6. Traditional Sales Skills are
Losing Effectiveness
From Closing…to Connecting
OLD SKILL SET
Assessing needs
Being a Road Warrior
Working longer, harder
Seducing
Persistence
Can “work” that phone
Closing
NEW SKILL SET
Listening for problems to be solved
Selecting “smart clients”
Assembling knowledge & intelligence
Engaging
Prioritizing
Leverages the ecosystem/collaborates
Connecting
11. THE PATH
We exist
We’re teaching you what we know
We’re influencing your perception
We’re showing you how we can make an impact
PROSPECTS CHOOSE TO ENGAGE
13. THE PATH
We exist
We’re teaching you what we know
We’re influencing your perception
We’re showing you how we can make an impact
PROSPECTS CHOOSE TO ENGAGE
21. How are Sales & Marketing Working
Evolving to a new blended/collaborative model
Marketing
• Thinking like a
publisher
• ASK DIFFERENT
QUESTIONS
• Creating & sharing
impactful information
• Telling the company
story
• Working to increase
exposure in search
engines
• Feeding the sales
team
Sales
• Identifying “smart”
clients
• Developing multiple
paths to connection
• Connecting and
engaging
• Feeding the
marketing team
Together?
22. Project Managing the Process
COMMIT
• Start with messaging
• Create a simple list of themes you want to talk
about regularly
• Talk about frequency of posts
• Establish a regular meeting time
• Try extracting information multiple ways, be
diligent, don’t easily give up
23. This is About TEAMWORK
Evolving to a new blended/collaborative model
• Does the executive team “buy in?”
• Who are your sources?
• Who uncovers client intelligence?
• Who is the point person?
• Who can do the writing?
• Who can manage social media?
24. AMTS Example
Think holistically
• Constructing an Intelligent Tomorrow
• Want to be known for:
Specialty construction solutions
Community work/involvement
Company growth
Industry expertise
Racing sponsorship
Christian values
25. Establish a Consistent Content Mix
Think holistically
• Every single week:
AMTS News story
Community News story
Job postings
Chaplain blog post
Industry News story
• Posted to the website, company social media pages, key
leadership LinkedIn accounts
26. Execution
TEAMWORK
• Ongoing “open items” list tied to the desired content mix
• Weekly meeting with Senior Vice President
• He assigns a point person for each story for us to follow-up
with
• We handle follow-up and writing of the first draft
• SVP shepherds the approval process
• An internal marketing admin posts and monitors all social
media channels
27. Impact
What it’s all about…
• Changed people’s perceptions about their capabilities
• They draw a higher level of quality traffic to their website
• They receive more than 250 job applications through their
website annually
• Most importantly, across their leadership team,
EVERYBODY thinks about how they can leverage
marketing differently…
Start with introductions and background
Wayne O’Neill
Terri Hoffman
This presentation is about more than content marketing and business development
It’s about stepping back and really thinking about how your company, leadership team and brand is perceived in the market
It’s about thinking about things you can do to change and improve people’s perceptions
It’s about recognizing the things you have control over, the things you can impact
And it’s about recognizing that it’s a bit of a journey that speaks to the culture of your company, your team, and also you
I suspect that a lot of you will think you are doing this within your firm, but you are not
I also suspect that a lot of you may feel that
93% of B2B buyers begin their buying process using Internet search.” Source: Marketo
We’re in a “2nd screen” society
While somebody is meeting with you, listening to you, what else are they doing?
How does your company connect?
Doesn’t follow a linear path
More complicated
No matter how logical it seems, decisions always Involve EMOTIONS
Problems have become more complex
Pressure is high
The way you are perceived online and offline is critical
Owners/companies are looking for somebody capable of understanding their issues and leading them to solutions
Refer to the blog by Steve Head (presentation, details, pitch team, Google-ing the company and leadership team)
People ignore traditional/outbound techniques because they’re sick of them
Gary Vaynerchuck asserts that Marketers ruin everything…it’s true.
People become desensitized, and they run away from places where they feel they are being “sold or marketed to”
They want to connect with people who are helping them solve their issues, who are helping them piece together the puzzle
How many of you have a blog or news page on your website?
How many post more than 1 time per month? 1x per week?
How many of your companies have social media pages?
How many of you have principles/owners who are on LinkedIn? Is it up to date?
How many post articles that have NOTHING to do with your company on your social media pages?
At the same time, traditional sales skills are becoming less effective
Do you know anybody who likes to be “closed” anymore?
Do you like to be “closed”?
Or do you like to work with somebody who is working hard to understand your environment, your culture, your clients, your industry?
Are you looking for a company and vendors who are figuring out how to connect?
As a result of behaviors changing, rise of mobile use, rise of social media, the model as a whole is evolving
You can’t follow a linear path anymore…making cold calls, setting up demos or in-person presentations and “qualifying leads” to make sales
What did a buyer hear from your sales person?
What do they read on your website?What do they see on your blog?
What do they see posted on your social media pages?
What do they experience with your products and services?
ALL of these things work together to help you connect
That’s a cricket
Somebody searches for your company and key executives by name on Google, and you don’t show up
Somebody searches for your company and key executives on LinkedIn, and you don’t show up
Somebody searches for your keys areas of expertise on Google, and you don’t show upIT LOOKS LIKE YOU DON’T EXIST
Somebody visits your website and they don’t see anything that matches up with what they learned in person
So even if you have a great in-person meeting, it plants a seed of doubt
It creates a disconnect in the decision-makers mind
How many of you worry about this?
You’re dealing with savvy people and you just can’t assume or hope that they’re not looking online to do research
Nobody can maximize their success by settling and just hoping that good enough is really enough
People check out your website
People look at your LinkedIn profile
People Google you and your company to see if there is any other news you are involved with
You have the opportunity to SHAPE their thinking
People check out your website
People look at your LinkedIn profile
People Google you and your company to see if there is any other news you are involved with
You have the opportunity to SHAPE their thinking
People check out your website
People look at your LinkedIn profile
People Google you and your company to see if there is any other news you are involved with
You have the opportunity to SHAPE their thinking
People check out your website
People look at your LinkedIn profile
People Google you and your company to see if there is any other news you are involved with
You have the opportunity to SHAPE their thinking
Interesting stats…
Marketing and sales teams must evolve their skills set, their execution, and their teamwork
And the evolution has to be bigger than just setting up a LinkedIn page and beginning to make posts there
Think more strategically about HOW you are connecting
WHY should a decision maker or owner care about your offering?
HOW do you want them to perceive your value?
HOW are you project managing this process?
HOW are you leveraging different parts of your team?
Think of yourselves as publishers
The practice of creating and sharing impactful information in order to “connect”
You are communicating how you are aligned with their important “business & *political” issues
Content Marketing helps tell your brand story & increase your exposure in search engines.
Just step back and think of one example….attending a trade show or conference
Have Wayne explain how we pick that apart as a sales and marketing team, then figure out how to leverage it
It will be challenging
It will be uncomfortable
But it will also be very rewarding