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The quest for hyper targeted messaging is nothing new. It is of utmost importance – and refining by the minute. The goal of course is to give the prospect the information they need, at the precise time that they need it – aka matching the buyer’s journey. When Marketers are successful, a prospect is marketing qualified, then sales qualified and the closing process ensues.

But, who do prospects really buy from? Do they buy from a brand? Or do they buy from a campaign topic? Or maybe, they buy from the irrefutable value that is presented by the Marketing team.

Actually, it is none of the above –

People Buy from People

More precisely, prospects buy from people whom they trust to complete the service or provide the product needed, period. Certainly technical and functional value-add is extremely important in a decision, but in a competitive environment personal relationships win the deal.

Trust Factor Marketing is a process by which personal relationship value is apparently as important as product/service value. It starts before Sales and Marketing qualification; it starts as soon as communication starts.

Here are suggestions to get started with Trust Factor Marketing and personalize at a level higher than any targeting metric can provide.

1. Research to understand the business and personal drivers of a prospect. Is there a big societal improvement focus within their culture or maybe a winner-takes-all personality? Big difference in approach and messaging!
2. How do your business and personal drivers correlate with their business and personal drivers? Point them out, bring them up, and connect at a deeper level asap.
3. Define buyer personas that include soft traits and speak to them.
4. Work with the Sales team to gain intel on decision makers, entity personality, and motivators to buy.
5. Get personal with subject lines, greetings, closing signatures – very basic, but it is too easy to bypass this very important step.
6. Watch how the prospect company Markets their product/service. Is their language casual or formal? Funny or serious? Brief or verbose? All are clues to show you how to relate to them on a deeper level sooner.
7. Run campaigns directly from a specific person to a specific person. Then test the absorption of the personalization. Try various roles to find to whom the decision makers are listening.
8. Allow Marketing to personally introduce a specific Sales lead to segue into a closing process. Stay aware of the relationships – and optimize to get the close. Marketing and Sales should never run exclusive to one another.

To be successful, Trust Factor Marketing needs detailed research and thought requiring a lot of perception as well as fact.

The result of a deeper “top of funnel” gets you to a closing position more quickly and with much higher quality. Faster close with higher quality = faster, higher revenue.

Sheri Tate is Director of Marketing at Amick Brown.

“ Every day is a chance to improve the Marketing process, but only if it is filled with common sense, analytics,  and provides positive goal attainment for all in my sphere. “

@IAmSheriTate – Twitter

Sheri Tate – LinkedIn

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How ready is your organization to take on a culture shift? I am not talking about a new CEO, or a new CIO, or CTO –

Can we talk about the cultural impact of real-time?  Can we discuss adding SAP HANA, Advanced BI tools like Lumira 2.0, or Simple Finance to your processes and abilities, and how this will affect your work culture? Beyond technology readiness, this is a decision factor that must be addressed for success.

Here are some concerns and realities:

1. Transitioning from IT driven reporting to self service: Deep dive, professional level reports will not go away, but there is a fear within IT that it will. Let’s face it, it has taken years of skill attainment, understanding data extraction, understanding business goals, and intricate graphic building that tell a story to the many.
2. Conversely, relief from report requests will cause proactivity: Another common conversation is with exasperated IT leaders who are bombarded with reporting requests that tie up their already formidable schedules. It will be a relief to give secure access and self-service so that the business can gather insights on their own.
3. Dollar ROI aside, HANA creates a chance to strategically shine: Our Managers, IT Leaaders, and Business Leaders were hired for a reason other than to chase R & A. What if we foster a culture of strategy, innovation, and positivity with these skillful folks? Someone who has the drive to think ahead of the next cycle will intuitively find monetized and non-monetized ways to make your company better.
4. Data is forcibly cleansed : The monkey on many companies’ backs before this transition will be resolved! A major technology shift , disparate systems, and cross departmental capability will cause a data clean-up extraordinaire . It is very, very common for this to be a primary bump in the road to a tech change. You are not alone!
5. The business units are brought to the tech decision table: Communication challenges lead to communication bliss once the sides understand one another. Having spoken candidly with many, on the tech side and the business side – You Both Want the Same Thing. Devising Change Management communication will change your life .
6. As well, the tech team is clearly valued in the success of resolving business problems:  Since both sides understand the motivations and skills of each other, symbiosis starts to occur.
7. Verifiable Accountability : With this new strength in data, speed, and R & A, owning a result is a constant. No more blame, no more delay. However, the positive is these same strengths, give you dramatic strength to run your business more collaboratively, strategically, and skillfully.

So, my friends, as you continue your advanced technology journey – remember that you are not alone. With the many hard and soft considerations, Amick Brown is here to navigate with you. Each situation is unique – and ready to move forward with the correct roadmap and perspective.

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Since we hear this often, I compiled a top shelf view of HANA choices and applications. I have a much deeper view available, so please reach out for Case Studies specific to your situation.

Enjoy!

Let’s look at value felt by customers. These are the primary categories that are affected and how you will see benefit.

Value By Business:

1. Operational Reports, Dashboards & Analytics: Turbo-charge your organization with a reporting solution that provides the in-depth information you need, at the speed you need it.
2. Data Warehouse and Data Mart: Enable your business users to pinpoint the right information at the right time, accelerate analyses, and see the trends that will help them shape smart business strategies.
3. Optimizing Business Operations: Respond quickly to changing business requirements and market trends, and develop a competitive advantage for your organization. SAP and partner solutions powered by SAP HANA can play a dramatic role in optimizing business operations.
4. Big Data: Gain new insights using the SAP HANA platform for Big Data. Acquire a variety of data sources, perform advanced analytics, and deliver new applications to drive performance and gain competitive advantage.
5. Real-Time Operational Intelligence: Deliver real-time insight to front-line workers by rapidly analyzing data from machines, streaming events, and business operations
6. Decision Support, Simulation and Automation: Streamline business flow and improve decision support by leveraging advanced analytics to transform insight into profitable actions

If you are confused about which HANA product makes sense, you are not alone. The game changing tech is daunting in its profound abilities, and we are here to start defining success with you.

Value By Product:

1. SAP Business Suite Powered by SAP HANA: Drive your entire enterprise in real time with SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA. You can plan, execute, predict, simulate, and analyze almost instantly along business critical end-to-end processes.
2. SAP Business Warehouse Powered by SAP HANA: Get rapid access to data with SAP Business Warehouse powered by SAP HANA. You can lower costs, make better business decisions and drive innovation.
3. SAP HANA Platform: Utilize new, modern, in-memory platform to streamline, innovate, and transform your business with the SAP HANA Platform
4. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud: Secure a competitive advantage with SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud. The solution is built for mission-critical operations and offers elasticity, automation, and ease of administration.
5. SAP HANA Cloud Platform: Build, extend, and run next-generation applications in the cloud for today’s always-on, mobile, social , and data driven world with SAP HANA Cloud Platform

Again, this is the tip of the iceberg on defining your HANA environment and business case application. There is much more to follow so you can educate on how to deploy HANA well in your organization. Watch this space!

See Amick Brown’s HANA expertise

Site: “SAP HANA Use Cases v 2.0”

Sheri Tate, Director of Marketing

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In any employment situation, cultural fit is critical. We often focus on this fact when hiring a permanent employee, but the reality is that work culture matters in even the shortest of temporary assignments.

First of all, what does “cultural fit” mean?  Cultural fit is a combination of motivators, work method, values, and personality. It is a connection between the employee and employer and work environment which contributes heavily to being happy and successful in any position.

Why does it matter? It matters because we are human – we want to thrive and make a difference. We want work to be satisfying and yes, make us look forward to doing it.

How we all approach these human goals is unique to our motivators, work methods, values and personality.

Let’s see some examples:

Company A is made up of hard driving, win at all costs, and the more work hours the better sort of place. Employees are recognized and rewarded for the inroads they make to beat the other guy, internally and externally. Every month/quarter/year is a chase for the big sale or the big innovation. Individual accomplishment and work environment is important to employer and employees alike.

Motivators – The Win individually first, then The Win for the team

Work Methods – Long and hard. Fast and furious.

Values – Recognition as an individual first, then as a team member

Personality – Alpha and confident, thrive on pressure

Company B is made up of hard driving, win at all costs, and work hours are many but not stressed sort of place. Employees are recognized and rewarded for the inroads they make to beat the other guy – but mostly externally. Every month/quarter/year is a chase for the big sale or the big innovation. Collaborative accomplishment and work environment is important to employer and employee alike. Individual accomplishments are also highly sought.

Motivators – The Win for the team

Work Methods – Collaborative/Individual hybrid

Values – Team relationship is a valuable part of the work process

Personality – Confident and has a strong desire for input and feedback.

Company C is a hyper-flexible and intellectually scrappy start up. It is risky in nature because of its life stage. Employees work within and across departments due to necessity and this makes for an extremely collaborative environment. Any losses or missteps are very visible, but so are the wins. High satisfaction is realized because an employee makes a visible difference directly each month/quarter/year.

Motivators – Making a positive difference every day will achieve The Win

Work Methods – Very team collaboration oriented. Very fast and nimble.

Values – Recognition for team wins, individual contribution is secondary.  Work relationships very important

Personality – Entrepreneurial, enjoys the risk/reward ratio

Now for some food for thought:

1. Choose the example which most closely matches your current organization.
2. Now circle back to the short to mid-term staffing requirement.
3. Place a technically strong, resume validated candidate into a company that conflicts with the cultural definitions of the human represented in said resume.
4. Will the result be optimal for either side of the placement?

The outcome is assured to be conflicted at best. Co-workers, Managers, and the Contractor will struggle to understand how to do business well. Communication within each of these 3 scenarios is quite different. Unspoken expectations are quite different. How challenges and successes are handles and communicated are quite different.

All of these are affect optimal success because… employers and contractors are Human.

Let us align motivators, work methods, values, and personality and watch your contracting program thrive.

Sheri Tate is the Director of Marketing at Amick Brown

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