Trending This Week: Are You Selling or Solving? In setting up his latest post on the Digital Leadership Associates blog, Alex Low cites a philosophical sales question you might have come across before: “Does Black & Decker sell drills or holes?”
Pardon the pun, but this adage drills down to the core of B2B selling and the prominent disconnect that exists today. No matter what you sell — a product, a service, a media subscription, etc. — you’re selling a solution to a problem.
In almost every case, the act of solving that problem should be the primary focus of any engagement with a buyer. It might still feel foreign to reps who are trained in pitching features and pricing, but the data continues to make this abundantly clear.
Assisting a Self-Guided Solution Journey “Ask yourself this,” Low implores us. “Are you selling drills? Or the overall solution to drilling a hole? I hope you see yourself as doing the latter, as this is solution-led rather than feature-led. The point is this: How are you helping your customers and targets on their self-guided journey by guiding them with the right validating questions?”
The unavoidable truth is that buyers are taking it upon themselves more and more to solve problems that arise on the job. Research tells us that 89% of B2B buyers conduct their own online research, and on average, they’re more than 70% of the way through the decision-making process before interacting with a sales rep.
This doesn’t put the sales team at risk of irrele..
Experience
9 Ideas to Make Your Meetings Less Painful and much more Productive
9 Tips to Make Your Meetings Less Painful and More Productive
For many of us, meetings are not our favorite part of the day. And yet, believe it or not, they make up 39% of our overall work time. On top of that, according to a Salary.com survey, 47% of employees find meetings to be the biggest time-waster and distraction at work—they’re simply a necessary evil for any effective organization.
From intake meetings with hiring managers to regular meetings with your manager, nothing can truly replace the quality and efficiency of in-person interactions where we can brainstorm, plan, and address key projects and initiatives.
And the good news is, there are ways to make meetings less painful for everyone, and more importantly, more meaningful and efficient. Keep reading to find tips for how to plan meetings that are actually worth your time—and will keep you (and others) from drifting off to sleep involuntarily half-way through.
1. Rethink your attendance list We've all been in meetings where we asked ourselves “why…WHY am I here?” So before getting too click-happy with your calendar and adding all those names to the meeting roster, stop yourself and ask: who really needs to be at this meeting? Attendees should only be those directly concerned with the meeting’s objectives. And everyone else will thank you for leaving them off.
Yes, there are probably plenty of people who should know what was discussed, but unless they’re a decision-maker, they don’t really need attend…
6 White Hat SEO Strategies IT IS POSSIBLE TO Study from Black Hat SEOs
6 White Hat SEO Strategies You Can Learn from Black Hat SEOs
People call it “black hat SEO” for a reason.
For years, SEO experts have looked down on so-called black hat strategists. Even today, marketers see black hat SEO as the dark side of search engine marketing.
Mostly, that shady stereotype is correct.
Back hat strategies involve everything from keyword stuffing and PBNs to content automation and tiered link building.
Most of those strategies get a bad wrap for a good reason.
But there is one thing you should keep in mind.
A black hat SEO is simply a good strategy gone wrong.
In fact, the chart below shows how black hat and white hat SEO strategies often work and the results they bring.
Most notably, though, you should notice that black hat strategies do work. They just aren’t as enduring as their white hat counterparts. But there is still something to them.
In other words, even though they’re shady, they can actually boost the recipient’s SEO.
Why, though, is that important?
Because a black hat SEO strategy is simply the unhealthy exaggeration of a white hat SEO strategy.
To say it another way, black hat SEO takes white SEO strategies and magnifies them to dangerous levels.
As you can see by this comparison below, that is almost exactly what defines a black hat SEO strategy.
With black hat SEO strategies, relevant content turns into duplicate content, relevant links turn into irrelevant content, and well-placed keywords turn into stuffed keywords.
And th..
Here’s Why Your Facebook Custom Audiences are Failing (And How to Fix Them ASAP)
Here’s Why Your Facebook Custom Audiences are Failing (And How to Fix Them ASAP)
If you are looking for a diverse online platform that is sure to put your marketing campaigns in front of tons of people, Facebook Ads are the way to go.
With countless detailed targeting options and features, you can reach virtually anyone with an ad.
The powerful, hyper-specific targeting details are one-of-a-kind.
AdWords are great, but they just simply can’t provide some of the benefits that Facebook has.
But that also presents big problems for the average Facebook advertiser:
The platform is almost too complex, leaving inexperienced users overwhelmed.
In fact, most people create a custom audience but have no idea how to optimize it for growth and success.
That’s why 62% of small business owners say that Facebook Ads miss their intended targets and don’t perform to expectations.
Tons of advertisers on Facebook simply aren’t reaping the full rewards available to them.
And most of this is the result of custom audiences that don’t work.
This is a problem because custom audiences are the bread and butter of Facebook.
It’s why people love to use the platform. So when users don’t find success, they quickly give up, claiming that Facebook Ads don’t work.
Or believing that Facebook isn’t meant for advertising.
But that’s not true. And thankfully, there are a few ways you can fix your custom audiences to perform better, making you a bonafide member of Team Facebook Ads.
Here’s why your ..
Why Hard Workers Need Quality Sleep
Many consider sleep as another obligation to fulfill in the everyday routine. If that mindset continues, you may influence your quality of sleep at night. If you dread sleep, the experience won’t be a pleasant one.
Gaining quality sleep is vital for hard workers to do their best every day, and clocking in seven to eight hours of shut-eye helps you succeed at work. Getting the most out of your night’s rest means more energy for the day, a mood boost and higher performance levels at work. Here are the superpowers you’ll gain at work by getting optimal rest nightly.
Taking Advantage of the Secret Sleeper Booster Commonly known as the power nap, the secret sleeper booster will optimize your time and money. Nap time isn’t only for preschoolers and kindergartners.
Increasing demands take up employee time at work and at home. Many companies now recognize the importance of allowing employees to take naps while at work, rather than risk falling asleep on the job. If a 20 or 30-minute power nap optimizes the way employees work, then why not invest in a pro-nap time policy?
As long as you know you’ll wake up, close your eyes during your lunch hour for a few minutes. Successful companies such as Google and Uber let their employees nap: 3 percent of companies have nap rooms out of 510 respondents in one survey, while nearly half of U.S. workers indicate a lack of sleep affects their ability to perform daily tasks.
90-Minute Sleep and Work Intervals Improve Performance
Have a deadlin..
3 Scientific Reasons Salespeople Need to Post on LinkedIn
3 Scientific Reasons Salespeople Need to Post on LinkedIn
The image that most professionals have about posting on social media isn't too positive. In fact, it's usually downright horrible. When you picture “posting on social media,” what image pops into your mind:
Teenagers posting Instagram selfies on their phone? The hipster taking a picture of their food at a restaurant for Facebook? Your friends who can't seem to stop posting their every thought to Twitter? If that's how you view social media engagement, it's easy to blow it off. It doesn't seem connected to the goal of winning more business.
But what if I told you that there was actually science behind why you should be online? There are very specific professional outcomes that you can support through regular and consistent engagement on social media. And for your professional goals, there's still no better place to spend that time than on LinkedIn.
Unconsciously (and Powerfully) Influence Your Prospects If you want to build your credibility, influence, and reach, there's no tool as efficient, scalable, and accessible than social media platforms. Social selling advocates tend to focus on using digital platforms for research, pipeline-building, and information-gathering, and rightly so.
But there are powerful ways that salespeople (and everyone else) can use it for building a stronger brand among your network. You can use it to make your presence known and actively influence you..
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