Converse Digital’s detailed analysis of the 2023 RSW/US Agency New Business Report & our 3-Step plan to help agencies overcome the hurdles uncovered by the report.
...“Why don’t you write up a proposal to [deliver whatever a prospective client is about to hire you or your agency to deliver to them] with a budget and send it over to me to consider?” This one sentence creates more anxiety, angst, fear and self-doubt in the hearts and minds of freelancers, coaches and agency …
The human brain analyzes 11 million information inputs every second hence, why every moment of attention is a gift. We’ve all heard that the human attention span is now shorter than a goldfish (total BS, by the way, and here is the proof). Still, the truth is that humans today are overwhelmed with information, inputs, …
I recently listened to Barbara Winters, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, to discuss how Gen Z and Millennial B2B Buyers are reshaping the buying process and what companies should do to succeed with these buyers.And what she had to say, kind of blew me away. Honestly. Here’s why.When I wrote The Invisible Sale, I …
Today’s post is the second part of our three-part series — LinkedIn Sales Prospecting for Introverts. If you missed the first post, Building Connections That Matter, feel free to read it before continuing on to today’s post, LinkedIn Content Marketing Strategies for Introverts. It’s ok, I’ll wait . As an introverted business development professional, you may …
The world of sales prospecting has changed dramatically over the past decade. Traditional prospect badgering approaches to business development are giving way to digital sales strategies, especially virtual selling skills-based tactics, forcing businesses to evolve to succeed in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. This guide will provide the tactics and insights necessary to master digital sales …
As a business development professional, your PowerPoint presentations should communicate more than just information. They should aid your efforts to build a trust-based relationship with your prospects. Only some salespeople have ever been taught how to design a PowerPoint pitch deck that not only delivers information but also fosters a genuine connection with their audience. …
Almost three years after the world shifted to remote and hybrid work, Zoom, Teams, and GoToMeeting continue as vital tools for agency owners and business development executives to connect with their prospects. However, presenting over these virtual presentation platforms continues to create agency business development challenges because agency teams still lack the vital virtual selling …
As we’ve discussed before,According to the WSJ, $250 million per day is wasted on bad, ineffectively designed PowerPoint Presentations. It still amazes us that companies continue to spend millions of dollars developing sales slicks, marketing campaigns, lead generation programs, etc., but spend little or nothing on the most utilized tool in their sales toolbox — PowerPoint …
My sons love to fish. I like to fish. The problem is, we don’t know how to fish — or better stated, we don’t know how to FIND where the fish are hanging out. And we’re not alone. There is an entire industry devoted to helping folks like us find and catch fish — charter …
At a minimum, social media, email, and texting are the new phone. They’re both inbound and outbound marketing tools to contact and communicate with sales prospects. Are they always the best phone to use for all contacts? Certainly not, but they do allow you to call more prospects in a day than you’d likely be …
A few months ago, we published, How To Sell Your Agency’s Services Even When You Hate Selling, where I shared a 5-Step process to enable any advertising, public relations or digital agency owner or business development director to immediately sell more effectively AND actually enjoy it. Over the last few months I have had a ton …
Accurate prospective client intel, in the hands of a skilled business development team virtually guarantees a successful outcome. But clients today prefer to remain invisible, talking to Google instead of your agency directly. That’s why successful agencies are leveraging the power of Content Marketing, Marketing Automation/Website Tracking Software and 2nd-Click Content to focus their business …
With virtual selling becoming the norm vs the exception, it’s never been more important to understand how to leverage digital channels like email to nurture at scale. However, a quick Google search for “best sales nurturing email templates” quickly reveals a glaring issue in every nurturing template you’ll find — none of them are truly …
All B2B content falls into one of two content classes: there is 1st-Click Content (the kind you’re most familiar with) and 2nd-Click Content, the kind most B2B marketers are not yet producing but should be, to truly arm their Sales Teams for social selling success. But not all 2nd-Click content is created equally and today …
If you’re a solopreneur, freelancer, or independent consultant, every minute of every day that you spend chasing business that doesn’t convert is wasted. Regardless of how you actually bill for your services, at the end of the day, you sell your time. And those minutes you spent chasing business that didn’t convert into a new …
The Reality: Your advertising, public relations, or digital agency gets most of your new clients via participation in RFPs — you spend your time showing prospective clients that you’re interested versus spending your time becoming interesting. Heck, even the late, great Prince sang about your biz dev troubles and how to fix them. The Problems this …
Is there anything worse than a boring PowerPoint presentation? Actually, yes, a poorly designed one. And according to Microsoft, it’s costing companies big.
...B2B Sales leaders need to rethink how they manage their sales organizations in terms of content, data, technology, processes and people to effectively compete in today’s social distanced, hybrid work; self-servicing world. Today and in the future, the best informed bird wins the sale. Why?70% or more of buyers are conducting pre-purchase research online50% or more …
Effective PowerPoint presentation deck design isn’t just about making your slides look great—you need to engage your buyers, hold their attention, and deliver a clear message they’ll remember and that motivates them to take action.Look over the last dozen presentation decks you’ve created or sat through and ask yourself: are your presentations up to the …
Every one of us—every person, company, organization and sales team—is surrounded by hidden forces that make it harder to convince others to adopt the new ideas or beliefs necessary to close more sales. So when your sales numbers aren’t meeting expectations, when you’re struggling to gain traction and achieve your sales goals, what do you or …
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the public’s outlook on many aspects of life. More specifically, the outlook on remote work and the future of the workplace in general was altered dramatically. Employees alternating between working remotely and working in the office isn’t just a temporary pandemic blip, but according to most research, a cultural shift that …
Does your company suffer from this problem? The marketing team is generating tons of leads for your sales teams. They’re hitting all of their lead generation KPIs in terms of total leads, marketing qualified leads, etc. BUT – your sales team isn’t happy. They don’t feel like the leads are good and complain that they’re spending …
Love it or hate it, virtual presenting is here for the long haul and YOU need to be good at it. That’s what the smart folks over at Gartner Research think. And honestly, after looking at all of the various data I’ve seen published since the COVID-19 pandemic began, I think they’re right. But don’t take my …
Have you ever been at a networking event and met someone you really hit it off with, but there was just something off-putting about them that made you hesitant to work together? They had the connections, the skills, the product, the charisma…but man, their breath just stank? Now, the nice, reasonable guy in me would …
“What are the best ways to build rapport with customers or prospects during a virtual sales call or meeting?” – a great question answered in this post.
...We just released a brand new 15-minute webinar specifically designed for advertising, PR and Digital agencies that want to learn how to combine my Painless Prospecting approach to building a consistent inbound pipeline of highly qualified, self-educated buyers that are pretty sure they want to hire you before you ever speak with them directly with …
On a recent virtual selling webinar we delivered one of the attendees asked “Do you have any suggestions on how to cut through the high-volume message clutter and information overload suffered by potential prospects?” Rather than limit my answer just to that individual, I thought I would share it with you too. So here are …
Are you a first time Zoom user? If you’re like any of my friends, chances are the answer to that question is YES. Or maybe your team has chosen Facetime Calls, or GoToMeeting or Google Hangouts or Skype or any host of other video calling platforms to meet during this time of social distancing. It …
Should solopreneurs, freelancers and consultants focus on becoming famous or the most noted authority in their category in order to drive future business growth?
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