Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Do you have a MUSTA marketing team?

MUSTA. Fancy acronym? 

Maybe the hot new thing? 

Not quite. It’s actually the opposite of that. 


When an Entrepreneur hires my team to help them scale their marketing and sales, the first thing we do is ask a lot of in depth questions about the product or service, the target avatar, current clients, and which marketing initiatives have worked for the company thus far. 

Sometimes clients actually know and can point us to data and dashboards to prove it.


A lot of times, though, the Entrepreneur says “My team said this worked well!” 

Then my team looks at the data.

Turns out, what they thought worked well, didn’t work at all. 


A MUSTA marketing team is a team that assumes when the sales were higher, the marketing MUSTA worked…

MUSTA marketing can create some short-term success, but ultimately they’re throwing marketing mud at the wall, hoping something (anything) sticks. Here’s where the challenge lies…


It’s not long-term or sustainable.

At some point, sales will reach a threshold, and the efforts on the marketing side won’t be able to sustain because you really do not know what worked.  

An invisible ceiling surfaces, and people scramble. Chaos begins, and sales and marketing teams point fingers at each other. Previous plans are questioned. Future plans are undoubtedly questioned. A few key people start looking for opportunities elsewhere.

This is the long-term side effect of MUSTA marketing. It just doesn’t work beyond a few good quarters and it certainly is not duplicable. 


Fun Fact: Did you know that human beings have created 90% of the world’s data in just the last decade? We’re almost making up new words now to describe how much data is stored on the planet. 

Data is everywhere. Some call it “the new oil” for its economic impact.


It is consistently surprising to me and my team, though, that a lot of mid-stage marketing teams and Entrepreneurs claim to embrace data, but don’t really review it or follow through. 

All the best processes now in sales and marketing start with data. Data is the core of everything: past client behavior, trends, actions, clicks, engagement with an email, etc. 


DATA DRIVES DECISIONS 

Or at least it should. 

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Data can subsequently drive automated processes like…

  • Lead capture
  • Lead nurturing 
  • Lead scoring
  • Lead management
  • Drips
  • Workflows

The goal of an effective automated sales and marketing process is to read clients’ online body language, and figure out who should be contacted immediately, who should be phoned, who should be accelerated within automations, etc. 


Think of this like lead scoring with a heat index.

If you set up your lead scoring properly (more on that in a second), you achieve two main goals:

  1. You do MORE with less, and frankly you create a lot of sales and marketing productivity without even thinking about it.

2. You have Higher-Qualified Leads, leading to more conversions (and quicker sales). 


Years ago, I met a guy at an event who sold online widgets. Pens. Cupholders. Mouse Pads. That type of stuff. He was making $2M/quarter. It was just him and his wife. I asked him how he did it, and he showed me a completely intricate web of marketing automation. If someone clicked this, they got this email. If they clicked that instead, they got a different email. 

It was visually overwhelming to look at, but it was working, and the company is still growing to this day. 

A lot of marketing teams don’t know how to set something like this up. It’s too complicated. It takes too much time. Other fires to put out take priority. Other meetings take precedence.

When you ignore the power of data and automation, you leave growth and revenue on the table. Automation done right also saves you money, but most importantly it saves your people time – they can be freed up to build relationships, and research the people they need to be in front of, while the processes hum along behind them.

As you know, an Entrepreneur’s biggest challenge AND biggest asset is TIME. If you can maximize time, you can maximize business returns. 


Some of us get in the weeds on projects, meetings, product design, launch, events, etc. 

All those things matter, for sure. But if you want be successful, you need to find time in other places – so that you can give time to new areas. 

The easiest way to find the time you need, and not get burnt out or completely inundated with tasks. Embrace thought out and proven sales and marketing automation.

Think of it as a well-oiled machine. The machine works along in the background, with periodic tweaks.

The machine delivers you the right, highly-qualified leads. 


Your team can really focus on relationship-building because they’ve had time to learn about these leads. As they start talking with the leads, more leads are coming through the pipeline. 


The “machine” continues to do what it’s supposed to do. 


This is a huge part of what my team does.

We help businesses attract more qualified leads, nurture them, then integrate proven and effective methods and systems to help convert these leads into paying clients.

That’s the biggest long-term advantage there is in business: Qualified leads, delivered consistently, with time freed up to focus on other areas that need focus. 

Time Savior + Revenue Generator

Automation done right has really helped so many Entrepreneurs over the years. 

I realize that sometimes automation gets a bum rap, and people will say to me, “Tech still comes off as a robot. It turns prospects OFF”.

Another one I hear, “It bombards my prospects with emails and push notifications, and they get annoyed. I’ll pass.”


That’s because they’ve experienced sales and marketing automation done wrong.


Everything is rooted in data and behavior patterns, and it flows from there. Every moving part of automation needs to be precisely set up and monitored. Testing is key. Continually improving is key. Evaluating every moving part will maximize efforts and optimize results. 


Turn your MUSTA marketing team into a high-performing team that gets you the results you know are attainable using data the right way.

We can help you get there if you want to dominate your industry. Simply reply back to this newsletter and we’ll set up a time to chat. 


To your success, 

David 

P.S. Recruitment and Hiring is the #1 Entrepreneurial Blind Spot which is why most avoid it like the plague… 

Let’s face it, the entire process can be utterly frustrating & time consuming, AND often results in attracting and hiring the WRONG talent for your team and/or business. 

But what if ALL the heavy-lifting was done for you, and you were only handed the highest qualified candidates that checked every box you were looking for? 

Head to this link to see if Nitrogen Hiring Network™ could be your talent recruitment solution. 

P.P.S. Not sure how to find and attract more of your ideal clients? If you have a proven high ticket offer, we know EXACTLY how to fill your pipeline with a constant stream of qualified and highly-motivated leads through our exclusive Leads on Demand™ program.

Simply click this link for more details.

ActiveCampaign Certified

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

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There’s many ways you can use videos…and this royalty-free drone stock footage package will help you to create beautiful, captivating videos that people will stop to watch, click on your links or buy your products.

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Monday, November 13, 2023

David Vs All The Goliaths

David vs all the Goliaths

 

I’m speaking of King David, of course. But I (regular David) have had my share of Goliaths to deal with.

On a recent trip to Israel, I stood on the very site King David himself stood and had his biblical battle with the giant.

It was a dream of mine to visit this site. I envisioned what it might look like and I was blown away seeing that it looked exactly as I’d always pictured.

I was so moved by the experience and the energy of the history that surrounded It was my last stop on my trip and I took the moment to take it all in.

The story of David and Goliath is one we’re all familiar with and is used as a metaphor across so many platforms in our lives. In sports, education, politics, and in business.

Against all odds, with little means of protection, armed with very little…the little guy defeats the big guy.

But as I stood there among the stone and ruins (some of which were only uncovered by archeologists 30 years ago) I was reminded of some lesser-known pieces of the biblical tale.

Did you know the King refused to wear the armor offered to him and, despite all Insistence declined to carry a sword to this battle? He felt he’d be encumbered by the weight of them, and went only with his slingshot to fight this powerful adversary.

 

David_vs_all_the_Goliaths.jpg

 

In our modern-day businesses, we often feel the pressure to do things the way others do.  To run our business the ‘right’ way as opposed to what might be the ‘best’ way for our own business.

Sometimes, we do feel encumbered by the myriad suggestions or the insistences of outside forces and we lose sight of what makes the most sense for ourselves.

I do my best to fight against those forces and rather find the strengths and advantages I gain from being my truest self. And I believe that separates me from the proverbial pack.

I hope you too can find the kind of power you gain from your individuality and a strong sense of self.

Defeating giants is no simple task. King David got off a perfect shot with that little, smooth stone.  That took focus, practice, confidence, and a little bit of luck. 

There is no shortage of giants in the business world that we are all competing with.

Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Tesla…The list goes on and on.

It’s easy to see how a small company might feel helpless, trying to compete with such Goliaths.  

So what do you do?  Give in? Give up?

Or do you take a lesson from King David?

Ignore the voices telling you that you can’t achieve your dreams.  That includes the voice inside you that causes doubt or rationalizes you out of putting in the work that you know you’re capable of doing.

If you think about it, Goliath doesn’t always mean the giant (companies) that you feel might be standing in your way.  

Goliath, to me, is the giant I place in my own way.  

I know that I can face my giant, unencumbered by negative thinking. Armed only with what I have at my disposal at any given moment.

And I believe I, like King David, will walk away successful and victorious. And I know that you can do the same.

To your success, 

David 

 

Business Nitrogen

Aligning Sales & Marketing

Do you ever feel like your sales and marketing teams are on opposing sides? 

It’s been a constant battle for decades for many business owners. These two “sides” always seem to be chirping at each other… 

“These leads aren’t good.”  

“You don’t use our content properly to sell.”

Tell me something…Is this representative of your sales and marketing teams? 

WATCH THIS FUNNY VIDEO 

However, the real question is… 

Does it actually matter if your sales and marketing teams are aligned? 

Will that really help you SCALE your business?

I can simplify those answers for you in a few bullet points:

  • You absolutely need sales.
  • You absolutely need marketing.
  • You ABSOLUTELY need them on the same page.
  • Period. 

Sure, you’re selling. Revenue is there. But it’s just OK. 

Just OK is NOT how you are going to scale your business. 

At this point you might say, “Well look, if I’m selling, I’m selling. Marketing does their thing, sales does theirs.” 

And I’d agree, that works to a certain point. Say, up to about  $2M/year. Beyond that? 

No. 

Why does the alignment matter? Because sales people need the right assets to start and then continue conversations to build relationships…

Cohesion is needed on all fronts: branding, messaging, and especially offers. Remember, when a prospective client senses any type of inconsistency, trust is BROKEN. 


A great example is a pretty big insurance company a few years back. The sales team were ignoring everything the marketing team was creating–in fact, they were creating their own assets. Nothing was brand aligned, nothing was on-message with what the company’s marketing conveyed. 

Basically, everyone was selling from a different playbook. 

It worked for a while, but it crashed and burned. Buyers talked. People were getting different info, angles, and deals from different salespeople. 

Nothing was consistent. What eventually happened? 

People ended contracts. Eventually the brand was sold for pennies on the dollar to an apex player. 

The lack of cohesion killed them. 

What else can you do to better align your sales and marketing?


Two things. 

Incentives & Culture. 

Incentives are often overlooked by business owners. As a company scales, the folks at the top are generally the first to be taken care of – so they don’t always remember to create an incentive structure for the rest of the team that are in “the trenches”. 

It’s important that this incentive is one that motivates everyone to work together to reach both the short and long term goals of the company.  

Truthfully, sales and marketing have different incentive structures by nature. Sales is much more trackable. You sold A and B, or you didn’t. You sold them within this quarter, or you didn’t. Your pipeline is XYZ, or it’s not. 


Marketing is much harder to track. We have more marketing analytics than ever before in human history, but we don’t use them as well as we could. (A topic for another newsletter.) We’re not always sure whether A-piece of content or B-video or C-infographic or D-banner at the trade show drove those prospects into the funnel. 

We think we know, and we claim to know, but it’s not always as obvious as we want to believe.

Business loves “what’s measured is what matters.” So we focus more on sales, especially when there’s pressure from investors or the market. 

When we focus too much on sales metrics (and ignore marketing), and a strong company culture doesn't exist, it results in a few negative off-shoots. 

A lot of times in a company where revenue generation is seemingly the one and only metric goal, all the other important aspects of a business – customer satisfaction, employee connection to the mission (and eventual employee turnover) – fall by the wayside. 

Entrepreneurs can become overly-focused on immediate success instead of what long-term success would look like, and as a result, they might not even be a company in 8-10 years. 

Specifically at the sales and marketing levels, we see some flare-ups too:

  • Sales starts treating marketing like their admins (example: “Schedule these calls for me.”)
  • Marketing gets laid off because their ROI can’t be proven in tight, stressful windows. (And honestly, many Entrepreneurs we’ve worked with don’t even set up their analytics properly. They can’t prove ROI on anything outside of sales. That’s a bigger topic, again for a different newsletter, but–it’s definitely a problem.)


It’s a race to the bottom.

I’ve seen Entrepreneurs do pretty creative stuff around incentives…

 Extra days off, beer gardens, taco trucks, KPI-tied bonus structures. Those all work. But always remember, we can always go a step further… 

All of us want to belong to something. It’s a core principle in the hierarchy of needs. 

Oftentimes, the simplest incentive is respect and recognition and acknowledgement of a job superbly done. 

A few years ago we integrated something called “snaps” (and I can’t take credit for this idea, it all goes to Chris Tuff, author of The Millennial Whisperer). 

He says rewards and recognition are essential in any organization. They don’t have to be financial either. Chris calls out his team members in meetings, and gives them “snaps” for the good things they are doing in the company.

We took it a step further…

We encouraged each team member to give “snaps” to other team members when they do something worthy of recognition. 

We then added a quarterly award for the team member who got the most “snaps”. 


9 plus years of doing this, I can see the enormous impact that positive accountability has created within our team around our culture. 

Going above and beyond had become “THE” standard amongst the team. Performance soared. The team was happier than they’d ever been. 

Everything was just BETTER. 

It’s all about Culture. 

Companies miss on culture because it’s a poorly-defined word, almost amorphous in many organizations, and Entrepreneurs are often product people or idea people – they don’t always know how to corral the fluid energy associated with culture. 


When you are missing culture, chances are you also have high turn-over, which makes it nearly impossible to align sales and marketing. 

Here are some things to think about regarding both pieces of this puzzle…


Consider these questions on the incentives piece:

  • Is your head of sales meeting with your head of marketing at least once a week to discuss wins and pain points? (If this role is the same person, are they meeting with people from each team once per week?)
  • How can those in marketing earn more as the company scales?
  • What is sales’ biggest win and biggest complaint about marketing?
  • What is marketing’s biggest win and biggest complaint about sales?
  • How often do the two sides meet and discuss their goals, individually and collectively?
  • How transparent are the metrics everyone is being evaluated on?

Consider these questions on the culture side:

  • What is your culture? Can you define it?
  • Do you have core values?
  • Can people on your team recite those core values without checking your website? 
  • What activities, remote and in-person, shape your company culture?
  • How often are you talking with and involved with all your team members?
  • What’s the most fun thing about working with you, and your company? 
  • What do they tell their friends at happy hour about working in your company?
  • How often do you revisit this idea of culture and reshape it?


These are big questions and they take time, and they look different at different growth stages. A company with five employees and $2M has a different culture and incentive structure than a company with 200 employees and $3B. 

You may prattle on about “the DNA” of your culture, but the jump from $2M to $3B changes virtually everything, and it’s best to lean into that reality as you go.

So where do we come in? Well, the good news for you is, we’ve been doing all this stuff for decades now, collectively. We maximize sales and marketing output all the time, and work with teams on culture (and even now hiring) daily. 

We put much of this under the umbrella of strategy, but we can also help with the nitty-gritty around Leads on Demand and more.


If you want to build an Infinite Business that people enjoy growing with and yet still make money hand over fist for your own family’s legacy to prosper, you need the right people, incentives, and culture. That’s what we do, so let us know if you want our help to get you there. 

Simply reply to this article and we’ll set up a time to chat. 


To your success, 

David 

P.S. Recruitment and Hiring is the #1 Entrepreneurial Blind Spot which is why most avoid it like the plague… 

Let’s face it, the entire process can be utterly frustrating & time consuming, AND often results in attracting and hiring the WRONG talent for your team and/or business. 

But what if ALL the heavy-lifting was done for you, and you were only handed the highest qualified candidates that checked every box you were looking for? 

Head to this link to see if Nitrogen Hiring Network™ could be your talent recruitment solution. 

P.P.S. Not sure how to find and attract more of your ideal clients? If you have a proven high ticket offer, we know EXACTLY how to fill your pipeline with a constant stream of qualified and highly-motivated leads through our exclusive Leads on Demand™ program.

Simply click this link for more details.

Clickfunnels Expert

Saturday, November 11, 2023

The Multitasking Myth

Ever been guilty of answering text messages during a meeting? Or checking email while you’re on a video call?

MOST OF US do it.

And if you said yes, who could blame you? Growing and scaling your business comes with a seemingly never ending to-do list.

In our minds, it’s simply smart thinking to make the best use of our time, right?

When your company is growing fast, we’re forced to find ways to “fit it ALL in”.


But here’s something that may shock you…

On average, people who try to multitask take 50% longer to complete a single task and make 50% more errors in their work than people who stay focused.

Suddenly multitasking doesn’t sound like such a great way to get more done, does it?


But, we were brought up believing that in order to be productive we must learn to multitask to reach our goals and get things done…At least I was.


Here’s the problem with that…

When you are moving the needle on multiple projects at one time instead of focusing on making significant headway on one or two, you’re less likely to reach the goals you’ve set in the time frame you’ve set for yourself.

All those little strides you make for each project become shorter and shorter until you are now moving at a snail's pace to reach the END result of each.


Plus, when you only focus on one or two projects at a time, it's amazing how clear priorities become. Your mind is forced to choose which projects are most important and you can stop allowing the small stuff and “noise” derail you.

I know you’re thinking…. “But…I’m really busy!”


Trust me, I get it.  Being as busy as we are, there will always be temptations pulling at our focus…


Emails, text messages, other opportunities, “do you have a minute” meeting requests, etc.

These are called distractions, and we will always have them.

The key is to limit distractions as much as possible.

Think about it this way. There are distractions within our control and there are distractions out of our control.


Here’s a few things I do that help me eliminate the distractions I CAN control:

  1. Put yourself in an environment that is distraction free. If I need to focus, I’ll turn my phone off or leave it in another room so I won’t be tempted to answer calls or texts that come in. If you have an iPhone, put it in Privacy Mode as I learned how to do last week. I’ve also been known to close my office door so I’m not distracted by sounds or commotion going on in other rooms in the house.

You know what distracts you. So make a conscious effort to remove them altogether, or remove yourself from their presence.


2. Set 3 main objectives for the day. By limiting the number of daily “goals” to 3, you’ll know exactly what your focus is and you’ll work with greater intention towards achieving those objectives.

TIP: I like to set my goals for the day the evening before, that way I know before I go to bed exactly what I’ll be focusing on the next day (this also allows my subconscious mind to work on those goals while I’m sleeping).  When you wake up, work on the most difficult project first, even before calls or checking your email.


3. Give yourself a shorter time frame to accomplish things. Parkinson’s law states that “work tends to expand to fill the time we have available for its completion.”

What happens is, the more time we give ourselves to complete something, the more likely we are to fill any time remaining with distractions.  Our mind is programmed to conserve energy when possible.

And speaking of mastering your time, one great tip a colleague shared with me a long time ago was a process called the Pomodoro Method.

It’s an exercise that helps train our brains to stay focused by gradually working up our concentration. The goal of this method is to strengthen one’s ability to focus for longer periods of time.


How it works…

Basically you set a timer (start with 30 minutes and gradually work up to 45 minutes). Within that 30 minute time frame, completely focus on the task or project at hand with no interruptions or distractions.

After the 30 minutes is up, allow yourself a 8-10 minute break (In a 45 minute stretch, you allow yourself a 15 minute break afterwards). Challenge yourself to work diligently on your task or project until the timer goes off, then give your mind the break to indulge on whatever distraction you’d like! Continue practicing this until it becomes a habit. Then, gradually increase your focus time from 30 min to 45 minutes.

Avoiding distractions will definitely help you increase your accuracy and ability to complete tasks and projects faster…

When you integrate some of the tips I just mentioned, you’ll be closer to focusing on what you really need to be focusing on to move the needle in your business at an accelerated pace.


Here’s what I know…People aren’t really pulled in a hundred different directions. They allow themselves to be pulled in a hundred different directions.

They know exactly what they need to do.

They just need to TAKE ACTION and change it.


To your success,

David

P.S. Recruitment and Hiring is the #1 Entrepreneurial Blind Spot which is why most avoid it like the plague…

Let’s face it, the entire process can be utterly frustrating & time consuming, AND often results in attracting and hiring the WRONG talent for your team and/or business.

But what if ALL the heavy-lifting was done for you, and you were only handed the highest qualified candidates that checked every box you were looking for?

Head to this link to see if Nitrogen Hiring Network™ could be your talent recruitment solution.


P.P.S. Not sure how to find and attract more of your ideal clients? If you have a proven high ticket offer, we know EXACTLY how to fill your pipeline with a constant stream of qualified and highly-motivated leads through our exclusive Leads on Demand™ program.

Simply click this link for more details.

Digital Marketing Expert