Speaking topics, seminars and workshops

Internet marketing secrets

How do you make sure that your web site works for you, and is not wasting valuable time and draining your resources? What are the fundamentals of marketing on the Internet? In this engaging and informative session you will learn the powerful, proven tools that successful companies use to execute their marketing strategies and reach their sales goals using the Internet.

In this seminar, lead generation expert Robin Johnston will teach you:

• How to create a web site strategy that works
• Low-cost techniques to drive web site traffic
• How to build one-to-one customer relationships
• Techniques for tracking the effectiveness of online marketing tactics

Ring, ring… profits calling! Secrets of selling remotely

Are you being pulled in every direction by reps who beg for permission to give on-site demos to every prospect who asks? Are you frustrated by the endless stream of “looky-loo” prospects who demand demos but never buy?

The solution to these money-pit travel requests is easier than you think. Just say “No!”

The old rule book has gone out the window in today’s cost-sensitive business environment. In the vast majority of cases, it’s simply not necessary to travel until the last very stages of the deal. In fact, many buyers may never need to meet you in person… ever!

In this seminar, lead generation expert Robin Johnston will teach you:

• A tried and tested process for selling over the telephone
• Ways to manage prospects’ expectations about your reps’ travel
• How to test and systematically refine a telesales script
• The importance of verticalization
• Exactly what tools your sales force needs to have, in order to sell remotely
• How to cut costs and increase profitability by virtually eliminating pre-sales on-site visits

Building a referral machine

Most people want to help people. They really do. And this fact forms the basis for one of the most powerful and yet consistently under-utilized business development practices: Referral Marketing.

Referred customers tend to be more loyal than customers that come to us from other sources. They also tend to make decisions more quickly, negotiate less, and buy more often and in larger quantities than other customers. Just as importantly, they tend to give more referrals!

In this seminar, you will learn how to:

• Differentiate between three types of referrals
• Understand the value you’ve got to offer customers
• Coach your “apostles”: those existing customers and colleagues who can refer business your way
• Provide referral tools to make it easier for people to refer to you
• Call on people to whom you are referred

MACM: A system for new business development

A continuous stream of new business is just as important to smaller firms as it is to industry giants. And yet, many small sales organizations struggle to create and manage a healthy sales pipeline. Some may invest in sales training, but precious few know how to systematically attract hot prospects or keep warm ones around long enough to win their business.

In this seminar you will learn to create the sales & marketing machinery that keeps the revenue engine running. You’ll learn why business development is easier if you break the sales process into two key steps.

In this workshop, lead generation expert Robin Johnston will teach you:

• How to create a marketing message that resonates with your prospects
• Why you want your prospects to “raise their hand” for permission to do business with you
• How to move a deal from lead to referral
• What to measure and analyze in your business development performance in order to systematically improve results

Note: Order your copy of the Lead Generation Handbook today to find out how to implement the MACM Business Development Model in your business.

Systems thinking in business: A primer for newbies

Have you ever done something to “fix” one problem only to have something else emerge as an even greater challenge? Do you often wonder how to make the greatest impact in the least amount of time?

Whether you’re developing corporate strategy, planning a marketing campaign, trying to engage stakeholders, or hoping to understand and influence office politics, Systems Thinking is a tool you can use. Systems Thinking helps you understand relationships so that you can make good decisions more consistently, predict the impact of your actions before they are implemented, and avoid short-term thinking that can create long-term problems.

Keep ’em coming back for more: Increasing sales and profits with customer rewards programs

Learn how to build a more profitable business by introducing a customer rewards program for your customers. Loyal customers are easier to serve, willing to pay more, and create referrals for additional, also-profitable customers.

In this session you will learn how to set up a low-cost reward program that will help you retain your best customers and encourage them to spend more money, more often. Find out how to calculate the value of a customer, how to maximize your earnings, and how you can begin to put a powerful rewards program in place right now!

In this seminar, lead generation expert Robin Johnston will teach you:

• Why it pays to develop the rewards mindset
• How to calculate customer lifetime value
• Different types of programs for different types of businesses
• Creating a rewards program action plan

21st Century networking

Does the thought of being stuck in a room full of strangers strike fear into your heart? If it does, you’re just like most people. Meeting and speaking to strangers – whether in small groups or to larger audiences – continues to rank number one on the list of greatest fears. Still, well-developed networking skills are essential to business and professional effectiveness.

In this program you will learn how to:

• Build and maintain a strong network
• Create an elevator pitch to position yourself solidly in the minds of new contacts
• Make valuable contacts quickly at meetings and events
• Join into an existing conversation (even if the group is all strangers!)
• Remember names more effectively
• Establish rapport that opens the door for future contact

Achieving world class customer satisfaction

How do the best public sector organizations treat their customers? With tight budgets and few opportunities to add new staff, departments are under increasing pressure to achieve more with fewer resources. High customer satisfaction can help! Satisfied customers require less hand holding than do other customers. In addition, highly satisfied customers are more forgiving when delays and errors do occur. In this informative session you will learn powerful techniques for creating satisfied customers and improving department performance while adding to your know-how and employability.

In this seminar, Robin Johnston will teach you:

• How to determine what customers really want
• Ways to defuse volatile customer situations
• Turning upset customers into permanent advocates
• Simple methods of monitoring and improving on customer satisfaction scores.

Introduction to business process improvement

In the years since Michael Hammer and James Champy literally wrote the book on “Reengineering the Corporation,” much progress has been made in how businesses of all sizes review and improve their operations.

In this session you will learn the difference between some of the most popular business process improvement methodologies, and understand how to determine which one to use in various situations. You will learn the components of planning an improvement project as well as the steps used in installing an improved process.

In this workshop you will learn:

• Re-engineering, continuous improvement or benchmarking: which is right for your business?
• Identifying and improving core, management, and enabling processes
• How to develop process maps.

Super secrets of breakthrough retailing

Full day seminar – 6 hours

How are the best retailers attracting and retaining their customers during this tough economy? With tight budgets and increasing pressure to drive revenue and produce measurable results, marketers need to find ways to bring more customers to the store and encourage them to spend more money, more often. Learn the powerful, proven tools that successful retail managers are using to drive top-line revenue and bottom-line profits with limited budgets.

In this seminar, lead generation expert Robin Johnston will teach you:

• Low-cost promotion techniques that drive retail traffic and increase sales
• How to become an expert resource that gets quoted by the media
• Why some retailers seem to have a “knack” for getting free publicity and how you can, too
• How to serve your community and generate traffic for your retail business at the same time
• Methods for cutting costs when using traditional media
• What to do to turn your own employees into one of your greatest promotional assets.

Strategic planning: Integrating values, vision & mission

Series of six 3-4-hour sessions

This Strategic Planning workshop series is intended for organizations that have become “stuck” in their growth. Through it, companies, departments or work-groups can assess their resources and evaluate their current situation, set priorities for accomplishment, and learn to implement an efficient marketing system to achieve their business development goals.

» Segment I – Company Values & Current Situation Assessment

The lead segment in the series is a fundamental starting point for reorganization within a corporate, departmental or work-group setting. The lack of a clear understanding of and appreciation for key contributors’ personal values, and the consideration of those values within high-performing teams prevents many organizations from achieving peak performance.

In the first of two sessions in this segment, the personal values of individual team members are uncovered, discussed, and meshed together to form a group Values Statement. This is then considered through a comprehensive review and evaluation of the reorganizing entity’s current situation.

Session 1

Introduction: Session Leader
Company values: Introduction, Review of individual values, group values exercise
Situation assessment: Founding essence, history, present situation

Session 2

Situation assessment: Environmental scan, customer / competitor analysis, strengths & weaknesses, opportunities & threats, critical issues

Segment I conclusion

» Segment II – Vision & mission

The second segment in the series, Vision & Mission, begins by using the output from the Company Values & Current Situation Assessment sessions to develop a sketch of the ideal future situation. Groups then work through the process of planning an appropriate Mission, and uncovering and mitigating potential obstacles to its accomplishment.

Session 3

Company vision: Visioning introduction, vision exercise
Company mission: Mission introduction, personal missions, company mission creation

Session 4

Living the vision: Introduction, force field analysis, implementation exercise, anchoring exercise

Segment II conclusion

» Segment III – Values, Vision and Mission in Action!

In this final segment, we will take the material developed in the first two segments and learn how to translate it into a tangible set of actionable business development activities. While it is possible that a number of tactics can be well defined during the session itself, the intention is that groups will allocate time and resources to complete a comprehensive business development plan after the series concludes.

Session 5

Values, vision and mission in action: Introduction, core marketing message, CMM creation, prospect acquisition introduction, prospect acquisition exercise

Session 6

Values, vision and mission in action: Prospect acquisition (continued), client conversion exercise, performance measurements introduction, performance measurements exercise

Segment III conclusion

Workshop series conclusion