Scott Smeester
Sales and Growth Strategies
About Getting a Massive Twitter Following
Mar 8th
One of my Twitter accounts has over 33,000 followers. How did I do it?
I get asked all the time – in fact I’ve been invited to speak at forums and presentations now – to discuss how I got so many followers. The following video discusses this topic but asks some deeper questions about getting a huge Twitter following.
FYI – I also recommend visiting this post: Twitter Best Practices for Social Media Marketers by Steve Latham
Plug Your Website’s Sales Leaks
Feb 24th
Fix inefficiencies in how you handle and follow up with visitors once they do get to your site.
Many people pay a lot and work real hard on getting visitors to their website, but miss opportunities to close more business once the visitor is in the sales funnel.
It is easy to increase the number of visitors to your your website by spending more on advertising, using social media, etc. to create more traffic. However, many websites are missing a great opportunity to simply increase the conversion rate from those visitors they already have coming.
A website that I’ve been working with since 1997, PlanetUrine.com, is a niche business that helps pet owners with the very common problem of their pets urinating in the home. They sell and ship a lot products to help pet owners train their pets who have this problem, as well as help them rid their home of stains and odors as a result of this behavior (don’t laugh – if you have a pet, chances are you need their help). They have over 700 visitors per day coming to the site, and one of the lead capture systems is designed to allow pet owners to ask a question of a specialist about a problem their pet is having (Ask a Specialist). The form gets a lot of questions every day and helps customers make the decision to buy. However, when I was reviewing this system in depth it revealed holes that may be losing more sales than it’s gaining. Following are four areas that are contributing to some major inefficiencies:
- A semi-automated process
At the end of everyday, a person reviews and replies to each question. Yes, they are using templates so the messages don’t have to be written over and over, but somebody still has to take a 1/2 hour to an hour to reply to everybody. How much money has been spent over the years on this process that could be completely automated? - Only one message
They close a lot of sales for this particular lead capture system, however it is done with only one message. What about the person who didn’t read the first email, or the person who got busy after reading the first message and forgot about them? Industry best practices generally says it takes up to 5 messages to close the deal so I believe my client has been missing out on a lot of sales. - Only one ‘bucket’
The lead capture form inevitably attracts pet owners to ask questions for problems that my client does not sell with his niche products, but think about it; these are pet owners that have a problem of some sort. Why not sign up with an affiliate and refer these people and capitalize on that visit? Cost recovery in action! - A bit antiquated
The messages have always been well written and personal, however they were all plain text. Most people have HTML email now and studies have shown that nice graphics, and especially images – in this case people with their pets – really enhances the warmth of the messages and increases conversions.
The great opportunity is that there are a number of lead capture and sales systems like the aforementioned that have gone untouched for several years. For all involved – my client for more sales, me for more consulting work, and most important the visitor for their enhanced experience – we have an opportunity to make improvements and leverage new technologies to take PlanetUrine.com to a new level.
Chatroulette – Strange and Compelling
Feb 10th
Prepare to have a total stranger, randomly picked around the world, viewing you on your computer camera. Ready in 3, 2, 1…
The first time I tried Chatroulette, the latest craze for young(er) people, I felt like a total idiot. It was early morning and I was working through my blogs when I read ‘What to make of chatroulette?‘. I hadn’t showered, my hair (what’s left) was a mess and I was in my ‘home gear’. I was not presentable. And therein is the beauty of it. The people that saw me merely don’t know me. They thought I was another crazy person like them.
Either way, Chatroulette will test you. It will challenge your comfort zone. And yes, you will see people being people. Try it out.
Finding More Sales Opportunities Using Twitter
Feb 4th
One of the biggest problems that most CEO’s and business owners I work with is the lack of new opportunities in their sales team’s pipeline.
Most sales experts say that you need three times more opportunities in your pipeline now than before 2009 to make up for the stagnant growth of this economy. Well, being an ‘Engineer of Sales and Marketing Systems’, I’ve been able to create a system that leverages Twitter to a) create my own personal advertising channel with over 32,000 followers, and b) find new sales opportunities on a daily bases. This article discusses the latter. (New to Twitter? The fastest way to learn is to sign up and start ‘tweeting’!)
One of the systems I implement for clients is a sales hiring process that increases the odds of hiring a producer from an industry standard 20% to over 90% – what I’ve come to call the Sales Star Recruiting process. I developed a recorded webcast called How to Hire Sales Stars Every Time that is loaded with useful information that can help the small and medium business who has had the experience of running a non-productive sales team and to view it the person needs to register – i.e. a new opportunity.
A popular (and free) program to watch Twitter streams is TweetDeck. One of the features I like is the ability to view streams based on a search phrase. For instance, for the aforementioned service I provide for recruiting salespeople, I watch for tweets that mention key phrases that I target such as “hiring sales”, “hire sales”, etc. Every few minutes a new tweet appears with those words in it, and very frequently it’s a small business owner or HR person mentioning that they are hiring for sales. I simply do a reply to them mentioning that they may find my free webcast useful and include the link to the registration page, and more often than not, they go and and register and watch it.
<img style=”float: right; margin-left: 20px;” src=”http://scott.smeester.com/wp-content/uploads/fail-big.jpg” alt=”If you’re gonna fail, fail big!” />
First Person or Third Person?
Feb 3rd
When referring to yourself in writing, what are the rules regarding third person or first person?
I visited Chris Brogan’s site to see how one of the most successful blogger, social media guru, expert marketer, etc. writes and organizes his website. One thing I noticed is that most of his site is written in a third person, like the About page. It’s HIS site, yet he is referring to himself in the third person. Perhaps he had somebody write it for him, but I doubt it. My site is written in first person because not long ago I was in a conversation with my friend – whom I very much respect as a consultant – and he told me how he thinks that we should write about ourselves in the first person. He says it’s more personal and I agree.
What do you think?
Is there a certain level of professionalism maintained by referring to yourself in the third person? I’d really like to hear your comments.
Identify What You REALLY Sell
Jan 30th
Do you sell web development? … I don’t want it.
Do you sell financial planning? … No thank you.
Do you sell construction services? … So what?
What I really want is warm and open minded prospects for my sales team and I’m thinking an online marketing initiative – done right – could provide those kind of leads.
What I really want is peace of mind that my hard earned money is safe and is growing at an overall fair market rate.
What I really want is the assurance that my contractor will show up on time, communicate well and leave me with something that is not constructed, but crafted.
Most leaders of companies I’ve met don’t really know what their company is selling because they are mis-defining what their customers REALLY want, and so the offering becomes a commodity and it’s not helping the cause. Web developers are a commodity. Financial planners are a commodity. Contractors are a commodity. But if they would simply properly define what their company sells, it would attract sales easily.
PS: if you REALLY know what I want, I’d love to know you.
PSS: my wife Audrey Smeester helps the busy professional say thanks with unique and tasteful gifts that are painless to send. Visit her site!
Replace Thyself
Jan 22nd
A motto I heard from a friend of mine in business is “replace thyself”. When I say this to somebody who has a job, they seem appalled. “Why would you do that?” “Yeah, if you want to find yourself without a job!” However, even somebody with a job would do well to always find ways of creating better systems to handle the work they do. Watch more about this topic on the video below.
How Big Have You Failed?
Dec 29th
Perhaps it’s also true of the rest of the world, but the celebration of failure is taboo in this country. However, failure is a part of success and a good indication – to me – of what kind of ‘kahunas’ you have for business.
Not long ago, I met a guy who built, and subsequently lost, a billion dollar company. When I heard about it I didn’t judge him or feel sorry for him like so many in our society would have done (mainstream media for instance). I was actually quite impressed. I mean… how many people have actually succeeded to that level and then fell all the way down? What are the odds? It’s almost like being hit by lightning – if it happens to you, you were CHOSEN!
In my mind’s eye, the ‘Success Club’ members are comprised of the first class passengers depicted in the movie Titanic. They are 2nd or 3rd generation wealth, born with the proverbial silver spoon, or they succeeded big on their first try, and to their demise, perhaps not really appreciating their accomplishments. They’re all stodgy old men dressed in tuxedos, holding their brandy snifters with cigars ablaze, scarves around their necks talking about their great accomplishments. "William, do you remember when we denied the Union?" "Why yes, Theo, that was spendid."
Then there is the ‘Holy Crap I Can’t Believe I Even Tried That’ club. Most of the members of this club ended up as financially successful as the aforementioned members, but they’re warm and humble people. The members of this club EARNED their success and they’re happy to help anybody else do the same. They went all the way and looked over the edge, perhaps even tumbled over a couple of times, and have the badges of honor that put them in a truly unique society.
So on your road to success, what kind of roadblocks have you run into? Have you played it safe? My recommendation: if you’re gonna fail on the way to success, get out there and FAIL BIG!!!
How Do You Know if You Need a CFO?
Dec 15th
Many small companies have a bookkeeper, accountant or CPA. Their roles are important, but very limited in scope compared to the experience of a CFO. Is it time for you to take your finances to the next level?
This article contributed by guest writers Marty Koenig and Keith McAslan of CxO To Go
Bookkeepers and accountants function mostly in the day-to-day work of keeping up with your records and taxes. Even a controller is often seen as a “number cruncher” that spends a lot of time with their nose in spreadsheets and doing reports. A CFO is very different and provides far greater value to small businesses.
Here are some examples of why a small company might need a CFO:
- Rapid company growth has stretched the capabilities of your current accounting staff to the limit, but you still cannot afford a full time senior financial executive.
- You are planning a major expansion and can benefit from adding an outsourced CFO and trusted advisor to your management team.
- You need assistance in dealing with bankers, lenders or outside investors.
- Your company is in a crisis, experiencing financial or other difficulties and requires strong financial leadership that cannot be provided by your current accounting staff.
- You need specialized financial expertise not available internally, and could use the help of an experienced CFO to mentor and coach them to do better at what they do.
- You are planning an exit from your company with a merger, acquisition, or sale and want to gain maximum value and sale price in the future.
- Your CFO leaves unexpectedly and your company has no one internally with the skills and experience to take over. Until you complete the search for a replacement, CxO To Go can provide the financial expertise to keep your business running smoothly.
- You need a periodic financial advisor to keep your company on track, someone that is dedicated to your company as it grows.
- You are a new start up company and want professional advice to begin your financial management correctly.
Have you considered outsourcing the CFO role?
Part time, interim, project and virtual CFO’s are one of the cornerstones of companies like CxO To Go . CxO To Go’s senior financial executives bring vast experience that is immediately brought to bear on the key opportunities/issues faced your company in today’s market thereby delivering high ROI. Since CxO To Go works on an interim, virtual, part time, and project basis, clients are more readily able to afford resource quality that is usually only associated with a permanent hire and/or priced beyond their ability to afford long term. CxO To Go’s experience is that their CFO’s quickly become trusted advisors to the client company CEOs and/or Owners.
Be Committed
Dec 5th
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation…
… there is an elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”
Mountain Climber Charles Murray
I am a co-founder of a startup company which is finally (wiping forehead ) gaining momentum after 3+ years of very hard work. Many, many hours making phone calls, meetings, lunches, trips all over the country. Many internal hurdles and differing personalities have had to be overcome. A serious investment of time? Yes, and of life. Oh, and there is no pay. Sorry. And when you seriously doubt you can keep going? Well, because you made the commitment and you’re sticking to it, a whole new circumstance happens that keeps you in the game, and why give up now? And you get right back to putting big skin in the game. And the cycle continues… until someday… you make it… or you don’t.
