The Web Conferencing Blog

Differentiate, Differentiate, Differentiate

Differentiation is the key to winning sales opportunities.

Often times I hear, "I'm creating differentiation. My products can do this and my competitors can't," or "I'm creating differentiation by discounting my price."

Don't confuse "compare to your competition," with "differentiate from your competition." They are not the same thing. The former relates to PRICE and the latter relates to perceived VALUE. Just to be clear, I'm talking about perceived value by your customer and not by you. Your perception of value means nothing. Just because you think your customer should find value in X doesn't mean they actually do. Ask yourself if you have spent enough time on value justification because value justitication and differentiation go hand in hand. Check to see if your customer finds value in X. How important is X to them? What happens if they don't get X? In the end, did you create enough differentiation in the eyes of your customer to earn their business?

A very simple differentiation technique I have used and taught is the Three Levels of Why:

1. Why my company? (Company differentiation)
2. Why me? (Sales rep differentiation)
3. Why now? (Immediate business value differentiation and urgency creation)

Examples of "Why my company?"

• Market share leader
• X number of customers or users
• Excellent reputation backed by customer testimonials
• Global footprint
• Financial strength and stability
• World class customer service backed by online reviews
• Experienced executive leadership team
• Technology patents
• Rapid innovation cycles

Examples of "Why me?"

• Projects a winning and positive attitude
• Industry expert and respected
• Vertical market expert and respected
• Strong online reputation backed by online reviews or testimonials by customers or peers from sites like Linkedin.com or Naymz.com
• Asks thought-provoking questions
• Always returns phone calls and emails promptly and follows through on action items
• Creative problem solver that helps customer solve their business issues
• Provides insightful ideas on how your customer can be successful
• Finds ways to reduce customer risk

Examples of "Why now?"

• Attract new customers
• Retain current customers
• Bigger, better, faster, sooner
• New revenue
• Cost savings
• Efficiency and optimization
• Risk associated with delays
• Missed project timelines
• Timely budget allocation or spend

Master the Three Levels of Why and you will win!

 

Autonomy Is Key for Better Motivation

The question of how to better motivate employees has stumped many leaders. But if you focus on three universal psychological needs, it's not that complicated.

• autonomy
• relatedness
• competence

Take autonomy. People need to believe that they have choices and that they're in charge of what they're doing. The way you frame information and situations influences whether someone will feel autonomous. So when discussing goals, don't make them seem like dictates or measures by which to hold someone accountable – frame them as essential for the person's success and an opportunity to fulfill a meaningful goal. And don't apply pressure to perform. Sustained peak performance is a result of people acting because they choose to, not because they feel they have to. 

Adapted from “What Maslow’s Hierarchy Won’t Tell You About Motivation” by Susan Fowler.

5 Quick Tips to Increase your Social Media Presence

The other day I spoke with a colleague who asked me about my social media secrets. I really don't think they are secrets, just a consistent habit of investing time to create a strong social media presence and online reputation. I proceeded to asked him a few questions:

• Do you have a social media presence?
• What do you do to build your personal brand and online reputation?
• Have you ever Googled yourself and what did you find?

If you want to build a strong social presence and online reputation, invest time in the following:

1. Linkedin.com: Complete your profile. Don't half ass it unless you want people to think you are a half ass person who does just enough to stay under the radar. Don't be that person who does just enough. Go the extra mile on your profile and people will think you go the extra mile in everything else. Be social on Linkedin.com, meaning post Updates and "Like" other people's posts. If you're engaging and interactive, you'll grow your social media influence and presence. Do a 1-click endorsement on someone's skills/expertise or write a recommendation for someone who has always helped you out. (My Linkedin.com profile: www.linkedin.com/in/davidchao)

2. Twitter: It's one of the simplest and most mindless social media applications out there. You'll find yourself saying, "What the hell is this? How does this work? How is thing going to help my social media presence again?" Get started by just Retweeting other people's tweets. If you come across an interesting article, just click on the Twitter icon at the top of the article and you're done. Once you are comfortable with this, start to Tweet your own content. The rest will come with experimentation. (My Twitter: @davidchao)

3. Google+: Similar to Facebook but a Google App that I'm sure Google search engines prefer over Facebook. Google rules Search so it only makes sense to build a Google+ social profile that leverages the #1 search engine. When it comes to increasing your social media presence, visibility and search-ability, it's got to be Google. Build out your Google+ profile and you'll be more relevant in Google searches. (My Google+ profile: https://plus.google.com/+DavidChaoJr)

4. Naymz: Reminds me of Linkedin.com where you create a profile, add your employment and get recommendations from your peers. It than takes your peers' recommendations, your social influence across Linkedin.com, Twitter, and Facebook to create a Reputation Score. The higher the RepScore the better. A score between 40-70 is Established, 70-80 is Top Member and 80+ is Elite Member. An average Naymz RepScore is around 35. (My Naymz profile: http://www.naymz.com/davidchao1683553)

5. Klout: This an interesting site that tracks your social influence across Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, Foursquare, YouTube and a few others. Though it's heavily-weighted on Facebook activity, it still provides insight on your social media influence and presence. If you are not happy with your score, go back and work on 1-4 listed above. (My Klout profile: https://klout.com/#/davidchao)

Bonus: If you are passionate about something, blog about it. It just so happens I'm passionate about technology, start-up companies, and web conferencing. I've been blogging since 2006 and started blogging to gain a competitive edge over my competition by providing unique technology perspectives and helping my customers avoid potential land mines. I wanted to educate my customers, showcase my expertise in understanding their business and ultimately reduce their technology risk and financial risk. (The Web Conferencing Blog: http://davidchao.typepad.com)

It takes time to build a social media presence and online reputation but with consistent effort you'll get to the point where the person you have a conference call with, who you have already Googled, decides to do the same thing to you and BOOM...you are everywhere on the internet with a credible online reputation.

 

Self-Confidence Formula by Napoleon Hill

1) I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose in life; therefore, I demand of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action.

2) I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually transform themselves into physical reality; therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for thirty minutes daily, upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become, thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture.

3) I know through the principle of autosuggestion, any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object back of it; therefore, I will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of self-confidence.

4) I have clearly written down a description of my definite chief aim in life, and I will never stop trying, until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment.

5) I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice; therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. I will succeed by attracting to myself the forces I wish to use, and the cooperation of other people. I will induce others to serve me, because of my willingness to serve others. I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism, by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them, and in myself. I will sign my name to this formula, commit it to memory, and repeat it aloud once a day, with full faith that it will gradually influence my thoughts and actions so that I will become a self-reliant, and successful person.

Source: Think and Grow Rich Chapter 3: Faith

Beat Your Competition

With tremendous market opportunity comes increased competition. When you look at the total available market opportunity for Collaboration, it's a $40B market! Cisco, a market leader in Telepresence, Contact Center, Web Conferencing, is looking to capture more of the Collaboration market share by expanding its portfolio into instant messaging, enterprise social collaboration and enterprise content management. At the same time, Microsoft and IBM, both with strong presence in email and team collaboration are looking to take market share from the areas where Cisco have market leadership. On the periphery, Google, Salesforce.com, Oracle, are looking patiently waiting for the right opportunity to capitalize on.

With all this competition, how does one win? What can you do to increase your win ratio against the competition?

1. Differentiate on all levels. Differentiate your company, your product and yourself. Your company must be viewed as reputable, your product must be higher quality, easier to use, more reliable. You have to ask better thought provoking questions and be a perceived industry expert while understanding your customer's business. Years ago, I blogging about Do Commodity Products Exist? and it's worth a read as it focuses on differentiation.

2. Focus on your strengths and downplay your weaknesses. How and when to leverage your strengths? Read Sales Strategies

3. Qualify your opportunities, disqualify your opportunities even faster. Read Sales Secret #1 from Top Sales Secrets

4. Attitude and confidence. Exude so much confidence in your company, product and yourself that your customer feels compelled to do business with you because it minimizes their perceived risks.

5. Be creative. Find ways to get your customer to say "yes." Can you add something to your proposal to make it of higher value to your customer? Is there something you can offer that your competition cannot?

Other sales-related posts: 

• Top Sales Secrets
• Do Commodity Products Exist?
• Sales Strategies

How to Improve your Email Response Rate: Quick Tips

Want to increase your email response rate? Stop focusing on selling. Stop talking about your product, your company and what's in it for you.

How many "I's" did you use in your last prospecting email?

Was your email just one long paragraph with 7-plus sentences? (Did it look like a huge block of text that someone was just dying to read?)

How many bullet points did you have of product feature vomit?

With email marketing, your goal is ENGAGEMENT not selling. Your primary goal is to get the prospect engaged to take action and respond to your email. Your second goal is to book an appointment. After that, it's Sales 101. (Reminder, focus on the prospect not YOU!)

Follow these tips and you'll see a increase in your email response rate.

Quick Email Tips:

• Keep your email SHORT and sweet (Would you want to read a long email that came from someone you did not know? Also, long emails never get read in the Mobile world we live in, think iPhone, Blackberries, Droids and what you can fit in on the screen.)

• Use BULLETED lists and INDENT them (This creates a pattern shift and eyeballs naturally focus on the new indented content, hence, gets read.)

• Keep paragraphs 1-2 sentences long (Anything longer, the reader will "get to it later," and might even conveniently never get back to you.)

• Use KEYWORDS that pertain to the prospect's world: product names, industry buzzwords, related business news, people he/she might know that you can find via their Linkedin.com connections.

• End the email with a short question.

• Include your contact info along with links to your Linkedin.com profile, your Twitter account, your blog, your Facebook page, etc.

• No response on your first attempt, resend another email by FORWARDING the original email with another short and sweet email. Continue to do this up to 3-4 times!

• Follow up with a phone call. Your call will no longer be "cold" since you have emailed a few times by now. A mental connection between your name and emails will be created by the prospect when you call. Don't be surprised if you get an apology from the prospect for not getting back to you sooner. It happens to me all the time.

 

EXAMPLE EMAIL:

[NAME],

Can we chat today or tomorrow?

Wanted to share some creative ideas with you about (THEIR PRODUCT NAME).

Thoughts?

[YOUR NAME and CONTACT INFO with SOCIAL PROFILE LINKS]

*** If you really want your email to stand out, be bold, and include your portrait to put a face to the name.

More email examples to come. Just click on "like" on Facebook and share your successes.

 

 

How to Develop a Definite Major Purpose

How to Develop a Definite Major Purpose
by Dr. Napoleon Hill

This procedure in the development of a Definite Major Purpose is simple, but important, viz:

(a) Write out a complete, clear and definite statement of your Major Purpose in Life, sign it and commit it to memory. Then repeat it orally at least once every day, more often if practicable. Repeat it over and over, thus placing back of your purpose all of your faith in Infinite Intelligence.

(b) Write out a clear, definite plan by which you intend to begin the attainment of the object of your Definite Major Purpose. In this plan state the maximum time allowed for the attainment of your purpose, and describe precisely what you intend to give in return for the realization of your purpose, remembering that there is no such reality as something for nothing, and that everything has a price which must be paid in advance in one form or another.

(c) Make your plan flexible enough to permit changes at any time you are inspired to do so. Remember that Infinite Intelligence, which operates in every atom of matter and in every living or inanimate thing, may present you with a plan far superior to any you can create. Therefore be ready at all times to recognize and adopt any superior plan that may be presented to your mind.

(d) Keep you Major Purpose and your plans for attaining it strictly to yourself except insofar as you will receive additional instructions for carrying out your plan, in the description of the Master Mind Principle, which follows.

Do not make the mistake of assuming that because you may not understand these instructions the principles here described are not sound. Follow the instructions to the letter; follow them in good faith, and remember than by so doing you are duplicating the procedure of many of the greatest leaders this nation has ever produced.

The instructions call for no effort that you may not easily put forth.

They make no demands upon time or ability with which the average person may not comply.

And they are completely in harmony with the philosophy of all true religions.

Decide now what you desire from life and what you have to give in return. Decide where you are going and how you are to get there. Then make a start from where you now are to get there. Then make a start from where you now stand. Make the start with whatever means of attaining your goal that may be at hand. And you will discover that to the extent you make use of these, other and better means will reveal themselves to you.

That has been the experience of all men whom the world has recognized as successes. Most of them started with humble beginnings with little more to aid them than a passionate desire to attain a definite goal.

There is enduring magic in such a desire!

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Thoughts on Success by Napolean Hill

Thoughts on Success
by Dr. Napoleon Hill

Definiteness of Purpose - Successful people move on their own initiative, but they know where they are going before they start.
 
Mastermind Alliance - No man can become a permanent success without taking others along with him.
 
Applied Faith - You can do it if you believe you can.
 
Going the Extra Mile - The most successful people are those who serve the greatest number of people.
 
Pleasing Personality - It is essential that you develop a Pleasing Personality - pleasing to yourself and others.
 
Personal Initiative - Today's employer usually is yesterday's employee who found opportunity waiting for him at the end of the second mile.
 
Positive Mental Attitude - Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things you don't want.  Remember the old proverb:  "Be very careful what you set your heart on, for you will surely achieve it."
 
Enthusiasm -  To be enthusiastic - act enthusiastically!
 
Self-Discipline - Direct your thoughts, control your emotions, and ordain your destiny!
 
Accurate Thinking -  Truth will be truth, regardless of a closed mind, ignorance or the refusal to believe.
 
Controlled Attention - Keep you mind on the things you want and off the things you don't want!
 
Teamwork - Harmonious cooperation is a priceless asset which you can acquire in proportion to your giving.
 
Adversity and Defeat - Remember:  Every defeat, every disappointment and every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.
 
Creative Vision -  The imagination is the workshop of the soul wherein are shaped all plans for individual achievement.
 
Maintenance of Sound Health - If you think you're sick, you are.
 
Budgeting Time and Money - Tell me how you use your spare time and how you spend your money, and I will tell you where and what you will be ten years from now.
 
Cosmic Habitforce - You are where you are and what you are because of your established habits and thoughts and deeds.

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What Makes a Bad Leader?

Every leadership book or article that I have ever come across always focuses on top leadership qualities, probably the easiest way to look at leadership I suppose. Select a handful of top companies and their respective CEO's and see what they have in common. Jack Welch: ex-GE CEO, John Chambers: Cisco, Steve Jobs: Apple, Meg Whitman: ex-CEO EBAY, Jeff Bezos: Amazon, Warren Buffett: Berkshire Hathaway, and Larry Fink: Blackrock. Qualities or traits that most often come up: 

• Clear vision and forward thinking
• Hires the right people for the right roles
• Collaborative in vision development
• Establish benchmarks to measure progress
• Results-based
• Admits errors or mistakes
• Commitment to maintaining integrity across the organization
• Leads by example
• Communicative and persuasive
• Business and financial acumen

It would make sense than that bad leaders would be the opposite of the traits listed above. In a recent Harvard Business Review article by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman, they found this to be the case. More specific, the biggest difference between the best leaders and the worst was their energy and enthusiasm. No surprise that some of the best leaders are known for their "charisma" which in many cases can also mean enthusiasm and passion for what they are doing.

What I found interesting is criteria such as inexperience, lack of "proper" education and unproven track record did not appear on the list of worst leaders. Inversely, one could then conclude that experience, an MBA degree from a top program and a proven track record are not the important traits for the most successful leaders. (The one X factor for me would be an MBA. I just think to be a top leader, you need to have an MBA. My case is partially stated below:)

• Jack Welch: BS from University of Massachusetts and MA from University of Illinois-Champaign
• John Chambers: BA and Law Degree from West Virginia University and MBA in Finance and Management from Indiana University
• Steve Jobs: Reed College studying physics, poetry and literature
• Meg Whitman: BA Economics from Princeton and Harvard MBA
• Jeff Bezos: Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Princeton
• Warren Buffett: a stint at Wharton, then to University of Nebraska at Omaha. Rejected by Harvard Business School. MBA from Columbia University
• Larry Fink: BA and MBA from UCLA

If you want to be a top leader use the list below and do the opposite! Again, everything on the list can be controlled. Nothing states, "Get 15 years of management experience, get an MBA from Harvard or Wharton."

It all starts with energy and passion, believing in what you are doing and exciting those around you to feel just as passionate. Don't accept mediocrity, raise expectations. Have a clear vision of where you are now and where you want to be in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months. Collaborate with others and flatten out your organization. Encourage people to take risks, to innovate and to brainstorm new ideas. Communicate openly and be transparent.

Source: Harvard Business Review , June 2009

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Are You Missing the Boat?

Earlier this week I was talking to a customer about general corporate strategy and advanced planning. He told me that he and his team were making some very bold moves and doubling their efforts around sales and marketing. "We see lots of opportunity out there right now and we certainly are not going to miss the boat." I applauded their ability to take risks.

I started thinking about his "missing the boat" comment...

It's no surprise that during these interesting economic times, executives need to be more visionary and predictive of the future than ever. Pretty hard to do when the crystal ball is blurrier than ever. Even the great Warren Buffett recently said he could not have predicted the losses of some of the investments Berkshire Hathaway made. So what do you do?

My point is this...it's pretty crazy out there and very unpredictable yet why are there some companies that are 100% maximizing this time as an opportunity rather than laying low and waiting for the storm to pass? Why are some companies moving forward at twice the speed and other companies thinking it's best to put the brakes on everything? Why are some companies reinvesting in its employees with training and career development while others are not? I suppose it depends on your vantage point though I would contend that it really comes down to how much you believe in the long-term viability of your company and your employees, any company's greatest asset, the employees. The companies that are doubling down now and reinvesting in their employees are the companies that are taking risks, making bold moves and not missing the boat. These are the companies that will come out stronger than ever when things are back to "normal."

Is there a difference between taking risks and just being stupid? Yes, of course. Two examples of companies that took bold risks when the timing was not the best...though is there ever truly a best time anyway?

-Apple launched the iPod 6 weeks after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center.
-Kellogg doubled it advertising budget during the Great Depression while other "played it safe." Kellogg aggressively marketed their Rice Krispies Cereal. (The rest is history.)

I get the point that for executives it's the difference between "missing the boat" and "sinking the boat." Makes sense, risk vs reward, the fear and uncertainly of making a decision that fails vs making a decision that would have succeeded.

Is it possible to find something in the middle? Perhaps. How about we leverage times like these to get extra creative, to be more innovative then ever by listening to customers and really understanding what they need to be successful? How about we develop products from outside-in vs inside-out, where we cross our fingers and hope/think customers will find value in the new enhancements? What about creating new, uncontested market spaces where competition is irrelevant? Easy to do, certainly not. Possible? You better believe it is.

Exercising "Innovative Leadership" right now can be the difference between giving the green light on a bold new idea and watching it succeed or watching your competitors take all the glory and revenue because you took a pass.

Don't miss the boat...

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

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