I know it’s been a while since I last wrote. 

February is a short month in days and it just

seems to have flown by with the sales
and marketing automation projects I have
been working on using ACT! by Sage and Infusionsoft.

However, I had time to read a book on nurture marketing.  This book got me to thinking about how we all try new things in marketing but sometimes the tried and true still work the best today. 

We sometimes lose our way when trying to get out the word about our product and services.  In this world we want the sale now not five days from now. We go for the easy sale and leave the others behind. 

As the sub-title states “A Step-by-Step Process for Growing Clients by Design”, we forget that there are steps to marketing and selling and nurturing is the core to doing it successfully. (more…)

It started out as just one of those typical business conversations that changed to a conversation about marketing.
“How’s business?”
“Business has been slow in my industry lately. I am concerned that we are not seeing new customers and existing customers aren’t buying much from us although some of them I talk to say they are busy right now.”
“Hmm, are you still getting the word out about your products?”
“What do you mean?” (more…)

Mary found she was spending a lot of time trying to find new leads and not generating enough sales to make quota.   The existing base of customers hardly bought a second time and many went to competitors to purchase the same quality products. 
 
Mary and the owner discussed and implemented an automated sales and marketing system. 
 
Once a business automates their sales and marketing, many experience increased sales.
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The US Postal Service announced in September that it still adds about 2 million addresses each year.  However, the volume of mail dropped by 9 billion pieces for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2008.

In this economy there is a silver lining to reach more customers and it’s by using direct mail!  Sending your direct mail offer has a better chance of being seen by more people because they receive less stuff each day in their home or business mail box.

More eyes see direct mail offers than email!!

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September has been interesting for us.  We have seen some clients make a commitment to using new or upgraded software to automate their sales and marketing.  Others are in the Chicken Little mode of the “Sky is Falling” and not looking ahead or long term to position themselves for growth.

However one prospect we met was interesting.  They have the pain to install a system to track and automate their sales and marketing.

• Losing track of leads generated by the sales team.
• Forgetting to do quotes on those interested in their products
• Forgetting to follow up even when the existing customer requested because there will be a job for them to bid.
• Can’t locate the quotes that were sent out.
• Customer support doesn’t follow up promptly or totally forgets.
• No one knows what the other person is doing with a new lead or an existing client.

The reason isn’t lack of an automated system but because management lacks the commitment to put policies in place.  Management isn’t really looking within to correct the problems and establish polices for working with leads and clients.  They think the software will cure the problem.

Before any company purchases a new system or upgrades an existing system they need to first look within and review their sales and marketing process.  Put into place policies that not only make employees accountable but management as well.

Look for a system that will be flexible and take advantage of how your company sells and interacts with existing customers.  It’s your business and you really need to take ownership of it. 

If your company is ready to commit to a new system or need help with your sales process please call us at 508-226-4565.

Recently I read an article in The Boston Globe about Xobni Software.

Xobni (inbox spelled backwards) was originally designed as a plug-in for Outlook that makes searching your email easier. After frustrating searches for a particular email I practically gave up searching all together because Outlook lacks any kind of logic for searching.

Xobni really shines as a search engine for Outlook. I’ve tried others but found them clunky and not efficient. After the initial indexing it runs in the background and doesn’t hamper my Outlook performance.

Using the search box will give you surprising results. As the creators would tell you it adds an “intelligent filter” that not only searches more efficiently but can display the sender’s telephone number if it’s in their signature of the email. It also shows you all the correspondence between you and that person and any attachments are listed separately.

Since I have been using it, I have also found that it creates a social network within Outlook of related contacts from emails received.

For example: Bob, Mary, Jack, Carole and Isaac all know me and know each other. As email correspondence is captured and indexed for future search by Xobni it relates the contacts together by reviewing how emails are addressed between each other. It looks for multiple To:’s , CC:’s and Fwd’s to relate people to one another.

When you search for one of the emails of the people you know it shows you who that person is networked with in your Outlook.

But here is how it becomes a sales tool as well!

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