quick tips: becoming the trusted digital media advisor

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Quick Tips:Becoming the Trusted Digital Media Advisor

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2©Google 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any process without permission in writing from Google, Inc.

Do Your Homework

Spend a few minutes before the meeting answering some

fundamental questions.

Define Success

A key piece of pre-meeting

planning is defining your

and the client’s definition

of ‘success.’

Ask yourself the following:

PURPOSE

Why are we having this meeting? What is the benefit to the client?

DESIRED OUTCOME

At the end of the meeting, what factors will determine it is a success? If this meeting is a success, how will I know?

1 What does the client or company do, what products/solutions do they sell, what challenges do they face, how is their market changing?

2 Who from my team is attending the meeting and who is doing what?

3 What obstacles can I expect to encounter and how will I respond to each?

4 What information or materials should I bring?

A successful meeting begins well before the

meeting itself. The better you prepare, the

better results you and the client or prospect will

experience.

Plan

Think ‘Client’: Instead of focusing on the agenda and measuring success based on your needs, focus the meeting on satisfying the client’s objectives. They and you will benefit more. Q

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Start Your Meeting Right: Make Your POINT

Starting a meeting with a well defined,

easy-to-understand agenda statement

sets the meeting’s tone and ensures

everyone is working toward the same

objective. Use the following four steps:

We’ve all been in meetings in

which within the first minute we

thought, “This meeting is going to

be a waste of time,” or “I have no

desire to spend any time with this

person.” The techniques below

help create stronger interactions

to lead to more successful

meetings and outcomes.

PPurposeState the reason for the meeting from the client’s perspective.

Example: “Thanks for making some time to meet today. The purpose of today’s discussion is to introduce ourselves and to hopefully come up with a few ideas to maximize the success of your upcoming restaurant openings.”

O

OutlineOutline the topics you intend to cover.

Example: “To make the most of our time, I thought we’d:

• Look at a brief overview of our approach and how we work with local restaurants.

• Discuss your current marketing plan and some of your specific goals.

• Share a couple of initial ideas that have worked for other recent restaurant openings.

• Discuss any next steps if we feel there is a fit between our companies.”

INInputIs there anything the client would like to add? Make them vested in the discussion.

Example: “Does this sound OK? Is there anything else you’d like to make sure we include today?”

TTransition Transition to your positioning statement.

Example: “Great. Then let’s begin with a quick overview of how we work with local restaurants.”

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Open continued

Make A Strong Elevator Pitch

First impressions are important. Use

these four steps to create a strong

90-second “Elevator Pitch” that will

create interest and leave people asking

for more.

1 Describe your focus.

Example: “Here at <Company> we specialize in helping small and medium-sized businesses leverage the power of digital marketing.”

2 Describe your typical client and a major problem they face.

Example: “Most of the companies we work with have successfully launched their businesses using traditional marketing methods like print, radio or TV. Yet they haven’t figured out how to take the next step with digital tools like social media, video, mobile and search optimization.”

3 Describe how your clients benefit from working with you.

Example: “We work with best-in-class partners like Google and offer many unique tools such as robust reporting and real-time campaign optimization. For years we’ve been helping businesses like yours put the power of digital marketing to work. In fact, since implementing an online marketing campaign, one of our restaurant clients has seen its revenues increase 50% from last year.”

4 Bridge to your first question.

Example: “So let me ask you…”

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Open continued Re-Position Your Relationship with a Client

Often you have established relationships with clients who want to grow or change. Use a repositioning

statement to further establish yourself as a trusted advisor. Follow these three simple steps:

1 Describe some changes happening in the industry.

Example: “Since the last time we spoke, we have seen companies dramatically increase the pace at which they’re changing their creative and messaging. Some companies are changing their creative on a weekly basis.”

2 Then describe how you are responding to those changes.

Example: “To give our clients an advantage, we have greatly expanded our team of graphic designers and copy editors, which has enabled many of our clients to adjust their campaigns daily.”

3 Describe how your clients are benefiting.

Example: “The results are amazing. Customers are seeing an increase in site traffic and because we can get the right message to the right audience, we are seeing a consistent increase in conversion rates. We took a fresh look at your campaign using these new tools and we have some ideas to boost traffic and reduce your overall acquisition cost…”

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IdentifyIdentifyNow it’s time to uncover the client’s key

motivating factors, while simultaneously building

a stronger relationship. Asking great questions

motivates clients to BUY, alleviating some of the

pressure on you to SELL.

Get the Whole Picture

When learning about a client, we need to consider their

entire situation. We need to understand where they are

today (Current Situation) and where they want to be

(Desired Situation). Once we understand both ends of

the spectrum (Current vs. Desired), we can help provide

solutions to the client to take them from where they are to

where they want to be.

Once we understand the start and end points, we can

define a roadmap leading to the desired results.

Focus on Three Areas

We have found that focusing your questions on three main areas helps in uncovering the

client’s Current and Desired Situations. These areas are: the client’s business model, the client’s

marketing efforts, and the client’s personal goals.

Their Business Their Marketing Their Individual, Personal Goals

• Market

• Opportunities

• Budget

• Strategy

• Priorities

• Resources

• Ask open-ended questions that require descriptive answers.

• The longer your questions, generally the shorter the response you’ll get.

• Listen to understand versus listening to respond.

• Listen and look for emotional and logical cues.

• Anything you can do to help them be successful will make you successful. Find out what he/she needs in order to win.Q

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Current Situation Where are clients

today?

Desired Situation Where do they

want to be?

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IdentifyIdentify continued

Here are a few

example questions to

help evaluate where

your clients are today

and where they want

to be.

Understanding your Client’s Current Situation

Business

• Who are your target customers?

• Where are you online? Where are you offline?

• Who are your main competitors? What sets you apart

from them?

• How do you see the market changing? What trends/

conditions are impacting you the most?

Individual

• What are the big issues on your agenda?

• How is your success measured?

Marketing

• What are your marketing goals? What is your marketing

budget?

• Where are you marketing your business (online and

offline)? Why did you decide to use those channels?

• Do you know how most of your clients find you?

• What are the goals of your website?

• How much does it cost to acquire a new client?

Understanding your Client’s Desired Situation

Business

• What are the top priorities for your business this year

and how are you acting on them?

• What plans do you have to grow your business?

• What are some of the challenges or roadblocks that you

anticipate handling?

• Is there a product or service that you would like to make

a bigger percentage of your revenue mix?

Individual

• What are your priorities for this year/quarter?

• What projects do you have on the back burner that you

would really like to make progress on?

Marketing

• Do you have a preference towards acquisition or

retention? Which is more important to you and why?

• Are you happy with the amount of sales you currently

have or could you use more?

• Are you happy with your brand awareness?

Current Situation Where are clients

today?

Desired Situation Where do they

want to be?

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RecommendRecommendThere are many different ways to present a recommendation to a client. Choose the method that makes the most sense based on your message and audience. At the core of every good solution is a value statement, which we call a Link-Feature-Bridge-Benefit (LFBB), described below. Once you have mastered LFBBs, use one of the two frameworks outlined on the following pages to package your solution to a client.

LinkRefer to something the client said previously.

Example: “Earlier you mentioned you were looking for additional customers in some pretty specific time windows.”

FeatureShare a proven fact about a product.

Example: “An optimized AdWords campaign will give you a lot of flexibility.”

BridgeUse a short phrase using the word “you” that pivots the feature to the benefit.

Example: “which is exactly what you are looking for because…”

Benefit Demonstrate the value the client would receive using or experiencing the feature.

Example: “You can change the amount you spend on different keywords at different times of day. For example, we can increase your bid between 1 p.m.– 4 p.m. so anyone searching for a sandwich shop for lunch will be more likely to see your ad and stop by. Then we can drop your bid back to lower levels for your already busy dinner rush. Now you can drive traffic when you need to, and save costs when you don’t.”

LINK FEATURE BRIDGE BENEFIT

• When delivering an LFBB, keep the feature simple. Do most of the describing in the benefit.

• It is often a great idea to combine multiple LFBBs together to create a powerful, flowing value statement. Just be careful to not combine too many.Q

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Paint a Picture Using LFBB

The key to a strong LFBB is enabling the client to envision

its impact on their business (i.e., sell more units, build

brand recognition, drive more profits).

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1. Craft a Story

This is a great structure to use when trying to present multiple solutions in one pitch.

Remember, your story needs to be simple and so easily repeatable that your audience

can retell it after you leave. A great story often includes five key elements:

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Create a Framework

Consider these two ways to structure a message for

maximum impact.

1. Craft a Story 2. Develop a Storyboard

• The imperative needs to be very emotional (e.g., competitors are gaining ground, sales are dropping, online presence isn’t effective).

• Strategically using competitors’ efforts is a great way to sell some of your concepts. For example, “If companies X, Y & Z are doing this effectively, we need to be doing it as well.”

• Keep your value proposition tight and focused on what the client cares about.

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Begin with an EMOTIONAL reason the client needs to take action immediately.

Focus on the client’s goals by solving one of their key challenges.

Reference industry competitors who “get it” and are doing a great job of taking advantage of online marketing technology.

Demonstrate what you can do to help the client (LFBBs work great here).

Ask for feedback and clarify action plans, timelines, etc.

CompetitionThe Imperative Client Goals Value Proposition Next Steps

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Recommend

Key points to make

Logical

• Features

• Benefits

• Data/Evidence

• Proof

• Examples

• Case Studies

Emotional

• Story

• Metaphor, anecdote, parable

• Thought-provoking question

• Invitation to wonder

• Humor

• Surprise

The S.T.A.R. Moment

• Something They’ll Always Remember

• The “a-ha” moment clients will retell tomorrow and remember long after

• This can occur at any given time within the presentation

What are other companies doing?

How will you solve the problem?

What problem does the client need to solve?MOVE FROM What are the client’s

goals?

How will I close the presentation?

What is my call to action? What are next steps?

What will the client be able to do?

What will things look like, feel like, afterwards? MOVE TO

Use the following as a guide to develop your storyboard.

Move from left to right, answering the questions as they pertain to the client.

Incorporate logical elements, emotional textures, and the S.T.A.R. moment into your answers to

craft a compelling presentation.

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2. Develop a Storyboard

This is a great structure for making a powerful presentation.

It allows you to map out how to effectively integrate logical

and emotional concepts to arrive at a memorable takeaway.

Logical

Use concise facts, proof points and known industry examples.

Emotional

Weave in elements that move the conversation beyond the mind, to the heart.

S.T.A.R. (Something They’ll Always Remember) Moment

Leave th e client with a point or points so relevant that he/she can’t stop thinking about your message.

• Use specific data and statistics to make your point.

• Tell your story through visuals when possible.

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Close

If the objection is unclear, go back to the Listen step.

Client “Yes, that is accurate.”

Salesperson Respond “That makes total sense. Why don’t we continue to map out the specifics of the campaign and get everything ready to go? That way when the budget is available we can start the campaign without any delay. Does that sound like a good plan?”

Client “It’s more of a timing issue. Every fiscal year we allocate budget for testing, but we have used up all of our discretionary funds for this year.”

Salesperson Restate and Cushion “So it sounds like you might be interested in exploring this campaign further. We just need to figure out the timing that makes the most sense for your business. Does that sound right?”

Client “Well, this fiscal year we have tried a lot of ways to drive business and they have not panned out well.”

Salesperson Clarify and Listen “Would you say that the challenge is more a timing issue or a total dollar issue?”

Client “We just can’t afford this right now.”

Salesperson Clarify and Listen “Help me understand that a little better.”

CloseYou’ve expertly planned the meeting,

opened the conversation, identified

the client’s specific needs and

recommended solutions that deliver

value — logically and viscerally. Now

it’s time to close the deal. As with any

decision-making process, objections,

concerns and hesitations are certain

to arise. How you handle them can

be more important than any of the

prior steps. Use this process to

resolve concerns effectively:

Listen

Clarify

Restate

Cushion

Respond

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Close continued

‘Thank you’ is not a close. An actual close involves

specific, actionable next steps — such as

scheduling the next meeting, receiving a signed

proposal, launching a new product adoption,

increasing the budget, etc. If you are not able to

close on your desired outcome, make sure you

further its progress with clear next steps.

Alternate ChoiceAsk the client to choose

one of two options, both

of which require a specific

answer and indicate a

positive buying decision

has been made.

Example:

• “Would Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning be better for you?”

• “Which region should we start with, the Northeast or Central?”

Assumptive CloseWhen the client has

expressed a positive

reaction to your

recommendation and

seems to have no strong

objections, assume they

are going to buy.

Example:

• “How about we set up a meeting with our account management team for next Thursday?”

• “Why don’t I send over the new contract this afternoon?”

Direct CloseSimply ask for the

business.

Example:

• “Can we increase your monthly budget to $10,000?”

• Set likely next steps before your meeting or call begins.

• Consider preparing two solutions so you can use an alternate choice.

• Write prompt post-meeting recaps you can utilize in subsequent meetings.

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We should build a house.

Yes. I agree!

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