The Microfit Small Business Blog

Why A, Go-Giver Sells More

John Garrett — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:16:45 +0000

There are more books, lining more shelves, sitting in more bookstores, located in more cities, than we could ever care to count, let alone read. All promising the, “hidden secrets” to all things sales.

Closing, opening, countering, negotiating, calling, networking, presenting… the list goes on. And all these hidden secrets are put to paper in order to get someone (anyone), to give a sales person money.

Ironically, these sales-people-turned-authors have succeeded at one thing, selling a sales person yet another book.

This is not true with, Go-Givers Sell More, by Bob Burg and John David Mann.

To understand that I’m not “selling” you something, you need only understand the premise of the book: giving is the key, not figuring out how you can take.

I first read, The Go-Giver, by Mr. Burg and Mr. Mann, after a client sent it to me, thinking it emulated my business practices. While it was a very kind gesture, it was one of VERY few books I’ve read that resonated with the human side of me, that in turn, dictated how the professional side of me operated.

These two authors have since taken the ideals shared in, The Go-Givers, and applied them to the the sales arena… and how refreshing these ideals are!

After reading just a few chapters of, Go-Givers Sell More, I “tweeted” Mr. Burg (both authors are very active on Twitter, so add them @bobburg and @johndavidmann)…

@BobBurg
Just opened the book and I’m all smiles. Except you may put me out of business. My clients aren’t going to need my sales training…I love it and it’s so much of what we teach. My clients will love the book!
5:09 PM Jan 27th

Why will my clients love this book?

Much of our time as consultants is spent deconstructing out of date and self focused business / sales models. This is how I make a substantial portion of my income and authors Bob Burg / John David Mann have put together information that is not the “copy and paste” concepts you get with most sales books. In fact, since reading Go-Givers, it’s quickly become a staple read for my clients and I will absolutely recommend the next installment, Go-Givers Sell More, as another tool to be used.

So what makes, Go-Giver Sells More, a must read for consultants, sales professionals and business people alike? I don’t want to give anything away and I definitely don’t want you to feel, that because you read this post, you got the “jist” of the book. So I picked three snippets that I wanted to comment on.

The over hyped, “You’re going to love it… this is incredible!”

The book takes you through a series of word evaluations to help the reader understand that, not only is there contradiction being created with some of the language being used in our example and not only is this type of hype over selling the product / service, but this kind of “selling” is completely “me” focused.

This is my first pick, because the greatest “crash and burn” I’ve ever seen, was during the training of a new sales rep for a client of mine. He took this approach and went down in flames. He was taught other wise, but just couldn’t help himself. He was out of sales within a month.

Over talking during the sales process

The book here takes an almost spiritual turn. The book is filed with the opportunity to be introspective, but in dealing with subject of silence, the book looks at the core of who we are as people and the true value of our words. There is a great statement…

You tap into your greatest value and authenticity when you are not speaking. It’s not that what you are saying isn’t important. That’s just not where your power lies. . . true conviction is best conveyed, not through more words, but through fewer; it dwells behind the words.

For those who are new-comers to the sales arena, over talking, over promising and over hyping are great ways to lose the opportunity to help a person get something they need. The book takes a very unique look at this subject and was my favorite part of the book!

When it comes time to present the solution to the client, we must be present!

It use to be that sales people would memorize their jargon, data and sales pitch. Then, they would go into the room, close their minds and go on auto pilot. Problem is, now the consumer is so educated, they don’t need our information, their armed to the teeth with their own.

In, Go-Giver Sells More, the concept is about getting past owning information and helping the client to find meaning. Information is only as relevant or powerful as the application the client can realize for their situation or needs. The book goes on to teach that it’s about authenticity. Do we think the information we are giving will help them? Is it what they want to hear, need to hear?

Closing Thought…

Of the dozens of business books I’ve read, looking for some nugget that would help me help my clients, the last two books I’ve read by Bob Burg and John David Mann, have stood heads and shoulders above so many others. They have become instant must reads for my clients and hand to my heart, books my wife loved.

Why?

Why would a stay at home wife love these books? Because these books are about becoming people who are innocently in the pursuit of helping other people. Sales people are tagged with this stigma that they are slimy and untrustworthy. Go-Giver Sells More gives sales professionals permission and acts as a guide to help the reader find the conviction, to first be good people to our clients.

If I had to narrow it down to one reason why I love this book, that would be it.

3 Tips for the Entrepreneur / Workhorse

John Garrett — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:00:07 +0000

When we have dinner parties or the neighbor makes small talk, the topic of what I do for a living always comes up. I mean, it’s par for the course when you’re getting to know some one. Most times you can equate what a person does to what their daily routine and what their responsibilities might be. That said, the only thing more enjoyable than trying to explain to the 9-5 person what I do for a living, is watching my wife try to explain it!

Our lives, as either the entrepreneur or the workhorse (trying to move up or retire as fast as possible) is quite different from what most people experience in their work lives. We don’t clock in, cause we never clock out. We aren’t happy with a salary, that’s just a limit on how much we can make and we hate working for people who we think are dumber than us. The last one isn’t ego, very few people think they work for the elite of the world, but they stick around, cause you know, its a job.

When we decided (you and I, the risk takers) to ditch the corporate gig and make our dreams a reality (here’s hoping), we had to immediately deal with the certain reality that life would never be the same. To say you can’t approach entrepreneurship (and often true sales) the same way you take on the 9-5 job is obvious and yet, sometimes, we do just that.

So here are three tips for those making (or have made) the jump from 9-5 to 24-7.

1. Lose the Traditional Sleep Patterns

Notice I didn’t say lose sleep. Often we take our long hours and simply sleep less. Ironically, most times, it isn’t because we burning the mid night oil, but because we are incapable of turning off our mind! You lay there in bed, mind racing, praying you’ll fall asleep.

About a year ago, after reading a couple biographies (Einstein etc.) I started to notice a pattern. Some of the most prolific thinkers and contributors in human history did not get a consistent eight hours of sleep. So, I took their tendencies and adapted them to myself. Over time my sleep patterns evolved and I got to where I am today.

Most nights I go to sleep between 8PM and 9PM. Then, naturally, between 12AM and 1AM I’ll wake up. I keep my laptop and books by my bed, turn on the lamp and go to work. I work between two to three hours, then close up and go back to sleep for a couple hours.

The reason this works for me is two fold:

A – Because I know I’ll be up in a few hours working again, I view my sleep as “naps” and for whatever reason, my mind stops racing long enough for naps.

B – If you’re like me, your email, twitter, facebook, linkedin and phone chirp at you all day long. Not to mention team members, friends and family. But at 2AM, the world is asleep. I find that I get more done in that three hour block of time than I do ALL DAY LONG!

When I go back to sleep for my last couple (sometimes few) hours of sleep, there is nothing else to think about and I slip off to dream land. Even if my day gets high-jacked by meetings or client issues (which is a guarantee), I know I can catch up when the world sleeps.

This exact routine may not work for you, but the point is that we don’t have to force our minds and bodies to fit into the conventional patterns. This should seem obvious to those of us who do not have conventional lives, yet we try to put that square peg into the round hole, don’t we?

So find your new routine.

2. Set Non-Negotiables

Our lives are filled with trying to stuff as much as we can in 24 hours. So, thanks to a business mentor of mine, I learned long ago to set some non-negotiables in my business life that have worked well for me. Some are obvious, some are not, but I’ll share some with you.

But first, the heart of why we do this.

We have to find the value of our time and give it a dollar figure. We, as entrepreneurs, will be pulled in so many directions, with so many opportunities, that our time seems to slip away. When you work for a corporation, you know how much you’re going to make year to year. So if you are not a fine tuned machine, who cares… not your dime, right?

But what if it is your dime?

So it’s a good rule of thumb to know what you are worth (be realistic) and view your time in that monetary value.

Now, if you set rules or guidelines… whatever you want to call them; if you set them “up front,” then they are your “policies.” It isn’t that you are trying to be hard to work with or stick it to anyone, these are simply your company policies.

Here are my non-negotiable (company policies):

When I tell my wife/kid I’m going to take time off or make it to an event, I do it, no matter what.

Our families often pay the price for us chasing our dreams. We work ungodly hours, miss dinner more than we make it and can’t seem to “turn it off.” So when I do promise a trip to Florida, fishing in the gulf or skipping the office to play at the park with the kid, I don’t let anything, for any amount of money, change my calendar.

I don’t discount – EVER.

It’s not that I’m egotistic or that I’m greedy. I simply believe that when you start a relationship based on discounting (i.e. monetary value alone), that is what the business relationship becomes about. These kinds of business relationships never hit that special groove we try to find, the true win – win. The thing is, with a win – win, you both actually have to win.

I give an honest product / service to my clients and the fiscal amount I charge covers it. It isn’t fabricated or ficticous. Anyone who has worked with me knows, I have a calculator for everything. The price is the price cause that is the price to produce the end result. When we discount, we are saying, “That isn’t really the price. I padded it and if you ask for more off, you may get it.”

This is a horrible way to start a relationship and even if it’s simply on a sub-conscience level, instills a lack of trust.

I Don’t Work for Family or Friends for Free

So now I must REALLY sound greedy! It’s funny, that we are willing to pay a stranger a premium, but we want to pay our brother nothing. This is because, as the Bible says, “a prophet in his hometown is not accepted.”

Our friends and family view us as the kid they played with growing up, not the business genius that you are. So they don’t mind your help, they just don’t want to pay for it.

I added this to my non-negotiables a year ago, because working for free was a sure fire way to stress myself out, see my family less and make no money, thus killing my company and marriage.

I offer a number of way for my services to paid for and they are fair for everyone

3. Mix Up Your Income Streams

Often, we run into clients who can’t afford us, so we either discount our work, do it for free or pass on the job. However, if I believe in the client and they can’t afford my hourly fee’s or a retainer, I offer for them to pay me in equity, percentage of business or percentage of savings.

See, our family and friends CAN afford us!

I do this, not only to “get” the job, but because I like multiple types of income streams. Retainers are the “guaranteed” money each month, like a base. Our hourly or project fee’s are the biggest percentage of income by volume, but come to an end and you have to have something else lined up. The equity or percentage revenue streams are a nice hybrid of retainer clients and fixed fee clients.

The percentage client is ongoing and is a great win – win. If you do a great job, you make very good money off the deal. If you struggle in reaching your goals, the client doesn’t pay as much and so there is grace and the ability to regroup and try something new.

At any rate, if you have a good mix of these clients, you can actually achieve stability early in your entrepreneurial journey.

In closing:

I’m a business consultant and that is where much of this information is derived from, but I am also an owner in two companies; my own start up and a merger. In this blog, I tried to touch on strategies I use in different areas of my entrepreneurial life. I feel as though I jumped around a bit, but I wanted to offer something to people in different places. If you have any specific questions, toss me them through the comment section.

2009 | The Microfit Group

John Garrett — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:25:06 +0000

When I think back to this time in 2008, I remember this vivid moment, filled with emotion. I was driving on 280 in Birmingham, Alabama and I remember what I was feeling at that exact moment about the economy. I’d left Apple the previous year to start my life as an entrepreneur; a challenge and risk in and of itself, but then this… this deep, dark recession. I was angry. Not scared, not nervous, but angry.

I left a secure company, turned down a promotion, moved across the country to help pioneer a firm. After changing out some of the initial pieces, we were ready to go. Our first client was a very well established local residential design firm, whom we got in deep with them. See a problem? Our young company was not only looking to build it’s client base, develop it’s own sea-legs and introduce itself to it’s new community, it just become part of the housing debacle. We spent sixteen months prior to the launch of The Microfit Group, working with this client as a Case Study of what our strategies, structures, sales and marketing methods could do for a small business. We enjoyed all of five months of success before the collapse.

I was angry.

The partnership of firm had not faced a lot of failure in their professional lives. In fact, this was group of people who had done well in their careers. I personally felt as if I’d failed; my partners, my client(s) and their employee’s. How could I not have seen this coming… for everyone’s sake?

This is how I felt on that December day, back in 2008.

I’m grateful now for the trials our firm faced that year, that we all faced. Our firm learned more in that one year, experienced more in that 12 month period, than perhaps all our collective career’s, multiplied by ten.

The economy is getting a little better each day and I won’t bore you with all the nuances of why I believe this, but I think we all see it as Small Business owners. This world we are moving into will be different than the world we left. Companies that have made it through are stream lined and more efficient, and while this may not help those hurting in the jobless market, it has trimmed the proverbial fat of many businesses, replacing old process with new systems.

In 2009, we’ve helped our clients with strategic mergers, marketing plans for expansion or reinvention, coached start-ups looking for investors, helped old companies reinvent themselves from the inside out (love that one), taught workshops on social media/blogging and worked with non-profits to help change the tone of their conversations. Even got an article in the Business Journal. (Thanks Wade)

The advice and guidance we’ve been able to give our clients in 2009 was shaped and refined by the collapse of 2008. That collapse has perhaps built some of the strongest companies we will see in the next ten years. If their is any hope our firm holds dear, it is that we perhaps played a role in helping that come to fruition.

We want to say thank you to all those who have partnered with our firm, trusted our guidance and have been brave enough to be honest and face change head on.

On The Home Front

We are excited to announce that we will be offering our Art Director, Shane Etheredge, a Partnership with The Microfit Group. Shane has been behind the look and feel of our clients design/branding, as well as the internal branding of our firm. More importantly, he has been a foundational element of this company, a man who has always done what he said he would and a teaching resource to our clients. Making him a long term player in this firm is one of the best moves we could make for our clients.

We also hope to launch a church consulting division of our company in 2010, for the brave souls willing to take a honest look of their local establishment (not for the weak of heart).

I’d like to openly say thank to Tony Legrone and Chuck Frusterio, the less vocal partners of The Microfit Group.

In my own life, when I have financial or web based questions, you’re my resource. You are who I go to before anyone else. To be able to take our clients me are my own first choice for business advice, that is a gift for anyone playing an evangelist role for a consulting firm. You are both men of integrity and I trust you to no end. Thank you for how you treat me, my wife and my son; thank you for being family.

To high hopes in 2010!

Cheers,

John Garrett

President

The Microfit Group

Ready for a New Website? 3 Things to Keep in Mind!

John Garrett — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:42:43 +0000

Are you looking to develop or re-develop a website / blog for your company? If so, I have three things I thought would be helpful to share that I usually only share with people who I can be painfully honest with.

Usually these types of people are friends or family, sometimes people who were referred to me and place trust because of the recommendation. You can’t always be completely honest with people who don’t “know” you due to the fear of being perceived as arrogant or rude. That said, with those who know you and need honest business advice, you can get to the nitty-gritty and make great decisions.

So here is the advice I give friends / family who happen to be in business.

First let me say, I sit in consultations weekly with my clients, my clients clients and those who may soon become someones client. If social media / networking has done anything, it has shown people that there is life BEYOND the static “brochure” website. In the next couple years we will see a massive revenue stream come from companies re-doing their website(s) in hopes of creating something that furthers a business process.

All that said, if you were my friend, I would say:

#1 Don’t partner with a company who spends the majority of the time asking you what you want your site to do.

If you can layout the answer to this question you are a DREAM client for a web company. Why? Because they aren’t business experts; by and large, their marketing people. Truth is, most web companies long to be viewed as marketing companies and what are these companies comfortable with?

Marketing.

Not only are they stuck usually trying to sell what they have, their stuck selling what they know. These companies usually have a hard time probing to find deficiency in your company that they can fix via the web. Same is true for furthering your strengths.

So the conversation becomes, “What do you want it to do? What do you want it to look like?”

A colleague of mine who is an Art Director for a local Digital Solutions company calls this, “selling brochures vs. creating conceptual solutions.”

Run from companies selling you a website and partner with the company that understands business, can conceptual a strategy and implement it.

#2 Don’t worry about the color scheme!

I’m not saying graphics aren’t important, but the color scheme of your site pales in comparison to the usability and features of your site. If a site is usable, if it has features that the end-user cares about, graphics are secondary. Want proof? Craigs List is the ugliest site on the internet and we all LOVE IT! I’m on there three, four times a week.

Is it ugly? Sure! Is the flat screen HDTV I got on it for 70% off? NO!

Now which do you think I care about?

If this is where the bulk of the conversation is happening on your site, shame on you and shame on the company you are using. Your web company should be producing a useful site. If they are not, they are selling you pretty – useless – site. Why would they do this? Either they don’t want to fight over colors and hurt a relationship or they don’t know anything more.

If YOU are the on harping on this, you are missing the point completely of having a website.

#3 After it’s all done, will the site make you a better company?

If the answer is no, don’t waste your money. I’m not kidding, don’t spend one penny on a new site! Why would you? If it doesn’t strengthen your company its a waste of money.

So, is a brochure – static – pretty site REALLY going to be the competitive advantage your company needs? Look at the websites of your competition. If they are a small business, most likely they have failed in creating a significant business tool; they have a poor, useless sites.

I was in a meeting last week with a client and he had a business associate with him. The associate was telling us how great his site was (looked) and how proud of it he was.

By the end of the meeting, he admitted it neither drove, nor converted any new business, had a lame content form NO ONE EVER FILLED OUT and has been a massive waste of money. He started the meeting with how great it looked, he left the meeting with the reality check that it did as much as a non-existent site for his business.

So my closing thought.

Any money tossed at these no-no’s is too much. On the flip side, if you find a business that can really get to the core of your company and build a strong business tool, calculate the amount of money it would cost if you DID NOT move forward over the next three years. So long as you don’t spend MORE than that number, you’ve made a great investment.

DIY A/B Split Testing Using PHP and MYSQL

Tony Legrone — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:16:43 +0000

I was recently working on a landing page for a client that prompted visitors to fill out a quick survey. The page looked pretty nice and invited visitors to click a button that launched the survey inside of a modal box. That seemed good enough, but the next day, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head to just embed the survey right on the page without the need for another click or the need to scroll inside of the modal box.

After consulting with my art director. It was obvious that the modal box method was more aesthetic, but… Which way actually worked better to get the survey filled out?

I immediately thought of doing an A/B split test to find out. The trouble was, I needed it for free. A quick Google search revealed a couple free services but, they proved to be unusable for me. One service seemed like they weren’t done building it yet and needed javascript files included and I didn’t really want that and couldn’t get it to work anyway. Google’s method seemed fairly straightforward but, Google needed unique URL’s to work properly. My page needed to swap content without using alternate URL’s because 1.) I only want to track traffic on one page. 2.) I have tools to share the page on Twitter and Facebook and don’t want two URL’s floating around the social universe.

So I made my own way to do it and I’m going to share that with you.

And go easy on me. This is the first tutorial I’ve ever tried to make.

The Tutorial

You will need;

PHP
MYSQL
Cookies (for tracking)
Chocolate Chip Cookies (for noms)

The database

I tried to keep it as simple as possible because I didn’t plan on distributing it, but oh well.

There are three tables. One for tracking which option was served last and the campaign. One for tracking the amount of visitors and which option they saw. And one for tracking conversions and which option converted.

CREATE TABLE `ab_tests` (
	`test_id` int( 10 ) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT ,
	`title` varchar( 100 ) NOT NULL ,
	`last_option` varchar( 100 ) NOT NULL ,
	PRIMARY KEY ( `test_id` )
);

CREATE TABLE `ab_tests_visitors` (
	`visitor_id` int(10) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
	`test_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
	`option` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
	`visits` int(10) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
	PRIMARY KEY (`visitor_id`)
);

CREATE TABLE `ab_tests_conversions` (
	`conversion_id` int(10) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
	`test_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
	`option` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
	PRIMARY KEY (`conversion_id`)
);

Important: You’ll need to manually enter in the first row of the ab_tests table because you’ll have to reference the test_id and the last_option field values in your PHP to follow.

The PHP

Now for the fun part. Let’s pretend that the file you’re running the test on is named ab_test.php. The conversion form could be on the same page if you needed it to be, but I had it on a second file so that’s what we’re doing. Let’s call it conversion.php. That’s fitting.

I’m going to assume you’re already connected to your database by whatever method and skip writing all that code out. Just don’t forget to do it if you’re not.

Let’s say that you want to test an image just to keep the tutorial simple.

So, the first thing is to define your content options.

$content['a'] = '/images/image_1.png';
$content['b'] = '/images/image_2.png';

Next, we process how to choose which option gets served.

This is block1.

// this is from the row you made in ab_tests
$test_id = 1;

$switch = mysql_fetch_assoc(mysql_query("SELECT * FROM ab_tests WHERE test_id = '$test_id' "));

// set which option to display
if ($switch['last_option'] == 'b' ) {
	$option = 'a';
} else {
	$option = 'b';
}

// update the database to switch the option for the next visitor
mysql_query("UPDATE ab_tests SET last_option='$option' WHERE test_id = '$test_id' ");

// record the current visitor
mysql_query("INSERT INTO ab_tests_visitors VALUES ('NULL', '1', '$option', '1')");
$visitorID = mysql_insert_id();

// set a cookie with the option served and the visitor id that expires in 30 days
$cookie_name = 'ab_test_image';
$cookie_value = $option.'-'.$visitorID;
$cookie_expire = time()+60*60*24*30;
setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, $cookie_expire, '/', '.example.com');

That works pretty good but, we don’t want visitors to see a different option every time they come back to our page. So, using that cookie we set, we can find out which option they looked at and make sure they get the same one again. This also gives us a chance to track returning visitors separate from repeat visitors.

if (isset($_COOKIE['ab_test_image'])) {
	// break up the information in the cookie
	$cookie_info = explode('-', $_COOKIE['ab_test_image']);

	// retreive the number of times visited and add this time to it
	$visits = mysql_fetch_assoc(mysql_query("SELECT visits FROM ab_tests_visitors WHERE visitor_id = '$cookie_info[1]' "));
	$visits = $visits['visits'] + 1;

	if ($cookie_info[1] > 0) {
		@mysql_query("UPDATE ab_tests_visitors SET visits='$visits' WHERE visitor_id = '$cookie_info[1]' ");
	}

	// set which option should be displayed
	if ($cookie_info[0] == 'a' ) {
		$option = 'a';
	} else {
		$option = 'b';
	}
} else {
	// block1 goes here
}

The last thing is to echo the option into the HTML. That should look something like this;

" alt="" />

or this;

echo '';

Finally, we need to know which option converted the best. In the other file I mentioned, conversion.php, we’ll need to retrieve that cookie we set while the visitor was at ab_test.php.

// don't forget the test id
$test_id = 1;

if (isset($_COOKIE['ab_test_image'])) {
	// break up the information in the cookie
	$cookie_info = explode('-', $_COOKIE['ab_test_image']);
	$option = $cookie_info[0];

	// insert the option converted on into the database
	mysql_query("INSERT INTO ab_tests_conversions VALUES ('NULL', '$test_id', '$option') ");
}

That should do it!

I hope this tutorial was helpful. I’ve been experimenting with tracking the date visitors hit the page but, I left that out to keep things simple. With the information gathered by this script, it should be fairly easy to build analytic reports. I’d like to build it into a function at some point to make implementation easier.

If you have suggestions to make this even easier or better. I’d love to hear them.

Marketing “Experts” Need A Whaaambulance!

John Garrett — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:08:16 +0000

Over the past month or so I’ve been apart of conversations, social media events, read blogs and/or viewed tweets that are complaining about the flood of “experts” using social media.

In the small pond that is social media, there seems to be this anger shown towards the new comers to the social media (and by virtue, marketing) landscape. Some bloggers and smaller marketing firms (usually focusing on digital marketing) are whining at the thought of non marketers helping SMB’s with social media.

So, instead of just telling those of you doing so to simply shut it, I wanted to outline the reasons why you should shut it (and perhaps help you understand why some of us who didn’t come from traditional marketing backgrounds have jumped in).

See, I’m a giver.

For a group of people who can’t figure out how to monetize much of social media, you talk a big game. A big, narrow game.

In one breath I hear, “no one is an expert” and in the next I hear, “they should leave it to the experts.” Sounds contradictory, no? I mean, I know what you’re saying.

No one is an expert in social media, but marketing people have a fundamental grasp on the nuances of marketing strategy and so (sleep typing at this point) the marketing expert can better utilize (yawn) social media to help businesses achieve their marketing goals.

Fundamental brain-fart in this thinking is that social media is ONLY for marketing. Leave it to marketing people to draw this conclusion.

The question is, how does a HR department, customer service rep, sales professional, entrepreneur, networker, non-profit, public speaker etc. use social media?

My clients use social media for a number of reasons beside marketing and in many of the area’s, they have NO TROUBLE monetizing social media. It works as an extension of existing strategies that make them money or further their careers.

I had dinner with an entrepreneur last night who said, “if it were not for LinkedIn, we would not have built our new company so fast!”

Sounds like he monetized the heck out of social media (or social networking).

Reason number one to shut it.

I don’t hear major marketing firms and agencies crying on Twitter. Seems the bottom feeders in the marketing realm are upset at other “bottom feeders” for creating competition in the market.

Sure, many traditional agencies have not embraced social media, but some have. And I’m yet to see those people come out and complain about new comers helping with social media.

In fact, the only ones that seem to annoy them (from convo’s I’ve had) is the smaller marketing firms so desperately trying to be the BIG marketing firms; offering sub par work and talking a lot more than providing.

Of course this is not an absolute rule. All I’m saying is that those complaining about “bottom feeders” are themselves, bottom feeders. Only people losing in life cry, winners are too busy to care.

So, if you want people to at least think you’re a winner, shut it.

If social media is about talking with consumers and assisting the buying process, why would you think those with traditional marketing experience would be any good at social media?

I was at a conference, Social South, where I first heard of, The Cluetrain Manifesto. It’s a great book and absolutely foreshadowed the paradigm shift marketing would have to face in the coming decade.

It denotes the fact that marketing types had not engaged in conversations, treated markets as simply demographics and talked with voices that were not human.

OK… so let me get this right. THESE are the people who naturally, by trade, get how to use engaging new technologies based on interaction and dialogue?

Since the existence of buying and selling, conversations and relationships have been mastered by many divisions of business people, but it doesn’t seem marketing people are in that group. Again, not an absolute rule, just an assessment based on the widely heralded book.

This isn’t just an obvious plug for sales professionals, God knows we have our own issues, but who seems to better be suited for social media; those who’ve mastered talking at markets or those who’ve mastered interpersonal skills?

Does a bad business ever succeed long term? If you’re so much better and the others are so inadequate, what are you worried about?

I mean that. If you’re smarter than me, if you’re better equipped than me and if you garnish better results, you’ll put me out of business, right?

So what are you worried about? Oh, you’re noble? You’re worried that someone will take a SMB down the road they should not travel and you just want to see the company done right by… to succeed!

Right. You “marketing” folk are so thoughtful.

If capitalism is true, the weak company will produce weak results and die. So what are you worried about? Unless, I mean, you are the weak company.

Stop Assuming Everyone Works For Free.

I’m typing this blog on my welfare donated MacBook Pro, using my state sponsored internet and sitting in my imaginary house. Later I’m going to get in my lottery bought SUV and go to a party with my blow up network.

Who are you worried about that is working for free? How long can a person work for free? We’ve all been there where you do work for trade as a start up or you invest in some pilot projects, have one going now myself. But are you really worried that people working for free are stealing work from you?

If they were any good, they’d get paid. Obviously their not, so they’ll die off.
If you’re competing with Joe’s brother who does some web work and marketing on the side, that’s your fault and you need to seriously hire a consultant to help you change your business strategies. (I’m for hire by the way, but I’m not free.)
Any business owner who wants something for free, isn’t going to be invested enough to work the strategy, so why would you want the client anyway?

In closing…

I had about six other rants to go off on, but I think I’ve made my point.

Agree, disagree; I don’t care. Social media has been good for me, to me and to my clients. I’ve made money through it, grown my network through it and even increased efficiencies through it.

Notice I didn’t say BECAUSE of it, I said through it. It’s just a tool and only as strong as the person using it. That said, being a marketing person by profession doesn’t make you the right person to use the tool. In fact, you may just end up looking like a tool.

5 Ways Social Media Changed The Sales Game (#5)

John Garrett — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:25:58 +0000

And to finish of our series on social media and how it has changed the sales landscape, we’ll cover the idea of Closed Loop Marketing.

#5 Closed Loop Marketing

If you’ve ever worked in corporate America; either in sales or in marketing, you know each has a long standing distain for the other. The marketing team has it’s objectives, processes and absolute truths; so does the sales team. If you haven’t guessed yet, they are NOT the same.

Because there is a separation between the departments, there is a separation of information; each in its own silos.

There are a few buy products of this dichotomization:

Marketing is not capable to review the product of their marketing in terms of quality

Departments work towards their individual goals, causing the consumer to be treated like a kid caught up in a bad divorce

Both sales and marketing groups end up talking “at” consumers vs. with people

Enter Social Media.

Social media is one of the purest ways to bridging the gap between marketing and sales, both philosophically and practically. Now that marketing is becoming conversational (a move most sales pro’s made a decade ago, great ones sooner), a universal language can be used (i.e. metrics).

A small business using social media can integrate their digital networks, marketing initiatives and sales pipelines into a single silo of information, their CRM. This allows your company to know how to best communicate with your clientele. You can track where they spend their time on social networks (FaceBook), how your sales team can build a digital network (Twitter and LinkedIn) and the conversion of online marketing campaigns via new lead conversion tracked in your internal systems.

This allows both, the sales and marketing teams, to view the same information and communicate with the client where they naturally live as well as knowing where to market.

Here is a great example of a client of mine who uses Twitter to find out how their affiliates wish to participate in marketing initiatives. This information goes into their CRM and when they are ready to launch a campaign or initiative, they know who to leverage and what their interests are.

Check out what a company of mine does to make this happen.

5 Ways Social Media Changed The Sales Game (#4)

John Garrett — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:41:34 +0000

If anything, and I mean anything is a cog in the sales machine, it’s networking. In part four of our series we’ll explore how social media helps the sales professional build their network.

#4 Building Relationships (Networking)

It’s not to long ago (like yesterday) people built relationships just so they could snake your network. The only purpose in getting to know you, having coffee or attending your “networking group,” was to get into your networks proverbial pants.

There are a lot of old school sales people who would ask me, “Why else do you network, if money isn’t the goal?”

I’m not being so noble as to say that business growth isn’t in the cards somewhere, but it doesn’t mean you have to focus on it and if a friendship is a byproduct, well then bonus! My approach is to network, build friendships and add value… and if business becomes a byproduct – bonus!

So what does the sliding scale look like when it comes to relationships?

You can spot a person looking to leach by noticing you can’t get in a word in while being asked for favors. I’ve been to way to many of these lunches where you sit down and either they are telling you someone you have to meet (and be sold too) or asking if you know someone who can use their services. Best thing here, at least get a free meal!

Pro’s join networks (BNI, Chambers etc.), ask for referrals and are usually strong enough to build a WOM pipeline in about 2 years.

Sales Pro w/ Social Media can look for the smartest people in your city and buy them lunch – no strings attached. This is my favorite of anything else on here I’ve written. Good relationships are always our best investment. This week I had six meals in five days with seven people from Twitter. Solid week and fulfilling to no end.

My advice after a decade in sales is this… motive means everything. If you add value to those around you, you’ll move product for one reason and one reason alone… you are the rare good deal.

View the #3 Way Social Media Changed The Sales Game

5 Ways Social Media Changed The Sales Game (#3)

John Garrett — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:57:31 +0000

And now, part three of my blog series focused on sales and social media. This portion is focused on how we gain trust and get realized as an expert in our field.

3# Being The Expert

Let there be no doubt – you can only fake “knowing” something for so long. Often times, sales reps stick to the script, practice their rebuttals and learn their product. Conversations can only be as deep as the level of knowledge in the room. However, if you’ve dedicated yourself and you’ve put in the time, eventually you can be known as an expert.

Lets again take a look and locate where you may line up…

Hacks say they’re an expert and hope you don’t realize they’re full of crap till after the deal (which is rare for them).

Pro’s invest in hours and hours of reading every week, studying the industry, fine tuning their craft and building a pipeline.

A Sales Pro using social media can take the second option above and begin building a personal brand – creating blogs and build tools for those looking for information (gain a following).

If you’ve put in the time and you are an expert in your field, social media can give you a platform to share your knowledge and grow your personal and professional brands; growing a network of people who look to you for information and can spread you to others who may be looking for answers you have.

View the #2 Way Social Media Changed The Sales Game

5 Ways Social Media Changed The Sales Game (#2)

John Garrett — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:21:58 +0000

Here is part two of my blog series focused on sales and social media. This deals with the way we go about finding new business and amount of energy we spend on herding leads in.

#2 FINDING PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE

While developing a sales team for a certain company, I remember an exec (who had NO sales exp.) asking me, “How, with sales down, can we not try to win every sale? We should be doing everything we can, everywhere!” I don’t think the exec ever really understood the philosophy of focused energy – or, to use an old sales metaphor, the idea of “fishing where the fish are.”

Now, with social media, inbound marketing can crossover from web marketing to the sales staff as an everyday tool.

Hacks waste time whoring themselves out to everyone and end up getting ignored, desperate and broke.

Pro’s rely heavily on established client base for referrals and the marketing/web department to drive leads.

Sales Pro w/ Social Media can build searches that feed RSS results on any question your product/service can answer and add to their RSS Readers, and add region, date, and phrasing to get either precise or broader results. It’s truly amazing!

Set your searches, build your groups and then go on with handling business. Like you check email, come back, check the nets you’ve cast and see if there are some fish to focus on. Think Deadliest Catch.

View the #1 Way Social Media Changed The Sales Game