Marketing and Sales Guru

When working together, marketing and sales can do wonders for a company of any size. For small companies, PR should also be added to the mix, as it helps to create trust and credibility in the eyes of your buyers. Marketing, on the other hand, can also help to do that, but it can do more in terms of advertising. Marketing should be used at all points of the customer experience. Whether the buyer is contemplating buying your product, or is at the check-out, marketing materials should be present.

This consistent presence of marketing materials can be less invasive than advertising, like TV ads. It can also help to remind the customer of your existence when the purchasing time comes. You want to be on their minds and the first one they think of when they need your product or service. Ways to help encourage this include customer quotes, your mission statement, your goals, accomplishments, and your expertise. If you know something about the industry that buyers should know in order to make the best, most well informed decision, share it with them! When it comes time to buy, they will remember that you’ve helped them in the decision making process, and perhaps be more inclined to buy from you.

Another way to remind buyers of your offerings is to use promotional tactics. Depending on your goal, there are a variety of tools you can use, including promotional events, like sponsoring a fundraiser, sponsoring a concert or festival that your target market frequents, etc. You can also use promotional items like reusable totes (if you’re target market is concerned with being environmentally friendly), water bottles, pens, etc. These items are like free advertising for you when they are used, and free items for your customers that they will hopefully use as well. Buyers are big, big fans of free things, but only if they’ll use them. What value does free information or items have if the customer finds them useless?

You can also do things like host a contest, raffle, or other sort of prize drawing. Not only will this help to generate interest in your product, you can also generate leads with the information gathered. Email addresses are vital pieces of information to gather. Though the customer may not want your email, and may simply delete it, it’s hard to ignore something your eyes see if the email is opened. You’ll be reminding them of the raffle, which should increase interest in the email more, and you’ll be reminding them of your company.

The best way to make use of these tactics is to be aware of customer feedback and to offer something more than just a pen. Offer a connection, and way to communicate with you. Use social media to give updates on the contests, to get in touch with people who’ve talked to/about you, and be there. There is nothing more annoying to a customer who’s complaint goes unnoticed because a company is unaware of the things being said about them. This sort of monitoring can help your company to avoid a crisis, and possibly diffuse a potentially bad situation. Negative WOM (word of mouth) can be rather detrimental.

Remember that marketing tactics are not meant to trick customers, but rather generate interest and offer them something of value that will make them glad they made the decision to talk to you, get to know more about your company, and see what you have to offer. This sort of satisfaction in their decision will make them even more likely to stay with you and make the move toward a sale.

Any company can satisfy a customer. Doing the minimal and exerting minimal effort can result in a satisfied customer, but in order to create a loyal customer, something more needs to happen. The entire sale experience needs to be different. It starts with the company, though, and regardless of how a customer acts, the company’s reaction is what makes or breaks the success of the customer’s experience.

Customers who become advocates/evangelists for your brand/company are indispensable; you cannot pay a customer to be an evangelist; they have to become one on their own. You can, however, help to encourage them to become one.  How do you do that? Well, you could:

1. Put yourself in their shoes. How would you want to be treated? How would you like your problem dealt with? Try to emulate that through your service offered.
2. Treat them with respect. Just like #1, how would you want to be treated? Avoid demeaning the customer, and talk to them with empathy, understanding, and with a solution in sight. Even if you’re unable to offer a solution right them, let them know that you’re working on one and that you’re doing something.
3. Go above and beyond. If you don’t normally offer something like what they’re asking for, but you’re able, do so! This can also change things and make the customer more apt to come to you again.
4. Offer something others don’t. Do your competitors offer a refund? No? Then offer one yourselves. Do they offer solutions for unhappy customers? Try doing that if they don’t. Doing something more, offering something more, can make your customers feel special and appreciated.
5. Make the buying (and returning) process painless. Customers have been through a maze of choices, emotions, and decision making once they get to the purchasing stage, so try to make the POS (point of sale) painless and easy. Avoid stipulations, too many options at the end, and be clear about your policies and set the right expectations for their ownership of your product. Setting the right expectations can help to decrease issues in the future, and being clear can help to lower confusion and anger.

Overall, the above things are all efforts to WOW your customer. It’s easy to make them thankful for your service, but to offer them something that they are more than pleased with, feel the need to share with others, and do share with others, is what sets companies apart from one another. A product is easy to duplicate, and any company can replicate the process of another, but to offer excellent customer service, that can’t be faked.

Customers get angry for one reason: their expectations were not met. Whether that be a product not working the way they expected, a sale not being there, or a price being different, a customer can get angry for many reasons that are not the fault of the company. This can make the job of the customer service representative a tough one. Making sure that you set the right expectations clearly and loudly can make the process easier, so be sure to be up-front and clear. If you think you’ve been clear, turn it up a bit and be even more clear.

So, how are you treating your customers? Are you turning them into evangelists?

Selling and sales results are pretty clear cut: you get what you put into your sales efforts. If your employees are unhappy, or if you do little to sell your product, you’ll likely do just that: sell little of your product.

So, what are the most important aspects to pay attention to when developing your sales plan and sales tactics? Let’s take a look at the 4 P’s of Marketing from a Sales perspective;  they will greatly help you to develop a successful sales plan:

1. Product: Are customers looking to buy what you are offering? Many companies forget to ask this question because they want to create a company, cause, product, or service that they are passionate about. This doesn’t necessarily mean someone else will feel the same way, let alone hundreds or thousands. It also doesn’t guarantee that another company isn’t already offering what you plan to offer, making your product somewhat obsolete.
2. Place: Also attached to the last idea in Product, are you offering your product in a place where people can access it, are willing to go to to obtain your product, or a place that your competition is not offering it? This is a crucial component of your sales success, and needs to be addressed. When it comes down to a product being the same as another product, place can make all the difference and make or break your success.
3. Promotion: Where are you advertising your product? Is your sales team getting enough leads from your marketing efforts? How is your sales team promoting the product when trying to qualify or close a sale with a customer? Advertising and sales promotions should be in line to create a transparent and consistent company.
4. Price: Though the sales team may not have much say in this area, it is also an important aspect to pay attention to. Know how your target buyer feels about price, what your competition is doing with prices for their similar products/services, and know how to improve your pitch in contrast to what your competition is doing.

How are you creating your sales plan? Are you including people from all areas of your business? If you are not, you may consider doing so in order to create a holistic approach to selling. You should also consider including your target buyer; most buyers are more than willing to tell you something about your product or service, and often times there’s a person willing to tell you it for free. Talk to your audience, your target buyer, and the buyers you already have; you may get some enlightening feedback.

Though entering the sales world can be a tough transition from the safety and security of college (or your past job) there are many rewards available to successful sales professionals. That can include things like increased pay, increased/professional training, opportunities for advancement, etc. To elaborate on some of those things, here are 4 items to prepare yourself for when taking on a sales job:

1. Hard work. Sales is tough. Even with the right personality, sales can be a daunting job that takes a lot out of you. Being a successful sales pro means that you’ll have to work hard to overcome fears, take constructive criticism, and move on when things are taken personally. This also means that you’ll have to put in the time and effort to close sales, find new leads, and offer something of value to your customers, which can also be hard more. Moreover, you must work hard to stay moral and ethical, especially when working in an environment that does not condone that sort of workplace.
2. Rewards. As mentioned above, there are great opportunities to a sales professional who does well and works hard, as #1 indicated is important and necessary for a sales position. These rewards have to be earned, however, and things like larger pay than other entry-level jobs involves that hard work to earn things like commissions and bonuses.
3. Training. I include this here and in the rewards mentioned in the first paragraph because it can be something of a reward as well as something is simply another aspect of hard work required to move up in a business. This training will benefit you in the long-run, however, so take advantage of what is being taught to you as a sales professional.
4. Working differently. This can be in a team, on your own, during weird hours, or in an entirely different work environment, like outside of an office or in a warehouse. Be prepared to work together with others as a team as that sort of collaboration is best when it comes to sales. It can also create better relationships and moral throughout a team, so be sure to be a real team player. You may need your teammate’s help in the future, and they may need yours.

The downside to the sales career? You must have the personality and characteristics of a sales professional. While there is a difference between the dreaded “salesman” and the sales professional, both require the ability to be outgoing, indifferent to negative feedback, and unaffected by rejections. Another downside is the fact that while companies definitely look to hire someone with experience, most companies look to hire professionals from their sales teams when it comes to moving someone up to the marketing, advertising, etc., positions. That can make it hard to compete with people who’ve already gone through the sales gauntlet.

Just remember to do your best, take things as they come, and be prepared for the above. Knowing what to expect can greatly increase your chances of success, and knowing up front that sales is not the most enjoyable career path is something that will help you to reach your goals if sales is just the first stop. No matter what, though, be sure to give your all, even if you do not plan to stay in sales. Not all sales professionals have to be the cheesy car-salesman, and if you don’t want to be that person, don’t. Be the salesperson you want to be, and remember that you’re there to help the customer, who is the only reason you have a job in the first place.

What tips do you have for someone looking to enter the sales industry?

Storytelling may sound like a bad thing, which can often be attributed to the negative connotation that storytelling has in regards to marketing. Consumers don’t want to be told a story; that sounds like they’re being lied to or being played for a fool. Storytelling is very much the opposite, however, and the existence of stories is really the only reason products succeed or fail. Your story may have a small fib, one that simply helps to elaborate the story being told, but there is a difference between telling a story (one that customers already believe) and lying.

Think about a product you feel loyalty for and even share with your social circle. What makes it so great? Is it the quality? The price? The materials used? Or is it the story that all of those attributes tell?

Allow me to elaborate here: product attributes don’t sell. Consumers don’t care if it was made in the US or China, if it was made with renewable energy, if it meets industry standards, or if it’s the cheapest product available. These things alone mean nothing. What makes those attributes matter is how they tie into the customer’s worldview. A worldview is the lens or filter that a customer sees the world through. If they are prone to believe companies are “out to get them”, they will look at every situation with that view, and often times expect it to be the case.

If you’ve taken any psychology classes, you may have heard this sort of expectancy to be part of the Confirmation Bias. When we believe something to be true, even if it isn’t, it becomes true because we expect it to be. We look for things that help to “prove” it is true, and in turn we make it true. For example, you may tell yourself, “I always get stuck at red lights when I’m late for work.” The reality of the situation is that you probably do not hit every red light every time, but being late and expecting to hit every red light, you look out for the times that you get a red light and ignore the times that you get through an intersection without hitting one.

The same sort of expectations can be seen in customers buying products. If we expect service to be great and the prices to be fair from a company, however that worldview was created, the service will be great and the prices will be fair, because we expect them to be. If, on the other hand, we expect service to be horrendous, we will automatically look for any error or confrontation to help to confirm our expected experience.

So, what does this matter to marketers looking to resonate, connect, and create a relationship with customers? Quite a bit, in fact, because worldviews can be used to our advantage as marketers.

How are consumers’ worldviews built? Often times, they are built through past experiences, the WOM (word of mouth) they hear from their peers/friends/family/acquaintances, and the advertising/marketing/PR they are exposed to. While you have little control over the first two components, you can control (to some extent) what sort of advertising/marketing/PR they see. You can help to either shape their worldview, which is somewhat impossible to change if already in place, or you can talk to and appease their worldviews.

A prevalent worldview may be the desire to be better to the planet and to buy things that are, for example, created with renewable energy. While that factor may not matter to most customers who are not on the lookout for things like that, your audience is people that care about products created with renewable energy. What that means for you and your marketing team is that you must create a story that speaks to that worldview. Tell them a story that shows how great they are being to Earth by buying products that help to sustain its habitats. Tell them the story of the person they are trying to be, that by buying things are sustainable, they can become that person.

More importantly, look for changing worldviews. You cannot change a worldview, mostly due to the fact that people don’t like to be told that they are wrong, but you can take advantage of the times where worldviews are already changing on their own. Situations like entering college (or even high school, for that matter), having children, or getting married can all alter things like a worldview. Tell a story that will speak to these changes and that will help buyers to see that yes, I can buy this product and feel good about the person I am being.

Why do stories matter? They matter because regardless of the story being true or not, if buyers believe them, they are true. Going back to the company or brand that you feel loyal to, think about the story you tell yourself, the story the company has helped you to tell yourself. Do you drive that car because it is practical, affordable, or that it simply gets you from point A to point B? Well, some people may buy a car for those reasons, but most people buy a car because of the story they tell themselves when they drive it, and the story they feel others tell themselves when they see the driver in it.

I was driving one day and finally realized the reason I had purchased a car well out of my desired price range: I liked this one, not only because I was sold on it by the car salesman, but also because I finally felt it matched my personality, in contrast to the 1989 Corolla I had been driving throughout my college years. I bought my new car because it fit in with my worldview, and regardless of the bad press and the safety issues that Toyota had been experiencing, I had liked my old car, knew Toyota to be a reliable company, and thought that the new car I have now says so much more about me (in a positive way) than my old car ever did. Despite the bad press and negative things floating around about Toyota, I still bought a Toyota. That’s powerful storytelling at its best.

Toyota helped me to tell myself a story, one that involved their cars being reliable, long lasting (as my old car was still running at 270,000 miles), and that, after graduation and entering the “real world” that is college loan payments and finding a “real” job, it was indeed a way for me to move forward (as their slogan tell us they’re doing everyday). What stories do you tell yourself on a daily basis?

For more on the Power of Storytelling, click here.

Customer service is an important part of any company. To retain customers and to encourage them to become loyal customers, service is the key. You can have the best product out there, but that will really only get you so far. Part of your sales pitch and marketing strategy should be to offer the best customer service available. What that means is really helping to create the best experience for your customers.

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That experience starts from the first time they see an advertisement or press coverage on your company, and ends when they no longer own your product or are a potential customer anymore. You may be thinking, “Wow, that’s a pretty large commitment.” Don’t be fooled, however, because the commitment that your customers give  you is also a large one; they only have so much voice in what they buy, and when they buy from you, and continue to buy from you, they are essentially voting with their dollars. They are making a statement to others that they believe in and stand behind your company.

To ensure that those good feelings carry on throughout their experience with you, keep your promises that you make in the beginning. It can be a difficult balancing act, selling your product through advertising and maintaining/meeting expectations that you set there, but do your best. Customers quickly become unsatisfied when their needs or expectations are not met, so be sure to help them with setting those expectations.

A last point to pay attention to here is that customers who are satisfied are walking, talking, brand ambassadors who will advertise and market your brand for you. They will create positive WOM (word of mouth), and encourage others to come to you. WOM is far more powerful than advertising, and since customers rely on the opinions of their peers and colleagues, hearing someone in their circle boast about a product will make them more likely to look into it as well.

Taking care of your ambassadors is a vital component to your success. WOM and PR are far more successful and effective than advertising could ever be, so take advantage of the opportunities you have to really create the best experience for your customers.

A main goal of the marketing and sales process (when combined can also be considered business development activities) is overall growth. This growth can be in sales, number of transactions, clients, etc., but all of them represent that the business development efforts had been somewhat successful.

There are many ways to encourage growth, but here are a few that can have great results in the overall success of business development activities:

1. Determine and focus on your best prospects.
2. Follow up with them.
3. Listen well.
4. Make the buying process painless and convenient.

As the posts on the 6 I’s of relationship cultivation went over, relationship cultivation is a lengthy process that should start out right. As #1 above alludes to, finding your best prospects first will help you to be the most successful in the long run. You can waste a lot of time on prospects that are not your best options, and for whom you are not the best provider.

Your company grows when your clients are satisfied and when new clients are introduced into the sales process and become current clients. Moreover, it requires that they share your product/service/company with others, and that you utilize marketing, advertising, and PR tactics to promote more growth.

Lastly, ensure that paying for your product is easy. Often times, customers will simply give up on purchasing a product from you if it is too inconvenient, too lengthy a process, or too difficult to complete. Make checking out easy, paying options plentiful, and support available. If your product or service can be found elsewhere, you must ensure that you stand out in one way or another, and that can often be done through the support you offer.

Deciding to go global with a business can be a scary thought for some. For others, it seems like the natural course of action, the only one that makes sense to take. These others are often online businesses who’s business model just fits the global mold and were, from day 1, destined to be an internationally active firm. Regardless of where you want to do business and what you offer as a company (whether that be a service or a physical good/product), there are a few things that you should consider when deciding whether or not to go global.

1. Where are your customers?
2. What is your product/service?
3. Are they able to be exported or sold in the other countries you are considering entering?
   - Can you find the right supplies to manufacture your goods there?
   - Can you find the right labor?
4. What are the barriers to entry? (ie., tariffs, bans, or other laws)
5. What does the culture look like in the prospective country?
6. How does your product affect their lives?
7. Are you filling a need or attending to an ignored market?
8. What value will your goods or services retain in foreign countries?

There are many aspects in each of these areas that you, as a company, need to take into consideration. For example, different cultures perceive things, well, differently. Your advertising may be extremely effective in your home country (or other countries that want to emulate your culture), but they may be offensive or illegal to use in other countries. Be aware of cultural customs and expectations, and know, too, how they perceive your company, country, or product. For example, some countries may want to be American, so they welcome American goods. Others may harbor bad feelings in regards to past events countries may have been involved in. Etc.

There are many components that go into creating a successful international sales plan, and it requires that you do your homework so that you best understand not only the country you hope to enter, but what method would be best to enter that country. For example, you may enter the country as another location of your current company, or you may create franchise opportunities. You can also simply export your goods to another country without moving resources there.

Relationships make or break the success of your company, and when it comes to the success of your business development initiatives, your success can really only be met through the understanding and knowledge you have of your customers’ needs. How well do you know your customers? If you’re unsure of this answer, it may be helpful to create Buyer Personas. To create these, follow the guidelines laid out here: Creating a Customer Profile/Buyer Persona for Your Marketing Objectives.

Creating these profiles will help you to better communicate with your buyers. Moreover, both you and the customer will benefit through your providing them with a service/product they need and want.

In talking with a few business development specialists who conduct business development for companies (and their own companies) daily, there was a resounding answer to my questioning of the most important thing to know in biz dev: your customers. They are the lifeblood of your company, and without them, your company would fail to exist. At the same time, your products or services may be something that they cannot find anywhere else, which could make you essential to their well-being, too. But, since that is rarely the case for most customers who can find the products and services they need in many places, you need to create something that they cannot find somewhere else: a deeper understanding, a connection, a relationship.

This can be done through relationship cultivation, where you get to know their needs and wants well. It can also be done through customer and public relations where you are able to continue the dialogue and maintain that connection with them through things like social media, customer assistance/service, and through your website.

Having a satisfied customer who’s needs are met should be your ultimate goal, and that can happen through hard work and determination. In order to do that, you must know who you customers are. That’s the first place to start.

The final “I” in the 6 I’s of Successful Relationship Cultivation is to “Invest Resources & Execute the Sale”.

All the steps leading to this final “I” were meant to make this last step in the process easier and more beneficial for both parties involved.

That involves a few components that require that you do the following:

1. Move forward with action items for the partnership.
2. Send the client important referrals and ask for future referrals.
3. Evaluate responses & results, both positive and negative.
4. Affirm decisions and assist in the minimization of of any buyer remorse.
5. Make an initial phone call to confirm all of the project objectives and the future steps that should be taken into consideration.
6. Look for additional opportunities to serve and sell the client.

Move forward with the agreement, formalize it, and conduct your post-agreement evaluation of the process and any lessons you may have learned. Take a monthly or quarterly pulse check to help assess the level of value each of your clients have received and perceives. Conduct either a formal or informal feedback survey or meeting to learn how your firm can better serve its clients and improve the specific relationship at hand.

This process takes time and dedication, but that’s not to say that it can’t be a fun one. Take into consideration the amount of benefit and value you can offer to your clients and use that as the driving force behind your sales efforts.