Nearly every company I work with has a fuzzy concept of WHO their target audiences are.  This is a big problem for obvious reasons.  First and foremost, if you’re not crystal clear about whom you’re talking to; you are not talking to anyone at all!  Your message is not being heard, and you’re wasting your precious time, money and effort.

Here are 3 easy steps to profiling your prospective customers so you can attract your ideal audience and deliver profitable solutions:

Step #1: Identify your target audiences

The object of this step is to identify up to 3 target audiences by title.  Your primary audience will have the highest potential for impacting your top line, followed by your secondary and tertiary audiences, if applicable.  And yes, some market research is always a good idea to identify these audiences with confidence.

Some of you will have a secondary audience that you coincidentally attract while you are marketing to your primary audience.  Who is that?  Write this audience down.  You will want to pay some attention to your secondary audience even though they’re not your bread and butter.  Others of you will have three very important audiences you will want to be attracting at all times.  Write them down by specific title and/or role.

Here’s an example…

An online kids’ sports coach locator targets (1) Parents with children in team and individual sports; (2) Coaches; (3) Sports-focused companies interested in advertisement opportunities

Notice the specificity of the audiences selected. Its not just parents, its parents with children in team and individual sports.  And not just team sports, but individual sports as well.  Also notice the secondary audience is not identified as sports coaches (as one might expect), but coaches in general.  That’s because this business owner has carefully reflected and recognized there may be leadership or physical performance coaches available through his service.  The tertiary audience, sports-focused companies, are important for additionally monetizing his website.  He will need to make a conscious and strategic effort to attract this tertiary audience as well.

Your turn…Who are your target audiences?  Are you being specific enough?  If you are not specific enough you won’t properly identify customer wants or position solutions in steps 2 and 3 below.

Step #2: Understand prospective customers’ pains and desires

Going back to the example in Step #1, the primary audience specified both team and individual sports into one audience, verses primary and secondary audiences for team sports and individual sports, respectively.   This is because the business owner understands that parents with kids in team sports and individual sports have very similar fears/frustrations/concerns.  This is what’s next…We cannot possibly understand what our customers want unless we first analyze their top pains/problems.

Ask yourself the following questions for each of your target audiences:

What is most frustrating to your primary audience?

Why is it frustrating to them?

What are the implications of trying to cope with this frustration?

What do your customers WANT as a result of having to deal with these problems?

Note:  I did not suggest you consider what your customers NEED.  Needs and wants are two different animals.  I need a new color printer, but I want an iPad.  Which one do you bet I put my available funds toward?  Your kids need to eat more vegetables but they want mac & cheese.  Which one do you suspect they’ll ask for when hungry?  The point…we buy based on what we want, not on what we need.  Although we try like hell to be rational, we are typically emotional buyers, not rational buyers.  This brings us to Step #3…

Step #3: Create solutions that match up with prospective customer “wants”

A lot of our solutions stem from what we believe our customers need.  And a lot of times, our customers don’t buy our solutions…go figure.  But now that we’ve identified our target audiences and have taken the time to understand their pains and desires, we are ready to create, tweak, and position our products and services according to what the customer knows he/she wants.

Can you see the importance of this difference?  We believing what they need verses them knowing what they want?  Given the choice, which solutions would you put your money behind creating?  How about that of your investors?  That’s right…the latter.  Your turn.

Go back to your pain analysis and look at each top fear, frustration, and worry and ask yourself the following important question…

Within the scope of my business and capabilities, what product or service can I create and launch that will specifically address this “pain” for my customer?

If you find you already have a solution for the particular pain in question, good for you!  You can rest assured you are on the right track.  However, if you find you have a bunch of preexisting solutions that don’t address your customers’ pains, have no worries. You now know what you need to do.  Tweak your existing solutions or eliminate them altogether.  Move on and move forward.  At least now your future can be bright.

It’s a huge error to assume we already know all there is about our prospects.  Revisit and really take time to analyze your target audiences and reflect on what they WANT.  What are their top pains/problems?  What are the implications of those pains? And, what do they want as a result?

Only when we know what our prospects/customers want can we truly speak their language, get them to notice us, and take a serious look at our solutions. Failing to do this will result in your start-up never getting off the ground, or your established business scrambling in a panic for survival.

Increase your attractiveness in the market…provide solutions your customers WANT!

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Goal Setting.  Did I just hear you roll your eyes?  Yes, I believe I did

I can understand why some people moan at the thought of goal setting.  Whether we realize it or not, it’s usually tied to memories of failure or disappointment to achieve something important to us, or to someone else (our company, manager, CEO, spouse, etc…).  Some of us even convince ourselves that goal setting is a waste of time and, as I’ve heard it stated,  “actually limits me in achieving more than that stated in my goal” (what a joke!)

I’m convinced that it’s not necessarily goal-setting itself that is painful, as much as it is HOW one goes about it.  If done properly, goal setting will actually stimulate new ideas, solutions, and aspirations.  And this makes it (dare I say) fun!  Creating goals to achieve your dreams is exciting stuff.  No question.

So that you can successfully revel in goal achievement, here are 7 traps to avoid when setting your personal and professional goals:

Trap 1: Failing to dream

When I’ve asked clients, family, and friends to create a list of at least 50 dreams (things they want to do, become, achieve or attain), I often get a ‘deer in the headlights’ look followed by a list of about 5 things.  Why is that?  Why is it so hard for many us to dream?  Dreaming is not only healthy; it is a necessary first step for setting goals.  Here is a tool that can help you think about the things you want to do/become/achieve/attain: Dream Inventory

Trap 2: Overlooking your starting point

With your dreams in hand, you’ve got to assess where you stand in key areas of your career and life.  Simply doing a personal/organizational S.L.O.T. (Strengths, Limitations, Opportunities, Threats) analysis can help you understand your starting point.  Clearly knowing your starting point helps in identifying the key areas you want to create goals.

Trap 3: “Storing” your goals in your brain

This simply is not going to work for you.  We have got to write our goals down onto a piece of paper.  I, too, have tried storing goals in my head only to forget, specifically, what the goal was until it morphed into something completely other than I originally intended.  This practice further allowed me to make excuses for why I didn’t get something done right, or not at all.  Sound familiar? Sorry…goals aren’t concrete unless they are written.

Trap 4: Adopting someone else’s goals as your own

If you did not create the goal you’re trying to achieve personally, you will not feel inspired toward achievement, nor will you likely achieve.  For example, your director may say to you “We need you performing in the top 15% of the company” (of course they do).  Your goal, in turn, should not be “I will perform in the top 15% of the company by Q1”.  You should have several personal goals that, once achieved, have you exceeding 15% naturally.

Trap 5: Blowing off S.M.A.R.T. Criteria

You’ve heard of SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistically High, Trackable (time bound).  A goal missing any one of these criteria will lack direction.  The purpose of a goal is to provide direction so achievement can be realized. Ask yourself, is my goal specific or is it vague?  Is it attainable or is it out of reach for me? Is it high enough and/or am I pushing myself enough? And finally, by what month, day, and year will I have achieved my goal?  Be real with yourself.

Trap 6: Not planning for obstacles

Obstacles are inevitable.  Whatever your SMART goal, there will be at a minimum one or two obstacles for which you must acknowledge as real, and 100% coming for you.  What are they?  Brainstorm all the possible obstacles that will destroy your goal achievement.  Then ask yourself, what action steps do I need to take to overcome these obstacles when and as they occur?  You may even find your action step becomes a goal in and of itself.

Trap 7: Failing to implement your action steps

Just like we need to write our SMART goals down on paper, we need to implement our actions steps toward achieving our goals and overcoming our obstacles.  I keep my action steps on my Astrid TO/DO Application on my smart phone.  You may have some other way.  Whatever it is, keep track of your action steps.  Prioritize them; give them deadlines.

We are often so busy we want to bypass writing down goals, thinking about goals, etc…the anxiety of today’s chaotic business environment provides a nice adrenaline rush, amongst other things. Remember to slow down for a few moments each day and remember your dreams, what you want, and why.

I love the phrase, “just do it!”  But first we must ask ourselves, “just do what?”  What is my aim?  How long will it take me?  How will I get there?  Where will I start?  When will I start?  When will I finish?  Why do I want to do this?  Then…just do it!

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I’m about to tell you a story about my friend, Will, who recently paid a visit to a Verizon Wireless store to learn if he wanted to switch his cellular service from Sprint.  Something we can all relate too…

But before I begin, quickly review these basic stages of the buying/selling process*:

1. Introduction: Make a favorable first impression
2. Gain favorable attention: Two-way communication/sell the prospect on you
3. Discover wants and needs: Discover what the prospect wants, needs, and why
4. Presentation: Present your product or service in terms of benefits to the prospec
5. Commitment: Ask for the order/Advance to the next step
6. Follow-up: Over deliver

Keep these stages in mind as you follow along with this story:

Will was intrigued by my Motorola Droid and wondered if maybe he should switch from Sprint to Verizon Wireless so that he, too, could benefit from all the features that the droid, per Verizon Wireless, has to offer.  However, he didn’t want to switch providers just for the product alone.  He also wanted to make sure that Verizon was the best solution for him overall (price, service, products).

When Will arrived at his local Verizon store a representative who I’ll refer to as Cathy greeted him.

Will told Cathy that he was a Sprint customer but he wanted to compare and contrast Verizon’s phones and plans before signing another contract with Sprint.  He also asked one question: “Do you match Sprint’s pricing on phone plans?”

In response, Cathy boasted, “Well…we invest millions of dollars in R&D; wouldn’t you want to go with the best?” (This must’ve been her way of saying ‘no’; they don’t match Sprint’s pricing on phone plans.)

Will was completely turned off by Cathy’s response but kindly told her, “thank you…I’ll think about it. I’m going to compare Sprint’s products and prices, and possibly come back.”

To which Cathy objected, “So you’re going with Sprint then?”  Will never said that; however, he renewed his contract with Sprint later that day as a result of comparing and contrasting his customer experience!

Where in the buying selling/process did “cocky Cathy” lose “willing to switch Will”?

If you ask me, Cathy didn’t get past Stage 2 with Will: Gaining favorable attention.  Will was taken back by her response about being the best because of R&D investment dollars.  Cathy assumed that investing more money into R&D automatically makes you the superior company/provider, and she expected Will to believe her.

What could Cathy have done to save the sale?

Well, as this headline suggests, Cathy could have kept Will involved in the buying/selling process.  Here’s how a better conversation would have looked:

Will: “Does Verizon match Sprint’s prices on phone plans?”

Cathy: “What Sprint plans are you referring to?” (Cathy clears up any ambiguities before proceeding)

Will:  “Well I happen to be looking for the cheapest plan for my personal phone plan since my company already pays for my business phone plan.” (Will reveals he didn’t have a specific Sprint plan in mind, but is looking for the best deal.  He thinks the best deal is the cheapest price; its Cathy’s job to help him discover the best deal is going to be the best return on his investment, without insulting him!)

Cathy: “OK, what are the top 3-5 things you want to be able to do with your phone?” (Cathy makes it to stage 3: Discovering wants and needs!)

Will: “Well, I’m interested in a smart phone. I want to be able to text quickly and easily, take/share photos, and access the Internet if I want to.”

Cathy: “What smart phones, if any, are you familiar with?” (Cathy is learning the prospect’s level of knowledge with smart phones, as well as selecting a benchmark product from which she could upsell/downsell, if necessary).

Will: “Not too many, but my friend has the Motorola Droid and I’m really impressed with the technology.”

At this point Cathy can bring out the Motorola Droid and proceed with Stage 4 (Present the product in terms of benefits to the customer).  Will may be so dazzled with the Droid’s features and benefits that he is sold on the spot and forgets about plan pricing (the Droid will make life more fun and the things Will wants and likes to do easier); Cathy has successfully brought him to this place.

On the other hand, if Cathy failed to emotionally hook Will during this presentation stage, he may still be wondering if he could get a different smart phone for a cheaper plan at Sprint.  Based on Will’s reaction to her presentation, Cathy would have the opportunity to sell ROI with a less expensive smart phone paired with a family plan, for example, or some other strategy that Cathy has rehearsed as a possible scenario.

Always keep your prospect involved:

• Don’t ever be cocky about your product or service.

• You can’t effectively sell your product/service unless you first ask open-ended questions to discover wants and needs.

• Take the time to understand WHY your prospect has his/her particular wants/needs/desires.

• Pay attention to your prospect’s reaction and body language through each stage of the buying/selling process; earn the right to proceed to each successive stage.

• Be prepared to up-sell or down-sell your prospects based on their reaction to your product/service presentation.

What particular buying/selling lesson can you share?

*Stages of The Buying/Selling Process adapted from Resource Associates Corporation’s Sales Development Process

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Lately I find myself telling people I care about to be prepared.

Prepared for what?  Oh…just a few critical circumstances.

How about losing your job when you least expect it?  You thought it would never happen to you…

How about the special moment in time when you’re courageous enough to walk out on your job because, quite frankly, you can’t take it (or your manager/director/company culture) anymore?  It happens.

How about the time you admit to yourself you want to do something different, but you can’t quite put a finger on what it is?  It nags at you every day and you learn to live with it.  Or do you?

Or, how about living the rest of your entire life doing what you don’t love to do just so you can feel “secure”?

Ugh.

The following 3 steps are for you if you’re:

1) A CEO who doesn’t want to spend the rest of your career working for the company you’re working for right now.

2) An employee who is a leader, and you’re yearning for something more in your career and life.

3) A human being who wants to do more to achieve your full potential before you make your exit in this world.

Step 1: Discover your passion

I know…I make it sound like it’s easy.  What I’ve learned is that it’s our selves who make discovering our passion difficult.  All we need to do is observe.  Consider these 3 questions based on observing your behaviors:

1) In the last 1-2 years, what is it that you’ve been doing such that while you were doing it, the time seemed to fly by?

2) In the last 1-2 years, what was it you were doing such that afterward, you found yourself smiling?

3) In all of your lifetime, what are the top 3 things that, while you were doing it, you absolutely kicked ass?  And still do?  Of those three, which do you love?

Note: Questions 1 and 2 I give props to Robert K. Cooper, Author of The Other 90%.  These two questions literally woke me up in my late 20’s and helped prepare me for the rest of my life.  Thank you Mr. Cooper!

These are not easy questions for everyone (I’m still going over these questions with my mother of 56 years!).  I suggest thinking about it over the next week or so.  Do not force your answers (you’re only reporting to yourself on this one!)

Step 2: Create a powerful web presence based on your passion

This step involves reserving your own domain name (your name) at GoDaddy or some other web hosting platform, then selecting a blog platform such as Quansite, Weebly or blogger and creating articles, podcasts, or video posts about intel and topics involving your passion, followed by driving traffic to your blog via social networking.

For example, I have a friend who’s passionate about relationship building.  I have another friend who’s passionate about DIY home projects for women.  I know a CPA who wishes he were involved with the Theater!  All of these people are less than happy in their “other” careers right now, and would be ill prepared for a job loss or transition to boot.

It is a new day and the Internet is your tool for YOU, Inc.  Go there!

Step 3: Enjoy the ride

When you brand yourself on the internet by blogging about your passion and/or passionate cause, people will take notice of you before they even consider asking you for a resume. This is how opportunities – in tune with who you are – find you and ask you for a meeting, offer partnerships, new roles, etc…

When you do steps 1 and 2 you’ll be delighted to find that you’ve never been happier in your entire life, followed by only a brief moment of anger that you didn’t do this years ago.

This step is where you get the satisfaction of being prepared for an unexpected job loss, career transition, or other life-changing event involving your career and job security.

Why?  Because your brand has provided you credibility, thought leadership, and confidence.

You’re prepared for anything, AND you’re happy!  Fearless leadership at its finest.

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“We’ve been in sales a long time, so we don’t really need any help with sales.”

This is what I heard from a member of a sales team I was hired to help develop sales knowledge and skills.  This team of 7 had never had any formal sales training at this particular company, they didn’t operate under an incentive program, and most of them really didn’t care about growth  (What was in it for them, anyway?)  What some of them had grown was comfortable with their less than mediocre performance and never wanting to change.

So I began by creating an incentive structure to help motivate the sales team toward caring about their sales performance (step 1).  Then I had to convince their sales manager why incentive pay is a basic tenet to sales performance (true story and sadly this felt like pulling teeth!).  Once the incentive pay was negotiated it was time to role this puppy out to the sales team (I was starting to feel the love…more money if we do well?!  Imagine that.) Finally I scheduled our team meeting for Q&A.

If you were sitting next to me in that meeting room you would’ve heard a mixture of fear, frustration, and excitement.  Some people were already anticipating their future performance and felt uneasy about tracking their sales results. 

“So we’re going to compare our sales results to that of our previous month’s performance and with those on our team?”

“Yes”, I replied. 

“What if my territory has more Medicaid payers than anyone else on the team, is that really fair?”

“Fair or not, you will need to create a unique strategy plan – you all will”, I told them.  Then followed numerous hypothetical scenarios about performance and the bonus plan.

Can you hear the cogs of this business starting to turn? There is movement and change on the horizon.  Measurable results!

Suddenly spreadsheets were being created and the team began analyzing their performance through numbers.  We had weekly meetings where they shared case studies and participated in problem solving with one another.  They wanted to know how other people were being successful (or not).  They were talking about sales.  They wanted to be better.

Whether you are a seasoned sales professional or a complete newbie, the road to excellence is always under construction. This means that successful sales professionals expect more from life and more from themselves.  Always.

Some of the people on this sales team I told you about wanted to be better.  They looked forward to learning new information they could apply to their daily performance.  But a few others initially didn’t like the idea of learning something new.  They preferred to think they “had arrived”; that they “knew sales” and their was nothing more to learn.  Really?

Reflection: How much do you want to succeed?  Do you expect to get from life without giving of your self?  Or, do you excel simply for the excitement of being better than you, and naturally reap rewards along the way?

If you are the sort who is interested in improving your personal sales performance, download this sales performance checklist and rate your self accordingly on a scale of 1-10.  Consider making copies for your sales team or share with your manager to show him or her where you are great and where/how you plan on improving.  Talk about being proactive and in control of your situation.  A leader!

I suggest picking no more than 3 things to improve at a time.  Give yourself 2-6 weeks to fully develop your new and improved selling skill!  Reward yourself when you’ve achieved success and then pick your next three areas.

As a sales professional you can readily guess the benefits for taking this advice: increased sales, bonus, recognition, confidence.  What can you lose if you don’t?  Sales, bonus, recognition, confidence.  Got that? 

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Part 3 of this article series has been a long time coming!  My ‘entrepreneurs disease’ has gotten me into a bit of trouble (good trouble – I think!) by becoming a co-founder of a clean technologies start-up.  My daily writing allotment has been consumed by preparing for the WI Governor’s Business Plan Contest for which our independent renewable energy system qualifies us as one of 21 finalists! Now that I have much of that writing under wraps, it feels good to be blogging again.  Thank you for your patience and continued readership!

Part 3 of this article series concerns demonstrating Sales Effectiveness.

Demonstrating sales effectiveness requires serious groundwork.  Revenue and cash flow are but tangible measures of a successfully implemented sales strategy.  And a successful sales strategy is one that delivers on the unique value proposition (UVP) set forth by leadership, and effectively branded by marketing (see Marketing Effectiveness).

Below are steps for aligning your sales efforts and/or sales force with the vision and UVP of your company to consistently demonstrate sales effectiveness year over year.

Determine your 5-year and 1-year revenue goals

Projections aside, what are your sales goals 5 years from now?  What is your desired result?  Get together with your executive team and determine your aim.  Sure it may be somewhere around projections, but maybe you can do better than that.  Your daily selling activities need to be in alignment with your written and communicated goal.

Create and communicate your company’s Unique Value Proposition

Ideally, your UVP should already be in place by the time you’re creating your sales strategy.  It should be on your company’s website and perfectly clear to everyone in the organization, especially the sales team.  Most importantly it should be very specific in terms of what kind of company you are (i.e. your scope of business), what products/services you specialize in offering, who you help, how you help, and your key value differentiator.

Think of it this way…your company’s UVP is to your sales team as your corporate vision is to your organization.  The UVP provides identity, direction and focus (focus on the customer!).

Would a member of your sales team be able to say what your company specializes in?  Does your sales team concur with the top three ‘pains’ your customers face?  The UVP is an effective tool for sticking to your sales message so you can brand and position your company’s value.

Decide what sales effectiveness processes are critical for improvement

As with all of your organization’s internal processes, your sales processes enable you to successfully deliver your UVP (aka strategy) to the market and achieve your revenue goals.

Which sales processes in your company need to be improved?  Below are some questions for your consideration:

• What mechanisms and activities are in place to support making connections with people both online and offline?
• Are we actively and consistently involved with at least one Social Networking site?
• Who is Speaking and positioning themselves as a thought leader in our industry?
• What events should we be hosting?
• How do our sales people stack up in professionalism with regard to appearance and behavior?
• How and with what are we educating the market on-line, as well as off-line with our sales force?
• How would we benefit if our sales professionals had their own blog/website?
• What are we currently doing to sell our products on-line?
• How do we rate our creativity and persuasion when selling?
• What sales training is necessary to improve selling skill and ability?
• Are our sales incentives appropriate and effective?
• Does our sales force understand their markets?
• Can we say that our sales professionals are experts on our products/services?
• Should we implement an internal blog for our sales force to support education and interaction? (I highly recommend this awesome performance mechanism!)

Examine what sales development initiatives need to be implemented

In my opinion, to sell effectively, sales professionals need training and development to support three core competencies: Interpersonal skills, Customer knowledge, and Product knowledge.

People with strong interpersonal skills don’t have to work as hard at selling or memorizing the sales process.  Strong interpersonal skills entail listening, empathy, and problem solving.  Yes…problem solving.  Don’t we place the highest value on those individuals who help us solve our problems?

I purposely mentioned customer knowledge before product knowledge.  It’s critical to understand the customer prior to providing them your product.  Train your sales people in this order so they can truly appreciate how your company helps your customers solve their problems.

Last but definitely not least, sales professionals must be product experts.  Their product knowledge is their credibility.  What good are your sales people to your company if they are not product experts…I don’t care how friendly or fun they are to talk to.

Always be developing these core competencies to grow sales and support internal processes.

Devise SMART goals around your sales process and development

Once you know which internal process and development objectives will support your UVP, you need to write them as specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and trackable goals.  I drive the “SMART” concept because all too often I see phrases written as goals. Phrases are not SMART.  Phrases will not hold us accountable like a SMART goal will.

Create and implement your sales plan

Get your plan on paper and distributed!  Make sure you know who is doing what activities to achieve which SMART goal, and by what date.  Use your written plan as a follow-up tool on progress at least monthly. Be sure to assign a measurement to each goal for tracking and progress reporting.

Sales effectiveness is not running to the market “willy nilly” with your product.  It is aligning sales goals and resources with your UVP you thoughtfully crafted as result of your market research and understanding of your customers’ needs.

Do your sales people know what your 1 and 5-year revenue goals are?

Do your sales people know your company’s UVP?

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If your organization can demonstrate the sort of managerial effectiveness discussed in Part 1 of this article, there’s a good chance you can actually benefit from your marketing efforts.

Part 2 of this article will concentrate on Marketing Effectiveness.

Even if one of your pitches in the race for capital ultimately results in funding, you’ll need to continuously implement effective marketing strategies and tactics to either a) attract more funding, or b) attract your ideal customers to deliver on investor expectations.

The “long haul” for funding and customers requires modern, “attraction marketing”. In accordance with my own hard knocks, observations, research and investment, here are my five standard requirements for attraction marketing:

1) Effective management is a pre-requisite for effective marketing.

If the management in your company is seriously flawed, even highly effective marketing will not reap results.  As obvious as this may seem, it is all too common for bad management to be compensated for by working-up a new marketing campaign.

Here in lies two problems: (1) Ineffective marketing isn’t the root cause for lack of organizational growth, and (2) Bad management is infamous for poor implementation of any sort, including marketing initiatives.

As I write this, thousands of businesses are ignorantly trying to cover for bad management through implementing a new marketing gig.  Is this your company?

Clean up your management first (hire, demote, terminate or develop in accordance with company culture); then try to get great things done!

2) Effective marketing embraces and implements modern technology.

Here are three of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard recently: (1) “A prominent web presence isn’t necessary; we are only interested in attracting local businesses and customers.” (2) “Internet marketing and social media don’t apply to our industry and type of business.” (3) “We believe the only way to truly connect with people is in person.”

Modern technology changes how things get done, and marketing is no exception to this rule!  The thing that amazes me most is how even tech-focused companies (of any size) are slow to recognize the impact modern technology has on how we market today, and thus fail to implement marketing effectively.

That said, let me first address ridiculous item #1: Even if you’re looking to do business locally within your state, for example, your local prospects and customers are online! This is true if they are online intentionally searching for a solution to their problems, or if they stumble upon your solution in their online networks and industry forums.  Look at it is mere coincidence that people around the globe can access your business.

If you have a website, ask yourself these questions: Do you want to be a brochure, or a presence? Do you want to be a brochure, or a sales and marketing machine?  Do you want to be a brochure, or do you want to be highly effective and attract your ideal customers with a strategic, online presence?

The way I see it, if you’re going to take the time to be online, forget branding your company as a “brochure”.  Be a presence – a force to be reckoned with!

As for ridiculous items #2 and #3: Modern technology now enables rapport building on web-based platforms. It is a gross misunderstanding the only way we can truly connect and develop rapport with another individual is in person.

Where there are words, pictures, sound and video, there is communication – and thus connection – with human beings (investors and customers included).  And where there is connection with human beings, there is the potential for growing familiarity, trust, inquiry and commerce with your company!

Furthermore, aren’t businesses of any industry interested in growing familiarity, trust, communication and sales?  Building rapport online is for ALL businesses.  Don’t take your web presence lightly – go modern.

3) Effective marketing needs to deliver a positive, “potential customer” experience.

Just like a quality product or service delivers a positive customer experience, so too should your marketing efforts.  After all, isn’t marketing a “touch-point” with your potential customers?

Here’s how to implement a positive, potential customer experience: Provide industry-related education.  That’s it!

How are you educating your market about solutions to their problems? Effectively implement edu-marketing always, and you will attract the market.  You will engage your potential customers in becoming familiar with you, trusting you, researching your solutions, and doing business with you – all via education.  Now isn’t that nice?

4) Effective marketing MUST be in synch with sales efforts.

Do you ask members of your sales team what they think about company positioning and branding? Do you align your sales department to properly sell via an education-based sales model?

Positioning your company’s brand in the market requires that you do so through the eyes of your customers so you can speak their language.  Implementing mechanisms for acquiring sales force feedback on your marketing language before you upload content to your website or disseminate sales materials is a highly effective practice.

For example, invite a few of your respected sales leaders to your market strategy meetings and ask them, “What are the top 3 pains our customers are experiencing?”
Although marketing folks prefer to believe they know “customer speak” best, they will never know it like the company’s direct line of communication a.k.a. sales force.  Never.

Once you have the proper language to create effective sales tools, you need to align behaviors in the field.  Attracting the market is different from days of old.  Conversion isn’t going to be so hard anymore. I’ll elaborate on this concept in Part 3 of this article.

5) Effective marketing of today requires a significant amount of personal time.

I hear this from CEOs and business owners quite often: “ I’m really busy running my business.  There’s just not enough time in my day for marketing stuff.”

Because people are interested in connecting, trusting, and doing business with other people, they want to connect with a person, not a company.  Therefore, understand that attraction marketing demands time from the executive/business owner him/herself.  And if not the business owner, someone needs to be assigned the role of “Face of the Company”.

Due to modern marketing technology, today’s market presents a great opportunity for CEOs to attract investors and customers via modern marketing efforts.  Never before has the business owner/CEO been able to so directly connect with so many like-minded customers at once and impact sales.

As a CEO or business owner, if you take time to execute attraction marketing you will surely delineate from your competition.  The market will be attracted to you and your company, and you will grow faster.  Let me say that again, you will grow faster.  First and foremost for your own right – growing faster than your competition is an added bonus.

That said, here are some basic questions to ask of you and your company’s marketing effectiveness:

• Do we regularly utilize market research and/or internal company knowledge to assess our market and our customers’ needs before positioning and branding our     organization?
• Do we have a well-crafted value proposition that guides all of our positioning and branding?
• Are our logo, tagline, business cards, key profiles, proprietary processes, hubsite, product/service packages, leads-generating whitepaper, core case studies, and ancillary branding tools in alignment?  Do we have any of these things?
• Do we have a concise message as to how we help?  Can everyone in our organization communicate this same message? Do we provide training for our staff so they know how to effectively communicate a clear and consistent message?
• Do we market with educational media (blog articles, white papers, case studies, resource guides, reports, telesiminars, etc.) versus traditional “company-focused” brochures which no-once gives a rat’s tail?
• Do we have an online hub (hubsite) where we drive traffic and leads versus an Internet brochure (traditional website)?
• Am I the face of the company?  Who is?
• Are we out on the Internet connecting and earning trust with our future customers?
• Do we have an Internet marketing strategy in alignment with our brand to effectively connect and earn the trust of our ideal customers so we can drive sales through the roof?
• Do we “represent” offline like we do online?

Whether your market is attracted to your organization or not is up to you! We must embrace the change modern technology has on our marketing effectiveness.

What is one thing you and your organization are doing right now that is in concert with attraction marketing?  What are three new things you can start implementing this quarter?
Which concepts from this article would you like me to provide more tips and solutions?

Part 3 of this article will focus on Sales Effectiveness!

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Wouldn’t it be nice to have investors signing-up to receive updates on your progress and achievements, as well as contacting you for a meeting?  Establishing a powerful online presence and/or “hub” where you serve as a resource and educator in your industry will attract investors.

I’m about to give you ten steps to show you how, but first there are five “laws” to consider for successfully implementing these steps:

1) You need to know who you are and where you are going

Executive leaders have strategic business, marketing and sales plans to guide their organizations toward achieving critical milestones.  It will be impossible to create an online hub that attracts investors if you don’t know who you are or where you are going – guaranteed!  Your web strategy must be in alignment with a clear direction provided by your leadership.

2) You need to understand that traditional websites are dead

An internet-brochure (aka website) will not work for you.  At best, it will provide investors and other visitors information (like a brochure).  At worst, it will cost you time, money and opportunity (due to its ineffective ability to help grow your business).

Highly effective websites of today serve as a sales and marketing machine.  They are a hub of empowering information, inspirational ideas, personal connection, and motivational conversion.  Your hub is a one-stop-shop for investors and customers to build trust and loyalty with you and your company!

3) You need to implement education-based marketing strategies

Your online hub should be a distribution center of empowering information to help investors learn all they don’t know they didn’t know about your industry and scope of solutions.  Outside of proprietary information, you can never give away too much helpful insight how your innovations can solve specific problems or make something better, easier, or faster.  If you’re really good at this, you will help readers make important decisions about THEIR business.

Of course you should provide your latest studies for download.  But as interesting and informative as your studies are, are they empowering?  Do they hook your reader emotionally?  Do they move people to action?  It would be nice if they did; however, studies serve as proof only.

You’ll need more to pull funding in your direction!  Whitepapers, Case Studies, and Articles are great pieces for edu-marketing.

4) You need to target specific investors and investor groups

This is where sales strategy comes in.  Just like any other market segment, you have to identify your “targets” and keep track of your investor relationships. You don’t want to attract ALL investors, but only those who fit your predetermined criteria. Your online hub will effectively generate warm leads for you to consider adding to your CRM system/software.

5) You need to always be driving investor traffic to your site

By nature, the activities outlined below will help drive traffic to your site (for example, blogging provides fresh content for Google spiders.) But in addition, you should always direct investors to your site because this is your HUB.  You position and brand yourself on your hub.  You move investors to sign up for your updates on your hub.  All things important to attracting and getting funding happen on your hub, if done right.

CAUTION: If you can’t embrace these concepts it’s highly unlikely you will be able to attract and connect with investors online.  And I will tell you this, either becasue they’re skeptical or because they’re not interested in putting forth the effort to exercise new skills, I meet business owners every week who struggle to accept one or more of the above concepts.  This is good news for YOU!  Take the actions I’m about to present below and you’ll win!  You will stand out from the market, and increase your attractiveness in it!

10 Steps For Attracting Investors To Your Online Hub

Step 1: Define the sort of investors you want to attract.

You want to be able to speak directly to your ideal investor types.  Create a profile for your investors that include things like location, criteria, attitudes, and beliefs. You don’t need to be concerned with ALL investors being interested in your technology and company! Concern yourself with speaking only to those genuinely interested in your scope of innovations – you’ll ultimately earn faster results!

Step 2: Create a free whitepaper (or some other educational piece).

You’ll want to have empowering information ready for download when investors sign up to receive updates on your hubsite.  A whitepaper is a highly effective tool to educate investors on all solutions, history, and milestones in your industry, and then wrap up with your specific technology.  A whitepaper serves to tactfully educate and help people make decisions, while soft-selling your own solutions toward the END.

If you’d like to learn more about writing effective whitepapers that educate and earn thought leadership, pick up Michael A. Stelzner’s book, “Writing White Papers: How to capture readers and keep them engaged.”

Step 3: Determine your web platform and auto-responder

Here you must decide if you’re going to pay an expensive web developer/designer to do everything for you (which is fine if it’s worth it to you personally), or if you will go with less expensive options such as Wordpress, Weebly or Quansite, which don’t require you know code.

Quansite (formerly Blog i360) is what I use because it provides advanced features no other platform can accommodate, such as auto-updating all your social bookmarks for you. For this reason and many more, I highly recommend it.  You can learn more about Quansite by visiting www.quansite.com.

You will also need an auto responder to capture investor contact information and regularly communicate.  You’ve likely seen many examples of these by now, such as Constant Contact and iContact.  My favorite is Aweber because you can automatically broadcast your blog posts to your email list.  Whichever auto responder you choose, you will use it to save time and effectively edu-market your contact list of investors and provide them company updates.

Step 4: Design your site map for investor navigation

If you already have a company website, I recommend adding a tab called “Investors” which will take them to an “investor universe”. This universe is a blog platform of your choosing, as mentioned above.  Ask yourself, “What do investors want to know?” And create pages tailored to their needs.  The following tabs will make a great start:

• Welcome: The most important page, as explained below in Step 5
• About: Interesting info about your company; don’t be dry!
• Management Team: Picture/video and bio of each member highlighting relevant background that makes them an excellent choice for a management position in your   company
• Board of Directors: Picture and brief bio highlighting the value they bring to the company’s achievements and milestones
• Scientific Advisory Board (if applicable): Pictures and brief bio highlighting specifically why they were chosen to serve on this important board
• Blog: Include case studies, updates, opinions, etc…this is your space to differentiate your company, innovations, and most importantly, demonstrate your thought leadership!

Step 5: Shout your “cause” from your Welcome page!

Your welcome page should NOT say, “Welcome to XYZ company!  We bla bla bla…”  This is typical as well as boring!  Instead use your Welcome page to your advantage!

Your Welcome page is your opportunity to communicate – loud and clear – what you stand for and represent!  Have a conversation that hooks your readers emotionally regarding the problems your technology can and will help alleviate.  Avoid brochure talk.  Get investors inspired to sign up for your company updates regarding your milestones and technology.

Step 6: Capture investor name and email

Remember that whitepaper you wrote in Step 2?  Aren’t you glad you did!  It took time and preparation, but it was worth it because now investors get it as an added bonus once you’ve moved them to sign up for your company updates on your inspirational welcome page.

If your title on your guide/whitepaper is well crafted, they will begin to read it.  If the first few paragraphs are extremely helpful, they will keep reading and get to the page where you talk about your solutions (the last page, sorry!).  If they read through the whole whitepaper, you’ll have made a footprint on their minds.

Your updates and other educational material you provide via your auto responder will have greater impact and quickly grow your thought leadership in your industry.

Step 7: Nurture-market your list with your updates

Once you have your investor list, use it wisely!  Don’t email useless nonsense.  Only send things of high value as seen through the eyes of the investor.  They will want to know milestones.  They will want an announcement of your blog post that provides a video of useful or interesting information about your technology.  They will want to know of your latest research publications with a summary in lay terms.  Think before email marketing!

Step 8: Blog your case studies and other helpful information often

Blogging is Marketing 101.  I know it’s extra work, but those who do it effectively attract the market and grow their business.  If you are trying to decide whether or not to blog, a good question to ask yourself is, “Do I want to grow my business?”

Realistically decide how frequently you can blog on a consistent basis. The more frequently you blog, the more you attract your market/investors.

Step 9: Implement multi-media on your site

An important lesson I learned from one of the most amazing marketing courses I’ve ever taken, Tribal Seduction, is that people (no matter who) want to be entertained.   I realize this isn’t exactly new information, but it’s often easily forgotten when we’re getting down to business.  People are drawn to pictures, video, sound, “a cause”, controversy, drama, and other emotion-laden content.  Implementing multi-media will attract the market, even investors (Investors are people too, yes?!)

Step 10: Tap into 1-3 social networks

I’m easily annoyed every time I hear things like, “You have to get on Facebook”, or,  “You must be on Twitter”.  “Why”, you might ask?  “Because it helps you with your business”, people will tell you.

The only people who maximally benefit from social networks are those who have done something very similar to steps 1-9 above, plus understand that strategy comes before tactics.  Facebook and Twitter are tactics, and not quick fixes to lack of direction and/or a strategic marketing plan.  But, with a strategy and a plan, they can be powerful tools indeed!  Proceed with knowing who you are and where you are going!

Furthermore, don’t stress yourself out trying to learn all of the social networking tools at once, especially without a strategy.  Take one at a time!  If you have an effective online hub, Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn will be ancillary (yet powerful) tools for driving traffic to your site, where your thoughts and company reign supreme.

The science and technology you work on everyday are more “rocket-science” (for some of you quite literally!) than social media tactics will ever be!  Keep these thoughts in mind, and you will implement these tools with ease and effectiveness!

A note on SEO: Of course SEO is a consideration for attracting investors to your online hub.  You can pay all kinds of money for search engine optimization services (and potentially discover disappointing results), or you can visit www.wordtracker.com…they will show you the inexpensive and effective way to apply SEO with keywords.

I hope you’ll find these concepts and steps implemented into your strategic marketing plans.  They will improve your marketing effectiveness and thus increase your attractiveness in the market!

When can you and your team complete Step 1?

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Yes…money is tight, investors are being highly selective with their funds, and they are interested in a return on their investment in the form of profits.   As mentioned in my first post of this series (I Continue Meet Scientists and Business Owners Who Need To Do MORE To Attract Capital Funding), this implies big opportunity for the fit-minded!

Times like these bring out the best in innovative science and discovery, because the fit-minded will adapt and change what they’ve been doing.  They will employ new strategies and a well-defined process to attract funding.

The Wrong Way To Attract Capital Funding:

In my opinion, there is only one wrong way to attract capital funding: Keep doing what you did last year!  Instead of growing a prosperous enterprise, you will grow a cynical attitude.

Investors and other financiers know passion when it presents itself.  You cannot have both cynicism and passion for the future of your company, research and products.  Great companies and innovations grow on passion!

If you have it in your head that investors “can’t see the possibilities”, OR “all they care about is profit”, you are going to be absolutely correct!  Your behaviors – being influenced by your mindset – will in turn influence your investors’/financiers’ perceptions of you, your company, and your future.

Do any of these behaviors sound like you?

• Settling with journals/studies to market your company and ideas
• Presenting a business plan that took you a day or less to create
• Communicating your innovative concepts in your preferred language and format
• Presuming you have all the skills you need to grow your business
• Lacking passion and vision for the impact your innovation will have on the world
• Focusing on a company acquisition verses the vigilance and sustainability of your company

The Right Way to Attract Capital Funding:

As with any market, Capital Markets need to be marketed to effectively.  You may have noticed that marketing today isn’t what it used to be – even when compared with one-two years ago!

Furthermore, and somewhat ironically, the slower economy has accelerated change in marketing methodologies.  End users and investors alike have new demands for products and communications, and many business owners fall far behind in knowing how to overcome these crucial market obstacles.

With the growth of your company at stake, this is not a time to turn a blind eye to the changes you must make to attract capital.  You are competing for funds like never before!

Below are my humble, yet highly effective suggestions for attracting funding.  No BS…I do believe they will help you!

Create a TRUE Strategic Business Plan

A true strategic business plan is for you and your executive team.  Consider that investors and others simply have the pleasure and opportunity to look at your plan when examining your credibility and viability.  A good plan will take at least 3 to 5 days to create with your team.  Don’t write a plan to check the box (kiss of death!)

Your plan is your vision for success.  It represents the values your company is built on, and how you see your company and innovations impacting the world in 5 years or more.

It shows the critical milestones you will achieve with funding in the next 5 months, and then the next five months after that, and so on.  IP Strategy, primary/secondary market research, “what if scenarios”, Financing Strategy, Critical Milestones…go deep here; spend some time!  This is YOUR guide!

To not create a true roadmap for success means you are open to allowing external and other market forces to guide you.  You will be a weathervane, and you’ll be seen as non-credible.

Communicate In a Way Investors Will Grow Interested and Understand

So you have a TRUE strategy plan to share.  Will this suffice?  No!  You need to provide your audience with a Strategic Plan Recap: One for your business plan, one for your marketing plan, and one for your sales plan.

Strategy recaps are succinct and to the point, helping to prevent you from going too heavy with speaking jargon. They will also stimulate interest in looking deeper into your strategy.  Remember, seek first to have your investors understand, then you can be understood!

Here is what a good Strategic Business Plan Recap should consist of:

• Your company’s 3-5 core values
• Your company’s core purpose for existence
• Your company’s 5-Year goal, simply stated
• Your Critical Milestones for achieving your 5-year goal
• Your objectives for achieving your critical milestones, with a special emphasis on your objectives for the next rolling 5 months

Including these concepts in your business plan recap will effectively show who you are and where you are going.  This makes for quick and interesting reading (without sacrificing pertinent details) and immediately helps investors identify if they care to learn more.  It’s all about stimulating real interest.

Here’s what a good Marketing Plan Recap should consist of:

• Your marketing philosophy (edu-marketing, traditional, new media, or mixture, etc.)
• Your market niches, capital markets included (as applicable by growth stage)
• Your Unique Value Proposition
• Your Competitive Advantage (s) (per your well-thought IP strategy)
• Your Objectives for “getting the word out” in the next rolling five months

A marketing recap like this one will effectively show investors whether or not you know how to attract your markets in order to achieve your critical milestones presented in your strategic business plan.  An excellent marketing plan will establish faith in your capabilities.

And finally, here is what a solid Sales Plan Recap Should Consist of:

• Key Differentiators (what about your company and innovations is both unique and valuable to the market, through the eyes of the market)
• Key selling tools (what you will implement to promote your key differentiators to the market)
• Product Strategy (Sales flow and points-of-contact)
• Sales Channels
• Objectives for bringing the sales plan to fruition, again with the next rolling 5 months in mind

A sales plan recap like this one reflects your dedication to action.  No matter what your stage of growth – seed, emerging or promising – you are selling, and you need tools and a plan.

Get out of the Past: Update your Marketing Approach

Studies are required, but whitepapers are desired!  By whitepapers, I mean any information that serves to empower investors and other markets with useful and educational information they can use to make decisions.  Recall the scientist I told you about from my first post in this series?  More of the same!

There is a real opportunity to differentiate yourself if you can be the first to establish thought leadership in your industry.  In addition to having your latest research study published in a peer-reviewed journal, you should provide additional educational pieces specifically geared to your audience in the form of guides, whitepapers, articles, videos or case studies.

How much more will equity financiers be attracted to your organization and ideas if you are educating them on the problems in the industry your innovations help to solve?  Who will they desire to watch, grow to trust, and potentially invest in?  The scientist/business owner with another study at the trade show, or the thought leader with a study at the trade show, who’s guides they’ve received education on pressing industry problems and solutions?

They will choose the latter because this group will have earned thought leadership above and beyond the competition.  There is nothing more powerful than thought leadership.  Earn it!

Attract Investors to Your On-line Hub

If you are confident and can demonstrate who you are and where you are going, you will attract the market.  Establishing a powerful online presence where you can serve as a resource and as an educator in your industry will attract capital funding.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have investors signing up to receive updates on your progress and achievements and contacting YOU for a meeting?

Demonstrate Organizational Effectiveness

Being able to demonstrate organizational effectiveness means that you can show you’re able to consistently achieve company goals/milestones.  How would you rate your company’s ability to consistently achieve organizational goals?  What would it mean to the growth of your company to exceed investor expectations with your ability in this area?

I notice this article is getting somewhat lengthy!  I have much to say about these last two points, and I want them be digestible and useful!    That said, I will break them into two additional articles for my next two subsequent posts in this series:

How to Attract Investors with an On-line Hub and Exceeding Investor Expectations: How to Demonstrate Organizational Effectiveness

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I continue to meet scientists and innovative business owners who need to do more to attract capital funding.  Please note that the operative word here is “attract” .

For instance, I recently had a conversation with a scientist who cynically declared nobody is providing any funding, and nobody is buying.  For this reason things are not going well for his business, and he doesn’t anticipate things getting better for him anytime soon.

I asked him what his thoughts were for sustaining and growing his business in spite of this conclusion.  With an outlook like that, I was curious indeed! What he told me: Another new research-publication and more trade-shows for its distribution.

Let’s think about that for a minute…why would another publication and an increased presence at trade shows save his business and support his vision for success?  Isn’t this pretty similar (not to mention a standard practice in his industry?) to what he’s always done?  What’s different?

New Skills and Strategies Are NOT Optional In Our Market

I’m not going to repeat at length what’s been in the media about the state of investing and the survival of many start-up and emerging technology-focused companies.  Funding is like oxygen, and although there is optimism that things are “looking up”, it’s been getting harder and harder to breathe!

Let’s consider mindsets and behaviors.  Scientists are accustomed to receiving grants and other equity resources to grow their research and businesses to the next stages of advancement and development.  And for the most part, they are continuing to do what they know – writing grants, preparing business plans and presenting to investors – and getting not-so-much good fortune in return!

Cynicism, panic, frustration, worry, fear, clamor, doubt, and “pushing in line” are a natural reaction.  The extent of competition for funding is a change from the usual. A new approach is required.  New skills and strategies are a must do if you want to be the one to receive the “well-guarded” funds.

Survival of the fittest?  Sure…but I prefer to think of it as survival of the fit-minded: open, strategic, conceptual, calm, EFFECTIVE.

You see, a majority of your competition will NOT take this advice (change is often deemed difficult).  But this is good news for you, if you do choose to change how you market your technology.  You will win.  You will grow a prosperous enterprise!

So how can scientists and emerging innovators stand out and ATTRACT capital funding?  How can they rise above the clamor and frustration and advance their innovations into the market?

To answer these questions, I will continue with the second part of this article in my next post: The Wrong Way And The Right Way To Attract Capital Funding

Stay tuned…!

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