Networking Archives - Mirza Insider

April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 by Basim Mirza

Intelligence: Double Your Business With 6 Metrics

Intelligence Tracking takes the uncertainty after you e-mail a proposal to your prospect. You’ll know and understand what to anticipate, and how to respond. Having such information is critical to increasing the likelihood of closing high level sales.

As a marketer, for many years I’ve been obsessed with data and economics. That obsession has really helped me bring something unique to the table to the marketing profession and industry. One of these innovations is the understanding of how to find intelligence on your prospective leads, and use the data to determine the answer to these two questions:

Is this prospect taking my proposal seriously?
Which prospects should I be spending most of my time with?

Not only were these questions important to my sales team, it was something many of my prospects were asking. It was these two questions that led me to determine the 6 intelligence metrics that will double your sales. As you read the information on business intelligence, you will definitely appreciate how this can add value to your practice. This would be especially useful if you’re running a consulting practice or sell high level services.

These intelligence metrics will double your business…

Frequency of Email Opened
This metric is one of the first places to start. This one really determines all the other 6 I’ll be discussing. At the end of the day if your prospect hasn’t even opened your email, then you haven’t captured their interest yet. Now this could mean that they are busy and just haven’t yet gotten round to your proposal. Some of my biggest clients have taken weeks (even months) to open an email. However knowledge is power, and just having an understanding of whether your email has been opened will give you the confidence to follow-up with your prospect. Maybe they just need a quick reminder? Maybe they’ve just been hiding the fact that they are not interested? Either way, at least you’ll know whether to spend any more time or not. Your time is your most valuable asset!Another important reason worth mentioning is finding out the level of interest in your email. If your prospect opens your email 3,4, or even 18 times, what does that mean!? It could be that he or she is super engaged, which makes the prospect even more qualified! It could also mean that he or she is indecisive, which is always a red flag. Either way, you’ll be more confident in your next move.
Frequency of Link(s) Clicked
If you’ve decided to share a link or an article on your blog, that’s a hyperlink that can be tracked. The engagement on that link will give you a clear indication on your prospect’s intent. He or she may not even click the link, in which case you may want to change your approach or move on to another prospect. Similarly to the first point, if your prospect is clicking the link multiple times, this is a clear indication of his or her’s interest in what you’ve shared. This will give you the confidence in shortlisting this prospect, and escalating towards closing a sale. As opposed to frequency of email opened, frequency of click makes the engagement level more certain and definitive.
Average Proposal Reading Time
Now we’re getting in to the good stuff! If you’re seasoned as a business owner or sales leader, you’ve probably sent out many proposals to your prospects. When you send out emails to your prospects, you can set tracking on the attached proposal. Once the email is sent, you can sit back and wait for the data to come through. Eventually you’ll find out how much time on average does your prospect spend reading your proposal. You know if it’s more than a minute, he or she is most likely giving it a serious review.
Average Time Spent Per Page
Understanding the engagement levels on each individual page of your proposal will give you a clear understanding on which content is your prospect taking more seriously. If your prospect is spending more time on the pricing page of your proposal, you can probably make an educated guess that he or she is spending time thinking about the investment opportunity. I’ve had prospects who are interested in the process, and others may spend more time on the section that talks about the services. These are all clues on your next steps. The screenshot below is an actual proposal sent by our team to a prospect, and we track his engagement per page.
Number of Visits Per Page
Understanding the number of times your prospect has come back to read specific a page will help you evaluate which page required the most attention. Having this knowledge can give you an idea of how the prospect is approaching the proposal.
Prospect Reading Completion
Prospect Reading Completion comes as a percentage, and knowing how much of the proposal is complemented will right away tell you if the prospect has read the entire proposal. If there are parts that have not been read, not only will you be able to tell which parts, you’ll be able to advise and review over the neglected parts with the prospect. This metric will also tell you if the prospect may have skimmed the material, in which case it’s also best to check the reading time to determine this.

If you’d like to know more on how to implement intelligence in your business. Book your complimentary strategy session with us, and we’ll show you how.

January 26, 2016May 2, 2016 by Mitchell Cameron

Networking and Referrals: Best Strategy

Word of mouth is one of the most important types of marketing that a business owner or organization can focus on to help encourage current and future business. According to Nielson, 84% of consumers say they either completely or partially trust recommendations from family, colleagues, and friends about products. Networking is an underlying concept within any industry and it is important to understand how valuable your network actually is to your marketing strategy. When developing a network and looking to take advantage of referral business, there are a few things that are often overlooked or can be improved upon in your marketing plan.

Effective networking strategies are outlined below:

Build a highly credible and valuable network

Networks are great to have, but often these networks consist of people who do not necessarily add value. On the other hand, sometimes these networks are just not kept up-to-date and lack current credibility. Regardless, when you formulate your marketing strategy, it is important to build a list and network of valuable, credible and hopefully referable people. If the people do not add value in some way, then do not bother wasting your time trying to network or gain referrals from these individuals. Rather, focus on the strongest and most important connections that you have and you will waste less time with referrals that don’t turn into leads. Networks can be built and grown at any time using things like lists, email marketing campaigns and viral social media marketing campaigns.

Be referable

Sometimes as a business owner, you become so focused on leads that other aspects of your marketing strategy and business begin to suffer. The easiest way to be referable is to offer value to each and every customer by providing them with exceptional service through your firm. By delivering great service or products to current clients, you can expect that they will recommend you to others. Another way to be referable is to be relatable and likeable so that current customers enjoy working with you and will think of you first within your industry. If networking is done properly, both the referred and the referral should benefit from their new relationship and the person referring you will feel as if they are helping both people attain their goals.

Be aware of where your referrals come from

It is important to think about how you are obtaining referrals. Some companies offer an incentive or explicitly ask for a referral but this is not the best way. This will often make a customer less likely to refer you because they feel they are being “used” to create a prospecting list. The best kind of referral is one that you do not have to ask for and is given voluntarily by happy customers you have served well. A marketing plan that focuses on making current customers happy so they will spread positive Word of Mouth can save money and goodwill versus things like incentive programs.

As your business grows and develops, it is crucial to develop and keep your marketing strategy up-to-date to achieve success in 2016. If you practice these strategies and continue to work towards your goals, then there is no telling what you can accomplish.

We have the know-how when it comes to focusing on social media marketing and networking which can improve your business outlook and in turn make you more profitable. We can offer you marketing services that drive success and help convert data into a focused marketing strategy. We also provide access to world class training systems that can help you gain an edge over others in your field. The benefit to you being less wasted effort and a greater return – which will help your business grow and keep you happy! Click here to book your complimentary consultation.

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January 11, 2016January 14, 2016 by Basim Mirza

Digital Marketing: Understanding The Varying Degrees

Over the years I have managed to build an extensive network that has brought incredible benefits. From going best seller to landing dream clients. Other than growth, if there was one concept I could really point to that helped me get to this point, it would be what I call “Degree Networking”. This concept was first brought to life by Stanley Milgram’s in the book Individual In A Social World written in 1967. Back then there wasn’t the technology and infrastructure to support the level of networking we conduct today.

In today’s world, Digital Marketing is making it possible to open up new connections and possibilities. This means that every mutual contact can direct you towards a desired opportunity. Whether that’s meeting people asking them for referrals, or connect with an influencer on LinkedIn and have access to his or her contacts.

To really understand the impact behind this methodology, you’ve got to understand who would be the direct connection, and who’s the end referral. Once you know the former two, you’ll be able to route a path towards your destination.

Your destination is the referral you want, which is based on your needs. You have to know exactly what it is you’re looking for. Your inquiry will be sent to the mutual contact, it is up to that person to make the introduction. Whether he or she decides to make the introduction, it will depend on 3 key factors:

Trust between you and the mutual contact
Validity of your request
Strength of relationship between the mutual contact and referral

By strategically identifying your target prospect, and having a disciplined approach towards asking for referrals, you’ll be able to make full use of your extensive network. If you keep doing this, you’ll continue to grow your networks exponentially, have access to more valuable resources, become a more valuable resource to others, and build social proof.

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