This document provides tips on how to outsmart your competition by spying on them. It recommends searching for competitors' unique selling propositions, seeing how they engage customers, and identifying ideas to adapt. The goal is to develop a better unique selling proposition, marketing strategy, and sales collateral by learning from competitors' successes and failures. Knowing these details about competitors makes a business smarter and gives it a competitive advantage.
MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES: MISSING THEM IS COSTING YOUR BUSINESSStuartJDavidson.com
Knowing how to identify potential marketing opportunities can be the difference between loyal long-term customers and more underwhelmed members of the general public.
This might sound very generalised, but it is happening right now. In your business.
And it’s costing you.
Why Brand Positioning Matters and How to Develop ItME Consulting
Brand positioning underpins your marketing and sales. It tells prospects and customers what you do, who you serve, how you're unique, and why what you do matters.
A workshop that looks at the key elements of developing a marketing strategy: goals, target audiences, stories, channels, budgeting, measurement, and optimization. It's a look at how to creating a marketing plan for success.
This presentation puts the spotlight on why storytelling matters, the keys to creative compelling stores, and different approaches to making storytelling part of how marketing and sales are done.
MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES: MISSING THEM IS COSTING YOUR BUSINESSStuartJDavidson.com
Knowing how to identify potential marketing opportunities can be the difference between loyal long-term customers and more underwhelmed members of the general public.
This might sound very generalised, but it is happening right now. In your business.
And it’s costing you.
Why Brand Positioning Matters and How to Develop ItME Consulting
Brand positioning underpins your marketing and sales. It tells prospects and customers what you do, who you serve, how you're unique, and why what you do matters.
A workshop that looks at the key elements of developing a marketing strategy: goals, target audiences, stories, channels, budgeting, measurement, and optimization. It's a look at how to creating a marketing plan for success.
This presentation puts the spotlight on why storytelling matters, the keys to creative compelling stores, and different approaches to making storytelling part of how marketing and sales are done.
xTuple.com Supports Innovation: From blueprints to buildouts, xTuple helps foster startups in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic technology corridor between Research Triangle, North Carolina and Washington D.C. As a committed, passionate member of the Greater Norfolk tech community, xTuple is a financial sponsor as well as mentor at Hatch Norfolk, an intense accelerator program, and other events where entrepreneurs showcase their ideas. www.HatchNorfolk.com
Are you marketing like 5 year olds playing football?Martin J Williams
Most businesses play at marketing!
They dive straight into tactics and entirely ignore strategy. And that's a fools errand.
Learn what you should be doing...
Trends, Tools and Techniques for the Modern Sales ProcessSean Henri
Question, how should sales teams spend their time? If you answered anything other than “selling,” you’re in the wrong business. But as it turns out, that’s not how most teams operate. A recent study showed that reps spend less than a third of their time actually selling – compared to a full 50% spent between administrative CRM tasks and searching for content.
So, how can your sales team make the shift to focusing more time on selling when you need them to keep up with everything else?
Join Pepperland Marketing’s Sean Henri to learn how your sales team can transform their approach the sales process.
During this session, you will learn:
· A new method of connecting with the modern buyer
· How to use technology to your sales team’s advantage
· Ways to easily identify the right prospects at the right time
View the slides or register to watch the on-demand webinar:
Social selling for sales reps, sales agents and all sales professionalsDaniel Ciz
Basic tipps for sales professionals how to choose and use social networks to increase their customer base, earnings and profits. How to behave on social network, how to start and manage social selling.
This presentation takes you through a marketing process to attract ideal customers to your small business and gives you tips and resources to help you along the way
xTuple.com Supports Innovation: From blueprints to buildouts, xTuple helps foster startups in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic technology corridor between Research Triangle, North Carolina and Washington D.C. As a committed, passionate member of the Greater Norfolk tech community, xTuple is a financial sponsor as well as mentor at Hatch Norfolk, an intense accelerator program, and other events where entrepreneurs showcase their ideas. www.HatchNorfolk.com
Are you marketing like 5 year olds playing football?Martin J Williams
Most businesses play at marketing!
They dive straight into tactics and entirely ignore strategy. And that's a fools errand.
Learn what you should be doing...
Trends, Tools and Techniques for the Modern Sales ProcessSean Henri
Question, how should sales teams spend their time? If you answered anything other than “selling,” you’re in the wrong business. But as it turns out, that’s not how most teams operate. A recent study showed that reps spend less than a third of their time actually selling – compared to a full 50% spent between administrative CRM tasks and searching for content.
So, how can your sales team make the shift to focusing more time on selling when you need them to keep up with everything else?
Join Pepperland Marketing’s Sean Henri to learn how your sales team can transform their approach the sales process.
During this session, you will learn:
· A new method of connecting with the modern buyer
· How to use technology to your sales team’s advantage
· Ways to easily identify the right prospects at the right time
View the slides or register to watch the on-demand webinar:
Social selling for sales reps, sales agents and all sales professionalsDaniel Ciz
Basic tipps for sales professionals how to choose and use social networks to increase their customer base, earnings and profits. How to behave on social network, how to start and manage social selling.
This presentation takes you through a marketing process to attract ideal customers to your small business and gives you tips and resources to help you along the way
Confusing movement with progress is pretty common in business – with people often running around like headless chickens. But it’s not about how busy you are, it’s about effectiveness: trying to avoid all the timewasting trivia and focusing on the important stuff.
A lion sleeps for over 18 hours day, and yet is still the undisputed king of the beasts. It is the master of minimal effort, maximum return. This is at the heart of the Sleeping Lion approach. For over 12 years, I have been advising companies on how to simplify and improve sales, marketing and business development – through consultancy, workshops and facilitation.
There are a range of tools and exercises available here that draw together Branding, Customer Loyalty, Marketing, Sales, People Development, Productivity, Idea Generation and Business Ethics – everything you need to focus and align your product, people and communication strategies. If you require help with any of these, I can run bespoke training sessions.
Differentiate Yourself From the Competition: 15 Sales Experts Share How jennypoore
We all want to believe that we do a better job than anyone else, that no one else can compare. And while confidence is an important part of succeeding in sales, it isn’t true.
A company’s success is largely based on its ability to articulate and execute why it is DIFFERENT and BETTER than the competition.
Being “better” than someone else won’t get you very far. It might just make you feel good in the short-term. And assuming that your competitor will never “catch up” to you is a dangerous game to play.
If you bring this down to the salesperson’s level, those that tend to succeed are skillful at catching their prospect’s attention. They offer information. They send a ‘thank you’ note. They think ahead. On the flip side, the average low-performing salesperson requests information and time from their prospect (rather than offering it), avoids sending a handwritten thank you note (because that would “take too long”), and thinks on the fly (rather than thinking ahead).
Successful salespeople seek to be different, not just ‘better’. Because being different makes them better (i.e. more successful) in the long run.
We were curious about how our fellow sales pros thought about differentiation at the salesperson’s level, so we asked a few experts this question:
“What is ONE way a salesperson can differentiate him or herself from their competition?”
http://www.salesengine.com/sales/differentiate-yourself-from-the-competition-15-sales-experts-share-how/
Insights and quotations from our own hard won experience, and applied quotations from top marketing minds.
https://bestonlinemarketingconsultants.com/marketing-wisdom-2-hard-learned-well-earned-slideshow/
This is the hottest ad sales seminar around and has been for years ...targeted to magazine executives....FOLIO, the CRMA, hundreds of publishers sales meetings and ad sales conferance
93 Killer Questions Successful Franchise Owners Ask To Regain Their Franchisi...Sean Goldsmith
Every franchise, no matter how big or small loses its MOJO at some point. This is almost alway because of internal issues that are holding back progress, innovation and growth. Lets not forget the role of leadership in this equation. That is where smart franchise owners step back and look at things from a different angle in order to regain momentum.
At some point every successful company faces the issue of breaching "the plateau". But how do you you rediscover the focus & energy that made the company great in the first place.
The truth is that your competitors are stronger than ever and the only way to keep ahead of them is to rediscover your “secret sauce”. To do this you need to take stock and build a realistic picture of the current state of your business. You need to have an objective picture of your strengths and weaknesses so that you can develop a strategy that uses each to best effect.
To help you with this I have developed a half day process that will get you thinking differently. It will break the cycle and allow you to rediscover the magic.
1. How spying on your competition…
Makes You Smarter Than They Are.
2. Your Mission: Find out what your
competition is doing so you can do it
better.
It’s simple: You cannot out-position the enemy in the minds of your
target audience if you don’t know what your competition is doing.
Find out:
What’s their unique selling proposition that gets them customers?
How are they engaging (and stealing) your audience?
What ideas can you “steal and develop”?
3. #1. Search for the Unique Selling
Proposition (USP) of Several Competitors.
The USP is what sets them apart. It answers the question: “Why
should I do business with you over anyone else?”
It should go way beyond statements like, “big…experience…best”.
Everyone can say that, whether it is true or not.
Look for a statement that no one else can claim. It may be a
proprietary process, a benefit no one else is offering or price.
It should jump out at you. If you can’t find one, they don’t have one.
FIND THEIRS; MAKE YOUR OWN USP BETTER.
The Point? If You Can’t Present A Distinguishable Difference, How Do You
Expect Your Potential Customers To Choose You Over the Competition?
4. • Don‘t Take This Lightly. Your Customers Don’t.
• Make Your USP So Simple and Immediately Identifiable an
Eighth Grader Could Understand It.
• Forget Industry Jargon…Your USP Is About “WHY YOU”.
YOUR MISSION IS SUCCESSFUL IF:
Someone not connected with your business can pick
your USP out of an anonymous line-up with others.
They should be able to tell what you do and why you do
it better without knowing it’s you.
5. #2. Find Out How They Are Engaging (And
Stealing) Your Audience.
What Keywords Are They Using That Attract Online
Searchers for YOUR Services?
What Marketing Methods Are They Using?
Find Out What Works and What Doesn’t.
Look for a Multi-Channel Strategy You Can Copy.
GET HARD NUMBERS!
What traffic generation tactics are pulling large numbers
of customers? Are you as dedicated toward this effort
as they are?
6. • Don‘t Copy Their Tactics Without Knowing They Work. Just
because they can doesn’t mean you should.
• Don’t rely on your website to do the heavy lifting. It
won’t…it’s not where your audience begins their search for
your solutions.
• Don’t become discouraged by large traffic numbers from
competitors. No company has a monopoly on traffic; no
company needs all the traffic. It just needs the RIGHT traffic.
YOUR MISSION IS SUCCESSFUL IF:
You can walk away from this mission with a strategy you
know will attract attention.
7. #3. What Ideas Can You “Steal and Develop?”
No One Has A Monopoly On Ideas. Look for Sales
Collateral That Catches Your Eye:
Case Studies
Video
Online Brochures, Etc.
Look for Things That Quickly and Succinctly Make a
Point That Can Tip the Sales Scales in Your Favor.
Ask, “Why is this (case study, etc.) eye-catching?”
VIEW THINGS THE WAY A CUSTOMER WOULD.
If something catches your eye it probably catches the
eye of your customers. Re-make it uniquely your own.
Mix it up. Make it better. Use Your USP.
8. • Beware of Copyright Laws.
• Don’t steal ideas and then simply paste your name and logo
on them. Use the idea…see what’s out there…but make sure
the result is all about you.
• Always ask yourself, “SO WHAT?” If the final sales collateral
or method doesn’t answer that simple question, if it doesn’t
enlighten and excite, go back to the drawing board.
YOUR MISSION IS SUCCESSFUL IF:
You didn’t do this in a vacuum. Get honest input from
others in and outside of your industry. See if outsiders
“get it”.
9. So What Do You Do With The Information You Just
Discovered? Use It To Your Advantage.
1. Take the time to develop a good unique selling
proposition. 97 - 99% of your competitors won’t do
this…and it makes a difference in the minds of your
potential customers.
2. Knowing how your competition is attracting customers
lets you build a strategy to move into their territory.
Use their successes; avoid their mistakes. Your
marketing will give you a better ROI.
3. It pays to get out of your own world and see what
others are doing. Coupled with your own USP and your
new marketing strategy you’ll uncover hidden gems of
collateral and tactics.
10. Knowing what to look for, how to do things better
than the competition, what works and what
doesn’t…
Makes You Smarter Than They Are.
It gives you a competitive advantage.