SUPPORT: Fortnightly digest - what's happening at Hilltops IT and in the world of computer software

Hilltops IT Support Team's diary

It has been a quiet couple of weeks over the Christmas period, so not much to report. The main focus has been on reviewing our internal processes and use of our software systems - it makes a change from looking at how our clients can best use the software!!! :-) We are also working on publishing some additional articles for the ConnectIT Knowledgebase which have only previously been available internally. This will help end users and partner resellers alike.

We have released an interim version of ConnectIT-Sage to work for a particular client's requirements. The feature - the ability to select which Suppliers (Vendors) a document is created for - will be rolled into a future build release for all users later in the year.

Finally, we have been involved in reviewing the final drafts of the new Hilltops IT website branding. We're really excited about this - in the coming weeks and months there are going to be some additional tools introduced so that we can help support our clients even better than we do already!

Industry News

Sage CRM Solutions 2010 Strategy
A very interesting insight into Sage CRM Solutions' thoughts on CRM and CRM solutions generally, plus future development roadmap plans.

INTRODUCTION
Since the inception of CRM, the balance of power has shifted dramatically between buyers and sellers, with the rate of change accelerating in the past five years. Today, companies must offer extremely cost-efficient, differentiable customer experiences to acquire and retain profitable customer relationships. In our highly globalized economy, CRM is critical to enable businesses of every shape and size to fulfill the needs and expectations of their customers.

See the full article here.

For further information on our software support services, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on +44(0) 844 357 7360 or +44(0) 1782 564252 or email support@hilltopsit.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!

BUSINESS TIPS: Five Sales 2.0 Tools that Drive Results

Re-produced from the original article by Jeremy Miller, please find below a set of useful tips for leveraging web 2.0 innovations and tools in your sales process.

Five Sales 2.0 Tools that Drive Results

For much of the 20th century the typical sales process has involved objection-handling and closing tactics. In the 1980’s solution selling, a process of developing win-win customer relationships, redefined business-to-business selling. Solution selling offered a way for sales people to move beyond pushy tactics to consultative strategies.Now, solution selling is fading in relevancy as the tools of Web 2.0 allow customers to review products and share product information online. This paradigm creates well-educated buyers, who are sometimes better informed than the product’s salespeople.


Sales 2.0 Defined
Sales 2.0 uses the tools of Web 2.0 to drive people to your products. Specifically, sales 2.0 drives sales from any and all of these avenues: a company Website, Webinars, viral marketing, online product demos, product reviews, blogs, SMS messaging, discussion boards, videos, deal sites, organic search engine listing, and paid search engine listings. Because interested customers come to you, traditional sales activities such as cold-calling and in person meetings are no longer an effective use of resources.

A buyer who finds you on Google is often a far better prospect than a company you cold call. When someone engages you from your Website they have already initiated a relationship with your firm, formed an opinion and are receptive to entering into a sales dialogue. You face none of the buyer resistance that comes with cold calling.

Sales 2.0 requires a new methodology for sales departments. Rather than a salesperson originating a sale, they now help complete a sale. Within the Sales 2.0 framework, a sales department manages the buying process online, develops meaningful customer experiences, and allows customers to engage your salespeople at the time of their choosing.


Five Sales 2.0 Tools You Should Know About
Using new sales tools creates efficiencies throughout your sales process. Here are five examples of new sales tools:

Webinars: WebEx, Placeware and other online conferencing tools enable a sales force to conduct demonstrations virtually with customers who want more detailed information about a product. The customer gains immediate gratification by seeing how the product works, and they quickly educate themselves on its benefits. The seller also benefits by reducing certain costs such as the time and money incurred from traveling for face-to-face meeting.

Videos: Posting clever videos of your product on your own site as well as video hosting sites such as YouTube, offers your product tremendous exposure at a low cost. For example, BlendTec, a blender maker, turned to videos to prove how powerful and durable their blenders are. In their “Will it Blend?” series, they blend golf balls, alarm clocks, iPhones and many other items you would never put into a blender. These videos have become online hits, attracting media attention, as well as driving a 700 percent increase in sales.

Blogs: Companies typically use two types of blogs, one where employees can post videos or write about the design, features or progress of a product, and another where customers can offer feedback and recommendations for products or services. Blogs serve to enhance your online visibility, establish expertise, create brand loyalty, increase top-of-mind awareness and influence the public conversation about your company. Recently Starbucks launched the blog site mystarbucksidea.com where customers can make suggestions for new products (such as ice cubes made of coffee so iced-drinks don’t get diluted). Other customers can vote on or discuss the ideas. Customers who feel engaged and acknowledged become loyal customers.

Search Marketing: Search marketing is one of the most powerful ways to get prospects to find you on the Web. By leveraging the power of Google and Yahoo, customers will find you. There are two types of search marketing: paid key words and organic search.Organic search marketing focuses on fine-tuning the content and structure of your website so that it comes up first in search results. This is known as search engine optimization (SEO). The key to SEO is clear categorization. Users don’t type in unique value propositions to find what they are looking for; they type in categories and criteria. For example, if you are looking for a sales recruiter in Toronto you may type “Sales Recruiter Toronto.” LEAPJob has conducted SEO on their site so they come up first, which is delivering them two to five new customers per week.Companies can further increase their exposure by purchasing key words to get top-of-page results – Google calls this service AdWords. AdWords are highly effective for getting clear search results when you can’t achieve your organic listing goals, or when you want to run targeted campaigns. They allow companies to control their advertising budgets, and to promote pages, services or campaigns in a targeted fashion. It’s often money well spent.

Publicity and Social Proof: Leveraging the media can be an effective tool for generating leads, but in a Sales 2.0 context, it’s all about credibility. Consumers are inundated by marketers and advertisers so much that they begin to tune the messages out. Buyers are cynical of case studies and testimonials on companies’ websites. They want social proof instead. Social proof occurs when consumers rate, review or discuss your product online in review or blog sites, or when the press creates a story. Being quoted in major media outlets is powerful, because it says that a trusted source views your company as reputable. A media or unbiased consumer review creates a connection that helps prospective customers get beyond the hype, and listen to what your company has to say. The above listed tools drive sales, but also require a clear sales process that serves the customer’s buying experience. Shifting into Sales 2.0 takes a real commitment to understanding your customers, and to developing a sales process that meets the needs of their buying habits.Sales 2.0 is a long-term strategy. If you can embrace your customers and develop an organization tuned to their needs, you can build a powerful sales engine that outstrips the solution selling approach. If you think Sales 2.0 tools are not applicable to your business, think one more time about how your customers want to engage with your company online in a meaningful way. The companies that deliver on those expectations will be handsomely rewarded for it.

Jeremy Miller is a partner with LEAPJob, a sales recruiting firm in Toronto, Canada. LEAPJob recruits sales professionals and sales leaders for many of Canada's most recognized companies. Their clients range from the Top 50 Employers to smaller organizations building their first sales force. For more information on LEAPJob please visit http://www.LEAPJob.com.

BUSINESS TIPS: Low-Cost Marketing Tactics for a Down Economy

Re-produced from the original article by M. H. McIntosh, please find below a set of useful tips for low-cost marketing. A useful reminder to even the most experienced marketeers, whether in a down economy or not...


Low-Cost Marketing Tactics for a Down Economy

In these difficult times, as the customer pool shrinks and budgets tighten, companies must fine-tune their marketing efforts. Here are tips on refining your marketing approach to maximize effectiveness and minimize costs.

Eliminate marginal investments
Interview your salespeople to identify which marketing tools have been most instrumental in successfully selling your products or services. Determine which marketing program has the biggest role in snaring recent sales and allocate your marketing budget toward those programs. Then take these steps:

• Eliminate marketing communications projects you might never get around to anyway. These “wish list” projects can be added back to the marketing to-do list when the economy turns around and you have the money and resources needed to do them right.
• Eliminate marketing designed only to enhance your brand. These marketing programs won’t have much affect on your short-term sales results. Instead, focus on generating leads and sales from a well-targeted group of prospects and let the quality of your marketing communications, response materials and website take care of enhancing your company’s image.
• Eliminate marketing programs that have not shown a significant positive ROI, as measured by leads or sales. Determine which programs will have the biggest impact on generating qualified, sales-ready leads and short-term sales. Make sure these stay at the top of the list for funding and implementation.

Increase direct marketing
Increase your use of e-mail and postal mail to deliver targeted offers to your most desirable prospects.

Postal mail may get through when your e-mail gets blocked as spam. To cut costs, use laser-printed business letters rather than expensive full-color mailers. Rather than doing one-time postal mailings to rented lists, improve your results by sending repeat mailings targeted at known prospects (such as your own prospect database). Save money by sending expensive literature or materials only to those who request them — not to every prospect in your database.

If you don’t have your own e-mail lists to market to, consider having publishers send your e-mail to their lists for you, or placing ads in targeted e-newsletters or e-zines. These are economical ways to get past e-mail filters, reach your prospects directly and generate a quick response.

Negotiate discounts on trade publication advertising
In these difficult times, you will likely be better off with a high-frequency or high-impact presence in one or two key publications than with an occasional presence in several. Study circulation information to clearly understand what percentage of the magazine’s readership is really part of your target market. Ask your media rep to give you statistics on what percentage of their subscribers also read competitive magazines, and consider this information when calculating your true cost per thousand.

Be sure your print ads are benefit- or solution-focused (rather than emphasizing “features”) with strong calls-to-action designed to generate leads or drive sales.

When the economy is soft, trade publication advertising sales are often weak. This allows you to negotiate an attractive rate with publishers.

Use trade shows smartly
Trade shows can be expensive, so consider eliminating those that haven’t previously shown a favorable ROI. Instead, concentrate your investments in those shows and conferences which have proven effective in generating leads and driving sales.

Then look for ways to reduce your trade show costs and boost your ROI. For example, consider hosting a smaller exhibit. Ask your dealers, distributors or resellers to help you staff the booth. Eliminate expensive cocktail parties. Send pre-show mailings to increase the number of visitors to your booth and lower your overall cost per lead. Send post-show mailings and use telemarketing follow-up to convert casual inquiries into qualified leads.

Enhance your website
A few cost-effective changes can turn your website into a sales lead generation machine. Select and use keywords carefully so your site appears in the search results for your intended audience. Post keyword-rich articles and case studies on your site. To turn visitors into leads, place offers or calls-to-action on every page of your website. Back up your claims with proof, including certifications, awards and customer testimonials.

Move to virtual seminars and workshops
You can cut some of the cost of your seminars and workshops by hosting them online. Webinars, online product demonstrations and other virtual meetings eliminate travel expenses of presenters and staff. And virtual events sometimes enjoy better attendance than live events because attendees don’t need to leave their offices. You still need to spend some of your marketing funds promoting your virtual events, but you can save a bundle on travel, meeting rooms and refreshments.

Put marketing collateral online
My research shows that three in ten requesters still want printed materials to share with their bosses, colleagues or clients. This ratio also means seven in ten will be happy and instantly gratified to be directed to your website or sent PDF files.

You can also save on printed literature production costs by avoiding expensive metallic inks, or by taking advantage of excess paper supplies your printer is willing to discount. Die cuts can be costly, but not if you use a die the printer already has created. You can also make items in smaller sizes or print two-sided materials to reduce printing and shipping costs.

Publish articles on your subject of expertise
Take advantage of inexpensive opportunities such as writing or contributing articles to industry publications, business magazines, blogs, websites and even Vistage View. Articles showcase your expertise to a highly targeted audience of your prospective clients. They can learn more about your company if you put a short biography at the end of the article and a link to a free whitepaper or how-to guide.

Use your article to gain media attention by shortening it and distributing it as a press release with a newswire service. Make sure your release links back to the full version of the article posted on your site. Additionally, you can post comments on relevant online news stories or industry blogs, and in your comment include a link to your article.

You may also consider writing a more in-depth version of the article, a white paper or special report, and offering it to website visitors.

Use newsletters
Newsletters are another great way to provide customer value and keep your company’s name top-of-mind without spending a fortune. Consider using your newsletter to help you identify and qualify prospects. That is, make newsletter subscription involve filling out a brief survey which asks questions about people’s level of interest in your products, buying authority and purchasing horizon. This information can go into your database for immediate or future follow-up, as appropriate, by marketing or sales. Be sure to also publish your newsletter on your website.

Provide speakers to meetings and conferences
Another economical marketing tactic is to promote your company’s executives as potential speakers at key meetings and conferences. Speaking at prominent events positions those executives as experts. You can also use these events to generate leads by offering audience members a copy of the presentation, a free white paper or some other valuable information if they give you a business card.

Find a marketing partner
Stretch your marketing dollars by teaming up with a company whose products or services complement yours. By pooling your resources, you and your partner can get far more mileage from your respective investments than either of you could alone.

For example, consider jointly sponsoring a mailing to promote products and services of both partners to their mutual universe of prospects. Not only do you split the costs, but you also gain access to additional prospects.Create a referral programLeverage the power of your existing customers by creating a referral program that rewards customers for sending prospects to your company. Getting referrals from happy long-term customers may be as easy as simply asking for it. Additional incentives, although worth considering, may not be required.

These ideas may trigger additional ways to cut the fat in your marketing programs and better focus your marketing efforts on driving short-term leads and sales during these difficult economic times. Doing so will help enhance marketing’s reputation with senior management as a valuable contributor to the corporate mission.

M. H. “Mac" McIntosh is described by many as one of America’s leading business-to-business sales and marketing consultants and an expert on the subject of sales leads. For more information, or to request a free subscription to his newsletter, Sales Lead Report®, visit www.sales-lead-experts.com