This week and dear friend of mine, Becky, passed away after a battle with cancer. She was a friend, advisor, mother, daughter, real estate agent and an inspiration for all around her. She gave her heart to all that she did.

I knew her first as a friend, then an inspiration and then a life advisor. I never employed her as a real estate agent, but know her love of people and care for their lives is what spurned her business. People come back to what they trust and people they respect. That is what she created in all aspects of her life. Becky showed up as herself, in all her roles. There did not seem to be a difference between her professional persona and that of her home life. I am grateful to have such a role model.

I know for myself, I often show the professional, the all together, business person. In the last decade I have strived to be just the person, whatever name that seems to get attached to me: Camberley - Cammie and sometimes CB. Hopefully, I too can follow in Becky’s footsteps of trust, respect and inspiration.

Peace…

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I started a series on the channel which has been posted at  The Examiner on the B2B Marketing page.  Well received.  So here are the links to the 4 that have been posted.

Part I: So you want to get into the channel:  An approach to laying out a strategy and the questions you need to ask.

Part II: Is your company channel ready? This outlines what it means to be channel ready from product packaging, pricing, customer support, sales, etc.

Part III: We’ve signed a partner to sell, now what? Tips and techniques for getting the channel up and running fast

Part IV: The channel and sales compensation:  The strategies and pitfalls of compensation.  How to avoid conflict (or create it if that is what you want).

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In every great story the overall theme is reiterated in almost every scene. The Wizard of OZ - “No place like home.”  Godfather - “You can never escape your past.”   Princess Bride -”True love is never easy.”  

 And my favorite The Terminator - ‘Changing the outcome of the future” 

In the movie analogy, the theme stays the same, but the scenes alter to reiterate the message. In the Terminator, the cyborg was sent to eliminate John Connor and alter the future. Sara and John Connor both pursue efforts to stop Skynet and alter the future.  The Terminator is sent back to protect John and the future of humans.  Over and over again, the future is being saved. How do you stay to the core of your value and be flexible with circumstances?  

In communicating to businesses, we have to take into account the various scenes (people, priorities, objectives) of the situation.  I may have the same points, but need to alter how it is presented when I am talking to the CEO, CFO or systems administrator.  If my theme cannnot carry through to all parties I am selling to, then I am probably selling too many features and not tying back to the business.  Or worse, I am not relating to the person I am talking to. When I say relating, I mean I understand the problems and pains that person is facing.  A CFO probably does not care how your product works.  What they care about is how you are going to generate real revenue or save them hard cash.  Your systems administrator probably can’t relate to generating revenue, rather how is his life going to be simplify, easier in the face of more work, less people.

We have heard the adage that marketing is all about repetition, and that when we are sick of the ‘message,’ only about 10% of the people have heard the story. Maybe not even that many. So how do you keep repeating, but not cause your story to meander and confuse people?  Your main theme (do you know what that is?), does not alter. What does change is the how you communicate.  Granted, there are times when the theme and even product does need to be re-visited.  For instance, if I was creating a disaster movie in the fall of 2001, I probably had to re-think how it would be recieved given 9-11.  At that point I am faced with re-tooling.

So, if you are using the same presentation, marketing materials without taking into account your scene has changed you might find  your efforts to change the future are thwarted.  My theme is value conversation.  I want to make sure what you say is worth something to the person you are talking to….

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The last few weeks I’ve  heard from many companies that sales are stuck.  People aren’t signing.  Deals just sit there.  Then I talk to a few others and hear how business is in growing 50% year over year.  Customers are looking at new ways of doing things.  There is money out there.  What gives?

I was reminded of a quote from Lincoln, “Public Sentinment is Everything.”   Meaning, to get things done it is not necessarily the best policy, widget or market force, but rather the ability to reach people and businesses where they feel the most pain or anticipate real opportunity.  

As an example last spring we were all freaked out about paying $4.00 a gallon for gas and the cost of energy.  Those that moved fast enough were able to capitalize on how they could relieve this pain. Now it is the economy, making budgets and just maintaining the business that’s painful. Does that mean we change the what we offer?  Yes and no.  The basic value for most products is still there, but circumstances of our customer changes.  So someone’s green product is still relevant, but only if they have related it to the greater issue of revenue and overall cost cutting in this current budget cycle.  This gets back to creating conversation and knowing the pains of the customer.

To get unstuck, the successful companies have altered how they sell.   They’ve tied into hard dollars, cold cash, making budgets being more efficient and tuning these for real customer impact.   If your selling approach hasn’t adjusted, you are probably stuck.   More than likely, your top sales people have re- invented  a message and tools of their own for each customer.  They are succeeding and closing business.  The middle performers are probably struggling as they are not as creative.  It is up to the leadership to get the messaging, tools and adjust the sales process to get un-stuck in this market.

For some you will need to alter What you are selling.  Again the basic value prop does not change, but more than likely how its packaged has to change.  If you haven’t re-examined what your customers can buy or how they can buy, you are probably stuck.  They have different sentiments on what they can afford and how they can afford it.

Unsticking in this market takes work.  What you say, how you say and how you demonstrate it is no small task, but those that have adjusted are being successful.

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WOW!  Lots of ideas and concepts on Value and creating conversation.  One of the more profound statements came from not one of the technologists or a marketing person, but a United Airlines flight attendent. (Ok I fly a lot, but this is a road biker friend).  It was that marketing was about bringing ”life and meaning to things that are concepts, ideas or inanimate objects.  We are responsible for making them real and meaningful.”  Yep, we can do that with marketing events, but there is more.

I would contend the company, not just marketing is responsible for making the product real and meaningful.  But as marketing, we can have the vision to what conversations are realy about. What we do on a day to day basis sets the tone for how people relate.  Take this as an example.  Some of you know that within 2 days of my first my blog got hijacked. (nasty little critters). Ok, my conversation turned to my web person (hardening the code) and also the hosting site (reset of everything). My feeling (warm and fuzzy or cold and prickly), was based on response and attitude to what it took to get back up and running.  The speed of response, the thoroughness of the discussion and the geniune concern is what either enhanced or decreased opinions.  There really was no middle ground.

So now I am either a proponent or skeptic of the service. HMMMM - guess I could be a reference???

So this is where two things come to really play.  How are you managing the customer interactions and how can you use social media to enhance and communicate?  A post on a Corporate Facebook? Wow, that could be scary if you mess up. Or fabulous if it was great. It takes work and focus to get it going and keep it going.  Then there is the internal team social media - (think internal Twitter, or take a look at Newsgator which as Social Media tools for internal use).  If you are a larger or even small company, do you know about these events?  What can you do with them? 

If the most powerful marketing tool you have is not what the press, your copy or analysts say about your  product or company, but what real customers and situations say about you, how do you capture the day to day excitement they have and translate it to something usable by sales, on your web or your enthusiasts. (Oh don’t forget, the press and analysts love what customers say!!!).  In fact, some like Carolyn Dicenzo at Gartner almost refuse to review a product until she has had adequate face time with customers.  Go Carolyn! 

So lastly, want to say thanks to Karen Roberts at Mountain Coast Design for dropping all and getting stuff back up and running.

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