This post is a part of The Crisis of Disconnection, a thought leadership series examining the latest research and insights to uncover how businesses can meet their growth goals, even amidst unprecedented changes to the way we work.

If there’s a topline takeaway from the research that prompted us to call The Crisis of Disconnection by name, it’s this. The growth challenges you faced in the last decade won’t be the growth challenges you face in the next decade.

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If you’ve been following along, we’re glad you’re back. If you’re just joining us now, we’re glad you’re here.

To recap, here are four things keeping the savviest leaders we know up at night:

• Businesses once in hyper-growth mode are now struggling to grow. One in three businesses are already citing “slowed growth” as a top challenge going forward.
• Painfully high expenses and increasing costs are leading businesses to re-evaluate their software spend, the tools in their tech stack, and how that impacts their bottom line
• Tried-and-true methods for generating demand are becoming less reliable and more expensive. Nearly two-thirds of businesses agree that sales engagement is struggling more now than pre-pandemic.
• 81% of businesses agree that COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we live, work, and connect — and “the new normal” is still largely TBD.

You’ve seen the data. You’re tracking the trends. But how will The Crisis of Disconnection manifest in your business?

Disconnection in Context: Challenges for Go-to-Market Teams

Let’s take a closer look at the three overarching disconnects with material impact on scaling companies:

What’s not pictured, and adding a sense of urgency to it all? The macroeconomic fluctuations that seem here to stay. Oscillations in supply and demand, rumors about an impending recession, and decreased access to capital are causing leaders across industries and functions to re-evaluate how to invest in growth.

Let’s consider each core complexity — and its consequences.

1. Disconnected Data and Systems Leads to Decreased Efficiency and Value to Your Business

If having a streamlined tech stack with clean, connected data feels like an increasingly pressing priority, you’re one of many re-examining their CRM solutions (for good reason).

One in four businesses today say disconnected data and systems are among their chief concerns as they grow. And the ever-popular point solution approach isn’t without problems.

Consider the Impacts to Your People

Impact 1: Proliferating tools are creating complex, bloated tech stacks that are increasingly hard to use, integrate, and maintain.

The number of martech solutions is up 24% from 2020. Additionally, new sales productivity research shows:

• Sales reps use just 62% of their tech stack.
• Sales reps spend 41% of their average workday not selling, costing companies approximately 38% in revenue per quarter.
• 74% of CRM buyers feel their teams have to switch between too many tools to get the job done, and 76% are using 3 or more applications to manage their relationships with customers
• Only 27% of marketers say their marketing data is fully integrated with the tools they use, and 22% of them find it difficult to share data across teams.
• Marketers spend an average of 3.55 hours each week collecting, organizing, and analyzing marketing data from separate sources.
• Psychologists have found that switching gears and logging into disparate tools can eat up as much as 40% of an employee’s productive time.
• A lack of unified data can block progress for individual contributors and make reporting an all-day affair for managers.
• It’s harder for both individual contributors and team leads to deliver tangible ROI.

Impact 2: Disconnected systems lead to decentralized data, which causes teams to spend more time searching for answers and less time focusing on high-value activities.

Impact 3: Frequent context-switching results in productivity loss at every level.

Consider the Impacts to Your Bottom Line

According to our research, companies with less connected data & systems are seriously disappointed in the ROI of their tech stacks:

• Only 13% of businesses that have a mostly or entirely unintegrated tech stack report excellent ROI.
• Businesses that report worse connectedness of their data also report substantially worse ROI from their tech stacks.
• Businesses that use 11 or more point solutions see 2.5x higher total cost of ownership than those that use just one.

On the flip side, companies see greater ROI when data and systems are more connected and CRM tools are all on one platform:

But why does connection & integration of your tech stack make such a difference to ROI? To answer that question, let’s take a look at how ROI is calculated:

As you can see in the equation above, total cost of ownership is one of the major factors in ROI  — as TCO increases, ROI decreases, fast.

And, as we’ve learned in our research,  having more point solutions leads to significantly higher cost of ownership, primarily driven by the increased personnel costs associated with using multiple tools.

So, even if a business is getting the same gains from their tech stack, using too many point solutions is likely going to decrease their ROI compared to a company that has consolidated more of its tools on a single platform.

As you can see, streamlining your tech stack does more than reduce friction between your systems and data. It reduces your total cost of ownership. It makes you more likely to weather the volatility ahead, with 52% of businesses with excellent data connectedness reporting they feel well-equipped to grow and thrive, despite the current state of the economy. And it connects your sales, marketing, and service teams (the importance of which we’ll talk more about below).

2. Disconnected People Leads to Decreased Sense of Community and Satisfaction

As you may have guessed, disconnected systems don’t just lead to disconnected data — they also contribute to feelings of disconnection between teams.

At the risk of stating the obvious: the way many of us work took a 180 in 2020. No fewer than 80% of U.S. employees say the crisis materially affected their daily work lives. Within a year, Zoom generated a mere $4 billion in revenue (a 53% increase year-on-year), with meeting participants increasing by 2900%.  Many of us had to learn — and are still learning — how to collaborate digitally instead of in-person.

There have been some upsides (access to more diverse talent, time saved commuting, meetings attended in pajama pants), along with some challenges.

What does this mean? The playbook for attracting, supporting, and retaining employees is — you guessed it — changing.

Employees clearly crave connection and are more likely to feel dissatisfied without it. What’s equally true? Creating moments of connection is more challenging in an increasingly remote world run on siloed systems and partially accessible information. And as The Great Resignation is already showing, the consequences of ignoring how employees feel — inside and outside of work — won’t be insignificant.

3. Disconnected Customers Leads to Decreased Interactions and Opportunities to Delight

If you’re getting the sense that these disconnection challenges are compounding, you aren’t wrong. Disconnected systems, data, and people are all contributing to another problem — brands are facing more hurdles as they try to connect with their customer base.

Before we double-click on the data and what it means for you, here’s a high-level summary (with a spoiler: what worked then won’t work now):

In case you don’t want to take our word for it:

• Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is up. 49% of those who track CAC say it has increased in the past year.
• 42% of businesses cite increasing costs to reach prospects/customers as the main obstacle standing between them and continued growth.
• Organic growth is diminishing. The average SaaS blog grew -1.6% last year and Google takes more than 65% of clicks.
• More than 30% of marketers say that they are experiencing average-to-no returns on their digital marketing investments.
• 80% of marketers report that getting rid of cookies will have a mild to major impact on their advertising strategy, and just 36% of marketers overall feel completely ready for impending data privacy changes.
• Businesses have already spent an average of $1.3 million on General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance and are expected to spend $1.8 million more.

What does this mean for your business? It’s getting harder (read: less effective and more expensive) to reach potential customers. And if/when you do reach them, it’s getting harder to exceed their expectations (with fewer insights about their personal preferences than ever). Without a single source of truth about customers, it’s harder for teams to deliver personalized, connected customer experiences. Although 80% of marketers consider personalization the key to increasing revenue and enhancing customer experiences, HubSpot’s research shows that over half of marketers are missing critical data on their target audience that prevents them from delivering that personalized experience. 

So where does that leave today’s go-to-market teams?

The post The Crisis of Disconnection: Why It’s Time to Rethink Your Growth Strategy first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

Online research has become a staple before purchase for most consumers — in fact, 81% start their buyer journey by conducting online research on a given product or service. This is to ensure they’re making the best possible choice. 

As a result, intent data has become a crucial component of marketing because 67% of the buyer journey is completed before a salesperson closes the deal with the final 33%. The same report increased marketing engagement by 30-120%, reduced CPL by 20-40%, generated a 100-300% marketing budget ROI, and even drove 2-4 times better pipeline expansion.  

This research suggests most consumers go through the buyers’ journey without speaking to a salesperson — making the need to purchase intent data for lead generation and nurturing crucial to reaching those in the first half of their (if not the entire) journey. 

Here’s what you need to know: how to leverage intent data in your marketing and B2C/B2B lead nurturing and the power of intent data for lead generation.  

What is Intent Data?

Intent data is behavioral data that gives marketers insight into whether a lead or prospect is interested in their products/services via a user’s web content consumption and intent to take action. As a notable element of data-driven marketing, intent data gives you the unique opportunity to intercept online searchers looking for solutions your brand offers.  

How to Collect Intent Data

You can collect intent data in one of two ways: 

• First-party intent data 
• Third-party intent data  

First-party intent data refers to the behavioral data you’re collecting in-house. It includes information on website visitors, webinar attendance, page views, gated content, and IP addresses. Although it is undoubtedly the most reliable form of data collection, it is limiting as you only get a glimpse of one part of the buyers’ journey from your current customer base.  

Third-party intent data allows you to expand your insight into the consumer knowledge a third-party company has on your target audience. It is collected on another website and can often be purchased, giving you a more holistic view of your customers, where they are in their journey, the behaviors influencing them to proceed forward and take action, and more.   

Most (87%) buyers now want to ‘self-serve’ all or most of their buyer journey. A combination of first and third-party intent data will ensure your content and strategies are uniquely targeted to the stage and interests of each user. 

How to Use Intent Data

“Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.” — Stephen Few, Business Intelligence Educator, Consultant, and Innovator. 

Intent data has all the information you need to personalize your communication with current and potential customers. It is up to you to put it to use and make the most of the data you’ve gathered. Here are our top tips for how to use intent data.  

Identify Buyer Interests

How well do you know your ideal customer’s interests? Are you prepared to speak to those interests to help them along their journey and on the right path to purchasing your product or service? With intent data, you’re several steps closer.  

As a type of behavioral data, you gain insight into what makes each prospect click: 

• Which offers are relevant (are there upselling/cross-selling opportunities?) 
• The types of approaches that work best 
• The most effective influences to encourage a sale or action, etc.  

Although you’ll have a generally similar target audience, consumers will vary from case to case in terms of what influences them to move through the funnel faster. 

Build Target Lists

Who do you want to include in your marketing campaign? Building a target list backed by the intent data you gathered will ensure you’re reaching specific segments of your audience with relevant content/messages that will resonate. The specifics of your target list will vary by your business and goals but can include the following: 

• Customer type 
• Age group 
• Industry, etc.  

This allows you to easily include or exclude contacts/leads depending on the role they’ll play in your marketing campaign.  

Segment Personas and Personalize

Personas and personalization go hand-in-hand if you want to succeed in your customized marketing approach. This means that you’re not only separating your ideal customers from those who would have no need or interest in your offer but also segmenting your target audience into groups. This will be key as the need for personalization is not just to reach the right person. It’s so you can also resonate with their specific needs and interests to build a connection that elicits that first purchase and many more after.  

How many personas you create and maintain can vary, with many experts recommending anywhere from three to eight. 

Tailor Messaging to Battle Interest in Competitors

No matter what industry you’re in, there’s nearly always a host of competitors ready to sneak up on you and take the lead. There’s no room for error in an environment that prioritizes personalized and relevant communication with brands. You must be able to tailor your messages to the right consumers to ensure your brand is always adding value to their research and making their life easier in the process.  

Intent data is a great way to leverage your knowledge of leads to attract and nurture them throughout the buyer journey.  

Nurture Your Pipeline with the Right Messaging

So, you’ve attracted significantly more leads to your brand and offers, but what happens next? You must use that intent data to attract and nurture those leads the rest of the way! 

With the right messaging, prospects working their way through the pipeline will find that your brand is always there when they need it — delivering the information they need at the exact moment they need it to move forward. That type of understanding and authority will be a key differentiator when it comes down to you and the competition in the final moments of their purchasing decision.  

Personalization is no longer an option in marketing. To compete with the big guys — or at all, in most cases — your brand must cater to the 71% of consumers that have come to expect it at every touchpoint. To do so, you need intent data, and the expert team at McClatchy can help. 

The post How To Use Intent Data For Messaging That Resonates with Potential Customers first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

From Predictable Revenue

There’s a lot of advice on how to be better at cold calling, but the best cold call tips focus on the conversation over metrics. Cold contact tends to put prospective customers on edge; the key to booking more meetings is to approach each call to make a genuine connection.

As the world’s leading experts on sales development, we’re sharing our favorite cold calling methods, on-call best practices, and must-haves for effective cold calling. 

1. Keep calm and comfortable

Nerves can be a serious issue on cold calls. It’s intimidating to pick up the phone, especially for newer sales development reps (SDRs). Prospects will know immediately if the SDR seems uncomfortable–which isn’t a great start to any sales call.

That’s why it’s so important to focus on staying calm. If you feel nervous before a call, try implementing a short routine to boost your confidence before dialing. You could review your buyer persona notes, double-check your customer research, or complete a short visualization exercise of the call going well.

Remember that nerves are part of the process, and you’ll improve with practice!

2. Focus on the conversation, not call metrics

No one wants to have a conversation with a robot. Ensure you’re having a two-way conversation rather than just talking at the prospect without pause. Leave space for them to interject or ask questions. 

The best cold calling scripts leave room for improvisation to let the conversation flow naturally, while still working to direct the prospect towards the next step.

3. Always work to move leads downstream

Remember that the purpose of a sales call is to book a meeting. The goal of an SDR should always be to move the lead further along the pipeline, to nurture and qualify prospects before handing them off to an account executive (AE). 

Keep that goal in mind throughout the conversation. Small talk can be great to open the call, but don’t let the conversation drift too far into irrelevance.

4. Make an emotional connection

We buy with our emotions. The best way to cold call is to approach the prospect with genuine interest and work to build a relationship rather than just make a sale. 

Whether or not the prospect realizes it, their buying decision will be heavily influenced by how they feel–which means as a salesperson; it’s in your best interest to make a strong connection.

5. Truly listen

When it comes to best cold call techniques, active listening is severely underrated. Everyone wants to feel heard and understood, and your prospects are no exception. Listen closely to what they say and repeat it back to them to ensure you understand the situation correctly.

6. Understand pain points

Speaking to the prospect’s pain points is a tried and true cold calling technique, and it should undoubtedly be a part of your process. Showing empathy for the prospect’s situation builds trust and a closer relationship.

Before you pick up the phone, make sure you have a strong understanding of each buyer persona and how their pain points differ. Different personas will deal with different problems. If you need to, you can try mentioning several pain points on the call to see what resonates most with that individual prospect.

7. Frame the offering as a solution

No cold call best practices list would be complete with presenting the solution. After you’ve discussed the prospect’s pain points and built a rapport, it’s time to introduce your company’s offer as the solution. 

Remember to focus on emotional benefits over features. The prospect isn’t interested in a long list of use cases; they’re interested in how your offer solves their problem. If you’ve followed the other tips on listening and understanding their pain points, then this part should be easy.

8. Invite questions

Don’t forget to pause and invite the prospect to ask questions. Many sales reps skip over this step because they think it means losing control of the conversation, or they’re afraid the prospect will ask a question they don’t know the answer to.

In reality, prospects appreciate the chance to contribute to the conversation. If they’re asking questions, that’s a sign they’re interested in hearing more about the offer–and an opportunity to get additional buy-in.

9. Stay on the phone and ask discovery questions

Discovery questions are an important part of any sales call. Asking the right questions can help you qualify the lead and ensure that you only book meetings with prospects who are a good fit.

10. Look to cross-sell or up-sell other offerings

If your company sells several different offers, there could be a chance for you to cross-sell or up-sell another solution. Just be careful that what you’re offering is a good fit for the prospect, and try not to force anything. If you’re not trained to sell another solution, you can simply connect the prospect to a different SDR that sells what they need.

Conclusion 

These 10 cold calling best practices will help you book more meetings, thoroughly qualify each prospect, and navigate the sales conversation with confidence.

If you need help with your outbound sales strategy, click here to book a free discovery call! Our sales development coaches have helped thousands of companies generate predictable revenue with proven cold-calling techniques.

The post Cold Calling Best Phone Strategies first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

Jared Warwick | Appointment Setter Manager Mobile: (306) 307-8702

On Thu, Sep 1, 2022 at 11:36 PM “Jared Warwick” <jared@salesteamaccelerator.info> wrote:

Dale – I came across your high-performance marketing expertise on LinkedIn and wanted to reach out to you personally. Do you currently have a sales team that handles your client enrollment?

The reason I ask is that we were able to go from 250k/m –> 1.9M/m in 7 months using a VSL and commission-based appointment setters. We were also able to replicate those results for the Beauty Boss (30k/m –> 450k/m in 60 days). I’ll post the rest of the track record below in the PS. 

Is this top of mind for you right now? If so, here’s a quick video on how the offer works.

Check it out then schedule a demo using the link below the video and I can break down how this would work for your business specifically. 

– Jared

PS: Here’s a small fraction of clients we’ve worked with: 
-Tony Robbins
-Frank Kern
-Dean Graziosi
-Agora Financial
-Jay Abraham
-Rich Schefren
-Pete Vargas 
-Todd Brown
-Jeff Lerner
-Tanner Chidester
-Client & Community
-Aleric Heck
-Joel Kaplan
-Astroflipping & Sub2
-Self Publishing School 

…among 450+ others. Reply and let me know if you want the video from me detailing how this works or if you’d like me to not contact you further.
Jared Warwick | Appointment Setter Manager Mobile: (306) 307-8702

Believe it or not, I have found the #1 way for sales people to create a one million dollar on going passive income within 12 -18 months. You probably think this dude has a hole in his head, and I don’t blame, you. Below is a video I sent to some of my closest entreprenurial friends when this unique, nver-before-seen program rolled out. You can get out a calculator and run the numbers yourself. It goes without saying your income is dependent on your work ethic, because as you will see, we have no products to sale, we give away the product to small business owners, check it out, and if you want to get the details send me an emal. dale@dalecalvert.com

The post Need to Hire Appointment Setters or Sales Closers? first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

TWO STEPS TO START ACTIVATING YOUR REWARDS

1. Use the link the person that shared this page with you to register with IHub Global. (Use the email address loop has on file for you).

2. Plug in your device(s).

This new exciting program is in Beta right now, so congratulations – you are here early. You can start accumulating OVN tokens up to $200 a month (per screen), immediately after your loop device is hooked up and activated. You will be able to cash them in for dollars in the near future when the OVN token is placed on a crypto exchange. (If you need clarification on this contact the IHub representative that sent you to this webpage).

If you need clarification on anything covered in the videos above, please contact your IHub Global respresentative. If not, install your player and start collecting your OVN rewards. We will keep you updated as this progject moves forward and let you know when you can convert your tokens to cash.

The post Welcome to the IHub Meta – Loop TV Program for Small Business Owners. first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

All we can do is LIVE, LEARN, & MOVE FORWARD in life and try not to make the same mistake twice. I have heard it said that a wise person learns from their own mistakes, but a really wise person learns from the mistakes of others. Yes I have other email list associated with different businesses we own. However if you are just starting, and you a looking for a reliable autoresponder, Aweber gets my highest recommendation.

The video below is the best I have found to show you the interworkings of an email autoresponder list.

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The post How to Create and Manage Your Email List with Aweber first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

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