Small Marketing Teams

The Role Of Lead Management In Growing Your Business Who doesn’t love inbound leads? Inbound leads are amazing. You create helpful, insightful, educational, and original content for your market, and people find you. Next, they request a demo, take a product tour, download an eBook, cheat sheet, or checklist, and then enter your marketing and sales system as leads. Unfortunately, most salespeople don’t know what to do with them. In fact, converting leads at the top and middle of the funnel is problematic for most organizations. In the following video and article, we’ll explore how your lead management process can serve two very important purposes. First, it helps your sales team close more leads, and secondly, it works to surface what is working and what is not within your sales process. What is Lead Management (And Why Should You Care)? During my first year using HubSpot to generate inbound leads at a B2B software company, I consistently generated 100 leads a month (up from 10 leads per month). I was very exc

There are 4.5 million new blog posts published every day. What does that mean for a company that is publishing content to get found? It means that the competition is fierce. Not only does your blog content need to be high quality, but your headlines (i.e. the promise of what is in your blog post) need to be high quality too. “Why” Is Good, but Prospective Buyers Need More One mistake small marketing teams make when they’re just starting to publish content is using “why” headlines (i.e. headlines that start with the word “why”). For example, one article I was asked to write for the software company I previously worked for was “Why Fortune 500 Companies Need an Online Customer Community.” Many companies publish articles like these to create an idea in the reader’s mind that their services are of value. But these articles don’t sound particularly compelling, do they? “Why” headlines CAN still work, but they must be curiosity-based. They can’t be an obvious sales pitch. The person reading the headline can’t easil

The following experiment shows how using HubSpot’s sales tools correctly can help sales reps redirect 30 hours a month back to selling and building relationships. These days, the line between jargon and effective business communication is razor thin. When you are running a fast-paced business, the language you use can bring clarity. However, words can also add confusion. If you have ever tried explaining your job to a friend or relative who is not in your industry, it quickly becomes apparent that we cram too much meaning into business terminology. For instance, take the following terms: “Sales enablement” “Lead generation” “CRM” “Marketing automation” “Sales tools” “Lead management” “Sales efficiency” If I asked 10 executives in my network to define each term, I would get 10 different answers for each. In addition to business terms meaning different things to different people, marketers have dulled the meaning of business terms so that one term can cover a broad range of business functions. When you read the

Is your sales team is struggling to get leads on the phone? This might be one of those situations where technology and easy access to digital data are getting in the way of good old fashioned common sense. Check this out... When a new lead gets assigned to one of your sales reps, there are things that sales reps do before trying to connect with the lead? They decide when they are going to reach out (hopefully asap) They prepare their “connect call” script or outline. They open up a new note in their CRM. Most importantly, they do research on the lead. It is important that sales reps try to understand the lead’s situation or the context of their initial conversion so they can make their first touch a relevant interaction. How Small Marketing Teams Leapfrog Larger Competitors Since this cursory research only takes a few minutes, it is a major leverage point for small marketing and sales team. By doing things smarter,  your sales reps can close a lot more sales using the same amount of time and effort. In this

How many concerts did you attend last year? 1 concert? 2 concerts? Every other weekend? For most performers, a concert is a one-time event. They move from city to city scooping up revenue from each performance’s ticket and merchandise sales. I want to share a story about how one savvy superstar rejected that model so she could spend more time on other priorities. This story comes with a very important lesson for marketers. My wife and daughter recently watched Beyoncé’s new concert film, Homecoming. It is her live headline performances at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last year and the story behind it. The visually-impressive film caught my attention as I made dinner and afterwards, I sat down the join then. By that time, I was hooked since I had been watching from a distance. Apparently, the release of this film on Netflix coincided with her new live album featuring these performances. Beyoncé had not released a new album in several years. Since her last album, she had a very difficult pregnan

If you are under pressure to increase revenue, it can be an awful feeling. Everything becomes very urgent and chaotic. You are motivated, but if you don’t get tangible results in short order, your mindset and ability to take action can start to spiral. Have you been in this position? Are you there now? Do you feel like you have tried everything to increase sales, but you are only seeing slight growth? Maybe you are banging your head against the wall because, even when you work your butt off to fix it, you keep ending up in the same place. Today, I want to share a basic math equation that has a direct impact on your sales growth. The problem is that is most sales managers ignore it. They contort their team into messaging acrobats and implement complex sales training and technology before solving this fundamental element of lead management. I don’t know for sure why people overlook this secret to unlocking revenue growth. Maybe it is so simple that you assume you have already gotten the formula right. Maybe get

Sit still. Did you feel that? That is the traditional SEO ground shifting beneath your feet. The way that your company gets ranked on the first page of Google or Bing has significantly changed in the past 2-4 years. Are you seeing it? I started to notice it about a year before I sold my company in 2017. We had relied on creating the best, most useful content in our industry to get found and generate leads (mainly via organic search traffic). I saw firsthand how tactics and pillar SEO practices that worked a few years ago are no longer as effective. Companies with larger budgets were dumping content into the market. It took longer for our blog posts to get ranked. Search, as a percentage of our traffic, plateaued. In this episode, I’m going to reveal how small marketing teams can compete in this new SEO world. SEO Is Not A One-Size-Fits-All Game The first thing you need to know is that SEO is different in different markets. Your market exists on a spectrum. On one end, you have low-density markets where the

Are you ready to jump head first into the HubSpot CRM or another new CRM? Maybe, you already took the plunge and it is not living up to your expectations. If you think a newer, more modern CRM will make your life easier and solve your sales team’s complaints, I’m here to tell you from first-hand experience that it is not that simple. In this episode, I’m going to let you in on a secret that will get you to that promise land and reduce your frustration along the way. The trend in CRM and sales tool marketing right now is “simplicity.” Simplicity is supposed to solve all of your CRM adoption, sales velocity, and reporting problems. You’ll see ads and emails touting “The world’s easiest CRM” or “Finally, a simple CRM.” If you came from the world of ERP-type CRMs like Salesforce, Oracle, and Infor, this message is a breath of fresh air. After all, “I love filling out 11 fields and clicking to 4 different screens to track a next step with my leads or set up a follow up call reminder” said NO SALES REP EVER. The pr

When most people think of HubSpot, they think INBOUND MARKETING. When most people think INBOUND MARKETING, they think lead generation. It goes something like this: Produce original, educational, insightful content to: Get found by buyers Turn website visitors into leads Convert leads into customers Delight those customers so they become advocates in your market This is how I grew my last company from 10 leads per month to 300 leads per month – through 100% inbound leads generated by HubSpot’s marketing platform. This growth model works great if you are the type of business that has a big enough target market where people are searching for and sharing information about your industry, your product category, or the problems that you solve. What should you do if your market is smaller? Is this model relevant if you have a finite pool of buyers and you know how they are? In this case, companies often switch to an account-based marketing and sales approach (ABM). The question then becomes can HubSpot’s successful

In business, we are trained to constantly learn. We are told that we are at a disadvantage if we are not always seeking ideas, advice, and tips. Well, I’m here to tell you that you can actually grow your business faster if you turn that wisdom on its head…especially if you are part of a small marketing team. In this episode of the Small Marketing Team podcast, I’m going to share a powerful productivity secret used by the world’s top marketers. It might make you uncomfortable. It might feel scary at first, but I’ll walk you through the three hacks for switching your mindset to getting better sales and marketing results by learning less. Tune in to learn how consuming less information and focusing on certain types of learning will catapult your business like nothing else.

I have two questions for you… What if you could provide specific answers to those questions without making prospects and customers dig for info on your website? How would your business be impacted if you could use those opportunities to bring people down your funnel faster? I recently lead a session for the HubSpot User Group in my hometown of Phoenix on How to Create A Chatbot In HubSpot That Turns Website Visitors Into Sales Conversations In Your Sleep. During the two-hour seminar, I facilitated a discussion about both how conversational marketing is different than other types of inbound marketing and how to develop an on-site lead generation strategy using chatbots. In this episode of the Small Marketing Teams podcast, I walk you through these same tips that I gave the HubSpot User Group. You’ll learn how to build a chatbot that helps you impact every phase of the marketing and sales process.

Getting buy-in. Getting approval. Getting greenlit. Getting sign-off. This step is woven into the fabric of how companies move forward with new marketing strategies, projects, and tools. This gate can also be where good ideas go to die. Has the following situation ever happened to you? You have the right plan and the ability to execute for your company, but the executive team, CEO, or your direct supervisor gives you the thumbs down. It could be your social media strategy, a new marketing platform, changes to your sales process, or any number of new ideas. Even when you are 100% confident this approach will have a big impact on your business’s growth, you still can’t get people to sign off on moving forward. Then, since you believe in your ideas, you reexamine their objections, change your business case, and they still put the brakes on your plan. Thousands of small marketing teams are frustrated by this every day. You start wondering… Does my CEO really hate social media? Does my boss not think I can delive

The conversation around how to get people to open, click, and convert on marketing and sales emails has been intense for almost two decades. Some people swear by short emails. Others see success from emailing lengthy stories that build trust and relationships. You can also find studies that tout both approaches. So, what are small marketing teams supposed to do? Let's start by acknowledging two things... The answer is not simple. Most "experts" who are pushing a one-size-fits-all email length are either wrong, misleading you, or using outdated proof points. The truth is that it depends on many factors, such as: Who you are emailing What they know about you What have emailed in the past In the latest episode of the Small Marketing Teams podcast, I break down two long emails of similar length to prove that this discussion should not just be able wordcount.  I give your small marketing team a lens in which to view your email marketing strategy that highlights when to use short emails, medium-length emails, a

There is an organization near Phoenix called Feed My Starving Children. They package up meals and send them to starving and malnourished children in places all over the world. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in a Feed My Starving Children event at a local church. There were 40 tables. There were 10 to 20 people at each table. Together, we packed 34,000 meals for these kids in 90 minutes. That’s enough to feed 93 kids for an entire year. That was one of three sessions planned for Friday night and Saturday morning. The goal was to pack over 100,000 meals between the three sessions. What can small marketing teams, who are always trying to do more with less, learn from this type of system? This experience with Feed My Starving Children gave me insight into how small marketing teams, like you, can get more done with limited resources and take on and beat companies four, five, six times your size. In this episode of the Small Marketing Team podcast, I walk through 5 micro-system that you can begi

I don't get paid to set up basic marketing and sales automation. If that is what you are looking for, then I don't want your money. In fact, you shouldn't pay anyone to set up basic workflows. You or a member of your team should take an enter-level class from HubSpot or your marketing platform so that you can do it yourself. It is that simple. However, here is the thing that most people get wrong in how they view marketing and sales automation... It takes a novice to set up basic and some mid-level business automation. It takes a ninja to set up automation that takes into account all of your existing data objects, processes, and automation flows. Getting expert help with marketing and sales automation is not about knowing the tools to set up a workflow. It is about working with someone who can understand how automation will, won't, and can impact everything else you have done in your marketing platform and CRM.

Why, when I introduce myself to someone in a networking situation, do I try to not to use the term “marketing?”   The truth? Marketing has a bad reputation. People don’t trust marketer. Marketing conjures feelings of manipulation. Despite the rise of helpful, educational, valuable content marketing, marketing still has a credibility problem. While marketing automation software can revolutionize the way your business gets found, generates leads, and brings those leads down the funnel, it is often met with skepticism. While marketers know the value of marketing automation, I’m afraid that getting buy-in is always going to be an uphill battle. Ready for the good news? Inside many marketing automation platforms lies a multi-million dollar secret that many marketers and most executives don’t know about.

It has been way too long since I published a podcast episode for you. That ends today! I'm back and excited to bring you fresh tips for growing your business - even if you are not a well-funded start-up or household name brand. Over the past year, I dug deep into how marketing is changing. If you are experimenting with these shifts, then you will be well ahead of most companies - big and small - that ignore them. In this episode, I give you six areas to focus on in 2019 that will help you make the most of these trends in how people find and buy from companies like yours.

Let's face it. Most companies are terrible at lead nurturing. They send boring, impersonal emails every few weeks over several months. These companies think that they are staying top of mind with you, but they are really getting lost in a sea of similar emails that are not getting opened. Want proof? Check your inbox! In this episode of the Small Marketing Teams podcast, I’ll walk you through my counterintuitive approach to lead nurturing that has yielded much higher engagement rates than traditional lead nurturing campaigns.

When a buyer wants to buy from you, your salespeople love life. When an inbound lead comes in at the top of the funnel, they are usually not ready to buy. They are often not even ready to have a conversation with sales. That creates a lot of frustration inside your organization, especially if your sales team is used to sales-ready leads. That creates a lot of frustration inside your organization, especially if your sales team is used to sales-ready leads. Put yourself in your sales team's shoes. Now you have to follow up with someone who has not expressed an interest in talking to you. In this episode of the Small Marketing Teams show, I’ll give you the one mindset shift that will help your sales team methodically close a significant portion of your inbound, top of the funnel leads.

Have you ever made a sizeable investment in marketing or sales technology and then been let down by what it actually can and can’t do? I see this all the time and I want you to know that it can be avoided. In this episode, we discuss why people feel disappointed in their marketing software and the steps you can take in the research and purchase process to go into an investment like that with realistic expectations.