Why Are You A Marketing & Sales Trainer?

Without marketing, there are no sales & without sales, there is no need for marketing.

When I go into businesses and train they ask me why do we need are sales people here? I thought you were training our marketing department, yes I am however if your sales people don't know what your marketing team is doing, there is a total disconnect. When the communication is lacking between sales and marketing your business is absolutely losing money no question, it's guaranteed.

Salesforce.com states that only 8% of companies combine their sales and marketing teams together, no wonder these business owners think I'm a little crazy.  When you merge your teams together and marketing listens to the needs of the sales professionals and clients amazing things start to happen within the company. 

When I set up my consultation, I want to meet with sales manager & marketing managers, this immediately scares the business owner.  Only a handful of trainers do this and it well, I trained in sales first &  then marketing became my passion because I needed bodies to sell too.  So well I realized how many companies out in the world were not merging their sales and marketing teams together, I couldn't believe my eyes.  Research after research showed me theses statistics look at Salesforce, understanding this is what made me unique in my training.  Communication is King!

I have turned away so many companies that are looking for immediate results but are not willing to merge these two branches of their company together.  It's peculiar to me, I am not asking for them to sit together just weekly meetings or basic understanding of each other needs and wants to grow.  The sales professional are usually on board as well as the marketing team, here is where it gets good it's the manager's, directors, and the VP's they are the problem.  My suggestion is to get over it already if you're not growing, you're dying. 

One of that last consultation I was with the director's of sales & marketing and I invited the CEO, who was reluctant but he hired me, so he came.  I had already spoke with the marketing team and the sales team and was ready to present my suggestion. When the four of us were in the board room and I showed my plan the CEO was thrilled.  The two directors decided I had know idea what I was talking about, this could never work we are separate entities.  My answered stunned them, I said and you can stay that way and exactly where you are it is no problem, however, I here to help your company to grow.

 Here is what happened throughout this process one person understood how imperative it was for the sales and marketing teams to work together.  This woman had great ideas and a solution thinker, and really supportive and seemed to be well liked in the company.  I suggested to the CEO that he may want a coordinator to bring the two directors together and slowly merge them together.  The CEO said what a great idea, I brought up the woman and stated she seemed like a good fit as a go-between.  The directors seem to both like her and stated, this does make sense and we want to grow, let's discuss it further.  

When I did the follow-up with the four of them, I found out that the CEO named the woman, Director of sales and marketing overseeing the both of them.  Amazing, understand I only give suggestion and guidelines to help them in getting a better ROI.  Here is the best part they were all happy, which surprised me because she was new to the company and had no formal college degree.  The sales team increased sales by 18% and the marketing team decreased the lead cost per acquisition.  Work together as a team, read this article below & learn more.  Contact me to work with your company. 

End the cultural differences between your sales and marketing teams.

   Harvard Business Review -  Ending the War Between Sales and Marketing

Creative - Solution Thinking

Creative - Solution Thinking

Have you caught yourself saying that there could be no other solution to a problem and that that problem leads to a dead end? How often have you felt stumped knowing that the problem laying before you is one you cannot solve. 

Did it feel like you had exhausted all possible options? When encountering such enormous problems, you may feel like you're hammering against a steel wall. The pressure of having to solve such a big problem may be overwhelming.

With some creative problem-solving techniques you may be able to look at your problem in a different way. The light might just be the end of the tunnel that leads to possible solutions.

First of all, in the light of creative problem-solving, you must be open-minded to the fact that there may be more than just one solution to a problem. You must be open-minded to the fact that there may be solutions to problems you thought were unsolvable.

Be optimistic, with an optimistic mindset, we can be more creative in solving our problems.

1. The possible reason we cannot solve our problems is that we have not really taken a hard look at what the problem is. Try to understand the problem and have a concrete understanding of why it's a problem. If you know how it works, what the problem is, then you have a better understanding to solving the problem.

2. Try to take note of all of the constraints and assumptions you have of the problem. Sometimes it is these assumptions that obstruct our view of possible solutions, you have to identify which assumptions are valid, in which assumptions need to be addressed.

3. Try to solve the problem in smaller parts. Solve it going from general view towards the most detailed parts of the problem.  Write down the question, and then come up with a one-sentence solution, for them. The solution should be a general statement of what will solve the problem, from here you can develop the solution further, and increase its complexity one step at a time.

4. It will help to have critical thinking aboard as you solve a problem, you must also keep a creative, analytical voice at the back of your head. When someone comes up with a prospective solution, try to think how you could make that solution work. Try to be creative and at the same time, look for the usefulness of that solution.

5.  Remember that there may be more than just one solution being developed at one time. Try to keep track of all the solutions as they develop. There could be more than just one solution to a problem.

6.  Don't be stubborn " two heads are better than one." That one is truer than it sounds. Be open to new ideas,  you can only benefit from listening to all the ideas each person has. This is especially true when the person you're talking to has had experience solving problems similar to yours.

You don't have to be a solo hero to solve the problem. If you can organize collective thought on the subject, it would be much better. Ask for help, it's a strength, not a weakness.

7.   As long as you persevere, there is always a chance that a solution will present itself. Remember that no one was able to create an invention the first time around, be patient.

Creative thinking exercises could also help you in your quest be a more creative problems solver. 

Take a piece of paper and write any word that comes to mind in the center. Look at that word, then write the first two words that come to your mind. This can go on until you can build a bunch of related words. 

The solution could be staring you in the face. All it takes is creative thinking, some planning, and some work.

Niche Marketing, How To Pick The Right Niche For You.

Niche Marketing, How To Pick The Right Niche For You.

Choosing a good niche subject to base your Blog around is one of the most important aspects of monetizing. This will give you a foundation. Build from here, target one general audience with a pack of keywords that they are most likely to be searching for. You could take each one of your keywords and use it on the basis of one article on each page. This way, even though you are targeting one specific area, you will be able to interest a wider variety of people within that niche. Add links to other pages that are within your niche that may interest them, which will keep them returning to your site to learn new information about your subject.

The best way to find keywords for your niche subject is to use a Google keyword program and type in the word that is the subject of your niche. This will assist you to generate a list of keywords or phrases that contain your niche. It should show you approximately how many people search for each word or phrase. Google offers a lot of analytics to tell you how many sites are available and you may be competing with for each keyword or phrase (this will help you know if those sites are worth competing with for the number of searches out there). Make sure your topic or niche is something that you are passionate about, that passion will be obvious to others.

You must decide which of these would be most profitable by determining which have the least amount of competitors, so that you have a chance to be found in search engine results, but that also have a decent amount of people looking for your niche each month. These will be the keywords or phrases that you will base the pages of your niche blog. Understanding that competition is a good thing, it means people are searching your niche topic, as long as you are adding fresh new content daily, you will do well.

If there are a number of topics that you like, pick the one that you feel would be easiest to start with and then, once that blog is built and generating income or traffic, you can start another site. The most profitable blog, website, and Facebook marketers, who use their talent of finding niches and combining that with good site content and a handful of affiliate links, have a good amount of passion about the topic or niche that they have started. You are never limited in what you can do with niche marketing unless you do not believe that you have the marketing and skills, belief in yourself. Make it happen, the potential is limitless!

Do Your Own Blog...

Do Your Own Blog...

When you are trying to monetize and create a following, you will need a good, simple, and easy to navigate website to put them on, I suggest Blogger.com. There are two ways that you may be able to accomplish this: You could do it yourself whether you have any web design skills or not, learn some basics or hire someone else to do it, however, if you don't know the basics, you will not know how to hire the right person.

Doing it yourself, unless you are a professional, to begin it could be difficult for some, follow the blogger tutorials. You will need to read some tutorials and it may take some time to get going. You could also risk having a site that looks bad, no worries, it's all fixable. It is also important (for visitors and search engines) that your site is easy to navigate, which may be a problem if you do not know what you are doing.  Learn the basics, you will not know how to hire the right person.

Making a Do It Yourself website can be hard, so use blogger.com and other people's articles (like NY times or major news sources), make sure you give the link and the author's name DO NOT COPYWRITE, FAIR_USE_Act.  When you accomplish your goal, maybe you will learn so much that you could make new niche sites for other's and get paid!

How is your business selling to the holiday shoppers in 2016?

How is your business selling to the holiday shoppers in 2016?

Fabulous, the holiday's are upon us.  If you sell products or service what are you doing to market to the holiday shoppers? Digital shopping is expected to increase 25% according to PwC's report.  Your customer or client is getting slammed with holiday sales & black Friday deals, so how do stand out? 

First and foremost we all search on ur phones and tablets, but we do not purchase. Then they are either going to the store or going to their computer to purchase. So please make sure that the mobile ads you are running are browser friendly and not pushing buy now, knowing they most likely will purchase differently.  Make it easy for them to save a picture or list of the top 5 or so items you find to be great holiday gifts.  

Do some research on what people may be searching for this year's gifts, be different, unique is good. Know your current customer base and offer a discount for a particular item or service, gift certificates are always a good idea.  Have your team's input on ideas remember someone quietly sitting in the corner may have a brilliant idea, listen carefully.

When it comes to the holidays make sure you are not missing out!  Do not be afraid to spend money on PPC ads on different platforms depending on your products and services you offer.  Keywords around holidays phrases and ideas, like Christmas, Santa, Rudolph, Hannukah think of your favorite holiday memories.  Have fun with your marketing if you are having fun then the end user will feel that as well, don't be afraid of being you and showing it in your ads.   Make sure you have your ads targeted for remarketing to get the biggest bang for your buck!

Understanding the SMM side of things live videos of your office short

 and sweet, showing your staff decorating or secret Santa silliness.  Remember you can get away with more around the holidays, be professional & kind, but have fun! Every business should be doing some sort of charitable drive whether it be Food, toys for tots or whatever your passion might be.  If people are able to work with and buy from a company that gives back, so make it public that people can come by and drop off donations or a portion of the service they purchase will go to a charity.

Jeanne Zierhoffer

Get a consultation for your business, make sure you are 

positioned correctly to get the holiday shoppers you deserve.

How Social Media May Boost Your Website

How Social Media May Boost Your Website:

My client's ask me all the time if social media is as important as everyone seems to think it is.  I laugh at this because google analytics will show you exactly how important it is to help drive traffic to your website, with the correct plan in place.

Planning is the key to success! I just finished reading and studying an article published in MOZ, which states that "Social Media indirectly influences website performance in Google."  She also states that SMM blogs perform in organic search results better that SEO blogs.  Social Media for local businesses in a target geographical area can create huge momentum for their business when done correctly with a well-targeted social media plan in place.  

When using social media referral marketing is one of the strongest tools you can implement to drive traffic to your website.  The great news is it is all trackable in Google analytics.  Posting to post is not the answer either, understand what you are trying to accomplish & what type of ROI you are expecting to receive. This is a process and will not happen overnight, be patient and consistent. Read the article and understand as much as possible, however, hire an expert. MOZ is a great tool to have in your arsenal of tools, but an expert in Local Marketing & Social Media is your real answer

Read the MOZ article written by Alexandra Tachalova 

Being An Expert vs Hiring An Expert

I just finished reading an article on Entrepreneur.com that was discussing the 10 best skills to learn online today.  I found it interesting but a little tough to accomplish such a task each  is an expertise in itself.  When I am out speaking to small business owners and entrepreneurs those 10 things would shut them down. I am not saying they are not important however for a small business owner to tackle such a daunting list, could be overwhelming.

Everything he has written about in this article is a learnable skill set, I agree, however, if you are becoming an expert in all these fields you won't be growing your business.  I believe in having an understanding how each one of these works is a huge advantage. That way when you are discussing your plan with each expert, you will have an idea if they know what they are talking about. Hire a team of experts to handle each one of these daunting tasks and have a plan for each of these specialized fields. I have a team of specialized people that are well versed in all of these fields.  

However, two things he  discusses I believe all business owners and entrepreneurs have to know is Analytics and Human Behavior if you do not have a handle on these two topics you are sunk.  First one is analytics, you must understand how to analyze your business meaning, your website utilizing google analytics (the basics) knowing how people are getting to your website.  

More importantly running a business requires you to manage people, whether it's just you or not , you will need to manage yourself, so understanding your own behavior is key.  You will probably be required to sell something even if it's just selling you, so to speak.  if you don't know how to sell you are sunk, Robert Kiyosaki says "the number one skill set in business is the ability to SELL."  Learning the art of selling is the most important skill set, it is a must for any business owner or entrepreneurs.  

Click to read full article on Entrepreneur:  R.L. ADAMS 
ENTREPRENEUR, SOFTWARE ENGINEER, AUTHOR, BLOGGER AND FOUNDER OF wANDERLUSTWORKER.COM

JZ LifeStyle Team thoughts on Andrew Hutchinson's 2017 Predictions

JZ LifeStyle Team thoughts on Andrew Hutchinson's 2017 Predictions:

Social Media has been in an upward swing and a great way to market in the most recent years. However, most small businesses and entrepreneurs, do not have a plan laid out properly, so they may be using social media, but in effectively.  Some companies outsource their social media, but still no plan or budget in place for it just winging it, more on this later.

Andrew has some great insights on where social media is going in 2017,  be ready Charlotte NC!

As we all know FB live is the greatest ever and underutilized at this point, by many small businesses in Charlotte NC. I share a lot of other people's articles so that my clients need not take my word for it, here is another's opinion.  Andrew writes about FB live which is growing like crazy, but is it an advertising platform for all businesses?  That's what I get asked all the time and the answer is YES!  Get a plan together and take action!

 

Andrew also stated in his article & I have researched this as well the virtual/360 being a big hit in 2017.  This will be an added expense to user's so in my opinion, it will not explode as fast as FB live. The TV plugin is also going to be rolled out even bigger and better.  We will also be seeing a movement in picture recognition, I had been working with a local landscape company here in Charlotte, I have been telling them that pictures, pictures, and more pictures, future customers will soon be able to click a picture and buy it!  Be ahead of what's coming.

With all the features and choices with social media, what do you do? All of it and repeat!  

Start with the basics Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram then expand from there, have a plan ask a local expert in your area.  Please use caution, most social media people just post no rhyme or reason random with no plan in place you will not get the results!

Andrew's article is full of great information.  Everything is trackable social media done correctly will explode any business, stay ahead of the game and start implementing it in your marketing plan.

Read Andrew's full article here: 24 Predictions for Social Media in 2017 on Social Media Today

Small Businesses are not taking advantage of social media...

Small Businesses are not taking advantage of social media...

In the UK as well as in the United States for some reason, small businesses have not caught on to the power of social media or they are doing it wrong.  

Sara Oberst, VP of marketing at Manta commented 

"There is no denying that Instagram is highly popular among today's consumers. With over 500 million monthly viewers on Instagram, small businesses have a unique opportunity to capture new customers. But as our poll found, small business owners aren’t taking full advantage of Instagram for business use – only 24 percent of small business owners actively use Instagram in their social media marketing.”

What I have found amongst the small business owner is that they just post stuff, there is no plan of action put into place for what they are trying to accomplish, whether it's branding, acquiring new customers/clients or to keep their existing customers/clients base informed. Put together a business plan for social media platforms only, what is your business's end game and what results are you trying to accomplish using social media.

The article was based on small businesses in the U.K., however, I find it relevant to what is happening in the local Charlotte NC marketing plans for small businesses I speak with.

Read the full article here: Small Business Owners - UK.  Business Matters - U.K.'s leading small business magazine, however, this is relevant in Charlotte NC.

Interesting Article About Facebook Live & Snapchat...

Interesting article about implementing Facebook live & Snapchat in your social media marketing.  I am finding that small business owners are having a little anxiety over this.  First and foremost, stop and breathe this is not the red carpet & it will not require you to take acting lessons.  The businesses I have been working with me, hear me say all the time people do business with people.  Put yourself out there be honest and act with integrity and the customers will come.

I agree with the article please make a plan and build on each live chat/video.  If you just get on, just to do it, without a plan it could absolutely backfire on your business.  What I am not seeing in this article is that when you are live please acknowledge who jumps on with you live, take a moment to let that sit.

Engaging with your live viewers will also take time so that you have quick decisive messages and thank your customers/clients and followers, without them, you have no business.

Below I have posted some great pointers from this article:

"When creating custom geofilters for Snapchat:

• Make sure you put in your request six weeks ahead of your event date because approval is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• Get the maximum usage length of 30 days.

• Ensure that it’s a PNG file with a transparent background, a width of 1080 pixels, and a height of 1920 pixels. 80% of custom geofilters for businesses are disapproved because they aren’t transparent."  Search Engine Journal
• Here is the link to the full article in - Search Engine Journal-https://www.searchenginejournal.com

As always remember to suck every bit of life out of all your content, as my customers know, we turn video into podcasts and articles, we post our content everywhere on all of our platforms, this is easily done through the right training or software.

Remember, if you are not having fun, you are doing it wrong!

Veterans Day - A mere Thank you, doesn't seem good enough!

Veterans Day - A mere Thank you doesn't seem good enough!

Thank you for your service & your sacrifice 
for my families freedom. 

 I do not take freedom for granted and thank Veterans and service members every day when I see a service member or a veteran,  I reach out my hand to shake their hand, just to say, Thank you with gratitude in my heart & eyes.  I have embarrassed a few younger service members, that asked me why are you thanking me for doing my job?  

My answer is because thanking you is my job!

How To Use Share To Drive Traffic Today

How To Use Share To Drive Traffic Today

More and more webmasters have the recurring dilemma on how to increase the flow of traffic in their client's websites. During the past few years many methods that have been developed to solve this predicament. While most of them would work there are those that would not make even a small impact. Jeanne Zierhoffer at JZ LifeStyle Team understands how to efficiently target your local market and ideal client or customer. 

One of the methods that have spawned many success stories in driving traffic to your websites is viral marketing. Viral marketing makes use of the tendency of a person to share something to find informative, entertaining or amazing. 

Many companies bank on this behavior to increase the popularity of their companies website. Viral marketing makes use of many mediums in enticing this behavior. It might be in the form of an interesting story, an addicting flash game, an amusing video and many others that may catch a person’s fancy.

This ingenious form of marketing is typically low cost and is a wonderful tool for any company to utilize. The benefit greatly overshadows the cost or efforts to initialize this marketing scheme. Any website would greatly benefit with Jeanne Zierhoffer's viral marketing.

One of the easiest methods in viral marketing is using the share on social media. This is a simple way that you can attach to the programming of your website. Generally, share with a friend on social media are installed in pages where media is placed so that a person can easily share the media to any friends or fans.

Then the process can be repeated over & over again. As more people share the media with friends & fans, more and more people will know of the existence of your companies website. People who read the ads who liked your page will click on the link and visit your  website. This drives traffic to your website resulting in a greater number of potential customers.

In the search results page, you will see many links that will direct you to a site where you can tell a friend or share. It would just be a simple matter of looking for your ideal client or customer.

With share viral marketing strategy you can drive traffic to your site which could potentially spell profits. This is a simple harmless script that offers great benefits for low cost paired with great creativity and foresight.

It is imperative that you have patience in using a with a friend script or fan. If your chosen media doesn’t get the mileage that is expected of it, it may take some time before it gets spread or shared. But surely many people will see your ads and there is a greater probability that they will visit your website increasing your traffic flow.