Communicating to your Salesforce

Editor's Notes

• #2: <number>Thanks for taking the time today to join our webinar on Communicating to HELP NOT HINDER SALES.I’m Paula Cassin, CEO of Cut Through Communications, an internal communications technology company. We specialize in broadcast communications software….And I used to work in Corporate Sales overseas both in New Zealand and internationally in Europe. Telecommunications and IT. Apply our expertise in communications to Sales. So Sales is a great type of communication –Beyond the standard corporate info – HR, Sales Sales IncentivesCustomer Promotions (Time New Product InfoNew Package/Pricing/Bundles
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• #5: Why are we here talking about this? I think we’re here because of the increasing difficulty of getting our message heard, due to increased competing noise from outside but also INSIDE the organization. There’s more information than ever, and most people are near a limit. Researcher Basex claims that $900 billion is lost in productivity due to information overload. The average email user received more than 160 emails a day in 2008, according to figures from market research firm the Radicati Group, while a study by the University of California at Irvine tracked 36 office workers and found that employees spent just 11 minutes on a project before an email notification, phone ring or knock on the door interrupted them. In the study, it took 25 minutes on average to return to the original task, with research company Basex estimating that 28 per cent of a day is lost in interruptions of this kind<number>
• #6: YOU MAY BE MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR YOUR SALESFORCE TO GET THE INFO THEY NEED BY:Sending out emails from lots of different sources, with little contextSENDING OUT INFO that is confusing or includes complicated action pointsSENDING duplicate or slightly updated information for them to process
• #7: When you send an email or text or promo pack out to your sales reps, how do you know it’s been effective? For most of us, we really do not measure at this level. We have high level goals or even specific goals for the PROJECT, but not for individual communications. EXAMPLE: let’s say you’re working on the new Sales competition – great prizes for reaching certain levels of sales in your newest categories. You’ll know what sales levels you need and probably analyze where you’re at each month. But it turns out you sent the initial email launching it on the day Corporate Comms announced the closure of your chocolate factory in Ohio, which was also the day that airplane landed on the Hudson River AND the day everyone got their quarterly retirement plan statement. In fact, a lot of Sales Managers were rather preoccupied in the team meetings going over the plant closure and grandfathered product lines, so they sort of glossed over the competition. This is why you better be measuring click throughs to the intranet page, downloads of the pdf, sign ups to email notifications. Whatever you can measure that will tell you whether employees have responded in some way to what you sent.Keep breaking down your goals until you’re at ground level - Where do you need them to go? Did you get them there?<number>
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• #9: Here’s what you need to consider, probably down on paper, to be really effective in terms of your broadcast communications, OK?Right now, most people will plan around their initiative or project, and they’ll pay attention to message content, but they’ll really gloss over the rest. Let’s go through each one in detail and I’ll give you some examples.<number>
• #10: When you send an email or text or promo pack out to your sales reps, how do you know it’s been effective? For most of us, we really do not measure at this level. We have high level goals or even specific goals for the PROJECT, but not for individual communications. EXAMPLE: let’s say you’re working on the new Sales competition – great prizes for reaching certain levels of sales in your newest categories. You’ll know what sales levels you need and probably analyze where you’re at each month. But it turns out you sent the initial email launching it on the day Corporate Comms announced the closure of your chocolate factory in Ohio, which was also the day that airplane landed on the Hudson River AND the day everyone got their quarterly retirement plan statement. In fact, a lot of Sales Managers were rather preoccupied in the team meetings going over the plant closure and grandfathered product lines, so they sort of glossed over the competition. This is why you better be measuring click throughs to the intranet page, downloads of the pdf, sign ups to email notifications. Whatever you can measure that will tell you whether employees have responded in some way to what you sent.Keep breaking down your goals until you’re at ground level - Where do you need them to go? Did you get them there?<number>
• #11: EXAMPLE: let’s say you’re working on the new Sales competition – great prizes for reaching certain levels of sales in your newest categories. You’ll know what sales levels you need and probably analyze where you’re at each month. But it turns out you sent the initial email launching it on the day Corporate Comms announced the closure of your chocolate factory in Ohio, which was also the day that airplane landed on the Hudson River AND the day everyone got their quarterly retirement plan statement. In fact, a lot of Sales Managers were rather preoccupied in the team meetings going over the plant closure and grandfathered product lines, so they sort of glossed over the competition. This is why you better be measuring click throughs to the intranet page, downloads of the pdf, sign ups to email notifications. Whatever you can measure that will tell you whether employees have responded in some way to what you sent.<number><number>
• #12: Point I make here is – you can have the best headline, the most beautiful visuals, but if you don’t have a look at the context you’re sending it into, you may severely limit the results you can get.
• #13: So on this one slide we’ve got a whole nother 30 minutes! Here’s we look at WHAT you’re writing, the content. Recently IABC, the international association for Business communicators put out a very good report on preparing messages for information overload environments. They make 6 recommendations and are a pretty good way to review your content/messages. CONSISTENT STRUCTURE. Do you send out a weekly email newsletter giving key info and linking to more details? Do you structure your emails consistently to give readers CUES.Sumup at the top, ACTION REQUIRED clearly marked. Who what when why howProctor and Gamble Memo template: the idea, background, how it works, key benefits, next steps.<number>
• #14: We’ve spoken about information overload and how to optimize a message so it cuts through, but choosing the right channel for the job can put you miles ahead. <number>
• #15: Here’s out quick checklist for Channels. How does it rank in terms of cut through?If you have a lot of <number>
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• #18: No longer a sledge hammer.STACY WILSON (ELOQUOR CONSULTING) has noted: “We need to start thinking about “broadcast” content as just what is required to get the conversation started. We need to leave the old model of “broadcast” behind. Just broadcasting without any action on the part of stakeholders doesn’t do us any good at all.”<number>
• #19: Snap Survey – as a means to solicit feed back / info / market intelligence from staff on customer views / perception regarding products and services, price points, etc…anything VM related – also to solicit feed back / info on what’s working and what’s not in terms of store operations / processes etc – also to solicit general feed back with a view to improve staff engagement etc….their previous survey mechanisms were opt in and did not get answered by staff because it was not in their face and because it was not quick and easy…questions via email also failed to work as they were ignored…Snap Survey now a key tool for marketing in terms of obtaining up-to-the-minute market intelligence…results from Snap Surveys shape product and service offerings which are broadcast to staff via Snap Alerts / Snap Mag<number>
• #20: Snap Survey – as a means to solicit feed back / info / market intelligence from staff on customer views / perception regarding products and services, price points, etc…anything VM related – also to solicit feed back / info on what’s working and what’s not in terms of store operations / processes etc – also to solicit general feed back with a view to improve staff engagement etc….their previous survey mechanisms were opt in and did not get answered by staff because it was not in their face and because it was not quick and easy…questions via email also failed to work as they were ignored…Snap Survey now a key tool for marketing in terms of obtaining up-to-the-minute market intelligence…results from Snap Surveys shape product and service offerings which are broadcast to staff via Snap Alerts / Snap Mag
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• #22: You’ve worked hard to put together a treasure trove of resources for employees. But they have to get there and use it<number>
• #23: You’ve worked hard to put together a treasure trove of resources for employees. But they have to get there and use it<number><number>
• #24: There is lots of clear evidence that shows that organisations with effective internal communications perform significantly better. Other examples include:“There is an empirical link between employee commitment, customer satisfaction and an increase in sales. Analysis of data from 65,000 employees and 25,000 customers showed that a one point increase in employee commitment (on a five point scale) represents a 9% increase in monthly sales.” Watson Wyatt Work USA 2002 Survey“A significant improvement in communication effectiveness is associated with a 29.5% increase in market value”Fortune magazine