Pay Attention to Your Sales Process - You Might Actually Be Upsetting Your Prosects

I tell a lot of personal stories on our blog. I do that because I think these experiences are indicative of the state of sales and marketing in the world today. I tell you these stories in the hopes that you will see similar conditions in your business and be moved to fix them.

How you manage your prospects through your sales process says a lot about your company and it tells people what to expect from you, if and when they become a client. If your sales process isn't smooth. If your sales process doesn't set clear expectations. If the communication is weak or inconsistent how will prospects come to know, like and trust you. We all agree that knowing, liking and trusting you is the key to a good sales process right? Good, I thought for a minute, I might have lost you.

We take our hiring process at Square 2 Marketing very seriously. We designed an elongated sales process to make sure we get the perfect new team members for our firm. Right now that process doesn't include any testing or formal evaluations. I was evaluating a number of formal evaluation tools including one from a respectable provider, click here to see the firm.

During the sales process, the representatives spent time helping me understand how we would use it in our complex hiring process, helping me review a few sample reports on my team, and helping me see how I could create a team model to use when selecting new potential team members and even offering to profile my entire team so I could establish a benchmark of my current team. Sounds pretty good doesn't it? I thought so too. Wasn't I surprised when a question arose about payment and next steps triggering all communication to stop.

After inquiring about the drop off in attention, I was told hours of free consulting had been provided and since I wasn't interesting in paying for any team profiles the process was over. What happened? So, I thought we were getting to know each other and engaging in the sales process and they thought they were giving away free consulting. Given their position, I might have done the same thing...the issue here is expectations. They weren’t clear. The sales process wasn't defined and the result was a lot of wasted time and an unhappy potential customer.

All they had to say was..we are going to do this, and then that, and if we do the following, you should have everything you need to make a decision, right? It would have been so simple.

Don't make the same mistake. With a few choice words and a couple of expectations set, we could still be working together right now. What a shame?

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and Businesses Who Have Well Defined Sales Processes!

Does My Business Really Have To Be Special?

I was in a meeting yesterday with a potential client and he (the business owner) was telling us all the great aspects of their business.  In fact, it was in response to our challenging him to make his business remarkable.  So, he started telling us they really didn't need to be remarkable because...their people were great, everything they did was done well, they never make a mistake, they have extensive experience, they were super responsive, etc.

When he was finished, I replied, "Do you think your competitors are saying anything different than that?  Do you think they are saying, our people aren't that good and our systems are just ok and we only have a little experience?"  Of course not...the same thing is going on in your industry. 

If you don't think you have to be special, different, interesting, or REMARKABLE to be successful in business.  Think again. 

I believe it was Seth Godin who wrote...

Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting. Boring stuff is invisible. Remarkable marketing is the art of building things worth noticing right into your product or service. Not slapping on marketing as a last minute add-on, but understanding that if your offering isn’t remarkable, it’s invisible.

Now look at your own business.  Do you feel invisible?  Now you know why.

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and people who WANT remarkable businesses. 

Ford Gets It!

Have you seen the most recent set of Ford Motor Company TV advertisements?  If not, check it out by clicking on this link.

They don't talk about the gas mileage, or the motor, or the cornering, or the quiet ride, or the instrument panel.  They focus on pains real people have using their cars.  This particular ad talks about how annoying it is to have CDs all over the car.  Guess what, now the car RECORDS your CD so you never have to bring the CD back to the car again...it is in there...FOREVER!  WOW!  That is remarkable!

In an earlier ad, they talked about the back up camera that prevents you from hitting objects and in another ad, they focused on the keyless entry system.  All remarkable aspects of the car that have little to do with transportation and ALOT to do with understanding who their customers are and what PAINS they have day in and day out.

Ford Motors practices Reality Marketing.  To learn more about Reality Marketing, just click the link.

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and Ad Agencies Who Borrow our Reality Marketing Methodologies! 

Does Blogging Really Drive Sales?

Most people doubt that blogging can drive sales, but in a recent study the data indicates that blogging DOES actually increase sales.  Let's look at the data from a recent HubSpot blog.

HubSpot's recently released 2010 State of Inbound Marketing Report, based on a survey of 231 marketers, shows that companies that blog multiple times a day more consistently acquire customers from blogging.


Other key findings of the 2010 State of Inbound Marketing report:

• Inbound marketing-dominated organizations average a 60% lower cost-per-lead than outbound-dominated organizations.
• Over 40% of customers using Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and company blogs have generated a customer from that channel.

While blogging and inbound marketing are tactics.  You still need to know what to say, how to say it, and how to make sure your target market sits up and takes notice.  That is where strong Reality Marketing messaging and being businesses that are remarkable comes in to play.  If you are blogging about normal, average, mainstream stuff...your blog and your business are INVISIBLE! 

If you haven't started your blog yet.  What are you waiting for, now you know it drives sales, get started today. 

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs who blog every single day!

Key Marketing Metrics

What gets measured, gets done.  I believe you have heard that from me before.  But it applies to marketing exponentially.  If you aren't tracking your marketing efforts, you are wasting your money.  In fact, I will go one step further.  If you won't track every aspect of your marketing, just stop now.  I can tell you...your marketing isn't working.

Here are a couple of simple numbers to use to measure the success of your marketing.

Grade your website.  Use the tool, http://www.websitegrader.com/ to see how good your website is.  Regardless of your score, work to make the recommended improvements to your site and watch the score rise each month.

Track traffic to your website.  It is a leading indicator of a successful marketing campaign.  Each month you should see more visitors, more unique visitors and an improvement in the time on your site.  These are three key marketing metrics.  You might need Google Analytics for that, but it's free and easy to use.

Track the number of conversions or forms completed from your site.  Each month you should be getting more and more completed forms from your site.  If you don't have any forms, add them today. If you want some tips on creating forms, try this article.

Track the sources from which people came to your site.  It might be a pay per click ad, or natural search engine optimization from Google, Yahoo or Bing.  It might be from your email campaign.  Just track it.

Track the views on YouTube.  Create a YouTube channel and post video's there regularly.  Make sure that you promote the video in your blog, emails, and other electronic outreach.  Keep looking at the views and make sure they rise, month over month.  Take a look at our channel and create your own.

While there are many more metrics to see how your marketing is doing.  These are definitely some of the most important.  If you want more advice, please leave it here as a comment and I will address it on the blog for all our readers to see.

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and metrics heads!



 

A Marketing Secret - You Have To Give To Receive

Yesterday's blog was about blogging and turning people into fans of your company.  How do you do that?  First you have to have a position, the bolder the better.  Take a stand, any stand and make it core to your business.  Create a philosophy, a methodology, an approach anything that makes you and your business different.

Next, put it out there.  Tell people about it.  Write a short white paper or e-book.  Send it out, blog about it, email it to everyone you know, put it on your website, create a Facebook page, LinkedIn profile and start distributing your thoughts.  Yes, people will care.  Most importantly, the right people will care, those people you want to talk to.  Partners, prospects, suspects even people who will want to do business with you WILL be interested, if your position is interesting. 

Now...offer to help!  Answer questions on LinkedIn.  Send out a link to your white paper or free report.  Schedule a free workshop maybe an online webinar and invite people in to hear how you are going to help them with their challenges.  All of these activities position you and your company as a leader and provide opportunities to meet potential business opportunities.

Don't sell.  Don't sell.  Please don't sell.  But help them.  Ask them their business challenges and give them information that makes them better at their job.  In a recent blog post I talked about what makes a successful email campaign, the same tips apply here...help, help, help!

Follow these straight forward steps and you will find people reaching out to you and asking for you to work with them.

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and people who help people!   

To Blog or Not To Blog, That Is The Question

Many people ask me if they need a blog on their new websites.  The answer is of course, YES!  But that really isn't the right question.  The right question is how do I use a blog to drive leads.  So let's talk about the answer to that question. 

Just like advertising distributes your message to the masses, your blog distributes your message to THOSE PEOPLE WHO CARE.  Every time you blog, people who are interested in what you have to say are notified that you blogged and then they are able to read your blog.  If you need tips on getting started, click here.

But, that's not the really great news.  These same people are able to tell everyone they know about your blog, if it is really interesting, good and helpful.  That is why it is SO important to be REMARKABLE and to always be putting out remarkable content in your blog.  Here is an example of very basic business who has a cool blog.

The result of the viral aspect is that NEW people are now introduced to you and your company by their friends, family, colleagues, peers, teachers, etc.  This introduction comes along with a validation point.  "If Joe recommended it, I definitely have to check it out."  Again, the result are new people reading your blog and going to your website.  New bloggers telling their readers about your blog and sending a whole slew of new people over to see you.  See how this site shows examples of Viral Marketing.

Your job?  Capture the contact information of those people and get them to become YOUR people.  More on that tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and people who blog!

Invest in Marketing or...GO OUT OF BUSINESS

We hear it every day.  We really want to invest in the marketing program but it is just out of our price range, or we didn't budget for it, or we really need it to be less money, or the worst is...we are a $10 million dollar business but we only have $1,000 a month allocated for marketing. 

I understand the realities of cash flow and paying for stuff but today I read a story about a meeting management firm we talked to about three years ago.  At the time, the now unemployed owner of the firm was doing $3.7 million, he was a Philly 100 winner and on the verge of taking the company to the next level. 

At the time, they didn't want to spend the money to start a more aggressive marketing program designed to generate leads.  Instead, they felt they could continue on as they have been for the past few years.  Why not?  Things were going well right?  Today, the Philadelphia Business Journal announced the firm was bought out by their partner located in Washington.  Now he is looking for work. 

Don't make the same mistake.  A famous person once said, "if you aren't growing, you are dying."  Successful business invest between 1% and 3% of total revenue back into marketing to keep the company growing and the BEST time to do that is when things are going well.  Reevaluate your commitment to marketing and invest accordingly, please do it NOW!

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and people who invest in marketing!

Job Searchers Need to be Remarkable Too

This blog talks a lot about business marketing and making a business remarkable but in a time when there are so many people out of work and looking for jobs this concept rings true for individuals too.  Just think about it...how many times have you interviewed 5 people and in the end you can barely tell them apart.  They all went to decent schools, they all spoke intelligently, they all answered the standard interview questions and seemed friendly.  How could you possible decide who to hire?

But now apply the same Reality Marketing principles to an individual competing with (in today's world) hundreds of other candidates. 

Make a remarkable resume, maybe do it in video form, make the PDF interactive, make in it in color.  Then actually follow up with a phone call to the contact.  Take it from me, no one ever calls. 

Do some home work and find out what the job actually entails.  What would you be doing?  Come to the interview with ideas on how you would do the job, help the company, aid in them reaching their goals...be proactive and do it in a remarkable way.  What if you actually wrote a mini plan or a proposal on how to implement some of the changes you are suggesting. 

Finally, ask interesting questions, not the standard interview questions but really put some thought into it and then follow up appropriately, but with vigor.  Show the contact that you actually want the job not that you are just going though the motions.

Is this risky?  Yes!  Might you blow the opportunity?  Yes!  But you definately will stand out and if the position, company and situation is right for you, how could somone NOT consider you for it. 

Try it...you might actually get a job in the toughest economy on record.

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and people who want to make themselves remarkable!

How Do You Know if Your Email Marketing is Effective?

Everyone love to talk about email marketing.  It is so cheap, it is so easy, it is so targeted and that is all true, but it still needs to work right?  So how do we know if it is working?  And, what do we want it to do?  What are the goals and objectives of an email marketing campaign?

First Goal of Email Marketing - Stay in front of your customers and prospects.  This is the same goal as advertising, but it is done in a targeted, segmented, cost efficient way and it delivers the message in a way people can deal with on their own time.  Read it now, save it, delete it, forward it, print it, etc.  You can't do that with an ad.  Make sure you are educating them, helping them, giving them value in every email.

Second Goal of Email Marketing - Drive them back to the website.  It is a proven fact that people spend 10 to 20 seconds reading emails.  Keep it short, add lots of links, provide offers and a clear call to action.  But make sure that you provide only short snippets of information with links back to your website.  Why do we want them to go back to the website?  Because that is where your entire story lives and you want them to see everything that is special about your business AND the website allows you to customize the content for your email audience. 

Third Goal of Email Marketing - Get sales!  If you do everything right, you should get a few phone calls and emails after each email that sounds something like this.  "I have been reading your email for the past few months and I would like to talk to you about your services for my company."  Don't expect this to happen right away, but if you stick with it, it will work just like this.

So how do you know if you are on the right track?  How do you know if your email is working?  Keep an eye on these key stats.  Any standard email campaign management tool should provide this data.

Open rates should be between 20% and 30% and click through rates should be between 3% and 5% both are industry dependant.  Set lower goals at the start and work each month to beat the performance of the last email.  Keep an eye on Opt Out rates too.  These should be very low typically under .5%.  If you don't know what to expect, you won't know if your program is working or not. 

Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs and people who actively manage their email marketing programs.