December 1st, 2011
Many business owners are curious if Google Plus is worth the time, “I’m already feeling maxed with Twitter and Facebook I don’t think I have time for another social network” they say. Can it really make a dent in the social media landscape for businesses? These questions from businesses of all shapes and sizes are fair especially given the failures Google has had in the past. With the recent launch of Google Plus business pages, businesses are asking these questions all over again.
What we know is that Google is one of the most powerful companies online. While Facebook is the behemoth of social marketing platforms, Google is mounting what some view as a formidable offering for small business. In this post, you’ll learn why Google Plus pages are important, as well as ideas of what you should be doing to build engagement once you have one.
Google Plus Pages – Why?
- Social is Key – Google is committed to being social. They know that traffic from social sites converts better. One of the many integration points you’ll begin seeing is on the search result pages. This type of social “loyalty building” for Google Plus users has the potential to gain traction as Google’s social initiative moves full steam ahead. Shown below is a Google search engine result page (SERP), which includes proof from thousands of other Google Plus users, endorsing a given piece of content.
Preview of Google Plus Integration in Search Results when Googling “Google's two-step verification”
- Traffic – There is substantial SEO value to Google Pages. I’m a fan of being found everywhere, especially by and with Google. Creating a Google+ profile means you have an inbound link to the website the page represents, from a Google property. It’s also a good idea to link your website to the Google Plus page.
- Easy – Creating pages is a simple process. While not required, it’s important to have a logo, image, or avatar that represents your brand when creating your page. Also, be sure to use “http://” when setting your URL. For more specific information see how to create Google Plus business page for online businesses here.
Don’t forget to configure the “http://” parameter for web addresses.
Google Plus Pages – What?
The question you may have is what can I do once I have a Google Plus page for my business?
- Build a loyal and engaged following – Share on your social media networks that you created a business page on Google Plus, and invite them to circle you to receive updates there. It would also be a good idea to send a friendly email to your customers encouraging them to ‘Circle’ you on Google Plus. Google Plus ‘Circles’ allow you to segment your followers any way you’d like.
- Engage with others – By using Google Plus Pages, you can send updates, links, photos, etc, but more than that you can engage with other people and pages on Google plus as your brand. People will have to circle your page back in order for you to comment on their stream updates, and other pages currently allow you to comment if they have comments enabled on stream updates. As you and your brand engage in meaningful ways, you will find others will add you to their circles and create more brand awareness.
- Host a Hangout (live video chat) – This is the feature that makes Google Plus stand out as a social network. Hosting a Hangout and inviting customers to join in is a great way to engage with your target market. The point isn’t to be heard, rather to listen, and provide meaningful feedback to those on the Hangout. Some ideas for Hangout topics, pick and choose as you see fit:
- Customer appreciation hangout
- News and happenings in the industry hangout
- New Customers this Month, Questions Answered hangout
- New Product Preview hangout
- Tools of the Trade hangout
Hangouts are a great way to connect with customers and prospects in your market.
In the end, while Google Plus business pages aren’t perfect, you can be sure they are here to stay and will likely improve. Google knows its social initiative must succeed to propel the company forward (Read more...)
Categories: CRM Software, CRM and social media, Infusionsoft CRM, Social Media, Web Based CRM, Web Based Email Software, social crm
Tags: Customer Relationship Management, Google, Google Plus, Infusionsoft CRM, small business, tips
December 1st, 2011
Our trusted social partner InsideView has put out a quality white paper on social selling in 2012. Check it out!
2012 is fast approaching. You are heads-down closing 2011 deals and planning for next year. You want more from your team – more wins, faster sales cycles, bigger and better lead volumes, and larger account footprints.
Achieving higher sales and marketing performance doesn’t need to be a guessing game. Companies who use social data in their sales process are out-performing their competitors. That’s a fact
Download the Social Sales and Marketing whitepaper to learn:
• How social media is changing B2B sales and marketing
• The keys to increasing sales and marketing performance in
the age of social media
• How to get started with social selling
• Case studies and best practices
Categories: Brainsell, CRM, ERP, Hubspot, Inbound Marketing, Marketing, Salesview, Swiftpage Email
Tags: Brainsell, ERP, Facebook, Inbound Marketing
December 1st, 2011
I believe that people are the most stressful part of any job. That sounds harsh. After all, most people are the best part of any job, providing social interaction and supporting skills. But others… well, some are so difficult to deal with that they present an obstacle to you being at your best. Wouldn’t it be so easy just to ignore them? But the truth is that to be successful in your career, you have to be able to work with difficult people effectively. Fortunately, learning how to work well with difficult people is a skill that can be learned.
Here are five common colleagues people complain about. Keep in mind that you will not be able to change them and most likely you won’t even be able to exert a significant influence on their behavior. Approach these situations from the mindset of not ‘how can I change them?’ but with the mindset of ‘how can I change myself in order to work better with them?’
The Blatant Slacker
The slacker simply doesn’t like to work. They push their responsibilities on to everyone else around them. They show little initiative and deadlines are merely suggestions to them.
Why does this bother you? When they do produce work, to put it mildly, it embarrasses you. It requires so much effort to eek out any productivity from the slacker that often people around them give up trying and pull the extra weight themselves. The problem is, you don’t have the authority to fire them and your boss either can’t or is unwilling to do so.
What can be done? Focus on your work and your work only. As a colleague, ask yourself if you are enabling their behavior by picking up some of the slack. If you are feeling pressured to “help out,” and you know this is a person who doesn’t reciprocate when the tables are turned, voice your concerns to your boss before taking on the extra responsibility. If you are their manager, this is one situation where micromanaging can be effective. Give small tasks with tight deadlines and follow-up persistently.
The Well-Meaning Incompetent
This person is hard working, but they are clearly underqualified for their job. They are incapable of making difficult decisions about their work and require hand-holding from the people around them.
Why does this person bother you? This one is tough because it’s not so easy to blame them. Unfortunately, sometimes our best is not good enough. Motivation and effort do not make up for lack of results over the long-term.
What can be done? Focus on what they can do rather than what they can’t. If you have time to help out, make sure you are teaching them how to do something rather than simply doing it for them. For managers, make sure you are not enabling. Give them honest performance feedback and don’t sugar-coat it. Let them know what skills they need to develop to be effective, and if they are unable to do so, they may need to be moved to a different position.
The Fraud
This one brags and over-exaggerates their accomplishments. They are more concerned with appearing to be competent, hard-working, and capable rather than actually doing so. They like to talk about work more than they like to work.
Why does this person bother you? If you are annoyed by the fraud, you are probably the opposite. You like to work hard and claiming credit for that work takes a backseat.
What can be done? Proactively defend yourself in a way so this person can’t claim credit for your work. If it is after-the-fact, speak up and mention your role in the project too. You need to be managing your image at work and marketing your skills and accomplishments anyway. So take some tips from the fraud—the difference being, you deserve the credit and accolades!
The Hypercompetitive Peer
They back-stab and stir the pot in an attempt to get themselves that promotion or raise. They are looking out for themselves and themselves only and how unfortunate if someone should get in their way.
Why does this bother you? This person is difficult to work with because they have only their (Read more...)
Categories: Intuit QuickBase
Tags: Intuit QuickBase, online crm, QuickBase, QuickBase Marketing, QuickBase Project Management, QuickBase Sales Management
November 30th, 2011
Tools Used by Inside Sales
Today, BrainSell and InsideView ran a webinar, Leveraging Social Media in SugarCRM. Nirav Bisarya, Channel Development Manager at InsideView, started off with a great overview of why sales people should leverage social data in their sales process. Social tools in SugarCRM were also demonstrated.
Click here to view the recorded webinar.
And what’s a webinar without an offer!
Now until December 7, if you sign on for SugarCRM or InsideView Team with BrainSell, you’ll get one month free!
Email sales@brainsell.net for more info
Categories: Brainsell, CRM, ERP, Events, Facebook, Hubspot, Inbound Marketing, LinkedIn, Salesview, Social Media, SugarCRM, Swiftpage Email, Twitter
Tags: Brainsell, CRM, ERP, Facebook, Inbound Marketing
November 30th, 2011
It’s the question on all of your team members’ minds. Now that the holidays are upon us, will bonuses be handed out despite the still-poor economy?
Over at the Intuit Small Business blog, Suzanne Kearns discusses performance bonuses. Her source, Art Jacoby, a business growth adviser at JACOBY, remarks:
“A Christmas bonus during these difficult times is worth its weight in gold to you.” he says. “It’s the gift that will keep on giving, because a small amount of economic thoughtfulness when the chips are down will build extra loyalty and be remembered and appreciated for years. Anybody can be thoughtful when things are going well. It takes a special leader to be thoughtful even when it’s tough to be.”
According to Suzanne, examples of year-end bonuses to consider include:
The Longevity Bonus
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that people 35 years and younger change jobs every 18 months, and people of all age groups do so every three years, so offering an incentive to stay put may make sense.
When awarding longevity bonuses, divide employees into groups according to the number of years they’ve worked for you and then give the individuals in each group a specific amount of money based on your budget. For instance, you may choose to reward $500 each to employees with 5 years of service, $1,000 each to employees with 10 years, and so on. Just make sure that you are consistent and fair.
The Non-Performance Bonus
Consider offering employees a percentage of their salary or give a set amount to everyone on staff. This will require, however, that your budget is large enough to cover monetary rewards for your entire team.
The Performance Bonus
Ideally, as Suzanne notes, each employee will have been given goals at the beginning of the year and can thus be rewarded with a bonus if they achieve them. You will be able to quantify the goal and discuss the results objectively with the employee during their performance review. Make sure your team members are kept in the loop regarding the specifics – what exactly do they have to do to receive their bonus, and how much can they expect if they come through?
If, because it’s already December, it’s too late to implement a formal process involving goals and the review cycle, at least make sure your staff understands how performance bonus decisions are being made, and be prepared to rationalize them if you are asked.
Other Options
It may be the case that you don’t have any discretionary funds for bonuses this year. Remember that there are other ways to motivate employees over the holidays, such as vocalizing your appreciation and providing perks like an extra comp day or dinner out on the company.
Related posts:
- How to Motivate Your Team Members over the Holidays
- The Google Social Media Ultimatum
- Is Your Staff Mailing It In? How to Raise the Bar:
Categories: Intuit QuickBase
Tags: Intuit QuickBase, online crm, QuickBase, QuickBase Marketing, QuickBase Project Management, QuickBase Sales Management
November 29th, 2011
Picture this scenario: You leave your boss’s office after hearing there are going to be a number of belt-tightening measures throughout the company that will affect your team’s structure. As you head back to your desk, you feel the acid start to churn in your stomach as you consider the most important bit of news you just have been told: There will be layoffs if the proposed changes don’t produce better bottom-line results.
You reach your desk and pull out the Pepto-Bismol you keep in a bottom drawer.
While you chug it down, you wonder how you’re going to convey such a difficult message to your team. The team, you know, has been busting its collective butt and working long hours. They’ve been giving their all, you believe, and you don’t know how you’re going to rally them to produce even better results after you drop the bombshell about possible layoffs.
More and more managers have been faced with such scenarios during these challenging economic times, but not all of them succeed in moving a team through it. Sometimes they so ineptly deliver a message that a team never recovers and employees and the company suffer.
But experts say there is a way to deliver a message from the C-suite to workers so that no matter how much employees may dislike it or disagree with it, they won’t run screaming into the night but will instead embrace it and move forward.
The key, experts say, is you. You must be a confident, focused force that is ready to lead them through their minefield of confusion or anger toward a clear objective.
Creating resilience.
Before you talk to team members, remember they already may have an inkling that changes are afoot. Your message may be a welcome one, because they’ll finally have facts instead of just gossip, says John Daly, a communications and management professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Be direct, not mean,” he advises. “But also don’t create a sense of false hope. You’re there to give them reasons about why the decisions are being made.”
That’s why it’s important before you convey any message to the team that you know as much as possible about the reasoning behind a directive from the top. Be honest if you don’t know, says Daly, author of Advocacy: Championing Ideas and Influencing Others.
“Tell them that while you wish you knew more, you don’t. But say, ‘Here’s what I do know and I’ll tell you when I find out more,’” he says. “Don’t whine about it.”
He also cautions against offering “reasonable guesses” about company decisions, because those comments will be widely circulated. In other words, you may come to regret your speculations if they come to be regarded as facts or reach your boss’s ears.
Another key, he says, is being as specific as possible.
“People fear regret more than opportunity,” he says. “So you tell them, ‘If we don’t do this, then here’s what’s going to happen.’”
He cautions, however, about making your message so full of dire consequences that the team becomes paralyzed with fear. “You don’t want them shutting down,” he says.
Libby Wagner, a management consultant, says that some managers faced with conveying bad news to their teams have made the mistake of telling them that they’re still “ lucky to have a job” so they should just deal with it, or use “this-is-no-big-deal” reasoning. Either way, those messages damage a manager’s credibility, she says.
She agrees with Daly that the best strategy is to get as many answers as you can from upper level managers, then be honest with team members about what is going to be required from them.
“That way, you’re still being respectful, you’re still maintaining high integrity and you’re not hiding anything,” she says. “That helps to create resilience in the people you’re managing because they believe in you.”
Creating resilient teams, she adds, is key for managers who need their workers to be able to withstand shifting global markets, a slow economy and layoff fears now and in the future.
“What happens is that bad news distracts people from what they need to do. It gets chaotic. (Read more...)
Categories: Intuit QuickBase
Tags: Intuit QuickBase, online crm, QuickBase, QuickBase Marketing, QuickBase Project Management, QuickBase Sales Management
November 29th, 2011
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Categories: CRM Sales Software, Customer Relationship Management, Sales Process
Tags: CRM, CRM Software Free Trial
November 28th, 2011
Guest Blog! This week, Koka Sexton, Director of Social Strategy at InsideView graces the BrainSell Blog with his social wisdom. Later this week, Sexton will co-host a webinar with BrainSell on Social Media in SugarCRM. Sign up for the Nov. 30 webinar here.
In order to be an effective sales person you have to be leveraging the Internet and social media to keep you connected to prospects. Sales intelligence is a driving force for sales teams trying to leverage all of the data about prospects and turn them into opportunities.
Social media and sales intelligence increases companies win rates of new business. Since driving more revenue is a cornerstone for companies, it shouldn’t be overlooked as a tool to enable your sales teams.
Social Media is the Key
There is too much information available online these days that a sales person is walking blind if they are not using it in some way. Sales prospecting lists for contact data is fine but it’s not very effective on a large scale. Gathering contact information is only the first step in an effective sales process. The real intelligence comes from contact data and the relevant information about that contact.
When a sales person understands the impact of having relevant information on their prospects being handed to them on a daily basis, they are able to decrease the amount of time spent researching information that can help. When acted on with social selling best practices, prospects will be highly engaged and you will close more deals.
What’s holding sales people back?
When it comes to doing pre-call research and getting some background on a prospect or company you are calling into, there is a lot of information gathered by just doing a Google search. The problem with this is there is very little context around the results. You can spend an hour digging through search results and other resources to get an idea of who the person is and what challenges their company is facing but you’re busy too and can’t justify a large amount of time to research to make a call that may only take 10-15 minutes. “Typically, there is a lot of knowledge out there,” says John Aiello, CEO of SAVO, in a video interview with Selling Power magazine publisher Gerhard Gschwandtner. “The gap is that people can’t find it.”
Sales Intelligence Drives the Conversation
As a sales person, there is no excuse any more for not knowing more about your prospects and the company you are calling into. Sales Intelligence tools enable you to have relevant information at your virtual fingertips that can be used to know in many cases exactly how to position your product or service. There are even free sales intelligence tools available that can help.
Sales people need intelligence to close more deals. Making that intelligence available in a way that sales can capture quickly and easy to find is a necessity. In an Accenture study of more than 1,000 managers in the United States and the United Kingdom, nearly 60 percent have to go to numerous sources to compile the information they need to do their jobs well. About the same number reported that information as poorly distributed across the organization.
Building your sales pipeline and increasing win rates is not magic. There is no secret code that needs to be cracked for success. All you need is more information and a better way of identifying what matters when you start making connections.
If you are interested in knowing more about how social media is being leveraged by sales people to build their pipelines and drive revenue growth, you shold register for the upcoming webinar on Nov. 30 at 1 pm est, Leveraging Social Media in SugarCRM.
About the author: Koka Sexton, Director of Social Strategy at InsideView, is one of the most recognized social experts in the technology industry. With ten+ years of sales experience and a passion for social media, Koka is the perfect evangelist for social selling, a topic that he promotes through national speaking engagements and InsideView’s newest social media endeavor: Social Selling University. Koka’s expertise extends beyond his endless knowledge of social networks into his skill at employing (Read more...)
Categories: Brainsell, CRM, ERP, Facebook, Hubspot, Inbound Marketing, Insideview, LinkedIn, Salesview, Social Media, Swiftpage Email, Twitter
Tags: Brainsell, CRM, ERP, Facebook, Inbound Marketing
November 28th, 2011
Help! You know little about computers, and you’re suddenly in charge of overseeing the I.T. department. Or you can barely balance your checkbook and now your firm’s finance team is under you. If you’re charged with managing an area of work outside your main expertise, you could feel in over your head – or you could use these four tips to do it effectively.
1. Get aligned about the end product for big, important goals. For instance, you might agree with your IT team that “We need an interactive Web site up and running in time for our big spring product launch, which means launched, tested, and ready to use by March.” This keeps you focused on the end product, and then you can ask questions about the process: “How will we know whether this is on track? Are there milestones you could set to hit along the way?”
2. Manage by asking good questions rather than suggesting answers. Even without knowing the nitty-gritty of the work well, you can pose basic, useful questions like, “How do you know that X is true?” or “What will you do if Y happens?” or “What do other businesses do about X?”
3. Connect the employee to her “customers.” Your staffer may be doing work that few others understand but where many know whether or not they’re getting what they need. Often you might find yourself in the middle between other departments that tell you they want something, and an “expert” whom you manage. Your job is to bring the two sides together. Make sure your employee is talking to these “customers” and agreeing with them on what they’ll have by when. And make sure that there’s an ongoing channel for communication and feedback, including periodic surveys or other means that let you and your staffer see how these internal customers feel.
4. Judge by what you do know. Often you won’t have a clear idea whether 90% of what the person does is good because you don’t really understand the subject matter. You will, though, understand 10% of it (even if it’s just something like, “Did this person explain what she was doing in a way customers could understand?” or – with IT – whether or not your e-mail and networking are running smoothly). Extrapolate from what you can understand, and assume the 90% you don’t get is similar. If the small pieces you get seem great, it’s reasonable to assure that the rest probably is too – and if the piece you get seems off, it’s likely that the rest may be as well.
Related posts:
- Solving Real Business Problems without Technical Expertise
- How to Manage Remote Employees
- Remove the Barriers to Real Work
Categories: Intuit QuickBase
Tags: Intuit QuickBase, online crm, QuickBase, QuickBase Marketing, QuickBase Project Management, QuickBase Sales Management
November 28th, 2011
Recently, there has been a lot of chatter in the blogosphere about the death of cold calls. While there are those who defend cold calls and say they still work just fine, there are plenty of interesting points about why many believe this practice is ineffective and outdated.
It is hard to believe that less than two decades ago, cellphones were still a “newfangled idea.” Not only have many people given up land-lines for cellphones, but more people are primarily using their cellphones for texting or getting online instead of actually making calls.
In addition to this change in the way many people interact with phones, some of the other reasons that have been linked to “cold calling’s death” include:
Customers Have Higher Expectations: Because of its huge increase over the last decade, most customers are fed up with automated telephone support. The whole reason they pick up a phone is to speak with a real person. This leads to them feeling very frustrated when all they get is a system that only provides a limited number of choices.
Since more customers are getting fed up with this lack of support, they’re not only looking for other options, but are very hesitant to respond to any inquiries that seem automated. If they receive calls that are automated or sound scripted, they’re quite likely to hang up their phone within a matter of seconds.
Has Gotten Expensive: In the past, companies could rely on cold calling as a cost effective way to bring in new leads.
However, research from <a href=”http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5587/Survey-Inbound-Marketing-Cost-Per-Lead-Is-60-Lower-Than-Outbound.aspx”>Hubspot</a> has found that leads obtained through inbound marketing methods like SEO and social media cost 60% less than those acquired through outbound marketing techniques like cold calling.
People Still Want to Talk (Just Through Different Channels): There’s no denying that cold calling has helped build many successful businesses. The reason this was possible is because businesses used the phone to connect with customers who wanted to talk.
While technology has changed significantly over the last two decades, this doesn’t mean human nature has seen a major shift. People still want to talk and connect with each other. However, instead of doing it on the phone, they want to do it online.
This is why middle-aged women spend hours on Facebook and there are more senior citizens than ever using different online chat tools. People care about connections, but they want more control and the ability to have conversations on their own terms.
Because people still want to talk when it’s done through the right channel, posts that declare cold calling is dead state that salespeople don’t need to panic. Instead, they simply need to take their skills for communicating with people and start using them in conjunction with online tools.
Do you think cold calling is dead?
Related posts:
- Cold Calling in the 21st Century: The New Rules
- The New Reality of Cold Calling & Your Small Business CRM
- The New Rules of Cold Calling in 2010 with Wendy Weiss
Categories: CRM, CRM Free Trial, CRM Sales Software, SalesNexus CRM, Sell, Web Based CRM
Tags: account strategy, blog, cold calling, CRM, CRM Software, prospecting, Sales, sales software, SalesNexus CRM, Web Based CRM
