Inbound in an Hour. Learn the basics to grow your business in 2015Thomas M Schwab
Presentation for the 48 Days community on how to grow your business in 2015 using an Inbound Strategy. Attract visitors, engage leads and delight more customers with a proven cost effective strategy..
Attract, Sell, Wow - sales and marketing best practices for growing businessesRamon Ray
How to boost sales and have more successful marketing with the three steps of "Attract, Sell, Wow". Also called "Date Your Leads, Marry Your Customers" - by Ramon Ray - @ramonray - www.ramonray.com
An eight-part presentation on how entrepreneurs can build their own referral marketing machine.
Referral marketing is the process of building your "Know, Like, and Trust" factors through sharing kindness, appreciation, and gratitude with your customers.
Inbound in an Hour. Learn the basics to grow your business in 2015Thomas M Schwab
Presentation for the 48 Days community on how to grow your business in 2015 using an Inbound Strategy. Attract visitors, engage leads and delight more customers with a proven cost effective strategy..
Attract, Sell, Wow - sales and marketing best practices for growing businessesRamon Ray
How to boost sales and have more successful marketing with the three steps of "Attract, Sell, Wow". Also called "Date Your Leads, Marry Your Customers" - by Ramon Ray - @ramonray - www.ramonray.com
An eight-part presentation on how entrepreneurs can build their own referral marketing machine.
Referral marketing is the process of building your "Know, Like, and Trust" factors through sharing kindness, appreciation, and gratitude with your customers.
Overseas online sales strategy for Chinese BrandsOxygen 2.0
In this presentation for Chinese brands Oxygen 2.0 highlights how to use inbound marketing best practices in tandem with Western social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc. to increase website traffic, increase sales qualified leads, increase customer acquisition, increase market share and increase revenue
Social media is different for Business to Business (B2B) organizations. This presentation looks at the differences between B2C vs. B2B marketing. We look at some B2B social media marketing stats, challenges, and some examples from some leading B2B organizations.
This is a presentation I gave at Rocky Mountain Promotional Products Regional Association on networking at events as well as linkedin. The stories and details are delivered live but this is a good overview of the content.
Marketing to your buyers is much different than it was 30 years ago--or even 5, for that matter. Buyers are 60% of the way through the traditional sales process before they are even a blip on your radar! We take a look at the strategies of the past and why they're not working for you today--as well as a suggestion on what could.
Build Your Brand: Make A Name For Yourself Through Effective CommunicationNathan Young
Learn the basics of personal brand building through this easy to follow presentation modified for the web. While this presentation was aimed at graduating college seniors, anyone looking to take control of their image, reputation, and success will find useful tips on building a strong brand that will resonate with their audience.
Presented by Nathan Young and Joe Barnes.
The Lost Art of Lawyer-to-Lawyer Referral MarketingLarry Bodine
Lawyer referrals are marketing gold. Your best cases don’t come from TV, radio, or billboards—they come from other lawyers. But you need to build a system for getting lawyer referrals.
The program was presented by Larry Bodine, attorney and editor of The National Trial Lawyers website, and by John Fisher of New York, birth injury attorney, entrepreneur and author.
- Why you only need 3-5 referral partners to have a pipeline of new referrals every day.
- How to get new referral partners.
- Your online “co-counsel program.”
- Building equity with your referral partners.
- Making a monthly print newsletter the #1 marketing tool in your arsenal.
- The legal forms (John’s “Rules of Engagement”) to keep referral partners up-to-date about the status of a referred case.
Grow Your Business Online Social Media Strategy in 2018Fraser Hay
Grow Your Business Online Social Media Strategy in 2018 is an overview of the products, services and solutions to help you achieve your social media goals and objectives for 2018 with the help of Fraser Hay
Social Media Marketing Strategy 2018
Social Media Marketing Strategy
Social Media Marketing Plan 2018
Social Media Marketing Plan
Social Media 2018
Social Media
Grow Your Business Online 2018
Grow Your Business Online
Grow Your Business
Webinar Slideshow: How to convert trade show leads into customersQuickTapSurvey
During this webinar, small business evangelist Ramon Ray, discusses the three principles of Lifecycle Marketing (Attract, Sell, Wow), a system used by over 20,000 small business to generate sales. He provides tips on how to attract new leads at trade shows, generate more referrals and turn customers into raving fans.
Overseas online sales strategy for Chinese BrandsOxygen 2.0
In this presentation for Chinese brands Oxygen 2.0 highlights how to use inbound marketing best practices in tandem with Western social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc. to increase website traffic, increase sales qualified leads, increase customer acquisition, increase market share and increase revenue
Social media is different for Business to Business (B2B) organizations. This presentation looks at the differences between B2C vs. B2B marketing. We look at some B2B social media marketing stats, challenges, and some examples from some leading B2B organizations.
This is a presentation I gave at Rocky Mountain Promotional Products Regional Association on networking at events as well as linkedin. The stories and details are delivered live but this is a good overview of the content.
Marketing to your buyers is much different than it was 30 years ago--or even 5, for that matter. Buyers are 60% of the way through the traditional sales process before they are even a blip on your radar! We take a look at the strategies of the past and why they're not working for you today--as well as a suggestion on what could.
Build Your Brand: Make A Name For Yourself Through Effective CommunicationNathan Young
Learn the basics of personal brand building through this easy to follow presentation modified for the web. While this presentation was aimed at graduating college seniors, anyone looking to take control of their image, reputation, and success will find useful tips on building a strong brand that will resonate with their audience.
Presented by Nathan Young and Joe Barnes.
The Lost Art of Lawyer-to-Lawyer Referral MarketingLarry Bodine
Lawyer referrals are marketing gold. Your best cases don’t come from TV, radio, or billboards—they come from other lawyers. But you need to build a system for getting lawyer referrals.
The program was presented by Larry Bodine, attorney and editor of The National Trial Lawyers website, and by John Fisher of New York, birth injury attorney, entrepreneur and author.
- Why you only need 3-5 referral partners to have a pipeline of new referrals every day.
- How to get new referral partners.
- Your online “co-counsel program.”
- Building equity with your referral partners.
- Making a monthly print newsletter the #1 marketing tool in your arsenal.
- The legal forms (John’s “Rules of Engagement”) to keep referral partners up-to-date about the status of a referred case.
Grow Your Business Online Social Media Strategy in 2018Fraser Hay
Grow Your Business Online Social Media Strategy in 2018 is an overview of the products, services and solutions to help you achieve your social media goals and objectives for 2018 with the help of Fraser Hay
Social Media Marketing Strategy 2018
Social Media Marketing Strategy
Social Media Marketing Plan 2018
Social Media Marketing Plan
Social Media 2018
Social Media
Grow Your Business Online 2018
Grow Your Business Online
Grow Your Business
Webinar Slideshow: How to convert trade show leads into customersQuickTapSurvey
During this webinar, small business evangelist Ramon Ray, discusses the three principles of Lifecycle Marketing (Attract, Sell, Wow), a system used by over 20,000 small business to generate sales. He provides tips on how to attract new leads at trade shows, generate more referrals and turn customers into raving fans.
HubSpot User Group Paris - Apil 2014 Meeting - How To Run An Inbound CampaignNikita Smits
How do you set up a complete inbound campaign?
Check the Paris HUG blog for more information: http://paris.hubspotusergroups.com/inboundmarketing/inbound-marketing-campaign-workshop-april-2014
Digital Media Stream Introduction to Content Marketing April 2017Dave Watson
Introduction to content marketing, content strategy, buyer persona definition and aligning your content plan with your sales process and pipeline strategy.
Efactor - Startup Marketing What You Need to Do Before You BeginEFactor Global
Efactor is a Smart Network that matches entrepreneurs with the very people who can help them grow. Here's some startup marketing idea you need to focus on.
http://www.efactor.com
Content marketing for search and staffing webcastLinkedIn Europe
Slides from the webcast that took place on the 11th October 2017. Content:
1. Importance of Content Marketing
2. 3 Core Audiences (Client, Candidates, Consultant)
3. Anatomy of a Great Post
4. Curate vs. Create
Tips to Enhance Your Business Through Social Media - Overview: The Basics of Social Media, Communities vs Audiences, The L.E.A.R.N method, Leveraging Social Media for growth and cost reduction, and helpful tools
Customers: How to Find, Sell, Wow and Keep Them. A 360º View
SALES & MARKETING
Customers are the lifeblood of every business. Join us to learn detailed strategies and tactics that help you understand your ideal customer and what it is that they really want to buy. We'll also outline a 360º approach to integrating sales channels and customer feedback that keep customers buying.
MaineBiz Momentum Presentation Moderated by Laurie Banks, Perry & Banks, Inc., Susan Dench, The Muddy Dog; Sage Peterson, Strategic Sales Advisor
Want more Customers? ... Give them a HUGOla Agbaimoni
What is a Business HUG
HUG =
Hear
Understand and
Give back incredible value
HUGS In General
What is required to get a HUG in the real world
Know
Like
Trust
Your Business Hug is your relationship marketing strategy designed to foster customer loyalty, interaction and long-term engagement.
Rationale
The customer really is always right and he/she now has more power than ever before to exercise being right!
Today customers choose where to spend their hard earned cash based on their ‘relationship’ with the company in question.
Benefits of being HUG-able
Builds your bottom line by
Increased word-of-mouth activity
Repeat business
Customers willing to provide their information
The great thing about a HUG is if you give a good enough Hug you will always get a Hug back.
When a customer Hugs you back it will always lead to:
More strangers becoming prospects
More prospects turning into leads
More leads converting into customers and
More customers becoming raving fans
How to HUG your customers?
Start by HEARING what your customers are saying
Who are your customers?
Listen
Engage
Survey
UNDERSTAND what this means for your business
The so what...
How are you the solution?
How are you Standing out in the crowd?
GIVE back incredible value
Convenience: Make your product/service more convenient to access or pay for
Speed: deliver the product or service faster than your competitors
Education and training: be a thought leader, the go to person
Eliminate risk: Transfer risks from the customer to your business
Quality: provide a high-quality services/products.
Safety and security:
Presentation with my POV on the critical elements necessary for successful B2B marketing.
1. Know your customer journey
2. Always be helping
3. Create marketing so good people would pay for it
4. Promote the power trio
5. Simmer your leads
6. Get in bed with Sales
7. Cultivate continuous improvement culture
8. Build products that sell themselves
Using LinkedIn Effectively for Sales PeopleDale Denham
Presented at AZPPA September 2016, this session covers the basics of using social media powerhouse LinkedIn to effectively connect with clients and prospects.
when you want to sell any thing, You have to plan to develop a sales funnel. Without developing sales funnel you will fail at product branding or product marketing.
Entrepreneurial Marketing - MITPortugal Program May 2013Frank Days
One of my business school classmates asked me to guest lecture on entrepreneurial marketing and share my experiences as a tech startup CMO. I tried to tailor it to the fact that most were early stage startups with limited resources.
Sales & Marketing In the Social Era (Citrix Webinar 9/18/2013)Brian Carter
Explore social tools and techniques that will help you reach new lands of opportunity in sales and marketing.
Topic: What’s Working NOW: Best Practices for Marketers and Salespeople in the Social Era
Speaker: Brian Carter, Social Media Expert and Bestselling Author
How to avoid the biggest sales obstacles in recent market trends
Social media tactics that boost referrals and warm up prospects
Proven strategies for generating leads on Facebook and LinkedIn
and more
Similar to Lifecycle Marketing: Date Leads. Marry Customers - NEW 2014 (20)
Technology and Your Business: 11 Rules for Success with TechRamon Ray
Technology is awesome - if used correctly - it'll help your business be more productive. If not used properly - you'll just be wasting your time. This presentation will help you get MORE out of technology.
How to Use AI to Write a High-Quality Article that Ranksminatamang0021
In the world of content creation, many AI bloggers have drifted away from their original vision, resulting in low-quality articles that search engines overlook. Don't let that happen to you! Join us to discover how to leverage AI tools effectively to craft high-quality content that not only captures your audience's attention but also ranks well on search engines.
Disclaimer: Some of the prompts mentioned here are the examples of Matt Diggity. Please use it as reference and make your own custom prompts.
Everyone knows the power of stories, but when asked to come up with them, we struggle. Either we second guess ourselves as to the story's relevance, or we just come up blank and can't think of any. Unlocking Everyday Narratives: The Power of Storytelling in Marketing will teach you how to recognize stories in the moment and to recall forgotten moments that your audience needs to hear.
Key Takeaways:
Understand Why Personal Stories Connect Better
How To Remember Forgotten Stories
How To Use Customer Experiences As Stories For Your Brand
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
Core Web Vitals SEO Workshop - improve your performance [pdf]Peter Mead
Core Web Vitals to improve your website performance for better SEO results with CWV.
CWV Topics include:
- Understanding the latest Core Web Vitals including the significance of LCP, INP and CLS + their impact on SEO
- Optimisation techniques from our experts on how to improve your CWV on platforms like WordPress and WP Engine
- The impact of user experience and SEO
10 Video Ideas Any Business Can Make RIGHT NOW!
You'll never draw a blank again on what kind of video to make for your business. Go beyond the basic categories and truly reimagine a brand new advanced way to brainstorm video content creation. During this masterclass you'll be challenged to think creatively and outside of the box and view your videos through lenses you may have never thought of previously. It's guaranteed that you'll leave with more than 10 video ideas, but I like to under-promise and over-deliver. Don't miss this session.
Key Takeaways:
How to use the Video Matrix
How to use additional "Lenses"
Where to source original video ideas
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
Top 3 Ways to Align Sales and Marketing Teams for Rapid GrowthDemandbase
In this session, Demandbase’s Stephanie Quinn, Sr. Director of Integrated and Digital Marketing, Devin Rosenberg, Director of Sales, and Kevin Rooney, Senior Director of Sales Development will share how sales and marketing shapes their day-to-day and what key areas are needed for true alignment.
It's another new era of digital and marketers are faced with making big bets on their digital strategy. If you are looking at modernizing your tech stack to support your digital evolution, there are a few can't miss (often overlooked) areas that should be part of every conversation. We'll cover setting your vision, avoiding siloes, adding a democratized approach to data strategy, localization, creating critical governance requirements and more. Attendees will walk away with actions they can take into initiatives they are running today and consider for the future.
For too many years marketing and sales have operated in silos...while in some forward thinking companies, the two organizations work together to drive new opportunity development and revenue. This session will explore the lessons learned in that beautiful dance that can occur when marketing and sales work together...to drive new opportunity development, account expansion and customer satisfaction.
No, this is not a conversation about MQLs and SQLs. Instead we will focus on a framework that allows the two organizations to drive company success together.
The What, Why & How of 3D and AR in Digital CommercePushON Ltd
Vladimir Mulhem has over 20 years of experience in commercialising cutting edge creative technology across construction, marketing and retail.
Previously the founder and Tech and Innovation Director of Creative Content Works working with the likes of Next, John Lewis and JD Sport, he now helps retailers, brands and agencies solve challenges of applying the emerging technologies 3D, AR, VR and Gen AI to real-world problems.
In this webinar, Vladimir will be covering the following topics:
Applications of 3D and AR in Digital Commerce,
Benefits of 3D and AR,
Tools to create, manage and publish 3D and AR in Digital Commerce.
Is AI-Generated Content the Future of Content Creation?Cut-the-SaaS
Discover the transformative power of AI in content creation with our presentation, "Is AI-Generated Content the Future of Content Creation?" by Puran Parsani, CEO & Editor of Cut-The-SaaS. Learn how AI-generated content is revolutionizing marketing, publishing, education, healthcare, and finance by offering unprecedented efficiency, creativity, and scalability.
Understanding
AI-Generated Content:
AI-generated content includes text, images, videos, and audio produced by AI without direct human involvement. This technology leverages large datasets to create contextually relevant and coherent material, streamlining content production.
Key Benefits:
Content Creation: Rapidly generate high-quality content for blogs, articles, and social media.
Brainstorming: AI simulates conversations to inspire creative ideas.
Research Assistance: Efficiently summarize and research information.
Market Insights:
The content marketing industry is projected to grow to $17.6 billion by 2032, with AI-generated content expected to dominate over 55% of the market.
Case Study: CNET’s AI Content Controversy:
CNET’s use of AI for news articles led to public scrutiny due to factual inaccuracies, highlighting the need for transparency and human oversight.
Benefits Across Industries:
Marketing: Personalize content at scale and optimize engagement with predictive analytics.
Publishing: Automate content creation for faster publication cycles.
Education: Efficiently generate educational materials.
Healthcare: Create accurate content for patients and professionals.
Finance: Produce timely financial content for decision-making.
Challenges and Ethical Considerations:
Transparency: Disclose AI use to maintain trust.
Bias: Address potential AI biases with diverse datasets.
SEO: Ensure AI content meets SEO standards.
Quality: Maintain high standards to prevent misinformation.
Conclusion:
AI-generated content offers significant benefits in efficiency, personalization, and scalability. However, ethical considerations and quality assurance are crucial for responsible use. Explore the future of content creation with us and see how AI is transforming various industries.
Connect with Us:
Follow Cut-The-SaaS on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Medium. Visit cut-the-saas.com for more insights and resources.
5 big bets to drive growth in 2024 without one additional marketing dollar AND how to adapt to the biggest shifting eCommerce trend- AI.
1) Romance Your Customers - Retention
2) ‘Alternative’ Lead Gen - Advocacy
3) The Beautiful Basics - Conversion Rate Optimization
4) Land that Bottom Line - Profitability
5) Roll the Dice - New Business Models
When most people in the industry talk about online or digital reputation management, what they're really saying is Google search and PPC. And it's usually reactive, left dealing with the aftermath of negative information published somewhere online. That's outdated. It leaves executives, organizations and other high-profile individuals at a high risk of a digital reputation attack that spans channels and tactics. But the tools needed to safeguard against an attack are more cybersecurity-oriented than most marketing and communications professionals can manage. Business leaders Leaders grasp the importance; 83% of executives place reputation in their top five areas of risk, yet only 23% are confident in their ability to address it. To succeed in 2024 and beyond, you need to turn online reputation on its axis and think like an attacker.\
Key Takeaways:
- New framework for examining and safeguarding an online reputation
- Tools and techniques to keep you a step ahead
- Practical examples that demonstrate when to act, how to act and how to recover
Videos are more engaging, more memorable, and more popular than any other type of content out there. That’s why it’s estimated that 82% of consumer traffic will come from videos by 2025.
And with videos evolving from landscape to portrait and experts promoting shorter clips, one thing remains constant – our brains LOVE videos.
So is there science behind what makes people absolutely irresistible on camera?
The answer: definitely yes.
In this jam-packed session with Stephanie Garcia, you’ll get your hands on a steal-worthy guide that uncovers the art and science to being irresistible on camera. From body language to words that convert, she’ll show you how to captivate on command so that viewers are excited and ready to take action.
Lifecycle Marketing: Date Leads. Marry Customers - NEW 2014
1. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Date your Leads and Marry
Your Customers with
Lifecycle Marketing
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com
@Ramonray
2. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Our Business Challenges
• Not enough leads – “why aren’t more people
interested?”
• Not enough follow up with leads – “almost
customers”
• Not enough follow up with customers –
“customers are not happy”
• Not enough referrals or upsells – “I’m not
getting enough referrals”
• Multiple system chaos – “I’m using 3 or 4
different systems to manage my business”
3. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Author, “Facebook Guide to Small
Business Marketing”
Speaker
Event Producer
Journalist
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com
@Ramonray
4. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Entrepreneur (own of 2 businesses)
Graduate FBI Citizens Academy
Spoke with President Obama in first
Google Hangout
Play piano
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com
@Ramonray
5. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Small Business Sales and Marketing
“CRM” Software
All in one online platform
Email Marketing, Landing Pages,
eCommerce, Marketing Campaigns, and
more
6. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Date your Leads and Marry
Your Customers with
Infusionsoft’s Lifecycle
Marketing
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com
@Ramonray
7. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Our Business Challenges
• Not enough leads – “why aren’t more people
interested?”
• Not enough follow up with leads – “almost
customers”
• Not enough follow up with customers –
“customers are not happy”
• Not enough referrals or upsells – “I’m not
getting enough referrals”
• Multiple system chaos – “I’m using 3 or 4
different systems to manage my business”
8. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
You’re Not Alone
Other businesses have the same challenges!
9. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
You’re Not Alone: The Gleasons (Financial
Advisory Services)
• Multiple systems to
manage business
(Excel and others)
• Spending lots of
money to get leads,
instead of nurturing
the ones they had
Other businesses have the same challenges!
10. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
You’re Not Alone: Original Runner
Company (Shark Tank Season One)
• Kept customer
information on index
cards
• Overwhelmed by
success
Other businesses have the same challenges!
11. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
You’re Not Alone: Presidential Pools
• Down housing market,
cut sales
• 2,000 pools in 2006 to
500 in 2010
• Manual data entry
Other businesses have the same challenges!
12. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
YOU NEED A TOOL and
PROCESS
13. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Accounting Software vs
Understanding Cash Flow Basics
Having A Twitter Account vs
Understanding Content
Marketing
14. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Lifecycle Marketing
Grow sales. Save time.
15. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
What is Lifecycle Marketing
• Simple framework
• Attract customers, grow sales, wow customer
experience
• Developed by sales and marketing ninjas
• Give you back time for what YOU love
• 3 Phases, 3 strategies, many tactics
16. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Phase One: Attract
Target
Collect Leads
Attract Interest
17. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Attraction Concepts
• Prospects aren’t looking for your company
• Discover you by accident or through your
attraction strategy
• Narrow focus
• Engage and follow up
18. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Target
19. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Target concepts
• Big dreams, rule the world , sell to everyone!
• Selling to everyone is inefficient and
expensive
• Narrowly define target customer
• Meet them where they are
20. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Successful companies start
targeting narrow…
21. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
If You Sell to Everyone, You Sell to NO
ONE
Know who your target
market IS and
Who it is NOT
22. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Benefits of clarity in target customer
• More focused marketing messages
• Find the right type of customer
• Design products and services to meet the right
customer
• Increased customer satisfaction and referrals
23. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Your Target Customer
Demographics: Who they are
• Gender
• Age
• Income
• Geography
• Education
• Ethnicity
• Employment level
• Size (B2B)
Psychographics: Why the buy
• Values
• Motivations
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
24. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Your Position Statement
Once you’re clear on your target, it’s time to
develop your positioning statement.
• Why is your offering
different than the
competition
• Why is your offering better
than the competition
26. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Attract Interest
27. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Your Attract Strategy
• Your attract strategy is a function
of your time, budget, audience
and offering.
• Where do your customers hang
out?
• How will you get noticed?
28. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Get Noticed!
• Content marketing
• Social media
• Face to face / WOM
• Advertising
• Partners and
affiliates
29. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
(Social) Content Marketing is:
• Creating and sharing valuable content that
attracts, educates & engages people.
• Telling stories that connect the audience to
you and your brand.
30. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
(Social) Content Marketing Goals
• Educate
• Inspire
• Entertain
• Persuade
• Create conversation
• Establish authority /
build personal brand
• Lead generation
Consumption Leads to Behavior
31. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
“We are the AUTHORITY in
our market. Thousands of
people see the value in our
content, and they are
calling us instead of us
calling them.”
-Greg Harrelson
Century 21 Harrelson group
Demonstrate Authority
32. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Content Topics Ideas
• Cornerstone content (FAQ about your
product)
• How-to instructional videos
• Concepts or ideas
• Opinions or perspectives on current events
• Research and analysis
• Tips and tricks
• Recommendations
• Insider information
33. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Showcase Your
Customers
34. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Examples of Content Types
• Blog posts
• Videos
• Images / pictures
• Reports
• Infographics
• Emails
• Coupons / offers
• Games and Contests
35. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Your copy will reflect your target attraction!
36. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Social Media is:
• The channel(s) that are used by customers
and prospects to communicate among
themselves and with companies.
• This communication can result in leads, sales
or advocacy.
• Also used as a customer support channel.
37. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Social Media Marketing Goals
• Listen & learn
• Engage
• Build community
Participation Leads to Behavior
38. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Where is Your Target Market?
• 53% male
• 47% female
• 65% of users are 35+
• 53% female
• 47% male
• Largest
demographic is
American Women
under 25
• 68% female
• 32% male
• 90% of users
are under 35
• 80% women
• 20% male
• 1 hr 17 mins per
week (avg. user)
• 50% male
• 50% female
• Largest
demographic is
18-34 year olds
• 67% male
• 33% female
• “28 year-old
male techie”
39. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
“We’ve grown our
Facebook page from 300
to more than 14,000
fans. We CONNECT with
our followers online.”
-Lee Richter
Holistic Veterinary Care
Connect
40. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Social Media Topic Ideas
• Quick response to inquiries,
complaints or compliments.
• Current events
• Customer success stories
• Pictures and quotes
• Contests
41. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Social Media Success is F R E A
•Frequent
•Relevant
•Engaging
•Analytics
42. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Examples of Other Attract Tactics
• Pay per click
• Advertisements
• Review sites
• Direct mail
• Directories
• Events
• Professional organizations
• Networking
43. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
2:51pm
3:06pm
44. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Collect Leads
45. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Lead collection insight
• Give prospects a LEAD
MAGNET so they won’t
forget you
• Give to get
46. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Provide Value to Get Value
• Webinars
• Podcasts
• E-books
• Training
• Discounts
• Coupons
• Contests
47. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
After attracting the
audience, make the sale
or get contact
information.
48. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
“We have identified
three questions that
allow us to DIVIDE our
leads. This allows us
to spend our time only
on the most qualified
and interested ones.”
-Heather Lemere
Salon Success
Strategies
Be Efficient
49. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Get Contact Information
50. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Lead capture tactics
• Pop-up subscription forms
• Forms
• Contests , digital fishbowls (or real ones)
• Kiosks or tablets at events
• Contact information at point of sale
52. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Phase Two: Sell
OfferEducate
Close
53. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Selling insight
• Customers have access to massive pre-sales
information
• Customers are focused on price and value
• Give more value – don’t compete on price
Is your product the OBVIOUS
choice for a buyer?
54. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Educate
55. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Education insight
• Customers pay attention when motivated
• Gain their attention via interaction and
education
• Does your message serve customer needs
• Build content to meet needs
• Trust is important, takes time
• Be helpful, don’t sell, money will come
56. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Educators are not
selfish. They are
givers.
57. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Educating attracted
customers is just moving
them along the sales
process.
58. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Prospects have a need for
your service/product. YOU
need to convince
(educate) about you,
service value and their
need.
59. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Create Amazing Content
1. Know your audience
2. Know where they are in the buying process
3. Connect with them by educating them on topics
that they care about
4. Create a sequence of positive (human)
experiences that leads them on a journey to
purchase
5. Always follow up
60. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Follow up best practices
• Follow up should be to a segmented
audience and be personable.
• Personable – means comes from a real
person. Do not send “no reply” emails.
• Segmented – means that you can speak to
the person as if they are the only person that
matters. No general emails!
61. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
“We FOLLOW UP. Our
email messaging is very
personal and all emails
are written as if I were
sitting down to write an
email to an individual,
never a list.”
-Nadine Larder
Printer Bees
Follow up
62. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Offer
63. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Offer insight
• Understand customer buying process to make
a good offer
• Create buying process map
• Lead scoring helps spend time with high
converting prospects
• Optimal offer time: When they’re evaluating
options, before finalize recommendations
64. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
HARD SELLNG Misconceptions
“There is a misconception in the world that selling hard
turns your audience off and gives your company a bad
vibe.
There are two qualifiers necessary before you can sell
hard and not have any backlash — permission and
relevancy.
People only feel icky about being sold to when either they
didn't give you permission to do so, or the
content/product/service you are offering (and the way
you are selling) isn't relevant to them.”
– Aaron Stead
65. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
“We designed a
custom 2-step
order process that
has allowed us to
increase overall
SALES significantly.”
-Bill Harney
Keeping Current
Matters
Make it Easy
66. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Sales Offer Tactics – Short Sales Cycle
•Free offers and trials
•Discounts
•One-click upsells
•Product pairing
•Chat support
•Make it easy to buy
•Cart abandonment
sequences
•Active engagement on social media to
drive awareness and sales
•Social media offers are linked to product
67. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Sales Offer Tactics – Long Sales Cycle
•Lead scoring
•Onboarding sequences
•Detailed FAQ
•Long sales page
•Social and content
marketing to drive
awareness and establish
authority or expertise
68. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Close
69. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Close best practices
• Beyond exchange of money
• It’s about clear communication
• Good presence
• Written documentation
• Payment process
70. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Ensure Sales Excellence in Staff - Training
• Written process
• Training
• Call listening
• Coaching and feedback
• Automate if possible
71. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
“With a small sales
team and hundreds
of prospects to track,
the AUTOMATION
helps keep any one
prospect from falling
through the cracks.”
-Mario Guerrero
Modern Martial Arts
Automate
72. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Phase Three: Wow
Deliver & Wow Offer More
Referrals
73. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
What makes your
business different?
74. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Deliver and Wow
More than you promised.
Above and Beyond
Expectations
75. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
“We HUMANIZE the
interaction between
the customer and
their cleaner. We
serve our customers
with pride and instill
pride in all our
employees and their
chosen career.”
-Lisa Macqueen
Cleancorp
Be Human
76. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
The $5.00 Challenge
What could you do with $5
or less to wow every new
customer?
77. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Offer More
78. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Emotional bank account
• Deposit good will
• Trust grows
• Stronger relationships
develop
• Make a timely
withdrawal (more sales)
79. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Offer more best practice…
• Cross sell: customers aren’t aware of
perfect product/service matches
• Upsell: Listen to customer needs and
ways you can provide added value
• New products: What new solutions
might customers want from you
80. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Offer More: Strategic plan
81. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Referrals
82. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Referral insights
• Costs less to market to existing
customers
• Referrals is lowest cost of marketing
• Referral strategies help customers
develop referral habits
• Wow customers with service to rock
referrals
83. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
“We PARTNER with
other businesses who
help us spread the word
to more people than just
through our own efforts”
-Tom Force
ICE Keytags
Partner
84. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Make Referring Easy
• Ask customers for referrals.
• Reward customers who refer.
• Send customers a link to a review site
• Leverage social media to create online word
of mouth.
• Create a partner referral program.
• Make it easy.
• Offer the right incentives.
• Treat referrals as VIPs.
85. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
You have the framework for
your success.
Are You Ready to Thrive?
86. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Lifecycle Marketing
Grow sales. Save time.
87. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Can you say LCM phases
from memory?
Ready to win a prize?
88. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Lifecycle Marketing
Grow sales. Save time.
89. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Small Business Sales and Marketing Scorecard
Get Your Score at: www.SmallBizMarketingScore.com
90. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Interested in Infusionsoft?
Want a demo?
Write “demo” on your
business card and give to
Ramon
91. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Want a Lifecycle Marketing
Workbook and more
information about LCM?
Write “LCM” on your
business card and give to
Ramon
92. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
ramon.ray@infusionsoft.com
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechhnology.com
@Ramonray
93. Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers: Lifecycle
Marketing
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechhnology.com
@Ramonray
Editor's Notes
Speaker Details:
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Ramon is a former technology consultant has hands on experience in a variety of technologies including social media, mobile computing, computer networks, online software and more. His expertise is technology, marketing and sales, including: personal branding, networking, business growth.
Ramon is marketing and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft. He is passionate about helping small businesses grow their businesses by educating them about technology and marketing best practices.
He is a journalist, freelance writer, event producer (including Small Biz Big Things with Seth Godin), speaker (including the Computer Electronics Show with Guy Kawasaki), emcee (including Association for Enterprise Opportunity Awards with Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank) and author. His third book is an Amazon.com bestseller: Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing.
Over his extensive career Ramon has written thousands of articles, spoken to thousands of business owners and impacted hundreds of thousands of small businesses to help their businesses thrive, using technology.
Session Description:
Join us on an exciting journey to learn the steps to get new customers and keep the ones you have. Today’s small business leaders understand the importance of leveraging sales and marketing strategies. However, many struggle with the best way to incorporate the hundreds of individual techniques into their existing processes. They know the goal: attract more customers, increase sales, and build a tribe of raving fans, but sometimes it just seems like there are too many tactics and not enough structure. Enter Lifecycle Marketing. Lifecycle marketing is a systematic approach to the process of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service to the consumer. It applied in any business regardless of location or Internet presence. In this session you’ll learn the Lifecycle Marketing model, the steps involved in each stage, and benefits of implementation in your small business. If you’re looking to transform your small business and take it to the next level, this session is for you.
Speaker Details:
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Ramon is a former technology consultant has hands on experience in a variety of technologies including social media, mobile computing, computer networks, online software and more. His expertise is technology, marketing and sales, including: personal branding, networking, business growth.
Ramon is marketing and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft. He is passionate about helping small businesses grow their businesses by educating them about technology and marketing best practices.
He is a journalist, freelance writer, event producer (including Small Biz Big Things with Seth Godin), speaker (including the Computer Electronics Show with Guy Kawasaki), emcee (including Association for Enterprise Opportunity Awards with Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank) and author. His third book is an Amazon.com bestseller: Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing.
Over his extensive career Ramon has written thousands of articles, spoken to thousands of business owners and impacted hundreds of thousands of small businesses to help their businesses thrive, using technology.
Session Description:
Join us on an exciting journey to learn the steps to get new customers and keep the ones you have. Today’s small business leaders understand the importance of leveraging sales and marketing strategies. However, many struggle with the best way to incorporate the hundreds of individual techniques into their existing processes. They know the goal: attract more customers, increase sales, and build a tribe of raving fans, but sometimes it just seems like there are too many tactics and not enough structure. Enter Lifecycle Marketing. Lifecycle marketing is a systematic approach to the process of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service to the consumer. It applied in any business regardless of location or Internet presence. In this session you’ll learn the Lifecycle Marketing model, the steps involved in each stage, and benefits of implementation in your small business. If you’re looking to transform your small business and take it to the next level, this session is for you.
Speaker Details:
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Ramon is a former technology consultant has hands on experience in a variety of technologies including social media, mobile computing, computer networks, online software and more. His expertise is technology, marketing and sales, including: personal branding, networking, business growth.
Ramon is marketing and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft. He is passionate about helping small businesses grow their businesses by educating them about technology and marketing best practices.
He is a journalist, freelance writer, event producer (including Small Biz Big Things with Seth Godin), speaker (including the Computer Electronics Show with Guy Kawasaki), emcee (including Association for Enterprise Opportunity Awards with Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank) and author. His third book is an Amazon.com bestseller: Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing.
Over his extensive career Ramon has written thousands of articles, spoken to thousands of business owners and impacted hundreds of thousands of small businesses to help their businesses thrive, using technology.
Session Description:
Join us on an exciting journey to learn the steps to get new customers and keep the ones you have. Today’s small business leaders understand the importance of leveraging sales and marketing strategies. However, many struggle with the best way to incorporate the hundreds of individual techniques into their existing processes. They know the goal: attract more customers, increase sales, and build a tribe of raving fans, but sometimes it just seems like there are too many tactics and not enough structure. Enter Lifecycle Marketing. Lifecycle marketing is a systematic approach to the process of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service to the consumer. It applied in any business regardless of location or Internet presence. In this session you’ll learn the Lifecycle Marketing model, the steps involved in each stage, and benefits of implementation in your small business. If you’re looking to transform your small business and take it to the next level, this session is for you.
Speaker Details:
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Ramon is a former technology consultant has hands on experience in a variety of technologies including social media, mobile computing, computer networks, online software and more. His expertise is technology, marketing and sales, including: personal branding, networking, business growth.
Ramon is marketing and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft. He is passionate about helping small businesses grow their businesses by educating them about technology and marketing best practices.
He is a journalist, freelance writer, event producer (including Small Biz Big Things with Seth Godin), speaker (including the Computer Electronics Show with Guy Kawasaki), emcee (including Association for Enterprise Opportunity Awards with Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank) and author. His third book is an Amazon.com bestseller: Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing.
Over his extensive career Ramon has written thousands of articles, spoken to thousands of business owners and impacted hundreds of thousands of small businesses to help their businesses thrive, using technology.
Session Description:
Join us on an exciting journey to learn the steps to get new customers and keep the ones you have. Today’s small business leaders understand the importance of leveraging sales and marketing strategies. However, many struggle with the best way to incorporate the hundreds of individual techniques into their existing processes. They know the goal: attract more customers, increase sales, and build a tribe of raving fans, but sometimes it just seems like there are too many tactics and not enough structure. Enter Lifecycle Marketing. Lifecycle marketing is a systematic approach to the process of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service to the consumer. It applied in any business regardless of location or Internet presence. In this session you’ll learn the Lifecycle Marketing model, the steps involved in each stage, and benefits of implementation in your small business. If you’re looking to transform your small business and take it to the next level, this session is for you.
Speaker Details:
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Ramon is a former technology consultant has hands on experience in a variety of technologies including social media, mobile computing, computer networks, online software and more. His expertise is technology, marketing and sales, including: personal branding, networking, business growth.
Ramon is marketing and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft. He is passionate about helping small businesses grow their businesses by educating them about technology and marketing best practices.
He is a journalist, freelance writer, event producer (including Small Biz Big Things with Seth Godin), speaker (including the Computer Electronics Show with Guy Kawasaki), emcee (including Association for Enterprise Opportunity Awards with Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank) and author. His third book is an Amazon.com bestseller: Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing.
Over his extensive career Ramon has written thousands of articles, spoken to thousands of business owners and impacted hundreds of thousands of small businesses to help their businesses thrive, using technology.
Session Description:
Join us on an exciting journey to learn the steps to get new customers and keep the ones you have. Today’s small business leaders understand the importance of leveraging sales and marketing strategies. However, many struggle with the best way to incorporate the hundreds of individual techniques into their existing processes. They know the goal: attract more customers, increase sales, and build a tribe of raving fans, but sometimes it just seems like there are too many tactics and not enough structure. Enter Lifecycle Marketing. Lifecycle marketing is a systematic approach to the process of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service to the consumer. It applied in any business regardless of location or Internet presence. In this session you’ll learn the Lifecycle Marketing model, the steps involved in each stage, and benefits of implementation in your small business. If you’re looking to transform your small business and take it to the next level, this session is for you.
Gleasons: Multiple systems to manage business (such as Excel and others)
• Spending lots of money to get leads, instead of nurturing the ones they had
Original Runner Company: First season of Shark Tank
• Kept customers on index cards; overwhelmed by success
Presidential pools
Down Housing market slashed their sales (from 2,000 pools in 2006 to 500 in 2010)
• Manual data entry
Gleasons: Multiple systems to manage business (such as Excel and others)
• Spending lots of money to get leads, instead of nurturing the ones they had
Original Runner Company: First season of Shark Tank
• Kept customers on index cards; overwhelmed by success
Presidential pools
Down Housing market slashed their sales (from 2,000 pools in 2006 to 500 in 2010)
• Manual data entry
Gleasons: Multiple systems to manage business (such as Excel and others)
• Spending lots of money to get leads, instead of nurturing the ones they had
Original Runner Company: First season of Shark Tank
• Kept customers on index cards; overwhelmed by success
Presidential pools
Down Housing market slashed their sales (from 2,000 pools in 2006 to 500 in 2010)
• Manual data entry
Gleasons: Multiple systems to manage business (such as Excel and others)
• Spending lots of money to get leads, instead of nurturing the ones they had
Original Runner Company: First season of Shark Tank
• Kept customers on index cards; overwhelmed by success
Presidential pools
Down Housing market slashed their sales (from 2,000 pools in 2006 to 500 in 2010)
• Manual data entry
Creating sales and marketing strategy for your small business can be daunting. Infusionsoft's Lifecycle Marketing model provides a simple framework you can use to attract customers, grow sales and deliver a wowing customer experience. Developed by a team of sales and marketing experts at Infusionsoft, Lifecycle Marketing has helped thousands of small businesses achieve success.
The beautify of Lifecycle Marketing is the simplicity of the model, which can be applied any small business regardless of industry or business model. When put into action, Lifecycle Marketing will help you grow sales AND give you more time to focus on the things you love.
Lifecycle Marketing is the Model that includes 3 PHASES: Attract, Sell, Wow
Within each of the 3 phases are strategies
Within each of the strategies are tactics
Speaker Note: There are deep dives into each of these phases, but since this is an overview we won’t touch on EVERYTHING.
Attracting customers starts with focus because, let’s face it, most consumers aren’t actively looking for your company. More often than not they’re looking for a solution that satisfies a particular need they have and will discover you either by accident or because you have a great Attract strategy in place.
Getting noticed in this noisy world is critical for the success of your business, but it’s not always easy to get the word out. The best way to get noticed is to start with a narrow focus. Define your ideal target by researching their demographics, attitudes, behaviors, motivations and favorite places to hang out, both online and in person. Then, start engaging with them in a helpful way, but be sure to have a way to follow up with them before they leave.
Attract is the first phase in the Lifecycle Marketing model, which is comprised of three key stages:
Target: Knowing Your target customer and getting clarity around your positioning statement (positioning is not included in this presentation – please refer to Greg’s presentation in the Big Ideas Track)
Attracting Interest
Collecting Leads
As entrepreneurs, we have big dreams. We want the entire world to know our products and services are available to everyone who has dollars to spend. Sometimes we want success so badly that we spend huge sums of money trying to attract the world to our products and services only to find that we’ve overspent our budgets without adding any new customers.
It’s hard to get noticed in this clutter-filled world, but attempting to reach everybody with your product or service is not only inefficient, it’s also very expensive. That’s why it’s important to narrowly define your target customer and meet them where they are.
As it turns out, the largest companies all started with a small list of defined target customers. Amazon started out targeting book buyers who were comfortable shopping online and who had internet connections. Facebook targeted Harvard students before it expanded to other universities and audiences. If you want your business to grow, you should also start small. Creating a positioning statement is a great place to start.
Two key strategies in the TARGET STAGE include creating a target customer and developing a position statement.
In this overview, we will only touch on finding your target customer.
Benefits of clarity include:
More effective (focused) marketing messages
Effectively find customers of that type.
Design products and services to meet the needs of the right customers.
Have increased Customer Satisfaction, Referrals, etc.
Businesses almost always suffer when they try to be everything to everyone.
It’s too expensive to market to the whole world.
Marketing messages don't resonate.
Customers aren't happy and don't refer.
Demographics explain “who” your buyer is, while psychographics explain “why” they buy.
Demographics
Demographic information often includes age, gender, ethnicity, income, geographic location, as well as other types of information about who they are, where they live, and what they do. This type of information can be found through a variety of sources like the American Fact Finder that is offered through the Census Bureau (http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml)
Psychographics
Customer psychographic information provides more in-depth profiling about how your customers think about things and how they spend their money. Psychographic information will include things like what type of music they like, which types of brands they buy, how often they go shopping, how much money they spend on certain purchases, and etc. It takes a look at the psychological and cultural reasons behind why people make certain purchasing decisions. This type of information is very important to have especially due to the amount of cultural and racial diversity found in many communities as those factors can also influence purchasing habits. A good place to look for this type of information for customers in your area is to use Nielsen's PRIZM psychographic codes by zip code. (http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp?ID=0&menuOption=home&pageName=Home&filterstate=&sortby=segment_code&prevSegID=2000)
You can also find out psychographics with surveys, reviewing actions taken in your marketing campaigns, focus groups, and on social media
The positioning statement is a key strategy of the Target stage. Greg is giving a one hour deep-dive into this topic. Refer the participants to his session since you won’t have time to do a deep dive in one hour.
The Foundation of Marketing Strategy
Before you ramp up marketing spending and re-tool your tactics (for you or your clients), you need to be sure the message you are broadcasting through these channels is the best it can be. Who is your target market? What is the biggest thing they want that you deliver with excellence? Why is your offering different and better than your competition? How do you describe yourself so they get it? Your strategic positioning statement answers all of these clearly so you and your team can create the most effective marketing possible.
Once you know who your target customers are, you’ll need to find out where they are most likely to come in contact with and be receptive to your brand messaging. Think about location both online and in person. Are they on a particular social media platform? Do they attend local business events? Are they members of a local community or work in the neighborhood?
After you’ve identified where they are likely to find you, start focusing your efforts there. Perhaps this means that you need to join the local networking group, open up a Twitter account, or spend some money on advertising. Be where your customers are and start engaging with them in an authentic, helpful and personable way.
Our focus for this presentation:
Online methods: Content and social media marketing
Offline methods: Events and direct mail
Low budget = low
There are many different strategies and tactics for getting noticed. This slide lists a few.
2014 Small Biz ICON Best in Class – Customer Experience
Although Greg Harrelson won the category customer experience, his content strategy is a pretty solid example.
About:
The Harrelson Group is a traditional real estate company that employs non-traditional lead generation and servicing strategies. We are currently serving the Myrtle Beach and Charleston, S.C., markets. Both offices focus on selling residential homes, condos and resort properties.
In 2012, we ranked No. 16 of ALL Century 21 offices in the United States. You may not think that No. 16 is that big of a deal, but you must understand that my company only had 33 agents at that time and the companies that we were competing against had 150 or more agents. Because of the systems and coaching we have in place, we were ranked No. 1 for “Per Agent Production” in the country. We averaged 35 sales per agent in an industry where the national average is only three properties sold per agent per year.
Using Infusionsoft, I control the content that goes out from all of our 50+ agents. I have positioned my company as an authority by disseminating useful, educational content to our local market. The result is thousands of people seeing the value in our content, and they are calling us instead of us calling them.
Whenever you have a company with 50 individual sales people, it is hard to deliver a consistent message to the public. We use Infusionsoft as our centralized system for communication, which allows me to control the quality of the message, the consistency of the message and the frequency of its delivery. All of these things factor in to us being the leader in our marketplace.
Because I’m scaling content among multiple users, we are able to have 30,000 to 40,000 people getting our non-sales message every month. These messages contain valuable information that a property owner needs to see what’s happening with their assets. Infusionsoft helps me deliver information to my clients like CNBC delivers information to stock brokers. The reward is that people look at us like an authority.
I want to be the authority on “all things real estate” in our market. In other words, I want people to see us a their personal resource for real estate information. There are companies like Zillow and Trulia that do a good job at showcasing information, but they have to deliver a “one size fits all” message. I think the consumer has evolved and no longer wants to be part of generic messages. Infusionsoft allows us to understand our audience and deliver the proper message at the appropriate time. This gives us an advantage over the competition. We are focusing on every message enhancing the lives of the consumers.
Describe your lead nurturing process and content.
With our campaigns, we are keeping our prospects in long-term helpful and educational campaigns that continue to build credibility and establish our agents as market authorities in our area. As an example, in our General Buyer Campaign, we continue to send useful and helpful content to prospective buyers for a 24-month period and monitor their consumption of information.
When a prospect clicks through to go to our MLS, to view a video, or to review a PDF, it notifies the Owner Agent that this individual is consuming information and provides them with an opportunity to reach out to that individual and offer assistance in their home searching needs. This in turn pulls old prospects back to the foreground and helps our team to schedule appointments.
Another feature is that we are prompting our buyer prospects in this campaign to submit, via a hosted form, a buyer questionnaire that further informs our buyers’ agents of a variety of questions that are most helpful for our buyers’ agents to know and allow for further segmentation of our buyer prospects!
As well, all of our seller leads are sent a monthly marketing mailing every month that is designed through automation to reflect their specific community and agent. Even if an individual has cycled through our long-term nurturing campaigns, they will continue to receive these mailings and may be entered into additional campaigns based on their participation patterns within the mailing through the tracking of specific link clicks that are topically oriented.
Your cornerstone content is the content that you create that basically answers all of the questions that anyone would ever have about your product. It bridges the gap between the unknown.
Different channels for different demo and psychographics
Once you know who your target audience is – you can find out where they “hang out” and engage there.
2014 Small Biz ICON Best in Class - Social Media Marketing
Please describe your business in detail.
In 2002, we purchased a veterinary hospital that had been in business for 40 years. We created a vision for the future and we hired a couple of more veterinarians to support the growth. The business earned $965,000 in 2001 prior to our purchase.
Every year, we have more than 10,000 transactions. People make appointments over the phone or face to face. Up until now, we didn’t have a reason to collect or to use any of the client email addresses. Infusionsoft now gives us the opportunity to add value and have conversations with our clients in between appointments.
When I look back to our beginning at the veterinary hospital, I am amazed at how much we have done to improve our day-to-day operations. We have earned the American Animal Hospital Association Accreditation, which only about 12% of the veterinary hospitals in America earn, in addition to more than 20 awards that we have won. To qualify for the designation of the American Animal Hospital Association Accreditation, we had to meet the requirements of the 950 written protocols for the hospital. We continue to meet their requirements and standards.
Our passion is to help pets to live their best life by being both happy and healthy. While we help pets, we help their guardians as well. Creating nurturing campaigns through Infusionsoft to stay in touch with our clients is a valuable addition to our business. Sometimes the biggest fear our clients and pet owners in general face is the fear of the unknown. They may fear what they don’t know. By offering educational opportunities, we can send them valuable tips based their situation. For example, if their pet has arthritis, we can add them to a sequence that educates them about the various ways to help their arthritic pet. Infusionsoft allows us to send relevant information based on the diagnosis of their pet.
Our vision is to change the way people take care of their pets by including holistic medicine into their pet’s healthcare plan. We are the first veterinary hospital in the Bay Area to offer Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy (HBOT) for our patients. In addition, we offer stem cell therapy. Infusionsoft helps us by educating clients and helping them based on their specific and unique needs. For example, when pet owners inform us that their pet is suffering from a wound that won’t heal, we put them in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy sequence to educate them how HBOT can heal the wound the way other modalities may not. It allows us to better educate and treat our patients.
What social platforms are you using to market your business? (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
We are currently using Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Google + to market our business. Instagram is our newest addition.
How many followers do you have on each social platform?
Below are the numbers of followers we have on each social platform:
Facebook: 14,098Google+: +1,098 & 87 have us in their circles Twitter: 910Pinterest: 248YouTube Subscribers: 24Instagram: 12
How are you using social media to market your business? (i.e. targeted ads, contests, branding, lead generation and capture, etc.)
We post content and photos on a regular basis (minimum of 3 posts per day) and reply to questions and comments from our followers. We promote some of our popular posts on Facebook to grow leads. We set up our very own 30-day photo challenge on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, getting clients and potential customers engaged and able to win prizes. We connect with community members and share pictures and stories to with them.
We make a few posts per day to constantly provide value and education for our followers. Majority of our posts are education, client/patient success stories, hospital news and new awards we’ve won.
How are your social campaigns integrated with Infusionsoft and/or GroSocial? Please provide a screen shot of your campaign (see below).
We set up a GroSocial Facebook tab to show our Yelp Reviews and our online store, available directly through our Facebook page. Customers are able to purchase our products directly from our Facebook page, without leaving Facebook.We used Grosocial to set up Facebook contests, which us to grow more leads.
We also have a Grosocial tab set up on Facebook where anyone can sign up to receive free pet care tips. The form is connected to Infusionsoft along with an Infusionsoft tracking code to see how many people sign up through the Facebook tab. We use Grosocial to create cover photos and various graphics for Facebook and
Twitter. Speaking of Twitter, we easily created custom backgrounds specific to our brand on Twitter.
Please describe the results you've seen from using social media to market your business (please provide data on increase in followers, customers, ROI, etc.)
In Jan. 2013, we had 300 fans on our Facebook business page. By Dec. 2013, the number grew to more than 14,000. This is more than a 4,566% increase.Leads have become more engaged with the content we post resulting in more shares, likes and plus ones on Google +, along with retweets. Now we have the ability to design customized programs for our email list of over 7,000 people and continue to build that list.
As you begin attracting more consumers to your business, you’ll want to make sure they don’t leave and forget about you. Give them something to take with them in exchange for their contact information. This is called a lead magnet and can be anything of value, such as a free report, coupon or giveaway.
Attracting customers starts with focus. Knowing whom you’re talking to, where to find them and how to encourage them to give you their contact information is the strategy that will set you apart from your competitors.
Once you’ve attracted the right audience, you need to either make the sale or get their contact information so that you can follow up.
Build trust and give your prospects a reason to opt-in.
Here are examples of things you can provide to your audience to get them to opt in.
Small Biz ICON Finalist – Salon Success Strategies
Please describe your business in detail.
We are a professional marketing company that caters to salons, day spas and medical spas. Our foundational program is a monthly marketing program that creates, designs and implements our clients campaigns.
How do you get leads to opt-in to your marketing list (landing pages, forms, etc.)? Please include links to any online material s .
our main page allows leads to sign up for a free membership to receive tips *see http://www.salonsuccessstrategies.com/
Our warming emails that we send out through our partners allow clients to receive free tips *see https://salonsuccess.publishpath.com/free-tips#. We have several more campaigns that go out to leads or direct leads to our pages to entice them to sign up. *see https://salonsuccess.publishpath.com/follow-up-procedure-form#. If we are at a show, we usually have a laptop or Ipad available offering if people sign up on site we will enter them into a contest to win a free marketing kit.
Here are examples of tactics used to get information.
Pop up opt-ins work.
Forms are a great way to get prospects to opt-in.
Other tactics include holding contests with online forms or fishbowls in your physical location.
Ipads and kiosks at your events
Asking for contact information at point of sale never hurts either
Consumers have access to more information than they ever have before. According to the North American Technographics® Consumer Deep Dive survey, 82% of consumers research a product before they buy. They’re also paying more attention to price and value.
Value plays a vital role in influencing purchasing decisions especially for small businesses that can’t compete on price. Savvy small business owners know that consumers use their experiences and interactions with their brand to shape their choices. These experiences begin before consumers realize that they have a need. As a small business owner, you must have a strategy in place that makes your product or service the obvious choice when they’re ready to buy. This is your SELL strategy.
Sell is the second phase in the Lifecycle Marketing model and getting started with your Sell strategy involves three unique stages:
Educate
Offer
Close
Consumers will only pay attention to you when they’re motivated to do so, and the best way to gain their attention is through interaction and education. Obviously, you’ll need to understand your target consumers before you can educate them.
As you build out your content strategy; consider how your message serves your target customer’s basic, psychological or self-fulfillment needs. Then, build foundational content on your website, blog, social networks or other communication platform that meets those needs.
Building trust is essential and it takes time. Consumers will take more of what they need to know from organizations that give them what they want to know. Continue to be helpful and useful in the content that you provide always striving to create experiences that:
Makes your target consumer smarter
Looks out for their interest
They can easily access
They can share socially
Obviously you must know your audience.
Take into consideration their readiness to buy. For example - if you’re a dentist and they’re looking for your address – they are most likely ready to buy. If they’re searching for teeth cleaning techniques or comparing dentists – you’ll need to mentor them along the process with answers to their questions.
Connects because you educate based on their values/motivations
Follow up should be to a segmented audience and be personable.
Personable – means comes from a real person. Do not send “no reply” emails.
Segmented – means that you can speak to the person as if they are the only person that matters. No general emails!
To determine when to provide an offer you have to understand your target customer’s buying process. The best way to do this is to observe past customers actions and create a buying process map. Then, match your sales process to their buying process.
If you have a sales team or if you are the entire sales team you’ll want to optimize your resources so that you spend your limited time with consumers that are qualified. Lead scoring is a great tactic to use that will help ensure that you spend your time on those high converting individuals. Regardless of your tactic, the most optimal time to make an offer to a consumer is when they’re evaluating options and before they finalize recommendations.
Recall from Educate step….
2014 Small Biz ICON Best in Class – Online Sales
About Keeping Current Matters:
We help real estate professionals provide a higher level of service to their clients through a monthly membership full of market-related content they use to educate their buyers and sellers
Here’s what's really great about Keeping Current Matters:
Well designed page
Valuable Offer
Step 1: Free 14-day trial (name, co name, email, phone)
Step 2: After free trial (cc)
Clear CTA
Follow-up
Onboarding seq
Cart abandonment seq
Some trouble email
Reiterate benefits email
Upsell seq
High-end usually requiring hundreds of dollars per month
Low-end usually transactional in nature
High-end usually requiring hundreds of dollars per month
Low-end usually transactional in nature
Closing the sale involves more than just an exchange of money or signed documents. In a direct sales conversation, the close involves clear communication, good presence and written documentation. In an ecommerce business, the close involves ensuring that there is a mechanism for collecting payments and processing the order. Regardless of your business type, the close is the signal that the deal has been negotiated and you can now begin the process of delivery.
Nobody wants to be “sold”. Your customers want the information that they need in order to make an informed buying decision that will positively impact their lives. Be helpful in your education, present offers at the right time and don’t forget the close.
2014 Small Biz ICON Best in Class – Direct Sales
Please describe your business in detail.
Modern Martial Arts started with a single location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on October 1st, 2001. I had no students, no funding, and no roadmap for our future. All I had was a vision for what I wanted this little martial arts school to become.
Now we’ve expanded to four Manhattan locations on the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Midtown, and Tribeca. We have 1,200 members, 70% kids and 30% adults. Memberships are in terms of 6 or 12 months, new students starting at 6 months and then renewed on a yearly basis. A new member’s value is $1,000, but that same member has a lifetime value of $12,500. Our programs have expanded over the years and we now have not only kids & adult martial arts, but also a strong jiu-jitsu program and a women’s cardio class.
Describe your sales organization and your typical sales cycle.
Our business depends on reaching as many prospects as possible and converting them to members quickly. The typical prospect will make it through their trial stage and convert to membership in two weeks or less. We have set procedures for how to guide a prospect along at each step of the way. We have phone scripts aimed at getting people to come in and try us out with as little resistance as possible, as well as sales scripts that guide the prospect into signing a contract. With hundreds of prospects at each location, organization is key. That’s how Infusionsoft’s Opportunity Stages have made our sales process even more efficient.
Describe your sales process. What are the stages in your sales process?
After a prospect calls into the school or opts-in online, we schedule them for an introductory two-class trial. At the end of the trial, we first try to sell a membership before they walk out the door. If that doesn’t work, we depend on follow-up emails and phone calls to sell the membership. Once a membership is purchased, the retention of the buyer is crucial. Members will be up-sold into premier packages throughout their time with us, with the average member having a $12,500 lifetime. Though the majority of our revenue comes from memberships, we do offer physical products (sparring gear, uniforms, t-shirts, bags, etc.) to procure sales and extend our branding further out the door.
How do you leverage automation as part of your sales process?
With a small sales team (usually two staff members per location) and hundreds of prospects to track, the automation helps keep any one prospect from falling through the cracks. If things are busy at the business and the sales team doesn’t have time to call a prospect the day after their trial, we know that the automated emails are there to keep us on the prospect’s mind. Often times a prospect will respond directly to the emails,
eliminating the back-and-forth element of phone tag.
In today’s economy, competition is fierce. This means that you must differentiate your business from those of your competitors. If you’re not differentiating your business based on price, you must differentiate it based on value. The best way to do this is by delivering a consistent Wow experience to your customers each time you interact with them.
Wow is the third phase in the Lifecycle Marketing model. Getting started with a Wow strategy involves three key stages:
Deliver and Wow
Offer More
Ask for Referrals
The first stage in delivering a Wow experience is to deliver more than what you promised. This may seem simple and obvious, but in the hustle and bustle of daily work, it’s often overlooked.
To deliver a wow experience, make sure that you’re providing the service or product that your customers pay for in a timely fashion. Then go above and beyond their expectations by providing additional value that leverages your strengths.
Small Biz 2014 ICON Finalist – Salon Success Strategies (sends messages, cookies and a thank you card)
Tell us why you started your business?
My husband had been working as a builder, but we had a very young family, and his pay checks were very irregular - we needed to find a business that would give us a steady income.His brother was in Property Leasing and he suggested that Office Cleaning was an industry that always prospered, even in bad economic times. So we started there...
Describe how you use Infusionsoft to streamline the product and/or service delivery process.
For our new customers our marketing automation campaign starts even before our Customers say ‘yes’ to our services...
It begins with our on-boarding process. A quote web form that is filled out by our prospect from our website collects some of their data. Other prospects may come through to us via a telephone call, so we’ll just use our web form to record all the necessary details.
After this stage, we then go one of two ways. Either, (a) it’s a small job (1 x per week), and we can quote that without an on-site visit, or; (b) we need to send someone out to the site to do the quote.
For option (a) – we complete a web form with the pricing details, which cleaner will do the job, the profitability %, what it’s going to cost the customer per week and per month. Once we hit ‘submit’ a detailed quote goes to the prospect.
For option (b) – we complete the web form complete with details on time/date that we’ll meet with them on-site. This then sends a follow up message if it’s more than 3 days away. There is also a task sent to Hamish to advise him where/when and who he is to meet with, and in this email is a clickable link that will take him to a quote web form .
While Hamish is on-site, he quickly gets the quote web form from the link, and using his iPad, ticks off the services the customer requires, at the end, he hits ‘submit’. Once he hits that button, it sends a thank you email to the customer for his/her time, and promises to get them a quote shortly.
It also sends a task to the office to advise that a quote needs to be done.
Quotes are also generated using web forms and save us so much time! Once a client says ‘yes’We complete the final web form which sends out a welcome email to the customer, a notification to our accounts department complete with full financials, a notification to our Cleaner to inform them they have a new client’s office. All of those steps are via email.
Then, our sequence sends a queued fulfilment for our customers contract, and also a contract for the cleaner to sign. Using the fantastic Settleware e-signing technology, we get our contracts signed in a fraction of the time it used to take us before. There’s no friction doing it this way – and I would highly recommend anyone who needs contracts signed, to do it this way...
After all of this, our Customer campaign is designed to give lots of personal touches. We wanted to make the Customer experience with Cleancorp a personalized one, so we designed a Send Out Cards Campaign which runs in our New Customer Campaign. We send out a welcome card to the customer, and it’s from their new cleaner - the person who will be keeping their office clean each day, with a photo of them, and a little bit about what they like to do etc.. We did this to personalize the customer experience, and make the interaction between customer and cleaner more humanized. The results from this step alone have absolutely amazed us all – complaints down, referrals way up, happier cleaners, happier customers..
Two weeks into a new contract, we'll send out Cookies and a Thank You card from our Managing Director, Hamish Macqueen - our customers love the cookies, and it's at this point that we often get some of our best testimonials.
I’ll finish by saying, that there is not one thing that we do in our delivery of service, that does not have a huge amount of Infusionsoft streamlining in it. To share every process we have would take you a long time to read through, but I hope the process I have described gives you a good idea of what we do..
The second stage in delivering a Wow experience is to offer more to your customers. Determining what to offer and when to offer it involves a bit of strategy.
According to Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, human beings have an emotional bank account. This account starts with a zero balance and fluctuates based on deposits and withdrawals. When more emotional deposits are made into consumer’s emotional bank accounts, their trust and confidence grows resulting in stronger relationships.
The easiest way to make deposits is to determine how you can help your target customers and provide a solution. The solution doesn’t have to be your specific product or service nor does it have to result in a sale. Your solution can be as easy as providing tips and resources related to their inquiry. The key to a strong relationship resides in your ability to make more deposits than withdrawals.
After you’ve made a few deposits, you’ll want to make a withdrawal. Timing and positioning is important. Here are three ways to tactfully increase your revenue while continuing to be helpful:
Cross Sell: Customers aren’t always aware of the perfect product or service pairings and may be willing to purchase related items that enhance their experience.
Upsell: Listen to your customers and try to understand their needs. They might be willing to pay extra for special treatment, warranties or monthly programs.
New products: Remember to help your customers by identifying things that will enhance their lives by notifying them of new products or services.
Ask yourself…what products do I sell that compliment one another. How can I cross-sell them? Should I pair them together?
What products can you supersize? Do you have an entry level training product that you can combine with a larger training product to make one supersized training product?
You’ll spend less money marketing to existing customers than trying to attract new ones, so that’s why it’s so important to wow them from the start. Anticipate their needs and deliver more than what you promised in either quality, quantity or by recommending something that satisfies their needs. Leverage your strengths because that’s what sets you apart from your competition and don’t be surprised if you start hearing from their friends. Referrals are one of the cheapest ways to expand your business; wowing your current customers is the fastest way to earn referrals.
Finally, asking and rewarding customers for a referral completes the Wow experience. Effective referral programs are a big win for small businesses because they help customers develop habits that include your company. Consider establishing a referral program with rewards that are easy to obtain. Providing small gift cards, discounts or movie tickets for referrals is a great way to demonstrate your appreciation.
Beyond Wow
Customers no longer put up with poor customer service, inefficiency and indifference. They simply choose a different provider for what they need and often times they’ll never tell you that they’ve moved on. Small businesses that want to maximize the value of each customer need to implement a Wow strategy before it’s too late.
2014 Small Biz ICON Best in Class – Lead Gen (but partners with businesses)
Please describe your business in detail.
“I.C.E” stands for In Case of Emergency. Our products and capabilities have evolved over the last two and a half years, to the point that we are currently launching a global protective service that we could not create or implement without Infusionsoft.At the very beginning, the very core and heart of our business, is the ICE Keytag (theicekeytag.com). The concept behind this is very simple...
1. Each tag has a place where a person can write in the phone number of THE PERSON they want notified in the event that they are in a serious accident. No confusion, no broken or locked cellphones – just an easy way for first responders to reach next of kin. So simple – so effective.2. We also have an entry for someone to put their cellphone number on the tag, so that if the keys are lost, and subsequently found, the finder can get them back to the owner in a matter of minutes. Once again – a simple
and effective solution to what can be a nightmare if it happens to YOU!
We augment these protective services with a freely downloadable EMS Information Form from our website. This form is designed to enable the owner to convey a wide range of critical medical information to first responders. It should be in the glove compartment of every car they drive, and if appropriate, taped to the inside of their medicine cabinet as well.
We started with some generic designs for the tags – all of which are slightly larger than a standard keytag – and has our prominent I.C.E. in red on the end so it stands out. It dawned on me one day that we could exponentially increase our reach, and make some good money at the same time, by creating tags that were also marketing pieces for businesses. Any type of business could benefit from the exposure that advertising on an ICE Keytag brings. Real Estate agents, doctors, auto dealers, restaurants, even funeral homes have partnered with ICE Keytags. Not only do we provide them with great exposure and increased customer loyalty, we provide dynamic QR code marketing campaigns as well as a members only promotional site to reach tag holders all over the world.
The beauty of this system is that these businesses not only help themselves in myriad ways, but they help us spread the ICE protective system to exponentially more people than we could just selling one tag at a time through our own efforts. These partners also get to enjoy the benefits that come from giving something of value back to the community. It’s a wonderful partnership!
One highly respected marketing “guru”, best selling author Jack Mize, described our program this way:“The ICE Keytag system is one of the most innovative marketing strategies I’ve seen in a long time. It combines solid marketing principles with life changing potential that builds customerloyalty and referrals.”
Describe your referral partner program (optional) and the results you've generated from it.
As I mentioned earlier in this entry, the heart of our massive global growth is our referral affiliate program. We have hired and trained hundreds of commissioned,1099 sales reps (in our biz, this is the same as referral affiliates) – in both a free affiliate program and a paid program, all thru the referral program that Infusionsoft provides.
There are a variety of ways that a potential sales rep will find out about us (craigslist, webinars, referrals from current reps...and all roads lead to the same Infusionsoft powered landing page (www.icekeytag.com/prospect). Here they are captured and sent through a short orientation about the company and the opportunities. Once they buy the sales rep package, we have a flow that has them provide information for their custom video and website (which is sent to our video and web production service), trains them through a series of videos and online content, and is reinforced through online quizzes powered by Infusionsoft. When they have finished training, they are redirected to Rightsignature.com to obtain their sales rep agreement and sign it online. When we are notified that they are done, we complete a task that sends them a welcome email and grants them access to their back office and a separate sales rep resource site.
The training consists of 5 modules of training, 3 videos, and the tagging of reps as they move through the system. This tagging provides them with the correct level of qualifications for their advancement through their membership site, ensuring that the proper “next” level of training appears on their screen when they log in. This flow is a beautiful thing, as I never have to interact with the trainees as they move thru the system. I used to have to spend a lot of time manually moving each one through our program before Infusionsoft. The user experience, however, still makes the customer fell that they are getting one on one attention throughout the whole process.
Our many levels of affiliate participation:- We allow any customer to become a 25% commission referral affiliate simply by filling out the short enrollment form. This is just for folks who want to be paid for referrals but don’t see this as a business opportunity.
- When we first started our commissioned sales rep program, I paid a flat commission of 50 cents per tag sold. This was easy to do and calculate. These are my legacy reps – they have been with us since the pre- Infusionsoft days. After the transition, reps were given the chance to migrate to the override/ percentage system that new affiliates sign up for.
- The core of our current referral affiliate program is the 30/5/1 tiered override program. This rewards affiliates who have brought on other affiliates. Of all the invaluable virtues of Infusionsoft, the ability to provide an override system was the one made me tell the Infusionsoft sales rep “are you kidding? Where do I sign up?”!
I have always been a firm believer in the power of small override systems. It incentivizes your affiliates to bring on new affiliates, rather than look at them as the competition. So – in our system:
- We pay a full 30% commission to our sales reps (affiliates) on just about everything they sell. Their immediate up line affiliate receives a 5% override, and that goes up one more level to a 1% override.With hundreds of products and hundreds of affiliates...the only way I can handle all of this is with the automatic accounting done by Infusionsoft. “Payday” (the first of every month) would be the consummate nightmare if I had to calculate these payments manually. With the referral partner ledger it’s a snap! I can complete it all in
an hour, versus days of doing it the old fashioned way! The ledger system in the back office also does a nice job of keeping the affiliates updated in real time – which means they aren’t bugging ME!
Affiliates do the large majority of their marketing through a wide variety of applications involving the coded affiliate links residing in the link generator section of the affiliate center. As of this writing we employ 39 affiliate tracking links. At the core of their marketing tools is their customized sales rep website, complete with customized marketing video (see sample at icesalesrep.com/CA319). We embed their personal links in up to 10 hotspots on their home page, so we can capture just about any lead that stops by, no matter what their interest.
We also provide affiliates with a “custom” sales rep support site, which is actually a membership site using Wordpress, Infusionsoft and iMember360. Imember provides the gateway and the path after initial log in is determined by the tags the affiliate has. The customer experience, however, is of a custom page built just for them. By the way – we also do the same thing for out commercial customers – they have their own Infusionsoft powered membership site as well.
Have the audience repeat after you…attract, sell, wow.
Have the audience repeat after you…attract, sell, wow.
The LCM scorecard provides an analysis of your website and business activities along with recommendations that will get you headed in the right direction.
Speaker Details:
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Ramon is a former technology consultant has hands on experience in a variety of technologies including social media, mobile computing, computer networks, online software and more. His expertise is technology, marketing and sales, including: personal branding, networking, business growth.
Ramon is marketing and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft. He is passionate about helping small businesses grow their businesses by educating them about technology and marketing best practices.
He is a journalist, freelance writer, event producer (including Small Biz Big Things with Seth Godin), speaker (including the Computer Electronics Show with Guy Kawasaki), emcee (including Association for Enterprise Opportunity Awards with Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank) and author. His third book is an Amazon.com bestseller: Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing.
Over his extensive career Ramon has written thousands of articles, spoken to thousands of business owners and impacted hundreds of thousands of small businesses to help their businesses thrive, using technology.
Session Description:
Join us on an exciting journey to learn the steps to get new customers and keep the ones you have. Today’s small business leaders understand the importance of leveraging sales and marketing strategies. However, many struggle with the best way to incorporate the hundreds of individual techniques into their existing processes. They know the goal: attract more customers, increase sales, and build a tribe of raving fans, but sometimes it just seems like there are too many tactics and not enough structure. Enter Lifecycle Marketing. Lifecycle marketing is a systematic approach to the process of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service to the consumer. It applied in any business regardless of location or Internet presence. In this session you’ll learn the Lifecycle Marketing model, the steps involved in each stage, and benefits of implementation in your small business. If you’re looking to transform your small business and take it to the next level, this session is for you.
Speaker Details:
Ramon Ray
Small Business Evangelist, Infusionsoft
Ramon is a former technology consultant has hands on experience in a variety of technologies including social media, mobile computing, computer networks, online software and more. His expertise is technology, marketing and sales, including: personal branding, networking, business growth.
Ramon is marketing and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft. He is passionate about helping small businesses grow their businesses by educating them about technology and marketing best practices.
He is a journalist, freelance writer, event producer (including Small Biz Big Things with Seth Godin), speaker (including the Computer Electronics Show with Guy Kawasaki), emcee (including Association for Enterprise Opportunity Awards with Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank) and author. His third book is an Amazon.com bestseller: Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing.
Over his extensive career Ramon has written thousands of articles, spoken to thousands of business owners and impacted hundreds of thousands of small businesses to help their businesses thrive, using technology.
Session Description:
Join us on an exciting journey to learn the steps to get new customers and keep the ones you have. Today’s small business leaders understand the importance of leveraging sales and marketing strategies. However, many struggle with the best way to incorporate the hundreds of individual techniques into their existing processes. They know the goal: attract more customers, increase sales, and build a tribe of raving fans, but sometimes it just seems like there are too many tactics and not enough structure. Enter Lifecycle Marketing. Lifecycle marketing is a systematic approach to the process of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service to the consumer. It applied in any business regardless of location or Internet presence. In this session you’ll learn the Lifecycle Marketing model, the steps involved in each stage, and benefits of implementation in your small business. If you’re looking to transform your small business and take it to the next level, this session is for you.