Every marketing strategy must answer seven key questions. 1. WHO are you trying to reach? Specify your target audience and stay focused. 2. WHAT is your story? How credible is it? 3. HOW does your story align with the established perceptions of your target audience? What do they believe? What do they need? 4. HOW will you alert your target audience to your offering? How will you raise their awareness? 5. HOW soon do you …
When your team encounters challenges, obstacles or criticism, they face a choice about how to react. At moments like these, they need you to help them adopt a mindset that leads to success. Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck, uses the word “mindset” to describe how people are constantly monitoring and interpreting what’s happening to them, what it means, and what they should do. People can choose to react to challenges or criticism using a “fixed” …
Discovering why a prospect needs a remedy is what makes the difference between a single commodity sales transaction and a comprehensive solution that produces sustainable value and launches enduring relationships. The most compelling solutions help the prospect overcome constraints that are hindering goal achievement. Why is identifying obstacles the most vital part of the discovery process? Productive sales discovery begins by clarifying a prospect’s current circumstances and stated needs. With the starting point identified, the …
Give people choices, some control over their actions, and their performance improves. This is the essence of autonomy and why it is a proven motivator. But once autonomy is earned, then it must be managed, because the circumstances that originally enable it are likely to change. If you want your high performing, self-directed people to succeed, then monitoring the situation in which they work is critical; one change in your team’s work pattern can cause …
Since directly linking sales growth to some marketing program is unrealistic, measuring the ROI for these initiatives is often based on monitoring the number of newly generated leads, tracking these through qualification to proposal. But what if the lead-to-proposal process is not being monitored? According to a recent report, 80% of qualified leads get wasted…they never get followed-up by the sales team. A qualified sales lead is a prospective customer whose need has been …
Goal achievement is accelerated when results can be visualized. What does exceptional customer service, or extraordinary teamwork, or a successful new product launch look like? How do realized benefits from these initiatives fulfill the Company’s purpose or create momentum towards a Company’s vision. You can’t achieve what you can’t see. Throughout history, humans have practiced the act of visualization, thinking in mental images or pictures. Athletes consistently utilize this technique to help them achieve their goals. …
During the lifetime of a customer relationship, your company benefits from a stream of revenue and profitability that is progressively more difficult to replace if lost. Investing in customer support strengthens your relationships, increasing each customer’s lifetime value With customers, think lifetime, all of the time. Customer support is not a cost center, it’s a profit center. When companies measure their investment in customer support, they often track the cost per hour or other support function metrics. But …
Leaders are expected to improve results through change, but their teams often resist. Change requires movement, away from what is known. Change can be tumultuous, causing disorientation that elevates anxiety and vulnerability; fear of the unknown can be paralyzing. Change is also a constant condition in business and in life. There are 3 benefits to change that can improve a team’s engagement. The antidote for the fear of change is to appreciate its benefits and to …
Leaders are hired to improve results. It’s expected that they will change the status quo to accomplish this objective. But leaders can’t change things by themselves; they succeed by inspiring and influencing others to get it done. When driving a change initiative, be aware of two issues that influence how motivation for the change is perceived. Impact and imperfection drive change by clarifying the reasons for it and by accelerating it. People need to understand …
For sales people seeking to build enduring customer relationships, there are three decisive moments. Acting with empathy and urgency during these key moments will earn you the customer’s enduring preference. 1. The “First Contact” Moment: Invest the majority of your time learning your prospect’s story, needs and goals. They want to tell you, so ask them. Then, explain how your company’s offerings produce value that resolves their problem and contributes to their success. Prospects become …