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Creating a mini Lead Generation System in Less than 24 Hours

Monday, November 15th, 2010
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As mentioned in my previous articles, it’s essential that you have enough information and data to draw upon. If you don’t have this, see my previous articles on these related topics.

At this stage you should be drawing information from newsletters in your field, joined discussion forums, read articles and subscribed to tips and e books on your particular product or service.

Let’s get started and design a Lead Generation System.

Step 1: Take an A4 sheet of paper and title it “Lead Generation System.”

Rule it with two parallel lines, about one inch from the top and two vertical lines to form three equal columns. Title these columns:

Category, Specifics, How Often.

Step 2: Write out as many categories of contacting that you can think of (minimum of four) to source prospects. Break each category into five parts. For example, you may have Internet as a category. The five parts may be:

Joint Ventures, E zines, link partners, purchased lists, Blogs,

From the 5 categories you should have 20 sub categories.

Step 3: Under Specifics, write four specifics for each sub category. For example, under the category of Joint Ventures, your strategies could be:

Article directories, White papers, Articles, Reports or reviews.

This should create 80 specifics for you when you write down 4 specifics for each of the 20 sub categories.

Step 4: Under the heading of How Often, enter how often for each item. For example, if one of the specifics in the middle column is white papers, you may write Once a Week or Once a Month or Once Every Quarter.

The real secret is to have self generating strategies happening automatically, so automate your methods and systems to ensure you’re using them to your best advantage.

This exercise is a big ask for the beginner. Frustration may set in after a while if you don’t seem to be getting the knack of how to do it. Don’t give in, you are almost there and have nearly accomplished your task. You will be well rewarded once you have finished.

Remember, the alternative, write a business plan. You can expect a great outcome by spending 100 – 200 hours completing a fully fledged business plan. However this idea is a small price to pay for having a tool as effective as this.

For more details on this subject and to claim your FREE subscriptions for Business Development Tips go to: www.commandobusiness.com. Or to receive your 5 parts Internet mini-course on how to develop lead generation plans FREE go to: www.leadbuildingsystems.com

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Stellar B2B Web Sites Need More Than Good Design

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
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Worried about whether your B2B website is propelling you forward or holding you back? You’re not alone. A large percentage of business-to-business marketers plan to upgrade or replace their websites this year.

That’s a good thing because most business-to-business buyers aren’t happy with the websites they visit and they let us know by telling researchers and – more importantly – by abandoning websites at an alarming rate.

But update or replace your web site with care. At best, a poorly development business-to-business website might be a colossal waste of money. At worst it could destroy your traffic and your conversion rates.

A “good” website is not just one that makes you proud to look at it. A good website also delivers a great return on your investment by producing the results you want it to produce. Simple idea, but judging by many of the website stats we see, one that is often overlooked.

Most people – brilliant B2B CEOs and marketers included – tend to judge a website by how it slick it looks. This may be a natural reaction to a visual stimulus, but when it comes to evaluating websites, it’s a mistake. While a poorly designed website can wreck a sale, a pleasing visual design doesn’t ensure that the site will do its job. It’s not that easy.

The best criteria for evaluating website effectiveness focus on how well the site communicates to the target audience(s). This means:

How well it draws – rather than repels – qualified visitors.
How much of the site gets read; and – most important
How effective it is in getting the visitor to take the desired actions.
Sounds a little like how you evaluate your sales people doesn’t it? There’s a reason for that. Today’s website is far more than just an online brochure. A good website actually performs many of the initial activities that used to be the responsibility of a sales team.

Sure, a sloppy, unprofessional sales person can screw up even the most solid deal. But a slick talking, well-dress salesperson who arrives unprepared is not going to make the sale either.

Take a minute and think about your customers and prospects, and how they make their buying decisions. In general, it begins when the prospect recognizes a need. They start to research the problem and potential solutions. In B-to-B – especially business technology – this is usually done online, well before the prospect is willing to commit to a call with a sales person.

If you’re beginning to think that redesigning your website or creating an all-new one is going to take more thinking than just about the visual design – you’re right!

Here are the seven major components to a great website:
Website strategy. This involves taking a close look at your objectives, your audiences, your competitors, and your traffic sources.
Content. Whether its text, illustrations, demos or whatever, this is what people come to your site for.
Visual design. Yeah, yeah. It’s important too.
Performance. This may not be the sexist part of the site to anyone but a programmer; but nothing will drive visitors away like slow loading pages, dead links, or a site that can’t be read on a Firefox browser.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO). While we recommend against compromising your best selling content in order to meet perceived search engine requirements, good search engine ranking is important.
Analytics. How do you know a website is performing well? You measure it! Analytics provides the proof that something is working (or not working) and it shows where the greatest opportunities for improvement are located.
Testing. Even after 15+ years of working with websites, I am still constantly – constantly – surprised at how little we really know about how people are going to respond, and how small changes can make a great difference in performance.
Re-designing or replacing your business-to-business website is possibly the most important step you can take to improve your marketing results. Do so with caution, pay attention to the seven components listed above, and you’ll have yourself a powerful marketing hub.

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Should Your Subordinate Be Smarter Than You?

Sunday, July 25th, 2010
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There has been a general, unspoken wisdom passed down through the ages. It is an unwritten rule that influences hiring, and is at the bottom of all office politics, regardless of industry or geographic location.

The rule is: NEVER hire anyone smarter than you.

The reason that rule is never spoken, is because it points out our insecurity and self-centered logic. It is an acknowledgment of the fear that a smarter person serving under us will reveal flaws in our practices, and disturb our status quo. Worse, it may disturb our ascension into the realms of middle and upper management. Our subordinate may actually spring ahead of us, and take that position we had coveted for so very long.

This is the instant logical crisis that confronts any supervisor or manager who has been charged with the task of hiring a new employee. After all, this is a competition, a race to be first. This is self-preservation at its finest. It is the most basic instinct at the core of mankind. The only problem is, our instincts are horrible.

The truth is, competence is never a threat. In fact, when people throw around the now passé term “diversity”, they are actually looking for competence. This is the same mistake business has always made. When they brought in a college-educated greenhorn in the 50′s, they were looking for a “fresh set of eyes”. They were still looking for competence, and they may or may not have found it. Diversity or an education only works if you can apply your unique point of view to the problems that are being solved. Please note that I am not making a case for, or against, diversity or an education. I am merely argument that without the ability to apply the lessons learned, your education or unique cultural background make little or no difference.

So, why should you hire someone smarter than you? Well, for starters, it makes you look good. This was actually brought up by an acquaintance of mine that attends my local church. As a team leader at his company, he is in charge of various projects. He always brings in the most talented people he can find to work for him. In many cases they have far more ability than he does. His projects turn out well. He benefits from the praise of upper management, and shares the credit with his team.

This next reason will depend largely on how you treat the employees entrusted to your care, so examine your management style as you read. What if I told you it was to your benefit for your employees to be promoted ahead of you? Don’t you want to have a say with upper management, to have your name brought up in discussions for promotion? If you hire exceptional people, and treat them well, promotion will not be far off. Even if they are promoted ahead of you, they will still recognize your leadership skills, and bring you along. “A rising tide lifts all boats”, is more than a cute saying. It is simple statement of a deeper and more complex truth. Be warned. This is a long term strategy. If you expect it to pay off in the short term, then you will be badly disappointed.

Lastly, let me answer another fear expressed in the opening paragraphs. What if they expose your incompetence in an area? While painful, this is a good thing. By showing you the weaknesses you possess, they give you a chance to grow and learn from them. Your employees will improve you by committee, and drag you face-first into the place you need to be professionally.

Now that you have had your fears allayed(or perhaps, confirmed), the question remains: Do you have the courage to do this? If you aren’t up for the challenge, then I suggest you keep your inferiors…inferior. If you are, then put down your ego, and give it a preemptive smashing. It will prepare you for the road ahead.

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Posted in Success | 1 Comment »


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