Expect your marketing department to soon have sales people knocking on its door inquiring how to best engage in social media. Customers are accessing information differently than before and changing their habits by conducting a lot more research online and taking advice from others who have established reputations on the internet.

Salespeople need to get on the ball immediately. It is the job of those responsible for marketing to lead the way and help out their salespeople. This may include taking a leading role participating in these social media accounts. Let's explore some key features in Linkedin and Twitter that salespeople need to utilize.

Providing Quality Answers on LinkedIn and Consider Creating a Group

 One great way to build thought leadership is by providing valuable tips and mindfully answering questions on Linkedin. The best answers for a question posed are highlighted, and when a prospective customer is impressed with the level of insight provided, it's a good possibility they'll take note of the individual for future reference when they are further along in the buying cycle. Ideally, they would reach out and request a connection as well. Creating a Linkedin group is another fantastic way to build a community. Invite the following people:

    * People in your company
    * Key customers and contacts
    * Other industry leaders.

Choose a title for your group that makes sense so people will understand the exact nature of your group. Lastly, make sure you promote your group and integrate it with the rest of your marketing events and programs.

Twitter

Now that real time content such as tweets are showing up in search results, the importance of engaging in this medium has just increased dramatically. The perceived quality of content in the tweet, and the link they point to, will assist your company in search engine optimization (SEO) when the search engines likely decide to include these in their ranking algorithms.

Twitter lists are definitely something that deserve your attention in 2010. You can find extremely resourceful lists to follow, and if you're quick to the draw in a particular niche, you can create a list of thought leaders which will establish your credibility because other people will follow the list that you created as well. This is all transparent for everyone on Web to see (unless you mark it private which doesn't make sense within the context of this discussion of Twitter lists). Now do you get a feel for where this is heading?

Click Here to Learn More About Social Media

Focus To Grow is a SMarketing company, providing inbound marketing and sales execution services for b2b companies.

So...the day starts at the butt crack of dawn 3:45AM. The typical life of a small business owner. Trying to get billing done, invoice, study my craft and prep for a prospective new client meeting before 9AM.

I shower and cruise to Starbucks, but the address in my GPS led me to a warehouse where Starbucks apparently used to be. I happend to catch a glance of a Caribou Coffee out of the corner of my eye and head there as my back up. (What is sad is this use to be my first choice before they went public).

I plow through a few emails and decide to take a break to grab an oatmeal. I place my order for oatmeal and I get a "what type?"  I reply, "What do you mean what type?" The Barista looks at me with a blank stare...Good question, I know we have a lot of choices.  Aaargh!

While this young woman was very kind to cure my illiteracy and read my twelve choices off the menu, I was sadly reminded why my once favorite place is now last on my list behind Starbucks, Dunn Brothers and a local hole in the wall.  

So here is the lesson for small business owners in the context of my blog, Epoch.

Don't Follow, Lead. If you do follow, blow the competition out of the water!

Caribou has 500 stores and Starbucks has 9,000! Caribou Coffee is so much smaller and nimbler, it should have been the company to offer coffee in a packet you can take on the road. Or, being an outdoorsy coffee shop, their food selections should resemble those items that take you back to where the Caribou hang. For example, I would offer a breakfast sandwich called a Crystal Creek Sunrise Scramble, inspired by some customers trip they had camping at Crystal Creek in the Tetons. If you are going to follow, make sure you are clearly better than the competition. Note, more is not better. If I was running Caribou Coffee I would have hired someone to create an out of this world gourmet oatmeal, instead of the undercooked crap from a packet I'm eating right now. This would be more consistent with their attempt at "fresh baked" pastries in the store.  

One more non-coffee example: iPods were not the first to market, but they clearly were superior to any media player on the market when they hit.

Build a Community. Human beings buy stuff, not demographics.

I use to feel like the folks at Caribou Coffee were my buds. When I went into the Caribou this morning at 5:30AM, there was no one but me there. I did not get a greeting from the two people that saw me walk in.  

I will go one step further and say that if you go to the corporate Website, there are no invitations to follow them on Twitter, Facebook or the like.  Once again, this suff is free, and social media is the easiest way to stay dialed in on the market and your brand. 

I would totally leverage inbound marketing to keep a pulse and inspire my community to help shape my offerings.

Be Authentic and Avoid the Mushy Middle. Mediocre is a Horrible Aspiration!

Starbucks always has been a kind corporate, sleek refined more upscalish coffee shop. Whereas Caribou is a rough and tumble back country type of experience. However, you would never know this other than the little bits and pieces of Caribou and rustic stuff in their decor. Being a kayaker, backcountry camper Caribou used to be the place where I could go to escape with my buds. Now they are a toned down chain trying to appeal to the masses and not doing very well, based on their financial performance.

To summarize, authenticity, the ability to innovate on a dime and create an intimate community is the biggest game changer small business owners and CEOs have.  I'm certain if Caribou would embrace these truths they would post stronger financial earnings and they would again become my first choice.

 

Focus To Grow is a SMarketing company, providing inbound marketing and sales execution services for b2b companies.

It's not rocket science to successfully manage salespeople. However for the rocket scientist, completing the duties of his or her chosen vocation may strangely come quite easily. While for the small business owner or CEO with sales people as direct reports, dealing with all of the different personalities in his or her sales force may feel like they are trying to land on a new moon that doesn't even exist. Check to see if you are unintentionally 'grounding' your sales team by not having the following three topics mastered.

Fact Based Account-Giving

Behavioral management is not glamorous work. This is why setting mutual activity goals between you and the salesperson is a must. If your management style happens to be a "sell this much each month or your fired" approach, you may have noticed your churn rate is unacceptably high. While it's absolutely necessary that you do meet your sales forecasts, you must manage the 'means' in how it's accomplished. And when sub par performance is demonstrated, you must be clear in your communication with the salesperson that this is not acceptable. First with a warning, then reprimanding them if it happens again, and as a final step, letting them go if necessary. There must be no ambiguity here. What you need to know are the actions required to be done on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to achieve your revenue targets. Only then, will you have the insight and clear understanding of why your sales team members are coming up short each month.     

Coach, don't Referee

It seems a lot of coaching energy expended by business owners and CEOs that manage sales people is pre-sale consulting and some 'hand holding' throughout the sales process. The old adage 'each time you point your finger at someone else, there are three pointing back at you,' is often the case with ineffective coaching. Ideally, you would be meeting with your reps daily. Are you? If not, it may be time to re-prioritize how your time is spent each day. Your job is to dig deeper and identify the strengths and weaknesses of each sales person (and that of your entire sales force). You must identify and remove roadblocks, clean up the debris, and make the formerly 'less traveled' road to success more accessible.       

Motivating "Don't believe the hype that salespeople are self motivated"

What motivates you? Most likely there is an emotional component or a 'dream' associated with the activities you choose to do on a daily basis. If you learn how to inextricably link activity goals together with a salesperson's dreams, you will definitely see an increase of the desired revenue producing behavior. It's very important that you as small business owner or CEO with salespeople reporting to you to see and understand the psychological underpinnings of each salesperson.
If you're unfamiliar with motivational concepts such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, it would behoove you to start learning. For example, if someone is intrinsically motivated by satisfaction of a 'job well done' versus the paycheck that comes along with this achievement, then it's certainly not a best practice to begin your motivational talk discussing the commission generated from the sale. Surely, they already understand the benefits of financial compensation. Growth starts with understanding, period.

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Focus To Grow is sales accleration consulting firm, specializing in providing inbound marketing and sales execution support for small businesses. www.focustogrow.com

 

Focus To Grow is a SMarketing company, providing inbound marketing and sales execution services for b2b companies.

I would encourage you to take a ten minute break and tune into the Fox Business Network- 5:00pm ET / 4:00PM CT on Saturday October 10th, 2009.

Schwing Bioset, Inc. in Somerset, WI is doing some impressive work converting waste into fertilizer.

I find this company and their technology to be quite impressive because it is a "green technology" that actually has many benefits for business, job creation and the environment.

Information about Schwing Bioset:

In 2006, SBI opened a new 20,000 square foot engineering and manufacturing facility in Somerset, WI in order to rapidly expand its service offerings. The “Bioset Process” and Fluid Bed Drying technology are two examples of Schwing Bioset’s commitment to delivering innovative and environmentally friendly solutions to the wastewater treatment industry.

SBI's Project Management and Fluid Bed Drying teams remain in their respective locations of Danbury, CT and Houston, TX. Schwing Bioset’s mission is simple, to become the market leader in the biosolids  and beneficial reuse industry.
For more information, visit www.schwingbioset.com

If you are able to watch the show, I would be interested in hearing your feedback.

Focus To Grow is a SMarketing company, providing inbound marketing and sales execution services for b2b companies.

I've Always been a fighter. Having spent a lifetime overcoming obstacles, I've never allowed circumstance to determine success personally or in small business sales and marketing consulting. So, to frineds and entreprenuers around me,  it was no surprise that in 2005, I used a long surgery recovery to research strategies on how he could help small businesses and enntrepreneurs increase sales. From that new insight, as well as five years of medical sales experience, I developed a small business sales and marketing management consulting company, Top Line Growth, LLC. It turns out this tough economy,  sales and marketing help is exactly what small businesses and entrepreneurs need.

Top Line Growth utilizes a systematic turn-key approach to align and and get the most  a small businesses systems, people and strategies. Another way we help companies grow in a recession, we partner with best-in-class providers of high power sales and marketing tools. Top Line Growth tailors these tools to fit the specific requirements of small businesses and and entrepreneurs.  For small businesses that lack focus or have stagnant growht,Top Line Growth can help you find your focal point and give he tools and insight necessary to increase sales.

Through Top Line Growth and the Sky Center, I am challenging small businesses to focus on two things, focus and growth.

 

If you are serious about a no-nonsense, “shot-in-the-arm” approach we can help you take small businesses or start up ideas from stagnant to successful. To learn more, contact Teicko at 888.834.3060 or teicko@focus2grow.com. Individuals, looking for new sales and marketing tactics, can find Top Line Growth Courses at http://www.focus2grow.com under the extras/news tab.

About Top Line Growth – Top Line Growth is a minority-owned business specializing in re-thinking and re-engineering sales and marketing operations of emerging and visionary companies. Beginning in 2005, Top Line Growth was started by Teicko Huber, Principal, Keynote Speaker and Innovation GamesTM Facilitator.

Focus To Grow is a SMarketing company, providing inbound marketing and sales execution services for b2b companies.