Instagram is a platform that has demonstrated tremendous growth. In fact, the Instagram community grew to over 400 million users this past year. 

Despite its impressive reach, many business owners are still overlooking its marketing potential. As a result, they’re leaving high levels of engagement, brand awareness, and even profit on the table. 

But why?

In just 12 months, we used Instagram to gain 400,000 followers for Foundr — which translated to over 70,000 email subscribers. At the end of that period, we were averaging 30,000 call-to-action clicks per month from Instagram, and converting 30% of the users who landed on our website from our Instagram page into email subscribers.

We’ve seen it work … now it’s time for you to get in on the action. Here are four ways to use Instagram to build your business and brand.

4 Surprising Ways You Can Use Instagram to Build Your Business & Brand

1) Grow your Instagram following with strategic partnerships.

One of the biggest frustrations for most marketers delving into Instagram is that they don’t know how to build a following. After all, without a large number of followers, how can it possibly be an effective marketing channel?

But based on our experience since launching the Foundr Instagram account, growing your following is not as complicated as it might seem. There’s one tactic in particular that we used to quickly grow our Instagram following to 10,000 in just a couple of weeks: partnering with other Instagram accounts.

To start, create a list of popular Instagram accounts that reach your target audience. When you’ve found them, you can then partner with them for what they call “shout-outs,” which can be either paid or unpaid. Here’s how the two differ …

Unpaid Shout-outs

Unpaid shout-outs are usually called “share for share.” You share one another’s content, and you both encourage your followers to follow the other account. You get access to their audience, and they get access to yours.

To start with free shout-outs, focus on accounts that have similar reach as yours. The owners of those accounts will be more receptive to a share for share partnership, since both sides will benefit about the same.

But if you want to broaden your reach to accounts with bigger pools of followers, you may want to try paying for shout-outs. Here is an example of an unpaid shout-out partnership we did with Rich20Something, an Instagram account with a similar reach to Foundr’s:

We each shared an image from the other account and encouraged our followers to follow them, too.

Paid Shout-outs

If you don’t have a budget for social media, you may want to skip over this portion, but paid shout-outs can be a great way to gain thousands of followers — and gain them fast.

With paid shout-outs, you’re aiming for accounts that have much higher numbers and a strong level of engagement (accounts where 2-3% of their followers “like” their content).

Foundr spent about $100 on shout-outs in the first two weeks of our Instagram account, and it was $100 well spent. This became instrumental in getting us to our first 10,000 followers.

Make sure to ask for a call-to-action in the shout-out, in which the account owner is actually asking their followers to take action on something. We’ve found the best strategy is to ask for their followers to follow your Instagram account.

As you begin to gain your first few thousand followers, you can begin to drive those followers to your website, engage with your brand, and subscribe to your email list.

2) Build your email list by converting your followers into subscribers.

As you know, email marketing is crucial to a thriving business. Your email list is made up of your customers. These are your fans — the people who will purchase your products and services.

Instagram has been an important driver of email subscribers for Foundr, converting around 15,000–30,000 followers into subscribers each month, depending on our promotions.

If you’re familiar with Instagram’s limitations, you may be wondering how this is possible. After all, Instagram doesn’t allow links in photo descriptions.

That’s where a well-crafted bio comes into play.

Many businesses find it difficult to get followers to click the links in their bios because the tendency is to overload bios with … well, junk. Break that pattern by writing your bio like you’d write a Tweet: short, useful, and packed with intention.

Here’s what we’ve chosen as our bio:

There’s a very simple secret: Within your bio, use a very specific call-to-action with a memorable URL that takes users to a unique page on your website.

Then convert those visitors by ensuring the page they land on is packed with value. We go out of our way to ensure we deliver a ton of value to each visitor who clicks our bio link. The URL in our bio brings users to a page that both enrolls them in a free course and offers them two PDFs packed with actionable content.

Once you’ve put the systems into place to not only entice your followers to click on the link in your bio, but also to lead them to insanely useful content, start driving followers to your bio by including calls-to-action in your image descriptions. Your photo caption leads to your bio, your bio leads to your link, your link leads to a huge offer of value.

3) Create compelling content that’s worthy of being shared by others.

An Instagram strategy that includes creating beautiful, easily digestible content that not only resonates with your audience but also drives them to share and interact with your brand is crucial, and can explode your growth.

A great Instagram post can be boiled down to a formula, and requires two elements: beautiful imagery and engaging text.

Beautiful Imagery

Choose images that tell a story or elicit emotion. This image we shared is not only compelling and interesting, but it also elicits emotion and therefore drives engagement from our followers. 

What this will look like for your business will depend on your industry, but think outside of posting images of your own products and services. Posting about yourself repeatedly on social media is like being that person at a party who talks constantly about themselves. Also, beware of copyright issues. If the image is not your own, request permission to use it or source non-attribution-required photos. (Check out this awesome list of royalty-free stock photos here.)

Engaging Text

While you don’t have to add text to your Instagram posts, doing so packs a punch that a plain image won’t provide.

Text can range anywhere from a compelling question to a powerful, motivational quote. We encourage you to experiment with the latter, as a study conducted by Jonah Berger, author of the book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, shows that “high arousal” emotion causes us to want to share far more than things that do not elicit such emotion.

To create a stunning visual using text, you don’t need to hire a designer. In fact, we use an app called WORDSWAG to quickly and easily create images like the one you see below. (If you’re an Android user, try Phonto.) 

One of our images was even shared by the rap artist LL Cool J:

While you’ll notice that someone cropped out our logo and added their own attribution in the photo shared above, we always make sure to include our branding as part of all of our posts.

For example, if we post an image with a popular quote, we’ll include our logo at the bottom of the image.

This small step has not only built brand awareness to our Instagram followers, but it also spreads as our Instagram content is shared on other platforms.

After you’ve nailed your Instagram content, and you have systems in place that will generate followers and email subscribers, it’s important to ensure that your followers are engaging with you to maximize your reach.

4) Foster a community of highly engaged followers.

Engagement comes in many forms, including followers sharing your content, interacting with it some way, tagging their friends, and clicking on your calls-to-action. In this section we’ll go over some of our tactics for fostering a community of highly engaged followers on Instagram.

Post When Your Followers Will Actually See Your Content

Have you ever posted something to social media that you think will do really well, only to be met with crickets? Nobody liked post, nobody shared it with their friends, and the only comments you landed were from spambots.

While it’s easy to assume you miscalculated the potential of the post, it could just be that you posted the update at the wrong time. After all, networks like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are simply feeds: the newer the content (with some exceptions), the higher up it will be in your followers’ feeds.

To avoid this happening again, develop a pipeline of automated updates to be posted when your followers are actually going to see them. We use Iconosquare to find out when most of our followers are online. The service analyzes your followers’ activities and reports back with the best time to schedule your posts.

Posting when the largest portion of your followers are online will ensure your content is working overtime for you.

Ask for Engagement

A lot of brands will start Instagram accounts and become frustrated when people aren’t engaging with their photos.

It seems so obvious and simple, but sometimes actually asking for your audience to engage makes all the difference. You can either include the action you want your followers to take as part of the image itself, or include it in the description of your post.

The best tactic? Both … as long as it’s specific and actionable. For example, ask them to “double tap” if they agree with your post, or tell them to tag a friend like we did in this post:

Instagram is a social platform with tremendous potential for businesses in almost any industry. And if you use Instagram strategically, it can have a significant impact on your reach, brand awareness, and ultimately the revenue of your company.

Have you tried any of the tips above? Let us know what’s working for your business in the comments section below.

“Am I spending too much time on this?”

For marketers, this isn’t an uncommon question to struggle with. And after questioning myself one too many times, I decided to conduct some research to determine how much time it takes the average marketer to complete a routine task like creating an email, building a list, organizing analytics, etc. 

Turns out, the data was lacking. So I conducted a simple survey to get a rough estimate of how much time marketers spend on the following five routine tasks:

1. Building and maintaining marketing list
2. Monitoring, responding and analyzing social media
3. Creating and sending email
4. Building landing pages
5. Collecting, organizing and analyzing marketing data.

Let’s take a look at the results …

How Much Time Do Marketers Spend on Routine Tasks?

According to the survey, the average marketer spends around 16 hours a week on routine tasks. Assuming a 45-hour workweek (because what marketer really works a 40-hour week), the average marketer spends almost a third of their time completing repetitive tasks.

The two biggest offenders? We found that creating and sending email takes marketers an average of 3.48 hours a week, and collecting, organizing, and analyzing marketing data from different sources take an average of 3.55 hours a week.

While much repetitive work is unavoidable, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try your best to reduce it. Let’s say you make routine tasks one forth of your time each week as opposed to a one third. The time savings would look something like this:

Yearly Time Savings = [Current Time Spent – New Time Spent] * 52
YTS = (16 Current Time Spent – 11.25 New Time Spent) * 52
YTS = 247 hours

Nearly 250 hours saved a year. Imagine what you could do with 250 additional hours. Whether that’s a website redesign, a new AdWords strategy, hosting an event, or just getting some R&R, a small reduction in time spent on a routine task can have a huge impact on your performance.

3 Tips to Help Marketers Save More Time

Every marketer is different. The demands of the job, the technology available, and the size of the team all have a huge impact on how you can save time. But if you focus on simplifying, delegating, or even removing some routine tasks from your day-to-day, it’s very possible to work a little smarter.

Since reporting and email are the biggest offenders, we’re going to focus these tips there.

Tip #1: Identify the most important metrics. 

Want to reduce the amount of data you’re forced to collect? Stop watching any metrics that you, or your team, don’t make decisions based on.

If “average time on page” is an interesting stat but has virtually no effect on your weekly decisions, then remove it from your reporting. Looking at unnecessary metrics takes time and energy that could be better spent focusing on more important indicators. 

Need help identifying and organizing key performance indicators? Take a look at our handy KPI tracking spreadsheet.

Tip #2: Invest in reporting software.

Disparate marketing systems cause a huge pain in terms of reporting. Invest in software that makes reporting easy or take the time to master integrations that pass data between systems.

The end goal of any data and analytics program is to achieve more accurate, closed-loop reporting. Closed-loop marketing is when you can tie every single lead, customer, and dollar back to the marketing initiative that created them. If you are new to closed-loop marketing or need to identify issues check out this introductory guide. 

Tip #3: Get less creative.

The next big offender is the workhorse of most marketers: email.

My big time-saving trick here? Get less creative. I know it sounds silly, but it’s true. Clone successful email templates, reuse text from the landing page in the email, and stick with subject lines that work. If you are ever debating between two options just use an A/B test and move on.

Email is essential to get right but make changes slowly and thoughtfully. Don’t reinvent the wheel with each send.

In the past couple years, there has been an explosion of different marketing software that can help solve almost any problem you run into. But finding out which ones are worth the investment can turn into a time waster, too. To help, try my “back-of-the-napkin” formula:

Is this software worth it? = [Time Saved *Hourly Rate (Salary / 2080)] – Platform Cost

If you decide to start evaluating different marketing platforms use this marketing automation RFP (Request for Proposal) kit to help you think through the various components of a successful solution evaluation.  

How to Leverage Your Extra Time

I have often struggled with managing my time. That is, until one of my mentors gave me the following chart to help me prioritize tasks.

	Important	Not Important
Urgent	Must Do!	Might do.
Not Urgent	Procrastinate	Waste of time

More often than not people end up just working on what’s urgent, not what’s important. Weekly routine task often end up falling into the category of urgent and not important. This chart helps to prevent that. 

What tasks do you spend the most time on? What would you do if you had 250 extra hours a year? Share your thoughts below.

This post originally appeared on Agency Post. To read more content like this, subscribe to Agency Post.

With the stress of shopping off our backs until next year, we’re taking time to reflect on the success of some of this holiday season’s top advertisements.

This year, these brands mastered the art of crafting ads that evoked good cheer, the holiday spirit, and even some seasonal disgust.

While many of the best ads came from the U.K., where the holiday advertising season is their own version of the Super Bowl, others were more focused on making us laugh at the silliness of the season.

Check out some of our favorite festive ads of the year below.

The 10 Best Holiday Ads of 2015

1) Harvey Nichols | Avoid #GiftFace

Do you have to mentally prepare yourself when opening that present from a certain relative each year? Harvey Nichols wants you to avoid “gift face,” and shows off just how painful the unwrapping of presents can be.  

2) John Lewis | Man on the Moon

John Lewis doesn’t disappoint this year in an ad about loneliness and how important simple acts of kindness are around the holidays. 

3) Aldi | Now This Is Christmas

The realities of the holiday season are typically ignored in advertising, but this commercial makes it a point to remind us that Christmas can be an extreme sport. 

4) Kit Kat | Christmas Break 

This blank ad gives viewers back their sanity during the holidays. 

5) Temptations | Sorry for the Holidays

 Our enthusiasm for the holidays can be overwhelming, especially for our fluffier friends. 

6) The Spanish Lottery | The Greatest Prize Is Sharing

The main character, a security guard, brings joy to his co-workers by using the factory’s mannequins for playful displays and game, and they repay him by sharing their lottery winnings.

 

7) Sainsbury’s | Mog’s Christmas Calamity

Mog, a popular children’s book character in the U.K., gets into mischief and almost ruins Christmas. 

8) Norton | Bah-Humbug

This series of three videos, which are running online alongside native content, follow Santa and his son Kris Jr. dealing with a computer virus — a “bah-humbug” — that destroyed the naughty or nice list. 

9) Coca-Cola | A Bridge for Santa

A father works to make his son’s Christmas wish come true. 

10) BBC One | Sprout Boy

This charming piece follows a sprout, looking for a group of friends to share the holidays with. 

What were your favorite ads of the holiday season? Let us know in the comments below.

This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Sales Blog. To read more content like this, subscribe to Sales.

Salespeople don’t hold all of the cards anymore. With a quick Google search and some browsing, people can gather as much information about a product as a salesperson has.

As a result, it’s harder for salespeople to demonstrate their expertise. And if they can’t demonstrate expertise, it becomes all the more difficult to establish credibility and eventually build trust. And without credibility and trust, a salesperson will likely lose the interest of their potential buyer … or worse, never really gain their interest. 

So what should salespeople do? Simple: Invest in listening. Trouble is, listening can be very difficult. Too often, salespeople are waiting for their turn to talk or thinking about what to say next, instead of truly listening to the person on the other end.

To eliminate this habit, I’ve taught the reps who have reported to me over the years a very specific skill: active listening . 

What is Active Listening?

Active listening isn’t only applicable to sales, nor is it a new thing. Dr. Carl Rogers, one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research, originated the concept of “reflective listening” in the 1940s. In the following years, Richard Farson, a student of his, renamed it “active listening.”

Another student of Rogers, Dr. Thomas Gordon, a three-time Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, is largely responsible for popularizing the strategy. Gordon’s company, Gordon Training International, has taught thousands of people to build more effective relationships through active listening, among other skills. 

While I haven’t received instruction directly from Gordon Training, I’ve stuck pretty close to their definition of the concept. To make it simple, I teach active listening as a four-step process:

1. Truly listen to the prospect. 
2. Feed back the content and feeling of the prospect’s words. 
3. Confirm you heard the prospect correctly. 
4. Ask a relevant follow up question to further clarify your understanding of their situation.

1) Truly listen to the prospect.

Sales reps are often too busy talking to listen. Even if they are tuned in, they’re often just listening for a specific word or challenge that tips them off as to whether the prospect needs their product. 

Salespeople who do this are not much different than a dog waiting for a command. (Yes, I might have just called you a dog.) When salespeople do this, prospects can sense it, and they come to the conclusion that the rep simply wants to sell them something regardless of whether they need it or not. It’s a downward spiral that usually leads to nowhere.

But the best salespeople listen differently. They forget about the script (and maybe even their own agenda), and really listen to the words and feelings that a prospect is conveying in their language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language. By observing auditory, visual, and physical clues as well as the prospect’s words, a salesperson can truly begin to understand the plight of their prospect and put themselves in the buyer’s shoes.

And this type of listening can make a huge difference by encouraging prospects to open up more, and fostering trust and commitment. So when you’re on the phone or in a meeting with a prospect, ignore the distractions around you, throw out the script, stop worrying about what you’re going to say next, and really pay attention.  

2) Feed back what you just heard back to the prospect.

After a prospect makes a statement that reveals something important about their challenges or what they’re looking for, feed it back to them so they can hear it from you. Your goal with this step is to feed back your understanding; that is to say, your best guess at what’s going on with the other person.

Sometimes, this can be done non-verbally, as in an episode of The Office. But without the benefit of face-to-face presence, inside sales reps must do this verbally.

I usually show salespeople how to use one of the three approaches described below:

• Repeat what you heard verbatim. This is the easiest route, because the prospect will hear exactly what they just said and can either confirm their meaning or clarify their statement. But be careful not to overuse this approach with a prospect as they might start to doubt your understanding. (Parrots don’t actually understand, right?)
• Paraphrase what you heard. This is a better approach than simple repetition of what they said. By paraphrasing, you can condense what they said into something more concise. When you do this, your prospect knows you listened because you internalized their speech enough to summarize what they said. However, avoid oversimplifying and leaving out important details — this might shake the buyer’s confidence in you. 
• Put what you just heard into your own words. This is the best tactic of all. By putting what you just heard into your words, you’re showing your prospect that you have a framework for understanding situations like theirs and can empathize with their struggle. Just be careful not to drift too far from their language. Use unfamiliar vocabulary or terms sparingly, and make sure to explain them when you do. 

By feeding back what you just heard, you’ll make an immediate impression on your prospect. Since most people are not great listeners by nature, your prospect will be appreciative of your ability to listen effectively and summarize. 

Convincing your prospect that they’ve been heard and understood is the most important outcome of this step in the process. But, don’t leave that to chance …

3) Confirm that you’ve heard them correctly.

This critical step is often overlooked. After you’ve paraphrased what your prospect has said, simply ask “Did I communicate that effectively?” or “Do you believe I understand what you have shared with me?” If the prospect says “no” you now have an opportunity to clarify your understanding by asking “Could you clarify for me what I might have missed or got wrong?”

Notice how those questions create an opening for them to give you honest feedback. In contrast, I don’t recommend saying “Does that make sense?” or “Could you explain that better?” or any other question that puts the blame on the prospect for not communicating effectively.

Michelle Adams, VP of Gordon Training says, “When you nail it, you know it and the other person tells you that you did by saying things like: ‘Yes! That’s it!’ or ‘Exactly, you’ve nailed it.’ Or they will begin nodding their head emphatically. If you miss on your active listening , they will tell you that too with: ‘Well, no, it’s not that. It’s more like this … ’ or they will look at you like you’re nuts.”

The following video from Gordon Training shows this step in action.

Once you get good at this part of the process, you’ll be able to create a confirmation bias in your prospect’s mind. Studies have found that we like to surround ourselves with people who think like we do. By repeating what this person has said and then confirming that you’re on the same page, the confirmation bias starts to form, and trust begins to develop.

4) Ask a relevant follow up question.

After you feed back what you’ve heard and confirm that you understand the prospect, your next step is to ask a relevant follow up question.

Resist the temptation to ask closed-ended questions that might make the prospect think that you’re only interested in making the sale. Instead, I recommend asking an open-ended question that encourages your prospect to share more about their goals, challenges, and current plans.

As Saul McLeod points out, open-ended questions allow the person to express what they think in their own words. If you ask the right question, prospects might come to the right conclusions themselves, solving their own problem, or at least starting to believe that a solution exists to help solve their problems. They might even conclude that your solution is the right one. In addition, by getting your prospect to continue thinking critically about their situation (out loud), you stand a better chance of to uncovering the compelling reasons your prospect will (or won’t) buy from you.

Given that HubSpot sells a complex product and methodology that most companies might not know they need (especially in the early days), I added this fourth step to my active listening process. As we tried to convince marketers that they needed to adopt a new way of marketing, I found it valuable to dig deeper into a prospect’s needs with relevant follow up questions, using our qualification framework as a guide.

Examples of active listening

While not sales-related, a great example of active listening comes from one of my favorite shows: Everybody Loves Raymond. Curious to see and hear what active listening looks like in action? Check out these two clips:

5 Uses For Active Listening

Here are a few scenarios in which active listening is particularly useful, and how to apply it in these circumstances.

1) Addressing resistance in the beginning of a call.

I advise salespeople to use active listening early in the sales process to communicate to prospects that they’re there to really listen and help them — not just sell them something.

Here’s what a very early conversation might sound like.

Prospect: I don’t really need help with X.

Salesperson: So, you’re feeling okay with X and aren’t looking for any help with it. Can you say more about that?

Prospect: Well … I don’t have a lot of time.

Salesperson: Seems like I caught you in the middle of something and your time is short.

Prospect: Yeah, but I guess I have a few minutes.

Salesperson: Okay. I often hear one of a few things in situations like yours: A, B, and sometimes C. If any of those are relevant, I have some ideas I could share with you that you might find valuable. Maybe we could talk for a few minutes now and schedule another meeting when you have more time?

Too often, salespeople rush to spit out another question or pitch their value. By repeating back what a prospect expressed (both words and feelings) and asking for clarification, you show that you’re actively listening to them. This clears the way to begin asking questions or positioning value.

2) Identifying compelling reasons for change.

Perhaps the best time to use active listening is when a prospect shares emotion about a challenge they’re having.

Here’s an example:

Prospect: I’m very frustrated that we didn’t achieve our goal of A this year. I thought about it all last month. This really set us back. Worse, I’m just stuck on what to do next year.

[Step 1: Listening]

Salesperson: Hmmm. I see. I can see how that would be frustrating. [Step 2: Feed back]

Prospect. Yeah.

Salesperson: So, it sounds like it’s really important to you that you achieve goal A this year. It really set you back when you didn’t achieve it this year and you’re at a loss on what to do differently next year. [Step 2: Feed back] Did I get that right? [Step 3: Confirm understanding]

Prospect: Yes. Exactly right.

Salesperson: Well, what are you considering doing next year? [Step 4: Ask relevant follow up question]

Prospect: Well, we’ve consider implementing plan B. But, I’m just not sure it’ll work given we don’t know how to execute plan B yet. We just don’t have the right skills within our team.

Salesperson: Have you considered getting some advice from someone who has implemented plan B at other companies like yours?

Prospect: That seems like it’d be a good idea.

3) Recapping an exploratory call.

While it’s never too early to restate the goals and challenges that a prospect has shared with you, empathize, confirm your understanding, and probe further, I find that the end of an exploratory conversation is a great time to showcase that you’ve heard them throughout the call.

Using HubSpot’s qualification framework, I often summarize what I’ve learned from the conversation like so:

Salesperson: We’re coming up on time. We can schedule more time if it makes sense. But, at this point, I suggest we review what we’ve discussed today.

Prospect: That’d be great.

Salesperson: As I understand it, your current goal is A. In order to achieve your goal, you implemented plan B — a plan that didn’t work this year despite your best efforts. You anticipate that challenge C may, once again, get in the way of implementing plan B and achieving goal A within timeline D and budget E.

Prospect: That’s exactly right. Impressive recap, actually.

Salesperson: We also discussed how plan F — a component of our solution — might be able to help you overcome challenge C.

Prospect: Well … I’m not sure I completely understand plan F.

Salesperson: Okay. We went through some of the aspects of plan F, but I agree that we haven’t fully covered it. In our next call, would you like to go into more depth on plan F, really sketch it out, and make sure that we’re in full agreement that it’ll help you achieve goal A?

Prospect: That sounds great. Thank you for your help so far.

Salesperson: You’re welcome. When would you like to schedule our next call?

4) Addressing objections.

The best way to avoid an objection is to anticipate and address it proactively. Effective application of active listening can help you do just that.

Nonetheless, it’s rare that you can anticipate and address every objection before closing time. Not to worry — active listening shines here too. Here’s an example.

Prospect: I’m really concerned about plan F. I worry it won’t work well for our team.

Salesperson: Got it. We certainly don’t want to get you started if you’re not clear on how you’re going to be successful with the plan. [Step 2: Feed back] Are there specific things about plan F that you don’t think will work? [Step 4: Relevant follow up question]

Prospect: Yes. Mostly, I’m just not sure we have the right people to implement G.

Salesperson: Okay. We talked about Mary potentially doing G, but you’re concerned that won’t work? [Step 2: Feed back]

Prospect: Right.

Salesperson: Is there anyone else on your current team that you think can do G? Or do you think that we could carve out time for Mary so that she can learn how to do G? [Step 4: Ask relevant follow up question]

Prospect: I think it’s possible to teach Mary, but is there a way that you could just do G for us in the meantime?

Salesperson: That’s outside of the scope we defined for our work, but let’s revisit. We’ve certainly done that for other clients and can jump in until you’ve identified an internal person to handle it for you.

5) Closing business.

Dave Kurlan invented my favorite closing technique: “The Inoffensive Close.” If you’ve done everything correctly during your sales process, closing should be something that just happens. if you need a little nudge, the Inoffensive Close is the simplest way to ask for the business.

As Dave describes in his book Baseline Selling, there are three questions involved in the Inoffensive Close:

1. Do you believe I understand your issues, your problems, and your concerns?
2. Do you believe I/we have the expertise to solve your problem effectively?
3. Would you like my/our help?

As you can see, listening during the sales process as well as confirming understanding are necessary steps if you want to use this closing approach. 

But even when you’ve run a great sales process, prospects don’t always answer with an emphatic “yes” after each of these questions. That’s when active listening can be very handy, once again. 

Prospect: I’m not quite positive that you have the right expertise. I’m concerned that you’re not the best provider for a company like ours.

Salesperson: Okay. Let me make sure I understand. You’re concerned we wouldn’t be the best provider. [Step 2: Feed back] Is there a competitor of ours that you think might have more experience in your industry? [Step 4: Relevant follow up question]

Prospect: Well, not so much in the industry, but they’ve had more experience with cultures like ours. At least, that’s my opinion.

Salesperson: So it’s more about the culture of your organization as opposed to your industry? [Step 3: Confirm understanding]

Prospect: Yes. Exactly.

Salesperson: But it sounds like the rest of the team might disagree with you a bit? [Step 4: Relevant follow up question]

Prospect: A bit would be an understatement. Some of my colleagues speak very highly of the work you’ve already done for us.

Salesperson: I see. So, it sounds like my company has some mega fans amongst your team. And we certainly have done a lot to help them over the years. But you think that our competitor is better suited to help you, given the culture of your organization. Would it help if I could demonstrate to you what we’ve done for other companies with similar cultures to yours?

Prospect: Yes. I think that would make the decision a lot easier.

Salesperson: If I can do that effectively, would you hire us to help you instead of the other firm? 

Prospect: Yes. 

As you can see from these examples, active listening is a skill that can be used in almost any stage of the sales process, from the first interaction all the way to closing the deal.

Practicing Active Listening

While active listening is a relatively simple skill to understand, it is difficult to master. The good news is that as with any skill, excellence comes with practice.

The nice thing about active listening is that you’ll know it when you’ve learned to do it effectively. Your prospects will tell you if you’re on the right track. But I find that new salespeople need a safe environment where they can practice active listening . With this in mind, I asked a few HubSpot sales managers to share some tips for coaching active listening .

Here are a few from Greg Brown, a top sales performer turned sales manager: 

If you feel yourself tuning out in the middle of a conversation or thinking about your next question or statement, do something to get out of your own head. Tap the desk or snap a rubber band on your wrist. Turn off all distractions including cell phones, extra tabs in your browser, your email and chat clients. 

If you find yourself wanting to ask a question or make a statement, write it down so you can ask it later. This will free you up so you can listen to what the prospect is saying.

Jen Cooley, a HubSpot sales manager, plays a fun game with her new salespeople in order to teach them how to use this four-step active listening process. It’s had an impressive impact on her team:

Of the four steps to active listening , I find that #2 and #3 are fairly easy but #1 and #4 are more difficult to teach.

One of my favorite exercises to run is a “hot potato” game. I describe a real sales scenario and we do a role play. I start the role play by making a statement and then tossing the potato (or any object that I have handy) to someone in the room. When you get the potato, you have to keep the conversation going by feeding back and asking a relevant follow up question. After completing these steps, the rep then tosses the potato to another salesperson. We repeat this until we have the prospect’s complete story.

Usually, different people in the room hear different details because they’re listening more effectively. As the story unfolds and those details become critical to understand, the rest see the importance of step #1. They also learn different ways to ask relevant follow up questions, helping them improve at step #4.

As a result of these group exercises, I’ve seen some significant changes in individual performance. It dramatically improves reps’ ability to qualify effectively and tailor our services to the individual prospect’s needs.

Sales call film review provides another great opportunity to teach active listening . Dan Macadam, another HubSpot sales manager, does this frequently with his team. Here’s how he describes its impact:

When we review calls, I often hear my reps completely misunderstanding a prospect’s questions or statements. They end up taking the conversation in a direction that loses the prospect’s interest.

When I hear this, I rewind back to the part where they misheard something important. Then, I’ll ask the rep to repeat back to me what the prospect said. We’ll talk about why this phrase was important and how the conversation might have went differently had they practiced active listening .

As a result of this process, we’ve uncovered missed opportunities a number of times, enabling the rep to to get the opportunity back on track on the next call. I’ve even had salespeople call prospects right away, apologize, explain that they think they missed something important, and then have the dialog they should have had. We’ve won quite a few deals this way. And just as importantly, I’m teaching my salespeople how to use active listening in their future sales calls.

In a world where buyers don’t rely on salespeople for information, salespeople need to establish expertise and build trust quickly and with every interaction. The mutual understanding that active listening enables is one of the best ways to earn and keep that trust throughout the sales process.

If you begin employing active listening in your interactions and your sales increase as a result, share your story in the comments. In the meanwhile, if you need more encouragement before you start employing active listening in your sales calls, maybe Abbott and Costello can provide it to you. They gifted us with not only one of the most memorable comedy skits of all time, but probably the worst attempt at active listening ever: 

With active listening, reps can start more conversations, uncover challenges and goals, handle objections, and close more effectively. When in doubt, close your mouth and open your ears.

Thank you to Michelle Adams, Mike Renahan, and Emma Snider for their contributions to this post.

When you think of Santa Claus, we’re willing to bet that words like “jolly,” “bearded,” and “rosy-cheeked” come to mind. After all, that’s the image of Santa many of us — regardless of age — have grown to know and love, right?

The mall Santa that our parents forced us to take an annual photo with (despite the trauma it caused). The Santa we watched Tim Allen transform into in the first installment of The Santa Clause trilogy. And the Santa we’ve seen used in countless holiday advertisements — from Coca-Cola to Kodak. 

Below, we’ve put together a festive timeline of Santa-inspired print and video ads, dating back to the early 1900s. Check ’em out to see how different companies over the past century have used Santa Claus to sell more products.

24 Jolly Advertisements Starring Santa Claus Throughout History

1900 – 1950 Advertisements

1) 1915: White Rock

Image Credit: White Rocking

This joyful depiction of Santa Claus carrying a sleigh full of White Rock water and various toys appeared in the 1915 issue of the San Francisco Examiner.

2) 1919: Murad Turkish Cigarettes

Image Credit: Vintage Product Ads

This sinister-looking Santa Claus is shown smoking a cigarette in this vintage advertisement … but it’s not just any cigarette. According to the ad copy, Murad’s Turkish Cigarettes are what all the “grown-ups” are choosing for Christmas. 

3) 1935: Whitman’s Chocolates

Image Credit: Bamboo Trading

Another classic depiction. This chocolate advertisement shows a simple, familiar Santa — with a festive piece of holly attached to his otherwise uniform hat.

4) 1938: Essolube

Image Credit: Etsy

This French motor oil advertisement from Essolube shows Santa Claus delivering a sack of oil to eager automobile owners. The ad copy translates to “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for Your Car.”

5) 1940: Bell Telephone System

Image Credit: Bamboo Trading

In this holiday advertisement from Bell Telephone Systems, a phone-shaped Santa Claus is shown “ringing in the holidays.” It’s not directly selling a product, though — the ad aims to send Bell Telephone System’s warm wishes to its customers.

6) 1948: Time Magazine Subscription

Image Credit: Bamboo Trading

In this late 1940s advertisement, Santa is shown piloting an airplane to deliver magazine subscriptions to all. The plane is embellished with various headlines, and the ad copy highlights their “special Christmas rates.”

7) 1949: Prince Albert Smoking Tobacco

Image Credit: Bamboo Trading

Santa is smoking again. This vintage ad includes a twinkle-eyed, rosy-cheeked image of Old Saint Nick promoting the gift that “says ‘Merry Christmas’ with every puff”: Camel Cigarettes. 

1951 – 2000 Advertisements

8) 1954: Coca-Cola

Image Credit: Bamboo Trading

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always loved Coca-Cola’s warm, jolly portrayal of Santa Claus. This classic Coca-Cola ad features Santa Claus enjoying a “gift for his thirst” while he takes a break and puts down his sack of toys. 

9) 1956: Jell-O

Image Credit: Etsy

This fun advertisement for Jell-O shows Santa enjoying a few bites of the good stuff left out for him by the soundly sleeping child underneath the table. 

10) 1969: Hoover

Image Credit: Vintage Ads

You can almost hear the laughter in this classic, black-and-white display of Santa Claus showing off his Hoover appliances.

11) 1972: Kodak Pocket Instamatic Cameras

Image Credit: Etsy

“Say cheese, Santa!”

This cheerful advertisement shows Santa Claus gearing up to take a photo using the new Kodak Pocket camera — the perfect gift for “anyone that has a pocket,” according to the ad copy. 

12) 1977: Smith Corona

Image Credit: Bamboo Trading

In this late 1970s advertisement, Santa is seen showing off the Smith-Corona typewriter. (The perfect piece of technology for him to make his list — and check it twice.)

13) 1977: Quaker Sugar Cookies

Image Credit: Vintage Ad Browser

In this 1977 ad for old-fashioned holiday cookies, Santa Claus is shown spending some quality, fireside time with the Quaker Oats man himself. If you look closely, you’ll also notice a curious child trying to sneak a peek from behind the chair. 

14) 1983: Seagram’s Crown Royal

Image Credit: Vintage Ad Browser

This advertisement challenges viewers to look Santa in the eye and tell him they really deserve Crown Royal this year. It’s hard not to smile at the dubious look on Mr. Claus’ face. 

15) 1993: Got Milk?

Santa proves that you can’t have cookies without milk in this classic 1993 commercial.

16) 1993: BluBlocker Sunglasses

Image Credit: Bamboo Trading

Now here’s one we haven’t seen before: Santa in sunglasses. This clever advertisement positions Santa’s job in a different light — Old Saint Nick and his reindeers are “famous aviators.”

17) 1996: M&M’s

This 90s commercial from M&M is a timeless classic. We love the mutual look of surprise and shock on both Santa and the M&M’s faces when they bump into one another late at night. 

18) 1997: Hewlett Packard

Image Credit: Bamboo Trading

This HP advertisement shows Santa Paws … I mean Claus posing with a fury friend. Snowball, the featured dog, seems to be eager to join Santa as one of his reindeer. 

2001 – 2015 Advertisements

19) 2001: Decathlon

Image Credit: Coloribus

It’s hard not to laugh at this crew of Santa Claus staff members getting all suited up in their locker room. The chimney entrance game plan on the board is especially amusing. 

20) 2007: Niko Motion Detectors

Image Credit: This Is Not Advertising

Santa? A criminal? This advertisement pokes fun at Santa’s “breaking and entering” skills while highlighting the security of the company’s burglar-proof movement detectors. 

21) 2011: Pepsi

This Pepsi commercial pokes fun at Santa Claus’ well-known Coca-Cola advertisements by showing him sneaking a Pepsi on vacation in his red and white Hawaiian shirt.

22) 2011: iPhone

Santa shows off his tech-savvy side as he communicates with Siri in this amusing commercial for the iPhone 4S.

23) 2013: Chevrolet

Even when cleverly disguised as a car salesman, it’s easy to pick Santa out in a crowd. This ad pokes fun at the interaction this potential car buyer has when he realizes that he just might be buying a car from Santa himself. 

24) 2015: Reddi-Wip 

This quick-witted Reddi-Wip commercial shows a dad spraying on a whipped cream beard to disguise himself after being caught in the act by his son. Turns out his son is not buying it, as the real Santa Claus is standing right behind him. 

What 

In the beginning, Wistia had just a few guys working out of an apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. YouTube had recently launched, and the Wistia co-founders, Chris and Brendan, were determined to capitalize on the rising popularity of video. 

Growth was a little slower than they anticipated. It took them a year to make their first dollar, and then another year to sign on 10 customers.

But the folks at Wistia never gave up.

Nearly 10 years later, the company’s persistence has paid off handsomely. They have 200,000 customers using their video marketing platform. They’ve moved out of their apartment into a huge office. And their team has grown to nearly 60 people. 

In a world where only overnight success stories get most of the media’s attention, Wistia’s slower, determined path to success is one that doesn’t often get told.

Check out the following episode to hear from Wistia’s co-founder, Chris Savage, on what it’s really like to build a successful company. To listen in your browser, click the play button below, or subscribe on iTunes to download episodes directly to your phone:

Check out the latest recaps of The Growth Show episodes by clicking here.

Struggling to grow your business? 

You’re not alone. Customer acquisition is no easy undertaking … but it is important. 

The internet has completely changed how modern customers shop. As a result of this change in behavior, you need to reevaluate the way you’re marketing your business. No more billboards, direct-mail, radio spots, or carrier pigeons — you need a new strategy.

To help, I’ve detailed seven data-backed strategies for acquiring more customers in the infographic below. Check it out.  

What are your favorite strategies for attracting and closing new customers? Share them with us in the comments section below. 

Without fail, I almost always forget to put up an out-of-office email message when I’m headed out for vacation. It’s one of those things I remember just as I’m shutting down, or sometimes even after I’ve already left. (Heh, sorry guys.)

Since I usually throw them up in a hurry, I don’t take a lot of time to get creative. However, I remembered to put up my OOO message early this time around — so I decided to do some Googling for funny, clever, and snarky messages people have used in the past.

Here are some of the gems I found.

Download our free guide here for more tips on office etiquette and workplace productivity.

Funny Out-of-Office Messages

1) I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position.

Bold move.

2) Hi. I’m thinking about what you’ve just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.

Still waiting …

3) I am out of the office from mm/dd to mm/dd and will not be checking email. It’s likely your note will be swallowed in a sea of inbox banality, never to be seen again. If you require a response, please re-send your email after mm/dd.

Even then, not gonna guarantee anything.

4) On vacation. Hoping to win the lottery and never return.

So much for passion.

5) I am away from the office right now. Unfortunately, I will be back tomorrow.

Womp.

6) Some variation on this clever, funny approach from Josh Kopelman:

“I am currently out of the office on vacation.

I know I’m supposed to say that I’ll have limited access to email and won’t be able to respond until I return — but that’s not true. My blackberry will be with me and I can respond if I need to. And I recognize that I’ll probably need to interrupt my vacation from time to time to deal with something urgent.

That said, I promised my wife that I am going to try to disconnect, get away and enjoy our vacation as much as possible. So, I’m going to experiment with something new. I’m going to leave the decision in your hands:

• If your email truly is urgent and you need a response while I’m on vacation, please resend it to interruptyourvacation@firstround.com and I’ll try to respond to it promptly.
• If you think someone else at First Round Capital might be able to help you, feel free to email my assistant, Fiona (fiona@firstround.com) and she’ll try to point you in the right direction.

Otherwise, I’ll respond when I return…

Warm regards,
Josh”

Clever Out-of-Office Replies

7) If you’re reading this, Doc Brown was unable to make lightning strike the clock tower, and I’m stuck in 1985. I won’t be able to respond to emails or voicemail until 9ish on mm/dd, or until email is invented — whatever comes first.

This is the one I’m most bummed I didn’t think of first.

8) I am currently out of the office. I have a cell phone, but I will not be giving the number out. If you can guess the number, however, I will take your call.

I support the logic here.

9) 404: Marketing Manager not found.

The nerds will get it, at least. (Idea by Mary Beth Folger.)

10) I am on vacation from mm/dd to mm/dd. I will allow each sender one email. If you send me multiple emails, I will randomly delete your emails until it is pared down to one. Choose wisely. Please note that you already sent me one email.

Now that’s what I call an optimized email.

11) Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

12) The email server is unable to verify your server connection. Your message has not been delivered. Please restart your computer and try sending again.

If you receive this message a second time, I haven’t done my job.

Snarky Out-of-Office Messages

13) I’m not in the office right now but if it’s important, tweet me using #YOUAREINTERRUPTINGMYVACATION.

I’m actually more likely to check email than Twitter on vacation.

14) You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.

Just sayin’.

15) I am out of the office until mm/dd. Enjoy the quiet.

… possibly indefinitely.

16) I am currently out of the office and probably out-of-my-mind drunk. Enjoy your workweek.

Please drink responsibly.

17) I cannot handle your emails until I return on mm/dd/yyyy. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.

Honesty is the best policy.

What clever out-of-office replies have you come across? Please share with us in the comments.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in July 2014 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Content marketing is so much more than a business blog, but many forget that little fact when trying to boost their business. When the holidays roll around, there are only so many blogs you can write, right? This is when you really need the reminder that content actually means anything your customers will consume, including social media, videos, images, and even sounds.

Some of these ecommerce shops show you what content marketing is all about. Take a look at some of the hottest digital marketing this season has to offer.

Coach

This holiday video features the products in a festive light, yes, but there’s also a cute little guest that no one with a heart can ignore. The introduction of a mascot and a video that shows the little guy in all his scrunchy-faced glory is just about the smartest move this luxury brand could make. Who could possibly stop watching? And grabbing and keeping consumers’ attention is what content marketing is all about.

Target

Target’s Pinterest feed hits the exact tone necessary for the holiday season.

Gift guides are a great idea for prompting purchases, but buyers can’t always buy right away. Putting the online catalog on Pinterest helps users save ideas for later, like after the paycheck arrives. With all their gift ideas in one place, buyers are more likely to remember the gifts they’d planned to buy.

Burberry

An online gift guide is a great way to help new visitors to your site find things their loved ones will cherish.

Burberry does an absolutely stellar job with their stunning catalog. It’s filled with gorgeous shots of their most popular products, all in a very festive layout that makes shoppers excited about picking the perfect gift. Something like the exquisitely decorated shopping malls of the ’80s that once inspired a holiday purchasing furor.

Wayfair

Similar to a gift guide, Wayfair’s online magazine shows off their products in festive situation. The company keeps the online magazine all year long, however, and fills it with decorating advice, information about new products, and tips for finding the best deals. It’s a little more special at Christmas because it does serve to provide information about holiday decorations and gifts, and they really do know how to make the most of it.

Overstock.com

Email counts as marketing content, doesn’t it? Check out this email from Overstock.com, which was opened just a little too late.

The urgency a recipient felt when opening the email immediately upon receipt must have been incredible, and it strongly plays on buyer’s feelings of FOMO. That countdown showing the potential buyer a deadline on amazing deals surely prompted quite a few sales. 

What amazing holiday content have you seen this year? What makes you excited for the season and more likely to open your wallet to buy?

 

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

It’s that time of year again. And as we all sit down and make a list of habit-changing, self-improving, mood-boosting things we vow to do next year, there’s no shortage of motivation to go around. 

However, come the third or fourth week of January, most of us are caught singing an entirely different tune. In fact, just 8% of people actually achieve their New Year’s goals, according to research from the University of Scranton. 

So how can you defy those odds and actually achieve what you set out to do in 2016? Below, we’ve uncovered nine data-backed tips for fail-proofing your New Year’s resolution. 

We can’t guarantee it’ll be easy, but we can guarantee it’ll be worth it. 

9 Data-Backed Tips for Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolution

1) Write out a plan.  

Before I go to the grocery store, I always make a list. Not only does this help me avoid filling my cart with a bunch of junk, but it also helps me focus enough to speed up the process.

According to a study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, clearly defining your intention can improve your success rate. In this particular study, researchers found that people who wrote down a strict plan for where and when they intended to exercise were more likely to follow through with the plan than those who didn’t. 

So if you want to stick to your goals this year, write them down. Start a journal, make a note in your phone, or use one of these handy to-do list apps to keep track and hold yourself accountable.

2) Break your goals down into micro-goals.

Saving up $365 dollars sounds hard, but what about saving one dollar a day for 365 days? Similarly, losing 100 pounds sounds pretty intense, but what if you were tasked with losing 10 pounds a month over 10 months?

Research on pricing tactics suggests that consumption is driven not by the actual cost of a product or service, but by its perceived cost. When we break down a price — or, in our case, a goal — into more manageable segments, it’s easier to convince ourselves to go after it. 

So if your goal is to learn a new language, for example, start by learning to count to 10. Working towards micro-goals will make the entire process seem more doable, and help you build the momentum you need to continue pushing forward.

3) Join forces with friends & family. 

We’ve all heard the saying “strength in numbers” before, right?

According to a study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, participants who enrolled in a weight-loss program with friends were more likely to keep off the weight. Participants remained motivated to complete the program — and maintain the weight loss — thanks to the built-in social support. 

But this doesn’t have to be limited to dieting and exercise. If you want to read more, ask a few friends to start a bi-weekly book club. Want to learn how to code? Encourage a few friends to register for a night class with you. It’ll keep you accountable and help you stay on track.  

4) Tackle one goal at a time.  

We’re all guilty of multi-tasking. In fact, in the midst of writing this article, I’ve already checked my phone several times, replied to an email, changed my Spotify playlist, and got up to make coffee.

However, when it comes to actually succeeding at our resolutions, it’s typically best to focus on checking off one box at a time. Bad or unhealthy behaviors develop over the course of time, meaning it will also take time to replace them with healthy ones. 

While we may think we’re getting more accomplished by multitasking, we’re never really doing tasks simultaneously. Instead, our brain is forced to switch tasks quickly, which ultimately detracts from our efficiency, according to Psychology Today. 

(Sounds like I should add this to my list of New Year’s resolutions.)

5) Make a bet.  

Let me start by saying that gambling is a bad (costly) habit. And while I wouldn’t want to encourage you to pick up one habit while trying to get rid of another, making a friendly wager on the outcome of your New Year’s resolution can serve as a powerful incentive to get you going. 

The reason being? Loss aversion.

This is a theory that states that people prefer to avoid losses more than acquiring gains. In other words, we’re more deeply affected by losing than we are by gaining. 

So if you really want to stick to your New Year’s resolution, make a wager with one of your friends? It could be something as simple as buying them lunch every time you skip a gym day, flake on an event, overbook yourself at work — whatever your goal may be. 

6) Precommit to your goals.

Let’s say you really want to focus on being more productive at work in the year ahead. When you’re working on a project that doesn’t require an internet connection, you have two choices: 

1. Find a place to work without internet.
2. Stay in a place that has internet … and trust yourself not to give in to temptation. 

While the latter requires you to rely on your own willpower, the first option demonstrates precommitment: the ability to avoid temptation by eliminating the choice from the start.  

Want to eat healthy? Do meal prep on Sunday for the whole week. Want to ease your smartphone addiction? Leave it behind when you don’t really need it. It’s simple.  

7) Talk yourself through it.  

Research suggests that tapping into your inner voice can serve as an effective way to restrain impulses and encourage motivation.

This could boil down to something as simple as telling yourself “Don’t give up” when you’re on the treadmill or reassuring yourself that “You’ve got this” before giving an important presentation. 

By sidetracking our impulses, it’s easier to keep pushing forward to complete the task at hand.  

8) Monitor your glucose levels. 

According to research from Florida State University, acts of self-control have the ability to deplete large amount of glucose — and we’re more likely to fail when attempting to exercise self-control if our glucose levels are low. 

To keep your glucose levels stable through out the day, the above study suggests fueling the body with protein and complex carbohydrates.

So if you’re feeling like you might break down and give in to temptation, try snacking on some Greek yogurt, grilled chicken, oats, peanut butter, beans, or peas.

9) Treat yo self. 

If you’ve ever taken a psychology class at any level, you’re probably familiar with the work of B.F. Skinner. He is perhaps best known for his research around operant conditioning — the process of modifying behavior through the use of both positive and negative reinforcement. 

In terms of achieving your New Year’s resolutions, Skinner’s research suggests that it’s okay to treat yourself. In fact, it’s encouraged.

Positive reinforcers — like a sweet treat, shopping trip, or new piece of technology you’ve had your eye on — help condition us to repeat a desired behavior. Just make sure you’re not overindulging … or using your vice as a reward. You don’t want to slide back into the bad habits of yore. 

Of course … if you do happen to slip, you still have eight other science-backed techniques to help you tackle your goal once again. 

What’s your plan for sticking to your New Year’s resolution? Share them with us in the comments section below.