SALES AND MARKETING

Why a whiteboard and marker will out-sell a slide presentation every time

BY TIM RIESTERER B rain research shows that people only remember about 10 percent of what you say to them just two days after hearing it. However, when you attach a simple, concrete visual to the message you are delivering, that number jumps to 65 percent. Researchers call that the picture superiority effect.

But what visuals work best for selling? And which drive the reaction salespeople are looking for? You can use what’s known about how the brain works to help answer those questions.

First, you need to think about your sales conversations as being more about change management than about selling something. You are asking someone to do something different from the way they have been doing it. The part of the brain that causes someone to change a habit or move away from the status quo is sometimes referred to as the old brain. The old brain has very specifi c requirements your message must meet: it doesn’t have the capacity for language, so it needs pictures to help it wake up and decide to do something different. It is a very basic mechanism—like an on/ off switch—so your pictures need to be very simple. Finally, the old brain is connected to the human survival instinct, so it is most apt to change when the status quo is threatened.

What is the best delivery system for your sales messages? Original study results from Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Zakary Tormala show that whiteboard visuals are far superior to PowerPoint. They rated much higher on measures of customer engagement, enjoyment, credibility, recall, and persuasive impact.

The reason for this is that whiteboard images make your sales pitch a conversation, not a presentation. Prospects respond to watching images being assembled via a whiteboard (or other drawing surface, such as an easel, pad, tablet or the back of an envelope) as the salesperson tells his company’s story. But don’t worry; your salespeople don’t need to be artists. Stick fi gures, arrows, and bubbles work just fi ne.

10 Fall 2014 Remember these three critical components (the three Cs, if you will) for creating effective visual content:

CONTEXT: Since your prospect needs to see his or her status quo as unsafe, your presentation must depict, at the very beginning, the gaps and defi ciencies in its current state that require a new approach.

CONTRAST: Your image should show a clear contrast between the status quo approach and what you are offering. Contrast is required to help the brain determine the virtues of your solution and make a decision.

Depict this current state/future state comparison by showing specifi cally how your new approach can help to fi ll the gaps and overcome the defi ciencies of the existing solution. Put the current situation, and its problems, literally side by side with the proposed alternative and its remedies so the contrast is clear and value can be visually discerned.

CONCRETE: Complex visuals confuse the brain and prevent it from reaching a decision. Therefore, use illustrative, whiteboard imagery like numbers, arrows, stick fi gures, shapes, and icons to translate a potentially complicated concept into an approachable, understandable option.

If you implement the three Cs as part of your visual storytelling process and integrate whiteboard visuals, you will no doubt have more effective and successful conversations with your prospects.

Tim Riesterer is chief strategy and marketing offi cer of Corporate Visions, Inc. and coauthor of the books Customer Message Management and Conversations that Win the Complex Sale. You can see his video presentation on this topic at corporatevisions.com/blog/2014/06/17/ presentation-bma14/.

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HOW DATA CAN DRIVE YOUR BOTTOM LINE

It’s time to realize the value of your company’s Big Data. Is your network up to the task?

BY MICHAEL HARRIS

Big Data is a big deal. Every day, it is redefining business management, marketing, and operations principles in companies across the board.

Consider these uses of Big Data: a health insurance firm analyzes speech-to-text data from call center recordings to gain insight into customer dissatisfaction triggers and implement tactics to avoid them. A delivery company crunches data to improve vehicle routing, reducing fleet mileage, fuel consumption and trip times. With Big Data, a retailer is now able to optimize pricing for the items in its sales inventory 25 times faster.

of enterprises of S M B s 56% 70%

Have already deployed or plan to deploy Big Data projects

S o u r c e : I D G E n t e r p r i s e

In fact, seven out of 10 enterprises and more than half of small and medium businesses have already deployed, or plan to deploy, Big Data in projects. Because Big Data requires the capture and analysis of large volumes of business information–much too large to analyze using traditional methods–Big Data is also transforming network performance requirements. 1

BIG DATA DEFINED Big Data involves collecting, storing, and analyzing huge quantities of business information from a wide range of devices and applications. This includes real-time and historical data from customer-relationship, sales, manufacturing, supply-chain, and retail-sales systems, as well as social media, website, and other network usage information. Data can be collected from an array of devices, including servers, PCs, smartphones, tablets, video cameras, sensors, smart meters, and other connected machines.

BIG DATA BENEFITS

By skillfully surfing this data tsunami, businesses can fine-tune product and service offerings, create more personalized interactions with customers and prospects, uncover efficiencies in manufacturing, better detect fraud, and improve regulatory compliance. In a recent survey of C-level executives, business unit leaders, and IT decision-makers, 84 percent said having more data has helped them make better business decisions for their companies. And nearly three-quarters said leveraging data has boosted their company’s bottom line by increasing revenue from existing or new sources. 2

NETWORK TRAFFIC JAMS AHEAD A key challenge with Big Data is that collecting, transporting, storing, and analyzing troves of information can create major traffic on business networks. About 70 percent of businesses expect their network loads to at least double over a two-year period, according to a survey by Cisco Systems. However, only 40 percent reported they are ready for this surge in network traffic. 3

While traditional business applications like e-mail, web surfing, and file sharing are not sensitive to modest network delays, Big Data applications require high-quality connectivity. IT executives point to network speed and availability, in addition to security, as their top data-related challenges. 4 To ensure that increased network loads do not undermine Big Data initiatives, a business must be prepared to increase both the capacity and quality of its network.

In addition to upgrading their network connections, businesses are partnering with cloud service providers to host some Big Data applications, thereby easing the burden on their own data centers and networks. For example, NaviSite, a Time Warner Cable Company,

73%

of companies have increased revenue with Big Data

“70 percent of businesses expect their network loads to double over a two-year period. However, only 40 percent reported they are ready for this surge in network traffic.”

provides essential building blocks for cloudbased IT services that support the storage and management of increasing volumes of enterprise data.

Utilizing cloud services for big data storage backup is also a smart way to manage risk, since the cost of network failures is significant for data-driven organizations. An unplanned data center outage now costs a business more than $7,900 per minute in lost revenue and end-user productivity, according to Ponemon Institute. That is a 41-percent increase over just three years ago. 5

3. ETHERNET OPTIONS: Business Ethernet extends the high-performance, cost-effective network technology used within office and campus environments into carrier connections. Not surprisingly, the approach is emerging as a preferred solution for supporting Big Data and other essential applications. Business Ethernet services are highly scalable and offer important built-in quality and resiliency features. Furthermore, an analysis by ACG Research finds that Business Ethernet services deliver 44 percent to 81 percent lower costs than legacy networking alternatives, such as TDM and SONET.

SELECTING A SOLUTION Because network performance and reliability are essential when deploying Big Data, it is crucial to partner with the right service provider. Businesses should consider the following factors when choosing a service provider for network and Internet connectivity.

1. FACILITIES-BASED FOUNDATION: When evaluating network and Internet connectivity service options, select a provider that owns its network facilities and uses fiberoptic technology. Facilities-based providers are better positioned to guarantee service quality than those that lease network capacity from third parties. Using a variety of access technologies, facilities-based providers can also serve a wide range of locations, including retail sites and branch offices located in residential areas.

2. SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS: These agreements provide peace of mind by setting performance benchmarks for service availability and for responsiveness for repair and restoration should an unplanned outage occur.

4. CLOUD CAPABILITIES: Some facilitiesbased providers are able to offer a complete bundle of network, Internet, and cloud services. Purchasing these services together may yield cost savings and simplify management, with a single bill to process and one number to call for support.

Big Data presents big opportunities and big challenges. While Big Data analytics can help drive revenue, operating efficiencies, and enterprise value, businesses must invest in the mission-critical infrastructure and applications that make it possible. And the best way to do that is to partner with a service provider that can deliver high-performance and cost-effective network connectivity and cloud applications.

Michael Harris is principal consultant at Kinetic Strategies. Applying 20 years of experience as a strategist, research analyst, and journalist, he consults with select clients in the networking, Internet, and telecommunications industries.

1. SAS Institute, “Big Data in Big Companies,” Thomas H. Davenport and Jill Dyché, May 2013. 2. Wakefield Research, “Global Survey: Is Big Data Producing Big Returns?” June 2012. 3. Cisco Systems, “Connected World Technology Report,” March 2013. 4. Navisite Storage Survey, 2013. 5. Ponemon Institute, “2013 Cost of Data Center Outages,” December 2013.

Big Data is a Big Deal: Is Your Network Ready?

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