There Is No Magic Pill

April 2, 2012 by · 3 Comments

Looking for that perfect pill is elusive and deceptive.

If there were a magic pill for getting more business, someone would have found it, shared it and everyone would be taking it. The truth is that there is no magic pill. Getting new customers is hard work and a continual moving target. You might be tempted to enlist the gimmicks of SEO companies or social media spammers. It’s not worth it. Gimmicks have costs eventually.

Just recently, there was an outcry with the Google search engine algorithm change with Google Panda. The sites out there that were low in quality and merely focused on backlinking to artificially manipulate search rankings were filtered out. Those sites intent on providing value and substance rose in prominence. The gimmicks were completely sidelined.

Do The Real Work

The truth is that you do not create something and it just works to get found, convert leads and increase revenue. It is a continual process of refinement, management and hard work. To separate yourself in a world of noise and reach your audience, there is continual, relentless work that has to be done regularly. Here are some of the continuous activities:

  • Creating valuable content. Your content has to connect and become increasingly relevant. People are searching for answers. You must become that trusted and accessible resource to get found.
  • Implementing systems. Your process flow and systems for how a buyer experiences your brand and moves through an integrated experience has to be continually refined. The touchpoints, offers and timing need to be engineered with precision.
  • Analyzing data. Seeing what works and what does not has to come from specific, real-time metrics that reveal how you are found and what people do on your systems. There is a feedback loop that needs to manage your next campaigns. The work never ends.
  • Connecting with your audience. What happened a week ago becomes increasingly irrelevant. We live in a real-time world. Your audience’s attention is on the present. You have to continually connect with what matters to them and helps them to achieve continual success.

Process and continuous improvement is the focus of organizations that stand out and connect. If you are a mere static picture in today’s dynamic world, then the traffic and engagement your competitors who pay the true price of continual engagement will be costly.

Stop looking for a magic pill and do the work or hire a team that gets it done over the long term. There are no shortcuts.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Inbound Marketing · Tagged: , , ,

3 Inbound Marketing Customer Experience Strategies

February 27, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

We often think that the customer experience commences when we are servicing a person. How they are handled at the cash register, try our products out or serviced for needs tends to draw our focus to provide caring service. Much of the last decade emphasized this kind of personal attention.

With the accessibility of information far and wide on the internet via search engines and social media, the customer experience starts far before any up close contact with your company. How you talk, contribute and are talked about creates a persona that draws attraction or distaste for those looking for information to meet a real or felt need.

The customer experience you create with complete strangers sets the tone for how newcomers to your brand will feel about you. There are a few components that should be part of your inbound marketing strategy that can create a continuum as a stranger moves from indifference to intimacy:

  • Knowledge sharing. Buyers don’t spend as much time as you thinking about your industry. Start at a rudimentary level and provide knowledge that orients newcomers to what they should know. Frame what a new buyer should be thinking about to make an intelligible decision about what you offer. Be a resource and you earn further trust to being consulted.
  • Create conversation. Be a catalyst for thought and provoke conversations around topics. This can be done on various social media platforms, forums and on your corporate blog. Fostering thought and helping dialogue positions you as a leader in your space. Be sure you know what you are talking about and share it with the world.
  • Relevant connections. Ensure that a link, pay-per-click ad or comment on a site links to a relevant landing page. Generic pages break a thought process. Building congruent process is extra work but it is worthwhile. It creates a customer experience that is whole and connected. Connecting via links and calls to action in a logical path increases your opportunity to eventually engage.

We like to think about the customer experience up close and personal. With buyers able to check us out or discover us from far away and impersonally now, your brand needs to be aligned and managed.

What do you think? How can you make the customer experience broader and more strategic?

Filed Under: Blog, Inbound Marketing · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Before The Sales Process Begins

February 22, 2012 by · 2 Comments

The sales process is visual and attractive to manage. It feels like a higher level of control. It is showtime. We are with the prospective customer and get to display our salesmanship. A process helps make this more predictable and fruitful. Otherwise it is random and opportunities are lost.

However, if there is overemphasis on wooing and winning customers based on a salesperson’s tactics, then your process starts with little or no trust. Trust is the lubricant which makes selling a formality for those that work hard before the sales process begins.

Inbound Marketing Starts The Buying Process

Before you ever engage in selling, your customer is buying. They are searching, scanning and learning. They want to feel educated, empowered and comfortable before having a sales discussion. It is the buying process. They are persuading themselves and figuring out what they want.

Here is where you can be of immense value, not necessarily personally, but by offering your expertise. You have what is known as the curse of knowledge. You spend so much time thinking about your product, service, industry and technicalities that you forget that it is foreign for a newcomer to your space. Yet, your knowledge is extremely valuable.

In the buying process, you can help your buyer get what they want:

  • Education. Packaging your knowledge in myriad forms of content – audio, video, written – should be easily found and easily accessed. Distribute this in a way that helps a person ask smart questions and feel like a peer when they do decide to engage in the sales process.
  • Empowerment. Your buyer needs a framework for making a decision and a way to evaluate what you offer. This helps them feel in control in their decision. Provide such empowerment by helping them ask the right questions and understand your market, competition and even jargon. It may feel awkward if you are not used to doing this, but it will build trust as you are transparent and broaden the discussion to helping them see how a choice is made in context rather than in a one-sided fashion.
  • Comfort. Helping your buyer feel competent and confident is important in a strange area. Think about how you feel when the mechanic is overwhelming you. It can cause you to shut down and withdraw. Invite the buyer into the discussion. Help them feel comfortable so that the sales discussion is a conversation rather than a lecture.

If your buying process is set up well in the inbound marketing system and process, then selling becomes much easier. You can tell because the buyer is ready and conversant with you. Trust is present.

Since information is democratized, why not be the leader in providing the right information at the right time before the selling begins?

What could such a process mean for your selling?

Filed Under: Blog, Inbound Marketing, Sales Process · Tagged: , , , , ,

3 Important Ingredients For Salesforce Adoption

January 9, 2012 by · 8 Comments

Our Salesforce.com consulting work with teams continually reveals more challenge in the adoption of a well-designed system than in the actual customization of the system.  Aligning people who have become accustomed to their way of doing things with disparate tools or ad hoc methods requires a focus on the art of change management.  Here are three pieces to the puzzle for success which must be part of your adoption strategy.

Identify A Strong Internal Champion

By nature, insiders have more vested in the outcomes of a new system than outsiders.  Furthermore, there are numerous cultural issues which every organization has.  Culture is the glue which allows for getting things done in a complex environment.  It is a great asset.

You must have a strong champion that aligns with the organization and knows how to influence for change.  Furthermore, the champion is the one that must master Salesforce.com with the processes built into the organization’s implementation.  They have to be technical and business minded to overcome objections and communicate benefits.  Their guidance becomes important for how fast and how much to change during the course of training, support and requirements gathering.

Develop A Mantra Which Sticks

Mantras are powerful shorthand for focusing action.  A mantra sticks in the minds of people.  Instructions and authoritarian policies on the other hand create resistance and do not connect emotionally.

Our mantra with users is, “If it’s not in Salesforce.com, it did not happen!”  Salesforce.com is not a magic bullet in and of itself to solve business process issues.  It is the culture and habits of the team using Salesforce.com.  Thus, capturing every task, communication and field item creates the inherent value to the organization.  Without commitment to the system, it becomes nothing more than a glorified database.    Ensure your organization has a mantra which can be stated between people at meetings and at the water cooler easily.  It helps drive enthusiasm and adoption.

Create A Support Outlet

There should be a framework for how a business process is executed in the Salesforce.com implementation and customization.  However, there are always specific scenarios that need answers quickly and precisely for users.  Forward momentum needs to be maintained and a great way to do this is to provide a responsive support process.  This can be done with FAQ’s via a wiki, Salesforce.com Case management, or a variety of integrated tools which help to build a knowledge base.

Over time, facilitate knowledge sharing by pointing users continually to this resource and have them self-moderate.  This helps the organization to own the system they are vested in.

Salesforce.com Adoption Is A Challenging Road

We are creatures of habit.  If a person is determined not to change, there is little any person can do to thwart such a strong position of resistance.  Users want to have easier ways of doing things.  A well-designed system should provide the context for work to get done faster and more productively.  The adoption phase should focus on helping with the emotional resistance to change.  Strong leadership, a focused mantra and responsive support are three ingredients to drive success.

Feel free to comment on areas you have seen in change management and how you have seen these in action below.

Filed Under: Blog, Feature Articles, Salesforce · Tagged: , , ,

Marketing Process Not Hyped Outcomes

December 14, 2011 by · 2 Comments

Hype - for a future blog post

It is all too frequent to witness companies who are caught up in the frenzy of the social bubble. Seth warns about this in his article on social media noise. It’s a good read to hopefully focus people on the substance of connecting and delivering value rather than driving metrics that have nothing to do with revenue.

We preach the gospel of marketing process and systems and our customers that understand this realize that there are not shortcuts. They often learn this after trying all kinds of marketing schemes. Likes, connects, and tweets may be high, but sales are not. It’s a typical story. The problem lies in the fact that marketers miss what buyers actually want and do. It’s about them, not about the buyer, and therein lies the blind spot.

Instead of jumping into the next social fad, consider building something that produces a predictable and repeatable result:

  • Understand your funnel. We do not like being sold. We do buy, however. And when we buy, we walk through a process. If you can understand the distinct steps of a buyer’s process, then you can identify the process of your marketing funnel.
  • Provide value at each step. As a buyer takes a step, ensure there is appropriate value. Make it about them, not you. The right value packaged at the right time enables your process to create a memorable and trust-building experience with prospects.
  • Identify conversion points. There is a right time for selling to begin. Your system should measure and deliver actions for your sales team at the right time. By doing so, a relevant conversation ensues with the buyer.
  • Continually refine. You can manage and change what you can measure. As your process works to service your leads, refine it to increase conversions and deliver increased value.

Outcome thinking is disjointed and without focus. Process thinking is about building something that is personal, relevant and timely. It is harder work, and thus, perhaps why so few pay the brain bill to make it work. If there were a shortcut, everyone would be taking it. The truth is that a good sound process will always deliver above the latest marketing hype.

What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment below.

Filed Under: Blog, Feature Articles, Inbound Marketing · Tagged: , , , , ,

4 Salesforce Process Creation Tips

November 22, 2011 by · 3 Comments

process_diagram

Your business is nothing more than a process.  After all, that is what a business is.  It is a sequence of repeatable, and sometimes custom steps which create a predictable result, either a product or service. Process is what we all use, but often times, it is difficult to capture and create the systems that make our processes work with ease.

The beauty of Salesforce.com is the ability to support how your business runs.  The steps involved for making a sale, creating attention, delivering value or supporting your customers can be created in a highly customized fashion.  No two Salesforce.com systems are alike out of the thousands of users because of the ability to customize around your specific way of doing business.

As you are working on creating process within Salesforce.com, here are four tips to help you make Salesforce.com work:

  1. Segment your business.  Break down your processes into discrete areas.  It can be daunting trying to tackle your entire process.  The smaller you can break down your internal processes, the more manageable it will be.  Ensure the process you focus on is complete in it steps and fulfillment to deliver a result.
  2. Think Tasks And Communications.  There are two outcomes for each step of a process – a task and a communication to a partner, customer or team member.  Ensure your steps capture both aspects and that you can set up Salesforce.com to support the desired outcome.
  3. Identify Automation Opportunities.  Certain steps can become repetitive and tedious.  Think how automation via triggers or custom programming might be able to accelerate the mundane processing your users would encounter.  Automation may mean an automatic task, contingent data fields populated or a triggered custom email.
  4. Develop Key Metrics.  To see if a process is working, you need to be able to monitor it in real-time.  Use custom dashboards and reports that will give you this feed-back to see the effectiveness and also allow for refinement of the process steps.  It is critical for achieving perfection in the process through iteration.

Salesforce.com does not run your business perfectly.  It is merely a tool which requires intelligent and deliberate customization to support the business processes you discover are successful.  Be sure to think like a designer and perfect like a refiner.  Use these tips to drive your organization.

What are some processes you would like to automate?

Filed Under: Blog, Feature Articles, Salesforce · Tagged: , , , , ,

Salesforce Lead Segmentation For Marketing Campaigns

November 9, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Salesforce.com helps you to manage the sales funnel.  As a buyer engages your sales process, they are captured as a Lead.  this information could come from web forms or from your sales team.  Most of your Leads will not be ready to convert to an Opportunity.  This is to be expected and a strategy should be developed for the majority of your leads that are not ready to move forward in your sales process.

If there is not a process for nurturing unready Leads, then you may miss opportunities to engage when the timing is right.  Here is how you can manage your Salesforce.com Leads more effectively:

  • Segment By Ratings.  Lead Rating is a native field.  Customize this to have meaning from the generic “Hot,” “Warm,” and “Cold”.  The readiness of your Lead may be by time (i.e., 60 days, 90 days, etc.) or fit (i.e., Needs Product, Cannot Use, etc.).  This segmentation will be valuable for various marketing buckets.
  • Prepare filtered marketing campaign lists.  This entails creating Campaigns in Salesforce.com for segmentation as well as filtered lists.
  • Integrate a marketing automation system.  This is a system which will sync based on your segmentation.  Triggered email communications over a period of time can be used to nurture Leads and monitor their activities.
  • Send timely and personal communications.  Based on your segmentation criteria, develop regular email marketing that speaks to the concerns and interests of the prospect.  Some may need to be slowly educated.  Others may need to see continual success before they jump.
  • Monitor responsiveness.  If your Leads are engaged with opening emails, visiting your site and consuming your digital content, then create a follow-up task list in Salesforce.com to take appropriate action.

With this kind of strategy to augment your tactical sales process, your team can work with Leads based on nurturing and marketing activities that prepare buyers for the sales conversation.

How can this help your sales process?  Feel free to comment below.

Filed Under: Blog, Feature Articles, Salesforce · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Salesforce Customer Portals

October 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

With Salesforce.com, your team is managing information about your customers securely.  You collaborate on the information internally to facilitate sales, marketing and service to your customer base.  The information has great value, yet it relies heavily on you and your team to capture and input details about customer interactions.

Salesforce.com can be extended to be interactive with your customers via a secure customer portal.  This allows for your customers to manage information about themselves via a login and view of shared Salesforce.com information.

Managing Cases

The standard customer portal allows for Case record management via a self-service portal.  When this is set up within your Professional or Salesforce.com Enterprise Edition, users can login to a portal site hosted on your site.  They can create new Case records or manage existing records to see progress and resolution on their issues.  This is valuable for keeping a place that your customer can see historical and current issues with your company.  It provides great value to the business relationship.

Custom Portals

If you want to create more self-service for your customers, then a custom built portal would be required.  Other data objects and fields, either standard or custom, can be shared out.

Depending on your business processes, you may want to share out invoice and accounting information with a customer.  Or you may have project information that is being managed in Salesforce.com that you want to status a customer on and allow for self-service.  They can view current status or input comments to the current project information.

There are many possibilities.  The value-add depends on what is important in your business relationship with your customers and how it might also help increase productivity for your team.

There are likely opportunities which make sense for creating a portal for your customer with the rich information resident in your Salesforce.com system.  Look for the return-on-productivity or return-on-investment to design a customer portal.  Feel free to connect with us if you would like help.

How would a customer portal be valuable for your business?

Filed Under: Blog, Feature Articles, Productivity, Salesforce · Tagged: , , , , ,

3 Salesforce Project Management And Collaboration Tips

September 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

It is not uncommon for organizations to customize Salesforce.com for managing projects with their respective customers.  It seems these days that this is an increasingly frequent use case beyond the traditional requirements of using Salesforce for the sales process.  The ability to mold Salesforce.com to your business processes makes it attractive for enabling how your team gets things done both before and after the sale.

In our Salesforce consulting work, we often build requirements via a roadmap and implement custom project management that works for how a specific client does business.  The process often includes the design of a new custom data object which supports the workflow for a project management process.  Once this is set up, a team can now operate from one real-time system.

Here are 3 tips to help your project management process work inside Salesforce.com:

  1. Establish clear data relationships.  Your project management may be a continuation of an existing Opportunity record or it may be a new data object altogether.  The other relationships such as billable time, job costs and relationships need to be customized and related in a way that makes sense to the flow of how you manage projects.  Ensure it is easy to add new information and access how information is viewed to gain a quick grasp of projects.
  2. Ensure task sequencing.  Salesforce.com is a task-based system.  Each person on your team needs to set new tasks for themselves and others.  Once tasks are completed, they need to be closed as part of the activity history.  This keeps a record for yourselves and your customers on what has been done.  The litmus test is that any person should be able to open a project record and know what has been done and what is remaining.
  3. Use reporting for real-time management.  Your reports and dashboards should be set up to manage across all of your projects.  This will give you greater capacity for more projects as you can prioritize workload and monitor how projects are progressing.  Furthermore, your reports can be used to status customers on how their specific project is doing in weekly meetings that help them understand progress, budget and work quality.

With strong leadership and a well-designed system, your system is able to help your team collaborate effectively with greater productivity.  Everyone should be on the same page and moving in the same direction.

There are many other best practices, but focus on these items to further create effective systems in your business and customer experience.

How are you doing project management and what has been your experience with your systems? Feel free to comment below.

Filed Under: Blog, Feature Articles, Project Management, Salesforce · Tagged: , , , , ,

How Can I Get More Traffic?

September 7, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

customer_traffic“How can I get more traffic?” is the number one question we are most often asked right next to, “How much will that cost?”.

The question at the outset poses a big assumption and problem, the assumption that what you’ve built is worthy of attention and therefore traffic. The question more appropriately asked should be, “How can I earn more traffic?”

Getting traffic is easy, getting attention from the right person requires talent and continually reinventing. This causes every business owner to stay awake at night because what was remarkable yesterday can become boring tomorrow. Status quo is obsolete and never to return. If you are boring it is easier for your customer to move on to the next vendor with as little as a click of a button.

So how do you get more traffic? Build something that attracts people to want to see it.  It is continual work which builds upon your value to the world.  If you are clear and you are valuable consistently, then the world finds its way to your door.  Here are some areas to focus on if you are willing to pay the price:

  • Know who gets you.  Get clear on who will resonate with your value and your message.  What is their title, demographic, cares and preferences?  You can’t please everyone and you are not fit for everyone.
  • Focus on helping.  We put up our guard when we feel like we are being sold.  We all still have problems.  How do you help?  Get clear on this goal.  It is the one that matters most to the buyer.  Communicate in a way that talks about helping.
  • Remove roadblocks.  Make it easy to do business with you.  Think through all the conveniences that someone who wants to do business with you or tell others might need.  Remove the obstacles.  We are all busy and don’t like to expend extra effort.
  • Be referrable.  Ensure your content can easily be shared on social networks and email.  We live in a highly connected world.  One person is connected virtually to many.  Traffic comes from this one to many relationship.

There is an audience out there awaiting for you.  They are waiting for you to lead and connect in a way that is highly relevant.  Get clear and provide value consistently.  You will be building a brand and a system for inbound marketing.

What areas can you focus on?

Filed Under: Blog, Feature Articles, Inbound Marketing · Tagged: , , ,