I just got off the phone with my friend Marge Bieler, the CEO of RareAgent. She has worked in the lead generation space for many years and has been having great success in promoting LinkedIn as a tool to connect with decision makers. She has written a wonderful white paper about what she has learned and I asked her if I could summarize here for my readers and friends and point them to her LinkedIn profile for full access to the original.
Here is a Ken’s Note summary of what she says:
Gather your professional experience, interests, and capabilities, and use the Top 10 Tips below to help you begin designing your profile.
1. Craft an informative profile headline: Your headline becomes a slogan for your professional brand, such as “Conversations to Cash Creator” or “Automated Social Media Methods.”
2. Upload an appropriate photo: Select a professional, high-quality headshot of you alone.
3. Boast about your education: List all the institutions you’ve attended, provide highlights of your activities. Don’t be shy.
4. Cultivate a professional summary statement: The first few paragraphs should be concise and confident about value, goals, how you solve a particular pain.
5. Use Keywords to fill your “Specialties” section: Phrases that an individual […]
Monday Quick Hit: For Marketing Sherpa’s Ann Holland, the Drum Beats On
20 December 2010 — Ken Krogue
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When Ann Holland from MarketingSherpa asked Dave Elkington and I to present InsideSales.com’s research findings with MIT and Kellogg back in 2007, I’ll admit we were excited for a chance to “show off” a little bit what we thought was some “pretty cool little research” on lead management and lead response.
To say that the response since then has exceeded our expectations would be a major understatement. That same research has practically spawned the the entire lead response management industry, and I’ve seen at least ten follow-up studies from other sources since.
So when Ann contacted me to let me know she was moving on from MarketingSherpa, I was both surprised and intrigued to see where she was going.
Ann’s had an ear to the ground, and her finger on the pulse of sales and marketing, especially in B2B, for a long time now. She’s an industry insider in the best sense of the word, and the work she did at MarketingSherpa helped make it one of the most respected thought leaders in professional sales.
One of her two new ventures, Which Test Won? is a fascinating take on split variant marketing testing. Using actual samples of marketing content, she […]
Chauncey C Riddle
“Our religion is the sum total of our habits” – Chauncey Riddle
“As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” Proverbs 23:7
Bryan Tracey
Character is the ability to follow through with a decision after the emotion of making the decision has past. Bryan Tracy
“This is the final test of a gentleman – his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.” William Lyon Phelps
Thomas S Monson
“When we deal in generalities, we shall never succeed. When we deal in specifics, we shall rarely have a failure. When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of performance accelerates.“ Thomas S Monson
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” William Shakespeare from Julius Caesar
Frank Outlaw
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it […]
Whenever I read a great book, I summarize it so I can learn better and recall it later. I have been asked to make some of my “Ken’s Notes” available. Here is the Final Play of ”Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, the founder of salesforce.com. Scroll to the bottom for links to the other Parts – Ken Krogue
Play #111: Make Everyone Successful
Clayton Christensen wrote The Innovators Dilemma about how disruptive technologies beat the big established companies.
Examples of disruption:
The End of Software
1-1-1 philanthropic model: donated $14 million, 6000 non profits, 150,000 hours of community service.
By making all of your stakeholders successful, we ignited or own success.
Many companies made it big during difficult times. “The storm is the time to fish.”
The most successful businesspeople are driven by profits and purpose.
Einstein had three rules of work:
Out of clutter find simplicity
From discord find harmony
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity
Imagine, Invent, Disrupt.
Aloha, Marc
Here are links to the rest of my notes on “Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, I’ll notify of new summaries of other books I do on my Twitter/LinkedIn accounts – Ken Krogue
Part 1 – The Start-Up Playbook – How to Turn a Simple Idea into a High-Growth Company
Part 2 – The Marketing […]
Whenever I read a great book, I summarize it so I can learn better and recall it later. I have been asked to make some of my “Ken’s Notes” available. Here is part 9 of ”Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, the founder of salesforce.com. Scroll to the bottom for links to the other Parts – Ken Krogue
How to Create Alignment—the Key to Organizational Success
Play #100: Use V2MOM to Focus Your Goals and Align Your Organization
The biggest secret of Salesforce.com was a method to ensure constant communication and complete alignment. Developed V2MOM: Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures.
Vision: helped defined what we wanted to do.
Values: sets the principles and beliefs that are most important about the vision (in priority)
Methods: indicates how to get it done by outlining actions and steps to take
Obstacles: indentified challenges, problems, and issues to overcome to achieve vision.
Measures: specified the actual result we aimed to achieve, the numerical outcome.
Salesforce.com’s First V2MOM, 4/12/1999
Vision: Rapidly create a world-class Internet company/site for Sales Force Automation
Values:
1- World-class organization
2- Time to market
3- Functional
4- Usability (Amazon quality)
5- Value-added partnerships
Methods:
1- Hire the Team
2- Finalize product and infrastructure
3- Rapidly develop to beta and production
4- Build partnerships with big e-commerce, content, and hosting companies
5- Build […]
Whenever I read a great book, I summarize it so I can learn better and recall it later. I have been asked to make some of my “Ken’s Notes” available. Here is part 8 of ”Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, the founder of salesforce.com. Scroll to the bottom for links to the other Parts – Ken Krogue
How to Raise Capital, Create a Return, and Never Sell Your Soul
Play #90: Don’t Underestimate Your Financial Needs
Marc seeded Salesforce.com with $6 million which he had saved. VC financiers valued the business too low for him to go to them for funding initially.
Play #91: Consider Fundraising Strategies Other Than Venture Capital
Marc reached out to friends and colleagues. Two thirds of startup capital in the US comes from the entrepreneurs themselves, while friends, family, and colleagues provide 78% of the total. Create a list of piecemeal investors.
Treat friends and family investors professionally. Avoid negligence, it will bite you later. Raised $65 million total; with $15.5 million from venture firms from 1999 to 2002.
Play #92: Use Internet Models to Reduce Start-Up Costs
Play #93: Set Yourself Up Properly from the Beginning, Then Allow Your Financial Model to Evolve
Though starting as a pay as you go model, […]
Whenever I read a great book, I summarize it so I can learn better and recall it later. I have been asked to make some of my “Ken’s Notes” available. Here is part 7 of ”Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, the founder of salesforce.com. Scroll to the bottom for links to the other Parts – Ken Krogue
How to Launch Your Product and Introduce Your Model to New Markets
Play #75: Build Global Capabilities into Your Product
Launch with the mandate to go global from the beginning. Salesforce built their application so it could be configured to almost any currency or language, even character-based languages.
Play #76: Inject Local Leaders with Your Corporate DNA
Hire a team for Europe. Expose them to your culture.
Play #77: Choose Your Headquarters and Territories Wisely
Salesforce.com started in Dublin, Ireland because of the English language and a 12.5% corporate tax rate. Started with a telesales (the name for inside sales in europe) team and grew a field team thereafter. The team was made up of native speakers: German, French, Spain, etc. Use local numbers to the countries.
Think Like a Start-Up:
1- Use the original messaging
2- Translate the product on day one to the major languages, but only add additional languages […]
Behind the Cloud – Part 6 – The Corporate Philanthropy Playbook
18 December 2009 — Ken Krogue
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Whenever I read a great book, I summarize it so I can learn better and recall it later. I have been asked to make some of my “Ken’s Notes” available. Here is part 6 of ”Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, the founder of salesforce.com. Scroll to the bottom for links to the other Parts – Ken Krogue
Make Your Company About More Than the Bottom Line
Play #64: The Business of Business Is More Than Business
Businesses can use all of their assets—their equity, their capital, their people, their relationships—to serve as a force for good in the world. Oracle launched Oracles’ Promise with a younger Marc Beniof in charge of putting computers in schools. This is how he met Colin Powell. They failed in installing computers at a school and Collin Powell sent in the Marines to help.
It doesn’t work unless philanthropy is woven into the fabric of the company, with commitment.
Play #65: Integrate Philanthropy from the Beginning
Filed the Salesforce Foundation as a 501 (c)(3) the same time as incorporate salesforce.com
Found Suzanne DiBianca to lead it.
Play #66: Make your Foundation Part of Your Business Model
The 1-1-1- model: 1% of time, product, and equity. Hasbro inspired 1% of time or 4 hours […]
Whenever I read a great book, I summarize it so I can learn better and recall it later. I have been asked to make some of my “Ken’s Notes” available. Here is part 5 of ”Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, the founder of salesforce.com. Scroll to the bottom for links to the other Parts – Ken Krogue
How to Develop Products Users Love
Play #52: Have the Courage to Pursue Your Innovation—Before It Is Obvious to the Market
Produce a product customers love. Build a product for companies in the world to use at the same time. Build ground up for the Internet. A securely partitioned, highly personalized experience with their own data, logic, and end-user experience. Call it “multitenancy.”
Don’t give up the End of Software mission. This is our religion.
Play #53: Invest in the Long Term with a Prototype That Sets a Strong Foundation
“Do it fast, simple, and right the first time (and did we mention fast?)”
Play #54: Follow the Lead of Companies That Are Loved by Their Customers
Follow Google, eBay, and Yahoo! By offering one product, then adding more later. Focus.
Play #55: Don’t Do It All Yourself; Reuse, Don’t Rebuild
Don’t build it all yourself from scratch.
Play #56: Embrace Transparency and Build […]
Whenever I read a great book, I summarize it so I can learn better and recall it later. I have been asked to make some of my “Ken’s Notes” available. Here is part 4 of ”Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, the founder of salesforce.com. Scroll to the bottom for links to the other Parts – Ken Krogue
How to Energize Your Customers into a Million-Member Sales Team
Play #37: Give it Away
They offered a free functional five user for a year. Got valuable feedback.
Play #38: Win First Customer by Treating Them Like Partners
Start with your warm market, let them use it for free in the beginning in exchange for being the beta testing bug force. Then hired a sales rep and started getting paying customers. Initially sold month-to-month.
Use a feedback loop:
Stay in touch with customers
Develop a way to track their requests
Respond quickly
Ask if their needs are satisfactorily met
Pay attention to how they use the product
Play #39: Let Your Web Site Be a Sales Rep
Got an article in the Wall Street Journal in 1999 by Don Clark, a journalist invited to the Laboratory. They got 100 leads in one day. They registered for free trials before they even talked to a sales […]
