To start out I am NOT talking about The Reverse Funnel System (RFS) that is a Pyramid scheme or Multi-level marketing device originated by Ty Coughlin and his company, InnerCircle.
I am talking about a sales system like the funnel system I talked about Friday in which we turn the funnel upside down than tell or sell to one person who tells their friends who tell their friends etc until you funnel opening which is upside down is literally pouring out people.
You can call it The Reverse Funnel System, WOM or Word of Mouth, of the Evangelism System. Whatever you want to call it the basic idea is that your marketing message grows as it filters down your friend and follower system.
With a more traditional marketing attack loyalty is attributed to the buyer. That makes sense doesn’t it? The person who buys from you is the one who you want to reward. We went out and just kept finding more and more buyers buy going out and filtering out more and more prospects.
With this “system” if we can call it that we don’t focus so much on the buyer as much as the person who has the greatest ability to “influence” others. The average consumer and prospect might ignore your marketing message but with the value of the evangelist speaking out in favor of you and your service/product you have an advocate out here on review sites, message boards and social media sites singing your praises.
If you are an e-commerce marketer who wants to capitalize on the out spoken influential group of people consider these points of action:
1st Keep it simple. Create content that is easy to copy paste so it easily be but into blogs, Facebook and other social media pages.
2nd Leverage the emotional connection between the evangelist and your brand. What this actually means to you the online marketer is that when a buyer and your band connect they will have a genuine love of speaking out. This essential emotional quality is going to help with your retention, cross selling and additional acquisition of finding more customers.
3rd Content is king.! If you’re going to go on t and leverage yourself with interaction and connections between consumers who are proactive and searching for more service/product information and you have brand advocates and evangelists pushing your message out to the far reaches of the internet. Keeping fresh and updated content on your pages and blogs is essential. No one likes stale crackers.
4th Connect your social media efforts with some other kind of marketing channel. Email, direct mail, telemarketing. When two (or more) channels are combined you stand an even greater chance of making stronger more lasting connections with your potential prospects.
5th Reward and recognize your evangelists. A good customer should not be identified solely by their purchases and your company reward system. Find ways to publically thank them. You might see me doing this in my blog and Facebook fan page where I will bring out other social media sites that have giving one of my blogs recognition or a person who has spoken out on my behalf.
Larson Notes & Satire: Funnel or revere funnel it’s all about reaching out and touching prospects. The more prospects that are touched the better the odds of making a sale. And isn’t making a sale what we are in business to do? That and make a profit?
Can you Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge ?
Need help in pouring in new sales leads into your sales funnel. That is what we here at Larson’s do. Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
The Sales Funnel & Reverse Funnel
After yesterday you might start to think I am not in favor of quick fast growth. Quite the contrary that is way I made 2011 the year of doubling your sales. I just don’t want you going bankrupt from lack of cash in the process or if you do run out of money at least know why.
So let’s look at my friend the sales funnel. Some gurus of sales have said the funnel is dead, it leaks, and it’s just no good anymore. I disagree, you can put the funnel upright or you can put the funnel upside down (the reverse funnel) and still win sales, or if you have two funnels you can put them end to end and like wow, stand back baby, it’s time to watch the after burners in your sales efforts.
The idea of the funnel for those of you not familiar with it is to put lots and lots of prospects in the top and work those names though your sales process and sales cycle and as you go forward (as the funnel gets smaller) you get a better and higher quality prospect which eventually comes out the bottom of the funnel. To get customers out the bottom you need to be pouring in names in the top. There is a system to it.
The Sales Funnel selling process consists of the following steps:
1. Total Prospects
2. Total Company Currant Customers
3. Unqualified Prospects
4. Inital Communications
5. First Contact & Discussion
6. Proposal Development
7. Presentaton(s)
8. Prospects Evaluations
9. Negoations
10. Verbal Commitments
11. Written Agreement
12. Product Service Delivery
13. Payment Received
14. Follow-up action plan
An alternate but similar series of steps is as follows as a company might be entering into a new field or launching a new product or service.
1. New Opportunity
2. Initial Communication
3. Fact Finding
4. Develop Solution
5. Propose Solution
6. Solution Evaluation
7. Negotiation
8. Sales Order
9. Account Maintenance
By using the sales funnel, and by quantifying the number of prospects at each stage of the process, you can...
1. Manage the prospects
2. Manage your customers
3. Manage the sales pipeline more effectively
4. Control the sales pipeline
5. Improve the sales productivity
6. Improve the conversion rate
7. Increase the sales
Now for those who like to read here is the entire process all written down for you. If you don’t like to read just take the numbered points of action and work them out for yourself.
1. Total Prospects
2. Total Company Currant Customers
Prospecting refers to identifying and developing a list of potential clients. Sales people go and get the names of prospects from a variety of sources including trade shows, commercially-available databases or mail lists, company sales records and in-house databases, public records, referrals, directories, social media and any other source possible. Prospecting activities should be structured so that they identify only potential clients who fit the profile of the best possible client and are willing, able, and authorized to buy the product or service. Once prospecting is started, it then is up to the sales professional to qualify those prospects to further identify possible customers and screen out poor leads.
3. Unqualified Prospects
4. Inital Communications
Before engaging in the actual personal selling process, you must first analyze all the information you have available about a prospect to better understand as much about the prospect as possible. During the Pre-approach phase of the personal selling process, you try to understand the prospect's current needs, current use of competitor’s brands and feelings about all available brands and products on the market, as well as identify key decision makers, review account histories (if any), assess product needs, plan/create a sales presentation to address the identified and likely concerns of the prospect, and set call objectives. You also want to develop an overall strategy for the sales process during this phase, keeping in mind that the strategy may have to be readjusted as you learn more about the prospect.
5. First Contact & Discussion
6. Proposal Development
This is the time of actual contact you have with the prospect. This is the point of the selling process where the you meet the prospect, and make your initial introduction, establish some kind of rapport which will set the foundation of the relationship, asking open-ended questions to learn more about the prospects needs.
7. Presentaton(s)
During the presentation portion of the selling process, you get to tell a product "story" in a way that speaks directly to the identified needs and wants of the prospect. Making your presentation customized is the key component of this step. At this point in the process, prospects are often allowed to hold and/or inspect the product and the sales professional may also actually demonstrate the product. Audio visual presentations may be incorporated such as slide presentations or product videos and this is usually when sales brochures or booklets are presented to the prospect. You should strive to let the prospect do most of the talking during the presentation and address the needs of the prospect as fully as possible by showing that he or she truly understands and cares about the needs of the prospect.
Overcoming Objections
You then seek out your prospects' objections in order to try to address and overcome them. When prospects offer objections, it often signals that they need and want to hear more in order to make a fully-informed decision. If objections are not uncovered and identified, you cannot effectively manage them. Uncovering objections, asking clarifying questions, and overcoming objections is a critical part of training for professional sellers and is a skill area that must be continually developed because there will always be objections. Trust me when I tell you that as soon as you finds a way to successfully handle "all" your prospects' objections, someone will find a new, unanticipated objection-- if for no other reason than to test you.
8. Prospects Evaluations
9. Negoations
10. Verbal Commitments
Although technically "closing" a sale happens when products or services are delivered to the customer's satisfaction and payment is received, for the purposes of our discussion I will define closing as asking for the order and adequately addressing any final objections or obstacles. There are many closing techniques as well as many ways to ask trial closing questions. A trail question might take the form of, "Now that I've addressed your concerns, what other questions do you have that might stop you from starting up with us?" Closing does not always mean that you literally asks for the order, it could be asking the prospect how many they would like, what color they would prefer, when they would like to take delivery, etc. Too many sales professions are either weak or too aggressive when it comes to closing. If you are closing a sale, be sure to ask for the order. If the prospect gives an answer other than "yes", it may be a good opportunity to identify new objections and continue selling.
11. Written Agreement
12. Product Service Delivery
13. Payment Received
14. Follow-up action plan
Follow-up is an often overlooked but important part of the selling process. After an order is received, it is in the best interest of everyone involved for you to follow-up with the new customer to make sure the product was received in the proper condition, at the right time, installed properly, proper training delivered, and that the entire process was acceptable to the customer. This is a critical step in creating customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships. If they experienced any problems you can intervene and become a customer advocate to ensure 100% satisfaction. Good follow-up can also lead to uncovering new needs, additional purchases, and also referrals and testimonials which can be used as sales tools.
Larson Notes & Satire: Sitting back having a long sip off good hot black coffee. . . I’ll talk about the reverse funnel next week. This was quiet enough for one day. But hint, hint. . . the reverse funnel involves referrals and social media marketing.
So are you still game to double your business this year. Do you want to do it? Can you do it? Do you have the mental fortitude to do it? The blog above can give you a rough idea if you can do it.
Can you Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge ?
Need help in pouring in new sales leads into your sales funnel. That is what we here at Larson’s do.
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
So let’s look at my friend the sales funnel. Some gurus of sales have said the funnel is dead, it leaks, and it’s just no good anymore. I disagree, you can put the funnel upright or you can put the funnel upside down (the reverse funnel) and still win sales, or if you have two funnels you can put them end to end and like wow, stand back baby, it’s time to watch the after burners in your sales efforts.
The idea of the funnel for those of you not familiar with it is to put lots and lots of prospects in the top and work those names though your sales process and sales cycle and as you go forward (as the funnel gets smaller) you get a better and higher quality prospect which eventually comes out the bottom of the funnel. To get customers out the bottom you need to be pouring in names in the top. There is a system to it.
The Sales Funnel selling process consists of the following steps:
1. Total Prospects
2. Total Company Currant Customers
3. Unqualified Prospects
4. Inital Communications
5. First Contact & Discussion
6. Proposal Development
7. Presentaton(s)
8. Prospects Evaluations
9. Negoations
10. Verbal Commitments
11. Written Agreement
12. Product Service Delivery
13. Payment Received
14. Follow-up action plan
An alternate but similar series of steps is as follows as a company might be entering into a new field or launching a new product or service.
1. New Opportunity
2. Initial Communication
3. Fact Finding
4. Develop Solution
5. Propose Solution
6. Solution Evaluation
7. Negotiation
8. Sales Order
9. Account Maintenance
1. Manage the prospects
2. Manage your customers
3. Manage the sales pipeline more effectively
4. Control the sales pipeline
5. Improve the sales productivity
6. Improve the conversion rate
7. Increase the sales
Now for those who like to read here is the entire process all written down for you. If you don’t like to read just take the numbered points of action and work them out for yourself.
1. Total Prospects
2. Total Company Currant Customers
Prospecting refers to identifying and developing a list of potential clients. Sales people go and get the names of prospects from a variety of sources including trade shows, commercially-available databases or mail lists, company sales records and in-house databases, public records, referrals, directories, social media and any other source possible. Prospecting activities should be structured so that they identify only potential clients who fit the profile of the best possible client and are willing, able, and authorized to buy the product or service. Once prospecting is started, it then is up to the sales professional to qualify those prospects to further identify possible customers and screen out poor leads.
3. Unqualified Prospects
4. Inital Communications
Before engaging in the actual personal selling process, you must first analyze all the information you have available about a prospect to better understand as much about the prospect as possible. During the Pre-approach phase of the personal selling process, you try to understand the prospect's current needs, current use of competitor’s brands and feelings about all available brands and products on the market, as well as identify key decision makers, review account histories (if any), assess product needs, plan/create a sales presentation to address the identified and likely concerns of the prospect, and set call objectives. You also want to develop an overall strategy for the sales process during this phase, keeping in mind that the strategy may have to be readjusted as you learn more about the prospect.
5. First Contact & Discussion
6. Proposal Development
This is the time of actual contact you have with the prospect. This is the point of the selling process where the you meet the prospect, and make your initial introduction, establish some kind of rapport which will set the foundation of the relationship, asking open-ended questions to learn more about the prospects needs.
7. Presentaton(s)
During the presentation portion of the selling process, you get to tell a product "story" in a way that speaks directly to the identified needs and wants of the prospect. Making your presentation customized is the key component of this step. At this point in the process, prospects are often allowed to hold and/or inspect the product and the sales professional may also actually demonstrate the product. Audio visual presentations may be incorporated such as slide presentations or product videos and this is usually when sales brochures or booklets are presented to the prospect. You should strive to let the prospect do most of the talking during the presentation and address the needs of the prospect as fully as possible by showing that he or she truly understands and cares about the needs of the prospect.
Overcoming Objections
You then seek out your prospects' objections in order to try to address and overcome them. When prospects offer objections, it often signals that they need and want to hear more in order to make a fully-informed decision. If objections are not uncovered and identified, you cannot effectively manage them. Uncovering objections, asking clarifying questions, and overcoming objections is a critical part of training for professional sellers and is a skill area that must be continually developed because there will always be objections. Trust me when I tell you that as soon as you finds a way to successfully handle "all" your prospects' objections, someone will find a new, unanticipated objection-- if for no other reason than to test you.
8. Prospects Evaluations
9. Negoations
10. Verbal Commitments
Although technically "closing" a sale happens when products or services are delivered to the customer's satisfaction and payment is received, for the purposes of our discussion I will define closing as asking for the order and adequately addressing any final objections or obstacles. There are many closing techniques as well as many ways to ask trial closing questions. A trail question might take the form of, "Now that I've addressed your concerns, what other questions do you have that might stop you from starting up with us?" Closing does not always mean that you literally asks for the order, it could be asking the prospect how many they would like, what color they would prefer, when they would like to take delivery, etc. Too many sales professions are either weak or too aggressive when it comes to closing. If you are closing a sale, be sure to ask for the order. If the prospect gives an answer other than "yes", it may be a good opportunity to identify new objections and continue selling.
11. Written Agreement
12. Product Service Delivery
13. Payment Received
14. Follow-up action plan
Follow-up is an often overlooked but important part of the selling process. After an order is received, it is in the best interest of everyone involved for you to follow-up with the new customer to make sure the product was received in the proper condition, at the right time, installed properly, proper training delivered, and that the entire process was acceptable to the customer. This is a critical step in creating customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships. If they experienced any problems you can intervene and become a customer advocate to ensure 100% satisfaction. Good follow-up can also lead to uncovering new needs, additional purchases, and also referrals and testimonials which can be used as sales tools.
Larson Notes & Satire: Sitting back having a long sip off good hot black coffee. . . I’ll talk about the reverse funnel next week. This was quiet enough for one day. But hint, hint. . . the reverse funnel involves referrals and social media marketing.
So are you still game to double your business this year. Do you want to do it? Can you do it? Do you have the mental fortitude to do it? The blog above can give you a rough idea if you can do it.
Can you Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge ?
Need help in pouring in new sales leads into your sales funnel. That is what we here at Larson’s do.
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Can You Afford To Grow?
Can You Afford To Grow? No I’m not kidding. Can you afford to grow? You might be asking “Can you afford not to grow” but there is a price to grow and it is not in sales the true measure of possible growth is found in your cash flow and your profit margin.
Sales are nice and profits are nicer, but a business from the one man army to the fortune 500 live and die by cash flow.
I have been talking about growth and doubling your business this year and it is a nice thought to have a business or your personal sales twice the size it is right now, isn’t it, but can you afford to do it?
Rolling up my sleeves let’s get serious and get our heads out of the sales growth clouds today. How can you afford and grow in sanely. How can your plan for growth and determine the amount of ADDITIONAL cash you will need, and yes my friend you will need cash to grow.
Start by asking the right questions:
1) How much is it and over what time frame?
2) What is my gross margin?
3) How much overhead will you need to add to achieve this goal?
4) How long will it take you to get paid?
If you can answer these 4 questions you can make an educated guess as to whether you can afford to grow (and how fast) or not.
Example. Let us say you want to grow $500,000 this year. Your gross margin is 30% and you don’t expect any change because of the new business except that you will need to add $50,000 in overhead expenses for commissions, bookkeeping, personnel etc. Additionally you expect your average return on account receivables to hold steady at 35 days.
Start by figuring out the cost of goods sold on the new business. Since your gross margin is 30% that comes to: $350,000, add in the extra overhead you need to make it happen ($50,000) and you end up with $400,000 in new SPENDING. To keep this simple we will then divide this up by the number of days in the period (you could do this by month, quarter or whatever) which in our case here is 365 days and you find out that the cost of this new business is $1096 dollars a day. If you did not lose your teeth on that one pick yourself up off the floor and then multiply that number by the number of days that it takes you to collect your money witch in our example is 35. So we end up with $1096 x 35 = $38,360.00
This is only a rough formula to show you what you might need but any kind of forecasting is rough at best. But you need a tool to show you the numbers in black and white.
Now with the economy starting to expand you don’t want to be truing down business so what can you do?
1) Reduce your collection time.
2) Extend your payables by a week or so (best to talk to your suppliers and let them know what is going on so they can support you in this. It does mean more business for them, so they might go along with it if they feel you know what you’re doing.
3) Borrow money. I am not anti bank but I don’t like to borrow money. If you go that route you need to add in the interest rate against what your gross margin is.
4) Borrow against receivables with an asset lender. Did this once, hated it; you lose total control of your receivables but no red tape and can get money very fast. Again they have their place in the world of business but they are the place of last result I would go to.
5) Angels. Friends, relatives who know you and love you who would float you a short term loan.
Larson Notes & Satire: So are you still game to double your business this year. Can you afford to do it? Do you want to do it? The blog above can give you a rough idea if you can do it.
Can you Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge ?
As for me here at Larson’s we spent all last year ramping up so we could double our sales. Now it’s time to put the pedal to the meddle and go for it.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Sales are nice and profits are nicer, but a business from the one man army to the fortune 500 live and die by cash flow.
I have been talking about growth and doubling your business this year and it is a nice thought to have a business or your personal sales twice the size it is right now, isn’t it, but can you afford to do it?
Rolling up my sleeves let’s get serious and get our heads out of the sales growth clouds today. How can you afford and grow in sanely. How can your plan for growth and determine the amount of ADDITIONAL cash you will need, and yes my friend you will need cash to grow.
Start by asking the right questions:
1) How much is it and over what time frame?
2) What is my gross margin?
3) How much overhead will you need to add to achieve this goal?
4) How long will it take you to get paid?
If you can answer these 4 questions you can make an educated guess as to whether you can afford to grow (and how fast) or not.
Example. Let us say you want to grow $500,000 this year. Your gross margin is 30% and you don’t expect any change because of the new business except that you will need to add $50,000 in overhead expenses for commissions, bookkeeping, personnel etc. Additionally you expect your average return on account receivables to hold steady at 35 days.
Start by figuring out the cost of goods sold on the new business. Since your gross margin is 30% that comes to: $350,000, add in the extra overhead you need to make it happen ($50,000) and you end up with $400,000 in new SPENDING. To keep this simple we will then divide this up by the number of days in the period (you could do this by month, quarter or whatever) which in our case here is 365 days and you find out that the cost of this new business is $1096 dollars a day. If you did not lose your teeth on that one pick yourself up off the floor and then multiply that number by the number of days that it takes you to collect your money witch in our example is 35. So we end up with $1096 x 35 = $38,360.00
This is only a rough formula to show you what you might need but any kind of forecasting is rough at best. But you need a tool to show you the numbers in black and white.
Now with the economy starting to expand you don’t want to be truing down business so what can you do?
1) Reduce your collection time.
2) Extend your payables by a week or so (best to talk to your suppliers and let them know what is going on so they can support you in this. It does mean more business for them, so they might go along with it if they feel you know what you’re doing.
3) Borrow money. I am not anti bank but I don’t like to borrow money. If you go that route you need to add in the interest rate against what your gross margin is.
4) Borrow against receivables with an asset lender. Did this once, hated it; you lose total control of your receivables but no red tape and can get money very fast. Again they have their place in the world of business but they are the place of last result I would go to.
5) Angels. Friends, relatives who know you and love you who would float you a short term loan.
Larson Notes & Satire: So are you still game to double your business this year. Can you afford to do it? Do you want to do it? The blog above can give you a rough idea if you can do it.
Can you Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge ?
As for me here at Larson’s we spent all last year ramping up so we could double our sales. Now it’s time to put the pedal to the meddle and go for it.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Critical Mass Of Social Media
Yesterday was more about quality then it was about sheer volume. Deal with it. Yet there are times when you just need more mud on the wall. You need numbers lots of numbers. And somewhere that critical mass of people and businesses exist, and its right at your door step, enter Social Media. With a greater presence of activity in Social Media networks you can quickly find the numbers you may be missing. Starting with blogs to videos to tips of the day to effective pointed content you can start to engage the critical mass of people you might just need. You need to be thinking well past the just your front page and be active with the hundreds upon thousands of people.
Now for the key idea: If you want to be successful in social media marketing you need to get your followers to get passionate and inspired enough to become advocates and ambassadors of your company, product and brand. We, or at least I did, see this with my friend Dee Gerrish and her Goldendoodle Fans United on Facebook. Even if they are not big time buyers their influence can proved you with a grater reach to most likely an entirely new group of potential customers. When I think of all my friends that are not Dee’s friends that are now reading about her Goldendoodle’s, well, you get the picture. Well done Dee!
After you identify who these prospects and customers are build programs to learn how they might use your product. Then expose them, in a good way, to the new products you can be offering them. Attempt to generate feedback on your online posts Start a visible conversation with your followers and their friends. Keep asking them to “bring a friend” and grow your visibility larger and larger. As the instigator and influencer of your marketing stream you stay in control even within the open platform of Social Media.
Larson Notes & Satire: Think of social media not as something you can control so much but as a vehicle for empowering your ability of word of mouth marketing to a greater, faster level than ever before imagined. With fresh content. A unique look at things. You can together with your other marketing channels leverage your marketing strategy better then superman ever could.
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, look up on the screen is a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s . . . Me.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Now for the key idea: If you want to be successful in social media marketing you need to get your followers to get passionate and inspired enough to become advocates and ambassadors of your company, product and brand. We, or at least I did, see this with my friend Dee Gerrish and her Goldendoodle Fans United on Facebook. Even if they are not big time buyers their influence can proved you with a grater reach to most likely an entirely new group of potential customers. When I think of all my friends that are not Dee’s friends that are now reading about her Goldendoodle’s, well, you get the picture. Well done Dee!
After you identify who these prospects and customers are build programs to learn how they might use your product. Then expose them, in a good way, to the new products you can be offering them. Attempt to generate feedback on your online posts Start a visible conversation with your followers and their friends. Keep asking them to “bring a friend” and grow your visibility larger and larger. As the instigator and influencer of your marketing stream you stay in control even within the open platform of Social Media.
Larson Notes & Satire: Think of social media not as something you can control so much but as a vehicle for empowering your ability of word of mouth marketing to a greater, faster level than ever before imagined. With fresh content. A unique look at things. You can together with your other marketing channels leverage your marketing strategy better then superman ever could.
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, look up on the screen is a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s . . . Me.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Getting Better Prospects
Here we are in the information age where data rains down from the heavens filling our lives with more information that we would have ever dreamed of and I need to ask you, Do you have any idea what you’re doing? No really do you have a plan in place for 2011?
It’s not too late to get one going.
First sit down and outline your goals for the year. Ya all of them! Are you looking for more quality or more quantity? Are you looking for more prospects or more customers? If you want sheer quantity you might want to put more effort into social media. You can get lots of action and names but are they qualified? If you want more quality you might want to be looking at the more traditional direct marketing ideas in your plan. You will get more meaningful data and have greater control.
So where to start? Well right there in your own customer list. Start out by profiling your existing customers matching it against other databases you can obtain. Use things like SIC numbers, employee size, sales size. This is the footprint of your best possible prospect.
Next thing to do is using more traditional marketing channels such as direct mail, e-mail, and telemarketing you will generate a higher conversion rate when used in combination. Using past marketing experience you might have some secret information as to how this kind of prospect likes to be contacted. Ok, here is the time to use it. Contact them as experience says they like to be contacted to.
Offer a deal, give a sense of urgency and let it roll.
Larson Notes & Satire: I’m not going to say much here today. I think I said what I wanted to in the main part of today’s blog. There are rules to advertising and marketing. Do you need to always follow the rules? No. But you need to know the rules so when you break them you can consciously be aware of what you did and why.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
It’s not too late to get one going.
First sit down and outline your goals for the year. Ya all of them! Are you looking for more quality or more quantity? Are you looking for more prospects or more customers? If you want sheer quantity you might want to put more effort into social media. You can get lots of action and names but are they qualified? If you want more quality you might want to be looking at the more traditional direct marketing ideas in your plan. You will get more meaningful data and have greater control.
So where to start? Well right there in your own customer list. Start out by profiling your existing customers matching it against other databases you can obtain. Use things like SIC numbers, employee size, sales size. This is the footprint of your best possible prospect.
Next thing to do is using more traditional marketing channels such as direct mail, e-mail, and telemarketing you will generate a higher conversion rate when used in combination. Using past marketing experience you might have some secret information as to how this kind of prospect likes to be contacted. Ok, here is the time to use it. Contact them as experience says they like to be contacted to.
Offer a deal, give a sense of urgency and let it roll.
Larson Notes & Satire: I’m not going to say much here today. I think I said what I wanted to in the main part of today’s blog. There are rules to advertising and marketing. Do you need to always follow the rules? No. But you need to know the rules so when you break them you can consciously be aware of what you did and why.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Success On LinkedIn
So much has been written about Facebook and Twitter that one of the keys to online social media success, LinkedIn, sort of gets lost in the dust. Yet if you are looking to really work the business side of Social Media and want to get in front of the right kind of people who are there for business LinkedIn is the tool. Neilson called LinkedIn “The world’s largest audience of affluent, influential professionals.” LinkedIn population comes from more than 200 countries and territories; it is more highly educated, with over 80% having at least a bachelor or graduate degree. The average household income of a LinkedIn user is $108,000 per year and more that 20% of LinkedIn users are senior level executives and managers with 60% of those being decision makers at their respective companies or have direct influence over the buying decision.
So how do you take advantage of LinkedIn?
1) Don’t wait for your prospects to come to you. Of the 80 million professionals on LinkedIn only a few consistently are gaining clients and projects from the site. Seems most people have a profile page and only a few connections. They are not out there actively seeking new prospects, joint venture partners and referral sources. It seems they keep asking the one question over and over: “Why should I be on this website?”
One of your top and I mean top priorities is to always be out there to get new clients. The only want to be doing this is to go out and look for the kind of customers you want. Aside from letting you network with the best and smartest people out there, you can be building real networks with these people that can have a trickledown effect into new connections that will bring in new business. But you can’t stand on the side lines and be a lurker. You need to get active.
2) Start to be engaging. If you want to be notices by possible prospects you need to take the nest step and stop out of the shadows and be seen. Show them you are worthy to be working with them. How you ask:
a) Update your status message at least daily. No not stupid stuff like I’m taking the garbage out, but real business related items that are attractive to them. Like asking pertinent questions or display an industry answer or project you are working on.
b) State debates within LinkedIn groups. I’m pretty good at this one being a devil’s advocate. Stir the pot and have some fun. Flash a bit of your expertise and display your knowledge.
c) Be out there consistently providing tips, tools, resources, videos, articles and linked channels. Be the person people look to for the answers.
d) Answer questions on the boards within the different groups you belong to. Again this is a way to be out there to demonstrate your knowledge as an expert in your field.
e) Be the host of some kind of monthly event. An online teleseminar or get a f2f networking group going out of your LinkedIn followers. Remember you are the focal point in all this and you are marketing yourself as the go-to-guy that everyone wants to be friends with. As you become more and more valuable, not an irritant, you will be building a strong relationship with the people you want to become your customers.
f) Have a complete profile page. Should not have to say this but I do.
3) Take advantage of LinkedIn groups. Did you know that LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups? IN these groups you can network, join in conversations, show prospects you have answers to their questions and problems. Most people don’t seem to utilize the group tool in order to get themselves out in front of prospects. Yet those that do often make a few mistakes:
a) They become a member of a group but don’t participate. Come on now, how can you expect prospects to find you if you don’t take the time to do a posting or two? You have got to stand up and be noticed.
b) They join groups where there are all similar members to themselves. That does you allot of good doesn’t it. You might want to be in some industry groups just to get and keep a pulse on the industry but really you’re not going to find any customers in a group of your peers. You might find an employee but not a customer.
4) Go out and create a LinkedIn Group. Go on and create your own community on LinkedIn. Then you are in charge of who and what is posted, you are in charge of the fairness of the posting and keeping any disputes on your groups board down to a minimum. So yes there is a responsibility to owning and running a group but on the up side, many people almost religiously check out what is being said on the LinkedIn groups they belong to.
5) You should be consistently creating and distributing content. I belong to 48 LinkedIn groups. It was 50 but needed to make some holes in my 50 so I deleted some with duplicate members or ones that were not active or only had my competition. Just think of the people I am able to get in front of? Like wow, if each group only had 100 members that would be 5000 people, and I can tell you a few of those groups have members in the over 2,000 range.
6) Hook up your Twitter and your Facebook fan page to your LinkedIn account and get even more activity. Timeliness and activity will go a long way to being seen on LinkedIn. You don’t want to be obnoxious about it but you to want to keep your name at the top of the posting list. Taking in your posts off your other social media business sites can only help you do more for less.
So let me ask you, nicely, are you taking advantage of all the various networking and relationship building and business growth opportunities and tools on LinkedIn?
Larson Notes & Satire: Last May my web site hits starting to go off the charts. I mean really up in the over 1000% increase in weekly unique visitor hits. Why? I attribute it to 2 things. First off was Google giving its search engine access to real time search and second my 6 years or working social media marketing. I try to claim my company name on every site I find. I then start out lurking for a little bit to get the flow of the site, then doing some pointed posts of blogging to the site to see what the general feeling is of the members. If I find that I like it or I fine that it has a good number of prospects I “set up camp” and work to become a valued member of the site. Over the years I have joined and dropped out of a few sites that became a waste of time while adding in others. The ones I am working hard right now are:
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://chicagosblackbusinessnetwork.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://mylinkingpowerforum.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://melrosebestbuyfamilyoutlet.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.tsusellersnetwork.com/profile/HowardLarson
Why, because I like them.
It might change in a week or two or three. Social media is like the waves of the ocean and you need to move as the tide moves in and out. Yet in all the sites there is one key ingredient and that is “be consistent with your message”
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
So how do you take advantage of LinkedIn?
1) Don’t wait for your prospects to come to you. Of the 80 million professionals on LinkedIn only a few consistently are gaining clients and projects from the site. Seems most people have a profile page and only a few connections. They are not out there actively seeking new prospects, joint venture partners and referral sources. It seems they keep asking the one question over and over: “Why should I be on this website?”
One of your top and I mean top priorities is to always be out there to get new clients. The only want to be doing this is to go out and look for the kind of customers you want. Aside from letting you network with the best and smartest people out there, you can be building real networks with these people that can have a trickledown effect into new connections that will bring in new business. But you can’t stand on the side lines and be a lurker. You need to get active.
2) Start to be engaging. If you want to be notices by possible prospects you need to take the nest step and stop out of the shadows and be seen. Show them you are worthy to be working with them. How you ask:
a) Update your status message at least daily. No not stupid stuff like I’m taking the garbage out, but real business related items that are attractive to them. Like asking pertinent questions or display an industry answer or project you are working on.
b) State debates within LinkedIn groups. I’m pretty good at this one being a devil’s advocate. Stir the pot and have some fun. Flash a bit of your expertise and display your knowledge.
c) Be out there consistently providing tips, tools, resources, videos, articles and linked channels. Be the person people look to for the answers.
d) Answer questions on the boards within the different groups you belong to. Again this is a way to be out there to demonstrate your knowledge as an expert in your field.
e) Be the host of some kind of monthly event. An online teleseminar or get a f2f networking group going out of your LinkedIn followers. Remember you are the focal point in all this and you are marketing yourself as the go-to-guy that everyone wants to be friends with. As you become more and more valuable, not an irritant, you will be building a strong relationship with the people you want to become your customers.
f) Have a complete profile page. Should not have to say this but I do.
3) Take advantage of LinkedIn groups. Did you know that LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups? IN these groups you can network, join in conversations, show prospects you have answers to their questions and problems. Most people don’t seem to utilize the group tool in order to get themselves out in front of prospects. Yet those that do often make a few mistakes:
a) They become a member of a group but don’t participate. Come on now, how can you expect prospects to find you if you don’t take the time to do a posting or two? You have got to stand up and be noticed.
b) They join groups where there are all similar members to themselves. That does you allot of good doesn’t it. You might want to be in some industry groups just to get and keep a pulse on the industry but really you’re not going to find any customers in a group of your peers. You might find an employee but not a customer.
4) Go out and create a LinkedIn Group. Go on and create your own community on LinkedIn. Then you are in charge of who and what is posted, you are in charge of the fairness of the posting and keeping any disputes on your groups board down to a minimum. So yes there is a responsibility to owning and running a group but on the up side, many people almost religiously check out what is being said on the LinkedIn groups they belong to.
5) You should be consistently creating and distributing content. I belong to 48 LinkedIn groups. It was 50 but needed to make some holes in my 50 so I deleted some with duplicate members or ones that were not active or only had my competition. Just think of the people I am able to get in front of? Like wow, if each group only had 100 members that would be 5000 people, and I can tell you a few of those groups have members in the over 2,000 range.
6) Hook up your Twitter and your Facebook fan page to your LinkedIn account and get even more activity. Timeliness and activity will go a long way to being seen on LinkedIn. You don’t want to be obnoxious about it but you to want to keep your name at the top of the posting list. Taking in your posts off your other social media business sites can only help you do more for less.
So let me ask you, nicely, are you taking advantage of all the various networking and relationship building and business growth opportunities and tools on LinkedIn?
Larson Notes & Satire: Last May my web site hits starting to go off the charts. I mean really up in the over 1000% increase in weekly unique visitor hits. Why? I attribute it to 2 things. First off was Google giving its search engine access to real time search and second my 6 years or working social media marketing. I try to claim my company name on every site I find. I then start out lurking for a little bit to get the flow of the site, then doing some pointed posts of blogging to the site to see what the general feeling is of the members. If I find that I like it or I fine that it has a good number of prospects I “set up camp” and work to become a valued member of the site. Over the years I have joined and dropped out of a few sites that became a waste of time while adding in others. The ones I am working hard right now are:
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://chicagosblackbusinessnetwork.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://mylinkingpowerforum.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://melrosebestbuyfamilyoutlet.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.tsusellersnetwork.com/profile/HowardLarson
Why, because I like them.
It might change in a week or two or three. Social media is like the waves of the ocean and you need to move as the tide moves in and out. Yet in all the sites there is one key ingredient and that is “be consistent with your message”
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Rules Of Mailing Engagement
To get the most out of a direct mail campaign it only makes sense to manage it to produce a maximum response. Yes how many times in the mad rush to meet some real or imaginary deadline. When we do that to ourselves we only end up using limited resources and not having your front and back end set up to get the best in ROI possible.
So when reviewing the last few direct mail programs I have put together for clients I came up with a few rules to be a basic guide to get the biggest bang for my clients buck:
Rule 1: Know What You Want. Just because you do have a marketing plan, you do have a marketing plan don’t you; I won’t even ask right now if it IS written down. Again just because you have a marketing plan and goals does not mean that everyone knows the baseline of expected results from any part of your plan. Then even if you have a lowest denominator or expected results is it based off of facts or just a simple assumption? Did I say a guess? So can you answer these 3 questions?
a) How many people or companies are you trying to talk to?
b) How many people or companies responded in your last 1 or 2 campaigns? If this is your 1st do your best.
c) Did each of your last 1 or 2 campaigns let you grow as you wanted or anticipated?
Rule 2: Know what you want to happen. You need a plan not just a plan of action but a plan that gives you direction. Why are you doing a direct mail attack? What are your expectations? What is your anticipated response rate? What are your revenue goals and how will you track it? So 3 basic questions to ask yourself are:
a) What is the revenue goal for the campaign? You might call it revenue per address, revenue for area, revenue per customer type. But you need a monetary goal.
b) What are the profiles of the customers you are targeting? Are you going after the “usual suspects?” or are you venturing out into uncharted waters? Can you pinpoint the top people or companies in your data base? My suggestion is to divide your list up into the parts, 1) Those who do not spend on a regular basis or in larger dollar amounts. 2) Those who do spend on a regular basis or large dollar amounts. 3) The rest. c) What can you offer each of these groups to tickle their interest enough to take action and respond?
If all you have done with your customer list is to segment it out by spending patterns you are really only half way there. I take my hat off to you if you have done that because 75% or small and medium size businesses don’t even to that but now do yourself a favor and go the rest of the way. Some customers might have different credit cards for buying different items to better manage their spending. Others will break down for you in different ways perhaps by geography. Point is the more you can profile your customers or prospects the better off you are.
Rule 3: Zip+4 and More. This is one of the easiest ways to get into the socio-geographic profiling methods you can use. As you take and study your customer base you might just find that certain areas buy more than others. In a quest to greater understanding of your market the more that one certain zip code buys from you the more you want to penetrate into it. This is not brain surgery. Taking what you already know about a customer or an area and applying that information into your marketing attack is only common sense. How you talk to this group as a whole can help you to talk to them as individuals as to who and what they are, after all they do live in the same general area.
a) Factor analysis. In using the key vafiable of a socio-graphic indicatkion and taking those results into yoru database you can emblilish your now existing data
b) Cluster your analysis. Focus in on the groups that now exist in yoru database. What is the same about them? What do they all share in some way? Do you care what characteristics they share or is it meaningless to your company?
c) Discrimination analysis. Find the different factors that separate the group. Again does it make a difference or not? Does it help you in the prediction of their buying habits or not?
When you then take that information with Zip+4 postal information you might be able to narrow down the possibility of new customers. We have seen cases of a dirct mail campaign going from under a 0.5% resoponce rate up to over 3.5%
Might this give rise to you using variable data for geographic market segmentation?
Larson Notes & Satire: Ya ya I’m a mean heartless business person looking to take money out of your pocket. Maybe, but maybe not. It costs me money, more money than I take in to run a marketing campaign on a one shot deal or to push out a telemarketing campaign on a 3 week trial basis. You might think I am a picking your pocket but think again. I put and most companies (unless you’re a lawyer that seems to charge for even sharpening a pencil) have a given about of non chargeable time and effort to take in a new account. Go on and think about it or retrace your actions and steps when you get a new customer. What do you do to get their account set up that you don’t or can’t bill for? So don’t tell me I am stealing your money for a 3 or 4 week telesales program. I want you not for 4 weeks as a customer but for life!
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
So when reviewing the last few direct mail programs I have put together for clients I came up with a few rules to be a basic guide to get the biggest bang for my clients buck:
Rule 1: Know What You Want. Just because you do have a marketing plan, you do have a marketing plan don’t you; I won’t even ask right now if it IS written down. Again just because you have a marketing plan and goals does not mean that everyone knows the baseline of expected results from any part of your plan. Then even if you have a lowest denominator or expected results is it based off of facts or just a simple assumption? Did I say a guess? So can you answer these 3 questions?
a) How many people or companies are you trying to talk to?
b) How many people or companies responded in your last 1 or 2 campaigns? If this is your 1st do your best.
c) Did each of your last 1 or 2 campaigns let you grow as you wanted or anticipated?
Rule 2: Know what you want to happen. You need a plan not just a plan of action but a plan that gives you direction. Why are you doing a direct mail attack? What are your expectations? What is your anticipated response rate? What are your revenue goals and how will you track it? So 3 basic questions to ask yourself are:
a) What is the revenue goal for the campaign? You might call it revenue per address, revenue for area, revenue per customer type. But you need a monetary goal.
b) What are the profiles of the customers you are targeting? Are you going after the “usual suspects?” or are you venturing out into uncharted waters? Can you pinpoint the top people or companies in your data base? My suggestion is to divide your list up into the parts, 1) Those who do not spend on a regular basis or in larger dollar amounts. 2) Those who do spend on a regular basis or large dollar amounts. 3) The rest. c) What can you offer each of these groups to tickle their interest enough to take action and respond?
If all you have done with your customer list is to segment it out by spending patterns you are really only half way there. I take my hat off to you if you have done that because 75% or small and medium size businesses don’t even to that but now do yourself a favor and go the rest of the way. Some customers might have different credit cards for buying different items to better manage their spending. Others will break down for you in different ways perhaps by geography. Point is the more you can profile your customers or prospects the better off you are.
Rule 3: Zip+4 and More. This is one of the easiest ways to get into the socio-geographic profiling methods you can use. As you take and study your customer base you might just find that certain areas buy more than others. In a quest to greater understanding of your market the more that one certain zip code buys from you the more you want to penetrate into it. This is not brain surgery. Taking what you already know about a customer or an area and applying that information into your marketing attack is only common sense. How you talk to this group as a whole can help you to talk to them as individuals as to who and what they are, after all they do live in the same general area.
a) Factor analysis. In using the key vafiable of a socio-graphic indicatkion and taking those results into yoru database you can emblilish your now existing data
b) Cluster your analysis. Focus in on the groups that now exist in yoru database. What is the same about them? What do they all share in some way? Do you care what characteristics they share or is it meaningless to your company?
c) Discrimination analysis. Find the different factors that separate the group. Again does it make a difference or not? Does it help you in the prediction of their buying habits or not?
When you then take that information with Zip+4 postal information you might be able to narrow down the possibility of new customers. We have seen cases of a dirct mail campaign going from under a 0.5% resoponce rate up to over 3.5%
Might this give rise to you using variable data for geographic market segmentation?
Larson Notes & Satire: Ya ya I’m a mean heartless business person looking to take money out of your pocket. Maybe, but maybe not. It costs me money, more money than I take in to run a marketing campaign on a one shot deal or to push out a telemarketing campaign on a 3 week trial basis. You might think I am a picking your pocket but think again. I put and most companies (unless you’re a lawyer that seems to charge for even sharpening a pencil) have a given about of non chargeable time and effort to take in a new account. Go on and think about it or retrace your actions and steps when you get a new customer. What do you do to get their account set up that you don’t or can’t bill for? So don’t tell me I am stealing your money for a 3 or 4 week telesales program. I want you not for 4 weeks as a customer but for life!
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
What's G4 & Should I Care
People Don't Know 4G Is, And They Don't Care What 4G Is!
Here's some interesting charts from Nielsen on what consumers think about when they hear the phrase "4G."
Nielsen polled 2,131 people about 4G. Of that, 893 said they understood what 4G is. But when pressed further, only 54% of that really knew what it meant (super fast wireless). 27% of the people polled think it's the latest version of the iPhone.
Regardless of whether or not they can define it, so far they don't care about 4G wireless. Only 29% of the people polled said they were planning on buying a 4G phone in the next year.
Good news for Apple, which (probably) doesn't plan on releasing a phone that runs on a 4G network this year. Bad news for other phone makers looking to gain an edge by offering a 4G compatible handset.
That said, once the carriers start marketing 4G even more, we assume more people will want a 4G phone.
Does it make much difference if you have G4 or G3. Then again is G2 still hanging around? As we move more and more into mobile marketing it might start to make a difference but then, should I be paying more to have you market to me?
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
Here's some interesting charts from Nielsen on what consumers think about when they hear the phrase "4G."
Nielsen polled 2,131 people about 4G. Of that, 893 said they understood what 4G is. But when pressed further, only 54% of that really knew what it meant (super fast wireless). 27% of the people polled think it's the latest version of the iPhone.
Regardless of whether or not they can define it, so far they don't care about 4G wireless. Only 29% of the people polled said they were planning on buying a 4G phone in the next year.
That said, once the carriers start marketing 4G even more, we assume more people will want a 4G phone.
Does it make much difference if you have G4 or G3. Then again is G2 still hanging around? As we move more and more into mobile marketing it might start to make a difference but then, should I be paying more to have you market to me?
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Road to Prosperity
You want the secret to increasing your sales in this wonderful economy? Be different than your competition. Challenge every idea you have ever heard. Be an innovator. Be audacious. Stand out from the crowd and be seen as well as heard!
Get your head on and launch that new business, create that new product or service that disrupts the competition. Just remember ideas are cheap. It’s the application of the ideas that is the hard part.
There are 3 primary things you will need to innovate and prosper; those being ideas, talent and capital. Over the past couple of years almost everything has been focused on capital. Hoarding your cash, managing your cash flow, working within your budget. Yes this is very important but so is the need for you to continue to invest in research and development as well as marketing. You can’t or shouldn’t put this part of your business on hold completely.
You might need to have a retreat and get away from everything to be able to listen to the market so you know where to focus yourself. And when you more, invest in products for the long time and then keep them in front of customer’s noses so they have enough time to decide to buy what you are offering. Don’t get into any decision for the quick buck.
As for marketing be as aggressive as you can. I know I need to do an update and do a few additions but here are 122 marketing ideas you can use. I use them, you should also. http://www.larsonassociates.ws/marketing_tools Some have a cost some don’t, most fall in-between. My point here is that you don’t want to disappear. Customers are hard enough to come by even in a good economic cycle. The last thing you want to go and do is make them nervous as to how you are doing. If you can, increase your exposure, widen your communication channels and create an aura of confidence.
So perhaps now more that ever it is time to consider the entire concept of direct mail and maybe ask what would be the purpose to use this channel, what would we be trying to do if you used direct mail who do you want to target with a mailing piece and what are the ways we could integrate it with the kinds of online channels we are now using?
Even as we push harder into the digital world of the web, social media marketing email marketing, blogs, video, mobile don’t overlook what could be sitting right at your doorstep or your customer’s doorstep or should we say their mail boxes.
As I showed 2 days ago, people, ya people like you and I trust the printed ink on paper word more than they see and read online. Use that to your advantage.
Larson Notes & Satire: When do you do your best thinking? Mine these days happens to be at 5:10 in the morning. I am in the process of getting ready to run in a marathon this spring with my son. Now a marathon is not something you take lightly. You don’t just go lace up your “sneakers” and go run. It takes months, even for me, months to get my body and mind physically ready for the challenge in all ways so also the growth of a good business. It is not just 1 thing, it might be 1 more thing but it is not just 1 thing. That 1 thing might be what you need push your entire business over the edge into double digit growth. As you know, at least I think you know, I am pushing triple digit growth for the year 2011 with the Larson Challenge http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge to double the size of your business. Join in, it’s free and no purchase is necessary. So in your quiet time ask yourself, what is that 1 thing you need?
If you’re not doing direct mail marketing, even as little as a direct mail post card, think about it. Direct mail is durable, less disposable and more sensory that anything else out there. You want to be attention to yourself send out a mailing to those increasingly empty mailboxes. Now I know you think of us here at Larson’s as the company of the melodious voices that pound the phones as a group of trained telemarketing professionals but don’t think that we don’t have the resources to put it all together for you. As a 36 year Chicago Ad and Graphics Professional I know how to make it happen. I can only say use me, so many times.
Go on make me work, I dare you.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Get your head on and launch that new business, create that new product or service that disrupts the competition. Just remember ideas are cheap. It’s the application of the ideas that is the hard part.
There are 3 primary things you will need to innovate and prosper; those being ideas, talent and capital. Over the past couple of years almost everything has been focused on capital. Hoarding your cash, managing your cash flow, working within your budget. Yes this is very important but so is the need for you to continue to invest in research and development as well as marketing. You can’t or shouldn’t put this part of your business on hold completely.
You might need to have a retreat and get away from everything to be able to listen to the market so you know where to focus yourself. And when you more, invest in products for the long time and then keep them in front of customer’s noses so they have enough time to decide to buy what you are offering. Don’t get into any decision for the quick buck.
As for marketing be as aggressive as you can. I know I need to do an update and do a few additions but here are 122 marketing ideas you can use. I use them, you should also. http://www.larsonassociates.ws/marketing_tools Some have a cost some don’t, most fall in-between. My point here is that you don’t want to disappear. Customers are hard enough to come by even in a good economic cycle. The last thing you want to go and do is make them nervous as to how you are doing. If you can, increase your exposure, widen your communication channels and create an aura of confidence.
So perhaps now more that ever it is time to consider the entire concept of direct mail and maybe ask what would be the purpose to use this channel, what would we be trying to do if you used direct mail who do you want to target with a mailing piece and what are the ways we could integrate it with the kinds of online channels we are now using?
Even as we push harder into the digital world of the web, social media marketing email marketing, blogs, video, mobile don’t overlook what could be sitting right at your doorstep or your customer’s doorstep or should we say their mail boxes.
As I showed 2 days ago, people, ya people like you and I trust the printed ink on paper word more than they see and read online. Use that to your advantage.
Larson Notes & Satire: When do you do your best thinking? Mine these days happens to be at 5:10 in the morning. I am in the process of getting ready to run in a marathon this spring with my son. Now a marathon is not something you take lightly. You don’t just go lace up your “sneakers” and go run. It takes months, even for me, months to get my body and mind physically ready for the challenge in all ways so also the growth of a good business. It is not just 1 thing, it might be 1 more thing but it is not just 1 thing. That 1 thing might be what you need push your entire business over the edge into double digit growth. As you know, at least I think you know, I am pushing triple digit growth for the year 2011 with the Larson Challenge http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge to double the size of your business. Join in, it’s free and no purchase is necessary. So in your quiet time ask yourself, what is that 1 thing you need?
If you’re not doing direct mail marketing, even as little as a direct mail post card, think about it. Direct mail is durable, less disposable and more sensory that anything else out there. You want to be attention to yourself send out a mailing to those increasingly empty mailboxes. Now I know you think of us here at Larson’s as the company of the melodious voices that pound the phones as a group of trained telemarketing professionals but don’t think that we don’t have the resources to put it all together for you. As a 36 year Chicago Ad and Graphics Professional I know how to make it happen. I can only say use me, so many times.
Go on make me work, I dare you.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Why Not Use The Cheapest Printer
We are in a recession or are we. I guess right now it all depends on the person perspective of you. Your business and your micro economic outlook. No matter. The fact is that we are all trying to produce more with less of an advertising budget.
With that in mind it can be very tempting to just go out and buy your printing, anything from business cards to that new brochure to a hot little direct mail piece, from the printer with the lowest cost, right?
Well you might be able to save a few bucks up front but is it cost effective? Well. . . most likely not. If you are one of those who expect your printer to be doing more than just putting ink down on paper buying cheep makes no sense. If your printer has not evolved into a marketing consultant who works with you from their area of experience and knowledge to create the right kind of printed piece for what you want to get done, you are getting short changed no matter what the price.
If you are doing a direct mail piece, your printer should be able to get the most out of your project, and I am not talking about the most copies. If you’re planning on doing a new brochure your printer should be able to consult with you on the latest trends and practices to help make your brochure stand out from the competition.
Your printer should be able to evaluate your objectives and your target audience and market and then suggest what you might want to have happen on that printed page. Those little things like size, color, n umber of folds, kind of paper stock, estimated postage costs, etc.
Maybe you can be cross channeling your new brochure or mailer into other kinds of media like a blog, a social media push or a special web promotion. If your printer is as good as he should be he is at the forefront of what is happening in the world of advertising.
They should be working with you to help you to target new areas to attract new customers. If you are not using variable data your printer might be able to help you with their valuable insights on when and how to use this technology to make it even more relevant to your prospects or present customers. This kind of technology might help to keep you relevant.
You should only need to communicate with them on what the goals and timing of your project is and they should be able to help you get the highest ROI possible. If they can’t, go fish.
Larson Notes & Satire: Printing is just one part of what should be in your marketing attack but it can be the anchor or the glue that keeps it all together.
No other medium is a grounded as the printed piece. Yes it might have some upfront costs that keeps you from using it, but that is why more and more people trust printing. You can’t sit down and punch out a quickie. Think about it. Any electronic medium can be done with almost zero out of pocket cost except for your time and energy and of course your computer and software. But a mailer or a brochure? Not so easy to do for a time only expense. You have to spend some money to make it, produce it and then to send it out.
So maybe you need to ask yourself? Are you a real business, a hobby business or just throwing some mud on the wall to see what sticks kind of business?
Do things right and you can sit back in your chair and toast your competition: ah yes “Here’s mud in your eye!”
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
With that in mind it can be very tempting to just go out and buy your printing, anything from business cards to that new brochure to a hot little direct mail piece, from the printer with the lowest cost, right?
Well you might be able to save a few bucks up front but is it cost effective? Well. . . most likely not. If you are one of those who expect your printer to be doing more than just putting ink down on paper buying cheep makes no sense. If your printer has not evolved into a marketing consultant who works with you from their area of experience and knowledge to create the right kind of printed piece for what you want to get done, you are getting short changed no matter what the price.
If you are doing a direct mail piece, your printer should be able to get the most out of your project, and I am not talking about the most copies. If you’re planning on doing a new brochure your printer should be able to consult with you on the latest trends and practices to help make your brochure stand out from the competition.
Your printer should be able to evaluate your objectives and your target audience and market and then suggest what you might want to have happen on that printed page. Those little things like size, color, n umber of folds, kind of paper stock, estimated postage costs, etc.
Maybe you can be cross channeling your new brochure or mailer into other kinds of media like a blog, a social media push or a special web promotion. If your printer is as good as he should be he is at the forefront of what is happening in the world of advertising.
They should be working with you to help you to target new areas to attract new customers. If you are not using variable data your printer might be able to help you with their valuable insights on when and how to use this technology to make it even more relevant to your prospects or present customers. This kind of technology might help to keep you relevant.
You should only need to communicate with them on what the goals and timing of your project is and they should be able to help you get the highest ROI possible. If they can’t, go fish.
Larson Notes & Satire: Printing is just one part of what should be in your marketing attack but it can be the anchor or the glue that keeps it all together.
No other medium is a grounded as the printed piece. Yes it might have some upfront costs that keeps you from using it, but that is why more and more people trust printing. You can’t sit down and punch out a quickie. Think about it. Any electronic medium can be done with almost zero out of pocket cost except for your time and energy and of course your computer and software. But a mailer or a brochure? Not so easy to do for a time only expense. You have to spend some money to make it, produce it and then to send it out.
So maybe you need to ask yourself? Are you a real business, a hobby business or just throwing some mud on the wall to see what sticks kind of business?
Do things right and you can sit back in your chair and toast your competition: ah yes “Here’s mud in your eye!”
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Trust In Ink On Paper
In all its technical savvy and the ability to push your message out at the press of a key, customers, prospects and consumers still seem to favor and trust the printed word.
If you have a few dollars to spend on advertising you might want to keep this in mind. People still prefer things that are printed more than not. So where and what kind of print advertising should you be doing? Some of that has to do with the kind of business you have and the product/service you are selling but:
When it comes to Direct Mail:
61% - will recall seeing or receiving your piece.
66% - Will consider another purchase (if directed toward current customers)
70% - Positive spin if it is targeted to the interests of the recipient
78% - Felt the company was interested in building a good relationship
68% - Helped make a purchasing decision in favor to the sending company
74% - Found print more appealing that other kinds of ads
When it comes to Magazine Ads
84% - Read the ads when in print (This goes down to 72% if an online advertisement)
54% - Influenced the buying decision
47% - Pushed the customer to get more information online
20% - Trusted the marketer
Larson Notes & Satire: I have in the past put ads in trade magazines. I have done classified ads a few times. And it can pull in a new account or two. I think that more than new account selling Ads be it trade magazines or consumer if you are B2C cement in existing customers rather than going out to find new ones. When I what new, the best way I have seen is to start with a telemarketing attack with a direct mail interwoven in at the same time.
It works. Now most of my customers don’t want to go full boat, but you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. But then what works for me might not work for you. Anyway it’s your company.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
If you have a few dollars to spend on advertising you might want to keep this in mind. People still prefer things that are printed more than not. So where and what kind of print advertising should you be doing? Some of that has to do with the kind of business you have and the product/service you are selling but:
When it comes to Direct Mail:
61% - will recall seeing or receiving your piece.
66% - Will consider another purchase (if directed toward current customers)
70% - Positive spin if it is targeted to the interests of the recipient
78% - Felt the company was interested in building a good relationship
68% - Helped make a purchasing decision in favor to the sending company
74% - Found print more appealing that other kinds of ads
When it comes to Magazine Ads
84% - Read the ads when in print (This goes down to 72% if an online advertisement)
54% - Influenced the buying decision
47% - Pushed the customer to get more information online
20% - Trusted the marketer
Larson Notes & Satire: I have in the past put ads in trade magazines. I have done classified ads a few times. And it can pull in a new account or two. I think that more than new account selling Ads be it trade magazines or consumer if you are B2C cement in existing customers rather than going out to find new ones. When I what new, the best way I have seen is to start with a telemarketing attack with a direct mail interwoven in at the same time.
It works. Now most of my customers don’t want to go full boat, but you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. But then what works for me might not work for you. Anyway it’s your company.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Leverage Customer Data
How many times have you bought something from a company only to receive a week or so later a promotion on the exact same item you just bought? You aren’t alone. If you are a company that is doing that you are just plain dumb. Sorry to be so blunt but you are. You are not only wasting valuable resources of time and money in misaligned marketing but you are driving your customers away from you. You are telling them “I don’t know you or want to take good care of you.” Now if you took and looked at what they are buying and send out promotions in line with what might complement their latest purchase then you’re on target, and if your business is too big to watch out for this huge mistake there is software available to help you in this.
Yet, here are a few helpful hints to help you leverage that data, employ some analytics and start some insightful marketing that keep you on track.
1. Prioritize data. Data even the basic data is gold when you start to apply it to your marketing, strategies campaigns and tactics. It can provide a big upward movement in the kinds of results you get. Cross platforming it from sales to marketing to IT to customer service thru finance will make sure that you company is all taking the same thing to each customer.
2. Make it accessible. Many companies have customer data that is collected but it is “owned” by the salesman or the marketing department or finance. You need to all be on the same page. This data needs to be accessible to everyone in your company. Therein lies my case for not having sales people on 100% commission.
3. Keep it updated. Keeping data updated is everyone’s responsibility. It is not sales or finance that needs to keep things updated. Everyone needs to be working on the file.
4. Analyze it. After you set up a practice of keeping your customer data updated and clean you need to look at it and analyze it. As much as we might want to be trite and say, statics can lie, data doesn’t. If you don’t look at what you have collected on your customers with the intent to sell them more of what they need (note that I said need) they will buy from somewhere else.
5. Test measure and improve. Using your data is not enough. You need to be testing different offers, different ideas measuring the success against what is or was business as usual. As you get in results or non-results you need to be keeping track of that so you can do better next time.
Larson Notes & Satire: How many times has it happened that you place a call to order something or make a change on one of your accounts, you give the nice lady or gentleman your phone number, your account and all pertinent data only to be transferred over to the person in the company that can solve your problem only to have to give that person the exact same data? That really busts my chops. Like what’s wrong with these guys? At they dumb or something? I just gave “you” that information.
So if you are going to do something, do it. Inaction is worse than anything you can do. These days even a poor marketing attack that is consistent is better than no marketing attack. You sit in the sidelines, that is what you will do. Sit on the sidelines. You want to play with the big kids, step out and make it happen. Beat them at their own game by selling to your customers over and over again and again with things that they need, that you know they need because of what they bought from you in the past. It’s not all that hard if you have your eyes open
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Yet, here are a few helpful hints to help you leverage that data, employ some analytics and start some insightful marketing that keep you on track.
1. Prioritize data. Data even the basic data is gold when you start to apply it to your marketing, strategies campaigns and tactics. It can provide a big upward movement in the kinds of results you get. Cross platforming it from sales to marketing to IT to customer service thru finance will make sure that you company is all taking the same thing to each customer.
2. Make it accessible. Many companies have customer data that is collected but it is “owned” by the salesman or the marketing department or finance. You need to all be on the same page. This data needs to be accessible to everyone in your company. Therein lies my case for not having sales people on 100% commission.
3. Keep it updated. Keeping data updated is everyone’s responsibility. It is not sales or finance that needs to keep things updated. Everyone needs to be working on the file.
4. Analyze it. After you set up a practice of keeping your customer data updated and clean you need to look at it and analyze it. As much as we might want to be trite and say, statics can lie, data doesn’t. If you don’t look at what you have collected on your customers with the intent to sell them more of what they need (note that I said need) they will buy from somewhere else.
5. Test measure and improve. Using your data is not enough. You need to be testing different offers, different ideas measuring the success against what is or was business as usual. As you get in results or non-results you need to be keeping track of that so you can do better next time.
Larson Notes & Satire: How many times has it happened that you place a call to order something or make a change on one of your accounts, you give the nice lady or gentleman your phone number, your account and all pertinent data only to be transferred over to the person in the company that can solve your problem only to have to give that person the exact same data? That really busts my chops. Like what’s wrong with these guys? At they dumb or something? I just gave “you” that information.
So if you are going to do something, do it. Inaction is worse than anything you can do. These days even a poor marketing attack that is consistent is better than no marketing attack. You sit in the sidelines, that is what you will do. Sit on the sidelines. You want to play with the big kids, step out and make it happen. Beat them at their own game by selling to your customers over and over again and again with things that they need, that you know they need because of what they bought from you in the past. It’s not all that hard if you have your eyes open
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Boosting Electronic Marketing With Social Media
You’re doing an electronic newsletter or you send out email marketing or blasts. So how do you measure the impact of your social media marketing on your electronic or email newsletter marketing? Are these two forms of multichannel marketing even compatible. Should you care or should you expect more than you’re getting?
Social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MerchantCircle and Twitter are great ways to push your social Media marketing onto your electronic or email marketing to get an even stronger longer lasting use of your marketing effort.
Start with putting your Social media links into your electronic marketing because they are like little magical friend and customer finders. With the viral nature of social media your influence grows exponentially. It is a fact that social sharing increases audience exposure by a factor 3 to 5 times over a simple Forward to Friend request.
Now the measurement side of the equation. Measuring how social media affects your email or electronic marketing isn't all that difficult because most email service providers offer social sharing-tracking as part of their metrics and reporting function. The key is increasing social sharing, growing your audience and measuring how that growth leads to increased sales. And I can only say the sales aspect is what is should be all about, not the sheer number of fiends you collect
So here are ways to make it happen:
1. Reinforce the opportunity to sign up. It may seem strange to be putting a sign-up link in an email that is going out to people who have already opted into your emails, but keep in mind that if what you write and say is any good it will be or might be forwarded and that is where the pay off comes. When the email is shared you now have a new audience to sign up for your mailings or to become a follower of your social media marketing efforts.
2. Build up your call to action. Because ESPs track only the first impression when an email is shared, give all recipients a reason to connect with you directly by including a call to action. The call might be to download a white paper, enter a contest, etc. Use your head on what kind of action you could be asking for. At this point is always a good idea to use a unique URLs or special landing page to help you track where your new recipients are coming. If you need help in this area contact us and we can help you in this regard. I have been producing custom landing pages for customers for over 12 years.
3. Offer incentives. One company offered a gift to subscribers who shared content and got 10 friends to sign up for their newsletter. Their newsletter is now growing by double digits, and so are their sales.
4. Design your emails for multiple platforms and multiple hardware options. These days you have no idea how, when or where your email or newsletter is going to be read. Different browsers were a problem in the past. Now, differing kinds of hardware from computers to iphones and everything in-between.
5. Tailor special emails to your high end social media contacts. Let them know what is happing and let them in on new products and services early and often.
6. Once you get a new member to sign up, monitor each lead source as it moves through the sales pipeline so you can determine what's working and where to allocate future efforts and not when an actual sale occurs, how, when and why so you duplicate the effort and can improve on what you are doing. If you understand your sales cycle from start to finish you can predict with a certain amount of accuracy when they will make their 1st and subsequent purchases.
Larson Notes & Satire: Each kind of marketing you use can and should be tied together. Nothing should be a standalone activity. Why waste the effort of what your spending good time and money to achieve a one shot wonder. You need more bang for the buck. That means cross marketing yourself and all your efforts. Why do something that will get you one look when one thing might be able to get you a half dozen looks? It takes 7 to 9 touches to make a customer. People only see about 1 out of every 3 or 4 outreaches you make. That means it can take anywhere from 27 to 32 sales and marketing outreaches to find and make a customer. I never said marketing was for the weak of heart. If you’re not in it for the long haul don’t waste your time and money.
This is one of the many different ways to get multiple looks off your marketing. In actuality there are hundreds of tricks to get people and friends of people to look at you in all different kinds of ways.
I ways suggest to my telesales customers that they use a direct mail piece to boost what I am doing on the phones. I always suggest that my customers be sure to have not just their telephone number on the piece mailed (and you would be surprised at the number of direct mail pieces that go out without a phone number on it) but that have their web site and email address on it as well, another big thing that is forgotten.
But if you just remember to keep your eye on the target, the sale and this is a road to get one nothing else matters. Does it?
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year!
Social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MerchantCircle and Twitter are great ways to push your social Media marketing onto your electronic or email marketing to get an even stronger longer lasting use of your marketing effort.
Start with putting your Social media links into your electronic marketing because they are like little magical friend and customer finders. With the viral nature of social media your influence grows exponentially. It is a fact that social sharing increases audience exposure by a factor 3 to 5 times over a simple Forward to Friend request.
Now the measurement side of the equation. Measuring how social media affects your email or electronic marketing isn't all that difficult because most email service providers offer social sharing-tracking as part of their metrics and reporting function. The key is increasing social sharing, growing your audience and measuring how that growth leads to increased sales. And I can only say the sales aspect is what is should be all about, not the sheer number of fiends you collect
So here are ways to make it happen:
1. Reinforce the opportunity to sign up. It may seem strange to be putting a sign-up link in an email that is going out to people who have already opted into your emails, but keep in mind that if what you write and say is any good it will be or might be forwarded and that is where the pay off comes. When the email is shared you now have a new audience to sign up for your mailings or to become a follower of your social media marketing efforts.
2. Build up your call to action. Because ESPs track only the first impression when an email is shared, give all recipients a reason to connect with you directly by including a call to action. The call might be to download a white paper, enter a contest, etc. Use your head on what kind of action you could be asking for. At this point is always a good idea to use a unique URLs or special landing page to help you track where your new recipients are coming. If you need help in this area contact us and we can help you in this regard. I have been producing custom landing pages for customers for over 12 years.
3. Offer incentives. One company offered a gift to subscribers who shared content and got 10 friends to sign up for their newsletter. Their newsletter is now growing by double digits, and so are their sales.
4. Design your emails for multiple platforms and multiple hardware options. These days you have no idea how, when or where your email or newsletter is going to be read. Different browsers were a problem in the past. Now, differing kinds of hardware from computers to iphones and everything in-between.
5. Tailor special emails to your high end social media contacts. Let them know what is happing and let them in on new products and services early and often.
6. Once you get a new member to sign up, monitor each lead source as it moves through the sales pipeline so you can determine what's working and where to allocate future efforts and not when an actual sale occurs, how, when and why so you duplicate the effort and can improve on what you are doing. If you understand your sales cycle from start to finish you can predict with a certain amount of accuracy when they will make their 1st and subsequent purchases.
Larson Notes & Satire: Each kind of marketing you use can and should be tied together. Nothing should be a standalone activity. Why waste the effort of what your spending good time and money to achieve a one shot wonder. You need more bang for the buck. That means cross marketing yourself and all your efforts. Why do something that will get you one look when one thing might be able to get you a half dozen looks? It takes 7 to 9 touches to make a customer. People only see about 1 out of every 3 or 4 outreaches you make. That means it can take anywhere from 27 to 32 sales and marketing outreaches to find and make a customer. I never said marketing was for the weak of heart. If you’re not in it for the long haul don’t waste your time and money.
This is one of the many different ways to get multiple looks off your marketing. In actuality there are hundreds of tricks to get people and friends of people to look at you in all different kinds of ways.
I ways suggest to my telesales customers that they use a direct mail piece to boost what I am doing on the phones. I always suggest that my customers be sure to have not just their telephone number on the piece mailed (and you would be surprised at the number of direct mail pieces that go out without a phone number on it) but that have their web site and email address on it as well, another big thing that is forgotten.
But if you just remember to keep your eye on the target, the sale and this is a road to get one nothing else matters. Does it?
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Get On Facebook NOW!
Have you made your Facebook Fan Page Yet? http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans If not why not? Its quick, it’s easy, it’s free and now Bing is indexing it.
I have been telling you to get a Fan page. Maybe not as much as some of my other advice but since the advent of Facebook Fan pages I have been pushing their use. Now your participation on Facebook was no longer optional but we can almost say it’s mandatory. If you’re not on Facebook you need to be playing catch up.
Bing announced an expansion of its partnership with Facebook and it’s a huge. Bing will be enhancing its search engine results with Facebook Likes. When you search for information on Bing, with “Liked Results” you will now see which of your Facebook friends liked that same result listing.
Bing will also be enhancing its index with Facebook profile search. By pulling in your Facebook friends, Bing is essentially narrowing down your list to those included in your own social graph. Bing is even enabling users to take action and add the friend directly or send them a message.
Now before you start to worry about the Facebook’s privacy which is always suspect, Bing’s “Liked Results” will only be surfacing content that is specifically designated as “public” and linked to a person’s Facebook friends. This will only be the same information anyone could access by viewing their Facebook network directly, except and here is the biggie, it adds greater importance by being presented along with traditional Bing search results. For all you keep it secret people you the User will also be notified when the feature goes live and have an opportunity to disable the functionality if they so choose.
The features are start rolling out as I write with full features expected over the next few weeks – it will initially only be available in the U.S.
Larson Notes & Satire: If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times, don’t say or post anything on the web that you would not want your mother to see.
As for this new Bing launch, you might say, its only Bing, most searches are down with Google. Ok, maybe but do you think for one minute that Google is going to stand by the sidelines and let Bing get one up on them? I don’t. Aside from that Facebook is basically free in cost. I’ll say that you can get into some paid marketing if your business warrants it, but you don’t have to and like any Social Media site if you place your web link on it, it is another link that can be aiming people to and at your web site, which I might add all the search engines like.
If you don’t, it’s no skin off my teeth but every one of my web customers is on Facebook not to mention a few other key Social Media sites and even if I am not a competitor of yours, one of them probably is.
Be seen, be found.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.
I have been telling you to get a Fan page. Maybe not as much as some of my other advice but since the advent of Facebook Fan pages I have been pushing their use. Now your participation on Facebook was no longer optional but we can almost say it’s mandatory. If you’re not on Facebook you need to be playing catch up.
Bing announced an expansion of its partnership with Facebook and it’s a huge. Bing will be enhancing its search engine results with Facebook Likes. When you search for information on Bing, with “Liked Results” you will now see which of your Facebook friends liked that same result listing.
Bing will also be enhancing its index with Facebook profile search. By pulling in your Facebook friends, Bing is essentially narrowing down your list to those included in your own social graph. Bing is even enabling users to take action and add the friend directly or send them a message.
Now before you start to worry about the Facebook’s privacy which is always suspect, Bing’s “Liked Results” will only be surfacing content that is specifically designated as “public” and linked to a person’s Facebook friends. This will only be the same information anyone could access by viewing their Facebook network directly, except and here is the biggie, it adds greater importance by being presented along with traditional Bing search results. For all you keep it secret people you the User will also be notified when the feature goes live and have an opportunity to disable the functionality if they so choose.
The features are start rolling out as I write with full features expected over the next few weeks – it will initially only be available in the U.S.
Larson Notes & Satire: If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times, don’t say or post anything on the web that you would not want your mother to see.
As for this new Bing launch, you might say, its only Bing, most searches are down with Google. Ok, maybe but do you think for one minute that Google is going to stand by the sidelines and let Bing get one up on them? I don’t. Aside from that Facebook is basically free in cost. I’ll say that you can get into some paid marketing if your business warrants it, but you don’t have to and like any Social Media site if you place your web link on it, it is another link that can be aiming people to and at your web site, which I might add all the search engines like.
If you don’t, it’s no skin off my teeth but every one of my web customers is on Facebook not to mention a few other key Social Media sites and even if I am not a competitor of yours, one of them probably is.
Be seen, be found.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Faster New Year Sales
By all accounts I am reading GNP in the Sates will be going up 2.6 up to 5%. Better than going down 2.6 to 5%, but is that good enough? Not for me and it should not be good enough for you either. I dare you. No I double dare you to join in with me to make this the year you more than double your business. No matter that my state is going to raise my income tax by 66.66% and that will cost people their jobs mark my words. But this is not about how the state or any government runs their, sorry, OUR government. It is about how I run my business. So in order to run it you need a plan.
Here are 5 steps you can use to get yourself ready. It is never too late to do your sales planning and forecasting:
1. Assess All Your Business Relationships. Divide your customers up into 3 groups, the top 20%, the second 20%, the bottom 60%. Hopefully by this time you have been able to establish a strong working relationship with your top 20. Hopefully these companies and people have come to rely on you for the service or produ8cts you provide them. Now, sit down with your staff and ask what products or services you are already offering that can piggyback on the coat tails of services to that which you are giving to your top 20.
Next look at your second set of 20. Are you getting all the business you should be from them from your existing sales line? If not get cracking. Work to build your relationships with this second group with the goal so selling them more and pushing them up into the top 20.
At the same time, while we are having fun, maybe you need to fire your bad customers. They are probably sucking the life blood out of your company, in valuable time and resources.
2. Put some sales training money into your budget. Sometimes you need to spend in order to get. So put some money into your budget. Now before you start to spend a dime of that money, sit down and get real. Maybe some of that sales staff are not the people you need. Ok swallow hard, admit your mistakes and let them go. If is much easier to train and motivate people who want to be doing what needs to be done. I am not saying let go the people who don’t say what you want to hear. Maybe they are saying what you need to hear. I am saying let go the people who are not there for the good of you, the company, themselves and each other. Sales is teamwork. Look at pro sports they are always trading to build a better team.
And in case it did not cross your mind, get yourself some training also. All good things start at the top.
3. Get value out of new hires faster. Have you heard the new buzzword? It’s called “onboarding” Onboarding is all about getting new hires up to speed faster. If you can put together a step-by-step process to your sales training you can take part in the benefits of this thought process. It is really about staring early, creating the right network and getting them out working. When I heard this I did kind of laugh because this sounded pretty old school but some companies and people don’t think like I do and need to have a 2 month formal program. Ouch! Talk about a money and time waster. So what is it? Well
First it is about starting early. You need to recruit for cultural, experience and skill set. Then you need a fit to your company’s corporate culture. Yes even a 1 person company has a culture. This is or should be part of the interview process.
Second find or create the right network. You need to be meeting the right people at the right time. In person or online. Makes no difference.
Third. Get those sales people working. Ok sounds really dumb but no reason to put a 1 to 3 month training course in place. This is me talking and I don’t know what I am doing so you may choose not to listen and I will not take offence but I would put them in real life working conditions, almost immediately. I am not saying sink or swim! What I am saying that in hitting the “road” and getting out in front of real prospects they will learn faster and quicker and how things in your company work, both on the inside and the outside and how the whole process form sale to delivery actually work. Stand by your salesperson, but remember that they need to feel a since of contribution to the company. That is why they are in sales.
Forth is the need for standards and accountability. What is the definition of success in your company? When you fail to set standards for your staff or even yourself you have no benchmark to hit. No standard of excellence. How do you know what is good and bad if you don’t or aren’t able to put it down on a piece of paper. When a sales person is or hits 80% of the sales goal or expectation don’t baby them and say that they are making “good progress” or “gosh you almost hit it” Fact is they missed the mark! Or did you fail them? You need manage your sales people in real time. Not quarterly like an accountant but daily or at the worst weekly! Their failure is your failure.
Fifth is the myth of a paycheck. I don’t care what your sales competition is, although I have very definite opinions on the matter which I will at this time keep to myself, but no matter if you are 100% salary or 100% commission or any combination in between. Truth is a sales person or many of them will adjust their standard of living to what they are bringing in or what I call “The Oscar Syndrome” which is that’s “Good Enough”. NO NO NO! It’s not good enough. Do be a settle for kind of Owner of Manager. People, your people what to be the best. They are begging to be the best and it is your job as an owner or manager to let them or help them achieve their true potential.
Larson Notes & Satire: Join me in taking the Larson Challenge to grow your business by 150% or more. I am going to do it. It is down on paper on how I am going to achieve it. I wrote it, now I need to read it daily and then (the hardest part) implement it on a daily no hourly basis!
If I can do it, you can too.
12 Days Of Christmas, no partridge in a pear tree or a couple of turtle doves. No 8 maids milking some cows in your conference room (unless you’re from Wisconsin) or 12 drummers drumming though your office just our 12 Days Of Xmas Telemarketing Special Get 12% more calling time at no extra charge to any 2 month program 12/26/10 thru 1/6/11 / only 1 award per day.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.
Here are 5 steps you can use to get yourself ready. It is never too late to do your sales planning and forecasting:
1. Assess All Your Business Relationships. Divide your customers up into 3 groups, the top 20%, the second 20%, the bottom 60%. Hopefully by this time you have been able to establish a strong working relationship with your top 20. Hopefully these companies and people have come to rely on you for the service or produ8cts you provide them. Now, sit down with your staff and ask what products or services you are already offering that can piggyback on the coat tails of services to that which you are giving to your top 20.
Next look at your second set of 20. Are you getting all the business you should be from them from your existing sales line? If not get cracking. Work to build your relationships with this second group with the goal so selling them more and pushing them up into the top 20.
At the same time, while we are having fun, maybe you need to fire your bad customers. They are probably sucking the life blood out of your company, in valuable time and resources.
2. Put some sales training money into your budget. Sometimes you need to spend in order to get. So put some money into your budget. Now before you start to spend a dime of that money, sit down and get real. Maybe some of that sales staff are not the people you need. Ok swallow hard, admit your mistakes and let them go. If is much easier to train and motivate people who want to be doing what needs to be done. I am not saying let go the people who don’t say what you want to hear. Maybe they are saying what you need to hear. I am saying let go the people who are not there for the good of you, the company, themselves and each other. Sales is teamwork. Look at pro sports they are always trading to build a better team.
And in case it did not cross your mind, get yourself some training also. All good things start at the top.
3. Get value out of new hires faster. Have you heard the new buzzword? It’s called “onboarding” Onboarding is all about getting new hires up to speed faster. If you can put together a step-by-step process to your sales training you can take part in the benefits of this thought process. It is really about staring early, creating the right network and getting them out working. When I heard this I did kind of laugh because this sounded pretty old school but some companies and people don’t think like I do and need to have a 2 month formal program. Ouch! Talk about a money and time waster. So what is it? Well
First it is about starting early. You need to recruit for cultural, experience and skill set. Then you need a fit to your company’s corporate culture. Yes even a 1 person company has a culture. This is or should be part of the interview process.
Second find or create the right network. You need to be meeting the right people at the right time. In person or online. Makes no difference.
Third. Get those sales people working. Ok sounds really dumb but no reason to put a 1 to 3 month training course in place. This is me talking and I don’t know what I am doing so you may choose not to listen and I will not take offence but I would put them in real life working conditions, almost immediately. I am not saying sink or swim! What I am saying that in hitting the “road” and getting out in front of real prospects they will learn faster and quicker and how things in your company work, both on the inside and the outside and how the whole process form sale to delivery actually work. Stand by your salesperson, but remember that they need to feel a since of contribution to the company. That is why they are in sales.
Forth is the need for standards and accountability. What is the definition of success in your company? When you fail to set standards for your staff or even yourself you have no benchmark to hit. No standard of excellence. How do you know what is good and bad if you don’t or aren’t able to put it down on a piece of paper. When a sales person is or hits 80% of the sales goal or expectation don’t baby them and say that they are making “good progress” or “gosh you almost hit it” Fact is they missed the mark! Or did you fail them? You need manage your sales people in real time. Not quarterly like an accountant but daily or at the worst weekly! Their failure is your failure.
Fifth is the myth of a paycheck. I don’t care what your sales competition is, although I have very definite opinions on the matter which I will at this time keep to myself, but no matter if you are 100% salary or 100% commission or any combination in between. Truth is a sales person or many of them will adjust their standard of living to what they are bringing in or what I call “The Oscar Syndrome” which is that’s “Good Enough”. NO NO NO! It’s not good enough. Do be a settle for kind of Owner of Manager. People, your people what to be the best. They are begging to be the best and it is your job as an owner or manager to let them or help them achieve their true potential.
Larson Notes & Satire: Join me in taking the Larson Challenge to grow your business by 150% or more. I am going to do it. It is down on paper on how I am going to achieve it. I wrote it, now I need to read it daily and then (the hardest part) implement it on a daily no hourly basis!
If I can do it, you can too.
12 Days Of Christmas, no partridge in a pear tree or a couple of turtle doves. No 8 maids milking some cows in your conference room (unless you’re from Wisconsin) or 12 drummers drumming though your office just our 12 Days Of Xmas Telemarketing Special Get 12% more calling time at no extra charge to any 2 month program 12/26/10 thru 1/6/11 / only 1 award per day.
Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate
P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.
P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.
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