Four years ago I learned about Hubspot and went all in. I really enjoyed the specific internet marketing knowledge that it demonstrated and clearly showed principals of an agency how to follow. We had them convert our site and did everything they suggested. We got one client to implement it and that has been a great success. Not so much for the agency. Face it, the internet is mostly marketers, you can’t sell generic marketing in the internet, just like you would be a fool to hire a brain surgeon online. Myke Amend, our web guru, recently created www.industrialwebdevelopment.com, specifically about web design and management. It worked great and we have signed two new clients. Myke followed the Google instructions to create a great website. They are light years past Hubspot. In fact, you can’t do what Google suggests with Hubspot. We’re still a Hubspot Partner and I’ll continue participating because in spite of their lack of advancements, they are still a very good general best practices and agency management tools.

Hubspot told you to build it and they will come. The Society for Marketing Professional Services tells you to deliver the most fantastic service you can, find similar clients and sell them the same type of work. To grow sell new services to existing clients. If that is successful, try selling it to other clients. it that simple.

The management part of it is simple too. Clearly define marketing activities and their objectives that you can measure. I’m looking forward to defining what we’re good at, adjusting for each of our personalities, and implementing SMART goals next year – Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Timely.

Industrial Marketing Management Case Study Activity

This Case Study Activity allows you to reflect on and apply the key concepts that you learned in this Domain to a real-world scenario. Each Domain includes a scenario about the same organization, Gilmore & Associates. The scenario is presented to you, followed by several questions. You can also elect to view the recommended solutions/ responses for each question posed, which are located on the next page. This case study can be studied in many ways:

•  You can individually reflect on the questions after reading the scenario, and write your own notes/responses to each question. You can then check your ability to apply the key concepts against the recommended solutions/responses.
•  You can pull together a small group and use this scenario to drive a discussion around the challenge and to discuss solutions as a group.
• You can combine a selection of the case study activities (across the Domains) into a larger scenario-based activity as a part of a professional development event.

Thanks in large part to your efforts as the marketing coordinator, Gilmore & Associates has successfully transitioned into a new market. The firm used to only be known for designing K-12 educational facilities, but with a few high-visibility retirement community projects under its belt, it’s begun to establish itself as an expert in this niche of older adult healthcare.

Firm leadership has recognized your role in this transition by offering you a management position. You agree to take on the responsibility of coordinating the efforts of staff and consultants to accomplish marketing goals and objectives, and ensure that every step in the sales process-from BD to writing a proposal-continues to run smoothly.

1. What are some processes that you could put into place to ensure the best possible outcomes for your marketing staff’s performance?
2. What should be included in a pipeline report to help you track activity, hold your team accountable and ultimately help your firm reach its annual growth goals?
3. You notice that many members of your team express discomfort with their BD role. How can you create a training program that will build the skills that they need to develop more confidence in this role?
4. One of your team members has decided to go back to school to study nursing and you need to hire someone to fill the open marketing associate position. What · can you do to make your firm an appealing choice to job seekers?
5. What steps can you take to promote a firm-wide BD culture?

Answer Key

1. What are some processes that you could put into place to ensure the best possible outcomes for your marketing staff’s performance?• Set clear expectations. Measure each staff member’s knowledge areas and skill sets, and, based on those results, develop metrics by which they will be evaluated. Also encourage them to gain additional training and certifications, where needed.I look forward to doing this with my guys. It might be cold calls by me, search engine optimization by Myke and we’ll firgure out something for Rob to do. He’s so shy.• Provide opportunities for your staff to find a mentor or coach. These relationships can greatly enhance their professional development over both the long and short term.I’m afraid I’m all they have!

   • Establish clear lines of communication and provide regular feedback. Have regular team meetings about current and planned activities, as well as more informal one-on-one discussions about how each person is performing.

   We’ll have these meetings each month after we have put our “New Business” hours into the database.

   • Help them to develop a PDP that identifies a path for their individual professional development within the organization.

   This will be fun. I’m looking forward to seeing what Rob and Myke see as a management path.

2. What should be included in a pipeline report to help you track activity, hold your eam accountable, and ultimately help your firm reach its annual growth goals?• Information about each lead, including which staff member brought it to your firm’s attention, which staff member will head follow-up activities and whether the lead is a previous client or a prospective oneWe already have a good database to fill out. Putting numbers on it will help. We can use the “Estimate” field for this.• Information about the market and service sector that potential new work is associated withI’ve been wondering where we’re going to get that info. The aggregate mining publications publish market trends. I think the chemical industry does as well.

   • A rough approximation of how much revenue that the project might bring into your firm and how much it will cost to pursue it

   We can put some numbers on this.

   • How likely you are to win the work based on what you know about the opportunity

   We can easlily guess this as well.

3. You notice that many members of your team express discomfort with their BD role. How can you create a training program that will build the skills that they need to develop more confidence in this role?• Recognize that some people will never be completely comfortable demonstrating a particular skill-for example, speaking in public or writing proposals. Encourage your staff to focus on enhancing skills within their natural abilities and comfort zone. However, be sure to differentiate between people who will always hate networking (or some other skill) and those who just need more training to succeed.Rob can give us all a primer on Adobe Applications.• Conduct a training needs assessment via observation, individual interviews ;and group. questionnaires to determine in what areas your team is strong and where they could use additional instruction.This will be fun. I’ll have to pay them to go to Dale Carnegie but that’s Ok.

   • Develop a regular schedule of training opportunities. Include both formal and informal (e.g., lunch and learns) training opportunities at appropriate frequencies.

   We’ll be going over this study guide for most of 2018.

   • Make sure that the training sessions are hands-on and simulate the real world. For a training session on proposal writing, have participants write a sample proposal. For one on interviews, conduct a mock interview.

   We can all do this in our sleep.

   • Create a maintenance plan so that the training schedule is not dropped once your employees attend the initial sessions. For long-lasting improvement, people must have regular opportunities to practice learned skills.

   American Marketing Association was one group a fomer employee was active in and did serve on the board. Nothing came of it.

4.  One of your team members has decided to go back to school to study nursing, and you need to hire someone to fill the open marketing associate position: What can you do to make your firm an appealing choice to job seekers?• Offer to help HR develop attractive and well-written job announcements for various mediums.• Know what motivates the people who will be searching for a job in your industry-this includes an interest in the work, opportunity for growth, a sense of accomplishment and earned recognition-and tailor your recruitment announcements to address these needs.• Consider the target audience for the job opening. A marketing associate is an entry-level position, so your candidates are more likely to be recent graduates in the Millennial.Generation than Baby Boomers.• Make sure that your web site is up-to-date and attractive, and that the “Apply for a Job” tab is easy to find from the home page.

   • Consider setting up a booth at college career fairs. Sell the culture of your firm at the booth and select staff that will relate well to Millennials.

   All great ideas. We need to have more about the culture of the company online. It’;s not like we don’t do many extra off line activites.

5. What steps can you take to promote a firm-wide BD culture?• Recognize that it takes time for BD efforts to show obvious pay-offs and encourage your staff to view the development of client relationships as a long-term and continuous effort, as opposed to a task that is only done when the firm needs new business.• Include sales training in your firm training program so that your team develops good selling habits.

We’re going to have  great 2018!

 

Contents

1. Supervise Marketing and Support Staff

1.1 Define Roles, Joo Descriptions, and Expectations

1.1.1 Structure :Your Department

1.2 Establish Performance Outcomes, Expectations, and Metrics

1.3 Identify Training and Professional Development Needs

1.4 Provide Mentoring and Coaching Opportunities

1.4.1 Mentoring

1.4.2 Coaching

1.5 Have Regular Team Meetings

1.6 Help Staff Create a Personal Development Plan (PDP)

1.7 Conduct Performance Evaluations

1.8 Key Terms

2. Develop an Internal Marketing Communications Program

2.1 Track and Communicate Relevant Information

2.1.1 Pipeline Report.

2.1.2 Track Upcoming Industry Events

2.2 Establish Regular Meetings with Stakeholders

2.2.1 Create an Agenda

2.2.2 Distribute a Detailed Report

2.3 Create Awareness of Company’s Services/Offerings for Cross-Selling

2.4 Key Terms

3, Develop, Implement, and Maintain Information Management Systems

3.1 Conduct a Needs Assessment

3.2 Select a System

3.3 Develop an Implementation Plan

3.3.1 Build Company Buy-In

3.4 Develop a Maintenance Plan

3.5 Develop a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System

3.5.1 Select a CRM System

3.5.2 Outline the Data to Be Housed in the CRM

3.5.3 Implement the CRM System

3.5.4 Maintain the CRM System

3.6 Key Terms

4. Conduct Marketing Training Sessions

4.1 Establish Outcome/Competency Alignment for Marketing, Business Development (BD), and Sales Positions

4.2 Conduct a Training Needs Assessment

4.3 Identify Training Resources

4.4 Develop a Schedule/Calendar of Training Programs

4.5 Evaluate and Refine Programs

4.6 Key Terms

5. Attend Professional Development Activities

5.1 Identify Expectations for Staff Involvement

5.2 Identify Organizations to Participate In

5.3 Train Staff to Network

5.3.1 Information Sharing

5.3.2 Keep in Touch

5.4 Develop Your Professional Network

5.5 Assess the ROI of Participation

5..6 Key Terms

6. Recruit Personnel

6.1 Coordinate with HR

6.2 Write Job Descriptions

6.3 Highlight Your People

6.4 Promote the Job Opening

6.4.1 Assess Your Results

6.5 Market Your Firm as the Most Attractive Choice

6.6 Look to Other Sources of Talent

6.7 Key Terms

7. Comply With Business and Accounting Principles

7.1 Know the Benefits of Understanding Financial Information

7.2 Learn the Basics

7.2.1 Charge-Out Rate

7.2.2 Target Multiplier (aka Charge Multiplier) 7.2.3 Net Multiplier

7.2.4 Overhead Rate

7.2.5 Staff Utilization Ratio

7.2.6 Current Ratio

7.2.7 Net Profit Ratio

7.2.8 Accounts Receivable Collections

7.2.9 Financial Statements

7.2.10 Tracking Backlog

7.3 Understand the Project Lifecycle

7.3.1 Getting the Project

7.3.2 Doing the Project

7.3.3 Finishing the Project

7.4 Understand Basic Contract Principles

7.5 Key Terms

8. Promote a Firm-Wide BD Culture

8.1 Develop and Implement Strategies to Advance a BO Culture

8.2 Understand Models of BO Cultures

8.2.1 Valley of Death

8.2.2 Sales Success Cycle

8.2.3 Rainmaking System

8.2.4 Performing BO during Project Execution

8.2.5 Building Relationships

8.2.6 Internal Marketing Examples

8.3 Define Roles, Responsibilities, and Training across Firm

8.3.1 Marketers

8.3.2 Technical Staff

8.3.3 Senior Management

8.3.4 Nontechnical Support Staff

8.4 Assess and Develop BO Talent

8.5 Key Terms

If you would like to do the right thing, give me a call for lunch