On this episode of The Funnel, Lindsay and I are joined by the Jessie Lee Nichols. She is the Art Director at Quintain Marketing and over the past 5 years has created 75 websites for clients. She also has the distinction of earning all 5 HubSpot certifications. To put that in perspective, there are 15 people in the world that hold all 5 certifications. The Quintain Team currently has 3 members that have achieved that impressive goal.

Jessie Lee has developed a well-defined process when designing a website. Over the course of five years it has been refined multiple times. Building a website from the ground up, or redesigning a website, is not just about aesthetics and design; it is about strategy. The Quintain website design process is unique because the first 50% of the process is strategy based. Initial meetings consist of one on one client work where Jessie Lee maps out strategy and spends time diving deep into keyword research. A digital marketing report is generated and clients are lined up against their competitors. Clients are made aware of opportunities where they can rank for key words.

Next, she spends time developing buyer personas and examining the journey a typical customer takes when making a purchase from her client. Creating persona journeys are essential to crafting a website that is appealing to the client’s customers. Any decision made, whether it is aesthetic or creating content, is written for and driven by the buyer persona.

Creating meaningful content is a huge part of the design process. After the research is completed, meaningful content must be created. The information must be of value to the client’s customers and appropriate to their stage of the journey. Many times, clients underestimate the amount of time and effort that goes into content creation. Customers come to a website to be educated and discover what you have to offer. It is important that information on the website is reflective of that.

In case you have not noticed, the internet is starting to look the same, meaning there is a standardization of basic functionality. Jessie Lee and the Quintain team recognize that user interface pattern is very important when developing a website and follow design best practices. The emphasis in website development has shifted to user interface actions.

The first 50 percent of the website build is the value Quintain brings to the table. It is where site mapping is completed, persona journeys defined, and content is written. Clients don’t see any design until they move to the second half of the process. So from the design standpoint, there is a trust factor involved. Since the design process is transparent and clients are provided with a timeline early in the process, they recognize the steps necessary prior to any website design.

The purpose of updating a website is to attract prospects with the goal of converting them to clients. Sales people are an important part of the process, especially when it comes to content creation. Jessie Lee stresses the importance of value add; that is the information on a website that brings prospects value; a blog, content, or downloadable information. That content then assists salespeople in their outbound efforts.

When it comes to website creation, there are two different paths to consider; traditional website design or a growth drive design. Growth driven design is the brainchild of Luke Summerfield at HubSpot. He has pioneered a concept that is based off of agile software construction. Most organizations redesign their website every 2 – 3 years. With growth driven design, a website is updated each cycle, with changes driven by feedback and metrics.

In growth driven design, companies develop a minimum buy-able product (MBP). They create a launch pad website which gets maximum information across with the least amount of effort. Then the organization enters a sprint cycle. Actions focused on during each cycle are derived from a wish list developed by the client. The list has 50 – 150 items on it and it is prioritized based on an 80/20 scale. That is, what will provide an 80% return with 20% of the effort?

Each sprint cycle is approximately 30 days. Starting at the top of the list, Jessie Lee and her client decide upon 2 or 3 items to focus on and create action cards for each item. Every action card has a hypothesis about what will happen based upon the actions taken. The action must be measurable and have a defined time period. At the end of the sprint cycle Jessie Lee examines the baseline metrics that were set and evaluates the results. By examining the behavior of visitors to the website and evaluating data, decisions are made for the next cycle. All changes are based upon evaluation of metrics and occur after each sprint cycle. Growth driven design takes full advantage of the data capabilities available and website updates are made each month.

Building a website goes beyond the look, feel and even the functionality of the website. On this episode of the podcast, Jessie Lee Nichols talks about website development. Your company website is the only salesperson on your staff that works 24/7; make sure your website is working hard for you.

 We start the week off with a quick nod to the Inbound Sales Academy. John Booth and I are launching a new podcast that will focus strictly on sales. Each week we will interview a new guest and discuss their sales stories; successes and failures. This sales podcast will be focused on gaining strategic advice from people in sales who are actually in the trenches.

Guest George B. Thomas, from The Sales Lion, joins us on this episode of the Funnel. He shares his knowledge of HubSpot, inbound sales, and inbound marketing. This is an in-depth episode with excellent advice for both sales and marketing departments. I recommend you listen to it in its entirety.

George has key pieces of advice for both teams:

When sales and marketing teams are working harmoniously, sales growth increases. Marketing provides quality inbound leads for the sales department and sales feeds information and data back to the marketing department.

Sales people need to understand the nature of an inbound lead. An online prospect is an individual who has stumbled upon your website and viewed material on your company page. An inbound lead is not a prospect ready to make a purchase; he or she is a person who has expressed interest in your content. Prior to discussing pricing or contracts, the sales rep needs to develop a relationship, beyond an online relationship, before an online prospect will ever commit to a purchase.

Marketers need to open up and release the keys to the kingdom; that translates to sharing all pertinent information gathered on the prospect. Utilize marketing automation tools to first identify and then nurture inbound leads prior to handing them off to the sales team. Do not pass a lead through just because the prospect has landed on your website once! Develop a protocol and follow it to determine true interest. Once the lead is ripe for sales, then hand the lead over.

One of the reasons marketers ask their sales counterparts to write blog posts is to build relevant content on the company website. Approximately 70% of the buying process is completed before a prospect makes contact with a sales person. Where is this 70% taking place? Online. Individuals go online and research products, ideas and solutions before they reach out to a company. A prospect finding and reading your information when they are searching the web catapults you, and your organization, to the top of the list. Sales people need to establish themselves as a thought leaders and industry experts by creating well written content that is informative and valuable.

Assignment selling was the brainchild of Marcus Sheridan. It is predicated off the premise that the customer needs to be educationally qualified for the sales rep to justify committing valuable time to engagement. You don’t just pursue any old lead; that can be a colossal waste of time. In assignment selling, there are three criteria evaluated to score a highly qualified lead. Is the lead persona qualified, educationally qualified, and engagement qualified? When marketing departments use a marketing automation tool, such as HubSpot, and are properly lead scoring, they can determine, with high accuracy, if a prospect is committed to making a purchase.

You can find George at www.thesaleslion.com  and @GeorgeBThomas

Keep Filling the Funnel

In order to grow revenue, a company must run like a well-oiled machine. Listen to this week’s edition of the sales and marketing podcast, an episode not to be missed, and get your sales and marketing engine going.

Inbound marketing is a daunting task for any organization, but it is more of a challenge for the small to mid-size business. Lindsay and I work with companies that fall into this category and often witness the day to day struggles these organizations face. Even if they need it, many smaller organizations lack the capital necessary to hire an inbound marketing agency for strategy implementation. On this episode of The Funnel, we walk through what a mid-sized business needs internally to launch a highly effective inbound marketing program.

If you want a robust inbound marketing strategy that over time is going to attract people to your website, convert them into prospects, and generate qualified leads for your sales team there are a few people you will need to place in key positions.

Inbound Marketing Strategist or Team Leader

The strategist, or team leader is the person who has the vision and develops the blueprint. This person has a great understanding of the inbound marketing process. This person is responsible for conceiving the strategy, disseminating the vision to the team, presenting the information in a format everyone understands, and delineating tasks to members of the team. He or she has responsibilities comparable to a Vice President of Sales. They are responsible for budget, hiring or placing the right people in optimal positions, and overseeing all members of the team to make sure they are executing their tasks properly. The strategist has a tremendous amount of responsibility in the inbound marketing process.  

Content Writer

A good content writer is worth their weight in gold. The writer must formulate content for multiple buyer personas, communicate clearly and effectively, create blog posts and downloadable assets that are easily found on Google, and drive traffic back to the company website for conversion. This person is in charge of establishing the digital voice of the organization. An integral part of the position is to understand the strategy of the inbound marketing campaign. He or she must identify and target the persona, or ideal customer, online and develop content to engage them. This person must possess strong industry knowledge, or the ability to extrapolate that knowledge from someone within the organization, and then take those thoughts and generate meaningful documents that resonate with potential prospects. Excellent content writers execute the process flawlessly. The content writer and inbound marketing strategist work closely together.

Social Media Strategist

This person is a master of multiple social domains. The first task of the social media strategist is to research where potential prospects are spending time online. This differs from industry to industry. Posting on appropriate social channels, this member of the team interacts with potential prospects by engaging and responding online with individuals. Daily, this person must dedicate a block of time to locate, read, identify, and share information clients and potential clients will find of interest. This, in addition to creating valuable content, helps to establish your company as an industry expert. This individual must communicate effectively and be able to nurture an ongoing online conversation.

Marketing Coordinator

This individual is able to transfer the inbound strategy and marketing content to a marketing automation platform, such as HubSpot. Don’t underestimate how much time this takes. There are multiple best practices to follow when formatting content for publishing; including identifying key words, search engine optimization, and imbedding links, to name a few. Understanding how the tools functions and using them properly is important to achieving the SEO companies are anticipating. After all, if your organization is going through the process of creating excellent content, you want to make sure it is easily found and accessed. This person is the expert who ties it all together and makes it work within the marketing platform. The marketing coordinator is adept in tactical movement.

Keep Filling the Funnel

In order to establish highly effective inbound marketing strategies within your organization, you need multiple players. An inbound marketing strategist, a content writer, a social media strategist, and a marketing coordinator. This is the combination of skill sets will provide you with the appropriate team members to achieve the most success. You cannot put a single person in charge of an inbound marketing program and expect high returns; it’s not going to happen. There is not enough time in the day to accomplish all that is necessary to achieve success. Use this blueprint to develop your in-house marketing strategy and watch your online lead generation soar to new heights.

This week, Lindsay and I begin with nod to a new podcast I am recording with my colleague, John Booth. The Inbound Selling Podcast will be launched late-January and it is dedicated solely to sales, sales people and selling. We are interested in uncovering the back story; the sales processes, takeaway, and how that has translated to success. Our objective is to provide the listeners with insights into how people on the front lines are conducting their day to day business. The plan is to publish 2 times a week; a 45 -60 minute podcast will be the first podcast of the week and a 10 min takeaway from the original interview will be published later in the week. We have begun interviewing our first guests and they include George B. Thomas  with the Sales Lion and co-host of the of the very popular Hubcast podcast, and Chris Handy the host of Ideas to Go, Content To Go and Hubspot to Go. If you enjoy our sales discussions on The Funnel, check out The Inbound Selling Podcast, launching soon.

Today Lindsay and I discuss what goes into the lead qualification process. Sales qualification is the process of determining if a lead possesses characteristics that qualify the lead as a business opportunity. Many years ago, IBM revolutionized sales when they introduced the concept of qualifying leads based upon four principals; budget, authority, needs, and timeline (BANT). The gold standard of the past, BANT is still a great starting point for identifying qualified leads. But in today’s marketplace, that framework must be expanded upon to include additional qualifiers.

Closing a deal without first determining if it is a sales qualified lead is a potential disaster in the making. Most sales reps, myself included, have overlooked probable complications just to make quota. Many issues and problems that exist within accounts can be traced back to not asking appropriate lead qualification questions prior to the sale. Avoiding those pitfalls can be paramount to the long-term success of the account.

All sales people ask questions, but asking well thought out, sales qualification questions that challenge the status quo and uncover answers lying beneath the surface are essential when qualifying leads. When you are asked a question, tamp down that first instinct to immediately answer. Instead, try to uncover the reason the question was asked in the first place. By uncovering the thought pattern behind the inquiry, you gain insight into the perception of the prospect. Understanding the framework of the question is important so you can provide the appropriate answer.

While many sales professionals are gifted speakers, not all possess comparable listening skills. It is of dire importance to practice listening to prospects and clients. Focus on what they are saying and don’t formulate a response to a question prior truly listening to what they are asking. Practice active listening.

Recognize your weaknesses and utilize available resources within your organization to address them. That is much more valuable than ignoring the problem and pretending it does not exist. For example, Lindsay is highly uncomfortable talking about budget and a colleague joins the conversation at that point of the discussion. If you are uncomfortable discussing budgetary issues, how can you effectively qualify a lead? Develop and implement a plan that allows you to utilize a colleague or hone your own skills so that the weakness does not impede the progression of the qualification.

Sometimes sales people get tunnel vision and only see opportunity. Be selective and query if that opportunity will provide a positive outcome. Beyond budget, ask yourself, “Is this the right client for us?” This is really about the relationship that you and the potential client will have. In order for a partnership to work, both parties must be committed and willing to participate in the work necessary for the collaboration to be successful. A good number of issues with clients can be traced back to the relationship and a lack of accountability on one or both parts. A major decision to make when qualifying a lead is to determine if the relationship is a good fit. Nothing good happens, other than some short term revenue, when you sign a contract with a less than ideal prospect. In the end, it is a waste of everyone’s time.

Taking on a client that is not a good fit is not only a time suck, it is a morale killer. It effects your work across the board and leads to needless anxiety and stress. If you have not properly qualified an opportunity, you are potentially entering a fruitless relationship that has the potential to wreak havoc on your business.

Recognize that sales lead qualification is critical to everything you do. Ask good solid questions of prospects. Peel back the layers and question their questions; challenge their assumptions. Truly listen to the answers prospects are giving as well as questions they are asking. Build synergy and honestly evaluate the fit. When all of the pieces fall in place, a solid working relationship, built on trust, will serve you and your client well into the future.

We spend a lot of time discussing the virtues of sales and marketing collaboration to increase revenue. But it is not an easy undertaking to break down those silos and have both sides of the house buy into the process. If you are struggling with how to tackle the task of alignment, think about starting small. Start with one project, demonstrate success, and build upon that base.  

Today, on The Funnel, Lindsay and I discuss a successful strategy I implemented for one of my current clients. This client has experienced tremendous success delivering webinars and generates a sizable number of leads from those presentations. However, sales and marketing alignment has been traditionally weak within the organization. Starting from a position of strength, I decided to fine tune the process that they have had success with and the results have been impressive.

The company follows a basic process when structuring a webinar. They:

Sales is tasked with establishing connections through follow-up emails and communication with the objective of securing appointments. But what is the outcome of those calls and emails if the message is not consistent?

We took a step back and we examined the entire process and determined the framework for developing the webinar was solid, but improvements could multiply that success. There were great positives: a solid workflow and a good handle on keywords and messaging, but the ball was being dropped on specifics, mainly expectations for messaging and a well-defined outcome.

We determined sales needed be represented right from the start, in the initial concept meeting. It is important that everyone involved knows what concepts and ideas are the focus of each specific webinar. That way, all participants know what they're driving towards.

We also determined the reps should receive a copy of the slide deck at least 48 hours before the webinar for review. It is necessary that everyone is on the same page with regard to messaging. 

We fine-tuned the sales process for follow-up. Instead of the procedure being left to the discretion of the sales department, we created a very tight procedure for follow through. We required sales reps to create both email sequences prior to the webinar. All documents were reviewed by sales and marketing collectively and changes are made ahead of time. Reviewing emails ensured the messaging was correct and facilitated discussions on plans to increase click-through rates.  

The final change to the process was requiring the sales team to attend the webinar. There are multiple reasons for this. First, sales experiences an authentic look at what's being presented to gain a greater insight. Second, and most importantly, they bear witness, in real time, to the types of questions the attendees are asking and how answers are presented. Thoroughly understanding the questions and answers gave the reps an opportunity to go back, review email sequences, and make any final changes.

In the weeks following the webinar, a review of the metrics for email opens and clicks revealed the level of success the workflow achieved. Fine tuning the process was performed prior to subsequent presentations.

This model has been successful in its goal of bringing sales and marketing together to tactically collaborate on a project. By examining marketing strategies and reorganizing the process, we have opened paths of communication and defined a tangible outcome. By starting small and working in one area within the company, we have begun the task of sales and marketing alignment within the organization.  

It’s interesting to me that most people who create and conduct webinars take a collective sigh of relief once the webinar is delivered. This is the biggest area of improvement I see to revamping the process. When the workshop is finished, the next stage of the work begins. Nurturing the relationship and drawing the prospect in should be the next objective.

A mistake I often see with companies is they start with a goal that is too lofty and difficult for employees to envision. While a service level agreement between sales and marketing is important to long-term success, it is a monster goal to begin with. By starting small and building a trust bond, the relationship begins to grow. Down the line, once success has been achieved on a few smaller projects, then it is time to move towards larger service level agreements with lead scoring. 

Start small; don’t bite off more than you can chew. Sales and marketing alignment can be difficult. Pick one area that will benefit from both teams working together and slowly build credibility using a tactical approach. When success follows, there will be buy in from all members of the team. After a few projects are collaborated on and higher returns are recognized, then it is easier to tackle and overarching company policy on sales and marketing alignment.

This week on The Funnel, Lindsay and I offer solutions for sales people who work in smaller organizations without an inbound marketing agency or department at their fingertips. These reps can boost their sales performance by learning inbound strategies to develop and implement their own inbound marketing strategy.

I am currently coaching a sales rep for a client who I have worked with in the past. Each week, she is making multiple calls, posting blogs, tweeting, and sending out a good number of emails with attachments and/or links. With the amount of inbound activities she is performing, I would consider her a mini marketer in her own right. The company has a new venture and is flooding the public space with the new service they are offering. This rep is using the HubSpot CRM in addition to Sidekick to optimize her sales efforts and track the data to improve her performance.

During a recent coaching session, we were collectively analyzing data and metrics regarding her recent inbound efforts. Sidekick, a free HubSpot add on, provides valuable data that reveals which emails recipients open and click through and tracks documents prospects are downloading. This rep expressed confusion and exasperation when, in some cases, her phone calls were met with angry resistance. She could not understand why, after expressing obvious interest in the content that was consumed, these prospects were upset. Shouldn’t they want to talk with her about the product?

My response was simple: those prospective clients are not ready to engage in a conversation because they are in the early stages of attempting to solve their problem. In other words, it is too early in the game to discuss solutions. A very important aspect to any inbound marketing campaign is recognizing when a prospect is in the beginning stages of identifying a problem, actively searching for solutions, or ready to discuss and address what they have identified as the issue. HubSpot labels that process the buyer’s journey. Accurately identifying the stage of inbound leads is paramount to crafting the appropriate conversation. Remember, it takes approximately 10 touches before a prospect is ready to make a purchase, and depending on multiple factors, buying cycles vary. The best way to handle the first verbal connection is to engage the prospect in a contextual conversation and gauge where they are in the buyer's journey.

It takes time to build a pipeline when you become your own marketer. First is the time commitment of creating content, publishing on multiple platforms, and spending time on social sites like Twitter and LinkedIn. Then the time necessary to nurture those connections. Add to that, the time necessary to allow the connection to mature and become ripe. In the past, salespeople pulled up in front of the building and knocked on a bunch doors trying to get appointments. At some point, the rep came to the conclusion that it would take about a hundred cold calls to get an appointment and then 10 appointments to make a sale. The same theory holds true with inbound efforts. The difference today is we examine metrics and put a value to how many prospects open an email and click through a link.

One of the most useful features of the HubSpot CRM is a portal where you can organize and manage documents and then link to those documents inside the CRM. I recommended sales reps get into a rhythm of messaging, emails, and voicemails. Allow a longer ramp up time for the cadence or email sequence. Continue to nurture the relationship over the next few months by building a solid digital relationship.

When sales people learn to leverage data to their advantage by using Sidekick, HubSpot and similar programs, they can experience the opportunity to grow their client base. Take time this coming year and check out how these free tools can convert prospects into business opportunities. These products, when properly implemented, have to ability to facilitate positive change for sales reps. I embraced technology and learned how to utilize the data to my advantage. Become your own inbound expert and develop sales strategies to take your sales game to the next level.

On this episode of The Funnel,  I talk about what you need to know before you become a  sales manager.

When I first decided to enter the world of management, I thought it would be cool to be in charge; to be the boss. I thought, “How hard can it be to tell someone what to do?” I figured I could be a better manager than most of my bosses had been to me. I was young, full of ideas, and ready to tackle my new career in sales management. In hindsight, while I possessed in enthusiasm, I lacked experience and knowledge.  

 When I reflect on what I did when I first got into sales management versus my management style today it is almost like evaluating two different people. The reason is two-fold; I made a conscientious decision to improve my skill set through sales management development and I surrounded myself with competent people, capable of performing their job with a great degree of success. To be clear, I found my calling in sales management and sales leadership. However, it is not as easy as it seems. Just like sales, there are real challenges and it would have been nice if someone shared a few of those challenges with me prior to starting my management career. I wouldn’t have changed my mind, but I would have spent more time preparing myself for what lied ahead.

Here are 8 things new sales managers need to know:

1) Your sales buddies are no longer your sales buddies.

No more commiserating over beers. You can have a beer, watch a game together, go to lunch; but don’t talk shop.

2) One size doesn’t fit all.                                                                                               

People are individuals. What works for one sales rep is not necessarily the same as what works for another. Be cognizant of that and adjust the subtle nuances to best suit the personality and learning style of your reps.

3) You work hard and nobody gives a damn.

Pressure comes from above and below. Upper management pressures you and you must meet the expectations of your team. All the glory goes to those who “actually” bring in the revenue. Your reward is in their success. If that gets you jazzed you are in the right position.

4) Finding good people is hard.

Your “gut feeling” doesn’t cut it. You need to work on your ability to identify good salespeople. Use a sales qualified assessment to identify the most qualified candidates. Define the hiring process and stick to it. Refine your interviewing skills and improve your decision making.

5) Firing people sucks.

Even if you don’t like them, letting someone go is just plain hard.

6) Chasing silly stuff and asking your team to jump through hoops hurts you in the long run.

When sales reps know you have their back, they will be willing to work for you. Push back on upper management if they are asking for something unreasonable or inconsequential. Recognize the true value in real coaching and hold your sales reps accountable for those things that really matter.

7) You will work longer hours and be expected to do more.

The hours are long and the expectations high. Make sure you have balance and do not allow work to dominate your entire life.

8) Office politics is the ugly side of business.

Insulate your reps from office politics. They should not be effected by turmoil upper management might be experiencing. Unfortunately, there are people who stir trouble, take credit, and lack scruples. These individuals have no qualms about running off those they view as competition. The good thing is successful sales reps rarely get fired, however successful managers are often not afforded that luxury. Be prepared for battle or find somewhere else to work. Never and I mean never stay in a truly toxic environment. Life is way too short for that.

Keep Filling The Funnel

On this episode of The Funnel, Lindsay and I talk about the sales process and what happens when things begin to go south. Sometimes, in spite of your best efforts, a sale does not progress as  planned. This frustrating scenario, and how to turn it around, separates the run of the mill sales reps from the great ones. It is inevitable that some interruption will occur, the question is how to get the process up and running again. How can a rep turn things around and possibly save a deal that looks like it might be lost? Great sales reps know how to handle the bumps in the road and get back on track.

I was recently out with a colleague of mine who shared the most incredible story of interruption I have heard. He was in an appointment at a company with both the CEO and CFO. The tension between the two was palatable, and about half way through the meeting, the CEO fired the CFO on the spot! This sales rep kept his cool, waited until the CEO returned to the meeting, and continued with the presentation. He even ended up getting the deal!

Most of us will never have to deal with an interruption of that magnitude, but let’s examine some common interruptions and possible solutions.

Deals are not one day decisions. Complex solutions can take many months to go from first touch to signing the paperwork. So what happens when you are in the middle of working on a deal your contact is no longer with the company? One of the best pieces of advice we can offer you is to establish more than one contact early on within the organization. Some organizations make purchasing decisions by committee, so it is always in your best interest to be proactive and connect on social channels with a few individuals in the company. LinkedIn is an excellent forum for building business relationships and if you actively post quality pieces and share valuable information, you will establish yourself as an industry leader. Then, if you do have to foster a new connection, at least they have an idea of who you are from your digital acumen.

Solutions cost money; sometimes quite a bit of money. It is important to uncover the priorities of the organization and gain an understanding of what is important to them. When you understand those priorities, goals and additional initiatives that the company has, you can better present your solution. When organizations examine taking steps towards purchasing a product or service, the sale rep should not only lay out the cost, but advise prospects on the benefits of their solution. Don’t leave it to chance that a client will ‘know’ what great value your product or service offers, provide solid data to back those claims. The best way to move your initiative to the front of the line is provide a realistic ROI. When a path to increased revenue is clear and well defined, it increases your chances of closing business.

Are you sure the person you are in contact with will be making the purchasing decision? Recognize he or she might have been tasked with finding a solution and presenting it to a committee or the person in charge of budgetary decisions. When it comes to the final presentation, it is important to have all of the main players in the room. Don’t place yourself in a position where information you present is passed along, via a coleague, to additional decision makers. That leaves too much room for interpretation and misinformation might be passed along in error.

Occasionally, deals will be lost. How should a sales person proceed when there is no hope for closing business? In one word; professionally. Some believe that there should not be an autopsy on a dead deal, but I find value in contacting the company and discovering what led to their decision. Any deal, won or lost, has the opportunity to yield valuable information. If you can learn a little bit about what happened, you might uncover a deficit in your process that should be improved. Never turn heel and stomp off. Offer to be a resource, a person they can bounce ideas off of. Stranger things have happened, but there might be an opportunity down the road. Later, if they still have a relationship with you, you will be the first person who comes to mind.  

What happens when a contact goes dark and disappears? This can happen for a variety of reasons, but don’t lose touch for too long. Consider this, the longer the relationship is left cold, the harder is it to revitalize that connection. This is where a team with strong sales and marketing alignment will be a benefit to the company. When sales cannot reestablish a connection, the marketing team needs to become involved again. Place the contact back into a workflow for nurturing, because research shows that approximately 80 percent of contacts who go dark, will buy something within the next 6 months. Develop a specified process to reconnect when a contact drops off the radar.

If any of these situations are consistently happening to you, it’s time for self-evaluation. What are you doing to create the situation? Are you are giving prospective clients too little information or too much information? Are you clearly communicating the value of your solution or are you leaving it up to chance that they discover the value in what you have to offer? Improve sales performance by putting a solid sales and marketing strategy in place and close more deals every month.

On this episode of The Funnel, I am joined by Darrell Amy. Darrell holds multiple roles in various organizations. He is the Chief Innovation Officer of Dealer Marketing, a company that offers online marketing services to office technology and managed services resellers. He is the lead on Prospect Builder's team that develops inbound marketing initiatives for those clients. Finally, he is co-founder of the Social Sales Academy, launched under the Dealer Marketing umbrella, which focuses on coaching sales reps on how to use LinkedIn. His personal passion is helping managed service organizations navigate the sales and marketing world to interface with the buyer and evolving purchasing habits.

Darrell and I are unique in our efforts involving both sales and marketing. We both have roots that run deep in sales and have migrated into the marketing arena. We recognize the paramount importance of aligning these entities. As consumer purchasing habits have changed, these departments, who traditionally have been at odds with each other, are being slowly forced into the same space. Companies can resist this change or embrace the idea of redefining how these teams function and work together. Darrell and I both see sales and marketing alignment as a natural progression towards how to increase sales revenue.

Examine the traditional roles of these departments within organizations. Sales is very technique driven while marketing is more tactical. Both are important and necessary for success, but shouldn’t it be a group effort? How can companies create and communicate messages that engage the hearts and minds of the prospective clients if their teams are not communicating with each other? How should these teams function in order to bring something challenging, useful and engaging to the table that will be meaningful to the prospect? Inbound marketers are tasked with pumping out meaningful content in the form of websites, blogs, podcasts, webinars, and social postings. These practices attract buyers to companies with a strong online presence. Sales reps, in these same organizations, are told to prospect and find individuals needing goods and services. In both of these scenarios, the prospect must self-identify a need.

When companies sign an inbound retainer deal, many expect inbound marketing efforts to reap major revenue growth without recognizing or understanding the importance of involving and engaging their sales team in the process. High level salespeople can identify needs before the client recognizes a problem. The most successful sales reps are those who challenge their client’s assumptions. They bring new ideas to the table and offer solutions that are obtainable. When both teams are on the same page, content created is validation for sales reps as well as a company. Social selling validates the salesperson, their skill set, and their business acumen. At the Inbound Sales Academy, John has defined this social presence in business as the public authoritative voice. It is different from personal branding that includes FB, Pinterest page, recipes, etc. The public authoritative voice is an extension of a sales rep’s company and business knowledge. Of key importance, the content should have substance and add value to the conversation.

Sales people manage their network of connections. Marketing departments manage the brand. In the middle, what is missing for many companies, is the brain trust. That core of ideas that are weighty, meaningful, engaging and challenging. The melding of the two sides of the house allows ideas to coexist, take shape and grow while enhancing a positive customer experience. A recent survey conducted by the corporate executive board, asked what organizations were looking for from their sales people. Realistically, this is what companies not only want from their reps, but want from their vendors as well. The following 5 qualities were identified. Sales reps should:

This is a question I am asked over and over. Honestly, it is because many sales people are not good enough to do the job required of them. Think of how sales reps are trained; they are only as good as their managers and a number of them have never been taught properly. When I do a sales skills assessment, or candidate assessment, for a client, the results reveal sales skills as well as sales DNA. One challenge I face is to help client’s understand the importance of spending the time and money upfront to hire sales reps that are qualified for the position. The value in hiring sales reps who can approach prospects with fresh ideas and solutions can not be underestimated in outcome. Those reps also need to possess the ability to work with a team to foster solutions. Sales reps who recognize the value of their marketing department, work together to create meaningful content, and possess the skills to sell the product or service are going to increase sales revenue.

Darrell was leading a marketing workshop he asked those in attendance how many had been on a field ride and in front of customers or prospects in the last 6 months. Not a single hand went up. If marketing professionals are going to generate ideas they need to be engaging with the people they are trying to communicate with. Daryl’s advice is to twofold; get out in the field and educate yourself about business and technology trends. The best business people understand what it is like to walk in their colleagues shoes.

Darrell and I are living examples of what we are preaching. If you want to shine, as a company or an individual, bring real ideas to the table. Content is flooding the marketplace, but substance requires a little digging. Substance marketing should be the end game. Sales and marketing must work in tandem to become experts at extracting and communicating good ideas because that is the most valuable currency organizations can bring to the marketplace. Excellent content will set an organization apart from the competition and increase revenue in the long run.

Topics: sales and marketing alignment

Each year, for the last 7 years, HubSpot has published a report focused on inbound marketing. The State of Inbound Sales 2015 is today's topic on this episode of The Funnel. In the past, it has been a survey of marketers from around the world. Starting in 2014 HubSpot included sales with the objective to see how the closed loop system works. John’s interest was sparked, and he dedicated a discussion to the findings.

Companies were asked to identify their top sales priorities and at 18%, improving the efficiency of the sales funnel was at the top of the list. Closing more deals remains the top priority for sales reps. Having good data and information on the prospect so you can have a contextual conversation is valuable. In addition to that, having a strong, milestone-centric sales process in place, solid methodology and good skill set helps you move the opportunity along in the sales funnel to create the outcomes you are looking for. Closing should be the natural outcome of everything you have done throughout the interaction, and if sales are not closing and the sales cycle is dragging on, it speaks to your DNA, skill set and sales processes.

Budgets have been cut and companies have to make due with less. In the past, there was a major push to put a comprehensive, expensive CRM’s into place. The thought was, if the right technology is in place, numbers will go up. However, purchasing the system did not lead to an automatic increase in sales.  To get to the heart of most sales issues, start with the team; profile for the position, hire sales reps who are highly qualified, have a solid onboarding process in place, manage sales reps and coach them properly. Then put a really good technology in place that will enable them to achieve success. If you work backwards, starting with the CRM, you will not have the same level of success in increasing sales productivity.

Prospecting, closing and qualifying leads are the top challenges identified by sales people. All three of these speak to sales DNA. Do you have what it takes to be successful in the role you are in today? Do you have the sales skills set to take a deal through the sales process to closing? Very few sales reps have access to the data necessary to interface properly. If you have valuable data when you reach out to the prospect, you will be highly successful. When sales and marketing alignment is active, and sales is given more information, more leads make it through the funnel and closing the sale is achieved with greater frequency. 

Inside and outside teams are both relevant; outside sales is not going away. The most important components for people as they are seeking sales positions are opportunities for growth, work/life balance, and compensation (in that order). We are trending to a place in the world where people want to grow with their company, they want more opportunity and they want balance. Companies have a responsibility to their reps, especially if they wish for them to remain in their position long term. Creating the right path for a rep requires a manager to be engaged, to provide sales coaching, to find out what their reps want and need, and to guide those reps in their career. If the path a rep has chosen is not right for them, have the honest conversation about the validity of that path.

It is within the reach of a sales person to become the advisor clients trust. Just as prospects begin their process of research online, sales people should utilize the same opportunities. Develop an online presence so that when prospects begin a search, they find you. Sales has never been more exciting. Make sure you are growing your career, improving your sales skills,  and taking advantage of all of the opportunities available to you.