If not, then you might consider getting a small team together to contribute and work through their thoughts on your company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (a/k/a SWOT analysis).  

In this episode of Ask The Interviewer, we start to take apart the SWOT analysis and provide you with a roadmap or a process for conducting a simplified SWOT analysis to help uncover new marketing ideas and approaches, see strengths you haven’t seen before, and drive internal initiatives which lead to external improvements and increased market share among your potential prospects.  

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If you are like most business people, you aren’t really familiar with the SWOT concept and the suggestion of it seems like a lot of time for not a lot of return on your investment.  The concept also seems only lightly related to marketing.  

But in fact, a SWOT might be just the concept you need to inject some new marketing ideas and approaches, see strengths you haven’t seen before, and drive internal initiatives which lead to external improvements and increased market share among your potential prospects.  

So, in this episode, we preview the SWOT concept as an introduction to what it means, why you would use it, and how it relates to marketing. 

We’re glad you are a part of the Market.Sell.Win mission!

• It's time consuming - time that could be spent on improving operations, doing general marketing, or making a sale
• It's complicated - lots of concepts and terms to figure out before you even begin
• It doesn't have an immediate payoff
• It will probably change, so why even start
• It's inflexible - if we want to change direction, we can't because of this document

But marketers know the benefits of the marketing plan far outweighs these objections and believe it can be closely linked to corporate strategy.  In response to these reasons, consider:

• Yes, it takes time, but in not doing a marketing plan you will waste more time on fruitless and unfocused efforts
• No, a marketing plan doesn't have to be complicated if you establish a couple of key concepts and work toward completing them
• No, a marketing plan doesn't have an immediate payoff, but it does have a long term one - in channeling your efforts and expenses to accomplish goals
• Yes, the marketing plan can and will change as you go along but that should be built into it

In this episode, we empathize with business leaders about the marketing plan, address objections, and provide some insights into preparing one including connecting it to the corporate strategy.

We’re glad you are a part of the Market.Sell.Win mission!

We know, we've been there.  

In this episode, we continue to discuss the important effect the marketing plan has:

• A means to connect your corporate strategy - which markets you are trying to grow your products or services - to your marketing/sales efforts
• As a more intentional option to the "marketing calendar".
• As a means to appropriately target the marketing funds you do have.
• As data or backup in the event of an internal conflict in appropriating dollars for marketing investment.
• As "cover" for telling an existing vendor "no" or "not this year".

 
A marketing plan starts to become more accessible when we consider how it can help alleviate a company's marketing and sales struggle. 

What will you say when you connect with a new contact:

• On a cold call or cold email and they want to blow you off or object to what you have to say.
• At a networking event and they want to know how your company or firm is different.
• In a 1st official meeting and they bring up your competition or stereotype of what people think of companies like yours.

What do you want:

• When you are meeting with an existing client who is skeptical about keeping your company or your companies product/service?
• When you are trying to train someone new for a new position about how they should look at a customer?
• When a representative of your company or firm speaks with an existing client who is having issues with your product or service?

These just some of the ways the value proposition can play a vital part in your sales/marketing and operations.

The value proposition (30 second elevator speech to potential clients or customers) should be the first and regular message customers or prospects hear or read.  It says a lot in a little package; who you are, what you do, how you are different from the others, and what problems your service or product solves.

The value proposition initiates or continues a conversation, causes people to stop and consider you, your products or services, and can lead to more conversations or meetings around how you and your company can help.

But it can't do everything and it needs critical support if its message is to sway someone to do business with you.  The value proposition doesn't make a sale or bring in new business but it:

• Gets prospects thinking about their problem and making a connection to you or your company as the solution
• Provides a new mental framework or standard for these customers to think about solutions to their problem
• Gives them a message to send to their boss or other internal decision makers
• Gives prospects a vision of a better future

In this episode we take a deep dive into the development and use of the value proposition by considering: 

• What is a value proposition?
• Why would you need one?
• What goes into developing a value proposition and how much work can you expect to do?
• Who is involved in developing a value proposition?
• Who is involved in disseminating the value proposition message?
• What can and can't a value proposition do for your company and its growth?

Because marketers, like professional accountants, architects, consultants, dentists, doctors, IT engineers, and others are educated and practice a specific craft.  A marketers craft is dedicated to developing approaches, plans, and strategies to get and keep customers.  

In our "Ask The Interviewer" series, we sit down with your MSW host, Julie Meegan, to see how marketers think, so you can think like a marketer too.  In this episode, Julie discusses the "customers journey" which includes:

• Self-discovery of their "problem" - the crucial first step
• Research into potential market solutions to their problem - how marketing can make your company competitive
• Consideration - when your marketing messages can help make your case
• Unfavorable decision - a dispassionate analysis of what you will do differently if you didn't win the business 
• Winning the business - how marketing can leverage that business for more opportunities

We hope we helped!

The purpose of the Market.Sell.Win. podcast is to interview seasoned professionals, who provide our listeners with information and insights that help them develop or refine their marketing and sales processes. 

At some point, every company has to outsource some of their marketing services.  Are you really creating, designing, negotiating, producing, implementing, tracking, and following up on all of your creative marketing ideas or do other parties help out?

Probably.  

That's where the concept of marketing procurement comes into play.  Marketing procurement is the subtle art of sourcing, selecting, managing, and accounting for services provided by the third party companies we rely on to compliment our marketing and sales efforts.  

Here are a few examples:

• Maybe you or your marketing/sales people have the seeds of a creative idea and you mock something up - but do you design it or do you use an "outside" designer or design firm?  
• If it's a digital effort, do you actually do the code to your website, prepare all the digital outreach and then execute it across multiple platforms or do you hire someone else to do that?  
• What about follow up on a marketing effort - reaching out to people who attended the event or webinar or received the digital or 3D marketing campaign materials - are you doing this in house or looking for someone else to assist?
• And how will you know if you're really getting value received from the agreement you entered into 

In this episode, my guest Mark Hudson gives you a high speed version of his career history and takes you on a tour of what marketing procurement really means and how you should think about it.  Marketing procurement is about building relationships to make sure that you get the biggest bang for your marketing buck.  

In part 1 (our free segment) of our four part interview, Mark Hudson shares with us some of the guiding philosophies of great marketing procurement which include:

• Developing a long-term strategy both on which services you will outsource and what you want those relationships to look like
• Building trust with internal clients (managers, marketing/sales people, or high-level company decision makers)
• Developing a rapport with all parties (the outside provider and inside colleagues) to define your role to protect and improve the process
• Working toward mutually agreeable project targets
• Defining savings, efficiency, and value
• Strategic thinking about the relationships you have with your outsourced providers
• Learning how to tell the same story to different audiences in different ways for different purposes

If you want to learn more from Mark's experienced insights, future episodes in the premium section of our forthcoming website will include: 

- Marketing procurement ABC's for marketers (finding the best value for your business) (episode 2)

- Insights on building a better proposal process for companies in need of outsourcing (episode 3)
- Defining a contract scoping process (what to look for in a vendor's brief and statement of work) (episode 4) 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

First up: marketing sponsorships.  Specifically, dispelling one of the big myths of sponsorship - the silver bullet theory.  The theory that paying for a sponsorship can take away the "pain" of having to meet new people and build relationships which might or might not turn into new business.  Over the course of her career, Julie has been involved with almost 4,000 sponsorships and has some insights to share.  

If you or your company are contemplating an expensive sponsorship, the next 33 minutes can hopefully help put that potential investment in perspective.  

The purpose of the Market.Sell.Win. podcast is to interview seasoned professionals, who provide our listeners with information and insights that help them develop or refine their marketing and sales processes. 

Nathan Jenks, owner of Zweck Strategies, loves to help law firms and other professional service providers with their digital marketing strategies.  He understands the ugly reality professionals face when it comes to building their business.  They love what they do but they must rely on sales and marketing in order to do more of it.  

That's where Nathan helps professional service providers to develop and implement a digital marketing strategy.  

In part 1 (our free segment) of our 3 part interview, Nathan gives us the back story on how he came to found his own firm.  Starting his career 18 years ago at Arthur Andersen, Nathan quickly learned to survive and thrive in large professional services firms.  His work journey lead Nathan onto Navigant and to RSM US and ultimately onto founding his own firm Zweck Strategies.

If you want to learn more from Nathan's experienced insights, future episodes in the premium section of our forthcoming website will include: 

- Back to basics in digital marketing (episode 2)

- Making the right choices in filling your sales funnel (episode 3)
- Presenting with a defining sense of confidence (episode 4) 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

The purpose of the Market.Sell.Win. podcast is to interview seasoned professionals, who provide our listeners with information and insights that help listeners develop or refine their marketing and sales processes. 

This episode's guest Rob Davidson took his love for creativity and marketing, and co-founded his own advertising and marketing agency.  
Twenty years later, Davidson Belluso has become a super power in the state of Arizona with an emphasis on cause-based marketing strategies.  Rob's unique advertising and marketing experiences will engage and enlighten both professional marketers and those who have to tap into the services of a professional advertising and marketing firm.  

In part 1 (our free segment) of our 5 part interview, Rob gives us the low down on his career which started with 80-100 hour work weeks at an advertising agency. There had to be a better way!! This lead him down the arduous path of going out on his own...loving the freedom but being pushed to developed skills had hadn't really considered before. He'll share lessons of a career that has stretched him in many ways that you can benefit from....The impact of indirect mentors that role modeled behaviors, styles, attitudes that Rob melded into own.   

If you want to learn more from Rob's experienced insights, future episodes in the premium section of our forthcoming website will include: 

- How to scope out projects....agency style (episode 2)

- How to determine if advertising is right for your company's marketing strategy (episode 3)
- The ins/outs of presenting your marketing ideas (episode 4)
- An approach to developing a multi-channel awareness campaign (episode 5) 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

The purpose of the Market.Sell.Win. podcast is to interview seasoned professionals, who provide our listeners with information and insights that help listeners develop or refine their marketing and sales processes. 

This episode's guest is Lisa Montejo, a 28 year veteran in professional services marketing who has worked at firms such as EisnerAmper, RSM US, and KPMG.  Lisa walks a tightrope everyday, helping both local and regional clients figure out how to market and sell better.  She loves connecting marketing and sales ideas and people to ultimately see strong results and is extremely proud of her biggest initiative to date - connecting the marketing and sales people in her current firm EisnerAmper.     

In part 1 (our free segment) of our 4 part interview, Lisa shares her career story.  A career journey that began bootcamp style at KPMG on the lowest wrung of marketing ladder and lead to connecting with many valuable mentors.  Mentors who helped both educate and nudge her to grow and take risks that she otherwise might not have taken.  

If you are climbing your own marketing (or even sales!) ladder, then this is your episode.  

If you want to learn more from Lisa's experienced insights, her future episodes in the premium section of our forthcoming website will include: 

- Building your best marketing and sales collaboration plan (episode 2)

- Preparing for the new project, project status and ugly news meetings (episode 3)
- Coaching non-marketing and sales people on how to get business (episode 4) 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

The purpose of the Market.Sell.Win. podcast is to interview seasoned professionals, who provide our listeners with information and insights that help listeners develop or refine their marketing and sales processes. 

This episode's guest is Rick Wuestenfeld, a national sales manager at Vtech Communications with 30 + years of experience in sales.  Rick works with national accounts everyday and from his very rich and diversified experiences, developed a set of processes that help him streamline work and lead a large corporate team.  

In part 1 of our 4 part interview, Rick shares the experiences and people that impacted both his career direction and dedication to the art of sales.    

If you are interested in problem solving the Rick Wuestenfeld way and want to learn more, his future episodes will be available in the premium section of our forthcoming website.  These episodes will include: 

- How to manage a customer relationship (episode 2)

- How sales and marketing can work better together (episode 3)
- How to step into a new customer relationship (episode 4) 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

The purpose of the Market.Sell.Win. podcast is to interview seasoned professionals, who provide our listeners with information and insights that help listeners develop or refine their marketing and sales processes. 

Mary Degner is this episode's guest.  She is a senior events professional with 15 + years of experience.  Mary has lead strategy and execution on over 500 events in that time and has some amazing insights and information she is ready to share with you.  

In this episode, Mary shares the experiences and people that propelled her interests and passion for a career in professional event planning. Events that not only help companies grow, but leave her with an immense sense of pride.   

If you want to become an event evangelist like Mary and want to learn more, we are making her future episodes available in the premium section of our forthcoming website.  These episodes will include: 

- Introduction to marketing events (episode 2)

- Marketing event strategy and implementation (episode 3)
- Event planner's self education, personal development and life balance (episode 4)

Premium MSW episodes will be available on our forthcoming Market.Sell.Win. website. 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

The purpose of the Market.Sell.Win. podcast is to interview seasoned professionals, who provide our listeners with information and insights that help listeners develop or refine their marketing and sales processes. 

In this podcast episode, we talk with Connie Benning, a senior marketing communications leader whose career spans more than 30 years.  Her laser-like focus is in professional services and energy.  Connie has a wealth of practical insights related to:

• Internal communications
• Developing and mentoring a powerful marketing team 
• How to build a bullet-proof communication plan for your companies mergers and acquisitions 

In this episode, Connie shares the key experiences and influences that have shaped her career growth and the skills that have kept her professional sword sharp!

Premium episodes with Connie discuss: 

- Internal communications - what it is, why it's important and process to putting together a plan (episode 2)

- Building and coaching a highly efficient marketing machine - tips from a respected master (episode 3)
- Merger's & Acquisitions Communications - Walk through the process and key steps in building a communications plan (episode 4)

Premium MSW episodes will be available on our forthcoming Market.Sell.Win. website. 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

In part one of our five-part interview we talk to Mark Brandt, an entrepreneur and business development leader who maximizes every minute of the day. We can all learn something from this 30 year business veteran who not only started his own venture capital firm (Maple Group LLC), and numerous other start-ups but has worked for billion dollar companies like Cargill, RSM US and Northern Trust in executive business development capacities. He discovered triathlons later in life and is currently ranked 120 in the world for his age group for half Ironmans. Oh yes....and he reads a 40-50 books a year. He is inspirational and his rich experiences in life and business offer insights for all.  

In this episode we talk with Mark about his career path, the skills he's found to be important to his success, and the impact mentors have had in shaping his career. 

Premium episodes with Mark discuss: 

- Targeting - his perspective on focus and the process of identifying targets (episode 2)

- The first meeting - Pre, during and post process points to nailing the first meeting (episode 3)
- Staying relevant/following up - Process tips on how to keep the relationship moving forward (episode 4)

- Winning business - Why and how it's just the beginning, not the end of the sales process (episode 5)

Premium MSW episodes will be available on our forthcoming Market.Sell.Win. website. 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

In part one of our four-part interview we talk to Chris Alfirevic, a business development director with more than 30 years of sales, marketing, and public relations experience. For the last 20 years Chris been a director of business development for RSM US LLP, the nation's leading provider of audit, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market. He leads new business generation and client relationship management for their national real estate practice. 

In this episode we talk with Chris about his career path, the skills he's found to be important to his success, and the impact mentors have had in shaping his career. 

Premium episodes with Chris discuss: 

- Proposals - the development and management process (episode 2)

- Strategic account planning in the sales process (episode 3)

- Closing the deal - creating final presentations that hit financial home runs (episode 4)

Premium MSW episodes will be available on our forthcoming Market.Sell.Win. website. 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

In part one of our four part interview, we talk to Stacey Doherty a marketing leader whose career spans more than 20 years in the professional services industry. She has held senior marketing positions at three of the largest billion dollar accounting firms in the U.S. including RSM US, BDO and Deloitte.  

Stacey's primary focus is to develop and direct innovative marketing, communications, and business development strategies. 

In this episode we talk with Stacey about her career path, the skills she's found to be important to her success, and the impact mentors have had in shaping her career. 

Future episodes with Stacey discuss: 

- The process for developing strategic marketing events (episode 2)

- The process for driving lead generation with marketing campaigns (episode 3)

- Supercharging the partnership between marketing and sales (episode 4)

All future episodes will be available on our forthcoming Market.Sell.Win. website. 

If you have suggestions for future episodes or questions regarding marketing or sales issues, please reach us at marketsellwin@gmail.com.

In part one of our four part interview, we talk to technology entrepreneur John Nicolau.  John co-founded Zlan Partners an IT consulting firm, which was acquired by Sharp Business Systems in March of 2018.  John now serves as the regional account executive for Zlan Partners, A Sharp IT company.   

John has spent his 30 year career as consultant for Amoco and AT&T, worked for his families small business, and founded Vantage Point Partners, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.  John's primary focus is on growing businesses through effective sales processes.   

In this episode we talk with John about his career path, the skills he's found to be important and the impact mentors have had in shaping his career. 

Future episodes with John discuss: 

- The process for relationship building (episode 2)

- The process for quickly identifying a sales opportunity (episode 3)

- The process for using and interpreting body language in a sales meeting (episode 4)