Marketing « Dave Stelzl's Blog

Archive for the 'Marketing' Category

Feb

Event Marketing Webinar Follow Up

Categories: Channel Management, Marketing and Opportunities
Tags: educational marketing, event marketing, marketing ideas, sales training, Technology Sales

This afternoon I had the opportunity to present Event Marketing tips to a large group on Webex. This is such an important topic, it needs more time. For those who missed it, and perhaps a refresher for those who attended:

1. Getting the right people is both the most important part, and the most difficult part. But, contrary to what most sales people believe, it is not impossible, and not even as hard as you might think. It just takes some strategy and time. While most people don’t really like call scripts, a well rehearsed script can do wonders. Some have accused me of making this into a robot sounding message, but far from it…you would never accuse Russel Crow or Brad Pitt of reading from a script, but they do it all the time. It’s just that they have practiced to the point of sounding natural. The fact is, if they just did their own thing, the movies they are in would fail. They use a script, but add their own personality to it. Once practiced, this is not hard to do.

2. Mistakes are common. I reviewed several serious mistakes even the most sophisticated companies make. Why do they make them? Simply because no one is really studying and optimizing this process. One simple mistake is not gaining commitment there in the meeting. A follow up program that starts an hour after the event will take a 75% response down to a 5% response and you’ll never really know what happened. You don’t want this to be salesy – but that doesn’t mean you don’t sell anything. I heard one woman refer to this as the Invisible Close. By educating attendees, and providing a place for them to get more of what you are talking about, you help them get what they need. This can be done professionally without sounding like an encyclopedia sales person. Much more of this is addressed in my audio series – Important topics from Vendor to Adviser…in fact there are 5 hours of critical concepts in this series.

3. Conversion is key. If you aren’t focused on conversion rate, there is no reason to do this event. There are customer appreciation dinners, but you don’t really need to spend this kind of time and money on IT level customers…there are a handful of customers that deserve this type of treatment, but not many. Instead, measure your conversion, and work on building the percentages. Focus on getting the right people, and test your messaging, repeating the same kind of program over and over. Make minor changes – and there are millions of secrets I have discovered, including reducing attrition, getting higher level audiences, using better topics, etc, that draw the right people and increase the rate of conversion. This is a science, not a hope…don’t be fooled into doing the event for as little as possible. Make a wise investment and get a strong return. That is good business.

Jan

Find Out and Join Them…

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Categories: Channel Management and Marketing
Tags: call list, channel management, channel strategy, mailing list, Marketing, networking

In yesterday’s post I wrote about list building, as my children diligently work to increase their marketing reach – but how exactly do you grab the attention of new people?

The best way to make an immediate connection is to have something of value to offer. In the case of my children, they are offering a way to avoid having to think too hard about what to do for the holidays (in this case, what to give a loved one for Valentine’s Day). Having a handy picture of the treats they sell makes this possible. Originally my daughter wanted to just list the items, but a picture is worth a thousand words, and the emotional impact of seeing delicious chocolate does wonders for the person considering a purchase. They must to be able to picture what they are paying for – in fact you want them to be able to picture the experience of handing this gift to their loved one, and receiving praise for having done something really special.

Connecting with a businessperson is no different. Everyone is looking to succeed in what they are already doing; they are not thinking about helping you make your number. Do you see the difference? I think more sales people are out there expecting people to drop what they are doing in order to take a look at some new products or services. This isn’t the way busy people operate. They all have jobs; busy jobs; demanding jobs. No one has time to stop and take a look, and no one really cares about helping you make your number, at least at this point in the relationship. So what do you have that helps them? Find out what they are doing and then join them in helping achieve it.

I was talking with a client the other day about partnering with a certain manufacturer. We were discussing the value of some of these relationships, and comparing them to the lack of value in other reseller relationships. I mentioned another client of mine who has no full time sales people. “How do they do it?”, he asked. They are getting leads from their primary vendor partner. “How?” he pressed. “They have become the go-to provider in this city,” I answered. We then went on to talk through some of his partners. His technical group has made most of the decisions, purely on features, as to what they sell, but this is not the only qualification. Vendor partners need to be just that, partners. In order for that to happen, you must find out what they are doing and join them. Find out what their numbers are, where they are making their money, and where they are missing. Then help them figure out how to solve this problem. Join them by putting together a joint plan to fill in the missing piece. An immediate connection is made when this happens.

Do the same with businesses that you aim to call on.

If you work on the vendor side (for instance, as a channel manager), the same would be true in recruiting strong partners. Find out what they working to build, and if you can somehow get involved to help them build their vision, you just might become the product they lead with. Connecting with people is a simple process of finding out what they are doing, and joining them to help them achieve their goals. When it fits within your vision, it works, when it doesn’t, the partnership or relationship just doesn’t make sense.

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

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.

Oct

Limited Seating Makes for Great Marketing

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Categories: Marketing
Tags: David Stelzl, daytimer, franklin covey, marketing consultant, marketing plan, marketing strategy, time management

When I drive by a restaurant with a line coming out into the parking lot, I may not stop and wait, but it occurs to me at that moment that I should try it – perhaps on a less popular day. The restaurant with no cars on Friday night at 7, is obviously not doing well – my assumption is the food must not be good.

I’ve been writing about marketing concepts over the past few days, as I prepare for today’s webinar on effective marketing and demand generation. It’s on my mind because it’s important – selling is hard work, and where marketing is lacking, the selling is much harder. They are clearly not the same thing. Marketing is much bigger; it sets the stage for the seller – it considers the market, the timing, and the needs your company and its offerings will serve. It’s the overall strategy that determines what you will go to market with, what people group you will serve, and how you will get their attention. The line in the parking lot is one small indicator for me – the seats are full and I wish I had one of them.

Yesterday I commented on urgency. Limited seating is one way to seem urgent. It’s urgent that I get there early to get a seat. But you can do more with limited seating to create a buzz. I once heard a speaker talk about a doctor, years ago in London, establishing a practice. He had very few patients, but rather than opening up his schedule to the world, he limited his appointment times at first so that when people called in for an appointment, it was harder to get an appointment. With only a few times available, patients had to wait for a time he would be free. Word soon spread that he must be very busy since it is so difficult to get an appointment. His limited seating capacity increased the value of each seat. Before long, his schedule was overbooked – he had created demand for his services through limited seating.

Consider scheduling your week like this. Plan days for office work at the start of the week, and block out certain times for meetings and client interaction. Rather than telling clients, any time this week, offer two options with specific times. When I have a choice of 40 hours to see you, suddenly I don’t know where I can fit you in. But if my choice is Wednesday at 4 or Thursday morning at 9, I can see right away if one of those times works best.

Oct

Great Marketing Depends on Urgency!

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Marketing
Tags: Demand Generation, Marketing, sales training webinar, selling technology, technology motivational speaker, urgent offerings

If it’s urgent, it sells now. Medical emergencies don’t allow people to shop for the best price, the person in need just does it. That’s why I like using security as a wedge product or door opener. It demands attention when we can find something urgent; it might be a compelling event or an impending audit, or it might be something we discover through an assessment. I’ll be giving much more on this tomorrow in my Demand Generation Webinar – which is free, but also completely filled up and has a waiting list. But get on the list just in case (Click Here). I want everyone of my readers to know how to do this!

But Security and medicine are the not the only ways to create urgency. Having a limited supply, a limited amount of a certain type of resource, or having one of the only offerings in a certain niche, with limited capacity does the same thing. A special offer with a limited time to buy does this for retail. An assessment that reveals large amounts of money being wasted – with a recommendation that will cut TCO by 50% certainly demands the CFOs attention.

Do you have urgent offerings? If not, you need to create some. Using your discovery process, risk analysis, a study of some type, or by creating something unique with limited availability – start thinking about how you can do this. Without it, you leave money on the table every time.

Oct

Marketing Requires Passion

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 1 Comment

Categories: Marketing, Sound Bites and Wise Counsel
Tags: assessment, David Stelzl, discovery, marketing consultant, need analysis, selling, technology sales speaker

Everyone wants one!

Passion drives the sale. If you’re not passionate about what you are selling, change jobs. As I prepare for next week’s Venture Tech Network conference in Las Vegas, it occurs to me that no matter how great your questions are, your references, the technology you sell, or the team behind you, if you don’t look and sound enthusiastic, the sale is dead.

I was reading a book on Disciplines over the weekend which stated, “Only 10% of employees like their job.” 10%! That means in a group of ten people, nine don’t like what they spend most of their day doing. This is sad. How can these people perform at peak levels if they don’t enjoy what they do? In fact they can’t. The chapter went on to say that most employees are not performing well.

I can imagine that in a factory setting or some monotonous manual work regime, that the job can still be done with some level of quality, but not sales, and not marketing. If you don’t love what you sell, move on to something else. On the other hand, if you can find the excitement in what you do, attitude outsells skills and features every time.

How do you do this? In my coming book, From Vendor to Adviser, I talk about people groups; the importance of figuring out the people group you want to serve in the work you do. When you love the people you call on, work takes on a whole new meaning. When you see your people group’s situation improving because of the value you bring them, everything changes. Try this, stop focusing on the products you sell, and consider really taking an interest in the people you serve. Discover their needs at a personal and business level, and see how you can remove stress from their lives by improving how they conduct business. This brings much greater fulfillment than simply selling a widget.

Oct

Lunch & Learns; David Stelzl Speaks to Business Owners In Richmond

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Categories: Demand Generation and Marketing
Tags: David Stelzl, Demand Generation, lunch & Learn, marketing event, technology speaker, zenith infotech

Entering Richmond

It would seem that security people tend to gravitate to the sophisticated attacks; attacks that use clever technology, exploit some esoteric feature that was designed for ease of use but can now be used against the user…but more often than not, people are losing on the easy things.

More than half of the lost data reported by SC Magazine over the past year seems to be on portable media. Media that could have been encrypted, but just isn’t – like an iPhone that stores as much data as many small computers. Then there’s security settings in Facebook that lead to leaked information, while also opening doors to web-threats as knowledge workers inadvertently download malware along with apps built for their social media habits. Backups that run nightly, but never get tested, or as we saw in a recent assessment, a server backing up to itself (almost funny isn’t it?).

The list goes on: Wireless networks that are open, people gmailing data to their home computers (sensitive data) in cleartext, only to find that their kids have that system connected to all kinds of stuff through peer-to-peer networks. Emailing confidential information at work without encryption, no controls to stop data leakage or access to websites that may be infected with spyware…most of these things are easy to spot, it’s just that business people are out doing business, and don’t take the time to lock down systems that are by design, open and easy to use – thus easy to corrupt.

All of this leads to a simple yet compelling relationship between the business owner and the IT consulting firm. The owner must be able to focus on his business, the business probably can’t afford to hire people who really understand security (unless they are larger organizations), and the need for a more serious detection based security strategy continues to mount. It’s a win-win arrangement between you, the provider, and just about every business out there. The key to moving forward is having a strong education program to help business leaders understand the issue, then following that up with a simple but effective assessment process, with a solid offering to address the most common urgent issues.

Thanks to Zenith Infotech for sponsoring a large part of today’s executive briefing in Richmond!

Aug

David Stelzl – Speaker at the Home School / FEW Family Conference in Virgina

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Marketing and Raising Entreprenuers
Tags: David Stelzl, home school speaker, reseller, technology sales speaker, what would google do

It’s been a great week – first, speaking in NJ to business leaders on the topic of security awareness. NWN, along with Cisco, McAfee, and HP sponsored this event in an effort to educate managers on the trends we are seeing in cyber crime and data loss. Then off to Virgina to speak to home schooling families on the subject of entrepreneurship; a topic I have focused on this year, not just with families, but with anyone building a business in this unstable economy. This includes sales people, business owners, resellers, vars, and smaller high-tech firms, as well as those going into business with new ideas. A couple of points worth reiterating:

Your competition isn’t as smart as you think

Competition – most are competing on price! If you sell high-tech solutions in a high-involvement sales model, you don’t want to compete on price. Especially if you resell technology! There’s just not enough margin in it. As I told students in VA this weekend, people stop learning when they graduate. I’m not sure why that is, and it’s not universal, but it is common. People have stopped reading meaningful books and have largely turned to their friends for counsel. When someone hears negative comments, they tend to dismiss them rather than looking for the truth in it. The world is full of time wasters and mediocre performers. Study, seek out wise counsel, learn from others mistakes, read great books, take notes, and use your discretionary time wisely. Then schedule free time to relax, goof off, and enjoy the weather. When it’s scheduled, it makes sense; when it’s part of the daily routine, it leads to ruin.

Come up with Bad Ideas

I love what Seth Godin says about ideas in Linchpin; People don’t have good ideas, but they don’t have bad ideas either – they just don’t have any ideas (I’m paraphrasing here). You can’t come up with great ideas if you don’t come up with ideas…most of them will be bad ideas, but that’s okay. Just start coming up with ideas. Take time to think, brainstorm, collaborate. Interview people, watch people, think on what you hear and observe, and start writing about it. As you write and think, you come up with ideas. Look for the good ones and execute.

Focus on Your People Group

People Groups – This is a powerful concept. I used the example of a lemonade stand in my talk this weekend. Let’s say you decided to start a lemonade stand. You might sell to anyone…but suppose you begin to realize that most of your customers are bike riders on long rides, passing your house on weekends. You might decide to expand your business, carrying snacks – maybe Twinkies! But bike riders don’t really need Twinkies – instead they might like Goo or Power Bars. Later, you might even start to stock bike parts. Suddenly, it’s not about food, but rather, meeting the needs of bike riders.

In another discussion I was talking with someone who raises bees, sells honey, and provides equipment and expertise. “Is it about the honey, health, or beekeepers?” I asked…If it’s about your own bees, you won’t be successful. If you aim to help people with health, you may find your adjacent markets take you into all kinds of health areas including supplements or organic farming. If it’s about helping beekeepers, selling bees, and supplies, etc, your adjacent markets look much different.

The point is, you need to know who your people group is. From there, you should be studying their specific needs in order to solve the problems typical among your people group. Once you have that – you must become the best person to meet those needs; suddenly price is not the issue.

Your Hand on the Pulse

What would Google do? I mentioned Jeff Jarvis’ book before, What would Google Do? It’s worth a read – the market is changing. Sun UNIX workstations used to be a highly profitable business, Novell was at one time the go-to NOS company, and perhaps everyone will be sporting iPads in place of laptops if things continue to go well for Apple. I spoke with one young man in the real-estate business. How will real estate change - how is the Internet taking over some of the value agents used to provide? This sames question must be asked by every company, especially by those of us in the high-tech market.

Jul