Posted by Frank Candio on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 @ 12:15 PM
Last night I received a call from Eddie. Eddie mentioned my friend Mike said I might be interested in seeing a presentation for his product. He then gave me a little pitch and closed for the meeting.
Cold calling is a tough business in any economy. It is difficult to get a "live" voice on the other end of the phone and when you do -you have less than a 20 % chance of getting your meeting.
How do you improve your odds? Through referrals. C-Level Executives are three times as likely to take a meeting with someone referred by a colleague or business associate.
Working influencer channels can pay big dividends.
Posted by Frank Candio on Mon, Jan 11, 2010 @ 02:44 PM
The whole premise of lead nurturing campaigns rests in the concept that all prospects are not ready for "buy now" sales messages.
This does not mean you have to be passive in your approach. Accelerator campaigns attempt to move prospects along in your process based on their previously identified behavior. By recognizing and analyzing their behavior on your website, the frequency of visits, and the information they have downloaded - for example - you can (and should) adjust your nurturing approach. For our clients this often means we begin one to one marketing.
Prospect digital behavior is telling us something. We need to listen.
Posted by Frank Candio on Mon, Nov 30, 2009 @ 01:07 PM
B2B Online surveyed almost 350 B2B companies about their 2010 plans. Here's a summary of the results:
- 40 % plan to increase their marketing budgets
- About half plan to keep spending flat
- 13 % will reduce their marketing spend
The biggest increases in spending will be online where marketers can have more accountability on their spend.
The full survey results can be found here:
http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091116/FREE/311169985/1444/FREE
Posted by Frank Candio on Tue, Nov 24, 2009 @ 06:56 AM
Interesting new study from CMO Council.
A couple of the findings:
- People are inundated with mass emailings (no surprise)
- Nine in ten people surveyed have unsubscribed from an email newsletter in the past 12 months (no surprise)
- Number one reason cited for unsubscribing was "relevance" (no surprise)
- 22% of respondents said irrelevant promotions caused them not to buy from the company (Wow)
Many companies are harming their brand with poorly planned email campaigns. I often get asked about automation tools like Constant Contact and Vertical Response. My response? They are great products but more emphasis should be focused on what you say rather than how it is delivered.
Posted by Frank Candio on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 @ 09:54 AM
Very cool video on Social Media.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8
Posted by Frank Candio on Tue, Sep 01, 2009 @ 11:09 AM
During the summer I excerise by riding my bike. There's a several mile stretch of Ocean Avenue on Long Beach Island that's a great place to ride.
Over the weekend some kids set up a lemonade stand on Ocean Ave to catch people going to and from the beach. As I was flying by, one of the kids yelled "cold lemonade - 25 cents".
When I returned from my ride I checked my email. I had a bunch of sales pitches in my in box. Looking at the subject lines I was struck at how similar they were to the kid with the lemonade stand. No attempt to engage or interest - only loud "buy now" messages.
Prospect engagement is the key to Sales 2.0 success. Only a fraction of your prospect base is sales ready and you must recognize and adapt to this.
Posted by Frank Candio on Fri, Aug 28, 2009 @ 08:56 AM
I was speaking with a client after a video shoot yesterday. Our discussion turned to Social Media. His company was testing a few strategies and he asked my thoughts about having his Sales Reps actively engaged on the Social Media sites.
Here's what I think:
Back in the early 1980's I was a Sales Rep for a large business process outsourcer. My territory was lower Manhattan. I had to call on 2 bank officers and 2 CPA firms each week to introduce our services / get referrals.
That was my "networking" objective.
Today, the networking is happening in the Groups on the Social Media sites. I would absolutely encourage any company to get their Sales Reps involved and engaged in those Groups. Clearly, you don't want them banging people over the head with a buy now sales message. However, most companies want their Sales Reps to be consultative and lots of people in those Groups are looking for help. Your Reps can add value and it is a great way to engage.
Posted by Frank Candio on Wed, Jul 22, 2009 @ 11:35 AM
A new study by Forrester Research reveals that 53% of the companies surveyed will be increasing their social media marketing spend this year. Although most companies have cut their marketing budgets during the recession, this is not really surprising. Social media is cheap (relatively) and offers great opportunity to create awareness and interest in your brand.
Helping our clients with their social media strategy is a growing part of our business. Here are a few tips:
1. Have a plan. Building a You Tube Channel or Facebook page and waiting for people to visit won't work. Spend some time creating a content and engagement plan.
2. Humanize your company. Remember this is a "social" media strategy. Don't be afraid to humanize your company a little bit. This does not mean creating a wacky You Tube video. Let your prospects know you are a company of people.
3. Get your people involved. Social media has been described (accurately) as an online conversation. You probably have many subject matter experts in your company who can add value to this conversation. Get them involved.
Posted by Mike Vannoy on Mon, Jul 13, 2009 @ 10:37 AM
According to MarketingSherpa, word of mouth is the most important influencer in buying decisions. The second most important decision influencer? Online video.
This should come as no surprise. Over the past several years, there has been an explosion of video content on the web - and B2B marketers have taken notice. At a time when most budgets are being cut, the marketing spend on web video continues to grow. Why? Web video is simply the most effective method for communicating your sales message to the widest possible audience.
Online video is one of the tools Sales Engine International uses to help create awareness and nurture leads for our clients. Here are a few lessons we have learned:
- Create video content for prospects in all phases of your buying cycle. Creating a video with a "buy now" sales message will only resonate with a small part of your prospect base - those who are "sales ready". Most prospects need to engaged and nurtured over time. Rather than creating one video than hammers home your value proposition consider making several smaller content pieces that address the different phases in your buying process. We've learned this is critical step in keeping top of mind awareness for our clients.
- Be interesting. You have about six seconds to capture the interest of your viewer. There's no time for feature dumps or product tutorials. You may have the greatest solution in the world - but if you don't grab the viewer quickly - your message will never be heard. At Sales Engine, we call this creating a "punch in the nose".
- You can't make a "viral video". The dream of most marketers is to create a video that goes viral. Unfortunately, B2B marketers who set out to create a "viral video" will almost certainly fail. Viral is what happens after the video is created. Although you can take actions to help spread your video - like posting it to You Tube and social networking sites - you cannot guarantee it will go viral.
Online video should play a major role in your marketing strategy. Our clients have learned its effectiveness with prospects in all phases of the buying cycle.
Sales Engine International is a Sales 2.0 marketing and sales performance organization. Clients come to us for innovative solutions to their sales revenue challenges. Thank you for watching this spotlight
Posted by Frank Candio on Thu, Mar 26, 2009 @ 06:56 AM
Today's blog is is authored by Jeff Beutel, founder of executive search firm The Alan Group. Jeff is a nationally recognized expert in sales recruiting. He can reached at 608.826.0918 or info@tag-search.com.
On of the questions I'm frequently asked is "Given the amount of people in the job market, including some very good ones, why is it so hard to attract that talent I need to win."
There are two things to consider.
1. The top performers in any market are typically employed and busy doing great work for their companies.
2. They need to be convinced that making a career move will pay of for them (risk/reward).
Our clients are looking to do more with less resources and want to find people who can step in an significantly improve the production over an existing employee..
When trying to recruit these individuals their focus needs to be.
First - Demonstrate that they can realistically achieve their career goals by making the move. Not just achieve, but be convinced that leaving an existing company where they know how to get things done politically and have outstanding bonus/commissions actually makes sense.
Don't underestimate the importance of them being able to sell this to their family as well. For anyone who's ever deferred a conversation about whether or not to make a major (or not so major) purchase because of not wanting to have to justify it to a family member, think of the impact of changing careers.
Secondly - be prepared to show the details of how this will be accomplished. In the eyes of the A-player these are some key issues, starting with more corporate issues and working down to more role-based concerns:
What are you trying to accomplish?
Why?
What are the key dates / deadlines?
How were they established?
How long has this strategy been in place?
What have you done to get there?
What are the challenges accomplishing these goals?
What do you expect from this person?
Who / how many people are in similar roles?
For how long?
Have they been successful?
What is in place to make them successful?
* From a Sales perspective, this should include: Sales Support, Marketing, Lead Nurturing / Lead Generation and a sales-driven culture?
It's easy to fall into the trap of "The economy is bad so people should be happy to have a job." Always remember that this does not apply to top performers. Now, more than ever they need to be convinced and sold on an opportunity - the downside for not taking it is they stay in a job they're doing very well in, continue to outperform their peers and make a good living.
Preparing to address these will drastically improve your ability to on-board the people you want to hire.