Posts Tagged ‘sales’
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Valerie Simon
Early on in my career I received a phone call from a client who began the conversation with, “Hey Valerie, I want to introduce you to a friend of mine…”
I very much enjoyed and respected this client and was thrilled that he wanted to introduce me to his friend. In my mind I fantasized about his intentions. Perhaps we would all go out for dinner, or maybe he was setting me up on a date… my thoughts were interrupted by the words “director of corporate communications” and “in charge of media monitoring.” My heart began to pound as I realized what was happening. I was getting my first referral!
Today I regularly receive such phone calls, but the thrill has yet to go away. While 
referrals add up to quantitative results of your efforts to build relationships, they also offer bona fide proof that your relationship is one of trust and confidence (Cue Sally Fields, “They like me, they really like me!!!)
In order to earn new business, you’ll need to invest both time and resources and maximize your opportunities in the most efficient manner. Below are 5 steps to help you become more strategic in your relationship building and increase the number of referrals you receive:
1. Perform a SWOT analysis. Identify your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and then clearly identify the organizations you are targeting. As you consider different prospects and prospect categories, evaluate the customer needs against your analysis. Brad Douglas, vice president of sales and marketing with Shipley Associates, offers some excellent considerations to help you better assess your opportunities for targeting the right customers.
2. Determine the influencers you need to reach. As mentioned in this post from the Harvard Business Review, you may think you know the decision maker, “the one that is described in the RFP or articulated by those who actively participate in the formal decision-making process.” However, there are often key influencers within the organization who carry informal power as it relates to your opportunity. Take the time to uncover and develop those relationships.
3. Utilize ALL of your current relationships. While most organizations have a sales team or business development group, I am a firm believer that everyone in an organization, regardless of title or department, should consider themselves a member of the sales team. If you are proud of your organization and even if you are not (though you may want to ask yourself why are you working there?), it is your responsibility to help your company grow. Communication and collaboration between the sales team and other departments is essential. Beyond your organization, consider your vendors, partners and affiliates, clients, industry contacts, and even personal networks. If you aren’t actively using LinkedIn it is a great place to start organizing and expanding your network.
4. Ask for the referral! It is interesting that many people shy away from asking for a referral when they need/want it. Consider what’s stopping you. Are you afraid of creating an uncomfortable or potentially annoying situation? If yes, then that is good because it means you are thinking about and potentially being considerate of the person you wish to ask. And that is what distinguishes a “pushy salesman” from a friend you want to help. So be professional to and respectful of the person you are asking, their relationship, and their reputation. But don’t let that stop you from asking. After all, if you have real relationships, qualified targets, and a product/service you believe in, the person you’re asking should have no issue referring you and the person you’re introduced to will soon be thanking your friend for making the introduction.
5. Beyond ABC’s… ABH. While I certainly understand and appreciate the need to “Always Be Closing,” my personal philosophy is to “Always Be Helping.” In sales, and perhaps maybe in life, your reputation is everything. So be the person you want to be perceived to be – whether or not it meets an immediate business goal. In this case, that person is one who is helpful and informative and acutely aware of the needs and goals of his/her clients, prospects, colleagues, friends and family. In other words, take every opportunity to add real value and help them achieve their goals.
How are you making the most of one of your most precious resources – your relationship with others? Do you find it easy to ask for referrals and network when needed? What tips would you add to the list? If you are having trouble, what do you think is holding you back? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.
Tags: affiliates, always be closing, always be helping, Analysis, Brad Douglas, build, BurrellesLuce, business, business development, business goals, Career, client, clients, collaboration, colleagues, communications, company, confidence, contacts, conversation, corporate, customer, decision maker, decision making, efficient, efforts, evaluate, Fresh Ideas, goals, Harvard Business Review, industry, influencers, informal power, informative, intentions, introduction, invest, LinkedIn, marketing, Media Monitoring, needs, opportunity, opportunties, organizations, partners, personal networks, product, prospects, qualified, Quantitative, reach, referrals, relationships, reputation, resources, results, RFP, sales, Sally Fields, service, Shipley Associates, strategic, SWOT, targeting the right customers, targets, Time, tips, trust, Valerie Simon, value, vendors
Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Career Advice, Public Relations | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
August in Washington, D.C., where I work, exemplifies the “dog-days” of summer. Congress recesses and it seems everyone else does, too. The slightly slower pace allows us time to reflect on the first half of the year, and make plans for the last two quarters.
“Third and Fourth Quarters Will Define PR Recovery” headlined a recent PR Week article. 
To summarize: Just because there was an upswing in the first two quarters of the year, does not mean the industry has truly emerged from the downturn.
So how can you help your organization emerge successfully?
1. Efficiency is a term thrown-around a lot, but it is still an important concept to PR that few have mastered. One friend, who works at a Fortune 500 company, said she wrote down everything she did for a few days. She was shocked to see she was not as good at multi-tasking as she thought. Her advice was to try to focus on completing a project before you look at the next email or tweet. This mirrors a similar idea expressed in a recent BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas post by my colleague Colleen Flood, who attended the PRSA Counselors Academy back in May and learned that people can only do one thing at a time, as our brains haven’t yet involved to truly multi-task.
2. Mary Fletcher-Jones, Fletcher Prince, said via LinkedIn, that she plans to review clients who came on, clients who left, and what they purchased. I plan to do some of this same reflection and I think it is good for public relations, sales, and client service professionals to incorporate this practice on a regular basis.
Here are some other ideas for your August refection time:
- Review budgets for the rest of 2010 and start on the 2011 budget.
- Look at your PR/marketing plan, and decide if you need to make some mid-year changes.
- Take time to read industry blogs and articles. What new tactics can you learn and put to use?
- If you find you don’t have time for good refection, you might need to review your staffing needs. Do you need to hire someone to help with new projects/campaigns?
- Set some new personal goals for the rest of the year. A life coach once suggested posting your main personal goals where you see them often, like on a Post-it note on your desk.
Do you have other suggestions for a mid-year review? Please share some of your insights. How are you working to help your organization emerge from the recession?
Tags: articles, Blogs, budget, BurrellesLuce, campaigns, changes, Client Services, clients, Colleen Flood, D.C., Debbie Friez, dog days of summer, downturn, efficiency, email, Fletcher Prince, Fortune 500, Fresh Ideas, industry, insights, life coach, LinkedIn, marketing, Mary Fletcher-Jones, multi-tasking, organization, pace, personal goals, planning, PR, PR Week, professionals, projects, PRSA Counselors Academy, Public Relations, read, recesses, recession, reflect, reflection, review, reviewing, sales, staffing needs, success, Summer, tactics, Third and Fourth Quarters Will Define PR Recovery, Tweet, Washington
Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Career Advice, Public Relations | 3 Comments »
Monday, July 26th, 2010
by Emily Mouyeos*
Sales forces across the country are always fighting off cold-call reluctance. But what about just call reluctance in general? I’m starting to lose count of the conversations I’ve heard between different generations complaining about the other generations’ call behavior. The younger 
generations seem to rely too much on email where the older generations seem to always call for things when an email would sometimes suffice. Here is an interesting article comparing 20-somethings to baby boomers in the workplace.
My goal isn’t to fight for either camp because I believe there is truth on both sides of the debate. However, I think it is more important to examine why we don’t call when we should. First, let’s take a look at when we should call.
We should call when…
- It’s a conversation. Have you ever sent what you thought you would be one email, but then it turned out to be what felt like the longest email chain according to Guinness World Records? Most of the time one phone call will stop an unnecessary email chain. People often email because they want to save time, but if it turns into a conversation then you may be taking up more time. I like to operate by my own rule of thumb, email when I’m sharing information to be reviewed and call when it’s something to discuss. It’s not a law to live by, more a rule of thumb.
- When you don’t know the acquaintance that well. No matter your industry, no matter your business, building relationships is always important. It’s hard to feel connected to a person when you’ve never heard their voice. We can’t always put a face to a name. However, we can put a voice to name. Have you ever been under the impression that you’re emailing “a demon” only to find that the person was pleasant to speak with over the phone? How does that happen? It may have something to do with the classic idea that, words contribute seven percent, tonality 38 percent and body language 55 percent to communication. If the last two percentages are combined then 93 percent of communication is non-verbal. It’s extremely hard to read non-verbal queues over email. (Is your email sending the wrong message? Find out by reading this post from my BurrellesLuce colleague and Fresh Ideas blogger Lauren Shapiro?)
- When the person is of the “I call” generation. Another rule of thumb I like to live by is to mirror my client. If they call, I call. If they email, I email. However, I do stop this trend if I can tell that my client is experiencing “call reluctance” themselves and our conversation warrants a phone conversation.
What do you do when you know you should call but you just don’t feel like it? Or when that send button is just too easy for you not to push? Sales consultant, Ted Barrows, provides ways for sales executives to overcome cold-call reluctance and I think the advice can be applied to any type of call reluctance.
Do you find yourself in the “I email” or “I call” generation? How do you determine whether a call or email is the best way to communicate? How do you cure the call reluctance blues?
***
*Bio: Emily Mouyeos joined the BurrellesLuce account management team with a background in nonprofit communication and development. Her background and current experience with BurrellesLuce allows her to effectively address client needs and consolidate feedback for senior management. To Emily, nothing feels better than helping others achieve their goal, whether it’s professionally or personally. By focusing on client management through the Fresh Ideas blog, she hopes to evaluate new client management trends, as well as provide insight to the pros and cons of current practices. She looks forward to connecting with the readers of Fresh Ideas for new perspectives and dialogue on issues that affect overall success. LinkedIn: Emily Mouyeos Twitter: @BurrellesLuce Facebook: BurrellesLuce
Tags: boomers, BurrellesLuce, cold-call, communications, conversations, email, Emily Mouyeos, Fresh Ideas, generations, Guinness World Records, Lauren Shapiro, relationships, sales, Ted Barrows, telephone, tonality, ways for sales executives to overcome cold-call reluctance
Posted in Career Advice, Client Services, Public Relations | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
by Emily Mouyeos*
Influence marketing is beginning to showcase itself as an effective tool in social media strategies. Companies such as Starbucks and Virgin America have partnered with Klout , a startup that measures influence on Twitter, to identify influencing social media users. The criteria used to identify key influencers include more than 25 variables used to measure “true reach,” “amplification probability,” and “network score.” Klout’s website explains that, “The size of the sphere is calculated by measuring True Reach (engaged followers and friends vs. spam bots, dead accounts, etc.). Amplification Probability is the likelihood that messages will generate retweets or spark a conversation. If the user’s engaged followers are highly influential, they’ll have a high Network Score.”
The examples of Starbucks and Virgin America shows how companies are reaching out to find influencers to (in the words of Frank Sinatra) “start spreading the news” or share their valued opinion on a product or service. However, it can be just as important for the company to be the influencer, especially in B-to-B marketing. Being an influencer means you need to create a following (True Reach), have smart and interesting things to say (Amplification Probability) and connect with other shakers and movers (Network Score.)
This article, appearing on The Drum, offers some tips for effective influencer marketing, among them:
- Focus on the Influencer.
- Focus on Transactions.
- Focus on the Story, not the pay-off.
- Measure what counts.
If want to become an influencer then scoring high in these areas will pay off for your sales and retention efforts. If people come to know and like you, they will want to buy from you. Co-founder of influencer marketing company Pursway, Ran Shaul states, “The fundamental marketing challenge today is more strategic than tactical. Numerous studies all draw the same conclusion – the majority of people buy based on the conversation and recommendations of trusted friends, family members, colleagues and, increasingly, online reviewers.”
He then goes on to cite Nielsen’s latest Global Online Consumer Survey, which revealed that out of over 25,000 Internet consumers, from 50 countries, “90 percent of consumers surveyed said they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70 trust consumer opinions posted online.” Incidentally, 70 percent of consumers surveyed also indicated that they “trusted brand websites completely or somewhat.” With 64 percent listing that they trust “brand sponsorships.”
How does this translate to sales and retention efforts? Becoming the influencer (directly or indirectly) gives you direct connection to potential clients who will remember you when they are looking to buy. These types of relationships increase brand awareness and prove you are a trusted advisor through thought leadership. Potential clients plugged into the industry chatter will know who you are and what you are about. Social Media has made it incredibly easy to share information. You no longer have to write a book to be considered an expert or impact the community.
As an example, I loved watching the phenomenal initiative; “Help A PR Pro Out” (HAPPO) impact the PR community. The campaign partnered together “PR Pros” with recent graduates looking for jobs in this tough economy. It may not have been the intent of the co-founders, Arik Hanson, ACH Communications, and Valerie Simon, BurrellesLuce, but they instantly became industry influencers to the young generation of PR professionals. You better believe that the college graduates will look to them for future partnerships and will one day become influencers themselves, not to mention the group of current PR influencers HAPPO was able to group together. I think the HAPPO campaign hit all of the “high scoring” variables used by Klout on the head. They created a strong following of PR pros and college graduates, gave out incredibly valuable information and gathered together the PR industries current and future influencers.
Do you know of any influence marketing campaigns where the influencer is the actual company? What are potential pitfalls to a company striving to be an intentional influencer?
***
*Bio: Emily Mouyeos joined the BurrellesLuce account management team with a background in nonprofit communication and development. Her background and current experience with BurrellesLuce allows her to effectively address client needs and consolidate feedback for senior management. To Emily, nothing feels better than helping others achieve their goal, whether it’s professionally or personally. By focusing on client management through the Fresh Ideas blog, she hopes to evaluate new client management trends, as well as provide insight to the pros and cons of current practices. She looks forward to connecting with the readers of Fresh Ideas for new perspectives and dialogue on issues that affect overall success. LinkedIn: Emily Mouyeos Twitter: @BurrellesLuce Facebook: BurrellesLuce
Tags: ACH Communications, advisor, amplification probability, Arik Hanson, b-to-b, brand awareness, brand sponsorships, BurrellesLuce, campaign, Client Services, community, consumer reviews, conversation, economy, Emily Mouyeos, Engagement, Frank Sinatra, Fresh Ideas, Global Online Consumer Survey, HAPPO, Help a PR Pro Out, influence, initiative, Internet, key influencers, Klout, marketing, measure, media measurement, network score, news, Nielsen, opinion, PR, product, Pursway, Ran Shaul, recommendation, rentention efforts, sales, service, Social Media, Starbucks, story, strategic, strategies, tactical, The Drum, thought leadership, transactions, true reach, trust, Valerie Simon, Virgin America, websites
Posted in Client Services, Media Measurement, Media Outreach, Media Relations, Public Relations, Social Media | 3 Comments »
Monday, March 29th, 2010
Leah Schmerl is a senior vice president at Kaplow, a New York City public relations firm. She is the leader of the firm’s Internet and e-commerce practice. Leah also spearheads Kaplow’s measurement thought-leadership and oversees the development of the agency’s measurement programs. Leah earned her Master’s degree in U.S. History from the University of California, San Diego, and is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Rochester.
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the PR News PR Measurement Conference, and grappling with some of the toughest issues the PR industry faces.
In my mind, the fundamental question that united the day: how do we make sure the decision-makers within our organizations understand the 
value public relations brings to their businesses? The speakers who asked and answered these questions were brilliant and the attendees thoughtful.
Here’s my biggest “a-ha” related to the day: when presenting PR results to the C-suite, we need to “talk the talk” of those executives. Meaning, we need to make PR results relevant to the issues and concerns most critical to them.
To do that well, we must fully understand the business objectives against which executives hold PR accountable. Stop being preoccupied with delivering the fanciest metrics on the block (“marketing mix modeling” or “weighted media costs” at the end of the program. The best investment of time and resources is spent at the very start of the PR planning process. This time should be spent clearly articulating the relevant business objectives, and creating clear, measurable PR goals that map to those business objectives. If that’s done at the outset, good measurement becomes so much easier. And our results will be the kinds that make the C-suite sit up and take notice.
Another great take-away from the day: PR has many illustrative metrics available that make setting PR goals (and delivering the corresponding results) much more impactful than ever. It’s critical to examine the measurement tools available (quantitative and qualitative) and hand-pick the ones that will best “make the case” for the positive impact of PR on the organization’s specific business. This reinforced my belief that PR cannot live in a silo. We need to access the metrics available from other teams – like sales and marketing – to help us create the richest measurement reporting possible.
I left the day feeling inspired by the work my PR colleagues are doing in measurement. We’re facing some of the industry’s most challenging times. We’ve got some really smart people asking (and answering) tough questions. I’m excited by where we’re headed.
Tags: analytics, BurrellesLuce, business objectives, C-suite, developing a measurement program, Fresh Ideas, goals, Kaplow, Lean Schmerl, marketing, marketing mix modeling, Measurement Conference, media measurement, metrics, planning media measurement, PR, PR News, PR planning, Public Relations, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, sales, understanding the value of PR, weighted media costs
Posted in Industry Events, Media Measurement, Public Relations | 3 Comments »
