December 2010 Archives

What do you want to achieve in 2011?  It seems like a simple enough question, but setting specific and measurable goals isn't as easy as it sounds. I find that the best way to set goals is to start by thinking broadly - what's my long term goal? Then I break it down - what steps do I need to take to reach that goal?

Here are ten great sales goals to get you started:

1. Prospect every day. Make cold calling and researching new prospects part of your daily routine.

2. Prepare. Do your due diligence and research your prospects and their companies before contacting them.

3. Ask quality questions. Ask thoughtful, open-ended questions to uncover your prospect's needs. And listen to the answers!

4. Provide value. Think about your prospect's issues and be able to articulate how your solution will impact their bottom line.

5. Sell solutions. Don't rely on your newest marketing material and simply push the latest product. Find out what your prospect's issues are and demonstrate how your product or service will provide a solution.  

Every December BuyerZone holds its annual
Yankee Swap. If you aren't familiar with the concept -everyone brings in a small gift and based on a randomly drawn number, has a chance to pick a gift from the pile and then swap with someone else if so desired. If you draw a high number, you get to swap later in the game - increasing your chances of walking away with the item that you coveted most. If you pick a low number, you swap early, but risk losing your item to someone with a higher number. Invariably, the event turns to a sort of fun chaos.

So what can we apply from this event to the sales process?

Set a date for the event. Whether you are sending over information after an initial call or discussing your most recent contract proposal, make sure that you confirm a specific date to touch base again. Let the prospect know, in advance, when and how you will follow-up. Try to accommodate their preferences while maintaining control over the conversation. Then, of course, make sure that you follow through. It not only reflects poorly on you, but also on your company if you aren't keeping your appointments.

Don't judge a gift by the wrapping paper. It is easy to judge leads. But do you give up on leads just because of preconceived notions about the quality? Even the most unlikely leads may surprise you, just like a gift you receive in the swap could turn out to be something you end up really liking.

I was reading Brian Carroll's great post on the things that haven't changed in marketing over the course of his career, and it really resonated: finding the constants in your industry or occupation is a great way to stay focused on the essentials.

But it got me thinking, what are the things that have changed? Sure, we're all a little grayer, and there's that pesky Internet thing, and of course we all commute in our flying jet cars. But beyond the obvious (and fanciful), what are the biggest changes that have or will transform lead generation and marketing?

As 2010 winds down, we thought it would be worth recapping some of the most popular posts from this year in case you missed one, or if you want to review one of the topics we covered in detail.

This was our first year authoring this blog, and we hope you've enjoyed our thoughts on the world of lead generation. Of course, we're still new at this, so please let us know what you like and what we could do better.

Without further ado, the top 10 posts this year:

10. The Importance of Speed-to-Call in the Sales Process - our friends at Leads 360 talk about the need to follow-up on leads, quickly.

9. Selling Tips for New Sales Representatives - hiring a new salesperson? Here are some thoughts on getting them up and running smoothly.

8. Insights on the Construction Buyer -  key findings from our research on how to best sell to people looking for buy construction equipment.

7. Nine Online Sales Tools Worth the Money - learn about nine tools that are worth the money and give you more control in how you manage your time, connect with clients and perform sales operations.

6. Five SEO No-No's - five SEO tactics you should absolutely, positively never do.

With the WikiLeaks data drop all over the news lately, it got us thinking: what secrets about your business would you not want getting out into the public domain?

Here's a few we can think of right away:

Marketing and sales alignment: just a myth.

Sure, alignment between marketing and sales is all the rage, but deep inside your business is it really happening? Is sales selling how they want to sell, despite the best efforts of your marketing team? Is your marketing team not listening to valuable input from the folks on the front lines? If so, 2011 seems like a great time to actually get in sync - for real.

Not all leads are created equal.

Are you purposely ignoring the leads that may take a little more effort to nurture and close? It makes all the sense in the world to prioritize how to follow-up on leads - after all, some are better than others. But that doesn't mean you should throw out a lead. How would you feel if you inquired into a business and were essentially ignored?

Customers say/do the darndest things.

Face it - you've done it before: talked about a customer behind their back to a coworker or whoever will listen. Putting aside the fact that your customers pay the bills, be careful what you say, especially in a trackable, stored message like an email or an IM. Do you think employees of Gawker thought that their internal communications would be shown to the world? Of course not. So, what are you saying about your customers?

Marketing spin.

Marketers love to boast how their product will save you tons of time and money or is X faster than the competition. In many cases, it's true. But we all know there's always a little spin. OK, sometimes more than just spin. How much of your marketing copy and claims are totally, positively true?


Any other secrets you wouldn't want exposed? Don't worry - we'll allow you to use a fake name in the comments below so your secret will stay safe!

In previous posts, we've discussed using open ended questions to help discover a prospect's issues, budget and goals. Occasionally, despite uncovering the issues and providing a valuable solution, your sale stops moving forward.

How can you help move a stalling prospect to a close? It's time to change gears and to ask direct questions to solicit more specific answers. Asking direct questions can be the difference between winning business and letting the sales process drag on from month to month.

"The response rates are really low."
"People get too much email already."
"We only made 3 sales from the last email - and we sent that to 10,000 names!"

It's easy to bash on email marketing: sometimes, the basic stats are embarrassing. Open rates below 20%, click through rates in the single digits - it's discouraging and can make you feel like it's just not worth it. But don't give up. As Forrester found, "66% of marketers say that email is their most cost-effective marketing tool," and if you take a few simple steps, it can be effective for you, as well.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the holidays can cause a slippery slope of declined productivity. So, let's keep our eyes on sales and marketing trends for 2011 so that we don't start the New Year off on the wrong foot.

Here is a roundup of trends for 2011:
Thursday, December 16, at 1 pm ET eMarketer will hold a FREE webinar -- Key Digital Trends for 2011. You'll find out what to expect in mobile, social media and online advertising, including:

• How social network ad spending is catching up to other media

• How targeting consumers by location will evolve

• What real-time bidding is and how it will change your job

ZoomInfo's blog, Follow the Lead, also recently posted an article on business to business sales trends for 2011. They site DIY as one of the trends:

"D-I-Y" Do It Yourself: Salespeople must establish themselves as their own brand. In an increasingly digital age - with inbound marketing as important as outbound marketing - sales reps have to leverage the Web and social media to differentiate themselves.

In terms of social media, we expect to see more advanced integration, Google jumping on the social bandwagon, tablet vs. mobile wars, and more. Check out these social predictions and more from the Harvard Business Review.

Lastly, I found two interesting articles from international bloggers. The first on 2011 Demand Creation Trends from the Canadian Marketing Association. This is a shorter read, but still offers some good insight as to what we might expect out of the coming year. The second article is a great Australian sales blog post on the 12 Sales Trends for 2011. They pose a few creative ideas on prospecting, incentives, and CRM.

Have you read any interesting sales and marketing predictions for 2011?