Last week I collaborated with Trish Bertuzzi & Matt Bertuzzi (from The Bridge Group Inc) and Lori Richardson (CEO of Score More Sales) on an American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) Boston Chapter event. The event was hosted by Cathy Bilafer, Director of Inside Sales and Lead Development at Kronos. Our overarching topic: “Using Content to Move the Sale Forward”. With buyers demanding that salespeople bring value to the table, we advocated the benefits to salespeople of using content to share expertise and insights.

So what do we mean by content?
Content includes:

• Industry reports on trends and new developments
• customer success stories
• ROI Calculators
• implementation guides
• analyst reports
• product information
• training materials
• webinar recordings
• eBooks
• blog posts
• videos
• slide decks
• images…and more.

I began my presentation segment, “Ten Tips for Using Content to Set the Buying Vision”, by asking the assembled 100+ inside sales professionals:

Q: “How many of you use content today in your sales process?”

A: Less then 15% raised their hands.

Was this answer a surprise? A bit, as I would have thought more hands would go up. At the same time it points to:

1. The opportunity for salespeople to differentiate themselves from other salespeople if they do begin to use content in their selling process.
2. The opportunity for Marketing and Sales to collaborate to bring the value of all that marketing content into the hands of salespeople for the last mile message delivery to potential customers.
3. How sales leaders can help their sales representatives become respected experts.

Content is now a centerpiece of business-to-business (B2B) inbound marketing. Marketers are regularly creating content to help attract potential buyers to their companies. Potential clients are consuming this content. In fact, data from IDG shows that IT decision makers consume on average nine (9) pieces of content during the purchase process.

Sharing content CAN increase a salesperson’s opportunity to win each deal.

The reality is buyers are doing their own research. Left to their own devices, buyers will not typically speak with a sales rep until they are roughly 2/3 through the buying process. At the same time, buyers tell us they respect and trust the person who helps them set the “buying vision” and go with the vendor who does more often then not. Said differently, the vendor who disrupts a client’s satisfaction with the status quo—by articulating a better outcome with a clear path to achieving it—most often wins the deal. Sharing valuable content to educate is one way a salesperson can engage a potential buyer early on—ideally even before the prospect realizes there is a problem.

There is a lot written on the importance of aligning marketing and sales to achieve the ultimate goal of growing revenues. Most marketing organizations are creating a lot of content to help create leads. I see a huge opportunity for marketing and sales to collaborate on helping sales reps learn how best to use content to drive revenue.

How are you using content in the sales process?

All companies strive for smart growth in revenue and profits. How do you align employees around a single vision and metric that creates the right culture to achieve that smart growth?

I suggest setting a goal that 100% of your clients are referenceable.

Here’s why:

1. 100% referenceable is a mindset. It permeates the entire organization. It means even if a client decides to stop doing business with you, they should be referenceable. They should not leave you because of dissatisfaction with your company or product. In fact, they should still be fans. They should leave because there was no longer a fit between their needs and your service. The real test is that they will be a good reference for you and will still refer people they know to you where they think there is a good fit between you and the prospective client.
2. It aligns everyone in the company around a shared vision and signing the right clients to be set up for success. Everyone works together to create a remarkable client experience.
3. It builds a strong revenue base from which to grow. Today the easiest revenue dollar for any organization is the revenue it gets from its current clients. If next year you can keep all the revenue you have, then growth is much easier. Unfortunately, too often we focus on new sales and how we treat our current clients becomes secondary.

So how do you measure client satisfaction—having 100% referenceability?

Many folks will say this is an unattainable goal. But I ask: would you ever design a system that says it is okay for clients not to have a really good experience?

Ali Riaz, now CEO of Attivio (www.attivio.com), was the person who taught me the concept of 100% referenceable client base. Ali set this is a goal when he and SId Probstein (@sidprobstein) founded Attivio.

I had been involved in subscription businesses since I started working back in the late 70′s. In those businesses, a key metric was your renewal rate. Our goal was renewal rates of 98% per year. Yes, only a 2% loss rate for the year. The only clients we could tolerate losing were those that went out of business.

That is why Ali’s concept of 100% referenceable strongly resonates with me. Getting a 100% renewal rate was almost impossible given clients could go out of business or there might not be a fit between their need and your product any more. So 100% referenceable meant you could lose a client, but they had to be referenceable. That means any person could call them and they would provide a positive reference.

Why is 100% referenceable so important?

Referrals for new clients will be your least expensive cost of acquiring new clients. If clients love you, they will refer people to you. Yes, they have to LOVE you, not like you, to refer.

Over the next few months we will look for ideas on things you can do to make clients love you.

What are you doing to make your clients LOVE you?

P.S. Creating a 100% referenceable mindset and culture pays off: CONGRATULATIONS to the Attivio team for raising $34 Million in growth funding from Oak Investment Partners! Read more here.

One of the most gratifying aspects of working in a startup is working closely with our early adopters. These folks are as passionate as we are about our product and mission. They are the fuel that keeps us going at warp speed. They share feedback (good, bad and just plain ugly) and help us gain (and regain) clarity to achieve our vision.

David Marinac, President and CEO of StandupPouches.net has been a huge fan of Postwire from the very beginning. He is a supplier of customized packaging, specifically stand up pouches used for food, pet treats, soaps and more. David says Postwire helps his high-touch business respond faster and more completely to win more business.

No stranger to video, David once mentioned he hoped to promote Postwire on video. Still, we were blown away when this polished and glowing testimonial arrived unannounced the other day. Of course, we couldn’t help ourselves and wanted to share it right away with you here.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you, David.

-The Postwire Team

Postwire lets you collect & organize all of your content and then select & publish private, personalized, visual views of it for each prospect, client, customer, or member. You can upload your own thumbnail images and edit descriptive text, as well as control the placement of content items.

Drag ‘n Drop

More often than not, the salesperson who helps a buyer see the way to achieving a greater outcome than sticking with the status quo is the salesperson who wins the business. In fact, according to Forrester Research, 65% of the time a potential client will buy from the salesperson who sets his buying vision.

In presenting a point of view to a prospect, sales reps often share information. A question for many is how much info to share with a prospective client and when to share it.

One strategy for presenting information to set the buying vision can be compared to the very popular poker game, Texas Hold’em. In this card game, players typically make single bets after each card is shown. Eventually, one card player might sense an opportunity and go all in, placing all of her chips on the table because she believes her hand will win against all others. This forces everyone else to fold or match her bet.

Here’s how I connect this card playing metaphor to a content sharing strategy for salespeople to aid in setting the buying vision:

• Situation 1: When your prospect doesn’t yet know he has a problem, share information deliberately, one card at a time.
• Situation 2: When your prospect realizes he has a problem and is considering taking action, go all in laying down all of your cards.

Building Awareness of a Better Outcome

In the first situation, ignorance is bliss and the prospect is in learning mode. He’s very busy and craves simple. In content sharing terms, simple means sharing a single piece of content. For example, one really good article that talks about why not taking action has negative consequences–like why not addressing energy efficiency in a data center causes significant issues beyond cost. If your prospect shows interest by reading this article, then you can suggest other related educational content. You begin to set the buying vision, one card and single bet at a time. Jill Konrath has a wonderful concept  TMTQ (Too Much Too Quick).  Read it here.

Creating Confidence in Your Solution

In Situation 2, the buyer already knows he has a problem and is actively seeking solutions. This is your chance to show him a complete path to success. Yes, describe your solution, but also provide information on other options he might consider as alternatives. Present likely outcomes and what it’s like to do business with you. Your goal here is to impress him by providing the relevant information in an organized fashion to enable him to quickly and confidently make a decision. In this case, your information helps him see you as the “right” partner. Knowing what he reads gives you insights to enrich your conversations and openly address any concerns. Just as Texas Hold’em is played with 7 cards, restrict your all-in information sharing to 7 or fewer pieces of content.

Determine your prospect’s concerns and bring content addressing them to the table–share the right content in the right context. It’s not always easy to assess when less is more. When in doubt, share only what matters to avoid overwhelming. Be poised for when the opportunity is ripe to go all-in.

How are you using content in your sales process?

“The most important client is the one you already have.”

Here are tips to stay connected, share new ideas & grow revenue:

• Share resources on a personalized Postwire Page that reflect the particular needs of each client to get started after the deal is closed, get the most out of the product or get the contract renewed.
• Stay in touch and keep it real by adding third party perspectives on topics your client cares about.
• You know that new webinar recording or thought leadership ebook developed to generate leads—share it with existing clients who’ll value it, too!
• Remind clients of everything you offer and include links to new offers for related products & services.
• Use the Page to let new users or departments know how you are helping others at the company today.

How to Upload a Prettier Image

Upload any image you want. Consider taking a screenshot of the nice graphics in your ebook. Here’s how:

1. View the PDF document.
2. Take a screenshot of the graphics you like:
   How to Take a Screenshot in Microsoft Windows
   How to Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X
3. Edit the content item.
4. Click Can’t find a good image?
5. Click Upload an image.
6. Select the image file to upload.
7. Use the cropper.
8. Ta dah!

From a Postwire user…

Michael Heffner, Enterprise Sales Account Manager from Tableau Software says:

“I make a Postwire Page for each account. I modify the content titles to state clearly what each item is and also upload attractive images. My customers love Postwire because it gives them one place to go.

I love it because there’s no better way to understand what content customers care about. It’s amazing to see customer behavior!”

The last week of August we rocked with Cyndi Lauper and 2800 others in Boston at Hubspot‘s annual user conference, Inbound 2012. As Hubspotters and other inbound marketing enthusiasts know, it’s much easier to start a conversation with someone who’s interested in what you have to say. And the conversations we had with folks who stopped by Postwire’s sponsor table flowed! Postwire naturally picks up where Hubspot leaves off by making it easy to pass the content baton to salespeople and other client-facing employees to continue client conversations.

In speaking with the #Inbound12 crowd, we learned that some folks plan to use Postwire to educate buyers by anticipating and answering the questions buyers must ask to make purchase decisions. There were others who made a beeline to our sponsor table from Laura Fitton’s breakout session on “Inbound PR”. Laura plugged Postwire as a way to build relationships and share your ideas to attract media attention “without being a self-promotional jerk”. Several small business owners saw ways to differentiate their services using Postwire. I especially enjoyed meeting a woman who owns a doggie daycare and training business. She was excited about creating a Postwire Page for each client to provide educational materials & short videos capturing the away-from-home antics of her clients’ beloved pets!

Yes, Inbound 2012 was awesome! A hearty welcome to all of our new Inbound 2012 friends!

Who’s this “Someone”?

Knowing when a prospect or client engages with the information you share is one of the features many Postwire users love. Postwire’s tracking reporting gives you feedback you might not otherwise get, helping you to respond faster with greater insight. But who is this “Someone from Asia Pacific Network Information Centre near San Jose, CA – US has viewed your Page Inbound12 Highlights“? Want to learn more? Read the full blog post: How Does Postwire Tracking Work?

4 Reasons Your Client Wants Their Own
(FREE) Postwire Account

1. To comment on your Postwire Page.
2. To avoid hunting through the Inbox for the Page link.
3. To invite colleagues to view and discuss your cool content.
4. To keep connected with their own clients, too!

Knowing when a prospect or client engages with the information you share is one of the features many Postwire users love. Postwire’s tracking reporting gives users feedback they might not otherwise get, helping them to respond faster with greater insight.

Postwire reports as much information as it possibly can on who views what when. But because we support so many different use scenarios, the level of detail varies in the tracking information we report.

For example, you can invite people to the Page using the Postwire web interface. You can also share a direct link to a Postwire Page by copying and pasting it from your browser address bar or by using the Outlook Postwire Plugin. Let’s look at the differences in tracking reporting when you share a link to a Postwire Page in each of these two ways.

Invite People to Page

When you Invite People to Page from within Postwire’s web interface, Postwire generates an unique link for each invitee. If 10 people are invited to the same Postwire Page, for example, Postwire generates 10 unique urls pointing to the same Page. Postwire includes this unique link in the email invite it creates and sends to each person on your behalf. And because we only share the unique link by sending it to one particular email address, we make the assumption that the person clicking the link is indeed the owner of the email address and report subsequent Page tracking activity using the invitee’s email address. Once this person gets a Postwire account, Postwire flips all tracking reporting to the user’s registered name.

Sharing a Direct Link to a Postwire Page
(Who is this “Someone”?)

You can also share a direct link to a Postwire Page by copying the url to the Page from your browser address bar and pasting it into an email message that you send from your email client. In essence, this is what the Outlook Postwire plugin allows you to do—insert a direct link to a Postwire Page that you make from within Outlook. The Outlook Postwire plugin simply streamlines this workflow.

When using the Outlook Postwire plugin—or providing someone a direct link to a Postwire Page—be aware that you do not receive tracking notifications tied to a particular person’s name or email address. This is because you could very well be sharing that same link with more than one person by sending it to multiple email addresses on the same To: line, for example—or even by sharing the direct link more widely via a public tweet—and Postwire has no way of discerning who is who.

The tracking cookie placed on each person who clicks that same direct link makes everyone seem as if they are the same person. Postwire cannot with certainty identify exactly who is clicking the link until the person confirms his or her identity by registering with Postwire.

Even so, when the direct link to a Postwire Page is viewed, Postwire still provides you with lots of intelligence. Using Reverse IP Lookup info, Postwire can tell you that:

• “Someone” …
• from a device connected to a network using a particular Internet Service Provider (ISP)—or a registereed domain when it is made available …
• located near an approximate geographic area …
• viewed a specifically-named Postwire Page.

Typically when a Postwire Page link is known to have been shared with only one person via email, this info is sufficient to connect the dots and deduct that the person with whom you shared the link is the same person who viewed the Page.

Unmask the Someones by Inviting People to Page

You can unmask the “Someones” and get more tracking reporting by email address or name by encouraging your clients to invite their colleagues to view and discuss the information you’ve shared on your Page from postwire.com (they can register for a free account), rather than forwarding an email with the Page link.

Rest assured, no matter how a link to a Postwire Page was shared, once a person who has been cookied by Postwire registers for Postwire, Postwire reports all of the person’s past and future activity using his or her registered name.

Clear as mud? We’re trying our best to demystify Postwire’s tracking reporting. No doubt—in our mobile, networked world, with most users using multiple devices connected via different networks, it can get confusing. Still got questions? Post them here or reach out to our support folks via live chat while logged on to Postwire.

We hope you enjoy this guest blog post written by Michael Boyette, the executive editor of the Rapid Learning Institute Selling Essentials e-learning site and editor of the Top Sales Dog Blog. 

Contact Michael Boyette via email at topsalesdog@rapidlearninginstitute.com or connect via Twitter.

Growing your business is hard enough as it is. So of course the last thing you need is to worry about steady, reliable customers leaving you for no reason.

Here’s the thing; your customer could be sending you a message that could be a precursor to jumping ship. It’s up to you to notice that message and act on it before they’re gone. The good news is there is a way to spot these opportunities before they lead to trouble.

Think of your customers like an iceberg.

At best, about five percent of what they are actually thinking is on display at any given time.

Even the most loyal customers have reasons for keeping you in the dark. Perhaps they’re worried you will take advantage of their business. Maybe they’re also in talks with another salesperson and trying to keep it quiet. So they closely cling to their cards and say what you want to hear. Right until it’s too late for you to do anything about it.

But customers often drop hints that something’s wrong. These seemingly throwaway remarks are similar to icebergs: On the surface, they don’t seem like much to worry about. But, in reality, trouble lies just below the surface.

In business, there is no such thing as an offhand remark. Any comment that relates to the existing relationship, the customer’s operations, or your products and services requires your immediate, undivided attention.

Even more troubling, “conversational icebergs” often are buried in seemingly positive comments. Maybe your buyer is trying to avoid confrontation or soften the insult, so they bury the criticism alongside some good words. For sales professionals, it can be easy to listen to the flattering remark and miss the actual meaning.

Conversational icebergs generally come in the form of statements like these:

• “Your software is really powerful. I wish the user interface was a little easier to understand, but overall it was good.”

• “The new equipment works fine. It’s just that some of my people are really low-tech. We’ll have to spend a lot of time training them.”

• “Though your prices are a little high, I told my supervisor we appreciate your great service.”

• “I’m going to get your invoice paid as soon as possible. Accounting just needs to see an itemized list of your charges.”

Each of these statements has concerns embedded within them, which could easily be overlooked. But when you do spot them, it’s time to drop everything and mend the underlying difficulty. Some examples:

• “You said the user interface could be easier. What kinds of problems are you encountering?”

• “You said some of your people will need training? Is that something we need to address?

• “Help me understand why your boss thought our prices are too high.”

• “I’ll be happy to provide Accounting with that itemized backup. But they never asked for it before. What’s up?”

Of course, sometimes you’ll need to go looking for conversational icebergs. How can you do that? By sending out signals, or pings, and listening to the response.

Pings are proactive: They come from you – not your customer.

You send them out and listen for a response. Here are some examples:

• “We just sent you our first invoice – I just want to confirm it included all the information your accounting department needed.”

• “In the past, we have allowed three business days to ensure prompt delivery times. Is this still sufficient to meet your demands?”

• “I understand YOU recognize our value proposition, but is your boss on the same page with this? Should we explain it to him in further detail?”

Of course, you should not dwell on the downfalls or ping your buyers too often. You also don’t want to solicit vague questions such as “Are we doing well?” But asking specific questions designed to ensure customers are receiving what they want or anticipate can help you avoid disaster.

It’s been three months since we launched Postwire on stage in front of the bright lights at TechCrunch Disrupt and our users have been amazing.  Not a day goes by that we don’t see a new use case that we didn’t expect.  In addition to sales & sales enablement, service delivery, and account management, we have people using Postwire in some really cool ways: a personalized resume, to share videos in a massage therapy class, to keep student athletes focused over the summer, and many more.

At least once a day, we get a user on live chat or via a support email asking why the people invited to a Postwire page can see one another’s name & email.  Why doesn’t the page work like a public webpage?  In one case, a salesperson was inviting all of his prospects to the same Postwire page.  When one of them asked about her competition who were also invited to the page, he was very embarrassed because he didn’t realize they could see one another.

What this user was trying to do was to use his Postwire page as “bait” to see if any of his prospects were interested.  He was using the real-time view notification to tell him who to follow up with.  As I wrote in January, we do not believe we can build a long-term business on a click tracking utility.  Therefore, we do not make it easy to make “bait” pages in Postwire.  All it takes is one comment on the page and you need new bait because everyone will see that comment.  It’s a lot of work…and we like it that way.

Postwire can change the way people interact with businesses.  We believe in a world where when you buy a complex product, you will not only acquire the product but also some expertise in the domain.  When you hire a therapist, you learn how to manage yourself to get better.  When you hire an interior decorator, you may learn about how colors and textures compliment each other.  To be successful in todays era of overwhelming content, businesses, especially the sales teams, need to change from a numbers game to being personal concierges to their customers and clients.  Businesses who educate the best will win.

Marketing teams and the media are cranking out content faster than most people can keep up with.  When somebody calls a sales rep or hires an expert, they are expecting them to curate the content and make it specific to them.  This is what we’re building Postwire for.  Postwire is a system where businesses can organize all of their content, and then publish personalized, visual, views of that content for each prospect, client, customer, or member.

We don’t think you can be personalized and generic at the same time, and that’s why we’re not going public anytime soon.

Photo courtesy of mollybob