Hiring A Marketing Firm? 5 Questions to Ask First

Bringing on external resources to help with your marketing sounds great. There’s even a term for it – Outsourced, or Pay-Per-Performance Marketing. According to Wikipedia: “Outsource marketing is the art of handing over the entire marketing demands of a company to a third party.” Sounds easy, right?

But how do you know you’re handing over part or all of your marketing to the right third party? There are five key ways outsourced marketing can be integral to the success of your business. And they each present pitfalls if you choose the wrong marketing firm.

1. Outsourced Marketing means a marketing program designed to fit your business – Will the Outsourced Marketing firm work with you to create a custom strategic marketing plan, identifying the resources needed to meet your business goals, with your budget in mind? If the firm presents you with a take-it-or-leave-it package, leave it.

2. Outsourced Marketing means you can stay focused on your core business – Will the Outsourced Marketing firm provide an experienced team to integrate, synchronize and manage dozens of marketing disciplines to execute that plan? Ask how they plan to create cross-discipline synergies. For example, will they be able to use content created for a blog, use it in a newsletter, support it with online advertising?

3. Outsourced Marketing means a more level playing field – While you focus on business innovation, will the Outsourced Marketing firm focus on proactive and responsive marketing to meets today’s ever-changing business environment? Check out the firm’s blog (yes, they should have a blog!) -are they pitching 2009-era SEO techniques (“we submit your website to thousands of online directories”)? Visit their website on a smartphone – do they ignore the fact that responsive websites (sites that are easily viewed on a smartphone) are the norm for 2014?

4. Outsourced Marketing means access to expertise in every discipline – Does the Outsourced Marketing firm have a large pool of vetted and approved experts? If they do, it means they can provide:

• Marketing, e-commerce & mobile websites
• Pay per Click advertising
• Print advertising
• Blogging & social media marketing
• Direct mail
• SEO/Search engine optimization
• Email & print newsletters
• Public Relations
• Trade shows& events
• Telemarketing
• Analytics

5. Outsourced marketing means you can expand your marketing programs without necessarily expanding your staff – But beware of marketing firms that charge you by the hour. Their economic interests may not naturally align with yours. Instead, look for firms that offer pay-per-performance services.

JointSourcing from Sales Renewal

Sales Renewal clients know that Outsourced Marketing with Sales Renewal works.

This is because our unique JointSourcing (“joint venture” + “outsourcing”) model – a comprehensive sales, marketing and technology solution – lets you outsource all the day-to-day marketing and technology work that increases your revenue – and demands so much of your time – to Sales Renewal, while we share with you the management, and a portion of the rewards and risks (similar to a joint venture).

Since our success is so closely tied to the success of your marketing:

1. We work closely with you during our Blueprint phase to create a custom strategic marketing plan. Together, we review this plan quarterly (or more often if requested) to be sure it continuously addresses your business needs.

2. We manage the many disciplines defined in your custom plan (our Sell phase). Since you know the programs, plan and budget in advance, we are able to work independently, consulting with you as needed for approvals and other input.

3. We stay abreast about new strategies, requirements, recommendations to be sure all the components of your plan are optimized for the ever-changing business environment. If we find an option that we believe will perform better, we’ll present you with an explanation of why we’d like to make a change or addition to your plan. If we feel something just isn’t working, we’ll make an alternative recommendation.

4. We act as a general contractor. We pull from an ever-growing, dependable group of experts and top-notch vendors in every discipline we offer. And we stay on top of them, too. For example, if an ad firm just isn’t producing the results we expect, we’ll work with them, and replace them if necessary.

5. We focus on the ROI of each marketing program, and the plan overall. Because our economic interests are closely aligned with yours, when we are able to optimize your profit, we are also optimizing ours.

If your company is considering an outsourced, pay-for-performance marketing solution, make sure you know who you’re handing your marketing over to! And if you’re interested in learning how Sales Renewal can help, contact us, and we’ll show you.

How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales: SalesMemes 48 – Doing Good Can Pay

Client’s Collaboration with Sales Renewal Leads to New Strategies, Brand, Site, Marketing Programs and … a Blue Ribbon

It is generally rare for two different companies, let alone a client and its vendor, to work together so thoroughly, on so many levels, that the resulting whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

However, thanks to Sales Renewal’s revolutionary JointSourcing Solution (a unique hybrid combining elements of joint venturing with elements of outsourcing, in which shared risks and rewards align Sales Renewal’s economic incentives with those of its clients), such synergies are the norm.

If you’ve been wondering how JointSourcing and its three, Blueprint, Build and Sell steps actually works in practice, in the real world, this latest installment of our JointSourcing in Action Case Studies series is for you.

This issue provides a detailed, step-by-step view of how Sales Renewal partnered with our client MATsolutions to overcome their business, marketing and sales challenges to produce a marketing & sales system neither company could have developed as quickly or efficiently on its own. One result of the collaboration: MATsolutions receiving the prestigious Blue Ribbon Small Business of the Year for 2014 award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

As Steve Wedler, VP Sales and Marketing, MATsolutions has said:

“Over the last year with Sales Renewal’s critical assistance, we’ve rebranded the company, launched a new e-commerce site and introduced marketing programs and supporting technologies that truly distinguish MATsolutions from its competitors. Having two highly dedicated and bright teams responsible for this transformation has allowed us to deliver something far superior than either team alone could have. This award is a great acknowledgement of the advances we have made.”

Read the JointSourcing in Action case study.

Most Salespeople Feel Unprepared for the Most Critical Parts of the Sales Process

According Corporate Vision, here are the percentages of Salespeople who felt they were prepared for:

• Creating opportunities from status quo – 38%,
• Demonstrating financial justification – 26%,
• Mastering purchasing negotiations – 25%,
• Having effective executive conversations – 24%,
• Having effective executive conversations – 16%,
• Achieving successful competitive differentiation – 14%,
• Showcasing compelling product presentations – 13%,
• Demonstrating financial justification – 10%,
• Mastering purchasing negotiations – 9%

If you feel like you could benefit from sales training, get in touch.

How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales on Valentine’s Day: SalesMemes 31

How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales: SalesMemes 1

2013 Business Review: How’d you do?

As you’re growing your business, it’s important to take some time to reflect, month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, and certainly as you wrap up a year. How’d you do in 2013? Did you realize the sales increases you planned for? Were you able to find time to make plans in the first place?

We hope so.

2013 a Year of Growth

As we reflect on 2013, a few events really stand out for us. We’ll never forget the trying weeks following the Boston Marathon; at the same time, we’ll always remember the heroes who rose up in that terrible time. They reminded us that human beings are here for good. We were pleased to be able to help, however slightly, by creating a website for a local fundraising event that aided victims and their families, celebrating the inherent goodness in people, neighbors and strangers alike.

More recently, we’ve been working with Massachusetts businesses and the Mass Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) to help their customers grow their sales as quickly and wisely as possible. It’s a partnership that’s a real win-win situation.

And – looking at our internal machinations – we can honestly say we’re managing our time and projects better than ever before, thanks to our entire staff’s dedication to use Liquid Planner for tracking tasks and ensuring our clients’ sales plans are always moving forward.

Keep Moving Your Sales Forward

Speaking of time, we’re booking Blueprint appointments for 2014 already. If you’d like a partner to help you grow your sales and free your time by managing the day-to-day sales and marketing tasks that can distract you from running your business, get in touch.

Then, this time in 2014, we’ll be reflecting on your great year!

Social Media and Your Time Investment: the Payoff Isn’t Always Obvious

Small- and medium-sized business owners cannot take their time lightly. So questions like, should I invest time in LinkedIn? or Is a Pinterest presence worth my time? highlight important considerations.

We certainly don’t advocate jumping on every single social media bandwagon. While they all look like free advertising vehicles at first glance, the learning curve and time commitment can be significant. But plotting a course, and staying true to it, usually pays off.

What’s a Florist doing on LinkedIn?

With an unlimited supply of pictures of beautiful flowers Pinterest seems like an obvious choice for a flower shop (Facebook too). The photo-friendly, super-sharing communities are generally good for consumer-oriented businesses building a client base. But LinkedIn?

Maybe not so obvious. However, when you’ve plotted the right course, and are steady in your approach, you’ll probably be rewarded with sales.

And in some cases, thank-you notes. After all, business people are consumers with grandmothers too.

~ – ~ – ~ – ~ –

Want help charting smart social media moves? Need a little guidance and assistance decided which sales and marketing efforts are worth your time? Want to hand off some of the day-to-day details to realize more sales increases? Contact us. That’s what we do.

Are you focused on increasing sales in Q3 2013?

We’ve recently conducted 3rd Quarter Planning Sessions with our clients.

Pssst – when was the last time you made a quarterly marketing plan and followed it?

In those meetings, they heard specific details about things we did during Q2 to improve SEO rankings, reach more qualified prospects at the beginning of the sales cycle, and stay in touch with customers after the sale. Next, we asked them about –

• new business opportunities
• progress on product development and strategic projects, and
• employee training programs scheduled in the coming months

Then, together, we agreed on a strategy to focus (our) Q3 sales and marketing activities to complement and enhance (their) internal sales programs and long-term growth plans. Other than a few emails and phone calls between now and next quarter, our clients are free from the day-to-day management of marketing activities like lead generation, blogging, newsletter and other content development, and ecommerce sales tracking.

As one of our customers put it, “I really like that you’re so focused on results: growing my sales.”

Now that third quarter sales plans are set, we’ll continue to focus on increasing sales while our clients have more time to develop bigger accounts, win new contracts, and – oh yeah – run their business.

Outsourced sales and marketing that don’t charge by the hour?

One of the reasons outsourced sales and marketing programs are attractive is that they offer a way to increase sales and save time. Time to invest in identifying strategic business partners, developing new products or breaking in to new markets.

And while outsourcing sales and marketing saves you time, you’re still paying for the time.

That’s why the JointSourcing model works for business owners who constantly grapple with the time-is-money conundrum. As one of our clients said:

“At first, I thought the pay-for-performance model would just be a great way for me to acquire expertise while keeping my fixed costs low … what I didn’t realize is how profoundly it stepped up my ability to execute. You’re not simply a vendor selling me something; you’re a partner pushing me to realize the growth that I am capable of… .”

An economical way to increase sales and focus your time

Want a partner who is accountable to you and your bottom line? See our website to learn more about JointSourcing. Just don’t wait too long. Time and money don’t grow on trees, you know.

Yahoo + Tumblr: Keep Calm and Follow Your Sales Plan

Google grabbed headlines last week and sent a wave of worries through the oceans of SEO strategists with its Penguin update. Marissa Mayer made Monday morning mighty interesting (and we thank her for the alliterative opportunity) when she announced Yahoo would purchase Tumblr.

What should you do about it?

Probably nothing.

Since deals between online news/content/media companies are rumored online before they’re announced online and then (over-) analyzed online, it’s easy to watch the deals (online!) and feel left behind.

Here’s the good news: the real world still exists. We have proof that sales, and longterm, lucrative customer relationships, are made in the real world every day.

We’re not in Nate Silver‘s league, but we’ll go out on a limb and guess that the Yahoo/Tumblr deal portends important changes for less than 1% of US businesses.

The rest of you can keep calm and carry on with your sales and marketing plans. That is, as long as you’re following a content program that’s right for you. Not sure? Don’t even have a content program? (gasp!) We can fix that in a flash.

Here’s the really good news: making online sales and marketing work for you – meaning, using basic search and linkbuilding principles to increase your sales and capitalize on ecommerce opportunities – doesn’t require you to have Nate Silver’s statistical prowess or Marissa Mayer’s rockin’ blog animations. Most of our clients have come to us knowing nothing about web design, analytics, or social media. Some of them still don’t – and yet, they’ve all seen their sales go up. That’s the beauty of JointSourcing. You run your business while we handle your sales and marketing – using the most appropriate tools at the most appropriate times. Or, you run your business while you learn how to manage those tools yourself. Either way, it works – because we’re as interested in increasing your sales as you are. Seriously. We won’t freak out on you.

~Diane Stresing