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www.HartfordBusiness.com April 6, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 37 Biz BookS Social media doesn't build marketing strategies "M arketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing That Mat- ters" by Linda J. Popky (Bibliomotion, $27.95). Popky believes that measuring market- ing's effectiveness in terms of followers, clicks 'shares,' and 'likes' does not mean business success. She points out that social media isn't a strategy; it's one of many marketing's communication tactics. Marketing strategy dove- tails from a "business strate- gy that effectively anticipates customer, market, technology and business needs." Strong brands are built by: 1. Under- standing who your customers are, "what they need, want and desire, and how you can help them". 2. Providing a high-qual- ity product/service that custom- ers can always count on. Brand-building feeds from conversa- tions, content and community. Let's look at these: Conversations — The Web allows us to converse with customers real-time; so does point-of-sale. The object of such con- versation shouldn't be telling the customer about the product. You need to ask ques- tions that will allow you to evaluate your product from a customer's perspective. Most businesses think of content as infor- mation the customer needs to know about products. What about content that helps customers (particularly B2B customers) indirectly? Popky cites American Express's OPEN Network (americanexpress.com/ us/sma ll-business/ business- resources/) as an example. It provides small business owners with information (e.g. getting customer, planning for growth, managing money, building your team, etc.) they can use to build their business. Communities are online gathering places where people exchange infor- mation. They don't exist because companies want them. Communities form because "like-minded individuals come together of their own accord." While they're outside the business system, busi- ness participation can help deepen the understanding of the customer base and communicate the value brought to the customer. Immutable marketing truth: "Define the core message and create the brand assets." • • • "Your Self-Sabotage Survival Guide — How to Go from Why Me? To Why Not?" by Karen Berg (Career Press, $15.99). Berg's coaching experience has shown her that many people in business feel they "are working harder and harder and still getting nowhere." When they don't see progress, their attitude shifts from positive to "it is what it is." Acceptance of their situ- ation means they settle for doing an okay job, not a great one. The result: Negative thinking, lack of focus, risk aversion and procrastination, which lead to even less progress. Their self-sabotage, career death spiral perpetuates itself. How do you climb out of the hole you've dug? SPARC — "Strategy, Purpose, Analy- sis, Rehearsal, Commitment." Together they bring focus to your self and your work. Strategy involves drilling down to what's important — now and down the line. Berg advises making a list of five different elements of your life requiring attention. For clar- ity, each of your five elements should have three reasons that make these elements important. With your perspective on importance, you can identify paths. Purpose and analysis helps you evaluate alterna- tives, determine approaches, set priorities and create a list of make-it-happen actions. Rehearsal requires reviewing your paths and identifying obsta- cles (e.g. people, resources, knowledge, deadlines, etc.). It helps you flesh out the things that must be done to move you from where you are to where you want to be. Great actors don't rehearse to simply learn their lines. They rehearse to bring their character to life. By immersing them- selves in the nuances of the character, they commit to becoming the character. Without commitment, plans will fail. How do you implement SPARC? Surround yourself with role models who help bring out the best in you. Berg calls them SPARC bud- dies because they'll spark thinking, adapta- tion and execution. Think of them as sounding boards, not cheerleaders. They won't tell you what you want to hear; they'll tell you what you need to know to move forward. They not only help you set your course, they also help you keep on course and stay the course. The bottom line: If you want to increase your momentum, get out of your way. n Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer. Jim Pawlak tHe rainmaker Leading a relationship-focused sales team Editor's Note: This is the third in the three part series on building a great sales team. By Ken Cook I n the first two parts of this series we talked about who should be on a great sales team, and how those salespeople interact with customers. In short, build a team with people predisposed to building relation- ships and trust. Then, let them relate to C-level executives in the manner in which they buy. First, trust needs to be estab- lished. With trust, an executive can then hear a business case for a solution, the benefits of the solution, and how the solution works. Leading this type of team is a function of focus and accountability. Focus on relation- ships. Hold people accountable for the activi- ties that strengthen relationships and open up opportunities for revenue. To illustrate, let's consider the weekly sales meeting that happens in virtually every company and office. The discussions are usu- ally dominated by project reviews, status updates, project forecasts, proposal status, projected revenue, projected close dates, bill- able hours, or whatever metric the firm uses to measure success. All of this information is important and valuable. After all, nothing happens until someone sells something, and in order to effectively and efficiently run a business, leadership needs to know what is being sold; what, how much, when and to whom. When leading a relationship focused sales team though, consider adding one additional element to the mix — the relationships. The typical sales by numbers approach exhibited in most sales team meetings and reviews is a means of managing your busi- ness and transactions in order to grow the business. By adding relationships to the mix you shift the focus to the relationships that will grow your business. When you do this, the sales opportunities follow. Incorporating relationships does not mean loosening or abandoning accountability. Rela- tionships are typically considered a "soft" ele- ment that defies ways to measure them. Coun- ter that perception. In the next sales meeting ask the following: • Tell me about your relationship with Harry. How strong is the relationship? How would you rate the level of trust and openness Harry has with you on a scale of 1-5? • Tell me about the other relationships you have in Harry's company? Who are they with? How strong are they? • Who do you want to meet in order to find opportunities for new business? • Why are they at the top of your priority list in terms of new prospects and connections? • How will you connect with them? Is there a warm introduction source available? Assess and discuss the strength and impor- tance of each relationship across several con- stituency groups, including existing customers, desired customers, connectors, and influencers. Discuss specific plans for each relation- ship. What activities will take place that fur- ther the relationship? What acts of generosity can be done that reflect an understanding of the other person's situation, and offers some- thing that can help, regardless of source? Then, incorporate the opportunities. What are the client and desired client situations where our products and services make sense? Why do we make sense as a good solution? What steps will take place in order to work with the client or prospect in developing the solution in a collaborative manner? The goal is to enhance the trust and strength of the rela- tionship by having the client work with you in developing the ideal or optimal solution. In this way they've already bought the answer instead of having to be sold the answer. As business leaders, show the way regard- ing connecting and building relationships. Stop managing transactions in order to grow the business. Manage relationships that will grow your business. Who you know is the precursor to success. How you deal with others paves the road to success. If you focus on building your rela- tionships, and treat it as a top priority, suc- cess will follow. n Ken Cook is the co-founder of How to Who and co-author of How to WHO: Selling Personified, a book and program on building business through relationships. Learn more at www. howtowho.com. Ken Cook ▶ ▶ Marketing strategy dovetails from a business strategy that effectively anticipates customer, market, technology and business needs. ▶ ▶ Stop managing transactions in order to grow the business. Manage relationships that will grow your business.