Build Confidence and Trust with Sales and Marketing Debriefs

When I began my career as an entry level salesperson for a major oil company I was required to debrief every single sales call. Back then I dictated everything into a recording device. It was then transcribed and circulated to the sales and management team. The debrief is a skill that surprisingly few people practice.  The […]

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How to Write Emails that Get a Response

Email is invaluable for communicating with customers, with its effectiveness significantly increased when care is taken to adapt to the new expectations of this powerful form or communication. Many of the web marketing practices you are using to get your online content read and acted upon will also work equally well to do the same […]

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Collaborative Sales Practices that Engage Buyers

Selling directly to buyers is a standard business practice that is being transformed into a more collaborative sales process. Progressive businesses are now working together with customers to create shared experiences by co-creating solutions with buyers to give them what is often greater or more exciting than they would have imagined. Buyers do not always know […]

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Consistency Builds Social Media Communities

Consistency may be the most powerful quality that small businesses can implement to build an active online community. Be honest: Could your social marketing be described as randomly jumping from one social network to another to get your message out? That approach simply doesn’t work in a digital world where precision is possible, and therefore, […]

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Organizing Your Social Media Marketing

You can take the stress out of your social media marketing process by organizing it into written plan that is consistently implemented. That organized and written plan can then be refined as you grow with it. The key to an effective social media marketing plan is following specific rules that are organized into a process. […]

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More is Not a Content Marketing Strategy

Marketers often comment that they are overwhelmed with the demands of creating content to fuel their online marketing. Does your audience really want more content – or more relevant content? Tweet This The noise and clutter online tells us the problem is not a shortage of content, but finding the content that specifically addresses our needs. […]

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Preparing Your Business for Digital Disruption

In a recent guest post about the intersection of customer service and marketing I realized this: There are two questions every business should be asking: #1 – How will digital change or even eliminate proven business practices? #2 – How soon could that happen – and what then? The premise of the aforementioned article was […]

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Market Like You Understand Your Customers

One of the most underrated qualities in business is understanding the customer. On many levels this is significant, but especially for marketers that want to attract the attention of an audience. Assuming you have the technical capabilities, there is one a simple test for determining if your marketing is likely to be attractive to your […]

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What’s Your Writing Process?

If you don’t have a writing process that you regularly practice, you will be challenged with consistently turning out quality content. Do you start with an outline? Do you rewrite? How many times will you edit? These and many other considerations, such as your writing environment, will greatly enhance your writing productivity. Whether you work […]

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Responding to Positive Web Comments

Why does the concern for managing negative web comments overshadow the practice of skillfully responding to positive comments? Positive comments are the seeds of conversations and the beginnings of new relationships.  Shouldn’t this be the focus of your social networking? The focus on having a strong defense (as opposed to a strong offense) suggests that many […]

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