Magnus Marketing Blog

I got to thinking more about the meeting with The JS Group. I asked my clients about the idea that a CIO will research and call people and the salesforce is a dead concept - the idea was met with laughter.

Interestingly The Star Ledger reported that a number of IT Managers and other professionals still preferred telephone contact at their desks as a means for communication over texting, email, and other forms of communication. Another article in today's Wall St. Journal discussed the collapse of the new tech bubble involving social media/networking and the fact that the losses won't be so great this time around due to the cheap nature of technology and lack of investment in most derivative works. Sure, Facebook, LinkedIN, and MySpace will survive, most others will not. Like the Internet - social media will just add more crap and information (now of a highly individualized and personalized (scary) nature).

I was thinking about that - now the "unwashed" masses have a forum to blog, podcast, and post - how will anyone tell credibility from anything? Now folks are beginning to drive the writing of TV shows. Why does a minority vocal group decide what I want? OK, Heroes does suck this season, but.... the information overload isn't going to be a couple of pages of boasting b.s. on a website, it will be "thought leadership" from self-proclaimed experts and others who speak on behalf of those who purportedly cannot. And, with the new Yahoo application - now I will also know where you are when you write your stuff. It is scary stuff really. Consumer totalinarianism.

Why do we continue to give our power as suppliers away? Why do we yield to the masses? It is marketing's fault for allowing so much information to be given away - and it was given away at a high price. It is not demand creation as it is demand entitlement - in that case - no salespeople are needed - because every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be bullying his way to get what he wants regardless of cost, service levels, or anything else. Why have we given our power away?

If companies were to fire every marketing person today, business would still survive - to rid business of sales - likely they would fold. Many companies that don't have marketing departments or do limited marketing manage to get clients. In fact, maybe what is needed is to do that and stop the bleeding of information and power to the consumer.

Actually, it would be nice if marketers would stop with the power struggle and start teaming with sales to a) focus on getting business which marketing has not proven to do well and b) empower them with the capability to get business which it seems they are losing the ability to do as well.

Marketing has failed in many ways if Sales are dead man walking and there is no one to blame but themselves.

Doing the research, whether digging into a business or finding and messaging the right target person does help. Here are my latest stats with some of my clients: Yah a little commercial for Magnus Marketing Group.

Recycling/Asset Recovery: Prospecting using a list. 92 contacts (VM & discussions), 5 CIO's talked to, 9 leads, 3 meetings, and 5 send infos. 40 hours of work over 2 months. 10% contact to qualified opportunity conversion.

Executive Search: Research based approach. 25 opportunities, 10 conversions - 3 no good contract terms (dropped),the rest accepted. 1 year and 1 month work, 10 hours per week. 40 - 50% suspect to contract conversion (industry average is 10%). Fortune 500 clients included. If the recruiters could have found and closed candidates the revenue figure would be very high.

ISV/SAAS Firm: 7 month project concluded, market research/initial meeting engagement for a Healthcare product not yet on the market. 45 companies provided, 24 meetings set with VP, Director, Chief Medical Officers. When the company did this originally, they had 4 meetings, I got 24. Two meetings were with Fortune 500 CMO's/VP's. Expecting at least 5 meetings to turn to outright sales.

Industry Leading Consultant: Using research based approach, quickly identified relevant opportunities. Averaging 1 or 2 larger deals per month (can't disclose revenue numbers). Meetings secured with VP level for larger corporate deals. The commission is nice to have.

Other clients are coming on board soon. Like I said, the research combined with the right person on the phone and messaging (derived from value proposition) can make a world of difference. Especially in a world of 1 to 5% return. I will say this, if I had someone feeding me account profiles which could cover all of my client's needs (and that can be done), I bet my conversion rates would be higher.

So, after the horrendous meeting with the JS Group, I called my friend Bill and told him what happened. Bill is super smart and was an executive at a well-known reseller, he knows everything about the channel and is one hell of a program architect. He is a great friend and supporter.

According to The JS Group, they have RESEARCH proving that the market is changing - that CIO's now are going online and researching vendors and calling them. She can prove it. And she mentioned something about Social Networks and how LinkedIN Q&A is so critical because a CIO will post a question about datawarehousing and all of his peers will answer. If a salesguy isn't in that loop, god help him, he will not survive.

As I said, when the e-commerce bubble enlarged (before popping into a million dot.com shards) everyone envisioned salespeople as being un-necessary. The result six years later is that people are hiring salespeople with a greater vengeance. Because ladies and gentleman - business is still a relationship game between people - no technology can ever replace a friendly smile, a genuine offer to help, a business luncheon, great discourse over a technology or business idea, or a shared story about children, golf games, or the latest excursion to the Islands for vacation.

Well, Bill and I recounted how many times a CIO called us at our reseller, system integrator, ISV workplaces over the last 10 years and the gooseegg came up. ZERO. Uh, any CIO that is surfing the internet looking for vendors has some serious issues in running his division. I do recall an Admin to a CIO researching vendors who asked me about the company I was working for and wanted literature and at an infrastructure outsourcing company, the CIO did call us - but that was because the entire IT department was going to be outsourced - so yah, it is worth his time. Actually, if a CIO is researching or calling vendors and not spending time learning about the business, getting his MBA, or learning about globalization - the CIO will be on MySpace looking for a new role.

Like I said, marketers did a great job pumping out so much crap, they overeducated the buyers who can be selective. Information overload. The fact that the CIO will know vendors is absolute - which is precisely why the differentiation isn't coming from product/benefit crap - it will come from the salesguy who can articulate the business value for the solution and be as smart or smarter than the guy in front of him. Another key benefit for Sales Intelligence which enables the salesguy to have that business level and even, proactive discussion.

Regarding Social Networks, what is the difference between LinkedIN QA and a CIO meeting his peers at a conference (which are far and few between), golf event, or ad hoc to ask about the preferred data warehouse solution? Plus, isn't that an "old school" marketing concept called "opinion leadership" or "thought leadership" - I think I learned about that in my MBA program in Market Research or Consumer Marketing Class 10 years ago.

All LinkedIN does is impersonally automate a formerly social function. When I was a Marketing Manager at Hexaware, my boss made me (bless him a million times) call other Marketing Directors and VP's to ask what they do to help me get a sense of best practices for my job. I am sure CIO's do the same thing. They won't be using LinkedIN either for that.

I also do not want LinkedIn to become AdvertisingINYOURFACE network. One expert also pointed out that C-level execs wouldn't be caught dead on social networks - they are C-level and VP-level execs they DONT NEED A STUPID SOCIAL NETWORK to be networked. I'd say if a C-VP level exec is on a social network they can't be prominent business leaders. However, one supreme reason why a C-level or VP-level person will be on the social networks is to scout for talent which is becoming scarcer by the generation. LinkedIN especially is a super way to find employees or network with people who know people seeking a change.

Only people like me and other SMB folks may be on the social networks - yah, I am not a prominent business leader, I need it to get some visibility cause I have no major connections and get some awareness for my little business for which I have no money for advertising. The Social Network thing is another great fad, here today - gone tomorrow - these stupid things are proliferating everyday with some idiot or another dreaming up another segregation tool. Anyone stop to think how potentially segregating, discriminatory, and exclusionary these networks are? There is a potential to create caste systems the likes of India in the pre-British days. At least with traditional prospecting, everyone has a chance to succeed.

Salesguys are not dead-men walking. I think these fools that call themselves consultants are - people actually pay money to listen to this crap. Please spend your money on things that really build your business. Actually resellers and tech companies can't find and hire salesguys fast enough.

No computer, no social network, no internet will ever take the place of a salesguy. Any CIO that relies on the internet alone for vendor recommendations and ignores new technology is someone who won't last long in a job. I heard that CIO's prefer to work with smaller firms and are interested in new technologies, many of whom are produced by SMB's with limited marketing budgets, lower internet visibility, and yes a lot of salesguys!

What they really speak of is the automation of interpersonal activity. Another testament to the rapidly deteriorating social condition of America - the soon to be nation of clods whose insenstivity and incapability to communicate will create serious issues. I think there will be a backlash and return to the "old school" of salesguys wearing suits, intelligently pitching solutions, and lunching with executives. I hope so, lest everyone hide behind a fake facade of baubles and screechy tunes on MySpace.

The anatomy of a bad fit prospect meeting. Last week, I was fortunate to score a meeting with a channel consulting firm called The JS Group. I found them by doing some research because I am looking for a partner that does sales consulting on the channel (resellers and such) to hook my sales intelligence team and research materials into. We had done this with another channel consulting firm over 2 years ago. The JS Group seemed to be in the same field and did the same things as my former employer, like a competitor to them, in fact. They knew who they were. Condensing a long story, I was terminated from my former position as Sales Intelligence Practice Manager for largely two reasons: 1) the owners of the business could not accept my honest and direct communication style which festered with them into a major problem and 2) we really diverged in the evolution and "mission" of Sales Intelligence. Without details, the termination led to discussions with lawyers and the stress and emotional ramifications nearly put me in the hospital. My view of my former employer is not a positive one. I will say this, if I was terminated strictly because our visions converged, I did poor job managing and delivering, or I got bored or something - my attitude would be very different. There were other things that many people question including why I stayed with the company...that was because I passionately believed in what Sales Intelligence can do and had the perfect fit job.

I arrived at The JS Group early and was seated in the conference room. After a delay, three people introduce themselves - The President, The COO, and Marketing Head. There was no agenda nor request for one, the marketing guy was a surprise, and two of them didn't have business cards. Remember, this was my third in person sales meeting, I am so new at this - I do great inside sales/biz/marketing - I really don't consider myself a salesguy. Pleasantries were then exchanged and I said, even if the SI proposal/idea doesn't work - I can help on other projects.

I proceeded to discuss my vision of SI and told them what I did at Hexaware and my former employer. I mentioned that my former employer did not fully develop the research and had real problems on execution - they didn't listen to me or allow me to build the "dream" as I saw it. We had convergent ideas on SI and that was part of the reason why I was not with the company, and for some reason - the rest of team was dismantled and let go also. Now, I was looking for a partner who did the consulting piece that I could latch onto with my team to do a similiar type of thing, but a more value driven and higher level as it was meant to be. We had a very good discourse over what the ROI is for SI and where it would fit. I said that based on research and first-hand experience, salespeople need SI because many are afraid to call at the C/VP/Decision-maker level, many persist in calling the lower level folks selling a single product, they leave 3 voicemails and give up...the team does the homework for them and we can execute (my point). As far as ROI which I also recalled from salespeople who worked with my former employer, many times the salesguy didn't follow up (they stuck the research on a shelf and dropped it) or they didn't know how to engage with the research (which is training opportunity).

The President after a little more discourse wasn't sold. She said (even though we had done this before) that it sounded like an idea with no ground. Went into asking about pricing and value propositions and other things - which I didn't want to discuss then.

She then stated firmly that they had research that the market was shifting and that CIO's clearly were calling vendors for solutions. There was no need for this research because the "consumer" was in the drivers seat. She then proceeded to discuss Social Networks as the only solution to getting business and generating leads. She even had the nerve to ask me if I knew what a social network was. (Had she done her homework on me and my company - she probably would have seen my LinkedIN profile). The Marketing Guy told me that this research approach sounded very "old school" and "salesy" and asked what role he would play. To which I responded that the marcom would be more targeted and customized. I noticed while I had been talking, very few notes were taken around Sales Intelligence - The President seemed to be more interested in my knowledge of things - like Wendy Flanagan - moderator of the AMA SIG. She then said, "salespeople are dead-men walking" because of this "market shift". A statement I am sure was said with advent of e-commerce and the internet - YES, in fact, they did say it and what happened? More salespeople!

I handled some of the objections. In retrospect, these people clearly didn't get it - they were so very out of touch with how companies under $200 million have to get business. Even large firms incorporate ITSMA's account based research and have programs around it. Like any other consultantcy they need to define the next "big thing" which, as I stated many times, with marketing is a cyclically driven fad. She mentioned that the consumers are in the driver's seat - because marketers did a great job of pumping out info to educate them.

They asked me for a proposal and actually said they would consider a possible program. What killed the relationship however was what followed next. The President turned to me, in front of the other two people, and proceeded to say - let me give you some feedback because I am a very direct person and if we worked together, that would be it. You are very negative. You were very negative in discussing your former employer because you talked about the failure to execute and the fact the research wasn't at the level you wanted them to be. And, you should get to know your prospect better - we actually have a relationship with your former employer now. After I asked, she elaborated on the fact that they have an NDA, but they are working on some Social Networking project. She then went on to say I was further negative because I said that salespeople don't follow up or follow thru with the research which is like a cop-out on ROI. I was stunned. I thanked them for their time and we parted.

Two hours later I sent a nice email saying thank you, but no thanks and I would try my luck elsewhere. I don't know what kind of insensitive clod would decide to share feedback about my personal style - you don't like my idea, fine, but to openly criticize my communication ability - much like my former employer did - was not appreciated. Plus, my "negativity" was based on outright fact and observation, this isn't negative - it is honest and straight shooting. I don't want or need to put a "spin" on anything - that is how I am, that is how I work, that is how I communicate - and my clients really appreciate it and view me as a trusted advisor and someone who will always say it straight. The other thing was that they had a "LIVE" relationship with my former employer. Why not just work with them for SI? Who is to say that they (AGAIN) wouldn't take my intellectual property, proposal, or whatever and show it to them for a better deal or as a backstabbing means to gain more favor? I wouldn't put it past my former employer who had reviewed my LinkedIN profile just a week or so before the meeting. The fact that this woman did NOT disclose the relationship the minute I opened my mouth about working for them makes things very fishy - she was trying to get info from me clearly...why?

That ended The JS Group. I learned that I need to do an agenda and ask upfront whether there is a relationship with a former employer/competitor especially where there is "bad blood". I hope they are happy building their social network, which I code named "scumster" - I smile at that.

You know what they say, "birds of a feather, flock together". Let us avoid "consultants" like the JS Group and associates of theirs. Surprisingly the money that their clients are spending with them, they can spend with me and I will guarantee an ROI - at least an account entry - which is more, I am sure, than they are going to get from them.