Do you have a process have a process for handing leads (from sales) back to marketing when they are not sales ready? If not, I recommend you consider at re-engaging the leads you already have in your database and pay special attention to the leads your sales team didn't convert last year.

1. Leads that were "open" but not touched by a sales person in 90+ days
2. Leads worked by sales but marked as "closed - lost" meaning they didn't buy

We started with a simple multi-touch lead nurturing program that included: a 3 touch email track, the emails connected to educational articles, and our teleprospecting team made follow-up calls (based on email engagement replies, clicks and opens).

The teleprospecting team was also equipped with one-to-one emails and relevant articles designed to progress and continue the conversation. Our strategy was pretty simple: be a resource for that prospect and offering relevant ideas—and not being a pest, and asking over and over, "Are you ready to buy yet?" If there was a need, we qualified them sales ready leads according to their universal lead definition.

After the 10-week test, we found the old leads (some were over two years old actually) had a 10% higher conversion rate than the more recent leads that were a few months old. Our client expected the more recent leads would have a higher conversion rate but it was actually the older leads that performed better.

What do you think about this idea of lead re-engagement? Is it something you do or would do in your company?

Related Posts:

Steps for creating a true lead nurturing program
A multi-modal approach to lead nurturing
What IS and ISN’T Lead Nurturing
On Inbound lead nurturing
5 Lead nurturing tips to create relevant and engaging emails
Lead Nurturing is Walking the Buying Path with Your Customers
Lead Nurturing - Ripening the Right Bananas

One aspect of embarking into the waters of social media that seems to give most of them some sort of tick is the idea that you have to relinquish some control.

Here's what I think of as social media's price of admission:

You have to be willing to spotlight and amplify other people's voices:

Many business owners seem to want to mute their employees and customers. That doesn't work in social media. Not only do you need to "let them" talk but you need to invite it. You have to allow comments. You are the topic of conversation somewhere. This is just about allowing it to happen (and encouraging it) in your digital home.

You have to be willing to be imperfect:

You need to be willing to be imperfect (like Dominos). You need to be transparent and that takes some courage. But let's be honest here. Everyone already knows you're not perfect. And...will actually respect and love you all the more for just admitting it. It's not how or whether you screw up. It's what you do next that matters.

You have to be willing to let others change your direction:

Viral means letting go. It means tossing an idea or program out into the social media space and inviting other people to pick up the ball and run with it. Sometimes, they go where you think they'll go...and sometimes they'll surprise you.

I'm pretty sure the FourSquare folks (a location based social network) hadn't anticipated that Marcus Brown would create the International Day of the Toilet -- and encourage his worldwide network of friends to all create "water closet" venues on Foursquare. The interesting thing is -- will FourSquare shudder at the news or help promote the idea?

There are plenty of other things you need to do to create a successful social media presence. But...if you can't swallow these three, don't even get started. Social media is nothing if it's not about inviting other people into the party.

Which of these three is toughest for you?

A few months back Sridhar discussed the importance of tailoring your product or solution to the channel. It’s a vital step to ensuring that you will maximize the revenue opportunity through channels. An integrated program will ensure initial mindshare AND pave the way for initial success.

Initial outreach. This can be multi-level. If you are working with a master distributor, start with a multi-partner webinar. At the close, don’t just point them to your partner portal, offer a follow-up deep-dive training for their sales team.

In-depth training. Deliver a one-on-one training to resellers that show interest after the intro. These can be 20 minutes at a sales team meeting, a 45 minute overview, or a 90 minute in-depth. Whichever path you are offered, take it and tune your presentation to fit the time and the audience. Sometimes the key takeaway is simply, “Call us, we can help!” Most sales teams have varying competence with your solution. For the top 20% of performers, you webinar may not add much. But if you can motivate the other 80% to get started, you’ve quadrupled your feet on the street!

Coaching. Sales reps that are new to your solution can often benefit from talking through an opportunity before proceeding. Setting up a “channel sales desk” to support those calls can pay big dividends in revenue, and provide you with early reviews of your solution selling program. While solution sales will never be “paint by number”, coaching can concentrate knowledge and accelerate success. Don’t expect that a portal will be sufficient. In truth, it can seem like just one more burden that stops that rep from acting.

Scorecards. To be explicit when describing your target opportunity, create a scorecard that maps to your ideal prospect. In the early days, it is better to have channel partners qualify out marginal deals quickly, and focus on prospects directly in your sweet spot. By using deal scorecards as part of the coaching process, you can ensure that solid deals get fast-tracked and poor fits are eliminated early. Plus, they are great training aids for getting newer reps on board quickly.

Demand generation. There’s no better training follow-up than solid leads. These get partner management motivated during the critical first few months, when you are building mindshare and selling habits with the reseller sales force. At this stage, consider running the demand gen campaigns directly, as the reseller is unlikely to have the resources or skills in-house, even if you supply the funding.

Resellers are very enthusiastic about this approach. It helps them be efficient and get into new markets quickly. It also helps them bring up the capability level of their sales reps without taking them out of the field for expensive training. Our client has seen tremendous success and a major renewal in interest since the program has been put in place.

Aventi’s Vector Marketing provides a powerful framework for supporting all of these elements. It ensures that consistent messaging and tools are constructed and that these in turn support successful demand gen and rapid, consistent, deal qualification. Keeping to the Vector framework for subsequent programs also lowers the “new learning” on the part of the channel partner.

In summary, giving your channel partners integrated and consistent tools, training, coaching and leads can differentiate your solution and build mindshare. That will increase your value, and make your channel partners more receptive to the follow-up programs in your pipeline.

He didn’t say this to me matter-of-factly either. He said it with a mix of fear, skepticism, sadness, and hope.

He was…

…right! It’s not true. Ludwig Feuerbach* noted, “A being without suffering is a being without being.” Given the drumbeat of advice to professionals to become thought leaders, you might be convinced that a firm without thought leadership is a firm not worth a damn.

Some industry watchers and consultants these days are downright dogmatic in their belief that, to achieve all you can achieve as a professional, you have to become a thought leader. And to differentiate your firm, you have to become a thought leader. Same for generating leads, raising prices, and competing for the best clients.

False. Not true. El wrongo.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of thought leadership, partly because as a member of the faculty at Babson College I am a “professor type”, but mostly because of what good thought leadership can do for a firm.

Thought leadership helps with:

• Lead generation
• Fee maximization
• Branding
• Winning deals
• Drawing the best candidates to work at your firm
• Repeat business
• Confidence of the thought leader

And the list doesn’t stop there. No question, thought leadership is helpful, but is it necessary?

Let’s say you need heart surgery. All you know about your two potential surgeons is that one pioneered and is most widely published regarding the surgery you need, and the other is in the prime of his career and has performed the surgery 1,500 times but has never published.

Let’s say you need much greater efficiency in your supply chain. One consultant wrote the book on it, and while the other hasn’t written a lick about it, she and her firm have a long track record of success getting done what you need to get done.

Let’s say you just got word that another company stole your patent. Which lawyer do you hire, the one that writes most often about winning the type of case you want to win, or the one that has won the most?

It’s likely most buyers would prefer the latter in each. Perhaps you might have said to at least one of them, “Well, I don’t know!” In either scenario, you prove the point: thought leadership isn’t necessary. As some of you might have hoped, you may not have to devote time, energy, and money into becoming the leading thinker in your space!

But you probably do have to spend time, energy, and money on something else if you want to outfox the thought leaders and benefits that thought leadership bring to them. Here are a few thoughts that can get you started on how you might do it for your firm.

1. Most buyers aren’t persuaded by thought leadership per se, they’re persuaded by authority. The concept of thought leadership implies originality in thinking. Not only does good thought leadership not have to be original, you really don’t have to add anything at all to your field to establish yourself as an authority. What you have to establish is expertise in the subject, and proof of your ability to perform successfully in the subject area. You can do this through publishing case studies. You can speak at conferences and events with your clients at your side about the work you’ve done and the value it delivered. You can become a leader in a professional association and be seen as a fixture in the industry. All these things create authority, and you don’t necessarily have to have one original thought in your head to do them!

2. Buyers buy helpfulness. Perhaps you’re an innovation consultant, or compensation consultant, or a lawyer. In your marketing process you can demonstrate your helpfulness through a host of methods such as case studies, client testimonial videos, clear and logical service descriptions and packages, email newsletters that highlight (but don’t introduce) new thinking in the industry, professional development seminars, and so on. In your selling process you can demonstrate your helpfulness by listening, uncovering needs, crafting a strong solution, and delivering value even before they start working with you. You can do all of this without a book, white paper, or article to your credit.

3. People buy consistency and quality. I don’t know about you, but many times I’ve simply wished a service provider did what they said they were going to do, and did it to a high standard. We don’t always need new thinking, but we need to trust that people can deliver when they say they can so we don’t have to worry about it or do it all over when it comes out poorly.

4. People buy who they like best. In Mastering Rainmaking Conversations, we tell a story about how a CFO friend of ours chose one of the Big 5 (at the time) accounting firms to take a company public. The long and short of it is that, while he publicly justified it with an analytical argument, he told me privately that he hired the firm whose staff he liked best.

Another key argument in the you-must-be-thought-leadery-or-else camp is that you can’t differentiate without thought leadership. I agree that thought leadership is a good means to differentiation, but it’s not the only means.

For example, imagine you’re all of the good things (consistent, likeable, helpful, etc.) noted above. Develop a reputation for these and you’re setting yourself apart right there. You can also develop a compelling service package that will seduce people with your value and stand out from the crowd. As we wrote in Professional Services Marketing, Bain uses the Profit Hunt service well in this regard. We use the Revenue Growth Benchmark Assessment. There’s no reason you can’t offer your own.

Yes, thought leadership can help you stand out, but you don’t need thought leadership to stand out. You can convey, without being a thought leader, what sets you apart from others as well as how hard it would be to substitute your firm with another provider. I’m not saying it’s easy to convey these things, but then again, anything that’s worthwhile to pursue is likely not to be easy.

The truth of the matter is that not everyone can or should be a thought leader, and that does not make them second-class professionals. As helpful as thought leadership might be in the right situations, you can achieve fabulous success without it.

* Everyone’s favorite Marxist philosopher, of course.

But do you offer any incentives to the upper echelon of your customer base through a points, rewards or other loyalty program to encourage them to continue their already good behavior? There is a lot of power behind points and loyalty programs – as attested by a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

While these are more sophisticated examples of loyalty programs, they are a testament to their power. In smaller doses, these programs are great for furthering loyalty to any size business. They’re also a wonderful tool for obtaining information you can use to create products and services that meet customers’ needs and wants. Without cutting prices (a move that all too many businesses have taken in the current recession), you can spur purchases and reward customers in the process.

The reality is that there is a small percent of your customers who do most of the purchasing from your business. In the grocery store realm, the top 10 percent of customers account for nearly 40 percent of a store’s total sales, according to an analysis by Concept Shopping Inc. The study also found that these most valuable shoppers tend to remain very loyal to the store, with 95 percent continuing to shop there throughout the year. Hence, it makes business sense to focus time, effort and promotions on those top-spenders.

A few parameters to consider:

• Tell customers how they will be rewarded. Create reward cards and stamp them each time customers make an eligible purchase. You can use a frequent purchase card/punch card for purchases of anything from sub sandwiches to airport parking. Options could include: Buy five, get one free, spend $100, get a $10 gift card or earn 100 reward points with each $10 purchase and receive a 10 percent discount. Consider what these retailers do:
  • Zane’s Cycles in Branford, Conn., offers its customers free bicycle maintenance for life if they take the time to answer six questions, which store owner Greg Zane then stores in his customer database. Then, Zane targets the true cycling enthusiasts with relevant offers and special care.
  • Neiman Marcus InCircle – This “circle” continues to exceed its high-end members’ expectations. Members can redeem points for gift cards, airline miles and unique gifts not found elsewhere.
  • Harley Davidson’s Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) leverages the bond between Harley owners and their bikes with a loyalty program that masters soft and hard benefits. It offers an exclusive “kinship” for members. For example, the Mileage Program awards pins, patches, and motorcycle medallions to H.O.G. members just for riding their Harley-Davidson® motorcycles.
• Choose rewards that have tangible value, offer choice and provide an aspirational value. If a restaurant plans to provide a free meal, be flexible in when and what the customer can choose. Having the opportunity to win a trip to Hawaii has greater aspirational value than a free cappuccino.
• Consider your budget. How much will rewards cost? Calculate financials up-front.
• Determine how you will attract people to join your program. Will the cards sit in front of your cash register? Will you advertise?
• How will you track and record transactions?
• Determine restrictions up-front.

While retail loyalty programs have many purposes, the greatest value to business is ability to identify individual customers, measure and understand their individual behaviors and engage them. In doing so, you’re more apt to keep them as customers.

Watch this video to pick up some of the nuggets of social media advice he gives his clients. One valuable tip Steve gives is about “shared mutual gain” and what it means. Steve also explains why he quit blogging.

You will also learn why Steve believes digital is mandatory and not optional. And here are a few other takeaways:

■Why you need to have a presence on all social networks where your customers are spending time.
■How to use mixed messages to tailor your stories to different venues.
■How to measure social media metrics.
■Why the different vectors of reach, engagement and reputation lead to trust.
■Why it’s important to understand people & understand business.

And Steve also shares some insights about why he stopped blogging on Micro Persuasion and started lifestreaming on Posterous.

What are your takeaways? Do you agree that blogging is old? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

While you may think the discounting or the "sale culture" Americans have been taught to respond to (remember the old adage: "Behavior rewarded is behavior repeated.") is the real issue, I believe it’s little more than a red herring. It's a mere distraction hiding the real culprit. Discounting is a symptom of a much deeper and systemic issue that stems from a lack of distinction and differentiation among competing firms.

Distinction is the point at which a business is recognized as being different from everything else that's seen in the marketplace. Distinct organizations are often considered to be “the one” or the go-to provider; it's an organization that sits almost in a category by itself. Cirque du Soleil has done it with entertainment, Apple has done it with electronics and local businesses in towns and cities across the country do it consciously every day by moving away from sameness. They move beyond differentiation and into a position of distinction.

Becoming an organization that competes on distinction instead of discounting takes effort, but it’s not impossible. It starts with understanding your differentiation. Namely, what do you do to give your customers a reason to perceive your product, service, approach or experience as truly different and superior? You can start asking yourself questions like: “What are the top five things that make you different from a competitor?” or “What keeps your customers coming back and prevents them from defecting to another supplier?”

You should also look at distinction from the eyes of your customers. When is the last time you asked your customers why they do business with you? In fact, you can try a simple, two-question survey that will provide you with extraordinary feedback: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of our [insert your product/offering here]?” Then, upon receiving the response, you ask: “What would it take to make it a 10?”

Finally, look at distinction with a lens on your competition. Take as much time as you need and write down all of the things that make them unique… then look for ways to do something other than what they do!

In a market where companies look like ships in a sea of sameness, it’s critical that your business has a firm grasp on the points of distinction that separate you from everyone else in your field.

• It's essential - if you don't, someone else surely will and guess what? users are out there talking, discussing, creating already; so whatever you do, don't ignore the conversation
• It's ubiquitous - you may think your users are not engaged in this way, think again...
• It takes resources - despite what everyone may tell you, it is not FREE.

All of this does not mean that you need to start spending on social media willy-nilly tomorrow, nor does it mean that all the old rules of marketing are defunct.

Want to know more? My partners Anne and Jeff from the Aventi Group and I jointly conducted a workshop on precisely this topic at the recent Social Media World Forum on November 9th. Our presentation covered the following:

"Launching New Offerings in a Social World: What to consider when incorporating Social Media in your Go-To-Market Planning!"

- How to create a good go-to-market plan? What sound principles of marketing still apply?
- When is it appropriate to consider social tools?
- How should one incorporate social media vehicles in such plans?

You can view this presentation here.

Social Media Work Shop Deck Nov 09 2009

• Watch the Presentation recording (no registration)
• Read the Effective Lead Management Executive Summary ]]> I discussed steps for overcoming one of the biggest challenges organizations face today: converting leads to sales pipeline revenue. For most organizations, these problems stem from perception and communication issues between Marketing and Sales and a lack of process.

  While I emphasize sales and marketing being on the same page is key to a well-optimized lead generation process, the solution involves more than just generating more high quality leads. Marketing and Sales need to use a robust qualification and nurturing process to optimize the leads already in the pipeline.

  I taught a ‘playbook’ for effective lead management that helps optimize the lead generation process to produce major ROI gains. The ‘playbook’ included five steps:

  1. refine the universal lead definition of “sales ready”
  2. qualify leads based on the universal lead definition
  3. nurture early leads until they were “sales ready”
  4. define a clear process from Marketing to Sales
  5. close the loop via Sales and Marketing “huddles”

  View recorded webinar and read executive summary
  

  ]]> tag:www.smartmarketers.com,2009://8.1346 2009-11-23T23:44:53Z 2009-12-03T17:57:05Z
  The other night I talked before about fifty budding entrepreneurs. Mostly in their 20's, these young people gave me a new-found confidence in our collective ability to generate new companies and jobs. They are wicked smart and tend to soak...
  GL Hoffman The other night I talked before about fifty budding entrepreneurs. Mostly in their 20's, these young people gave me a new-found confidence in our collective ability to generate new companies and jobs.
  
  They are wicked smart and tend to soak up almost every bit of information that is sent their way, especially from someone who has fought the good fight, ie, started companies too. They LOVE hearing stories.
  ]]>

  I knew that before the meeting obviously. The usual question I get after the presentation is "What are the top three or five things you have learned in 25 years of doing start ups?" It is interesting to me that they just want the TOP 3 or 5 when it is the 78th or 48th tip that might be most meaningful to them.
  
  So I wrote down 'everything' I have learned in this little mini book, a hard copy booklet that I give to everyone in attendance.
  
  The reaction is so positive it bears repeating and teaching. I think nowadays we tend to rely too much on emails, pdfs, facebook and twitter et al to recall that a simple note, letter, or yes, even a handout gets you more notice.
  
  Simply, it looks like you have invested more in it, cared more about it, and tried harder. I think people like that.
  
  I might be wrong.
  What do you think?

  ]]> tag:www.smartmarketers.com,2009://8.1345 2009-11-23T23:39:49Z 2009-11-23T23:43:18Z
  I had a meeting with a client this morning and one of the topics on the agenda was how could they better promote an internal training event that was optional for the employees. When I asked how they would...
  Drew McLellan I had a meeting with a client this morning and one of the topics on the agenda was how could they better promote an internal training event that was optional for the employees.

  When I asked how they would normally promote it, they said...we'd make up a flier with all the information and attach it to an e-mail. We'd send it out to everyone. We might send it out a couple times or ask their supervisors to also send it out.
  

  ]]> There's nothing wrong with what they're doing. But, there's not enough right. You've got to toss a lot of messages and media into the blender and mix it all up -- to try to reach everyone.

  Remember, your audience needs to hear your message 8-13 times before they notice that you're talking to them!

  Here are some other ideas we came up with as we brainstormed:

  Tease them: Don't give them ALL the information at once. Give them the bare bones (date, time, place etc.) but keep some of the details for the next communication.

  Catch it on camera: Run around the office with a flip camera and record some people who know about the event. Ask them why they're excited or looking forward to it. Post it on YouTube, your corporate intranet or someplace else that employees will go see it.

  Drip marketing: Remember....you want your marketing to be a drip, not a downpour. So why get 6-8 little tidbits of the content (think if it like a snack...which is how we like to consume information) and rather than send out one huge e-mail....once a week, send a tip tied to the content of the training.

  Let them eavesdrop: Using BlogTalk Radio or Skype + Audio Hijack, whip up a quick 5-minute podcast with the presenter. Let the potential audience hear the presenter's enthusiasm and energy around the topic.

  Make it personal: Draft a quick 15-30 second script and ask every supervisor to personalize it and then leave a voice mail for their direct reports....inviting them to the event.

  What have we done? We've hit them with the written word, teased them with tasty snacks of content, let their peers and supervisor weigh in, used multi-media, and made it personal.

  All for the cost of....$0. (Audio Hijack is $32 if you opt for that solution).

  How could you use this recipe for things you need to communicate internally?

  ]]> tag:www.smartmarketers.com,2009://8.1344 2009-11-16T19:55:04Z 2009-11-16T19:59:35Z
  A few weeks ago a client said to me, "In this economy, I don't think we’ll ever be able to get ahead. It's been nearly impossible to get new clients to sign on, and I think it will be for...
  Mike Schultz A few weeks ago a client said to me, "In this economy, I don't think we’ll ever be able to get ahead. It's been nearly impossible to get new clients to sign on, and I think it will be for some time to come. My team feels flat. It’s been a huge challenge to keep them motivated. And I understand why...it's just so hard out there."

  We talked about it. The conversation went like this:

  ]]> Mike: That sounds pretty difficult, but not an uncommon story these days.

  Client: My team seems like they’re running at 50% energy because no matter what they do, there’s just not the return on the other end for their efforts like there used to be.

  Mike: You won a few new clients recently, though, right?

  Client: Well, yes, but it’s been a huge effort to win them.

  Mike: I understand. Now that you won them, how have the engagements been going?

  Client: We’ve already returned all of our fees at least threefold to both of the clients we won last quarter. And it’s looking like they’ll both be signing on for larger engagements.

  Mike: Great to hear! So have your competitors won new clients lately as well?

  Client: Not as many as years past, but you know our industry is so fragmented that we have more competitors than most businesses. They wouldn’t survive at all if there weren’t at least some new clients signing on with most of them.

  Mike: Let’s get an estimate then.

  (Client lists off competitor after competitor and mentions the names of actual clients they’ve won recently.)

  Mike: OK, then, let me stop you there. If you even won a fifth of those, that’s more new clients than you could even handle in a quarter.

  Client: Of course, if we won them, that would be overwhelming to us. There’s no way we could keep up with that much work.

  Mike: Assume for a minute that your team wasn’t feeling sluggish or defeated. That each individual on the team was as motivated as you’ve ever seen them to go out and win clients. That they believed great success was just around the corner waiting to be had, and all they needed to do was go make it happen.

  Client: The change in the business would be dramatically positive. If we could get that done, we’d be growing like a weed.

  Mike: So what you’re saying is that new clients are giving business to your competitors all around you, and, even though the circumstances are different in the market than they were three years ago, there’s still more business out there right now—today—than you could possibly handle. And to get those clients, all you need to do is to get the team performing as well as you’ve seen them perform in the past?

  Client: When you put it that way…
  

  As we continued talking, the client told me that if he could put it to his team this way he thinks that he could get them focused and excited again about the possibilities. "New clients were out there just waiting to be won…we have a great story that the market needs to hear…it’s up to us to get it done, and we can do it!"

  Yes, he needed to put it this way to his team, but the first person he had to put it this way to was himself. Before he could get the team to focus again on the success they could have versus the failure that was obviously looming in front of him, he had to see it himself.

  For as long as he told himself the stories of doom, sluggish, can’t, won’t, and unable, these were the stories that would come true.

  What do you think would happen if you changed the story you tell yourself?

  Or if everyone on your team changed theirs?
  

  ]]> tag:www.smartmarketers.com,2009://8.1343 2009-11-16T19:05:26Z 2009-11-16T19:09:07Z
  Listen up businesses! The white paper is here to stay and it’s only getting more important. Or so says a brand new study by Eccolo Media. I covered the main take-home message of their last report earlier this year. But...
  Michael Stelzner Listen up businesses! The white paper is here to stay and it’s only getting more important. Or so says a brand new study by Eccolo Media.

  I covered the main take-home message of their last report earlier this year. But this new study has some amazing findings covering everything from the influence of white papers compared to other marketing tools, how they are shared, their ideal length and when they are used in the purchase cycle.

  ]]> I outline the key findings below.

  Major findings:

  • White papers yield powerful influence: 84% of businesses find white papers either moderately or extremely influential in their purchasing decisions. Only 1% of respondents thought white papers were not influential.

  • White papers are the most viral form of marketing collateral: White papers are the most commonly shared form of marketing collateral, with 89% of respondents passing them along to others. In addition, white papers were the most viral marketing collateral with nearly one in three respondents sharing them with three or more people.

  • Decision-makers are consuming more white papers: According to survey respondents, 77% of business decision makers are reading white papers and 2009, up from 68% 2008.

  • Larger businesses rely on white papers more than others: Decision-makers at larger companies (85%) are much more likely to read a white paper than those working in smaller companies (64%).

  • Delivering white papers in audio or visual formats may be worth pursuit: Regarding the format of a white paper, the study examined whether audio or webinar formats of what paper presentations are preferable. 29% said that they prefer to have a white paper consumed in a webinar and 24% said they’d be interested in listening to a white paper podcast.

  • The preferred length of a white paper is 6 to 10 pages: According to the study, readers prefer white papers with an average length of 6 to 10 pages.

  • White papers yield the most strength early in the sales cycle: Regarding the sales cycle, white papers were most effective in the presales process, with 80% reporting. However, white papers also were the leading form of collateral at all other stages of the sales process.

  • Quality writing influences the perceived value of white papers: 51% of respondents felt that high-quality writing is either very important or extremely influential.

  What are your thoughts about white papers and this report? Clearly this study shows white papers are here to stay.

  ]]> tag:www.smartmarketers.com,2009://8.1342 2009-10-26T17:51:32Z 2009-10-26T17:53:30Z
  When the recession hit, many companies lost their nerve. They began to second-guess their own decisions. They compromised on what they believed was right because right was too expensive. They chased after business that wasn't really a good fit —...
  Drew McLellan When the recession hit, many companies lost their nerve. They began to second-guess their own decisions. They compromised on what they believed was right because right was too expensive. They chased after business that wasn't really a good fit — because any business was better than the potential of no business.

  And they lost their way. A side effect of being lost is being scared. Sometimes being scared leads to being paralyzed. In my opinion, that's why this recession got so bad.

  ]]>

  We got scared and we got stuck.

  It's time for us to find our nerve and get ourselves out of this recession. I highly doubt there's going to be a bailout for any of us.

  So how do we break loose from our fear and get some nerve? We get back to our core.

  When a person has a strong connection to his or her own values, morals and belief structure — he or she seem to be able to weather even the toughest storm and stand firmly in place. No matter what gets thrown at them, they stay centered.

  I'm not suggesting they're infallible or super human. But they are grounded in their own truth. They've done the hard work of figuring out who they are and what they stand for. (Which by default means they have also figured out who they are not and what they won't stand for.) And that hard work and self-understanding creates an anchor of sorts. An anchor that helps them avoid drifting every time the wind blows or being pulled from their spot during a particularly difficult life storm.

  The same is true for an organization. When a company has done the difficult work of truly understanding their brand — they are anchored by their own beliefs. That's the source of their nerve. They know themselves and don't have to over-think every decision. It's organic. It's instinctual. And it is a business lifesaver.

  
  Sooner or later, every business leader is faced with an Oh Shit! moment as coined by my friend Steve Farber in his book Radical Leap. When your brand is intact, those moments can't derail you. You're able to meet them with conviction and just “flow” through them. Your brand acts like a gut check and you intuitively know the right course of action.

  The businesses that understood and embraced their brand before the recession like Apple, Zappos and Thomas A. Johnson Furniture Company are having a fantastic 2009. Why? They stuck to their core. They chased after only right-fit customers. They didn't try to sell something they weren't brilliant at doing. They didn't let the economy or a slowdown change the core of who they are.

  They simply stayed true to their brand and as a result, they weathered the storm much better than most organizations. It's time that we all follow suit.

  To find your nerve — find your core.

  ]]> tag:www.smartmarketers.com,2009://8.1341 2009-10-26T17:48:25Z 2009-10-26T17:50:30Z
  Imagine yourself on your best day. It seems like you’re productive before you wake up, because something happened while you were asleep to charge your batteries, clear your thoughts, and give you inspiration while you snoozed. You wake up and...
  Mike Schultz Imagine yourself on your best day. It seems like you’re productive before you wake up, because something happened while you were asleep to charge your batteries, clear your thoughts, and give you inspiration while you snoozed.

  You wake up and nothing can stop you. The path is clear and the ideas are flowing. You settle in to work earlier than usual and start plugging away. And it all starts clicking. You accomplish one goal.
  

  ]]> And another.

  And another…

  This is how the day goes right up until the end when you check the clock and can’t believe how quickly the time flew by.

  As you reflect on the day you think, “Man, did I make it happen today!”

  Now, multiply that by days on end. Weeks on end. Months on end.

  What would happen? How successful would you be?

  You can’t know exactly, but you know you’ll make a lot more money and be able to enjoy things that are, right now, not happening for you. You’ll earn the respect of your peers and your market. Success will be yours.

  And you’ll gain freedom. Freedom to do what you want with your time and what you want with your life.

  …OK, I’m going to stop for a minute now and ask you to think about how you’re feeling. Like you can succeed? Get more done? Overcome a challenge that’s been dogging you?

  What just happened to shift your mindset to make you think you can now get more done than you could a few minutes ago?

  What’s happened is I’ve appealed to your emotions. I’ve painted you a picture and given you a vision of a place you want to be – you want to be free, to be successful, to be respected by your peers.

  Making this type of emotional connection is extremely important, but it’s often eschewed by professional services marketers. It shouldn’t be.

  As professionals, isn’t it our job to help our clients see what’s possible and help them achieve? Sure, we all have our special way that we do it, but it still comes down to – at the risk of repeating myself – what’s possible and what clients can achieve.

  Though for some reason, often because of some fear of saying something that someone won’t like or sounding a little different, firms don’t concentrate on making emotional connections with their marketing. They focus on capabilities, cut-and-dry business cases, and how their unique blend of people, process, and technology does yadda yadda yadda.

  Sure, there’s the occasional high-level nod to emotional connection concepts such as trust, peace-of-mind, partnership, and so on, but it’s usually understated. After all, we don’t want to be seen as anything less than white-glove professional, so we keep anything that could stir up an emotional reaction toned way down.

  I think professional firms, with their antiseptic copy and business cases, are missing an opportunity. Missing an opportunity to paint a picture for potential buyers of what personal and professional success actually looks and feels like for clients of their firm, how they’ve helped others make it all happen, and how potential clients are risking it all if they choose not to work with them.

  Now do you have to write over-the-top copy like a late night TV infomercial? This is what everyone’s afraid of. If you want to sell success, you have to do it with big pictures of dollar signs, big houses, fancy cars, and a Hugh Hefner coterie. Right? I don’t think so.

  You do, however, have to use your imagination and focus your keen powers of observation on how great marketers make emotional connections so you can make yours.

  There’s no reason for you to apologize or downplay the great things you can do.

  There’s no reason why what you bring to the table shouldn’t inspire people to succeed.

  There’s every reason to make an emotional connection with buyers in the market.

  All this starts with not being afraid to break out of the same-old same-old “efficient and effective solutions with people, process, and technology” copywriting mode. Start connecting!

  Do so and you’ll find you’ll win more than your fair share of new clients, you’ll help them succeed, and you’ll make money beyond…well…you know.

  ]]>