Today many salespeople are struggling to make sales work. We see it because as strategists, we work with them every day to improve their sales effectiveness. A common theme we hear is, “It used to work.”

A Simple Statement of Reality

What used to work in the past is no longer effective. We are all able to tune out unwanted messages. If we don’t want junk mail, easy, just register not to receive junk mail. If we don’t want to take a call, simple, screen the call and let it roll to voice mail. If we don’t like the email messages we receive, we can mark them as spam. We can pretty much avoid salespeople altogether and not even have to talk to them.

Why should we?

The new reality is we have all the information we need via the Internet with a simple Google search. There’s no need to talk to a salesperson which only eats up our valuable time. I can find what I want within seconds most of the time. If I want a book I can go to Amazon. If I want to locate a restaurant in the vicinity of where I am at that moment I can use Yelp from my mobile phone. If I want to read Sports Illustrated, I don’t open a magazine anymore, I use my weekly online version. It’s more engaging and provides me with video clips and latest twitter feeds right with the magazine! They created an experience that supersedes a boring magazine all from the convenience of my mobile phone, KindleFire, or iPad.

Times have changed

Yes, times have changed! Salespeople had better learn the new ways to getting their foot in the door and getting the attention of their customer. In the past two years, here’s what’s become blatantly obvious to me:

1. Traditional methods of prospecting don’t work.
2. New strategies are required to shorten sales cycles and improve seller productivity.
3. You are behind if you are not embracing inbound marketing and a thought-leadership mindset.

Today companies can transform their sales results and drive lead-generation with an inbound marketing strategy that attracts online seekers, provides them with high-quality information that addresses the challenges and problems they are trying to solve, and nurtures the relationship until the prospects were ready to meet with a salesperson.

No more of the “same old stuff” will work. Today there is a new price of admission if you want to win new business.

We celebrate what the Wall Street Journal is covering with Google Penguin’s latest impact on business. Though the story seeks to sympathize with the outliers whose businesses have been impacted by the search algorithm change, the truth is there are many people seeking to use gimmicks rather than do the hard work of inbound marketing and effective sales process.

Tricking Google with keyword stuffing or aggressive link exchanges is not going to work. They are continually weeding out the cheaters.

Note Matt Cutts, a Google engineer, in the article:

“The Penguin algorithm update was designed to reduce Web spam, which is when websites try to get a higher search ranking than they deserve by deceiving or manipulating search engines. In many cases, the affected sites had been spamming for a long time.”

Google’s goal is not to put you out of business. They want to reward useful and valuable content and get the web spam out of there.

If you play within the rules and do the hard work of creating human content that connects, things take care of themselves pretty well. There are some optimization things which can be done, however, there is a distinct line between manipulation and optimization.

There are bound to be continual algorithm changes. Hiring one of these gimmick SEO companies and publishing web spam can jeopardize a lot of effort you may have built on sand. Why create a bubble for yourself?

Assets built from building true authority with your content and relevance from credible linking to your content is what ultimately will win. The asset cannot easily be swept away.

We like to think of spam in our inbox. It is prevalent on the web and you can engage in such activities to your peril. As for us, we are going to stick with good old fashioned inbound marketing.

Want to do it right?

On the surface inbound marketing looks easy. It’s supposed to if you work with an inbound marketing professional. The goal is to take what is complex and make it simple.

The Inbound Marketing Journey

Over time though, the tendency is to forget where you started from.

It’s obvious now what the call to action is but it wasn’t always so.

It’s obvious now how leads are generated and converted, but it didn’t start out that way.

It’s obvious now what the strategy is for nurturing a prospect, but it wasn’t so obvious in the beginning.

It’s obvious now that a newsletter is delivered with relevant content every week that generates attention and leads, but it didn’t begin anywhere close to that.

It’s obvious now that you are findable to those searching for your services, and even on page 1 of Google, but it took time for the strategy to compound —  far from where you were when we began. 

It is obvious where the leads come from, but before we began there were no metrics or reporting to discern where leads were coming from.

It’s obvious now the value of a contest and the interest it generates, but it wasn’t so obvious at the start.

It’s obvious now that things are executed with precision and excellence but it’s the ideas, talent, leadership, and strategy that we provided to make it work.

Celebrate the Journey

Inbound marketing in and of itself is not so obvious. It is continually changing. On the surface it looks easy. It’s not. It involves constant innovation, lots of hard work, talent, and a willingness and ability to know what to change on a dime. It changes by buyer, product, service, culture, and even the day of the week. If you are making that journey, celebrate where you have come from.

If you are not on that journey, what are you waiting for? Take the first step today, click here.

Today I walked into a small shop that sells custom t-shirts and designs. I had an idea on the top of my head (not unusual) and it was a spur of the moment thought based on a recommendation to check out this shop. I entered the shop, looked around at the displays, and even chatted for a moment with someone I assume was an employee who answered a few of my questions. I don’t remember if she mentioned her name. I know she did not provide me with her business card. A few moments later she made her way to another customer that came in and left me looking. I soon left.

Contrast

I proceeded down the street to my favorite fast food, Chick-fil-A. I approached the drive through, ordered a gallon of tea, drove up to the window and was greeted by Kyle. Kyle said, “Hello Jeff, how are you doing?” and provided a nice smile. I don’t know Kyle other than my interaction with him a few times through the drive-through and Chick-fil-A. Kyle said, I have your gallon of tea and I also included a large cup of ice for you Jeff.” I thanked him and smiled while driving off.

The distinction is profound. One made no effort to connect and one has studied my buying habits, made me feel important by using my name and added more value than I anticipated.

Lost opportunity

The t-shirt shop didn’t connect. They had me for a show but decided not to put on a show. They failed engaging me by asking what brought me in the store or delighting me beyond my expectation. In fact they did not even meet my expectation.  They also lost real valuable currency, the chance to connect to me and my social network by not getting my name or email.

What if?

What if they created a show?

What if I left with a “free” customer packet of ideas and maybe even a free t-shirt?

What if they obtained my name and email after wowing me and I received an email with a coupon and invitation to try their design service?

What if they provided a contest that allowed them to nurture and connect with me?

What if they kept in touch with me and provided me strategies and ideas for using t-shirts for business or social engagements?

They didn’t.

Kyle did.  Who wins?

Software is nothing without talent and strategy. From Jon Montjoy's Flickr photostream.

You might think that being successful with driving inbound marketing leads starts with software. That’s a different pitch from a typical software vendor selling inbound marketing. A good system is part of the overall strategy, but the strategy and talent is the critical piece for an inbound marketing approach to truly work.

Imagine dishing out $10K-$30K per year on software before you even have any content, logic, automation, scripting, or all the other pieces necessary for developing and nurturing leads. The advice you get after this is to hire 1-3 people who will focus on the content development, blogging, social media, systems management, analytics and all the other pieces. The overhead can then go upwards of over $200K on top of your initial expenditure without a lot of traction towards results.

If it is important to work hard for the next couple of years, have perceived control and do it yourself, then this path may seem appealing.

However, there are some drawbacks that focusing on inbound marketing software rather than inbound marketing results has:

• Someone else’s platform. You are putting your content, designs and assets on someone else’s platform. There is convenience, but it is a trade-off. Discontinue the service and see what happens.
• Management. You have to manage any new employees and talent you bring on. There are layers to the operation that go beyond the surface level.
• Ideas and strategy. You might have software, however, it still needs to be driven. You have to develop continual strategies which connect and work towards developing an audience.
• Overhead. There is a lot of overhead as we have mentioned. This is before the results even start to flow through. Furthermore, you are locked into a year-long contract often times without recourse.

Service Not Software

When you go to a restaurant, do you expect to cook and serve your own meal? No, you expect great service and a stellar experience.

What if your money went to results instead of software? What if you were able to:

• Build your own assets. Everything is on your own platform and owned by you?
• Fully serviced. All the management is dealt with via process by a professional partner?
• Connect with your audience. Continual strategies develop your audience and are introduced at a steady cadence?
• Get results. Your money goes towards immediately building your own assets and driving content which is personal, relevant and timely for your audience?

This is the difference between working with a professional partner or a mere software vendor. You get service focused on results with an expert team rather than having to walk through much failure developing and managing your own team internally.

Meanwhile, all the effort is putting out systems, content and leads which become your own assets. The business choice revolves around competencies and return on investment. You have an immediately high level of competency out of the gates. Your ROI starts right away as your assets are being developed and launched immediately.

We talk to people who realize inbound marketing is the strategy which connects with buyers today. However, the confusion around deciding on software versus services is not clear. At AscendWorks, we put it all together and build your own platform, not someone else’s. It helps you drive towards results right away and makes sense for the money you will spend to go to work right away.

If you want to learn more, feel free to schedule a consultation and we can share what this means in further detail. We encourage you to think service, not software.

There is a right way and a wrong way to have a contest. The right way is when you have a strategy to achieve a specific goal and elicit the behaviors you want from the participants in the contest. When we promote a contest with our clients, there are two metrics we watch very carefully as they relate to our contest registration forms and visitor participation. These are:

Completion Rate – The rate at which a person completes the online form.

Conversion Rate – How much more likely users of the online registration form are to request additional product/service information.

The first metric indicates how USABLE the tool is (i.e. do users actually get through it). The second metric tells us how USEFUL it is in terms of increasing the likelihood for additional attention.

The Completion Rate of all visitors who begin our online registration forms is over 95 percent. This is not an accident. This has involved lengthy testing. In addition to a high percentage of completions, such users are 20 times more likely to request more information regarding a product or service (i.e. cars) than users that do not use the online registration form.

An Exchange of Value

As an example, a recent contest we held for our client over the last week had 180 participants who completed an online registration form to enter. Of the 180, there were 97 who requested specific information regarding the product our client offers. Now get this, of the 180 there were 82 that indicated they would be purchasing the product within the next 12 months! These people provided a name, email, phone number, and an estimated date that they plan to purchase.

We call this an exchange of value: where the participant (potential customer) perceives a high enough value that they are willing to exchange something that they want, for something we want which is their level of interest and when they plan to purchase.

How well are you driving new leads and nurturing those leads where they become sales?

When Who Moved My Cheese? hit a nerve over a decade ago, Spencer Johnson’s book became the rave of business people. It’s a timeless book that will always be applicable and relevant as long as human beings are so predictable. When the proverbial cheese moves in your industry, you can either change or become complacent. Becoming complacent today ensures you will become irrelevant as the world around you changes.

We talk to businesses every day that experience a shift in their industry or marketplace. The story usually entails how money used to be easy to make. There were loyal customers and predictable leads. They could sense things changing, but they could not necessarily put their finger on it. Someone is making money in their industry or a newer value proposition and they are left out of the game.

Here is what is typical in the story:

• Commoditization. Because choice is now available to everyone and your competitors are a mouse-click away, price becomes more of an issue. It’s easy to compare. It’s easy to get another option. That’s what happens with choice and low value. The scarcity of choice may have been protection in the past, but its not a covering for today’s connected buyer.
• Character. Having flawed systems for doing business may have been acceptable previously. However, buyers are used to a high level of service. It may not be in  your industry. No matter. They are comparing you with everyone they experience – Nordstrom, BMW, American Express, etc. How you do business today is compared to the world. Upgrade or become marginalized.
• Connection. The party has moved. Where and how you used to meet and connect with potential buyers has moved. Those trade shows have become a ghost town. Who wants to travel and inconvenience themselves as they did before? You can’t interrupt and call people. Noone wants to be sold. Your old marketing doesn’t work. People are buying differently and you are not at the party.

I know people who desire to turn back the clock. They want the old days. It was easier. They did not have to change and could count on business.

That’s not a conversation we care about being involved in. It is much better to get tuned into what is truly happening and learning how to connect in the constantly changing way your market is working. It’s hard work. It’s inbound. It’s a journey.

What are your options otherwise?

Creating powerful landing pages that are presented well and optimized is important. Equally important is mastering the art and science of strategic, well designed calls-to-action. After all, they are the marquee enticing you to the attraction. If they are not convincing to your visitors or relevant to the subject of the landing page, they, as well as the rest of your website will be ignored.

What you need to know about calls to action:

#1: Properly used calls to action provide the first step for the customer experience.

Your call to action should be top of mind within seconds of being on your landing page. Here is a well positioned call to action that provides the visitor with a clear first step to “click here.”

#2 Calls to action communicate the essence of your product/service/value proposition to connect emotionally with the customer.

I have always believed that brand design in your banners is a critical part of marketing. It should translate the meaning without having to click. It also requires attention to how to use color, shape, elements, and form to connect emotionally with your customer. Determining your calls to action requires a proactive, purposeful design to complement a marketing effort.

#3: The right call to action turns No into Yes.

The right calls to action turn no into yes. Forget selling and position your  content where it helps a potential customer become informed on what they want to know. No gimmicks, just remarkable content that makes them say, “Wow, these people are the experts.”

#4: Less is more.

Make it easy for your visitor to give attention to your main event. It is best to offer one primary and one secondary call to action. Test the design, placement, and copy of your calls-to-action to find what combination works best.

#5: Helps you align the buyer’s buying process with your selling process.

When you carefully architect and predict accurately what a visitor will do on your website you are able to craft your selling process with precision.  This then allows you to provide your sales team with a wealth of information on just how ready a person is to buying based on the activities and calls to action they have engaged.

How valuable are your calls to action? Do they provide you sales leads each week? Are you chasing or closing sales?

When the pain is high you have to change your approach.

There are two pains we see a lot of:

1. Too many leads and can’t work with them
2. Little or no leads

This is happening to industry after industry. The old rules have continually been eroding. I think everyone knows this, but fear and comfort keep everyone selling the old way. That is, until it doesn’t work anymore.

Some people fold up shop and consider it a good run. Others are seeking a new strategy for how to connect with buyers.

Often, the money opportunity has not changed. Quite the opposite is true. Most markets are growing with the enhanced distribution of social, search and mobile technologies. Learning how to tap into how people buy and augmenting a selling process with a buying process is the gap between those that are able to play in the new game.

If the pain is high in your industry, here are some things we suggest doing:

• Positioning. Assess how you are positioned in the mind of the buyer. Are you a salesperson or an expert? Expert takes a lot of work. A salesperson is someone we like to avoid.
• Attention. How are you attracting and growing attention? If your only strategy today is interruption, you will be tuned out.
• Systems. We don’t like inconvenience. We are used to doing business with world-class companies all the time. You are being compared to them. Why present your offering and method of doing business in a deficient way? Automate where you can. Make buying and servicing easy and convenient.
• Pipeline. Your pipeline has moved. It is not based on your sales conversation. It is based on what people are doing right now interacting with your value proposition, content, systems and process. You have to have systems to see this and track what is happening in your sales funnel. Pipeline management is in the cloud now.
• Referrals. It’s easy to find out your reputation now. It is a click away. It used to be inconvenient. Is it easy to learn about what people think? Are you embedded in the social media conversation so an outsider can perceive and grow trust?

It’s not easy to reinvent yourself, however, when the pain is high and you need to figure out how to sell again, consider the questions. If you are open, you will realize that noone is going to wave a magic wand to take you back a decade to have things the old ways. You have to move into the new way of selling and marketing yourself that connects.

It’s an inbound world today and your audience is waiting for you to show up.

What needs to change in your business?