Every B2B marketer can attest to the amount of email and project management is demanded of us day-to-day. Sometimes it feels as though we’re trapped in email all day long, responding and reacting. Our attention to marketing projects veer and are redirected.

Image credit: moneysavingmom.com

In our profession of communication and execution, it’s important we organize our day so that we keep a clear mind and focus on marketing strategies and goals. Your clients will appreciate your organization and more profit will come from your efficient use of time and budget.

I’m recently a new fan of Productivity Pro, Laura Stack, (as is our traffic manager) and admire her tips for increasing productivity and organization.

Some that I’ve adopted and customized to my work style are:

• Make a short to-do list each morning of the marketing projects that HAVE to happen that day. This helps keep your TOP priorities in line each day so you meet deadlines.
• Do the task you’re least looking forward to first. Tackling it first will allow you to not procrastinate. Plus, we’re usually more productive in the morning.
• Organize as you go. Files your notes from meetings, de-clutter your desk and file your emails by project or topic.
• Don’t let email take over your life. Reform within your means so email doesn’t interfere with your projects at hand. This might mean responding to email at certain times of the day instead of immediately.
• Get rid of time-wasters. What makes you feel unproductive – tweeting, office chatter, etc.? Stay away from these activities and keep your eye on the prize.
• Don’t forget to step away sometimes. A small break will help you re-group your mind and stay on track.

Feel free to test these out for yourself! If these don’t fit your work style, you can visit Stack’s blog for other tips that might resonate better with your situation.

Organizing your day will quickly turn your marketing edge around. Projects will be completed on time. Reporting will be done more efficiently. Strategies will be executed. New ideas will flourish.

You may also notice that you provide friendlier customer service, which helps build trust and stronger client relationships. You’ll also feel more motivated to excel and improve in areas you’ve been struggling with. Plus, you might be a happier person all around if you feel ahead of the game on projects.

What do you do to keep yourself organized?

Last month, I went on a girl’s weekend to Sedona and tried something a little out of the ordinary. I decided to intentionally NOT talk as much and actually LISTEN. Not interrupt at exciting moments, but ask questions and listen attentively.  And I will tell you, it was enlightening! Even after the fact, I still remember so much about the girls I went with, the stories they shared with me and all the personal details I listened so intently to.

How often do we truly listen? To our co-workers, customers, and most importantly – customers prospects? Even further, how often do we absorb what we just heard and use it to our benefit? Sometimes we’re moving so fast that information goes in one ear and out the other.

In B2B Marketing, listening is our most powerful weapon. We B2B marketers most likely listen in one of three ways. How you improve your listening in those facets is the true test!

Photo credit: Orin Woodward Leadership Inc.

In-Person
It’s not every day that you get face-to-face time with a customer or prospect these days. Face-time to me also includes email, phone and Skype.  All are considered real-time situations where you have their direct attention. Take this as the perfect opportunity to improve your listening skills.

You might have perfect eye contact or the best e-mail voice, but if you’re not genuinely listening to what they’re saying, you’re only diminishing your chances. You need to make them feel most important. I really like these tips to improve your listening – I’ve also found them to improve my memory retention!

Online
Improve your listening by being where your customers are – online! There are an endless number of conversations happening online that impact your business that you should be listening to and monitoring. Go where your customers are and follow their conversations – listen to their challenges, opinions, and questions.

You can rely on social media networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and Facebook to see into the minds of your customers and prospects and conduct custom, keyword/phrase searches.  Contribute as you see fit, but mainly just spend some time online listening and tracking what people are saying, particularly about your brand.

Another great tool that I use daily is Google Alerts. Set up an automatic alert when your brand name or company is mentioned online. It actually gets pretty addicting and the conversation comes to YOU.

Post-Sale
Are you asking your customers/prospects to share their feedback with you? And if so, how frequently? Most importantly, how are you showing them that you’re listening?

Make surveys or focus groups a part of your strategic marketing plan. You can conduct these in person, online or even via video conference. After you decide on the channel, decide on the frequency – monthly, annually, after every sales experience, etc.

By asking them questions and showing them that you care about their opinion, you can listen reactively to your customers while simultaneously proving that you’re trustworthy because you value their input.

Ultimately what will you gain from listening better?

• Trust – it’s rather important
• Knowledge – insight into your customers’/prospects’ behavior, decision-drivers, needs and opinions
• Perspective – what do people think of your brand? What is the state of the industry?
• Ideas – listening might spark something you never knew you or your company needed

I’ll now leave you with four great quotes from Dale Carnegie on listening:

• “Learn to listen more than you talk.”
• “Many people listen, very few actually hear.”
• “If you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener”
• “To be interesting, be interested”

Which Carnegie quote speaks to you the most? What social networks do you use regularly to listen or what are some of your most useful listening tips?

Tradeshow season is right around the corner for many, making now a good time to renovate your elevator speech.

In case you need a refresher, an elevator speech is a 15-30 second sound bite (or business pitch in the B2B world) that succinctly, and hopefully memorably, introduces yourself, your product and what you do. Essentially, thirty seconds is about how long an elevator ride is, sometimes longer.  So, depending on how fast you talk, you don’t have a lot of time to capture someone’s interest. Tradeshows are the perfect example.

Someone walks up to your booth – you have their attention – but what do you say to keep them intrigued enough to stay and hear more, or do business with you? Those 30 seconds (or longer) start to get a little nerve-racking.

No need to panic! You’re an expert at your product, so spend time now to perfecting your elevator speech.

image credit: ryanrenfrew.blogspot.com

Before you get on the floor this fall, think through these to rejuvenate your elevator speech:

• What’s in it for your audience? How can you tie in what’s in it for them in your mini-spiel? Will they ultimately save money? Will their life be less stressful? Always be thinking about the WIFFY and how you can tie it into your message!
• Come prepared, but don’t make it appear as though you’re reading from an index card. Be able to act “on the fly” depending on the situation and your audience!
• Find a balance with what you want to say. Your elevator speech has to be informative and compelling, not one or the other.
• Be unique. Again, understand the WIFFY and see how you can say something so relevant to them but exciting at the same time that you stand out quickly. What’s your #1 differentiator that they need to know?
• Practice. As a past Toastmaster, I know how important it is to practice. Before the show starts, make sure you’ve tested it out with a colleague.

Want more? Before we get out this fall, I’m going to be checking out the following book from the library: Small Message, Big Message, by Terri Sjoidin.

What are some of your elevator speech successes and disasters?

European company, Baseone Buyersphere, released their 2011 report on the new B2B Buyer Behavior.  I read it and you can, too.

Tony Ambrito with Customer Think provides a great recap of the report. I really enjoyed reading it and would like to conclude with my own pressure points for B2B marketing professionals:

Buyers Take their Appetite for Information Online

Supplier websites and web searches tested highest for most frequently used source of information overall. They’re searching, which means when your website pops up, whether from a direct, referring or organic hit, it needs to be immaculate.

Satisfy their Hunger with More Content

Not too far behind Supplier websites and Web searches were Industry press, Press Advertising and Online Events/Seminars. Which begs the question – are you pumping out valuable, relevant content in the right channels?

The report also detects that buyers are looking for issue-based content – solutions to issues they’re experiencing, not necessarily a new supplier. Some are even saying that intent and context is the future of e-mail marketing.  Content, content, and more content!

Offline Events Still Influence

Although offline events and seminars received a drop in use, it reported still as the most “influencial”. Meaning in-person experiences are just as important as online user experiences.

Tradeshows shall live on!

Bottom line: perfect your content marketing strategy and everything else will fall into place. Is your B2B content marketing strategy up to snuff?

image credit: Buyersphere