What actually occurs during an inbound marketing campaign? On this Episode of The Funnel, John and Lindsay walk through an inbound sales and marketing simulation, step by step, to guide sales reps and people not familiar with the process, through the inbound sales process.

Inbound selling begins with the creation of a buyer persona. A buyer persona is representative of your ideal customer and is based upon research by your organization. Companies create multiple personas that are dynamic and change over time. In sales terms, a buyer persona is an ideal prospect. In plain language, that is the person to whom you want to sell your product or service. Three unique terms, in three distinctive settings, to explain the exact same thing! One of many pitfalls that potentially occurs when communicating across industries. As professionals we enter a business, start building our career, and begin to speak in acronyms that are relevant to our trade. Therein lies the rub; the public has no idea what we are talking about! Be cognizant of your audience and communicate in direct terms that they use and understand.

Inbound marketing begins with the attraction phase. In the sales process, that loosely translates to cold calling. When a prospect searches for information on the internet, they come in contact with a plethora of information. The job of the marketing team is to create highly informative content, using appropriate terms, published on multiple media platforms, so that it is highly ranked by Google. If that information is showing up on the first page of a search, it is more likely to be 'found' by prospective clients.

In the scenario John and Lindsay imagine, the prospect reads a blog on your company website. At the end of the article, there is an additional resource available and the only thing the reader must do is enter his or her name and email address to download the material. Why collect only that information? Because once you have that intelligence, you can continue to communicate with and nurture that contact! 

A few days later, a personalized email is delivered to your prospect. For discussion purposes, let's call him "Charles". The email arrives at just the right time and directly addresses Charles' problem. After reading the email, Charles clicks on an offer at the bottom of the page. It delivers him to a landing page that directs him to download a new offer. Since his name and email have already been captured by the CRM software, two additional pieces of information are required to complete the download; his company name and URL. In HubSpot, each time a prospect fills out a form on the website, additional information is captured and automatically added to the prospect's contact profile. That is universal for many CRM's and allows tracking of a contact's movement within your website. In marketing terms, Charles has now transitioned into the consideration phase of the buying process. In sales, this is equivalent to the first appointment.

A few days later, another email comes through asking Charles if he would like more in depth information. When Charles clicks on that link expressing interest, he becomes a marketing qualified lead. But what does that mean? What can a sales person expect from this type of lead? A marketing qualified lead is not a lead that you call and immediately sign a deal. It is a warm lead. So what is the next step? 

When inbound leads are handed off to sales rep, he or she should view all activity the prospect has participated in on the company website. Gaining an understanding of exactly what information the prospect has consumed allows the rep to gather knowledge about the prospect and his potential pain point. Add information gathered from additional online resources, and that adds up to a wealth of information!

This is just one of multiple scenarios that might occur when a prospective client visits your website. The key is creating great content. The internet is a great big world and there are many choices; you are not the only company out there. Cut through the clutter of the price war, and get down to the value. Educate and give value to the public. The sales relationship is still human, it just begins online. Inbound marketing is the first touch in the digital relationship. 

If all cylinders are firing together, marketing departments create outstanding, appropriate content and sales reps utilize knowledge shared by those departments. Include additional information gathered by sales people and that's sales enablement! When sales and marketing alignment is achieved and the inbound marketing strategy is performing like a well-oiled machine - that is a beautiful thing. 

HubSpot now has over 15,000 customers using their platform. How many of their customers are inbound certified? Not 15,000. HubSpot offers inbound certification classes FREE to the public – you don’t even need to purchase the platform to take advantage of the classes. Why? They want to educate the public on what an inbound marketing strategy is and how it works.

HubSpot walks you through the inbound marketing process from beginning to end. The classes are presented in a video format with excellent study materials and great information on the inbound sales process. Training is not static. It is constantly updated and renewed. Becoming inbound certified offers you an awareness and understanding as to how inbound marketing works. It is a commitment to inbound at a very high level. By utilizing the free resources that HubSpot provides, you become better at your job. It is similar to going back to college and taking an online course.

How can you, as a sale person, apply this information to your regular day? First, gain a true appreciation as to how the customer buys – their thought process as they contemplate a possible purchase. Then, discover what it takes from you, as a professional to have success with the customer. Finally, apply the knowledge you have gained to connect with customers missed in prior sales efforts. If you are a sales rep, John highly recommends going through the inbound certification class because it puts perspective on what is being done in marketing to drive inbound leads to you and how should manage those leads. You will develop an appreciation of how your company is driving interest to your website and fully understand how a lead finds its way through the funnel. If your company is not using inbound marketing, you can speak intelligently about the benefits of an inbound marketing campaign.

Marketing professionals require a comprehensive and deep understand the buyer’s journey. The numbers are staggering as to how many people begin their purchasing processes online. The challenge for marketers is to portray what sales people achieve in the beginning of their sales process; making that human connection. Marketers must create that connection using a digital format, based upon the behavior of the consumer. This takes a deep understanding of the buyer, knowledge of the buyer’s journey and laying the foundation for developing a trustworthy and lasting relationship. In effect, they are setting the stage for future interactions. By become collaborative partners with the people in sales departments, as well as marketing companies they might have on retainer, marketing professionals create more substantive and relevant documents to present to prospective clients.

If you are considering a career in inbound sales, HubSpot has identified the problem that there are not enough people certified to do what the future projects in terms of inbound sales and marketing. If you are entering the job market, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to gain knowledge. Prospective employees look for go-getters; those men and women who go above and beyond what is expected and identify areas where self-improvement is necessary. There are multiple opportunities beyond the college classroom that offer development and skills training. Seek out those opportunities and grow your skill set.

Are you requesting inbound certification from your clients? When you sign with an agency to do inbound work, the entire foundation needs to be on the same page. Working with multiple clients, the process will be the same, but the details and the content will be different based upon the nuances of each company and their specialty. By requiring a member of the team you are consulting to go through the inbound training, you are creating alignment and understanding between the organizations.  The goal is to build a fruitful relationship that will allow the client to realize growth and increased revenue.

On this episode of The Funnel, John and Lindsay discuss inbound sales and marketing certification. The benefits of becoming inbound certified far outweigh the time necessary to take the class and prepare for the test. This training is paramount to understanding sales and marketing and the direction it is heading. There has been a cultural shift; the buyer has evolved. Sales and marketing needs to recognize and understand what the prospect is consuming digitally so they can speak in a concise and streamlined way to their prospects. The experience needs to be cohesive and complementary. Sales and marketing alignment is the key to a well-developed, successful inbound marketing campaign.

This week on The Funnel, Oliver Barron joins John and Lindsay for a discussion on the importance of a creating and implementing a well-developed inbound marketing campaign. Oliver is a Channel Consultant with HubSpot. He works with top tiered partners to ensure they are delivering value to their clients.

 A major benefit of being a partner is the level of support HubSpot provides the VAR community. There are individuals within the organization that assist onboarding new clients and ensure services are delivered accurately. As a Channel Consultant, Oliver's goal is to assist partners with the launch their first campaign. This allows partners to become familiar with, and utilize, all aspects of the CRM and align their campaign with HubSpot's Methodology. This translates into a strong service offering for the partner's clients.

Creating an inbound marketing campaign begins with generating an accurate buyer persona. As a company, if you can define who you are targeting and what your ideal customer looks like, you can refine all marketing activities with the goal of attracting prospects to your website and ultimately into the funnel. Target your audience and deliver the message to them in language they understand. The foundation of a successful campaign is the message. 

When you join HubSpot and attend Partner Inbound Success Training, you are treating yourself as a client. The training enables you to develop a marketing campaign for your company. Once you master inbound marketing techniques, you can replicate that process and develop effective campaigns for your clients. Oliver's job is to help companies navigate through HubSpot’s process and ascertain their target audience. Understand the strengths of your organization and create content around that. An important component of the partner training is learning to differentiate yourself from the others in a competitive and saturated market. Find a way to reposition yourself and set yourself apart so you have a competitive advantage. 

Oliver recommends paying attention to key words when creating content. Write informative blog posts that you have the ability to rank for with long-tail keywords. Be aware of the buyer’s journey and create content in line with your methodology. Align sales and marketing teams to take full advantage of inbound campaign strategies.

Oliver shares his three most important tips for launching a successful inbound campaign:

Listen to this episode of The Funnel and learn how to develop and create a successful inbound sales campaign.

What is sales enablement? The sales enablement definition varies depending who you are asking. Sales departments define enablement as increasing sales productivity by providing a sales rep with high quality content and contacts that allow the rep to go into the field and successfully close business. Ask a marketing department that same question and their answer will begin with creating an accurate buyer persona and then aligning content with the correct stages of the buyer’s journey. In other words, providing the sales rep with the content to be used at the right time, in the right way, for the right customers. HubSpot would say that enablement has to do with technology; teaching sales reps how to use the HubSpot CRM and Sidekick effectively for success in the field.

John Shea, as former VP of Sales, discusses the measurement of success within a sales organization as revenue. Success for sales departments’ looks different then success for marketing departments.  If sales and marketing departments have different definitions of success for each 'side of the house', how can companies bridge that gap? Sales and marketing alignment! Align your sales and marketing teams so they work together like a well-oiled machine.  John puts his unique spin on sales enablement and challenges business leaders to think outside of the box and look for a better way of nurturing a lead through the entire funnel, top to bottom.

Is there a possibility for your company to add an inbound sales representative or sales person who deals only with inbound leads? Would that allow you to close the loop and sell more inbound leads? On this episode of The Funnel, John examines sales enablement from every angle and discusses how to successfully align sales and marketing teams to generate revenue growth within your company.

How do search engines work? In the most simple of explanations, a search engine gives the person sitting in front of the screen what they want, when they want it. A search engine strives to find the best answer for everyone. It's function is to be expert at analyzing user behavior. 

How does Google do that? It has these bots and spiders that have two major functions: they crawl the internet and index content. These tools are able to analyze and determine what information is most relevant and return to that place when asked a question via a search. In the purist sense, search engines attempt to provide you with as much valuable information, as quickly as possible, so you find what you are looking for. Not only do search engines look at the specific search you are performing at that moment, but they analyze all the searches you have done in the past, attempting to profile you and what you might be looking for based on previous inquiries. 

So how do you make sure your information is coming up on the first page of a search? Search engine optimization is the name of the game. If you are not engaged as a business, you are not showing up in an online search. Younger consumers are conditioned to use their phones and computers for everything. That is a vast audience of potential clients out there. By not optimizing your digital footprint, you could be damaging your online reputation, or worse, have little or no online presence at all.

When examining your website, start with content. The two most important things on any page are links and keywords. As a business, you must feed the search engines with information that the user wants. Circle the wagons around what the prospect is looking for. Google SEO examines at all the entities you are posting information too, so make sure you are spreading your content around.  Share relevant information on multiple platforms. Make sure your pages have title tags, a meta description, and keywords. Optimize your images with appropriate keywords in the background. The content should be easy to use and original, however be careful not to duplicate content.

If you blog, make sure you have links from your blog to reputable sites. Google indexes everything, with the goal of serving the end user the most pertinent request. Long tail key words deliver the most relevant searches. There are over 200 pieces of information search engines analyze when it comes to ranking intelligence. Google can parse together what it believes to be the most appropriate answer. The goal is to provide the most relevant topical information back to the end user. 

On a personal level, sales people, and all professionals, should closely examine their LinkedIn profile. Make sure that the summary addresses specific challenges you solve. If you are a sales rep, think like your prospect. What issues are they looking to solve and how can you provide solutions.

On this episode of The Funnel, John and Lindsay attempt to answer the elusive question, "How does Google and SEO work?"

Today’s episode of The Funnel is all about hiring practices and sales interview skills. Interviewing takes practice and effort to transition to a natural and highly effective process. John explains the methodology he practices when interviewing and hiring sales people. The end result of a vigorous interview methodology is a much stronger track record for both hiring successful sales reps and retaining them for years to come.  

Most companies fail when they hire sales people for a myriad of reasons. Good sales reps must possess multiple and varied skills in order to be successful in the field.  When organizations fail to examine what went awry during the hiring process, missteps are repeated.  A few questions for a company to examine after a sales rep has not been successful are:

Creating a sense of awareness; putting pen to paper, allows you to uncover the reason for the failure. Teaching people how to put a process together for hiring is of utmost importance in developing a good, strong sales department. The first thing John teaches his clients is how to effectively evaluate and hire qualified candidates. What follows is a synopsis of hiring process.

It is extremely important to accurately define what you are looking for in a sales person. How can you hire sales reps without a clear understanding of what it takes to be successful in the position? Outline your ideal candidate, the job description, and what they will be selling.

Be skeptical. Read the resume and learn to tease out what it actually says. Look for facts and data that go against the context of the situation they are in. I teach my clients how to review a resume; how to identify areas of concern or areas to question. When basing questions off the resume, ask very specific questions, without ‘leading the witness’.  Look for precise answers, not generic answers, to your questions.  Listen thoughtfully. Is the potential hire asking poignant questions of you? Do not discount your intuition.

John uses a sales assessment tool built specifically for evaluating and hiring sales people. It takes the guess word out of finding the best qualified person for the position. A sales evaluation gives an objective view of a candidate as it pertains to sales; it does not evaluate personality or fit with company culture. Reps need specific skills in order to attain success and a candidate assessment will provide feedback relevant to those specific skills.

Interview Process: A Three Step Process

The interview process cannot be rushed. Follow the same process and steps with each candidate. Recognize an outgoing personality is not an indicator of the next great sales person. Refine the art of interviewing; peel back the layers, break it down to its most raw form, and allow the candidate talk. Hone your sales interview questions and listen carefully to the answers. Many candidates will not make it this far, but the ones who have deserve your full attention.

Now the real work begins. Managers have an obligation to the sales rep, as well as the company, to facilitate maximum success. A 90 day onboarding process that trains and develops sales people to be successful is essential to establishing a path for success. Good people have choices; make sure you have a program in place that allows them to achieve their maximum potential.

Time. How often have you thought, “If only there were more hours in a day.” We would have the world by the tail if somehow we could manipulate the constraints of time and accomplish all we set out to do each and every day. On this episode of The Funnel, John and Lindsay evaluate how sales people spend their time and examine how their day can become more productive.

There are numerous studies on the actual time a sales rep spends ‘selling’. Most studies conclude sales people spend 30% to 40% of their time selling; that is, actually interacting with prospects for potential opportunities. So what happens to the rest of their day? 60% to 70% is a large chunk of time!

What is the value of sales time? The biggest indicator of success for a sales person is how much they sell against their quota. Sales meetings, training meetings, administrative tasks, and entering information into the CRM all eat up precious field time. We don’t recommend eliminating all benchmarks, but it might be time to streamline the process.

Sales managers and CEO’s need to think about what success looks like for people within their organization. Take time to evaluate company policies and thoroughly examine processes and sales methodology. Consider the following questions:

A streamlined sales process is one that lays out each step a sales rep needs to complete with key measurements taken along the way. If you are measuring irrelevant information, not only does it create frustration within the sales team, it eats up valuable field time. Time the rep should be out and selling. Consider streamlining or reassigning administrative tasks and allow your reps to focus on selling out in the field.

A few things to ponder as you evaluate and update your sales process and methodology:

You will get buy in from the reps by picking one or two little things to change from the start. The goal is not to overburden reps with new tasks. Once a streamlined process and methodology is in place, evaluate the effectiveness of the new policies, over time, by tracking performance.  The pipeline will be more accurate and therefore a better indicator of future sales. Manage toward the outcome and watch revenue grow.

Lindsay flies solo on this episode of The Funnel. She is joined by special guest Luke Harlan of Aspire Strategic Marketing. Luke is a marketing consultant and strategist with Aspire and specializes on creating effective targeted messaging and content marketing for his clients.

The discussion begins with Luke stressing the importance of understanding your target market and effectively communicating that online. What is your target market? Who are they and what are they talking about? Know your typical consumer and communicate in the language they speak. Too many times we speak clinically in business and people tune out. Remove industry jargon and lingo. Attempt to enter the conversation that is already going on in their minds and position yourself. We are all human. When speaking with each other, personality plays into the KLT (know/like/trust) factor. Be yourself; not a sterile, clinical version of yourself. Think about how would you interact with your prospect face to face and then put it into the digital form. 

Luke then goes into specific detail on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile. First, effectively integrate your personality into your digital profile. Convey who you are in the summary element of the profile. Write in the first person. The summary section should include 5 elements about you and your business profession:

The number one question consumers have is, “Why should I do business with you?” What can sales reps do to make sure their search engine optimization (SEO) is high? Your LinkedIn profile is for your prospects and clients. Communicate who you are in the marketplace. Convey your personality, expertise, and show them you are worthy of working with their organization. Include keywords and a positioning statement in your profile. Communication is key. You must be able to articulate that information in 30 seconds or less and then assess if your communication is solid, effective, on point and elicits results.

Guess what? No one cares about your products and services until they believe you can help them. Sales people must establish a unique selling position: who are you, what you do, why do clients need it and how do clients get it. These four essential elements need to be effectively addressed in your profile. This blueprint is universal for all social channels. 

Information has limited value.  The true value is your insight on that information and how it applies to each client's unique situation. Provide the shortcut, the consolidation of information, and create a strategy to deliver the solution. Create your value in the wisdom, knowledge, experience and ability to put a by step methodology in place to provide a solution to the customer’s problem and clients will pay a premium for that. 

Luke recommends viewing the webinars created by Josh Turner at Linked University. This website provides LinkedIn profile tips and is your guide to optimizing your profile, clearly articulating your story, and including appropriate keywords. The best LinkedIn profiles come up first in search engines.

What are you waiting for? Listen to The Funnel and get your sales engine going.

Inbound marketing is a fundamental business change for many companies. When an organization transitions and moves towards incorporating inbound leads, there are multiple steps necessary to nurture prospects through the buyers journey. The second phone call, the discovery call, is a deeper dive and an important step in determining the commitment of the prospect's company and purpose for purchasing the product or solution offered. During the discovery call, if the prospective client is a willing participant providing valuable information, that is a key indicator of a nice fit between both parties and future productivity. The groundwork laid up front determines the success or failure of the engagement long term.

What happens when the discovery call is not going as planned? Lindsay recently participated in a discovery call where the information offered by the prospect was vague and numbers were pulled from the air - not realistic. At the end of the call, it was apparent that this would not be a good partnership; the client was not ready for it. Walking away from a deal can be painful, but maintaining integrity and recognizing long term success is the ultimate job of a responsible organization. It also makes room for successful partnerships to become established and flourish. 

The sales rep and marketing agent should both be on the phone during the discovery call and need to evaluate the inbound lead to determine if it is appropriate to move forward. If prospects are not providing you with information up front, what makes you think you are going to make progress with them 3 months from now when you try to provide content or put a campaign together? Taking a deal, for the sake of making a deal, is not a good business practice. John recommends a book by Mark Roberge, The Sales Acceleration Program, as a resource for taking your sales game to the next level.

Listen to this episode of The Funnel, where John and Lindsay discuss what a productive and a not so productive discovery call, look like. 

On this week's episode of The Funnel, John and Lindsay are joined by Larry 

Levine of Dealer Marketing. A veteran sales person, Larry gained an understanding of LinkedIn early on and recognized, it isn't about selling prospects something online, the platform is about building relationships. Elevating connections through the art of relationship building! The discussion focuses on how a sales rep should create connections and then, using existing connections, foster new relationships with B and C level contacts. By examining your existing base, sales prospecting is taken to the next level utilizing LinkedIn. By creating and maintaining a strong digital profile, LinkedIn allows sales people to make connections with individuals they have been unable to reach through traditional prospecting methods. 

Listen to your favorite sales and marketing podcast and learn how to build your digital profile and prospect effectively online.