New Media, Marketing and Entrepreneurship

Sharing my talk which I delivered at OMCAR 2009 – The Online Marketing Summit, New Delhi. I am glad to get the feedback that the talk was well received and thanks to all the people who shared their feedback!

This session was blogged LIVE by: Deepanwita Chatterjee, from team OMShare.

Post tea, peppered with some avid networking, we gather for the next session, ‘Making SEO, PPC, SMM & Mobile Work Together’, presented by Mahesh Murthy, CEO Pinstorm and Paritosh Sharma, (SMM Evangelist, OMLogic). I am LIVE Blogging the session and I can’t help notice the excitement that has been generated in the room at the announcement of the session

Paritosh starts the session by explaining that he will be discussing his views about SMM and how   business can benefit from SMM.

He starts by displaying a slide with a picture of a colorful grocery store with blue and red boxes.
I specially like the story telling method by which he makes his point. He says that once he went to buy a product of his favorite brand and that brand was not available so he had to settle down for his second favorite brand. So inspite of being a brand loyalist he had to settle with his second choice.

SMM can be explained in two words – message and media.

Paritosh makes the session very lively by citing an example of advertising for a bicycle manufacturer. He quotes 3 example campaigns

1. A description of the specifics of the bicycle
2. A picture of the bicycle
3. A video of a woman riding a cycle showing how easy to ride

No need to mention the third method clicked. What really worked is the content, the message, and the media.

He cites another example of the inventor of sliced bread. The person patented it, advertised it still it didn’t catch up for 15 years. Another bread manufacturer came along and packaged the sliced bread in the right manner and it appealed to the user.

He rightly makes a point that there is no single rule for marketing. Advertising on SlideShare may work for a business and YouTube for another. It is important to understand the needs of the client and the client’s client.

He is explaining that the way to go about it is to create a message and target it to the right set of consumers.

He goes on to cite another example which triggers a lot of laughter – TataSky did an adult site, the moment anybody clicks on the site the questions like age and gender comes up which create the impression of the contents within. But the moment you click it it says ‘dude a paap hai’. The campaign sure has been done in a very witty manner which creates a huge recall value.

He also cites the example of jaagore.com and the ‘pappu pass ho gaya’ campaigns about which we all are well aware of. Both the campaigns and the were huge successes and the radio campaign ‘dot is hot’ was a runaway success as well. Jagore.com was a purely online site, and the message ‘chai peke jaago’ was very intelligently done. Kudos to the tata guys!

Television is a passe. There was a time people bought advertising space. But now people are spending more time on the internet on Orkuts and FaceBooks.

The audience silently agrees to that.

Paritosh says that SMM is more about customizing, customizing according to the needs of the customers.
He goes on to elaborate the four steps of creating a campaign.

The first step is to listen and learn. Even the customer is not clear about what he wants from SMM.

The second step is to audit and analyze the customer’s business model, whether SMM will be good or PPC.

The third step is to develop and test.

The fourth step is to execute and monitor. Metrics are difficult in SMM. But it is not that difficult if you understand the business perspective of the client. And till the time there is no metrics, one can always customize metrics for the clients.

He adds

Position your brand right. Do it with the right medium and to the relevant section of the audience online. And that’s where the PPC and SEO’s come into action.

He is now telling us about Skittles where every page is a social media, on one page there is twitter, on another YouTube and FaceBook on yet another. There is nothing good or bad it is about.

He then shares about Webchutney.com. On the home page, there are two tabs saying ‘I have 5 mins’ , and ‘I have plenty of time’, clicking on either takes the user to separate pages. He cites an example that if one sees a YouTube video of a bicycle gear that she likes and on clicking on it she is taken to the home page of the bicycle website, then one wouldn’t be too happy about it. The concept of separate landing works. I can’t help thinking that yes, that has happened to me many times!

He makes a point by reiterating that markets have evolved overtime and its time that one starts marketing to the innovators and early adopters. They are the ones which will take to your product and will do a much better viral campaign on the internet rather than the late adopters.

You have a great product…. You have identified the target market…
and people are talking about u….. and before the fizz goes out, market it…

Paritosh wraps up the session saying

The riskiest thing that you can do for your brand is to be safe.

Even if anybody writes anything bad about your brand, one can be alerted by a google alert and can pacify them.

Thanks for the useful insights Paritosh, it was great listening to you.

One of the most interesting sessions I have blogged. Thanks Paritosh

Thanks Deepanwita for blogging the session for me

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LIVE Blogging the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0 47th session, with Paul Shoker speaking on The Essential Tools of Sale at the NASSCOM Headquarters, New Delhi. The room expectedly is full to the brim and well, this is one of the most heavily attended session I have seen in my 10 months blogging the sessions LIVE!!

Okay so we are a go with Paul shaking hands with the entire audience and glad to start the session with Ankur Lal (Founder and CEO, Infozech Software Ltd.) Im always amazed with Ankur’s persona

“We always seek to go in front of a customer but when we are there, the heart bumps….we fall short of words”

- Ankur

So here we are starting with the session, interestingly enough we already have some real interesting questions by the participants. I wanna know what my clients are telling me, I wanna know what my customers are saying, I wanna know what my customers customers are saying…says Paul

When I first started selling I was 21 years old….and I still sell.

Im going to take you back to basics…Im in for the ride Paul!!

• Where do you play
• DNA of a consultative sales professional
• Value proposition attribute you are competing on
• Common sales cycle vs Consultative approach
• Sales planning – approach and tactics
• Suspect – prospects weighting
• Common mistakes a sales professional can make

Well, this is what Paul is really going to share with the room! I have worked in almost like 20 countries. Everytime there’s been a different culture and a different sales cycle. So Paul is gong to share it all with the audience today!

There are four stages and at the end of the day we need to make a simple call:

1. Intent
2. Focus
3. Relationship
4. Value

The chart moves from left to right from Transactional (at stage I) to Collaborative (at stage 4)

Paul explains the pointers with an example! That of a telephone line. I was collecting 50 compliment slips from 9 to 6 in the evening when I was selling in London! Now i had to call each one of them the next day and I miserably felt shocked. And then I thought out of the box! And Paul shares some really amazing points here at this stage!

I went and met the finance head for Rolce Royce and I sold him nothing but, business issues!

It took me 18 months to close a 250million dollar deal…its does not come easy, trust me

DNA of a sales professional, Paul shares the real Gold now!

• Confidence, self belief and passion
• Hunger and have he ability to move out of a comfort zone
• Pro active and self motivated
• Focus and execution – too many people working on too many opportunities
• Dream big and have a prize you wanna shoot for. Make it personal!

It took me 3 years to be a millionaire, I drove the best cars, lived in the best houses – why, because i made it personal

• Believe in your company, propositions, its values etc.. and that all these things add value to your customers entire value chain
• Professional, articulate and personal

People aren’t punctual in India, and I have seen this!

• Speak the customers language
• Network
• To effectively listen and communicate value

You go listen to your client and dotn say anything, you will be chocked what you will learn

What is the biggest attribute you will link your value proposition to?

• Are you trying to sell on Quality
• Are you trying to sell on Service
• Are you trying to sell on Cost

What is the differentiating that you are offering around, questions Paul to the room. This will help you to effectively set your sales strategy says Paul, and the entire room is listening with pin drop silence!

Paul is now sharing the difference between a common sales cycle and a Consultative approach

The Consultative guy:

• Qualifies the need

He knows what are their business drivers | Qualify yourselves | establish customers business drivers

• Sales strategy and relationship mapping

How do I need to get to a decision maker – and Paul answers the question that you do not need to reach to the decision maker, there is probably an all together different person that you intended to reach out to

• Setting traps and Mines

How do you think  BT, IBM, Capgemini are winning these multi million deals, coz their guys are doing the real consultative selling, they are reaching out to the influencers

Let your customers BUY YOU first and then your product!

• Accelerate or De-accelerate

Paul is sharing the real code book of the high flying consultative sellers!

• Negotiate, close or walk away

The art of a sales guy is to articulate his value

Sales Planning

Consultative sales professionals approach

• Do we have a value proposition linkable to the customers business objectives?
• Qualification analysis – analysis of opportunity from 4 points of view, each answering different questions:
  • Can we add value
  • should we pursue
  • can we compete
  • are we aligned to win
• Competitive sales strategy
  • identification of the four types of sales strategy
  • direct
  • indirect
  • divisional
  • containment
  • development of a strategic opportunity plan
  • development of a competitive counter tactics

We were competing with IBM on a big deal and we knew we cant go head to jead, thus the only thing we had was an indirect approach which meant changing the rules of the game! Which also meant that there is only one par of the deal that you want! We said lets just divide and counquer. I have actually sold purely on value, shares Paul!

• Leveraging politics
  • separating influencers from authoritarians
  • identifying the key influencers
  • how to develop a political sales strategy

Have we tried to identify the right influencers and design a god strategy around the politics, which by the way, every company has, big and small!

Some key internal questions you need to ask yourself, shares Paul

1. How is the competitive landscape changing?
2. What service could be under threat, why and which accounts?
   1. You need to understand do I have a satisfied customer, and if not, well why not?
3. What is the key challenge that you may face to deliver?
   1. the biggest of the companies make this mistake which is fundamental
4. What help do I need from executives or board member in the next 1-3 months

How to QUALIFY an account history?

• customer name
• established
• market share
• financials
• customer base
• who is their biggest competitor
• how are they structured
• what is their overall strategy
• business drivers

Opportunities, Qualification and Tactics

• qualification
  • do we have a value proposition linkable to customer business objectives?
  • how do we intend to differentiate
  • who will be our competitors
  • what is the size of the opportunity – at times too many assumptions are made
  • so we have the financial resources to pursue
  • can we compete
  • are we aligned to win
  • who are the key influencers
  • who are the decision makers
  • who are the show stoppers
  • what sales tactic will you deploy

Impact selling

• understanding the customers business INSIDE OUT and OUTSIDE IN

Mines and Traps – Paul is now sharing an interesting example which comes from his life, a client that he dealt with! I have set the mines because I knew the features that my competition could never give. I made it a point that I ask my customer who all are you seeing, and I liked to be the last one to approach the client, as I had to know my competition and I knew it as I am an expert in the domain, and well I was clear in my approach that I was here to sell in just a meeting and not ask for another session, and this is how I scaled up!

• How your proposition can make an impact to the top or bottomline

Tactics

• Mines and traps…eg so that could be an important feature?
• Accelerate….speed up the sale to close
• Decelerate…slow down…you need to change the ground rules
  • This is where the art of negotiation comes in says Paul

Interestingly, Paul is now sharing about Proactive engagement! The slide on the screen is giving clarity on what a good sales guy is all about and Paul shares three fundamental magical words: Re-qualify, Re-qualify, Re-qualify

– this is the philosophy that I have used over the last 20 years

This is what I use – Suspect, Prospect weighting and this is especially for startups

• 0% fact findings
  • linkable propositions and realtionship mapping
• 10% opening (Suspect or Prospect)
• 20% qualification
  • how serious, budgets, decision makers
• 30% defining SOR
  • lay the traps and write the RFQ
• 40% bid proposal
• 50% proposal presentation
• 75% LOI (letter of intent)
• 85% Contract negotiation
• 100% signature win

Paul is now sharing with the room the most common mistakes sales professionals make:

• they fail to listen – trust me shut up and listen
  • ask the right question and look at the body language
• they fail to re-qualify
• they fail to ask for an order – people fail to ask
• negotiate
  • be an entrepreneur, there would be more respect for being straight
  • i cant give you a discount but perhaps I can increase this on the service levels
• walk away – learn to walk away, the fear of loss for the customer, will make him ask you, what to do, dont be arrogant and just humbly walk out

Never knock your competition

The session is now in the Q&A mode and well, I must add, I loved the session, coz I started as a sales entrepreneur and I share some pieces with Paul. Thanks Paul!

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Today a large number of people across the world are using internet as a means of communication, entertainment, shopping, gaming and searching information. When used in an effective manner the internet has a huge potential for marketing services, products and brand building.

In the current scenario indulging in online marketing is no longer a choice but a necessity.

Do you want to learn how the power of the web can be used for marketing your brand? Do you want to be a part of the booming Online Marketing industry? Do you want to interact and share experiences with the experts of the online domain? All this and more at India’s only conference dedicated completely to Online Marketing, which is brought to you by OMCareers in association with TiE, New Delhi.

After the astounding success of OMCAR 2008, which revolved around empowering Online Marketing professionals in their careers, the online marketing brains have come together for yet another conference on Online Marketing this year. OMCAR 2009, Online Marketing Summit focuses upon empowering businesses to grow by leveraging the power of Online Marketing.

OMCAR 2009 promises to provide endless opportunities of interacting with the professionals from the Online Marketing space. The one day event will have sessions on the various aspects of Online Marketing

• Online Marketing – Reaching Your Customers Cost Effectively
• The intersection of SEO, PPC and SMM
• Case Studies – Best Practices in Online Marketing
• Web Usability & Analytics
• Unconference/Site Clinic

There will be endless possibilities of networking, sharing of views and learning from the experts from the online space. The event will be an exiting and enriching experience for anybody who is interested or associated with the online media. It is undoubtedly going to be a great place for CMOs, Online Marketing Professionals, Web developers, Entrepreneurs and CXOs Small and Medium Enterprises to learn about, discuss and imbibe the latest Online Marketing Techniques and Strategies.

The one day event will be held on 23rd May at Amity Business School Noida.

Previous successes

OMCAR 2008 was designed to create a confluence for the Online Marketing Industry and the professional talent who dream to be a part of it. OMCAR 2008 was a huge success with over 300 attendees.

See you there at OMCAR 2009 REGISTER for the Event

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Nikhil Sarup from Solutions Digitas – shares on Web 2.0 means business, and he shares a concrete iron clad framework for implementing web 2.0 in your company, as Nikhil puts it for the audience.

I particulary like Nikhil’s initiation to the session. Its interesting to see a real guy out of the crowd! Sharing his point of view on how social trends are happening in B2b space! Generally when I have interacted with people, the implementation of Social Media in the B2b space has always been a greater concern as compared to the B2c space.

Nikhil has come as a breath of fresh air for the audience here. After listening to some very interesting thoughts by Kiruba and others on Social Media’s impact and how can we classify consumers and look at their behavior, having Nikhil open the session with some very thought provoking 1.5 joke(s) makes an impact which I can sense and see in the audience. The ease with which Nikhil puts across his point and clarifies the clutter around Social Media for a business is worth your and your businesses’ while

Showing the audience the need for being there where your consumers are, Nikhil not only is forcing out of people the urge to know, how they can best leverage Social Media for their business and how can they really create a successful strategy around it, but he is also sharing some real practical insights, which can be modeled and shaped to suit your business requirements and create a successful Social Media presence.

Since much emphasis has already been given to the traditional methods of Social Media and how and why’s of its importance to business, giving a practical outlook to the entire game makes the entire talk a much intriguing affair. Now we have Nikhil giving a practical display of a dummy site and how his company makes Social Media, accessible to their cleints on their web sites, and hence the clients’ client does not have to really go anywhere else on the internet to talk his heart out.

The first engagement touchpoint happens on the web site itself

I am personally much interested to know, how Nikhil and his team decide upon the information flow and how dealing with different business verticals, they decide upon the site design? Is there a standard template, which proves that the visitor to your site would interact in this manner, if the content is made accessible right at the web site?

Proving his point to the audience, who is listening with much interest, Nikhil’s demonstration of the site is surely giving many a ideas to the audience present. I am sure we are going to see some really interactive sites coming up in the near future! Talking about Web 2.0, I am quite amazed with the way Nikhil has made content accessible to the client where he lands up on your web site. With all what I want present to me in different sorts of content, white papers, Videos etc, I would surely be able to hold onto my visitor onto the right section of my web site, for a good time, hence the probability of conversion increases!

I personally am very much on the similar page as Nikhil, and surely appraise of the ideas that he has shared, in the manner that he has! Way to go Nikhil!

The session is now wrapped up, within time and we are open to QandA offline.

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