Sales is my client

As a Marketing guy and at the end of every day – Sales is my client. Since the data in Salesforce.com can sometimes be a bit off, I’ve created little tricks that my clients seem to love as it makes their life easier. This one came about from watching an inside rep I was working with.  This also makes complete sense as Salesforce.com should be configured to only include people that have scored a certain number of points and or raised their hands for specific content/inclusion.

The rep had two screens open while they were making calls. They were cutting the name out of Salesforce and pasting it into Linked in as the data inside Linked in appeared to be current and they could see groups, comments, and other people within the company for circle of influence selling and finding a referral within their network. It seemed like a lot of work and was slowing their productivity proven by their daily activity log (Even though the data in Linked in helped them achieve their quota every month).

Create a Linked In Button

I created a very simple Salesforce.com button mash-up which when clicked will open a Linked in page and deposit Lead, Contact or Account Data into the appropriate fields and look for that person who is currently employed at the company. This simple button helped the rep exceed their quota the very next month.

To get it done you’ve got to be an Administrator and follow the below steps:

1. GOTO > Your Name > Setup > Customize > Leads > Buttons and Links > Custom Buttons and Links > New
2. For a Label call it “Linkedin Search” or whatever else you want
3. For a Display Type click the radio button > Detail Page Button
4. For Behavior Select > Display in New Window from the drop down list
5. For Content Source Select > URL from the drop down list
6. In the large box cut and paste the below text:

http://www.linkedin.com/search/fpsearch?fname=

{!Lead.FirstName}&
lname={!Lead.LastName}&company={!Lead.Company}&
currentCompany=C&searchLocationType=I&
countryCode=us&keepFacets=keepFacets&page_num=1&ppl
SearchOrigin=ADVS&viewCriteria=2&sortCriteria=R&redir=redir

Remember the button will not be shown unless you GOTO > Your Name > Setup > Customize > Leads > Page Layout > Edit

Then Click “Buttons” and drag and drop “Linked in Search” into the custom buttons box at the top of the Lead Sample. Saving your work afterwards.

That’s it…Most Sales reps will call you a hero for doing it. Give us a call if you have any difficulty.

Never forget that you’re selling to people.

Sales are the backbone of every successful company and it’s always a good idea to study up on how to improve your sales ability through one to one communication.  In order to thrive, sales must engage personally though not necessarily in person – this concept is not always easy to grasp.  You can create personal engagements with the use of specific content that is relevant to the folks your sending it to.  This information could be in an email, tweet, landing page, text, or phone call.  Your not communicating to a company, your conversing with a person who has their own fears and concerns that you need to address.  Just because they aren’t sitting across from you doesn’t make the fear disappear.  It’s in you best interest to find out what their concerns are so take the time to do so.

Learn to say no

All leads are not created equal – not every customer is a fit. The sooner that you learn this and put it into practice, the quicker you will be able to move on to clients that are going to help you produce references and generate flows of revenue. Marketing will qualify through lead scoring in an attempt to let you know which targets have higher probability for you. Actionable insight is key for one to one sales communication. You need to learn to decipher who is a prospect in the market to buy your product and who will just waste your time. Look for the trigger event.  Just because they downloaded a paper does not make them a lead. It might sound harsh but time is money and yours does matter. Do not get clogged up with prospects you know cannot or will not be interested in your product.

Close the Right Thing

Have you ever been asked for a commitment way to early in the process?  I always think of car sales asking me – “how can I get you to buy today?”.  Instead of using a static tactic, try getting a smaller commitment instead. Not a commitment to buy, but a commitment for more of your prospects time for one to one communication, in return you give the prospect more of your time. Use this time in a persistent manner to show them more of your value, customer successes, or examples of your services that they care about. The less pressure you put on them, the more likely they are to want your services. There is no excuse to not ask for a commitment – just make sure its the right one.

Timing is Everything

They may be the right prospect however they are not primed to buy. You may think it’s a bad idea to push them back to Marketing to include them in a nurturing campaign and that you need to control the flow. Talk yourself out of it, control is an illusion and the prospect is already searching the web for data points.   You (may) run no risk at this stage of pushing back to Marketing with a request to nurture. I always felt its worth the risk as you need to be focused on time management.  You have prospects that are primed to buy and you need to be talking to them.  This point is VERY specific to the prospect and you need to be very conscious of what you are doing. Marketing groups will electronically communicate with the prospects until they pop up again with a more specific interest that you can personally address.

Skip the Company History

Prospects do not necessarily care about how your company was founded and how much of a profit you made last year. Keep your presentations relevant to the them and their concerns. Get the prospect emotionally involved with personal stories relating to the benefits of your products of services. Mention their competitors and or friends on Linked In that are using your products. Make your prospect feel like they have to have your product or they will be left out. It’s about them – not your company.

Give Them a Laugh

No one wants to buy a product from someone who is not excited or enthused about what they are trying to sell. People can tell when you’re passionate – it’s hard to fake – so relax with them. Do not focus on how you are going to sell your prospect, but instead focus on the value you are delivering and how you can motivate them to understand your services and the fit between you both – one to one.

Sales One on One Communication

Most people want to feel like they are special and indeed, every prospect is unique and special in their own way. Let them know how you can provide one on one personal service through tailored messages based entirely upon their requirements and interest characteristics.

Building Trust through Content

Before you can sell your services to a customer, you need to build a relationship. In business, the relationship between the salesperson and the customer is based on a foundation of trust.

One of the easiest ways to generate profitable publicity and to build a foundation of trust is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche. The point is to create a reputation as being the source for information about your product or service. – and the best way to provide information is via content.

Here’s six ways to use content to increase sales:

Be the Expert

First impressions are everything, and chances are your customer will first ‘meet’ you on your website. In a study by FOCUS two-thirds of a prospects mind is made up prior to engaging a sales rep. So be sure to fill your site with content that establishes you as a well-informed authority on your product or service. Your website should not be a supermarket of content with relevant  information buried under layers of lingo and buzz words.  Creating landing pages which are specific to the individuals you are trying to converse with is important.  This is the cornerstone of trust.

Don’t Sell, Teach

People love to buy stuff, but they hate to feel sold. Avoid this turnoff and focus your content as providing information. Fill your website with educational, tutorial-style content that will decrease sales resistance. Create content that allows the viewer to self direct their education. Consider using Video, PDF’s, Slides, Pictures, Lists and anything else that will speak to them about their concerns.

Don’t Just Tell, Show

Video is an excellent way to provide engaging content to your potential clients in a unique format. Consider making a how-to video. If you make a demonstration video, the content should focus on the benefits of the product or service.  Video does not have to be overly produced consider – business casual video.  Clean and clear recordings with good audio conveys and honest and direct approach which will be appreciated.

Engage

Follow blogs and social media sites that deal with your product or service to see what customers are talking about. And then engage with them in a conversation by offering pointers, answers and advice.

Write for Others

Chances are there’s a trade publication, blog or site dealing with your sector. Why not write a guest article for it? Just make sure the article doesn’t preach but provides valuable information to the reader.

Don’t Forget SEO

When writing your content, don’t forget to make sure it’s search engine optimized. Customers will only find you if you show up on the search engine results!

Customer testimonials are typically hard to get. I thought I’d list a quick way that I have gotten video testimonials from customers in the past using flip cameras and dropbox.

1. Step one buy some video cameras Kodak Playtouch ($179) or Flip Cameras ($80) with your loaded logo (as of today you still can) – see picture to the right.
2. Step two send the cameras to your clients with an email & document asking them to find a quiet room that’s well lit.
3. Step three ask them to turn the camera on, sit in front and read the questions aloud and then answer (its also helpful to send a “best practices how to record”).
4. Step four ask them to upload the raw footage to your dropbox folder you have just shared with them – or ship the camera back.
5. Step five edit the video down to under 1:00 in total time.
6. Step six load the content to your site with appropriate tracking codes to see who watches and what they do next (don’t forget a call to action).
7. Step seven ask for their final approval and tell them to keep the flip as a gift.

Marketing should exploit the immediate connection and effectiveness of using video in their referral process. Video is an effective and simple way to make a connection. These types of clean videos come across as very honest as there is very little “production”. I’ve gotten five testimonials completed in 30 days using this method.

It might be obvious to some but the web is becoming a broadcast system. People love consuming content this way and it really has an impact. You don’t need large budgets or time to enable this component of your demand generation marketing engine.

We’ve found a very nice microphone that will work with the Kodak Zi8, Canon DSLR’s and a lot of cameras that allow a headphone (1/8″) microphone input jack.  It’s the Sony ECM-AW3 Wireless Micriphone (Click Here To See The Mic).  The mic works pretty great, take a look at the video below for my test review, technical specs and where you can buy this wireless microphone.

Pros:

• Fairly Inexpensive ($160 – Amazon)
• Easy To Use
• Great Sound
• Works on Many Cameras
• Package Comes With Needed Cables
• Uses 2 AAA Batteries (Not Included but No Digging at Radio Shack for Button Batteries)
• Portable & Easy To Move Around With
• Automatically Reconnects When Walking Back Into Range
• 3 Hour Battery Life

Cons:

• The Mic Is Large, Hard to Hide
• No Way To Listen To Audio While Recording (Unless Your Camera Supports It)
• Bright Blue LED Gives It Away (Does Come With A Cover)
• Very Open Mic (Will Pick Up A Lot Of Background Noise)

Please let me know if you have any test cases you would like to see or have any questions.  Just comment away!

Here is a quick app showing you how to create your scripts and offers the script template download. Comment below if you have any questions.

When prepping for your shoot, remind your subject to wear solid colors instead of stripes or other designs that have harsh lines. The lines and stripes can cause distortion when being encoded.

Clothing Guidelines For Men and Women:

• men –  wear a medium to dark sports jacket and an colored shirt like blue, green or yellow etc. If you wear a tie you can wear a white shirt.
• Women – wear bright solid colors, florals or wide patterns. You can wear a dark jacket with a colorful shirt as well.

General Guidelines:

• Avoid wearing pinstripes of any kind.
• Don’t wear predominately black or white shirts or sweaters (color is nice, the camera loves color(
• Avoid wearing skin colored clothing. There should be some contrast between you and your clothing. No dull colors!
• If you are doing whiteboard talks bring a colored polo shirt as well as a dress shirt. Sport coats are optional, but should NOT be dark colored so as to avoid too much contrast with the whiteboard (a problem with camera exposures).
• Avoid silk, cotton is best.
• It is always helpful to bring a change of cloths.

Framing your subject properly makes it much easier for a viewer to follow along with the video. Having the subject to high or low in the picture can make them look drowned out which can lead to viewer drop-off. The term for the space above the subjects head is called headroom. Here are three examples of headroom.

Too Much Headroom	Too Little Headroom	Perfect Headroom

It’s also good to think of your screen being split into thirds both horizontally and vertically. Typically when shooting you want to aim to have your subject centered to one of the vertical lines in the viewfinder. See Below for Example:

As you can see we have our subject to the right of the fame looking to the left of the camera. To achieve this you just need the subject to keep their body facing the camera or the interviewer and have them sit between 1-3 feet from the side of the camera.

Click Here To Download Setting Up Your Shot

Your customers and prospects love to learn from each other. Getting clients to talk about their experience – both what worked and what failed – is very valuable in helping to create good thought leadership content and building trust.  That is why I  suggest you think first about the information the visitor or viewer wants to learn when creating a video “customer testimonial”.  Think of it not as a testimonial, but as sharing an experience.  That will set the stage for compelling content. This is especially valuable when the customer shares their story on video – it is authentic and the words are their words.

At Constant Contact, they are arming many people with Flip cameras to capture customer success stories.  This content is proving very valuable and a great way to get prospects to engage with Constant Contact.  Here from Judy Gern, Director of Conversion Marketing at Constant Contact during a panel discussion we co-sponsored in the Boston area last spring

Some thoughts on creating the video customer testimonials:

1.  Remember your audience -  Remember the prime goal of a customer testimonial is to share learning’s with your audience, not to promote how wonderful you and your company are.   Sharing valuable content will naturally build trust.

2.  Authentic -  Don’t worry about polishing up the video.  Your client will naturally be authentic.  They are not actors, so they should be themselves, which makes them genuine.

3.  On Camera – In general, they should be on on camera, not you.  I find that interview style works well and is more comfortable for most people who you will interview.  Often sitting across from each other works well.

3.  Good Questions -  Think of questions that describe the challenge they faced, why it was important to them, how they looked at the opportunity, results or failure, what they learned and what they acheived.

This week I got to record a tutorial on how to setup and interview/testimonial shoot.  These shoots typically feature one person answering questions while they look slightly off camera to the interviewer. They are surprisingly easy to setup and a great way to generate reusable content.