Rnordman

You could say that simplicity is the key to success with direct mail postcards. In a world where customers are increasingly impatient, you have to make your marketing point clearly and quickly – and convincingly enough to thoroughly engage your audience.

The mere arrival of a postcard in someone’s mailbox is engaging. It’s simply impossible to ignore postcards because they are inherently intriguing – hey, what’s this? Is it from someone I know? Is it a special offer on some product or service I’ve been looking for? Your recipient automatically wants to know more. Even so, they won’t bother to look more closely unless you take specific steps to make that happen.

Here are 6 simple ways to engage your audience with direct mail postcards:

1. Make it big enough to really stand out among other mail.

The smallest 4×6 inch postcards can sometimes be a perfectly good choice for marketing purposes, but for most businesses and campaigns, larger 5.5 x 8.5 or 6 x 11 sizes perform even better. They literally offer a larger presence that says “pick me, pick me!” And they provide more space to include additional important information or more/larger photos, which can be a distinct advantage for certain businesses such as yard care services or restaurants where photographic “evidence” of your great work is essential.

2. Use bright colors and a bold headline.

In order to engage your audience, you first have to get their attention. Once they’ve picked up your postcard, you have only a fleeting moment to convert them to a reader. Bright colors and a bold headline give them an instant idea what your postcard is all about. Are you a pool service, a dentist, a bar and grill or a health club?

3. Use bullets to make scanning easy.

Imagine reaching into your own mailbox and retrieving a postcard covered with a sea of type. Would you read it? Of course not. Because we’re all impatient these days, we’ve become an audience of scanners. Make your direct mail postcards scanner-friendly by using bullets to deliver multiple salient points as concisely as possible.

Bullet benefits – why your products or services are superior or other characteristics of your business that set you apart from others — in other words, what’s in it for your postcard recipient to choose you over someone else?

Along that same line, other types of quick-reference visuals can validate your professionalism and credibility – short testimonial quotes, social media icons, logos of the professional or business organizations you belong to, professional accreditations or awards, etc. No one wants to be a guinea pig, so the more “proof” you can offer as to your business stability and value, the more engaged your audience will be.

4. Clean design.

It’s tempting to cram too many visual elements onto a postcard, out of fear that you have to tell your entire story to your audience all at once. Unfortunately, visual overload makes it impossible for the human eye to focus on any one thing. It’s as off-putting as too much text. You’ll engage a lot more prospects with simple design that presents key elements in a layout that’s inviting and easy to follow.

5. Make sure you’re using the right mailing list.

You can’t engage anyone if you’re mailing to people who aren’t part of your target audience.

6. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.

This is really the bottom line when it comes to engagement, because it’s a step-by-step process. You’ve engaged appropriate recipients by delivering useful information about your products or services, in a way that makes them want to take a closer look. They’re interested, but they may be waffling. Convince them to respond now with an incentive and a deadline. If they don’t act now, they’ll miss out. What could be simpler than that?

Achieving the single customer view in order to personalize communications is one of the most sought after marketing goals, yet it’s also something that’s been unattainable for almost every organization. Various estimates place the number of companies with a single customer view anywhere from 10-20% of all businesses. The problem for marketers is that the experiences they’re delivering via digital marketing suffer from a combination of poor data management and individual, compartmentalised communications.

In short, there are some real hurdles preventing companies from moving beyond standard views of the customer and what their journey should be to delivering experiences driven by a single customer view.  How should companies overcome some of the challenges? Here are 5 steps to achieving a single customer view:

1. Develop a marketing strategy for using a Single Customer View

Too often, marketing teams have a desire for a single customer view without really understanding how their inbound and outbound marketing efforts must change as well.  While many are right in stressing the ‘science’ of marketing through better data, the ‘art’ of marketing cannot be ignored.  Make sure you instil discipline within your teams so you don’t damage the quality of the data by increasing attrition through poor marketing.

2. Identify the data sources that are currently tracking your customer data

One of the most difficult tasks is figuring out where all the customer touch points are located for your business.  Engage with cross-functional teams so that you can build a Single Customer View that is truly representative of a consumer engaging with your brand.  This means data must come from non-marketing systems so that all stages of the customer journey are optimised and the transition from each stage is seamless.

3. Pick the right technology for your business to build and maintain the Single Customer View

Based on the failure of so many companies to implement a Single Customer View, one of the critical initial goals must be to show quick value to the organisation.  Therefore, the technology you choose should allow for easy integration of different data sources and an open architecture.  Usability should be a top concern.  Marketers should stay away from heavy hardware outlays as this increases total cost of ownership versus non-hardware solutions utilising the latest data storage and processing technology.

4. Train the marketing team to be self-sufficient

If your marketing team is going to be the primary beneficiary of the Single Customer View then they must be trained on how to get their own insights out of the database.  The closer marketing is to the data, the higher performing the campaigns will be. The interpretation and application of data insights will be faster and more accurate versus an IT analyst separated from the business objectives.  The company will be far more efficient with marketers who can self-serve.

5. Share the Single Customer View across the entire technology ecosystem

Even if marketing is going to be the primary beneficiary of the Single Customer View, your customers expect consistent, compelling experiences at all touch points, especially if marketing isn’t involved.  Leading organisations leverage the Single Customer View across all technology applications so all touch points are all using the latest information and the total experience is seamless.  Further, as the Single Customer View becomes ‘stickier’ in an organization, the better its long-term life value and usability to an organization.

As the digital world continues to explode and evolve, the bottom line is clear: a Single Customer View is critical to delivering exceptional personal experiences. Today’s technology allows for easy linking of disparate data sources, but marketers must be careful to develop a clear business strategy and integration plan.  Marketers must also look beyond their own efforts and ensure that all touch points and business areas are included in the Single Customer View to truly deliver compelling, relevant experiences.

This post originally appeared on HubSpot's Agency blog. For more content like this, subscribe to Agency.

Do you ever get the feeling that you and your potential client are speaking different languages?

You're both respected business owners. They understand what you've had to do to build a solid foundation for your agency. You've "been in the same shoes." You should be on the same page. 

The problem is that the words coming out of the client's mouth sound a lot like words that people use when they want something for free. They don't use that dirty little F-word, but there is something about the language that is stimulating the "flight" reflex in your brain. 

If you're looking to translate that confusing client language, here's a list of 10 phrases that signal your prospect is looking for something for nothing.

1) I can’t spend much money, but there will be a lot more work in the future.

Do you mean like the soon future? Or are we talking about the year 2040? More often that not, that future will never occur.

2) It’ll be great exposure for your agency.

It won’t be great exposure when the client tells you to use his favorite font -- Comic Sans -- and asks for you to use the iPhone photo of an billboard he took.  

3) We’d like to see what ideas you have first.

This way, the client can feel good about taking your ideas and improving upon them. (This equates to adding their logo to your work.).

4) We’re basically a non-profit. We don’t currently make any money.

Bad business practices on the client's side doesn't mean you need to be the benevolent benefactor.

5) We can make a lot of valuable introductions to people who have big budgets.

The client’s friend’s aunt runs marketing at a large hospital, but that doesn’t mean she needs your services. If your work is good and you have the case studies and industry knowledge to feel confident in pursuing this client, go after the relationship on your own. Don't trade your work for an email address. 

6) I go on trust. We don’t need a contract.

This is code for, “I can forget or misremember what we agreed to and then decide not to pay you.” The handshake deal is never a good option, even if it is recorded and broadcast to millions of people. Megan Cummins, a Shark Tank contestant in 2011, found this out when her investor went silent and then asked for a larger share of the company. 

7) I could get an intern to do this for free, but I’d like to work with you.

This is an immediate sign that the client does not value what you do, the results you provide, and the expertise you have developed over the years.

8) It’ll be a super quick project. There’s no need to make this complicated.

When you are on the 17^th round of revisions, you will understand that you and the client have different ideas about the definition of complicated.

9) We don’t have a budget yet, but I’m sure they will like your ideas when I present them.

Basically, the client was told by her bosses that she needs to take more risks and think more proactively. Your free work is her job security. 

10) We like your work and would like you to compete in our contest.

Don’t worry clients. The thrill of the competition will feed our children and pay the mortgage. Oh, and I'm glad you finally caught up with the idea of "crowdsourcing," though I had something a little different in mind. 

Your services might not be free, but there is one tool that can help your clients grow their businesses at no cost -- the free HubSpot CRM. Try it now. 

Amazon just decided to set its sights on the B2B market—watch out world.. The online shopping behemoth has evolved to become a crazily comprehensive source to find and buy just about anything with a simple touch of the “buy” button. And now that consumers are largely addicted to the ease of purchase and efficiency that buying from Amazon affords, Amazon is making a move to get more of the lucrative B2B market. This should come as no surprise to anyone, Amazon has never been content to sit still when it comes to growth opportunities. After three years of testing, Amazon Business has officially launched.

An expansion of Amazon Supply, the wholesale site launched in 2012, Amazon Business will make Supply look like small potatoes. Where Supply had somewhere around 2 million products, and millions of business customers spending billions of dollars, Amazon Business will be much bigger, with hundreds of millions of products, and of course, expanded profits to match. If you’re currently an Amazon Supply customer, come May 13th Amazon Business will make Supply look like small potatoes.

And not just any old schmo can use Amazon Business. You must be a legally recognized company – Amazon has a detailed vetting process to ensure you are – but membership has its perks: Free two-day shipping on orders of $50 or more, products not available to retail consumers, products with special business discounts, and a suite of tools including a tax exemption program, purchasing approval, and the ability to use corporate lines of credit to pay.

B2B sales and service is a huge market, and growing. Like, “a trillion dollars” growing. BusinessInsider.com reports that “wholesale e-commerce saw $1.96 trillion in sales in 2013, while e-commerce retail sales were only expected to his $304.9 billion in 2014.” It’s not surprising that Amazon is looking to take a chunk of that B2B business.

Benefits of using Amazon Business for your company

Convenience. A major benefit Amazon Business is convenience. Along with the aforementioned free two-day shipping, if your business signs up for an account, the business solution package will become available to your company. You will be able to easily manage accounts for individual or group users.

Efficiency. As part of their business solution, businesses can approve orders and set individual spending limits. Team members can access shipping addresses and select mode of payment. Record keeping efficiency will also be improved since Amazon Business will allow you to use your own purchase order and reference numbers.

Pricing. Whether you are purchasing office supplies or industrial products for your business, Amazon Business will be offering special pricing on a certain selection of products for members only. Only registered businesses will have access to those special discounted prices. According to Fast Company, “Amazon declined to say whether it will achieve competitive pricing via cheaper supplier contracts or if Amazon will lower prices themselves after paying wholesale.”

Tax exemption program. If your business is eligible for tax-exempt purchasing, you will be able to apply for the program. This will allow you to manage tax exemptions within your organization and to make tax exempt purchases.

To make it even easier (and more attractive) to participate Amazon Business will also be rolling out a “Live Expert” customer service program that will help manufacturers connect easily with buyers and potential customers.

Businesses can easily sign up for an account now, it’s free, as long as you meet the eligibility requirements.

Here is a quick look at Amazon Business:

For now, Amazon Business is available in the United States, but could expand to international customers in the future.

As a business owner, will you sign up for an Amazon Business account? Do you find the benefits enticing enough to get on board? Let us know your thoughts. We would love to hear from you.

Additional Resources:

Meet Jet: The site that promises lower prices than Amazon — and hopes to change how you do errands
Amazon Launches Amazon Business Marketplace, Will Close AmazonSupply  

photo credit: Danbo Was Once Lost but He Has Now Seen The Light via photopin (license)

In many organizations, the largest line item in a Marketing budget is for events such as trade shows, conferences and launches. Forrester Research has found that approximately 30% of B2B Marketers prefer to decrease event spending, but 21% said they expected to increase spending on events.

So why the dichotomy?

Events are no different than most things in life, just like databases—you get out of them what you put into them. However, all too often companies do not plan events properly which is a recipe for failure. The result is an unsuccessful, reactive fire-drill which ends with little to no results.

On the other hand, when events are well-run they drive revenue, so sales people are vocal supporters.

For a successful event, it’s important to use a three tiered selection process to quantitatively and objectively select events that align and support an organization’s marketing strategy.  Objective, relevance and the ability to execute should be the key criteria to evaluate events and set sales and marketing teams up for success.

What is the Objective for Attending the Event?

Brand Objective

• Is it an opportunity to brief press, analysts and/or influencers with news?
• Is the organization making a product announcement?
• Is a competitor planning a huge announcement that your organization is trying to disrupt?

Customer Acquisition Objective

• Is the focus to increase awareness?
• Or is the focus to increase the size of the target prospect database?
• Is it to go from qualified leads to marketing qualified leads to sales qualified leads (top of funnel)?
• Or is it to advance a deal along a sales stage by leveraging subject matter experts and executives that will be in the same location for a period of time?

Customer & Market Intelligence Objective

• Will key competitors be in attendance and will the right people be on-site who can learn about the messaging and positioning of the competitive product and inner workings of the solution?
• Is there calendar availability or are the relationships strong enough to secure off- show meetings?
• Is there meaningful, relevant information about technology, markets, customers, products or partners to share?

What is the Relevance for Attending the Event?

Brand Relevance

• Will there be a critical mass of press, analyst and influencers at this particular event?
• Will the organization be able to secure predetermined time slots with the key spokespeople and press, analysts and influencers at the event?
• Does the organization have relevant and meaningful content around technology, markets, products, competitors, revenue, customers or partners to share?

Customer Acquisition Relevance

• Does the profile of the attendee map directly to your organization’s Target Account Profile?
• Is there a critical mass of attendees that are suspects, prospects, marketing qualified leads or in later stages in the sales pipeline?
• Are relevant sponsorships available and can the organization execute against the needs of the sponsorship?
• Are speaking opportunities on key topics available and does your organization have a speaker that is available to deliver?
• Will the attendee list be available far enough in advance to help drive attendance? Is last years’ list? Or a targeted list with a 100 radius of the event?

Customer Retention Relevance

• How many existing customers will be in attendance at the event?
• Of the customers attending the event, how many are of strategic importance, how many contribute a significant amount to revenue, how many are reference able and how many are not happy?
• Is there an opportunity for a customer to speak at the event or participate in a co-speaking opportunity?

Risk/Threat Relevance

• How many key competitors will participate the event and in what capacity?
• Are any key competitors anticipated to make a key announcement?
• What is the probability that customers and prospects will interpret non-participation of your organization at the event as a de-commitment to the market?

What is the Organization’s Ability to Execute This Event?

Pre-Event – Ability to Execute

• How well does the profile of the event attendees map to the organization’s target account profile?
• How many sales and marketing people are confirmed to proactively work the event?
• How many customer meetings can be scheduled with customers and prospects?
• Is there an event planning team, an event plan and a weekly event planning meeting that begins at least ten weeks before the event?
• Who approves the messaging, positioning and signage for the show and do those requirements map to the plan?

At Event- Ability to Execute

• What are the quantitative goals for the show – i e. # of business cards, # of meetings, advancement of deals in the pipeline, closed deals, etc.?
• Can the organization effectively communicate the key messages as quantitatively documented in positive press, evaluation forms and surveys?
• Can the organization generate social media buzz such as tweets, retweets, likes, blog posts, comments, etc.?

Post-Event- Ability to Execute

• Can leads be collected, processed, scored and routed in real-time?
• Can nurture paths be set in motion at the event?
• Will be organization be able to leverage event assets on the website, in follow-ups and lead nurture?
• Can the organization follow-up on all social media channels to continue and promote engagement?
• Is there an ability to track, monitor and manage metrics to document ROI?

Download an Event Planning Template – How to Plan and Execute an Event

It’s been a lead generation standard for years.

The acronym BANT stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline and serves as a guide to basic lead qualification for almost any B2B sale.

However, the BANT approach is no longer the best method for how your sales team should be selling to today’s buyers, especially when taking a metrics-driven approach.

Here’s why:

Why BANT Needs To Go

It’s important to have a linear sales process, a lead qualification method and a way to measure your sales pipeline, but BANT is no longer ideal for the task.

The BANT approach sets your sales team up for failure for many reasons. Not only does it walk your prospect through the qualification process in the wrong order, but it’s entirely sales-centric instead of customer-centric.

Here are reasons why each stage of BANT isn’t the right order or fit for your sales process:

• Budget: If a prospect has the budget for your product or service, they’ve likely already been shopping for a solution for a while. Waiting to qualify this aspect of a sale means you’re probably late to the game.
• Authority: While the final decision maker is never the one who begins the buying process, each person in the process is important to understanding need. If you fail to speak with the end user or influencer (who usually starts the conversation), you’ll fail to understand their pains. Instead, engage in a business-level discussion with whoever is on the phone, regardless of authority.
• Need: Need is the primary reason why a buyer is shopping for an offering like yours. You must lead with Need in order to effectively close the sale.
• Timeline: Relationship building is more important than timing, so don’t push for a particular purchase timeline. If you do, then you aren’t actually building a relationship with the prospect.

Lead With Need By Leveraging ODAC

When you lead the sales conversation with Need (instead of the other three facets of BANT), your efforts are ultimately more successful. However, keeping your sales team on track with a needs-based approach requires a new acronym so no one slips back into the old habit of BANT.

Replace your team’s BANT philosophy with ODAC:

• Open: Have your team start sales calls by opening the door to a conversation with the prospect. From the first call to the last, their approach must be open and customer-centric.
• Discovery: The next step is to discover the prospect’s current pains and problems. Find their reason to proceed with the call and then show them the potential impact of your product or service.
• Agreement: Your sales team should then ask the prospect, “What could features like X, Y and Z do for your business?” By getting the customer to envision your product working for them, you’re getting them to tacitly agree to the sale and helping your team overcome any later objections.
• Close: Once you’ve gotten a prospect to agree with the vision of your solution, guide them through the final aspects of Budget, Authority, and Timeline. By this stage in the sales process, you only need to guide them through the logistics of their decision.

As your team adopts the ODAC approach, remember to measure and analyze every aspect of the process. Only with clear sales metrics in hand are you able to optimize each stage of ODAC for a smoother sale.

It’s time for BANT to go. Not only is it not customer-centric, but it inhibits your team’s ability to close deals faster. Harness the power of the ODAC approach to streamline your sales cycle and keep your team effectively turning leads into customers.

Looking for a more reliable way to scale your sales growth? Download this free whitepaper from Invenio Solutions® and discover a proprietary five-step formula to a more scientifically precise B2B sales process.

I write quite a bit about asking for referrals, but there are numerous other ways to use your clients for obtaining more prospects. Keep in mind that “use” is not meant to be derogatory, but beneficial. Happy clients are your best friends in business and can be the gateway to a flood of endless leads. Tapping those leads is sometimes difficult but here are a few examples of how you can.

When you have clients that you want to tap for referrals or future business, make sure that they are in fact happy with your service. As part of my daily marketing plan, I send out emails to at least two clients I have performed work for in the past. This email includes a simply “hello” and reminds them that I am here if needed. The reply from these clients lets me know who I can ask for additional clients. The ones quickest to reply are normally the clients that like to talk (to their clients and hopefully recommend me).

Here are four methods I use that are likely to help you as well:

Ask for referrals:

The most obvious way to obtain more clients is to ask for referrals. This is something that I do on a daily basis and it always leads to fresh prospects. In most of the emails I send to clients, I thank them for using my services as well as remind them of services that I offer (that they are not currently using) or ask them if they know anyone who could use my services. This may sound like a pushing salesperson, but if you do not ask, do not expect a return. Make sure that you are subtle and non-aggressive. A simple sentence in a longer “thank you” email can do the trick.

I will not go into detail about offering referral fees. However, I will quickly state my opinion. Referral fees can be good if you are a B2C company offering the referrals to your customers. However, I tend to find that B2B compensation is a little tacky and as such I don’t do it. What I do like is providing a referring client with some type of free service such as linking to them from my blog or mentioning them in my email newsletter (more about that below).

Have them open their Rolodex:

Take the number of clients you currently have and multiply that number by itself. The result is the potential number of leads you could have if you were allowed to access your clients’ email lists. As an example, let’s say that you have 100 clients and each of those clients has 100 clients (or 100 people they do business with). That means that there are 10,000 potential leads at your fingertips.

There are numerous ways to have a client open their Rolodex. NEVER ask them to provide you with a client list. This is not only unprofessional, but flat out unethical for even asking them to give up their clients’ privacy. What you can do is tap their strengths. Do they have a newsletter? Ask them to mention you there. Do they have a website that advertises services? See if they will put up a link to your website. Are they a writer? See if they will use you for a quote in an article they write.

Depending on the work you did, you can even ask to brand yourself with them. For instance, if you designed a website, see if you can put “designed by ???” at the bottom with a link to your site. Or, request to guest post on their blog about the work you performed. All great ways of accessing their client database without invading privacy.

Partner with a client:

This is one of the most beneficial ways to earn referrals from clients as well as build lasting business relationships. If you offer a service that you can combine with a service offered by one of your clients, consider reaching out to them for a partnership. Here is an example of what I do which should help you come up with some ideas of your own.

In additional to content marketing, approximately 70% of my business deals with Wikipedia editing. It was difficult for me to find people to partner with at first as I wasn’t sure how to combine my services with what they offered their clients. Then it came to me, literally. I became overwhelmed with emails from brand management companies wanting to subcontract Wikipedia articles they were hired to create. As these companies are generally unfamiliar with the numerous guidelines that restrict Wikipedia editing, they found it easier to contract that work to me.

Now, I partner with many agencies who incorporate my services into their brand packages. I provide a special price to these companies (my clients) who in turn offer my services, masked as their services, to others (their clients). It’s a win-win situation and has provided a steady stream of new prospects.

The type of services you offer will determine who you partner with, but you can see this all the time in the B2B marketplace. Another example is how webhosts such as GoDaddy and Hostmonster partner with web design companies and vice versa.

Get the reference, in writing:

The last thing I want to mention is to get references from clients. I recommend doing this at the time you complete the service and obtain it in email along with their permission to use the reference (e.g., testimonial). Make is clear how you plan to use it (email, on your website, etc.) and then do so regularly. People looking to use your services will often ask for references and it is always nice to have that list ready to provide at a moment’s notice.

Max Standby Time for Top Phones | SpecOut

In theory, modern smartphones can last hundreds of hours on a single charge.

Hundreds of hours, that is, until you actually start using the things. In practice, today’s top phones will squeeze out about 20 hours at best. In the chart below, note the more realistic estimates for battery life in popular phones.

Talk Time for Top Phones | SpecOut

While “Talk Time” traditionally means “number of hours you can chat on your phone on a single charge,” the figure doubles as a rough approximation for “any active use,” such as texting and web browsing.

But even these numbers are inflated—manufacturers love to use pristine laboratory conditions in order to advertise great numbers, most of which won’t match real-world use. This is why your brand new Galaxy or iPhone might still be running low an hour or two before dinner.

If your battery is constantly dying, and you want a quick and dirty solution, flip on Airplane Mode. This one simple setting will cut off almost all the battery killers at once, from background app activity to GPS to push notifications.

The problem, of course, is that Airplane Mode immediately turns your smartphone into a dumb phone. What’s the use of 48 hours of battery life when you can’t text, make calls or check email?

So before turning your smartphone into a paperweight, try the following battery-saving tricks, preferably in this order.

We’ll start with simple solutions that should solve most problems, then gradually get to the more extreme measures. Along the way, we’ll point out a few myths about smartphone batteries, from ideal charging cycles to the truth about closing apps (it turns out some of the best battery advice from 2010 no longer applies).

Notes: this list will cover battery saving techniques for both iOS and Android (sorry, Windows). In a few cases, we’ll mark a tip as specific to either iOS and Android, but most apply on both platforms.

This guide is current as of Android Lollipop and iOS 8. If you’re using a previous version of either OS, the menus and options may be a bit different.

Start by deleting apps you haven’t used in months

As we’ll see later on this list, pesky apps that run in the background, track your location or send you push notifications can end up being a big drain on your battery. Each of those problems can be addressed individually, but why not just delete those dozen apps you used once in 2013 and haven’t touched since? It’ll save you a lot of trouble as we move along this list.

On Android, go to Settings–>Apps. Select the app you want to disable, and tap Uninstall.

On iOS, tap and hold any app, then tap the X in the top left corner. (Note that you can’t delete several of the standard, Apple-made apps in iOS.)

Disable background app data for all non-essential apps

Many apps run in the background, even when you’re not using them. This makes sense for things like email and social media, where you might want to know the minute you get a new message or comment, but do you really need your games, notes, and music players gobbling up battery resources 24/7?

With iOS, you can turn off background data on an app-by-app basis. Go to Settings—>General—>Background App Refresh, and select apps to turn off.

With Android, you can “restrict background data” for each app. Go to Settings—>Data usage. Tap on your app of choice, then scroll to the bottom to restrict background data on cellular networks. (Note that this setting can also save you from accidentally going over your data plan threshold.)

Don’t obsessively close apps

For years, “close all your apps” was the most popular battery saving tip in the world of smartphones. Ironically, it can actually make your battery life worse . When you leave an app open in the background, then access it a little later, your phone is smart enough to let you pick up where you left off, with minimal harm to battery life. However, if you keep closing and re-opening the same apps all day, you end up taxing your phone a whole lot more than necessary. It’s a little like turning off and starting up your car every time you hit a stoplight.

In theory, quitting an app you use only once per week can save you a very small amount of battery. For the dozen apps you use on a near-daily basis, however, you’re only hurting yourself. So don’t worry about it. Your phone will worry about it for you.

Disable notifications for most apps

Many apps will automatically send you “push notifications,” so-called because the app will notify you of things throughout the day, unsolicited.

It’s time to stop the madness. On iOS, visit Settings—>Notifications, and turn off notifications for all but your most important apps. Sure, you want your text messages to come through on your lock screen, but do you really need every MLB score from across the league? You can even customize your notifications down to where they appear, from banners to sound alerts to the lock screen. The fewer, the better.

On Android, go to Settings—>Sound & notification—>App notifications. From here you can block notifications for individual apps entirely, or set priority filters for receiving fewer notifications overall. Add it all up, and you’ll get more battery life with fewer disturbances.

Tell your phone to check for new email less frequently (iOS)

One big battery life offender could be email. In the past, email was a real drain, when your phone would have to check to see if you had new mail constantly throughout the day. Fortunately, most modern email clients push messages to your phone, meaning that your device must only expend power when you actually get a new message.

That said, if your email is blowing up throughout the day, or if you’re using a non-standard email service that doesn’t support push email, your phone could still be losing power to a barrage of incoming messages.

The first solution is to tell your phone to check email less frequently—say, only once every 30 minutes. The second solution is to go full manual, only allowing your phone to check for new mail when you manually open the app. Either option can be accessed within the same menu.

On iOS, go to Settings—>Mail, Contacts, Calendars—>Fetch New Data. Turn off “Push” and select your preferred frequency at the bottom of the menu. (Remember, if you don’t get that much email as it stands, it’s probably best just to leave “Push” on.)

Turn off location services / reporting

Like background data and push notifications, location services can be a quiet killer, draining your smartphone battery behind the scenes. You’ve probably already realized that GPS navigation sucks the juice right out of your device, but this makes sense: after all, your phone is working constantly to track your spot on the map.

Less obvious are location services in apps like Facebook and Instagram. These social media apps keep your exact position in mind so they can tag every post, status or photo with the corresponding city or neighborhood. If you value battery life more than geo-tagged posts (or better yet, if you find geo-tagged posts a little creepy), turn off location services.

On iOS, go to Settings—>Privacy—>Location Services. You can either turn them all off at once, or turn them off individually. For instance, you might only leave location services on for utility apps like Maps, Passbook and Weather.

On Android, go to Settings—>General–>Location. Then use the big switch to turn location reporting off. (Just keep in mind that Maps will have to ask you permission to temporarily turn Location Reporting back on whenever you use navigation features.)

Turn off auto brightness and dim the screen

If the first six steps haven’t solved your battery issue, it’s time to get a little more serious. You might like to view your 5.5-inch, multi-million-pixel display at full brightness, but that’s a guaranteed recipe for draining your battery fast. Even your phone’s auto-brightness feature will sometimes overdo it on luminance, meaning you could be losing precious hours of battery life.

Try dimming your display just a bit and living with the change for an hour. You’ll be surprised how quickly your eyes adjust.

On iOS, go to Settings—>Display & Brightness. Turn off Auto-Brightness, and then dim the display using the slider.

On Android, go to Setting—>Display, and turn off Adaptive Brightness. Then tap on Brightness level and adjust to your preference.

Turn off vibrations

We tend to think of a vibrating phone as a low-key alternative to a noisy ring, but when it comes to battery life, ringing is a lot less taxing than rumbling. If you want to squeeze out a bit more battery life, consider turning off vibrations entirely.

On iOS, go to Settings—>Sounds, and then switch off the two vibrate toggles at the top of the menu.

On Android, use the volume toggle to turn down the ringer, and you’ll see a menu pop up at the top of your screen. Here, you can either turn off all notifications for a custom period of time, or only receive “priority notifications,” based on your personal preferences. Either one will end up having a positive effect on battery.

Turn down sleep / auto-lock duration

Your phone’s single biggest battery drain is the display. Ideally, you want your display off whenever you’re not looking at the screen. The problem is that we often leave our phones’ displays on accidentally, in little moments throughout the day, even when we’re done using them. No matter how conscientious we are with your sleep/wake button, we’re going to forget from time to time.

The solution is a low screen timeout. Set your device to turn off its display after just one minute (or on Android, 30 seconds) and you can save a whole hour of wasted screen time per day.

On iOS, go to Settings—>General—>Auto-Lock.

On Android, go to Settings—>Display—>Sleep.

Turn off Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology that allows your smartphone to connect with other devices. It’s great for quickly sending files (ex: Apple’s AirDrop), connecting to your car’s sound system, or other close-range applications (ex: using your smartphone as a remote for a TV). While Bluetooth isn’t quite the battery hog today that it was two years ago, it’s still a drain on juice.

If you’re not using your smartphone for sending files, connecting to your car, or interacting with other devices, consider flipping Bluetooth off. There’s a good chance you’re hardly ever using it anyway.

On iOS, swipe up from the bottom of your screen and tap the Bluetooth icon in the middle.

On Android, go to Settings—>Bluetooth and toggle it off.

Use dark backgrounds on Samsung or Motorola phones (Android)

Popular Smartphones with AMOLED Displays | SpecOut

If your phone has an AMOLED display, using primarily black backgrounds can save you a solid hour of battery life per day. Instead of rendering black pixels, AMOLED displays are smart enough to simply leave black pixels off altogether, meaning that your phone’s display must power fewer pixels throughout a day of use.

Most of Samsung and Motorola’s most popular phones use AMOLED displays, while most other manufacturers do not.

Don’t worry so much about fully charging and fully depleting your battery

You’ve probably heard the classic advice about charging batteries: let your battery drain all the way, then charge to 100%, and repeat. The idea is that you are teaching your battery to ‘remember’ its full charge capacity, rather than confusing it with periodic, inconsistent charges.

There was some truth to this…in 2007. In 2015, most smartphone battery technology is advanced enough not to need special treatment. So instead of running out the door with 50% juice, consider plugging in for 15 minutes before you leave. We promise your battery won’t forget what a full charge is.

Pay attention to signal strength

When you have a strong LTE connection or (especially) a great Wi-Fi connection, your phone will cruise along as it was intended to—without straining the battery. On the other hand, if you’ve got a single bar, weak 4G and no Wi-Fi in range, your phone will expend tons of juice simply trying to connect with a weak signal.

So if you notice your phone is barely holding on, consider moving (physically) to get closer to a source, or if nothing else, just flipping on Airplane Mode. Give your phone a break.

Use battery saver (Android)

Most of the recent Android flagship phones—like the Galaxy S6, Nexus 6 and HTC One M9—have battery saving modes that can extend the life of your device by another dozen hours, even if you’re already under 20%.

Go to Settings—>Battery and click on the three dots in the upper right corner.

Battery saver performs several of the earlier tips on this list all at once, by limiting vibrations, location services and background data. Email and other apps will also sync less frequently.

Make use of airplane mode when you’re not on an airplane

If all else fails, there’s still good old Airplane Mode. It might render all your phone’s best features useless, but it’s guaranteed to stop the bleeding. After all, a smartphone gone dumb is still better than a smartphone gone dead.

Tony Robbins has clearly figured out a thing or two about money.

He went from a cash-strapped upbringing to an estimated net worth of $440 million, has coached some of the wealthiest people in the world, and even wrote a book about mastering your money, "MONEY: Master The Game."

His financial perspective is unique — he does not equate wealth with a dollar sign — and he recently shared the defining moment that shaped this outlook on Farnoosh Torabi's "So Money" podcast. 

Robbins was 11 years old, but he remembers the moment with clarity: It was Thanksgiving Day, and his family could not afford to put food on the table. The financial strains coupled with the stress of a holiday had generated a tense argument between his parents, he recounted to Torabi, but it was cut short by a knock on the door:

I open the door and there's a tall man there with all this food, saying, "Is your dad here?" It was mindboggling. It was a gift from God as far as I was concerned, and I went and grabbed my father. He didn't respond too well to the idea of charity, even though we were starving ...

But my dad took the food and it changed my life. Before that happened, my father and my family had always said, "Nobody gives a damn about anybody else."

There was so much evidence that people could be so selfish, mean, and harsh — especially when you're struggling financially — oftentimes, that's all you notice in the world. But I couldn't deny that strangers cared ... And so I thought, "If strangers care about me, I'm caring about strangers."

I decided that day, that someday — and I didn't call it "pay it forward" in those days — but someday I'm going to pay it back.

To this day he doesn't know who delivered the food, but the memory of that stranger would go on to affect how Robbins made each of his financial decisions, starting with his first one, which came six years later. He was a broke 17-year-old just starting his career, but managed to find the means to feed two families.

The ability to give when in such a difficult financial position gave him a sense of freedom — freedom from fear, or from money controlling him, and that is how he defines of wealth, he told Torabi. 

"I gave when I didn't have anything, and it became natural for me," he said on the podcast. "People say, 'When I'm rich, I'll give.' They're lying. If you won't give a dime out of a dollar, there's no way you're going to give a 100 million out of a billion. But if you can do it today, the biggest thing that giving does, is it teaches your brain there's more than enough."

SEE ALSO: The day multimillionaire life coach Tony Robbins became a wealthy man, he was down to his last $20

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 12 awesome facts about WWE superstar Brock Lesnar

If you don’t finish a bottle of wine, you want to make sure you know how long you have to finish it before the taste changes dramatically. This handy infographic breaks down how long common types of wine last after being opened.

Read more...

TORONTO – The Fraser Institute released a report Thursday on job growth rates in Canada’s public and private sectors between 2003 until 2013. Here is a provincial breakdown of those figures:

Newfoundland and Labrador:

Public sector: 11.8

Private sector: 14.0

___

Nova Scotia:

Public sector: 12.6

Private sector: 1.1

___

New Brunswick:

Public sector: 9.7

Private sector: 2.1

___

Prince Edward Island:

Public sector: 20.9

Private sector: 10.9

___

Quebec:

Public sector: 16.1

Private sector: 10.1

___

Ontario:

Public sector: 27.6

Private sector: 5.6

___

Manitoba:

Public sector: 15.6

Private sector: 12.1

___

Saskatchewan:

Public sector: 22.9

Private sector: 16.0

___

Alberta:

Public sector: 31.9

Private sector: 29.3

___

British Columbia:

Public sector: 24.3

Private sector: 14.0

(Source: The Fraser Institute)

The post Provincial breakdown of public and private sector job growth rates appeared first on Canadian Business - Your Source For Business News.

Eventbrite is an online hub for hosting, promoting and managing events – essentially a one-stop-shop for selling tickets and passes to performances, fundraisers, special events and more.

And when you connect Eventbrite with your AWeber account, you can send out event announcements, ticket information and updates straight to your attendees. Staying in touch before, during and after an event has never been easier!

Watch this video to get a first look:

Pricing

If you’re not charging for tickets, Eventbrite is free to use! From there, ticket fees are applied based on the selling price. Read more about how pricing works here.

What’s Next

Our App Showcase got a fresh new look. Come take a tour and discover the newest tools to optimize your email marketing.

Is there an app you want to see featured next? Leave your wishlist in the comments. And in the meantime, let us know how they’ve been working for you! Send us a tweet, email, carrier pigeon…. (you get the idea.)

The post Run AWesome Events with Eventbrite + AWeber appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

Infographics surged a few years ago with every single brand seeming to make one as a way of generating content for their sites in a new and exciting way. However, there were rumblings that infographics weren’t all they were cracked up to be – and that chorus has grown louder in the intervening years.

By now everyone knows that an infographic is a way of putting information out there in a visual form so that it easy to understand. There have been images, gifs, and interactive infographics made on every subject, as well as lots of work farmed out that calls itself an infographic when it was little more than an illustrated piece of content with the images doing nothing to tell the story.

Is good content getting lost in the rush to push out image-based infographic content? When should you have content as an infographic and when is another format better?

Be a Better Content Creator

Don’t just create an infographic for the sake of it. Make sure that you plan it in as part of your content strategy – a cog in a machine that is your content creation that serves to improve and enhance the work that is going out. Often, an infographic is created that ends up being a standalone piece disconnected from the rest of the work which then doesn’t serve to do anything – barely improving your SEO scores and doing little to draw traffic except to the infographic itself.

There are two issues you face when you create an infographic.

• Search engines can’t read the text as it is imbedded into an image.
• Visitors don’t come to your site because the infographic is imbedded in other sites with no link to yours.

Every piece of content that you create needs to bring something of value to your site. Having your infographic hosted in many locations might get you noticed, but it’ll be a trickle as opposed to a flood coming through from it. If the content is linked back to your site, then you may find that as the person clicking through is presented with the same image again, only with a different blurb, they will quickly click back and onto another site.

So what use are infographics?

Don’t get us wrong, we’re not telling you that the infographic is a complete waste of time. You should consider making them as part of your content strategy. What you must think about is how you can leverage all of your content effectively and take into account what the best way to get that content out there is.

Infographics need to present correct data that people need to know. They can be used as a tease for a longer piece of content, or as an advert for your products and services. You should create an infographic where the format works best for that piece of content.

If you want to succeed at networking, one of the best starting places is to work hard at becoming luckier.

That may sound like an oxymoron, but as I describe in my new e-book "Stand Out Networking," it's not at all. According to research by Anthony Tjan, CEO and managing partner of venture capital firm Cue Ball, and his colleagues, a full 25% of top entrepreneurs and executives identified as lucky — which, it turns out, an attitude of openness that anyone can cultivate.

"In many instances, when we talk to people who describe themselves as lucky," he says, "it's really their outlook toward relationships that helps them create the circumstances for luck, and their attitude helps them take advantage of it."

So how can you become luckier? Tjan recommends adopting three attitudes: humility (so you're open to new people and learning from them), curiosity (because genuine interest creates connections), and optimism (which sparks energy to dive into new opportunities).

"People who are laid-back and luck-driven are the ones who discover the wallflowers," he says, "and they benefit disproportionately later in life from some of those relationships."

After all, not every future success is obvious: "There are many great leaders who, if you met them at a cocktail party, you'd just skip over [them] because they have a different personality type." Says Tjan, "Lucky people have an openness, an authenticity, and a generosity toward embracing people — without overthinking 'what's the value exchange?' It's just, that's an interesting person."

That kind of lucky curiosity and humility is exemplified by Chris Brogan, who is now a New York Times bestselling author of books including "The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth." But he vividly remembers the early days, when it took him — an early adopter of blogging — eight years to reach his first 100 subscribers.

He's grateful to the people who helped him when he was starting out, and tries to pay it forward by helping newbies. Many people focus on how to get the attention of high-level "influencers," and Brogan could choose to surround himself exclusively with those people.

But instead, he suggests building relationships with up-and-comers. There's an opportunity to learn from them, and to build loyal, trusting relationships because you helped them when you didn’t have to. It all starts with an authentic interest in other people, regardless of the immediate "value" of that relationship.

Like Brogan, innovation expert Deb Mills-Scofield believes most people miss the point of networking. Sure, it'd be nice to make friends with celebrities like Richard Branson or Larry Page or Sheryl Sandberg.

But Mills-Scofield says connecting with a big name may not be as helpful as you'd think. If you really want to learn from your network and use it to spark new ideas, you may be better off looking at the periphery.

"The known names are, in a way, lagging indicators," she says. "They're already famous and known for what they are doing. . . . Now, these are important connections. However, if we only look at size and status, we'll miss the emerging patterns coming from the edges or miss the weak signals from other disciplines that can upend our industry, market, and customer base. Sometimes, people with smaller and less flashy networks have very eclectic, fascinating networks in some particular area that could have a big influence on our thinking."

Sometimes luck means listening to voices and perspectives that aren’t obvious to others, who are still chasing the big names.

Another key to increasing your luck is building diverse networks.

"Where everyone does this wrong," says Brogan, "is they make vertical networks based on either locale or industry. 'I'm in the auto industry, so I should know people in the auto industry.' Then you lose your job, and you learn how dumb it is to know only one industry."

The antidote, he says, is to build a network that's "horizontal, not vertical." Specifically, you should reach out to connectors in other fields that may be slightly outside your orbit but to which you can add mutual value.

If everyone you know reads the same things, talks about the same things, and knows the same people, you're going to get a limited view of the world. Luck creeps in at the intersections of different world.

In fact, Mills-Scofield, who is a visiting scholar at Brown University and teaches Business Model Innovation at Oberlin College, believes that many executives have networking all wrong.

It should never be viewed as a short-term transaction, she says: "I think most people measure a network connection by how many doors it opens, how it grows their own network or provides job opportunities, instead of what ideas they were exposed to because of this network connection, how they may think differently, what new experiences they've had, and what amazing people they've met."

Luck, it seems, isn't just luck. Instead, it's having a mindset of opportunity.

When you take a real interest in people — because of who they are, not what they can do for you — and make a point to introduce yourself to diverse ideas, serendipity has a way of finding you.

Increasing your luck benefits you and enables you to help others.

Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of "Reinventing You" and "Stand Out," and you can receive her free Stand Out Self-Assessment Workbook and follow her on Twitter.

SEE ALSO: How to become a master networker, even if you're an introvert

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The unusual morning routine of the top doctor in the US

Today, attention has become a commodity for marketers. It’s scarce. And like anything in economics, scarcity means higher demand, higher value, and ultimately higher costs. To put it in numbers, since 1966 the average cost per thousand impressions (CPMs) of prime-time ads has risen from approximately $1.50 to $22 in 2010. Adjusted for inflation, that’s a two-fold increase. This rising cost of attention is problematic for marketers who strive to capture and hold consumers’ attention within a strict budget.

In a 2014 study, HBS assistant professor, Thales Texiera, tackles this problem of capturing attention through what he calls an Attention‐Contingent Advertising Strategy (ACAS): a method of “tailoring the right advertising strategy to the appropriate level of attention available” to maximize returns on investment while minimizing costs.

Texiera discusses attention regarding the general population, but this could be problematic in a society where generations are constantly evolving. For instance, last summer my dad and I were watching a recording of Nadal and Djokovic duke it out in the French Open. When they finished the second set, Nadal in the lead, the program went to a commercial break. Bless the functions of DVR, I thought, and I hit the fast forward button three times to zoom through the commercials. To my surprise, my dad reacted with great frustration; “Why do you do that? Just let them run!” It’s something I still don’t understand to this day, but perhaps to him the ads give some inherent value to the TV watching experience.

Different people have different demands. That being said, it may be useful to focus on a subpopulation when studying the economics of attention. Today, perhaps the most impactful population of consumers, coming in at 80 million in population in the United States with $20 billion of buying power, is Generation Y, also known as the millennials. Because of the great impact of technology, the minds of millennials work very differently than those of past generations. Their interests and lifestyles are not the same as say those of baby boomers or Xers. As such, catching the attention of these young ones can be difficult. According to Forbes, of the millennials who were surveyed, a mere 1% said that a compelling advertisement positively affected their image of a brand. What is it that really matters to these trendsetters? How do marketers effectively capture and retain the attention of millennials? As a member of this dynamic generation myself, l will try my best to explain this mentality in three points, and more specifically, the factors that impact our decisions.

1. We have the information already

Once upon a time, the goal of TV ads was to be informative, but today, top ad agencies are demanding entertainment rather than information from their creatives. Why? Because otherwise we hit fast forward if we DVR-ed it, skip to a different channel if we didn’t, and click “Skip Ad,” immediately after the option becomes available if it’s something online. Even the most entertaining ads struggle to get the smallest bit of love, and advertisers have the internet to thank for that. Ads don’t mean much to us because we have all of the information we need online. If we’re looking for a particular item, we just type it in Google and in 0.42 seconds we get over 74.8 million results. The most relevant and popular items appear at the top, which then makes SEO the major challenge for marketers.

2. We are social

This is not to say that other generations are not, but millennials are social in a more proliferating way thanks to the combination of smartphones and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. An infographic on AdWeek shows that over 56% of millennials use social media apps, 90% of millennials can be found on Facebook, and 66% follow brands on social media. For marketers, this means that shareability of content is vital, as noted by Texiera.  “When marketers stop asking ‘What do I want to achieve from the advertisement?’ and begin asking ‘What can my consumers achieve if they share the advertisement?’ they then start the process of creating truly consumer‐centered advertising, that which benefits the consumer’s social needs,” he says.

3. We value authenticity

Social media and readily available information have simply become a part of everyday life for the average millennial. Checking Facebook or posting a tweet is now as routine as brushing teeth or locking the apartment door. Unfortunately, this has come with consequences. Technology and social media have allowed us to create an entirely different persona online that seldom aligns with our actual, physical lives. Striving to match our flawless virtual selves has led to a loss in a sense of authenticity. The feeling of comfort that comes with authenticity is one of those things that you don’t realize you have until you lose. Well it has been lost, and now millennials seek it in all relationships, from friendships to work relations and to relationships with brands. A brand’s authenticity breeds trust, and when you have a customer’s trust, it’s easier to grab his or her attention.

Technology surrounds us with an overwhelming amount of stimuli, and our attention spans are so short to begin with. Perhaps today, the goal of marketers is no longer to grab our attentions with a single ad, but rather to build them up through consistency and authenticity.

My last post, Cash Is King in Small Business, discussed the importance of cash and the potential pitfalls of focusing on sales as a business metric. Growing sales can actually choke off cash and create more financial problems than it solves.

Beyond cash and sales, there are a myriad of possible measurements that business owners need in order to evaluate the financial and operational health of their companies. Without such measurements, the owner is literally flying by the seat of their pants.

One popular phrase for such measurements is key performance indicators or KPIs. For simplicity, let’s divide them into two categories – KPIs especially important to young, growing companies and other KPI’s. While this is not a definitive set, here are some example indicators for measuring the health of your company and for making better management decisions:

For young, growing companies…..

Customer acquisition cost: Marketing, sales, and other expenses required to acquire a new customer

Customer lifetime value: The total net profit received from an average customer

Conversion rate: The number of visitors to your website (or other customer generation source) divided by the total visitors

Others….

Cash flow forecast: Cash in the bank plus cash anticipated in during the next 4 weeks (example period) minus cash outflow anticipated during the next 4 weeks

Current ratio: Current assets divided by current liabilities (This is an indicator of the ability to generate cash flow and downward trending can signal coming cash problems)

Revenue versus budget: Revenue versus budgeted revenue, for a given period

Expenses versus budget: Expenses versus budgeted expenses, for a given period

Inventory turnover ratio: Cost of goods sold divided by current period inventory

Gross profit margin: Revenue minus cost of goods sold divided by total revenue

Net profit: Revenue minus expenses

Sales per employee: Total sales divided by total employees

If you would like to consider additional KPIs that may be more valuable for your business, check out 75 KPIs Every Manager Needs to Know by Bernard Marr or download webKPI top KPIs here.

There are lots of decisions an owner must make regarding KPIs. These include (1) which KPIs would be most important to establish and monitor, (2) what data items are currently being measured, (3) what data items not currently measured need to be measured, (4) how needed but unmeasured items can be measured in the future and (5) what actions will be taken to establish and measure the KPIs chosen.

If this looks like a lot of work to you, it probably is. However, the benefits from establishing KPIs can be the difference between a successful business and a business failure.

Don’t ignore this important factor is managing your business. Begin with what you can do and build up your KPIs as you can. Best wishes for your success.

If you’ve followed the McDonald’s debacle for the past year you can’t have missed the fact that the company woke up late to the fact that consumer values had shifted. Away from fat/salty/fast/dollar-menu food to brands that were seen to offer healthier, fresher, natural, more customized food. And consumers were actually willing to pay more for that.

You have to watch those values. They don’t so much as sneak up on your brand as much as pounce. And today they move at the speed of a consumer hot-wired to their mobile device. Values often get missed on traditional research radar screens, and brands that miss them and are unprepared for those value-shifts generally end up with the short end of the balance sheet. Just like McDonald’s.

The thing is, values aren’t cross-category generalizable so you can’t rely on what happens to some brand outside your category, you have to be on the watch for what’s specifically happening in your category. Sure, “trust” is part of every category, but what “trust” stands for in the pain relief category is vastly different than what “trust” means in the automotive category, and different from what it stands for in the smartphone category. Or the fast food category. Just saying, McDonalds.

This all came to mind because June celebrated National Donut Day and National Jelly-Filled Donut Day, and a few people were surprised that in the face of value shifts to healthier food, donut sales have gone up – by about 7% YOY. So health notwithstanding, Americans have ended up eating more than half a billion of donuts annually. Those health-related value shifts had great impact in the fast and fast-casual food category, but pretty much no influence for donuts. Because there’s a difference.

Just because they’re both food, they’re really not the same, and values for each will be really different. Really. You don’t think about a hamburger in the same way you think about a donut. Sure, “taste” is in there, but a really different kind of taste. Have you ever had a donut that wasn’t tasty? Except a stale one, maybe. But what’s tastier than a fresh donut? Come on! You’re never eating a donut because you think it’s a healthy option. Be honest. The healthiest part of the donut is the hole. Now “variety,” there’s a value that resonates when you think about donuts. See? Category-specific.

And those half billion donuts, sure a lot of them come from small bakeries and local pastry shops and corner food carts. But the majors – the Dunkin’s, Tim Hortons’, Krispy Kremes, the Daylights, Winchells, and Shipleys – all seem to be doing better and better. Which raises another issue – the one about how values have massively shifted in the how-and-what Americans eat for breakfast, currently to the detriment of cereal brands, and also in the way that donuts are no longer primarily viewed as a breakfast food. It all has to do with values.

At the moment, donuts are a treat and one that’s seen as a great value-for-dollar-for-variety treat, which has spurred category innovation, expansion and profitability; the Cronut – part donut, part croissant – created by the Domminique Ansel’s SoHo bakery in New York City. Or Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken in Washington. D.C. and their Fried Chicken Donut. Or the Los Angeles Nickle Diner’s Bacon Mable Donut. To quote a well-known donut expert, “Mmmmmm. Donuts!”

If you missed this month’s celebrations (those would be National Donut Day [June 5th] and National Jelly-Filled Donut Day [June 8th], never fear. There are others where you can join in later this year: National Cream-Filled Donut Day [September 14th], Buy A Doughnut Day [October 30th], and National Doughnut Day [November 5th].

Surprised there are some many days celebrating the donut? Well, just think of them as occasions to treat yourself and celebrate being smart enough to monitor and leverage all those category-specific values that can help your brand grow and prosper.

And sticking with our theme we’d remind you that brand managers who don’t track and leverage values (no matter what category they operate in) end up with lower earnings and share prices. And usually a glazed expression on their face!

Larry Page had announced last month that Sidewalk Labs (a new Google company) would focus on improving city life for everyone by developing and incubating urban technologies to address issues like cost of living, efficient transportation and energy usage.

Sidewalk Labs announced it would be leading the acquisition of two companies behind New York City’s LinkNYC initiative, an ongoing plan to convert old pay phones into free public Wi-Fi hubs. Sidewalk Labs is merging the two companies—Control Group, which provides the interface for the new hubs, and Titan, which is overseeing the advertising that will pay for the project. The new venture, aptly named Intersection, will seek to bring free public Wi-Fi to cities around the world using different pieces of urban infrastructure, from pay phones to bus stops.

“The vision really is to make cities connected places where you can walk down any street and have access to free ultra high speed Wi-Fi,” says Dan Doctoroff, the former CEO of Bloomberg and one-time deputy mayor of New York City, who heads up Sidewalk Labs.

The new company, named Intersection, combines both companies’ expertise in technology and innovation at the convergence of the digital and physical worlds. LinkNYC, their groundbreaking project in New York City with partners Qualcomm and Comark, will create up to 10,000 communications hubs that provide city residents and visitors with free public gigabit Wi-Fi, access to communications, information and municipal services across the city. Intersection will aim to extend the thinking and approach behind LinkNYC into an array of solutions to help make cities around the world more livable and connected.

Google will be able to put real time television ads on bus stops in combination with free Wi-Fi. Google knows how to boost the value of ads.

This plus fi srvicr will enable free phone service.
Android one - capable phones for less than $100

The Google Fi service one simple plan starts with the Fi Basics for $20/month. It includes unlimited domestic talk and text, unlimited international texts, Wi-Fi tethering to use your phone as a hotspot, and access cellular coverage in 120+ countries. Wi-Fi everywhere would mean that a version of Google Fi would not need to use cellular networks.

This addresses 55 million urban poor.
It also means no device (tablet, laptop or any new devices) need be unconnected to the internet and each other.
Currently you might need simcards (usually with a charge per month for the data or a small amount of free data as a bundle with some cellular service).

Read more »

I’ve been working with large companies and the U.S. government to help them innovate faster– not just kind of fast, but 10x the number of initiatives in 1/5 the time. A 50x speedup kind of fast.

Here’s how.
—–

Lean Innovation Management
In the last five years “Lean Startup” methodologies have enabled entrepreneurs to efficiently build a startup by searching for product/market fit rather than blindly trying to execute. Companies or Government agencies pursuing innovation can Buy, Build, Partner or use Open Innovation. But trying to find a unified theory of innovation that allows established companies and government agencies to innovate internally with the speed and urgency of startups has eluded our grasp.

The first time a few brave corporate innovators tried to overlay the Lean tools and techniques that work in early-stage startups in an existing corporation or government agency, the result was chaos, confusion, frustration and ultimately, failure. They ended up with “Innovation Theater” – great projects, wonderful press releases about how innovative the company is – but no real substantive change in product trajectory.

—-

In working with Greg Hannon, the head of Innovation at W.L. Gore, I’ve found two corporate strategy tools developed by other smart people helpful in bridging Lean Startups with Corporate Innovation. The first, the notion of the “ambidextrous organization” from O’Reilly and Tushman, posits that companies that want to do continuous innovation need to execute their core business model while innovating in parallel. In other words, in an ambidextrous company you need to be able to “chew gum and walk at the same time.”

The second big idea of corporate innovation is the “Three Horizons of Innovation” from Baghai, Coley and White. They suggest that a company allocate its innovations across three categories called “Horizons.”

• Horizon 1 are mature businesses.
• Horizon 2 are rapidly growing businesses.
• Horizon 3 are emerging businesses.

Each horizon requires different focus, different management, different tools and different goals.

The Three Horizons provided an incredibly useful taxonomy. However in practice most companies treated the Three Horizons like they are simply incremental execution of the same business model.

While these theories explain how to think about innovation in a company they didn’t tell you how to make it happen.

Fast forward to today. To move innovation faster, we now have 21^st century tools —Business Model Canvas, Customer Development, Agile Engineering – all adding up to a Lean Startup. We can adapt these startup tools for use inside the corporation.

To do so we’ll keep the concept of three unique horizons of innovation but reframe and combine them with what we’ve learned about Lean Startups. The result will be:

• a new, Lean version of the Three Horizons of Innovation
• an ambidextrous company, and
• a way for existing organizations to build and test new ideas at blinding speed.

The Lean Definition of the Three Horizons of Innovation
In this new model, the Horizon level of innovation is defined by whether the business model is being executed or searched for.

• Horizon 1 activities support existing business models.
• Horizon 2 is focused on extending existing businesses with  partially known business models
• Horizon 3 is focused on unknown business models.

Horizon 1 is the company’s core business. Here the company executes a known business model (known customers, product features, competitors, pricing, distribution channel, supply chain, etc.) It uses existing capabilities and has low risk in getting the next product out the door. Management in this Horizon 1 works by building repeatable and scalable processes, procedures, incentives and KPI’s to execute and measure the business model. (And if they’re smart they’ll teach Horizon 1 teams to operate with mission and intent, not just process and procedure.)

Innovation and improvement occurs in Horizon 1 on process, procedures, costs, etc. Product management for Horizon 1 uses existing product management tools such as StageGate^® or the equivalent.

In Horizon 2 a company/agency extends its core business. Here the company looks for new opportunities in its existing business model (trying a different distribution channel, using the same technology with new customers or selling existing customers new products, etc.) Horizon 2 uses mostly existing capabilities and has moderate risk in getting new capabilities to get the product out the door. Management in Horizon 2 works by pattern recognition and experimentation inside the current business model.

Horizon 3 is where companies put their crazy entrepreneurs. (Inside of companies these are the mavericks you want to fire for not getting with program. In a startup they’d be the founding CEO.) These innovators want to create new and potentially disruptive business models. Here the company is essentially incubating a startup. They operate with speed and urgency to find a repeatable and scalable business model. Horizon 3 groups need to be physically separate from operating divisions (in a corporate incubator, or their own facility.) And they need their own plans, procedures, policies, incentives and KPI’s different from those in Horizon 1.

Product management for Horizon 2 and 3 uses existing Lean Innovation Management tools such as Lean LaunchPad^®, the NSF I-Corps™ or the equivalent. Using these tools internally a company/agency can get startup speed and urgency. Horizon 3 organizations organized as small (<5 person) teams can talk to 100+ customers in 10 weeks and deliver a series of iterative and incremental minimal viable products.  Given the minimum size of these teams and expenditures, companies can afford to run a large number of these initiatives in parallel.

Get to Yes
Horizon 2 and 3 activities are not entirely separated from the corporate structure. To help Horizon 2 and 3 organizations navigate all the processes, procedures and metrics the company has built to support Horizon 1 activities, individuals from support organizations (legal, finance, procurement, etc.) are assigned to work inside Horizon 3 organizations. Their function is to help Horizon 2 and 3 organizations navigate to a “Yes” inside the company.

Horizon 1 operates on goals and incentives. And Horizon 1 managers need to be incented to embrace and support innovation going on in Horizons 2 and 3. Companies need their Horizon 1 managers to both encourage mavericks to propose projects, as well as to support mavericks and then incentive for adoption and scale of Horizon 3 projects.

If supporting Horizon 2/3 is not part of Horizon 1 goals and incentives, then there is no real commitment to corporate innovation.

Oh no! Yes! We’ve Succeeded
What happens to successful innovations from Horizons 2 and 3? They either get adopted by a Horizon 1 organization (a division, P&L, functional organization,) they reach a size large enough to become a standalone group or they can be sold/spun out. To make this work Horizon 1 execs and managers need incentives and job descriptions to support Horizon 2 and 3 activiities.

One of the biggest complaints from Horizon 1 managers is that successful Horizon 3 innovation projects leave a mess of technical and organization debt that a Horizon 1 organization has to clean up. This isn’t some exception; in fact it’s a natural part of corporate innovation.

What is missing is the realization that there needs to be a dedicated corporate group to refactor (cleanup) the debt from successful innovation projects.

Do it Again!?
When a Horizon 2 or 3 program finds success, it can either grow on its own (and hence become their own divisions) or the founders and early employees may get folded back into a Horizon 1 organization that will scale the program. Typically this is a bad idea for all involved. In short-sighted companies the Horizon 2 and 3 innovators get frustrated, and leave. In far-sighted companies they get to start a new cycle of disruptive innovation.

Lean Is the Language of Corporate and Government Agency Innovation
We have a common language and process for execution–product management tools, financial reporting etc. Yet we have no common language and process for innovation and searching for business models.

We can adopt the Lean Vocabulary–Business Model Canvas, Customer Development, Hypotheses, Pivots and Minimum Viable Products and Evidence-based entrepreneurship as the corporate language of “search versus execution.” And we can use Lean Metrics (Investment Readiness Level and Technology Readiness Levels) and Lean Portfolio management tools to provide rigor to go/no go funding decisions. Finally we can use the open-source lean classes from the National Science Foundation I-Corps and the Stanford/Berkeley Lean LaunchPad classes to run Horizon 3 projects.

Lean is The Engine for the Ambidextrous Organization
An ambidextrous company or government agency runs large numbers of Horizon 2 and 3 projects simultaneously while relentlessly improving the way it executes its current business model and serves its existing customers. This happens when the C-level executives share a common strategic intent, a common vision, explicit values and identity, and they are compensated for both execution of the current business model and the search for new ones. They also realize that operating at all three horizons will require them to tolerate and resolve conflicts.

Lessons Learned

• Corporate and Government Agency Innovation needs Lean tools
• When combined with the business model canvas, the Three Horizons of Innovation provide a framework for corporate innovation
• Horizon 2 and 3 (new/disruptive innovation) are run with Lean Startup speed and organization
• Lean Innovation management combines Three Horizons of Innovation with the Lean Startup to deliver an Ambidextrous Organization
• The entire organization must be incented to value and embrace not only continuous improvement but also successful innovations
• Result: 10x the number of initiatives in 1/5 the time

Filed under: Corporate Innovation, Customer Development

Twitter acquired MoPub, a mobile app ad network, ad server, and real-time bidding exchange, for $350 million in stock back in 2013.

MoPub has around 5,000 apps on its platform, and it works with publishers and developers to help sell ads within their apps, by plugging into a network of around 150 demand-side platforms (DSPs,) one of which is Twitter. Last year one analyst predicted MoPub will bring in more than $500 million in annual revenue by 2017, up from an estimated $56 million in 2014.

Yet MoPub is still one of Twitter's best-kept secrets. The company doesn't break out revenues from MoPub in its earnings report (it sits in the "data licensing and other category," which generated revenues of $147 million in 2014,) and it rarely releases news from the division, beyond quarterly marketplace reports about trends within the mobile app ecosystem, and a few other updates.

We sat down with Janae McDonough, MoPub lead and Twitter's senior director of exchange, at the Cannes Lions advertising festival  to discover more about what could be a huge cash cow for Twitter.

She pointed out three trends in particular that indicate MoPub is becoming a huge asset for Twitter: Engaging Twitter-like ad formats, its work to shift big brand dollars into the mobile app ad ecosystem, and expanding the reach of Twitter to a logged-out audience.

Standing out by using Twitter-like ads

One of the advantages of MoPub joining Twitter, McDonough told us, was the rich, engaging ad formats it provides.

Advertisers can opt to extend their Twitter ad campaigns  — promoted tweets, that appear in the feed — to other mobile apps. So if you're in the Talking Tom app, created by Outfit7, you might be served an interstitial ad in-between gameplay that looks like a promoted tweet.

McDonough explains the appeal: "[Tweet ad formats] are engaging and don't look like every other stand interstitial. It provides relevant content, and the ad experience contains the kind of social features you don't often get in an ad. You might think [with a standard ad]: 'Great, there's an image, maybe I'll click on it, maybe I won't'."

Not only do the ads look different, but marketers can plug into Twitter's data firehose, which offers information such as users' interests, and the accounts they follow, that brands can use to target people on other apps more effectively.

MoPub also lets publishers sell other, more native ads too (native ads meaning they take on more of the look and feel of the individual app,) as well as banners, or video. Spend on video advertising on the MoPub marketplace, for example grew by more than 244% in 2014.

Moving brand dollars into the app ecosystem

When you think back to an ad you might have seen inside an app, you'll probably remember seeing an ad for a mobile game, dating, or another form of ad. 

McDonough says, by having Twitter as a demand source, MoPub is starting to see far more big brand money move onto its platform.

"The Twitter piece is unique in that it's a social budget — one thing the main DSPs can't tap into. Social budgets, a publisher like [sports app] The Score could never plug into because it's not a social app. So that's pretty differentiated," McDonough told us.

As of the first quarter of this year, MoPub has seen a trend of brand dollars eclipsing other types of spend, especially around live events like the Super Bowl, or the Oscars, which mirrors Twitter and the real-time nature of its platform.

"During the Super Bowl, we saw a really interesting spike right before the game, and right through the game it was brand dollars coming into the exchange. It's a safe assumption to say that some of the work Twitter has been doing around the [still in beta] Twitter Publisher Network [which the MoPub exchange sits on top of] has been pushing more brand dollars programmatically," McDonough said.

That's a clear win for Twitter: Brands have the biggest budgets, and through MoPub it is maximizing its share of their marketing spend beyond Twitter to other mobile apps too.

MoPub is increasing the visibility of Twitter beyond Twitter

MoPub isn't just a monetization platform for Twitter, it acts as a distribution platform too, increasing the reach of tweets to people who are not in — or may not have even downloaded — the Twitter app.

Last year, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said that a lot of Twitter's value isn't just in its user numbers, but the size of its logged-out audience — the people who visit Twitter without registering but who also might see a tweet embedded on another website, printed in a newspaper, or spoken about on a TV show. In February, Costolo said a logged-out user was worth $2.50 in annual revenue to Twitter, compared to $4 for a logged-in user. And Twitter has previously pegged its logged-out audience at around 500 million.

MoPub claims its exchange reaches over 5,000 apps and 1.3 billion unique iOS and Android devices per month. That's a more than healthy potential base of users to extend the reach of Twitter too, should publishers choose to serve Twitter-like formats via the MoPub platform. 

Twitter has signed deals with Yahoo! Japan and Flipboard to extend promoted tweets beyond Twitter, and the company also recently renewed a partnership with Google to make tweets more easily discoverable via search.

SEE ALSO: Twitter just told us what it plans for its massive, often-overlooked data business

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The coolest 100 people in Silicon Valley in 100 seconds

Influencer marketing isn’t anything new, it’s been the foundation for product placement (natural or manufactured) since the beginning of time.

In a recent conversation with friends, someone said that social media influencer marketing is relatively new and probably not the most responsible way to disseminate information. When I asked him what he meant he said, “Since when do we listen to bloggers & Vloggers about what’s what?” Forever. That’s all I could say. Forever.

Humans have been communicating their likes, dislikes and recommending better ways to rub sticks together since the cave-people. Thank you Geico! The platforms to generate buzz may be newer, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Periscope, etc….but the messages have always been the same. One person has an attraction for something and wants to share it with the world!

From the Old Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. How did they actually transition from one to the other? The Ages throughout history weren’t simply determinate on new materials discovered but how those resources were developed. Prehistoric people were learning to survive. The first sharp, pointy object was a musical instrument! (I remember that from music theory class. My influential music teacher told me so) yet somehow, someone discovered that an object with a point could pierce the skin of a Sabre Tooth Tiger and help them disassemble the animal for sharing. A Neanderthal Visionary shared this information with other hunters and a new weapon was born.

These early people were Neanderthal Visionaries or, as I like to call them, the first Great influencers! Adapting to new climates, utilizing new techniques to forge for food; fire! How did this information travel from one cave to another? The platform was possibly visual person to person (Instagram), though many believe they had their own way of communicating through short bursts of verbalization (Twitter) and of course drawings fixed in the walls (Facebook). Forms of media back then were a little different but they did communicate and it did get around. If it hadn’t, we may still be wearing animal skin and sharpening our teeth with sticks. These were the first influencers! Someone communicated a piece of information about something, others qualified its value and off we go! The Influencer was born!

Influencers have been ingrained in societies all over the world forever; a town crier, the barker at a baseball game, politicians actually stood on platforms to get their message out! Our new world has just discovered more streamlined and accountable ways of influencing. We simply have documented platforms that reach the other side of the world in seconds! Ah, the Influencer – we finally figured you out. Now, go forth & influence!

After years of work around sales negotiation and studying the world-class sales negotiators on a global basis, I have narrowed down the scope of this work to seven immutable laws. While I discuss these laws in-depth in my book Closing Time, I wanted to share some of this top-level knowledge further with all of you.

Law #1: You have to be the buyer’s #1 choice!

Never begin negotiations until the buyer has confirmed you are the #1 choice. Why? Because you can’t discount your way to number one. If you try, it becomes a race to the bottom as there will always be competitors willing to undercut you for what will ultimately be low margin or unprofitable business.

If you aren’t the number one choice, your buyer is just using you to drive down the price of their real top choice – your competitor. If you are the top choice – you’ve earned the right to command a price premium (more on this later).

Amazingly 94% of sales professional make this unnecessary and easily avoidable mistake. How do you become the buyer’s top choice? It is simple, you must lower the buyer’s risk!

People don’t buy price, they buy risk. Which is why you want to know their risks – both business and personal — early on. It’s also why you want to routinely ask yourself if you are minimizing their risk.

From a business perspective, when evaluating solutions, your client is focused on risks like, “If we choose this vendor and the vendor’s solution fails … “

• Will it adversely affect our profits, shareholders, and employees?
• Will we lose good customers and prospects to the competition?
• Will we become uncompetitive in the marketplace?

On a more personal level, your client is likely asking himself, “If we choose this vendor and the vendor relationship fails … ”

• Will I get fired?
• Will this derail my 15-year career at the company?
• Will I not get the bonus I need to pay for my family’s _____?

Few buyers are going to worry about any marginal difference in price between you and your competition if they really believe you are their best protection from these risks, and even fewer will risk their personal careers, lifestyle, take-home pay, and the families’ quality of life to save some of the company’s dollars. It just doesn’t happen that way.

Action Items for Immutable Law #1

Before you go into negotiation, ask yourself if you have accomplished the following:

• Have you addressed your buyer’s business and personal risks?
• Have you confirmed that you are the buyer’s #1 Choice?  Do so by asking the questions: “If price was not a factor, would we be your top choice?” followed by, “Why” or “Why not?”

If you are not, then you aren’t ready to negotiate. Find out what your shortcomings are, go back and sell better. Start by re-confirming your buyer’s risks and articulating how your solution will minimize them.

If your buyer says “yes,” you have effectively confirmed your place as top choice in their mind, while having them describe all the reasons why gives you the ammunition to command a price premium. At that point, and only at the point, are you ready to begin negotiations.

The Nissan Juke-R was already an impressive crossover miniature supercar. 

Now, Nissan has taken its GT-R drivetrain — features in its baddest ride — to make the Juke-R 2.0 even more muscular than its predecessor.  

Souped up, and more powerful than ever, the 2.0 will make its debut this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK. 

"The Juke-R has become an iconic Crossover supercar and with the launch of the latest Juke model last year, it was the natural choice to upgrade the original Juke-R with added power and even bolder styling,” said Gareth Dunsmore, Marketing Communications General Manager for Nissan Europe. 

“Juke-R 2.0 is a perfect ‘crossover' of the best bits of Nissan — real innovation showcasing our Crossover prowess fused with the excitement of the GT-R supercar engine.” 

For this iteration, the front bumper has been redesigned in carbon fiber for lighter weight and a sportier look. Air intake sizes were also increased to accommodate the oxygen needs of the GTR engine. 

The rear bumper is also constructed from carbon fiber, and adds a diffuser to work in tandem with the spoiler. 

Nissan kept the matte black finish, but added GTR wheels that complement the Juke’s unique design around the wheels.  

In Europe, the Juke has sold over 600,000 units since its initial launch in 2010, the company said. 

Juke sales are also high in the Middle East, and the new upgrades will no doubt cater to buyers who want even more speed and power inside essentially the same car.

More personalization options are available on the 2.0, added by customer demand. While we still haven’t seen the interior, Nissan says the only change is the roof lining, which is now black. 

ALSO READ: Nissan CEO says it can compete without new partners

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This 1998 supercar could auction for $15 million

Admit it. Every time there’s a global ranking you instinctively run down the list looking for something to brag about. Lately, if you live in Toronto, there’s been plenty to brag about.

You can add a new one to the list: the world’s hottest luxury real estate market. According to Christie’s International Real Estate, the luxury real estate arm of the global art auction house, the market for luxury properties (especially ultra-tony Muskoka cottages accessible by float plane) grew by 37% last year (registration required), eclipsing London, England for the top spot.

Christie’s report is chock-a-block with brag-worthy facts.

A luxury home in Toronto starts at $3 million, versus $5 million in New York. Both of which make Durban, South Africa look like a bargain at $750K:

Sales of Luxury properties grew by 37% in 2014, whereas sales shrank by almost 20% in Dubai:

 

It takes an average of 31 days to sell a luxury home in Toronto, versus 165 in London (and 262 in Chicago!):

It’s that last fact that put Toronto ahead of other markets, where homes regularly sell for much larger sums. But what’s driving this trend? Well, it’s most likely foreign interest and our struggling dollar. The loonie has dropped 12% in the last year compared to the U.S. dollar. “The Asian, European, and American market has definitely taken notice of the Muskoka area—they haven’t really been around that market and now they see value as an investment,” Badger Storey, an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty in Port Carling, Ont., told Bloomberg this week. (Love the incredulous headline: Canada Has a Hamptons and It’s Booming.)

So yeah, Muskoka mansions are flying off the shelves. But probably not because you or I am buying them. Still, it might be a good time to set up a float plane share service or even an artisanal lemonade stand at the dock.

MORE ABOUT REAL ESTATE & LUXURY CONSUMERS:

• Canada’s Richest Neighbourhoods 2014: The Top 25 Wealthiest Neighbourhoods
• The problem with Stephen Poloz’s view of the housing market
• Canada’s Top 10 Best Cities to Buy Real Estate Now
• How condo developers are bracing for a choppier market ahead
• How Nordstrom built the world’s best customer-service machine
• Snobbery sells: rude sales staff boost luxury brands’ cachet, says UBC study

The post How Toronto became the world’s hottest luxury home market appeared first on Canadian Business - Your Source For Business News.

You might wonder: What's the point of analyzing win-loss data after a deal closes? What larger takeaways can you really reap? After all, every buyer is different … right?

Well, sort of. DoubleCheck Research interviewed over 100 executives who participate in buying decisions to determine if any trends would emerge. And lo and behold, a clear picture came into focus.

It turns out that when asked to reflect on what makes a successful working relationship with a salesperson, many decision makers identify three similar characteristics -- knowledge, empathy, and transparency.

1) Knowledge

One of the essential attributes of a strong sales executive, according to our surveys, is knowledge of the client’s business. This includes how the sales executive can fulfill the prospect’s needs, while also sharpening the edge on the competition.

One survey participant illustrated this with an anecdote. In this case, the solution provider’s sales representative was so self-involved that he only presented information about his company and its services until the prospect finally asked, “Tell me, what do you think our biggest problem is?” The stunned representative replied that he had no idea. At that point, the rep was sent out the door, just 15 minutes after the meeting had begun. Clearly, connecting with the potential client and having insight into their business is an important part of building trust.

This anecdote also shows how imparting too much knowledge at the start of a sales engagement can kill the conversation. The salesperson who favors questions over answers in early meetings is not only furthering a wealth of possibilities, but also fostering a relationship that goes well beyond the initial exchange. On that point, one executive told DoubleCheck, “We're not looking for a partner to just sell us a platform with all the bells and whistles, but one who wants to understand how we run our business and how the capabilities of their service are going to ensure we're successful.”

Of course, the right balance of research and openness goes a long way in fostering such a relationship. In fact, one buyer actively looks for “someone who can say, ‘Hey, you're an expert in [your business], but we're an expert with a bunch of people that look just like you.’” By showing that you have knowledge of the prospect’s field, brand, and business structure, while also being open and adaptable, you build credibility.

2) Empathy

In a world where the majority of prospects are seeking an ongoing relationship, “quick fix” approaches to sales don’t work. Many potential clients are most willing to trust and invest when they feel heard and understood. In fact, given the feedback DoubleCheck receives, listening is one of the most prized characteristics of a sales executive, as is being sensitive to a company’s restrictions, pacing, and needs. As one source puts it, a strong salesperson is “able to ‘read’ the potential client,” understand where their hot buttons are, and answer to those issues. 

Clients do understand a sales executive’s agenda (hitting quota), however, and can be open to middle ground. “In some ways,” one survey participant told DoubleCheck, “you and the sales executive have competing agendas, but in other ways you have a common agenda. It’s about finding that common agenda.”

In fact, sales executives who truly connect with their prospects’ needs are more likely to establish an ongoing relationship, even if the immediate sale falls through. And given that a strong relationship will likely be capitalized on in the future, establishing such a connection is a win. In the words of one source, successful relationships are usually built by “somebody who is really trying to help us get to the right answer, even if it is not the one we would want to hear and does not help their case.” By taking a client-centered approach, a sales executive develops strong foundations for mutual success.

Another form of empathy commonly mentioned by executive buyers is responsiveness in terms of pacing and mindset. One source told DoubleCheck that slowness to respond to requests for demos and an unwillingness to come onsite marred the all-important relationship between the buyer and the sales team. Another source mentioned that their company quickly recognizes high-pressure sales techniques and looks instead for “someone who's aware of the political nuances of the company, and understands things might not happen right away.”

Sensitivity to detail is also a common concern. “You have to be really clear, and provide concrete examples,” said one respondent, when describing what they needed from a salesperson. For example, explaining the daily tasks that might be involved if the prospect decided to move forward with the deal would be helpful, according to this source.

3) Transparency

When looking for a trustworthy sales representative, clients often mention transparency. Though trust can be instinctual, more concrete evidence is highly valued. Companies that are public and have transparency on record are desirable, but so are businesses that demonstrate authenticity through action, according to executive buyers. “If a company were to add a new feature that might be detrimental to our [use case], transparency helps us to see and understand the thought behind that decision,” one source said.

On a more interpersonal level, buyers look for open interactions and consistency. One source told DoubleCheck, “I am very turned off whenever I ask questions and I'm given one answer, then I ask them later, and I'm given another.”

The same source looks for transparency in terms of contracts: “Ultimately, you go into a contract with an organization with the same kind of decision-making process you use if you're going to propose to somebody. I have to trust that person. I have to trust that organization.” A sales executive who is upfront about language or restrictions in a contract -- or helps to clarify the contract’s content -- demonstrates both honesty and credibility.

What’s more, knowledge of what will happen if things go wrong also serves to strengthen trust. “Who's going to respond and how are they going to respond?” asked one client. “That's what matters.”

Do your sales teams exhibit what many business professionals identify as essential to winning the bid and closing that deal? If not, you might want to rethink your training or processes.

Editor's note: This post originally appeared on LinkedIn. It is republished here with permission.

First a disclaimer – I’m an “old” salesperson! Old in the number of years on planet earth–and also old as in years ago, I began my career in the chemical and plastics industry selling and managing salespeople. I have a salesperson’s perspective in B2B, and I still consider myself a salesperson even though I have been on the marketing side since the early 1980’s.

I’m bothered by much of what I read and hear today when marketing people and agencies pontificate about B2B in presentations, webinars, white papers, and even blogs like Biznology. In response, for this blog, I’m taking the mantel of “curmudgeon,” and am going to spout off on five currently held beliefs and trends.

Here are my top five beliefs and/or trends that seem wrong or wrongheaded, and need someone to shine the light of day on them.

1. B2B is a market

The definition of business-to-business is and never was meant to be a description of a market, but rather the type of organization that is sold to by a company vs. consumer, government or institution. We all know this, and yet I read articles, white papers, and hear presentations (the recent BMA Conference is an example), where B2B is referred to as if it was a homogeneous market.

The reality is that B2B is composed of hundreds, if not several thousand, vertical and horizontal markets having quite different profiles and buying characteristics. Why am I pointing out the obvious? Simply because the marketing strategies, tactics and solutions so proudly promoted in B2B don’t work across these multiple markets in the same way. That’s why market segmentation is the first process needed, and is so critical to achieve marketing and sales success. (Request our 15 page white paper titled B2B Profiling, Targeting & Segmentation to learn more about segmentation for B2B)

2. 60% of the buying process is completed before contact with vendors

Baloney! As with many things in B2B – it depends. If the purchase is for ad specialties it might be 80-90% before a phone call is made. With machine tools it is probably close to 10%, as this is a very complex high value sale and no website can begin to address the buying questions and customization needed.

Also, the B2B purchasing process is not binary – first online and then offline. It bounces back and forth between online and offline. Whether it’s a visit to the booth at a trade show, live seminars, or even a phone call to the company, the offline human element is still critical to the buying process, and not just at the end. While I didn’t attend the Sirius Decisions conference this year, I have read they presented some research along these lines. Yay for Sirius and their smart people!

The other bone I have to pick with this widely bantered number is, did it all of a sudden go from 0 to 60%? Where are the studies that not only back up this claim, but also how did it evolve?

3. B2B buyers buy on price, quality, service and delivery

No debate that these four aspects of the value proposition are important, but they hide or under-emphasize probably the two most important elements a B2B buyer is looking for when making an important high value purchase: relationship and trust.

I’m not going to dive into the psychology of the buyer, but I would point out that #1 reason purchases are not made is the perceived degree of risk undertaken. Risk to the company and, more importantly, risk to the individual who is making the decision in regard to their job performance and potential. We sell to people, not companies, and when we forget that, there is a good chance of either getting beaten by competitors or losing the sale to the famous “no decision.” To be successful in B2B, you must deal with the emotional side of the buyer’s mindset, build a relationship, and reduce risk.

4. Outbound marketing is out

This is one of my favorite bones to pick with digital marketing experts! It’s not that inbound marketing is not important; it’s just that if you have a highly targetable and valuable market, you can’t rely only on inbound marketing to enough generate leads. This is true for most B2B companies. You must target the potential firms and individuals who can or should purchase your product or service and go get them. Sales people do this as part of their DNA, and marketers need to think more like sales people to bridge the gap between marketing and sales. The key question to answer for any targeted market is what is the balance between outbound and inbound? Each market may be different.

5. Direct mail is dead

Not only is it not dead, it’s making a comeback. I’ve met with a number of B2B clients and service providers, and found that direct mail is not only producing good response rates, but also the leads generated convert at a higher rate. This is particularly true for impact mailers, as breaking through the clutter today is harder than ever.

Here’s a great example of an impact mailing that got both high response and conversion rates.

Cartoonist Stu Heinecke (www.cartoonlink.com) produces a number of great cartoons where the caption can be personalized. Here is one that we used for a client and did the following:

• Personalized it with the name of the contact we were trying to reach after first verifying with a phone call to insure accuracy. (I used my name for this example)
• Put the cartoon in a frame suitable for either desk or wall display
• Wrote a cover letter that tied the cartoon into the value proposition of the software
• Sent the package overnight mail
• Followed up with a phone call no later than 2 days following receipt of the package

“I’m sitting of piles of cash since I listened to John Coe.”

As mentioned, results were outstanding, but that’s not my point. This is an example that mail is not dead in B2B; it just has to be used properly. Other examples of direct mail continue to prove its value vs. email.

Summary:

There are at least another five trends or beliefs that can be debunked – maybe another blog.

Increasingly globalized drug trafficking markets and constantly changing routes and transit points are challenging established anti-drug law enforcement practices, according to the World Drug Report.

Although no major changes appeared in crop cultivation and drug manufacturing regions, new challenges such as the "dark net," have profound implications for both law enforcement and drug trafficking, according to the report.

Alongside changes in different drug trafficking routes, such as the one used to to smuggle opiates from Afghanistan through Pakistan into South Asia and through Iran into Europe, the World Drug report also found evidence that criminal groups are diversifying the kinds of drugs they focus on, which forces different kinds of drugs through traditionally used routes.

The interest in cannabis resin and methamphetamine has been growing, and African countries, which are traditionally used as transit hubs for heroin and cocaine are now also used for other drugs, according to the report.

Cocaine

Cocaine, which is almost exclusively cultivated in South America, is mostly smuggled through Africa or the Caribbean before reaching Europe, according to the report. Eastern Europe is also starting to become a transit area, and although quantities remain small it could show a movement in the cocaine markets. Costa Rica also reported that it is now both a transit and temporary storage country.

Cocaine use continues to decline in Western and Central Europe and North America, and cultivation of the coca bush is at its lowest since the mid 80’s, according to the report.

Heroin

Increased seizures of heroin, particularly in East Africa, point to Africa’s role for the smuggling of Afghan heroin into Europe has become increasingly more important, the report found. And recent seizures also suggest that large shipments of Afghan heroin are smuggled across the Indian Ocean and into East and Southern Africa.  

In Canada, the quasi totality of heroin comes from Afghanistan. Although the United States’s heroin supplies mostly come from Central and South America, things might start changing as fluctuations in the Australian market between heroin originating from Myanmar and Afghanistan point to the fact that criminal networks are increasingly global. 

The dark net, considered the black market of the web, is one of the main factors allowing those criminal networks to become more global. The dark net allows buyers to access drugs easily and anonymously, making it a driving force in the uptick of drug trafficking.

Although international and inter-agency collaboration is crucial in tackling drug trafficking, the increased accessibility of the dark web technology new ways to counter trafficking need to be put in place as it could become an increasing obstacle for law enforcement, according to the World Drug Report.

The report also  notes indications of increased trafficking in South and South East Asia and West and East Africa and the “Balkan route” through Iran and Turkey to Europe, the “northern route” through Central Asia to Russia and the “southern route” through Iran or Pakistan to Asia are all established trafficking routes of Afghan opiates.

 

Methamphetamine

East and South East Asia and Oceania are emerging as global market for ecstasy while the market declines in America and significant seizures over the past five years show that new trafficking routes are emerging. 

The market for methamphetamine is expanding in East and South East Asia and the use of crystal meth is increasing in North America and Europe. West Africa continues to be a transit region for methamphetamine smuggled into East and South East Asia.

Trafficking routes from Africa and America to East and South East Asia have also been observed with transit points in Europe and South Africa.  

Reports of Turkey becoming a transit point for smuggling from Western Asia to Europe have emerged along with reports of methamphetamine trafficking from Europe to America and East and South East Asia.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why we should ban non-vaccinated kids from schools

There have been a number of times that we’ve walked into an organization looking for some marketing assistance, and we hear a familiar tune:

“Marketing doesn’t work, it costs too much!”

“Sales aren’t doing their job! I’m sending them leads!”

If you’ve grown up with siblings, this scenario can sound very familiar to quarreling brothers and sisters, but what is really going on here? Why do so many organizations seem to have problems when it comes to aligning their Sales and Marketing teams?

Perspective

Years ago, having that “and” between the Sales and Marketing department meant that they often worked closely together. As businesses shifted from full-time departments with full-time staff, to combinations of internal and external staff, part-timers, and contractors for months or weeks at a time, the system started to break down and the two departments fragmented off from one another.

Marketing was relegated to awareness, tasks that assisted the brand and drove awareness to a company, and Sales was thought of as the only area where profit could be delivered.

Communication

There is a great line from the film Cool Hand Luke:

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”

When it comes to Sales and Marketing, that too is a major issue. Without communication, neither department knows the successes, failures or items that need to be changed to succeed.

If Marketing is tasked to drive leads, and drives poor quality leads to Sales, but are never told the leads are poor, Marketing will assume they’ve done their job and Sales will be frustrated. If the two departments communicate clearly on messaging, tone, delivery, offering, etc. then adjustments can be made to drive a higher quality lead.

Sales needs to communicate success rate of conversion as well. While Marketing may drive leads, once it hits the sales force, visibility can be lost. In order to track the whole process, top to bottom, Marketing must know which leads converted to have a crystal-clear picture of what efforts converted that client.

Process

I know, I know – Process sounds like a dirty word to many in business. As a right-brained organization, we get it! But when results and ROI are top of mind to businesses of all sizes, processes are imperative.

Nothing good can come from either Sales or Marketing executing without a plan.

• Sales cannot plan a pipeline without process
• Marketing cannot execute without goals, or strategy
• There must be a communication process to flow back and forth between Sales and Marketing – Leads, messaging, conversion of leads

So, it’s that easy, right? Have a process, communicate and gain perspective and your business goal’s humming, right?

What we’re discussing right now are the building blocks to making your two silos – Sales and Marketing –more effective. These principles will help you to strategize each year, and each decisively act in harmony, in unison, as an organization.