Marketing

In a past article, we shared some ways you can appeal to D's with your marketing tactics. D's are people who tend toward a certain behavioral style within DISC. This month, we'll discuss some ways you can reach people with the S behavioral style with your marketing.

Join Mike Montague and Daniel Murray as they delve into the world of marketing millennials, discussing the attitude, behavior, and techniques needed to climb to the top and stay there.

In early summer 2023, the Sandler Research Center fielded a survey to measure current responses to a number of questions of interest to sales leaders.

Sales and marketing alignment: leaders talk about it. They say it’s what they want. They notice when it’s not happening. But they don’t always offer a clear explanation of what sales and marketing alignment really is.

Jay Schwedelson discusses the world of effective email marketing and importance of an impactful subject line for the power it holds on your emails.

By aligning sales and marketing efforts, organizations can benefit from increased efficiency, improved lead quality, higher conversion rates, better customer targeting, fewer wasted efforts, and ultimately, increased revenue.

In your marketing, as in prospecting, you have to be able to appeal to a variety of different people. Using DISC as a filter can be a helpful way to ensure your marketing materials are going to attract a wide range of people.

Right now, we're going to focus specifically on appealing to D's in your marketing.

In this episode, we sit down with Christopher Roche, CEO of Catalyst Consulting, to discuss how to succeed at creating demand. Christopher explains that lead generation is the typical marketing approach used by companies, but it often leads to frustration due to unqualified leads.

In sales, you should keep your options open. Don't invest all your time, money, brainpower, and other resources into one specific phone script, one prospecting method, or even just one product or service.

We even...

LinkedIn can be a useful tool from both a sales standpoint and a marketing standpoint. Part of that usefulness comes in the form of social proof.

Social proof is...

People raise their defenses when they detect familiar patterns that they're not fans of. And most people have had some sort of negative experience with marketing.

That's why pattern interrupts can be so useful!

Your time is valuable. As the old saying goes, time is money! Are you wasting that time and money on social media? If you're not doing things strategically, it's highly likely you are.

Here are four Sandler concepts to keep in mind when marketing your business on social media.

Marketing can either be a huge waste of time, money, and other resources, or it can be an efficient, valuable part of your business.

You’ve probably heard some variation of the arguably most famous quote in marketing history: “Half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Unfortunately, that’s often true in the realm of marketing! But it doesn’t have to be. If you want to avoid that issue, start marketing strategically. There are three keys to marketing strategically.

In both sales and marketing, we often try to appeal to everyone. Traditionally, the goal is to get as many leads as possible into the pipeline because that means more sales, right?

In reality, that means more bad leads in the pipeline and more wasted time. And if you're spending time with the wrong people, you're robbing the right people of your time.

A number of small factors will make or break your sales. The same is true in customer service, management, really all of business. So it absolutely applies in marketing as well!

Think about your email address for a moment. Have you ever considered what it says about you? Likely you’re using it extensively for both sales and marketing. Is it saying something you’re not intending it to?

When people consider doing business with you, they usually look you up online. A Google search often follows, even if they were referred to you or met you in person. A first impression is important, but so is a second impression.

Do you know how and where you show up when people look you up online?

We like it when sales and marketing work well together. Often, including prices on marketing material sets you up for a confrontation rather than making conversations possible. And that means less business for you!

If you want your business to succeed, good marketing is important. But marketing doesn't happen in a vacuum - the CEO or owner of the company must have an appropriate role.

Generally, the best use of the leader's time is not executing the marketing strategy themselves. Instead, when it comes to marketing, leaders should fulfill three roles.

When you think about it, a lot of marketing is pretty simple. The concepts aren't overly complicated, but that doesn't mean doing it is easy.

Simple and easy are two different things!

For example, most people know they could be doing more or better things online. Maybe you've thought of investing more time and resources in LinkedIn but still haven't done it.

Sharing and interacting with people regularly on LinkedIn is a simple concept, but it's not easy!

One of the rules we've had for years in Sandler says, "There's no such thing as a good try." While that advice was initially intended for sales, it's actually a universal rule. So much so that even Yoda in Star Wars said, "Do or do not. There is no try."

It shouldn't be any surprise that it applies well to marketing.

Let's be honest; not everyone is comfortable with social media. And certainly, one organization may get more or less out of it than another.

Knowing that's true, what might be the benefit for you or your company to be more active on social media? Should you be posting more often? What are the pros, so you can determine if they outweigh the cons or not?

If you're doing your own marketing, you might consider focusing on the thing only you can do that makes your business the most money. The chances are good that it's selling or providing a specific service, not marketing.

Email newsletters are generally considered to be a highly effective marketing channel. However, traditional marketing misses opportunities that incorporating Sandler concepts can help with.

Here are a few ways to incorporate Sandler concepts into marketing with an email newsletter.

Marketing is constantly changing along with new tactics and technologies as well as consumer tastes. It's up to businesses to keep up with these changes and implement new strategies.

Why? Because the same thinking will get you the same results.

When you think of your comfort zone, what comes to mind? Is it curling up on the couch and enjoying your favorite show? Is it going to the gym? Avoiding social gatherings? Any routine can be your comfort zone.

When was the last time you got out of your comfort zone in real life and in your business's marketing?

One of our Sandler Rules is, "If you want to be treated differently, you must act differently." While that definitely applies to organizations and salespeople, it also applies to marketing. We also have Sandler Rule #35: If your competition is doing it, stop doing it right away.

When was the last time you researched your competition, if ever? If you own a business or even have an idea for a business, you should be researching your competitors! You might think, "Well, why would I want to do that?"

Traditional marketing, like traditional sales, often makes use of features and benefits. While there's a time and place during the marketing and sales process to let prospects know about what your product or service does, it's not something you should lead with.

Since the pandemic, businesses and organizations have looked for and experimented with different ways to connect with their clients. One tool that has really taken off and proven effective is video. 

Statistically, email sends have gone up, but responses have gone down. So, what better way to stand out and consistently connect with others than using video?

We've all been guilty of making assumptions, including assuming what someone else is thinking. In fact, in Sandler, we have a rule for that, Sandler Rule #13: No Mind Reading.

In sales, assumptions are often made about what a prospect is thinking or really means. The prospect may say something like, "That sounds great."

A salesperson can...

One of the many reasons Sandler has been successful over the years is because we developed a repeatable selling system that works.

In traditional sales, salespeople are often really good at winging it. Unfortunately, there are many problems with that approach. It's wasteful, not teachable, and hard to improve.

Unfortunately, the same thing is common in marketing. Often...

People tend to do business with people they know, like, trust, and value. So, what is the best way to build rapport with your marketing? It's not by telling your ideal prospect you're the right fit for them before you even meet them, and it’s not by insisting you know what's best before you have a conversation either.

It's all about...

Video can be an excellent tool for both sales and marketing, and the pandemic has only increased its use. In April of 2021, Sandler partnered with Vidyard to help sales teams adopt personalized video as a sales tool.

Video in marketing has been around even longer! It can be a great tool to help make prospects feel more comfortable before they even meet you when used properly. Let's look at a few ways you can use video in your marketing.

Most marketing professionals love to talk about how things need to be spontaneous and organic. And that's great, except that sometimes it conflicts with the fact that marketing also needs to be intentional and consistent.

Fortunately, we can take a similar approach to...

Many in the workforce today grew up learning the value of a good work ethic, and certainly, discipline and hard work can pay off. But what about working better, not harder?

Your marketing can benefit from Sandler Rule #34: Work Smart, Not Hard. A great way to apply this concept to your marketing is by using marketing automation.

Do you invest a lot of resources in marketing collateral like brochures and fliers? If so, are you doing that strategically or just doing it because you think you should or think it might somehow lead to more business? Do you know how much of your investment ends up in the trash?

Something Mike saw a couple of years ago might make you think a little differently about your marketing collateral.

In Sandler, we often talk about the importance of good communication in the sales process. The same thing is true for your marketing as well.

Maybe this has happened to you. It's not unusual to...

If you're not being strategic in what marketing activities you invest in, it's time to start. Whether it's time, money, or other resources, it's important to identify where your gaps are. Where should you be investing more resources? Where should you be investing less?

Here's a system you can use to determine what adjustments you should make.

We work with various organizations with an internal sales or fundraising team, with just one or two salespeople, or even with the owner making sales. Sometimes they will have an internal marketing team, but more often than not, they outsource their marketing.

Before working with us, sales and marketing end up...

The key to making a sale is uncovering pain. If you can discover your prospect's pain and help with that pain, you're much more likely to make a sale.

In Sandler terminology...

One of the original 49 Sandler Rules can help you position your marketing to help your sales efforts consistently. That is Sandler Rule #39: When All Else Fails, Become a Consultant.

Much of marketing today takes the form of...

LinkedIn can be an excellent platform for both marketing and sales. However, you have to work smart and consistently in your activities.

In Sandler, we use the term cookbook to refer to your unique list of behaviors that you do regularly and track to make sure you do them. Those can be behaviors for either personal or business development.

Here is a list of LinkedIn activities...

There's a common phrase you likely heard as a child: It's not what you said; it's how you said it. There's a similar phrase in business: People will buy how you sell long before they buy what you sell.

We typically talk about that in sales, but the same thing is true in your marketing!

When running a business or non-profit, there are many KPIs-Key Performance Indicators—you need to track. How many new contacts is your sales team making each week? What is your revenue YTD? What is your profitability?

Marketing has just as many potential KPIs as any other area of your business, maybe more. But there's one that is generally far more important than the others...

Whether you realize it or not, you're probably already familiar with Sandler Rule #34: Work Smart, Not Hard. Working smart is all about investing your time wisely and not wasting it. It's about using various tools, tactics, and platforms to save time and optimize your results.

In the world of marketing, there are plenty of tools out there that can save you time and make the most of your resources. Here are three quick tips to market smart, not hard.

In Sandler, we teach salespeople a lot about psychology and communication. It's all about getting past the other person's preconceptions, not sounding like everyone else, and having a real conversation.

So it shouldn't be a surprise that you can apply many concepts we teach in Sandler to your website to cut through the noise.

Have you considered any of these concepts for your website?

In sales, showing up is important. We talk to salespeople all the time who close deals in part because they were the only person to return a call. It makes a huge difference!

Similarly, showing up online is extremely important. If you're focused on making it easy to do business with you—and you should be—then you need to be easy to find online.

Want to be easy to find online? Here are some platforms and tactics to consider.

Have you ever noticed that the people in sales and the people in marketing often seem to be on the opposite sides of important discussions?

In 1969 the book "I'm OK—You're OK" was published, and for many, it introduced the concept of transactional analysis. Later, David Sandler took those concepts and applied them to the world of sales. Many of those concepts apply to marketing as well.

Your time is your most valuable asset. Nobody knows that better than business owners. As a result, you should guard your time closely, investing it where it can do the most good and get the best ROI.

So do you think your time is better invested in marketing or selling?

If you're like most people, you're annoyed by all the things you "have" to do to stay relevant and top-of-mind with your clients and prospects.

Listen to any online marketing expert, and they'll tell you what platform, tool, or content you simply must do in order to reach people—and of course, that just happens to be what they're an expert in.

Have you ever been frustrated by trying to market your organization with nothing to show for the time, money, and energy you invested? Or maybe you're intimidated by that very thought, so you haven't invested much at all in marketing your business!

There are a lot of parallels between marketing and sales. And all too often, the same mistakes are made in both areas as well. One frequent mistake is the hard sell.

The hard sell is when you really push your product or service in a forceful, insistent way. It's something that comes from traditional sales and marketing. In Sandler, we don't believe that's a good technique.

We all love to hear prospects say "yes." But if you're in sales or marketing for any amount of time, you sometimes hear a prospect say "no." When that happens, what do you do? Do they get deleted from your database? Do you immediately stop communication with them? Are they dead to you?


If so, you're making a huge mistake!

In Sandler, we help clients learn that consistency is a huge part of sales done right. The same thing is true in marketing. A big part of being consistent over time is your own behavior. In fact, that's the only thing you can really control.

Obviously, you want to improve how you're doing things over time, but starting by focusing on consistency is huge for both sales and marketing.

So how does that play out in marketing?

Mike Montague interviews the Email Marketing Heroes, Rob, and Kennedy, on How to Succeed at Email Marketing. They are the founders of ResponseSuite for survey-based email marketing, hosts of the Email Marketing Show podcast, and course creators who help DIY marketers learn how to concur email marketing.

Many organizations rely on someone selling to bring in new business and even expand business with existing clients or customers. If your organization has at least one person who is responsible for sales, you should consider starting an email newsletter.

In fact, if someone in your organization sells, a consistent email newsletter might be the best marketing investment your organization could make. Let's take a look at why that is.

Businesses spend a lot of time and money marketing to potential customers, but they often overlook the importance of marketing their services to current customers. It's an easy thing to overlook when you assume that your current clients know about all of your services—but do they really?

If you know there could be an issue with a potential client, the best time to bring that up is before it actually comes up. That’s Sandler Rule #23: The Way to Get Rid of a Bomb is to Defuse It Before It Blows Up.

That’s true in sales, but you can do it with your marketing as well.

You may be asking yourself, "What on earth is a monkey's paw? And why (or how) should I market them?"

When big cruise ships come into port, they have giant ropes used to secure them. But those giant ropes are way too big for a human to tie them off somewhere, so there's a smaller rope used to connect to the large rope. That smaller rope is called a monkey's paw—it's the small piece that lets you connect to the bigger piece.

LinkedIn can be a great tool in both your sales and marketing toolbox. Of course, you first have to equip yourself with the knowledge needed to use it strategically, or it can potentially be a massive waste of time and resources.

Here's a list of resources you can utilize to make the most of your LinkedIn presence...

A big part of sales and marketing is all about connecting subconsciously with your ideal prospect. It’s all about making them feel comfortable enough to have a real conversation to see if your products or services are a good fit for them.

Tim Priebe, Founder of T&S Online Marketing, talks about how to integrate Sandler into your marketing and shows you the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful at marketing the Sandler way. Get the best practices for marketing collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 30 Minutes

What can leaders do to ensure that sales and marketing teams are on the same page and pursuing the same business goals? Here are five strategies the most successful company leaders implement on a consistent basis.

Get valuable insights on forward-thinking marketing concepts from Pam Didner, author of Global Content Marketing. Take a dive deep into effective engagement with your customers and connecting your marketing strategy with your sales team.

Learn the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques for successful marketing from one of the leading experts. Douglas has read over 150 marketing books and interviewed the authors for his podcast. He shares his favorite lessons learned and takeaways to help us fill the sales funnel with qualified marketing leads.

Here is a 5 step TOTAL marketing process to design, plan, act on and measure your marketing program this year.

When you’re growing a small business, it’s important to put an emphasis on best utilizing the tools at your disposal. Regardless of your industry or experience, one of those tools should be social media. While there are endless uses for social media and I have previously discussed social selling tactics, below I have identified five tips that you can bring back to your business and begin to implement today for social media marketing.

Learn how to succeed at aligning sales and marketing. Erik Host-Steen, Founder of SMP Alignment, shares his best practices for aligning your sales and marketing teams. From effective handoffs to qualified leads and using technology to smooth out the process. Erik talks about how to get your sales and marketing departments to work together.

Email marketing is an inexpensive and effective way to get in touch with prospects if you take the proper steps in crafting them. The information you relay in your email and the way you share it has a direct impact on how well your email will perform with recipients. You don’t have to be a professional writer to get attention or to create a successful email campaign, but you should be concise and include compelling information. Most prospective buyers are bombarded with emails from a variety of businesses, on a daily basis. Incorporating the right details allow you to break through the clutter and helps ensure that you make a connection. 

The purpose of marketing is to support sales.  In the broadest sense, marketing activities are the foundation for sales generation, whether it be through translating market needs into prioritized product or service requirements, clearly communicating unique value outward, or attracting and nurturing qualified prospects.  In a narrower sense, marketing needs to support the sales team – steer them in the right direction and equip them with the tools they need to diagnose pains that the organization can solve uniquely well.

According to Entrepreneur, we receive 193.3 billion emails every day. On average, that means each person's inbox is hit by about 120 emails a day – with some people receiving less and some receiving many more. Breaking through to your target audience when you're up against such odds can be tough. Even with all the inbox competition, email marketing can be quite lucrative when handled correctly.