Who's got a problem? Everyone!

I had a marketing operations professor in college named Dr. McDermott (brilliant man) that would always challenge his students to up their critical thinking skills.  We would always talk about successful companies like Virgin, Apple, Nike, and others.  In these conversations we didn't talk about what made them successful.

We had conversations on what marketing challenges would they expect to have.

Salespeople that sell marketing services deliver a pitch and hear "We're good. Not interested."

They aren't perfect.  Every company is facing a challenge that they can't quite figure out. Young companies want to figure out how to grow.  Mature companies worry about how to maintain on top, and everyone in the middle is just trying to stay afloat.  Why are some companies blind to their challenges?  The question of worth often gets in the way.

"If I ask for help, does that mean I'm not good at my job?

No.  It means you care enough about the business that you want to find ways to stop challenges before they happen.  Having a marketing plan is a no brainer, but how often do you change that plan?

The Harvard Business Review had an article dating back 1969 highlighting business executives and the fear to change.  Executives know there's a problem, it's whether that problem affects them personally in some way.  Maybe if it's technology, it could mean it removes something valuable from your every day operations.

It's amazing when you can admit, see, and be comfortable with being vulnerable to what your company needs to be stronger.

Content-we love a villain

I love reading original blog posts.  I really do.  Like a TV show, there's various villains that pop up on your posts and content.

I love when there's a passionate discussion going on within a specific post.  I've been on teams where people worry about when a poster disagrees with what the copywriter created.  I really enjoy when that happens.  It's not because I'm combative.  It tells me that people actually care about what is being written.

I've always believed it's better to be disliked or liked than someone having no opinion or feeling about you.   There's a villain for every hero-It's generated billions of dollars at movie box offices.  Why can't there be a "villain" for a copywriter.  Trust me when I say, a villain is not the troll that you see on random posts from people.  That villain does quite a bit of things.

They solidify our target 

Everybody writes.  Everybody has a voice.  Not everybody knows who their target is suppose to be. Target market means more than just gender and age-there's psychographics involved in it.  When you post content for review,  the villain creates dissension and that helps identify who our target could be.  There has to be a conflict and disagreement.  From there, we can actually find out more about the people that respond to our villain.

 They challenge us

Villain's challenge our views and how we write.  They help us become better because they offer a perspective that's foreign from our own.   As writers, we tend to look at what we write and sometimes forget how to make people feel and react.  The villain sparks that emotion in themselves and fuses it toward others.  Suddenly, our post that only received 5 comments, now has 50 with a serious internal debate going on.  If it weren't for the villain, that wouldn't have happened.  Every time someone disagrees with my content, I feel like I have gotten better writing and understanding people.

They help us "kill with kindness."

When people disagree with you about something passionate, it's hard to just smile and carry on.  There's always a villain who simply just wants you to slip up and lose your credibility.  Being diplomatic is a life skill that is also an invaluable work skill.    The way you respond to villains via your content responses shows how genuine and sharp you are to participants.  If the villain has a valid statement, there's no reason they shouldn't be heard and acknowledged. 

Whether marketing and sales respect expectations

Have you ever seen the movie "The Weatherman" with Nicholas Cage?  It was not intended to be a sales movie, but it follows life lessons that can relate to being a salesperson or marketer.  Cage plays a Chicago weatherman that is successful, yet constantly deals with problems outside of his work profession.  He's so immersed in his work that he becomes estranged from his daughter and father, who is dying of cancer.  He then takes an archery class and it becomes his therapy to cope with stress.

We've all had a "weather" moment.  In marketing, we make predictions on trends and we try to anticipate what the results will look like.  When the results aren't what people expect, we face criticism and credibility trust issues. Much like a meteorologist who's wrong,  there's various relationships that need to weather the storm.

Sales vs. Marketing

Scenario: Sales is upset with you.  You provide them "crappy" leads and the wrong collateral that won't get them the deal.  There's a strain between these departments and part of it is the perception each department has on the other.  You're ability to research leads that are warm help reduce the amount of "cold" they receive.  It's not the Sales departments job to understand the various challenges you face, they just want leads and collateral now.  Sales has an argument in that they are revenue generating and keep the lights on for your business.  You need them and they need you.

Advice to Sales: Be patient with marketing.  Don't be a fair weather fan.  They consistently have the attention of several departments and clients.  They are listening but tend to get caught up in campaigns and a deliverable that must be measured.  They may not face the monthly quotas you have but they have the pressure of consistently being consistent with brand messaging and ensuring campaigns are run without major hiccups. When you have a minute, talk with one of them to understand what goes on in their world.  At my company now, we have a scrum meeting where salespeople are able to talk with marketing on what they need to succeed.  

Advice to Marketing:  Remove the stigma you have of sales professionals.  They are not all jocks and reckless.  All the secondary research you analyze can pale in comparison to what your salespeople can say about specific customer targets.  Leverage the sales departments ability to talk to prospects and figure out what challenges you are not privy to know.  Communicating with your company's sales team will help in audience persona, inbound lead nurturing campaigns, and also cohesiveness.  

"Being a weatherperson"

Sometimes when it rains, it pours.  Sometimes, it's a dry spell.  Leads come and go.  It's a rinse and repeat process.  Sales and marketing need each other to weather the storm.  Campaigns are learning experiences and both sides should become better after every single one.  Let's not be fair weather fans.

Marketing Sandwiches..yum

Question: If you could have the gift of either having all industry information or the ability to see the buyer journey, which would you choose?

My mentor in marketing has been instrumental in helping me apply the old adage of "marketing mix." We often complicate the simplest concepts and lose sight of the purpose of marketing.  Marketing has become so broad but through it all it's always about..

Being in the business to  promote our service and research prospects.

I'd like to speak more so on B2B marketing and how aspects of marketing are sandwiched.

"Email marketing is not enough"

There used to be a time where all you had to do was write great copy and send it out via automation tools.  That's still important but we've upped the ante!  Emails that follow a template for every single customer are no longer as effective.  There are useful email tools that track open rates and click-throughs which is good, but they don't effectively measure who responds to the mails.  There's more layers being added for effective email marketing that addresses deliverable objectives. 



Answer: I'd hope you choose the second option.  Companies from 20-30 years ago had the ultimate advantage in controlling information that their customers couldn't see.  The leverage B2B companies had is dwindling and lately, the focus has been on truly understanding their customers path to purchase.

"If you are talking digital now, you're already behind"

It's simple.  Older industries like manufacturing are just now realizing the benefits of leveraging "digital" resources to get more appointments, revenue, and sound strategy.  They are also behind and by the time they get caught up, there will be another wind of sound practices they will need to implement.  According to a survey from Gartner, CMO's do not use the term "digital" as much anymore.  8-10 years ago SEO was the buzz term (that made a lot of marketing companies money). Then everyone remembered how "Content is king."  Now you have all these tools and practices that sandwiched together, create validity and end results. 

"Sandwiches with various ingredients"

I LOVE sandwiches... ice cream sandwiches...BLT's, chicken sandwiches, etc.  The point is there are so many different ingredients in each sandwich but the end result is something tasty and filling. All the marketing strategies discussed have various ingredients added that create something so good and authentic.  Results from marketing can come from anywhere.  There's no need to complicate an already complicating process.  Think of marketing as a sandwich created by a sandwich artist.  If you appreciate a good sandwich, it never hurts to look at how others make their sandwich.

S&M: Are you a Liger on defense and offense?

Cheesy sports analogy  aside,

Are you?



 Some people love to score and create plays.  Some people can't score  but excel at stopping others.  We have rare Ligers(my term for "unicorn") that can do both. As business professionals, we all have been involved in the process of gaining a customer.  The presentation can be nerve wrecking-especially when you meet the C-suite decision makers that can give the simple yes or no.  Even if you are in a completely different industry from the next person, we agree that:

1. You have had to sell yourself and your services to that prospect.
2. Chances are your prospect needs a final sign off for approval of your services.
3. There's a final showdown(meeting) where your fate will be determined.

In your first meeting presenting your services/solutions, you will have to play offense and defense to win the client over.

Offense (Presenting, selling the value)

Offensively, you need to show what you think is important to them and magnify it with valuable information.  You will most likely deal with more than one person and each person has motives or drivers that trigger saying yes.    Think of your PPT, voice, and references as the offense needed to weaken their defense.  If you need a good reference for the do's and don't of PowerPoint slides, look here-amazing examples.  

Defense (Answering tough questions, negative responses)

In an ideal situation, we get to play offense all day and receive a yes.  Not so fast...

It just doesn't work that way.  Typically the prospect will let you play offense and then will be ready to test your defense.  By testing your defense, they are looking for how you handle situations they fear could happen.  They could also want to see if you press when stressed, or if you show calmly how your service/product can help them.  Objections and disagreement are their defense mechanisms prompting you to defend your reputation and product/service.

"Offense wins games.  Defense wins  championships"

When I refer to winning the game, it means getting the meeting and attention.  For them to agree to the meeting obviously shows they respect you enough to use their time to listen to you.  The more games you win, the higher the chances you have of getting to the 'ship!  If you can address their concerns and handle their attempt to trap you, you will win in the big picture.  Being a two-way player is good because sometimes you will have to play defense(especially if the offense isn't good enough.)

Operation bootstrap

You ever had a plan to be the biggest, best, number one product or service around?  Sure you have. We dream big and those dreams can and will come true(with preparation and a little opportunity luck)

Unfortunately, it takes money to make money.  It takes a lot of money to make a lot of money. ( or lose from gambling)   Keeping costs down is something we all aim to do and with lean marketing, it can happen.  If you are starting it at the grassroots, you're just trying to officially have customers.

I speak from experience.  Every advantage I've ever had was not always with a sales program or intelligence tool-It was my brain and resourceful thinking.  If you are a start up company, it's debatable if sales intelligence tools are worth the initial cost for you.  While they may give you great and valid insight, this comes at an expensive cost.  There are quite a few ways to find your target utilizing google and "bootstrap methods."  I found ways to find leadership and their contact information. Tips below..

Tip 1: Google is your friend

No Seriously..Google is your friend.  This is the most rudimentary tip but get stronger at searching on google.   There's a certain way to find executives that you want to pitch your service/product toward. Just googling their company and title, I was able to find those key people that make decisions.

Bootstrap Tip: I've found that when I type an executives name and "trade-show" or "PDF", I sometimes am able to find out out their direct phone number and email.  VP's of Sales and Marketing become easy to find because of their involvement with various events.

Tip 2: Take advantage of "Free trial" SI

Sales intelligence tools have amazing data to help you close deals and find your customers in a more efficient way.  While they can be an operational cost, the advantages of using the trials are:

• Seeing what's out there on the market.
• Getting several "free" accounts to conduct searching for leads.
• Identifying lead patterns to see consistency of each SI company.

Tip 3:  Contact the Sales department

In my professional career, I've gotten a few "nuggets" of information by contacting someone in sales. Sales people can be the biggest help to finding out who the VP of Sales and Marketing are.  They may not give you direct contact information, but are a good source for figuring out the chain of command.  Besides, if you have information they need,  you've entered into a networking relationship.

Tip 4:  LinkedIn 

LinkedIn is slowly becoming a favorite of mine.  LinkedIn offers "free" sales intelligence on key decision makers.  While their sales navigator is helpful and affordable, you can find quite a bit of information on connected contacts from just their LinkedIn profile.   Who knows, you may have a contact in common that can give you a warm introduction.

Tip 5: They tell two people..and so on..

Cold calling is not completely dead.  Decision makers receive so many emails lately that calling them is still a good way to reach them.  The issue you may not have their direct contact line.  By being sincere with what you can offer, people will at least give you an email or name that is the decision maker (Unless you are in IT security..whole nother ball game)

Make the most of your resources.  If any of you can think of other ways you "bootstrap" sales, I'd love to hear them.

Race to the best question to ask!

It's your 10:00 AM regular weekly meeting.  The person in charge of the meeting is providing insight and findings that would benefit everyone.  This isn't your normal status meeting where people inevitably get off track, or fall asleep- A special guest speaker is in the room. (Influential)

While they present, there's a serious race going on.  It's the race to ask the perfect question.

There's always 2 (sometimes 3) people in a meeting that are secretly battling for the title of "Best question asker" (incorrect grammar. I know.)  Sales meetings consist of various degrees of competition and when these 2 people battle for asking the best question, it's like a buffet line, you pick what works for you.

Person 1:  Asks an otherwise well thought out question.
Presenter: That's a great question!
Person 2 (feeling slighted) : Asks a question that's considered "deeper" than the previous question.
Person 1: Now feels the pressure, it's an official battle.  They start to use superfluous words to sound "better."

Has anyone ever experienced this before?