxically – really long tests (ongoing tests). I’ll split up the use cases into those two groups.

1. Short Tests

Bandit algorithms are conducive for short tests for clear reasons – if you were to run a classic a/b test instead, you’d not even be able to enjoy the period of pure exploitation (after the experiment ended). Instead, bandit algorithms allow you to adjust in real time and send more traffic, more quickly, to the better variation.As Chris Stucchio says, “whenever you have a small amount of time for both exploration and exploitation, use a bandit algorithm.”

Here are specific use cases within short tests:

a. Headlines

Headlines are the perfect use case for bandit algorithms. Why would you run a classic a/b tests on a headline if, by the time you learn which variation is best, the time where the answer is applicable is over? News has a short half-life, and bandit algorithms determine quickly which is the better headline.

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Chris Stucchio used a similar example on his Bayesian Bandits post. Imagine you’re a newspaper editor. It’s not a slow day; a murder victim has been found. Your reporter has to decide between two headlines, “Murder victim found in adult entertainment venue” and “Headless Body found in Topless Bar.” As Chris says, geeks now rule the world – this is now usually an algorithmic decision, not an editorial one. (Also, this is probably how sites like Upworthy and Buzzfeed do it).

b. Short Term Campaigns & Promotions

Similar to headlines, there’s a big opportunity cost if you choose to a/b test. If your campaign is a week long, you don’t want to spend the week exploring with 50% of your traffic, because once you learn anything, it’s too late to exploit the best option.

This is especially true with holidays and seasonal promotions. According to Stephen Pavlovich from conversion.com, recommends bandits for short term campaigns:

Stephen Pavlovich:

“A/B testing isn’t that useful for short-term campaigns. If you’re running tests on an ecommerce site for Black Friday, an A/B test isn’t that practical – you might only be confident in the result at the end of the day. Instead, a MAB will drive more traffic to the better-performing variation – and that in turn can increase revenue.”

2. Long Term Testing

Oddly enough, bandit algorithms are effective in long term (or ongoing) testing. As Stephen Pavlovich put it:

Stephen Pavlovich:
“A/B tests also fall short for ongoing tests – in particular, where the test is constantly evolving. Suppose you’re running a news site, and you want to determine the best order to display the top 5 sports stories in. A MAB framework can allow you to set it and forget. In fact, Yahoo! actually published a paper on how they used MAB for content recommendation, back in 2009.”

There are a few different use cases within ongoing testing as well:

a. “Set it and forget it” (Automation for Scale)

Because bandits automatically shift traffic to higher performing (at the time) variations, you have a low-risk solution for continuous optimization. Here’s how Matt Gershoff put it:

Matt Gershoff:

“Bandits can be used for ‘Automation for Scale.’ Say you have many components to continuously optimize, the bandit approach gives you a framework to partially automate the optimization process for low risk, high transaction problems that are too costly to have expensive analysts pour over”

Ton Wesseling, founder of Testing Agency also mentions that bandits can be great for testing on high traffic pages after learning from a/b tests:

Ton Wesseling:“Just give some variations to a bandit and let it run. Preferable you use a contextual bandit. We all know the perfect page for everyone does not exist, it differs per segment. The bandit will show the best possible variation to each segment.”

b. Targeting

Another long term use of bandit algorithms is targeting – which is specifically pertinent when it comes to serving specific ads and content to user sets. As Matt Gershoff put it:

Matt Gershoff:

“Really, true optimization is more of an assignment problem than a testing problem. We want to learn the rules that assign the best experiences to each customer. We can solve this using what is known as a contextual bandit (or, alternatively, a reinforcement learning agent with function approximation). The bandit is useful here because some types of users may be more common than others. The bandit can take advantage of this, by applying the learned targeting rules sooner for more common users, while continuing to learn (experiment) on the rules for the less common user types.”

Ton also mentioned that you can learn from contextual bandits:

Ton Wesseling:
“By putting your A/B-test in a contextual bandit with segments you got from data research, you will find out if certain content is important for certain segments an not for others. That’s very valuable – you can use these insights to optimize the customer journey for every segment. This can be done with looking into segments after an A/B-test too, but it’s less time consuming to let the bandit do the work.”

c. Blending Optimization with Attribution

Finally, bandits can be used to optimize problems across multiple touch points. This communication between bandits ensures that they’re working together to optimize the global problem and maximize results. Matt Gershoff gives the following example:

Matt Gershoff:
“You can think of Reinforcement Learning as multiple bandit problems that communicate with each other to ensure that they are all working together to find the best combinations across all of the touch points. For example, we have had clients that placed a product offer bandit on their site’s home page and one in their call center’s automated phone system. Based on the sales conversions at the call center, both bandits communicated local results to ensure that they are working in harmony optimize the global problem.”

Caveats: Potential Drawbacks of Bandit Testing

Even though there are tons of blog posts with slightly sensationalist titles, there are a few things to consider before jumping on the bandit bandwagon.

First, multi-armed-bandits can be difficult to implement. As Shana Carp said on a Growthhackers.com thread:

“MAB is much much more computationally difficult to pull off unless you know what you are doing. The functional cost of doing it is basically the cost of three engineers – a data scientist, one normal guy to put into code and scale the code of what the data scientist says, and one dev-ops person. (Though the last two could probably play double on your team) It is really rare to find data scientists who program extremely well.”

The second thing, though I’m not sure it’s a big issue, is the time it takes to reach significance. As Paras Chopra pointed out, “There’s an inverse relationship (and hence a tradeoff) between how soon you see statistical significance and average conversion rate during the campaign.”

Image Source

Chris Stucchio also outlined what he called the Saturday/Tuesday problem. Basically, imagine you’re running a test on two headlines:

1. Happy Monday! Click here to buy now.
2. What a beautiful day! Click here to buy now.

Then suppose you run a bandit algorithm, starting on Monday:

• Mon: 1000 displays for “Happy Monday”, 200 conversions. 1000 displays for “Beautiful Day”, 100 conversions.
• Tues: 1900 displays for “Happy Monday”, 100 conversions. 100 displays for “Beautiful Day”, 10 conversions.
• Wed: 1900 displays for “Happy Monday”, 100 conversions. 100 displays for “Beautiful Day”, 10 conversions.
• Thu: 1900 displays for “Happy Monday”, 100 conversions. 100 displays for “Beautiful Day”, 10 conversions.

Even though “Happy Monday” is inferior (20% conversion rate on Mon and 5% rest of the week = 7.1% conversion rate), the bandit algorithm has almost converged to “Happy Monday”, so the samples shown “Beautiful Day” is very low. It takes a lot of data to correct this.

(Note: a/b/n tests have the same problem non-stationary data. That’s why you should test for full weeks.)

Chris also mentioned that bandits shouldn’t be used for email blasts:

Chris Stucchio:
“One very important note – email blasts are a fairly *poor* use case for standard bandits. The problem is that (b) is totally wrong for email – you might send out thousands of emails before you see the first conversion.”

Conclusion

Andrew Anderson from Malwarebytes summed it up really well in a Quora answer:

Andrew Anderson:

“In general Bandit Based optimization can produce far superior results to regular A/B testing, but it also highlights organizational problems more. You are handing over all decision making to a system. A system is only as strong as its weakest points and the weakest points are going to be the biases that dictate the inputs to the system and the inability to understand or hand over all decision making to the system. If your organization can handle this then it is a great move, but if it can’t then you are more likely to cause more problems then they are worse. Like any good tool, you use it for the situations where it can provide the most value, and not in ones where it doesn’t. Both techniques have their place and over reliance on any one leads to massive limits in the outcome generated to your organization.”

As mentioned above, the situations where bandit testing seems to flourish are:

• Headlines and Short-Term Campaigns
• Automation for Scale
• Targeting
• Blending Optimization with Attribution

Any questions, just ask in the comments!

There’s a classic beer commercial featuring a self-centered football player, pouting to a TV reporter in an interview after a particularly devastating loss. The player, unable to see past his own shortcomings, tells the reporter that he puts the loss “squarely on the shoulders of his teammates.”

Nonplussed, the reporter conducts the remainder of the interview and reminds our flawless player that “there’s no ‘I’ in team,” to which the player quips, “yeah, well, there ain’t no ‘we’ either.”

Often, in the world of sales and marketing, even the most seasoned professionals fall victim to the “there ain’t no ‘we’ either” sentiment. It’s “us against them,” wherein “them” is the side of the fence that we’re not on.

It used to be that sales and marketing fought over leads – quantity, quality, and/or lack thereof. But marketing’s relatively newfound ability to measure the effectiveness of leads based on conversion rates and revenue has largely squelched that argument. Having objective and accurate analytics takes the emotion out of the argument, time and again.

Today, it seems the big source of disagreement is around the content that marketing produces for sales.

What’s going on?

Speaking in broad strokes, sales never has enough of the right content for their selling situation. It’s widely known that 65% of content generated for sales is not used by sales (28% cannot be found and 37% is not relevant). Often it’s a mix of reasons: “wrong” vertical, wrong language, wrong product line, wrong points for this particular customer, not deep enough; too deep. Of course, the market is changing fast and they need to keep up with the shifting landscape. The point is, sales is using only a fraction of what is produced, and is screaming for more of the right stuff.

Conversely, marketing teams often feel they are on a hamster wheel of content development– They produce the best, highest-quality material they can, and yet sales can never be sated. They can feel undervalued and unappreciated, which doesn’t bode well for quality sales enablement materials.

And because there is no ability to measure what content sales is using, what content they need, its impact on sales conversions and revenue, the argument remains unwinnable – it’s back to “us against them.”

For two professions so highly dependent on each other for success, our relationships are often fundamentally fractured. This is almost universal. So much so….I’m willing to bet it’s going on in your organization.

There is a strong argument in favor of aligning sales and marketing, and not just from a feel-good human resources standpoint. Aligned sales and marketing teams provide significantly better revenue results with reduced churn. Consider these stats:

• 72 percent of Best-in-Class companies (top 20 percent) provide their sellers with a dynamic library of marketing and sales assets.
• Highly-aligned organizations achieved an average of 32 percent annual revenue growth. While less well-aligned companies reported an average 7 percent decline in revenue, according to Aberdeen.
• Cross-functional alignment among sales, marketing and product organizations can help companies achieve up to 15 percent higher profitability.
• Companies that establish shared marketing and sales responsibilities see clear improvements in their lead acquisition costs. In fact, the average cost per lead for marketers with a formal sales agreement is $24, versus $49 for those without.

That’s just a small sampling of the evidence that points to improved revenue when sales and marketing work with each other instead of against each other.

I won’t lie and say that these fractured relationships can be fixed overnight. They can’t. But, they can be fixed. And it’s well worth the effort because the cost of doing nothing is simply too high.

In 2012, Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, and Nicholas Toman penned an article for Harvard Business Review that explores the notion that most companies know their needs and are capable of determining solutions for themselves, thereby shaking up traditional sales strategies and methods.

Their assertion was based on a Corporate Executive Board study that investigated nearly 1,500 B2B customers and found that they had completed “on average, nearly 60% of a typical purchasing decision -- researching solutions, ranking options, setting requirements, benchmarking prices, and so on -- before even having a conversation with a supplier.”

This was devastating news for traditional solution sales reps but supported what high-performing, savvy sales professionals already were doing differently: engaging customers “well before customers fully understand their own needs.”

While the sales landscape has changed because of content marketing and the fact that the majority of enterprise customers research products and services prior to making contact with sales professionals, the value of a sales pro’s knowledge has not changed.

Truly, no one is better equipped to interact with potential buyers than a sales professional, and the best salespeople know exactly which questions to ask in order to uncover customer needs and to coach them through a sale. Here, we share three of the most powerful questions sales professionals can ask to determine customer needs earlier and close more deals.

1) What Is the Customer’s Propensity to Change?

This powerful sales question follows the strategy, as analyzed by the Harvard Business Review article, of avoiding the trap of established demand.

Any time a sales professional can determine a customer’s potential to change, he has a better idea of the customer’s willingness to challenge the status quo. This leads the sales rep to emphasize the customer’s potential to change, rather than her potential to buy, so he essentially can “get in early and advance a disruptive solution because they target accounts where demand is emerging, not established -- accounts that are primed for change but haven’t yet generated the necessary consensus, let alone settled on a course of action.”

The customers who are looking for a change and who are open to change present golden opportunities to sales reps.

2) Follow-Up Questions That Are As Specific As Possible

No, we don’t have one powerful question here. Rather, we have a set of guidelines for you to follow to frame powerful follow-up questions to help you uncover customer needs as you meet with potential buyers.

One of the most important parts of asking questions is actually listening to the answers customers and potential customers give. When a prospect says something like, “We are looking for a product with user-friendly features,” you need to respond with follow-up questions to get at the heart of their needs.

For example, you could ask them any or all of these follow-up questions:

• What does that look like to you?
• User-friendly for which specific users?
• Do you have an example of that?
• What are some non-user-friendly features that you’ve come across?

Without making potential buyers feel like you’re quizzing them, you need to get them to be as specific as possible about their needs by asking targeted follow-up questions.

3) What Prompted You to Look Into Our Product?

This powerful sales question is more complex than simply asking, “What are your needs?” To answer this question, a potential buyer may consider present needs and challenges or the desire to change or any number of reasons. The answer often gives insight not only into their motivation but their timeline, as they may reveal that they have a large problem that needs to be addressed immediately or in the very near future.

Savvy sales professionals should analyze the answer to this question carefully because the prospect most likely will do some reflecting in order to answer. Sales professionals also want to be armed with quality follow-up questions to this answer.

If your enterprise salespeople do not have the time to ask potential buyers these powerful sales questions, they will not meet your revenue targets. Docurated’s State of Sales Productivity Report found that reps spend only 32% of their time selling, with the remainder of their time spent on admin tasks like updating CRM and looking for content to include in a sales presentation.

Having technology, like the Docurated Sales Enablement App, for instance, can increase your enterprise sales reps’ productivity because it provides sales leaders with top evidence-based content recommendations for each sales situation. The app makes it even easier to close the deal after sales professionals have asked the right sales questions because it saves them so much time and guides them to the right content at the right time to win more deals.

If you're in marketing, look to your sales team for data that can produce leads.

BDR, SDR and Outbound Prospecting teams are breeding grounds for tomorrow’s sales leaders. These sales professionals are eager to make an impact and move up the ranks. But, these roles are also a grind! It’s easy for reps to get burnt out, which is exactly why managers looking to hold onto top talent need to help team members succeed in their current roles while also helping them gain the skills they need to advance up the ranks. Here are a few best practices you should consider implementing.

1. Plan a Model Day

On any given day, an outbound sales rep might have to make between 75 to 100 touches (both calls and emails), sit in on at least three appoints, attend a daily team meeting, send out follow up emails and conduct research for at least 10 new accounts.

That’s a lot for anyone to handle, but for a sales rep fresh out of school that can be overwhelming, which is precisely why sales team leaders should establish ‘model days’. These model days can translate into ‘model weeks’ and will ultimately help to ensure that each and every team member is allocating their time appropriately. By showing your team exactly what, how and when activities should be conducted, you’re setting your team and yourself up for success.

2. Encourage Team Members to Send Daily Update Emails

One of the most important things a rep can do is give the entire sales organization visibility into their daily activity. Tracking and updating the team on their activity (calls, emails, conversations, appointments set, opportunities created and so forth) on a daily basis helps create transparency across sales reps and gives key stakeholders within the organization visibility into what it is “those guys/gals” are actually doing all day.

Sending daily update emails also keeps your team members accountable to their goals and will effectively keep reps on track to hit their numbers every day, week, month and quarter. You may also want reps to include key insights from conversations they’re having each day with prospects to establish a clear feedback loop between sales and marketing.

3. Create a Formalized Handoff Process to Account Executives

As mentioned earlier, a business development role has become a great stepping stone to grow your sales organization internally.Young reps have the opportunity to learn about the business inside and out and decide if sales is the right career path for them. But, in order to give reps the proper insight into a full sales cycle and enable them to truly understand the process, you need to formalize the way leads and appointments are passed from BDR to AE.

Failing to institute a formalized handoff process causes a disconnect between team members and creates opportunities for leads to fall through the cracks. This lack of process can also cause some BDRs to lose the visibility they want or need into the opportunities they’ve sourced. Formalizing the process allows you to improve the lead qualification process while also giving young sales reps the opportunity to learn from more senior team members.

Remember that BDRs and SDRs are valuable and irreplaceable components of your sales organization. It’s important to both encourage their current success while also keeping an eye on the future. Help your sales reps prepare for the future and you’ll ensure success now and when the time comes for a promotion.

The post The 3 Sales Exercises Your Team Needs To Do Today appeared first on OpenView Labs.

Why is it that we can track ad performance, email performance and social performance every-which-way, but we can’t get basic performance analysis on content in the sales cycle?  Businesses should be able to answer these questions: Which content are sales teams are using the most (or at all)? Which piece of content moved the customer to purchase? Which is most engaging? Yet these questions plague businesses and often lead to finger-pointing and false assumptions, resulting in wasted dollars and time.

The problem is rooted in the lack of intelligence around a company’s content performance – most organizations don’t have the ability to accurately gather metrics relating to content from creation to consumption to revenue. As a result, the sales teams suffer due to ineffectual sales content, often times not even using what marketing has produced. In fact, according to a SiriusDecisions study, 60-70 percent of marketing content created is wasted each year.

The solution to stemming this black hole of wasted content – and better arming your sales team with highly effective content – is in applying intelligent sales content performance analytics. Through advancements in data science and machine learning it is now possible for all companies to use real-time analytics to measure content, providing sales and marketers with a more accurate understanding of how content is changed, exchanged, and engaged at all stages of the lifecycle.

Finding the Right Solution: Don’t Count Slide Decks, Measure Content

The measurement of your business’s content is vital in creating good content to support your sales teams. In order to measure content effectively, you must produce metrics over the key areas that drive effectiveness — usage, quality, engagement, and influence on sales. But what exactly does it mean to “measure” your content?

When considering a solution, it is important to recognize that measurement is critical at several different points in the content lifecycle. Here are just three examples that illustrate the ways intelligent measurement of content can turbocharge your sales team and turn your marketing dollars into revenue.

The Content Popularity Contest – Know Which Content Your Sales Teams Are Finding and Using

The best content in the world won’t do any good if the sales reps do not know that it exists. According to SiriusDecisions research, 28 percent of all content produced is never found by sales teams. When you consider massive, multi-million dollar marketing budgets, that’s a lot of wasted resources.

By providing sales reps with a real-time awareness of the content that is available to them, they can be more prepared to tackle a given customer situation, such as pairing a select pitch deck to a relevant opportunity or live event.

And then, of that content that’s found, what are sales reps actually using? In most companies, only a fraction of content is regularly used. Understanding which content sales reps are using (sending or sharing with prospects) can shed light on which content is working and which is simply being ignored.  Without an intelligent platform, there is no way to know what that ‘most popular’ content is. Sales content performance analytics can help marketers track sales teams’ use via measurement of views and downloads of content, so marketers can quickly identify which pieces are being used the most, by whom, and for what specific sales purpose.

Get Insight Into What Your Customers Are Thinking By Getting Insight Into What They Are Doing

With customers being inundated with content, it’s tough to get them to even take a look in the first place.  Most pitches are never even opened, and those that are only get a cursory glance before the customer moves on. How can you make sure your sales reps are pushing out content that will actually get viewed?

Having an intelligent measurement tool is like having a crystal ball into what your customer is thinking. There is much that can be learned long after a document is sent to a customer including:  open rates, time spent on each asset (down to time spent on an individual slide), and what content the customer shared. You can even measure how a slide “family” — or a set of nearly identical slides — is performing to identify the version that works best, enabling marketers to improve quality through A/B testing.  This takes the guesswork out of how your customers are responding — the data tells you what content is truly resonating with your audience.

And it’s not just the specific sales situation that matters. As this data is aggregated, a content’s performance history is captured to inform customer interaction in the future. A sales rep can quickly see how well a piece of content has performed in the past and make a decision as to whether or not a customer would find the given information useful before sending it.

Understand the Impact of Your Content by Tracking its Influence on Revenue

In the end, the one metric that truly matters is content’s influence on revenue — was this content used to drive the sale forward to closure? This metric is critical to understanding what really works, enabling sales to amplify best practices and marketing to invest in more content that works. Just as marketing automation, email engines and Google Analytics can track impressions, opens, click thrus, net new leads and more, influence on revenue can be tracked using modern, intelligent platforms.

Analytics can also breakdown whether content moved a deal forward at different stages in the process.  Different content types are used at different stages in the sales cycle.  For example, product guides provide early guidance to a viable solution, while case studies and ROI calculators provide value justification used in later stage negotiations. While it’s critical to track all content in relation to its ultimate influence on revenue, it is similarly powerful to analyze which content is most effective at moving deals forward for their given stage.

With the iPhone 6S, Apple has successfully broken the perception that the ‘S’-model is simply an incremental upgrade, ignored by most.

3D touch, a studio-quality camera and rose-gold (verging on pink) finish make the iPhone 6S stand further apart from its non-‘S’ predecessor than any iPhone that came before it.

In Tim Cook’s own words, “the only thing that’s changed is everything.”

Every year, this is the time when people decide whether it’s worth upgrading their current phone.

At $199 on a two-year contract, it’s no small undertaking – particularly if you’re already one year deep into your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6+ contract.

We’ve been monitoring the Twitter firehose for people’s opinions about the new products. Using the same social technology as world-leading retailers, we found thousands of people with an ‘intent to buy’ Apple products.

iPhone – as predicted – is the most desirable product.

By turning this technology on its head, we’ve also ‘intent to sell’ mentions increased even more.

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A Twitter storm

During the course of the event, the #AppleEvent hashtag was tweeted around 179K times.

The biggest spike in mentions came as an executive from Microsoft took to the stage, with the demonstration of Microsoft Office on the iPad Pro.

In this minute, close to 2,065 tweets were sent.

After that, the iPad pro announcement itself saw 1,674 tweets sent in a single minute.

1,614 were sent when the iPhone 6S was revealed, the ‘live pictures’ (Apple’s spin on video) saw 1,366 tweets.

Overall, the social media sentiment was overwhelming positive – rarely dipping below 80% positive.

Again, Microsoft stepping on stage caused the sentiment to dip most negative.

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Everyone wants an iPhone, but not their current one

Using Brandwatch’s advanced analysis, we’ve seen a surge in people wanting to buy Apple products.

Last week, 31 people expressed an ‘intent to buy’ Apple TV on social media. On the day of #AppleEvent alone, that number was 304. Similarly, ‘intent to buy’ the iPhone increased by 20 times.

Overall, the iPhone proved to be the most desirable product. The new rose gold finish is available exclusively on the iPhone 6S, leading to a wave of color-envy.

Retailers use this type of social intelligence to generate leads. Thousands of social media users have just identified themselves as being in the market for an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV. Best Buy, Walmart, Verizon and more should be competing for these easy customers.

‘Intent to sell’ turns this technology around.

Suddenly, we’ve found thousands of people who want to get rid of their phones. We’re about to see a bunch of second-hand iPhones and iPads flood the market.

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Listening to conversations like this has boosted sales and proven the value of social media campaigns for thousands of companies.

Guest author Edith Harbaugh is the CEO and cofounder of LaunchDarkly, a service that helps software teams launch, measure, and control their features.

As I was going through my fundraising for LaunchDarkly, I was surprised by my friends reactions of “Oh, it’s just like Shark Tank; you pitch four VCs on live TV and they make a snap decision.” 

This isn’t true. Seed fundraising isn’t like Shark Tank. It’s much more like enterprise sales.

Survival Of The Fit

Fundraising is about finding a good fit between a company that wants money to grow faster and investors who want to put their money to work with a high return. Enterprise sales is similar—a company is investing in a vendor that will help them achieve high returns for their own business. 

In both cases, there’s a funnel with leads, a champion, a sales process, and a close.

Below is the sales process I used to raise raising $2.6 million, with bonus help from ’90s classic movie Glengarry Glen Ross. 

Hollywood mythology has the CEO drive down to Sand Hill Road, pitch a partner meeting, and walk out with a check for millions. Actually, the partner meeting is the very last step in the process. 

You start out with all your leads—VCs you think might be interested in buying what you’re selling. But wait, I’m not selling anything! I hear you thinking. Oh, but you are! VCs are buying a chunk of your company in the hopes that you will return their investment by 10x or more. Not every buyer persona matches what you’re selling; you are looking for a VC who understands your market and your vision, and buys into the possibility that you will make them look prescient and rich.

Qualifying Leads

“The leads aren’t weak—you’re weak.”

Pro tip: Know your target market and look for VCs who know your market well. My screen was having investors with experience working in software development.

Make a lead list of everyone you know who fits your ideal lead profile. Define your target market for leads—investors who have a thesis that matches your space and its size. AngelList, CrunchBase and funds’ own websites are very helpful for knowing what investors invest in. For example, if they usually invest in hardware router makers that need a Series D—a big-dollar, late-stage investment—they’re unlikely to invest in your seed-stage home-decorating consumer app. 

Next, make your email pitch with a short blurb of who you are, what you’re doing, and why it’s interesting. The goal of the email pitch is not to have someone drop you a check (only a Sith Lord does that), but to get a meeting with the investor.

Once you’re in the pitch meeting, it’s a two-way street. The investor is assessing whether you have a quality pitch, team, interesting market, and product demo. At the seed stage, the VCs are looking for promise and something that excites them personally. 

As the CEO, you are looking for the right fit to take your company forward. Mike Beebe, a Jedi fundraiser, told me, “You will get the money—you’re assessing if this is the person you want to get money from.” 

I had a pitch meeting where the partner had never heard of Stack Overflow. My own product is a developer tool that helps with getting features to real users faster, and the partner hadn’t heard of one of the most popular developer sites. Not a fit.

Another said they loved me and my story personally, but didn’t understand B2B and would invest if I was doing a B2C company.

The Art Of The Follow-Up

“A guy don’t walk on the lot lest he want to buy."

Pro tip: Always ask. Always. You don’t know if someone is a yes unless you ask.

The first pitch meeting went well, there’s mutual interest, now what? 

Now comes the follow-up. Tom Drummond, Heavybit managing director, told me that “VCs take 20–30 meetings a week and have hundreds of emails. You need to force your way to be top of mind. Email them, follow up.” 

Once I knew it wasn’t a negative signal to follow up, I used TalentBin founder Peter Kazanjy's advice:“Touch a lead six times before they’re cold.” After the pitch meeting, send a follow-up. Mine reiterated key points, expanded on anything I felt I hadn’t covered well, and included a customer case study. I asked for next steps. Sometimes the response was “We don’t want to continue.” Sometimes it was “Here’s what we need to move forward,” but at least I knew.

Dave McClure, founding partner at 500 Startups, only invested after I followed up. I’ve known Dave since 2008, when I worked at an Internet of Things startup. He said, “If you ever start a company, I’d invest.” My response was, “I don’t even have an idea, much less a company.” But he said, “The person is more important than the idea.”

When I exhibited at WebSummit Dublin in 2014, I tweeted him to come by the LaunchDarkly booth. He came by, dropped a card, and jetted off. I was disappointed—now I had a company, shouldn’t he have offered to invest? Then I reframed it. He’d taken the time to come see me, and I hadn’t made the ask. 

I emailed him, “Are you ready to make your bet on me?” He responded instantly, saying yes, he was interested, and he’d assumed I wasn’t fundraising because I hadn’t asked him.

Do Due Diligence

“Always be closing."

Pro tip: Ask a VC to walk you through their due-diligence process. If the VC can’t answer, this is a huge red flag. If they ask for 50 different documents including SEC filings and you’re raising seed, it’s not a good match. If they start to ask for things not in the original plan, ask them why. Usually, it’s cold feet.

Due diligence is often the most confusing phase for entrepreneurs.. As VCs are parting with a significant amount of money, they want to vet you. Angels who are investing $10,000–$50,000 can go on gut, but the more money is at stake, the more vetting will take place.

Every investor has an ever-amorphous idea of what due diligence they need to feel comfortable with you. Some will want to talk to your customers, some will want you to talk to their portfolio companies to see what they think, some will want you to talk to industry experts, some will want to talk to all your old bosses, and some will want to see five years of financial statements, board meeting notes, and your seven-year business plan. Match the amount of vetting with the size of investment, and push back on unusual requests.

If a VC asks you to meet with someone before they’ve invested, treat these meetings as what they are—sales calls. The investor will not invest until due diligence is complete, so do not blow these meetings off or treat them casually. They are not a time to let it all hang out and expose the warts of your business. They are steps in a sales process. Impress the due-diligence people as much as you impressed the original VC. Bring your A-game as to why your company is important and valuable. Due diligence can drag out, mislead, give false hope, and be harmful.

I had an investor who wanted to talk to two customers. He missed both meetings because he was late. When he did eventually show up, he wanted to meet with more customers to “feel convinced.” I didn’t want to burn my customers with a flaky VC who would miss meetings. He never did end up investing.

Another startup CEO had six separate meetings with one VC firm. He didn't meet with other firms, as in his mind, this firm was about to invest. Startup advisor Sean Byrnes gave him a cold dose of reality: “If after that many meetings they haven’t invested, they won’t. They’re using you to educate themselves on the market.” 

To reframe this in enterprise sales terms, if you’re spending all your time on bad leads, you’re not making good leads work.

The Close

 “Coffee is for closers."

Pro tip: Always know who your champion is. If you don’t know who it is, you are fighting solo, as no one has an incentive to help you.

You’ve made it through your initial pitch meetings, due diligence, and now it’s time for the final hurdle—the partner meeting. Many think this is the first step, but it is actually the last one. This is the meeting where you pitch to the entire partnership. 

The most important person in the pitch meeting isn’t actually you, but your champion. The champion is the partner who heard your pitch and has the reports back from due diligence. They are trying to get the deal done as they think you’re a killer investment that will make them look good. 

Andy McLoughlin, a venture partner at SoftTech VC, says, “If I’m the champion of an investment deal, I’m even more invested than in vendor selection at an enterprise. The companies I invest in are my product.” 

The champions are there to help you. Use them! They want you to look good, as otherwise they get razzed for backing a loser company. Most firms invest in less than half of companies that pitch the partnership, and it’s not expected everyone will be in favor.

Ask the champion what you should show in the partner meeting. Let the VC run interference on objections. Without a champion, meetings are at best neutral and at worst openly hostile.

In sum, fundraising is hard, but it shouldn’t be a mystery. It’s a sales process, so treat it like that. The goal is that both parties should feel like they’ve found a partner who will help them win.

Screenshot via Glengarry Glen Ross

There’s a quote by Charles M. Schwab that goes like this:

Three men were laying brick. The first was asked: "What are you doing?" He answered: "Laying some brick." The second man was asked: "What are you working for?" He answered: "Five dollars a day." The third man was asked: "What are you doing?" He answered: "I am helping to build a great cathedral."

My question is, which are you? Are you laying marketing brick at $30-60 bucks an hour or building a business you can be proud of?

Are you building a business with your lead generation efforts that drive sales or are you spending the company’s money on tactics that have tepid responses? Do you avidly measure your results or decline to look at the stats for weeks or months after the fact? Are you simply concerned with the lead count versus the qualified lead count?

Early in my marketing career I was just laying marketing brick for a basic wage. It was a job that was occasionally stimulating. I spent eight hours a day at it and no more. Then a media rep for a magazine asked me about responses to programs, return on investment, and sales lead follow-up. I had no answers. Until then, I didn’t have a mentor so I didn’t know what to look for or how to measure lead gen campaigns.

This media rep became my mentor. He didn’t make me feel stupid. He just taught me what to look for and how to measure responses. He recommended a sales lead management service (predecessor to CRM systems); showed me the reports; told me why it was important; and from there I started building something of value for Beckman Instruments—my employer at the time. I built market share and got an increasing piece of the sales reps’ time. And while they could have sold other products in the company, they instead started selling more and more of our division’s products. In the process, I built a reputation.

I became an over-confident wise-ass that was liked by sales, but not as popular with marketers in other divisions of the company. At the time I didn’t care very much that other marketers “didn’t see the light,” but I care very much now. I learned that building something of value meant contributing to the company’s success in a measurable manner. I learned how to increase follow-up; measure ROI for campaigns; increase the lead count; and create qualified leads.

This attitude of building something was appealing. And measuring it was proof of my worth. Through the years I learned that lead count takes a back seat to lead quality; follow-up trumps any other sales activity; and measurement of ROI is as equally important as the other two.

James Allen, author of the literary essay, As a Man Thinkethⁱ, wrote, “Until thought is linked to purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.” And it’s from this same piece that we get his most famous statement: “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”

Maybe you're thinking, hey, lighten up, it’s only marketing. Marketing’s purpose, however, is to create wealth for its company—create demand—manage the demand—create acceptance in the market place—create a successful sales channel—and create personal satisfaction in building a company by his or her conscious thought. According to Allen, “A man is literally what he thinks,” and if you are just laying marketing brick for a wage, it’s hard to realize you could be building something more important … until you think about it. 

 

Today's blog was submitted by James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting. James is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint.

ⁱAllen, James, As a Man Thinketh, 1903. Available through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kindle, and even free on the internet.

^IiThe photo rights were purchased from iStock.