by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 25, 2016 | Marketing Tips
By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter
I’m addicted to TEDTalks. If you don’t know what they are, here’s a primer from their website.
“TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.”
Part of this initiative is a weekly radio program that takes a look at a theme through insights from several TEDTalks, called the TED Radio Hour.
They recently had an episode dedicated to Value, Brand and how our brains process the “worth” of something. Turns out, it’s all way more subjective that you may think.
Every day you assign value to a thousand things without ever thinking about it. How? What biases come into play, and what can nudge those biases so much that you notice that you’re being manipulated? And can you even use that realization to your benefit?
And that’s the line great content marketing should straddle. Yes, at the end of the day you are trying to push the customer towards your product, and a consumer should realize that as well. But if the content itself still provides useful information, or is packaged in a way that acknowledges that transaction, it can still be beneficial.
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by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 19, 2016 | Marketing Tools, Tradespeople Insights, Traditional Marketing
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
With the shortage of skilled workers today, the trade/vocational schools are making a comeback and there’s a great opportunity for you to do some grass-roots marketing to future tradesmen.
Many leading brands come to mind (
Ridgid and
Klein Tools) that have been built by using these schools as a starting point to get their tools in the hands of future users.
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by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 18, 2016 | Uncategorized
This post originally appeared on INSIGHT2PROFIT.com
While common, price overrides can be dangerous. They train your sales team and customers that price is negotiable and interferes with one of your primary goals: sticking to your pricing strategy.
If that doesn’t worry you, consider this: companies that grant high numbers of ad hoc price exceptions are more likely to experience price erosion across all customers.
An effective and mature pricing strategy includes a policy for establishing price overrides. But what would such a policy look like?
From experience, we know that managing override activity is a multi-layered process. It requires adapting your internal systems, developing new guidelines, and transforming your culture. But at the end of the day, your goal is to establish a framework to monitor and manage potentially dangerous price overrides. When we help our clients with the same goal, we use the following four-step process.
Step 1: Grow Your Awareness: Understand what pricing overrides are happening and why
Step 2: Determine Market Relevance: Set appropriate prices for specific customer and product segments
Step 3: Set Policy: Establish guidelines and controls around pricing authority
Step 4: Encourage Training: Empower the sales organizations with the tools they need to handle pricing conversations with clients
Let’s dig deeper into each of the four steps.
Step 1: Grow Your Awareness: What is Happening and Why?
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by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 12, 2016 | Marketing Tips, Tradespeople Insights, Traditional Marketing
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
Recent studies have shown that email audiences are growing, are more engaged and are increasingly mobile. I recently read an article in eMarketer saying that not only is email the preferred method of communicating with potentials, but the ROI is 122%, more than four times higher than other marketing formats.
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by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 11, 2016 | Marketing Tips, Tradespeople Insights, Traditional Marketing
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
We’ve talked a lot in this blog on how important a
good email list is and how to develop one. By nurturing the email subscribers, you take them through your sales funnel. You need to start building a good trustworthy relationship and it should start soon after the contact comes into your database.
It’s not only what you have to say, but how you say it. Beyond being potential customers, these contractors can be your best friend by sharing it with their peer group. Remember, contractors need to know, like and trust you before any meaningful dialog will start.
Here are some tips to building a better list of contractors and tradesmen: (more…)
by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 5, 2016 | Tips, Traditional Marketing
I think we all can agree that the manufacturing sales function has had its challenges and has changed over the past several decades.
Today we have a guest post from Alan Sipe, President of Toolbox Sales and Consulting. Alan has over 40 years of experience including Sr. VP of Sales and Marketing for Klein Tools and President of KNIPEX Tools. His insights in selling through various distribution channels and professional contractors are invaluable. Alan can be reached at [email protected].
I am possibly the oldest living American who in 40+ years of manufacturing selling has pretty much sold just pliers for 35 of those years! Twenty four with Klein Tools, eleven with KNIPEX plus the four with Stanley and one with Waterloo fill in the rest of the 40. This successful career longevity gives me a pretty long view of what it takes to have sales success. (more…)
