The Artesian Blog

Sell for a reason

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

I love sales tips, genuinely, I can think of little better than spending an afternoon listening to endless advice about the best way to seal a day. Brush your hair to the right, smile at least fifteen times in a pitch and tie your laces in a double knot to show true commitment. Although all of this is probably very good advice I'm not sure if it will truly help in winning a customer.

If someone has a leaking tap they probably won't care if you call on Wednesday, compliment their shirt or pat the dog. They probably just want you to fix the tap. So the plumbers job is not to sit on the front porch politely waiting for a pipe to burst, their job is to make sure that when there is a problem, they are the one picked to do the job.

Having a job to do, a problem to fix is half the battle. By all means tie your laces in a double knot (it's just common sense really) but ultimately I'd focus on having something to sell that's actually going to suit the prospective buyer. If a plumber bought round a mop to fix a pipe, my guess is they probably wouldn't be allowed to fix it.

Tip on how to use search engines effectively - Don't use them!

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:46:00 +0000

On my never ending travels through blog destinations I saw an article today highlighting no fewer than 14 ways to help use Google effectively. Just to repeat that 14 ways to help. If you're in sales, you will be all too aware of the value in researching but there comes a stage when you stop being a salesperson and enter the world of professional research.

The problem is, there is so much that you need to know and the even bigger problem is that what you need to know keeps on bloody changing! To sit down at your desk on a sunny morning, equipped with your 14 useful hints for using Google, will probably see you reappear from your screen as darkness sets in and wonder to yourself 'where did everybody go?'

It is simply not plausible to track what you want to track using a search engine. Even if you get the results you're looking for the process takes too long for a sales timetable to consider. So whilst I take nothing away from the 14 tips to aid your Google hunt, my tip would be, exploit the technology available, cut the manual strain and focus on what really matters, converting leads.

Recent Articles

Be ready to pounce on an opportunity

CRM spend on the increase

Quote from Peter Ostrow

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:08:00 +0000

It was interesting to see the take of Peter Ostrow, Research director at the Aberdeen Group, on his own report today which was included in the Aberdeen Group's press release. Referring to the results of the study 'Sales Intelligence: Preparing for Smarter Selling' which I've been featuring a lot on here Ostrow said:

“By providing sales representatives with this necessary ammunition, companies can positively affect these team members’ ability to effectively map their own products or services to their prospects’ business challenges with a customized message or offer. The selection of sales intelligence solutions, and their integration within the daily lifecycle of selling, play a crucial role in the ability to turn these strategies into profit. By empowering their sellers with better information about their prospect companies, markets and individuals, companies are able to maximize their chances of hitting quota, and at the same time create efficiencies within the sales operations environment.”

Just thought I'd share his views so you didn't have to listen to me ramble on for a change. Remember you can see the whole report for free by downloading it on the right hand side of this post.

Be ready to pounce on an opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:07:00 +0000

I do try and keep my football addiction away from this blog where possible but like many today I can't help but be struck down by the news that David Beckham is now set to miss the World Cup this summer due to injury. Now you may be thinking 'what has David Beckham possibly got to do a blog that focuses on sales leads and search?' and believe me, I've had to fight long and hard to find a correlation stable enough to let me write about the subject.

But the reason why I mention it today is because the incident pretty much sums up the unpredictability of life. Here is a man who was destined to play for his country one last time. He'd fought all the odds, done absolutely everything right and fate seemed to dictate that David Beckham would make it for one last swan song, one last glorious goodbye. The nation expected it, as did the rest of the world. But one stumble on the turf has completely shattered this entire outlook. And more to the point, out of nowhere it has opened the door for somebody else to step in.

And I guess that's what my point really. In business terms, just like football it is simply impossible to guess what will happen from day to day. What may seem an impossible cause one day will suddenly become extremely achievable the next. What's bad news for some, could be great news for others. The message here is things can change very quickly and you need to be waiting and ready to pounce when they do. If you're not tracking your market carefully enough, then you'll miss your opportunity, and as Beckham found out yesterday, margins for error can be very small.

CRM Spend on the increase

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:03:00 +0000

Taken from Sales Intelligence: Preparing for Smarter Selling

CRM is proving itself to be an absolute must have in the current market as the above graph shows (I told you I'd try to leave percentages alone. I've moved onto graphs instead).

When you consider that the best-in-class companies are achieving quota by a 26% better average than laggards it is clear to see that reducing CRM budget is not an option companies should consider in a bid to cut costs.

It has sometimes been assumed that CRM solutions are a 'nice to have' opposed to a 'must have' but that argument no longer stands up. Rather than it being a bonus to know about your customer it really is an absolute necessity as budgets tighten and businesses seek a far more personal experience.

There's been a lot of talk about mobile spend increasing, Internet spend increasing, social networking spend increasing, and I can't help but feel that CRM has been largely overlooked in terms of a progressing trend. The solution is there, and the best-in-class are proving that it works.

Report proves the value of sales intelligence tools

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:03:00 +0000

It's fantastic to finally have this Aberdeen report, it really is. Spending much of my time fighting the cause for the use of sales intelligence solutions it's great to have some numbers to back up my corner. Of course, I don't want to become one of these people who spends his life talking in percentages but a 26% difference in sales quota success is extremely valuable, especially in these tough economic times. (if you don't know quite what I'm referring to check out this news item)

What I find more staggering about the figure though, which is not really covered in the report, is that this vast improvement actually comes from making things 100 times easier. It's not like implementing a sales intelligence solution means having to put in more hours to achieve a better goal. Our automated system, for example, quite literally takes away all of the leg work. Everything comes to the right people without them even having to lift a finger.

So, really the figure of a 26% improvement for the best-in-class should also note that that 26% improvement comes by doing things a heck of a lot easier! It's no surprise then, that the report concluded sales cycles for those using such solutions are reducing 5% year-on-year whereas the laggards are seeing a 7% rise. What was I saying about speaking in percentages? Oh yeah, 90% of the time, I'll try harder not too.

Aberdeen Report now availble to download

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:43:00 +0000

I'm a man of my word and as promised towards the end of last week, The report 'Sales Intelligence: Preparing for Smarter Selling' is now available to download for FREE by using the following link.

It's a really great in-depth look at why companies need automated sales intelligence and I believe it really reflects the values and benefits of what Artesian can bring to the table.

This week, I'll be blogging opinion and reaction to the report but in the meantime read the ins and outs at your leisure and get back to me with responses and opinions.

Sales Intelligence: Preparing for Smarter Selling

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:05:00 +0000

Don't want to be going into too much detail on a Friday afternoon but next week will see the Artesian blog focusing on a report conducted by the Aberdeen Group and sponsored by Artesian Solutions titled: Sales Intelligence: Preparing for Smarter Selling.

The report focuses on how the use of aggregated business directories and supporting technologies are helping to alleviate the pressure to acquire new and profitable customers, without increasing the cost of identifying and selling to these prospects.

There's some really interesting stuff to examine in further detail and you'll be able to download the entire research piece directly from the blog. Any other bloggers wishing to collaborate on this or get extra info on the eye opening bit of research please just get in touch.

Stages of the sale

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:52:00 +0000

Something that hasn't escaped our notice here at the Artesian hub, is the need for different news at different times during a sales cycle. Potential customers simply can not be placed into one big pen and treated the same. As some creep down the sales funnel ahead of others the importance of relevant news expands.

For example, looking for a lead means exactly that. You're looking for something to justify your call, nothing else matters. But if you're on the very brink of closing a deal you want to know everything about that company from management changes to the canteen menu in order to foresee and respond to any potential barriers.

With search, it is very hard to section these stages into groups without simply increasing the number of work hours needed to keep track of the diversifying news. Which is why we're working on a far simpler solution which allows customers to track companies through different stages of the process very easily. To steal the wise words of that famous philosopher Tesco, every little helps.

Post number 200

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:16:00 +0000

That's right, today marks the 200th post in Artesian blog history. If you've read all 200 I commend you. 150, pretty good going. Anywhere below 100 and I say to you, where the hell have you been?! You've got some catching up to do. Get reading... Go on, I'll wait.....

What better way to celebrate than to see the news this morning that online news is now vastly more popular than print. It is now the third most popular news source in the US, closely behind national and local TV stations. The Pew Research center, who conducted the survey said "News awareness is becoming an anytime, anywhere, any device activity for those who want to stay informed". Couldn't agree with you more!

Print is very old hack as far as I'm concerned. It's shelf life is limited, it's structure is dated and anyone who drives a happy thought powered Prius will tell you it's shockingly bad for the environment. So here's to the future. Online news, anytime, anywhere, and at the moments that really matter.

Race Against the Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:13:00 +0000

I often spend my days battling against machines, and unfortunately not in a cool John Connor v Terminator way. No, my battle is more a battle of the mind as apposed to big things exploding in the background whilst I drive off on a Harley spouting witty one liners under my breath.

Having software designed to uncover specific triggers in the vast world of the Internet usually puts me into competitive mode. Determined that I can find exactly the same things the software can I'll pit myself in a one V one contest to see who can find relevant material first. In a rather depressing twist, this morning I realised I was in a race I can simply never win.

My defeat was confirmed by an innocent looking article in a local paper I was scanning for news. I was put off the story by it's title, it's opening paragraph and the companies involved in the piece (so not a great looking item really). Shortly after I discovered that the automated software had picked the story up. Ready to gloat in it's face triumphantly it was then I realised that right in the middle of the article, completely unrelated to anything proceeding it, was a sales trigger for the particular company in question.

Automation is not put off by hunches. It is not distracted by irrelevances. It effortlessly seeks out exactly what it's looking for no matter the circumstance. I hear people say with automation you risk missing things. In fact, it is completely the opposite scenario.

Salesforce chatter - What's on their mind?

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:55:00 +0000

Saw a great quote from salesforce.com spokesperson Bruce Francis on crmbuyer.com the other day referring to what businesses are looking to get out of the social media buzz (can I call it that now without sounding to Google messing up personal info specific?).

Francis said that "Enterprises aren't looking for more internal social networking, they're looking (for) smarter ways to be more productive and stay on top of the overload of information that is out there," and he is absolutely spot on. The business priority is to improve the business, of course it is.

Make no mistake, the ability to speed up internal communication is important but only because of the necessity to improve speed-to-contact in the sales process (A recent MIT study found that leads contacted in five minutes convert 22x more often than after 30 minutes.) So the key is finding ways to stay ahead of the game. If that involves using social media techniques to speed up the process, then so be it.

It's not can we help? It's we can help

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:24:00 +0000

Being an Internet Researcher means spending a lot of time on the Internet (unless you're a really bad Internet researcher)... For the reasons of SEO, you stumble across a lot of 'top 5 ways to...' articles - in fact I'm fairly sure I've had a couple on this very blog - and being in the sales field I often read over columns that start with 'top 5 sales tips' or 'best ways to make a successful sale' etc etc.

But when you read over them it becomes very clear that were it not for search engine optimization there would only ever be one tip. *Solve a problem that needs solving*. Your prospective client is probably not looking to improve their sales targets if they work in finance. Likewise a sales person probably doesn't want a tool that simplifies spread sheets.

With all the information that is publicly available now, mixed with the semantic technologies and platforms allowing you to filter and sort this data, there should never be the need to call on a whim and plug the benefits of your product. With your sales trigger ready to roll at exactly the right time there is simply no need. So, whilst this may not be SEO popular, here is my 'top 1 sales tip':

1) Monitor your market so you can call when the time is right.

Another day, another survey

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:53:00 +0000

A recent survey has revealed that there are far too many daily surveys to keep track of new surveys. But here's a good one that may not come as huge surprise to some. According to research conducted by Cision and Don Bates of The George Washington University 89% of journalists now source stories from social media.

That probably isn't the best of news for journalists really who are increasingly worried about user generated content but it's certainly interesting from a semantic web point of view. It proves that those hunting for news no longer really need to rely on print media, or even online publishers. It's the blogs, the tweets and the social updates that are the direct source of information.

Yes, the publications are still useful to an extent. In a massive reverse they are now the ones that evaluate and analyse the the content (ironically what social media was designed for in the first place) but providing you have a suitable way of scanning the vast content, i.e automation, cutting out the middle man is now very possible.

Yahoo clinging on but Facebook whizz past

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:36:00 +0000

Forgive me here if my figures are somewhat wayward (I've been reliably informed that an American billion is different to an English one and, quite frankly, that many zeros is just plain confusing) but the fact that 15 billion web searches occurred in the US during December means that daily, 483,870,967 were made...Insert corrections here.

It's always nice to be involved in a market which sees 483 million of something happening in one day - in one country, and what's even more staggering is that with automation, these searches could happen more regularly, more successfully and probably come close to timings that figure by many more thousands (which I think would be quite a large amount...)

Interesting to see Google losing further market share throughout the month, albeit a 0.3% fraction but despite Yahoo claiming to be in search for the long haul it was Facebook that showed the most progress with a 13% gain in search queries. Safe to say who Google will be fearing most.

649,000 results...gee, you shouldn't have

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:54:00 +0000

Having been asked to research a specific company the other day I was (as you can imagine) delighted to be presented with stories 1-10 of 649,000 results. Fantastic. Whilst I'm sure looking at all 649,000 documents in all their glory would certainly make me an expert, I'm also fairly sure by the time I was finished I may no longer own my own set of teeth.

And that's just the first place to look. Let's not forget the wonderful world of social media which can be a rich source of information and insight (as well as providing some great gossip). It's no wonder then, that sales cycles are apparently getting longer. The fact that anyone closes them at all using this format should be seen as a minor miracle.

That's why it's so important to be tracking the news now, rather than just dipping into it when you have to. Using sales intelligence data in this way can mean calling at just the right time, knowing exactly what your triggers are and having a perfect solution ready and waiting. There is more to research than there ever has been before, but the good thing is, using media monitoring tools has made research easier than ever before. Incidentally the term media monitoring brings back 31,000,000 results in your average search engine...Makes 649,000 look like a stroll in the park.

Does anyone use real words anymore?

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:16:00 +0000

So Google have launched 'Buzz' and it's official, using real words is officially no longer cool. Social networkers would be forgiven for not knowing if they're buzzing, binging, zazzing, tweeting, oooing or arrring' as yet another tool tries to storm the market (that's not like Google at all is it?).

How about dealing with issues that social networkers actually care about? Improving relevance, filtering better results and providing users with a far more personal experience? No? Is it more fun just to say noises? Ok fair enough.

Social networking has the same issues that the entire web shares, ordering chaos. Another platform to share info does nothing to help this. The focus should be on sorting the mess that already exists to provide consumers with much more relevant material then they currently get. If we call it something like 'kazzzaaming' will you at least consider it?

I've been playing Paper toss but apparently everyone else is on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:41:00 +0000

2.2 billion minutes is quite a long time when you think about it. I mean, to give that some kind of perspective, that's nearly double the length of average injury time added on at Manchester United matches and at least two sittings of a Lord of the Rings film. But apparently that's how long the UK spent browsing Facebook using -just their mobile phone- in December alone. And that's only taking into account 3 out of 5 major networks...Wow. That really is a staggering statistic.

16 million people in the UK accessed the Internet via their mobile phone in December. They viewed a total of 6.7 billion pages. One can only assume the NHS is spending billions on lamp post related injuries going into 2010.

These figures really are mind blowing though. And surely they are still just at the beginning. As usability and adoption continue to grow, the stats will only increase. When you consider these huge numbers it's worth noting that a survey by Aberdeen group of 505 companies revealed that those using sales intelligence apps reported an average saving of 9% in search time. That's quite a lot of minutes right there...Probably only three quarters of a Lord of the Rings film.

Google have no chance now

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:32:00 +0000

On the day Steve Jobs was caught walking into dinner with New York Times executives disguised under a funny hat, it's no surprise that Google's wish to create a 'vast digital library' have been rejected by the US department of Justice. If I was a betting man I would say Google now has absolutely no chance whatsoever of getting their wish (it should be noted here that I've never won any money from gambling...).

The rumours surrounding the New York Times and Steve Jobs are mounting and it can't be a coincidence that these secret meetings keep being discovered so close to the IPad release. Publishers have finally found a way to make money online and the chances of book publishers not jumping on the bandwagon eventually are slim to none. They will fight to the death to make sure Google don't cripple their plans.

Google need to offer an incentive quickly as they're already swimming against an almighty tide. Perhaps outlining how they would help publishers exploit e-readers might be a good start.

Aggregating vampires...sounds like a good film

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:20:00 +0000

Today's certainly a tough day for your average Internet researcher after a recent study revealed that considerable time spent on the web is linked with high levels of depression...Great. These nine cups of empty coffee sat next to me suggest otherwise, so ha science, stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

As if that wasn't bad enough I saw head of HDnet Mark Cuban calling news aggregation providers 'vampires' referring to the sucking of all that blood and leaving publishers bone dry. How many more times do we have to hear this ridiculous argument? Yes content is key, and yes publishers provide the content but aggregation is a service. It's not stealing the information, it's using it. Rather than vampires, aggregators are like bees. They take the pollen from the plant and use it effectively. You don't see plants building big old pay walls next to their stems do you?

Publishers are frustrated because they haven't found a way to monetize. But don't take your anger out on the delivery boy. They are bringing your content to the people that want it. It's the web equivalent of a paper round. Building a fort around content and demanding people say the magic password before they can enter is not going to solve anything. Now, if you'll excuse me I must go drink more coffee and cry myself to sleep.

Facebook has the edge?

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:55:00 +0000

Readwriteweb.com posted an interesting article yesterday concluding that Facebook has the numbers advantage when it comes to subscribing to news feeds. It also commented on the favourable way it encourages people to 'become a fan' of the feed as apposed to subscribing to an RSS which they rightly claimed sounds costly and more confusing than a simple click of a Facebook button.

News publishers of course prefer Facebook as well due to the way it lends itself to the idea of sharing and linking with very smooth methods. So will Facebook's live feed eventually becoming nothing more than a glorified, diverse RSS feed tailored to the users favourite sources? It's certainly very possible. I've noticed a growing tendency amongst friends to link to stories, videos and photos they like and I almost always click through and see what the fuss is about.

What I found really enlightening about the argument though was this friendly way of using news that Facebook has so successfully adopted. It's so funny how just the word 'subscribe' can instantly turn a users nose up. Once upon a time news was news, consumers consumed it and that was that. But the web has changed that. The need for interaction has changed that. Subscribing to an RSS feed is for the professional who wants information. Becoming a fan of a news publisher is for those who want to shape the news, comment, be part of a community around a certain topic or theme. There is a very obvious difference and whilst I agree with Readwriteweb that Facebook is in a very strong position for the future I can't help but feel like the need for business news has again been missed from the argument.

Aggregating sales intelligence

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:29:00 +0000

Having spilt cereal, dropped the rubbish bin on my foot and rubbed ice off the car with my bare hand this morning I was looking for something of a pick me up and thankfully the powers that be decided to grant me one. It's always nice when people are on the same wavelength as you and it was great to see an article on Social Media B2B describing the importance of tracking sales leads and aggregating triggers.

That's exactly what we do! I love it when a plan comes together. The need is out there and what the article describes as 'not easy to implement' (the art of using useful sources to monitor major events), actually is using semantic technologies. The long, tedious process of searching through endless data is done for you, thus pinpointing the exact information you need without the hassle.

Admittedly that may have sounded like a sales pitch... But give me a break, I dropped rubbish on my foot this morning.

Taaaa daaaaar!

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:18:00 +0000

Finally, after all the rumour, all the speculation, the 'Ipad' is here! And it's exactly what all the rumour and speculation speculated that it would be...which ruined it a bit really, much like taking a peek at your Christmas present before the big day. One qualm here though - Steve Jobs, if this really is the most important thing you've ever done for crying out loud put a suit on to present it! I've been reliably informed by someone who is far more knowledgeable than I that that's Steve Job's 'thing' but come on, it doesn't take a lot of effort to strap a tie round your neck does it?

Back to the main point though, and that's the new Ipad. I have to be honest, at the moment I'm failing to see how it'll become the 'game changer' it was being hyped as. Sure, it looks great and probably performs great but will it replace a laptop? No. Will it replace the Iphone? Not unless you have bigger pockets than Bill Gates.

The only advantage I can see so far is the benefit it'll have to online video and game content on the go. Which is surprising seeing as deals with major publishers seem to suggest creating a revolution in the e-reader field. But as yet, I just can't see this happening. What's easier, carrying around a big chunky screen or grabbing a paper or book to read on the train? Having suffered the London commute for one too many years I can safely say the Ipad could well spark scenes not to dissimilar to a Royal Rumble with constant head bangs and unconscious passengers. As ever, I look forward to being proved massively wrong.

Have I missed something?

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:41:00 +0000

I really don't understand publishers sometimes. Surely, and correct me if I'm missing something here, it is a good thing for people to link to your content? Find me a company that doesn't enjoy free publicity and I'll show you a company that is about to have 'closing down' written in large, bold letters outside it's building.

Could someone explain the logic then as to why The Daily Mirror amongst others have blocked NewsNow from aggregating content from their site? The only possible explanation I can find is those shocking people at NewsNow have found a clever way of making some profit out of service that people want...Shocking, shocking behaviour.

When the Daily Mirror finds a way of satisfying the user's needs by all means kick up a fuss about people 'stealing' content. But as it stands they don't have the answer and therefore NewsNow are actually doing them a favour! The service the Daily Mirror offer is reporting the news. NewsNow's service is finding it. Two very different things. Do you see small towns revolting against satnavs? No, and the reason is, small towns, in the main, understand how this whole 'helping in the right direction' thing works.

What's happening tomorrow?

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Woods) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:02:00 +0000

Having seen at least 2,340,211 articles this morning about how the Apple Tablet release is set for tomorrow (if you didn't know that my guess would be you still see the VHS as a thing of the future) I thought I'd talk about something else. After all, what can I possibly add to all the rumour and speculation surrounding the announcement, other than 'it's out tomorrow' and possibly 'it's bright pink'. Let's see if that spreads.

Instead I was interested to read an interview with Bill Gates and his position on Google amongst other things. In what seemed a very laid back, honest interview with the New York Times Gates responded to the question "Is Google a monopolist?" by saying "If governments don’t care, that’s a bad sign."

It was particularly interesting to hear his take on the search engine battle claiming that "gaining ground against Google, not catching it, is the current goal" and that a gain of 1% market share is at this stage a big achievement. It certainly made it seem a determined chase, and one which only the financial muscle of Microsoft could continue to pursue.

Here's the full interview anyway, really good read actually: New York Times