M & A Rainmaker

but glad to hear that you made a physical and digital Will.

This blog was pointed out to me the other day by Thomas Power

http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=157243

It’s interesting to think that Thomas was having his ” Digital Will ” thoughts when I was starting to work with

http://www.mydigitalexecutor.co.uk/

It would seem that we have both had death on our minds.

I also came across this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT2O1zSfXVM

from Adele McAlear of http://www.deathanddigitallegacy.com/ which really covers a lot of the issues involved in Digital Death and talks about blogger Mac Tonnies death ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Tonnies ).

One of my friends – Gary ” Photography ” Morgan also died last year and there were quite a few issues over some of his digital legacy ( http://www.footprints.me.uk/index.php , https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=154988787849739 ).

I think Thomas is correct in highlighting that one of the main pieces of digital value that most ” Online ” people have is their email database. If you consider the successful internet marketers the cornerstone of their Internet Marketing efforts is their email database.

You will often find them emailing on behalf of a friend or business colleague.

If you are a Director or shareholder in an online business then probably this online business will become part of your ” Physical will ” but if you have, say, an eBay shop that you regularly sell things from and an associated PayPal account then these may need to be part of your ” Digital Will “.

As Thomas and Adele point out one of the keys to everything else is your primary email address and the password for this. It is is the key to your digital legacy.

Most people don’t get around to making a physical will, never mind a digital will so we are making it easy for people to get started.

It’s free and all you need to provide is your name, email and short address.

http://www.mydigitalexecutor.co.uk/join-us/

Dear M.D./C.E.O./Owner/Proprietor/Boss,

In letters 1 and 2 we have discussed why you need to put in place a Digital Marketing Strategy.

Let’s just say that all the ” old ways ” of marketing ( so called traditional marketing ) are not quite dead yet. Depending on your business many of them may still be relevant now and for some time but, for sure, the world is changing fast.

In the more recent world the company website was a sort of ” electronic brochure ” or ” presentation ” of your company. It was probably created by ” creatives ” ( graphic designers, marketing people ) or ” programmers ” ( software developers ). You referred people to your website by putting the web address ( url ) on your business cards ( along with your email address, phone and fax numbers ), brochures, mailshots, vans, lorries etc etc.

If the website was found by a Google search on ” your company name” then everything looked good. Or did it ??

The problem is that unless you are a really famous/well known company then people will not search on your company name. They are more likely to search for a product or service which they hope will then lead them to some information and then the best company to supply that product or service.

If say you needed help with your swimming pool in Staffordshire you might Google

” Swimming pool repairs Staffordshire “.

When I did this I got a load of Google maps results ( N.B. !! ), a load of yell.com results ( N.B. ), a company that said it was Staffordshire based but was obviously in Essex !  and one

http://www.leisurelinespas.co.uk/index.asp

that had good information and was in Shropshire – ok,  close enough 😉

This brings us to the first point in the Digital Marketing strategy:

That you must know what you want to be found and known for – your products, your services, your advice and your philosophy – and your website ( and associated blogsite ) must be found by Google for those search terms.

To borrow from my friends at HubSpot the overall mantra is to:

1. Be found ( for relevant search terms )

2. Convert ( visitors into leads )

3. Analyse ( where you got your visitors from and how )

Find-Convert-Analyse.

The second point is that there is very little point in investing time and effort in a Digital Marketing Strategy unless you know where you started ( how many visitors/leads/sales you are getting at the moment – your baseline ) and how you are are progressing in your efforts.

Over time we will suggest that you do many things to drive traffic ( visitors ) to your website e.g. write blogposts, do Internet PR, start and run Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin pages on top of ensuring that you are found for relevant terms but what you must do is to understand what is working and what is not.

Typically your website will have a level of visitors who are finding you directly ( they know your url ) or indirectly ( they know your name and type it into google or they have typed in a search term that has resulted in them finding your website or blogsite ). You will add to this base traffic with referrals from e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or another website or wherever.

You want to know what works ??

Did you get more visitors ( leads and sales ) from blogging, posting on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin ??

Which blogs/posts/Tweets worked and which ones didn’t ???

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2011/07/05/letter-from-marketing-no-4/

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2011/06/28/letter-from-marketing-no-2/

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2011/06/22/letter-from-marketing-no-1/

Services

Services

or contact:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/leighhopwood

Dear M.D./C.E.O./Owner/Proprietor/Boss,

In Letter No 1 we outlined the basic challenge of Sales and Marketing today – that, due to the rise and development of the Internet things are changing forever.

In this diagram

we highlighted the difference between the Internet based marketing methods and the ” traditional ” marketing methods. We noted ( in the comments ) that there are other marketing methods not identified here e.g. word of mouth marketing, business networking ( attending business networking meetings and other gathering of business people ), television and radio advertising etc. etc. We also mentioned that some of these methods are described ( now ) as ” Push ” marketing and some as ” Pull ” marketing.

One of the problems with the ” traditional ” marketing methods highlighted toward the right of the above diagram ( e.g. print advertising, tradeshows, direct marketing etc ) is that they are expensive and consuming in both time and money. Advertising in traditional print media ( papers, magazines etc. ) is very expensive and it is not just the cost of the actual advertisement it is also the cost,time and skill involved in producing the right advertisement in the first place. Attending Tradeshows is horrendously expensive if ALL the costs are taken into account e.g. not just the cost of the stand space but also the stand itself, supporting marketing materials, staff costs,travel costs,  hotel costs etc. etc. Direct mail, telemarketing and traditional P.R. are also expensive ( Internet based P.R. and traditional media PR can be very efficient and effective ).

In addition it is hard to track the returns from some of these marketing investments: How many actual leads or sales did you get from that advertising campaign/tradeshow/direct mail campaign/telemarketing campaign ???????

Furthermore it is getting harder and harder to get results from these methods because e.g. people don’t read print advertising as much; people don’t have time to attend tradeshows; direct mail ends up in the bin because nobody has time to read anything and you can’t get through by phone to the decision makers because they are too busy and have effective filters in place like their secretary or receptionist. Even email campaigns end up in Spam filters.

So it is no real surprise to hear that marketers are shifting their time, efforts and money toward the first 3 or 4 items in the above diagram.

The reasons for this would include:

1. That people are shifting their time online – in various ways and that they get information and buy when they want to and not when you want them to.

2. That the traditional methods are too expensive all around – in time, skill, effort and money.

3. That the traditional methods are not working as well any more mainly because the people are not there any more or are filtering out those efforts.

4. That the old ways are not as easily trackable as the new ways ( you cannot work out the R.O.I. as easily )

So, you must put in place a digital marketing strategy that transitions you from the old world to the new world.

How will be the subject of Letter from Marketing No. 3.

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2011/06/29/letter-from-marketing-no-3/

Dear Managing Director/C.E.O./Owner/Proprietor/Boss,

The way that people seek information and buy is changing rapidly, dramatically and forever.

You have probably changed the way that you buy some things – using Google to search for things, holiday booking sites for great deals and price comparison sites to compare prices. If you have young people in your family or know them you will see them using Google for the answer to nearly everything !

This change puts the power in the hands of the searcher and buyer. They will seek information on your products and services when they want to. They will to some extent ignore your ” Interrupt driven ” efforts to make them think about you, your products and services ( Mailshots, emailshots, telemarketing, advertising etc. etc. ) in the same way that you may ignore people trying to sell you things in this way. Although you still may catch them at the right time or with the right offer.

Of course the fact is that we are part way through this process and so some of the older ways are still valid now and will be for some time.

This change in the way information is gathered and products and services are purchased has been facilitated by the appearance and development of the Internet.

Of course, at present, some people use  the Internet a lot and some people not so much. You might use the Internet for email but may not be on Facebook or Twitter.

If we look at the graph above we can see a number of things:

1. That business to business marketers ( B2B ) have a range of options to get the attention of their target customers. 4 of them are Internet related ( social media, virtual events/webinars, search engine optimisation ( SEO ) of websites, paid search advertising ( PPC ). 1 can be Internet and/or traditional media related –  Public Relations. The rest are ” physical ” – phone calling, mail shotting ( N.B. email shotting is Internet related ) , attending a tradeshow or advertising in physical media e.g. a paper or magazine.

2. That 6 of them are outbound or ” PUSH ” marketing and 3 of them are inbound or ” PULL ” marketing. ( Although I think that paid search and Internet PR can also be regarded as ” PULL ” marketing in some ways. )

3.  That marketers themselves expect to put more time and money into the first three to five than the last four.

You probably know quite a lot about the last four ( although each of these needs to be done well to be effective at all ).

You probably need to know more about the first 5 ( plus email shotting ?? ).

Subsequent ” Letters from Marketing ” will help you to work out where you are in terms of your preparedness and ability with these 5/6 and also how you can develop these areas.

Regards,

Chris.

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2011/06/28/letter-from-marketing-no-2/

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2011/06/29/letter-from-marketing-no-3/

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2011/07/05/letter-from-marketing-no-4/

I have just rushed to make this post after my friend and business colleague of many years, Brian MacIver, posted this comment

“Chris,
A well timed and topical posting. Several of my clients are asking “hard” questions about their ‘investment’ or web ’spend’. Particularly in the Property Market, they laid off sales people, boosted their web content and saw little return. Now that the property market is returning they cant find Salespeople (did they all go to Dubai?)
Good posting, thanks.
Brian”.

on this blog

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2011/06/08/what-return-are-you-getting-from-your-website-investment/

and it just made me think – You have to manage your website like you ( should have ) managed your salesforce.

What do we mean by that ??

Well, back in the day Brian would have coached us on 3 essential elements for a successful salesperson – and more were added over time:

1. Activity – a salesperson must be active – phone calling, writing etc etc

2. Skills – a salesperson must have good sales skills

3. Knowledegable – a salesperson must be knowledgeable about his products, his company and his competitors.

4. Personality – surrounding all of this – people buy from people – so be nice !!

5. Administration – You have to manage your salesforce and they have to manage their business – turning leads into orders –  and to do that you need some information – How many calls did they make ?? How many appointments did they go on ?? How many proposals did they write ?? How many orders did they get ?? How close was this to their target ??? etc etc etc

6.  Going alongside 5 is the analysis of their progress and performance to determine their R.O.I.

There may be more aspects but lets start with these. What’s the analogy in terms of managing your website like you would your salesforce ??

Going in reverse …

5. & 6. Analysis and Administration   It is essential that you have the means to monitor the performance and progress of your website. You need to know how many prospects it is reaching ( visitors ) and how many of these turn into a lead ( respond to a Call to Action ). You need to know which activities ( posting a blog, posting on Twitter, posting on LinkedIn etc ) produced the best results. You can only do this with the right software on your website.

4. Personality. When you do post information you have to do it in the right way. You want your ( attractive ! ) personality to come out and you want to be nice to people. We all know that ” hard nosed salespeople ” sometime do succeed in spite of themselves but I always thought that this was creating unnecessary ” friction “. Being funny sometimes helps aswell !

3. Knowledge. You have to be knowledgeable , educational and informative in what you say. Many of the most successful people on the Internet ” give away ” loads of free advice and information.

2.  Skills. There are lots of skills that you are going to have to learn and develop ( or you can find people with those skills ) to succeed. Blogging; Posting on Social Networks and building your networks; writing etc etc

1. Activity. Yes of course – as with salespeople it is partly a numbers game and you always have to be active – blogging, posting, commenting, liking, sharing, reading etc etc.

I think it is a great way to think of your website as like your salesforce ( or part of your salesforce ) and of managing your website as you would your salesforce.

If you can get it right the R.O.I. can be massive – just think of all those salespeople’s salaries you are not paying 😉

Regular readers of the M&A Rainmaker Blog will be aware that we have highlighted the dangers of Boiler Room Scams before; for example in this blog here

http://mandarainmaker.com/wordpress/2009/12/02/anderson-munro-invests-in-internet-veneer-of-respectability/#comment-13087

I.P.O.’s ( Initial Public Offerings ) are taking off in the U.S. this year and this is likely to increase the possibility of you getting a call from a Boiler Room or Chop Shop.

I was watching the film ” Boiler Room ” recently ( as part of my research ) and I noted a couple of things:

– The ” brokers ”  studied ” Wall Street ” to the point where they could recite lines from the actors without looking at the screen !!

You can bet that recent Boiler Room scammers have also studied ” Boiler Room “. Sean Liptrot and Dominic Ryan John probably paid particular attention.

– J.T. Marlin was based ” somewhere on the Long Island Expressway ” i.e. not on Wall Street but in New York, U.S.A. Whilst some Boiler Rooms may still operate from either the U.S. or the U.K. Alfort International Ltd and Newton Moore Limited are based in the British Virgin Islands.

Anderson Munro was ostensibly based in Hong Kong. If you are running a Boiler Room scam you don’t really want to be based in the U.K. or the U.S. because you are within the jurisdiction of those countries and – as in Boiler Room – the F.B.I. can monitor you and raid you. It’s much better to be based ( or to appear to be based ) in a foreign country because typically you are outside the jurisdiction of those countries and anyone who complains about you or tries to get their money back will be told that.

– the main victims were Harry Reynard ( a Gourmet foods company Purchasing Manager ) and a Docter – both unsophisticated investors. In reality the victims will range from unsophisticated to sophisticated  investors. The reaction of Harry’s wife is typical though !

– Technology, Telecommunications and the Internet has come on a long way since 1999/2000. We have spoken about how Anderson Munro achieved it’s Internet Profile. One of the ways that you try and check on brokers these days is via the Internet.

– The telephone sales techniques are clever – you have to admit it – they are clever !!

I am still studying Boiler Room so may have more comments later …..

Understanding the Cisco Opportunity Incentive Program ( OIP ) and Value Incentive Program ( VIP )

Close and detailed planning and monitoring of the performance of a Cisco Partner’s participation in the various programs (such as OIP & VIP) ensures maximisation of return from involvement.

The success of Cisco’s VIP (Value Incentive Program) in providing large and recurring rebates to Partners is an example of how Channel Intellect can work with Partners to ensure maximum returns.  The ability of a Partner to sell more of the product qualifying under the SKU issued for each period determines the actual size of the rebate.  The monitoring, measuring and planning achieved by a Channel Intellect relationship ensures that all sales and technical assets are designing and selling solutions that, wherever possible and appropriate, ensure maximum VIP returns.  Channel Intellect works to identify how best to map success in these programs into compensation plans and incentive schemes for Partner sales teams.

Channel Intellect offers guidance to Partners to allow them to more easily embrace the requirements of SIP (Solutions Incentive Program), a process which is often resource-intensive and focused around larger solutions that have the ability for multiple deployments to generate rebates of significance.

When bearing in mind that these programs constitute almost everything available to a Cisco Partner in terms of securing funds from Cisco, the necessity of ensuring absolute focus to generate maximum return is put into sharp perspective.

Contacts

Address: Romney House
Gayton Road
Heswall
Wirral
CH60 8QE

T: 07808 586293
E. info@channelintellect.com
W. channelintellect.com

If you are a Cisco Partner looking for support and guidance  to drive engagement and accelerate both activity and results with Cisco then I would recommend talking to Channel Intellect who have a client list that includes many of Cisco’s highest achieving and award-winning Partners and also delivers the much-heralded Comstor Mentor Programme. Additionally, Channel Intellect has engaged with Cisco on a number of projects and is, as a result, uniquely placed to provide a comprehensive understanding of how Partners can make the most out of their investment in Cisco.

What Cisco Says….
Bernadette Wightman – Operations Director – UK & I Channels – Cisco

	Channel Intellect has provided a vital and excellent service to support and guide many of our developing Cisco Partners in the UK and Ireland. They have also been able to assist and advise a number of Cisco teams within the organisation in constructing Partner-centric programmes and initiatives. The insight that Channel Intellect provides to our Partners in developing a profitable and sustainable relationship with Cisco has made a positive difference to both Cisco’s and the Partners’ engagement and performance.

Channel Intellect engages with Partners around the “Six Pillars” – a series of best practice disciplines centred around the following focus areas:

• Certification/Specialisation
• Cisco Programs (VIP/OIP/SIP/etc)
• Support
• Market-Specific Initiatives (PSPP/SMB)
• GTM & Marketing
• Relationship Management

Cisco Health Check

The Channel Intellect Cisco Health Check is based on a day’s analysis with a Partner, in order to assess current engagement levels and to advise on how this can be complemented and refined in order to ensure an appropriate ROI is delivered against the cost of maintaining an effective Cisco relationship.

Based around devising an activity plan which embraces the “Six Pillars” disciplines, the Health Check comprises:

• A pre-engagement briefing
• A Partner executive workshop
• A Partner action cverview
• A Costed Channel Intellect proposal

Contact info@channelintellect.com for further details.

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Contact: Claire Windley | Email: claire@csldesign.com | Mobile: 07891 285514