Sandler Trainings Marcus Cauchi Lectures on RECRUITMENT – HIRING BOND NOT BEAN – A MUST WATCH webinar event
This Week we are running another WEBINAR PLUS EVENT on behalf of Sandler Training.
This time Marcus Cauchi will be lecturing on RECRUITMENT – HIRING BOND NOT BEAN in this is a compelling and MUST WATCH webinar event.
It is FREE on the 9th of December at 15.00 BST (UK) but places are limited, they go fast so book now to avoid any disappointment.
Certainly, if you have to recruit because it’s your job or you are a professional in HR then this really is a MUST WATCH for you.
Even if it is a rare event in your working life there may come a point when you have to recruit someone, so why not learn from the best?
Marcus, who is very much an expert in this field having worked and consulted for most of the major companies and advised those a little smaller. He will be taking you through the “do’s and don’ts” and ensuring that you don’t pick the wrong candidate.
We all know that picking the wrong candidate for any position is not a good thing for you or your business so why do it?
Learn from the very best and make your recruitment process a little easier.
Marcus will be looking at
• The most common mistakes in the recruitment process
• Clues to competence
• Giving you his bespoke hiring template
• Discussing interviews skills and techniques
• How to scoring your candidates
• How to remain objective
• Onboarding
And Much More
And at the end of it all you will be able to have a live Q and A session with Marcus, whether you agree or not Marcus will be as ever inspiring, interesting and though provoking.
All of this is Free – so book your seat now for this fantastic opportunity to learn from an expert in this field.
9th Dec at 15.00 BST (UK)
Register Now
Book Your Seat at
For further details contact info@guvnormedia.co.uk or call +44 (0) 843 289 4742
Please make your own video content, its important, it plays a big part in our customers success
It might be an odd thing to say as a company that has built its business as video supplier, but we actually encourage people to make their own films.
I had a conversation this morning with a prospective clients and they said “Yes I called because I wanted a quote to do a short promo film, but the chap I work for has an expensive camera and we were out last night got a bit drunk and we decided we would probably do it ourselves – save a bit of money and I can throw a few words together as a script and it will do for our website”
There you have it anyone can make a film and we actually are really happy for them as they will save a money, in the same way you can save a bit of money if you fix your own car or do all your own DIY.
I am pretty certain today with access to smartphones with pretty good lenses on them and some pretty good tech including DSLR’s etc. that actually anyone can make a film.
In fact, YouTube
littered with video that all sorts of people have made and there are lots of videos on Websites all around the world with someone talking to a camera.
However, and here is probably the kicker, how many do you watch and take seriously and how many would inspire you to buy a product or have confidence in the company or follow through on the training course?
I suspect very few, now the question you have to ask would you buy a high ticket expensive item such as say a high class car if the video was made by someone who is not trained, on a script thrown together and ill lit footage?
Would that convince you that the company was serious? That the product was high quality and would you part with your hard earned money to buy such a product?
I suspect not, I suspect that probably you would give companies with poor quality video on their site a wide berth.
If making crafted high quality video with a strong script and message was easy to create after a drunken night out I would suspect that the entire advertising and film industry would have been dead a long time ago.
I don’t think the latest John Lewis advert was thrown together after a night down the pub, or the latest Samsung TV advert was derived after 10 minute at the coffee machine or indeed Bentleys latest advert was made during an oil change.
No they were all heavily crafted well thought out well filmed, crafted and made by professionals.
To put it in perspective would you trust anyone to service your car, the one that takes your children to school safely every morning, to say a neighbour with no skills or training but they did have a shiny new tool kit. Again I suspect not.
So why 
would you trust your company videos, which tells the story of your business and is a critical point of contact or indeed part of your sales strategy or even part of a product, say training to someone with no skills either?
Why would you even think you could make your own films with no training or even if you had the right equipment?
Because if that were the case what is the point in University or College or even the most basic training?
If that were the case I could give a complete novice a toolkit and absolutely no training and send them out as a Plumber? Why would they have to serve many years as an apprentice?
Would I trust my life savings to the chap I met at the station this morning because surely he doesn’t need to be a qualified IFA does he?
No I wouldn’t and neither would you, and the same goes for creating high quality video that will generate money for your business and keep your company safe and your customers inspired to buy and trust in what you do and what you say.
So yes I actually encourage people to make their own video for their business, why, because it gives our clients and clients of all those time served professional video and film makers a great chance of taking your business away from you.
Ewart Dudko-Richardson
Tweet @EwartRichardson and @GuvnorMedia_
Ewail at : edudkorichardson@guvnormedia.com
Or call +44 (0)843 289 4742
10 ways to Make and Broadcast your own Sales and Marketing Videos
Guvnor Media as you all know is a maker of high quality digital TV programs, see our review of the very latest Land Rover Evoque Black Pack on our Bizminds.tv channel later this week on our Business News Service Biz To Biz TV. We would like to extend our thanks to Land Rover for letting us be the first company in the UK to officially review this model.
If you want to talk to us about getting your business in front of a potential British business audience of 3.5 Million then get in touch at info@guvnormedia.co.uk
Anyway because the fact that now everyone is a maker of TV shorts, Vlogs or making their own marketing films we thought we should at the very least we should help you do it properly.
1. We see a lot of “wobbly” iPhone movies that really do you a disservice so why not learn how to do it properly?
2. Even better still we are introducing out own line of equipment to help you make quality films on a budget.
So we are creating our own range of “Guvnor Grip” products to help you.
3. These will include iPhone support brackets to give you the benefits of a teleprompter for your Vlogs and to connect to your DSLR’s, we will have iPad supports for simple teleprompters and a full range of teleprompters for your home and professional studio.
These will be Tripod mounted for iPads and screens from 12 inch through to 17 inch.
They will support all video cameras and DSLR’s depending on your set up.
4. We will also be selling a wide range of equipment from Green Screen sets through to Microphone Mounts to home studio voice recording set ups and more.
Why are we selling equipment its very simple because we know what is the best what works and what doesn’t because we have been creating and making our own equipment for years and using it in the real world on real films that you can all see online. Every item will come with a Guvnor Media Training Film and Our Guvnor Media Gold Seal of Approval.
5. We will not sell equipment or software that we feel does not do the job intended, we want you to be the best you can be.
6. They will all be on sale through our Guvnor Media shop at http://www.guvnormedia.com
So wait for announcements in the coming weeks.
7. Alongside this we will be offering our own Single Best Way Video Making training courses, these will cover General Video making including set up, lighting, use of a teleprompter, even how to stand in front of a camera, scripting, film editing, how to use of editing software and performance delivery.
8. There will be more advanced courses or setting up your own studio, use of Green Screen Technology, Broadcasting Live, Venue set up, interview techniques and how to set up a Webinar from simple one camera set up to multiple live camera.
9. All courses will be run by our own Mark Alexander Todd and his team. Mark has produced programs for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 in the UK, ABC, NBC in the USA and produced 5 feature films and adverts and TV programs for the likes of Hasbro and Ikea.
They will be run from our TV studio, though for company block bookings we can bring our TV studio to you.
So you will be in very good hands.
These will be priced at ar
ound £150 per attendee but places will be limited to no more than 6 – 10 people per class and the classes will be over a half a day.
However, as part of the class you will have access to our team for a limited period to help you as people forget after the course.
10. Also all attendees will get discounts on any equipment sold and will get free access to our film learning library through our membership scheme.
If you are interested or would like to pre-register for any of the course then please contact myself at edudkorichardson@guvnormedia.com and I will send you a list of the courses available and dates.
Bookings will be available through the new Membership Portal soon to be on our Guvnor Media site at http://www.guvnormedia.com
I look forward to hearing from you all and wait for announcements in the coming weeks.
Ewart Dudko-Richardson
Business Director – Guvnor Media
Tweet @EwartRichardson or @GuvnorMedia_
http://www.guvnormedia.com
The Single Best Way to Make and Broadcast your own Sales and Marketing Videos
Guvnor Media as you all know is a maker of high quality digital TV programs, see our review of the very latest Land Rover Evoque Black Pack on our Bizminds.tv channel later this week on our Business News Service Biz To Biz TV. We would like to extend our thanks to Land Rover for letting us be the first company in the UK to officially review this model.
If you want to talk to us about getting your business in front of a potential British business audience of 3.5 Million then get in touch at info@guvnormedia.co.uk
Anyway because the fact that now everyone is a maker of TV shorts, Vlogs or making their own marketing films we thought we should at the very least we should help you do it properly.
We see a lot of “wobbly” iPhone movies that really do you a disservice so why not learn how to do it properly?
Even better still we are introducing out own line of equipment to help you make quality films on a budget.
So we are creating our own range of “Guvnor Grip” products to help you.
These will include iPhone support brackets to give you the benefits of a teleprompter for your Vlogs and to connect to your DSLR’s, we will have iPad supports for simple teleprompters and a full range of teleprompters for your home and professional studio.
These will be Tripod mounted for iPads and screens from 12 inch through to 17 inch.
They will support all video cameras and DSLR’s depending on your set up.
We will also be selling a wide range of equipment from Green Screen sets through to Microphone Mounts to home studio voice recording set ups and more.
Why are we selling equipment its very simple because we know what is the best what works and what doesn’t because we have been creating and making our own equipment for years and using it in the real world on real films that you can all see online. Every item will come with a Guvnor Media Training Film and Our Guvnor Media Gold Seal of Approval.
We will not sell equipment or software that we feel does not do the job intended, we want you to be the best you can be.
They will all be on sale through our Guvnor Media shop at http://www.guvnormedia.com
So wait for announcements in the coming weeks.
Alongside this we will be offering our own Single Best Way Video Making training courses, these will cover General Video making including set up, lighting, use of a teleprompter, even how to stand in front of a camera, scripting, film editing, how to use of editing software and performance delivery.
There will be more advanced courses or setting up your own studio, use of Green Screen Technology, Broadcasting Live, Venue set up, interview techniques and how to set up a Webinar from simple one camera set up to multiple live camera.
All courses will be run by our own Mark Alexander Todd and his team. Mark has produced programs for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 in the UK, ABC, NBC in the USA and produced 5 feature films and adverts and TV programs for the likes of Hasbro and Ikea.
They will be run from our TV studio, though for company block bookings we can bring our TV studio to you.
So you will be in very good hands.
These will be priced at around £150 per attendee but places will be limited to no more than 6 – 10 people per class and the classes will be over a half a day.
However, as part of the class you will have access to our team for a limited period to help you as people forget after the course.
Also all attendees will get discounts on any equipment sold and will get free access to our film learning library through our membership scheme.
If you are interested or would like to pre-register for any of the course then please contact myself at edudkorichardson@guvnormedia.com and I will send you a list of the courses available and dates.
Bookings will be available through the new Membership Portal soon to be on our Guvnor Media site at http://www.guvnormedia.com
I look forward to hearing from you all and wait for announcements in the coming weeks.
Ewart Dudko-Richardson
Business Director – Guvnor Media
Tweet @EwartRichardson or @GuvnorMedia_
Is your business giving money away? Do you like working for free?
We have a number of clients we look after and there seems to be a rather alarming trend that seems to be developing in the UK.
It would seem that some businesses believe that they should not have to pay either for work that you are doing for them or indeed even after it has been invoiced.
This would seem one of the biggest problems for SME’s, I hear you say why not factor out your invoices, well that works if your invoices are large most factoring companies only work on large contracts.
How many outstanding invoices do you have?
So how do you solve this problem if you are a small company?
Certainly collecting invoice payments from clients should be a simple, routine, and streamlined process, especially if you already have systems in place to provide quotes/payment agreements and invoice/ process payments in a timely manner.
However, regardless of how professionally your invoicing process is carried out it is ultimately up to the client to pay, and this doesn’t always happen on time or as planned.
When it appears that you won’t be able to get paid for the hard work you’ve done (or a product you’ve provided) it can be easy to become frustrated and overlook available options. Quite often it is also because as a small business you actually do not like upsetting clients even though they owe you money.
Are you pouring your money down the toilet?
Certainly if you’re after a client who is refusing or is unable to pay you based on your agreement with them then you have a big problem.
Well you have two you can either do it yourself or perhaps consider asking our business team for help, no matter how small we work with companies to help them recover their debts and manage credit control allowing you to focus on growing your business.
It is an area our Business Support Team are doing more and more, remember we do not just Mentor a business we actually help businesses grow and have a team of experts who can help you with this.
However, let’s look at the legal situation in our view firstly if a client is approached correctly on the phone then generally they are happy to pay, that is what our team will do on your behalf. But what if they won’t pay.
Then start by issuing a 7-day payment request before taking action before taking legal action, this means first, send them one final request for the payment containing the details of the original payment agreement you had with them.
Be sure to let them know that you will be taking them to Court and filing a claim against them for the amount due if they are unable to make payment within 7 days of the request issue date.
It may also help to remind them that they may be held liable for interest and Court fees, and that it would be much easier and less stressful for them to simply pay the invoice instead.
Again if you do not have the time or desire to do this then it will be all part of our service.
If this is then ignored and if the amount owed is less than £750 then file an HMCS Claim and take them to Small Claims Court, again is this is new territory for you we will help you every step of the way.
We will keep a copy of the payment request and if the client fails to pay it within 7 days we will make sure this documentation is available when you take them to Court.
We can even begin the process of taking them to Court on your behalf, however, if you are comfortable you can file an HMCS claim online. If the Court rules in your favour then the debtor will be required to pay what they owe you plus the cost of Court fees and interest.
This can get you the money you are owed
If the client owes you more than £750 then your next step should be to serve a statutory payment demand, we have experts who can help you with this, however, in our experience most companies pay before this happens. None the less, this is a formal document that requests payment of the amount due within 21 days. If this payment request is not met then you would have grounds to present a winding up petition in Court.
Something that most companies and individuals really do not want to happen as it can put them into serious debt and can in some cases prevent them from trading.
It is absolutely true that delinquent invoice payments can be a major burden on a business, especially when cash flow problems are already present. Which is why we are willing to help Credit Control of any business large or small is critical so why struggle on your own.
With our new Bizness Academy open for Business we are now supporting SME’s in areas as diverse as Website Development, mobile mCommerce, online eCommerce through marketing, video and advertising creation from our TV Studio, SEO, Social Media management, sales support, marketing, finance, account and business re-structuring.
We will even sit with you at your meeting with your Bank Manager and help you through these difficult negotiations.
Remember you are not alone we are here to help you through troubled times.
Ewart Dudko-Richardson
From the Bizness Academy – Part of Guvnor Media
Bizness Academy Tel : 0843 289 8895
http://www.guvnormedia.co.uk
Tweet @EwartRichardson or @GuvnorMedia_
Email – info@guvnormedia.co.uk
Are you playing catch up or are you are marketing Dinosaur?
Were you the sort of kid that at school instead of studying for the big test, you went out with the friends? We all knew that person, their days usually slipped away because they thought they had it all under control. Usually the night before the big test the opened the text book and then usually that feeling of dread comes over them as they discover how unprepared they were.
You could always tell as they had that haunted look in their eye as they turned up the next day in shreds.
Well very simply in business today sadly enough for some the same is so very true, yes school is over however , now if you don’t prepare, you won’t just fail and exam you could just blow your company, job prospects of even more. You will most certainly lose commissions, but worse still you may even put your job in jeopardy, career or company.
We all make mistakes sometimes big or small and we are all creatures of habit and comfort. The lure of doing things the same old way, the traditional way, affects all of us.
Even the likes of Intel can get lulled into this false sense of security as this link will show http://cnb.cx/1LezOdV taken almost a year ago to give you an example of how it even affects and infects big companies.
I can imagine that all of know or have worked for companies that were lulled into a false sense of security and then panicked for the catch-up, that really is not a good place to be as playing catch up can cost thousands if not millions and for small businesses can put them under. And there are quite a few casualties out there.
Playing Catch-Up
If you believe that buyers are going to social media, and there is a ton of data that supports this and it is growing, then you need to also get your social media media strategy and all that goes with in place right now are you will be the ones left behind.
That goes from your website, video content, Webinars, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and beyond, there are sales professionals who are starting to dominate on Social Media and even the big boys use it from Coke to Pfizer!
Marketing has changed it is not a simple matter of a few exhibitions and sending out brochures those days have gone forever, it is now a multi-pronged and multi-faceted approach. It makes things more complex but more rewarding if you get it right.
One of the worst positions you can be put in is playing catch up. And let me tell you that this is one area where you don’t want to play that game.
You see right now buyers are heading online and doing a significant amount of research about the products and services that you’re selling. They’re leaving digital breadcrumbs everywhere. They’re asking people online opinions about your company, your competitors, the validity of the claims they make and more.
The Bottom Line
So what’s next? There are a great many resources available that will help you find, educate and engage with buyers using social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and more.
Sales professionals using social media are able to connect and engage with buyers quickly because of it. Is it the only thing you should be doing in sales and marketing? Of course not! It should be a part of your overall strategy.
It’s time to break out the text books and start studying. It’s time to start differentiating yourself!
It’s a new world out there and it’s evolving fast and only those that adapt will service do you want to be a dinosaur? Because we all know what happened to them.
If you need a practical plan that will spell out what you should do, feel free to contact me and we can help guide you.
By Ewart Dudko-Richardson
Email : info@guvnormedia.co.uk
Twitter @EwartRichardon and @GuvnorMedia_
LinkedIn : https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/ewart-richardson/11/288/429
Or visit http://www.guvnormedia.co.uk
At least 10 reasons why some business owners fear success – what side are you on?
How frightened are you of success? That may seem an incredibly odd thing to say but many companies and businesses that I talk to are very much frightened of success and have little or no direction or ambition.
I have been in business for a long time now and have worked for multi-nationals and have started and grown companies, managed businesses in the UK, Europe and around the world and the one thing I have learned is that there are a lot of people out there who are happy with the status quo and accept their lot in life.
I work with Sandler Training, one of the world’s foremost sales training companies and one on the key things they say is that you are only limited by yourself not anyone else, and that is very true.
In business if you want to grow you have to be able to think a little laterally but have direction, drive and ambition.
However, with that opportunity comes fear the fear of success, we are working with a new platform that will go live at the end of this month which will give many new companies and SME’s the chance of success.
This means that companies may have the possibility to get their business exposed to around 4 million business people in the UK and have their message delivered to potentially 28 million social media accounts.
That with some will cause panic and fear because it will mean orders and work outside of their sphere of control.
For others it will mean that their opportunity to break through the status quo will have come and the opportunity will be taken.
Now to when that breakthrough for a business comes you should already be prepared have a business and sales plan in place, including the basic building blocks for your business.
Myself and our company now deal with and support many businesses who frankly are under-prepared, have been ill advised and are happy with what they have. So when the opportunity comes they fail to grasp it.
However, when we advise and work with businesses what I do not promise is a miracle cure or “do this” and orders will come because in my experience the world is not like that, it’s about planning, focusing on what you do best and putting in the hard yards and surrounding yourself with key support companies, staff and people you can trust and really on.
Do not kid yourself that business is done in isolation, it is not.
It also means marketing with vigor, because if you have the best “mouse trap in the world” but no one knows about they will not buy. If you have a great website but no visitors then you are not getting your message out in a way your customers understand and if you are not using social media and perhaps some more traditional methods then again no one see you.
Many companies seem happy to pay people for “stealth marketing” even worse some pay thousand for no support at all because they are fearful of change.
It all takes hard work planning and making more noise than the competition, posting and praying is not the answer and nor is just putting your video on YouTube or posting a blog on Tumblr which no one knows about. They all have to be promoted and nurtured and your image and business grown and fostered to your business audience.
It also means thinking outside the box and learning from those that have made a success of businesses in the past. Remember, there are many “business guru’s” out there all willing to take your hard earned money, but how many have actually run a business, how many have set businesses up around the world? How many are consulting for multi-nationals and SME’s? How are working with the leading academics and universities in the UK? How many have contacts with the ability to help you with sales and marketing and pretty much all business activities as well save you money streamlining your business because they have done it with their own businesses?
How many can create tried and tested websites, proven Social Media marketing, how many can make you video content, run Webinars or have their own TV studio’s, how many can introduce you to money saving services in a variety of areas that actually work because they have done it and split tested the results.
How many can offer you 6o years of business experience and how many can find you the key staff or business adviser’s in a variety of disciplines make your business excel?
And finally how many can offer you access to a platform where your voice will be heard by up to 4 million businesses in the UK?
If you are one of those paralyzed by fear lying awake at night wondering how to pay the bills and are happy with that status quo then good luck.
For anyone else with passion and a desire to succeed in business and as Susan Jeffers said is prepared to “feel the fear and do it anyway” and “Turn Your Fear and Indecision into Confidence and Action” then perhaps it might be worth talking to people who know.
Get in touch at info@guvnormedia.co.uk or email me directly at edudkorichardson@guvnormedia.com
I look forward to hearing from you and I will explain more about the opportunities we offer and how you can get involved by getting your business new or old in front of potentially 4 million UK clients.
There will be more comment and announcements from Guvnor Media as our business grows and opportunities for our clients grow over the coming months.
By Ewart Dudko-Richardson
Twitter : @EwartRichardson or @GuvnorMedia_
Email : info@guvnormedia.co.uk
Website : http://www.guvnormedia.co.uk
And
Website : http://www.guvnormedia.com
Sandler Training’s Marcus Cauchi Blows the Lid off Enterprise Selling In his Latest Webinar!
Sandler Trainings Marcus Cauchi Blows the Lid off Enterprise Selling In his Latest Webinar!
Register Now at http://bit.ly/1hkrZaf for Thursdays Webinar the 3rd of September at 15.00 BST or 10.00 EST
Marcus Cauchi is an Award winning Sales Trainer with Sandler Training and unlike other “Guru’s” in this field he has actually done the job so he knows what he is talking about.
Missing this Webinar means your business will leave millions of $ or £’s on company tables all round the world, so join us on Thursday the 3rd of September at 15.00 BST or 10.00 EST
Enterprise Selling is often an overblo wn focus of most young companies and even more mature companies, often yielding few results.
It ends up being long sales cycles, endless meetings and demonstrations, unfocused business negotiations and the risk of incumbents undermining the whole process. It’s also not uncommon to start and restart enterprise sales cycles as it’s not uncommon for the customer to change the person responsible for making buying decisions (especially in IT roles).
Landing an enterprise account often brings a mixed blessing of benefits — revenues (perhaps long term revenues), key account references, valuable product feedback, etc. it can also bring a disproportionate amount of pressure to focus product development on the needs of a few customers versus the requirements of the market at large.
However, as Marcus Says
“If you want to bring home big prey, you best have a system that helps you tackle the monster”
Marcus will teach you how to deal with
• Extended sales cycles
• Focus on business value
• Deal with sophisticated competition
• Understand wide, diverse buyer networks
• Reduce significant investment in wasted pursuits
• Understand complex decision structures
• Help you with cross functional sales teams
• Crush cross functional buying teams
Remember YOUR business with a client or deal with a prospect is at risk if:
• You only have 1 or 2 points of contact
• You don’t have a plan for account goals and required actions
• You don’t have a handle on strengths and weakness in accounts and your marke
• You aren’t effectively segmenting your market
• You don’t understand the cast of characters who decide on buying what you sell
• You don’t know for certain what the top issues are you prospect/customer is focusing on
• You don’t know how much of each activity (unique conversations, touches etc.) that are required to achieve your account goals
• You don’t know which talk tracks you need for each aspect of your business
• You don’t adapt your sales approach and communication styles to match each buyer
• You don’t have a reliable system for researching a company and the people you are meeting
• You don’t have a structure to control the first 5 minutes of each call
• Your sales team (including partners) is going at the sale in a random fashion and lacks a common language
• You have failed to understand the steps the buyer intends to take and their timeline for each
• Your sales process is based on logic and reason; we buy emotionally, we only justify intellectually
• You don’t have a process to develop their pain by numbers
• You don’t know what their top 5 priorities are as a business
Your calls with existing customers lack structure and fail to advance you; instead you spend time spinning your wheels and watching deals slip
• You are engaged at your level of comfort instead of where real power lives
• You are selling based on your assumptions and you fail to check if anything has changed since you last spoke
• Your internal teams develop their proposals in a vacuum
• You aren’t getting constant buyer feedback in the solution development phase
• You haven’t got the terms, measurement criteria and next steps agreed in a proof of concept before you sink time, money and resources into one
• You aren’t finger-printing each deal
• You have no agreed, defined process for taking a deal form a “Yes” to a signed agreement
Marcus will help your deal with these points and more in his latest Webinar on Enterprise Selling Miss it and Miss Out on the biggest deals out there!
Register Now at http://bit.ly/1hkrZaf for Thursdays Webinar the 3rd of September at 15.00 BST or 10.00 EST
Produced by Guvnor Media Ltd.
Ewart Dudko-Richardson
@EwartRichardson or @GuvnorMedia_
http://www.guvnormedia.co.uk
http://www.guvnormedia.com for your low cost media production
Turn 16 Pieces of Bad Marketing Advice into 16 Pieces of Good Marketing Advice
We are all trying to get better at our jobs. Whether you’re in a brand new company and trying to hit the ground running or you’re a long time veteran looking to stay at the top of your game, we’re all working to keep up with the latest and greatest trends in marketing.
The problem is there’s a lot of misleading advice out there. Advice that’s well-meaning, but just wrong. But, it’s one of the “you-don’t-know-until-you-know” conundrums.
So, how the heck are you supposed to distill the good stuff from the poor advice coming from people who either want to sell you something or who have never done it and are just plain wrong?
To give you a sense of some of the ill-advised guidance shared with marketing pros over the years, I have compiled some of the worst advice we’ve heard and explained why it’s bad. Read on — have you heard any of these “words of wisdom” before?
1) Why aren’t you on [insert any random social media network here]? You need to be on there!
Don’t get me wrong. You should be on some social media platforms to make your marketing succeed … but you don’t need to be on every single one. Workout where your current and future customers are going to be, and stake your social media claim on the sites that work for their business.
Don’t waste your time chasing after the shiny new social media objects if it’s not going to be helpful to your bottom line. Know and understand your business.
2) You only need to be on social media if your customers are on social media.
Lots of people object to social media because they say their current customers aren’t using it … which seems like kind of a ridiculous claim when you realize how many people use social media.. Chances are, your customers are — and if they’re definitely not, your future customers will be if you’re going to be “rocking” the inbound marketing machine.
Remember, you don’t have to be on every social network, but you should be on ones that can help grow your business.
3) You don’t need video on your site and it’s a waste of time on Social Media.
It is a comment that I here, yes I have a vested interest, but every financial figure and piece of research says the opposite. Even the BBC is saying it, so it’s a bit like saying the tide is not coming in today and I have the power to stop it! No you don’t.
A picture tells 1000 words then a video tells many more, if you want to get your message across and engage with your customers increasingly this is how they will expect the message to be presented and the younger the audience the more it will have to be in video format.
People have not got time to read, so give your message to them in a form they can enjoy and learn from, BUT, and here is the kicker bad video will lose your audience so make sure its good quality, there is no excuse we do packages at under £99 or $130 so what are you waiting for.
And the same goes for Webinars do them they work, Visual Medium is now driving the market so get on the train!
4) You don’t need to be on Pinterest unless you’re a B2C brand that sells clothing or food.
False! There are lots that B2B brands can do on Pinterest that actually will benefit them. For instance, you can share company photos, favourite infographics, user generated pins, and even lead-generation content.
Want to figure out how to make Pinterest work for your B2B company? Read our up coming article on “How to market B2B on Pinterest”.
5) The best way to quickly increase email performance is to buy lists.
Buying email lists will get you a lot of email addresses to send out to, but it will cost a lot of money and the lists you’re buying won’t care at all what you’re sending them.
Yes, they’re “IT professionals” and you sell “IT software,” but that’s not enough to make them interested in what you’re selling if the first time they hear of you is through an email. They’re not going to get the email and say, “Thank heavens this company emailed me! Now I have a solution to all of my IT software needs.” So instead, grow your email lists organically from those who are interested in what you are selling. It will take longer but it will be worth it and your list’s will be much more engaged. A much better ROI, better emailing 10 people who will buy than 10,000 who are not interested.
6) Marketing automation will solve all of your email problems.
Marketing automation is a great tool to help you solve email nurturing problems but not all email problems. And even then, marketing automation can’t solve every email nurturing problem.
Take this for example: If you’re not having any new leads come into your marketing automation workflow, you’re going to have a problem nurturing the workflow. A certain percentage of people will go on to become more interested in your company, and a certain percentage are just going to stay stuck at that point your funnel will get stuck. Without any fresh contacts coming into your database, your email nurturing will be inefficient.
So if you’re finding leads aren’t converting into customers, then take time out and look at your entire funnel.
7) The more personalisation, the better!
There can be too much of a good thing when it comes to personalisation. Including a few personalized details in an email can work wonders — specifically, doing so can make your subscribers trust you because they feel like you know them. But if you personalize too much, you come over like a stalker.
So even if you have detailed contact records for a lead or customer, don’t “stalk” them out too much by including every last bit of information in your marketing materials.
8) You don’t actually need to do SEO now that keywords are encrypted.
Sorry, this piece of advice is a classic. SEO isn’t dead because keywords are encrypted, the SEO keyword scams that some people like to run are dead. (And have been for some time.) Now, marketers and those concerned about SEO should focus on topics that people are searching for, not those exact match keywords. Search has gotten smarter it is now designed for people who actually search online and therefore content needs to follow suit.
9) If you don’t use exact keywords at least X times in the body of your page, you won’t rank on search.
To hit this point home with another terrible piece of marketing advice, stop worrying about keyword density and how many times keywords appear in the copy of an article you’re writing. Obviously, you want to use tools like Google Trends to find topics that are highly searched, but you’re not going to need to satisfy crazy keyword conditions to rank. Remember. there’s lots more that goes into SEO than just keywords.
10) If you write it, they will come.
This is one of my biggest annoyances, being told that just writing something and publishing it on the internet will make lots of people come to it. And obviously, they’ll love it. And then obviously, they’ll share it. All you need to do is hit “publish!”
In short, this is just plain wrong, wrong, wrong! There is a lot of information and articles on the internet, and you have to fight with that rubbish to get noticed through content promotion, its not easy. So get real early on!
11) Only certain people should be blogging in your company.
Everyone at your company can create content. While not all may be fantastic writers, I bet you money that there’s someone with an eye for design or someone with excellent Excel skills or just someone who knows what kind of language your prospects, leads, and customers use when talking. Use these people to help with content creation at the end of the day “Content will always be King” why, because that’s what keeps people engaged, fabulous content.
12) You don’t need a mobile-ready site.
Don’t fall for this advice for a second. Just remember the last time you were on your phone and landed on a site that wasn’t mobile-friendly what did you do? Yep you clicked off the age, mobile now is even more critical as that’s where most things are now viewed.
Without a responsive site your leads and customers may be feeling the same way. So do them a favour and let them give you their business by having a site that’s ready to be viewed on mobile.
13) Automate all of your social media updates!
We’re all for social media automation … until you become robotic about it. If the only updates that appear on your Twitter account are just broadcast posts about your content, you’re doing it wrong. Engage with your audience that way you get debates going.
You should also be wary of automated tweets during times of crisis, be aware of the world around you, and hit pause on your automatic updates to avoid a social media crisis for your brand.
14) If you’re a B2B company, you should only send emails on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
I don’t know what you’re doing on the average day at 3 p.m., but I usually have hit my afternoon stride and am trying to hustle to get a project done before the day ends. The lesson here is to question any data that tells you the “absolute best time” hands down no question about it to send email is at a certain time, because chances are, your list/database will react differently.
If you’re a B2B company, try sending emails on the weekend — I guarantee people are still going to be checking their phone and may just open your email because they don’t have a thousand other things going on. Test to see what works best for your audience; don’t just take those sending time suggestions at face value.
15) X is the best colour button for your call-to-action.
In the same vein of ignoring data that may not apply to your situation is the whole colour-of-your-Call To Action-button debate. Lots of people are searching for a universal CTA colour that’ll suddenly solve their conversion problems. Sorry it’s not that simple.
CTA conversion rates will increase for lots of reasons that may not work for others. Its success depends on a number of things: placement on the page, spacing compared to other elements, colour, size, button copy, among other things. So test to see if colour makes a difference for your website and your audience instead of taking someone else’s A/B test at face value.
16) Don’t ask for likes, retweets, or clicks. You look desperate.
Want likes, retweets, and clicks? Ask for them! It’s not desperate — people may not realize what you would like for them to do once they get an email, see a tweet, or land on a blog post. So remind them to do it! Just like any other call-to-action, it helps to have some sort of directive. Your audience won’t mind and your bottom line will thank you in the end.
Ewart Dudko-Richardson
@GuvnorMedia_ or @EwartRichardson
Email : info@guvnormedia.co.uk
http://www.guvnormedia.co.uk
or http://www.guvnormedia.com for your low cost media needs
Sandler Trainings Marcus Cauchi Blows the Lid off Enterprise Selling In his Latest Webinar Thursday the 3rd of September – Book Now!
Sandler Trainings Marcus Cauchi Blows the Lid off Enterprise Selling In his Latest Webinar!
Register Now at http://bit.ly/1hkrZaf for Thursdays Webinar the 3rd of September at 15.00 BST or 10.00 EST
Marcus Cauchi is an Award winning Sales Trainer with Sandler Training and unlike other “Guru’s” in this field he has actually done the job so he knows what he is talking about.
Missing this Webinar means your business will leave millions of $ or £’s on company tables all round the world, so join us on Thursday the 3rd of September at 15.00 BST or 10.00 EST
Enterprise Selling is often an overblown focus of most young companies and even more mature companies, often yielding few results.
It ends up being long sales cycles, endless meetings and demonstrations, unfocused business negotiations and the risk of incumbents undermining the whole process. It’s also not uncommon to start and restart enterprise sales cycles as it’s not uncommon for the customer to change the person responsible for making buying decisions (especially in IT roles).
Landing an enterprise account often brings a mixed blessing of benefits — revenues (perhaps long term revenues), key account references, valuable product feedback, etc. it can also bring a disproportionate amount of pressure to focus product development on the needs of a few customers versus the requirements of the market at large.
However, as Marcus Says
“If you want to bring home big prey, you best have a system that helps you tackle the monster”
Marcus will teach you how to deal with
Extended sales cycles
Focus on business value
Deal with sophisticated competition
Understand wide, diverse buyer networks
Reduce significant investment in wasted pursuits
Understand complex decision structures
Help you with cross functional sales teams
Crush cross functional buying teams
Remember YOUR business with a client or deal with a prospect is at risk if:
You only have 1 or 2 points of contact
You don’t have a plan for account goals and required actions
You don’t have a handle on strengths and weakness in accounts and your market
You aren’t effectively segmenting your market
You don’t understand the cast of characters who decide on buying what you sell
You don’t know for certain what the top issues are you prospect/customer is focusing on
You don’t know how much of each activity (unique conversations, touches etc) that are required to achieve your account goals
You don’t know which talk tracks you need for each aspect of your business
You don’t adapt your sales approach and communication styles to match each buyer
You don’t have a reliable system for researching a company and the people you are meeting
You don’t have a structure to control the first 5 minutes of each call
Your sales team (including partners) is going at the sale in a random fashion and lacks a common language
You have failed to understand the steps the buyer intends to take and their timeline for each
Your sales process is based on logic and reason; we buy emotionally, we only justify intellectually
You don’t have a process to develop their pain by numbers
You don’t know what their top 5 priorities are as a business
Your calls with existing customers lack structure and fail to advance you; instead you spend time spinning your wheels and watching deals slip
You are engaged at your level of comfort instead of where real power lives
You are selling based on your assumptions and you fail to check if anything has changed since you last spoke
Your internal teams develop their proposals in a vacuum
You aren’t getting constant buyer feedback in the solution development phase
You haven’t got the terms, measurement criteria and next steps agreed in a proof of concept before you sink time, money and resources into one
You aren’t finger-printing each deal
You have no agreed, defined process for taking a deal form a “Yes” to a signed agreement
Marcus will help your deal with these points and more in his latest Webinar on Enterprise Selling Miss it and Miss Out on the biggest deals out there!
Register Now at http://bit.ly/1hkrZaf for Thursdays Webinar the 3rd of September at 15.00 BST or 10.00 EST
Produced by Guvnor Media Ltd.
Ewart Dudko-Richardson
@EwartRichardson or @GuvnorMedia_
http://www.guvnormedia.com for your low cost media production
Biz To Biz TV 
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