The Fearless Competitor will attend the Inbound Marketing University

Posted by Jeff Ogden on June 5, 2009

Inbound Marketing University
June 15-19 & June 22, Your Desk

Critical to the success of marketing professionals seeking a competitive edge in today’s workforce is a rich understanding of how online marketing tactics blend into a cohesive marketing mix. Disciplines, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social media marketing, must be both learned and balanced along with traditional styles of outreach.

This June, TopRank® Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden will join nearly a dozen industry experts as they help marketing professionals grab the competitive edge that accompanies a knowledge of online marketing. Odden’s presentation during Inbound Marketing University, a free 10-part webinar series, will focus on SEO while the balance of presenters will detail everything from social media to blog marketing.

Joining Odden will be Chris Brogan, New Marketing Labs; Brian Caroll, InTouch; Mack Collier & Ann Handley, Marketing Profs; Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz; Eric Groves, Constant Contact; Jeanne Hopkins, Marketing Experiments; David Meerman Scott, author of New Rules of Marketing & PR; Marshall Sponder, Monster.com; Elyse Tager, Silicon Valley Marketing Association and Mike Volpe, Hubspot.

Along with a competitive advantage above their peers, and a deeper understanding of SEO and social media marketing tactics, attendees who pass the final exam will receive a certificate verifying their status as Inbound Marketing Certified Professionals.

Webinar Details:
Inbound Marketing University
Your Desk
June 15-19 & June 22

For more information and to register for this free 10-part webinar series, visit:
Inbound Marketing University

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.

Buyers are in control. Sales is not.

Posted by Jeff Ogden on June 4, 2009

If you’ve listened to sales experts or read my white paper, How to Find New Customers, one thing should be crystal clear today.

Buyers are in control. Sales is not.

What happened? What happened to traditional “smile and dial?” The more our salespeople call, the more leads we get? Sorry, but those days are gone forever.

With the advent of the Internet and very fast connections, buyers now do their own research. In fact, they intentionally avoid contact with salespeople. Call ID and voicemail screening enables them to block salespeople and avoid their contact.

So how does your company connect with prospective buyers in this new world?

Enter Marketing. Or more specifically, demand generation. Or as I like to say, Find New Customers.

Companies need

Ongoing and gentle communications with prospective buyers — long before sales talks to them.
Decision-makers need to develop trust and confidence in your firm — before sales talks to them.
Decision-makers need to be gently nurtured if not yet ready to buy — until they are ready to buy.
And leads need to be scored — to separate wheat from chaff — and to ensure salespeople talk to real prospective buyers.

At this point, I’m fairly certain you’re thinking. “Hey, that all sounds great. But how can we do it here?”

I suggest you consider hiring a real expert for a 6 month project. It need not be me.

Please visit Find New Customers . Take your time. Look around. Download and read How to Find New Customers . Visit the Resources page. Read the About page.

And if you like what you see, look closely at the Services page . Fill out the form to access a 3 stage process plan.

Down and Dirty Sales Talk: How to Speak to Your Prospects So They Listen

Posted by Jeff Ogden on June 2, 2009

By Jill Konrath, Contributing Editor

Finding the right words to describe your product or service offering can be an agonizing task. As you well know, in today’s crazy business environment it’s tough to stand out from the crowd and impress corporate decision makers. That’s what makes all the time, effort, and resources invested in this valiant effort so worthwhile.

But is it really? Before you answer, consider this meticulously crafted statement found on a technology company’s website:

We deliver an innovative, enterprise-class business integration platform that incorporates proven integration technology with next generation capabilities into one interoperable set of tools that delivers a unique combination of efficiency, agility and control.

Or how about this statement used by a business services firm trying to crack into corporate accounts:

We facilitate corporate strategic achievement, high-speed knowledge transfer and employee engagement by utilizing a proprietary process which incorporates world class intellectual capital, proven management principles, an in-depth understanding of the human psyche as well as unique tools.

Are you duly impressed? They’re loaded with all those power words that, according to many marketing gurus, will differentiate your offering from all your competitors. In fact, I’m amazed both companies were able to get so many differentiators in just a single sentence. Clearly they’re not only superior to their competitors, but also quite “unique”—or so they said.

The Wrong Kind of Differentiation

Unfortunately these “differentiated” messages have been heard a thousand times before by jaded corporate decision makers who have no interest in learning more. They’re not impressed by your exciting, leading-edge products or full range of services.

From their perspective, it’s a disingenuous self-serving pitch. Without even thinking, they immediately erect insurmountable barriers that are impossible for you to overcome. If you’ve heard comments like these before, it’s highly likely that you tried to impress your prospects:

We’re already working with …
It’s not in the budget.
We’re not interested at this time.

Simply put, being impressive doesn’t work. So what’s the solution? Here are some ideas on how you change the game so that it plays to your strengths.

Cut Out the Crap

Throw out all those impressive words and phrases that are utterly meaningless. They’ve got to go. Now! They’re literally hurting your sales efforts. Unless you’re incredibly diligent, you’ll find them sneaking into your voicemails, popping up when you’re networking, or showing up during conversations with prospective customers.

Look at your written material too. While you may not be able to influence the collateral done by your corporate office, you certainly can control what’s in your own emails, letters, PowerPoint presentations, or proposals.

Be ruthless in this endeavor. Take out a big red marker and highlight any time it sounds like you’re trying to impress the decision maker.

Focus on the Impact

After you’ve cut out all the crap, you may not have too much to say about your product or services. That’s good! No one cares about it anyway. All they care about is the difference you can make for their organization—which is your value proposition.

It’s time to get to the heart of the matter. So get out there, talk to clients, and determine what it is.

What outcomes have they achieved because of your business relationship?
What effect has your offering had on critical business metrics?
What were the ramifications on their business unit, division, or department?

Listen to the words they use. You’ll quickly discover that they don’t speak “sales talk” at all. You’ll never hear them rave about your unique methodology, passion for excellence or one-stop shopping. Instead, they’ll talk about shortening time-to-market, increasing productivity, reducing error rates, and driving sales in new markets.

That’s their language. It’s time to start using it. Don’t get fancy and try to wow your prospects with highfalutin language. Get down and dirty. Talk like they do. Discuss the problems they face, the challenges ahead, and the business objectives they must reach. Emphasize how you can help by focusing on them—not your stuff.

When you focus on the impact instead of trying to be impressive, you’ll notice an immediate change in their reactions to you. Instead of erecting barriers, they’ll actually invite you into their company. Instead of hurling objections at you, they’ll ask for your ideas and insights.

Isn’t that what you want?

Jill Konrath is a Contributing Editor for RainToday.com and is a recognized expert in complex sales strategies and creating business value for B2B sales organizations. She is also founder of SellingtoBigCompanies – a web resource that helps professional services providers, consultants and salespeople win big contracts in the corporate market. E-mail Jill [email protected].