| I wish to post this excellent write-up from Aaron Strout of Mzinga. Please visit his blog as well. I wish to share his ideas because I have seen so many poor selections based on 1.0 techniques below. Even I used the 1.0 process below — and I hired the wrong man — whom I fired after about six months.
What is the benefit of leveraging online communities as well as tools like the Sales Drive test? It can save you LOTS of time and weed out poor candidates who look good on paper. Hiring in a “2.0″ World Like many other companies, here’s what our basic hiring process looks like today:
Don’t get me wrong, you can obviously get good candidates this way. For instance, when I needed to hire a marketing manager a year ago, I followed the process above and posted my job description to one of the oldest communities on the Web i.e. Craigslist. The result was impressive – 30+ resumes in 48 hours and several qualified candidates. However, what was broken about the process is that I ended up spending the better part of two weeks doing interviews. This go around, I don’t have that same luxury so I need to find a better way to locate the best possible candidates with the right skill sets. What’s Broken | How to Fix It Now I understand that this is a necessary evil but that’s where the power of community and social networks can really augment the process. In today’s world:
My other issue I have is that even if someone looks great on paper, they may not be great in person. Now short of perfecting video conferencing (even that can be gamed), there is no substitute for a face-to-face meetings. However, if I could get a better sense of who someone is first beyond the 25-30 bullets they’ve used to sum up their career, I may be able to weed out people earlier on in the process. Conversely, I may be end up NOT weeding out someone that would have been cut early because I loved their blog or I know two or three of their colleagues. What’s in this for Me/Us?
What’s in this for You?
For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation. Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers. He can be reached at (516) 284-4930 or mailto:jogden@findnewcustomers.net. |
Aaron Strout’s posting on hiring in a web 2.0 world
A CEO’s 10 new year resolutions
- To get closer to my employees and customers.
- To listen more closely
- To try to be more patient
- To stop selling and start solving problems
- To hug my wife and kids
- To wake up every morning with a fresh and optimistic outlook
- To bounce back quickly from every setback
- To start enjoying things like quiet, music, art, and family
- To stop making excuses — bad economy, etc.
- To thank God for giving me each day on Earth.
For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers. He can be reached at (516) 284-4930 or mailto:jogden@findnewcustomers.net.
Generating new customers and retaining customers top challenge for small/medium businesses
A telephone study of over 400 small business owners in the third quarter of 2008 revealed some interesting data. Well over half (51.9%) said that “Generating and keeping customers” is the toughest challenge they face.
If you’ve been reading these posts for some time, you know that I have been pontificating on this issue for some time. I’ve told you why your CMO is your most important hire, how to avoid mistakes in hiring salespeople and how to leverage inbound marketing. But I’ve not only talked about it, I’ve done something about it.
My new company Find New Customers launched a series of educational events for my target audience. My goal is to build trust over time so they turn to me when they choose to solve problems. That is the approach sales leaders need to take today.
To view the invitation for this upcoming webinar, please follow the following link.
Airlines 2.0: Using Technology for Innovative Branding Through the Recession.
For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers. He can be reached at (516) 284-4930 or mailto:jogden@findnewcustomers.net.
Integrating sales and marketing for revenue growth
Sales and Marketing need to be tightly integrated toward a common goal of revenue growth. Too many times marketing is siloed and not aligned with sales.
How does one go about aligning sales and marketing? Communications is the key. Go talk to the salespeople. What are they hearing? What do they need? Make regular communications a regular event — every week at first and every two weeks later on.
I also recommend you begin working on audience personas. I have seen many websites where companies offer a product pulldown. Excuse me? I am the CFO of a large bank looking for funds transfer capabilities. Let me select my vertical, my title and my area of interest and then — tell me what I need to know. But very few websites offer that capability.
Please note the most websites today are all about the company and product. I’m a prospective customer. What is there for me?
Before I go, let me share one thought about Interactive Voice Response systems and the “mom test.”
I called Verizon to order a new set-top box for my son. The Interactive Voice Response system started fine and I thought I was about to complete my order, but then I ran into a roadblock and got lost. I tried the website and had a similar problem. So I called. The technician who answered said that he hears that all the time — people try to do it on the phone or on the web, but are unable to complete it.
I suggested he use the “Mom test.” This test is based on the theory that, if your Mother can do it, anyone can. The technician said that was a terrific idea.
For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers. He can be reached at (516) 284-4930 or mailto:jogden@findnewcustomers.net.
Traditional selling is dead. Inbound marketing lives!
Technology has rendered traditional selling activities obsolete. Just think about it.
- Phone calls blocked by voicemail, Caller ID and the Do Not Call Registry.
- TV ads blocked by DVRs.
- Radio ads blocked by satellite radio
- Trade shows and newspapers are dying a slow death.
What are we to do? If the old way doesn’t work, what do we do?
Welcome to the new world of Inbound Marketing. For a fun and very entertaining picture of this new work, click this YouTube video by HubSpot.
Attract customers using search marketing, blogs, wikis, RSS, Landing Pages, Twitter, Pay per click, social networks, StumbleUpon, and websites. Inbound marketing’s the future and it is here today. So the next time you tell your salespeople it is a numbers game — your number is up.
It is time to become a real sales leader and embrace change.
For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers. He can be reached at (516) 284-4930 or mailto:jogden@findnewcustomers.net.
Marketing is the imperative in a tough economy
Every morning, I pour a cup of coffee and open the Wall Street Journal — my morning tradition for over 25 years. Recently, my routine is different. Every morning today I read a litany of woes:
“Job losses are the worst since 1974.”
“Week on Wall Street. It’s Raining Job Cuts.”
“Retail suffers the biggest drop in 30 years in November.”
My God, Mr. CEO, what are we to do now?
Here is one man’s prescription for an ailing company — go back and focus on the basics. Tear down and rebuild. Here’s how to do it:
Start with the product. Who is it for? What business outcomes does the customer get from using it? What are the measurable results? From those questions, identify and refocus on your ideal customers.
Next, get to know those customers — very, very well. Develop personas on them. Who are they? How are they involved in the decision process? Where do they consume information? What are their Pains? Document these personas.
Next, bring those two together and craft a new Value Proposition. For an expert, please consult Jill Konrath of Selling to Big Companies. Document the business outcomes your target customers get in clear, simple, specific language.
Once you are comfortable with your new Value Proposition, start looking at the Customer Buying Process. (Please refer to an earlier article on Buying Process.) Think through what is foremost in the customers’ mind at each stage. For instance, the first stage is what I call Untroubled/Unaware and the customer is asking “Why should I consider changing?” Develop marketing materials that address each stage. For example, a very professional white paper is good for this stage.
You have lots of information at this point, so go back to your website and make sure it matches. Is it easy to navigate? If I were a prospect in a certain stage, could I find the information I need? Now is the time to look at Search Marketing and ask what keywords people would use to find my products. Here you should also look at adding video and good content.
Now we know everything about our ideal customers, their buying processes and what makes them tick (persons). This is the time to start building your foundation marketing database. We want great data on all our prospective customers. This database will also enable us to personalize our approach.
We’ve come a long way in a short time, but the journey is not over. Now we need to find experts, social networks, and other ways of taking an educational approach. White papers, e-books, webinars, email, etc. all need to be put in place.
Okay we’re almost done. Now we need to get our ears on and implement good marketing software, like Eloqua, vtrenz or Marketo. Our infrastructure is built so we can get real traction from this software now.
What most companies do is take an ad hoc approach, doing this piece-meal. Unfortunately, that is like building a house without a plan — it doesn’t work well. Instead, a step by step approach is needed.
If you are looking for a real expert in sales and marketing, please email questions to jogden@findnewcustomers.net
For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers. He can be reached at (516) 284-4930 or mailto:jogden@findnewcustomers.net.