Tag Archives: Buzz

How Do You Rapidly Ramp Sales? Three Tactics

Situation: A company’s key marketing partner has excelled at analyzing key potential customers, the right decision makers within those customers, and completing sales to them at a premium price. The CEO wants advice on what more they can do with this partner to leverage and boost sales. How do you rapidly ramp sales?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The company’s current strategy is to start a customer on the company’s product to add additional functionality. Once the customer learns to use the product, they work to extend the customer to other products from the company.
  • It is difficult to win with a “push” sales strategy. The situation described is like that of Linux competing with Microsoft. Everyone knows how to use MSFT, and for most of what they do MSFT is good enough. It takes a particular level of pain or need to justify the pain of transitioning to something different.
    • The only alternative is to show a significant pay-back for the pain that the customer must endure in order to convert, large scale, to another solution.
  • The company’s target customer will be the key manager who will shut down the line because they don’t have the company’s solution. This forces the purchase decision above the manager’s boss to the executive suite. The company’s solution then becomes the alternative that saves the day.
    • Seek a forum or trade show that will put the company’s solution in front of these key managers. Through this venue, create buzz that will make the company’s the booth to visit.
    • It is critical to have a compelling story for potential users when they respond to this gambit and visit the company’s booth.
  • The solution to this dilemma is the same as the solution to the company’s overall strategy.
    • The company’s offering, at this point, is just another alternative available to the customer. While the company has a compelling product, it is not world changing and the company lacks the market presence to make its solutions first to adoption.
    • The solution is to focus. Stop what the company is currently doing and take the time to develop a technology strategy.
    • Once this strategy has been defined, focus efforts on developing the killer application that becomes the reason that people must come to the company to satisfy their need.
    • Once this killer application has been developed, positioning and gaining traction with the customer will become easier.

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How Do You Expand Your Large Client Base? Six Strategies

Situation: The CEO of a service company sees that 20% of their business is serving large corporate customers. These accounts have proven to be more profitable than smaller clients. Their objective is to increase the large corporate client base from 20% to 60% of their business. How do you expand your large client base?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Emphasize the differences and unique talents of the firm in comparison with the competition. Trust in the company’s abilities and act like a big-league firm.
  • Top shelf prices for services are not an issue for large clients; in fact, they expect quality firms to have high prices. Find the “clinch” price – where the client says, “you’re expensive, but because of your special talents you’re the firm that we will choose.” Compliment this with the firm’s ability to utilize lower cost outsourced services to offer an appealing overall cost of services. Clients will pay a premium for top shelf when they need it but will like the fact that routine needs can be met within their budgets.
  • Use the lessons from Blue Ocean Strategy to create advantages for the company’s services that existing firms don’t or can’t offer because of their structures and cultures.
  • Highlight the company’s high-touch culture, with great personal service. This provides a welcomed relief from the typical client experience with service firms.
  • Create buzz around the company’s leadership. Focus on speaking opportunities. Enhance the references to the company’s leadership on the company web site, including a listing of upcoming speaking engagements that are open to potential clients or individuals interested in the company’s expertise.
    • During speaking engagements to local groups on topics of high interest, build an educational library of edited flash content that hits the high points of the talks – not the full talk, but the most important 2-3 minutes on a given topic.
    • Add a library of these short videos on the company website.
  • By charging premium prices for select services, while sourcing research and expertise from personnel in lower cost geographies, the company will generate additional profit. Allocate some of these profits to community outreach to further enhance the company’s reputation and buzz. Be the firm that gives back.

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How Does a Professional Services Firm Get Known? Seven Ideas

Situation: A professional services firm has opened a new office in Silicon Valley. Their immediate priority is building clientele in their new market. They have an excellent reputation in their other markets, but are as yet unknown in in either Silicon Valley or Northern California. What can they do to create buzz and local awareness? How does a professional services firm get known?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Hire a part time PR person who is familiar with the local community. For example, this may be an experienced Mommy Tracker – a woman who puts priority on being a mother, but who is also interested in working part-time with a flexible schedule. The role will be to schedule speaking engagements with local organizations, groups or companies.
  • Think about publishing a book, whether yourself or with a professional writer. Tweak it to include a section on start-ups and do a book speaking tour in Silicon Valley.
  • Consider sponsorship of prominent local organizations. In Silicon Valley this could include incubators or entrepreneur groups. These are companies who could benefit from professional services.
  • Offer seminars to target clients, or those that invest in target clients – for example venture capitalists or angel investment groups.
  • Write articles for Red Herring (redherring.com)
  • Get to know the WI Harper Group (wiharper.com) – connected with Walden International. This is a San Francisco venture capital group with limited partners from China, and with a focus on US/Asia technology transfer.
  • Highlight past success in helping clients to gain funding.
  • The suggestions outlined here can be applied to opening a new office in any new location.

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