Selling in the 21st Century
Sales & Marketing Integration
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RainMakers on Sales & Marketing Integration / 21st Century Sales
10 Questions to ask about Sales & Marketing Integration
1.) Is your message relevant to your target customer?
2.) Is marketing's target customer the same as sales' target customer?
3.) What percentage of your customers are true evangelists?
4.) Is marketing or sales more responsible for identifying up-sells, cross-sells and round-outs?
5.) What are your integrated metrics for your sales and marketing integrated process?
6.) What impact does the skill level of your salespeople have on your marketing department?
7.) How many issues does marketing identify before the lead is labelled 'sales ready'?
8.) Do your salespeople reference the marketing process when they approach, qualify and close?
9.) What would the impact be on sales if you had 10% more leads, and they were 10% better, and your sales were 10% larger and you closed 10% more of them? (Hint: It's not 10% and it's not 40%.
10.) Is your marketing agency bigger or smaller than your company and why is that important?
Networking Shorts
This article was originally posted on 6/25/2009 on the Kurlan blog. I thought that we should resurrect it in honor of Dan's most recent comment! Enjoy!
In case you don't know Dan Tyre, I've heard him described as a machine. I've been told that he's the first one on the phone and the last one off the phone and his last call is as energetic as the first. This is a paraphrased email from him today. "I've offered my rolodex (look it up) to hundreds of folks to ask for intros and you are one of 10 who have taken me up on it. One of my customers has generated 100 leads from it."
10 out of hundreds....Come on people. You have to show up!
Pete Caputa has a great conversation happening over at Hubspot. I got involved. Subscribed to the comments. Read Barbara's comment. Checked out her blog. Commented there. She quoted me. Guess who's gonna get a call. Tim Patterson made a very thoughtful comment. I checked out his blog. Just in time for me to pass it out to all of the attendees at our seminar tomorrow. Bob Poole says, "I Dare You." and started following me on Twitter. OK, so I'll call him, too.
You can find people to talk to anywhere. Be open. Take a chance. They'd probably love to here from you. (They're probably trying to avoid making cold calls, too.)
Finally, is anybody else wondering how many referrals Jason gave?
Thanks, again, Pete!
BTW New addition on 1/4/12 - Is your online presence synced with your sales process?
Sales Goals, Revenue and Mindset
I talked to the owner of a marketing agency recently because they wanted to talk to me about growing their business. I was referred to them by an existing client in the same space. They've been "free-lancing" for years, but full time for two years. Their goal last year was to bill $40,000. They didn't do it. During the past year, I've had many clients bill $40K in a month and some billed $40K a week. $40,000 a year? Why would somebody set that as a goal?
Then I thought back over some of the agency owners that I've worked with over the past three years.
I remember one that had sales averaging $2,100 a month. He paid $1,000 to get started. His first month working with me he did $3,800.
I remember one that had sales averaging $3,475 a month. She paid $1,000 to get started. Her second month sales were $6,800.
But, the one that I remember best went like this. An evangelist of mine told him that he had a sales problem and that he should call me. He pushed back by saying that he'd sold lots of different stuff and he knew how to sell. The evangelist said, "Trust me. Talk to Rick. He taught me." We talked. We agreed that he wanted to get to $250K/year with monthly retainer revenue of $20,000. He paid me $7,000 to be evaluated and for a three month program. In December, the month before we started working together, he billed $3,500. In January, he billed $7,000. In February, he billed $14,000 and in March he billed $20,026. We met to wrap up our relationship and I asked, "We good?" He asked, "How much to get to a million?"
I have dozens of these stories, but I talk to hundreds of people. What's the difference between the dozens and the hundreds? It's not the money. If they have two things, they find the money. Skills, knowledge, talent? Nope! If they have two things, they get all those. Connections, product, service, experience? Don't matter. Two things matter.
Desire - Most people will say that success would be nice, but they can think of a guzillion reasons that they won't or shouldn't succeed. If we can't get through that, it doesn't happen.
Commitment - Some think that "Doing whatever it takes" means long hours, taking on clients that you don't like, or giving up their principles. Not so. It was summed up best by one of my favorite clients when he said, "I figure that there's enough space outside my comfort zone that's in your shadow and that's where I'll spend my time." You have to be willing to step (not live) outside your comfort zone.
If I've got you thinking, feel free to do one of three things.
Talk to one of our partners about our 12 week sales & marketing integration course that starts 1/11.
Sales Senses & Awareness
I just went to the supermarket for Elaine. (At this point, you need to know that I drive a Ford Fusion Hybrid.) So, I'm driving in the parking lot and I watch this lady get out of her minivan, and without ever looking around, walk to the back of her minivan, turn and face the minivan, point her remote at it and chirp the minivan to lock the doors. Then, she did an about face (still without looking up) and walked directly in front of my car. During her about face, she dropped her keys in her purse, snapped it shut and then looked up and was startled when she realized that she was standing directly in front of my car. She waved sheepishly, but I didn't hear her thank me for not running her over. (I was stopped because I had a feeling.)
As I drove home, I realized that this kind of stuff happens every day to salespeople that aren't using all of their senses. That lady may have been listening, but my car is silent in hybrid mode. If I wasn't paying attention, she was dead. Salespeople have 5 sense and they often either aren't using them or choose to ignore them. Either way, their sale is dead.
If you see a prospect shift their position in a chair, make a facial expression, or raise their eyebrows and you don't find out why, your sale may be dead.
If you hear a prospect change their tonality or change one of your words and you don't find out why, your sale may be dead.
If you put your hand on your prospect's shoulder or hand them a sample and they avoid it and you don't find out why, your sale may be dead.
If the decision maker won't talk with and continues to hide behind his gatekeepers and lackeys and you don't find out why, your sale may be dead.
If you don't like the way your words taste when you're telling the prospect what they want to hear (like OK, I can deliver in 2 weeks or sure, I can cut my price in half) and you don't find out why, your sale may be dead.
Understand that your sale may be dead anyway and if that's the case and it can't be saved, don't you want to move on sooner rather than later?
Inbound Marketing Conversions
Unless you live under a rock, you've heard of inbound marketing, internet marketing and social selling. Get rich by writing a blog post. Let your Twitter followers send you customers. Discover the magical keyword that customers are using this week. Get your friends on Facebook to get their friends' friends' friends to 'like' your company and don't forget to invite every Tom, Dick and Harry to connect on LinkedIn. Optimize. Personalize. Evangelize. Aggrandize. Then realize....
If you want 2012 to be your year,
send me an email and ask about our 12 week course on the "12 steps of Sales & Marketing Integration" that starts next week.
You're not rich yet! How come?
Last week I read, "You are your biggest competitor"
Yesterday, I asked, "DO FOLLOWERS IMPACT SALES?"
Today I read, "2012 in Review: Internet Marketing Has Not Saved Your Business"
What's going on? Should you or shouldn't you?
Of course you should! BUT, as my wife says, "Moderation in all things."
Before you quit your inbound marketing effort or before you start, ask yourself these questions.
Does the person that I'm buying from understand my business? Have they ever owned or run a business my size?
Can you do it yourself or do you need help and will a wrong decision put you out of business?
Do you understand that top of funnel, middle of funnel, bottom of funnel, and sales ready don't mean that your customer has their credit card in their hand and they're ready to buy? Do you understand that you will need to change the way you sell?
Can the person that I'm buying from help me market? Do they do it themselves?
Can the person that I'm buying from help me sell? Do they do it themselves?
Do Followers Impact Sales?
Asked differently, "Does the number of Twitter followers, blog subscribers, Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections have any impact on sales?"
Yes! Of course! I'm not stupid! Nor do I think that you are.
Then why don't I care about how many I have, nor teach my clients how to have 10,000 followers?
Let's use President Obama (or any past or present elected official) as an example.
How many millions of Americans voted for President Obama? Lots.
How many of them would love to have dinner, a drink or coffee with him? Lots.
How many of them would he like to have dinner, a drink or coffee with? Probably a lot less.
Why? He's just not that into you and truth be told, you may not be that into him. He wants your vote. He says what you need to hear (or not) and you vote for him (or not), but if you call him on the phone, will your conversation be personally meaningful to either of you?
I've met many entrepreneurs with huge followings that struggle trying to convert a follower to a paying customer. They try to 'sell' in a social networking medium and wind up alienating followers because 'following' is free and followers don't want to be asked for money, but if you try to disqualify your followers as customers, you may wind up disqualifying them as followers. Then you won't have followers or money.
I don't work with politicians. I'm not attracted to 'vanilla'. I like Ferrari drivers.
Want to drive a Ferrari?
Final RainMaker Sales Tip for 2011
Yesterday, I sent out my 'thank you and good bye' letters to my 4Q11 clients.
One of them replied with this,
"It's been a real blessing and honor to have been coached by someone of your caliber and experience. It's also been fun ans a privilege to get to know you. I feel like because of the timing here I was handed the keys to a Ferrari (your coaching) but never was able to take it out of the driveway. However, I can't wait to get everything you've taught me out to the open road very soon. It's all about compelling reasons. : )"
I was floored! I'd link back to him, but I don't know if he would want his identity known, but I don't think that I've ever felt as flattered as I did when I read his reply. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Interestingly, he is one of 4 partners. One of his partners took sick early in our engagement, but this partner stepped up and did what it took. I should tell you that when we agreed to work together, we agreed to work at quadrupling sales in 4 months. We tripled sales. All retainer work. All him!
So, the last RainMaker sales tip of 2011 is
"DO WHATEVER IT TAKES".
Work through the pain. Work through the tiredness. Do it right. Keep improving.
One more thing. Want a kick start to 2012?
Happy New Year!
ROI of Inbound Marketing
Is your inbound marketing effort not working? Let me ask the question differently. Add up every investment that you've made into your inbound marketing effort.
Hubspot subscription...........................$15,000
IMC training/education/consulting......... 2,500
100 hours of your time (@ $50/hr)....... 5,000
Total...................................................$22,500
There may be more. Maybe you've been at it for years and your investment is a multiple of that. Maybe you've invested 100's of hours of your time or you're worth $2-3-500/hr. Regardless, you can calculate your own total investment into inbound marketing. What is the ROI on your investment? If you invested @22,500 into your effort, have you sold $22,500 over what you would have if you did not make the investment? Forget selling. How about profit? There's direct costs. overhead, etc. associated with selling. Aren't you actually looking for a profit? How much extra profit has your investment generated? If you haven't generated more profit or at least more sales than you would have if you did not invest in inbound marketing,
"Why do you continue to make the investment?"
Seriously, why? How did you find customers before you started drinking the inbound marketing Kool-Aid?
Referrals? Have you compared the cost of a referral to your investment in inbound?
Trade shows? Maybe trade show traffic has been down and you haven't been getting the ROI that you used to get, but has your investment in inbound helped or just drained your cash and time?
Yellow pages, media advertising, traditional 4 P's, PPC, etc.? Ask the same question. Are you really better off with or without inbound marketing?
What is your real ROI?
Should you continue or start?
If you're good with numbers, use the formula and figure it out, but don't pretend. Be real.
If you're not good with numbers or don't trust yourself to be real or want a second set of eyes, contact your CPA, your Hubspot partner (not Hubspot itself) or
send me an email
. Make sure that whoever you call agrees to keep you real. No rose colored glasses!
If you want a different perspective, attend ROI of inbound marketing that's been integrated with your other processes.
Finally, get an ebook to address your specifc concern at SMARKETING EBOOKS.
Smarketing Ebooks
If you've been keeping up, you know that 2012 is the year of Smarketing. If you missed the informational webinars on 12/6 and 12/20, you've got two chances left. (That's the hook. More later)
Smarketing is a 12 step process. Twelve is a wonderful number and to celebrate the twelve steps of Smarketing, I'll be publishing 12 e-books in the first quarter of 2012. That's right. 12 books in the first 12 weeks of the 12th year of the century.
Would you like to help me celebrate? Pick a topic. Ask a question. It's gotta be about sales, selling, prospecting, qualifying, closing, integrating sales with marketing, business development or customer service. Here's the offer. If we pick your question to answer or topic to write on, we'll acknowledge you in the ebook as the person who inspired the book and we'll provide a link to your website, blog, LinkedIn profile, Twitter handle or Facebook page. There's no limit on the number of topics that you can submit, nor is there any limit on the number of times that we can give you credit. So, have at it. Use the comment section to make your submissions. They typically publish within a couple of hours.
You want a sample? My latest ebook, "3 Things You Can Do NOW to Get Sales in Two Weeks!" will be available by Christmas.
Send me an email and I'll reply with your free copy as soon as I get it.
Finally, remember that hook? If you missed the first two webinars on Smarketing, you can catch live performances on 12/27 or 12/28.
OK. Ask your question or suggest the topic in the comment section.
Barney Frank & Moving On
A couple of weeks ago, Barney Frank announced that he would not run for re-election. I'm not in his district. So, I've never had to decide whether or not to vote for him and I really don't know if his constituents are happy with him, but I really related to him when he made this comment.
“I will miss this job and will have tinges of regret. ... But one of the advantages of not
running for office is that I don’t have to pretend to be nice to people I don’t like.”
My cell phone rang today while I was on one of my morning coaching calls. It was a local photographer that I've seen around, treated politely, but never appreciated or referred. I sent him to voice mail. I ran an errand. While driving I listened to the message. "Hi Rick. ____ _____. Can you give me a call?" The only time that he's ever called me is when he wants an introduction, or information or free advice. So, it was natural for me to think, "He wants something." and I deleted the message.
For some reason, I used caller ID to call him back as I was driving home. He did some small talk, then said, "I'm calling to be the bad guy. Kurlan owns the license for your profile picture." I told him that I'd take it down and hung up. I was immediately upset that I'd returned his call. I changed my profile picture. Unfriended him on Facebook and disconnected on LinkedIn.
......and that, readers, is why Barney Frank is my new hero.