SalesVPI

Why Create Content Like a Publisher?

We are told, "think and create like a publisher." (Pulizi, Meerman Scott, Albee) What does this really mean? Why is this necessary?

Traditionally, business content creation occurred in a centralized, marketing directed, professional creation organization and process. Today, creation has disbursed to front line creators in the executive ranks, marketing, sales, and even channel and partner organizations. This creates new challenges and requirements. To make this a positive, efficient, contributing effort with positive results, these "new producers" require support.

Failure to provide support could result in haphazard creation efforts of poor quality content, frustrated constituents, reduced productivity, hidden costs -- in fact the risks can be significant.

Framing Questions

Here are questions that will help your team, and your management, understand what's at stake by continuing to pursue a process of "random acts of content." (IDG)

• How do people throughout your organization know what content to build next? Why it should be created? How it will be use? Does the reason meet a set of defined criteria?
• How do you enable anyone to create content without becoming a domain expert, having to figure out what to say, or how to say it (right down to desired phrases or glossary terms)?
• How do you avoid turning your subject experts into content creators?
• How do you preserve message, brand and quality standards while enabling messages to be quickly converted into effective content?
• How to you insure efficient and optimum acquisition of subject expert insights as source input to content creation efforts?
• How do you lower the cost (time, effort and dollars) of content creation, especially over time, as requirements drive up content volumes?

Marketing and Sales Content Strategy

Most people embrace the notion we need to deliver the right content, to the right people, at the right time, in their preferred format.

This begs the question, how do we create the right content, so it is available the instant it is needed and can be made relevant to all the people we address? How do we deploy content so anyone in the organization's "communication ecosystem" can access, tailor and deliver content at the right time, in audience preferred formats?

Without a defined and documented plan of action, organizations risk inaction, or worse, chaotic efforts that create serious un-intended consequences due to "random acts of content."

Organizations need a content strategy, not only for the web, (Halvorson) but for broader marketing and sales purposes.

This strategy should make clear the content creation priorities needed to fill key marketing and sales content gaps. It should inform and guide acquisition of insights from important subject experts who provide source content. The result would be a defined plan for sanctioned content priorities, supported by an acquisition and creation calendar.

Total Cost of Content Model

We need to move beyond justifying the direct costs of a "point production" project. We need a model that illuminates the "total cost of content" across the organization, and measures the "total value of content" from each project.

This thinking will lead to a new process that yields:

• Lower development time and effort --especially on subject experts -- and faster content time to market
• Content created for multiple (not single) purposes
• Source content assets that can be used for other content creation purposes, as well as re-usable, modular content
• Content that can be tailored for different audiences, purposes, sub-issues, buying stages, consumption lengths (scan and read)

Questions that Guide Your Organization

Has your organization embraced content marketing principles that encourage relevant, customer education oriented over vendor, product and service oriented content?

Have you developed a marketing and sales content strategy, defined your customer's buying process and the questions they must answer to buy your products or services?

Have you conducted a content inventory, assessed how well your content supports your new requirements and made sure it is in the customer voice not the vendor voice?

Have you mapped your content to your customer's buying process by persona, sub-issue, stage, alternative solutions (your competition) as well as to your sales processes -- and identified critical content gaps?

I agree, this can be a daunting task, especially without a good, defined and documented strategy that clarifies specific plans, priorities, policies, processes, procedures and standards. Leaving it up to individuals or groups is both inefficient and ineffective.

Perhaps this is a good point to invoke Albert Einstein's famous quotation:

"The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."

Lead Nurturing and the Inside Sales / Telesales Role

We are working with several clients to help them improve their lead nurturing program to deliver a higher volume and quality of sales ready leads to the outside sales team.

We have found a tendency on the part of Inside Sales to conduct their work from what I would term a traditional mindset. In many cases they are actively prospecting for new leads from an unqualified list. They may be qualifying, using a BANT process, opportunities that have been created through marketing programs -- something one of my partners refers to as "waterboarding to BANT." Or, they are actively trying to set appointments for sales reps.

Telemarketing Study Results

This assessment was verified in a recent article about a study of the top objectives and budget areas for telemarketing organizations.

"The most popular objective for telemarketing, according to the research, is 'generating new leads', selected by 76 per cent of respondents, followed closely by 'booking sales appointments', selected by 72 per cent. 'Lead qualification' was third most popular, cited by 67 per cent. These findings confirm that the primary role of telemarketing is in the so-called demand generation arena."

Maybe it's assumed that nurturing is part of "lead qualification." But I've found that clear language distinctions are critical in setting the right mindset and expectations for any operations role. We call this the "come from."

The "come from" for lead qualification (and certainly appointment setting) is primarily a vendor perspective -- when will you be ready to talk with a sales rep? I think the "come from" for lead nurturing is very different. It takes the buyer's perspective, based upon what is interesting to them.

I posted this question in the Focus Sales website:

“What are the key elements for a lead nurturing function with an inside sales organization?”

I received an excellent, thoughtful response from Craig Rosenberg who makes several excellent observations, especially about the limitation of an automated only process for lead nurturing.

"There are a couple ways to think about Inside Sales in the lead nurturing process. The most important factor everyone must know is that you cannot downplay the critical function that inside sales plays in the lead management process. So when you ask for specific elements that inside sales provides in the lead nurturing process, the lead qualification function is the most important thing. It just is. The inside lead qualification function is the last mile of lead nurturing. They ensure that all your lead nurturing efforts are a fit for sales and queue them up so sales is more likely to follow up on them. Your lead management plan will not reach it's full potential if the plan is to use automation to nurture, score leads, and then flip them to quota-carrying reps. Inside sales, the age-old lead qualification function, is still the bridge between marketing efforts and sales."

He then goes on to suggest how important the phone is as a nurturing and cultivation channel, a way to score leads with greater accuracy and refinement, and a way to deliver more relevant content.

In our work with customers, we're seeing generally weak nurturing due mainly to a poor "come from" and lack of a good supporting program. We are NOT a telesales operations or consulting company. We're just trying to improve the handling of leads we help generate and nurture with automated methods. We also want inside sales to do a better job using the content we create, to nurture.

Telesales Nurturing Program

To correct this, we have recommended and implemented the following practices which we organize in the following categories:

• Stage definitions
• Objectives for each stage
• Come from
• Approach
• Specific techniques
• Next steps

We have documented our program far beyond what I have space and time for here. To receive the full program to support telesales nurturing click here (small registration required).

Stage Definitions

Three stages of the buyer and the relationship with the inside sales professional" -- and primary objectives by stage

• Engage to establish a trusted relationship
• Educate and Nurture to create and accelerate opportunities
• Learn, Qualify and Document the details of the opportunity pre-sales

Examples below are for Stage One -- Engage

Come-from
The "come from" is changed from a traditional, sales oriented "I'm calling to see where you are as a potential buyer and what I have to do to get you to speak with one of my sales reps" to a buyer relevant "I'm here to serve and help you personally and professionally by providing valuable information, saving time, sharing insights, to make you successful."

Approach
Approach is the tact the professional takes that creates a visceral feeling on the part of the buyer relative to the intent. Something like, be curious to be helpful, think from the buyer's perspective in your conversations with them and, ask "Buying Facilitation (R)" questions (nod to Sharon Drew Morgen).

Specific Techniques
Specific techniques for the Engage stage include:

• Using tools we provide from our Content Frameworks that guide purpose and messaging in customer conversations
• Ask open ended, thought-provoking questions
• Ask "buying facilitation" questions
• Listen for … (problem symptoms, triggger points, pain, confusion, possible opportunity,)
• Use and share content

Next Steps
Next steps include:

• Gain commitment
• Send content
• Setup next conversation

Effective lead nurturing won't happen naturally. It requires a program that creates the right expectations, structure, tools, mindset, reviews, measures, training and support.

I completely agree with Craig, the effectiveness of the personal touch of a phone conversation goes far beyond automated lead nurturing. Without an effective lead nurturing function, along with lead generation and qualification, an organization risks missing key opportunities, handing over premature opportunities, or even being late in turning over important leads to sales.

What do you think, is lead nurturing an important distinction from lead qualifying that makes a difference, or does it happen automatically? What have been your experiences?