I was recently asked to make a presentation to a group of business owners regarding social media and its use in generating bona fide prospects. I used our project- http://marketinggrader.net as the focal point of my presentation as it has been an extremely successful tool at generating leads for us. Social media is not a fad, it’s here to stay and there are numerous ways to exploit it for your business gain. The presentation lacks notes and of course the extra’s and examples I gave out in the seminar. If you have any questions or would like for me to make this presentation in person or remotely, for you, your group or business, please let me know.
Posts Tagged ‘sales’
A quick word about the competitive environment
Monday, October 12th, 2009
“Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”– or at least they did Karen Carpenter as I grew up hearing her sing the song. Today is Monday and it’s pouring rain. I’m actually writing this blog article to waylay my having to go out and get wet delivering some printing jobs to clients. In my mailbox this morning I found a short email about competition. It conveyed some simple thoughts. See what you think about them.
- “How good am I?” is the second question that every business owner must answer. “How good are my competitors?” is the first.
- Like it or not, your competitors set the height of the bar you must jump.
- It’s a weary old saying, but true, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
And as venture capitalist I knew once told me, “We learned quickly that the most important predictor of success is determination. At first we thought it might be intelligence. Everyone likes to believe that’s what makes startups succeed. It makes a better story that a company ‘won’ because its founders were so smart. But while it certainly helps to be smart, it’s not the deciding factor. There are plenty of people as smart as Bill Gates who achieve nothing.”
So, essentially making money is easy:
- Sell what people want to buy
- Offer it at an attractive price
- Occupy a high-visibility location
- Wave your arms and draw a crowd
Maybe you can’t have all of those, but I have never seen the combination fail. Need some help? We’re here.
“One”derful is wonderful!
Monday, August 17th, 2009
As I drove back from Charleston, SC yesterday, after two glorious days at the beach, I had two things going on in my mind. The first, because I was listening to the soundtrack of the Broadway show “Wicked,” was the song “Wonderful.” If you’re not familiar with it, it is sung by the character, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and is about his descent into the world of Oz (via his hot air balloon), how he was really a nobody but the citizens of Oz thought him “wonderful” and they called him “wonderful” and it was “wonderful” and soon his name became “wonderful.”
My second thought, which had been fueling me for a few days, was about “engagement.” No…not in the marital sense, in the “social media sense,” since that was to be the next topic on this blog. I’m pretty sure that the word “engagement” is going to become like the words “solution” or “brand” if it hasn’t already—overused and generally misunderstood. But that’s another topic for another day.
Engagement is not a fad. It’s the new customer imperative—it is establishing a relationship with your customer—which frankly, is fairly easy given all the tools available to do so today. (more…)
“Once again, we eat the sowing seed.”
Sunday, December 7th, 2008
“Once again, we eat the sowing seed.” I am attributing this quote to popular astronomer and author, Carl Sagan when asked to comment on NASA budget cuts during the recession of 1972. Whether it was Sagan or not is not the point– the point is “the eating of the sowing seed.” What is the sowing seed? It is the seed that is held back for replanting to grow future crops. Without “sowing seed” there is no future crop to harvest because those seeds weren’t planted. In Sagan’s illustration, we were eating for today what should have been planted for tomorrow.
NOW/TODAY is the time to build relationships with your customers. Consumers and businesses are tightening their belts and their budgets, but marketers need to look at today’s recession economy as an opportunity. Now is the ideal time to ramp up your efforts and build stronger relationships with your customers. (more…)