Demand Generation « Dave Stelzl's Blog

Archive for the 'Demand Generation' Category

Mar

Finding New Business a New Way

Categories: Demand Generation
Tags: cold calling, David Stelzl, event marketing, marketing campaign, speaker, technology conference

Setting up a New Event

Will they come? Just this week I was working with one of my clients in the northwest on filling seats for their first major marketing event. This is their first “asset owner” facing event, and like most, there was some uneasiness as to whether they would actually be able to attract buyers to their event; there always is when planning a first event. Just one week into their marketing campaign, 18 had already signed up (18 qualified asset owners). Within two weeks, 39 were signed up! How did this happen?

Well it wasn’t luck…Marketing doesn’t always work, but good marketing does. We didn’t just send out a bunch of emails last minute to do this. We started this process weeks ago, working out the wording, the format, and media that would most appeal to our target audience. We chose a topic that resonated with this target group of prospects, and we planned a phone campaign with scripts and timing to match the overall campaign theme and mailing.

Building a New Territory – Will it Work?

I was talking with a sales person yesterday from another company in the northeast. He is just a few months into a new position, trying to establish a new territory. In the past four months he has found it extremely difficult to penetrate the market he is in. He’s tried calling, emailing, and sending letters, but as you might have guessed, it’s slow, and people are unresponsive. Will an event work for him? The answer is yes! Events do work. When they don’t, it simply means they have been set up incorrectly. The topic is wrong, the marketing poorly planned, and the invite process, flawed. Events are the best way because they are based on educating, not selling. And smart people love knowledge.

What’s The Secret?

There are a few things that must come together with absolute perfect timing:

The topic must be newsworthy. What are we seeing in the Wall Street Journal? Nortel’s recent hacking incidents, Anonymous threatening governments, subscribers of a large porn site exposed online by hackers, and alarming cautions from our government leaders on the threats of hackers taking down power grids, stock markets, and other vital infrastructure (all new this month). This is not about products – so don’t let your vendor partners steer you in the name of funding. I have seen more companies this year follow their vendors for funding, rather than demanding their vendors fund what works. VARS – If your vendors aren’t going to cooperate here, find new ones. You can’t build a solution provider company using hardware vendor strategies.
The initial marketing plan must target the right people. That means the message is written to asset owners – people running a business. They don’t care about computers, networks, or firewalls. The owner of the company that does metal stamping, is thinking about metal stamping all day. The law firm senior partner is thinking about the law, court cases, case law, and winning an important case. What right do we have to demand that they stop and focus on a new virtualization technology or data center consolidation project? Send them something that matters to their business.
The calling can’t be done by amateurs – or professionals that make calls on contract. You sell technology solutions and you’re good at it. When you contract with an outside calling firm, you are contracting with someone who makes calls on anything from insurance policies to upgrading cell phone service. These firms cannot connect with asset owners – they are there to reach the mass market – consumer market, with a mass message. If they get a .2% response from their list of 10,000, they are happy. You can’t afford this kind of campaign. You don’t have a list of 10,000 asset owners.

Mar

Why Are We Exchanging Business Cards?

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation and Sales Strategy
Tags: business card, meeting followup, sales person

More Sales Wisdom

Why are sales people constantly exchanging business cards? We do this even if we already have the other person’s card, and often when we already have them in our database. Here is something you can do to make this simple act take on new meaning…

Every business card handed to me represents someone who can help build my business, but my first thought must be, “How can I help this person?” If I can provide something to them of value, a relationship begins. At first it is not always obvious what that “helpful” thing will be, but it is up to me to find it. It is also not yet clear as to whether this person is a prospect or just knows one; both are beneficial and one of the two is almost always true. In all cases, my goal is to position myself as someone with a desire and willingness to help. In the best possible scenario, it becomes clear in that first interaction that there is something I can provide. Perhaps it is information, such as the title of a book or an article I will pass on through email. If it is something I can send them, this creates and “action item” which gives me permission to reconnect on a future date. If I give them something right there on the spot, such as a book title, I now have permission to follow up with them to see how the book might have helped. In both cases I have earned the right to continue the relationship. Once I know what they need, I write this on the back of the card as a reminder to follow up. I find this is far more helpful than simply exchanging cards as a courtesy, and it helps make the connection when that person sees me make the note.

Mar

Trashing Business Cards

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 2 Comments

Categories: Demand Generation and Sales Strategy
Tags: business cards, networking, sales, trade show

What do you do with the business cards you collect? I throw mine right in the trash; well, first I enter them into salesforce.com, and then I toss them. In my sales training workshops I often ask the attendees how many people keep their cards. It’s amazing how many do. I think they are seen as some sort of trophy. Despite the electronic filing systems, iPhone card scanners, and Vcard technology, people like hard-copy cards.

If you’re like most, you bring home a stack from each event or trade show, sit them on your desk by the phone, and when there’s nothing else to do, you flip through them, like a stack of prized baseball cards, dreaming about business opportunity. Deep down, you admit to yourself that these people won’t remember you if you call them right now. They probably threw your card in the trash when they returned from the meeting. But these cards represent opportunity, and the higher up these people are, the more prized these cards become. The question is, what will you do with them, to turn them into business?

Feb

The One Day Sales Cycle

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation and Sales Strategy
Tags: cold calling, event marketing, selling firewalls, selling security

I just got off the phone with an excited client – owner of a solution provider company in the north. He called just to tell me about his one day sales cycle - about a month ago his team did an event, targeting asset owners, focused on assets, revolving around risk and security trends and threats; the sames stuff I have been writing about since I started this blog. Yesterday, he and his sales rep went in to meet a business owner who attended the event. They have never met with this business owner – he is pretty much a cold prospect, except that he did attend the event.

The Aftermath

1. They discovered in their meeting that his company is required to meet PCI compliance regulations – however, following my training workshop guidelines, they asked anyway; “What are you trying to protect?” The answer was somewhat surprising – The owner knew his company was out of compliance, and in fact, is paying a monthly penalty for it; but he doesn’t care. His real answer led them to the deal.

2. They “focused on the assets” – went through the discovery process I outline in my new book, From Vendor to Adviser, and identified his major areas of risk.

3. They could have done an assessment, but he was ready to buy. So instead of moving ahead with the assessment, they listened, learned, proposed, and closed, all in the same day. It took them one hour to go from not knowing anything, save the prospects name, to getting a signature. This is smart business.

I am looking forward to today’s Making Money with Security Workshop – starts at 1:00 ET. If you didn’t sign up, there may be a seat or two left: Check it out at http://makingmoneywithsecurity2.eventbrite.com/

Jan

Building the List

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation
Tags: call list, event marketing, lunch & learns, networking, rolodex

Two of my children have started a business selling holiday baked goods (note: these are their pies!) Valentines Day is right around the corner, so it’s a good time to be marketing chocolate and cookies, or anything family members might gravitate toward, to express appreciation to each other. But how do my children build their call list? The food is great (see picture), but getting the word out is difficult. “It’s a process of list building,” I tell them. “If you spend all of your time in the kitchen, experimenting with truffles and flavors, you’ll never sell anything”. But, no matter what I say, their tendency is to spend their time on the part they love, sometimes letting the business die a slow death.

Building the list takes time. In fact, you can’t really wait until the list is built, because it never is. It’s a process that takes a lifetime. Every contact should be a consideration, and every contact is, or knows someone who is. With this in mind, we have developed cards with pictures of the treats they prepare, with simple directions to access their “Buy Now” website. And every time they enter a store where they know someone, or meet a new prospect, they should be asking for referrals, handing out extra cards, and collecting more names. It must become their passion to collect and maintain these names, treating each one with respect and gratefulness.

This is the process every sales person must go through as they look to spread their value and identify new prospects. Event marketing depends on it, in fact, any marketing today depends on it, simply because people don’t want to hear from someone they don’t know. In 2012, your business depends on great marketing – events, webinars, campaigns, and referrals…

PS. Don’t miss my upcoming webinar (FREE) – Unlocking the Secrets of Event Marketing (Sign up Here)

Dec

Collecting Names

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation and Marketing
Tags: event marketing, lists, marketing event, sales genie

Don’t stop collecting names! The success of any marketing program or sales campaign will depend on the quality of names you have in your database. Linkedin, Facebook, tradeshows, or free webinars, I don’t care where they come from; you need them.

When I meet someone, I want his or her card. Everyone I meet is either a prospect, or knows of one. Both are valid reasons to keep in touch. Occasionally I meet people who don’t have a card on them, or at least claim they don’t. A simple strategy helps remove this obstacle…make sure you have something of value to pass along. If I ask you for a card, it may just mean I plan to make a sales call on you later this week, or add you to a spam list. But if I have something of value to send you, I have created justification for my request. I find people are more than happy to Link or hand me a card, as long as they see some personal benefit.

Once back in the office, I will immediately follow up, sending them whatever was promised, but don’t stop there. Periodically send them information they can use to grow their business or address some personal need. People forget over time. In my own business, I have found that a quarterly mailing works well to keep people up to date, but not overwhelmed. Too much, and they will be asking to unsubscribe, but too little, and they will soon forget.

On occasion, I will find I have not been in touch with someone, only to find that they don’t remember who I am. When I finally get around to sending an update, they reply back in an irritated sort of way, wanting to know how they got on my mailing list. I can remind them, but at this point, it is too late.

If your content is good, over time they will grow to appreciate your perspectives. Then, when you include them in one of your events (online or in person), your chances of having them participate greatly increase.

Nov

“Save the Date” Letters

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

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

Contracting with Call Centers – Often a Big Mistake

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

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

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

Oct