This blog post is about three things:

1. Smarketing Strategy #7
2. Applying the ZMOT to B2B Sales
3. How to Make Webinars Your #1 LEAD SOURCE

In my last blog post I shared Smarketing Strategy #6 : How to nurture prospects, score opportunities, and notify sales at EXACTLY the right time.  If you did not have time to read it, below is a short video (3:00) that explains it.

Smarketing Strategy #7 – using the Situation, Target, Plan (STP) framework - is to analyze your best wins so you can improve your content, where you place it and your scoring system. Your best wins are the ones where three or more of the following happened:

1. The sales cycle was shorter than normal
2. The sale was relatively easy to make
3. There was little or no price objection
4. The customer is willing to be a reference or to give you a testimonial

Odds are these best wins happened because the decision maker was in the Window of Dissatisfaction™ when you got to them and these are the wins you want to find a lot more of. You can learn more about identifying these wins by downloading the Window of Dissatisfaction™ worksheet and instructions on how to use it.

Recently Google has described the activities that prospects engage in while in the Window of Dissatisfaction™ as the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).

When 73% of CEOs think Marketers lack business credibility it’s great to see the Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) of organizations like General Electric, Johnson & Johnson,  and General Foods embracing ZMOT.

Listen to Beth Comstock the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of General Electric (GE) and VPs at FedEx & Grainger talk about how ZMOT applies to both Business-To-Business (B2B) & Business-To-Consumer (B2C) selling.

This video includes a segment where she goes on to give an example of what they are doing to apply the ZMOT to sell IT solutions to hospitals.

In all of their models Google talks about a stimulus that comes before the ZMOT.

From a Trigger Event Selling™ perspective this stimulus is the first Trigger Event – The one makes a decision maker want to change - Shifts them out of Status Quo and into the Window of Dissatisfaction™.

Once you know the events that trigger the ZMOT you can implement a strategy to turn prospects that are in the ZMOT into customers.

Here is an example of how you can apply a ZMOT strategy to B2B Selling.

What are the best strategies to apply the ZMOT to B2B selling?

Since learning about Google’s Zero Moment of Truth I have searched for strategies and tactics that B2B sales and marketing teams can use but so far I have found almost nothing.

So rather than wait for this kind of content to be delivered I decided to put together a team of Tier 1 thought leaders that could create and deliver unique, compelling and relevant content on how to benefit from the ZMOT.

So far the following people are part of this team:

• Christine Crandell: The creator of the Buyers Journey
• Patrick Cahill: An expert resource on how to make webinars pay
• Tony Zambito:  The originator of the Buyer Persona methodology
• Carlos Hidalgo: The Executive Director of the Marketing Automation Institute
• Doug Kessler: Runs a brilliant B2B Marketing company in the UK called Velocity

I’m currently looking for a Tier 1 thought leader on B2B Social Media and Search Engine Optimization to be part of the team. Please call/text me (+1.403.874.2998) if you know someone you think should be considered for the group.

In the new year I’ll be working with this team to deliver a 7-part series on the 7 Best Ways to Apply ZMOT to B2B Selling.

How to Make Webinars Your #1 LEAD GENERATION METHOD

In the world of B2B Selling, webinars are one of the best ways to attract the attention of those who are in the ZMOT.

To help B2B sales organizations harness the Zero Moment of Truth I am also working with Citrix’s Goto Meeting and GoTo Webinar teams to put together an insightful 3-part series on that will show you the end to end process (Webinar planning to closing the sale) of how to make webinars your #1 LEAD GENERATION METHOD.

The first one is on Tuesday, January 10, 9 AM (PST) / 12 PM (EST).

When done right, webinars can be the best way to generate a large number of interested prospects for your sales team.

Using the right mindset, strategies, and tools you’ll be amazed at what a webinar can deliver.

Hear Craig Elias and Patrick Cahill share important steps to improve the quality AND quantity of webinar generated leads.

Join this live webinar to learn:

• Which content gets the highest number of registrations
• Which activities drive a higher than average attendance rate
• What gets the best prospects to identify themselves during the webinar
• How to re-purpose webinars to generate an ongoing flow of sales-ready leads

Register even if you can’t make the live event because all registrants receive links to the recording and handout from the event.

Click the button below to sign up now!

http://bit.ly/BestLeadGenMethod

Learn more about the speakers below!

Patrick Cahill is an expert resource for organizations like SalesForce.com, Hoovers, RainToday, and The Sales Lead Management Association. He helps them understand how to host compelling webinars that attract motivated prospects, develop valuable content that establishes credibility, implement flawless events that engage and impress attendees, and implement follow-up programs that uncover qualified opportunities.

Craig Elias is the creator of Trigger Event Selling™ and author of the Bronze Medal winner of the Top Sales Books of 2010 “SHiFT!“ His knowledge of Trigger Events has resulted in a 20 year track record as a top sales performer, winning a $1,000,000 prize in a global billion dollar idea competition and coverage on NBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal.

Have an eventful Christmas!

Craig

One of the keys to selling is reaching decision makers when they are most likely to be influenced: Influenced on what is the best solution to their problem – not who is the best supplier.

Solutions are all the different ways of solving the same problem or obtaining the same outcome (think of these as your competition), suppliers are alternate providers who sell the same solution (think of them as competitors).

Using this framework banner ads, Google ad words, and search engine optimization would be considered my competition because they provide alternate solutions that deliver the same  outcome – increased sales. Other sales trainers would be considered my competitors because they are alternate providers that deliver the same solution – sales training.

If you want to learn more about the difference between these two, Rene Mouborgne and W. Chan Kim explain the difference in an article, on Blue Ocean Strategy.

Recent research by Don Bulmer and Vanessa DiMauro shows that more and more decision makers are utilizing social media peer groups to form and validate decisions. Social media peer groups are those you would find on social media sites like LinkedIn, eCademy, Facebook, or Ning.

So the #4 Way to sell more by using social media is to create or participate in groups to influence those decision makers who experienced a Trigger Event that put them into the Window of Dissatisfaction BUT have not started the process of searching for alternative solutions yet.

I have a group on Linkedin called SHiFT! that has almost 2,500 members and a Trigger Event Selling Group on Facebook that has 300 members. I started these groups to encourage people, who have similar interests and aspirations, to share ideas, resources, and success stories about using Trigger Events to turn prospects into customers. It turns out that in creating these groups I am influencing decision makers on an alternate solution to increase sales.

To extend my reach I now participate in other groups related to sales, marketing, entrepreneurship, and innovation, that my target market (CEOs and VPs of  sales of small and  mid-sized organizations) joins on LinkedIn, eCademy, Facebook, and Ning.

Participating in these groups allows me to share my expertise with decision makers and influence their thinking while they are still in the formative stages of making a decision about which solution (sales training, banner ads, Google ad words, search engine optimization) they could use to increase sales.

So this month’s question is how can you leverage groups on social media sites to sell more?

Win $3,000 worth of Trigger Event services by submitting either a great example of, or great idea on, how to use a group on LinkedIn, Facebook, or ANY other business oriented social media group to sell more. To win the $3,000 prize you must get the most votes for your answer. This month there is also a second prize of $1,500 to the person who gets the second most votes for their answer.

Answers are submitted by commenting on this blog post. Answers are voted on by clicking on the  button that appears at the end of each answer/comment.

Winners are announced the last Tuesday of the month – December 29^th – so voting ends at Midnight (MST) on Monday December 28^th.

Answers/comments need to be approved – to avoid spam – which typically takes just a few minutes. Contact me by phone (+1.403.874.2998), Skype (Craig.Elias), or this contact form, if you don’t see your comment approved within a few minutes of posting it.

Use the button below to Tweet , Stumble!, Digg, and email your friends so you get the most votes, because the voting system I use does not allow you to vote for your own answers.

Good luck & have an EVENTFUL week!

Craig