Technology | Dave Stelzl's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Technology

Mar

Bangalore India Day Three: Business Case vs. Emotional Response

Categories: Marketing
Tags: deceptive marketing, great marketing, sales training, security, Start with Why, systems engineer, Technology

SEs in Bangalore

Is your business case enough to justify the sale? We completed our second day of systems engineering sales training in Bangalore India yesterday. On the first day (read about it here) I taught on security trends, identifying the need, accessing the right people, and building justifications through assessments (or a change in the discovery process). Today we spent our time on presentation skills and building various components of a presentation. We crafted verbal responses to questions like, “What do you do?” and “What is your company doing in the area of security?”

The Business Case

Somewhere along the line we’ve been taught that the business case is enough to justify the sale – of course you need a business case. You don’t want to be selling technology to someone where no real need exists. That would violate the very definition of Trusted Adviser. But is it enough? It’s not…

Great Motivational Speakers Understand How to Sell

Think of all the great motivational speakers. The speakers that get their audiences eating healthy, starting a new diet to lose weight, or taking up running or some other regular exercise program. Is their recommendation needed? Of course it is – but most of their listeners where already aware that a good diet or exercise was recommended. Everyone knows that eating yummy desserts every day, living on fast food, and sitting around all day are just not healthy…was it the facts and figures that motivated that attendee to action? Of course it wasn’t. It was the stories, the emotion, the energy generated by the speaker’s passion that pushed that lethargic individual into action. It may not last unless a real heart change has occurred, but while the emotion is high – new resolutions are made. That explains why it is helpful to continually fill your mind with the right stories, movies, books, and social encounters. A constant source tends to keep that emotion going – driving the will to make better decisions.

Good marketing and selling does the same thing. It identifies real needs among real people, discovers viable alternatives, and sets a path before the buyer. But then it encourages the right actions through an emotional response. By the way, deceptive marketing does just the opposite. It identifies something that a company or person wants their audience to do that just isn’t wise – like taking up smoking; and then encourages an emotional response by making that person think they’ll be happier, sexier, more desirable, more popular, or more independent.

If you’re selling – make sure your product fits the first category – a wise direction for people with a certain need. Find those people, and start working on your story. At this point I’d point you back to Simon Sinek’s excellent video on Starting with WHY.

Jan

Changing Up the Presentation

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Personal Development
Tags: David Stelzl, reseller, sales training, sales workshop, speaker, Technology

We completed our second day of the Making Money w/ Security Workshop today…one major failure among sales teams (and one we spent our time on today) is that of the corporate presentation. Have you ever considered how many sales presentations the average CIO sees over the course of a year? However many there are – it’s big. They’ve probably seen just about everything you can imagine – but the sad truth is, most of them look the same.

After class today, one attendee emailed me asking for some help on a presentation he is scheduled to give at his company’s sales meeting next week. It just so happens that I am also speaking at his company’s national sales meeting next week…

His goal, as I understand it, is to present something he might present to a customer. His company wants to see his version of the company sales message. No doubt, his marketing department has a standard set of slides they’ve equipped the sales team with – but chances are they look just like the competition’s. Perhaps they have a different template. Here’s what I told him:

Start out with some sound bites – some hard hitting facts that get people thinking about the trends out there.
From there, move into an emotionally charged story using my Noble Man story format (which I briefly describe in my Vendor to Adviser book). It should be an actual client story – one that looks at an individual trying to accomplish something, but up against some major challenges. Show how your company came alongside this person and helped them achieve something that might have been a complete failure had you not stepped in. I know their company has one of these…
This creates a bridge into a series of things most are approaching incorrectly – but something your company has studied, is passionate about, and has mastered (Reference Jim Collins advice in Good to Great).
End with the need to review something related within their organization…the assessment opportunity leads to justification, which leads to fee-based engagements. You’ll also be building a case for an annuity service along the way (assuming you are focusing on one of the 4 things buyers buy – another topic addressed in From Vendor to Adviser).

I should also mention – Make your slides colorful, using just a few words. Your message must be enthusiastic, emotional, and simple…your goal is to paint a picture of the value your team brings to a pressing situation…

How many sales presentations have you seen that you would want to see again? It has to be that good…is it possible? It is…

Sep

Announcing the Marketing Event Workshop!

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Opportunities
Tags: channel marketing, David Stelzl, JMF, lunch & Learn, marketing event, sales event, Technology

My Next Workshop

I mentioned last week that I was in the final stages of editing my new ebook, Event Marketing: 7 Steps to Profitability Using Lunch & Learns and Sales Events…I have also been working on a companion course which I am looking to schedule the week of Oct 8th (Online). As a special bonus, I will be doing a complementary session sometime at the end of this month. Why am I doing this?

The Problem With Lunch & Learns

Resellers have been doing Lunch & Learns for years – I am sure you have done at least one of these. If you’ve been in this industry very long, you have probably been to dozens. I know there is some benefit to getting your name out, inviting your clients, and hopefully attracting a few more as prospects. It can’t hurt. I see road shows covering several cities, with 100 – 150 people attending across the program, and I think, “This could be good.” But then I ask the big question – “What was your conversion rate?” At this point I have disconnected with the person I am talking to – “What is a conversion rate?”

Conversion rate refers to the number of attendees that were not buying; who are now suddenly buying, just because they went to your event. Are you getting back as much as you should be? This workshop is geared to one kind of person – the marketing or sales professional who wants to maximize the potential marketing power of every JMF (Joint Marketing Funds) dollar that comes their way! If you are getting some business, you can get more. If you don’t see much at all from your events, I can drastically change that. Here are a few of the topics I will be covering:

Re-engineering the event – a look at how to measure and maximize conversion rates.
Effective event planning – writing the marcom, raising money, and every detail affecting the outcome.
Marketing your event – who to reach, how to reach them, and even what to say by mail and phone.
Topics & Speakers that work.
Creating your conversion offer – exactly what to offer your audience in order to take them to the next step.
Conducting the Event – I’ll give you every step you need, including the schedule to follow. It’s a formula that works every time.
The Follow Up Plan – exactly how to follow up, and how to multiply the number of deals that come out of a single event.

If you are trying to build a bigger territory, trying to reach higher level people in your accounts, and trying to shorten sales cycles, this workshop is for you. I am working on the logistics this week and will be announcing them shortly. Make sure you are subscribed to my blog and twitter – dstelzl – to receive updates on the complementary session and early discount sign-up. I know there is a better way to sell – cold calling is dead in my opinion, and wasting a lot of people’s time.

As part of this you will receive the book I am just now finishing, and if you can’t make every session, I will be recording it for you!

Jul

Small Businesses and The Bank – New Trends for Cybercrime

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Sound Bites
Tags: data security, end-node, firewall, Information Security, selling, small business, Technology

Don’t ignore security if you work in the SMB market…I continue to see smaller resellers focusing on managed services, but neglecting the security side of this program. Don’t do it. Managed services contracts justified on security remain the most stable contracts for long-term recurring revenue.

In this attached article, Cyber Thieves Hit Owners (From the Wall Street Journal), the writer shows how small businesses are often held responsible for financial losses caused by hackers…in other words, while you as an individual can usually recover by placing blame on the bank, it is only on some recent cases that the bank was held responsible for small business losses. While the writer takes the positive side, seeing a trend to help small business, we are not there yet.

Every project should incorporate security, and every reseller should assume their SMB clients are clueless about security. That’s just the way it is, and this article says exactly that. Consider these sound bites from the link above:

“The proportion of those attacks that were explicitly focused on small business rose to more than 30%, compared with 18% at the end of December 2011, according to its findings.”

“In the first half of 2012, the total number of targeted attacks on organizations rose to an average of 151 a day during May and June.”

Make sure you have security built into your discovery process – look for weak end-node security, poorly configured firewalls, unstructured data outside the firewall, unsecured web applications, and personal devices full of sensitive data (such as Smart phones lacking passwords and encryption).

Jul

Every Customer Has A Story

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Marketing
Tags: Chick-Fil-A, customer story, marketing video, sales, Technology

There’s a powerful video put out by Chick-Fil-A called “Every Customer Has A Story.” When Chick-Fil-A opens a new store, people gather hours before the grand opening just to be one of the first in. It’s just fast food, but their company stands out among fast food establishments whether you like their food or not. Their people go through more training, and the franchise owners, more scrutiny, to make sure the brand name is preserved.

I like this video because it focuses on meeting needs…there are 4 basic needs that most of your clients have some struggle with (at least one of them):

Health
Financial
Marriage
Family

While your solutions must be in line with the four things buyers buy (a topic well covered in my From Vendor to Adviser book), understand that behind every transaction are people working through all kinds of personal stresses is helpful. To neglect this side of the sale is a mistake. How can you become more in tune with the needs of the people you serve? When it comes down to choosing a trusted adviser, caring about the individual you sell to just might be the value differentiator.

May

Building a Following w/ The End In Mind – Tips on Social Media

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation and Marketing
Tags: event, lunch & Learn, marketing with social medial, social media, social media marketing, Technology

When I say “event” or “Lunch & Learn”, the first question is, “How do we get people to come? Tomorrow I am conducting a conference on entrepreneurial thinking and we have over 130 people signed up – how did that happen? Well, there are many factors, but one factor should be the use of social media. If you are not leveraging social media tools in your business to build a following, you should be. If you are, check to make sure you are actually building, and not wasting your time.

Understanding How it Works

First, I think it’s important to say, social media is not a quick, over night kind of thing. People who use social media as another avenue for spam are not going to be successful. No one is going to buy a magazine full of advertisements. I remember watching one of my friends open his Car & Driver Magazine in high school. The first thing he would do is flip through to find the ad pages and rip them out. Then he would hold up the remaining magazine – it would be half the thickness of the original.

Social media is about content and creating value. What do your readers want? What will help them with the business they are trying to build? You can’t just guess on this, you need input. I recommend asking your best clients what to put out there. It also has to be something you are passionate about. If you don’t have a passion for the things your clients need, you might be in the wrong business. When the two come together, something happens – people start following.

Gary Vaynerchuck, author of Crush It, gives us a sense of that passion – check out his blog. Of course, if you know Gary, you don’t read his blog, rather you watch it. On the other hand, David Meerman Scott does a great job explaining how content should work and how to build, what he calls personas of the people you aim to reach – check out his book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR.

Talking Strategy

Yesterday I was on a coaching call with a marketing VP talking strategy and social media. His company has content, but as we read through it, we both saw the same problem – the content is to technical and too generic. His market is pretty specific, yet his content is not. If I ask him to describe his target prospect, he can do it, but when I read the headlines on his blog, they don’t tend to attract the right target – or any specific target.

Social media is a process – its a set of tools that allow me to address a people group. The group already exists out there. My job is to write compelling content to the group as if I am the newspaper serving a local town. My content has to be great – it has to compete with a million other people. This is where Simon Sinek’s video, which I posted a few weeks ago, comes in; Starting with the Why. When I think about my own business and why it has been successful over the past 8 years, I know it is because I am doing exactly what Simon is describing – I am selling my Why. In my words, I am working to meet the needs of my people group. A concept I describe in detail in my book, From Vendor to Adviser.

When a business owner or VP, of a large company division, wakes up in the morning, I doubt they are thinking about your products and they probably won’t tune into your blog post if it’s all about you. Yet they will probably read their email first. For some reason, even the busiest people go to email first. What are they looking for? If something is going on in their business, it’s likely somewhere in email and like most professionals, they head there first. The question is, will they subscribe to your media, making it part of the morning routine?

So How Did We Get the 130 People?

Building an audience happens through social media – making contacts, building trust, and building interest. It won’t happen overnight, in fact the first year of my blog, I struggled reach more than 10 to 15 readers in a day; sometimes less. Some people continue to buy lists and make calls, and there is a place for this, but calling people you don’t know, and more importantly, who don’t know you, is a tough way to build an audience for your upcoming event.

Mar

Speaking to Business Owners in South Dakota; An Educational Security Event

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 1 Comment

Categories: Demand Generation and Opportunities
Tags: David Stelzl, joint marketing funds, Managed Services, marketing campaign, marketing event, security, speaker, Technology, var

Note: Here’s my Hertz rental car at the Rapid City Airport – If they had known that I have seven kids, they would have also known that I only know how to drive big vehicles…

It’s a great day in Rapid City, SD – I love this job because I love events like the one we are doing today. Every business owner out there is working hard to build a successful company, and today is no different. 72 of these business owners and leaders are meeting today to gain insights on how to deal with information security as their business grows, and the threats increase. As they focus on their customers and offerings, someone has to sort out the technology, and figure out how to maintain it – keeping it secure, up, and running smoothly.

A local solution provider in town is sponsoring this event – we’ve been preparing for this over the past few weeks, looking at who should attend, who will benefit, and how to best address the issues businesses are facing. The exciting thing is, we have answers. We have an understanding of what these companies are facing, and we’ve put together a plan to address it. We have a way to show them the problem, a way to measure the effects it is having on their businesses, and a way to bring managed remediation to any issues that may exist. It’s simple to do, compelling, and valuable to both the sponsor and the attendee.

This is what we do – the technology business is not about selling the next widget, or even maximizing profits – it’s about the people you are serving through it; in this case, small and medium business owners and managers. The profit is a measure of your success in carrying out the mission. At the end of the day it’s a win/win proposition.

Jan

Guatemala City: Day 1

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Opportunities and Real Life
Tags: guatemala, marketing training, security sales training, Technology

I arrived yesterday after connecting in Houston. Guatemala is a lot different than I expected, with it’s mountainous terrain and volcanoes – pictured left. The weather is great in this city, which sits about a mile above sea-level. My client tells me they don’t need heat or air conditioning in their homes. It’s just perfect all year around. Last night we dined at a nearby upscale restaurant, where we discussed some of the history as well as how my client’s came to be here. I am looking forward to our sessions on Tuesday as we take their sales team through the Making Money w/ Security workshop.

PS. Don’t forget, I have a live Webex based sales training program coming up later this month. You can sign up here: (CLICK)

Jan

Anonymous – Expect Security Issues to Dominate Headlines

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

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.

Sep

The Lost Art of Mentorship

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Wise Counsel
Tags: business coaching, coaching, David Stelzl, executive coaching, mentor, sales coaching, Technology

My handcrafted bookcase

Months ago I embarked on a new project – my first major woodworking project, complete with exotic hardwoods, joinery, and inlays. Starting with raw mahogany boards, I’ve come to this picture (left)…Several times during the process I found myself stopping in frustration as I took rough lumber, resawed it down to board size, planed it, joined it, and fit pieces together. Cutting moldings, fluting, routing, and sanding…it’s a big deal. There are no nails in this type of building – it’s precise, cumbersome, artistic, and difficult. How did I get here? Mentors and reading.

Woodworking is a skill. There are so many tricks and techniques to building jigs, joining wood, and just making things work; it’s something you could go to school for I guess, but the best way is to work alongside someone who really knows – someone with experience. The master craftsman and the apprentice. With our focus on schools and universities, we’ve lost a lot of this, but for thousands of years, this has proved out to be the most efficient way to learn and grow. Co-op programs, apprenticeships, interns…business coaching; it’s all mentorship. It’s finding someone who has been there, or has hands-on experience, who is able to take the time to walk another person through the process. Whether you’re building, writing, drawing, parenting, or building a business – find experts to learn from. Some are paid, others are free, but in the long run, the investments you make will return to far more than you can imagine.