Communicating to your Salesforce

Communicating to Help (Not Hinder) Your Salesforce How broadcast communications can help you reduce sales cycles, drive promotions and invite employee interaction. For Webinar, April 16, 2008 www.cutthroughcommunications.com

Agenda 1. The Problem 2. Planning your Broadcasts 1. Measure 2. Context 3. Content 4. Channel 5. Interaction 3. Takeaways

Why are we talking about this? Impacts Problems • DELAYS IN • INFO OVERLOAD TAKING ACTION • GETTING • SLOWS PROGRESS PEOPLE‟S ATTENTION • HITS PRODUCTIVITY

Sending an email doesn’t work as well anymore. Buried, doesn‟t stand out, 2-second attention window, no control.

Example…What you’re up against You launch a fabulous Sales Incentive – great prizes, great branding. You expect to see a doubling of sales for the product category covered…. The intranet pages are ready, so you send out the fabulous email/desk drop/manager announcement at 10am Tuesday…

Example…What you’re up against

Example…What you’re up against The incentive doesn‟t take off as expected; 100 units first week instead of 500. Chart Title 25 20 Axis Title 15 Forecast 10 Actual 5 0 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Example…What you’re up against Our point: it takes more than simply sending out broadcast comms to ensure your messages is received and acted upon. Chart Title 25 20 Axis Title 15 Forecast 10 Actual 5 0 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

5 Key Elements for Broadcasts Measure Context Message Channels Interaction

Measure, Benchmark 1. Are you getting through? Do you even know? 2. What’s a normal response rate in yr org? Readership • Click-throughs • Survey responses • Ratings • 1. Pick your ideal target outcomes X entries tagged in CRM by at least X sales reps • X click throughs to new product page • Training module viewed/completed by % reps •

CONTEXT: Current state of affairs 1. COMPETITION. Who else sends them broadcasts? When, what, where? 2. VOLUME. How many other emails/voicemails do they get a day/week? 3. AUDIENCE. Priorities, preferences, behavior. 4. INTRANET. Quality of intranet, supporting resources (Use CONTEXT to adjust/fine tune your broadcasts for max impact)

Enterprise Example… • Competition: every staff member with girl scout cookies to sell • Audience: extreme email fatigue • Volume: hundreds of email broadcasts per day, mostly spam. • Context shows that even the best email in the world would get a low response

MESSAGE* Six key recommendations. • Consistent structure • Make it fresh • Pare it down • Overview for context • Use several mediums (text, image, table, video…) • Invite interaction *based on IABC Research Report: Preparing Messages for Information Overload Environments,” Eppler/Mengis, 2009. Read it for more great details!

CHANNELS I.M. Digital Signage E-Bulletin Boards RSS Posters Print pubs Videos Wikis Team Meetings Leader Visits Conferences Letters to Staff

Channel Mix Criteria Select multiple channels and evaluate for: Cuts through? • Appropriate? • Media-rich? • Targeted? • Measurable? •

Our Broadcast Channels E-Mags, Bulletins Content managed, templated, no email Desktop messaging Alerts, surveys, scrolling headline tickers Screensavers interactive, targetable, multi-content, easy to change Blogs, Forums, Q&As Secure, templated, measured, single click access

Southern Wines Example Remote Salesforce with PCs • Do not visit the intranet often • Do not VPN in often • Do not check email often • They do access their web ordering system often • Chose channels to match this CONTEXT. Using • desktop messaging to get promotions, pricing, new products, monthly results out to staff.

Inviting Employee Interaction “We need to „push‟ out information that explains WHAT the business is doing, and WHY it is doing it . . . and then use interactive social media tools to get employees to start talking about HOW they‟re going to help make it happen.” Steve Crescenzo, Consultant

Tap into employees for market intelligence, competitive advantage.

Interaction can not only increase knowledge retention but also improve sales programs themselves. • Incentives open a forum, respond to employee suggestions to maximize buy-in and performance. • Promotions Invite discussion to engage brains. Info will be absorbed through commenting, even reading comments. Tap into employees as a source of market intelligence. • Product Knowledge reinforce with short quizzes and find out what they really know.

Sales Goals we can impact • Easier to Absorb and Use New Info Shorten • Context Sales • Structure • Get Attention Sooner Cycles • Channels • Fresh approach • Invite Interaction • Encourage ownership Drive • Collect market intelligence Promotions • Easier to Absorb and Use New Info • Get Attention Sooner

TAKEAWAYS PLAN & STRUCTURE your broadcast comms TRY Checklists, fresh channels to capture attention INVITE interaction for better absorption & valuable feedback

THANK YOU! 5 ways to reduce Email Overload: http://blog.cutthroughcommunications.com IABC Preparing Messages Report: www.iabc.com (free for members or $99) CHECKLISTS HERE: http://bit.ly/lqkjc Feel free to contact me/us at Cut Through Comms For comms checklists www.cutthroughcommunications.com Email or tweet me at: Paula Cassin Paula.cassin@cutthroughcommunications.com 1.805.715.0300. Twitter: paulacassin. LinkedIn: paulacassin http://www.twitter.com/paulacassin for Webinar: Communicate to Help, not Hinder, your Salesforce, April 2009

http://blog.cutthroughcommunications.com	26
http://cutthroughcommunications.wordpress.com	21
http://www.cutthroughcommunications.com	1
http://www.slideshare.net	1
url_unknown	1

Communicating to your Salesforce

by Paula Cassin

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

5 Embeds 50

Statistics