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Using a Playbook for Better (and Faster) Sales and Marketing

Using a Playbook for Better (and Faster) Sales and Marketing

The playbook concept for bringing together marketing and sales teams has become increasingly popular. When conceived and used correctly, playbooks can align the efforts from marketing, sales, product development, and customer service to provide a consistent voice to the buyer. They are also inherently efficient, providing a ready central source of the information and guidance that sales and service teams need. Unfortunately, not all playbooks are conceived, structured, and used correctly, and thus some wind up providing neither consistency nor efficiency. ...
Turn Your Dry Case Studies into Compelling Customer Stories

Turn Your Dry Case Studies into Compelling Customer Stories

What makes for an effective marketing story—the kind that is fun to tell, interesting to hear, and persuasive? We are learning more and more about the importance of good storytelling. Many companies rely on published case studies as a primary means to create and share stories and carry their sales conversations. One client has nearly 500 case studies on its website, many of which run well over 2,000 words. That represents a lot of work from the marketing team and a treasure trove for anyone who talks with customers! ...

How Buyers are Different When Other People are Involved

We human beings can be a strange lot when in our role as consumers. As just one example, we tend to behave differently as buyers when other human beings are involved in the process of selling to us. Some new research has now quantified the degree to which fear of embarrassment, or fear of being wrong, has an impact on buying behavior.  

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Build Your Business: How to Share Your New Story

Build Your Business: How to Share Your New Story

A new year tends to track along with new challenges and opportunities in our businesses, doesn’t it? When I speak with organizational leaders I learn about all manner of changes afoot in 2017. Some companies have acquired businesses (or have themselves been acquired). Some are introducing new products and services, or have dramatically enhanced the capabilities of existing products. Others have grown into new locations or means of distribution. Some have a new category of customer. Many others recognize that they need to reposition themselves in the marketplace in order to deal with new competitors. ...

How customer conversations are cutting medical costs

Considering all of the technical advances and new complexities in marketing today (such as social, digital, and automation) I see the major opportunity for most organizations to be a decidedly analog one. Customer conversations—those interactions in real time, generally face to face—are ripe for improving engagement, service levels, loyalty, and growth. A remarkable study of the conversations between doctors and patients also shows that more proactive face-to-face interactions can even lower costs.

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We are Where the Money Is - Improve Customer Experience

We are Where the Money Is – Improve Customer Experience

It was the annual meeting of the company, a large manufacturer with a dealer network across North America. Several hundred employees gathered at a plush Virginia golf and conference center, including the corporate staff, sales and product development professionals, dealer executives, and—importantly—parts and service managers. ...

Mangled Message: Three Airlines and One Collective Message Fail

Our latest Mangled Message cannot be limited to a single organization. This time it’s a three-headed monster from the airline industry.

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Mangled Message: Some Pictures Are Not Worth 1,000 Words

Mangled Message: Some Pictures Are Not Worth 1,000 Words

Our latest Mangled Message isn’t necessarily offensive or damaging, mind you—but it struck one reader as an odd waste. I agree. ...
Too Many Meetings End at Halftime

Too Many Meetings End at Halftime

I attend meetings—lots of them—as a participant or speaker. In general, meetings continue to improve as tools that enable the businesses (associations or corporations) that created the meetings in the first place. Event professionals have made great strides in promoting their events beforehand to raise attendance and set expectations. I also see higher levels of interaction for attendees during the events themselves. ...
Perspectives on 9/11, 15 years later

Perspectives on 9/11, 15 years later

A few days ago, one of our sons "interviewed" me for a school project, titled "Where were you on September 11, 2001." The memories are still vivid, 15 years later. How about yours? ...
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