Category: Hot Topics

5 Things That Can Really Influence How Others Perceive You

On By Robin BlackIn Blog, Customer Satisfaction, Hot Topics, Lead generation, SalesLeave a comment

This is a repost from Inc. Great article we thought worth sharing.

By Marcel Schwantes Principal and founder, Leadership From the Core

getty_595914481_2000133320009280239_346264

There are several ways to make a great first impression on someone you just met. Here are five proven strategies to get you started.

1. Be curious.

Want to be the most interesting person in the room? In a previous article, I offered seven questions a person can ask to ignite a captivating conversation. But for that scenario to happen, curiosity is the social prerequisite. Albert Einstein famously said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Perhaps there’s an Einstein in all of us.

2. Ask: “What’s your story?”

When meeting someone for the first time, forget the typical questions like “What do you do?” and “Where are you from?” Asking “What’s your story?” will take the other person by surprise. It’s open-ended enough to trigger an intriguing story–a journey to a foreign country, meeting a famous person, a special talent used for making the world a better place, etc. It’s also a question that immediately draws in the other person and lets him or her speak from the heart.

3. Be intentional about learning from the other person.

The best conversations in life are initiated by wanting to learn about what other people do: how they do it and why they do it. You will benefit from asking, and the other person will appreciate the gesture and pay it forward. To take it to another level, seek out someone younger and less experienced who brings real value to your work or life in an area unfamiliar to you, and learn from that person. This will garner an immediate and positive first impression.

4. Follow through.

To make a good connection with someone new in your personal or professional circle, offering to help the other person is certainly a good strategy for a positive first impression. However, only a small percentage of people actually deliver on their promises. People will value your connection even more when you actually provide what you’ve suggested: a contact, a resource, a referral, or some coaching. When you do, the law of reciprocity kicks in and you’ll benefit from that new relationship.

5. Listen before you speak.

Want to create a great first impression? Let the other person speak without interruption. Let’s be honest: How often do you find yourself trying hard to avoid jumping in and finishing someone else’s sentence? You see, magic happens in a conversation when active listening takes place. This is being content to listen to the entire thought of someone rather than waiting impatiently for your chance to respond. That’s when both parties know real listening is taking place. When you speak to other people today, eliminate your distractions in the moment. Then give the speaker your full attention. What you’re communicating nonverbally is “I am interested in what you have to say.”

Like this column? Sign up to subscribe to email alerts and you’ll never miss a post.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
Published on: Feb 21, 2018,
Inc.

Modern Business Development

On By Robin BlackIn Blog, Business development, Hot Topics, Innovation, Lead generation, Outbound marketing, Public Relations, Social mediaLeave a comment

If the terms list broker, paid subscriptions to online directories, and good old-fashioned cold calling strike fear in the heart of your Business Development sensibilities, you are not alone. Social media has presented a number of opportunities to reach a limitless audience if you can make sense of the advertising tools and back end platforms. It makes sense to take time tested lead generation sources and couple them with the applications that connect Baby Boomers, Genexers, and Millenials to create a whole new generation of product champions.

This is the first part in a series of blogs that will explore modern methodology for generating leads, developing their interest, and securing a mutually profitable relationship.  I’d like to introduce you to the Lead Ads tool designed and managed by Facebook. As we explore functionality within the tool, you will also learn how simply collecting data is not the end goal.

Lead Ads is a behind the scenes marketing objective that combines the data that fans have already shared within the platform into a formatted, scaled down, quick and easy  “web form”. Your fans will take the first step to translating their interest in your company to becoming loyal customers.

Stayed tuned to learn how Facebook’s Lead Ads tool exults the latent potential of a fan, a.k.a. warm lead, while the expertise of a development specialist from Connects Marketing Group will qualify those warms leads for targeted follow up.

-Written by Michelle Slater

Be a Mentor to Your Future Customers

On By Robin BlackIn B2B Consulting, Best practices, Hot TopicsLeave a comment

In the B2B world of industrial manufacturing, sometimes it’s hard to penetrate your target companies; it can be even harder to find the right person to talk to once you’re in. While there are ways to effectively reach seasoned engineers and purchasing agents, right now we’re going to focus on those young men and women who are the future of your customer base: students and young professionals.

What I’m suggesting isn’t really that radical. Simply, become a professional resource and sounding board for someone who is just starting out. In short, become their mentor.

Where to start?

Google is your friend!

For the purpose of this post, I searched Google with the term “student engineering forum.” The key is finding the places where engineering students hang out online. Here are my top results:

  • Top 40 Engineering Forums & Message Boards This is a pretty broad list. The great thing is that it’s broken down by discipline.
  • Engineering Students Reddit feed With almost 50,000 subscribers, this feed on the popular social media platform reddit is extremely active and full of engineering students.  It is “a place for engineering students of any discipline to discuss study methods, get homework help, get job search advice, and find a compassionate ear when you get a 40% on your midterm after studying all night.”
  • Engineering Exchange A very active forum with over 14,000 members from around the world, the Engineering Exchange was “developed for engineers by engineers.” I can endorse this site from personal experience, as in a previous role, most of the engineers I worked with used it.

Leverage industry associations.

Do you belong to any industry associations? Does your company? An easy way to find out about the latter is to reach out to your marketing communications department. Chances are, you have memberships you’re not even aware of, and certainly not taking advantage of. Make a target list of associations and get to work! Why? Most have member-only forums where you can join discussions and foster relationships with those in your industry from all career levels, from students to seasoned veterans.

An excellent example is the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Membership gets you access to ASME’s online community, where you can:

  • Share your professional qualifications with tens of thousands of engineers
  • Communicate with our fellow engineers and make professional connections
  • Post relevant articles, photos, video, and more from your personal Dashboard
  • Join Groups for your areas of interest, where you can participate in discussions in Forums, comment on blog posts, and share news in the Activity Feed

Ask your best customers.

I wouldn’t recommend asking all of your customers, only the ones you have the best relationships with. Particularly the younger ones who more apt to network online. What are their go-to sites for industry community? Chances are their answers will not only surprise you, but open up possibilities you never would have found otherwise.

Go back to school.

Most, if not all, universities have alumni associations specific to their different colleges. For example, the University of Alabama’s College of Engineering has its Capstone Engineering Society. These alumni groups can be an invaluable resource for networking with college students and recent graduates. Most universities already have mentoring programs already in place. Like this one from Washington University in St. Louis or these from the University of Minnesota or this one from the University of Pennsylvania.

So check out what your alma mater has to offer!

Head to human resources.

Does your company partner with local universities to recruit graduates? If you’re not sure, pick up the phone and call your HR office. Lots of companies have recruiting campaigns that their employees know nothing about. This is a huge opportunity for you to get connected with upcoming graduates in your area. These graduates could end up working with you, or they could end up working for your customers. Either way, these relationships could prove to be valuable both personally and professionally.

 

Of course, this isn’t just about grooming future customers.

Mentoring someone is not just beneficial for the mentee. Try it and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how fulfilling it can be! From a great post on fastcompany.com:

When you teach something to another person, you discover all of the details that you don’t completely understand yourself.

The bottom line: Take the leap and mentor a student or young professional in your industry. Not only might he or she end up being an integral part of your customer network down the line, you’ll also grow professionally and personally.

Email Marketing: What is It Good For?

On By Robin BlackIn B2B Marketing, Best practices, Hot Topics, Lead generation, Lead nurturingLeave a comment

The old adage is true:  Time is Money.  The more efficient your process is for developing leads, the higher the ROI on your marketing budget will be. In our focus on lead generation, we’re continuing to look at some of the traditional sources of leads and how much they cost.

Let’s talk about email marketing.

Email marketing has come a very long way since the days of simply pumping out mass messages from your company’s CRM system and praying that even half of your targets open them.  There are some very sophisticated email-marketing providers out there that are really doing it right. Constant Contact is one that most everyone knows.

You can find a nice breakdown of some of these providers here.

In researching email-marketing statistics, I came across these from Jay Baer over at ConvinceandConvert.com. These statistics were gathered through email subscriber studies.

  • 21% of email recipients report email as Spam, even if they know it isn’t
  • 43% of email recipients click the Spam button based on the email “from” name or email address
  • 69% of email recipients report email as Spam based solely on the subject line
  • 35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone
  • IP addresses appearing on just one of the 12 major blacklists had email deliverability 25 points below those not listed on any blacklists
  • Email lists with 10% or more unknown users get only 44% of their email delivered by ISPs
  • 17% of Americans create a new email address every 6 months
  • 30% of subscribers change email addresses annually
  • If marketers optimized their emails for image blocking, ROI would increase 9+%
  • 84% of people 18-34 use an email preview pane
  • Subscribers below age 25 prefer SMS to email
  • 35% of business professionals check email on a mobile device
  • 80% of social network members have received unsolicited email or invites

A full 75% of marketers say that they are using more email than they were three years ago. (Source: HubSpot) However, building a quality email distribution list takes a major time investment. Email marketing can be an excellent way to share information with your prospects and customers, but gathering qualified leads still takes that extra step of connection.

Can you make the leap from cold to qualified through marketing automation?

Marketing automation combines software with a company’s CRM system and scores leads based on defined criteria. This information is supposed to allow the marketer to better target messages and promotions to individuals based on perceived interests.  Marketing automation software can include email marketing, campaign management, lead nurturing/scoring, lead lifecycle management and analytics.

Marketing automation is, in its most basic form, a tool with which to take marketing leads and nurture them until they are ready to be converted to customers. While this can be somewhat helpful in the very beginning stages of a lead, letting your prospect know that you are aware of his or her interest and that you will be in contact, that is where the automation should end.

Particularly in the oftentimes highly technical world of B2B product sales, marketing automation can come off as a little too impersonal and out-of-touch with your target customers’ decision journeys. In that space, nothing beats a phone call and an honest conversation.

The bottom line:

Email marketing absolutely has its place, but it’s not to produce qualified leads.