MSI Blog

Many marketing campaigns, activities, and events are aimed at generating lists of names and contact information of those who have some level of interest in a given product or service. To make the most of such situations, we need a big picture strategy and specific tasks we're going to accomplish before, during, and after the core episode.

I just attended a business expo last week and saw all the fish bowls stuffed with business cards of those who, in most cases, were likely more interested in getting whatever freebie was being given away than they were in working with the company exhibiting. It made me wonder as I walked the show...

:: How many of these vendors came into this show with a solid strategy of some kind?
:: How many engaged in any serious pre-show activities to bring the right people to their booths?
:: How many had the right message and offer at the show to generate the right leads...or even sales?
:: How many have a follow-up plan that involves a more involved effort than just some weak phone calls asking if the party is interested in finding out more about the company's products or services?
:: Worst of all, how many of these companies will never follow up with the majority of the people they met at the show?

Whether you're generating leads from referrals, direct mail, print ads, websites, trade shows, email campaigns or any of the other dozens of ways available to you, make sure you know up front why you're engaging in the activity, what you hope to get out of it, and how you are going to effectively convert your leads into clients. Otherwise, you've largely wasted your time and money.

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In my article, "An 80/20 Rule That Boosts Sales Fast," I talked about making time to get to the meat of your sales efforts-to actually go out and sell. That's extremely important. Just as important is taking time to train for your sales efforts.

Think for a moment about an athlete who has impressed you with his or her abilities. It goes without saying that the athlete wouldn't be able to perform in such a manner without extensive training. That training includes study, practice, receiving coaching from others, and, of course, repeated performances in real-life situations.

We readily accept the need for training in athletic situations if we intend to win, so why would we expect anything different in sales situations? It doesn't make much sense, but somehow thousands upon thousands of would-be salespeople hit the streets, get on the phone, and engage in other sales activities every day with the equivalent training comparison of an elementary school kid jumping in on a professional basketball game. The results just aren't going to be impressive.

Are you the person responsible for sales in your organization? If not, who is? Once a responsible party is identified, what is he or she doing to get trained or to train those who are on the front lines, charged with the duty of making sales happen?

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Here's one more 80/20 rule that can significantly improve your revenues:

If you are a multiple-hat-wearing business owner and one of your duties is to play the role of salesperson, allocate 80% of your time that is not being spent on production (billable hours, paid gigs with clients, etc.) and spend it in focused sales mode. The other available 20% of your non-production time can be used for administrative tasks. Most people in this situation have this ratio backwards, or worse. If abiding by this rule doesn't give you ample time to sell, meet administrative tasks, and keep your production levels where they need to be, it's time to add the right people to your team and share the load.

If your company has full-time salespeople, make sure they are spending 80% of their time actually selling and not getting caught up in the administrative side of the sales process, as far too many salespeople do. If completing bid documents, overseeing the fulfillment side of serving the company's clients, or other such tasks are taking more than 20% of your salespeople's time, rethink your process. Your salespeople need to be in front of clients and prospects (live, by phone, online, etc.) to be effective. Shuffling papers and getting bogged down in post-sale fulfillment isn't doing your salespeople, your company, or your clients any favors.

Of course, the 80/20 split is a guideline. Discover what works best for your situation through active testing. Plan. Act. See results.

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I was driving just north of Miami last week when I saw something interesting--a billboard for a hospital with a live, digital readout of the current wait time in their ER. While I can't imagine anyone making a decision to go to an ER in a moment of need based on a billboard they happen to see, I do see great value in this approach.

As long as the billboard is truly working in real time and doesn't always say there is a 15 minute wait, as it did that morning (and assuming the wait time is always relatively short), this message is much more powerful that simply having a billboard that says, "Short wait times," or something similar. The message is developed in the minds of the billboard's readers over time so when they do have an emergency, this hospital is the only place to consider going.

What if a restaurant billboard had the same thing right before the offramp to which it is located? What about a mortgage broker who has the real-time average timeframe of mortgages completed that month, or a real estate agent who marks how many homes she has sold that quarter? The opportunities are limitless. How can this idea apply to your business?

Here's to your marketing success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

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I was driving just north of Miami last week when I saw something interesting--a billboard for a hospital with a live, digital readout of the current wait time in their ER. While I can't imagine anyone making a decision to go to an ER in a moment of need based on a billboard they happen to see, I do see great value in this approach.

As long as the billboard is truly working in real time and doesn't always say there is a 15 minute wait, as it did that morning (and assuming the wait time is always relatively short), this message is much more powerful that simply having a billboard that says, "Short wait times," or something similar. The message is developed in the minds of the billboard's readers over time so when they do have an emergency, this hospital is the only place to consider going.

What if a restaurant billboard had the same thing right before the offramp to which it is located? What about a mortgage broker who has the real-time average timeframe of mortgages completed that month, or a real estate agent who marks how many homes she has sold that quarter? The opportunities are limitless. How can this idea apply to your business?

Here's to your marketing success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

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Gone are the days when "everyone is my audience" even hopes to work in the marketing world. The more targeted your efforts, the more effective they will be. Beyond referring to the medium, venue, or list used along with a broad-audience-specific message, "targeted" now means getting right down to the level of each individual in the audience with your message.

I was on Facebook recently when, on the right column of the page, appeared an ad with the headline: "Men Age 43: Free Gas." It went on to read: "Utah residents: If you're 43 years old and male, you can qualify for $250 in free gas with participation. Time running out."

Imagine that. It's my lucky day! It just happens I'm a 43-year-old, male Utah resident.

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Here's a quandary every business owner will find himself in at some point: Do I stick to what I do, the way I do it, or do I bend to meet my clients' desires?

The answer: Both!

No one can be everything to everyone. People who try to do this in their businesses typically go out of business. At the same time, pushing what you want to offer on an unwilling audience is also a recipe for failure. But there is a compromise in this age-old dilemma. Here's the two-step solution:

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Here's a question I get often: "Why didn't my ad work?" My response is always the same: "What did you want it to do?" Not surprisingly, the ad that "didn't work" never seems to match the intent stated in answer to my question.

Most people in my audience are looking for one thing when placing an ad: response. Most of my clients don't engage in image advertising. They don't have the budget for it. Yet far too many of their ads--whether in print, by direct mail, online, or other means--aren't response ads. They may be eye-catching, but they fail to lead the reader to action.

Here are a few guidelines for creating ads that "work" (assuming you're looking for response):

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I had an amazing experience last week. I was facilitating a group of business decision-makers as they were polishing off their marketing jumpstart plans and one of the participants shared a concept that that may well fundamentally change my business. It is well worth the exercise of looking into it for your business as well.

He pointed out that we all start our businesses, then carry on adding products, services, and other elements along the way, being careful to do everything by the book. He pointed out that there's much to be learned from others who have gone before us. His point was not to undo the value of studying others' success, but rather to look beyond traditional approaches. Then he dropped the bombshell.

"Look at everything in your company in reverse," he said. Consider every process, belief, pricing structure, etc., he suggested. In doing this, he submitted that we may well find the missing link to becoming remarkable--to being the first in our categories to stand out as a clear leader.

This struck me with such power that I did just that. I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag yet since I haven't finalized discussions with my team, but we may well be turning MSI on its head and have a clear path past some of the obstacle-laden avenues we've been traveling along with most of the rest of the business world. I'll keep you posted.

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The holidays must be coming up quickly because I've started hearing the same question that comes up every year right before Thanksgiving: "What is the #1 thing I can do to boost my sales this holiday season?"

Before I go on, let me state that what I'm going to say here applies to ALL businesses regardless of whether holiday revenues are of particular interest. Don't tune out just because you're not a retail store owner.

MY ANSWER? "Start gathering client data long before now, then cater to your proven audience at this important revenue season for your business." (Again, this is true regardless of when your high season, month, or even day(s) of week occur.)

Looking for new customers and clients in the middle of a mad rush when everyone else is clamoring for the same audience is expensive and difficult. Nurturing your audience ahead of the rush, then being the clear choice in their minds when purchasing decisions are being made is the higher and better road to travel.

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