Gene Marks: Email Marketing Thoughts

A guest post by Gene Marks

Every month my company sends out five newsletters and another five to ten mass emails to other groups.  We've been doing this for ten years.  And it works.  Most of the time.  We've had a ton of failures.  But mostly success.  So what have I learned?  Lots.  Let me at least share these three things.

1.  Have many lists.  No one does email “blasts” anymore. Today, you're sending targeted messages.  The size of your list really doesn't matter.  It's the quality.  What good are 1,000 people on an email list when only 20 actually read your newsletter?  Look at your database and then segment, segment, segment.  Ask yourself, what do these people want to hear about?  A specific product or service?  Issues affecting their industry?  Don't just blast out an email to everyone.  Blast out ten emails to ten different groups who have ten different interests.  And schedule your emails depending on the group.  The suspects who gave you their business cards at tradeshows might want to hear from you three or four times a year.  You're A-list customers should be getting messages from you at least once a month. The prospects who showed some interest in your products or services and may be interested again someday should be getting information from you every couple of months.   Your lists will be ever changing.

2.  Educate, don't sell.  No one wants to get emails with sales pitches jammed down their throats.  Instead, come up with two or three pieces of advice you want to give to your audience.  They may be specifically or indirectly related to your product or service.  They may have something to do with your industry or region. You're an expert.  You can come up with these topics.  Help your readers get smarter.  Sure you can plug your products somewhere on the sidebar or bottom of your message, as long as it's done unobtrusively.  But your first goal is to educate your reader.  Give them some food for thought.  Elicit some action, like a click to a more detailed article on your blog, a request for a whitepaper, a sign up for a seminar or webinar.  Establish your company as a thought leader in your field.  Use your email messages to show how good you are and justify why the reader should be comfortable doing business with you.  Don't like to write?  Then come up with an idea and hire someone who can.  Which brings me to my last item…

3.  Invest and commit.  This is not a campaign.  It's a long term commitment. An email service may be relatively inexpensive but it's really just a fraction of the overall cost.  To really get results you have to do this for a long, long time.  You have to build a devoted readership.  People will be drawn to your emails if they're getting useful information in a reliable and consistent manner.  You don't have the time to do this yourself.  You're going to have to hire or contract someone to help you.  This person will have a lot to do:  maintain and update your database, craft the messages, administer the emails, oversee your “opt-in” process, make sure people who respond get noticed and keep things interesting.  Again and again and again.  This will take time and money.  But doesn't everything in business take time and money?

Just remember:  you can't put a gun to someone's head and tell them to buy from you.  All you can do is stay in their minds just enough so that when there's an interest your company is thought of first.  That's the goal of an effective email marketing process.  Oh, one more thing:  grow a thick skin. Because that guy who opted in two years ago may for some reason be in a bad mood when he gets an email from you and responds with a nasty-gram.  This has happened to me a lot over the years. Oh well.

Gene Marks: Mobile Website and Search

A guest post by Gene Marks

Here's an interesting fact:  there are more than 400 million mobile users in the United States today.   Actually, what makes this fact so interesting is that there are only 330 million people in the entire country.  But I know I saw this somewhere on the internet.  So just work with me on this for a while, OK?  This point is that there are a lot of mobile users.  No one can deny that.

And do you know what these mobile users are doing on their mobile devices?  Yes, texting and emailing and wasting time.  No one can deny that either.  But most of all, we are searching.  Searching for a great sushi place in San Antonio (yeah, keep searching), a movie time, a news article, another photo of Miley Cyrus twerking.  Or maybe…just maybe…we're doing something more productive.  Like searching for products and services and other stuff we want to buy.  Maybe we're searching for…you.  And your company.  So will we find you?

Not if you don't have a mobile optimized website.  Do you have a mobile optimized website?

That's because the search application (which is most likely Google) on your iPad or Samsung or Nexus is using a different search algorithm than if the user was doing the same on a desktop computer.  It's actually looking for mobile optimized websites.  So let me ask you again – do you have a mobile optimized website? You better.  Soon.  Now.  What happens if you don't?

Then your customer, or prospective customer looking for you doesn't find you.  Or instead, they find your competitor first because they're ranking higher on the search results from Google and that's because they've got a mobile optimized website.  Or maybe your customer has stumbled on your site, or clicked on a link from an email marketing message he's reading on his iPhone, and what does he find?  A site that renders terribly, forcing him to scroll and enlarge and hunt and peck and squint and ultimately get annoyed enough to go to someone else's site because it's easier to navigate.  This is why you need a mobile optimized website.  Soon.  Now.

Having a good mobile website is also essential if you plan on doing online marketing campaigns.  You might decide to use Adwords or banner ads somewhere.  You may decide to list your company on sites like Yahoo, Google Places or even Mapquest.  Perhaps you want to get involved with daily sites like Groupon or Living Social.  Or you want customers to check in through Foursquare or leave reviews on Yelp.  People are doing this stuff from their smartphones and tablets, all the time.  And if you want these visitors to ultimate get bounced back to your website you'll need that site to be ready.

Making your website mobile optimized isn't that tough actually.  You could go to your Internet Service Provider, the people that host your website, and ask them.  Many of these providers have services that will convert your site into a mobile site.  You could go to online companies that provide this service independently like DudaMobile – they're relatively inexpensive.  Just make sure to have them host your site using your domain so you're getting the web traffic and not them.  Or you can learn more at Google's HowToGoMo site.  You don't need to mobilize your entire website.  Instead, just choose some of the key pages you want to make mobile, like your homepage or “About Us” or “Contact Us” page.  It won't take long.

It's a mobile world.  And whether it's 400 million, 330 million or even 10 million people doing searches on their mobile device there's no argument that it's a lot.  And it will continue to grow.  Put this on your task list.  Make your website mobile optimized.  Soon.  Now.

Gene Marks: Why Social Media Is Not Your Answer

A guest post by Gene Marks

A few months ago I spoke to a group of business owners at the Composite Can and Tube Institute.  This is a real organization made up of real people.  Smart people.  If you visit their website you’ll find that CCTI is “international trade association representing the interests of manufacturers of composite paperboard cans, containers, canisters, tubes, cores, cones, fibre drums, spools, ribbon blocks, bobbins and related or similar composite products; and suppliers to those manufacturers of such items as paper, machinery, adhesives, labels and other materials and services.”

After speaking about upcoming trends affecting the industry and businesses in general a member raised his hand asked me why I didn’t mention social media.  “I’m curious about social media,” the gentleman said. “We’re not using it very well at my company.”

OK, let’s step back and recap:  I was speaking at the Composite Can and Tube Institute.  The 150 or so members of the audience run companies that manufacture things like cans, containers, drums, spools and ribbon blocks.  In my opinion, no one in that room had any business being on Facebook or Twitter unless they were planning a family reunion, reaching out to a high school classmate or following Kanye and Kim’s latest escapades.  Social media for this industry is a waste of time.

By now you’ve probably figured out that if your customers are not on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest or Tumblr then there’s probably not a whole lot of reason why your company should be there too. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t create and build a great community.  You can.  Just not with social media.  Instead, try these 3 steps.

Step 1:  Get a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.  This is a database.  There are great cloud based providers offering products for every sized business, priced from zero (try Zoho CRM to hundreds of dollars a month a user (the most well known being Salesforce.com).  You’ll likely pay somewhere in between.  Setting it up is easy.  Import your customer and contacts from Outlook and your accounting system.  Make sure you keep adding people, prospects, vendors, suppliers, anyone to your database that touches your business.  Have someone in your company responsible for maintaining this valuable system.  And most importantly:  categorize these people.  Why?  See Step 2.

Step 2:  Match categories with your communications.  The days of unpersonalized e-mail “blasting” or “mail-merging” a database are over.  Today, it’s all about segmentation.  Everyone in your database should be hearing from you.  The questions you need to answer are how often, what kind of info should you provide, and how should you provide it?  Look at each category (suppliers, prospects, customers, partners) and think about how you want to touch them throughout the year.  Some categories may need further sub-categories.  For example, you might want to have additional customer and prospect categories based on industry or product interest.  So how often does each group hear from you?  Once a month?  Once a year?  And what kind of information is important to that specific group?  Training advice?  Product updates?  And how best to provide that information?  You’ll have to ask.  Because some people like getting emails.  Others like printed materials.  Some still want to get a phone call.

Step 3:  Execute...again and again and again, year after year after.  This is not a one time shot.  This is a consistent plan of communicating helpful information to your community.  Information that is specifically paired down to the people that find it relevant.  Information that is delivered on a schedule based on your determination of how often this group wants to hear from you, without being too intrusive.   And information that is delivered in a format (email, print, etc) that is desired by the recipient.  This is not a little job.  This is a big, long, consistent, time-consuming job.  You will need someone to do this.

Why? Because after time (and this will take time) you’ll find yourself building a community better than any social media site.  You’ll be consistently communicating with groups of people that want to hear from you.  And they will be responding back.  They will be thinking about your company the next time they have a need for something you provide.  They will enjoy the information you’re providing and look forward to hearing from you.

Building a community isn’t running a Facebook page.  It’s about creating and then investing in a relationship over a long period of time.  The commitment is significant.  But the payback is substantial.  Even for guys that manufacture cans.

Gene Marks: Best Sales Reports

A guest post by Gene Marks


Oops…just got a call from that guy.  He’s the sales manager and he just moved jobs.  “Gene,” he yells at me over the phone (they always seem to be yelling at me, why is that?).  “I just switched jobs.  Instead of selling industrial waxing balls I’m now selling fabricated wood slicers.  I have a sales group of ten.  I need you to come in here,  put in the same system  I had at my own place and get me my damn reports.  Oh, and I want this done tomorrow too.  Call me!”

And believe it or not, I actually like getting these calls.  They happen a few times a year.  This is a guy who knows what he’s doing.  Sure, he’s loud and obnoxious.  But give him a break.  He’s a sales guy.  And  he gets it.

As most of us are aware, the economy isn’t great.  Estimates of our economic growth are ranging around 2-2.5%.  Unemployment is still high.  Consumer and small business confidence remain at low levels.  But some companies are doing pretty good - those in industries of higher growth, like energy and healthcare and retail marijuana sales for example.  And others are doing OK too, mainly because they’ve got competent sales management.

Because even in a slow economy the sales managers and business owners who are hustling and paying attention to their numbers are succeeding.  They are using data to squeeze out every available dollar from their customers and prospective customers.  They have customer relationship management (CRM) systems and they’re pulling relevant reports out of their systems in order to manager their sales teams as effectively as possible.  And it all comes down to reports.  Getting the right information makes all the difference in the world.

So what are the reports that “that guy” wants from me?  They’re usually the same.  In fact the really good sales managers and business owners usually ask for the same three reports.  And they are:

1.  The Pipeline Report.  This lists all of your potential opportunities.  This tells you not only the name of the customer but the value of the opportunity, products, salesperson, expected date to be closed and “confidence level” – that means what percentage (20%? 50%) that the salesman expects this deal to go through.  It also shows notes, the last thing done on this opportunity (An email?  A call?) and the next scheduled follow-up.  This report is the holy grail of sales management.  How do you know what’s out there if you don’t have this?

2.  The Activity Report.  This shows past and future activities for each salesperson.  Why is that guy meeting with that customer who’s about to place a $100 order next week when he should be meeting with that other customer who’s looking to spend $10,000?  Some of these salespeople need a slap upside the head!  And how can you do that if you’re not following their activities?  Big brother?  Yes.  Do it for everyone?  No.  You know which guys need closer supervision.  Those are the guys you track.

3.  The Lost Sales Report.  Are you brave enough to run this?  Sure you are, as long as you’ve had a shot of Jack Daniels right beforehand.  But it’s worth it.  This report shows all the ones that got away – the deals that didn’t close.  Why didn’t they close?  Did the customer buy a competing product?  Was the price too high? Did they fall off the radar?  As long as your salespeople are completing their open opportunities with the right explanation you can start learning more from your failures.  Ugh.

Having a slow year in a slow economy?  It doesn’t have to be.  Maybe you’re missing deals because you’re not paying enough attention.  Maybe there are opportunities that can be further exploited.  Maybe that sales guy is spending too much time meeting with the pretty buyer from We-Don’t-Care-Corp when he should be visiting I’m-A-Big-Fish-Inc., even though their purchasing manager has hair on his palms.  Big deal.  A sale is a sale.  And it’s all about using the data to close the right ones.

Gene Marks: Are You a Great Customer?

A guest post by Gene Marks


Why I’m In Love With Andrew.  Yes, That’s Right:  Love.

Andrew, I love you.

No, not in that way.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  It’s just that you’re a good guy and I’ve known you for almost ten years now.  You’ve been a great client of ours.  You’re nowhere near our largest.  In fact, I just checked this and I think you paid us less than $2K last year for services.  But that’s completely OK.  Because I look forward to speaking with you.  I’m happy to be your service provider.  I really enjoy doing business with you.  You are the kind of client everyone should have.  And everyone should aspire to be.  Why is that?

For starters, you are nice to me and my people.  You treat us with courtesy.  You offer coffee.  You place us in a nice conference room or cubicle when we come onsite to do work.  Your employees, watching how you act, act the same.  We never feel like villains when we come to your offices.  We appreciate your friendly atmosphere and we like the fact that you and your people treat us like an extension of your own company.  Some of our clients treat us terribly:  their offices are dim and their employees pretend we don’t exist.  It’s as if we’re the enemy.  We’re not.  And we appreciate that you recognize that.

You do what you say you’re going to do.  You’d be surprised how many people don’t.  They sign contracts with us, promising to pay when services are performed, and then we find ourselves chasing them down for money weeks or even months later.  It’s demoralizing, frustrating and unprofitable.  So thank you.  Thank you for paying your bills on time.  Thank you for getting us the materials that we request so we can do our jobs.  Thank you for being there when you say you’ll be there.  Thank you for not keeping us waiting, changing the dates of our visits again and again and letting us know in advance if there are any plans in your company that will affect the services that we’re performing.

You want to learn, not attack.  We provide technology services.  That’s our expertise.  It’s not your expertise.  Thank you for recognizing that.  We appreciate that when you don’t understand something you don’t attack us.  You don’t become defensive.  You don’t unfairly accuse us of taking advantage.  You respect our role and our expertise.  You don’t hide your insecurities or lack of confidence behind an angry tirade to make yourself look better in front of your employees.  You are not afraid to admit that you’re ignorant about certain things.  We all are.  You ask us to explain these things, to educate you, to help you learn how you can be better.  We appreciate this.  We hate feeling like we’re the bad guy or that we’re doing something underhanded or taking advantage of your ignorance when it’s really you that doesn’t understand.  Thanks for admitting this and being a good partner.

You are the best kind of client Andrew.  You know what you know.  And you know what you don’t know.  You hire us, and other outside service providers, for our expertise.  You don’t nickel and dime.  You’re not confrontational.  You recognize, correctly, that we are in this to help you succeed.  Because when you succeed we succeed.  Good service providers know this.  And so do their customers.  Yes Andrew, I love you.  But no, not in that way (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  I love you because you’re the best kind of customer there is.

Gene Marks: Why Business Is Worth So Little

A guest post by Gene Marks

I’m still (relatively) young, so I don’t want to sell my business.  Also, I have optimistic hopes for the economy over the next few years and this may be a good period for me to earn a few bucks, particularly after all the past slow years.  Yeah, I’m definitely not going to cash out.  But these are not the real reasons why I’m not ready to sell my business.  The real reason is this: my business isn’t worth very much.

Is yours?

Sure, I’ve got plenty of customers.  But none of them are under a long term contract so there’s no guaranteed revenue stream.  And, being a service business, I don’t have many assets.  I’ve got cash and accounts receivable and that’s worth something to a potential buyer.  I have no debts and my payables are low, so that’s also a good thing.  But I don’t have any real property or equipment, except for a few computers and some office furniture.  Maybe your business has a better balance sheet than mine.  Maybe you’ve got a lot of equipment that has a good resale value.  Or a warehouse full of inventory.  Or long term contracts, or a big building with a low mortgage.  If you do then good for you.  Those are all hard assets and they all have value.  So you’ll definitely get a price for those.

But that’s not a business.  Those are just assets.  Each one of them has a market value.  They can be sold off as a group or individually.  You’ll hopefully get more than what you paid too.  But you’re not going to get what your business is really worth unless you build up a business that’s really worth something.  One that can stand on its own.  That’s the mark of a truly valuable business.

Take a McDonalds franchise, for example.  Now that’s a valuable business.  Sure, there’s equipment and property and hard assets.  But there is also something else:  a process.  If you own a McDonald’s franchise your employees know the process.  Everyone knows their job, from the manager down to the fry cook.  There are procedures to follow.  There are written manuals.  And rules.  If the fry cook leaves then you replace him with another fry cook who gets trained accordingly to those same procedures.  You buy from the same suppliers under established, long term contracts.  You have the same procedure for selling products to your customers, one that minimizes time and maximizes output.  Heck, even if your manager ups and leaves you can find and teach another manager.  You’re just inserting that person into the system.  It’s like a machine with replaceable parts.

Is your business like that?  Can you disappear for a week, two weeks, three weeks and it just keeps running?  Do you have a system in place?  I don’t.  If I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow my business would fold up within weeks.  I have no procedures or policies.  I’m a micromanager.  Everything needs to pass through my hands.  Every job is different, every project unique.  If someone were to buy my business they would need to also hire me along with it.  Who else would keep things running until the new owners could establish their own mark?  This is not value.  This is just another excuse for employment.

I’m not complaining, mind you.  My business is doing well.  And it’s been growing.  For the past twenty years my company has provided a livelihood for me and my family.  It has been a source of income and support for my employees and contractors.  But besides its cash and receivables it’s really not of any value to anyone.  Is yours?

Gene Marks writes daily for The New York Times and weekly for Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Huffington Post and Fox Business.  He runs a 10 person consulting firm outside of Philadelphia.