You might be wondering if cover letters are really necessary anymore. In some cases, they aren’t. However, many job applications will ask for one – in that case, an effective cover letter is absolutely necessary and provide you a chance to stand out. When it comes to writing a cover letter, think of it as…

The goal of every great sales kickoff event is to get your team fired up, energized, and ready to win. Yet, year after year, most sales kickoffs get dragged down by too many informational, product-based breakouts. And all these product presentations often come at the expense of more customer-centric activities—including practice and coaching—that actually drive…

The new year presents new opportunities and new challenges for your business. These include how to improve your bottom line. To succeed, you should be clear about what you want to achieve by 2021. Your new year’s resolution for your business will likely include improving your bottom line. As any investor or businessperson knows, a…

Every business needs to grow. However, in today’s customer-centered economy, simply seeking out new customers is not enough. Companies today are instead looking to implement a customer expansion strategy. Customer expansion isn’t about pushing current customers to spend more; rather, it’s about creating extra value that customers will benefit from. Customers are willing to pay…

As technologies change, influencing every strata of life, one thing remains the same. Whether you’re running a sock business in a dimly-lit Hong Kong alleyway or late for your 9:30 on 12th Street, we all want the same success. Online websites being the most effective tool for sales ever since the invention of the printing…

The Scrum Guide provides no reference or guidance on how to get started with Scrum. That’s because Scrum is a lightweight, minimal framework to encourage self-organization. I have heard it stated that Scrum is intentionally incomplete. There are no special Sprints in Scrum, such as Sprint Zeros, either, which leaves many new to Scrum wondering…

Promoting businesses on social media these days is challenging. Every day your company competes with dozens of advertisements for your ideal buyer’s attention. You aren’t only competing against businesses within your industry but that of your persona’s other interests. Each niche area has multiple companies working to outrank each other and attract the attention of…

I’m at the ripe young age where I have seen a lot of different scenarios for marketing, demand gen, lead gen, and prospecting. In the “old days,” many of our techniques were oriented around F2F, direct marketing, and telephone calls. We looked at the cost of every program we conducted, managing to a certain budget…

Picking tools for a digital marketing agency can be tricky: you need something efficient that will suit multiple clients with different needs and at the same time won’t deplete your marketing budget completely. Besides, some clients might have their own preferences when it comes to the tool stack: it’s often the case that clients have…

Content marketing generates three times more leads than paid search marketing. Unless you’re an extremely well-resourced company, planning, producing and distributing content regularly can be challenging. You don’t have to let a lack of time or marketing talent hold back your inbound marketing. There are many tools and services that help you execute your content…

Onboarding is an opportunity to set your customer up for success. It is the first glimpse they get of your product and your team, and your first chance to demonstrate how you can help them meet their business goals. Your customer onboarding workflow should guide you through the process of helping your customer integrate the…

One of the nation’s largest banks has been taking heat from customers in recent months. No, it’s not about unanticipated fees or problems with security. Instead, the issue is the bank’s sudden decision to cutoff a popular fintech service. According to the Wall Street Journal, PNC bank customers find themselves unable to connect their accounts…

Drawing traffic to your business is, ironically, both harder and easier today than it has ever been before. On one hand, there is audience targeting and outreach potential. You can find just about everyone’s email and target audiences are easier to locate in larger form. This can lead to a host of results-driven marketing tactics.…

Having the right leaders in place is absolutely critical to business success. Without strong leadership throughout an organization, even the most talented employees will struggle to be effective. When assessing leadership potential, companies emphasize a number of skills, behaviors, and competencies related to job performance, but they often fail to consider how a candidate learns…

Asking questions is a fundamental part of how we learn. Questions move the world forward by forcing us to pause, think, and formulate or find an answer. But it’s not just about asking questions — but rather asking the right questions to find the right answers. Our work helping hundreds of customers enable their revenue…

Quick, name a recent online trend. If you’re drawing a blank then this post is for you. It is essential in the business world to know about the latest digital developments, so here are 5 surprising digital media facts to consider. Spend 4 minutes watching the video or read on for the tips. Social media…

The verdict is out: shorter video on social typically performs better. While there’s definitely a place for long-form content on social media, the standard rule of thumb is that shorter videos (a minute or under, if not thirty seconds or less) will be most impactful and achieve the highest viewer retention rates. This means, of…

We are only a few days into a new quarter, but I’m deep into forecast reviews. We are both discussing performance on last quarter’s forecast and doing the forecast for the current quarter. I was talking to one manager about his forecast. His team typically pursued very large deals. The average deal size was well…

Data, data, data – the more you have, the better! And there’s no better way to get immediate, actionable insights for your site than to use A/B testing. What Is A/B Testing? A/B testing, also called split testing, presents two slightly different versions of a given page to a random selection of your website viewers.…

My wife is from eastern Nebraska also known as the cornhusker state. Traveling thru eastern Nebraska, just about all you can see is corn and more corn. The lack of visual diversity often causes abstract thoughts to dominate my self-talk as the miles click by. During a trip one summer, I realized that an ear…

At the start of a new year, you should be looking at your company brand, image, and marketing strategies from the last 12 months. What worked, what didn’t, and where can you go to kick-off the roaring 20s? Trends are always shifting in the digital era, meaning the way you market will also need to…

“Are you prepared for the future of work?” This phrase is asked constantly. At networking events, at dinners, at panel events, and in professional development conversations. Whether you’re a technical person or just want a nice non-technical job, people ask this question. Most of the time, it’s genuine. They care and actually want to know…

Like most sales prospecting techniques, to improve your ability to develop stronger interpersonal relationships, you need to prepare (using techniques like Social Reconnaissance) before you prospect. That way, you’re better prepared to have real conversations that eventually convert to real customers. For instance… here’s how you can leverage Social Reconnaissance and the Ben Franklin Effect…