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When you finish a phone call, do you consider writing a follow-up email?
Or when you’ve visited a customer, how much time do you spend on writing an email?
It happens to the best of us. There’s so much on our to-do list. So we quickly dash off an email in between answering phone calls. Or we’re writing late at night after a long day of client visits.
Do you prefer to spend our time visiting customers? Do you prefer to talk on the phone rather than send emails?
But do you realize how much an email can help you win a sale?
Why are follow-up emails important?
Sales aren’t closed in one call so following-up is an important part of the selling process. Emails provide a quick and easy way of following-up and nurturing leads.
Nurturing is not the same as staying in touch. Nurturing means you add value. You try to help the email recipient move through the decision making process.
Hubspot’s inbound marketing blog lists these stats about lead-nurturing (source):
Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost. (Source: Forrester Research)
Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (Source: The Annuitas Group)
When do you need to write a follow-up email?
You may want to send someone a follow-up email in these circumstances:
- You’ve just had a phone conversation; and you want to send a quick reminder with some additional information.
- You’ve had a meeting that you want to follow-up with an email.
- You’ve left a voicemail. You might want to send an email, because many people find it easier to reply to an email than to return a call.
- You’ve obtained an email address of a prospect because they’ve downloaded something from your website, because they’ve taken part in a webinar, or maybe they attended an exhibition.
Of course each of these situations may require a slightly different email, but ten common characteristics of excellent follow-up emails are valid for each of them.
10 characteristics of kick-ass follow-up emails
- Write an engaging subject line. Don’t try to be clever. Keep it simple and be specific. Don’t write a subject line just saying follow-up, but write How to save costs with email marketing.
- Personalize. Don’t write a generic email to Dear customers. Personalized emails improve click-through rates by 14%, and conversion rates by 10%. (source: Hubspot)
- Explain what you’re following up. Refer to a meeting you’ve had, or to a webinar someone attended.
- Be relevant. Don’t quote statistics about how banks win customers if you’re writing to an insurance company.
- Acknowledge the receiver of your email is free to take the next step or not. This simple acknowledgement could double the chances your offer is taken up.
- Don’t be overly pushy. Don’t try to close the sale too quickly. For instance: don’t offer bulk discounts when your prospect isn’t ready to buy. And don’t discuss a sale if someone is still gathering information.
- Be helpful. An email written in a helpful tone can increase inquiries compared to an email in a more sales-y tone (source: MarketingExperiments). Sometimes a “How can I help” email is sufficient to open the conversation and to learn more about your prospect’s needs and requirements.
- Be concise. Don’t waste time. Keep your email as brief as possible. To-the-point. An email with more than 200 words becomes a long email and might be ignored.
- Have impeccable spelling and grammar. You don’t want to undermine your credibility by clumsy mistakes, do you?
- Include a professional signature. State your job role and include a link to your company’s website. If your LinkedIn profile is up to date, include a link so it’s easy to find out more about you. Refrain from humorous quotes in your signature until you know someone better; and are sure they’ll appreciate your jokes.
The truth about writing kick-ass follow-up emails
You need to win business. You need to hit your targets. So it’s easy to fall in the trap of writing emails from your perspective. But that’s the worst way to write a follow-up email.
You need to show your prospect you’re interested in them; and not just in closing a sale.
The hard truth is that your prospect isn’t interested in your products. All he wants to know is how you can help him or her save costs, boost revenues, or increase productivity.
You need to show you care and that you understand your prospect’s needs and requirements. That’s the key to winning customers with follow-up emails.
Image credit: Ian Lamont
Would you like to learn a few simple sales tricks?
So you can influence purchasing decisions?
And persuade more customers to buy from you?
Read on to learn five sales tricks. Each of these tricks is proven to work. By scientific research.
Sales trick #1. Offer fewer choices
Increase the number of products in your range, and sales will go up.
Get more different software packages and you can sell more.
That sounds logical, doesnít it?
Maybe it isn’t.
In her book Neuro Web Design, Susan Weinschenk describes an experiment in a supermarket where shoppers can taste a selection of jams.
In situation (A) 24 different gourmet jams are placed on a table. In situation (B) there are only 6 jams.
Unsurprisingly, increasing the number of jams, meant that far more customers stopped to check them out (60% compared to 40% when there were only 6 jams).
More importantly, more choice did not equal more sales.
Fewer choices generated 10 times as many sales. Confronted with the extensive collection only 3% of shoppers selected a jam to buy. But when they had a limited choice, 30% of shoppers decided to buy.
Strange?
Not really. Making choices is tiresome. Offer too many choices, and not buying seems easier.
How to use this sales trick to sell more:
- Don’t offer product options that are very similar to each other because it makes choosing more difficult.
- Be careful with introducing new products without discontinuing others.
- If you have a large range of products, try helping your customers choose. Consider discussing only a limited range.
Letís discontinue all slow-selling models to make choosing easier. Thatís right isn’t it?
In general, that’s true, but there’s one exception. Let’s have a look.
Sales trick #2: Propose something less attractive
Sometimes you need a slow-moving product because it helps establish a price point. This is often called a decoy product: a model or package available to help something else.
Letís have a look at an experiment that Dan Ariely describes in his fascinating book Predictably Irrational.
Situation A: 100 students are given these options to subscribe to the Economist:
Online-only subscription: USD 59.00 (selected by 68 students)
Print & web subscription: USD 125.00 (selected by 32 students)
Now let’s introduce a new option: print-only. This new offer is shown to 100 other students:
Online-only subscription: USD 59.00
Print-only subscription: USD 125.00
Print & web subscription: USD 125.00
Can you guess what happened?
The number of students selecting the expensive option of print & web went up from 32 to 84!
How does that work?
The print-only subscription makes the print & web option look less expensive.
How to use this sales trick to sell more:
- Introduce a product that makes your standard model look like a better deal. Consider a product at a similar price but with fewer features or lower specifications.
- Alternatively, introduce a hero product at a much higher price, so your standard product looks more reasonably priced.
Sales trick #3: Appeal to emotions
Are your prospects rational buyers?
If you ask them why they’ve selected a product, they probably justify their purchase with facts pointing out the differences in specifications or features.
But it’s quite likely that they made their decision subconsciously before they became aware of it. Roger Dooley suggests that 95% of brain activity is subconscious. So you should always be suspicious when someone tries to explain his or her purchasing decision.
How important is emotion in buying decisions? Itís difficult to say. But what is clear, is that persuasion by telling stories works. Stories carry us away making us less aware of attempts to persuade us.
How to use this sales trick to sell more:
- Don’t rely on facts and statistics alone. Try persuading your customers with stories or case studies.
- You still need to explain features and specifications of course, because they help justify purchasing decisions.
Sales trick #4. Talk about NOT buying
Letís look at another useful example of irrationality.
In his book Brain Bugs, Dean Buonomano describes the following experiments.
In the first experiment people were given $50 and then given this choice:
(A) Keep $30
(B) Take a gamble with a 50/50 chance of keeping or losing the full $50.
In the above test 43% of people chose to gamble their money.
A second experiment was conducted. The only difference was that option A was re-phrased as:
(A) Lose $20
There’s absolutely no difference between keeping $30 or losing $20, because the experiment started off with receiving $50. Keeping $30 means you’re losing $20, doesn’t it?
Still the number of people choosing to gamble went up from 43% in the first experiment to 62% in the second.
Thatís not rational, is it?
As Buonomano explains, the way something is described has an impact on the decisions we take. Psychologists call this framing. But something else is at play here: loss aversion. When option A was described as a loss, people chose to try and limit that loss by gambling more often.
How to use this sales trick to sell more:
Point out to your prospects what they’ll lose out on if they don’t buy your product.
Sales trick # 5. Gain agreement on something small
Imagine youíre selling cookies for a charity. Rather than calling on people’s homes straightaway, you phone them first to ask whether you can send a volunteer to their house to sell some cookies. 18% agrees.
Now, imagine trying a different approach. You phone people, and ask them how they’re feeling this evening. You wait for their reply, and then ask whether you can send a volunteer to sell some cookies for charity.
In the second scenario the percentage of people agreeing increases to 32%. That’s a massive increase. Whatís going on?
In his book Influence, Robert Cialdini describes this experiment and several others to explain the consistency principle. Simply said, this means that once people have agreed with something (it’s a pleasant evening), theyíre more likely to agree something else (yes, you can send someone to sell us some cookies).
How to use this sales trick to sell more:
Don’t immediately aim for a sale. Try to get your prospect to agree on the challenges he faces at his organization or the difficulties his current product present. Start small before aiming big.
The truth about decision making
We all like to think we are rational decision makers, but experiment after experiment has proven that this is far from the truth. Humans are irrational beings.
Take advantage of this knowledge. Apply these simple tricks to win more customers, more commission, and a bigger bonus.
The Six Most Persuasive Words to Use in Your Sales Presentation
Imagine your sales presentation becoming more persuasive. Just because youíre using a few words. Words that are proven to be seductive, and to get your customers to act.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
But it’s possible. In fact you’ve already read three of these six magical, seductive words.
Letís have a look:
1. Free
Never underestimate the power of free. The economic value of free is far higher than the value of what you’re giving away.
In his book Predictably Irrational Daniel Ariely describes an Amazon free shipping promotion. All countries apart from France witnessed a big jump in sale. Are the French less affected by the attraction of free? No, the offer in France had been changed to a cost of 1 Franc (about 20 cents). In economic terms thereís hardly a difference between 0 and 20 cents if you’re buying a book. However, reducing the shipping charge to an almost negligible figure didn’t have an impact on sales, while free had a huge impact. When the French changed the offer to free, they also saw a big increase in sales.
How can you use the power of free in your sales presentation? Close a deal by offering something free: A free trial, a free report, or a free upgrade.
2. Now
You know the importance of urgency, don’t you?
When car rental company CanaDream added the word now to their homepage bookings more than doubled.
Can you avoid your customer procrastinating and get him to act by offering a free upgrade or trial for a limited period only?
3. New
The power of new is a little tricky. While research shows that our brains are hard-wired to seek novelties, other research suggests that we respond positively to familiar information like well-known brands.
How can you balance the need for familiarity and novelty in your sales presentation?
On the one hand you can stress your longstanding relationship with a customer, the history of your company, or familiarity with your brand. On the other hand you can stress what’s new about your products. Talk about its new features and new specifications and explain how these novelties will help your customer, and take away problems encountered with the old product.
4. Because
In his book Influence Cialdini describes the photocopier experiment where a someone asks to jump a queue to make a few copies. These are the results:
- 60% of people agreed with a request if no reason was given:
Excuse me. I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine? - When presented with a reason, 94% agreed:
Excuse me. I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush? - Agreement hardly changed (93%) when a bogus reason was presented:
Excuse me. I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?
How can you use the power of because in your sales presentation? Present a reason why your customer should buy. And, of course, clearly present the value of your offer.
5. You
You’re enthusiastic about your products. You love talking about its special features and superior specifications. And that’s what your customers want to learn about, right?
Wrong!
Your customers aren’t interested in your product, its features, and its specifications. They’re only interested in themselves. They want to know how your products make their life better. They want to know how your product solves their problems.
Avoid talking about we, us, and our. Instead talk about you and your. Make sure you focus on your audience, not on the company you work for.
6. Imagine
Research suggests that allowing your customers to touch your product, increases the chance of making a sale. But what can you do if you’re selling software? Or if your product is so big, you canít really take it with you to a customer meeting?
Get your customer to imagine how it is to use your software or to drive your super-duper new bulldozer. When your customer imagines owning your product, their desire to own it increases.
The Persuasive Power of Words
Selling requires you to be persuasive. And to inspire your customer to buy.
You need to choose your words carefully. Use these six seductive words, and more customers will pay attention to your presentation. More customers will desire to own your product. And more customers will buy from you.
Sounds good? Come on. Try it.
Admit it… you’ve wondered.
You’re presenting new products on a regular basis. You’re confident about introducing your company to potential new customers. And quite a few people have told you your presentations are good.
But sometimes you think… could you do better? Could you win more business?
Occasionally you notice your client isn’t listening, but glancing at his watch, or quickly checking his BlackBerry. You know he’s busy. And people can’t pay attention the whole time, or can they?
Is there a way to keep your customers glued to your presentations?
Below follow 11 warning signs that you have to improve your sales presentation skills.
1. You’re waffling about features
You’re presenting this wonderful new product. So you present its new features and discuss its specifications, right?
Wrong!
Your customers aren’t interested in your product. They want to know how they’ll benefit from your new product. What problems is it going to solve? Is it going to save them money or time? Or will it help them grow revenue and profitability? Are you going to make them more productive, happier, or healthier?
Make sure you know your customer’s objectives, and help achieve them.
2. You’re boring as hell
Don’t kill your customer’s interest in your product by boring his boots off. Avoid being long-winded:
- Ask questions and involve your listeners;
- Focus on a few key issues only;
- Explain things step-by-step;
- Tell stories.
Stories engage. Rather than talking about facts and specs, why not tell a little story about why your product was developed, how your company was founded, or Nancy Duarte says:
(…) for an 18-minute talk, we took approximately 18 hours to rehearse. An hour a minute? That’s probably fair for someone who’s a professional presenter like me. A less seasoned speaker may need more!
Don’t fool yourself by saying you’re a natural presenter. You’re winging it. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse.
4. You sound sleazy
What makes a sales man sound sleazy?
Focusing too much on your product makes you pushy. Instead, be helpful. Try solving your customer problems. Educate and become a trusted advisor.
5. You’re not anticipating objections
What are the objections to buying your product or service?
If you want to get the sale you need to overcome all potential objections. Prepare your presentation by brainstorming all potential objections your customer may have. If possible ask a few colleagues to join in your preparations.
Ensure you’re able to clarify each objection. And be honest. You can’t hide your problems on the web, so you might as well be upfront.
6. You stick to your corporate presentation
Why use just one standard corporate presentation for each of your customers?
Adapt your presentation to your customer requirements. Is he part of a big or small organization? Which industry is he in? Is he focused on product details or the big picture? Does he appreciate your humor?
Choose relevant examples and case studies. And consider the specific problems your customer faces and how he will benefit from your product or service.
7. Your template sucks
Should your audience pay attention to your information or your template?
To increase the impact of your presentation, your slides need to look professional. Your template shouldn’t overpower the information on your slides:
- Reduce your color scheme to two or three colors;
- Include plenty of white space;
- Use only one or two different fonts;
- Reduce the size of your corporate logo.
Each slide should be like a billboard with just one clear message. And keep animations to a minimum.
8. Your slides are like an amusement park
Slides with text, more than one picture, arrows or graphs are distracting. Your audience doesn’t know where to look.
Ensure your slides are simple:
- Explain just one concept on each slide;
- Reduce the amount of text;
- Have slides with an image only;
- Ensure graphs are easy to understand.
Complicated slides distract your audience and prevent them from listening to you. People can’t read and listen at the same time.
9. You underestimate the power of images
Do you think image just make your slides look fun? Think again:
- Images can increase you credibility.
- Images and text combined are five times more memorable than words alone.
- Visualizations make it easier to understand the concepts you’re explaining.
- Use images to create a bigger impact.
10. You think presenting means sharing information
To sell something you have to inspire your audience.
You won’t just read text from your slides, will you?
Show the value of your product. Share your passion for your product, because your passion is contagious. Become persuasive.
11. You’re a bad time keeper
Everyone is busy, so tell your customer how long your presentation will take. He’ll appreciate it.
Don’t waffle on. Ensure you don’t exceed the agreed time limit. Your customer hates it when he’s late for his next meeting because you’re rambling on. Get to the point.
The truth about sales presentations
I’d like to tell you presenting is easy. And that you’re a natural presenter because you’re extrovert. But the truth is that becoming a pro at sales presentations is hard work.
Ask honest feedback from someone you trust. And take their advice on board. Everyone can always get better at presenting.
Prepare your presentations. Rehearse them. And rehearse them even more.
Remember the goal of your presentation and work towards it. Eliminate all details that are irrelevant. And let your passion shine through, because your enthusiasm is contagious.
Sales is a tough art to master. A great sales guy can make or break a business. Now, what differentiates the ordinary salesperson from an extraordinary one? I analyzed some of the popular sales people of our time and here are the traits that are common in many successful sales guys.
- Do an exhausting research on the customer.
This is the most important trait of a great sales guy. You must know everything about the customer and where his/her pain points lie. The homework will both help you target the right customer as well as convince the customer that you are the right supplier. Without sufficient homework, your arguments will sound too shallow. - Convey empathy and strike a chord with the customer
A sales guy should put them in the customer’s shoes and make the customers see him/her one among their “flock”. This is the reason why many of the top sales pitches happen on a golf course. Customers love to deal with sales guys who can reason like them. - Problem solver
A sales guy should not see himself/herself merely as a mover of the goods from the company to the customer. A sales guy should be a problem solver who can identify the customer’s painpoints and find the right solutions for them. If you consistently come up with solutions that makes the lives of your customers easier, you will build enough trust to sell your goods. Think of sales as a win-win proposition and your customers star loving you. - Great listener
Sales is not merely about explaining about your product and getting the customer to sign the check. It is about actively listening to the customer. By being a good listener you gain the respect of your customer. Pay attention to both the verbalized as well as the unverbalized part of the conversation. - Never give up
You never give up a lead after the first conversation. Situations and requirements change. If the customer is not ready for your product now, keep him in the loop for future calls. Offer them solutions that might not directly lead to your sales, but still improve the business of the customer. See sales as one involving building relationships. - Never lose temper
A lot of times salespeople deal with rough customers who hate the sight of a sales guy. There might be many insults – minor and not so minor that sales guys face daily. It is very important for the sales guy to not have a thin skin and reach to all these seriously. Keeping the temper is one of the first things successful sales guys master. - Always optimistic
There are times when none of your leads convert to sales. It is always a painful feeling. A great salesperson knows that very few leads convert to sales and knows to stay optimistic. A lot of times, the customer who says no could change his/her mind and call you back later.
How do you maintain your business contact list?
Just twenty or thirty years ago, business people kept all of their contact information in address books and rolodexes. Then, in the early days of email, people began to store this information within email clients or in Personal Information Management (PIM) software.
Fast-forward to the present day, and things have become rather more complicated. For a start, each contact record contains far more information than it did in the past. As well as multiple postal addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, people now have Twitter IDs, Facebook accounts and Skype names.
In addition, people need access to their contact list from a range of places and devices – their cellphone or smartphone, their laptop, their iPad, and their office computer…. and, needless to say, the lists always needs to be up to date and synchronized.
The technology exists to store and synchronize all this information reliably, yet many people still find themselves with many different sets of contacts, SIM-card based address books, and a host of outdated, redundant numbers in their cellphones. This article suggests seven simple ways to get your contacts organized for the modern world.
1. Choose One Main List
You will never get your contacts organized if you don’t choose one main place to store them. This can then become the list that you synchronize all of your devices with.
2. Have a Clear-out
Sadly, there isn’t technology that knows if people have moved office, no longer work for a certain company, or have changed cellphone provider. If you want a reliable contact list, someone needs to spend time verifying, cleaning up and filling in gaps on the information.
3. Abandon Manual Synchronization
Although Blackberries and iOS devices allow you to sync with desktop software using a USB cable, remember that we are now comfortably into the 21st century! Flaky manual synchronization should be left in the past.
4. Use the Cloud
Use a cloud-based service that allows for the storage and synchronization of contacts, such as Gmail, iCloud or Yahoo. That way, your contacts are available from any Internet-enabled computer, as well as all of your synchronized devices. As an even better alternative……
5. Use Exchange
The ActiveSync capabilities of Microsoft Exchange, either local or hosted, mean that all manner of devices including iPhones, iPads and Android devices can keep emails, contacts and calendars synchronized at all times. Once you are using Exchange, you only need to maintain the contact list that forms part of your Exchange mailbox and it can populate the address book on every device you own. It even plays nicely with Apple’s iCal!
6. Don’t Use Separate Phonebooks
Make sure your mobile devices are configured to save everything back to your main contact list—the one that you use to synchronize. Some devices, such as Android cellphones, allow you to merge contact details in order to remove existing duplicates.
7. Keep it Up-to-date
Once your contact list is in good shape and synchronizing to all your devices, be sure to maintain it. Add new contacts in full, so you don’t end up with “James 1, James 2, James 3” in your phone list, and delete any contacts you no longer need.
There’s no doubt following these steps will improve your efficiency and put all the contact information you need at your fingertips wherever you happen to be. Maybe it’s time to set aside some time for that initial clear out?
Nailing your pitch to an investor can mean the difference between fast upward growth and the pain of slow bootstrapping. With good cause, most teams slave over their presentation, trying to iron out every wrinkle and perfect every word in hopes of creating a rehearsed slideshow that is as shiny and attractive as possible. Often times, the result is a bloated, unnecessarily long presentation that either over sells a product or completely misses some of the most important components of an effective pitch.
Below, we outline the perfect investor slide show using just 10 short slides. You will learn the right information to include and the order in which you should present it. Keep in mind that for every slide, you should be trying to keep words at a minimum. Since you will be presenting this to the investor live, keep everything to an outline and save the wordy explanations for your verbal presentation.
Slide 1: General Outline
Every investor slideshow should kick off with an outline of your proposed product. This overview should be as direct and concise as possible; no longer than a few sentences. Essentially, it should be a printing of your elevator pitch. Your slide show will have plenty of time to sell the idea with specifics, so keep this slide to the essentials.
Slide 2: Key Issue
Next, you will need to address the problem your product aims to solve. Be sure to explain why the problem exists, why it causes pain for the potential consumer, and why no one has solved it like your team will. If you have any special insight or industry connections that give you an exclusive edge on the problem, state it on this slide.
Slide 3: Market Demographics
As a natural continuation of the conversation you just started around the value and utility of your product, it logically follows to demonstrate exactly “who” is having this particular problem. In other words, who are your customers and how many are there? Are they a large generalized group, or a small particular niche of consumers? Be sure to touch upon how you arrived at these estimates.
Slide 4: Your Marketing Plan
Finally, you’ll need to explain how you plan to reach your target audience and inform them of your product. This slide should contain both your inbound and outbound marketing plans. In fact, it makes sense to divide the slide thusly:
Inbound Marketing Strategies:
- Google Adwords campaign
- Aggressive content marketing for SEO
- Free weekly insider’s mailing list
- etc, etc.
Outbound Marketing Strategies:
- Ads placed in XYZ magazine
- Radio spots on 10 XM stations
- Sponsorship of local events
- etc, etc.
Again, just cover the basic outline on the slides, as you’ll be explaining the details of each as you give the presentation.
Slide 5: Core Executive Team
Now that you have sufficiently hooked the investor by validating your product’s potential worth, it’s time to introduce yourselves. This is your chance to prove why your team has the special sauce to get the job done! Name each founding member and state their role at the company. Be sure to include any relevant awards, special experience, or other accolades you have recieved as individuals, as well as any successes you have accomplished as a group in the past.
Slide 6: Current Development Stage
Many investors prefer to put money behind products that already have forward momentum. That is to say that if you’ve already began production on the project and have a prototype or working model to demonstrate, dedicate this slide to showing it off. If the product is software, use screenshots of the application in action. If it is a physical product, use photographs and perhaps even bring the physical item in to demonstrate it in person alongside the slide.
Slide 7: Revenue Model
While it might seem obvious, it bears repeating that most investors want to see a viable revenue model in place before putting their resources behind a project. Especially in today’s digital age, many new founders mistakingly feel that a good idea will fly on its own regardless of its ability to generate revenue.
Don’t be like them. You need to make the pitch seem like an attractive proposition that the investors would be fools to turn away. The best way to do this is by clearly stating how the product will generate enough revenue to make the investment worth it. Try to specifically state your pricing model, and/or other creative ways to monetize the project.
Slide 8: Finances and Projections
After discussing how your product will make money, it’s a good idea to go over the financials for your current business year. You should disclose any current investments (including the money your team has already put into the product), your working capital, and your recurring expenses.
Go deep here, as investors prefer to work with founders who have a firm grasp on the financials of their company. Try to provide expected profit margins moving forward, growth of expenses and how you will compensate for them, and an over-all five year projection.
Slide 9: Competitive Overview
Here, you will need to address the other players currently in your market space. Do not try to dodge this discussion out of fear of talking about your competition. Competition is a good thing; it shows that there is an existing market and money to be made in it.
Discuss how your competition addresses the same needs your product will fill, but stress the key differences that set your company apart. Will you solve the customer’s problems faster? More thoroughly? Provide stronger customer service? Make sure you paint a realistic picture of the competitive landscape while keeping your pitch attractive by explaining your advantages and battle plans.
Slide 10: Your Conclusion
Finally, your presentation needs a concise conclusion to deliver an emotional impact. Much as your opening summary served to bait the interest of the investors, this one should hammer home the main points of your pitch and capture your investor’s favor at a deeper level. Be sure to re-touch upon the problem your product solves and how you’ll solve it, and finally conclude with a strong statement of value. Since all decisions are made with equal parts brain and gut, you want the investor to leave your presentation with both a firm understanding of your product and business model, and a positive emotional attachment to it.
In their quest to obtain a number one rank, search engine optimizers often miss the growing opportunity in front of them. In today’s world fewer and fewer searchers are sitting at a desktop machine and are instead Googling from their smartphone or tablet.
Novice SEOs dont realize that search results are displayed differently for mobile searchers (especially those using assistants like Siri) and different optimization techniques are needed to win on the mobile web. Below, we explore the five major tactics you should implement this week.
Design a Mobile-Friendly Website
(source)
There are two primary best practices that need to be followed above all else. The first is mobile site design. If there is one thing that Google has always valued above all else it’s a terrific user experience. For smartphone and tablet users, nothing is more frustrating than a clunky design intended for desktops squeezed down and half-rendered on their small screens.
The best mobile websites focus on condensing the wealth of information presented on the standard homepage into its barest of essentials. When creating your page, focus on the following:
- Speed: Because high-speed service varies by location, your mobile site should be as lightweight and nimble as possible.
- Navigation: Remember, a person on a mobile device isn’t using a mouse to navigate around. Try to make your buttons as big and clear as possible.
- Brand recognition: While your mobile site should make scarce use of resource-hungry images, it still needs to display your logo and make use of brand colors.
For those without the resources or ability to create entirely new mobile website, there are WordPress plug-ins and other apps that can automatically convert your site for mobile. Unfortunately, these typically offer less customization and flexibility than starting from scratch.
Consider Your Mobile Content Carefully
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The second “gotta have it” best practice is mobile-specific content. At first, you might not understand the difference between your standard content and your mobile content, but a quick thought exercise should clear up any confusion. Imagine that you are are in the shoes of your typical customer. In what situations would you wind up on your website while on the go from a mobile device?
If you are a restaurant for example, the answer might be to call you with a question, make an online reservation, or to read your menu before stopping in. Whatever the case might be for your business, this is the content that needs to be prominently featured on the home page of your mobile site. All other ancillary content (such as blog posts, company history, and photo galleries) should be minimized or left out entirely.
Display Mobile Site Appropriately
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If you have a mobile website rendering laser-targeted mobile content, you’ve laid the groundwork that makes the all other mobile SEO tactics worth it. The next step is to make sure that your new page is shown only to surfers on mobile devices, and that your regular website is shown to everyone else.
This task sounds more difficult than it actually is, and can be accomplished through the use of mobile redirects that recognize the source of the traffic and serve up the appropriate site. If you are having trouble putting this redirect together on your own, services like MobileMoxie can get the job done quickly and easily.
Get Your Site In The Local Listings
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Many mobile search aids such as SIRI draw influence over the results they show from local directory listings. Make sure that your website is present and properly categorized in services such as:
- Yelp!
- Yahoo! Local
- Google Places
- City Search
- Google Plus Local
Don’t just passively list in these directories. Make the absolute most of the services by adding photographs, complete contact information, and actual customer reviews to bolster your profile among the others. The more complete and impressive your profiles are, the greater value they will contribute to your mobile SEO efforts.
Get Your Site Active On Social Rating Sites
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By now, every business on the face of the planet understands that being active on social networks like Twitter and Facebook are important. However, mobile search brings a new set of social sites into the equation – social rating sites.
Social rating sites are communities in which users can review and rate local businesses and share their thoughts with the cloud. In keeping with the restaurant example from earlier, you’d want to turn your attention to Urban Spoon, a website that helps food enthusiasts review their experiences dining out. Others include Trip Advisor, Foursquare, and Yelp. The signals your community send out about your business make a big difference in how well your site ranks in the mobile world.
Diversify From Pay Per Click
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On a final note, many businesses rely heavily on pay-per-click for search visibility. However, it is important to note that this advertising channel is largely ignored by Siri and most other mobile search assistants. Regardless of your ad quality or the keywords you bid on for regular search, in Siri’s eyes it as though you’re not there at all.
So, does that mean you should stop advertising via pay per click for your mobile site? Far from it! In fact, in Google Adwords, you should develop an entirely separate mobile campaign with ads aimed specifically at handheld users. As you set up a new campaign, you’ll have the option to display ads to mobile devices only, and splitting your advertising up this way enables you to closely monitor your performance on mobile.
But just don’t expect Siri to notice you this way. You’ll still need to follow all the other steps listed above to be relevant in her discerning results.
Even though Halloween has passed, some of us (e.g. the Fileboard team) are still in the mood to curl up on the couch with some popcorn and a tall stack of our favorite horror flicks. While these movies no doubt offer thrills chills and gore galore, they also offer a glimpse at something more. Survival skills – not just in movies, but in online sales and marketing too.
Below, we explore six lessons we can all learn from our favorite slasher films, and how they apply to our online marketing strategies.
Make A Plan And Stick To It
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One of the great Cardinal sins of horror movies is not having a plan for survival, or diverging from the perfectly good one you have already made. We see this error committed in nearly every slasher movie ever shot — the group that decides to stick together only to split-up a few scenes later, or the frantic airhead blind with terror running around with no action plan to guide her. Naturally, these situations typically lead to gruesome slaughters at hands of the demented knife wielding psycho of the film.
Not having a plan in online sales can have consequences just as gory. An Adwords account with no budget limit can bankrupt a small business. An involved social media campaign with no lead generation goals will waste hundreds of man-hours without a return. Instead of running around like a clueless college kid hoping to stumble your way to safety, be like Ripley in Alien and develop a savvy plan your team understands and will stick to. It’s the only way to make it to the ending credits.
Learn Your Environment Inside and Out
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Have you ever wondered what gave Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) the edge to survive six editions of Halloween flicks? It’s because for the majority of the franchise, Michael Myers stalked her in her own home town of Haddonfield, Illinois. This gave Laurie an advantage not often afforded to horror movie victims, as she knew exactly where she could run and hide, which houses would take her in, and which blocks to stay away from.
Contrast that with the group of friends in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre who found themselves marooned on a farm far from home, and the sales lesson becomes clear. If you are going to succeed, you need to understand the landscape and culture of each lead generation tool you add to your sales and marketing plan. The people who hang out on Twitter are not the same breed as the Reddit crowd, the audience of one guest post blog is likely quite different than the next, and SEO audiences need to be more narrowly defined than your SEM targets. Without taking the time to thoroughly explore the environment you will be spending time in, you’re as good as monster bait.
Discover What You Can About Your Nemesis
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One of the most beloved halloween horror classics is A Nightmare On Elm Street III: Dream Warriors. This is the one where Nancy and Kristen realize that they too have power in their dreams, and decide to band together with their friends to wage war against Freddy when he is at his weakest.
Until this film, most attempts to fight back against the gloved madman ended in a kitschy catch phrase from Freddy and a ghastly death. But in Dream Warriors, the kids discovered a winning mindset that works equally well in sales: Learn about your enemies.
Okay, maybe it’s a stretch to say your competitors are as bad as a child killing dream demon, but if you watch what they have traditionally done in social media and online marketing, you can avoid making the same painful mistakes they have no doubt lost money and time making before you. For example, if they put together a big push on Pinterest and your audience just wasn’t there to care, you’ll know that the network is of low priority to you. At the same time, your audiences are similar enough that an analysis of their strengths can give you successful ideas on how to out do them at their own game. In horror and sales, knowledge is power!
Never Run Upstairs
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One of the most hopeless mistakes a victim trapped in a killer’s house can make is to flee upstairs. This is almost always a death trap, because you have nowhere left to run as soon as your agressor follows you to the second story. Jumping out a window will break your legs, and hiding in a room is little more than a doomed waiting game.
In online marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the myopic treadmill of more sales, more sales, more sales… but look also at what types of customers you’re attracting and where you want your business to go. Do not make the deadly mistake of painting yourself into a corner by investing your efforts too far into one strategy with no exit plan (ie – we need a huge active Facebook following next month, and nothing else matters as much until then!). Finding the perfect mix of your audience’s online touch points takes a lot of trial and error, and if run too far in one direction you might find yourself searching for a window to jump out.
Survival Favors Good Priorities
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Diverting precious company time and money into the prettiest new social network just because it’s there and available makes about as much sense as the teen couple stopping for a hot quickie in the killer’s backyard. And we all know these lustful youngsters with terrible priorities typically end up…
Clearly, you don’t want your own marketing campaign to suffer similar outcomes. This is why you need to clearly define your priorities before getting too involved in any of the lead generation networks. What are you aiming for? Is it:
Depending on your immediate priority, your strategy will need to adapt with it. After all, if you find yourself in a zombie movie, notice that those who decide to tool up and fight the zombies have different priorities than those who seek shelter and resources. Adapt and prioritize, and you will survive!
Don’t Get Lost In The Woods
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In nearly every horror movie imaginable, getting lost in the woods is a recipe for grave misfortune. There are untold horros awaiting you, from formidable foes such as Jason Vorhees, demented freaks living in the hills, and even flesh eating viruses that can consume your entire group. Every victim who couldn’t find his way through the trees surely wishes he never set foot down the trail the first-place.
In sales, you might not get lost in a literal forest, but sometimes its easy to lose your way in the thick brush of online audiences. Those who forget the exact people they are targeting in their marketing campaign wind up as lost as the Blair Witch Project kids who tossed their map into a river. The characteristics of your core audience must guide everything you do, from the tone of your blog to the networks you post on. They are your map, your compass, and your walkie talkie. Never lose sight of your audience and you’ll never be truly lost.
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If you’re ready to apply these lessons to your sales and marketing efforts, check out a free 30-day trial at Fileboard. Until next year - Eat, drink and be scary!
Social behavior and selling go hand in hand. Effective marketing, really, is little more than a reflection of known social persuasive methods. Social psychologist and author Robert B. Cialdini knew this better than anyone when he penned his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
In its pages, Cialdini discusses six pillars central to the social psychology of persuasion. Below, we discuss these pillars and show how you can apply them to build stronger marketing messages.
Pillar One: Reciprocity
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In general, people try to return favors that are done for them. If a friend lends us money during a time of need, we thank them with a gift or home-cooked dinner to show our appreciation. If a cab driver gives us the name of the best restaurant in town, we are likely to give him a good tip at the conclusion of the ride.
This basic social paradigm is known as reciprocity, and it forms the basis for some of the marketing strategies many of us are familiar with. One common application of reciprocity occurs when brands offer free product samples to their customers. In one sense, the customers evaluating how much they like the actual product in practice, but the often unseen social force of reciprocity is also taking place. Subconsciously, the free sample comes across as a favor; a good deed done for the customer that makes them feel motivated to return the favor by doing business with the brand.
In today’s social world, great customer service and social interaction can work the same way. Giving away free content, tips and tricks that solve customers’ problems, or holding contests and offering free prizes, set into motion the gears of reciprocity, creating an audience of consumers who are motivated to pick your brand over the competition.
Pillar Two: Commitment and Consistency
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Everybody wants to be seen as a consistent person. In fact, a subconscious drive of most human beings is to achieve conformity between our beliefs and our actions. This means that if we commit to do something – either orally or in writing – we are more likely to follow through on the commitment even after the initial terms of the agreement have changed.
Once we make up our mind and commit to buy a product in front of another human being in a social setting, it becomes much more difficult for us to justify changing our behavior, lest we be seen as flighty, inconsistent people. This is why auto salesman can often get away with tacking on extra features that raise the sale price of the car after the customer has begun the purchase process.
Get a customer to commit to your brand and he or she is more likely to stick around. You can do this through the use of subscription-based opt-ins that require the user to register with your website. Trial license software is also very effective in this regard, as the user must commit to your product for a period of time, after which consistency says he will likely to pay to continue.
Pillar Three: Social Proof
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Social psychological research has shown that we are all prone to being copycats. Simply put, when we see others take a particular action, many of us feel compelled to do the same. In one landmark study of social proof, a researcher stood on a busy city street and stared up into the sky. Without saying a word, many passersby stopped and looked up in the sky to see what was going on. The group soon grew so numerous that the experiment had to be called off because it was obstructing traffic (even though there was nothing in the sky!)
In marketing, social proof used to be possible only by airing commercials that show other people using a brand’s products. However in the age of social media, companies need to strive to establish a palpable culture around their products by providing unique customer experiences. The focus should be on creating not just customers, but “brand advocates” that will freely go onto their social networks and broadcast to the world how much they just love using your products. After all, if we feel compelled to take an action when we see a group of strangers doing it, imagine how much more powerful the urge is when some of them are our friends and family!
Pillar Four: Authority
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The urge to obey perceived authority has been proven by social scientists to be almost undeniable. Under laboratory conditions, psychologists have been able to successfully persuade test subjects to deliver dangerously high voltage electric shocks to unseen research confederates who acted as if they were being zapped within inches of their lives! All because a scientist dressed in the familiar laboratory coat and professional garments, assured it was safe and necessary.
Morbid as that last example might be, the underlying idea has been put to the test by marketers who use scientists, CEOs, and other trusted authority figures to talk to customers about their products. They understand that endorsements from men and women perceived to be experts in their fields often mean much more than any catchy sales message or radio jingle ever could.
In online marketing, this concept is no different. There are authority figures in every vertical, and your job is to find the ones that matter to your brand and seek their sponsorship or review. If you sell a weight loss product, a positive testimonial from a prominent personal trainer carries the authority effect. Aim to generate buzz – tweets, Facebook shares, blog posts, testimonials, etc – from a number of these figures.
Pillar Five: Liking
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Its no secret that people try to emulate the people in life they like and look up to. Many go so far as to purchase products simply because the people they like use them. Behind every commercial in which Michael Jordan/Donald Trump/Charlie Sheen/etc tells you buy a particular product, there is a marketer familiar with this concept. However, today’s businesses do not have to rely on such openly solicited attempts at an audiences admiration.
Using services like Twitter, an authentic recommendation from a popular business pundit or admired social celebrity can mean a rush of eager new customers. Get connected with the social celebrities and icons of your industry. Find who your audience follows and pursue their social sponsorship with zeal. The effect of reaching your audience in this way can be staggering.
Pillar Six: Scarcity
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Perceived scarcity of resources nearly always generates demand. This phenomenon is the reason why coupons have expiration dates, blow-out sales only last the weekend, and websites put visible ticking clocks on their discounted offers.
You don’t need to go as far as the ticking clock method, (this can look pretty spammy when done without tact,) but creating scarcity – even when there need not be any – is an incredibly effective purchase motivator. This can work especially well if you’re planning a conference or high-priced training event. Holding registration open for a brief number of days, or stating that there are only a limited number of seats available for the taking will cause those who were on the fence about attending to spring into action!
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