Scott Smeester
Business Development 2.0
Shifting Demographics Can Help Business
Apr 26th
Sometimes you may find your demographics evolving naturally – embrace the change and capitalize on it.
Business experts advocate clearly knowing your business’ target demographic – knowing who you want to buy your products simply makes sense. Companies that understand what kind of people are primarily buying the products and service will excel even more if/when they begin focusing marketing to that demographic.
Even global companies can find that their target demographic might not be “who” is buying their product. A great example of this phenomenon (on a massive level) is Old Spice – a leading company known for male hygiene and toiletries products. Old Spice found that, though their products are for men, women do most of the buying when it comes to their product – this statistic inspired the February 2010 advertisement, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” The campaign depicts a handsome man speaking directly to women about how their male counterpart could (at least) smell like man in the advertisement. Old Spice learned from their market research and adjusted accordingly.
Unfortunately, not all business can afford official market research, but you can pay close attention to trends with your business. Through our social media interactions (predominantly Twitter), Smeester & Associates is finding that 78% of our “buzz” is coming from women over the last 30 days. This is great news for us for several reasons, most importantly because we enjoy and value working with women in business. This information will result in an increase in our marketing and interactions focusing on an even more targeted demographic than it has been before.
Business owners that are not effectively tracking their clients, sales, and interactions should start immediately. Keeping a close eye on who is talking about you can provide clear and invaluable information that can help business. Above all, it is wise to know who you want to do business with and who you actually are doing business with.
Image CreditNote to Self: The Path to the Promise Land
Apr 26th
I see with my own eyes how the average Joe – me – ended up at a video conferencing guru’s website (becoming a potential). What was the path? What was the decision making process? It is further evidence that participating does work.
Note to Self: The Path to the Promise Land from Scott Smeester on Vimeo.
Find and Work with the Great Talent NOW
Apr 22nd
I have a feeling that things are going to start moving very fast for the people who really get and know how to leverage social media. Before the ‘Great Economy Recovery (what I’m calling it anyway), secure relationships with the top available talent that usually get snatched up when all is well.
Social Media Marketing 101: Blogging In Theory And Practice [5 reasons why you need to start blogging]
Apr 22nd
For social media users, blogging is the most important tool for creating relationships with your clients and customers.
Spread the good news of your business with blogging
1) Share who you are
With information readily available about you and your company, people naturally want to do their business with companies that have a face – the human element is returning to business. Blogging allows you a forum to share who you are with your audience. The most recognizable bloggers and social media experts all agree that blogging is about authenticity and promoting remarkable content.
For so long being professional has superseded being yourself in the business world, and now (with social media) individuals and businesses are being encouraged to let their authentic personality shine through. There is still the need to monitor the message being sent, but presenting your thoughts, beliefs, and values is an absolute must.
2) Give people a reason to come back
Keep up with your blog! Maintaining regularly generated new content gives readers an opportunity to come back. When readers come back, the relationship begins to develop; that relationship can turn into business. Posting (at least) three times per week encourages readers to “stay tuned” if they find your content to be accurate, credible, and helpful.
With tools like google reader, people can “subscribe” to your RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed and get updates when new content is posted. This also means that you should definitely make a link on your web page to your RSS feed so that users can follow your great content.
3) Expand your digital real estate
Each blog post that you create adds another page to your digital network, and thus expands the potential sales net. The more opportunities people have actually find you, the more likely you are to naturally be found. As you create diverse content that illustrates your business, more traffic can find its way to your website.
Most blogging websites also offer SEO (Search Engine Optimization) packages. When maximizing your blogs SEO, make sure to put in appropriate keywords to your website, business, and blog topic. Organic traffic through search engines is some of the BEST traffic that sites can get.
4) Maximize your credibility
Maintaining credibility can be as difficult or as easy as you want it to be. Credibility will come through showing your audience your expertise. If you know that you are one of the best resources of information available for people – let that knowledge shine on your blog. Create a schedule of topics that you want to write about based on your existing expertise and skill set.
5) Share your passion
The primary value of blogging is in the opportunity for you, the writer, to get excited. If you are discussing relevant topics to your business, shouldn’t you naturally get excited about your passions? Letting your passion shine through will push your credibility through the roof, because people get behind and support passion and excitement.
Blogging is a critical piece of the social media marketing puzzle. Now is the time to start if you haven’t already, and to recharge your blog if you have been working on it for a while.
Social media marketing leads to sales, and sales research and development is part of what Smeester & Associates does. Contact us for more information about how to recharge your business and increase revenue.
Image Credit
6 Quick Tips For Overcoming Blogcentric Writer’s Block
Apr 15th
“Curtis, can you… maybe… I don’t know… write me a blog today?” – Scott Smeester. Why yes, of course I can!
Blogging is a crucial part of developing your digital identity; it provides an opportunity for you to share your thoughts, beliefs, practices, ideas, and more with the public. For businesses, creating a steady stream of blogs expands digital real estate, creates more opportunities to be found, and is an all-in-all better business practice to increase the human-element of business. However, maintaining good and remarkable content can be a bit strenuous.
Six easy things for overcoming blogcentric writer’s block:
1) Make a schedule
At least once a month create a schedule of when blog posts are to be published. Creating a list of keywords can generate a list of topics in advance, which will also provide more structure; maintaining a cohesive thought process naturally increases your potential subscribers. When the title of a blog includes “part 4 of 5,” people tend to wonder what happened in the previous three posts and what comes out next.
2) Talk about what is happening NOW
Important and remarkable things happen to you and your business every single day. Write about and reflect upon the powerful things that come up. For example: If you have a great sales call that leaves you with some interesting points to review, then get them written down! One of the greatest values of blogging is the ability to share these experiences and what you have learned with people.
3) Conduct an interview
There are people that you know, right now, with a great story to be told. Finding and interviewing a person relating to your niche can be a wonderful opportunity to create some serious content and revitalize you with new ideas to write about. Interviewing professionals can also help boost some natural traffic to your blog and website.
4) Make a list
Practicing what I preach… right now. Clearly, you have methodologies, systems, and information that makes your life easier – group some of these things together and construct a list of helpful tips, tools, and/or resources to help others. If that doesn’t work for you, then maybe make a list of the top 10 professionals in your field and why you think they are absolutely crushing it right now.
5) Write a follow-up
Remember that great blog you wrote a few days/weeks/months ago? Try critically analyzing some of the feedback that you received from a buzzworthy piece you did in the past; create a secondary piece on the same subject that revisits the topic and includes new information.
6) Ask yourself and/or your audience a question
The content for one of our most read blogs came from posting the question, “What is selling right now?” Honestly, we barely had to write the response due to the incredible volume of responses.
- What is something that I learned today?
- Where do I want to be in 6 months, and how am I going to get there?
- What makes me the very best at what I do?
- What is the most important thing to me and my business?
Even the most passionate and articulate people can have moments, even days, when great content doesn’t pour out of them, so don’t get too distressed. The most important thing that you can do when facing a mental block is to START; just relax, get something written or recorded, and the rest will likely fall into place.
Smeester & Associates offers strategic growth planning and social media marketing solutions. Contact us for more information regarding solutions that can change the way that you do business.
Image CreditThe Changing Landscape of Sales Teams
Apr 15th
I talk to a lot of sales managers and CEO’s that are still looking for sales candidates that, among other things, are supposed to be good prospectors and hunters – in the hopes of the development of new business. However, prospecting is no longer necessary for sales teams due to Social Media Marketing. Watch this video to find out why.
A Few Simple Things That Make Big Differences In Sales
Apr 13th
This morning, I read an article about a marketing campaign for Jenn-Air and KitchenAid that showed a 10% increase in sales. The article struck a chord with me about how simple it can be to boost sales through simple ideas. All too often, companies can forget easy things that can increase sales.
Tie some simple ideas together to make big differences!
Consumers care about quality; it’s important to people to know that they are getting the best product for what they are paying. Jenn-Air and KitchenAid marketing manager, Brian J. Maynard used statistics to promote the superiority of the company’s products. The company had done the market research to clarify that their products performed 25% better than the competition; he then based the entire marketing strategy on this statistic.
Maynard clearly and simply communicated in a user-friendly way that Jenn-Air and KitchenAid appliances cleaned 25% better than the competition, ignoring other similar statistics and jargon. Most importantly, the company maintained a consistent and clear message in all of their television, internet, and print marketing. Jenn-Air and KitchenAid successfully branded themselves as a company that offers products that clean 25% better than the competition. Throughout the companies many forms of marketing, there was ONE clear message – this IS corporate branding at it’s best.
By doing the research, the company was able to prove that they offered products that cleaned 25% better than the competition; they were then able to clearly and accurately market those results. Sales increased by 10%. The success of this marketing campaign is not based on Jenn-Air and KitchenAid offering good products, but in showing statistics that communicate how much better the products are than the competition.
Takeaways:
Numbers speak!
- People respond to numbers and statistics. Numbers naturally stick out from information, especially quick and easy numbers like percentages. People would be wise to quantify their success.
If you are the best, then prove it.
- Offering the best product or service is a bold claim, and you need to be able to support it. Once products have been established as ‘good, better, or the best,’ they might as well sell themselves.
Be consistent.
- Information about branding is everywhere! The most important piece of the branding puzzle is consistency, and it’s the easiest thing to do. Don’t get caught up in multiple messages; be simple, clear, and concise – this allows potential customers and clients to know what you have to offer.
Getting back to seemingly basic and simple ideas can recharge your company and your sales. Little things can make big differences and simple things can sometimes lead to big sales.
Smeester & Associates offers strategic growth planning for sales and revenue growth. Contact us for more information.
Image Credit
Prospecting Not Necessary for New Sales Hires
Apr 12th
No more do you need to recruit salespeople who will bring “a book of business,” or “hunt,” or even “smile and dial.”
Due to the proliferation of social media marketing, prospecting is not as necessary.
You may have heard the phrase “cold calling is dead,” and it absolutely is (I know there is a salesperson/business owner/consultant out there rejoicing!). Why call somebody you don’t know* if you could have a bottomless supply of people to talk to who have (technically) filled out the dream form on your website – i.e. full name, all areas of interest, decision maker, what they admit they need help with, etc. We’re talking about leads who are asking for demonstrations and have given all the key indicators for a close. This happens everyday for all types of companies and businesses because, leveraged correctly, Internet technologies available on the market help build a river from many small streams of people you have attracted. Running this kind of marketing and sales system is a fraction of the cost you could pay a salesperson to “hunt”.
Assuming you hire salespeople correctly, if you provide the quality leads available you can scale down your sales team so it consists of nothing but closers (“coffee is for closers!”). These “closers” are people who are good at walking people through to a decision. Somebody patient. A nurturing salesperson. A listener.
Finding the right one is the only thing you have to do now.
* Yes, I did a TON of cold calling in my day Photo by DSC1597
Now is the Time to Hire Salespeople
Apr 12th
Go into the economic recovery with maximum momentum. Consider hiring salespeople now to propel your company ahead.
Due to the economy, the game has changed. Now is the time to expand your sales team.
Growing up in Denver, Colorado and being an avid skier, learning how to drive well in the mountains is a must. I’m not just talking about when the weather is bad. In fact, what you really need to know is how to maximize your vehicle’s speed with all the hills… no matter what the weather conditions are. You need to learn how to down and up-shift at appropriate times in the hill to maintain your momentum. Colorado natives can see the novice mountain driver: they are the ones riding their brakes on the downhills and crawling on the uphills. They have no clue how to downshift on downhills so that the engine slows the vehicle down instead of the brakes, and in the same fashion, keeps their speed up on the uphills.
In college I belonged to a ‘skisome’ of two other skiers and we drove up every weekend. We would take turns driving and one girl from Minnesota (no, I’m not picking on girls, but I AM picking on Minnesotans) used to struggle to get her perfectly capable Honda CRX up the approaching hill because she would always downshift WAY too late – i.e. when she already lost all the momentum she had when she was approaching the hill. So I told her to try downshifting a little before the upcoming hill. She never had a problem again and I didn’t have to suffer glares from the backseat from fellow Colorado drivers who also lost momentum entering the hill.
“Thanks for the mountain driving lesson, Scott, but what does this have to do with the time being right for hiring salespeople?” And you have a valid question!
This economy has SUCKED, but I think we’re approaching a new hill in the recovery (see Forbes.com Staffing Firms Sensing A Rebound). It appears that the rapid decline has ceased, indicating perhaps a new hill to climb. Therefore I believe it is time to downshift (invest) in areas that will propel your company for growth for many years to come, and a great way to do it is by expanding and hiring your sales team. Right now there are many highly qualified salespeople looking for work and if indeed there is a recovery happening, the timing may be perfect for you to make the right decision to recruit those new sales hires.
What do you think? Are we recovering? Is expanding a sales team a good decision? Let me know…
