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Industry experts offer their take on topics and issues.
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Building Trusted Relationships |
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Bob Lambert has over 30 years experience in strategic business development, marketing and sales for Global 50, Fortune 500 — as being the founder of four successful entrepreneurial start-up companies. He is founding partner of the Samurai Business Group®, LLC a sales & business development performance firm that has developed a revolutionary, results-driven Buying Management Process™. |
Today, we live in a hyper-competitive market marked by a high perception of risk due to 9/11, terrorism, the stock market, job uncertainty, natural disasters, and a general disillusionment with societal institutions. The key to marketing in this environment is building trust, says Bob Lambert of Samurai Business Group LLC.
According to a study by British sociologist David Halpern, only 34 percent of Americans believe that other people can be trusted. And a Harris 2005 U.S. poll shows that level of trust to be even lower for:
- media – 22 percent
- political parties – 8 percent
- government – 27 percent
- big companies – 12 percent
Clearly, these numbers reveal a need to understand trust and how to build it in today’s business environment. “Today, trust trumps everything,” says Lambert. “The new model is built on serving the customer through understanding of the customer’swants and needs and to build trust that you will deliver.”
This is especially critical, he notes, since surveys in Selling Power and Sales & Marketing Management indicate that 80 percent of business-to-business (B2B) transactions are the result of relationships, consulting type sales, where the buyer has to trust and get along with the seller.
Four key values are at the core of trust, according to Lambert. The first two, integrity and intent, are related to character. The second two, results and capabilities, are grounded in competence.
To help achieve trust, Lambert recommends seven key behaviors:
- Listen first
- Demonstrate respect
- Talk straight
- Clarify expectations
- Keep commitments
- Deliver results
- Extend trust
Marketers should demonstrate these behaviors as they move through the sales process – from networking and lead generation to referrals and personal introductions. Along the way, they should ask themselves, “What kind of value am I going to bring to the other person?” rather than “What’s in it for me?”
As they gain an understanding of customers’ wants and needs, they must build trust that they will deliver. Trust leads to loyalty, says Lambert, “And when you build customer loyalty, it becomes sustainable business.”
In a previous marketing position at Nestle, Lambert explains that he spent one week each quarter going on calls with sales people, listening to the customers and helping to build trust because he was able to talk their language. As a result, he was able to win business that had previously been unattainable.
Lambert notes that people buy for their own reasons. The apparent motivation may be corporate reasons such as increasing revenue, reducing costs or improving processes, but what really drives people, he says, are compelling, emotional, personal reasons such as pain, fear or gain. The growing sense of perceived risk in today’s society has exponentially increased the emotional component of the buying process. Therefore, marketing messages should be focused on compelling reasons and personal impact to the buyer.
“People make decisions, not corporations,” Lambert says. ‘And they make them based on their self-interest and trust.” |
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A LinkedIn Expert Shares Question Writing Secrets |
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Christopher Rollyson is a
Web 2.0 expert, marketing
executive and coach on
leveraging emerging
technologies to create
unusual advantages. |
LinkedIn is a community of immense talent that you can draw on to solve any challenge you have, and many that you can’t imagine yet. LinkedIn Answers is your window into vibrant discussions, which are categorized according to topic area. To use Answers effectively, you need to master two basic skills: how to write engaging questions and how to answer questions so you add the most value.
Behind the Curtain
To write effective questions, it will help you to answer others’ questions so that you can appreciate the point of view of people who answer questions. When you write a question, they are your customers, in a sense. Many traditional executives do not understand why people take time out of their day to help other people. There are two motivations:
- Most people enjoy helping other people and getting appreciated for their contributions.
- Many forums have systems to reward people for their contributions, and LinkedIn enables people who post questions to designate one “best” question and multiple “good” questions. When you award someone a “best” question, they get a green star that recognizes their contribution.
However, most people on LinkedIn are just like you: busy. They have crazy schedules and, for whatever reason, they have taken a moment to look at LinkedIn (it’s likely in their workstream) and your question caught their eye. The key insight here is that questions must give “answerers” gratification within the context of their work. They must be specific and focused so that someone can recognize what the question is asking and answer it quickly.
6 Key Tips for Writing Questions:
- Write an engaging title
- Categorize the question appropriately
- Briefly explain the context
- Ask a specific question
- Follow up and engage
- Use keywords and specific terms but not jargon
Step One: Draft
Write the question in TextEdit or Notepad. Think about what kinds of answers you are looking for. Set the context by briefly outlining the challenge you face. Use specific terms to outline the challenge. Ask the question, which should have no more than three parts; ask separate or serial questions that are specific rather than one question with multiple parts. State how the answer will help you with some kind of action.
Step Two: Test
Now the question is written, you need to test it. Empty your mind of the contextual information you have around the question. Read it. Does it make sense? How could you respond to the question? Have you set the context well enough?
Step Three: Deploy
Quickly browse the venue(s) (”category”) in which you think the question will elicit best responses. What are the last ten questions, and how were the responses? Could you imagine your question in there? Select a venue. Write the title that refers to the challenge and captures what you want to know. Don’t hesitate to ask the question in a couple different categories, tweaking it as needed to increase relevance.
Step Four: Follow-Up
Monitor your question and the answers, and thank people for responding. Add clarifications (that is, adjust the question) based on the feedback you get. When you’ve had enough responses, close the question and rate the best response. By the way, you can close a question when you have had enough advice, but you can reopen the question later.
LinkedIn Answers is very powerful, and I urge you to experiment with it; more members get involved over time, so as it becomes mainstream, you will tap an increasing portion of the LinkedIn community.
Visit www.executivesguide-linkedin.com |
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8 Keys to Successful Product Launches |
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Craig O'Neal,
President & CEO,
VantagePoint
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A study of more than 2,000 new product launches determined that due consideration of these eight factors contributed significantly to the success of the launch:
1. Superior Product. Successful launches deliver unique benefits to the user. The more tangible the benfit or the more innovative the product, the more successful the product during and after the launch. Does your product deliver features not available in other products? Does it meet customer needs and solve customer problems better? Does it reduce the customer’s costs? It is not enough to simply be equal to the competition.
2. Well-Defined Product. How well was the product or service defined before the start of development? The more clearly you have defined the target market, customer needs, and the product concept, the more successful the product will be. Products with clearly defined targets are three times more likely to succeed.
3. Quality of Support From the Technology. How well does the technology support the launch and the product? In the haste to get the product to market, the technology support is often overlooked. But overlooking this key ingredient can hurt the launch and the product lifecycle. The technology factor can be managed to provide rigorous preliminary technical assessment, product development and pilot program.
4. Leverage of Technology. Leveraging the technology is a bit different from being supported by it. Are you using all of your company’s engineering knowledge and competencies? Are there production and operation skills that are yet untapped? Be sure to balance the project needs with the strengths of your technological resources.
5. Quality of the Pre-Development Activities. Sometimes called the “fuzzy front end,” this critical part of the project lifecycle needs clear input and management. Have you performed initial screening or detailed market studies? Is there additional information you can use from preliminary market and technical assessments? If these are not standard parts of the launch process, you should implement them now.
6. Leverage of Marketing Resources. Marketing should obviously be a strong partner in the launch process. Successful launches leverage the knowledge of the sales force as well as the distribution system, marketing research discoveries and advertising resources. Customer service can also provide needed input to the launch process.
7. Quality of Marketing Activities. Good marketing means understanding the needs of the customer and carrying the voice of the customer to the target audience. Is your marketing assessment done early in the product development process? If so, it may help to better guide the tone of your voice to the customer. Have you performed a detailed market study to determine customer needs? Have you tested proposed concepts and prototypes? All of this will increase the success of your launch.
8. Market Attractiveness. Finally, consider your target market. Products targeted to more attractive markets are more successful. Is your target market a large market with a quick growth rate? Is it a market where the product is more of a necessity than a luxury? The answers to these questions will help to guide the marketing of the product or service.
Beyond these eight keys to successful launches, there are additional ways to ensure the success of the product or service launch. It is important to note that the launch should be a dedicated effort. To increase the focus and speed of the effort, many companies create separate launch teams. Generally, a dedicated team yields a greater return on investment, despite the cost. Putting the team together early and beginning launch preparation early in the development process will significantly enhance the success of the launch. |
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