Archives for August 2014

Social Business: Managing Relationships to Build Personal and Business Brands

This Old New Business Podcast with Jeff Korhan

This is Episode 6 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan.

Would you like to learn how to better network to achieve your personal and professional objectives? Then listen in on my conversation with Jon Ferrara.

Jon openly admits he loves to “get on his soapbox” and teach what he has learned about relationship management to help others achieve greatness.

One of the challenges for everyone these days is we have not just one, but multiple digital soapboxes – channels for connecting, having conversations, and sometimes putting together mutually beneficial business deals.

Nevertheless, it’s not every day that you have the opportunity to learn firsthand from one of the pioneers of an industry. That’s why I’m sure you’ll enjoy this high energy conversation, and also get a lot of value from it too.

Our Featured Guest: Jon Ferrara

John Ferrara has over 20 years of experience in customer relationship management (CRM) and sales force automation (SFA). An entrepreneur at heart, Jon founded Goldmine in 1989 with a college friend, which he turned into a highly successful venture that he eventually sold to FrontRange. In 2009 he founded Nimble Inc, which produces the popular Nimble Social CRM.

Business is Personal Relationships

Like many of us, Jon’s first experience with business relationship management was with bits of information on little pieces of paper.

Social Business: Managing Personal and Business Brands However, having a background in computer science, he decided to quit his job and develop a digital solution that would help businesses bring more value to their network of relationships.

After creating Goldmine, Jon had to literally build what we now know as the CRM market, also take a look at Salesforce CRM alternatives. Not surprisingly, he took advantage of relationships with channel partners that offered accounting and other software solutions, thereby helping them offer more value to their customers.

Business, and especially selling, has always been about personal relationships. As our world becomes more digital, we have to remember that, and be mindful of using technology to nurture relationships on a human level.

Managing Conversations Across Multiple Channels

After selling Goldmine, social media began to explode across multiple channels. Now the challenge is not so much making connections, but intelligently managing the opportunities they present.

In the early days of social media we were all consumed with managing our thousands of fragmented followers across multiple channels. It wasn’t long before we realized we had regressed to the days of collecting bits of information on scraps of paper. 

In this interview Jon and I discuss at length his latest venture, Nimble CRM. Nimble is a platform that is designed to smartly use the intelligence that is buried within our networks to move appropriate connections to conversations, thereby unlocking the potential business opportunities associated with them.

Personal Brands Build Business Brands

Businesses and brands are beginning to wake up to the reality that the business brand is a direct result of the personal brands associated with it, namely customers, staff, and so many other influencers.

This is a important shift that you will be hearing more about in future episodes. To be honest, it’s scary for businesses to realize they do not have complete control over their brand.

Business does come down to personal relationships. Using tools like Nimble, you can quickly learn a lot about people by walking in their digital shoes. What happens after that determines the quality of your personal brand and what you can offer to others.

Lighting Round Tips and Advice

Jon’s Top Sales or Marketing Advice – Become a trusted advisor to your prospects and customers by inspiring and educating them about how they can improve and grow their business. Teach people to fish and they will figure out that you sell fishing poles.

His Favorite Productivity Tip – Connect to people in person to sort out business issues and nurture relationships. Go beyond the surface digital interactions we’ve become so used to settling for and you will see the extra benefit it brings.

A Quote that has Inspired Jon’s Success – “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar

Key Take-Aways

  • Business has always been about personal relationships. Now it’s a digital experience that still needs to be a human experience.
  • Nimble listens to digital signals and pulls opportunities out of the stream.
  • Everyone leaves a digital footprint that speaks to their their needs and desires.
  • Learn more about Nimble Social CRM at Nimble.com and on Twitter at @nimble
  • The best way to reach Jon is on Twitter at @jon_ferrara

How to subscribe to This Old New Business podcast

Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
You can also subscribe via Stitcher.

Help us Spread the Word

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. One click on this ready-made tweet will make that super easy.

If you enjoyed this episode of This Old New Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes to leave a rating, write a review, or subscribe.   If you use Stitcher, click here to leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe.

How is your business adapting its practices to an environment where buyers have new expectations of their relationship with you?

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedInTwitterFacebook, and Google+

Communicate a Bigger Vision with Content Marketing

www.jeffkorhan.com

If your marketing could only accomplish one thing, what would it be?

Retailers would say getting buyers into the store, because that’s where they can best convert interest into favorable outcomes. If conversion happens on your website, you want your marketing to take buyers there.

Then what happens? That’s what buyers want to know.

Marketing used to open doors. Now it must communicate what happens after they are opened. Tweet this

What makes content marketing so much more powerful than traditional marketing is that it can convince people your business is the one for them.

The Internet is Your Shark Tank

The sales team used to make the first impression with new buyers. These days your content marketing and social media accomplish this, or should.

How clearly does your your online marketing communicate what your business can do for its customers?

This is not a time to be shy. A bold vision that creates big expectations is what most buyers want, as opposed to vague commentary that attempts to speak to everyone, and therefore, speaks to nobody.

The smartest marketing of all communicates the business has done its homework. It speaks to buyers in language that resonates with their worldview. It also sets expectations for what happens after they open the door.

In other words, it confidently takes a stand.

I don’t watch much television, but when I go to the gym I often catch a few minutes of the Shark Tank business reality show. Usually it is painful to watch how the “sharks” take a bite out of the wishful entrepreneurs.

They remind me of Bon Jovi’s Living On a Prayer. It’s a great song, but living on a prayer is not such a good way to launch or sustain an entrepreneurial venture. One has to be prepared, and that has to be reflected in your sales and marketing, whichever comes first.

In my former landscape business, our first physical meeting was that vital first impression. So, we not only scripted it, we rehearsed it, practiced it live, debriefed, and started all over again a little better prepared for the next one.

If you are wondering, yes, we failed a lot until we got it right.

Just as the business experts on The Shark Tank are skeptical, so are your buyers. This naturally brings a lot of anxiety to selling and marketing, especially because we all usually have just one shot at winning the confidence of a particular buyer.

So, be ready to make strong moves. Study your website and social media channels. Is your business showing up with preparedness and a fresh vision that gives your buyer confidence?

Here’s one Shark Tank entrepreneur that was ready from the very first moment. He was ready for no, and for yes. In fact, he took yes to the next level by making Mark Cuban his co-star.

For you and me, that’s our customer.

Create marketing that captures your vision for taking your customers higher than they thought possible. It starts with a vision.

Find the Solution to One Chronic Problem

Just one final thought on this topic.

Business success is often as simple as solving one little problem that a lot of people share. You probably already know what that is in your industry. It’s usually related to trust, and it prevents buyers from engaging with companies like yours.

There is no shortage of money out there for solutions that work. Find the path to it by communicating a big vision with your marketing.

 About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedInTwitterFacebook, and Google+

Photo Credit

Find Your Audience: How to Grow Sales with Digital Media

This is Episode 05 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan. Do you often wish that media experts would just share a few of their better practices so you could adapt them to your business? Then join me and Ryan Hanley as we discuss some of the techniques he successfully used as Director of […]

Read the full article

Single Serve Content for Mobile Consumers

We have previously discussed the importance of planning both the construction and deconstruction of your content. The idea is that creating great content takes time, so while you are doing that put in a little extra effort to also plan which pieces of it will be shared on, let’s say, Instagram. Content often brings to […]

Read the full article

Modern Chamber Marketing: How to Successfully Build a Digital Community

This is Episode 4 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan. Join me and Frank Kenny as we discuss how to succeed these days with digital marketing. Frank will share how he facilitates a vibrant Facebook group to build community that keeps its global membership actively engaged. You will find this interview especially interesting […]

Read the full article

What Your Business Needs to Know About Podcasting

If you think podcasting is for techies, think again. Apple started offering support for podcasts in iTunes in 2005, but as social media became more mainstream, it appeared that video would rule the world. It did, and to a large measure still does. What then has caused the huge resurgence in podcasts? You have it […]

Read the full article

Agile Selling: How to Quickly Win with Buyers Today

This is Episode 3 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan. Join me and Jill Konrath as we tackle some of the challenges of selling that are just as relevant today as  they have been for probably most of the modern era of marketing. If you want to know how to sell in […]

Read the full article

How To Finish Projects Faster with Kanban

Have you found the perfect productivity tool for finishing more projects – and more quickly? I’ve recently become reacquainted with one that is proving to not only improve productivity, but confidence too. Isn’t that what every process should do? If you are visually oriented like me, Kanban will help you to see your workflow progress, […]

Read the full article

Entrepreneurship is New: And Old and New Again

This is Episode 2 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan. Welcome to the 2nd episode of This Old New Business Marketing, where Chris Brogan and I discuss entrepreneurship. You will really enjoy this conversation. Chris is a master storyteller, and one of the most respected personalities in the world of entrepreneurship. He […]

Read the full article