The MarCom Strategist: A Free B2B Marketing E-Newsletter

January, 2009
Published by Dianna Huff
Volume 10, Number 01

Welcome!

I love the first few weeks of the New Year when the slate is clean. I feel energized and productive and see opportunities and new ideas wherever I look.

One opportunity I want to pursue in 2009 is learning more about how B2B companies are using social media to communicate with customers – and yes, sell products and services. If you want to learn more, come join my new B2B Social Media group on LinkedIn where you can meet other like-minded marketers.

And speaking of new ideas, in this issue I feature Corner Office Leads, a company that used fresh thinking to generate leads for their clients. It’s a great story!

Dianna Huff

Don't Let the Recession Amputate your Marketing!

You've read the reports and the advice from experts – don't cut marketing in a recession. Yet, like most people, you want to know how to get the most bang for your marketing dollar – especially now.

You don't have to spend an arm and a leg on high-priced consultants or long-term coaching plans. For a mere fraction of the cost, I can show you how to market your own business like a pro via my Strategic Marketing Coaching Clinics.

The Strategic Marketing Coaching Clinics are one-time consulting sessions where I focus specifically on your marketing questions and give you recommendations and feedback. The Strategic Marketing Coaching Clinic is not a one-size-fits all solution. Each session is tailored to your business, your market, your questions, and your business goals.

Most important, you get the benefit of one-on-one coaching without the long-term consulting or coaching fees and commitment -- a definite plus in this economy!

Call or write today for a quote on a customized Strategic Marketing Coaching Clinic tailored to your business. Just pick up the phone and call 603-382-8093 or send email to info@dhcommunications.com.

Selling to the C-Suite: Don’t Diss the Executive Assistant

By Dianna Huff

“Executives have hundreds of requests on their time every week,” says Steve Lightstone, President of Corner Office Leads, a Toronto-based company specializing in getting appointments with C-suite execs.

“They don’t have time for half hour Web-based or face-to-face meetings and they have absolutely no patience for telemarketers pitching something,” he goes on to say. “Executive assistants are trained to weed out telemarketers, direct mail, and email – so getting past them is a major hurdle.”

Corner Office Leads, however, has cracked the code when it comes to booking appointments with executives.

Steve and his team asked themselves the question, “How do you get a communication piece to the top of a pile of 400?”

Appeal directly to the executive’s assistant
According to Steve, today’s executive assistant is smart and educated and it’s this person’s job to vet people and information, not to erect walls – hence an assistant will let information through that they consider is important and of value.

Which is why when Corner Office Leads develops a campaign for a client, you won’t find them making cold calls to a “list.”

Instead, the company micro targets by identifying the right executives first – and these executives must have assistants. “We don’t target executives that don’t have assistants,” says Steve, “because this means they’re either not powerful enough or work for a very small company with limited resources.”

The company also conducts guerilla research to obtain the names of executive assistants by calling company operators to confirm the executive’s name and that of his/her assistant and/or listening to executives’ voice mail greetings for a contact name if the caller needs immediate assistance.

Corner Office Leads then carries out a permission-based campaign to get a 15-minute phone meeting with the executive.

For example, the company can courier a letter package to the executive – with the waybill made out to the executive assistant – asking for 15-minutes of the executive’s time in order to talk about the client’s offering.

For Knoa, a software company, Corner Office Leads had its telemarketing team call the assistants to ask permission to send them, not their executive, an email requesting a 15-minute phone call with the executive.

Says Steve, “How often does an assistant get a courier package addressed directly to her or a phone call from someone asking nicely if one, that an email be sent to them directly and two, if the information is appropriate, if a 15-minute phone meeting can be set up? From the outset we’re oozing respect for the assistant – now we have a trusted insider presenting our request for that appointment.”

Conduct peer-to-peer conversations
The Corner Office team never speaks directly to the target executive. Once the appointment is booked, Corner Office Leads then lets its clients take over. “You really cannot train telemarketers to talk effectively about your product or service offerings. Our approach is more effective because our client is the first person to speak to the executive directly. We simply set up a conversation between two business peers,” says Steve.

According to Steve, the company uses the same process for its own lead generation. “We arranged a call with the guy who runs sales for Jack Henry who promptly said, ‘Yours is the first unsolicited phone meeting from a marketing vendor that I’ve taken in my entire career.’ Another executive said, ‘I don’t know you, why should I do business with you?’ and I replied, ‘Because you’re talking to me.’”

“Once I get the exec on the phone, I’m able to say, ‘Look at the respect you’re giving me – and I’m a lead gen vendor,” says Steve. “Now project that image to your prospects. Imagine how effective you can be.”

The bottom line
Corner Office’s approach, getting the message through to busy executives by working with their assistants rather than around them, is an example of fresh thinking that’s also effective.

Out of all the appointments the company has scheduled on behalf of its clients, 58% has been with SVPs and higher and 82% of appointments have been with VPs.

Summarizes Steve, “It pays to show respect to the executive assistant – especially these days when decision makers are being bombarded with phone calls, direct mail, and email. By working with the executive assistant, we’re able to get our clients’ messages presented to the exec by a trusted insider.”

To learn more about Corner Office Leads and its services, feel free to call Steve at 905 823-7300 or send email to info@cornerofficeleads.com.

New on the Marcom Writer Blog

Don’t be shy! Come join the conversation with other like-minded marketers. Recent discussions on the Dianna’s B2B MarCom Writer Blog include:

Eight Non-Sexy Tips for Building Your Brand or Your Business – Using Internet marketer Neil Patel as inspiration, Dianna gives advice about how to build your personal brand or business online.

Write B2B Web Content for People, Not Search Engines – “Content is king!” no longer means what it used to mean. Find out why in this blog post.

Marketing Through a Recession: Stick to Your Strategy – Dianna interviews Paula Phalen, Ph.D, of Nadel Phalen, Inc., a Northern CA PR firm. Paula discusses why it’s important, now more than ever, that you stick to your marketing and PR strategy.

Recession-Busting MarCom: Re-energize Your E-Newsletter – In this article, Dianna gives three tips for doing more with your e-newsletter without spending a lot of money.

Contact DH Communications

Telephone: 603-382-8093
Email: info@dhcommunications.com

Keep up with the latest MarCom news at The MarCom Writer Blog.