Mind Your Social Media Manners Posted on January 18, 2016October 14, 2022 by Jessica Lunk Social media is one of the most powerful inbound marketing tools that small businesses have at their fingertips. You can conduct business with, market to, or gather information from anyone no matter where they are in the world! Demographics that were once unreachable are now right there, a click away. Getting your employees involved in your social media marketing efforts is a great way to expand your reach. Your employees, who are passionate about your business, can become your best advocates and sales tool online. However, to ensure that you have strong branding, it’s important to set social media guidelines. Leverage Key Employees Don’t try to force your whole team to be active online because some just aren’t. Find the employees who are already active online and start nurturing their social media involvement for your brand. Leverage those key, customer-facing employees to help carry the conversation about your business and build your network of connections. Be Professional To create a strong, professional brand, first create business pages on each platform you want to target with your strategy. This creates an easy platform your employees can repost blog posts, resources, and other useful brand information. This is a simple way to ensure that your employees remain professional when mentioning your business online. One of the more popular marketing buzzwords of the past few years has been personal branding. Just like your business, each person in business can control their online brand and presence. It’s pertinent to allow your employees who are active on social media to develop their own personal brand. However, have them add a statement to their profiles that state that their opinions are their own to avoid potential issues. Watch Your Language Act like you are speaking to your mom, not your old college roommate. No cursing, derogatory language, questionable subjects, or improper contexts should be found where you are promoting your business. All of that is too informal and sometimes offensive to be professional. Too much familiarity on a business page will make potential customers or contacts shy away. Be Authentic, Ethical, and Honest Make sure you are always putting your best foot forward. Be forthcoming and open about your product and services. Approach social media as a marketing platforms (because it is) and not just a chatting space. Being your authentic self is also important. Use Common Sense Social media is a very relaxed and active environment but it’s important to remember that it is also a powerful branding tool. While it’s good to be in healthy conversations, don’t get involved in heated arguments. Be the moderate — it’s not an easy job but someone has to do it. And please, don’t send game requests to potential customers! Be Strategic Having an open social media policy will encourage your employees to jump in the conversation about your brand. They engage with prospective customers online and build their own audiences and connections. With them, you can reach a wider audience and different pockets based on their own interests and views. This is why it’s key to hire the right employees. Work with your team to create a social media strategy and set goals. This will allow them to take ownership and stay accountable. Keep your employees in the loop on what content you are promoting on your brand profiles. You can also gauge how valuable your content is… If your employees aren’t excited or keen to share your content, then your audience probably also doesn’t want to read or share. Great social media boils down to being a leader online. The most important advice I’ve received for social media is to share and comment on valuable content to become that information leader. Instilling good social media habits will lead to more engagement from your audience. People on social media want to engage in meaningful conversations. If you are only in that sell, sell, sell mode, you will push people away. If your employees are active online for your brand, you will start seeing more engagement and mentions about your brand online. Social media is a key component to a successful inbound marketing campaign. Engagement from your team and audience will stretch your reach further than you imagined and improve your social media ROI.
Reclaiming Thought Leadership Posted on January 14, 2016May 27, 2016 by Jonathan Herrick Great leaders constantly look ahead to the future, driving innovation in their respective fields. True disruptors like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Steve Jobs-the pioneer of Apple, and marketing guru Seth Godin have revolutionized the way we market and consume some of the most important products and services in our daily lives. Over the years as leaders have made their mark, the term-“Thought Leadership” has emerged as a label assigned to these individuals and others for their ability to see future trends and share their knowledge and experiences with others. For most people, the concept of becoming a thought leader used to be out of reach, only reserved for the elite. But with the rise of content, professional and social networking platforms such as WordPress, Linkedin and Twitter, it has become easier than ever to pole vault yourself into the desired position of knowledge kingpin. In fact nearly 2 million blog posts are published on the WordPress platform daily and over 200 billion tweets were sent in 2015. This is both good and bad. While the opportunity exists to brand yourself as a thought leader within your industry, it has also has created a lot of noise in content land-watering down what it truly means to be a thought leader. In other words- to truly reach your audience and make an impact it takes more than re-tweeting a bunch of tweets all day, recycling random content on Linked in, and hearing yourself talk on periscope. The real definition of a thought leader is someone that prospects, clients, followers, competitors and industry leaders acknowledge as go source for vision, information and knowledge in a specific area of expertise. So whether you are an accounting firm looking to grow your influence or an inbound marketing expert wanting to help small businesses grow, there are a few simple truths to becoming the Jedi master in your field or domain: True Thought Leadership Begins Within Thought leaders set themselves apart not only through innovation but also with the passion that drives innovation. As Denise Brosseau of the Thought Leadership Lab points out: ”Thought leadership is not about being known, it is about being known for making a difference.” Thus, the first step on the long road to becoming a true thought leader involves identifying your passion, then using it to fuel an overarching mission. Ideally, this mission will be narrow in scope, yet ambitious enough to attract a tribe or following. Focusing in on the appropriate mission may take some time as thought leaders are often struck with inspiration when they least expect it. So as you search for a calling, continue to learn anything and everything you can about your area of passion, while also consulting with team members and other fellow professionals to pinpoint problems that need solving. Solve a Problem The greatest leaders aren’t great just because they are entrepreneurs, CEO’s and social philanthropists. They become thought leaders because they wake up every day looking to solve a problem aligned to their purpose. A great example is Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Twitter, Square and now LaunchCode. Square, for example, was born out of the inability for small businesses to grow without an easy to use tool to process payments: Jim has now started LaunchCode, an idea born out of a challenge when he was at Square, where he had a hard time finding enough development talent. Jim, in developing LaunchCode, found a way to look at a challenge from a different angle, changing the landscape of the human capital market in the tech arena. The result: An apprentice program that connects talent to corporations and shrinks the talent gap in the US. Over the years Jim has been on CNN, CNBC, in Forbes, you name it. Why? Because he is a problem solver first and then looks for ways to share what he knows with those around him. Find your Platform Once you develop your mission and have a clear solution to the challenges you have overcome, the next step to growing as a thought leader is to find a platform to share your thoughts and experiences. A solid social media presence can quickly improve your reach, connecting you to both your ideal audience and to other influencers within your industry. The ideal social media post will prove that, in addition to knowing what you’re talking about, you are willing to take calculated risks. Both qualities are essential in a thought leader. However, stay clear of trap of pushing out run of the mill content. Try asking a pressing question or sharing your experience of how you overcame a roadblock in your life. Don’t be afraid to push the envelope, after all no one follows leaders that are ordinary. Another platform to consider is blogging. If you don’t have a blog you are missing out on one of the greatest tools in your arsenal to share your wisdom and experiences with your target audience and monetize on your success. Whether you share your stories and content on your own blog or on tools such as Medium, LinkedIn, and Quora, the key is to turn your readers into fans by creating an authentic relationship with them. A great example of this is Chris Brogan’s blog. Forbes listed Chris as one of the must-follow marketing minds of 2014, plus listed his website as one of the 100 best websites for entrepreneurs. Chris does a masterful job of using his blog as a vehicle to connect, engage and inform his target audience with insightful content and resources to help businesses grow. From one-on-one discussions to broad social media updates, a variety of approaches can be used to establish authority and catapult yourself into the echelon of thought leadership. The phrase “thought leader” is starting to become an overused, buzzword in business today. With the explosion of online pretenders it is important to separate yourself from the herd by identifying your purpose, solving problems for your target audience, and finding a platform to reach your followers and influencers. It’s time to reclaim what it really means to be a thought leader: disrupting your space with innovative solutions, not watered-down, recycled ideas and content.
Search Engine Marketing: SEM Best Practices (And Why You Need Them) Posted on January 13, 2016August 25, 2022 by Jessica Lunk Search engine marketing, or SEM might sound intimidating, but really it just means promoting your business online. SEM best practices include keyword research and analysis, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), paid advertising, and organic referrals from search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Using Search Engine Marketing to Find More Customers Actually, with search engine marketing, you don’t find more customers – they find you! Successful search engine marketing means getting in front of potential customers who are doing research online, searching for solutions to problems you can help them with. Keyword Research & Analysis When you have question – whether it’s where to eat or what software is the best for your business – most likely you’ll type it into a search engine to learn more. Your customers are no different, and that’s why a solid SEM strategy starts with identifying the right keywords. Most advertisers use tools like the Google Keyword Planner to find those keywords and phrases that their potential customers are searching for. When thinking about your keyword strategy, think outside the box for terms that could attract customers early in the sales process in addition to when they’re ready to buy. These terms could be directly related to your business, or they could be an area where your customer’s problem and your expertise intersect. For instance, if you’re a crossfit gym, your keyword strategy might include phrases like “crossfit gym” as well as “workout of the day” or even “eating healthy around the holidays.” Search Engine Optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of getting your website to appear organically in the top of the search results for the keywords and phrases you’re targeting. Once you’ve identified the keywords your customers are searching for, the next step is the build out relevant content. Valuable, in-depth content that relates to your keyword strategy will help your business rise to the top of the search results and get found online. While appearing organically in the search engine results is technically “free,” it does require time and resources to develop content. At the same time, organic traffic to your website is extremely valuable to your business. Think about how Pay Per Click Pay-per-click (PPC), or PPC advertising is one of the most common forms of paid Search Engine Marketing. With PPC advertising, you use your keyword strategy to bid on ad placement in the sponsored ad section of the search results. The single most popular PPC advertising system in the world is Google AdWords. AdWords turn up right in the sponsored link section of Google search results – your bid for a particular keyword determines when it shows up and for how long each day. Like everything else Google does, metrics are important. In fact, your ad’s placement is based on your keyword bid amount and a formula that multiplies your highest CPC bid by your Quality Score, which is based on click-through-rate, relevance, and the quality of your landing page. Geo Targeting If you have a local business, another way to advertise online is by geo targeting. This means using location to help local searchers find you. For instance, if your business is in downtown Sacramento, Calif., you might mention that fact, or perhaps say that your location is across the way from the Golden Bridge in downtown Sacramento. You can also use geo location in paid advertising to serve up ads only to folks in your region. Creating Ad Content Paying for ad placement is worthless if you don’t have ad copy that compels folks to click on your ad. To make sure your ad differentiates itself from others in the same business as you are, do: Note the pain-point your customers are facing. Highlight the benefits of your products or services. Make sure that the copy of your ad is relevant to the keyword that the ad corresponds to. Have the ad point to a relevant landing page on your website. If search engine marketing sounds overwhelming, you’re not alone! There are a ton of moving parts, and some you may feel comfortable managing in-house, and others you may want to outsource. Many small and medium-sized businesses hire experienced digital marketing firms to do the keyword research, write the ads, and do the metrics within SEM best practices. This leaves time for owners to do what they do best – run their business.
What is Inbound Marketing? More Importantly, Is It Better? Posted on January 12, 2016October 21, 2022 by Katie Culp What if instead of a marketing campaign that you hope finds new prospects and customers or clients, your online marketing campaign is designed to have them find you? Inbound marketing is just that, marketing focused on being discovered by customers! Marketing used by most startups and small or medium-sized business is the more traditional, outbound marketing. However, expert internet marketers understand the limitations of outbound marketing, as reflected by these stats from Voltier Digital: 86% of people skip through television commercials 44% of direct mail is never opened 200 million Americans have registered their phone numbers on the FTC’s “Do Not Call List” The outbound marketing methods used to work when marketers controlled the conversation, market, message, and channels. Now, there are infinite channels through which we get our information. Though outbound marketing still is in use and still has its place, it is more expensive than an inbound marketing program and less effective. Why Inbound Marketing Works Most people hate sales calls, do not open emails from people or businesses they do not know, block phone calls from anonymous callers or blacklisted marketers, do not read printed newspapers, and record TV shows to avoid commercials. In other words, consumers really don’t appreciate aggressive advertising – and now have the technology to avoid it. It’s the consumer who’s in the driver’s seat when it comes to conversation. Inbound marketing works well as it is non-intrusive. Potential new customers and existing customers crave quality content and they choose the channels where they find what speaks to them. If you can attract your prospective customers to your website by having a strong content, SEO, and social media strategy, you have a successful inbound marketing campaign. Content Effective inbound marketing campaigns are centered around content creation that offers valuable information. The goal of content should be enticing your prospect to give their information so you can then nurture them into a customer. Either written by you or on your behalf by a professional writer, well-crafted content is the driving force behind your inbound marketing strategy. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) SEO techniques make it easier for would-be customers to find your content on the web. SEO is key to your site’s success by building inbound links from other sites and social media. You want to build a spiderweb of links around the internet that all go back to your website. A side benefit is that as your inbound campaign takes root and you develop inbound links, your Google ranking will go up! Social Media Having a strong presence on social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, Yelp and other social media sites helps you in getting your content distributed to new potential clients. Social media also encourages shares, feels more ‘real’ and fosters discussions about your content – a great way to draw more qualified customers to your website. DIY or Professional Help? Powerful inbound marketing does require investing time and resources into content creation and distribution. But the pay-off is huge. Instead of sinking money into futile advertising or an army of sales people, with the right inbound marketing strategy, the customers come to you! So yes, inbound marketing is better!
Cultivate Sales With Customer Service: How To Sell More To Your Best Customers Posted on January 11, 2016July 22, 2022 by Jessica Lunk No matter what industry you’re in, as long as you have customers, you’re also in the service industry. And it’s been well documented that improving customer service increases sales and, ultimately, profits. A survey by American Express found that two-thirds of consumers are willing to spend more at a company they believe provides excellent customer service; three out of four said they spend more with companies where they have a history of positive customer service experiences. It’s also much easier to sell products and services to existing customers as opposed to new ones, with whom you have no track record. So take good care of your current customers and pay attention to their needs; if they like your products or services chances are they will buy others from you too. Existing customers are the most cost-efficient sales targets for a small business because they spend more and refer others. At the same time, all customers are not the same. Some add more long-term value to your business than others. If you want to sell more to existing customers it makes sense to start with your very best customers. Here’s how to identify who they are and build a solid and profitable relationship with them: Your best customers aren’t necessarily the ones who buy the most. If you rank your customers’ importance by the amount of stuff they buy, you’re leaving out some critical information—namely, how much it costs to sell to them. A customer might provide a good deal of revenue but the cost to actually make a sale (the time, the hand-holding) may exceed the value of that sale. A customer may be valuable to you because of when they buy, not how much. If your business is seasonal or cyclic and there are months–or entire quarters–that are generally slower, a customer that buys regularly during off-peak times is important, filling in your revenue gaps. Better yet, if the customer loves your business and is vocal about it–sharing that love on social media, in Yelp reviews and by referring others—that’s enormously valuable to you in terms of marketing. Be available. Once you identify your most valuable clients make sure you are available to them when they need you. As a small business, you’re in a position that larger vendors aren’t – you’re nimble and flexible enough to respond quickly. If one of your best customers needs a rush job at the last minute, for instance, you can scramble, moving people and resources around to accommodate the request without having to deal with a bureaucratic, multi-layered approval process. Understand what your customer is up against. Cultivate a strong relationship with your best customers by learning about their business—what kind of competition they face, their cost pressures, as well as their immediate and longer-term concerns. Knowing—or even better, anticipating—their needs will allow you to offer them relevant and helpful products and services. Nurture relationships. The best way to do that is with a customer relationship management system–a CRM–which lets you put all your customer data in one place—their contact information, interests, transaction and spending history, payment history, response to marketing materials and, perhaps most important, their history of communication. Looking at that data will help you tailor products and services to their needs, and to show an interest in their business and their challenges. Every contact is a chance to improve and build that relationship, which will allow you to sell more to that customer and get them to refer others to you.
Small Business Sales Forecasting: 4 Things to Consider Before You Plan Posted on January 8, 2016October 13, 2020 by Jonathan Herrick As a small business owner, the success of your business relies not only on executing in the moment but knowing where you are headed in the future. If you’re like most owners, it is easy to get sucked into the “one day at a time” mantra as you roll up your sleeves and run multiple aspects of your business. But in order for you to grow revenue, reduce expenses and thrive in the long term, it helps to step back and have a healthy focus on honing your skills at sales forecasting. What Is Sales Forecasting? Sales forecasting is a term that is often over complicated with enterprise jargon and tossed around without much explanation in the small business marketplace. Yet as an owner, you need to understand its importance and how it affects all aspects of your business. Let’s take a look at what a sales forecast is, the benefits and why to adopt a predictable model for your small business. The Definition of a Sales Forecast A sales forecast allows you to determine what your estimated sales (Revenue, New Customers, etc.) will be for a given time period. The forecast is generated from an analysis of previous data about your sales, the sale of similar products by your competitors, and market response to your offerings. Essentially, the sales forecast is a critical component of your management framework and it enables you to assess and improve key business initiatives such as: More accurate forecasting of expenses and cash flow projections Understanding the best venues for deploying marketing dollars Turning more prospective customers into repeat customers Adapting your product to better meet the demands of your customers Inventory management control Timely staffing and hiring How To Adopt Sales Forecasting A sales forecast produces an accurate representation of your projected revenue and growth for your business. As with any small business, cash flow is key to keeping the lights on and the doors open. By implementing a sales forecast and using it consistently you will be more capital efficient and get the best ROI for your sales & marketing budget. You will also be better prepared to know when you need to bring on new hires and expand your team. So before you build your sales forecast for the upcoming quarter and beyond, here are 4 tips to consider: Solidify Your Marketing and Sales Process Before you can accurately predict future sales and revenue, there first must be a predictable process in place for finding, converting and growing sales from customers. Otherwise your estimate will be like throwing darts at a dart board. On the money one month and way off the next. It’s all about putting together a systematic process that drives more opportunities that ultimately convert into sales month over month. So if you are using outbound methods to drive sales like cold calling, you may want to rethink your process and incorporate an inbound marketing strategy to create a more predictable and scalable process. Leveraging the Right Tools One of the easiest ways to create and follow an accurate sales forecast is to leverage the power of a small business CRM. A CRM will help you get to the sales and marketing data you need quickly and easily. For example, we use Hatchbuck to continuously reshape our sales process, propel new sales to small business owners and give us insights in our sales pipeline. In fact, we have successfully increased the company’s revenue by 2,300 percent since 2012, and this rapid growth was achieved without resorting to cold calls and “shot in the dark” marketing and sales strategies. With the right tools in place, we have the ability to track new sales historically, categorize lost sales by reason, and better analyze the number of leads per month by source. In essence, we get a complete picture of the entire marketing and sales funnel – helping us to better predict where we are having success and where to best allocate our resources next month and thereafter. We also have the ability to run real time reports such as a 3 Month Forecast Report to give us a 90 day snapshot of our sales pipeline by close probability. Also, financial software tools like Quickbooks can be a great source of product and expense data. These tools help you get the full picture on the total cost per customer and other important data points key to forecasting. Don’t Create Your Plan in a Vacuum To help you create a sales forecast for your small business that is achievable but stretches beyond the current performance – don’t go at it alone. I would highly recommend bringing in your sales team into the process since they will be responsible for achieving this upcoming year’s numbers. There is nothing worse than a team not believing in the reality of the goals and projections set out in front of them. By allowing them to take ownership in creating the plan, they are more likely to hold themselves accountable month in and month out. If you’re both the owner and the sales team, ask for outside feedback on your model. By bringing in an outside set of eyes you may be surprised what you find. Maybe you are overly optimistic and your plan is out of reach leaving you with a cash shortfall at the end of the year. Or possibly your sales forecast is not aggressive enough and not maximizing your capital as efficiently as possible. Measure and Adjust Once you have your forecast in place, don’t just let it collect dust. Access your monthly sales reports and compare actual performance to your forecasts. Determine what went right or what went wrong. Understand where you need to make adjustments to help you better manage your business moving forward. You may find you have an opportunity to invest more into marketing campaigns – further accelerating sales growth or driving higher profitability. If you miss your targets, dig into the causes to better understand where you have a bottleneck in your sales and marketing process: Are your salespeople under performing? Do you have enough sales people to respond to lead generation demands? Did you miss the mark on the number of opportunities generated? Did your sales conversions slip? Did a competitor win a larger percentage of the business because of a new product or service they launched? By looking for these trends connected to lower sales performance, you enable yourself to better forecast revenue and expenses for the future. Budgeting and forecasting may seem like a daunting task for your business, but you put yourself in the best chance to achieve your growth goals when you do. Start by solidifying your sales and marketing process, implementing the right tools, and taking a proactive approach to modeling your sales projections.
Be Yourself – Business Attire and Your Personal Brand Posted on January 5, 2016June 3, 2016 by Jessica Lunk You could read the same magazines and shop at only at one store but you are still uniquely you. You get up every morning and choose your uniform for the day. So why do clothes cause so much stress in life and in the workplace? Expectations. Expectations on what is business professional attire for women and men and what is casual. Expectations on what to wear and what not to wear. And what exactly is business casual? Why does this all matter? This blog post started out with words like: acceptable for best for both sexes blazer in the winter tying back long hair Oh, and my favorite, “Leave your loud colors and cleavage-baring clothes at home.” As a small business owner, you set the tone in the office. Eventually we all align ourselves with others who think, look, and act similarly. One of my favorite sayings is, get in where you fit in. And it’s so true! If you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation based on how you dress, either change how you dress to be more comfortable in your own “skin” or change your environment. Be Yourself is our number one core value for a reason. If you are not yourself, you are not able to do the right thing, keep it simple, work hard, have fun, or make a difference. If you want to be taken seriously as a business person, being your authentic self is your best branding tool. What you wear to work every day also reflects your personal brand. It’s still a simple way to stand out. To start crafting your business image, think about the following: What type of job do I have? What is my most comfortable working state? Ideally, how long does it take me to get ready in the morning? How often do I travel? What colors and silhouettes fit me best? Answering these questions will help you start creating your own personal uniform and brand that fits your life as a business owner. To take it to the next level and simplify your morning routine, wear the same thing every day. Uniforms help eliminate any unnecessary stress and time so you can focus your morning thoughts on the day. Think Steve Jobs and that black turtle neck with light washed jeans. The small business world in general is pretty laid back. So just be yourself and… Wear the same thing every day!
How Do You Prefer to Work? The 4 Office Personality Types Posted on January 4, 2016June 3, 2016 by Jessica Lunk Do you know your personality type? Before you can lead a team, you need to know yourself first. By knowing what makes you tick, you will be able to create a productive and healthy working environment. The Meyers & Briggs test is a fun little test to understand yourself and your own tendencies and how they stack up against the other personality types. It’s a great tool to have in your back pocket to know how to engage with others in the workplace. It is important to understand the motivations of different people around you and the dynamic that occurs between personalities. How do you prefer to work? There are 8 personality traits that every person has to varying degrees. By observing which traits are dominant in yourself and your employees, you’ll be able to be a better leader with a productive and happy team. Extroversion vs. Introversion How you manage and replenish your personal energy is a very important trait you should be aware of because it allows you to take better care of yourself in the workplace. Extraverts thrive working on teams and brainstorming with others. Always looking for ways to connect and interact, you’ll find them at happy hours and enthusiastic for company events. Introverts, often thoughtful, reserved, and focused, prefer to work independently. They also tend to be sensitive to external stimulation. Intuition vs. Sensing How you gather and process information determines whether you are intuition or sensing oriented. This is the way you view the world. Sensing or observant dominants are highly practical, pragmatic, and down-to earth with strong habits and good focus on what is happening or what has already happened. They are based in facts and don’t make “gut” decisions like intuitive individuals. Imaginative, open-minded, and curious, they prefer experiencing new things, focusing on hidden meanings and future possibilities. Feeling vs. Thinking When handling a client problem, do you stick with the facts or do you focus more on how the client is feeling? Thinkers are analytical, objective, and rational who love looking at the details. They focus on learning as much as they can about a particular topic and increasing their knowledge base. Prioritizing logic over emotions, thinkers tend to hide their feelings in order to be more efficient. Feelers are more passionate, empathetic, warm and supportive. They often put themselves in others shoes and can see different perspectives when working on projects. Emotionally expressive, feelers are empathetic and often less competitive – focused on creating harmony and cooperation. Perceiving vs. Judging Observe how you complete projects — do you stick with the plan or tend to adapt quickly to new information? This organization and structuring of daily life and work determines whether you are judging or perceiving oriented. Judgers are ambitious, determined, highly organized, and decisive. Valuing clarity and predictability, judgers work well with structure and plans. Perceivers are more open-minded, adaptable, and spontaneous. They respond well to change and unpredictable situations. Perceivers are good at improvising and prefer to keep their options open. It’s also important to look at how confident we are in our abilities and decisions. An assertive personality type are self-assured, even tempered, and resistant to stress. Turbulent personality types are self-conscious, sensitive to stress but are also success driven, perfectionistic, and eager to please. As we grow and learn, we may shift between assertive and turbulent stages. What’s your role? These mix of personality traits create a range of 16 different personality types. These personality types fall into four roles – analysts, diplomats, sentinels, and explorers. Our role determines our goals, interests, preferred activities, and leadership styles. Analysts Fiercely independent, open-minded, and strong-willed, Analysts use their imagination from a utilitarian and objective perspective. Embracing rationality, they strive to find what works, thriving in technical fields. While they are excellent strategic thinkers, they can be socially difficult as they favor function over what satisfies everybody. However, this could lead to more productivity and organization in the workplace. Analyst leaders create and adapt systems to improve processes. At Hatchbuck, our support and consultant roles are filled with analysts. Sam and Eric help our customers solve any product issues. Lindsey is a rockstar at onboarding new customers and helping them adjust their strategies to make Hatchbuck work for them. Analysts excel in these solution-oriented roles. Diplomats Warm, tactful, and empathetic, Diplomats have a strong, supportive influence on office politics and harmony. They use their strategic imagination to focus on collaboration and positive participation. When asked to make a difficult decision and rely on cold rationality, Diplomats can cause issues — sympathetic to all sides. This sympathy, however, leads them to promote higher causes and values. Diplomat leaders have strong abilities to cast a vision to inspire and look forward to what the future can bring. Our product, marketing, and business development teams house the Hatchbuck Diplomats. Don, our fearless CEO, brings in the whole team when making product decisions to hear all sides of an issue. Our CTO, Matt is Hatchbuck’s greatest defender knowing all its ins and outs. Ben’s enthusiasm for the future of the product inspires us all. Keely spearheads all our team service projects, encouraging everyone to make a difference in the St. Louis community. Nicci and Tricia work with partners and sales opportunities to see how we can best work together. Sentinels Hard-working, precise, and conventional, Sentinels create and embrace order and stability in the workplace. They excel in logistic or administrative roles. While they do not shy away from difficult tasks and stick to their plans, Sentinels can also be adamant and uncompromising. However, their highly practical and meticulous manner allows them to handle many details. Sentinel leaders aim to protect and serve, are often strict about rules and protocols, and honor the past successes. Our Director of Customer Success, Erin, manages the largest team at Hatchbuck, both support and onboarding. She is a process master and works tirelessly to make things easier for her team. Tegan is always eager to connect and help small business owners find the right solution for their business. Explorers Explorers are masters of tools and techniques. They are quick on their feet, pragmatic, and spontaneous. Explorers are the masters of tools – learning, mastering, and teaching new tools and techniques. Since they are so quick to adapt, they can be irreplaceable in crises but they can push towards taking on big risks. As leaders, explorers are quick to find solutions and can drive an organization into a new direction. Explorers are the big thinking disrupters and entrepreneurs. Not only are personality types informative for the workplace but they are also fun! Take the test and share your personality type with us on Facebook. Was it close or way off?
Awww, Shucks. Feeling the Love at Hatchbuck. Posted on December 31, 2015June 27, 2016 by Jessica Lunk We wouldn’t be Hatchbuck without our customers. We show up, work hard, and do the right thing so we can make a difference in business owners’ lives every day. Our customers constantly remind us that we are heading in the right direction and that they are with us. We just can’t resist sharing their feedback. Here’s what are customers are saying about us: GetApp: 4.47 / 5 stars “I love, love, love Hatchbuck! It’s very user friendly and they are open to suggestions for improvement from their customers. Their support team is also fabulous!” – Jessica Dugas | Executive Strategy Group “I love being able to assign tasks to specific contacts or companies in particular. I’ve been using it for nearly a year, and I’m still finding ways to use it better!” – Matthew Sewell | Happiness Engineer at Flocknote “Customer support rocks. Anytime I don’t know how to do anything, our consultant is quick to answer emails and send me in the right direction.” – Keisha Page | Green Vine Marketing G2Crowd: 4.8 / 5 stars “Awesome Marketing Automation Platform That Small Business Owners Can Afford… One thing we love about Hatchbuck is how easy it is to learn and use. We were up and running in just 1 week and our email marketing staff was able to quickly learn the platform so there was no lack in productivity due to training.” – Mandy McEwen | Mod Girl Marketing “1. It streamlines our communication in our sales process. I love the tracking and notification features so I know when someone opens an email and clicks a link. Tags are super helpful for a quick glance, too. 2. It keeps us organized. 3. It engages our team.” – Joel Tomkinson | Airo Partners “We previously had been using a separate CRM and email platform. With Hatchbuck we have everything in one place. We are saving time, money and frustration by using Hatchbuck’s platform.” – Mary Wagener | CEV “I like that Hatchbuck seems to really get small businesses and has developed their product accordingly. Everything they do from the software itself to the training uses plain language that anyone can follow. They break the concepts of automation and email marketing into simple steps. I’ve worked with many similar applications and none of them are as small business friendly as Hatchbuck.” Jasmine Holmes | 910 West “Hatchbuck allows us to categorize our business contacts, prospective clients, and existing clients. I can segment who I want to send correspondence to in a few simple clicks. It’s a great way to be personal to our audience. It’s a user friendly system that allows us to organize our contacts, future follow-ups, correspondence, and reporting. In one step I can quickly look up a client and get all the information I need! I also enjoy the resources that Hatchbuck offers. There are many blog posts that have been helpful to us to utilize the system.” – Stacy Isermann | STL Rent A Box Trust Radius: 8.2 / 10 stars “Hatchbucked at first sight!” “Hatchbuck has GREAT customer service. I have worked with the same rep from the date of subscription and have NEVER had to reach out to anyone else. If she does not have the answer for me, she will find out in a timely manner and not pass me along to someone else.” – Samantha Kolavo | Computer Comforts “We don’t speak about our business pre-Hatchbuck. Too painful… We use Hatchbuck for everything from our top-funnel automated campaigns all the way through our tuition payment tracking. Our entire marketing, recruiting, and selection departments use this on a daily basis.” – Derek Turner | Grand Circus “I’ve been using Hatchbuck since the middle of last year and it has literally been a game changer for me. It has enabled me to automate a lot of my recruiting, which has saved me a great deal of time and has made for a much more efficient and effective operation. I’m now able to communicate relevant content to my stakeholders on a regular basis, eliminating certain prospects from falling through the cracks. I also know clearly how many prospects I have in my sales funnel and exactly what stage they are at in the process. Night and day from my previous CRM!” – Don Purdy | University at Albany School of Business “Hatchbuck is the lifeblood for my business. An intricate tool to managing my client databases, client and prospect communications. It has automated processes and integrated my web site, simplifying my workflows, so I can focus on what I do best – working with clients!” – Kami Guildner | Syzygy Coaching Software Advice: 4.5 / 5 Stars “We have found that Hatchbuck had BY FAR the best training, and the easiest interface. We have 1 dedicated employee running HB, and after 1 month, we have literally lit 20% of our ice cold leads on fire! Hatchbuck is like napalm for your sales leads. Gets them hot and keep it that way.” – Tim Rose | Digital Signs Direct “Shouting about a CRM from the rooftops? That’s Hatchbuck” “Hatchbuck makes everything easy – it’s straightforward but powerful. One of the ways that it makes that balance is that it functions well from Day 1, no matter how much or little implementation you’ve done. Other CRMs sometimes feel useless unless you’ve spent months setting them up. Not so Hatchbuck!” – Derek Turner | Grand Circus We’re excited to ring in the New Year with our loyal customers and we can’t wait to share what we have in store for 2016! Cheers to the New Year and Happy Hatchbucking!