The Customer or the Company Line

I was walking out of a meeting in New York yesterday and noticed that I had a missed call -- It was American Express who had called to alert me that someone in London was trying to charge $500 in telecommunications equipment (most likely, mobile phones) on my card.

Later that night, I was online paying my Capital One MasterCard and found that someone used my card on December 14th to purchase something with a vendor based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia...and that person wasn't me.  Christmas is the high season for credit card fraud and I was living it. The only two credit cards I have were both under attack.

The way the two companies dealt with the fraud situation was so different that it became a real time case study on the "best" and "worst" practices for dealing with customers.  The key difference came down to the rep's ability to deal with me as a customer, versus sticking to the company policy.

The Best and the Worst

Detecting Fraud

American Express
I had been in London a couple of weeks ago, and most likely, one of the night clerks at the hotel where I stayed sold my Amex card number.  American Express, knowing that I had recently purchased train tickets to New York the day before, figured out that I couldn't be in two places at once, and stopped the transaction from going through.

Capital One
Clueless I had to report the fraud.  Granted the two transactions were only $10.50 each, but the location of the transactions should have flagged them for further investigation.  I caught them more than a week after the charges were made, Capital One had plenty of time to detect and investigate.  Living in McLean, VA, which happens to be the headquarters of Capital One, I know folks who work there, and having had MasterCard as a client for the past six years, I know a good bit about the credit card business, and CapOne.

I know that CapOne has very sophisticated models for segmenting and targeting customers, analyzing purchasing behavior, etc.  They have no lack of intelligence or technology that would prevent them from detecting fraud, it just may be a matter of focus.

Dealing with Fraud
American Express
Closed my account, alerted the merchant, and sent me a new card via Fedex.  It arrived the next day.

Capital One
Questioned me not one, but three times about whether I knew the merchant and if I had made the purchase.  I asked the CapOne rep to give me more information on the transaction.  She said she couldn't because the details were in Arabic.  I pulled the website, and it was in Arabic.  Despite not speaking or reading Arabic, and stating that several times, I was questioned about the transaction repeatedly.

After closing the account, I was then told a new card would be sent in 5-7 days, and that a form would be sent that I would need to fill out and return.  I asked what additional information they would need that I hadn't already reported.  The rep didn't have an answer, only telling that it was company policy.  At that point, I was "done" and ask for a manager.

I asked the same question to the managers, again the same answer.  I then reminded her that the date was 12/21, the last week before Christmas, and both of my credit cards were used fraudulently.  She said that she understood and would get a new card out to me in 2-3 days.   At that point, I asked for her manager, and finally, I was transferred to the Fraud department.  

Allen was nice enough, and was able to explain the reason for the form.  They needed a signature authorizing that I did not make the transactions so they could dispute the case.  I asked Allen if they were recording our conversation (as Amex did), and if we could just use that to support the case.  The answer was "No. We need the form."  Allen did say that he understood my situation, and would express a new card to me in 2-3 days.

Dealing with the Customer  
Over the years, I've done a good bit of research on defining the "Customer Experience."  When you ask customers what they want, the answers are fairly consistent regardless of company or industry:

• Know me - customers want companies to know them and understand their situation...how their product or services fits a need.  They also want them to anticipate and serve their needs.  With the increased use of social media, that has only increased. 
• Serve me - resolve my issues quickly...turn the "unpleasant into the pleasant."  Remember that I'm the customer, and I have options.  
• Empower me - give me access to resolve my own issues, or empower the employee that I'm speaking with to do it for me.

It sounds simple but it's, as I just experienced, difficult to execute.  The CapOne reps and managers were very nice but they weren't empowered to resolve my issue, or go off script.  Both call centers were outsourced, and probably all reps and managers I spoke with were following company policy and scripts.  The difference was that Amex knew my situation, anticipated my concerns, and resolved my issue in one phone call with one rep -- efficiently and stress free.

Two shopping days left, what's in my wallet?   American Express.

Turning Data into Dollars

Last month I had the chance to be a panelist at a forum hosted by Wolfgang Jank and the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.  The topic was on Informatics – Data Driven Decision Making in Marketing.

Per my usual M.O., I agreed to participate without knowing what I would discuss.  As I was looking through past project work I made the discovery that this was a topic that I had spent two years working on. 

What’s interesting about the topic is that everyone will agree that they should be more data driven, or fact based, with their decision-making.   Heads will nod when it’s discussed, it’s intuitive, and so the question…and the problem, is why doesn’t it happen?

The company I was working with had an abundance of data but were faced with two consistent problems related to the use of it:

• Reps wanted better insight
• Customers wanted a POV

The first issue we probably spent a good six months on defining what an ‘insight” was, how to create it, and who was responsible for doing it.  The second issue was more complicated and took much longer.

Over that two-year period I learned how challenging it is for an organization to use one source of data effectively across the enterprise.  Some of the challenges we uncovered were typical such as lack of resources, process, and funding.  Others were more challenging: People funded their own resources and research to support their strategy, budget or group. 

To begin to solve this complex problem we created a “data value chain” (see below).   The starting point was having one centralized source for data.   As we discovered, as data flows from across the organization to the customer, enhancements were needed to make it more valuable, like growth rings on a tree. 

As data became more customized, and localized, it grew more valuable.   This helped to identify why, for example, research that was being produced at corporate was not often used by the sales teams…it lacked relevancy, especially in regions outside of the US. 

Once we got everyone on the same page the next challenge was to align the various groups in the organization across the value chain.   We learned there could be as many as five different groups involved in handoffs as the data moved across the value chain.  This help to explain why product groups were developing solutions without market insights, and regions were not leveraging corporate insights for business development.  

As a result, we had to design process maps, hand-off points, engagement process, etc.   The elephant in the room, and one of the biggest challenges was wrestling with the budget.  The solution for that last huddle was turned out to be pretty simple.  

The corporate “insights” team would work with those regions that wanted to work with corporate.   Those regions had to be willing to fund resources to finish the “last mile”…building solution or customer business cases and solutions.  Even though everyone wanted more relevant insight, and more defined points of view, not all regions were willing to put up the money. 

Finally, to secure the funding to make the fixes we had to be able to answer a very simple question; “how does being more data driven provide value to the organization?”

The answer was getting the data closer to revenue or a sale….”turning data into dollars.”  The epiphany wasn’t that the value was found at the end of the chain but the number of groups, and the coordination needed to be involved to reach that destination. 

The Social Manifesto: An E-piphany About the Impact of New Technology

I’m on the plane returning from Munich, Germany, and I’m having a "Jerry McQuire" moment.

Today’s Financial Times has an article on Mark Zuckerberg entitled; ‘This is just the early stage.’ In the article, “Zuck,” as friends call him talks about the new technologies and enhancements Facebook will be rolling out soon.  One of which is Facebook Deals, which according to Zuck, will transform the way local businesses reach consumers as they walk down the street. I had to laugh when I read that, as I thought about my previous night’s experience at the Christmas Market in heart of old town (Altstadt) Munich.

For those of you who have never been to Germany in December, christmas markets start at the end of November and go through Christmas. The markets, that seem to occupy every square in town, are a mix of vendors selling everything from Gluhwein (a seasonal drink of warm wine) to Christmas ornaments of all types. But, what is must remarkable, is the experience that it creates.

The streets are filed with families, tourists, business people, and college students as they mix drinking, eating, socializing and shopping. I was in a packed square with fresh fallen snow, carolers atop of the Rathaus, with probably 5000 people jammed into a city block, surrounded by vendors and stores filled with shoppers. It’s as close to as you can get to seeing the North Pole and Santa’s workshop.

So, it struck me as funny that Zuck could think that he could change that experience with Facebook. Zuckerberg tells the reporter, David Gelles, that “Facebook’s unique map of human relationships will change business forever.”  To that I say, Facebook, and Zuck, you know nothing about human relationships, and, with the help of other new technologies, you are helping to destroy it.

You only need to watch a pack of teenage girls texting while at the mall, or a father on his blackberry at his child’s sporting event to see it. New technologies are enabling to us to be absent from the present…more so than ever. One thing I noticed last night was the revelers were not checking their phones or texting, they were in the moment, enjoying each other and soaking in the experience…except me.

I was busy sending texts and photos to my wife and my kids pretending that they were with me, when what I really wanted was to have them there or to hear their voices. It left me hollow, longing and lonely, the reason I’m having my Jerry McQuire moment.

New technologies are a double edged sword. They can enable good and bad, depending on how we used them. They promise greater “interactions” or “engagement” but that’s not to be confused with, or substituted for, relationships. They are not the same. And for business, don’t confuse your followers as loyal customers, because they are not. Most people are engaging for selfish reasons, they need or want something.  What they don’t want, or need, is a relationship with a vendor who only wants to sell them something.

What it has done is enable us to be more self-centered and lazy. "But Scott," you say, "how can that be? I’m busier than ever, new technologies are helping stay in touch.” Allow me to explain.

The phone eliminates the need to have to go see someone, email and text freed us having to place a call, and now you can simply tweet or post a comment and wait for someone to “Like” it, or leave a comment. No need to get involved, just do it and feedback will be sent to you. “Ah, 10 people like my comment…that makes me feel good.” Really?

Relationships take work and sometimes they can be painful, but they make us feel alive. They’re not easy, and you can’t automate them. Time is finite, and how we spend it, along with those experiences, helps define us. We can’t make more of it, or get it back. The more time we invest with technology means it is coming from something or someone, and it’s keeping us from something, or someone.

Perhaps what Facebook, and other technologies are doing is redefining how we think about ourselves. Technology allows us to express ourselves without having to invest a whole lot of time or emotion. We can go broad without having to go deep.

People now measure themselves by how many friends or followers they have. but what does that mean? To me it means that we are taking time away from family members or customers to interact with people who we don’t, or hardly, know. Why?  Because it’s easy, convenient, provides immediate gratification, and we can carry it around with us at all time…it’s a social security blanket.

The voice in our head saying; “just go online and see what people are posting on your wall, it’s happening now…you should check.”  It’s leading us down the wrong road. More time online means less time spent offline.  I went to Germany...and I almost missed being there.

Facebook now has over a half a billion users. It’s a runaway train.  It fills a need, but so does fast food. Plenty of people have told us that eating it is bad for us, but it’s convenient, cheap and the high salt content keeps us coming back for more. But just as fast food restaurants offer the 1000 calorie meal, they also offer healthy alternatives.  It’s up to us to make the right decision.

Our Facebook pages may feed the ego and give us a sense of immediacy, but it won’t nourish the soul, or satisfy our desire for intimacy.  To borrow liberally from Jerry McQuire; ”Technology, you don’t complete me…and you never will.”

Enabling Channel Partners to Effectively Sell to Small Business

On Wednesday the 17th I attended the Corporate Executive Board's Enterprise Council on Small Business member meeting in Philadelphia.  The meeting entitled Selecting and Building Channel Partnerships included attendees from about 10 member companies such as; Xerox, Symantec, Experian, Erie Insurance and Comcast, who hosted the event. 

ECSB practice leaders opened the meeting reviewing recent research on enabling channel partners to effectively sell to small business (title of the post).  The research compared the performance of high and low performing partner programs.  The meeting also included a review of best practice case studies.   Highlights from the research include:

• How small business owners want to buy - business owners stated that the type of supplier most preferred was a local supplier (34%), followed by a sales rep selling multiple lines (26%).   Top 3 reasons they buy from a local supplier; 1) location, 2) know them personally, and 3) responsiveness (immediate answers to questions). 
• What high performing partners want from companies - 1) Training (all types), 2) Evaluation (compensation related), and 3) Resources (access to information, additional infrastructure, etc.)   This was interesting because low performing partners ranked Leads as #1.  
• High Performing vs Low Performing Partners - the size or maturity of the partner's business did not impact the findings, however the age of the ownership team did; younger partners performed better than their older peers.  
• Partner Compensation - the preferred plan was overwhelmingly  "percentage of sales" 38%; flat $ per unit commission 17%, and discount (either dollar or percentage) was 13%.  

Highlights from the case studies and discussion:

• Measuring Partner Performance - 61% of partners said that they are evaluated on a single metric. Number one metric "Volume of Sales".  Most of the attendees also agreed, only one had used an additional measurement for performance. 
• Net Promoter - the additional metric used was a net promoter score to measure the performance of partners...really interestiing application of this tool
• Using a Third Party Facilitator -  the use of a third party mediator was highlighted in one of the best practice case studies.  The company used an outside facilitator to help the two companies negogiate a partner agreement.   The goal of the mediator was to encourage honesty, and bring about an accurate appraisal of the relationship potential.  Really interesting process to get at what's in it for both parties, and for getting everyone aligned on expectations. 

My key takeaway was that there is a significant opportunity to improve partner performance that is being missed. The opportunity is directing partners to desired customers and/or market segments.   Granted some partners are selected just for that reason, but in general, companies do not typically articulate what customers they want or who are best for their products.  A couple of members mentioned that they organize products against customer segments and assume that points partners in the direction of those customers.  

I don't think that is enough.  At the end of the day, manufacturers know how to sell products better then partners.   As a result, they should know which customers/type of customer will most value their product or service, and those customers that will be most profitable and loyal.  Use this information to help partners understand, and identify what a good customer looks like, and why.  Give clear direction on what you want.  If there is one thing we've learned from previous research, it is clear communications with partners is highly valued, that in itself might be a win.

A Great Marketing Tool Built with Your Tax Dollars

There has been no shortage of criticism of how the federal government spends our tax dollars, in particular over the past two years.  But I found something recently that is worth every dollar, especially if you’re a marketer.  

The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) has a fantastic website that includes excellent economic and employment reports, as well as, an incredibly robust and user-friendly database.  The BLS produces some very well known economic reports including the Consumer Price Index and the National Employment/Unemployment Rate. 

 

But it also contains a wealth of information for marketers.   Some of my favorite B2B BLS reports include:

• Occupational Outlook Handbook
• Industry at a Glance
• Product Price Index

My absolute favorite section is the Database, Tables and Calculators.  You could literally spend weeks in this section running reports.  Many vendors resell this information but given how tight budgets are nowadays, do it yourself.  The BLS can help you answer a wide variety of marketing related questions such as:

• Want to understand how consumer spending varies by income?  Got it, Consumer Expenditure Survey.
• Need to know how to modify pricing to adjust for inflation?  Check out the PPI. 
• Want to evaluate which industry to target for a new product?  Go hunting in the Industries at a Glance section. 

The BLS website is a great tool for conducting research on market segments, demographic trends, and consumer habits and spending.  It also an invaluable tool for understanding the health of the economy, price forecasting, etc.

You’re paying for it so help yourself, and for once, feel good about your tax dollars at work.  

Social Media as a Sale Tool - Section 5

The following post is taken from the soon to be released white paper entitled: The Effect of the Great Recession and the Rise of Social Media on Sales & Marketing Integration 
SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SALES TOOL //
Although the use of social media is now becoming widely considered and adopted by marketing organizations, it has yet to be accepted by many salespeople. As part of Channel Marketing’s research effort, the team explored areas where social media tools could provide value in the sales process.  As featured in Figure 5, a simple two by two approach is mapped out along a common six-step sales process on one axis and the “BANT”(Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline) lead qualification process is aligned to the other axis.

Figure 5 shows opportunities in the sales process to apply social media tools to accelerate the lead management process and improve account management and support (the bottom of the funnel activities) based on what sales people and customers are trying to accomplish during those steps.

Utilizing social media at the beginning of the sales process, many B2B firms are increasingly using those tools as prospecting devices.  Studies such as David Gode’s publication in the Harvard Business Review on Better Sales Networks, suggest that to be successful at sourcing prospects, a salesperson’s network should be made up of contacts that are diverse in functional role and industry.

As a result, LinkedIn and similar platforms are helping salespeople create a more efficient marketplace network where each contact knows a more diverse array of people, creating a wider web of prospects. Identified prospects can also be used to help grow opportunities for buy-in and up-sell by allowing a salesperson to build relationships with individuals at a company beyond his or her immediate network.

Beyond opportunity identification, social media can address the problem of stalled opportunities. According to the Sales, Marketing and Communication Leadership Council, the most important front-line manager activity to drive growth is sales innovation, namely collaborating with reps to ‘unstick’ deals.  Often times, the culprit for a “stuck” or delayed deal is merely the fact that one or more identifiable ‘BANT’ lead qualification elements have not been met. 

While in many cases B2B sales and marketing teams have ready access to the necessary information regarding budget, authority and timing, Figure 5 highlights social media’s coverage and the specific tools that address customer’s “Need” applied to the sales setting.

As mapped out in Figure 5, it is clear that organizations are using social media to help better understand, anticipate and address customer and prospect needs. Allstate agents, for example, created a community portal on a Ning platform that provides agents with an online discussion area to post and answer questions, send out bulletins, blog about events, and share useful knowledge. Allstate news headlines on the site keep agents up to date and the network provides agents the chance to connect with each other and share insight with only a few keystrokes.
To read more continue to the post.   

The Shift to Social Media - Section 2 of the White Paper

The following post is taken from the soon to be released white paper entitled: The Effect of the Great Recession and the Rise of Social Media on Sales & Marketing Integration 

THE SHIFT TO SOCIAL MEDIA //

The migration towards the “connected” world can be witnessed by the millions of individuals flooding to sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. This has in turn created a robust cache of potential customers for marketers to interact with and engage. Indeed widespread social media use pervades much of the B2B space as a recent Forrester Research piece outlines how B2B buyers have very high social participation and provides relevant statistics such as the fact that 88% of decision makers at business technology firms use social media for business decision-making[i].

As Figure 1 demonstrates, recent statistics reveal that marketers, in large numbers, are following prospects and customers into the digital and social media world for two primary reasons[ii]:

·       Prospects and customers have exhibited a desire to use these platforms.

·       Recent economic conditions have made this targeted and inexpensive marketing method very appealing to marketing and sales forces with declining budgets.

As evidence of the depth to which “The Great Recession” has slashed marketing budgets, in a survey in 2009, 75% of B2B marketers reported a decrease in their budgets, while 67% of marketers complained of being expected to do more with less by driving higher sales with these diminished budgets[iii]. 

Figure 2 demonstrates the degree to which average total advertising expenditure has decreased from 2007 to 2009 as a result of smaller marketing budgets. In addition, the figure reveals the shift in focus of this advertising spend away from traditional forms of marketing in favor of the internet and online media. Despite budget cuts, the recession has actually accelerated the adoption of social media marketing as companies have increasingly turned to social media as an inexpensive, measurable and direct method over traditional approaches.

---

[i] Burris, Peter, Josh Bernoff, Bradford J. Holmes, and Zachary Reiss-Davis. The Social Technographics of Business Buyers. Rep. Forrester Research, February 20, 2009.

[ii]The B-to-B Marketing Leadership Study”. American Business Media, Association of National Advertisers, and Booz & Co. August 2010. 

[iii] Maddox, Katie. "Survey Finds Budget Cuts Easing." BtoB Magazine 14 Sept. 2009: 1+. Print.

The Effect of the Great Recession and the Rise of Social Media on Sales and Marketing Integration

Yes, I know it is a mouthful.   For the past three months we have been researching how those two simultaneous events have impacted sales and marketing.  The recession, and its downward pressure on marketing spend, and the increased adoption of social media both by B2B customers and organizations.
The research is now complete and is being packaged into a white paper which will be the second in our Channel Insights series.  Over the next several weeks I will post various sections of the paper.   Today I've posted the executive summary to give you a preview of what is to come.

Executives Summary 

Business-to-Business organizations have often struggled to fully integrate sales and marketing; whether it is merely speaking the same language or adequately aligning against common goals, the two groups have often operated independently of each other despite the fact that success, more often than not, is predicated on their collaboration.

Two recent events have heightened the need to align these two groups. First, the recession has caused organizations to be more precise with their investments, making it more difficult for marketers to procure and defend their budgets, and for sales, to find buyers. 

Second, the adoption and utilization of social media platforms is providing marketers with a low cost opportunity to interact directly with customers and track their success. For sales, this means a new vehicle for gaining insight into customer buying behavior and understanding the influencer network. For marketing, this has elevated their role in helping convert identified leads to customers and provided the opportunity to manage ‘back-end’ customer relationships.

The imminent question is: How should corporations respond to these recent economic and technology trends and use new competitive advantages that increase sales, build brand equity and customers’ loyalty, and reduce costs?

The key lesson? Despite social media offering the potential to deliver an insightful customer experience with meaningful business impact, failure to properly integrate sales and marketing leaves organizations at risk of being more disconnected than ever before.

Avaya Helps Partners Learn How to Market

The Business Marketing Association (BMA Colorado) is producing a book later this year entitled: “Advice From the Top – The Expert Guide to B2B Marketing.   I'm authoring a chapter on collaborative partner marketing.   As part of my research, I was fortunate to interview Patti Moran, Worldwide Channel Marketing Director at Avaya.   Patti shared with me how Avaya is helping partners improve their marketing capabilities, competencies and outcomes.   It's a good success story worth sharing.  

The Situation 

Because of their traditional focus on converting, rather than creating demand, Avaya’s partners lacked an understanding of how to effectively manage customer accounts, nurture relationships, build awareness and create new opportunity by marketing their business services and solutions.  Not only did they lack the marketing insight to generate demand but even apart from this gap in knowledge, partners also lacked the marketing tools, resources, skill sets and experiences to market, sell and deliver their solutions. 

According to Patti Moran, Senior Director of Worldwide Channel Marketing at Avaya, 90% of their channel partners lacked a dedicated marketing support individual in-house.  Noting this dire situation, Moran contends that ultimately “It’s not enough to just be a sales organization.  To be successful at growing and adapting to the market condition partners have to have a marketing functions."

The Solution 

Recognizing the need to educate, train, and then arm their partners with the necessary materials and resources to remain competitive, Avaya created a series of global workshops titled Marketing Masterclass with distributors to educate and provide resources and tools to enable mid sized and small partners.   During the workshops, Avaya helped partners evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to better understand how to position and differentiate themselves in competitive markets.

To continue the momentum generated by these workshops, Avaya created an education curriculum called provided partners with “How to Guides,” covering marketing topics ranging from delineating how to write marketing plans to delineating how to build websites or leveraging social media.   Finally, Avaya developed a spectrum of shared services to support their partners’ marketing efforts, both full and self service. 

Avaya providing access to supporting services, databases, events, content, and preexisting templates and pre-built product pages, either for free or at highly discounted costs. Avaya, for example, created a self-service “Partner Marketing Central” portal that provides free and easy to use email blast technology, seminars and whitepapers, and access to over 200 customizable marketing materials with a full range of media. 

Avaya also created “MarketLeaders" a full service campaign program that delivers integrated campaigns with end-to-end support in order to achieve a range of goals from relationship management, demand generation to customer engagement, enabling partners to use MDF or BDF funds to drive leads, nurture relationships, and build awareness.

Financially, Avaya even sought to ease their partners’ cash flow concerns by invoicing and debiting against their funds rather than insisting partners pay up front, thereby increasing partners’ speed to market by providing more current resources.

The Results

The success of Avaya’s efforts, characterized by full classes, newly engaged partners, and efficient MDF and BDF spending, has been met by requests from partners for even more education.  Furthermore, the global breadth and overall extent of participation speak volumes to Avaya’s success—and because of this success, components have been provided in multiple languages, and offerings such as the self-service Partner Central have been utilized across country borders by over 2,500 worldwide members to create over 33,000 highly customized and targeted marketing materials to date. In addition, in the Americas alone over 1,200 partner companies have taken advantage of MarketLeaders Campaigns to generate over 1,950 of their own strategic campaigns. 

Xerox's Real Business Campaign - Too Much of a Good Thing?

Yesterday Xerox launched a new global marketing campaign titled, Real Business.  Xerox is calling it their most ambitious and innovative campaign ever created. Realbusiness.com includes interactive billboards, innovative media, video, and what they are calling “attention-grabbing digital units” showcasing Xerox’s clients, featuring brand icons, such as P&G’s Mr. Clean.   

The launch of the website will be followed by TV ads and a global roll-out...Europe is up next.   It has all the “bells and whistles” any good digital campaign could want with Twitter Tags, Multi-media, and cookies for display advertising.  If you visit Realbusiness.com and then a business publication site like Forbes.com, keep an eye out for Xerox’s placement ads with the Marriott, Notre Dame, and NY Mets commercials.  This is not a coincidence.

The website and the campaign are really well done from a creative standpoint.  The campaign is multi-media, multi-channel, multi-tactic and multi-message.  And that's the problem, the messaging seems to be the Achilles heel of the campaign.  I’m sure that this campaign, by Y&R, will win many awards, especially digital, however, they nearly overdo it.  See for yourself: Visit the website, watch the videos and ads, and then ask yourself what did you retain.  

After spending much longer than I expected on the site, I remember the fighter pilot blasting through the ceiling, the Ducati bike racing around, and the Mets mascot burying his head in his hands…but I do not recall how Xerox helped those customers, or what they have to offer me.

I’m also sure that the campaign will meet its targeted objectives for engagement levels and interaction times but does style overwhelm substance?   It raises a relevant concern for marketers, how do we keep the focus on enhancing and ensuring the delivery of the message through digital tools, and not get caught up in all the interesting and entertaining things they can do?  

I truly enjoyed the site and most likely, stayed engaged longer than the Agency would have predicted, but can a digital campaign be successful if the audience doesn’t hear and retain the message?   No doubt, it is entertaining, but will it be effective?  

The Top 10 Laziest Sales Tactics

The amount of "lameness" on the part of sales people (and some marketers) has now come to a point that I think a public flogging is in order. To those Michael Scott’s of the world (and I like Michael), know that we are on to you. The following tactics have never, and will never, produce a lead.

1. Filling out a company's contact form on the website with ”contact me if you need…” Yep, I’ll get right on that.

Mike, for example, was able to jam an entire spam email onto our company contact form...impressive.  Sure, I will take the time to read the entire message box and get back to you. 

But wait, sensing that I might not take him seriously, he submits the form again 2 minutes later.

2. Sending an email blast with the generic intro of "Dear Sir." Forget everything you've learned about 1 to 1 marketing, personalization, relevancy, this just might work.  Just get a list, and go.  

3. Even better, the telemarketing version of the "no effort" approach.  Cold calling and asking; “can you please tell me who handles…”  Instead of you doing your job, you're now asking me to do it for you -- beautiful. 

4. Some telemarketers have taken it to a whole new level. Love the folks who leave a message without saying why they are calling, but then ask you to call them back. And my personal favorite -- the rep who invented the "I'm returning your call..."   It's like the guy you knew in college that spent hours figuring out how to cheat for a test, instead of using the time to study.

5. Advertising your services in the comment section of a blog.  Let's take Jeff D, he didn't even try to hide it in a link.  He went straight for the kill.                

It's not all bad because he does give me "props" at the end of the ad..."I like your information it is helpful to me."  Mmm, is it helpful because it gives you an opportunity to display spam?   Apparently so, because Jeff D comes back 6 days later, this time pimping new services, Website design and development.  Notice I get no "props" this time.  Pretty tricky changing the name of the company, almost didn't catch him.  

To Jeff D, and all the other spammers, know that bloggers decide whether or not to post your comments.  The comments above never made it public, I saved them for my own personal enjoyment, and this blog post.   Also, know that Blogspot, as well as other platforms, now have enable spam filters.  Good luck on future postings. 

6. Posting a discussion within a Linked-in group that isn’t a discussion, but rather, an advertisement for your company…it’s not a discussion; it’s spam, and it’s annoying.

Take Mr. Gupta for example, at Web Box Office. He's advertising "Learn the secrets to success with attendee-funded webinars." Sounds good, huh. Guess who's paying for the webinar...you are, Mr. attendee, if you register.

7. Using the yellow pages as your prospect database. I’m not kidding, people are still using it. Just wait until they find out about the internet.

8. Offering something FREE, unless it is truly FREE.  Taking a credit card number so you can start billing a customer after a "free" trial is not free.  This is not selling, it's scamming.   There are rules, some people call them laws, governing this practice.  See FreeCredit Report.com for an example of how not to do it.   

9. Any email coming from Nigeria, or any other country, offering a fortune if you could just help them  by giving them your social security number, bank account number, etc.  To good to be true, something for nothing?  Any of this ringing a bell?  Ok, maybe I'm a little bitter because I'm still waiting for my $1M from the British Lottery Authority.

10.  Actually, couldn't think of a 10th, but I'm sure there's one or more out there.  I'd love to hear your experiences.  Add your "Top 10" story in the comment section, but please easy on the spam.  Jeff D takes up a lot of my time.    

Social CRM - "Many to One" Marketing...or is it Sales?

Social Relationship Management and Social CRM are terms that are now being thrown around for new technology platforms that are enabling multichannel execution.  Companies like Lithium Technologies have created platforms that allow companies to run hosted communities, listen across a variety of social media channels, and manage content to and from social networks in one integrate tool.

While marketing has steadily evolved from "one to many", to "one to one", Social CRM is now creating the opportunity for "many to one."  For example, a customer tweets a question about a product (e.g. is it worth the money) on Twitter, a customer advocate brings that comment into a company's online forum where another customer answers it.  The customers response to the question is then tweeted by the company to promote sales of the product.

The promise of Web 2.0 has always been about customers selling to customers.  New Social CRM tools are now enabling that by consolidating platforms.  But this has the potential to raise issues over who gets credit for the sale.    If the true ROI on social media is revenue, which many research studies are now suggesting, then who gets credit for the sale by a customer to a customer?   Does marketing get credit for creating the customer advocate who convinced the customer to buy or does the sales person who "owns" the customer?   And what about the customer who made the sale...what do they get?

One thing is certain: social media is blurring the line between sales and marketing interactions and dialogues.   And given that, we may have to rethink our traditional views of customer coverage and relationship management.   Perhaps in the future, marketing will be responsible for managing customers online relationships, and sales for the offline experience.

Someone call HR and give them the heads up.  Territory planning, revenue crediting and roles and responsibilities might need a refresh soon.

Partner Marketing Model Webcast

On June 16th, I hosted a live webcast along with Bob Ray, President of GyroHSR's San Francisco office. The theme of the webcast centered on how new technology trends, like the Cloud, and shifting partner business models are opening the door for vendors to redefine the partner relationships.
Other highlights include:

• Tech trends have shifted the focus of executives, and the recession has caused customers to be more cost conscious
• A new focus on professional services/managed services has caused a longer sales process which means reps and partners need help selling.   
• The average ramp time for a productive IT sales rep has gone from 7 to 10 months
• Generally, IT execs do not feel sales reps UNDERSTAND their business
• Engagement through data sharing, pre-packaged marketing solutions, and program planning with partners are ways to create more mindshare.

The rehearsal presentation was recorded and is now available OnDemand Presentation.  
Channel Insights Newsletter To learn more about GyroHSR’s Channel Marketing Practice and subscribe to the GyroHSR Channel Practice Newsletter please visit: Subscribe here 

Inside the Ritz Carlton Customer Experience Model

For years, the Ritz-Carlton has been recognized for its ability to delight customers.  Although I’ve used them frequently as a best in class example for clients, I never truly experienced what makes them so good…until now.

My family and I just returned for our summer vacation where we had the good fortune of staying at the Ritz-Carlton on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands for the week.  While we originally booked the Marriott, a special off-season promotion through American Express and the loss of our family pet that week led to a change of plans.  

The experience was memorable even though the weather wasn’t exactly…we now understand why it’s called the off-season.  Nonetheless, during our stay we were continually delighted by the service we received. 

The Ritz-Carlton has created a perception of exceptional quality and service, and the staff delivers on it.    They are in the hospitality industry, and as a result it’s “people” business.  But their model is not just as simple as ‘serve the customer.”  They add interact, engage, and listen to the customer.  So simple and intuitive that it makes you wonder why other companies can’t do the same.   

 

Examples of how they bring this to life:    

•  The Customer Experience – not only do they understand how you might want to spend your time on vacation, they anticipate it.   For example, in the mornings by the front door they had a jogging trail map, cold towels, bottled water, and a sign welcoming back joggers.  They also set up a water cooler at the water sport station anticipating that guests want water given the amount of salt water inhaled while snorkeling…maybe that was just me.

• The Little Things – If you preferred to run indoors, they had a full service health club complete with trainers.   The most interesting thing in the gym was a 2-inch piece of a foam noodle, commonly used to float in a pool, in the cup holder of the treadmills.   It served as shock absorber, and it elevated your bottle making it easier to reach while you where running.  I’ve been in a lot of gyms in my life and none of them have had this…only the Ritz.  Most likely this insightful and accommodating amenity came from listening to customer feedback. 

• Going Beyond the Role –The doorman was our personal tour guide.  He told taxis were to take us for dinner, marked up maps on top snorkeling spots when we rented a car, and gave me directions on where I should run in the morning.  And of course, he inquired about our experiences each time we returned.   Similarly, our waitress at breakfast was also our personal shopper.   She told us the shops with the best deals, the best places for kids, etc.  Despite their title and/or their role, these employees played an essential part in defining our customer experience by going above and beyond the call of duty.

• It’s about the BRAND – They understand and maintain the brand like few others.  The tennis courts by Nick Bollettieri, the golf course designed by Greg Norman, the world famous Silver Rain Spa from Sweden, and for good measure Tiffany’s onsite.   Brand was everywhere, on water bottles, towels, the morning newsletter, etc.   A premier brand that only associates with other premier brands. 

• Creating the Perception of Value – This gets back to understanding what guests want to do during their vacation.   The Ritz charged a $35 a day resort fee.  That fee included the use of water sport equipment like snorkeling gear, kayaks, and paddleboards, but then they charged for other items like Hobbie Cat sailboats, etc.  The nearby Marriott on the other hand had outsourced their water sports to a local vendor that charged $15 a day for snorkeling gear, and $25 dollars an hour for Kayaks, etc.                                                 With a reef just in front of both hotels, guests at both snorkeled almost every day and/or used the gear to snorkel at other locations around the island.   For a family of four, we paid $35 a day for 4 snorkel sets plus the use of the other items listed above.  Marriott guests paid $60 a day simply for the snorkeling gear.  Anticipating that guests would use snorkeling gear daily, The Ritz built it into a daily fee which we learned about at the beginning of our stay, instead of feeling like we were being “nickeled and dimed” to death each time by renting daily.  Packaging “solutions” is a constant challenge for most organizations.   The Ritz understands how customers want to use their products so it can build high value solutions.  

• Technology – the staff on the beach and at the front door wore headsets and microphones.   As I mentioned earlier the staff took the time to personalize your visit and get to know you and your name.  As you went from one location to another they would alert their counterpart that you were on your way.  This provided them time to greet you by name and to anticipate what you might want…towels for the beach, a taxi, etc.  Simple CRM, applied in a very effective manner.

• Constant Collection and Use of Customer Information – Regardless of where their staff came from (France, Bali, England, etc.) they all took an interest in their guest’s stay.  They collected information about what they liked, disliked, and then preserved it to pass along to other guests.  In a sense, staff members built their own internal Trip Advisor based on guest feedback.  For example, one night we wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  I searched in a local restaurant guide and found one.  When I asked the Concierge about it, she said she never heard of it, and recommended another restaurant.  Finally I found a person at the front desk that knew where it was, but he proceeded to recommend the same restaurant as the Concierge.   Deciding that the other restaurant was too far, we went with the one I found. It was terrible.  No one knew of it for a reason.  Even the Taxi couldn’t find it despite having been on the island for 20 years, and it turned out to be only 2.5 miles from the hotel.

Ultimately the secret to their success is simple…they understand, personify, and cherish the brand, and they engage and listen to the customer.

  

Cloud Computing - Vaporware?

The Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines a cloud as a “visible mass of particles of condensed vapor.”  According to CIOs interviewed for an article in the June edition of the Harvard Business Review magazine, cloud computing might as well be defined as “vaporware.” 

The article includes research by Gartner Group VP, Mark McDonald, who found that CIOs interest in the cloud has grown from 5% in 2009 to 37% earlier this year.  However, three out of four respondents who said they were interested, reported little interest in the three key technologies it entails: server virtualization, service-oriented architecture and SaaS (software as a service). 

These figures may entice you to conclude that this is a great opportunity for a salesforce to provide value in explaining the Cloud and define a company’s solution; a rare situation where the salesforce can be “solution sellers”. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case, according to a Forrester’s Technology Buyer Insight Study: Are Salespeople Prepared for Executive Conservations?

IT executives interviewed for the April 19, 2010 study, only 15% of executives believe that their meetings with salespeople are valuable and live up to their expectations.  

Reasons given according to the report:

• Business leaders (24%) don’t believe salespeople are knowledgeable about their specific business.   
• Only 34% of buying executives said salespeople understand their roles and responsibilities. 
• And across the board, only 38% feel that reps are prepared to answer their questions. 

Could this be a case of the blind leading the blind?  Confusion around cloud computing even occurs at the highest levels of leading Information Technology conglomerates. One story accounts for the CEO of a large information technology firm asking his senior executives to explain cloud computing to him. When no one could convey a clear answer, the CEO fired back that if they can’t sell it to him, then their company cannot sell it to customers.

There is no doubt that the Cloud is making as much noise as any good thunderstorm.   Companies are reallocating resources and investments to the Cloud.  Countless marketing dollars are being spent to get companies in the consideration set.  As with any good technology trend the hype exceeds the reality.  

The real challenge seems not to be marketing the Cloud, but rather selling it.   Those companies who best enable their sales people to break through the noise will reap the greatest benefit.   

The New Partner Marketing Model

In the “good old days” companies like IBM built a ubiquitous brand with unique products and then dictated their terms and funds to sales channels. Brand advertising was typically done on one of the three major TV networks aimed at the mass market to create a “pull” that would have customers do whatever it took to get those products regardless of price, location or availability.

Product marketing teams would assemble sales and marketing material, and route it to partners via partner portals or directly to their offices assuming that the partner had everything they needed to sell the company’s products or services. And that worked, especially with those partners who were former employees.

Business was good and predictable, but then things began to change. More channels became available, and as a result, it was harder to reach and influence key customers; the window of having a truly unique product shortened, and partners started gaining a greater choice of products to recommend, with various incentive programs.

Gradually the power of the transaction was shifting further down the value chain leaving companies with less influence over the point of sale. Partners, now armed with options and leverage, became less willing to cooperate with the demands of the manufacturer.

In response, the manufacturers began exploring how to realign themselves as a key influencer and along the way they discovered the following:

• Inconsistencies in communication about marketing programs, incentives, service and who owned the customer, left partners confused and frustrated.
• Partners felt like they were getting little, to no, marketing support from manufacturers despite having piles of marketing material and funds.
• A concerning trend was starting to develop, in which partners were using less of the marketing development funds (MDF) available to them.

The old “push” product and programs through partners and “pull” customers to your products through mass marketing was no longer working. It was time to rethink the model.

To learn more about the future direction of partner marketing request a copy of the Channel Insight white paper by register for the live webcast by June 15th 2010 at www.gyrohsr.com/channelforum.

The webcast is scheduled for 12 PM on June 16th 2010 and will include a discussion of the New Channel Marketing model that is evolving in the Technology Industry.  I will be co-hosted the webcast with Bob Ray, President of the San Francisco office.   Hi-Tech clients managed out of that office include VMware, Sybase, Adobe, as well as others.