One-hundred and forty characters. What was your first association with that phrase? I bet you’re thinking: Twitter.
At least that was (and still is) the character limit for the network. However, on September 19, the platform relaxed the rule: Now, photos, videos, GIFs, polls and Quote Tweets no longer count toward the limit.
This new update will make Twitter conversations so much easier, even richer. How many times have you struggled to cut the last two characters needed to fit the limit? Have you ever felt more like a robot and less like a human when tweeting all sorts of awkward sentences full of abbreviations? What about efforts to have meaningful conversations when the tweet you were replying to or quoting was stealing valuable character count?! Well, you’re not alone and Twitter has finally heard you!
While this change is a huge step for the network, it is also a logical one. When Twitter launched a decade ago (yes, it’s hard to believe, but it’s been exactly 10 years already!), it was operating in a much different space from today’s. Nowadays, there is an unmistakable shift toward multimedia content. Images, short videos and GIFs have practically taken over the social space.
Since Twitter was hit with a lot of criticism and showed no potential for-impressive growth, these changes were long overdue. A plausible reason for Twitter losing its appeal is because the space just became too noisy. Partly because of the character limit (and also because of the desire to automate everything), most marketers tweet out the name of an article, sprinkle in a few hashtags, slap on a shortened URL and voilà, the Franken-tweet is ready to be published. How can they expect to get any meaningful engagement from that?
The other instance is to upload an image with tons of text on it, include a call to action in the body of the tweet and slap in the shortened URL once again. That’s a bit better on providing some context, but is still not very human. Plus, not only is it not the prettiest workaround, it has technical implications for businesses.
Not so long ago, Twitter partnered with Google to make sure tweets appeared in search results. But, when you post a screenshot with lots of text on it, the text is not searchable. Meaning: Twitter’s biggest media partner cannot read your updates, and thus cannot count them as relevant to search queries.
Hopefully, the new update will modernise the network and its etiquette, encouraging more meaningful conversations, more colourful visuals and fun, short video snippets. After all, we are so used to these things on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, right?
Despite these plans, @mentions have not been affected by the recent change, but they likely will be soon. The company already announced this. We are really ready for the rule to be lifted from usernames as well, because if you’re trying to engage in a chat with two or three handles at the same time, half of your tweet will be wasted just for @mentions! It is especially important to encourage real conversations instead of spamming one other with links.
Because Twitter has started losing its major space in the social media game, the network really needs to start considering the breadth and the depth of conversations taking place online every second if it wants to stay at the top. This flexibility in character limits is the first step in the right direction. Your message can still stay brief and to the point, but the media you use should enhance that message instead of cutting it short.
How many times have you had this exchange with prospects?
You say, “Hey there, how are you?” They respond, “I’m good, thanks. And you?” You say, “I’m good too, thanks for asking.”
Zzzzzzz.
There’s nothing wrong with kicking off a conversation by asking how someone is doing, but it definitely won’t lead to any memorable dialogue.When you’ve only got a couple minutes to build rapport with someone, you don’t want to waste time on conversational fluff. Instead of falling into the “Good, how are you?” trap, drive the conversation forward with a unique follow-up — like one of these nine ideas.
1. “what projects are you working on?”
Open-ended questions like this one typically lead to more interesting responses. They also require your prospect’s full attention to answer — which means they’ll be focusing on the interaction from the get-go.In addition, asking about your prospect’s current workload gives you the chance to learn more about them. What are their biggest priorities at the moment? Can you help them with any? And how could your product fit into their workday?
2. “how did the [event, project, meeting] go?”
Use this question to show that you’ve actually been listening throughout your relationship. It’s a great way to immediately personalise your conversation and make your prospect more engaged.If they didn’t previously mention an event or you’re speaking with them for the first time, use a detail you found on social media. For instance, you might say, “I saw on Twitter that you just attended the Midwest EdTech conference. How did it go?”
3. “how is your [day of the week] going?”
Use this question to replace “How are you?” It’s not too far off from “How are you?”, but simply using different words make it feel fresh. Rather than giving a knee-jerk response, your prospect will pause and think, “Hmm, how is my Wednesday going?”Most people will also feel compelled to add an explanation, such as, “My team has a big deadline coming up, so I’ve been busier than normal.” You’ll get the opportunity to ask a follow-up question (and learn more about their goals and challenges while you’re at it).
4. “what’s new in your world?”
Another alternative to “How are you?”, this opener is fairly casual, so you should save it for prospects with whom you’ve built a strong rapport. It shows that you’re interested in their life and what’s happened since you spoke to them last.If they seem like they’d be turned off by this level of informality, try “What’s new in [prospect’s industry]?” instead.
5. “i read that [company trigger event]. how us that going for [you, your team]?”
To simultaneously prove you’ve done your homework and encourage your prospect to open up, tie your question to a recent company announcement.For example, you might say, “I read that Bread and Butter recently expanded to Utah. Congrats! How has that been for your team?”
6. “i saw that [company announcement]. [what’s that been like, how did that go]?”
Your prospect’s company doesn’t have to make any major moves for you to ask an organisation-related question. Any announcement is fair game — maybe they just launched an employee volunteer program with a local nonprofit, redesigned their website, or moved to a new office. In any case, your due diligence will usually impress the buyer.
7. “have you gotten a chance to do any [prospect’s hobby] recently?”
If you’ve already talked about an activity your prospect enjoys, asking this question is a great way to build on your existing rapport.You can also use social media to learn about their hobbies. For instance, if you read in their company bio that they love travelling, you might ask, “I read on your company’s ‘Team’ page that you’re a big traveller. Have you gotten the chance to go anywhere new lately?”People typically light up when discussing their passions, so this question immediately puts prospects at ease.
8. “so tell me how your week is going”
Asking, “How’s your week so far?” will get you fairly standard responses. However, telling someone to talk about themselves carries far more weight. You’ll seem more interested in their response simply by flipping the script.As a bonus, this statement conveys confidence and authority — making you seem more credible from the very beginning of the conversation.
9. “I’m curious to hear how x went”
Want to genuinely flatter your prospect? Use this line. Everyone likes hearing someone else is eager to learn about them. Not to mention that showing you’re curious about their life (not just their budget) makes the interaction feel more human and friendly.This one works well for events, projects, and other office-related topics, but you can also use it for everyday things. Maybe your prospect mentioned they were reading a great book. Say, “I’m curious to hear how you liked Smartcuts.” Or if they’d tweeted about a movie they were looking forward to, say, “I saw your tweet about ‘Spiderman.’ I’m curious to know what you thought.”With these nine unique questions up your sleeve, you’ll never need to stop at “How are you?” again. Your conversations will be more interesting from the moment they begin.
It happens every day. People come to me and tell my agency that they want to go viral online. This used to drive me insane. Getting content to “go viral” online is complicated, sometimes expensive, and can be largely based on luck.
But, I get it.
The assumption is that you can post something online and within minutes you’ll quadruple the eyeballs on your startup.
In 2015 63% of global internet traffic consisted of video. By 2020 that number will climb all the way to 79%.
Brands get this. They know that they need to create video content for online consumption. The issue is that they’ve been creating video content (commercials) for television. With television taking it’s last gasps, there can be a steep learning curve as brands enter the digital landscape.
Here’s how you do it (at least on Facebook and Instagram).
1. keep it short
According to L2 Intelligence Report Video 2016 June 2016, videos that were less than 15 seconds on Facebook generate 50% more engagement than those videos longer than a minute.
You may ask yourself if you should consider posting your brand videos on Instagram, and YouTube.
Well, consider this first, Instagram videos have increased 109% year over year. Facebook videos have increased 46% year over year, and YouTube videos uploads have remained flat.
The average duration of a brands YouTube video has decreased by more than 60 seconds since April, 2015.
2. turn off the sound
2/3 of Beauty brand videos and 5/6 of luxury videos don’t have audio at all. They may have some background music, but other than that — nothing.
Our agency is drawn to video that place with time lapse, and slow motion. Leveraging powerful tools that can create visually compelling content like Flixel works well too.
Flixel is a magical tool for visual storytelling. They’re compelling, different and you can use them as ad units on Facebook also.
Wrapping it up. Focus on beautiful, short videos that will tell your brand story. Here’s the only issue. Simple is hard. Look for partners that can help extricate your brand’s zeitgeist, transfer that to video, and share with the world via Facebook or Instagram.
Keep the videos under 15 seconds, and stay off YouTube.
Almost every business conceivable has a digital presence today, from the cheap noodle shop next door to the massive upscale supermarket an hour’s drive away. But simply having a website isn’t going to cut it anymore.
Companies today increasingly use information technology to improve their productivity in a number of key sectors. Consider going digital in the following areas to improve your business’s overall efficiency and boost your bottom line.
make human relations great again
Ah, the HR department. From sifting through piles of resumes to reminding employees about casual Fridays, HR has never been particularly glamorous — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t critical. After all, obtaining and retaining the best people is probably the most important thing a business can do to ensure its long-term viability. And fortunately, big data is coming to the rescue.
There’s an increasing number of cloud-based software services, such as Talentsoft, that provide easy solutions for businesses to find and interview the best candidates for a position. These services crunch vast amounts of data that would take ages for humans to complete. That’s much easier than letting resumes pile up and hoping for the best.
There’s also a host of performance appraisal software available that can help employees provide constructive feedback, which means less time and money spent on HR and better suited candidates for a position.
make sales simple
Sales is an excellent place to start implementing digital solutions to improve productivity. If you’re not conducting at least part of your sales online at this point, you need to reconsider.
Tweak your business’s website, so customers can obtain exclusive deals by signing up for newsletters and the like. You can also add a custom ordering section, so your clients can order products without visiting the store only to discover what they want just went out of stock.
A price estimator on your websites can save your employees time and effort, and you can adjust your website to offer more customised products as well. Such services are simple additions that could provide significant benefits.
harness social media in your marketing efforts
Everyone’s talking about social media, and there’s a reason for that: Social media is an easy and almost completely cost-free way to boost productivity. If your business can creatively engage customers online, you will experience raised product awareness, which can mean more sales.
How does social media make your business more productive? It’s free, but it’s also efficient as a way to reach existing and potential clients. If you own a small business, you can manage your own social media relatively easily.
If you’re a medium-sized business, consider hiring a “growth hacker” to create authentic engagement that will translate into added visibility and sales. Hiring a growth hacker usually comes with a onetime fee, and it can be a good solution if you don’t want to spend too much effort trying to build an audience on social media — a process that can be hit or miss.
revolutionise your internal communications
Remember your employee’s face at the latest meeting when it was clear she hadn’t read the company-wide memo? Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen again. Research shows that poor internal communication in a business leads to obvious losses of productivity. When your employees aren’t up to date, or managers are not giving clear orders or opportunities for feedback, your business will suffer.
Fortunately, easy digital solutions can improve the productivity of your workers through better communications. User-friendly services, such as Slack, make sure employees can quickly and efficiently communicate with each other or within different groups. Slack makes it easy to form teams that communicate directly with each other, making it efficient to share files and search archives — a much less painful task than trawling through your email to find an old PowerPoint presentation.
going digital makes sense for everyone
It doesn’t matter if your business is large or small. Digitising basic processes by going paperless makes financial sense. For small businesses in particular, the rewards can be even greater. Employees often waste time looking for documents — some firms waste as much as 6 hours per employee per week. It’s no secret that going paperless helps the environment and saves supply costs. Besides making your employees more productive, digitisation will make your business more efficient and help your bottom line.The Time Is Now
Running a tight ship in our current “knowledge economy” means going digital. Beneficial digital solutions are currently in vogue for a good reason: They cut costs and allow you to focus on your core business, which, as any good boss knows, consists largely of keeping your employees and clients happy. Once you accomplish that, the rest will come easily.
There is a country song with these lyrics, “Everyone wants to go to Heaven, no one wants to die.”
We want things, but we don’t do what is necessary to have those things. This truth is easier to recognise in others than ourselves. If you have clients, you know they want better results without having to change.
goals and outcomes
Your dream client explains to you that they need a new outcome. What they’re doing isn’t working. Not being able to achieve this new or better outcome is starting to have serious consequences to their results, and they’re certain that things will only get worse in the future.
Your prospect has a problem worth solving. This is how new opportunities are created, and it is also how you remove your competitor and displace them. If only it were this easy.
constraints, real and imagined
The reason your dream client isn’t getting the results they need now is because they have constraints that they have been unwilling to address. You have likely experienced this with a prospective client who sees the value in what you sell and believes that you are the right person to help their company improve their results. You have their full support. Until you discuss the investment necessary to produce the results they need.
Lack of money is a constraint. The lack of time and resources is a constraint. An unwillingness to allow leadership and other stakeholders who would be required to agree to any change into the conversation is a constraint.
Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die. We want better results, but we don’t want to do what is necessary to produce those results. This isn’t only true for your clients; it is equally true for you. If you think about something that you want for yourself but haven’t achieved, it’s certain that you know what you would need to do to have it and that you have some constraint, real or imagined, that prevents you from getting what you want.
But this isn’t where this problem ends. The biggest challenge we have in business is helping people change. That is a psychology problem.
The presenting problem, the constraints or behaviors that prevent someone from getting what they want, is not the root cause of why those constraints or behaviors persist.
behind the constraint
Constraints are not permanent. Most people don’t lack resources; they lack resourcefulness. If you are going to help someone breakthrough and transform their results, you have to get to the real constraint, which is always fear.
Why doesn’t your dream client have the money they need to make the investment necessary for the results they need? Here are some ideas:
Maybe your contact has asked for money in the past and failed, and he is afraid of failing again and risking his position in the company. Maybe your dream client’s company is spending for money in another area and won’t be able to free up the budget for 6 months. Maybe your contact has a rocky relationship with her leader and doesn’t believe she can pull off a request for a budget increase. Or maybe, the real fear is the fear of failure, and it has nothing to do with money.
Until you help your client deal with what’s really behind the constraint, they are not going to get the results they need, even though you could easily produce them. What is behind the constraint is almost always some deep human need.
What does this mean we need to do as change agents?
First, we have to be willing and able to help the people we serve to identify their constraint. This is usually easy because your contacts are more committed to their constraints than they are to their desired outcome, or goals. If it were otherwise, they’d be producing the results already.
Second, we have to be willing to help identify the fear behind the constraint.This is what consultative salespeople do. They “go there.” If your client had to deal with this constraint, what would have to happen, and what is preventing that from happening?
Finally, we have to generate options that allow us to address the fear (which, by the way, is very real) and deal with the constraint. We have to help our prospects fear the right danger and deal with their assumptions that no action can be taken that doesn’t hurt them. Most often, they get hurt when they don’t make the changes they need to make.
Whether you’re a seasoned SEO or someone who runs your own business, you know there are fluctuations in your organic traffic, but you may struggle to pinpoint the root cause.
Organic search, unlike its paid counterpart, comes with a unique set of challenges in diagnosing a decline in traffic and conversions. There are some obvious places you can mine for insights (Google Analytics, Google Search Console), but other factors at play can be harder to quantify.
From basic issues to advanced issues to factors that are largely out of your control, following is a list of things to check for when diagnosing major fluctuations in organic traffic or search engine rankings. By examining both internal and external factors, you can start to piece together the puzzle.
basic issues
1. your pages aren’t indexed
Conduct a quick Google search using “site:yourwebsite.com” to make sure your pages are actually indexed. If you’re noticing that critical pages aren’t appearing in the SERPs, you’ve likely found the culprit. Check your robots.txt file to make sure you haven’t blocked important pages or directories. If that looks good, check individual pages for a noindex tag.
2. bot filters
Are you currently excluding all known bots and spiders in Google Analytics? If not, you may be experiencing inflated traffic metrics and not even know it. Typically, bots enter through the home page and cascade down throughout your site navigation, mimicking real user behaviour. One telltale sign of bot traffic is a highly trafficked page with a high bounce rate, low conversions and a low average time on page.
While it’s best to create a custom dimension for filtering out bots, applying the generic bot filter is a good place to start. It’s important to note that filters cannot be applied retroactively, so if you’ve recently turned on this feature, you should be receiving less traffic. Additionally, double-check that you are filtering out your own traffic and IP address.
3. recent site updates
If you’ve recently modified your on-page copy, undergone a site overhaul (removing pages, reordering the navigation) or migrated your site sans redirects, it’s reasonable to expect a decline in traffic. After reworking your site content, Google must re-crawl and then re-index these pages. It’s not uncommon to experience unstable rankings for up to a few weeks afterwards.
If you’ve changed your URL structure or removed pages from your site, it’s important to have a 301-redirect strategy in place to preserve link equity and avoid a loss of rankings/traffic.
4. URL confusion
Do you have a content strategy in place, or are your efforts more “off the cuff?” Not having a clearly defined keyword map can spell trouble — especially if two or more pages are optimised for the same keyword. In practice, this will cause pages to compete against each other in the SERPs, potentially reducing the rankings of these pages. Here is an example of what this might look like:
Fortunately, if you have access to a keyword tracking tool, you should be able to see a day-by-day breakdown of which URLs Google chooses to rank for that particular keyword. With a little time and effort, you should be able to remedy the situation.
advanced issues
5. structured data markup
Implementing structured data markup (such as that from schema.org) might seem like a one-time project, but that “set it and forget it” mentality can land you in hot water. You should be monitoring the appearance of your rich snippets on a regular basis to ensure they are pulling in the correct information. As you change the content on your website, this can alter the markup without warning.
Likewise, depending on your back-end merchandising setup, products could be triggered to show “out of stock” schema if one color variation goes out of stock. As you can imagine, this can wreak havoc on your click-through rates and lead users to purchase from your resellers — or worse, your competitors!
6. promotional cadence & the “sale hangover effect”
Did you run a big promotion last year, such as a sample or flash sale? Did it coincide with the same week this year? If not, your year-on-year comparison will be skewed.
If so, were your past promotions equally enticing? Did your brand launch a new product line or offer limited-time products? These factors alone are difficult to measure, and we’re not even accounting for PR efforts, which will also impact your organic metrics.
There is also significant evidence to suggest that the “Sale Hangover Effect” is not just a phenomenon. It deals with two factors: share of mind and share of wallet.
Tim Kilroy, co-founder of AdChemix, explains this anomaly:
Consumers only have so much attention and so much money — and for each, they set a “budget” for how much they want to spend with the brands that are important to them. Consumers invest their attention and money into big promotions. Typically, big promos have big results for the retailer, but the flip side is that the promo has emptied the consumers’ budget for attention and money. If the promo is big enough, it even entices some consumers to overspend a little bit (or a lot). When consumers have expended or exceeded their budget, they tend to engage with your brand less. They become immune to marketing messages and spend fewer dollars.
7. price point & product depth
As a savvy digital marketer, you’ve inevitably nailed the four Ps: price, product, promotion and place. However, a well-planned strategy means nothing without the fifth P: people.
Here is a common narrative that many e-tailers can relate to: You identified your “sweet spot” in the marketplace and know that charging above this threshold leads to price sensitivity. Your core products drive volume — which allows you to achieve amazing growth. Then, one day, your focus shifted. Maybe you stopped churning out iterations of your best sellers, or maybe you tried to focus on your higher-revenue products — all the while alienating the people who liked your previous offerings.
This quickly turns into a “chicken-and-egg” situation. Are fewer people coming to your site due to poor visibility in the SERPs? Or have you shifted your product focus, and is that why consumers are no longer interested in your brand? For a quick check, look at Google Search Console data, and pull positions and clicks by page. If position is staying relatively stagnant, this means your brand is not losing visibility in the SERPs, and there may be a bigger issue at play.
uncontrollable factors
8. being outranked by re-sellers & affiliates
For maximum exposure, you may have launched an affiliate program or have several re-sellers under your belt. This is typically a non-issue — until, of course, your re-sellers start to outrank you for branded keywords. While this might not derail your revenue goals, it’s a sure bet you’re losing traffic to these sites.
9. new google ad placement
With Google killing off right-hand rail ads, many brands may be seeing more of their direct traffic being cannibalised by paid search ads. It will be some time before we’re able to quantify the full effect, but you should be mindful of this.
10. industry trends & waning brand interest
With the exception of crude oil and Picasso’s, very few industries are “recession-proof” and experience an inelastic product demand. Look at how your competitors are faring, and see if they’re experiencing the same problems. While you should take Google Trends data with a grain of salt, looking at the bigger picture may help provide some clarity. I’d suggest taking this a step further by conducting trends research and reading industry reports.
Brands hold a wealth of customer information that may often not seem applicable to SEO — and many times, it’s not. However, if you’re working with an SEO agency, sometimes sharing this knowledge can provide the missing piece to the puzzle. Knowing something as simple as “Consumer preferences are shifting around the colour black” could help explain why your traffic is down if your products are often paired with black shoes. Sometimes it’s as easy as connecting the dots.
Employee volunteer days and donation-matching programs are excellent ways for businesses to give back. But companies today are exploring new ways to contribute to their communities, simultaneously stimulating employee (and customer) engagement and having a great impact overall. Here are seven ideas you can start implementing right now:
1. gamify ‘going green’
Composting isn’t new, and let’s be honest…not very exciting. But you know what is? Gardening, and getting outside during the work day! Helen Rogerson of Churchill Education says her team has a bucket for food scraps in the company kitchen which they empty regularly into a compost bin. They eventually use that compost to plant and grow a small herb garden on-site.
Team members are able pick out the herbs, plant them, and share the resulting produce. This is a fun and hands-on way to engage your employees and promote good environmental health throughout your business.
2. auction off some goodies, and give away the proceeds
Auctions are a simple way to raise money for a cause you care about, as people are more inclined to purchase products when the profits go towards a philanthropic project. This raises awareness about your company and your cause, and is a fun way to showcase your new and exciting products.
Bluethumb and Handkrafted have a great model in place for this kind of fundraising. They teamed up with local artists to auction off one-of-a-kind artwork online. This is truly win-win: the artists get exposure and the businesses get to give back.
Bonus idea: You could add some extra creative flare and turn this idea into a penny auction to maximize impact, and give more people “the gift of giving.” Bidders would commit small amounts of cash, even a few pennies, towards the item being auctioned. The highest bidder gets the prize, but all the other bidders’ contributions would still go towards a great cause.
3. better yet, just give away your awesome [extra] products
If your company sells a physical good, you are bound to have extra materials and old models laying around. Don’t let them go to waste! Take Orion Labs as an example: the San Francisco company now has its second generation of wearable communication devices on the market.
So what happened to the leftover first generation inventory? Operations guru Andrew Sherman saw an opportunity at a local homeless youth organisation that could put the product to good use. He provided the devices and arranged training for the nonprofit’s team so that these new electronics could improve communications within the program and help it run more seamlessly.
4. add ‘giving’ incentives for meeting deadlines
Whether it’s incentivizing clients, customers, or employees to hustle towards a business goal, adding in a “giving” reward is a sure way to move them to action. UK-based accounting firm Jonathan Ford & Co used this method to motivate their clientele to file their tax returns on time, by promising to sponsor one child’s malaria treatment overseas for every timely return received.
Tax season is stressful enough, so not only is this helping the kids, it’s helping the employees’ work-flow management as well.
5. use your work space during off hours for a ‘can’t miss’ community event
This is a good way to show your company’s commitment to the local community and become more integrated within it. You can offer a free event, like Amaze Education’s “movie night” where anyone can come and enjoy a peaceful evening catching a new flick at the company’s early education centre.
6. or donate your space to other causes
Nonprofits and charities are often looking for space to use for meetings, events and fundraisers… so why not let them use your empty after-hours work space to do so? You can give back simply by not letting your space go to waste!
7.give ‘giving’ for special occasions
Providing “giving credits” to your employees or clientele so that they can give to the causes of their choosing is a great way to celebrate achievements and milestones. Jane Burns of Lighthouse Health Group has each of her employees designate their “cause of choice” during their birthday month to which the company contributes towards. This kind of “giving gift card” could be replicated for employee (and customer) engagements, weddings, and birth announcements!
Sounds obvious, right? You can’t make a sale unless you’ve demonstrated value to a prospect. You can’t do that unless you’ve understood their problems and devised a strategy to solve them. In turn, you can’t do that until you get your prospect to tell you what’s wrong. And so on, and so forth…
The root of it all is the ability to gather and provide information in a way that makes your prospect want to do business with you. Your value proposition, your pricing, even your product’s features — none of that matters unless you’re able to get your prospects to talk to you and also listen to what you have to say.
So before you immerse yourself in buyer personas, case studies, and Marketing collateral, work on these 10 skills to ensure that when you’re talking to a prospect, you’re sending the right message.
10 communication skills the best salespeople share
1. they pay full attention
We’re all busier than ever before, and selling can be an especially pressure-filled career. So it’s understandable that during a client meeting, your mind could wander over to the demo you have to prepare for this afternoon, the prospecting you forgot to do, or the contract you’re waiting on to come in.
Just because it’s understandable doesn’t make it acceptable. Showing up to a call isn’t just about physically being on the other end of the line. You have to dedicate 100% of your attention to each call, otherwise you’ll miss details and make your prospect repeat things they’ve already told you. It’ll be obvious when you’re not paying attention, and that’s no way to treat buyers.
2. they practice active listening
Not only do you have to listen, you have to listen actively, otherwise your conversation won’t really go anywhere.
“Too often, salespeople are waiting for their turn to talk or thinking about what to say next, instead of truly listening to the prospect,” HubSpot vice president sales of Peter Caputa says.
Caputa teaches HubSpot reps the following four-step process:
Truly listen to the prospect.
Feed back the content and feeling of the prospect’s words.
Confirm you heard the prospect correctly.
Ask a relevant follow up question to further clarify your understanding of their situation.
3. they can read body language and control their own
The same sentence said by someone who’s smiling, looking directly into your eyes, and sitting up straight is received very differently when the speaker is looking away and slouching — even if they meant the same thing both times.
That’s because while we can say pretty much anything we want, our body language often reveals our true intentions or meaning. Great communicators know how to read others’ body language so they can anticipate the direction a conversation’s heading, and also make sure their own body language isn’t sending out signals they don’t mean to broadcast.
4. they’ve mastered the nuances of voice tone
Like body language, voice tone — your voice pitch, volume, speed, and even your word choice — affects how the words you’re actually saying are interpreted. And if you’re in inside sales, the only thing you have to make an impression is your voice.
Listen to how your prospect speaks, then mirror their speaking patterns when it makes sense. While you probably shouldn’t imitate every slang word or lingo they use, slow down if they speak slowly — or speed things up if they talk rapidly. Match your level of formality and familiarity to your prospect as well. The key is to meet buyers on their turf — and that means speaking in a way they’re comfortable with.
5. they are empathetic
You don’t necessarily have to agree with everything your prospect is saying, but you should always at least try to see things from their point of view. And that means more than just saying, “Hmm, I see where you’re coming from.”
The best sales reps are able to connect with their prospects because they actually understand the things their buyers do at work every day and the challenges they face. Not only does being empathetic make you more likable, it also increases your chances of closing a deal. When you can draw on your knowledge of your prospects’ actual day-to-day, you’re better equipped to understand what they care about, which makes it more likely you’ll be able to help them.
6. they understand what’s not being said
Prospects sometimes don’t tell the whole truth. And that’s okay, as long as you know how to spot when it’s happening. Is your prospect just evaluating your company because his boss told him to present three options? Is your prospect sold, but her manager, the economic buyer, isn’t? These are crucial things to know, and you can’t suss them out until you learn to read between the lines.
7. they speak in specifics
Great communicators aren’t persuasive because they speak in dramatic, sweeping rhetoric. They’re able to convince people because they can point to specific examples or anecdotes that support the point they’re trying to make — and in the case of salespeople, because they can demonstrate exactly how a product or feature will help their buyer.
Be as specific as you can. And if you can throw in a catchy soundbite or two, by all means do it. Just don’t rely on quippy phrases to get a deal to the finish line.
8. they are subject matter experts
Of course, you can’t be specific if you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. If you sell to a specific industry, you should know that industries’ concerns, behaviors, and buying patterns down pat. If you sell to multiple industries, know your value prop as it relates to each cold and use customer references as backup.
Prospects will never trust you if it doesn’t seem like you really understand your (or their) business, so become an expert in your relevant field.
9. they know what they don’t know
But being an expert doesn’t mean you know everything. Unless you’ve shadowed your buyer, you don’t know exactly what they do or every nuance of their business. So don’t act like you do. You should know enough to sketch out the outlines of their situation on your own, but you’ll always have to rely on your prospects to fill in the little details.
Be aware of the gaps in your knowledge, then ask your prospect to help fill them in. They’ll appreciate your honesty about what you don’t know, and you’ll avoid losing deals because of false assumptions.
10. they’re genuinely curious
The key to sales is asking good questions. And if you’re not actually curious about your prospect’s situation, it’ll be all too easy to slip into your elevator pitch before you’ve established whether any part of it is relevant to your buyer. Great communicators are naturally curious about their conversational counterparts, and that’s especially crucial in sales — ask questions first, then answer them later.
Psychological barriers routinely put chains around workplace creativity, stalling both projects and careers. To unlock your innovation, recognise these three most common hurdles and apply the easy fixes.
conformity
If you’re a conformist at work, you say and do what you think others expect you to do and say, aligning your beliefs, attitudes and behaviours with current norms. Honesty is difficult and, subsequently, so is building the trust you need to share your original ideas.
Fixes:
Ask your boss for some independent projects.
Ask questions, especially “Why…?”
Use phrases such as “I think…”, “In my opinion…” and “I would…” to remind yourself to speak with independence.
Spend time with those from other cultures to see what others do and believe.
fear of judgement/looking like a fool
Lower-level workers often fear being judged during the creative process because they don’t want to lose the chance for perks or promotions; upper-level workers don’t want to destroy the reputation they’ve built. If you fear being judged, you probably feel nervous when you have to show your work or are asked for your opinion. You also might think things like “If I do X, they’ll…” or “I don’t want them to…”
Fixes:Tell yourself “They’re on my side.”Make a list of your well-received ideas or products to remind yourself others have judged you positively and that rejection isn’t guaranteed.If you have a negative reaction to others’ work, challenge yourself to identify the root of that reaction. Then come up with something positive about the concept. The less you judge others negatively, the less you’ll expect others to judge you negatively, too.
ready acceptance of the obvious
Obvious solutions usually are easy to come up with, but they tend to be creative wastelands. Acceptance of the obvious likely is a problem for you if don’t come up with multiple options or jump to get to work without questioning what you were told to do.
Fixes:Set aside your initial idea for 24 hours to give yourself time to think of other options and avoid selection based on hot emotional reaction.Practise combining opposites.Take classes, research and read so you’re more aware of alternatives.
the creativity is there — claim it!
Most employees–including you–have creativity inside. They just need to free it. Doing this involves changing habits, which can take time and get you out of your comfort zone. The good news is, anybody can use the strategies outlined here. Recruit your coworkers and even your boss to support you, and encourage them to challenge conformity, fear of judgement and ready acceptance of the obvious, too!
Different social networks have different user bases — even the major ones. For example, 72% of adult internet users are on Facebook, while only 25% are on LinkedIn, according to Pew Research Center. Each of those networks attract users for different reasons, and cater to different user behaviour.Just because a network is hot right now, doesn’t mean you should be using it. The key is to figure out where your personas are engaging on social media and figure out a strategy for connecting with them there. (Don’t have personas yet? Check out our persona templates to get started.)Note: Keep in mind that the personas you’re targeting might differ between departments. For example, your recruiting department may be looking to engage with different folks than your marketing department.
2. will this account fill a need that is different from one of my other accounts?
If you have a social channel for your company already, you likely already have an audience that’s interested in receiving your content and updates. Congrats, that’s hard work.When you start a new account, you are building that audience all over. Don’t do the work for nothing. Unless there is specific content that your audience cannot receive in the original area, or there is a need to serve a new user base, there might not be reason enough to create another account.In other words, don’t create a need for a new segment if it isn’t already there. Creating a new account should be to drive a business need, not to create one from scratch.
3. do i have the time required to build an account
If you are going to have a handle represent your brand it is important for that handle to be meeting the expectations of the customers. Most commonly that means building a sizeable following and consistently posting to the account. Otherwise, the handle can look inconsistent with your other handles — or worse, dormant.That being said, it takes time to build and publish to a new account (multiple hours a week for several weeks). This is a laborious process that requires a big time commitment in order to be successful. Before committing to your new account, take a look at the calendar and see what your team can realistically handle.
4. do i have the time required to monitor the account?
This is the one that surprises most people. When you open up a direct channel of communication, your audience will use it. Being able to monitor an account is imperative for a good brand experience. This expectation of service can be great if you’re looking to start a support account, but trickier if your account has primarily a marketing function.Keep in mind that expectations will be different depending on the network you’re considering. On Twitter, 70% of surveyed users expect a response from brands, and 53% want that response in under an hour. Brands that don’t respond actually hurt their brand reputation. Facebook is also encouraging faster responses by giving brands who respond to 90% of messages within 5 minutes a “very responsive” icon on their pages.While you may have a slightly longer grace period for brand comments (like on Facebook or Instagram), when people are reaching out to you directly on an account, they are doing it because they want a rapid response.Check out this handy guide to learn how to monitor your social media effectively.
5. what is the plan for content planning/creating?
This may be the most time-consuming part of your social strategy, but some (myself included) would say it’s the most important. Content is what will keep your social channel front of mind, and it’s also what will bring in the views, interactions, and leads. Suffice to say, when creating a channel you should have a plan for sustained content creation.When thinking about your new social channel, consider where you will be getting the material and how you’ll be able to sustain this to create multiple posts a week. Remember, this content should also serve a unique function from your existing accounts.
6. how many posts/week am i able to commit to this account?
Posting consistency is key. Once you have a content plan, be sure that you’re able to keep up a consistent posting schedule as well. After all, your accounts aren’t doing much for you if you’re not posting from them. Dormant accounts also can give off the impression that you don’t care, or can’t commit to brand followers.Exactly how often you post is dependent on network and industry, but you should plan to have at least 1-2 Facebook posts a week, and 4-5 on Twitter (if not more). For some of the quieter networks with less links to click (think: Snapchat, Instagram, etc.), you can manage posting a couple of times a month, rather than weekly.Need help figuring out a posting schedule? Check out our templates.
7. do i have budget to help build/scale this account?
Money talks on social media. This is an unfortunate truth we are seeing more and more often. While you don’t really need budget to build out an account, a little spend can go a long way for boosting posts or putting yourself in front of new followers — especially on algorithm-dependent networks such as Facebook.If you choose to put your money behind advertising in social, watch it carefully. Define goals beforehand, and put it into a network that is really worthwhile for you. Each network has a slightly different way of handling paid advertising. For more on how to navigate paid social advertising, check out this free guide or click on any of the respective links below:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Snapchat
(Note: Snapchat ads can be quite expensive. You may want to consider an on-demandgeofilter instead).
8. what is the goal of this account? how will i know if it’s successful?
When you’re launching any initiative it’s important to know what value it will bring you, how you know you should double down on your efforts, or when you may want to cut and run.Whether your success is measured in leads, applicants, or share of voice, knowing your goals can help you prioritize your time and report your wins back to your team more effectively.
9. why is time spent on this social account more valuable than time spent doing other marketing activities?
If you’re feeling good about the questions above, you’ve hopefully determined that creating a new social account will take you a healthy (but totally worthwhile) amount of time. Now you have to ask yourself: Am I best spending my time creating content for this specific channel, or should I consider other marketing tactics (running experiments, optimizing emails, hosting events, etc.)?At the end of the day, it comes down to you and your team. Specifically, to whether or not you can create and sustain a new account to a degree that feels worthwhile to your company. If these questions have you planning a run for the hills, perhaps a new account is not the right fit. At least not right now. On the other hand, if they have you feeling excited about the content you’ll post with this account, or the goals you’ll be trying to hit, sounds like you have some creating to do.
FREE Limerick & Cork Events:
Sales & Marketing Workshop
Where: Savoy Hotel, LimerickWhen: June 21st 2016Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Where: Rochestown Park Hotel, CorkWhen: June 29th 2016Time: 9.30am – 11.30am