| 1. |
"You
don’t have to be a Hollywood actor to role play.":
Kathleen Brantley
Make sure each and every message that your customer sees from you –
promotional, sales, informational -- focuses on how your product or
service benefits them. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and
ask "what’s in it for me?". Review your messaging and
ask yourself – if I were an educator, why should I care about
this? What does this do for me? How does this make my job easier? How
does this allow me to do my job better? By taking this critically important
step, you will always be demonstrating your value to both existing customers
as well as prospects that you are trying to convert. (Topic: Value-added
selling) |
 |
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| 2. |
"Higher
margins are a good thing.": Kevin Davies
Simply put, the margin on selling a digital product is much higher than
the sale of a similar physical product. Digital products cost nothing
to print, require no warehouse space, do not need to be counted at inventory
time, and are never shipped. They are also never damaged and returned
by retailers...
(Topic: Profit margins on digital product) |
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| 3. |
"(Selling) Process makes perfect.":
Dennis DeCock
Just as it’s difficult to achieve success unless you have a formal
plan, you also have to have a process in place to manage the selling process
in your organization. A sales plan, by channel, by product line or service,
is essential to insuring that your sales operation will function smoothly
and be in sync with your customers’ buying patterns. Include in
the plan strategies for each channel, including whether you need to use
direct sales reps (company employees or independent reps), third parties
such as wholesalers, distributors, jobbers, etc., ecommerce on your website,
and/or telemarketing. (Topic: Sales organization planning process) |
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| 4. |
"Eat
5 meals a day (You get to eat more often).":
Jim McVety
You'll need to figure out a way to feed more information to your customers/prospects
more often. Use multiple channels to multiply sales. Smart companies use
a proper combination of inside sales, outside sales, forums, user conferences,
webinars.
(Topic: Providing customers with information) |
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| 5. |
"What
planet are we on anyway?": Victoria Porras
The essential building blocks of a business are the skills, knowledge
and courage of the explorer, the founder – the entrepreneur. The
strength of the gravitational magnetism that holds these blocks in their
right orbit is derived from the manner in which the entrepreneur positions
the business within the perception of the market population. (Topic: Creating
an atmosphere of trust) |
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| 6. |
"I
can see clearly now.": Lisa Schmucki
How much do you know about your customers? If you don’t have a clear
picture, consider working with one of the education data providers to
create a profile of your customer file. By matching your customer file
against a data warehouse, you can develop a profile of your different
market segments that is a powerful tool to identify specific market segments
for more targeted marketing and sales campaigns.
(Topic: Creating customer profiles) |
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| 7.
|
"Rome
was not built in a day, nor is your customer list.":
Kathleen Brantley
It takes planning, commitment to that plan, and some hard work to create
a truly powerful customer list. Once you do, it’s golden—it’s
your bread and butter. It will always outperform other lists. Use a CRM
system, identify and maintain important customer data such as products
purchased, purchase date, purchase dollar amount, name and job function.
Then use that data to identify purchasing patterns in order to both mine
your customer file (e.g. cross sell, upsell) and to locate prospects that
look like your customers. Segment the schools and districts according
to their propensity to buy your products. Clean your list regularly using
list hygiene software or a vendor who specializes in education data. (Topic:
Creating a powerful customer list) |
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| 8.
|
"Selling
all or some.": Kevin
Davies
As digital products do not take up any warehouse or inventory space, selling
variations of products is another way to generate additional revenue from
the same material. Publishers can sell portions of books or compilations
from a variety of books at little cost. Custom versions for large customers
are also a unique opportunity in the area of digital distribution. (Topic:
Digital product distribution) |
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| 9. |
"Good
public relations can be (almost) free.":
Dennis DeCock
Develop your own "media or press list" of key personnel at educational
trade magazines, educational newsletters, educator organizations in disciplines
in which you operate, education editors at major city newspapers, key
industry experts, key customers, and internal staff. Then create and distribute
press releases on a frequent basis highlighting key events, awards, new
products, etc. to this audience. Make sure the messages are newsworthy—magazines,
newsletters and newspapers are always looking for good copy to fill pages.
The cost: your marketing manager’s time (if you use email the cost
is negligible), and some business letterhead and postage.
(Topic: Public relations/press releases) |
|
|
| 10. |
"Yeah,
I work out.": Jim
McVety
Successful sales organizations train their people, and give them a chance
to exercise their selling skills on a regular basis. Being a former educator,
or even a seasoned veteran, is not enough. Markets continue to change
at a rapid pace, and the people we're selling to seem to change just as
fast. Invest in developing your sales and relationship people, and focus
on Skills, Relationship Management, Presentations, and Coaching. (Topic:
Sales organization training) |
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| 11.
|
"Are
we animal, vegetable or mineral-or just a lot of hot air?": Victoria
Porras
Developing product knowledge starts at home, but expands outward indefinitely.
As important as self-knowledge (the big bang) is, product knowledge goes
far beyond—far beyond our own story.
(Topic: Developing product knowledge) |
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| 12. |
"Add
to your To Do List: Test new lists.": Lisa Schmucki
It’s easy to keep going back to the same well, especially when it’s
working. But in the education market there are many different resources:
compiled lists, association lists, response databases, product buyers’
lists. There are a surprising number of unique names, even across comparable
compiled databases. And always review all the segmentation options. Using
a select that complements your customer profile, or a recency select,
can make the difference between a profitable and unprofitable list. (Topic:
List management) |
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| 13.
|
"Come
on in, the water is fine.": Kathleen Brantley
If you have not already established an e-marketing strategy for your company,
don’t wait. Not doing so will put you behind the curve. E-mail has
been proven to work in the education market for a variety of applications
including driving traffic to your website, creating leads for sales reps,
creating brand awareness and generating orders. It is fast and cost effective
and is great for a variety of offers. If you need help, go to MDR’s
website and read our E-Marketing Techniques and Tips or contact your MDR
rep and dive on in! (Topic: Developing an eMarketing strategy) |
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| 14.
|
"Printing
outside of the box": Kevin Davies
Most print publications are restrained by the rule of four—you can
only add pages four at a time. But digital products have no such limitations
and as such, you can add single pages as required. Additional single pages
can advertise other products and services from your company. Including
these "extra" pages does not require you to sacrifice any of
the other content found in the book. (Topic: Digital advertising) |
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|
| 15. |
"They
want their independ(ence)ents.":
Dennis DeCock
If you have a small, niche’ product offering, if you know you can’t
afford to establish and support a company employee sales rep operation,
have a start up business, or have limited capital, an independent sales
rep force may be the answer. Many educational publishers utilize independent
sales reps for the obvious reasons—you only pay them if they sell
something, there is very little overhead, and you don’t have to
lay out large amounts of cash in the form of salaries, benefits, and bonuses
up front. But beware; independents are called independents for a reason!
You need to insure that you provide adequate financial incentives for
them to spend the time selling your line; you need to provide ample promotional
materials for them to distribute; effectively train them; and be prepared
for them to want to operate totally on their own. (Topic: Sales force
management) |
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| 16.
|
"...like
John Smith from Texas.": Jim McVety
Politicians relate to voters by conveying global issues with very personal
examples. Sales people need to do the same. Prospects want to know that
the product is being used in a school they know personally, or in a setting
they know looks and feels like their own. (Topic: Personalizing sales
calls) |
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| 17.
|
"Are
we all extra-terrestrials?":
Victoria Porras
Using all our standard tools (doing our homework) to define the universe
in which we do business, we discover the directional decisions we need
to make. Being informed, we must be practical and selective. We must map
it—and remember that we always have the right to change our minds.
(Topic: Identifying your market) |
|
|
| 18. |
"www.keep-your-website-up-to-date.com":
Lisa Schmucki
Information about your company and your products is changing daily. Make
sure this is reflected on your website with the most current information,
new product announcements, and press releases. It’s easier said
than done! But this is the most important communication tool you have.
It’s especially important that your marketing messages and special
offers are consistent across ALL media channels. Many customers will jump
from a print offer directly to your website, so make sure all the info
is there, too. (Topic: Website currency) |
|
|
| 19. |
"Are
you keeping up with the latest and greatest?":
Kathleen Brantley
Keep current to keep ahead. Take time to learn about market trends that
will, make no doubt about, will impact your business. From market demographic
shifts, to advances in technology that impact the new products you develop
and how you produce, market and sell all your products. These advances
can create growth or can spell decline. It’s your job to stay informed
by doing a variety of things like attending this AEP Summit and interacting
with industry peers, to reading the latest market insight reports from
sources like MDR and NCES and publications like Education Week and eSchool
News to listening to what your customers tell you are their issues and
needs. (Topic: Market knowledge) |
|
|
| 20. |
"Everything
old is new again.": Kevin Davies
In the world of digital distribution, nothing needs to be out of print.
If a product is still viable but the annual sales volumes do not warrant
space in your warehouse, sell it as a digital product. It becomes very
low maintenance and can still generate revenue. (Topic: Digital distribution) |
|
|
| 21. |
"You
can’t achieve a goal without setting a target.":
Dennis DeCock
Every marketing organization needs a marketing plan, even if it’s
a rudimentary document. It’s a start, and you need to be able to
document all of your marketing support activities. Include in the plan
answers to what you are doing, how you are doing it, when you are doing
it, how much it will cost, and how you know if you’ve been successful.
Be sure to cover topics such as a vision statement, market summary, SWOT
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, competitive
analysis, marketing strategy, pricing analysis, implementation plan and
projected budget. (Topic: Marketing planning) |
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|
| 22.
|
"We're
Number 3!": Jim McVety
Many sales plans center on large, well funded, high-profile customers,
or Tier I Prospects. With the right message and sales infrastructure,
historically underserved/undersold customers (Tier III) can actually become
significant contributors. (Topic: Serving underserved/undersold customers) |
|
|
| 23.
|
"Are
we finding the brightest stars to light up the Universe?":
Victoria Porras
Creating brand awareness starts well before Marketing gets a hold of the
specs. The real story starts in engineering and research. It begins with
ideas and builds by meeting needs. It’s about quality and core expertise.
It’s the gravitational pull that moves the tides of business and
makes our brand the brightest star.
(Topic: Creating brand awareness) |
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|
| 24.
|
"A
penny for your (customers’) thoughts.": Lisa
Schmucki
Qualitative research may cost more than a penny, but it’s worth
it! Use focus groups, one-on-one interviews, any method that can help
you listen to your customers talk about the market, their needs, your
products, your competitors’ products. And don’t just read
the report. Sit in on the focus groups, listen to the interview tapes.
Talk with the educators who are using your products. You’ll gain
invaluable insight for brand positioning, marketing strategy, product
development, and often your best copy lines. (Topic: Qualitative research) |
|
|
| 25.
|
"Two
really is better than one.": Kathleen Brantley
Multi-channel marketing in the education space works—pure and simple.
Sending an email message just before or just after a direct mail piece
has been proven to boost ROI. We’ve all seen the large consumer
marketers do this well, and it works in our space too. Make sure you have
an orchestrated campaign, not just a thrown together e-mail message and
promotion piece; they need to be in concert. Also, make sure to honor
CAN SPAM regulations or use a vendor such as MDR to keep you on track.
(Topic: Multi-channel marketing) |
|
|
| 26.
|
"The
bottom line is your bottom line.":
Kevin Davies
All businesses are constantly looking for new sources of revenue that
will eventually improve their profitability. As the margins for the
sale of digital products is so much higher than for physical products,
the proceeds from the sale of digital products goes directly to your
company's bottom line. And this is a good thing!
(Topic:
Digital product profit margins) |
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|
| 27.
|
"To
advertise or not to advertise.": Denny DeCock
Everyone knows that print advertising is expensive, difficult to measure
response, needs to be frequent and repetitive, and yet is a necessary
component of any good marketing plan. At least the exercise to determine
whether you should advertise or not. The best way to begin is to analyze
the major trade magazines which are targeted to your audience. Understand
where/how/when your competition and other non-competitors in the same
space advertise, and obtain rate cards/cost and schedule information from
each of the magazines. Then, it’s time to determine whether the
money you want to or think you’ll need to spend will get you a better
return than a new product brochure, a trade show promotion, a direct mail
campaign, or other promotional vehicles. If the answer is yes, and you
have already determined how much budget money you can spend, weigh all
the factors above and develop an annual advertising plan that minimizes
your investment yet maximizes your exposure. (Topic: Advertising planning) |
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| 28.
|
"If
40 is the new 30, 40/10/50 is the new 80/20.": Jim
McVety
As much as we like to spend time on the showroom floor, the real value
of any conference hinges on what you do before and after the show. Oh,
but that doesn't mean you should stop wearing sensible shoes. (Topic:
Trade show pre/post-planning) |
|
|
| 29. |
"My
way or the highway.": Lisa Schmucki
When sending email messages, give your customers more than an opt-out
option (the highway). Put the power of email in your customers’
hands. Let customers give you their preferences on the products and services
they are interested in, how frequently they want to hear from you, the
information they need. Instead of opting out, you may find them opting
for a more personalized service.
(Topic: Gathering customer email information) |
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|
| 30.
|
"Beam
me up, beam me over, beam me anywhere, Scottie, but just beam me.":
Victoria Porras
Where do we reside in the minds of your customers? How do we get there?
Can we establish our place and lock on? (Topic: Creating a presence) |
|
| Presented
by: |
|
| |
Kathleen
Brantley
Director of Strategic Alliances
MDR – A Company of D&B
Kevin
Davies
CEO
TecKnoQuest
Dennis
DeCock
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Heinemann-Raintree
Jim
McVety
Director of Business Development
MarketingWorks Inc
Victoria
Porras
President and Owner
Victory Productions
Lisa
Schumucki
Chief Marketing Officer
MKTG Education Services |
|
|
AEP
Summit—June 2006 |
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|
