Scott Smeester

A recent study reveals that generating at least 20 blogs can notably increase your inbound sales leads.

In a recent publication, The State of Inbound Lead Generation, Hubspot looked at over 760 of their digital business customers between November of 2009 and January of 2010; they evaluated average inbound lead generation based on the volume of blogs for the businesses websites. On average, websites with 0-11 blogs generated 9 inbound leads per month, while sites with 24-51 blog posts generated an average of 13 leads; though this may not seem substantially higher, it indicates over a 30% increase. Websites with over 52 blog posts show a 77% increase (from 0-11) with an average of 23 leads generated per month.

The study also evaluated the difference of inbound leads between their customers that write blogs compared to those that don’t. Out of the same group of digital business customers, it shows that business websites that do not blog generate an average of 9 inbound leads per month. The companies that do choose to blog generate 67% more business, averaging 15 inbound leads.

Why else should businesses blog?

Blogging is becoming an increasingly necessary thing for businesses trying to expand, and it is an important tool for companies looking to draw more traffic to their websites that can result in more business.

Blogging generates credibility. The more solid and appropriate content that you create, the easier it is for customers to establish that you are knowledgeable in your field. Blogging also provides the building blocks of a professional relationship by developing a potential customer or client’s trust in you and your company.
Blogging expands internet real estate. Instead of adding extra pages to an existing website, blogging generates an individual page for each separate blog. Expanding the size of your site provides more opportunities for potential clients to find your website. A lot of little streams create a river.
Blogging increases return visitors. If potential customers visit your blog and sees great content, naturally they are more inclined to check back in later to see what new information you might be putting out to the world.
Blogging increases the likelihood of other websites linking to your own. According to the study, websites with 24+ blog articles are more likely to be committed to updating their blog frequently. Keeping a steady stream of content generates more options for other businesses and websites to send people to your site. It also increases the potential for individuals and businesses to follow your RSS feed.

Blogging doesn’t have to be a chore. Successful bloggers approach content generation as a great opportunity to share their expertise and feelings about subjects particularly relevant to business.

Smeester & Associates offers several services relating to blogging, content generation, and website evaluation. Contact us for more information.

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Social Media Marketing 101: Utilizing LinkedIn to Expand Your Internet Real Estate

Apr 5th

LinkedIn assists you in making better use of your professional network. LinkedIn has over 60 million users in over 200 countries, and a new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second. LinkedIn may not provide the instant gratification and fast-paced expansion that other social sites do, but it definitely provides unique and valuable possibilities that can help you and your business grow.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a website that allows you to develop your professional identity in a digital format, and connect to your peers, contacts, and other professionals. The site is designed to assist users in a ‘six degrees of separation’ kind of format – allowing your contacts to “introduce” you to their contacts.

How does LinkedIn work?

You create a personal profile as you would your professional resume – including previous places of employment, positions held, and responsibilities, this provides you with the ability to connect with past and current coworkers as well as link to precious companies and organizations.

How is LinkedIn a resource for social media marketing?

LinkedIn promotes actual interaction between professionals as well as the ability to research and potentially contact the right people for a specific purpose.

- With the steadily increasing population using LinkedIn, you can easily connect with your peers in the field.
- Many active users “daisy chain” their contacts to grow their professional network and connect for better and more concrete sales prospects
- You can review companies and individuals providing them with your “endorsement,” which promotes them as credible sources in their profession. Professional courtesy indicates that most will return the favor, and thus promote you. Endorsements work like testimonials based on individual’s experience with you and the professional services provided.
- Any good social media ‘expert’ will agree that the potential leads and targeted sales have a much higher payoff rate using LinkedIn than any other social media site.
LinkedIn also provides you with the ability to interact with people outside of your network through the “answers” feature.
- Users can ask broad generalized or specific targeted questions to the public at large.
- When a question is ‘closed’ and no longer available for responses, whomever posted the question can rate the responses. One answer can be identified as the ‘best’ answer, and this will automatically endorse the author of the response with “expertise” in that particular field.
- Answering questions thoroughly and appropriately will increase your exposure as an expert.

Of the many social media resources available, LinkedIn is arguably the best for real professional digital social interaction. It clearly focuses on professional interaction and development. Newcomers to the social media marketing scene would be wise to consider utilizing this tool.

Smeester and Associates now offers social media marketing business solutions. While 60% of Americans participate in social media, less than 10% of American businesses are actively engaging in social media marketing. Let us help you utilize the many resources available and generate more business for your company.

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Taking Your Sales Force From “OKAY” To OUTSTANDING

Mar 30th

Last week on Twitter we posted, “How many sales people would you hire if you knew they all would succeed?” We got a great series of responses and retweets about this simple question.

Better sales teams generate more sales, which makes you more money – it’s as simple as that. It seems like most business owners can relate to the experience of having some “dud” sales people, as well as a few really strong performing people. The hiring process can sometimes feel like a gamble; sometimes people that you think will turn out to be excellent performers end up totally and completely tanking. This is related to a few fundamental problems with the strategy and approach that many companies take with recruitment.

Taking your sales team from “okay” to outstanding is easier than you think! Here are a few little ideas that make a big difference when hiring, recruiting, and evaluating:

Raise Your Expectations

1) Use a system

Often when people perform truly amazing, they don’t know how they did it; everything just came together. Equally, people have a hard time understanding why they did poorly, and this limits the ability to fix the problem. Incorporating a structured hiring system and recruitment methodology that evolves with you and your business will allow you to consistently hire sales stars.

2) It’s okay to outsource

“Why would I pay somebody to do what I can do?” Well, very simply put: your time is valuable. If you look at the amount of time, energy, and (most importantly) money that you spend on hiring, it becomes pretty easy to establish a value to the process. You could just as easily dedicate a fraction of that value to hiring a great company that excels in the process to do it for you; just make sure you critically assess if one of these companies is a good fit for you. Great outsourcing recruitment companies will profile your business, share their systems, provide you with strong feedback about their recommendations, and most importantly confirm that each of their sales hires will be a strong and accurate “fit” for your company (see How to Hire Sales Stars Every Time).

3) Have high expectations

Too often companies “hope for” rather than “expect” great performance. Setting clear and concise expectations while at the beginning of the recruitment process, and then maintaining those throughout the tenure of your salespeople will optimize sales. Expect outstanding from the get-go and watch the quality of your legitimate candidates increase. Setting the bar too low prevents strong goal oriented people from reaching their full potential because they simply are not aiming high enough.

So last week when we posted, “How many sales people would you hire if you knew they all would succeed?” on Twitter; @FourFecta responded, “All of them!” The response was simple, and incredibly true. You can hire top performing sales stars that will succeed, and you should! Taking your sales team from “okay” to outstanding might feel like a challenging undertaking, but it is possible and can be so much less intimidating.

If you are interested in seeing your sales team become outstanding, Smeester and Associates specializes in How to Hire Sales Stars Every Time.

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Social Media Marketing 101: Use Tools Availible To You

Mar 26th

Social media marketing is intimidating to newcomers, and trying to break into the scene can seem impossible. But, it is actually quite manageable and reasonable – it only takes a little patience and the use of some good tools available to everybody.

Remember when you first logged on to Twitter? I remember feeling like I was looking at the modern version of ancient marketplaces; it seemed so “noisy” as thousands of conversations happened around one another. I had no idea what I wanted to ‘tweet’ first, who I wanted to communicate with, or even how to communicate in this new language of “@__________,” and “#__________.”

Through the assistance of a few friends, several clever tools, and the professional guidance of social media experts like Scott Smeester, I was able to find my way in this fast-paced world. I learned how to interact with resources like Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in, Meetup, and more, while taking advantage of tools (or “apps”) to transition from simple social media to social media marketing.

Without a doubt, social media marketing is a sign of the increasingly digital market that we are participating in, and it is still in its “infancy.” As this digital age moves forward and this approach to marketing becomes more-and-more necessary, it is crucial that business owners learn about what is available to them.

There are so many tools available for very little cost that can help you achieve big results for your business. Sometimes all of the available options to help you utilize the resource of social media can be just as intimidating as the rest. People that are new to the scene should seek out some assistance and guidance to maximize their ability to fully use this awesome approach to making money.

Smeester and Associates uses many tools for our social media marketing efforts. Contact us if you would like to learn about what we are doing.

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How To Use Sales Assessments Effectively To Maximize Results

Mar 25th

There are so many good assessments and evaluations available to help business owners and managers successfully generate a quality in-depth view of their sales team and its members; often these can be used inappropriately, which will definitely compromise the validity and integrity of the results.

Personality tests are great to determine how people get along with one another and develop interpersonal relationships. Behavioral styles evaluations can assist in determining ‘best practices’ in managing individuals and their behaviors. The problem with these is not in the assessments themselves, but when using them to determine what actions you should take in the selection and development of salespeople. A leading assessment company at one time even claimed that there is no direct correlation between behavioral styles and successful sales performance. Using the information that these can generate may be a great tool to maximize your sales force as long as the information is kept in context. What you need is great tool that will help you learn what makes a successful salesperson, if and how a salesperson can improve, where improvements are necessary to your sales team, and more. You need a tool that determines what obstacles may be preventing successful sales, how much realistic improvement you can expect, action plans for improvement. Do you want to predict which candidates will succeed in your sales position with 95% certainty? This can be done, and it is through approaching sales positions and sales with a direct and objective view on the science of sales. Use a sales assessment that effectively profiles your company and the potential candidates, critically evaluates potential talent, and maximizes the results for your company consistently. Smeester and Associates specializes in using tools like what’s been described above to help maximize sales for companies. If you want assistance in finding a tool for you that can effectively increase the performance of your sales team, then contact us;

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Hiring Sales People – Why Place SO Much Value On Industry Experience?

Mar 23rd

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Companies looking to expand their sales force often consider “industry experience” as a must-have for their candidates; a smart business would quickly eliminate this practice, and place more value on the quality of the salesperson and their history in selling.

A great salesperson is great regardless of the industry! Any savvy professional in sales should agree that performance history, adaptability, comfort, confidence, and passion are infinitely more valuable qualities and skills than years of experience in any particular niche. Making sure that your next sales hire can demonstrate sales core competencies leaves them open and available to focus their energy on learning about your company, business, and products. A person who already understands the science of sales and the ability to relate with your potential clients will definitely be trainable in your particular market, and educating that person will be incalculably less expensive than hiring another sales dud who already has spent 10 years in your field.

Industry Experience is not nearly as valuable as salesmanship and a proven history of sales.

In the ever-changing world that we live in, it would be wise to focus on those that already know today’s sales/marketing scene, and have the know-how to continuously evolve with the market around them. Finding sales stars can make any business grow tremendously, and a real sales all-star will always shine no matter what they are selling. Next time you are looking to grow your sales force, don’t limit yourself to people who have been in your field of business.

Ultimately, it should be infinitely more cost effective and fun to train somebody in your market, products, and services, than teaching them about selling. You absolutely can hire great salespeople, and the first step is changing your approach. The science of sales is proven to work, so leave the selling to the sales force and make yourself more available to continue making the best business you can.

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Social Media Marketing 101: Don’t Get Caught Up In Just Selling

Mar 19th

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is an incredibly powerful tool, but so many businesses stepping in to this world get too immersed in the SELLING aspect and lose track of the SOCIAL aspect.

Stay on target with Social Media Marketing

The internet has become the next “great conversation” of history; millions of people every day log in to a number of sites to read, post, respond, and develop new digital communities. Recent studies indicate that nearly 60% of Americans engage in social media (Facebook, Twitter, linkedin, etc.), which makes Social Media Marketing a wonderful opportunity to get your business’ message out to an incredible amount of people for very little (if any) cost to you. However, too many new businesses step into this digital world with the intent to only sell, and don’t seem to know that in this arena PARTICIPATION leads to sales. Only 25% of social media users (roughly 46.3 million Americans) “want to be sold to”, which leaves the remaining 75% of users looking to simply engage and participate.

The expectation now is that you, as a business, interact with the scene and not just post frequently about your products and your services. Develop a personality on the web, share your thoughts, promote interesting other people, and sell yourself. Even if you have the absolute BEST product and service in the industry right now, YOU still have to sell it and most consumers are more likely to buy from a person they can relate to. The opportunity will arise for you to sell as long you stay involved with potential customers.

Mikal Belicove, an author and Social Media Adviser, has stated, “It’s called Social Media, not Social SELLING.” Remembering that media is a crucial part of the whole equation will aid you greatly as you begin and continue your company’s growth in Social Media Marketing. Above all, the expanding realm of using social media as a sales tool is about developing a RELATIONSHIP and sharing your voice with a vast amount of potential new customers.

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Why Most Sales Recruiters SUCK!

Mar 18th

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You might be paying somebody far too much money to do little more than a career-centric website could do. Here are a few reasons why most sales recruiters are bad for you and worse for your wallet.

Sales recruiters can be a gamble

Every business owner has felt the sting of a bad hire; it hurts business, costs you money, and damages morale. But, you usually dust off the frustration, hire somebody new, and move forward. You might even investigate hiring (or purchasing) somebody to help manage the hiring recruitment process for you, so that you can focus on continuing to move your business forward. However, be aware that many sales recruiters are terrible… at best.

1) Most sales recruiters ARE simply resume filters.

If all you need is a stack of resumes, then most sales recruiters will do a great job gathering as many resumes as possible and filtering for “experience.” But, you may want to do a little shopping around to some automated systems first; you’ll probably get a lower price for the same questionable results. Most sales Recruiters are only paid based on placing a salesperson in your company, but there is very little evidence up front that this person will fit, perform, or even excel. The typical Sales Recruitment process focuses on experience – and rightly so, but any sales guru will tell you that “industry experience” is completely unimportant.

2) Many Sales Recruiters don’t properly profile your position.

Finding the right salespeople requires so much more than experience and past performance. Many sales recruiters won’t even try to grasp the full and complete picture of your company; instead, they will only look at the product you are selling and match “professionals” with that product. Profiling evaluates and assesses the potential salesperson’s lifestyle and sales abilities. For example, proper assessment considers a candidates comfort with differing sales cycles, how they interact with different prospects and understand their potential clients, and much more. Profiling confirms that your potential new salesperson and your company are a mutual match. Many Sales Recruiters don’t consider things like this in their recruitment process because they focus too closely on simply filling the position.

3) The process can not maximize results.

Any business owner should be able to agree that their sales force has not performed as hoped for, and that 20% or less of their sales force has met and surpassed the goals established when they were hired. This is often due to a rushed and poorly developed recruitment and hiring process. When sales recruiters fail to fully develop a solid process that appropriately and adequately sorts through the thousands of applicants, you will be left with too many possible candidates that likely won’t perform how you NEED them to.

To combat poor sales recruitment programs, all you need to do is remember that this situation (like so many others) IS sales, not gambling. You wouldn’t gamble on a lemon of a car in hopes that it doesn’t break down as soon as you drive it off the lot, so why would you hire salespeople in hopes that they might generate an appropriate stream of revenue for your company?

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Recruiting Sales Teams In This Economy

Mar 17th

You simply can’t afford another bad sales hire. A few ideas to help your business continue to grow in this struggling economy.

In today’s market it’s certainly easy to pack your sales staff with bodies, but how do you filter through the thousands of resumes to ensure that you are hiring the absolute BEST people to sell for your company? The trick is to stay on top of your recruitment before your need takes over your want, and maintain a continuous pro-active stance towards sales recruitment. Through keeping the recruitment doors open for positions you will have a continuous stream of actively interested candidates as well as “just looking” possibilities.

Put somebody in charge of recruiting and make that their primary responsibility. This might seem a little pricey up front, but compare one person’s salary to the incalculable price of a bad sales hire – and this person’s value is now worth their weight in gold. This person can focus on developing and cultivating relationships with potential new salespeople and streamline the process. Just like in sales, this will build the talent pipeline and allow your company to grow.
Utilize the available resources and technology. Currently there are seemingly countless online resources to screen and assess possible new members to your staff. Focusing on the word “screen” will make this process even more effective, and allow your Recruitment Director to sort through many people who might not “fit” in your market.
Save the interview for the end. It would be quite impractical to interview EVERYONE who sends a resume your way; instead, schedule 10 minute phone conversations with possible candidates to actively investigate more specific topics relating to their personality, skills, and ability to sell. If your sales recruitment process is effective, then the people that make it this far are already qualified, interested, and a likely match to your sales needs.

Remember that sales recruiting IS sales. Once somebody has made it through the screening and ‘weeding-out’ part of the sales recruiting process, it is finally time to schedule a face-to-face interview. This is the candidates chance to CLOSE you; if they can’t close a sale of themselves with you, then they might not be the best at closing a sale with a client. Remember, you are likely going to pay them tens of thousands of dollars over the next year to sell your product and/or services; like all other investments, you are the only one who can choose if this is the best opportunity for you to see a return.