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Posted by
Ian Brodie on July 14th, 2008.
An excellent post by Matt Brazil caught my eye recently. It's provocatively entitled Are Social Networks the Last Nail in the Coffin for Cold Calling?
Now, of course, the increased prevalance of social media (and Matt includes blogs, articles, podcasts, etc. in that group) aren't going to completely kill off cold calling. But Matt's point – based on a lead generation experiment he ran – is that for many businesses they may now present a better return on investment than cold calling.
In the case of professional services: article writing, seminars and speeches have always been a fantastic business development device for the larger “names” in the business. They provide advanced clues for potential buyers to the credibility and knowledge of the consultant, lawyer, accountant, engineer or architect who wrote the article or delivered the speech. Given the intangible nature of professional services; those clues are often an immensely powerful lever to at least get the professional engaged in a dialogue with the potential client.
Historically, speech-making and article writing has often been the preserve of the well-known individual or the major firm. Most people read a small number of quality journals so competition for placement was high and the chances of a small firm or unknown individual getting a high degree of visibility was slim.
But like many things in life, the internet has changed all that. Not only is it much easier for good quality content to get published on a plethora of sites and blogs; but potential clients have changed the way they find material. Nowadays they don't subscribe to a small number of quality journals in the hope that something of relevance will appear every few months – they search for what they want, when they want it.
So equipped with some half-decent SEO and an interesting niche to write about; smaller firms and less well-known professionals can replicate the marketing tactics of the industry giants.
Of course, actually being able to produce quality material that really is going to raise your credibility is a whole different story. But at least today the barriers to publishing and being found have all but fallen.
Ian
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Posted byIan Brodie on February 11th, 2008.
Selling with Stories proved to be my most popular blog post yet. Not surprising really – it's a brilliant sales technique – one I almost felt guilty giving away.
Shortly after I posted it I was alerted by a post on Carol Bentley's B2B Copywriting blog to an even better template for these story-come-testimonials. She highlighted a brief but insighful post on the Heart Shaped Testimonial by Alex Mandossian.
This is a great testimonial format designed for use in sales letters and other written communications. But, of course, it works brilliantly in spoken stories too. Just remember the other hints I gave in the Selling with Stories post and you'll have yourself an intriguing, sales-inducing little story.
Onward!
Ian
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Posted byIan Brodie on December 19th, 2007.
I was recently given a clear reminder of how easy it can be to drift away from your core sales positioning – and how dangerous that can be.
For more years than I care to remember I've positioned the value of my consulting services and expertise as being able to practically implement new ideas and solutions to achieve tangible business results. Yes, I like to think I can bring thought leadership and leading-edge practices; but those things only bring value when they result in real change and improvement with bottom-line benefits.
That positioning has always seemed to resonate with clients – but over the last few years I've drifted away from using it. Sometimes it's felt like I've talked about it so often that surely it's “old hat”. Surely everyone understands that value from consulting only comes when real improvements are made, not when reports are written or presentations delivered? Surely all consultants position their services this way and I risk just becoming “one of the pack”?
So over the years I've tried to make my positioning more “sophisticated” – making the importance of successful implementation a given, or even an unstated assumption.
But a recent conversation with a potential client (where I almost accidentally focused on my old “successful implementation” message) highlighted for me that it still resonates brilliantly – and is very often the most important factor for many clients. The client almost bit my hand off when I started talking about how I focused on strategies which were proven and practical and how I stayed with them to ensure they were implemented successfully.
In my quest to improve my positioning over the years I'd forgotten that although I sit through hundreds of my own sales meetings and presentations; my clients only experience one. Messages which for me had become stale and seemed old hat can still hit all the right buttons for them.
By focusing on my perception of my positioning rather than my clients I had begun to drift away from something that worked really well.
Key learning: If you find yourself wanting to make your positioning or your sales messages more “sophisticated”, or you feel that what you are saying must surely be old news by now – take a reality check. Find out how your clients and potential clients perceive those messages – you may be pleasantly surprised – and you may prevent yourself from a dangerous drift away from something that works really well.
Onward!
Ian
Ian Brodie on July 14th, 2008.