thinking: relating- celebrating :-)

TED just released news (June 2008) that there have been more than 50 million downloads of their videos.

Ashley Highfield of the BBC mentions that iPlayer has now had more than 75m video downloads (as at May 2008) so clearly we are moving into a new era of accelerated video and this has major benefits right across the spectrum.

Keep reading for more about both stories.

The Johnny Lee short clip (at #10) is one that everyone should watch.  It highlights a surprising twist to a technology product which has much wider benefits and implications for product innovation. (5m40sec)

10. Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks - from the top 10 list from TED

This is a brilliant example of a product taking a life of its’ own when someone else sees a new market for a new product and takes it there. I’d be guessing Nintendo wish they had though of this one.

Why is this Story Important and Significant?

The Johnny Lee story  demonstrates clear examples of what Kevin Kelly (in 1999 book New Rules for the New Economy and still worth reading.) Snips and comments on 4 of these rules follow.

• 1 - “Embracing the swarm, - competitive advantage belongs to those who embrace decentralized points of control” we can be anywhere on the network and still have an impact.
• 7 - “From places to spaces, - as place is replaced by multiple interactions with anything, anytime, anywhere (space) the opportunities for intermediaries, middlemen, and mid-sized niches expand greatly.” Think of the multiplier effect that YouTube played on this research project.
• 9 - “Relationship tech, enhance, amplify, extend, augment, distill, recall, expand and develop relationships of all types.”  With this amplification comes the opportunity for new people to tilt the paradigm of existing products and take them into new markets in new and exciting ways.I’d love to see a chart on how many controllers there were before Johnnies invention and now how many they are compared to the number of Nintendo consoles being sold.
• 10 -”Opportunities before efficiencies, - there is far greater wealth to be had by unleashing the inefficient discovery and creation of new opportunities.”

Sharing new ideas and researching new product innovations in a public way kind of like “research powered by video” goes counter to most of what we have understood about value creation and intellectual property management.

The web has changed everything and that is only going to accelerate if we understand what it is that we are looking at.  Best of all, many of these change cycles happen in real time and cross- pollinate at a furious and ever increasing rate.

So What Did Mr Lee Actually Do? (If you haven’t watched the video yet.)

Building sophisticated educational tools out of cheap parts, Johnny Lee demos his cool Wii Remote hacks, which turn the $40 video game controller into a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer. Researcher Johnny Lee became a YouTube star with his demo of Wii Remote hacks — which is almost more interesting than what he actually did - is the speed at which it has been picked up globally.

To understand Johnny Lee, just take a look at his personal Projects page. Aside from his Wii Remote hacks — voted the #1 tech demo of all time by Digg — you can see all the other places his mind has turned: typography, photography, urban renewal … to say nothing of his interesting sideline in Little Great Ideas, like the hypnotic “___ will ___ you.”

When he’s not hacking Wiimotes, Lee is a graduate student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

So the question is where else will video take us and what else is happening in the kind of television world that most people inhabit?

The Future of Online Video
A discussion panel [Ashley Highfield (first 11.5mins) , Christian Vollman (Germany), Antonio Campo, Dall'Orto] led by Matthew d’Ancona on the future of online video (35mins) Interesting that Ashley notes that BBC programmes are now available on the Nintendo Wii which is seen as a significant connected device now.

And check the numbers - BBC iPlayer has now had 75million downloads.  This really is the mainstreaming of quality video online when you factor in TED and the 4663 channels on Miro (Note: Miro includes much of the same content.)  YouTube is still a backbone but will be surpassed by other providers who have much better quality content very soon.

Now that broadband is more pervasive there is huge growth in the on-demand audience for quality video.

Ashley passes on some reports and stats that BBC can do as a public broadcaster and it is the trends that are significant on market share . This is great news for more specialist programming and offers a glimpse into the future trends that are shaping growth in other markets.

It will also ultimately have positive funding implications for programme makers looking at online broadcast platforms and potential audience numbers and revenue models.

Media7 in NZ looks to have a great future for example as it leverages outside experts and applies resources from a larger channel to get results way out of proportion to its actual current size. If you have taste-makers and media influencers in the same room anything can happen. When the audience amplifies that broadcast then you’re cooking with gas.

See also Zeitgeist Europe 08 video channel. Or here if you have a  login.

According to Youngblood the conference is now an:

“annual 2-day conference, which began in 2006, and is by invitation only for around 400 of Google’s strategic partners in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region. This year’s Zeitgeist was held at The Grove in Hertfordshire, an impressive English estate about 40 km’s North-West of Central London.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a trade conference and Google products weren’t pushed down your throat as you might’ve expected, although there was some obvious tie-ins with certain products like YouTube and of course very strong branding throughout the event. The agenda was somewhat TED-like with a diverse mix of technologists, politicians, scientists and entrepreneurs as speakers.

from Youngbloods blog

Seems like Coin had a great time entertainment wise but glossed over  the really significant parts but since it was a closed set and I haven’t watched all the video it’s is hard to tell.

Regardless, we are a major online video explosion with video everywhere and getting better all the time.

Enjoy. Now go ahead and get enhancing, amplifying, extending, augmenting, distilling, recalling, expanding and developing all those relationships that will help us all create new value and true 21st century wealth.

As Kevin says “A network is a possibility factory”.

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There was an extraordinary news item a few months ago in Sydney. An accounting firm there decided to cull some of the less profitable clients and came badly unstuck. When they sent out communications to those ‘unwanted’ clients some of their more valuable customers got caught in the crossfire.

This may relate to a poor understanding of the concept of customer lifetimes. In any business it would be useful to know which customers were the most profitable and then how to manage the client mix so that PR disasters like the example don’t happen.

For the record the firm was WHK Horwath and the full story is available under the title - “Quick Flick Reflects Badly” by Neil Shoebridge on page 49 of the Australian Financial Review on 13th of August 2007. Customer lifetime has been defined as:

“The net present value of the profit an organization expects to realize from a customer for the duration of their relationship. Customer lifetime value focuses on customers as assets rather than sources of revenue. The volume of purchases made, customer retention rates, and profit margins are factors taken into account…” from Bnet

In other words once you win a customer you should look closely at how that customers activities can be enhanced by your services over a longer period of time - and how they are looked after.

For many large projects the cost of winning new business is high and it is not until the 2nd or 3rd project that you might start making a profit out of the relationship.

Business life cycles are all different - however there is a general rule of thumb that it is 9 times easier to win business off an existing customer than to land a new customer. Regardless of the multiple - the point is look after your customers and they will look after you.

I suspect that the accounting firm looked at a short time period of time and not at a 5 or 10 year cycle which might be more valid. I wonder how many companies know where their business really comes from.

For example do some clients refer customers to their preferred suppliers? Sometimes this does happen - but it is unlikely to show up in a cashflow. If the business owner sees customers as an asset though - the results will show up on a balance sheet over the longer period.

For example many professional services firms work on sensitive projects for their clients. Sometimes they don’t want their competitors to know what they are up to and so a standard referral programme probably wouldn’t work.

However - If I am a potential client and I’m looking for a supplier - it would be helpful and indeed confidence building to know at least some of the names of customers who have been helped by that particular supplier.

Being able to supply a customer list adds credibility but it is hard to value in the context of simple financials.

In the case of the Sydney firm they accidentally sent an “unwanted client” letter to a valued client of 20 years standing. There had been a mix-up between the two lists. I suspect the admin person was not aware of the marketing implications - and in my experience this happens fairly often especially if ther task is seen as admin when it requires some sales insight.

Unfortunately for the Sydney firm their mistake was to send the wrong letter to Neil Shoebridge who is a high profile Marketing columnist at the AFR.

Here are some questions we should be asking Business Managers

1. What is a customer lifetime in our industry?
2. What is does the customer lifecycle look like?
3. Are their times in that lifecycle when profitability is impacted and does that improve later?
4. Do we have a way to value customers? (including referrals)
5. How do we measure customer profitability?
6. Can we increase our “share of wallet” - that is can we sell them more products and increase our revenue and / or profitability?
7. Can we service them is a different way - that improves profitability?

Perhaps you have some other questions - let us know?

Sales research is a regular part of my role in helping to develop better results for my customers and their projects. Increasingly the first contact most of us have with a new business contact is via their website and that may be all the contact we have.

The question is- are we making it easy for strangers and prospects to do business with us. From a recent project where I looked at some 300 sites in NZ (+ Australia & elsewhere) - the answer is not very.

In fact there were still quite a number of companies without websites at all which makes it much harder to guess how they might be useful. There just isn’t enough time to call everyone any more and chances they’ll answer the call are also slim.

Usually I’m looking for a clear indication of what is most important to that business and some reason to explore further and maybe call them. Like many prospects I want to save time and get a clearer idea of specific areas where that company might be able to assist.

As I work on multiple projects in NZ and Australia there is a very wide range of sites and industries. Your future customers may be offshore and they too will likely check your website first.

Here are three of the better examples of sales positioning from the U.S, Australia and NZ.

Customer advocacy works!
This summary from a real estate agent got my attention. Hat tip to Andy who mentioned her in passing. There is almost too much information there including a video intro which I think we’ll be seeing more of. (Scroll to the bottom of the linked Mary Pope-Handy page. )

The style of the overall site is not to my taste but the real key in this is to make a meaningful connection with prospective customers.

Conveying credibility, honesty, respect and trust in a few paragraphs is not always easy but here is a paragraph that would have convinced me if I was I was looking for this particular service.

“Folks who are buying and selling homes in Silicon Valley are highly sophisticated. They don’t need a “sales job” but an advocate who provides them with good data and a way to make sense of it so they can make intelligent decisions that will have long-term benefits.

I work to help them, every step of the way, to analyze all the facts and stay current on everything affecting the buying and selling of homes: new laws, contractual changes and implications, trends, environmental issues and, or course, market conditions.

I use a lot of high-tech tools but keep an equally high-touch approach and am excellent at staying in constant communication. I am fortunate to always work with clients who are nice, honest, and committed to buying and selling - but also clients who refer me enthusiastically.

They tell me that they appreciate my knowledge, skills, dedication and determination, but above all else they recognize that I put their best interests first.”

Recognising that your customers are smart and that you need to add real value to the engagement process is critical. Understanding how to be professional and personal at the same time can win first chance at a new sale.

Law and legal services is a complex area and many prospects are wary of the expense and time commitments. Here is a great example of sharp positioning from Dilanchian who are intellectual property and innovation specialists based in Sydney. The site has almost too much information which is exactly opposite many of the larger law firms. One post in particular caught my eye - as sales positioning it has street appeal.

10 conversations about business models

“Listed in this post are 10 topics for telephone conversations we would happily have free-of-charge. If you want to discuss the topics call us whether you are a client, collaborator or a stranger. We’re proposing an open conversation to exchange thoughts, play cards and see where that might lead.”

1. What is affordable for you to do to increase the value of your business or go to the next stage?
2. How can you improve and secure revenues from intellectual property and fee for services?
3. Which branding and trade mark registration strategies help in an age of product proliferation?

Go there to check the other seven reasons and let me know what you think?

Collaboration Excellence
Also in the complex services space is the business of Michael Sampson who is focused on effective collaboration strategies and practice for a range of local and international clients.

“Michael Sampson helps people, teams and organizations improve performance through effective collaboration practices and technology.”

This site is is also information rich and engaging and but right there on the front page there is a single positioning sentence and a eye catching which cuts to the chase quite nicely. See speech graphic below.

So - does your website generate sales leads and support your business well? If so let us know what your top examples are. If not perhaps we can help. Ironically my services page needs an update now.

The most successful businesses that I know follow a clearly structured sales methodology and a detailed plan to get there. It shouldn’t be too surprising that in order to get to a big sales goal there are a whole series of much smaller structured activities that need to be followed through.

Here are some outlines on key learnings from many years of successful marketing and sales campaigns.

1. Define Objectives

Typically a business will select a CRM because they want new customers or new business. They see this as a sales hunting exercise and often have other sales people for farming or account management duties. The sales “farmers” are looking to grow the business by selling more products or more volume of the same products and services to the same people.

So the first step in more successful sales plan is to decide whether you have new customers/new business goals or account management goals and your strategy will be different. Remember - a CRM allows you to treat different customers in different ways according to their needs, goals and desires.

2. Tips for Lead Generation

I was talking to a business owner recently about their needs. The owner has a number in mind for new business and is looking for the best way to get to that point. The traditional approach is to hire a business development manager who can understand the market and work out where the business will come from.

Except that in this example, little or no marketing has been completed to date. Marketing is the brains of sales. An effective marketing plan has to be part of the sales plan otherwise the risk is that that sales team resources are wasted on chasing deals they have less chance of winning than they should.

What this business needs for their new Business Development Manager is a lead generation campaign so that a reasonable sales pipeline* can be built up. (*Sometimes called sales funnel - typically a list of potential customers ranked in order of their closeness to a sales decision.) Note: lead generation can now be outsourced.

The sales team needs to have directed, relevant, useful engaging conversations with their strangers or suspects, prospects and their customers to understand the most compelling reasons why they should do business with you.

3. Work your Sales Funnel

To have a relevant conversation with a business you only suspect may have a need of your product or service some form of lead development is needed.   A marketer would have a target list of suspects and some form of communication to those people is then triggered. Often this is a multi format communication like a direct mail piece to the decision makers, a case study in an industry magazine and possibly even advertising in trade publications so that the target businesses have some idea of who you are / what you do.

At this point the phone may begin to ring - however - many of your competitors are doing the same, so you really need to “close the loop” by making contact with as many people on your target list as possible. This means making a series of phone calls to decision makers so that you can earn the right to be heard when that business has need of your services.

Many sales people make 1 or 2 calls at this point - however the golden number is 5. If you make fewer calls you will get to less people but if you haven’t reached a person after 5 calls then you should probably add them to a later campaign. There will always be a group you can’t get to in any campaign cycle. When you have spoken with each contact, determine how much lead nurturing they might need in future. When is the best time to call them again and what do they need to know about so that the relationship is nurtured to the point where you can bid. 

4. What Others Say About You Wins Business

So lets say you have seeded the market with information about your positioning - what do you actually say to those suspects / prospects if you can get some of their valuable listening time?

This is where careful thought on call scripting is needed. A script needs to frame your messaging about capabilities and credibility in a way that can cut through all the other sales messaging in your market.   You probably have 3-10 seconds to say something relevant to that person at that business before you get turned away.

What really works at this point is to get the suspects attention by telling them of a well known industry success where you were the supplier. This is especially powerful if you can quote that customer in their own words. A customer testimonial has major social capital and is much more significant that anything you can say about your own business.

As Brian Clark says

“What other people say about you is more important than what you say about yourself. This is the foundational aspect of linking and the backbone of social media.

Testimonials and media mentions are important because of the concept of social proof. We all, to vary degrees, look to others for indications of what to do and how to behave. Social proof is the basis of buzz, word-of-mouth marketing and fashion trends, but it’s also an important aspect of our day-to-day lives. We avoid sensory and information overload by looking to social indicators for judgmental heuristics that help us make decisions.”

More to the point - the suspect is more likely to believe you and give you another 30 seconds to communicate the “why” you are calling. This progressively wins you the right to more time to talk about the how and hopefully earns you an appointment where you can engage more fully in person.

5. Structure Your Sales Process

A sales call is therefore very important and needs to be carefully structured so that the prospect/s needs goals and objectives can be identified along with timelines, compelling events and other material factors like budgets and people.

So the next time a business owner asks you to sell - be very clear on all the key aspects of messaging, positioning, and proofs so you can build a quality pipeline. Every sales call needs to be a step closer to a sale for your product or service. Many times you will still have to wait for a budget cycle - but that is part of the discovery process and if you know that you can be in the right place at the right time.  Those prospects will already know who you are and you should make the shortlist for serious consideration.

The other part of the sales conversation is to be clear on the other 6 key decision metrics about that particular sales need.

6. Fine-tune with Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

If we follow a structured sales plan then we can use our CRM to fine tune these process steps and maximise our chances of success by making certain we are “in the frame” when an important opportunity comes up.

It is time to improve your strike rates with new business. We believe the notes above  provide an essential guideline for your business. To get help with sales planning and lead generation contact me now for a no obligation chat.

Find out the 6 key decision metrics you absolutely need to know.

If you would like more CRM related content please see these earlier posts

• CRM is not a Magic Bullet
• CRM & Knowledge Management
• What to Look for in CRM Strategy
• CRM as a Process Platform
• What is CRM Used For?
• CRM Thinking about Strategy 1

sales leads marketing strategy lead nurturing marketing tips

Many organisations still see CRM systems as some kind of magic bullet.

Some vendors even oversell the features of their software when everyone knows that the benefits to customers, staff and owners will only come from successful business development strategies and management to match.

It is true that implementing a CRM system will enable business development processes to become more structured and focussed but: only if the management team uses the system to support sales, marketing and service strategies already in place.

In the early days of a CRM project there is often an emphasis on system skills. That is how best can we use the new system to support the various processes that are in place.

Hopefully the new system can be used to standardise, streamline and automate existing and new processes which will make life easier for all. What is sometimes missed though, are the longer term objectives which are ultimately to support methodologies and management in developing a resilient and resourceful business culture.

Often a key driver for purchase of a CRM is to provide a platform for winning new business by adding new customers and account management by adding new business to existing customers.

The skills needed to win new business and skills needed to optimise account management are complementary but not all sales people can do both well.

This is where the CRM might need different templates for opportunity management as different tactical considerations are at work. The sales manager needs to understand those differences and be able to provide resources if opportunities get stuck at any particular stage in the sales cycle. Providing that sales progress and process is documented inside the CRM then the sales manager has some key indicators to steer the various marketing campaigns typically based around acquistion, retention and growth goals.

Sales and marketing managers need to be able to make sense of all the data that is coming from the CRM and to also be able to adjust inputs to maximise results.

For example I have experienced sales calls where it is not clear to me what the value proposition really is. A standard question to ask sales and marketing people is; How is our offering different to our competitors? and then make sure that all sales messaging and proof statements will support that positioning. Note: the very best proof statements come from customer testamonials or other reference materials.

The CRM can then provide scripting guidelines for directed conversations about areas of mutual interest, but you will only get that chance if - you can communicate key points of difference and offer benefits to your target market.

Consequently, when you start customising your CRM settings you should be asking questions like

1. Do these changes support our sales methodologies and business development strategy?
2. Will they make it easier for our customers to buy from us?
3. Will they make it easier for our staff to provde the best levels of quality, service and value to customers? 
4. What is our sales metholodogy?
5. Does the system support our marketing campaign messages?

Mike Bosworth of Customer Centric Selling (as paraphrased by me) notes that it is more successful to:

“Ask relevant questions versus rendering opinions - people like buying but not being sold too..Sales are based on conversations” not sermons…
“We should enable buyers rather than selling to them.”

We do this by focussing on needs, goals and problems and working with buyer to use your product as part of the answer.

The real work in a CRM project can often be all about the tuning and articulation of sales methologies and practice management. As Mike Bosworth also asks in this podcast

“What are you automating? Do you even have a sales process?”

This is something that we like to help with so please call us with any questions or project needs in this area. Here is a list of related features on CRM that you may also enjoy.

• CRM & Knowledge Management
• What to Look for in CRM Strategy
• CRM as a Process Platform
• What is CRM Used For?
• CRM Thinking about Strategy 1