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The Honest Economy by Marcus Sheridan

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Below you’ll find an email from my friend Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion (www.thesaleslion.com – great website, download his e-book, it’s amazing).  Marcus is a fantastic speaker and was recently selected to speak at a TED event and has received rave reviews for his talk – you can click on the link below to see the video.  In his comments below he mentioned 5 things you can do today to Embrace the Honest Economy and Change Your Business Forever – what are you willing to do?

 

From Marcus:

At this point, you and I have a choice. Be it the way we live our life or run our business, we can walk to the beat of the way “it has always been done” as well as the way “the other guys do it” or we can make a divergence in the road and clear our own path from this point forward.

When it comes to marketing you and your business, this reality has never been so true. Please stick with me for a second so I can explain…

As some of you are already well aware, two weeks ago I spoke at a TED event near Washington DC. As one who speaks a lot, this 11-minute talk was the hardest thing I’ve ever done on stage. I literally poured my heart and soul into it because it’s a message I so firmly believe in. I also know, without a shadow of doubt, that any business or individual who embraces this approach will positively change their industry, build their brand, and create more paying customers in the process.

I’m calling this movement “The Honest Economy ,” and it’s my hope you’ll consider joining the movement today-and also hugely benefit in the process.

And what is The Honest Economy? Simple, it’s one that’s not based on cheap sales tactics, poor financial practices, or slick ad copy. Rather, it’s fundamental core comes down to two essential elements: Great communication and teaching.

This is why content marketing is something I talk about so very much on The Sales Lion. When all is said and done, we’re just trying to be better teachers and communicators.

But to make this simple, I’m going to mention 5 things you could choose to do that not only are fundamentally based in truth and honesty, but will have an incredible impact on your business, brand, and bottom line. Here they are:

5 Ways You Can Embrace The Honest Economy and Change Your Business Forever

1. Answer every question-positive or negative-you’ve ever been asked by a prospect or customer. Turn each question into a blog post title, and then just answer it. Hold nothing back. Be real. Be consistent. Make this a culture.

2. Write a manifesto about something you seeing wrong in your industry, and then show it to the world. (Yes, this takes guts, but you’ll be amazed at the results.)

3. Make an offer to customers no one else in your industry is willing to offer. (Car Max did this with their 5-day money back guarantee in the used car industry and it worked out pretty well for them 😉

4. Make a section of your website called “Who we are not for.” (Believe it or not, it’s more important in your copy that you tell people who you’re NOT for (your product, service, etc.) than who you are for. I’m sure no one does this right now in your industry, but if you do, you’ll see the powerful psychological effect it has on customers and prospects.)

5.  Show your “secret sauce” by making a video explaining how you do what you do . As mentioned in the TED talk, if McDonalds showed the world how to make their secret sauce, don’t you think it’s time we showed ours?? Whether you offer a product, a service, are B2B or B2C-please consider showing the world how you make your secret sauce.

2 Requests that Could Change Your Life and Mine as Well 

I have two sincere requests on this day my friends.

1. Choose one of the above challenges . Tell me, by hitting “reply” to this email, which one you’re doing (or will do) and why. I ask this because I want to be a part of the journey with you.

2. I need your help spreading my TED talk. In order for the talk to be considered by TED.com (only 2% of all TED talks make it to the main TED.com website ) I really need to get the views above 10,000 by next week (currently it’s at 4,000 after the first two days). If everyone that receives this email just clicked on this link and watched the video once, we’d be way above that number. And if everyone shared that same video on Facebook or Twitter, the results would be astounding.

I’m not usually one to ask my readers and subscribers for favors, but today, I am. I do sincerely need your help and hope you’ll consider going to YouTube and at least watching the message-The Honest Economy.

As always, thanks everyone and I can’t wait to hear your responses to the 5 challenges above and see which you’ll choose.

Marcus Sheridan

Prospect Rant #6 My BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT person is NEVER in the OFFICE

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Rant #6 My BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT person is NEVER in the OFFICE!

Time spent in the office – now this one cracks me up.  “I never see them; they only stop in the office for a few minutes at a time then head right back out the door.”  If you’d like your BD person to sit in the office and play spider solitaire then you are wasting a lot of money, they are supposed to be out – meeting new people, holding meetings, creating partners, etc.  The last thing you want them to do is sit IN the office.  That being said if you have not created some type of communication system or accountability system then you may have a problem on your hands.  We’ve created a communication structure with our clients that allows them to be kept up to date and keeps us from having to fill out huge spreadsheets or databases.

Asking a Business Developer to spend time filling out spreadsheets is a colossal waste of time and most of them won’t do it anyway – it really goes against their core nature.  You do however need to be kept up to date in a reasonable fashion to ensure the pipeline is moving forward.  I would suggest an easy to manage CRM or communication structure.

The bigger issue is if your BD person IS ALWAYS IN THE OFFICE – then they have nothing to do …and that’s a real problem.  I find that most CEO’s struggle with the concept that this person should be out all day and yet when they are in the office, because they are usually a lot of fun no one notices that maybe they aren’t doing what they should be doing.  This BD role can also create challenges within the office – some employees may get upset that this person “gets paid for eating lunch and going to happy hour” so be mindful of the internal sabotage.  Part of this person’s role is to create relationships and that typically requires lunches and happy hours to network, with prospects or with clients.

Where have you been?

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I’ve been AWOL, definitely MIA from this blog – a huge No-No.  I know this and yet the business required so much of my time these past few months that I neglected the one thing I know people look for – information.  Yes I was busy, new and existing clients, a pipeline to die for, and most importantly recreating our structure.  2012 taught me a few things – like having policies in my head was probably not a good idea, sure I communicated them (or so I thought) but how was anyone to really know what I expected if it wasn’t on paper?  So it’s now on paper.

We changed how we “on-board” a client.  We found that most clients had a ready, fire, aim approach to new business development and for many the idea of target markets was anyone that breathes.  We revamped our Client Acceptance Protocol and it made sense to create one for each new client so our consultants could more easily stay on task.  Our government contractors say,” it’s easy we just focus on this agency and that agency” and yet each of these agencies has multiple silos with separate decision makers so how do you know where to go in each agency?  We’ve found that a more in-depth market review and analysis in the beginning leading to a Client Acceptance Protocol for each new client prior to pipeline development led to a stronger understanding of the client’s unique capabilities, an easier transition for the consultant to communicate most effectively with prospects and it gave the client a better understanding of our strategy.

We did a billing and invoicing policy for our clients so there are no longer any questions regarding pay structures, how it’s handled and more importantly for me who handles it (and guess what …it’s no longer me)(side question – what are the things taking up your  valuable time that could easily and cost effectively be outsourced?).   We updated our Client Acceptance Protocol and it’s in the hands of everyone in the office so we all stay on task when it comes to marketing and new client engagement.  No longer can we choose to bring on a client if they don’t fit the mold (we call this rescuing puppies).  If they don’t fit, they don’t fit and we’ll be glad to introduce them to someone else who may be able to help.  In fact over the past several months I’ve given 5 opportunities to my competition – they were just a better fit.

Rescuing Puppies is the phrase my husband chose one night about 4 years ago as we were talking about a client that just wasn’t the right fit but I knew we could help them if they would just let us do our work and stop the self -sabotage.  Of course all of our pets are rescues and there is definitely something in my core about helping and taking care of others, but sometimes, in business, I want to help them more then they want to really help themselves.  As it turns out this particular client really wasn’t ready or willing to make the changes necessary for them to thrive.  This is something we see every day with smaller companies.  Almost 5 years into the business we can now spot a “puppy” a mile away and while we may have a personal relationship with the owner and we may want to see them thrive, we know the total costs will outweigh the benefits.  How often do you take on a client that isn’t the right fit?  What have you done to ensure your clients truly fit within your target?  Where are your policies?  If you’re like me you communicated, or at least thought you had communicated the policies and yet for some reason the same issues kept popping up.  Many thanks to Susan Katz, the Growth Coach for helping me to realize that it was easier to get the policies out of my head and on paper then it was to expect everyone to be mind-readers.

So while I’ve been missing, it was time well spent.  Look for our next blog on Prospect Rants.

Attracting Prospects and Generating Leads :: Maryland Business Development

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Business is evolving. And if you want to stay in the game and thrive, you also need to evolve. Specifically, you need to change the way in which you attract prospects and generate leads. Below you will find 4 innovative ways to accomplish this.

Attracting Prospects and Generating Leads in today’s Business World

  1. Social Media: By joining the right social groups, you can instantly be connected to vast quantities of your Ideal Client Profile (ICP). Best yet, social media profiles allow you to network from the comfort of your own home while still connecting with prospects in an intimate, one-on-one manner.
  2. Showcasing: Showcasing, which can be either oral or written, has four objectives: to educate, to entertain, to reinforce your position as an industry expert, and to capture prospect’s contact information. This is only effective, however, if you target new sets of prospects. There is no point in giving the same sales pitch to people who already know what you have to offer.
  3. Proactive Referrals: “All the money you need is in the pockets of the people you know and the pockets of the people they know.” – Business coach Dan Sullivan.
  4. Springboard Business Development: Marketing (attracting prospects), appointment setting, and lead generation are highly specialized forms of direct marketing that is usually best outsourced to the specialists. That is why you should outsource your business development needs to a professional sales firm, like Springboard!

If you have any questions about Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial  burden of an in-house business developer.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

The Role of Marketing in Business Development: The Benefits of Outsourced Lead Generation Services

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The most effective salespeople are those salesmen and saleswomen who efficiently manage their time. And the most effective businesses are the ones with the most effective salespeople. And no, that is not a coincidence. So what are you doing to help maximize the effectiveness of your sales team? One ultra-useful sales tool is outsourced lead generation.

By outsourcing lead generation needs to a professional business development firm you allow your sales people to focus on selling while the firm’s sales experts generate qualified leads and set up sales appointments. Other benefits of outsourcing lead generation services include:

•      Effective targeting and better prescreening methods

•      Ensures qualified leads

•      Your team can devote even more time to actually selling

•      Increases sales volume

•      Increases closing ratio

•      Makes you more money!

•      Lower cost per sale than traditional sales methods

•      Allows a sales team to focus on selling, not marketing

•      No need for additional employees or training

•      Professional firms have access to resources and databases that you may not

As you can see, there are many advantages to outsourced lead generation services.

Appointment setting and lead generation are highly specialized forms of direct marketing that is usually best outsourced to the specialists. That is why you should outsource your business development needs to a professional sales firm, like Springboard!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. It’s simple, while you focus on you core business activities, we bring our sales expertise and connections to focus on your business development challenges.

Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the concerns of sales team turn-over, lack of sales expertise and payroll.

If you have any questions, contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

Sources:

Benefits of Outsourced Lead Generation Services

Lead Generation Outsourcing: streamlining your marketing resources

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