Finding influencers in your sales channel

BarbaraChannel partners, Influencer identification, influencer program

When you think about the people capable of influencing your customers and prospects, take a good long look at your sales channel partners. A channel partner’s sphere of influence can extend far beyond their own customers and territory. Put their influence to work for you by incorporating them into your influencer program. Success depends largely on choosing the right channel … Read More

Aiming influencers at sales objections

BarbaraInfluencer engagement, Influencer identification, influencer program, Sales performance

An influencer program can be a powerful asset in countering sales objections. Here are a few well-proven tips from our collection of case studies: 1. Compile and prioritize specific sales objections. Don’t accept generalities at the outset. You can generalize later. Start with clear, articulate objections. Get a good sense of frequency, too. 2. Identify external influencers who have both … Read More

Personal CPM draws near

BarbaraMeasurement, social media

Charlene Li predicts that ‘Personal CPM’ innovations will figure in the social media/marketing front in 2009. Personal CPM is one of the more interesting outcomes of joining up social media with consumer marketing. The idea is to analyze social behavior to more accurately target consumers. In Charlene’s words, “Each person’s profile will command a different, personal CPM based on a … Read More

Put vendor management execs on your influencer radar

BarbaraInfluencer identification, Sourcing advisors

No high tech influencer program is complete until it addresses sourcing and vendor management executives. You may think that this group of people is buried deep in your customers’ accounting departments, removed from actual decisions. You may think of them more as gatekeepers on properly filled out forms, credit checks, and other accounting records. Not so. These executives wield enormous … Read More

What’s My Line: Analyst, Blogger, or Analyst Blogger?

Barbaraanalysts, B2B, Industry analysts

Richard Stiennon raises an interesting point in his Threat Chaos post, Finding Cool Companies: should analysts who blog at online media networks — in this case, ZDNet — be given media passes to competitor’s events — in this case, Gartner Symposium? I don’t think so, but it does raise an amusing question of ethics. Stiennon, a former Gartner analyst, recently … Read More