The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Long gone are the days of dancing babies and pop-ups to entice consumers to click on display ads or sponsored content online. Gone also are the days when savvy marketers counted clicks as the only measure of value in an online ad campaign.

Mobile has evolved tremendously over the last five years. And the technological advances of 2014 alone have catapulted mobile to the top—as the desired media consumption platform for many. Affordable choices in devices as well as data-friendly carrier plans have given consumers the means, so marketers can now provide the motive. 

Ideas are worth more than the media time or space used to distribute them. If you don’t believe me, take a closer look at the development of Starbucks' first branding campaign, recently released by 72andSunny, the agency responsible for the work. The campaign itself includes a mini-documentary-style film shot in 59 different stores, in 28 countries, using 39 local filmmakers and ten local photographers.

This project may be one of the largest in scale for any branding campaign, but where the idea came from is even more important. Starbucks’ branding campaign was sparked by its observation of how Starbucks customers were using social media—specifically the stories they were telling in YouTube videos that were shot inside Starbucks' stores. To watch, click here. Digital media wasn’t simply used to spread an idea, but to source the idea! In any medium and on any platform, it’s the idea that counts, the idea that carries most of the value and generates all the value created with its intended target. Ideas drive campaigns, now more than ever.

A year ago, I wrote about my youngest daughter's first day at school. I felt her teacher did a remarkable thing by offering the class an opportunity to complete a series of questions allowing her to discover how her students would best learn. The teacher was able to identify potential strengths as well as potential weaknesses within each student, much like what a manager might do to discover sales talent using a sales talent screener.

The teacher did this using animal analogies and my daughter discovered she was an otter... a relentless, hard worker determined to complete tasks and projects but who may sometimes speak out of turn or be perceived as bossy by others.

This year, the same daughter is attending her first year of middle school. She came home again with a questionnaire! This time the questionnaire had three specific questions asking about what ways my daughter likes to learn, what she expects out of her class, and what she expects of her teacher.

If you've been online lately, you may have noticed LinkedIn's prospecting tools geared to help salespeople. Some of those services include tools to efficiently prospect within LinkedIn's network, premium services that allow greater depth and information on those you wish to contact, and even a Reference Search where you can get a list of people in your network who can (if they choose) provide a reference for someone you want to connect with.

These services may interest you and may be worth $24 a month or more, but don't attempt to let technology and social media do the prospecting or networking for you. LinkedIn claims that a premium account will help you find and contact the right people but what you say when you approach a prospect will make all the difference—it will either make that subscription fee worth it or make you feel like you've wasted your money. 

Unfortunately, I come across more salespeople who feel they wasted their money than those who actually make progress. And here's why: No amount of additional services can take the place of your own ability to attract quality prospects through empathy, expertise, and problem solving capabilities. There are plenty of other salespeople prospecting and requesting to connect on LinkedIn every day. You can either be seen as one of many who letting the technology speak for them—or as one of the few who know how to approach a human prospect. 

Google me by my former last name (Kim Willoughby) or search me on YouTube and a former Olympic volleyball player arrested for assault is a top search result. There's also an attorney who seems to have a great reputation in Denver, but let's be honest, you'll remember the Olympic Bully first.