Posts Tagged ‘Jill Konrath’
Book Review: SNAP Selling
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010Don’t you love it when you pick up a book and realize in just the first few pages that the author really gets it? Even better, they don’t just get “it,” but offer a fresh and compelling approach to dealing with the specific problem, situation, condition of modern life, etc.?
Well, SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today’s Frazzled Customers
Before even fully awake, “you’re on the computer checking what seems like an endless stream of email. When you look at your to-do list, you wonder how you’ll be able to get everything done. You have a dozen people to follow up with on the phone, three meetings, and a proposal that needs to be finished…Rather than take a break for lunch, you grab a quick sandwich at the vending machine and eat it at your desk. That way you can update your files and take care of paperwork that needs to be processed. Then you head out for that presentation that you wish you’d had more time to prepare for. After the presentation, you have a ton of questions that now need to get answered before the end of the week…By the time you get home, you’re tired. But rather than turning in for the day, you work on a proposal for a while, then finish up by checking your email one last time. The next day you get up and do it all over again.”
People are reluctant to add anything more to their frenetic schedules, least of all spending time listening to a sales pitch. No matter how compelling the value proposition for the product or service, it involves change, more work, and more time out of an already overburdened schedule. As Jill notes, for sales (and marketing) people in this environment, “what worked before doesn’t work anymore…the advice of many ‘traditional’ sales gurus is now hopelessly outdated…(and) things are never going to to go back to the way they used to be.” SNAP Selling
According to Jill, today’s buyers make three distinct decisions that sales pros need to aware of. The first is when they evaluate your approach and determine whether it’s even worth their time to meet with you. Once past that hurdle, their next decision is determining if making the change required is worth the cost, time and effort required. Finally, the third decision is, having committed to making a change, selecting the best product / service / vendor for their company.
Jill describes the SNAP selling process as:
Simple (eliminate as much complexity and effort as possible from the decision-making process)
iNvaluable (products and services can be copied; your expertise can’t)
Aligned (it’s crucial to be relevant — always)
Priority (maintain a sense of urgency)
Before delving into the detail behind the SNAP model, Jill notes that “Knowing as much as you can about your targeted prospect is more important than your knowledge of your own product, service, or solution. Most sellers don’t realize this, but it’s true…(but by implementing SNAP selling processes) you won’t have to work as hard as your today to achieve significantly better results.” Now that’s a compelling value proposition!
After describing the SNAP method in more detail, the book walks you through the application of these principals and practices to achieve success in each of the three major decisions (and all of the smaller decisions involved in keeping the buying process moving forward).
Though written primarily for sales professionals, SNAP Selling
In short, SNAP Selling
19 New Featured Sources on the B2B Marketing Zone
Monday, July 26th, 2010The B2B Marketing Zone has really taken off over the past few months with the recent addition of numerous great bloggers. For those not familiar with it, the B2B Marketing Zone (a.k.a. the BMZ) was officially launched a year ago as the first content aggregation hub for leading business-to-business bloggers. It provides b2b marketers, trade industry journalists, analysts and other subscribers with a single subscription point for all of the best thought leadership content in b2b marketing and PR. I thought I would take advantage of the power of the system to let you know about these new sources, what topics they tend to write about and some of their recent top posts.
SazBean (Social Network Analytics Measurement Social Media)
Sarah Worsham (@sazbean)
- Add WordStream’s Advanced Keyword Tools to Your Website for free, June 8, 2010
- Pricing Based on Customer Expectations, May 26, 2010
- Should You Use Foursquare for Your Business?, June 7, 2010
CK’s B2B Blog (SMS Mobile Marketing Mix Audience)
Christina “CK” Kerley (@CKsays)
- Great B2B Marketing Stats (in a GREAT format!), June 13, 2010
- B2Bs, The Purchasing Patterns of Your Buyers Are Dramatically Changing. Unless You No Longer Want Their Money, This Means That YOU Must Change, Too., March 18, 2010
- B2B, Buzz & Brand ROI: Creating Customers That Create (MORE!) Customers., June 8, 2010
- B2B Social Media: Why Do Business Professionals Use Social Media? (Slideshow), February 19, 2010
Writing on the Web (Ning Advertorial Business Blogging Online Marketing Linkedin Landing Page)
Patsi Krakoff (@Patsiblogsquad)
- Content Marketing Results: Landing Pages Rule, July 12, 2010
- 9 Ways to Use LinkedIn for Smart Professionals, June 10, 2010
- How to Convert Readers into Clients on Your Blog, May 26, 2010
- Why Use Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn for Content Marketing?, June 8, 2010
B2B Voices (Trade Youtube Twitter Leads Sales)
Aaron Pearson (@apearson) + others
- What B2B communicators can learn from the 2010 World Cup, June 14, 2010
- Looking for the Method Behind Your Competitors’ Madness, April 5, 2010
- Why Digital Media Outreach Shouldn’t Be Ignored, April 28, 2010
- Measuring Outcomes in B2B Social Media – It’s Time to Start, May 9, 2010
Follow the Lead (Gatekeeper Cold Calling Sales Social)
Matthew Schwartz (@mpsjourno)
- The Sweet Spot: We’re all ‘smarketers’ now, July 8, 2010
- When social media ‘will be like air’, May 25, 2010
Marketing Finger (Resources Studies Social Media Consulting)
Andrew Spoeth (@andrewspoeth)
- Social Media Statistics for B2B Marketers, June 21, 2010
- Seth Godin Talks of the Lizard Brain, March 3, 2010
Dianna Huff – B2B Marcom (Small Business Newsletter Email Campaign Facebook SEO Budget Writing)
Dianna Huff (@diannahuff)
- 7 Tips for Getting People to Your B2B Blog, June 4, 2010
- Your Website is Worth More than a Cup of Coffee, May 5, 2010
- 7 Old Fashioned Marketing Tips that Set You Apart, June 14, 2010
Biznology (Search Engine Public Relations Social Media Mobile Marketing Promotion Transparency)
Mike Moran (@MikeMoran) + others
- What’s a Facebook fan worth?, June 30, 2010
- T-Mobile Curates Web Content, June 29, 2010
- Self-promotion, Internet style, June 10, 2010
What Works (Vendor Government PR Trends Spending Release)
Bob Scheier (@BobScheier)
- What B2B Readers Want, Circa 2010, February 2, 2010
- Time to Kill the Press Release?, July 8, 2010
- Skill Set For Content Marketing: Number Crunching and A Gut Feel, March 4, 2010
CeeKue (Promotion Word of Mouth B2C CRM Google Content Tips)
Hans de Groot (@Ceekue)
- Facebook For CRM, Monday, July 19, 2010
- The End Of Google Search Is Near, Wednesday, July 7, 2010
B2B Internet Marketing Strategies (Amazon Viral Marketing Plan Aggregator Pricing Examples Strategy Personalization Measure Ads)
Chas Cooper (@Chas_Cooper)
- Google’s Next Big Thing, April 24, 2010
- Debunking the Viral Coefficient, May 15, 2010
B2B Memes (Advertorial Ethics Publisher Magazine Intent Advertising Media Article)
John Bethune (@johnbethune)
- We’ve Got Algorithms. Who Needs Editors?, Thursday, July 1, 2010
- Content’s Evil Twin: Advertorial, Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Mi6Agency Marketing (Emarketing CMO Demographics Case Study Audience Twitter Aging)
Chris Herbert (@B2Bspecialist)
- The Mi6 Chart Toppers, May 2010, Friday, June 18, 2010
- Are You and Your Customers Hungry for Social Media?, Wednesday, June 9, 2010
- What was Linkedin Thinking?, Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Paul Gillin (Event Marketing Communities Forecast Loyalty Custom Publishing Direct Marketing Event)
Paul Gillen (@pgillin)
- How to Calculate Social Marketing ROI, June 24, 2010
- B2B Blogging Excellence, May 25, 2010
- The Power of B2B Communities, May 27, 2010
Earnest on B2B (Cross-Sell Acquisition Target Campaign Differentiation Statistics Experience)
James Wood (@earnestagency) + others
- Vital statistics for every B2B marketer, March 16, 2010
- Vital Statistics for B2B Marketers – the video, June 10, 2010
Reputation to Revenue (Youtube Broadcast Course Organic Differentiation Media Promotion White Paper Trust)
Rob Leavitt (@robleavitt)
- The lure of cheap content in B2B marketing, April 26, 2010
- Social media and thought leadership: The virtuous circle for B2B marketing, March 11, 2010
- The hard questions about social media for B2B solutions providers, June 11, 2009
- Blog as hub, site as spoke, June 23, 2009
Inbound Marketing Automation Blog (Inbound Marketing Marketing Automation Efficiency Measurement Sales Process)
Axel Kuhn and Eric Goldman (@gossamar)
- The Process of Inbound Marketing Automation, Wednesday, July 14, 2010
- B2B Sales Lead Generation using SMM, Monday, July 19, 2010
Selling to Big Companies (Sales Amazon Books Leads B2B Training Prospect)
Jill Konrath (@jillkonrath)
- Are You Thinking About Being More Helpful to Your Frazzled Prospects?, June 24, 2010
- Why Asking About Your Prospect’s Budget Can be Bad for Business, April 9, 2010
- Hey Small Biz Readers: This One’s For You!, April 30, 2010
Sales Leads Dynamics (Cold Calling Consulting Network Effectiveness Contact Lead)
Peter Helmer
- To get a referral from you do I have to paint a picture? Yup., Thursday, April 29, 2010
- Hate Cold Calling? You May Not Have a Choice., Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Ad Your Comment Here (Barriers User-Generated Ads Article Outreach Product Channel Relationship)
Kate Brodock and Anya Woods (@Othersidegroup)
- How Much do you have to use Facebook and Twitter to Really be Effective?, May 26, 2010
- 5 Ways to Attract People to Your Content Before They Even Click, Thursday, April 15, 2010
Of course, this got me to wondering what the system thought were my top posts and top topics. Here are my top 10 posts and topics:
- Best Social Media Stats and Market Research of 2009, March 31, 2010
- (Almost) 100 (of the) Best Social Media Marketing Blog Posts and Articles of 2009, February 1, 2010
- 11 Myths of Social Media Marketing, May 24, 2010
- How to Launch a Successful Blog in 12 Weeks: Lessons from Webbiquity, May 4, 2010
- Five Big Shifts in Social Media Marketing, April 19, 2010
- 6 Ways To Spread Thought Leadership Content (Without Blogging), February 3, 2010
- How to Find Killer Topics for Blog Posts, April 12, 2010
- How to Get Coverage in Blogs – Really, March 22, 2010
- Social Media is Simpler Than You Think, March 29, 2010
- 7 Reasons Every Business Needs to be on Twitter, February 10, 2010
Topics
- SEM & SEO & PPC & CTR
- SWOT
- Business Blogging
- Buzz
- Adwords
- Optimization
- Statistics
- Microsite
- ROI
As always, I would highly recommend subscribing to the B2B Marketing Zone to keep a steady flow of information from the more than 60 top sources we have participating in the site, and would love your feedback!
What is Webbiquity? How to Be Everywhere Online
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010Welcome to Webbiquity! What exactly is that? Briefly, Webbiquity, or web presence optimization (WPO for those who prefer TLA’s), is the fusion of SEO, social media, interactive PR, online reputation management and other disciplines to make an individual or organization ubiquitous on the web for their name/brand and unique descriptive phrase. If SEO is about getting your website onto page one of Google, WPO is about owning that page.
For example, Jill Konrath is webbiqitous for the phrase “selling to big companies,” holding all 10 spots on the front page of Google for that phrase. The results include her website, blog, a link to her book
From a historical perspective, the web a decade ago (or even a bit less) was still primarily a broadcast medium with limited inactivity. Although in theory anyone could own a website even then, the web presence of most commercial organizations was limited to their own websites and whatever had been written about them by professional publishers and analysts, plus a few directory listings. The last few years have, of course, seen the emergence of social media and an explosion of user-generated content. A company’s website is now only one of myriad places where customers, buyers and other interested parties can find information about it.
This new environment has created the conditions for web presence optimization: using all of the tools now available to make a company as “findable” as possible not only for branded searches but also for key phrases that uniquely describe the enterprise and its offerings. Using these tools properly means not only dominating search, but also presenting a clear and consistent message across channels, wherever buyers or industry influencers may find you.
Specifically, web presence optimization is about achieving webbiquity using the tools show in this diagram, including social networking, social bookmarking, blogging, interactive PR, video and content marketing to disseminate the company’s message as broadly as possible. Just as importantly, companies need to maximize the search value of these different tools and platforms by taking advantage of the linking and cross-linking opportunities they provide.
So, for example, social media releases–part of interactive PR efforts–point readers to company microsites and its media sharing (images, video, presentations etc.). Media sharing accounts are connected to Twitter, which is also used to promote content marketing. Reputation management sites point the organization’s Twitter account as well as social networking profiles. And everything links back the enterprise’s website and blog.
The end result is that when customers, prospects and influencers (bloggers, journalists, analysts etc.) are looking for information on your industry, they find you everywhere. Your story and messages are bolstered by your webbiquity. You have the opportunity to become a valued resource in your industry. Further, the interactions you have with these various constituencies across social networking and other media platforms demonstrate that your people aren’t just smart, they are also helpful and responsive.
This is obviously a high-level view of the elements of webbiquity. Future posts here will delve more deeply into the tools and tactics that can help you and your company “be everywhere online” for your brand and industry discussions.
Best of 2008: Strategy and Branding
Monday, January 4th, 2010Resources for starting a new business, ideas for naming that business, mistakes to avoid, lead generation strategies to embrace, how to apply some of Warren Buffet’s wisdom to online marketing efforts…find all of that and more here in this final collection of the best posts on strategy and branding from the past year.
What’s in A Name? by MediaPost Online Publishing Insider
Kory Kredit explores the inexact science of business naming, from descriptive (AdBuyer.com) to ont-quite-real words (Aquisio) to misspellings (Personifi) to WTF? (Jivox, xy3).
Top 12 Resources for Start-Ups by Duct Tape Marketing
The ever-industrious John Jantsch provides a short but bookmark-worthy “list of resources to help small business owners get started and growing,” such as the SBA’s Small Business Planner, business resources from StartupNation, and guides to starting a business from AllBusiness.com, Inc.com and Entrepreneur magazine.
7 Things Big Dumb Companies Do That You Can’t Afford (Especially Now) by Remarkable Communication
The brilliant Sonia Simone pulls no punches in warning small business owners away from some of the myopic and unproductive practices still sometime seen in their larger competitors, like printing up 10,000 brochures (then throwing away 9,500 of them) and “forgetting that `we’ includes the customer,” as well as recommending effective practices to use instead. Of course it isn’t only big businesses that make mistakes, so to be fair Sonia details in another excellent post dumb things small businesses do, advising entrepreneurs to avoid the number “one,” as in over-reliance on one customer, one vendor or one partner.
Lead generation playbook: 5 steps to a 375% conversion lift by Marketing Experiments Blog
Hunter Boyle and Brian Carroll provide a helpful, educational online clinic on “what happens after prospects hit the ‘submit’ button, and how marketing and sales teams can work together more effectively to expand their customer base and get the most revenue per lead.”
Warren Buffett, Search Marketing Guru? by MediaPost Search Insider
In this well-worth-bookmarking post, Steve Baldwin presents a list of “Buffetisms” he has taped up on the wall of his cubicle (Steve Baldwin sits in a cube?!) and how they relate to search engine marketing. One example: “‘Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.’ All of us run the risk of growing complacent, just because our ROI is somewhere in the black.” An even better one: “‘I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.’ Keep this one in mind when you decide whether to fight a pitched battle for #1 placement on a high-traffic SERP. You might be far better off looking for smaller gains on longer-tail keywords, 2nd-tier engines, or by using day-parting or other segmentation technologies.”
The 6 Untold Reasons Why Businesses Fail by Growthink
Dave Lavinsky elaborates on six common but often unrecognized causes of business failure, such as confusing ego with a business opportunity, trusting “white lie” feedback and failing to make a 100% commitment.
100 Tiny Tips to Create and Maintain Loyal Customers by Bootstrapper
This must-read post for every small business owner and marketing professional provides tips on everything from where to find new customers (not only in the obvious venues like on Facebook and at industry conventions, but at volunteer events and other places) to how to effectively network, communicate and build relationships (e.g., “Send a thank you gift when a customer renews a contract”), to easy-to-use tools and services (such as FreshBooks) to help your business run more smoothly.
The boobs have it, the biggest PR blunder since New Coke by Marketing Edge
The always brilliant Albert Maruggi explains how UPS bungled an unusually powerful branding opportunity with Kentucky Derby-winning horse Big Brown. Due to “short-sightedness combined with a lack decisive management” on the part of UPS, the company had to shell out big bucks to avoid sharing the spotlight with Hooters—not a brand one normally associates with either horse racing or parcel shipping.
SEO: best bang for your buck for generating online leads by E-consultancy
Aliya Zaidi summarizes research from E-consultancy showing that while “natural search, email marketing and paid search are still the most commonly used methods for generating online leads,” “SEO (is) seen as providing the best value for money.” PPC gets a higher percentage of budgets (not surprising, as it has a direct cost per click not applicable to natural search) but natural search clicks provide superior value.
How to run marketing like a profit center by iMedia Connection
Is your marketing department more focused on “firefighting” than executing productive strategies? Is it difficult to measure the ROI of marketing activities and prove the value to the CEO? Having trouble coordinating activities with other functions? David Hutchinson provides a roadmap to success in this excellent article, using marketing operations—process-based management well-established in other disciplines that “enables informed decision making, accountability, sustainability, visibility, teamwork, strategic thinking and best practices execution.” For a longer treatment of this topic, pick up a copy of Value Acceleration: The Secrets to Building an Unbeatable Competitive Advantage
How to Profit From Testimonials…Even With No Testimonials! by Copyblogger
Dean Rieck (is that real hair?) delivers 17 clever ways to get the effect of testimonials for your product or service without actually using testimonials, such as showing pictures of people using your product or service, noting how long you’ve been in business and/or how many products you’ve sold, displaying a seal or approval, or citing favorable reviews.
5 Things Salespeople Really Need From Marketing by Sales and Sales Management Blog
Sales guru-ess Jill Konrath concisely explains what a sales team needs from the marketing department in order to launch a new product successfully, including sales tools, competitive research, and above all a compelling value proposition.
