RevenuGuru

2011-07-20T17:30:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m3W4HVVB9FDCO9/ref=ent_fb_link?pf_rd_p=1288889962&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=2343832011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0BHM80QXYGV71TXV5P18

Faster money, not more money

2010-07-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

I recently heard a manager say, "I know you have the potential to be a million-dollar producer...Let's make it happen".

Truth is, almost everyone is a million dollar producer. There are people working the grill at McDonald's that are million dollar producers...and I don't just mean potential. They will, almost undoubtedly, produce a million dollars. It may take them 50 years and $20k a year, but they will indeed produce that million bucks.

So, if the next million is a given, then what are we really looking for? We want it FASTER! If you have two salesmen and one is producing $500k a year and the other is producing $1mm a year, you must view both of them as they truly are - million dollar producers. Your objective is now getting the $500k producer to sell his next million in half the time. There is a difference.

There are a number of ways to bring in those sales faster. Of them, efficiency should rank the highest. Efficiency will be the key to a faster sale..or as others like to call it, "more sales".

If you think you want twice the salesman's production next quarter, you don't. What you really want is the next six months of production in three months time. So, don't just ask for more. Instead, offer the tools, insight, support and strategy that will enable that person to sell more efficiently.

More effort is certainly needed, but not twice as much (with the given scenario). Tweaks can be made in several areas that add up. For example, monthly meetings affect sales. Period. If they account for 10% of some one's sales time, then cutting the meetings time in half should boost sales by 5%. Writing contracts eats up time for me...at least 5%. If contract writing becomes the responsibility of a non-sales position, you've just gained another 5%. And so on, and so on...

Don't waste your time trying to incentivize, praise or penalize people into selling more. Spend your time finding tools and strategies that make their job easier to accomplish & more efficient. Combine that with a more reasonable & achievable 10% increase in hours, effort and call time and you'll be much more on track to get faster money...uh...I mean..more money!

7 ways to make your emails 10 times more effective

2010-06-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

I find myself constantly reading blogs, articles, mags and more, trying to discover ways in which I can get more results from the emails that I send out. These emails have all different purposes: introduce, attempts to reconnect, re-enforce, follow up, check a status, request information and more. Much of what I have come across, repeats the same proof points over and over.

The goals of my emails are almost always the same - open, read, & take action. Here is a summary of the top seven things that have had the greatest impact on achieving those goals. Enjoy!

1. Personalize. There are two types of emails. Personalized pieces written specifically for one person from another and then there are the mass market emails & promotions sent out as a net in an attempt to grab a few fish. Which ones do YOU open? As salesmen and marketers, we know that we need to personalize the email or it will likely not get opened, not get read, and never influence any action. Yet we constantly ignore this simple fact whenever it suits us to do so. It's time to stop convincing ourselves that it's ok to send the broad stroke...it's not.

Let's start with the subject line. How about - "Jack, here is the information I promised...". A name in the subject line is sure to get more opens, although you have to watch for spam filters by doing that. What about getting a company in there too - "Jack, this would be ideal for IBM, take a look...". I typically preface emails with a call and then reference, "As per call, ..." or "As per message,..." The subject line should be the equivalent of a text message that you would send them. You can personalize a number of different ways, but just make sure they will read it as a personal message from you to them....not from a bot or marketing dept.

In the body, you can continue the personalization. Things that you can incorporate to make a more compelling message are objectives, challenges, target market, names of executives, press releases or news, clients, and partners.

"Hi Jack.

I understand that IBM is now targeting consumer electronics. Brian, your VP of Sales, said that he's having a hard time making quality connections with VP's of Marketing in that vertical.

I have a private event that would give Brian and his team non-stop quality face-time with VP's of Marketing from that vertical over a three day span in October...which times nicely with your Q4 product update release.

Let's talk today to discuss. Are you free at 4:00pm?"

Christa Carone, CMO of Xerox Corp., had a great line at DMA, " It really comes down to relevancy: Are you talking to me? That’s the main filter that all marketers should be applying to their messages.” Love that...I now have the above picture on my wall as a constant reminder.

2. Keep it Short. (KISS Part 1). I shouldn't be blowing your mind with this. By now, you've heard KISS a million times in your career. The definition I use is "Keep It Short & Simple", not "Keep it Simple Stupid!." So, you know it should be short, but when are you going to listen? This is another top rule that is consistently ignored. We know that it's proven. We've seen the stats. We know what we respond to ourselves, yet that doesn't stop marketing and sales from sending long, dragged out emails again and again. As solution providers, it's difficult not to explain all the ways that we are better, that be beat out competition, the value and more. We need to learn how to put the blinders on, keep it short, and focus on the next action that you want the prospect or customer to take.

I used to send "information packages" to interested companies that included marketing programs, pricing, customers, case studies, examples, upcoming events, and more. Now, I've learned how to take that single email and split it into six separate emails that are each focused on showcasing one thing and asking for one action. I've turned a single email into a four-week campaign. The more information sent in one email, the less likely they are to read and/or reply. To date, my most effective email is:

"Hi Jack,

I've tried to reach out to you a few times, but I haven't hear back. Do you have time to chat on Monday at 11:00am?

Your response either way would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Danny."

The above message is going to work well on a desktop, laptop, tablet AND on handhelds

3. Keep it Simple. (KISS Part 2). So, there IS a difference between Short & Simple. For simplicity, we need to forget all the gobbledygook! According to David Meerman Scott (Thought Leadership and Viral Marketing Expert), you should avoid all the jargon-laden phrases that are over-used in your industry. He refers to terms like, flexible, robust, scalable, market leading, turnkey and cutting edge as gobbledygook. Terms that although may make your company sound vaguely impressive, they are in no way effective in making an impression, nor offering a clear message. This complicated positioning started long ago as a way to differentiate companies from another, but now it makes them all sound the same. Want to be different? Be the only one that says it all in PLAIN ENGLISH. Want to know what my company does? We help you develop relationships with decision makers and close more business. Want the corporate version of that? Trust me...you don't...this post is long enough ;)

4. Don't be an amateur! An email must always be professional...even when it's personalized, simple, and to someone you know. A quick question to a client can be just that...but don't let simplicity excuse laziness. If a word needs to be capitalized, make it so. Don't forget apostrophes and going beyond spell check to ensure that the spelling used is for the right meaning. There are certain basic rules of communication that need to be followed all the time. Make sure that there is still some type of professional format being followed. Never put everything into the same line like the following:

"Jack. Great talking with you yesterday. Looking forward to tomorrow. Thanks. Danny"

That just shows that you're an amateur...and therefore everything you represent is now amateur.

5. Add value EVERY time. What value have you given the recipient? The privilege of an email from you? Not good enough. The gift of knowing your value proposition? I don't think so. The value of receiving your product information? Try again! If you don't have something valuable to send, don't send anything at all. The single worst offense of this rule is the contract follow up. "Hey Jack - I haven't received the signed agreement as of yet. Do you plan on sending that over today?" - Are you kidding me? If all that you are doing is asking and never giving then that's how you will be perceived in every communication. "Geez...there's Dave again...he always wants SOMETHING from me." Sometimes and maybe often, it's totally subconscious. The second that they see an email from you in their inbox, they feel an emotional response, conditioned by all of your previous communications...so what's that conscience or unconscious response going to be? Will they experience a fear of opening, because every time they get an email from you, it gives them another job to do? Call this number, send this, click here... People are busy and if you make their lives busier, they will avoid you like the plague. If, however, every piece of email from you includes value, then an email from you will spark excitement, a smile, relief. What they feel when they see your email is up to you.

Here are some things you can send to add value to your email:
- Links to an article, blog, white paper, association or publication
- Resource guides
- A lead. (Even if it's just a company that you came across that seems like a good fit)
- Breaking news. (Show how you have your finger on the pulse of the industry)
The ways to add value are endless. You'll have to be creative, but the reward is worth it all.

6. Track it! Tracking emails and actions won't increase the effectiveness of your first email, but it will help the ones that follow. Tracking is the reality check that we all need. It would be easy for all of us to imagine the effect that our emails have, the impression that they make, the success that they have...but track them and you'll have a few bubbles to burst before getting on the right road. Seeing the failure of your emails is the only thing that will make you change it for the better. Even the best of us will convince ourselves that a piece is perfect...until tracking shows otherwise.

Here are just a few things you can use to track:
- Email delivery platforms. Companies like ExactTarget, Constant Contact and Lyris provide a number a valuable add-ons to your email...including tracking.
- Presentation tools. I use KinetiCast.com. I can create an entire presentation with slides, videos, links, files and more. EVERYTHING gets tracked. I can see how much time they spent on each slide, each video, which links they clicked on, if they forwarded it, etc.
- Link shorteners. Services like the one provided by www.bit.ly (which I use) are free and are super easy to track links. I can't see who clicked what, but it can be useful in deciding whether or not a piece of info was useful or not to a group of people.
- Return receipt. Almost every email platform should allow you to set the settings on an email to alert you once the email is opened.

7. Don't ask for much. Ask a cold prospect to call you and they may be thinking - I don't even know you and you're sending me an email asking me to call you? Let me get this straight, I'm buried in work, facing multiple deadlines, and you want me to stop what I'm doing and call you, so that you can pitch me? Are you kidding me? You have NERVE! Who do you think you are? You think you have it like that? You WISH the world worked like that. Do you really think that you can just email people you don't know, sit back and have them call you all day? I don't think so!

This was a unique perspective once given to me by a business partner...I had never thought of it like that before. He was actually referring to a voice mail that someone kept leaving asking for a call back. I feel the same can apply to email though. Since then, I NEVER ask someone to call me when leaving a voice mail. I state another date and time that I will call them and leave my number as a courtesy in case they decide to call me instead. I am now much more mindful of my emails too. I will typically not include more than one link, sometimes two. I won't ask them to provide a day/time, but rather suggest one and ask if they have that time free. All I ask for is a click, or a one sentence reply...never more. Make sure that whatever you are asking of them, it's quick and easy.

+++

That's it! Although there are a lot of ways to continue to increase the effectiveness, this is a perfect place to start. These are crucial elements to provoking curiosity and influencing action. Don't convince yourself otherwise!

Here's the re-cap:
1. Personalize
2. Keep it short
3. Keep it simple
4. Don't be an amateur
5. Add value EVERY time.
6. Track it!
7. Don't ask for much.

Good luck!

Danny McLellan
Sr. Marketing Strategy Consultant
Integrated Marketing Solutions
Frost & Sullivan
dmclellan@frost.com
www.frost.com
516.255.5473

Incentive to build one...

2010-06-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sony actually has a nice 12 step guide to building a Sales Incentive Program....and it's not tied to just their products. You can apply it with anything. Very practical guide....more strategic than tactical, but the right place to start if you've never done it before.

http://bit.ly/aHITN3

The 10/20/30 Rule for PowerPoint

2010-05-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

Guy Kawasaki, for those of you that have never heard of him, is a well-known entrepreneur, author, venture capitalist and blogger. Further back in his career, he was actually one of the few people at Apple responsible for marketing the first Macintosh computer.

Fast forward 20 years and in 2005, Guy Kawasaki created the 10/20/30 rule for PowerPoint. Simple, effective and still talked about and used to this day. Even in his books, Guy is all about getting to the point, and this rule is no different. So, before you bury yourself in complex slides for your next presentation, check out this half-page article and give yourself the gift of time:

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html#axzz0oHdEMxoq

"In regards to twitter in your email signature...."

2009-12-21T08:37:00.000-08:00

"Please remove it."

This was the email that I received from my boss the day after adding twitter to my email signature. Although I gotta say, I kinda expected it...I never did ask.

I understand that he felt the twitter account itself was not exclusive to my work and he's right...it's not. It's a little too early for an actual analysis. This is a fresh account, but there's a fair mix of marketing resources, personal messages, start-up ventures, social media links and more.....which is....exactly what should be on there.

Twitter is a great business builder, but not necessarily a revenue builder. To me, it's not about sales or marketing. It's about relationships. Relationships in which one adds value as a resource, as a friend, as an inspiration, or a well needed laugh (/campbellsoupcan). Here are just a few of the many benefits that adding a twitter acct to your business email signature can bring to either party:

1 - Adds legitimacy to a position/title. What kind of marketing consultant would I be if I didn't know a thing or two about social media? Having and maintaining a twitter acct may show that you are somewhat knowledgeable about social media, but the content that you deliver in terms of resources is what really helps your followers and your credibility.

2 - Offer your best practices. For those that aren't quite up to speed on Twitter, showcasing your badge offers may open up a dialogue quite quickly. Advice can tricky, but offering your insight and personal experience can be invaluable.

3 - As your following builds, the account itself becomes valuable. By simply tweeting about a clients service offering, you can add value to your relationship with your followers as well as your client. Pay close attention to who and what you recommend, so that people know that you are out for their best interests. Executives also know that the relationship can add strength to their brand via your endorsement. As we enter 2010, most marketers will be tasked with establishing relationships with those active in the social media space...people that can extend their brand through advocacy.

4 - New Doors! One essential component of a social marketing strategy is a "Listening Strategy". Listening is simply the act of monitoring, tracking, compiling, and sometimes analyzing social mentions and activity. By making mentions of a brand, it can help gain entry to, further develop a relationship with, or increase awareness with a prospect or client as your tweets pop up on their radar.

5 - Strengthens relationships. By following each other's tweets, we each stay aware of each other and top of mind. A person may feel more compelled to take or return your call given the visibility you have with each other through twitter.

Fortunately, my boss agreed with this rationale. Social media is not about brands or corporate accounts....it's about individuals and people....personal connections...and that's what my signature is - another way to connect with me.

I hope you do too!

Twitter.com/dannymack

~ Danny Mack

Who knew good advice could also rhyme ....Kelly Abner from Marketo crafted this puppy. Sage advice for 2010.

2009-12-17T17:57:00.000-08:00

Two weeks before 2010

'Twas two weeks before 2010 and all through the day,
the marketers were working through the year-end disarray.

Analyzing the '09 plans and the resulting sales,
what worked, what didn't, what should've, what failed.

The sales team was nestled all snug in their slumber,
assured that their quotas they'll soon meet in number.

So here at Marketo we did a quick list,
of our views and misses and targets and hits.

We've gathered together the 5 Golden Rules,
of trends and tactics, of strategies and tools.

Where your tactics this year become strategies next,
so your company will grow and your career will be blessed.

1 - For social media, in 2009, you learned how to tweet,
in 2010 integrated social marketing makes you hard to beat.

2 - Drip campaigns in 2009 were all the rage,
but in 2010 lead lifecycle management will make you a sage.

3 - Aligning marketing and sales was your best bet,
but collaboration between departments is your next step.

4 - While demographic scoring is a good place to start,
behavioral and social scoring you should take to heart.

5 - On LinkedIn, on Facebook, on blogs, on Twitter,
Your prospects finding you is all the sweeter.

So visit our blog to read and learn and such,
and get a chance to win a new iPod touch.

Just a click to enter, no wink and no nod.
Click here for a chance to win a new iPod.

And finally, here's wishing you peace, joy and sales,
and everything else that success entails.

Holiday wishes from your friends at Marketo