Magnus Marketing Blog

A great post was offered by Maureen Sharib - guru of phone sourcing on her Sourcers Unleashed messageboard. She talked about how a leading organization in sourcing had taken material from a well known authority in the industry and was offering it up as their own. This particular organization seems to have a history of taking other peoples stuff and co-opting it as their own.

This raises a question of ownership and credit. Some companies like Microsoft or Sun Microsystems openly credit employees past and present with contributing to the organization. But there are some that do not, even if the employee contributed to the organization.

My former employer was great at claiming ideas and employee contributions as their own invention. For example, a process I had developed for account research - something I had done for many years before - was co-opted by my boss and credited to himself. The man once actually got angry with me when I had said that I knew whatever the issue was he was discussing- because I had developed it. I think he and his partner believed they, like Al Gore, invented integrated sales and marketing. Such is the case with "intelligent prospecting" - some companies now claim this as a service. My boss conferred that phrase on me many years ago as he heard me engage yet another c-level executive, I am sure someone else in the interim had coined it also. Just like RTD (research, target destroy), it is my methodology - only mine - and I am the best executor of it.

Which raises a point also, these companies who steal ideas and contributions without attribution will never operate at the level as the originator. They are second rate or third rate copycats who evidently have nothing of their own to offer, ergo they take from other truly innovative and exceptional people.

So what of best practices? Best practices are such I believe because they are non-proprietary, generalized, processes and methodologies that diffuse over many companies. They may be observed. They may be repeatable and easily implemented. They are not based on the unique talents or delivery of a person.

I wish there was some way to reclaim credit for contributions made and get back what was taken away. Of course in the end, my clients will benefit from top notch original contributions while others will be paying a lot more than they should for the knockoff. Aint no substitute for the real thing is there? Why have a reproduction when you can have the original?

Another inane post was put up on the AMA boards.

How do you gather information from prospects before the sales team makes its first contact? What can reps do with that data to more accurately target accounts, speak intelligently about the prospect’s needs and, in turn, close more deals?

ONLINE SURVEYS

Online surveys can be used to poll prospects on specific business challenges and industry trends to uncover key issues they deal with on a daily basis. Consider the online survey to be your first sales call. The survey allows your marketing team to gather information that the sales team can use to have intelligent, relevant conversations with prospects.

Segment prospects using customer profiles

Consider who your prospect market most closely resembles in your existing customer base with regards to location, industry, company size, etc. Understand who you are selling to and what their hot-button issues are.

Develop survey questions

Encourage participation in the surveys by crafting questions that aren’t overtly sales-oriented or directly related to your company. Instead, try a market-research approach that asks questions about industry trends, current situations, levels of satisfaction with existing products, etc.

Consider offering a free gift in exchange for participation

It’s a toss up – I’ve participated in survey’s only to be told at the end ‘sorry, we are out of the free gift’… and I’ve rejected surveys because they are offering a gift. Online audiences are only going to respond if they are inclined at that particular moment and have time to participate.

Send email invitations for survey

Having an email invitation come from a third-party research organization may make prospects less apprehensive about taking the survey. Having their contact information pre-populated into form fields makes it easier for the participant, but it also may make them wonder where their information is originating. Keep the survey short and let participants know exactly how many minutes the survey will take. Monitor the 'drop-off points' to make adjustments as you roll-out your survey by region.

Thank participants and follow up

We can’t thank people enough for their insights on the market and target audience. Not only do they appreciate the thanks and the free gift, they might be interested to learn what others have said and where their answer fell in comparison.

Online surveys can help fill the sales pipeline and allow your company to be a knowledge center in your industry (and the industries of your target customers). Aggregate survey response data can be leveraged to publish reports on industry trends... getting much coveted media placement in trade publications and beyond

Yes, lets survey. Surveys are super mass marketing vehicles for trends and higher level analysis - no argument there. That is definitely a part of creating a well targeted campaign. This again demonstrates the "mass" view marketers take when it comes to account development. I think that is another disconnect - sales understands the uniqueness of people and accounts, marketing views "segments" - it is this mentality in B-to-B that has to change.

Surveying is NOT the way to target prospects, especially on a one-to-one basis. Why the hell would I waste time "surveying" people at a target organization. If I am so lucky to get a decision-maker on the phone, I am not going to "survey" - I am going to get me a meeting and pitch for a sale. Because...the chances of my rep getting a call into that person again are in the 1% range unless I have something of interest to that person.

Surveying is information gathering with the goal of information gathering, prospecting is information gathering with the goal of solution mapping and an actionable point - a meeting or a sale. It is like reading a book. You can read words and understand the meaning of the words or you can comprehend what the entire word cluster means.

Surveying is a marketing function also, a non-functional, low aggression, not serious selling effort. It can show a prospect you are serious about the product development or service launch, but it does not demonstrate your desire to do business with that person/company. Major difference.

The competition also touts primary research which is similiar to this. One company talks about piecing together information, knocking secondary info as "publicly available", and relying on primary interviews. One competitior touts the thousands of influencers they speak to.

Hey man, I can research a company for less than an hour, call a VP, and get a meeting. Don't get me wrong sales intelligence helps a lot and can provide insight and opportunity beyond the obvious, it is a great tool. I can do an hour of research, I can do 40 hours of research on an account, I don't waste my time talking to "thousands of influencers" unless they can give me info to get a sale.
My methodology is to "follow the trail" of secondary information, yes publicly available, some not so publicly available, and then prospect and build a case or multiple cases for a decision-maker to buy my service or product. My goal and target is within 3 phone calls I get to the right person, pitch, and get a yes or no. Like I said, in technology - you need to understand business, technology, sales, marketing, and business development to really produce sales strategies that have any meaningful result.

Micro-business intelligence, intelligent prospecting, surveying, call it what you will...brand reports with fancy names and lots of other bullcrap. If it doesn't get business and lead to results, it doesn't matter what information is culled, from where, and from whom.

I will never work for Oracle Corporation. They may have a great software product and be a major technology player, but this is not a company that employees can succeed in. Why do I say this? On behalf of a client, I called into the company to the head of a department which I will not identify to offer training and consulting services. The VP of this functional department had passed my info to one department Director who reached out. This person was aggressively cheap, wanting the lowest price for services possible, negotiating for more people as originally agreed to, and when it came to payment time - backed out abruptly. This person also would not reveal the name of her counterpart Director - seemingly hoarding information for her team. Later, I found out the name and contact info of her Director counterpart. I mentioned that his team members had actually inquired about my client's services. He grew angry and actually said - no joke - that any team member of his who asked about training did not belong on his team or in the organization! They were senior enough, paid enough, and got everything they needed - he would never authorize any expenditure on additional training!

My word! Now asking for SKILL DEVELOPMENT and EDUCATION can get you fired!

What kind of company is this? I have spoken with people at leading Financial Services firms and Technology companies who have this absurd attitude that because they are the VP, Director, Team Leader that is enough for their members. Bow down to the all knowledgeable, omniscient, leaders who know everything about their function to not be surpassed. These fools should be banished to the unemployment line as soon as possible where their omniscience can be used to predict the ending on Guiding Light.

How the leaders of these companies can allow such an attitude. Let's keep the employees down or god help us, fire those who express a desire for skill development.

Maybe that is why Oracle does all the acquisitions, it can't develop talent within. I can't wait for some startup to kick Oracles ass. Oh, yah, as the guy also told me Oracle doesn't do things like Microsoft or Google - they are better than them. Fool.