Internet Marketing

Googles new Billion Dollar Opportunity

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Google Appliance as shown at RSA Expo 2008 in ...
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Recently Google ran an advertisement for a sales manager and sales team in Seattle. In it they talk about their new billion dollar opportunity, selling services to the small and medium business community.  Having run a national sales force doing exactly that, with over 600 outside sales reps, I think they may find it more difficult than they think…  I have a better idea, and I am pretty sure Google would find this a much better and faster way to generate the next billion they need.

Ready? Here it is

Provide Customer Service, and charge a small fee to do so. It fits into their model, (don’t be evil).  I assume, that the reason they don’t do it now is multifarious, but one is basic. Costs to much money to service the peasant companies of the world. This being businesses that spend less that $600,000.  a year in advertising. That was the bench mark last time I looked, could have changed.

Google has no idea the time and energy small and medium businesses put into trying to figure out simple things like, how to get a business location listed in Places.  Or, how to set up and manage an ad words account.

In the SEO community one of the greatest frustrations for Local SEO’s (you see this in the forums all the time) is Google places. Listings pending, listings that are wrong. Right now one of my own company listing on Google places  is showing testimonials from a major competitor.  Sent a help request months ago.  Will do so again.

So, Google…  a $1.00 a  minute?  $20.00  per help ticket request?  Name your price!  We know what you are, now we just are negotiating the price 😉

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Great Sites for Denver SEO and Sales

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As many of you know, we use the search engine optimization principle that you should optimize your site by taking actions you would take without any concern for how it will change your sites search engine rankings.

In that spirit, here are a few opportunities for local businesses to get more visibility that will help grow their traffic, and present possible sales opportunities even if it doesn’t.

For B2C, Angie’s list is an excellent promotional tool. I am not sold on advertising on it, but I know that if you have great reviews on it, people will call you. It’s also an excellent citation on Google Places.

The Better Business Bureau. I don’t have any clients that don’t get a decent return on the investment by listing and doing a little advertising on the local B.B.B. It’s also a good citation and link(s)

Other quick and easy places to be:

Linked in (with a company profile)
Facebook
Twitter ( just do it!)

And don’t forget to write reviews on Google places for the businesses you like in your area. They just might return the favor.

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Portable modular living quarters

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Portable modular living quarters.

One interesting aspect of working with company’s on their web site popularity and Search engine optimization is the type of services you get introduced to. Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with a firm that specializes in the design of prototype modular buildings. In just a few months the operation manager will be heading to the Antarctic to assemble some of their modular living quarters, data center and other research related buildings designed and engineered specifically for a research team.

Now I certainly enjoy working with many different type industries, but I had never heard of this specialty.  I had to understand how they even entered this market.

I was told that they were approached by a large corporation about 6 years ago who needed a modular electrical data center built. The rest is history, as their reputation in the Industry has lead them to work for some of the country’s largest corporations and defense contractors by providing prototype modular buildings, including data centers, living quarters, electric power control rooms, and more.

Watch for more on this blog about the trip and other interesting projects they will be participating in. You can see the web site about Portable modular living quarters

 

 

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Internet Marketing

SEO Tips Denver CO.

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SEO Tips in Denver

SEO tips for Denver Colorado web master s and business owners.

Recently Matt Cutts, the voice of Google for SEO , has been talking a bunch about the recent Panda changes at Google.  Here is what all this comes down to for SEO  and business owners.  Google says if someone will “book m,rk” your site, your in good shape for better rankings,  and then they add a hundred other things.  But, to me,  if we can focus on just that one aspect, the rest will fall in line quickly.

Here are some tips to get you thinking about why someone would book mark your site:

  • Calculators.  Useful information. How much will they save, spend, or what ever, for your service
  • Cartoons.  I know, odd, but a well done funny cartoon can get a lot of attention
  • Pictures of customers.  Good pictures will bring your customers back and they will tell there friends
  • Forums. Information with good interaction on your industry can bring lots of attention
  • Q  and A.  A well thought out Q.A. about important items in your industry
  • Videos  of ________.  How are process works, who are customers are, how we got started.
  • Tips.  Good tips they can not find somewhere else
  • DIY. Why not!  This can be very helpful
  • Contests. A good old fashion contest!

You don’t have to spend a ton of time linking other sites to yours if your site naturally attracts visitors through interesting and unique content.

Let us know what ideas work for you.

 

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Business coaching in Denver and Colorado Springs

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Susan Roberts, Action Coach
Janna Hoiberg

Having had the opportunity to work with hundreds of small and medium business owners in both Denver and Colorado Springs, as well as across the entire USA,  there are two elements I have found in every successful and growing business.  Those are , first they have excellent advisers, and second they have great employees.

If you take a look at the businesses you know that are doing well, I would bet they have those two elements.  And so, if that statement is true, you should be able to reverse it and have the same out come. Business that are struggling, and not growing do not have two things, great employees, and great advisers.

So if your business is not living up to what you thought it was suppose to produce, both in income and lifestyle, you may want to look at this.

One of the more interesting insights for me when looking at all this is of all the businesses I have known to use a business coach in Denver or Colorado Springs, the VAST majority have grown and been happy they made the choice to utilize a coach. Let’s face it, what many of us need is to be held accountable, and to have access to great information. A business coach will do both for you and a lot more. There are very few challenges in business a coach hasn’t seen.

I have seen a few business not do well with business coaching, and drop the program after a few months. In these couple of cases (less than 7% of the total businesses I know that used a coach) I can say that today both continue to struggle, and not live up to the potential the owner saw in the company.

So do your self a favor,  call one of these two coaches ( Full disclosure, I AM NOT compensated for this endorsement)

Denver- Susan Roberts  ( Action Coach) or

Colorado Springs – Janna Hoiberg Business Coach

Both have excellent track records and have successful helped hundreds of businesses.

 

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Go For No by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz

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This is a guest blog from Richard Fenton:

No one like to hear the word, “No”. However, what you may not realize is that the word “no” is nothing more than a challenge, and challenge can be a wonderful thing. Challenges strengthen character, provide motivation, and ultimately, change. In the wonderful world of sales, the word, “no” is particularly prominent. People feel as though that whatever you’re offering them can be conveniently purchased from Wal-Mart or Amazon.com and they’re simply not interested.

Do Not Get Discouraged

This leaves you feeling frustrated and under the belief that you’re not a good salesman. Some of the most successful business men and women have to deal with rejection everyday, but does that stop them? No. Go For No by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz helps you to view rejection differently. This program encourages you to not be discouraged. It teaches you to embrace the word, “no” rather than run from it.

Strength of Character and Motivation

When was the last time someone told you, “no”? Probably today, maybe yesterday, or maybe it’s been a month. It doesn’t matter when you last heard this word. The one thing that is for sure is that you’re going to hear it again. Even after you’ve accepted it, it will continue veer it’s ugly head again and again. Let’s face it, some people are just difficult and they’re not going to change. However, you can change. The word “no” has the power to motivate you to try harder and examine the aspects of your approach that require adjustment. Rejection can also lead to strength of character. The next time you head out for another round of door-to-door sales or pick up the phone for a long list of B2B calls, be ready to accept rejection. However, remember not to let this discourage you.

Embrace the Change

As you begin to embrace the word, “no” you’ll also begin embracing the change that awaits you. Before you know it, you’ll be so accustomed to the idea of rejection that it will no longer phase you. This program is designed to help you look at rejection in a completely new light. Think of rejection as a way to act out in rebellion. For example, when you were a teenager and someone said that you couldn’t do something, what did you do? Most likely, you did it anyway and the fact that you were being led to believe that you could not have what you wanted made you want it more.

The Challenge from Your Prospects

When someone tells you they are not interested, at the time, they may not be. Fortunately, people change their mind’s all the time. Nothing is set in stone. Just because someone doesn’t want your product now doesn’t mean they won’t want it 10 minutes down the road. Go For No teaches you how to sell – especially to those individuals who are presenting with a challenge. With some extra added motivation and a willingness to embrace rejection, Go For No can help you to gain knowledge, skill, and more money.

 

Please visit The Personal Development Company if you would like to learn more about Go For No by Richard Fenton

 

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How to hire a sales person

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DEDHAM, MA - SEPTEMBER 30: AT&T Area Retail Sa...

So…you’re ready to hire a sales person in Denver, or any where in the universe?  Would you allow me to give you a few tips?

I have hired hundreds of outside sales people as well as business development managers for a wide range of industries including, Telecommunications, Internet, I.T., Semi truck repair, Commercial linen services, and Hospitality.  The combined revenue generated by those sales professional would probably be in the 275 million dollar range over the last 15 years.

Here is the number one factor in sales success. Ready?  (drum Roll)

Making your service or product irresistible to buy (or as close as you can).  Read the blog to about this by clicking on the sales tips link that follows and then we can move to the actually hiring tips. Sales tips I know, that’s not what you’re looking for.  But, I rarely give the answer one might be looking for when it relates to sales and business in generally. I don’t know all that much, but I do know if you listen to the masses, you will be one of them.

I am going to assume you read the blog I linked to, written by an amazing sales manager and guru, and a pretty handsome guy (Me). Stop chuckling, and lets get to the reality of hire a sales rep.

Number 2 on the list of having a successful sales program (yes I change the title now and then).  Having a great sales manager who is going to manage the sale person(s). You were expecting training or role play?  Nope,  hire a great sales manager and make your product irresistible,  much more effective  than training and role play.

I have talk to many business owners  who’s sales program failed when they tried to manage the sales team directly.The reason was they have no sales experience. Most sales professionals need,  and I don’t use that word with out reason, so I will repeat it, NEED  an experienced leader. Sales is very different than most the other skills sets you will find in your company, and takes a completely style of leadership.

The challenge for the vast majority of small businesses is they can not afford a sales manager, and a sales person. Many don’t have the budget for a full time sales professional. I think the first step in overcoming this is to work on step one, making your service or product irresistible. If you can move your product from “just another________ <-  add your service in the blank, to a business that offers unique and very compelling features and benefits, you have made a big move up the sales ladder. You can then start using inbound marketing tactics to  find new revenue. The great thing about people calling you about using your service is you don’t have to be a sales pro to sell to them.

How do you make your service unique and compelling?  We can go into much greater detail, and have, on another blog, but the very basics are:

Understand what your prospects want.  Do not try to sell anyone what they need. People rarely buy the lowest priced car, yet what they need is transportation. Get it?  People and companies buy what they want, not need.  So make a list of what your best prospects want.  Start with area’s out side of the normal list, like price, and service.  Drill down.  What does service include? Here are areas that you can make unique.

Communication. How will you communicate with your clients.

Schedules: How will you document the delivery of your service.

Return on Investment: How will you track the R.O.I. of your service or product for the customer

Lifetime value: How will you continue to give value to your customer after the first project is completed?And you can add many many more.

The next area to look at is what do your prospects fear when buying your service? Fear is what stops more sales than any thing else. Ask your current clients what they feared when making their decision on buying from you,  and then,  make guarantees, or develop clear systems, that insure those fears will not become reality.  Dig deep here, you may be surprised at the answers  you get.

Once you have accomplished the above, you will sell more, and can then afford to hire a sales person who will be far more successful than they would have been with out the work and changes you have made.

I will follow up with more on this in future posts. As you may imagine, our company does have a solution for you if you are thinking about starting a sales program. Look at our business development program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Denver B.B.B. Fibs about it’s S.E.O. (search engine optimization) value.

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Better Business Bureau logo.
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~~Up date April 2015.  Just spoke to a client who had a call from the local B.B.B. Sales representative who, just like in 2013 when we originally wrote about the Better Business Bureau claiming that the one simple act of joining their service and adding your web site link to your new B.B.B. listing will significantly increase your Google rankings. It’s not true.  Very few if any single site links will make a significant change in your web site rankings, and the link the B.B.B. provides certainly isn’t one of those.

You would think that an organization based on trust would employ better standards in their sales organization…. ~~~

If you read this blog you know that we encourage business owners to use their association memberships for getting more Internet traffic, and boasting their sites popularity.

We just had a call from a better business bureau sales rep, who said, and I quote, “the membership is probably worth the money just in it’s SEO value alone”. Sounds like the BBB is jumping on the SEO band wagon. I hope Google doesn’t penalize them for selling links with this approach!

The reason to join any business association should be the value it brings to your business in the areas of education, promotion, and credibility. If it helps your Internet popularity as a result, that’s a bonus.

We recommend A BBB membership to most of our clients who sell to consumers. It’s a important “trust” factor. But buying it for SEO only doesn’t make all that much sense.

You can read more about whats happening in Local SEO on this blog .

 

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Jump Start Your Sales

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Three

Three ways to jump start your sales.

Working with small and medium sized businesses we see the same challenge over and over.  Most businesses need to find decent R.O.I. tactics to bring in more revenue.  The economy over the last 3 years has certainly made this more challenging than ever, and it’s important to spend sales and marketing dollars wisely.

Here are some things not to do.  Don’t let a  sales person sell you on trying print, radio, or T.V. advertising.  One of the reasons is they have such a great sounding sales pitch is they have to, otherwise you may asked for references from three similar business to yours in the same market, and they won’t have those.  Trust me.  This year we have asked 4 different fast talking, well intentioned sales people for references from three customers in the same market, and none have supplied any. Two became very upset we would even  ask.

So, rule one… ask any company asking for your marketing or advertising dollars for three local references from similar customers. How hard can that be?

No more buying rules, just three proven systems that might jump start your sales with a reasonable to good return on investment.

There are 3 type lead and sales generation programs.  Short, mid and long term results.   We all want short, so lets start there.

Need sales this week?

Use Google ad words with a well thought out limited keyword campaign, have a company with experience in Ad Words develop the campaign, or you may end up throwing your money away.

Your company can be on the first page of Google search results tomorrow. Fast results,  people clicking to your site (and you will pay each time they do). Budget needed,  any where from $30.  a day to skies the limit.

Mid term:

Hire a business development manager either full time or part time.  A business development managers job is to get you and your company in front of well qualified buyers. Caution, if you don’t have experience managing a sales person, you’re going to throw money away 85%  of the time. Not joking. I have worked with many business owners who have hired sales people, having no experience hiring or managing sales people, and the results are predictable.  Here is a good blog on hiring and managing sales people and why sales people are like plumbers  BTW.

So, what can you do?  Either hire a sales manager and a sales person (two different humans), or make your service so irresistible that you don’t need sales people, or use the My One Call business development team to do it all for you.  You can see it here A PDF will open in your browser.  Do look through it. Its interesting.

And Mid to Long term:

Get your web site wildly popular!  Use SEO, Social Media, P.R, and every possible legal and white hat method to get people to your web site.  The fastest way is to hire a highly competent, experienced SEO firm in Denver like us.  Just make sure who ever you use, they have 3 good references from similar businesses in your local area. It’s not going to happen overnight, but once it does this is one of the best R.O.I. in marketing you can ever make.

Those are the three we know work.  We know because we talk to business owners every day, and we talk about this stuff… what works and what doesn’t. We know because we provide all of the marketing programs listed above, and we do because they work. But don’t take our word on it, ask me for 3 (or 5 or 10) local references from similar businesses in Denver. It would be our pleasure to provide that information.

 

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Sales and SEO

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How do Sales and SEO relate to each other?

And why would a company offer both Search engine optimization services and Sales programs?  Because, sales professionals and small business owners can spend up to 80% of their sales effort on generating leads.  And SEO is a very good way to reduce the dollars and time spent finding prospects.  The best thing a business can do to increase sales numbers, is increase the number of leads coming in.  That means more time is spent in front of a prospect instead of finding them. Then they can go to work on converting more leads into customers.

So,  in our sales programs the first thing we look at is how to generate more and better leads (unless a company has plenty of leads) .  SEO and pay per click (until the Internet Marketing kicks in) can provide a great start in this process.

That’s how we as a company got involved in search engine optimization, through developing sales leads and process. The very same reason many of you as business owners are looking at SEO. We think this gives us a unique view of Internet Marketing that can help you achieve your sales goals. We don’t view SEO or web popularity (as we like to call it) programs as stand alone systems. It needs to be part of your larger sales and service plans.

Feel free to view our sales programs on our site and check out the client comments as well.

 

 

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Marketing and Sales Programs