We’re quickly growing here at GasPedal and have an immediate opening for a director of sales for our Social Media Business Council community. A few must-have qualities:
Proven BtoB sales experience with VP- and C-level execs at large corporations
Strong knowledge of social media and word of mouth marketing
Consultative and approachable — our product is a long-term community membership; this is a relationship-building position
Honest, trustworthy, and ethical
Sales are brisk and the product is popular. Current members include Procter & Gamble, Dell, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Home Depot, and many others. We have well-qualified leads, a rich pipeline, and an efficient, supportive team.
Our employee handbook has a few simple rules: No office politics. No jerks. Real personal growth. And a guarantee that you will never again have a single boring day at work.
To apply: Contact Jim Lovelady using social media. Provide links to cover letter, resume, and salary requirements.
Some great business blogging advice (and life advice) from Christopher Burgess of Cisco:
You Are Responsible: There are no do-overs. There is an adage, “Once posted, forever toasted,” which serves to highlight the reality that your information, data and content will be available to one and all, seemingly forever, and it is guaranteed to revisit you sometime in the future.
Abide by the Rules: Individuals are accountable for their actions. This is a basic tenet of public discourse and elucidation. Don’t share your company’s confidential data. Don’t speak about clients.
Be Mindful: Your opinion may not align perfectly with those of others. Indeed the opinion of others may be diametrically opposed to your point of view. Be mindful and allow the difference to occur. This difference is your opportunity for dialogue, and dialogue is the avenue to understanding.
Be Respectful: Treat others with respect in your responses and interactions. Sarcasm is seldom appreciated by the target of your clever wordplay and is easily misunderstood. Be direct and engaging. An individual has taken the time to share his or her thoughts. Listening to one’s customers and partners is the best way to gain insight into your successes and those occasions when opportunities for improvement manifest themselves.
Be Yourself: Use your own voice. Don’t use a stilted or artificial approach. Decide early on whether you will be engaging with the corporate hat firmly and squarely on your head or if your voice will be yours alone. If the former, allow yourself to express your personal thoughts, but always keep them in context, as you are associating what you say with your corporate brand. If the latter, provide full disclosure when you mention your employer, so that all can understand your personal perspective.
Be Honest. Nothing loses credibility faster than a mishmash of factoids or flat-out dishonesty in place of a direct statement. Honesty isn’t a suggestion, it is a requisite.
Add Value: Above all, bring value to the table. No one is interested in a rehash of old information or methodologies. Bring your voice, perspective and solutions forward, and do so in a way that the audience can understand the value you bring to the table.
We ordered a sample pack of a new kind of computer paper. We even paid $10 for the samples. They charged us $10 shipping.
We ordered $150 worth of parts from a catalog on our first order. We forgot a few things, so we bought $20 more. There was a $4 ’small order fee’.
There are certain moments when you know you just found a new customer: First phone call, first visit, asking for samples, new customer buys twice in a week.
Set up a process to identify these actions. Give them extra samples. Send them links to how-to videos. Include a coupon for a free upgrade on the second order. Have the CEO call. Send a thank-you note. Do whatever it takes to get them to come back for a second order.
(When you order from Headsets.com, they call a few days later offering help and will even send extra parts, for free, if you need them.)
Getting a new customer is hard. Don’t blow it. Impress them instead.
The problem with films with unpronounceable names is that word of mouth drops down significantly. I can’t imagine too many invites to Cthulhu.
This is great lesson for anyone naming a product. If you want someone to talk about it, you need to give it a name that people can remember and say.
It’s hard to recommend the Dell 2208WFP or explain that every Sony computer is called VIAO. It’s no coincidence that only the cell phones with names get word of mouth: the Razor, the iPhone, the Sidekick. Sorry, LG VX-6700 — I loved you, but your name never left my mouth.
Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 16 in San Diego to hear Starbucks, Clorox, Intuit, Avery Dennison, USAA, Community Medical Centers, State Farm Insurance, and the U.S. Navy share case studies in corporate social media.
You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — and you’ll see some brilliant presentations like this one from BlogWell Atlanta:
Stephanie Moritz’s big idea: Social media is more than your marketing department.
Stephanie’s case study explained how they’re integrating social media across many aspects of their business, how they educated senior management through “digital immersion,” and how ConAgra uses five core items to determine their social approach.
[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That Email Newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]
Sometimes, the best way to your customers’ hearts is through their stomachs. A few ideas on how to do it:
1> At your store
2> In the cafe
3> On the highway
4> Check it out: First-Person Tetris
1> At your store
You don’t have to be a restaurant to attract hungry customers. IKEA, for example, regularly hosts free open-house breakfast events at its stores. Customers fill up on eggs and bacon — served on IKEA dinnerware — before exploring the store for their next Karlstad sofa or Poang chair. Even if you don’t have the resources to put on a big meal, a few handy snacks and refreshments might be just the energy boost your customers need to keep shopping.
The Lesson: Try offering to fill their stomachs before asking them to open their wallets.
If hosting dinner at your place isn’t an option, try partnering with a great local restaurant to fill their stomachs. Sitting down a bunch of 20-somethings to talk about retirement isn’t easy, but Ameriprise Financial in Chicago teamed up with Dapper’s East to award free breakfast retirement planning meetings. Participants simply dropped in a business card to enter, and winners could bring up to 15 friends to hear a 5-minute presentation from a rep before enjoying a meal with friends.
The Lesson: Inviting prospects to sit down to a meal with their friends is a great way to start conversations about how your business can help them.
3> On the highway
A hot meal isn’t the only way to win the hearts of new fans — sometimes a clever voucher for one can do it. The South Carolina Highway Patrol teamed up with local Chick-fil-A franchisees to offer drivers a coupon for a free sandwich if they were found wearing their seatbelts when pulled over. The program not only increases seatbelt use, but it also gives officers something positive to share beyond the typical traffic fine.
The Lesson: Look for opportunities where you can use a tasty treat to thank and reward your best customers.
After every Broadway performance of Hair the audience is invited on stage to dance the last song. The dance is filmed and posted online the same night. Audience member can tag themselves and share the video on Facebook.
Folks, this is genius word of mouth marketing at its very best:
Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 16 in San Diego to hear Starbucks, Clorox, Intuit, Avery Dennison, USAA, Community Medical Centers, State Farm Insurance, and the U.S. Navy share case studies in corporate social media.
You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social [...]
Rainforest Cafe is a masterpiece. They cram an entire theme park into a restaurant, and little kids love it. The attention to execution and detail is fantastic.
Except: No kid-size sinks or urinals. Which is a royal pain at an awkward moment. So while I’m lifting my kid to the sink, he accidentally soaks his [...]
I have serious respect for this auto-reply:
From: Cory Doctorow
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 11:09 AM
To: Andy Sernovitz
Subject: ——————————————
Hi there! I’m on an email-free family holiday until January 11, 2010.
Rather than start the year with a mountain (and it *would* be a MOUNTAIN!) of email, I’m just not accepting any new email while I’m away. Please [...]
ConAgra Foods: Embracing a social media culture
Kraft: Building structure around social media management
BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media
SMBC: Building social media to scale
Microsoft: Learning (and playing) with Ribbon Hero
