LA2M - Lunch Ann Arbor Marketing

Selling for Designers and Developers October 15, 2008

About Declan ONeill• I am a Regional Account Manager with 352 Media Group.

• I moved to the US 3 years ago from Ireland.

• I started in the web industry 12 years ago as a developer.– I was terrible, PERL was not my friend, and I was smart enough to know it.

• I have been selling for 11.5 years.– What I do is a passion, not a job, because for 11.5 years my main hobby has been web design and related

technologies

“I am not a sales expert and will I never claim to be. I have, however, made millions of dollars / Euros for the companies I have worked with during my career. I have remained an apprentice of business development and take what I do very seriously.”

“I have my own way of selling that works for me. I try to associate myself with smart people who can teach me and help me improve upon what I do.”

“Someone called me ‘Altruistic’ 1 (I didn’t know its meaning) for those in the same boat as I am -- “unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others.” I try to go above and beyond for all my clients to ensure their experience is stellar.”

“I treat every client as if he or she is a client for life and do what it takes to keep clients coming back.”

Source1: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/altruistic

“ This may mean stepping out of your comfort zone or battling against colleagues or management to make sure clients’ needs are met at an acceptable level.”

“This may mean working late nights or on weekends. Bottom line--you get out of sales what you put into it; do little work and you will get little reward”.

Look the part, try to dress better or equal to your client.– Get a nice suit, tie (if applicable), shoes, etc.– Make sure your hair and nails are tidy and you are clean shaven (if

applicable).– Get a nice pen, folder, and stationary for client meetings.– Arrive on time, get a GPS, and power converters for your car.– Make sure you have a working presentation before arriving at a client

meeting as internet connections are not always available.

Firstly, there are a few givens when selling

Why should a client buy from you?Clients buy from you because they like you and your company and they choose you because you made them feel special. If you can satisfy a client’s tangible needs (satisfied directly by your product or service) and intangible needs (something subjective, something that exists in the customer's head i.e. their emotional needs), you are more than 90% the way to winning that client’s business.

There are different types of personality

Understand your clients personality, • Will they be easy to work with?• Will your team members have any easy time working with the

client?• Are they asking for discounts, before the work begins.• Are they promising you more work for a better deal now.• Are you getting a bad feeling?

Know how to deal with Personality types

• Do not be afraid to fire problem clients. (only after you have tried everything to solve his or her issues.)

• Alert your team that the customer will be easy or hard to deal with.

• Address any issues upfront, like how they would like communication, any deadlines, or any budget issues, or change orders etc.

Sometimes it ok to say NO

Do not be afraid to say no to work, if you do not have the bandwidth to take the work on, this will have a domino affect within your firm.

The new client will not be happy because of the length of time it takes to complete the project and other clients will get annoyed because you are not given them the attention they deserve.

Lead Generation• Web Site Leads Search Engine• Cold Call Mixers / Networking Lunches• Word of Mouth Golf Course• Referral Friend / Family• By Chance Ad Words• Phone Book Linked In• Quote Catcher Facebook• Vendor Seek Other Sources

Make it easy for prospects to find information• Tell people what you have done• Make it easy to find your portfolio• Tell them about your awards and provide client testimonials.• Show them your client list and allow them to see that similar companies are also

your clients.• Show off your work.• Show your services, don’t make it a guessing game

How I deal with leadsNote: this works for me and may not be the right solution for you.

I give each lead I receive a rating between 1 and 10. 1: I am not wasting my time.

10: This is going to look great in our portfolio when I win it.

Example of a lead rated 1-3:User contacts me but doesn’t leave his/her last name or phone number but provides a hotmail address. The client’s requirements are: “I need a website” or “I want a ‘You Tube’ type site” and the client has a $500 budget. I contact each one but don’t lose any sleep when they don’t contact me.

Example of a lead rated 7-10:User contacts me and he/she is from well-known company. The client has a very detailed RFQ/RFP, is in need of a custom website, and understands the costs involved (including associated costs such as hosting, SEM, etc.

The tricky onesLeads rated 4-6 are tricky, and this is where networking plays a major role.

4 – 6 are realistic leads, but sometimes they looking for .PHP or some sort of open source application. These leads don’t have the budget to pay for the project and are, sometimes, seeking SEO, SEM, or copywriting.

Solution: pass these leads on to other vendors (3.7 designs gets all of my smaller design leads, Ingenex Digital Marketing gets all of my copywriting leads and smaller SEO.

Referral business is a great way to increase sales--right now, hand your business card to the person next to you and ask them for a referral.

Proposals“So many times other companies just list their rate and a one sentence explanation

for the cost. When you are asking for $50-150k, this does not cut the mustard.”This is a quote from my boss--I love it because it is true. Tell the customer what you are offering but, more importantly, tell them what they

are not getting, so there is no gray area.

“I think that it has to do with the fact that we explain the process, the features, and expectations for the project based on what we learn before we write it. This produces proposals that are more thoughtful and succinct”.

This is a quote from our Tampa-based account manager. Ask all the right questions and get to know what the clients’ needs are by asking open-ended, probing questions. You cannot provide the right solution if you don’t know what the customers’ needs are.

Follow up with the clientPick up the phone—e-mailing to follow up with a client is a pet hate (I do it, but

only with clients that I know are not ready to purchase. I want to let them know that I am still thinking about them and I am still here when they need me.)

Emailing is so impersonal, it doesn’t allow you to build a relationship and get to understand your client and their needs/personality.

I partly credit my success to my lack of typing and grammar skills, because I know that picking up the phone is going to be 100 times quicker than writing a long e-mail that I will have to triple check for errors before releasing it to the client.

Have the right tools for the jobIf you need something to make your job easier (like a piece of software, a faster computer, email/internet on your phone, 2 screens, a nice desk, a comfortable chair) make sure you get them. If your company will not purchase these things for you, purchase them with your own money and call it “personal development” because great tools make the job easier.

Creating the right environment is so important to a person’s success. If you feel good in your workspace, you can concentrate more on selling.

Your SuccessAssociate yourself with the right people--other successful people. Stay away from people that bring you down. Get a mentor and learn from him/her.

Expose yourself to what's new--if you are not learning something new your competition is. New information is essential to your success.

Become valuable--the more valuable you become, the more the marketplace will reward you.

Become known as a resource, not a sales person--your value is linked to your knowledge and willingness to help others.

Your SuccessThe more you can solve problems, the easier path you will have to success.

Clients don’t really want facts, they want answers.

Recognize opportunity--stay alert for situations that can create opportunities.

Take responsibility for your actions, don’t blame others for your mistakes.

Learn from your mistakes--the best teacher is failure. Mistakes are experiences not to be repeated again.

Motivation Do what it takes to get motivated. For me, personally, I love getting 352 Blocks. For each sale I make that is 10K and over, I get a block. I want to build a big wall and in order to build my wall, I have to sell projects that are over 10k

I would have a small wall if I got a block for each sale, but 10k is a decent bar to shoot for.

Motivation Want to be the number 1 person in your company, albeit whatever your role.

In 2007 I was the highest grossing account manager within 352 Media Group.

Motivation Sell a solution that nobody in your company has done before.

In 2004 I sold the first ever corporate MPLS network in Ireland.

In closingIf you can’t build it, don’t sell it. If you know when speaking to a client that you cannot perform the services they require, don’t take on the job because you will get caught. You will have wasted this company’s time and money. Not to mention the bad press and negative feedback that they will pass on to everyone they know about you and your company.

Use this community of people to generate business--refer business you cannot take on to others in this room.

Thank You Learn more about 352 Media Group :

www.352media.comOur Blog: http://www.352media.com/rantingandraving/