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Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Well I’ve taken some time off from blogging to recover from our March 9th event with Kevin Daum. His ROAR book is finally out! (I know that some of you have already purchased it and are applying the concepts so Congrats! And good marketing!)
For those of you who signed up early for that event, your copies are on their way. For those of you who didn’t, you can get a copy by clicking here.
For those of you in the Philly area, you can still see Kevin this weekend at the Go Green Expo on Saturday.
And - if you’d like to take a gander at the Sales and Marketing Summit, there’s a webcast of Tom Sant’s keynote on Wednesday, April 21st from 4 to 6pm Eastern Time. He’s the author of Persuasive Business Proposals, Language of Success and The Giants of Sales. Here’s the link to sign up! (Courtesy of Verne Harnish…)
Will let you know how the conference goes, what I learn and what’s up with us for the rest of 2010 which I get back!
Tags: Enlightened Executives, Leadership, Marketing, Sales and Marketing
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, General, Leadership, Marketing, Sales | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
 Well, it’s been a big two weeks. We finalized our value prop for CEO Think Tank® and had a sell out crowd at our Growth Strategies Breakfast on March 9th. It was definitely an “Awesome Experience“!
But now that we’ve got the message, we’ve got to get it out to the marketplace - using the next step in Kevin Daum’s process - Intentional Marketing - a phrase I’d never heard before.
And, to understand what intentional marketing is, according to Kevin, you first need to understand the difference between sales and marketing.
Kevin defines “sales” as the pure, direct person-to-person process of how a sales person transacts business with a customer.
Marketing - on the other hand - is the application of efficiency tools to the sales process to help it scale. The tools, according to Kevin, can be strategic stuff like market research and segmentation OR tactical such as designing a website or creating collateral.
The trick? You’ve got to have forethought! That’s the first step in Intentional Marketing. And that means considering the 105 Questions that will be answered in your sales process - either by design or default.
Here’s just a sample to consider in all of your marketing strategies and tactics for how you’re Generating Leads:
* What are the attractive emotions?
* What are the attractive aesthetics?
* Where can buyers be found?
* What will pique their interests?
* What is the recognizable pain we can identify?
* Where do buyers congregate?
* What is the best opening line?
* What is the identifiable fear component?
* What is the identifiable greed component?
* What are the identifiable logic components?
There’s more of course…check out the website if you’re curious - - or, if you want to use the process that Kevin recommends to get your message heard.
I’ll be talking more about what we’re doing as we continue thru the year and what we’re learning. In the meantime, drop me a line and let me know if you’re applying these concepts in your business - and what results you’re getting!
Tags: Business Coaching, Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Executive Roundtables, Marketing, Sales and Marketing
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Marketing, Sales, Strategy | 3 Comments »
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
 Well I did it! Made the time last week and crafted our revised Value Prop - finally. Clarified the Pain We Solve and what the Best Solution is to solve that pain…but most importantly defined what made us the Best Solution Provider. Kevin Daum helped me to scribe in a few short bullet points how what we do and how we do it separates us from everyone else and…assisted me to answer the question: ”What do we do that others don’t?”
So what did I learn in this process? Or re-learn as the case may be?
# 1: How incredibly important getting information from your customers, prospects and others in the market place is - including people who aren’t in your space at all. And the latter are often the most critical to talk with bringing in the fresh and new ideas - like Dave Griffith of the Modern Group did for me. Dave’s question? How could we make our membership criteria more selective and therefore add more value to our Think Tank Groups for our members? (Great question - more to come on that one…)
# 2: A reminder that creating a strategy is certainly not rocket science but it’s not always easy - and definitely takes work. And - in the end it’s just good solid business fundamentals - the kind we often say are common sense, but just not common practice!
And # 3: The value that outside coaching brings when you’re going thru this process. It really helped to have Kevin involved with us. I especially appreciated his perspective as a marketeer and a successful Inc 500 entrepreneur. He’s got his own unique value prop as well!
So come next Tuesday to our Growth Strategies Breakfast and meet him as well as the other Enlightened Executives who are part of our community. We’ll be talking with Kevin about our own process as well as having him share his expertise so that you too can learn to create your own Compelling Message in 2010!
See you then!
And let me know your thoughts on this process and how it’s helped - or hasn’t helped you in your business. A special thanks too to Heather Chandler of Seal Strip for some of her feedback in the last few weeks!
Tags: Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Leadership, Sales and Marketing
Posted in Enlightened Executives, General, Marketing, Sales, Strategy | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
That’s what I discovered last week - had every intention of telling you more about what I’ve been doing on my journey to “Create a Compelling Message” but other things got in the way…
I actually suspected as much when I looked at my list on Sunday before the week started. That’s how I organize myself and keep focused. I actually start looking ahead the Thursday before - which I found out one of our clients at Gateway Ticketing does too - so I don’t feel completely OCD. There are others out there like me.
I knew that with three days basically dedicated to clients and one day that I was taking for some personal time and reflection, there really was no way that I was going to get my weekly blog done, let alone complete the homework that Kevin Daum had assigned me which was:
” To use the information that we gathered in our marketing research to come up with the 25 words or so that describe the Pain that We Solve and the 10 to 15 words that say what the Best Solution is for that pain.”
So what to do? Well - chalk it up to the fact that sometimes Murphy intervenes and other more important things do require our time - like spending time with clients who are struggling to grow their businesses using the best practices that we teach and taking some personal downtime for me to recover a bit from the fast pace of the last few weeks - AND
That doesn’t mean that I don’t get back on track this week…and get my homework DONE!
So look for that next week - I’m making sure that it’s done by then.
And if you want to learn more about Kevin’s methodology for “Creating an Awesome Experience”, we still have a few more books available for those of you who register today for our March 9th event - or you can pre-order directly from the website.
Looking forward to seeing you then!
Tags: Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Executive Coaching, Leadership, Personal Development
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, General, Leadership, Personal Management, Sales | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
So you  know that I”ve been telling you how Kevin Daum is helping us to prepare for our March 9th “Un-Marketing Event”, and working with us to create our Compelling Message over the last few weeks.
But who is this guy that I’ve been writing about and why all the hype? Why do we think that with all of the meetings and conferences and seminars that are out there you should come and hear Kevin?
With 3000 distractions a day, how will your message get heard? According to Chet Holmes, author of Creating the Ultimate Sales Machine, the average person in the U.S is exposed to 3000 messages a day. Yes, that’s right. 3000. So how will Kevin help you ensure that you get your message heard…?
Well… here’s three things you might consider…
1) As the National Columnist for Smart Business Magazine, Kevin Daum is inspiring people to get above the noise by pursuing the Awesome Experience. He brings real-world Inc 500 CEO experience to help you create a compelling message for your company.
2) Promoting your business can and should be fun. You can tell from Kevin’s ROAR! video that he lives his message of creating the convergence of Need, Entertainment and The Unexpected.
3) His book is exactly what we as business leaders need right now to get our sales and marketing on track. No need to take my word for it. You can download the first 2 chapters that explain how to develop your own Value Proposition - using the same format that I’ve been sharing with you these last few weeks.
Oh - and it’s a fun read as well.
So make a plan, bring a friend, come on March 9th! And stay tuned for more on my own journey to get our message heard…
Tags: Awesome Experience, Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Leadership, Marketing, Sales and Marketing, Strategy
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, General, Leadership, Marketing, Sales | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
That’s the question what I’ve been trying to answer as I’ve been on my own journey to develop a Compelling Message for CEO Think Tank and refine the value prop of what we do for our members as well as our prospects.
And - after spending the last few weeks talking to over two dozen CEO’s and business owners of small to mid-size companies, some patterns are definitely emerging. Things that we do well and want to continue to do as well as things that we need to start doing and do more of in 2010.
(Remember: this is the work that you should be doing in your own businesses - on a regular basis.) It doesn’t suit anyone to sit on their laurels for long. The market is always changing and to stay ahead - you’ve got to be talking with people…
So what have we found?
What’s the biggest pain that we solve for CEO’s and executives of growing firms?
Helping them to find answers to the question “What do I do NOW that I’ve got this problem”- whatever this problem is for the moment. (You never run out of problems when you’re trying to grow a business after all.)
The second pain that we’ve helped them with?
Pointing out the potholes that they’re going to run into…or could run into as they grow. “I want to know what I don’t know,” one of our CEO members said to me. “I know a lot but it’s what I don’t know that’s going to get me into trouble down the line. ”
How are we helping them to solve these pains?
By giving them a braintrust of other smart, enlightened executives who are traveling the same road - and in many cases have been there and done that - and - teaching them how to grow smartly. We give them proven frameworks and tools and access to resources and experts - things that they otherwise wouldn’t know about or would take them valuable time - something no on seems to have nowadays to find.
How are we unique?
Because of our own experiences working with hundreds of small and mid-size businesses - and because we’re entrepreneurs too - we’re working to grow our business and using the same tools and techniques. As one CEO said, “You guys know stuff. And it’s not just theory!”
So where we need to spend more time and do things differently?
Helping them to prioritize and focus - even more so than we’ve done in the past. And even though we’re sometimes known as a major pain in the you-know-what with our clients, they also asked us to do an even better job of holding them accountable to what they said they were going to do and noodging them along when they’re not delivering.
Why this shift? More so now than ever before, I’m hearing people in the business community talking about not having time to do all the things that they need to do. And they need help and guidance to:
* Sort through all of the items that they could be focusing on,
* Make the right decisions about what to focus on and
* Have a plan (and make the time) to get their priorities done.
So that’s what we’re going to help them do….along with a whole lot more.
We’ve been successful in the past and helped our members to grow and survive - but the work never stops.
So what about you? Who are you talking to? What are you learning about your market and your customers? And what will you do differently in 2010?
Let me know…and come on March 9th if you want to learn more!
BTW, the first 25 people to register will get a free copy of Kevin Daum’s new book: ROAR: Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle!
Tags: Awesome Experience, Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Executive Roundtables, Getting ready for 2010, Sales and Marketing
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, General, Leadership, Marketing, Sales, Strategy | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 25th, 2010
In our work with Kevin Daum to create a “Compelling Message”, Kevin shared with us that there’s two critical pieces to attracting, retaining and growing your customers.
The first I shared with you in my last blog - the need to gather information from current customers, potential customers and competitors, figure out their challenges and pain and how we either help them - or don’t help them - to overcome those issues.
The second is to tie what you glean from those conversations to your offerings - in this case - our “Un-Marketing” events. We’ve been doing them for several years now, bringing together fantastic speakers and accomplished CEO’s and business people to learn and network. It’s been wonderful to have people like Judy Wicks of the White Dog Cafe, Dave Griffith of Modern Group and Verne Harnish of Gazelles come and talk with us - and we’ve gotten high marks from attendees too for putting on great events!
But Kevin challenged us a few weeks ago. He wasn’t going to let us rest on our laurels and asked some hard questions:
1) How could we provide even more value to our attendees? (There’s a lot of competition for people’s time right now…how do we make coming to our events “a must” attend versus a maybe?)
2) How could we double our attendance?
3) How could we reach people who hadn’t heard of us before?
4) How could we leverage the event to attract great prospects for membership? and…
5) How could we use our events to create an Awesome Experience for our members and clients? (the reason we started doing them in the first place…)
The answer??? Leverage our network of course - and tap into the power of Social Media. So - that’s what I’ve been doing the past week or so -
* posting our Events on Linked In, starting discussions (thanks to Kim Levin of Teknuko for her help navigating the LinkedIn world!) and asking colleagues to publish the event to their networks,
* asking our members and advisors who are “tweeting” - people like The Emperor of Fun Dave Raymond of Raymond Entertainment and Phil Jaurique of Sabre Systems - for their help to get the word out to their Twitter communities…
* using our affiliations with the Mid-Atlantic Employers’ Association and the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce so that they can reach out to their member companies and…
* getting assistance from Jennifer Cohen of the MAC Alliance - they have a great website where you can post all sorts of information and events!
And that’s just the beginning…if I’ve piqued your interest - stay tuned - let your networks know about March 9th and what they could learn - and - sign up!
Tags: Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Executive Roundtables, Marketing, Sales and Marketing, Social Media
Posted in Enlightened Executives, General, Marketing, Sales, Strategy | 1 Comment »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
 Last week I told you about my mission for the next few months - to find out what our clients and members really value about what we do - so that we can decide what we need to keep doing, start doing and stop doing to help them be successful in the year ahead.
When Doug Diamond and I sat down a few weeks ago at the Barnes and Noble at Penn with Kevin Daum, the speaker at our upcoming “Un-Marketing” event on March 9th, he inundated us with information.
His three step process?
1) Create a Compelling Message (and a Value Proposition that truly differentiates you from your competition)
2) Apply Intentional Marketing to a clearly defined sales process that will allow you to scale for growth and
3) Provide Memorable Delivery to your prospects so that you stay “top of mind”.
Where to start? Well, as we teach our clients in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, we need to gather information - from our current members and clients, our competitors and our potential customers.
So that’s what I’ve been doing - meeting and talking with clients and members and finding out:
1) What problems we solve for them?
2) Where do we add value?
3) What problems we don’t solve?
4) How do we perform better than our competitors?
5) What do our competitors offer that we don’t?
And the answers? Some things I knew…but there have been a few surprises. It never ceases to amaze me what I learn when I ask!
More on that next week…but in the meantime, with whom have you been talking? What’s the market telling you???
Let me know!
And come on March 9th if you want to learn more…
Tags: Enlightened Executives, Sales and Marketing, Strategy
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, General, Marketing, Sales, Strategy | No Comments »
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Do you want to crush sales in 2010? CEOs and entrepreneurs are wanting to leverage social media for sales. One thing is very certain - you need a strategy and the real you for success.
Differentiation is Marketing
Simple marketing is all about standing out from the crowd and being different from your competitors. In this ultra-competitive environment, these principles are critical to the growth of your business. Prospective customers are carefully choosing how to spend their money. How do you compete?
Your Personal Brand
The basic idea of personal branding is to promote yourself as having certain values, skills or expertise - your brand - so that if someone needs that expertise, they’ll come to you first. Have you leveraged your personal brand for sales?
As Dan Schawbel mentions in his Generation Y personal branding book Me 2.0:
Personal branding is about unearthing what is true and unique about you and letting everyone know about it.
Trouble is, for a lot of people the ramifications of that statement are scary. And in my own work, the critical piece that’s missing in business is the need to connect yourself and your personal brand with your prospects and customers.
Your Leverage
Your customers want the real you (both illuminating & enlightening.) So start leveraging your personal brand and crush sales!
Tags: Dan Schawbel, Gary Vaynerchuk, Marketing, Personal Branding, Sales
Posted in General, Marketing, Personal Development, Sales, Strategy | 4 Comments »
Monday, July 27th, 2009
I was catching up with familiar faces over a glass of wine at a recent eWomen networking event when it struck me: I left a pile of work and a sick child at home to drive 30 miles in rush hour traffic to chat with friends? Surely, that’s more not working than networking.
Network Overload
So what is networking and what would prevent me — a devout extravert — from leveraging such an opportunity? The latter answer seemed easy: exhaustion. Life is busy and networking opportunities require limitless energy. Hmmm… had I just defined networking as an obligation to befriend strangers?
Reframing the Question
Fortunately, my questions were reiterated and reframed a few days later. As members of the CEO Think Tank Senior Leaders’ Group discussed business development strategies and key concepts from Chet Holmes‘ bestseller, The Ultimate Sales Machine, I gleaned my day’s gem: the goal of the game is not to lead the horses to water, but to make them thirsty.
Armed with that a-ha, I then co-presented a workshop on “Building Your Network” at a conference for nonprofit leaders. No suprise, an exploration of why we network informed strategies for how, where, and when to do so.
We switched to a bee analogy. Bees pollinate flowers, not trees or road signs. They get something only as they give. And they always bring with them some “buzz”.
Lessons from Another Landscape
While I’m accustomed to sharing business concepts from entrepreneurial companies with the public sector, it absolutely works both ways. In this case, we borrow from The Charismatic Organizaton: Eight Ways to Grow a Nonprofit, by Shirley Sagawa and Deborah Jopsin. Three key strategies can build buzz for any organization:
- Compelling communications — tell a powerful story, show impact, leverage multi-media options to illustrate uniquness.
- Active outreach — be proactive in reaching out to others through collaboration and strategic alliances, social networking, media cultivation.
- Meaningful involvement — create additional impact by educating others, attending and hosting relevant events, recognizing accomplishments, and volunteering.
Most entrepreneurial leaders, having grown their businesses, value buzz. Boasting that you have the best firm or product or service does not buzz — or thirst — create. Having impact does. Especially in the context of today’s economy, the key is clarifying where and when, how and for whom that’s possible.
Perhaps networking does indeed work best when it feels like not working.
Posted in General, Marketing, Sales | 2 Comments »
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