Accelerating Growth Through Better Sales & Marketing Decisions

Increase Your Sales by Avoiding the Major Sales Botches

Even the very best sales professionals make selling mistakes from time to time.  As CEO and President of Sales, I admit that I bungle things now and again. So, does my sales team, just only once in a while. There are many reasons for bungling, such as:

• Managing internal day-to-day issues.  Employees count on me so I need to be available to them whenever necessary. 
• Putting out current client fires.  Some clients have valid problems, others just like to complain, so evaluating the differences takes time. 
• Working under pressure to land that next big account.  That often takes away from working on the smaller accounts that might add more continuity to the bottom line. 
• Dealing with cash flow issues.  Even the largest companies face this challenge. 
• Facing personal problems, which everybody experiences.  Finances, relationships, health – the list is often long. 

But, think about this.  Do those reasons simply become excuses for not following successful sales basics? Maybe we have to lean on our sales and marketing basics – like we did on our ABCs or 123s. If not, we will probably blunder, which means lost sales, and maybe even our entire business.

We’ve all read articles about sales blunders, but I would like to direct you to one, which I believe, can provide you significant insight into the major sales and marketing mistakes, along with great solutions to overcoming these blunders. 

Authored by Kelley Robertson, and titled “The Top 7 Sales Blunders” you can review at SalesDog.com

According to Robertson, The Top 7 Sales Blunders are:

# 1: Allowing a prospect to lead the sales process.

# 2: Not completing pre-meeting research.

# 3: Talking too much.

# 4: Giving the prospect information that is irrelevant.

# 5: Not being prepared.

# 6: Neglecting to ask for the sale.

# 7: Failing to prospect.

For more details and his solutions, spend some time reading the article I referred to above. 

If we would remember these basics every day before approaching our current clients and pending prospects, we would likely avoid mistakes and increase our sales.  

 

Want to Go to Market Faster?

Most CEOs do.  But, how do you make that happen?  Simple!  Combine your CRM data with mapping. 

It just makes common sense.  Combining your CRM data with mapping provides a CEO and their sales teams with insight they will not find anywhere else. 

What type of insight will a CEO and their sales teams acquire?

• See how many customers or prospects are in a given area. So, if sales reps are traveling to a given area, they can map out and visit customers and / or prospects within that determined radius.   
• Target and map out similar prospects within any given area. 
• Locate and see the locations of all your competitors on a map.  Gain knowledge of their activities. 
• Visualize where the nearest sales rep is in real time as they travel.  Respond to new leads and have the sales person visit that day.
• Use geocoding and mapping to display a map and list of targeted addresses, then overlay demographics, like income per capita, showing target areas with little chance of closing business and / or showing areas which could be potentially lucrative.

Those are only a few of the benefits. The possibilities are endless.

By combining your CRM with mapping, you will be able to see all these things at once.  See all customer, prospect, and competitor data on one simple, clear map.  Names, addresses, phone numbers, routes, current and past purchases, pending proposals…everything you need to get to market faster.     

I bet reps, back in the day, would have loved this technology and been so much more productive than with their notorious index cards flying around in the back of their company rental car. 

Though most marketers are probably aware of mapping and location intelligence, they often view these tools as costly, difficult to learn and use, labor intensive, and believe everything has to be built and maintained in-house.

But, that’s not the case anymore. There are easy, cost-effective options. Check InfoGrow’s CRM and Mapping Tools at:

Deliver Insight – Better Decisions

 

Need a CRM Manager in Your Corner?

According to many recent studies, 80% to 90% of companies surveyed, state that their current CRM / SFA system isn’t achieving what they want. Why?

Issues are plentiful and include the following:

• Your CRM system is not easily integrated with your other applications
• Users throughout your various departments haven’t been trained correctly 
• Your company culture and processes do not demand or support the use 
•  It is too complicated for your current needs

Probably, all of the above might apply but the number one reason is, “we already have a full plate and don’t have time to manage our CRM”. 

A great CRM system can be simple and powerful. Yet, without attention it falls apart.  An easy to use, accepted by all CRM system  packs effective sales and marketing results, but requires someone’s focus. 

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Simple, powerful, effective!  And that is what your CRM should be like. 

Sometimes it can be managed in-house with a dedicated marketing or sales staff, but many companies don’t have those resources.  There are options available. 

No matter where you are in your level of CRM usage, one question is universal:

How can you make CRM simpler?

One answer remains:

With InfoGrow’s CRM expertise

Learn more about getting a dedicated CRM Manager in your corner. Make CRM simple, powerful and accepted by all your users. Visit InfoGrow's CRM Manager and start knocking out your competitors.  

 

Protect Yourself from Losing a Prospect Sponsor and Possibly the Account

Play Your Cards Right with CRM 

You’ve spent months of resources on a huge proposal with an important prospect, have built a very good relationship with the sponsor of this proposal, but the sponsor moves to another position or another company. 

All you’ve been waiting for is the final sign-off for the project to begin but you can’t connect with the sponsor now.  What to do? 

Well, if you’ve played your cards right, you have spent time gathering information on their boss, along with everyone else in the approval process.  In today’s business world there is no longer only one decision-maker. But, you’ve been following a sales process , tracking all steps of the client’s buying, decision-making process and you have put all the valuable information into your CRM system. Now you are positioned to call others within the organization and remind them of the value for keeping the  project moving forward. 

Always, keep in mind that your current sponsor could be out of the picture tomorrow.  You need to be ready to access other top decision makers quickly.  You can’t do that without their information at hand. 

If you haven’t played your cards right yet, learn more about your best hands at http://www.infogrowcorp.com/CRM/default.aspx. 

 

Still Not Using CRM?

You Must Be Feeling Lucky

Are you one of those companies who still don’t have a CRM system in place?  Maybe, don’t want to spend the money?  Don’t see the value or need?  After all, you have your Excel files, right?  Those should provide everything you need for managing your reps and staying in touch with customers, won’t they?

And, you are sure that your direct sales reps and your distributor reps are staying in front of  your company’s customer / prospects and not your competition?     

Might be on slips of paper, index cards, business cards or manual notebooks somewhere.  Maybe, in the back of their car along with leftover fast- food wrappers.  Surely, you can access that vital information anytime you want, correct?  Well… barring they don’t get fired or decide to hire on with your competitor, or throw the information in a trashcan along with the old food wrappers, that is. Wonder where the customer and prospect information goes then?

So, without a CRM system, does your company just feel lucky?  You feel you know exactly who your customers and prospects are, where they are, what they buy, when they buy, how to contact the right person, etc., etc., etc.?  Just feel lucky, don’t you? 

Do your competitors have a powerful CRM system and are communicating with your customers?  Will they blow your company clean off the sales and marketing charts? You’ve got to ask yourself one question:  Are you still feeling lucky?    

If not, review What Costs More? CRM Or Not Having One?

CRM will make your day.  Well, probably, make your next many years, and we can help that happen.  Spend a few minutes with us at http://infogrowcorp.com/default.aspx and let us show you how to make every day your day. 

 

 

Has a Client or Prospect Stopped Talking to You? Need Some Advice?

What’s going on?  You’ve had a previous profitable relationship with an existing client or several productive communications with a good prospect, but suddenly… it’s like they don’t exist or, worse yet, you don’t exist. 

You leave voice mails, send e-mails and even direct mail for a few weeks, but get no response.  It’s like they disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. 

So, what gives?  Did you say or do something so wrong to cause them to avoid you?  You may never discover why they slipped under your sales radar. But, if you’re experiencing any situations like this, I’d like to point you to some great advice that may help you find the answers to get things up and running again. 

Following are some excerpts from an article titled Be a Stealth Fighter:
What to do When Your Prospect Goes Silent, written by Colleen Francis, Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions.

Remember, it’s not about you. 

Finding ways to overcoming stealth in sales isn’t about wasting time blaming the customer or asking yourself “what did I do wrong?” Your job is to ask “what can I do to make things right?”

Get the facts.

The next thing you need to do is determine whether in fact your prospect or client has actually gone stealth. Their lack of response may have nothing to do with your business with them.  Get over yourself and get the facts. This will put you in a much better position to do what’s necessary to correct a sale that has gone off the rails.

Fix what needs fixing.

Once you’ve ruled out non-business related factors, get a lock on what’s been keeping someone hiding below your sales radar. What’s gone wrong? Let’s say that after reviewing your recent activities with a particular prospect or customer, you conclude that they may have objected to something in your last business proposal, and hadn’t voiced it to you when you first presented them with a draft (and you did start with a draft proposal, right?)

One solution would be to mail them a friendly note in which you take responsibility for their silence and the reason behind it.

Don’t let voicemail become your black hole of productivity.

Astronomers describe black holes as mysterious regions in space from which nothing escapes. When dealing with a stealth situation, your repeated attempts to contact someone—only to be routed to voicemail—can have you feeling as though your efforts and your time are all being sucked into something dreadful like that.

It doesn’t have to be that way. It’s up to you to make things right.

To read the rest on each of these tips, review her article.

To remain competitive in this economy, or, better yet, jump ahead, it takes maximizing your sales and marketing effectiveness.  After you read this great article, we invite you to peruse our site for additional or complimentary solutions at InfoGrow.

Colleen Francis, Sales Expert, is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions. Armed with skills developed from years of experience, Colleen helps clients realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise their bottom line. 

 

Email is Still One of Your Most Effective Sales and Marketing Channels

Most of our prospects are drowning in email messages, their fingers twitching above the delete key, but if your email messages are done right, their fingers will click on open. Open and read. You still only have a few seconds of their attention, but that is what it’s all about. You just need a few seconds. If your email program is efficient and your message effective, you stand a good chance of your prospects reading further. If they do, you stand a better chance of their contacting your company before they waste time reading your competitors’ emails.

To read some great information on your email message effectiveness, check out this article, 7 Hot Email Prospecting Tips, written by Jill Konrath, CEO and Chief Sales Officer of Selling to Big Companies. Jill is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and industry conferences. She helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten their sales cycle and win more contracts. For more info on Jill and how she can help your company, visit Selling to Big Companies.

And, for InfoGrow’s take on how to use email marketing to increase your sales and marketing effectiveness, I encourage you to spend some time reviewing our previous articles:

Email Content – Functions of Email Content

Combine CRM and Email Marketing to Grow Your Business  

E-Mail Marketing is Still a Powerful B-to-B Tool

I wish you success in your email sales and marketing efforts. Actually, I wish you success in all of your sales and marketing efforts, despite the channels used.

The Power of Traditional Marketing Channels

While new marketing channels are probably here to stay, don’t disregard the power of traditional marketing channels. Direct mail with targeted GIS marketing, trade shows, newspaper advertising, radio and television, Email and telesales won’t be out of the picture soon, if ever. 

According to an article on destinationCRM.com, titled Never Underestimate the Power of Traditional Methods, the power of traditional channels is as strong as that of social channels. Written by Paul Greenberg, president of consultancy The 56 Group, he states:

“ the power of traditional channels is as strong as that of social channels. Traditional channels are much harder to measure, don’t scale the same way, and thus are a lot less sexy. As a result, they aren’t given the importance they deserve.”

“Want at least a self-satisfying personal proof? Answer three questions:

1.  If given the choice of being quoted in TechCrunch or The New York Times, which would you choose?
2.  If given the choice of a half-hour video podcast that would be broadcast on a YouTube channel or a half-hour TV show on NBC, which would you choose?
3.   If given the choice of self-publishing a book on the Web or having one done in print by a major publisher, like McGraw-Hill, which would you choose?”

He goes on to say: “The evidence is more than anecdotal. For example, just three years ago, DMG Consulting, run by contact center management guru Donna Fluss, developed a statistic that belies what people believe. Seventy-seven percent of all Gen Yers—the generation that lives on and for the social Web—prefer a phone contact when trying to resolve a problem.

Moreover, traditional channels still represent the bulk of consumer interactions with customer service. Communications software provider Nuance released a study in April that said, “When asked about their preferred methods for receiving customer service support, there was a fairly even split among: speaking with a live agent via mobile phone and/or landline phone, speaking over chat or IM, using a Web site, and sending an email.”

Note that Twitter and Facebook weren’t in the mix. Given that this was a Twitter usage survey, the result is even more eyebrow raising.

Another April study, titled “From Social Media to Social CRM,” by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, revealed that 70 percent of all the participants in social channels do it strictly for personal reasons, and only 23 percent interact with a company’s brand.”

Last, but not least, he states that “Never underestimate the power of offline, traditional channels. They still represent a substantial way to influence buying decisions and solve problems.

What channels are you using?  How are they working to influence your customers and solve your challenges?  We’d like to hear about your current ROI results between traditional marketing and social media marketing.

 

Tackle B2B Marketing Challenges in 2012

Today’s B2B buyers have an abundance of product information at their fingertips and they tend to research their purchasing decisions well before they contact your sales department or reps.  So, with that fact in mind, you must be ahead of the game by optimizing your sales and marketing effectiveness. Items like identifying your channels and filling your pipelines, scoring leads before sending to sales, establishing a process for nurturing leads, and so on.   

For advice on how to convert B2B marketing concerns and challenges into revenue, you should consider MarketingSherpa’s 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report. They surveyed 1,745 marketers on their most effective B2B marketing tactics and saw up to a 50% decline in their overall marketing effectiveness from the previous year.

This report indicates that despite current challenges, B2B marketers are still not optimizing their sales and marketing channels:

• 68 % haven’t identified or optimized their sales and marketing funnels
• 61 % still simply send leads, even non-qualified ones, directly to sales
• 79 % haven’t established a lead scoring process
• 65 % don’t nurture and grow their leads

The last few years have not been easy for most sales and marketing professionals, and I doubt that 2012 will be any easier. What might make things better is to be more effective in your sales and marketing strategies and processes. 

In that vein, I invite you to visit our Sales & Marketing Effectiveness Blog at http://infogrow.typepad.com/  for ideas and advice on how to accelerate your B2B growth and grow profits in 2012.

Happy Holidays From InfoGrow!

It's that time of the year again. Time for family, time for giving, time for delicious cookies and milk, and best of all....time for ridiculous sweaters!  A few weeks ago I proposed to my staff that we should have a friendly competition. It was simple, wear the most ridiculous holiday sweater you have in our company photo. We’re a competitive bunch, I underestimated just how serious this competition would get. Now we have a big problem, everyone thinks they have the “best” sweater on. We need an outside opinion on the matter. Please help us out by voting for who you think has the “best” ridiculous sweater/outfit on. We have to settle this once and for all so we can get back to work!

 

Contestant #1
Anthony

Contestant #2
Larry

 

Contestant #3
Ken

 

 

Contestant #4
Ruth

 

 

Contestant #5
Steve

 

 

Contestant #6
Heather

 

Contestant #7
Tonya

 

 

Contestant #8
Bob

 

 

We want to wish you and yours Happy Holidays...

 

From all of us at InfoGrow!

What’s the Price of Having No CRM?

Although we blogged about this subject four years ago, I haven’t seen much change in companies deciding if they need CRM. Four long years and, amazingly, still too many companies are just beginning to investigate the reasons they might need CRM, plus haven’t the slightest idea of what it is costing them to keep sitting on the CRM sidelines.   

So, to help those who are still questioning the need for CRM, we decided to run this post again.  Titled, A Simple Measurement for Determining if You Need CRM.

It begins with…”Our phone starts ringing the Monday after Thanksgiving.  The message – can you help us pull together our data for getting out the holiday cards?  Over the years I have come to believe that this question is the single best indicator of how much an organization needs CRM.

As companies pass around Excel files trying to organize the holiday card mailing or VIP list for the gift basket, one gets a pretty good idea of how information about customers is managed – it is not!” 

Read the full article, then think about the cost of having no CRM system.  If you decide to get on the CRM playing field, then check out our site www.InfoGrowcorp.com for more help. 

CRM is Different Than an Accounting System

Successful CRM Requires an Organization to Know Their Own Best Practices

I often see organizations install a CRM system and expect it to have the same self-maintenance attributes as their other installed software, such as an accounting system. While an accounting system comes designed with industry and governmental established principles, a CRM does not come this way.

For example, an accounting system requires a balance sheet. Each entry builds up to the balance sheet, requiring a debt side and credit side for it to be posted.  A CRM system doesn’t come with these types of pre-configured relationships established.  Users who approach CRM as just another technology project often fail.

 A CRM system is essentially a blank slate, requiring the user to know their own processes rather than follow pre-configured standards.  Users must first be able to define their terminology.

I recently visited an organization where every potential customer (20,000+) was called a lead. Everyone in the organization, sales groups and marketing, was using different terms for the segmentation, handling and qualifying of leads throughout their own process. The lack of common terms, without defined and organization wide accepted meaning, made it impossible for marketing to be supportive of sales, or sales to share any meaningful progress toward closing a sale. The concept of segmenting leads into suspects, prospects, or qualified was unheard of.   As a result, the organization was treating every lead the same, spending considerable resources both in shotgun marketing campaigns and sales efforts, with little to show. 

A CRM system will not fix these types of issues as it comes out of the box.  A user must know their marketing, sales and services processes and then configure CRM to match.  If a user can’t flowchart these processes on paper then you can only expect CRM to tell you a lot quicker that you have no processes or best practices.

 

Email Content – Functions of Email Content

When you plan the content of your email, are you just thinking about the words, or are you thinking about the functions. Do you know what you want the reader to get out of the email? Do you know what you want to get out of the email? You only have 7 seconds to make an impression; 7 seconds to draw the reader into your email.   

Here are 3 functions to consider when you are developing your next newsletter. Which of the following functions are you using to capture the reader?

1) Above the Fold
What will your reader see when they view the email in a preview pane or first open the email? The top 250 pixels of an email tell the reader whether it is worth accepting the image downloads. Basically, this means that all someone can see is the outline for your logo, the title lines or headers, and maybe a few lines of text. Make sure that there is key information in the first few lines.

2) Consider the “F” reading pattern
When people skim through an email, they follow an “F” reading pattern. This means that they read the first line of each paragraph and scan down the left side looking for interesting information.To get the maximum impact from your text, keep your paragraphs brief – 3-4 lines, lead with key information, and leave white space between paragraphs.

3) Use of Hyperlinks
    Hyperlinks serve 4 purposes in an email

• • Keeps your newsletter brief and to the point.
  • Sends your readers to your fabulous website.
  • Helps you figure out what interests your readers.
  • Helps you figure out who is interested.

First, providing a link to “more detail” allows you include only the most pertinent information in your email. Once you’ve captured their interest, the link sends the reader to the correct landing page of your website for more information. An important caveat: Make sure that the page they land on has the promised additional information. 

Second, the readers use of hyperlinks is recorded in your email Click reports. When no one clicks on a link, you know that the information fell flat.  On the other hand, if a very large group clicks on a given link, you will know to spend more time on that topic. Further, a well planned set of links may help you segment your list based on the links they use.

So considering the above information, you should be able to give me 3 reasons why a business would ask you to download a coupon rather than just print the email. If you’re not sure of the answer, write to me at: diane.merrall@gmail.com. Please visit my website at: http://www.softdocsemailmarketing.com/

E-Mail Marketing is Still a Powerful B-to-B Tool

What is the state of B2B e-mail marketing currently?  According to BtoB Research Reports, B-to-B State of E-Mail Marketing: Best Practices , E-Mail Marketing is a crucial tool that no B2B marketer should ignore. Read some excerpts below and check out how to gain the full report. 

On relevant content

Relevance has always been an important facet of e-mail marketing, and it continues to be a top priority for e-mail marketers, as our study bears out. More than half (56%) of respondents, who were asked which broad challenges and opportunities face the b-to-b world over the next 12 months, said delivering highly relevant content was on their to-do list in 2011. Of course, it's easy to say that you want to deliver relevant content. What's much harder is actually doing so. Companies can make sure their content is relevant by tracking their e-mail programs, which is one reason that measuring ROI on programs took the second spot on this question, with 44% of respondents citing that answer. Deliverability, which was cited by 34% of respondents came in third.

On tactical goals

One surprise, according to experts, is the focus on customer acquisition rather than customer retention or even brand awareness. Typically, b-to-b companies have smaller, more relevant lists that are used for nurturing. However, close to half (43%) of survey respondents said the most important purpose of their e-mail marketing program was customer acquisition – not customer retention, which garnered a mere 28% of responses. One analyst said this breakdown may be directly associated with the recession. “It may be because, after the recession, there was a large amount of customer churn,” said David Daniels, co-founder of industry research firm The Relevancy Group. “Companies are trying to backfill their lists and make up for all the people they lost.”

On budgets

There's good news for a significant majority of e-mail marketers, with 51% of respondents saying their budgets will remain the same for 2011, and 45% saying that budgets will increase this year. Only 4% said their budgets will go down. But this may not tell the whole story, according to one marketer. Bri Shaw, eBusiness Project manager at food re-distributor Dot Foods Inc. said her e-mail budget remained the same for 2011. However, the company actually added a new position – a customer marketing manager – who will work closely with her on the e-mail marketing program. “They are going to be very involved with e-mail, helping to figure out exactly how we can best target our customers,” she explained.

Also, the report showed that the price of sending mail is dropping, and marketers are getting smart. A program that cost $4 million two years ago is now only $2 million … These are not things (email integrated with social media) that cost a lot of money. It's a matter of planning and executing – man hours versus spending any additional cash."

In addition, for those of you using Microsoft Dynamics CRM, I invite you to review Combine CRM and Email Marketing to Grow Your Business.  Taken separately, CRM and Email Marketing are each vital marketing tools.  But, when tied together, they create a powerful sales and marketing tool that provides an integrated, cost-effective approach for maintaining customer loyalty and generating new sales leads. 

CRM Leaders - Microsoft Makes the Top!

What else would anybody expect? 

Microsoft CRM has always been in the lead. And, they will remain in the lead. Review what the editors of CRM Magazine, a CRM industry expert, has to say about the benefits of Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

• State of Illinois - projects cost savings of $40 million per year in terms of hard-dollar savings and operational efficiencies by using Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Read full article here. 


• TMF Group - TMF is one of the largest independent providers of management and accounting services in the world, employing 3,500 in more than 70 countries. When a global company grows as quickly as TMF Group has, it not only must stay on top of sales data but also employ one database across the entire corporation. So, they selected the best. The Microsoft Dynamics platform and state that Microsoft Dynamics CRM will undoubtedly be the application for sales in their new global organization. Read full article here.

These are just two great examples of the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM!

The Leaders
Microsoft gained ground on Salesforce.com this year in functionality (collecting a 4.3 score) with its release of Dynamics CRM 2011. Analysts also liked the business software giant’s aggressive pricing strategy, which Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of Nucleus Research, characterized as more of a “penetration strategy.” But Microsoft isn’t out of the woods yet. A recent investment in an online application marketplace “still needs refinement, but it shows Microsoft’s recognition that a partner ecosystem and readily accessible add-ons to CRM are particularly important in the SaaS space,” Wettemann adds.

Successful CRM Requires Commitment by All Management Levels

CRM is not just another piece of software to be loaded onto your computer network or floating in the cloud.  It should be the backbone of your customer knowledge, customer service and sales.  If senior management, especially sales, isn’t committed to your CRM, then failure of the system is a given. 

In particular, sales management must concentrate on the implementation of their CRM, regardless of what system is being used. 

There is a great article, titled 7 Signs of an Epic CRM Fail (and How To Fix It) authored by Ken Thoreson, managing director of the Acumen Management Group Ltd. that provides some very valuable information on how to make your CRM effective. 

In it, he asks if you can identify with the following challenges:

1. Pipeline values and forecasting are neither accurate nor updated in real time.
2. Sales opportunities aren't properly updated to reflect the appropriate sales stage.
3. Outdated sales opportunities linger in the system.
4. Each salesperson uses the system differently.
5. Sales activity codes are redundant or not being used.
6. Marketing leads and their sources aren't tracked.
7. The database is not current or only partial information is recorded, ensuring that marketing can't use the system effectively for campaigns.

I will assume that most of us have faced the above problems.  Certainly, after more than two decades of working with my clients, all seven of the above are common issues. 

Take a few moments to read Ken’s full article to learn more about executing a successful CRM system.  Then, for more information take a look at one of InfoGrow’s older blog posts, CRM Should Be All About Success -- Not Failure.  

 

Lead Nurturing Effectiveness

We all know that some leads are not just ready to buy.  We wish they were, but since some aren’t, we can’t just let them go. Just like plants in our flower or vegetable gardens, we often have to nurture them.  In a few weeks, a month, or longer, they might turn into wonderful flowers or vegetables that we can enjoy for months. 

An article titled The Big Question -   What is the most important thing you can do to make your lead nurturing effective?, is something you need to read. Published in BtoB Magazine’s Lead Generation Guide 2011, this provides some insightful opinions by a number of marketing executives from some of our top organizations. So, read on for a few of these opinions, then read the article in full at http://www.btobonline.com/assets/pdf/CT74104524.PDF

“Because lead nurturing, by definition, is a lead in need of continued attention, I think the most important thing to ensure the success of growing leads is a good CRM solution overlaid with an intelligent marketing content distribution strategy. A prospect may say ‘follow up with me in six months,’ but passing along relevant content, orchestrated in a manner that builds awareness and confidence in your product or solution, will move your prospect further down the sales funnel with minimal intrusion, resulting in increased close rates.”

—Deborah Murphy,
VP-global marketing,
Zebra Technologies  

“Lead nurturing is all about delivering targeted information to prospects based on who they are, what they care about and where they are in their evaluation process. The most important thing you can do to make your lead nurturing program successful is to segment your database and keep it clean. It may not sound as cool on the resume, but a tightly tuned database with processes for updating and maintaining key fields (e.g., industry, company size, department, level in organization, competitive products, etc.) will ensure that your nurturing campaigns are seen as truly valuable and not just another email to delete.”

—Michael Evans,
VP-marketing,
Approva Corp.

“Do not paint every lead with the same brush. It is not about putting leads into a nurturing ‘bucket’ for follow up. It is about creating nurturing ‘buckets’ for specific nurturing strategies. This starts with a joint understanding between sales and marketing on what are the definitions throughout the lead funnel, associated lead scoring and the service level agreements at each hand-off point. Defining the types of nurturing streams is critical to ensure they are aligning to a specific business outcome. Content is a key cornerstone in developing successful nurturing streams. Keeping prospects engaged requires specific and relevant content as you mature the relationship with that individual. Listen to the digital body language of the individual, and tailor the journey for that prospect or customer.”

—Eduardo Conrado,
senior VP-CMO,
Motorola Solutions

And, when you finish reading, tell us what you are doing to nurture your leads.  Maybe you have some other great ideas!

Esri GIS Solutions Help Microsoft Customers Work Out Tough Business Problems

Microsoft has selected Esri to participate in the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) Alliance Partner program. Esri’s flagship ArcGIS software will be demonstrated in MTC Envisioning Centers worldwide as part of the Strategy Briefing offering. These leading-edge geographic information system (GIS) tools will also be available to Microsoft prospects and customers to use during Proof of Concepts workshops. 

“For more than 20 years, we have worked closely with Microsoft to develop solutions that are used around the world and across all industries,” explained Jack Dangermond, president of Esri. “Mapping and geographic analysis are recognized for the powerful analytic advantages they provide and for their ability to clearly communicate complex relationships and patterns. Esri is very pleased to contribute to the excellent work that is done in MTCs around the world.”

The market leader in GIS, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis.

Following Up On Phone Sales? Learn What You Need to Know!

Did you call enough? Too much? What’s the magic number?  How important is timing? 

If you have those questions, then don’t’ miss reading the following article written by a man who can help you find the answers and learn more about successful follow up calling.

The article is by Jim Domanski of Teleconcepts Consulting. Please visit Jim's web site at www.teleconceptsconsulting.com for additional articles and resources for tele-sales professionals.

But, for now, read this valuable article and learn!

 

What Every Telephone Sales Rep Needs to Know About Making a Follow Up Call      

 

How many times should you make a follow up call?

Answer: how long is a piece of string?

A piece of string is as long as you cut it. Follow up calls are as long and as many as you make them.  To be effective and successful in following up leads, you need to know when to cut the string. You need to know when to cut it short or when to cut it long.

Too Short

Bottom line? Most sales reps cut their string far too short.

Far, far too short.

They give up far too easily.

Studies indicate that anywhere from 68% to 87% of sales reps give up after their first attempt. Let's round it off a bit and split the difference and say 80% of sales reps quit after one follow up attempt. 

One!

One single, solitary attempt.

Too Long

Opposite extreme: can there be such a thing as too many follow up calls?  Can there be strings that are cut too long?

Ya, you betcha there can.

There are those out there who talk about persistence and how it is the key to getting the sale. They advocate follow up until the prospect says no.

How absurd! 

First of all, it can annoy...gravely annoy your prospect. Far from admiring your pigheaded persistence, you will anger them. You will NOT endear yourself to them.  

Second, and maybe this is more important, making a series of follow up calls is a waste of time. If I were a sales manager, it would scare the wits out of me if I found a sales rep making ten or twelve follow up calls to each of his prospects.   I would seriously question their common sense.

Granted persistence to the degree I am talking about can pay off. But the number of times you convert the lead is simply not worth the "opportunity cost." The opportunity cost refers to all the opportunities you forfeited while attempting to call a client who is clearly not interested.

The Magic Number for Follow Up Calls - The Rule of 4

So now we've put bookends on the issue and bracketed the string.  So what's the magic number?

I call it: The Rule of Four.

4
Quatre.
IV.
Quatro.

You make four follow up calls.

Why?

• Because as many as 90% of  sales reps give up after one call.
• Because about 95-97% of sales reps give up after the second call.
• Because four is a manageable number.
• Because four is persistent without being a pain
• Because precious few (the "vital few") make four calls
• Because it can pay off

That's why.

4 X 3 Timing

Your follow up 'string' is all a matter of timing. It is not just making four calls, it is knowing how far to space those calls apart.

Here's the formula.

You make four calls and space them 3 business days apart from each other.  So if you call Thursday and you haven't heard from the prospect, you make your next call on the following Tuesday and then again on the Friday. Use some sort of planning system - calendar, Outlook, Goldmine...whatever- to schedule the calls.

Why three days?

Because three days gives your prospect enough time to make a call back.  Three days also displays persistence without being overly annoying.  It's as simple as that.

Exception to the Rule of 4

Are there exceptions?

Of course there are!  If you have spoken with a prospect and it looks like a possible lead, you may want to persist in your follow up...make your string of contacts longer. But you can do so with other mediums to show persistence with some variance (see Volume 3 Issues 25 and 26).  This lessens the annoyance factor. But remember to spread your contacts out.  A daily call or two is the kiss of death.

Summary

There are far too many short strings out there.  Manage your string and watch your sales grow.

 

Jim Domanski is president of Teleconcepts Consulting and works with B to B companies and individuals who struggle to use the telephone more effectively to sell and market their products.

Jim has been featured in such publications as Selling Power, Advertising Age, Sales and Marketing Management, Profit Magazine and dozens of e-zines around the world. For over 17 years he has worked with companies big and small throughout the US, Canada and parts of Europe. Visit his web site www.teleconceptsconsulting.com for more information and to download your FREE Special Report "The 9 Voice Mail Blunders and What You Can Do About Them."

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