November | 2011 | Dave Stelzl's Blog

Archive for November, 2011

Nov

“Save the Date” Letters

Categories: Demand Generation
Tags: invitation, lunch & Learn, marketing event, sales letter, sales training

It’s tempting to think that fancy online ads will attract executives to your next marketing event – chances are they will never even be seen. The likelihood of a business owner, CIO, or other decision maker clicking on a link to your next lunch & learn is slim. Instead, try using a simple Save the Date letter. Assume you will be calling them, and let them know right up front in your letter, asking them to respond if there is a best time, but to expect your call some time next week. Avoid the typical insurance advertisement-looking letter claiming to save money, and instead think, business-owner to business-owner. Even if you’re the sales person, the letter should be from your company president, inviting their executive-level asset owner to something of business value. I recommend a format that looks something like this:

Greeting – targeting either existing clients or prospects. Create two versions of your letter in order to create a more personable feel to the letter.
News-worthy trends you are meeting to address. No product spin here, just something informative. If you are calling executives to a meeting, you will need a topic worth leaving the office to hear about. I recommend news briefings, and in particular, like the security news best.
Meeting format – let them know you are calling this meeting over lunch, to review major issues and provide community business leaders with information they can use to improve or safeguard their business. Remember, people respond to urgent risk before operational efficiency.
Name dropping – perhaps the most important part of this letter is that part that lets them know they will be among peers, not wedged in between two technical geeks arguing about the best web coding language.

End by letting them know you want them there and plan to call them to review any details and gain their commitment to attend. Make sure you call as promised.

Nov

Cheesy HTML Ads

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Marketing
Tags: customer events, lunch & learns, marketing events, sending invitations

The first thing I do in the morning is delete the email that looks like spam. Then I go back and read the things that require action. Inadvertently, I end up deleting things that are actually not spam, in the same way I have tossed valid mail, including bills, into the trash while sorting through mountains of garbage that land in my mail box each day. If it looks like trash, it gets treated like trash – this is the only way to keep up. The next time you plan an event, or are looking for a response from someone of importance, remember, their mailbox is full of people lobbying for their attention. Make sure you have something that stands out – not in a colorful marketing way, but as something that looks important. Some of the things I don’t throw in the trash include wedding invitations, overnight delivery packages, and bills (hopefully). Note, I am far more excited about opening the wedding invite than a bill, so lean this direction when sending something you want opened.

Nov

Happy Thanksgiving – How Well Do You Know Your History?

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Categories: The Bottom Line
Tags: celebrating thanksgiving, do you know your history, Thanksgiving history, the first thanksgiving

1. Did the Pilgrims depart from England to come to the new world? Well, yes and no. They started in England, but spent about 14 years in Delftshaven, Holland before sailing back through Southhampton, England to America.

2. Did they head to America for freedom? Not really – they went to Holland for freedom. In fact, they found freedom in Holland, however, having left their wealth behind, life was difficult there, and the pressures on their children to abandon the family where great. Wanting to keep their families focused on God and their religious practices, they decided to leave as a group and head for the new world.

3. Did many die on the trip over? No, only two – one of the sailors who continually troubled the Pilgrims, and a servant named William Butten, who died from scurvy (should have drank his lemon juice.)

4. Did they land at Plymouth? No, they initially landed at Cape Cod…however they were supposed to be landing down near the mouth of the Hudson where people had already established towns. The plan was to land among an established people. Instead they landed at Cape Cod, but due to the shallow water, were forced to head south to Plymouth where they agreed to establish their new homes.

5. Did they immediately celebrate Thanksgiving for a safe trip over? No, they worked hard to build shelters to get them through the winter, and to protect them from Indians. Their first winter brought 47 of the 102 original voyagers (including Pilgrims and sailors) to their death due to sickness.

6. Where does the Thanksgiving feast come in? As winter turned to spring, Samoset, an English speaking Indian arrived, who a week later returned with Squanto, another English speaking Indian from a tribe who had completely died from a mysterious illness. It was Squanto who taught the Pilgrims how to plant, fish, and make medicine from the local herbs, and who introduced them to pop corn! That fall, after the harvest, more than enough food was brought in to take them through the winter. Thankful for Squanto, and thankful to God for bringing them through the winter and providing through the summer, they agreed to hold a feast which lasted three days (the first Thanksgiving was held in October). They served wild turkeys and deer, vegetables, fruit, pies, and other treats, calling this celebration “Thanksgiving”. The day began with prayers of thanksgiving, led by their pastor, William Brewster, followed by games, feasts, and expressions of thanks. Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and recall the good things around us…

Nov

Contracting with Call Centers – Often a Big Mistake

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Categories: Demand Generation
Tags: call center, cold calling, David Stelzl, educational marketing, event marketing, marketing speaker, outbound marketing

How do you get people to attend your next marketing event?

Recruiting attendees for your next marketing event may not be as simple as it looks. The tendency here is to assume that you know how to do this, and when everyone seems too busy to get involved, to assume that a call center is a great alternative. The problem is, I have yet to see this work. Since event attendees really need to be management level, and if possible, senior level – asset owners, there is more selling required here than might be obvious. A track record from past events suddenly becomes irrelevant when you look back and realize, most of your events have been sold out to IT and other non-asset owners.

In a recent event, where the invitation process was contracted out, I was told by the manager of the call center, “We are professionals and don’t require any input.” Wow! That’s great, so I can stop worrying about attendance, and just show up to speak on the appointed date? Far from it. Instead, their response turned into a last minute fire drill, with rooms rented, food ordered, speakers paid for, and only 2 qualified attendees signed up. With two weeks to go, this solution provider was forced to either cancel and take a loss of the committed expenses, or open the doors to unqualified IT-level attendees. The lesson here is this; the call center can fill seats, but it takes a higher level of expertise to reach people who can actually buy something. Our event went forward, with predictable results. A long list of attendees, high attrition on the day of the event, and very few resulting sales. Event marketing can be highly effective, but when approached incorrectly, can produce “nothing” at a great cost.

Nov

From Vendor to Adviser Webinar Follow Up

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Categories: Sales Strategy
Tags: assessment, consulting, David Stelzl, discovery, study, technology speaker

Preorder Now!

A couple of key points from today’s webinar:

1. The discovery process deserves some re-engineering. It is by far the greatest accelerator you have once in the account, and is the thing that will take your team from being a vendor, to being seen as a strategic adviser. Don’t miss this point – don’t assume your consultants are fine doing what they do. Make this part of your company great, and you will beat the competition.

2. Every executive relies on advisers – in areas of legal advice, health, financial, and perhaps marriage, spiritual, and who knows. Who is advising them on the the proper use of technology? It could be you…but do you command the same respect they give to their investment advisers? You should…

3. The discovery deliverable is your ticket to “really big” business! Make sure it is great…spend some time on this. Don’t just write it, get advice on it, hire a writer if you have to – but pull together a sample that clients can’t refuse – then equip every sales person with a copy and teach them what to do with it!

If you missed this session, let me know and I will tell you how you can get a copy of the recording…

Nov

From Vendor to Adviser – Finally

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 2 Comments

Categories: Opportunities
Tags: David Stelzl, technology sales book, technology sales speaker, trusted adviser, Trusted advisor, vendor to adviser

Brand New!

Now Available: From Vendor to Adviser (PreOrder for just 13.95)

The proof is in my hands – and you can now reserve a copy of From Vendor to Adviser at a discounted price of $13.95 through my online store: www.stelzl.us/store.asp (normally $16.95). I’ve been working on this book for almost a year, and I think you’ll find it answers a lot of questions about how to grow your business. I discuss pricing, proposals, presentations, discovery and assessment, and a whole lot more – everything in this book is specific to selling technology! Not too many books are that specific, but I believe our industry is unique and requires some special insight when dealing with IT people, commoditizing technology, resellers that depend on services business and who are building managed services practices, etc. There’s a lot to consider in these sales…so whether you sell for a giant reseller, specialize in a certain area such as data center, security, collaboration, or some application area, or are working directly for the manufacturer in a direct or channel role, this book hits the mark. Check it out…I look forward to your feedback once you read it.

Nov

Conversion Rates

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation
Tags: Managed Services, security assessment, selling, technology sales training

Recent Conference Photo

What is a conversion rate? It’s the percentage of attendees or prospects involved in an event that choose to buy as a result of the event. It should be the focus of every event; sadly, most are leaving thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of dollars behind as they engage in demand generation activities. One of the best next steps is the assessment – however the assessment must be approached with conversion in mind.

I was talking with a recent attendee of my online Making Money with Security workshop, this morning. As we walked through some of his assessments from past engagements (mostly paid), we were able to identify some of the elements that lead to conversion. In one case, a well written assessment led to zero project work. This was a fee-based assessment, and issues were uncovered, however, still no follow-on business. In the second assessment, also a fee-based assessment, remediation work was sold. But it didn’t stop there. This client’s business has continued for over ten years! What was the difference? The first two pages. The first assessment contained no relevant executive level information. It was not asset focused. The second had a large box on page 1, following the cover page, that read, “Urgent Issues Found!” No wonder the managers of that firm continued on with the remediation phase. Urgency is a major factor in increasing conversion rates.
© 2011, David Stelzl

Nov

I Just Received an Exciting Offer By Phone!

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Sales Strategy
Tags: call blitz, call script, cold calling, outbound marketing calls, selling by phone

I just received an exciting phone call from a computer, letting me know about an amazing healthcare offer that I don’t want to miss! Should I buy it? I have received several offers from outbound marketing companies in the past who provide these computerized calling services…I don’t know what their success rate is, or what market this approach does well in, but given the number of times I get routed to vmail when calling on a client, I can’t imagine taking a call from someone’s vmail (at least that’s what these calls remind me of.)

If you have an opportunity to buy into a subscription that does this type of marketing, pass on it. This is not the kind of marketing that typically does well for high-involvement sellers. On the other hand, if you have received measurable success using this approach, I want to hear from you! It could be that I am wrong about this – if I am, I want to know it!

Nov

Making Money w/ Security – Day 3; Assessments & Justification

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Opportunities, Solution Strategy and Sound Bites
Tags: David Stelzl, proposal, risk management, security assessment, security sales training, selling, speaker

Today we finished Day 3 of the online Making Money with Security workshop – using an actual assessment sent to me by one of the attendees, we were able to walk through the process companies should go through to create the perfect assessment document and deliverable/presentation-one that will lead to more business.

By observing the information and writing style of the assessment, we were able to ascertain how the assessment might have been conducted, who would have been involved in the assessment process, and how the findings were put together to create justification to move forward. Here is what we found:

1. Fees – given the size and detail of the assessment, the seller probably could have sold it for more. However, most assessments are sold to IT people who have no liability. Creating justification for more expensive assessments requires asset owner involvement, and a belief that things might not be as secure as originally thought. On there other hand, there are ways to conduct complementary assessments that can result in even great long term gross profit.

2. Interviews – the discovery process was probably limited to more technical people, and did not involve business people, top performers who use mission critical data, or executives who ultimately carry liability for both the systems and data their companies depend on.

3. Executive Summery – Like most executive summaries I read, this one did not speak to executives. Instead, it was a summary targeting a technical audience. It was called an executive summary simply because it was a summary…it’s unlikely an executive will read it.

4. Recommendations – most of the findings were written in a passive format, stating that certain Trojans or other common attack vectors could gain access to data. This rarely moves a buyer. It’s like saying, eating fatty foods might contribute to heart disease. No one will act unless the doctor says, “You’re on the verge of a heart attack!” Every company has urgent issues, but rarely are they called out with passion and urgency.

5. The seller’s involvement – It appears that this document was put together without the involvement of the rep. As a result, it will be difficult for the rep to own the information and lead the charge for remediation. Great sales people are trained and skilled in selling – how can the remediation phase be sold without the rep leading the way?

By going through this process, we were able to redefine the roles of the seller and consulting team, reformat the assessment document, and talk through the proper delivery process to move forward with both remediation and managed services contracts. The next step – each attendee will have a one hour private coaching session allowing us to make specific applications to their business using the tools and strategies learned over the past week. Stay tuned for our next online class, and join the success.

Nov

From Vendor to Adviser

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Categories: Opportunities
Tags: author, Book, books on selling, David Stelzl, from vendor to adviser, sale training

Here’s the new book! After almost a year of effort, my latest book, From Vendor to Adviser, is in its final proofing stages, meaning the publisher is sending me the first hard copy to review. Assuming it looks great, which is what I am hoping for, it will be available on my site store as well as through Amazon…stay tuned!