How to Design a Sales to CSM Handoff That Works

Once the deal is closed, you must ensure that new customers use your product as effectively as possible.

If not, they’ll think your product or service is no good and that you made empty promises during the selling stage, resulting in your retention rate going down the drain.

This is where customer success managers come in. It’s crucial for your retention rates that your customer success team coaches new customers through using your product or service. This is important since the ease of interpretation and implementation is one of the customers’ most important concerns.

However, most businesses drop the ball when handing over a client to customer success. They’ll ask the same questions that sales asked, and the new client won’t be able to utilize your product or service to their advantage.

What is a sales to CSM handoff?

A sales to CSM(Customer Success Manager) handoff is when new customers transition from pre-sale to post-sale and implement your product or service.

Sales reps’ specialty is using persuasion to get a prospect to buy. However, they might not have the know-how to coach a new client on leveraging the product effectively.

This is where customer success takes over. They coach your customers on how to use the product, and this increases your retention rates. Handoffs take place over a kickoff email or video call.

Why is it important?

Efficient handoffs are essential, especially if you’re selling something that requires knowledge and training, like SaaS products.

As soon as a new customer jumps on board, they’ll understand the benefits of your product; however, without proper guidance and training, they can’t take advantage of these benefits. This causes them to get frustrated and lose interest.

They might cancel their subscription before it’s time to renew. Depending on your refund policy, you’ll lose a large amount of money. By then, it’s already too late to educate your customer on how to use your product.

This is why salespersons and customer success must work in harmony to ensure that customers use your product without any frustration. They are also more likely to renew their subscription with you.

Now that we understand why effective handoffs are essential, let’s look at where most businesses go wrong.

This is what most businesses do wrong

Designing a sales to CSM handoff isn’t complicated. The simpler it is, the fewer hoops you and your customers have to jump through. However, many businesses tend to overcomplicate this process, resulting in miscommunication and annoyance.

This is where many businesses drop the ball:

1. There’s no team rapport
2. Sales don’t introduce customer success at the right time
3. Sales don’t set realistic expectations

#1. There’s no team rapport

You want your sales reps and customer success managers to work in perfect harmony.

This is because up until this point, the prospect’s experience is personalized, and you want to maintain that tailored feel and consistency through the handoff and customer success process.

To maintain this experience, your sales and customer success departments must have a strong bond.

Sales reps need to trust customer success to continue providing a personalized experience, while customer success needs insight on how to confidently complete the handoff.

The best way to ensure a seamless handoff is to build team rapport and encourage communication between departments. If you aren’t already, consider using an internal messaging system so departments can discuss how to improve.

Also, try matching up random people from each department and have them chat over a 30-minute video call. Doing this allows your employees to build a strong connection and get insight into each other’s work. This insight is crucial since it’ll equip them with the knowledge for a perfect handoff.

#2. Sales don’t introduce customer success at the right time

If a sales rep is struggling to close a deal, then introducing customer success before the close can give the prospect peace of mind knowing that experts will help them on their journey.

Sometimes a lead knows you’re the right fit, but they have doubts about the beginning stages of using your product. They are thinking you might leave them on their own as soon as you receive payment.

By introducing customer success before closing a deal, you put your prospect’s mind at ease, knowing that you’ll help them leverage your product to reach their goals.

#3. Sales don’t set realistic expectations

It’s super important for sales reps to tell each prospect precisely what happens after the deal is closed since it puts the customer’s mind at ease. They’ll know what’s going to happen and when.

Now that we know what most businesses do wrong, let’s look at ensuring a seamless handoff.

Here’s how to ensure a seamless handoff

Designing a sales to CSM handoff that works is quite simple.

After the deal is closed, the sales team should ask new clients to fill out a form that captures all the client’s critical information. This could be name, business size, expectations, etc.

Next, the sales team should book a kickoff call with the new customer and the customer success manager. Also, it’s essential to send an introduction email so clients know the name of the customer success manager.

During this kickoff call, sales will lead at the beginning and verbally hand over to customer success. Customer success informs the client about what’s happening going forward and sets expectations. Customer success then closes the meeting, clarifying that they are the point of contact going forward.

Last, customer success should send an email to the client and recap everything that happened in the meeting and what happens going forward. It’s also vital to CC sales so they can answer specific questions.

Common mistakes to avoid

Although designing a sales to CSM handoff is relatively easy, try to avoid a few common mistakes:

1. Inform the customer about the handoff
2. Allow your team to get to know each other

#1. Inform the customer about the handoff

It’s important to let your prospect know exactly what will happen and when. This prevents any surprises. Also, explain to your client what the customer success manager does and how they’ll coach them.

Allow your team to get to know each other

The biggest tip for designing a sales to CSM handoff is to ensure your team knows each other and works in harmony. For example, it’ll look unprofessional if sales reps ask a set of questions, but customer success isn’t informed and asks the same questions.

To avoid this, encourage your team to chat with one another and get to know the other department’s procedure.

Final word on designing a sales to CSM handoff

The handoff between sales and customer success is one of the most crucial customer experiences. Depending on how your handoff is, your customer will either be happy and renew their subscription when it expires or cancel it before the expiration date.

However, designing a sales to CSM handoff shouldn’t be challenging. With a combination of team rapport and clear communication, you’ll be well on your way to coaching your customers to success.

Guest author: Yaseen is a personal trainer turned professional writer and he’s obsessed with everything health, fitness, and business-related. If he isn’t at the gym, you can find him playing video games or spending time with friends and family.

The post How to Design a Sales to CSM Handoff That Works appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/sales-to-csm-handoff/

How to Use Video to 3X Your Instagram Growth

Instagram used to be just a square photo-sharing platform. You took a photo, edited it in Photoshop, and posted.

Well, those times are gone.

And it has all started with Adam Mosseri’s announcement about how videos will take Instagram by storm as they begin to highly promote this feature.

It doesn’t mean that photos will no longer work… but videos will be better.

Let’s take a closer look at how it’s going to look.

Instagram CEO’s announcement

As I mentioned before, just a few weeks ago, Adam Mosseri (the Instagram CEO) said that Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing app and that their main attention is going to be around videos.

After that, a huge way of promotion for Instagram reels begun.

Not just because they have created a separate tap on the bottom menu to discover more reels, but because they even started to suggest them in your feed, and they started to appear on the explore page.

In short, video is something that has such a massive growth potential now that if you abandon it… you might miss an opportunity you’ll never be able to get any time in your life again.

Without any ads, shoutouts, or sponsored posts you can reach tens of thousands of people the organic (free) way!

But now you might ask, “What kind of a video should I use? There is IGTV, Reels, I can do IG Live… what’s the difference?”

No worries. I will show you now.

Instagram Reels

I would be a liar if I said that reels aren’t dominating the Instagram platform.

Reels are short-form videos that are a maximum of 30 seconds long.

It seems like Instagram has created them to beat TikTok at their own game as they did with Snapchat and their “story” feature… and it works pretty well.

They get an incredible amount of reach, the engagement is over-the-top, and they often go viral which makes them a fantastic way for you to get your company discovered by new potential customers.

To be honest, I literally saw new people grow from 0-7,000 followers in just 14 days by using Instagram reels. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It is crazy!

The problem is how can you create reels that will get the reach, engagement, and go viral like this?

It is really simple:

1. Be Entertaining
2. Show Your Face
3. Use Popular Music (you can go to tokboard.com to get some great tips)
4. Add Subtitles to The Reel
5. Write an Amazing Caption
6. Record The Reel About a Topic Your Audience Likes or Wants
7. Get Your Lighting Right
8. Make Sure The Video is High Quality
9. Remember, You Only Have 30 Seconds So Do It Quick

This is the science behind creating amazing reels. Instagram has also created a great editor that you can use if you don’t have an app that you use to create the video in its entirety.

It can take some time to figure out your “reel” style, but once you do, your page’s growth is going to explode.

IGTV

IGTV (Instagram TV) has been around for a while now, yet it has massive potential.

You could sell on a webinar you upload to Instagram or go into depth about a certain topic with an amazing tutorial.

However, it takes some skill to get good at it.

Instagram is not promoting IGTV as much as Reels now, but the views of videos are definitely on the incline.

The most interesting part is hidden in the description that you can write for IGTV.

For marketers, this little thing that Instagram allows us to do is a game-changer.

When you create an IGTV video (it has to be longer than 60 seconds), you can put a CLICKABLE link into the description.

This can be a massive source of traffic for you if you leverage it!

So, definitely go and try using IGTV now.

Instagram Live

Instagram Live is really powerful for three main reasons.

First, when you start an Instagram Live, you can be easily seen as the first person in the “Instagram Stories menu“ which means that your Instagram Live is going to be exposed to virtually all of your followers.

Second, you will be able to build a huge bond between you and your audience if you are willing to go live and talk directly to them.

(The whole thing feels way more personal than just a conventional post or story.)

And third, Instagram decided to let you MAKE MONEY by going live! “What? Did I hear that right?” Yes, you did!

Instagram is supporting video content so much, that they have created a feature called “badges“.

When you go live, your followers can buy badges and support you as a creator/marketer. That way, you can make a lot of money from your live videos without even selling anything.

So, try going live and use this feature now.

Final thoughts

Instagram has started to promote videos at a rapid pace and if you are going to use them, you can see some astonishing benefits.

With Reels, you can easily reach hundreds of thousands of your dream customers without having to pay a dime for advertising as Instagram is trying to beat TikTok at their own game, so they promote them like crazy.

With IGTV you can drive way more traffic to your website and sell to your followers effectively as you can put links into the description.

And with Instagram Live you can make money directly on the platform.

The time to use Instagram video in your content strategy is now and if you don’t, the chances are that you are going to regret it forever.

Guest author: Filip Konecny is an experienced marketer, copywriter, and author of 4 astonishing books. After years of learning and building his skills, and after writing many sales copies and working on a lot of marketing projects, he had decided to start helping other people to improve their marketing skills and achieve massive results.

The post How to Use Video to 3X Your Instagram Growth appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/instagram-video/

How to Leverage Local Business Directories

Businesses always seek out the “next big thing” to capitalize on their investment. It could come in the form of a production method or a successful marketing campaign to turn their endeavors into money.

In business, if something can be done to grow your revenue, it should be done. That’s why companies invest their resources to make their existence more sustainable, financially speaking.

The marketing field has become an arena of cut-throat competition, where an ever-increasing number of businesses are fighting for the same pie. They are exploring avenues to stand out from the crowd to either increase the size of the pie or just grab it off the hands of the competition.

Local business directories have come a long way since their inception. Now, they serve as a solid marketing tool to improve a company’s overall digital presence.

What are local business directories and citations?

These are online platforms that, traditionally, contain the authentic Name, Address, Phone (NAP) of a business. These days, the given information may also include work hours and other related information that could help prospects connect with the company.

In most cases, local business directories offer a free platform for companies to create their profile but it must be claimed to fully enjoy the perks.

Since local business directories are repositories of search keywords and are visited by millions of people every month, they have the trust of both humans and bots.

Following are some of the most popular online platforms for local business citations:

1. Google My Business
2. Yelp
3. CityLocal Pro
4. Better Business Bureau
5. Bing Places for Business
6. Yellow Pages
7. Yahoo!
8. Angi
9. Foursquare

How to leverage local business directories for different purposes

In theory, marketing is as simple as trying to give out your message loud and clear. But, when you need to do it, it is a technical process combined with some art to persuade. There are many facets to it and every aspect must be addressed to create a well-rounded well-oiled marketing strategy.

Here are some of the ways companies can use local business citations and directories to leverage their position in the market.

Business Directories for Branding and Reputation Management

A company is all that it stands for and its perception in the minds of the public. The internet can be a cruel thing sometimes and a business must tread decisively to take the next step.

Social media platforms and local business directories are used to create a brand image. The most frequently used strategy is the marketing funnel strategy. In this, companies cast a wide net through educating the masses about their brand and then close in on it, resulting in lead generation and conversions.

Tips:

A company can improve on its branding and reputation management as follows:

• After every transaction, ask your client or customer to review your service on your page at local business directories.
• Positive reviews are great but companies are often bombarded with negative reviews. In this case, follow up on that review publicly and let others know that you do not turn your back on your customers once the job is done.
• Rumors can become news on the internet. To curtail misinformation regarding your brand and its activities, make sure you claim your profiles/listings, and use consistent NAP across the board.
• Local business citations can fetch your prospects by giving you a spotlight to showcase your achievements. You can upload your portfolio in the form of images and links so that anyone can access and evaluate your skills.

Business Directories for Traffic and Leads

All local business listings combine to form a web of links over the internet with your official website at the center. This gives an impressive boost to the organic traffic directed to your website.

Marketers always rely on listings to augment the leads and traffic you can get. Get started by claiming your business and eliminating the duplicates.

Tips:

Here are some pro tips to get the most of your local business citations:

• Get alerts when someone on a listings websites gives feedback on your business profile.
• Always look for new directories and listings to list your business in order to enhance the brand’s digital presence.
• Smart devices and mobile devices are now leading the pack. When deciding which platform to pursue, keep in mind its integration and compatibility with mobile devices.
• All business listings and citations platforms are not created equal. Always lookout for the most relevant and active ones and sever your ties from the websites that have become redundant.

Business Directories for Local SEO

Every local business marketing strategy is under-performing if it hasn’t covered its bases for local SEO. Since a whopping majority, 4 out of 5, users rely on search engines to buy goods or hire services, your business needs that advantage in your corner.

Simply put, if you want to improve the search rankings of your business, which is the key in the digital realm, you need local SEO.

You can employ local business directories to improve on local SEO. It starts with creating a business profile and then linking every profile back to your business website. This creates a web of links that improves the authority of your brand which is at the center of the web.

How to build local citations

Building local citations means creating profiles on local business listings and managing them. There is no cap on what you can achieve by doing this and no restriction on how many listings you want to employ. The rule of thumb is to prefer quality over quantity because these citations will give positive signals to the search engine. Moreover, it is good to represent your brand and business details in an optimal way on quality platforms.

For a citation to trump the competition and the algorithm, it should be credible, relevant, and localized.

Some pro tips:

• There is an intricate network of categories, both primary and secondary. To get the maximum from the listings, it is best to choose the categories properly so that your business is shown against the relevant search results. This is especially helpful if your business name is novel and does not give the idea of work.
• Local SEO relies on locality. It means you need to be consistent and true to the location of your business. Otherwise, it won’t fly.
• The majority of business listings websites cater to all kinds of businesses. Still, there are some niche platforms that can help your company stand out from the competition.

Wrapping up

Local business citations and directories are a great way to boost the online local presence of your brand.

It doesn’t take much time and effort to create or claim your profile. After that, it is just periodic updates and editing when needed. The benefits of local business listings are hard to fathom head-on. But the key is that your brand can grow and multiply in a cost-effective and hassle-free way.

In short, it is an all-in-one scenario. Branding, lead generation, local exposure, and SEO benefits can all be achieved by utilizing local business directories efficiently.

Guest author: James Luis has been serving the digital marketing industry for the past 4 years. He works for different niche clients and is currently working with an IT company. His passion keeps him motivated to keep excelling in his field of content writing and marketing.

The post How to Leverage Local Business Directories appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/local-business-directories/

The 6 Best eCommerce Website Builders in 2021

Long gone are the days when you had to pay thousands of dollars for a web developer to get an eCommerce site up and running.

There are now dozens of eCommerce website builders with beautiful templates, easy-to-use editors, and helpful marketing tools.

The website builder ecosystem has come along in leaps and bounds over recent years, with new players popping up and big brands doubling down on a space that is growing in popularity.

You can develop a professional-looking and well-optimized website with very minimal design experience.

The trouble is, there are so many website builders available, it’s hard to know which one is the best for you. In this article, I’ll list the 6 best eCommerce website builders on the market and give you an insight into which one is most suitable for your situation.

Let’s jump in!

#1. BigCommerce (Recommended)

BigCommerce is a one-stop shop for online store owners and our number one pick as an eCommerce website builder. On top of its easy-to-use and highly functional site builder, BigCommerce acts as a web host and marketing engine, too.

One of BigCommerce’s top-selling points is its flexibility. What you’ll find as we make our way through this list is that most site builders have limitations in terms of site design – meaning you could end up with a very similar-looking site to your competitors. BigCommerce enables you to differentiate your site with a more open and flexible solution.

Here are a few more of its key features:

• Drag and drop visual editor – Easily create site pages without technical experience.
• Customizable URLs – Don’t get stuck with a store builder generic URL for your website.
• No transaction fees – Pay a subscription rather than a fee every time you make a sale. This is particularly important as you scale up.
• Product variations – Add over 600 products to your store.
• Sell to businesses – Use its B2B functions to ramp up your wholesale business.
• Multi-currency – Sell to a global audience with over 100 supported currencies.
• Increase conversions – Access 70+ native coupon promotions, send customizable abandoned cart emails, and have blazing fast site speeds using Google Cloud Platform infrastructure.
• Integrate with other platforms – BigCommerce integrates with WordPress, Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment, and more.

All in all, BigCommerce provides a feature-rich eCommerce site builder that will scale with your business. It’s the best solution for a high volume of products.

If, however, you’re building a blog or have a lot of non-product pages, then you may want to check out the other builders on this list.

Try BigCommerce Here.

#2. Squarespace

If design is your thing, then Squarespace won’t disappoint. It’s extremely easy to use and its template library is stunning. While BigCommerce focuses on the nuts and bolts of running an eCommerce site, Squarespace is all about branding and how it looks.

While Squarespace can be used to build eCommerce websites, it’s most popular with designers and creatives looking to launch portfolio websites.

Here are some of Squarespace’s features for eCommerce:

• Templates specific for eCommerce – Created by world-class designers.
• Built-in store functionality – Add products, services, subscriptions, or digital content and collect payments on your website.
• Smartphone app – To manage your store on-the-run, track inventory, and connect with customers.
• Marketing tools – Built in email marketing and SEO tools to expand the reach of your store.

You can get started with Squarespace on a 14-day trial to see if it’s right for you.

Try Squarespace Here.

#3. Zyro

Getting an eCommerce store up and running is super-easy with Zyro. In fact, I’d almost say it’s the easiest process of any builders on this list.

While Zyro doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of BigCommerce, it’s perfectly adequate for launching an online store and is very affordable. Just be aware that you’ll run into some limitations with functionality and may need to upgrade if your store grows.

Some of Zyro’s notable eCommerce features include:

• Multi-platform selling – Set up your store on Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon.
• Ready-to-go templates – The Zyro online store templates are pre-built and easy to use, but don’t have a ton of flexibility.
• Money-back guarantee – Try out Zyro for 30 days and if you’re not happy, get your money back.
• Smart automation – For shipping and delivery updates.

If you’re launching a basic online store with only a single or small group of products, then Zyro could be the builder for you. While it’s simple, it looks nice and functions smoothly.

Try Zyro Here.

#4. Duda

For the most part, Duda gets the job done. It has a clear interface, mobile optimization, and even comes with an option for a free site. Much like Zyro, you can launch a store with Duda in a fairly pain-free manner.

Where Duda falls behind is with its limited eCommerce templates (only three) and integrations.

In saying that, here are a few of Duda’s best eCommerce features:

• Flexible finance options – You can use 40+ payment gateways and Duda takes 0% commission on all sales.
• Omni-channel – Automatically sync your products with multiple platforms including eBay, Facebook, and Amazon.
• Convenient shipping costs – Get real-time shipping quotes from leading carriers such as UPS and FedEx.

Try Duda Here.

#5. Shopify

Out of the box, Shopify offers a powerful website builder with a strong reputation and long list of features. It has a library of professionally designed eCommerce templates, a 14-day free trial, and functionality to build out an entire website – with product pages, a blog, and more.

A key area where Shopify falls behind our top recommendation, BigCommerce, is with the user experience of the site builder. Even though it has tons of customization options and apps – the site editor is a little clunky in my opinion.

Some interesting eCommerce features with Shopify include:

• Custom domains – You can host your site elsewhere but still use a unique domain name.
• Marketing tools – Optimize your site for SEO, run ad campaigns, and analyze reports all from the Shopify dashboard.
• Sell offline – There is a Shopify point-of-sale app you can use to manage sales at a physical store or marketplace.
• Mobile app – The Shopify mobile app lets you manage inventory, track orders, and stay on top of your business.

Shopify is a widely used eCommerce website builder that won’t let you down.

Try Shopify Here.

#6. Wix

If you’re looking for a free website builder with tons of features, Wix might be a good place to start. It has paid plans, of course, but its free starter pack is one of the best options available.

The Wix editor is beautifully designed, it has over 500 eCommerce site templates categorized by industry, and an extensive app market that requires no coding skills to increase the functionality of your site.

Here are some of Wix’s best eCommerce features:

• Simple set up – You can be up and running with a Wix-built store in seven easy steps.
• Source dropshipping suppliers – Expand your range of products by searching the Modalyst marketplace which easily integrates with Wix.
• Critical business insights – Wix has an integrated analytics dashboard that helps you track and analyze your sales.
• Automated promotion – Access a new audience with automated Facebook and Instagram advertising or increase conversions with built-in email campaigns.

Without a doubt, you can build the eCommerce site of your dreams using Wix, but it’s not the simplest site builder on this list and lacks in some other areas. Yes, the drag-and-drop editor is intuitive but when it comes to advanced eCommerce features, Wix simply can’t compete with BigCommerce.

Try Wix Here.

Wrapping up

This list of eCommerce website builders could go on forever. There are so many alternatives in the market, it’s extremely overwhelming for business owners who just want to get a site up.

I’ve chosen these 6 site builders to reduce the noise and simplify your choice. The truth is, all of them would probably be an adequate solution for you. But as you can see, each has its pros and cons depending on your needs.

My recommendation is BigCommerce because it is jam-packed with features, specifically optimized for eCommerce, and will scale with your business.

The post The 6 Best eCommerce Website Builders in 2021 appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/best-ecommerce-website-builders/