Transcript Direct Contact - ClearEdge Marketing

June 9, 2008
Improving Your One-on-One Game
A Marketing Discussion
Presented by:
Leslie Vickrey
President & Founder
ClearEdge Marketing
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NACCB Trivia
When and where was the first annual
NACCB conference?
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NACCB Trivia
When and where was the first annual
NACCB conference?
1988 – St. Petersburg, Florida
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Content
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Who is ClearEdge Marketing?
From Your Prospect’s Perspective
Definitions: One-on-One vs. One-to-Many
Review of Approaches: Value & Implementation
 References
 Direct Contact
 Sales Presentation
 Where Your One-to-Many Focus Should Be
 Q&A
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Who Is ClearEdge Marketing?
 Outsourced marketing services provider offering extensive
specialization in IT services and solutions
 Clients include…
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From Your Prospect’s Perspective
Source: ITSMA, How Customers Choose
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From Your Prospect’s Perspective
Source: ITSMA, How Customers Choose
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From Your Prospect’s Perspective
Source: ITSMA, How Customers Choose
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Marketing Definitions
This discussion will focus on two types of marketing as
defined by Gartner…
 One-to-One Marketing
One person talking to one person
One-to-Many Marketing
A company talking to many people
Source: Gartner Dataquest Insight - Buyers of IT Professional Services in North America
Rate the Most-Effective Marketing Activities
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Can You Name Them?
 One-to-One
 One-to-Many
 References
 Web site
 Direct company
 Sales literature
contact
 Presentations
 White papers
 PR
 Events
 Newsletters
 Advertising
 Direct mail
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Which Is Better?
 Every business must have a balance
 Sales teams need the added support of one-to-all marketing
 Web sites are rapidly coming one organization’s primary
spokesperson
 However, nothing can replace the value of one-to-one contact
and references
 Report Gartner Dataquest: One-to-One marketing is more
effective according to IT professional services’ customers
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The Numbers Prove It
Business and IT managers both rank one-to-one marketing more
effective than all one-to-many marketing efforts. Proven track record
leads the pack!
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Your Turn: Reference Accounts
Questions for NACCB Members
 How many of you are currently using client
references in your sales process?
 Have you found it effective?
 What are your challenges/roadblocks to
reference accounts?
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The Benefits of Good References
The Value
 Trust: This is a peer-to-peer
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conversation.
Authenticity: “Sales” feel
completely eliminated.
Honesty: Unbarred, unedited,
unmonitored conversation. They can
ask whatever they like.
Track Record: First-hand proof of
business success, results and client
satisfaction.
The Results: What do you do when
you have a reference or two from a
trusted source?
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Implementation:
Client References
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Building a Reference Program
 Have all sales staff make requesting a reference part of
process and best practices
 Why sales staff?
o Accountability
o Direct beneficiaries
o They KNOW people – who would be a good reference
 The approach:
o Check in 2-3 months after the service/solution has been
implemented (For complex, outsourced solution the
timeframe must expand.)
o Confirm project/consultant is succeeding
o Ask if they would be willing to be a reference
o Offer options…
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Types of References
The Goal is a…
 Peer-to-Peer Reference
 Willing to be on a call list for potential clients with similar
roles/positions
o Be sure to emphasize that the client’s name will be used
sparingly so as not to send a flood of work and phone calls to a
busy, valued client.
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Types of References
Other “reference-like” one-to-many marketing options…
 Attend an Event
 Willing to come to a open house/in-house event for your company
where a case study of your solution is discussed
 Willing to participate in roundtable event
o This is an in-person, on-site event
 Testimonials
 A statement written by the client about your service/solutions
 Case Study
 A summary of the service/solution written by your marketing team
and including a quote/statement from the client
 Unpublished client list – shown during presentations
 Published client list – on Web site and sales literature
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Your Turn: Direct Contact
Questions for NACCB Members
 What techniques are you using to ensure your sales
professionals, technical professionals and top business
leaders are making personal, direct contact with
prospects (getting in the door, face time)?
 What are your challenges/roadblocks that keep you
from getting to the right person?
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The Benefits of Direct Contact
The Value
 Familiarity: The prospect gets to know your people/your
“DNA”
 Comfort: The “eye-to-eye” factor
 Accurate Information: Questions can be answered
immediately by an inside expert
 Reconnaissance: Your business sends an expert in to learn
more about what the prospect needs (challenges, concerns,
goals)
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Implementation:
Direct Contact
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Building a Direct Contact Program
 You Already Have One: Your Sales Team
 Is it time for an assessment? Do you know…
o How often are your sales professionals meeting in person with
prospects versus by phone?
o Is your sales team comfortable and aggressive at getting out in
front of prospects?
o Where is your sales team encountering prospects?
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Industry events?
Association meetings?
Trade shows?
Cold calling for appointments?
o What strategies could you be using to create more “in-person”
opportunities for your sales teams?
o What tools are you arming your sales staff with?
• Are references included?
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Building a Direct Contact Program
 Beyond the Sales Team
 Direct contact sales opportunities are not just for
the sales professionals
o Technical Experts
o Industry (Vertical Market) Expertise
o Management (CEO, COO, CTO, etc.)
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Building a Direct Contact Program
Target Account Programs
What Is It?
o A scheduled, targeted weekly drop in
program for target accounts
o Duration: 4-8 weeks, depending on target
and service/solution being sold
o Branded Components: A weekly program
card/postcard and a weekly giveaway
(leave behind reminder)
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Target Account Program Example
Poor choices theme…
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Target Account Program Example
Note card fronts…
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Sample TAP Schedule
Touch
Item
Follow up
Week One
Mail note card and/or HTML
Follow up call
Week Two
Drop off #1
Follow up call/e-mail
Week Three
Drop off #2
Follow up call/e-mail
Week Four
Drop off #3
Follow up call/e-mail
Week Five
Drop off #4
Follow up call/e-mail
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Why TAP?
 Customer Relationships
Get in front of decision makers regularly.
 Push Your Sales Force
Get your sales team out to pound the pavement regularly, give
them focus.
 Measurement
This is a simple way to measure sales and marketing message
effectiveness as the target group is small and the program
carefully managed.
 Direct Contact
Increases one of today’s most successful marketing approaches
for IT service providers: direct contact.
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Your Turn: Sales Presentations
Questions for NACCB Members
 Are you using sales presentations to introduce
your company’s capabilities?
 How often are you updating your sales
presentations?
 Are sales presentations streamlined or does each
salesperson have his/her own version?
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Improvement:
Sales Presentations
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Improving Sales Presentations
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Design is important
 There is real science behind an effective sales presentation – use it
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Regular content refresh is critical
 Every 2-3 months check dates, services, client lists, update case studies, etc.
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Customization
 All presentations should be thoughtfully customized to each prospect (their
business, their needs, etc.)
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Rehearsals
 The best sales teams rehearse their presentations, regularly and are rigorous
about presenting in top form
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Training
 New, less experienced sales staff should be trained to present
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Update the look
 Templates should be updated yearly to ensure logos, graphics, etc. are still
attention-grabbling and interesting
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Bridging the Marketing Gap
One-to-One
One-to-Many
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The Best of Two Approaches
 One-on-one marketing is time and talent intensive
 A blend is essential
 Some tools bridge the gap between the two types of
marketing
 Case studies
 Testimonials (print, podcast, etc.)
 Local, in-house events
 Speaking engagements
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Case Studies
 Beneficial one-to-one elements…
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Demonstrated track record
Testimonial/reference included (best)
Ghosted (still good!)
Clients’ words (in the form of quotes)
are included
 Beneficial one-to-many elements…
 Easy to distribute
o E-mail
o Print
o Online
 Multipurpose
o Case studies are more than great sales tools, they can be part of client
retention, media relations, training, internal communications, event
promotion and recognition programs
o Staffing clients can opt for case study summaries for a shorter, multiple
project synopsis, still carrying strong impact
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Testimonials, Client Lists & Case Studies
PRINT/E-MAIL/WEB
E-MAIL/WEB
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Testimonials, Client Lists & Case Studies
WEB
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Implementation Questions:
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What makes a great case study?
What must a case study have? Name, results?
Should only “big name” clients be used for case studies?
How can you compel clients to participate in case studies?
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Forums/Roundtables/
Speaking Engagements
What Are They?
o Invitation-only events to a group of targets
on an industry issue important to them
o Hosted by your business (co-sponsored by a
partner)
o Size: very small, very elite – you want your
sales and business leaders to have “direct
contact” time with each attendee
o Purpose:
• To demonstrate industry expertise in an area
important to prospects
• To generate valuable “direct contact”
opportunities
• Pre-networking/post Q&A gives opportunity for
one-on-one contact
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Harvey Nash CIO Survey
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Speaking Engagements
 Beneficial one-to-one elements…
 Question and answer as well as pre- and post-event
time create one-on-one marketing opportunities
 Trade shows/industry events often build-in
client/prospect meeting and networking events
 Beneficial one-to-many elements…
 Appearance is industry/association endorsement of
your company
 Puts your company in “the expert” role
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Implementation Questions:
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What types of content can make for an interesting event?
What is a good duration for a local event?
Who should speak?
How do you keep it from looking like a “sales” pitch?
Example….
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Web Site
Today’s Most Critical One-to-Many Marketing Tool:
Your Web Site
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Question?
 Question for NACCB Members:
 Would you consider your Web site a marketing tool that offers one-
to-one marketing opportunities?
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Answer: Yes
 While a Web site is designed as a one-to-many
marketing tool, there are several tools that can
facilitate or come close to one-on-one marketing
 Testimonials, client lists and case studies
 Blogs
 Podcasting
 Social networks
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Search Engine Optimization
 General Marketing Opportunities
 Makes it easier for prospects and candidates to find you
 Improves ranking on major search engines
 Drives traffic to Web site
 Generates sales leads
 Questions for the audience: Does search engine
optimization work for services firms? How are you taking
advantage of it?
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Blogging: What Can it Do?
Blogging Is Sizzling Hot
Marketing Opportunity
o Gets your business experts out into the public
discussion in an informal, hip medium
o Allows you to rapidly share expertise
o Enables linking strategies with other expert
organizations to demonstrate knowledge, derive
association with leading entities
o Blends well with a range of Internet marketing
• Linking
• Digital direct mail
• Search engine optimization
Who’s blogging?
o Everyone from CEOs down the corporate hierarchy
(not to mention movie stars, politicians, grandmothers,
teenagers, etc.)
o Candidate and practice-based technical blogs are
leading the IT pack
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Blogging: The Benefits
One-on-one Marketing Opportunities
 When done well, blogs are an interactive medium
o Readers can ask questions directly to readers (prospective clients)
o Bloggers can send their posts directly to clients (e-mail direct
marketing)
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More on Blogging
 Blogging Stats
 120,000 new blogs being created worldwide each day. About
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1.4 blogs created every second of every day (Technorati)
Technorati tracks about 1.5 million posts per day
The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months
(Technorati)
Approximately 2% to 7% of adult American Internet users
write blogs (Pew)
61% of the blog readers are over 30 and 75% make more than
$45,000 annually (eMarketer)
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Who’s Blogging?
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Who’s Blogging?
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Who’s Blogging?
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Your Turn: Blogging
Questions for Audience
 Are you blogging? If so, who’s your
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primary audience and tell us about
your experience/return.
Is blogging a flash in the marketing
pan?
Should businesses really be out in
the blogosphere?
Can blogging have a measurable
marketing impact?
What should and should not be
blog material?
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Improvement:
Web site
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What’s Most Important?
 Attract, convince, capture
 Fast loading, works on any browser
 According to Gartner Dataquest, prospects are looking at
 Quality
o Well organized?
o Attractive?
o Does it look like time and money went into the site? Has their
been an investment in effort?
 Layout
o Is the layout interesting and clean?
 Content
o Are messages easy to understand?
o Is it written to the right audience?
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Your Other Audience
Web Site Best Practices - Candidates
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Easy to remember Web address
Link to career section from home page
Job search functionality
One click apply
Urgent need jobs highlighted (home and content pages)
About the company: culture, benefits, referral programs
Ability to apply for multiple positions via one application
Ability to submit/attach resume, submittals link to actual
job application
9. E-mail a friend feature
10.Online user feedback
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General Tips
1. Promote track record (case studies, testimonials)
2. Demonstrate thought leadership (business perspective
articles)
3. Provide ability to submit feedback/request services
4. Highlight your talent (people)
5. Feature contact information on every page (or at least
readily accessible)
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In Summary…
 Now is the time to improve your one-to-one marketing
efforts:
 References, direct contact and sales presentations
 There are effective “bridge” marketing tools that can help
you emulate some of the best aspects of one-to-one
marketing:
o Case studies, testimonials, in-house events and speaking
engagements
 Today, your Web site is your most important one-to-many
marketing tool: WORK ON IT!
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Contact Information
Leslie Vickrey
President & Founder
312.731.3149
[email protected]
www.clearedgemarketing.com
© 2008 ClearEdge Marketing. Confidential Information.
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