Author name: Martin Lamberti

ADD EPIC MEANING TO YOUR ORGANISATION Nov 20, 2018 ​A step by step guide to bringing meaning to the workplace Are your employees mentally checking out shortly after clocking in? Mindlessly running the hamster wheel day after day, so that they can collect their pay check at the end of the month? Some of the classic symptoms are high sick rates, high turnover of staff, drop in performance, and general disinterest. It’s not good for your employees, and it certainly isn’t good for business. But the underlying cause could be much more sinister. This is a complex challenge to solve and it could take a lot of time. Having a vast amount of exposure to these environments, I have identified one simple thing that could go a long way to help dealing with these challenges. And it’s taken from the first core drive of Octalysis, the modern benchmark framework for gamification, namely Epic Meaning and Calling. ​Is there a reason your employees come to work on a daily basis, apart from doing their mundane work tasks in exchange for moola? ​​Honestly? If the answer is no, then that could be part of the problem. If yes, then do your employees know what that reason is? Epic meaning and calling talks about the benefit to the world around you when you do your allotted daily tasks When you add epic meaning and calling to your workplace, you provide a reason or purpose for coming to work and putting in the grind. When you do it correctly it could have an immediate impact on the symptoms of disengaged employees. ​Harder for some If you’re an NPO or charity, then you most likely have a meaning for coming to work and doing the boring tasks you need to, over and over. But for most businesses that meaning does not exist, at least not in the minds of the employees – the ones entering zombie like status when entering the building, then miraculously recovering upon leaving. And that’s because it’s a difficult thing to figure out. If you’re an admin clerk, what positive impact could that possibly have on the world around you? Ah, but there is! We just need to figure it out. 5 Steps to meaning There are 5 steps to adding epic meaning and calling, and I’ll break those down for you so that you can add meaning to your workplace and have hamster wheels spinning at electricity generating speeds! What does your business do? Firstly, you need to summarise what your business does. Keep it simple. Who does your business do this for? Who are your customers? Why do they need this? What happens when they get the services you offer? What is the employee’s job? Now, what role does the employee play in doing this? And there you have it, you have successfully added epic meaning and calling to your business! Let’s look at an example of a job and how to add epic meaning and calling: Example Let’s say you’re a development company that develops smartphone and web apps, and we’re trying to add epic meaning and calling to a debtor’s clerk. Now following the framework above, let’s answer those questions: We develop smart phones and web apps. For medium sized businesses. To help their clients engage with them easier, so that they can grow. Their customers lives are made easier. You collect funds from our clients. You ensure that we get the money owed to us so that we can pay our employees, and grow our business, so that we can enrich the lives of our clients and make the lives of their customers easier. Now isn’t that a whole lot better than “you call people you haven’t paid us and harass them for payment.” How you apply the formula depends on the size and structure of your organisation. You need to figure it out according to your business unit, team, roles etc. But you get the point, and the formula will hold true regardless of the size of the business – you just need to filter it down. ​Lead by example The formula is not enough on it’s own. Leaders of the business need to live the meaning and calling, and your remuneration and treatment of employees need to be on par. But adding epic meaning and calling is a great place to start! LATEST NEWS
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POST LOCK-DOWN REMEDIATION FEB 22, 2022 Introduction The proverbial writing is on the wall. We are not going back to “normal”, no matter how much we cling to it. We as businesses need to ask the sobering question: “What are we going back to?” Everything is changing, and I’m of the view that we haven’t even begun to comprehend the extent of the changes yet. For most businesses, their customer profile has changed due to the effect of Covid-19 government regulations, and the pressure our clients are under. In my conversations with several business owners, one thing they all agree on is that aquiring new customers is a pivotal part of post lock-down remediation. The challenge with this is that new customers will also no longer look the same as they did before! In my bid to help businesses to deal with these challenges, I put together the following comprehensive guide on how to go about dealing with these challenges. I hope it finds you well. Redefine Your Ideal Customer Your ideal customers are most likely already affected by Covid – 19 in some shape or form. This is what you want to understand: Are they businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C), or a combination of both? Is there a way you can expand your offering into either B2B or B2C?   What new industries can your business operate in? Who are the decision makers in your new markets? Age, gender, location, job title, income, etc. Where can you find these decision makers? Online, social groups, industry events, etc. Refine Your Marketing Message While the nuances of sales and marketing are changing drastically in these exciting times, there are a few universal truths that remain, regardless of the circumstances. The cornerstone of marketing is to have a message that is relevant to your customers, and then deliver that message in a way that they can relate to and understand, so that they will engage with your business. Once you have redefined your target market, you need to create a succinct, but powerful message to your ideal new customer. In a nutshell, you need to create a message that tells the story of your business. Then you need to break it down into 3 parts: The whole story The whole story is the story of your business, product or service. It should comprise mainly of two parts; what you do, and why that is important to your potential customers. This story is no more than 3 sentences, and when spoken should not take more than 30 seconds. This is your “elevator pitch.” Example (Insurance Broker): You live a busy life and don’t have the time or patience to explore all the insurance options available to ensure you are getting the best deal. We have been working with consumers and insurance providers for the last 5 years, to figure out a way that ensures our customers are getting the best deals. We work closely with you to get deals that are the best fit for you, so that you can rest insured! The short story The short story condenses your whole story into one sentence. It is the most pertinent parts of your story that you want to get across quickly. When spoken will take no longer than 10 seconds. Example (In line with the above): We provide insurance options specific to your needs, providing you with peace of mind that you are always getting the best deal. The abbreviated story This is a quick snippet into what you do, when you only have a couple of seconds. Example (In lines with the above): Tailored insurance options. Deliver Your Message Now that you know how to explain what you do in various applications, it’s time to apply this message and get it to the relevant prospects.    1. Website: Now more than ever, you need to have a website for your business. It’s the modern version of a brochure and the first place your prospects will go to learn about you and your business. All your marketing efforts will lead back to your website, so getting it right is essential! With the message you have created, you want to start with the abbreviated message, then expand on the message through your website, so that your customers eventually come to learn your whole story. The idea is that we all have short and shortening attention spans, so you want to get their attention quickly and slowly expand on what you do. Make it clear. Ensure your message is clear and educates your customers effectively. Make clear calls to action! What do you want them to do when they come to your site? Buy a product? Book a consultation? Download an app? Whatever it is, make it easy for them.    2. Lead channels: Lead channels are the channels in which you get leads for your business, but here’s the thing; There is no secret sauce to untapped leads – unlike what so many guru’s are saying. You need to figure out what works for your business. I’ll try to explain these below: Social media / Digital advertising strategy: Social media and digital advertising can produce massive results in acquiring new customers. But it can also be a worm hole where you lose a lot of time and money over a long period of time. Here are just a few social media networks South Africans are using to get new customers: Facebook: Still the world’s largest social media platform. Use to target individuals to create awareness or sell products. Instagram: Owned by Facebook, use if you sell actual products, using highly attractive images of your product with provocative captions. YouTube: Owned by Google, use if you want to educate consumers and your business relies heavily on face to face interaction. LinkedIn: The main business social network. Use if you want to target salespeople, or Human Resources. Twitter: Used for consumers. Use to create awareness and educate your prospective customers. Google Ads / Business: If people are looking

BEFORE YOU CAN EARN A PROSPECT’S TRUST FEB 22, 2022 Why we need to earn trust Regardless of your position in the sales team, there come times when you need to earn trust with your prospect. In the coming weeks, I’m going to write about tactics that can be used to establish trust, an essential start to the sales process. If you don’t earn trust, you cannot properly understand your clients’ challenges and what’s causing them. This in turn will severely decrease your chance of making the sales later down the line. But before we get there, there is a serious point to consider: Sincerity. In it for the wrong reasons As sales professionals, it’s no secret that we can make a lot of money from selling. But what we see time and again is that those who are in it for the money won’t make a lifelong career out of it and won’t experience all the benefits a career in sales can have. You may make money for a period of your life, but it won’t last. If you really want to build trust with your prospects and a lifelong career in sales, you need to sincerely desire to make a difference in your prospects’ lives through the solutions and products you sell. Sincerity cannot be feined and while you may fake it and get away with it from time to time it will catch up to you and prospects will begin to see through you. Diagnosing the problem If your prospects are not opening up to you early in the sales process, keep an eye out for my next article on tactics for building trust. But before you do that, ask yourself if you’re just in it for the money, or do you really care about what you’re selling. If you’re just in it for the money, that’s okay. Many come for the money (myself included) and stay for the purpose. Reach out to me if you want to have a chat and understand the real value and impact sales can have on business. LATEST NEWS
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LOST REASONS THAT AREN’T IN YOUR CRM:TRUST NOT ESTABLISHED MAY 25, 2022 In this series, I’m going to cover some lost reasons that are crucial to know about, but never measured! And I’m going to start at the beginning, where it all starts – earning trust! Lost reasons that aren’t in your CRM If you’ve been around in sales for some time and worked on a few CRMs, you’ve probably seen a few lost reasons in your time. Lost reasons are the typical reasons we lose deals and are captured at the time deals are lost. The thing is that they all start to look the same after a while; “No budget, timing off, the wrong fit, lost to competition, too small, etc.” This stuff is nice to know, but what does it really tell you about your performance or lack thereof? Not much, I’m afraid. In this series, I’m going to cover some lost reasons that are crucial to know about, but never measured! And I’m going to start at the beginning, where it all starts – earning trust! When earning trust counts In case you missed it, I recently posted a short piece on why we need to earn trust, and the sincerity required before we can do so. There are two main scenarios in B2B sales where we need to earn trust quickly; when we’re cold calling a prospect, and when doing our initial discovery calls. If we can establish trust early in these engagements, it will increase our chances of winning a deal later on in the process. Building trust in the beginning takes time and may slow down the beginning of the sales cycle, but it will speed up the back end, which is ideal! Tactics for earning trust Cold callingWhen making cold calls, you only have a few seconds to establish some form of trust and is arguably the hardest stage in the process to earn trust. The basis for trust on a phone call comes down to three main points: Tell the client who you are: The first thing your prospect wants to know is who they are speaking to. They want to know early on what they are dealing with. Too many SDRs are duplicitous about who they are, and it’s the first part of the call. An example of a trust-building intro would be: “Hi Sam, this is Martin calling from Level180, a company that helps improve sales performance…” Tell the client why you are calling: With so many SDRs making prospecting calls, buyers are nervous about who is calling and why. But in this case, the why must be based on some sort of research, to show the prospect that you are not randomly calling them hoping to solicit their business, you have a purpose. This would be something like: “I see you’re the sales director for Test Software, and we’ve recently helped similar businesses to improve their conversion rates using customized coaching, is this something that could be of interest to you?” Focus on the impact: The reality is that it doesn’t really matter how you do what you do, prospects first want to know what’s in it for them. Focus on the impact you will have on their business. Example: “By providing call specific coaching cues, we were able to help similar software businesses to increase their conversion rates by 20% within 3 months.” With these 3 key foundations in place, you can quickly build trust with our prospects. This will significantly increase the chances of them booking meetings with you. Discovery calls The role of trust in cold calling is to book a meeting with an Account Executive. The role of trust in the discovery call is to set the prospect up for success later on in the process – provided they are the right fit. Here are my key tactics for establishing trust quickly in the discovery process: Set a verbal agenda: This sets the prospect at ease about what your intentions are. Your verbal agenda usually consists of the following:1. Intro to your company and what you do (including a short shpiel on why you work for your company is a nice personal touch). 3-5 minutes2. Learn about your client. This is the bulk of your discovery call and is used to find information to build a case for your solution. Let the client know you want to learn as much as possible about their business to see if it’s a fit for your services. Let them know that you are trying to learn this information to find out if you can make an impact on their current situation.3. Let the client know if and what synergies exist between your businesses and what the next steps are.4.As a powerful bonus, ask the prospect what they want to get out of the call. Use a discovery prompter: You are about to launch into a series of discovery questions to start an open conversation with your prospect. Some of these questions will seem intrusive, so it’s key that you let them know what the potential impact for them would be. For example, you could tell them, “Our clients decrease conversion rates by replicating their top performers and decreasing onboarding times.” Conclusion Of course, there are plenty of other tactics you could employ to help you establish trust, but these ones will get you off to a good start. Consider these tactics the next time you are making a cold call or running a discovery call. Remember, to measure the results before and after. If this is a big change to your current set-up, it will feel unnatural and even contrived. You will be tempted to talk yourself out of it. But stick with it until you can make a fair comparison to your before and after. Whether you’re an SDR or AE or any other role in sales, remember, through the process, listen before you speak. Reach out if you have any questions! LATEST NEWS
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