Marketing « Dave Stelzl's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Marketing

May

Meeting w/ Business Leaders In Richmond Va.

Categories: Demand Generation
Tags: continuum, lunch & Learn, Marketing, security event, zenith infotech

Nearly all of those who attended today’s seminar in Richmond received complementary assessments through Sklar, the sponsoring reseller, along with Continuum (the company who recently acquired part of the Zenith Infotech managed services company). Just before speaking I had the opportunity to review some of the latest security trends – many of these are highly relevant to small/medium business owners. A few sound bites that made their way into my keynote:

760 iBahn customers (companies in including Marriott) have been compromised through the iBahn network…
Hotel hotspots are under fire using a sort of “Man in the Middle” attack that install bots on one’s computer – this would also apply to any hotspot including those free networks at Panera and Starbucks.
An alarming number of Android apps containing bots
Unsecured smart phones
Recent hacker activity developing between China and the Philippines (This will be interesting to watch as pressures grow).

Also, consider the number of recent reports coming out of China, alerting us to efforts to steal US intellectual capital! This should cause every business owner to feel a sense of urgency, to make sure their company secrets, new inventions, and business strategies are kept in a safe place. The biggest issue I see as I visit different cities is simply that business leaders are unaware of how urgent these threats are, and are assuming they are safe when they don’t see evidence of cyber attacks on their own computers. The best attacks are stealth – company leaders need to know this, while consulting companies must develop the tools and skills to accurately assess security risk.

Mar

Looking at Google+

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 1 Comment

Categories: Marketing
Tags: David Stelzl, google, Marketing, social media

I’ve been looking at Google+ this week…why? Because it seems like everyone is on Google for something, and that means Google+ will likely gain a strong following. I have a Facebook company page, and of course, everyone is on Facebook too – so what should we do with Google+?

First – click the g+ and connect with me on this page!

Well to start with – you need a way to connect with clients and prospects – Linkedin is a great networking tool for me, but are your clients using it actively? I suspect they have a profile set up – but are they paying attention to the posts? Probably not. In my own experience, Linkedin is a great way to keep track of where people are as they move from job to job. If you call on the larger enterprise, this can be useful – IT people leave every 18 months on average, so keeping track can be an important part of territory management. On the SMB side, hopefully you call on business owners – they are probably not moving around. If they are, their credit is probably not very good…

Facebook has a strong following – and the business side is growing, but for the average sales person, you probably don’t have your own corporate page – so now you are somehow mixing your personal friends, high school and college contacts, and business contacts all in one. This just doesn’t do it for me. I don’t think my clients are interested in old fraternity pictures taken several decades ago.

Google+ seems to have a friendlier interface for this type of thing. The circle thing works for me, but the “Create pages” feature is really powerful. You can now set up your profile, and then create a special page – which, unlike Facebook (at least from what I see here), you can create a unique landing page in a matter of minutes. You can post pictures and bio info specific to what you do, add daily info and insight, and begin building connections that center around your professional side, without getting caught up in the personal side. 80/20 was recommended somewhere – 80% professional, with about 20% personal to give this a personal feel without going overboard. If you are involved in other leadership activities with outside organizations you might consider building more pages for these things. Unlike Facebook, they are unique pages with no connection between them – other than you manage them from a central place. The people who connect to you don’t see a bunch of unrelated tabs and posts.

I am now exploring how I might use this to create landing pages for books I’ve written, and more. Check it out – and see if this might be a way to set up your personal web landing page to communicate your value to those you call on.

Feb

Finally on Facebook

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Categories: Marketing
Tags: David Stelzl, facebook, Marketing, online reputation, social media

I admit I am not an early adopter, but recently I have been doing some research on how to use social media more effectively than I already am. David Meerman Scott and Chris Brogan have been strong influences on what I do in this area, and of course, they highly recommend it! Coca-Cola uses it, and, well, I guess everyone is out there with the exception of me (until now – visit my page).

Do you have a company page up? Since just about everyone has a Facebook page at this point, it would make sense that we all get on board and build some business pages. The more online presence you can build the better off you are. However, I continue to warn people not to put garbage online. What you do in your spare time is none of my business, but what you post becomes the business of every prospect and future employer. Don’t get careless and start posting pictures and updates that turn people away.

On the other hand, imagine the power of you having many pages out there with links to valuable content, videos with educational material, and a forum to interact with your clients. Leverage this tool, and keep it up to date with the latest. In the mean time, be sure to visit my page, give me some ideas on improvements (which I am working on slowly in my “Free” time…) and hit the LIKE button while you are out there!

(Visit my page)

Feb

My New Site – WWW.STELZL.US

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Categories: Marketing
Tags: easy, Marketing, new website, Stelzl, template, wordpress

Websites – Mine was getting pretty old and tired, so this year I am celebrating the New Year with a new website. Check it out at www.stelzl.us and let me know what you think. Some goals I had in building it:

WWW.STELZL.US

Simple to use – simple home page, easy to navigate, and easy on the eyes
Less pages – No one likes to read lengthy dissertations, so I don’t have any
Digital down load store – no more CDs or DVDs; I am using the Fastspring store to automatically deliver digital media, and of course, I still ship physical books (But I do have From Vendor to Adviser on Kindle now) – Be sure to check out my new store!
Video and pictures – I had this on the old site, but I think this is easier to use
Easy to update – I am using a WordPress template for this site, so no more HTML coding on Adobe
Beautiful – yes, that’s right. I wanted great pictures. My personal photographer (who also happens to be my oldest daughter) did the photo work… (notice the on-location photos from Charlotte – our home town).

Let me know what you like, what you don’t like, and if you find an error! If you do find a mistake, I will send you a 50% off coupon for any digital product!

Jan

Find Out and Join Them…

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

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.

Jan

Anonymous – Expect Security Issues to Dominate Headlines

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Categories: Opportunities, Sales Strategy and Sound Bites
Tags: anonymous, hacker, Marketing, roi, sales, selling security, Technology, Value Proposition

Anonymous strikes again (read the Article)…if you look through news articles on technology in 2012, most likely you will find Apple, Google, and Anonymous dominating headlines…at least on the business side news (e.g. Wall Street Journal). Of the three, most of us stand to capitalize on security news more than Apple or Google, unless you work for the latter. Do you have a plan for 2012 that leverages security trends? You should. Of all my clients, those specializing in security experienced the greatest bottom line growth. Areas to consider:

1. Companies that offered managed services with a security slant (Messaging), grew the most. When I say “Grew”, I mean, profit. Who cares about top line growth? Manufacturers and very large resellers who are publicly traded, perhaps, but for the traditional reseller and even small, privately held manufacturer, gross and net are more important. Managed services, is always a “security” sale (but often not treated as one), and is the key to developing financial stability.

2. Assessments where also a hot topic. In my latest book, From Vendor to Adviser (which is doing very well since it’s release in late December – buy it here), I discuss the need to move into a more consultative approach using discovery and assessment strategies. Clients who have made this a core part of their business development strategy are building business faster and more profitably than any other group of clients I serve.

3. Marketing events continue to produce strong results! Lunch & Learn marketing has been around as long as I can remember, yet few can tell me how they are benefiting from these expensive and time consuming events – with the exception of those engaged in security. We continue to get large audiences, executive level attendees, and a very strong sign up (Conversion) rate – averaging 75%! Still, companies continue to try other things, looking for diversity and point product selling.

Today we kick off the first 2012 Making Money with Security workshop! (You can still sign up – starts at 1:00 PM). I am looking forward to exploring all three in detail. Those that master security sales, will win in 2012.

Oct

Great Marketing Depends on Urgency!

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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

Demand Generation – Making Marketing Work

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Categories: Opportunities
Tags: David Stelzl, Demand Generation, Marketing, Webex, webinar

On Oct 14, at 1:00 PM EDT, I will be holding a complementary webinar (Webex)…there is limited seating on this – first come first serve. The program is meant for those interested in driving security and managed services related business – I will be presenting key concepts from my new book due out next month, From Vendor to Adviser – don’t miss this. You can sign up right here:

http://davidstelzl.eventbrite.com/

Sep

The Retail Opportunity; Technology Motivational Speaker David Stelzl Preparing to Speak to Top Retail Sales Teams

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Categories: Value Proposition
Tags: assessment, cisco telepresense, David Stelzl, discovery, Marketing, retail market, selling, technology sales speaker

Due out Next Month!

This morning I am headed out to speak to 35 sales teams calling on the top 35 retail organizations in the world – My topic, Moving From Vendor to Adviser – Capturing the Security Opportunity. As I’ve prepared over the past several weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the top performing sales team directors to better understand how they have made their way into C-Level meetings. I’ve used the same discovery process I recommend in my new book, From Vendor to Adviser; the same discovery process I teach sales people to use as they engage in high-end technology projects. The results are evident – I now have the secrets of their success which I can now draw upon as I work with the entire audience (something every sales person should be doing) – an audience that will include people from all parts of the world over Cisco Telepresence. It’s also no surprise to me that these top performing teams are not just selling product, or responding to RFPs. Instead I found:

Strategy meetings taking place at the top on a regular basis
Operational efficiency and risk mitigation – conducting studies and assessments
Speaking the client’s language and engaging with asset owners throughout the organization

These are just a few of the things I’ve been talking about for years as I work with sales teams around the world, building a more effective go-to-market strategy. The part that was somewhat new to me was how exciting the retail business is right now with regard to technology and security. Millions of dollars are being poured into solving problems and growing sales in ways I had not considered. I didn’t realize that retail operations are losing 8 Billion dollars every year on inventory shortages, and that 30% of that loss is due to shoplifters, but over 60% is tagged as insider theft! Developments in cross channel merchandizing, new forms of payment including Google Wallet, other smart phone apps, and tokenization efforts to get rid of credit card issues and PCI compliance hurdles. Using video to study shoppers moods – which will in turn be used to customize video marketing they may be viewing in the store (this is scary technology). And then there is the QR (Quick Reference) code hype – in England they are using these codes to pay for parking spots, but who is to stop the young entrepreneur who sees the opportunity to replace these 2D bar code stickers with their own, point to their own duplicate paysite - Surely someone has figured this out!

Aug

Post Demand Generation Event Interview with Speaker, David Stelzl

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation and Video
Tags: channel partner, David Stelzl, demand generation event, JMF, Marketing, motivational technology speaker, reseller

One of the most effective ways for resellers and channel partners to market demand generation events is by video. Using a video like the one below, resellers can contact those who have not responded in the past, giving them a taste of what they missed – it can also be used as a follow up for those who don’t attend as a way to gain a meeting to review the event. This clip was filmed following a luncheon for business executives in the mid-Atlantic region, where over 50 business leaders met to learn about the growing threats of cybercrime, receiving critical information on how to help prevent further attacks on their data. Close to 90% of these attendees received complementary assessments to pin point major threats in their current data environment.