The Force Field Forums
Marketing => Misc (PUBLIC) => Topic started by: Gabriel Manea on April 05, 2011, 08:53:33 AM
-
Hi! Anyone have experince with her marketing?
-
huh?
please explain further?
-
Weird junk mail, essentially... pay me and I'll tell you how to make a mint selling marketing to people...
-
I have a degree in marketing and communications.
What exactly are you talking about?
-
I have a degree in marketing and communications.
What exactly are you talking about?
http://www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com/
-
I have a degree in marketing and communications.
What exactly are you talking about?
http://www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com/
Oh her. yeah I think it's junk marketing to get peoples money.
-
I have a degree in marketing and communications.
What exactly are you talking about?
http://www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com/
Oh her. yeah I think it's junk marketing to get peoples money.
But she does a great job of it... Quantity-wise... And lots of camp followers!
There are only two kinds of marketing people:
1. The folks with real jobs that market actual products and services other than marketing
2. Carnies...
-
I guess she gets lots of people's money for marketing marketing :eek:
I have a marketing meeting in 15 minutes, have to run!
Oh, my latest AD material:
(http://www.girlyteck.com/images/postcard.png)
Whatcha think? I'm considering an image of a cat5 cable there somwhere...
-
Reminds me of someone I used to do some work for.
http://www.1000gems.com/
Rarely do they have anything that is earth shattering. Usually just a bunch of pre-canned B-School stuff modeled after the particular industry it is targeting.
-
Robin Robins actually is well known for training IT professionals how to market their businesses. She's expensive, but there are companies and sole proprietors who use her services and some of them endorse her.
I first met her at the annual ASCII conference in Orlando five or six years ago. She sells hard, to be sure. There are those who buy into her marketing program and those who don't. I can't really comment on whether it's worth it or not as I've seen and heard her pitch but never purchased the marketing kit. Too expensive for my tastes, but some techs seem to like her program, so I'm neutral on it.
-
If her program is so great, why isn't she making a fortune following it her self instead of marketing it to others? Just sounds like another snake oil salesman to me.
-
If her program is so great, why isn't she making a fortune following it her self instead of marketing it to others? Just sounds like another snake oil salesman to me.
She does. She uses the same strategies to market her marketing business. Not sure what you mean here. If you're asking why she isn't using her marketing strategy to market her own IT business, that is because she isn't an IT person. She's a marketer. that IS her business. She teaches techs how to market their businesses. She does use the same marketing principles to market her own business, which is - marketing. From what I understand she does rather well.
-
if she's so good at marketing.. why have so many of us never heard of her?? lol
-
If her program is so great, why isn't she making a fortune following it her self instead of marketing it to others? Just sounds like another snake oil salesman to me.
She does. She uses the same strategies to market her marketing business. Not sure what you mean here. If you're asking why she isn't using her marketing strategy to market her own IT business, that is because she isn't an IT person. She's a marketer. that IS her business. She teaches techs how to market their businesses. She does use the same marketing principles to market her own business, which is - marketing. From what I understand she does rather well.
I'm not sure of her background but many people in this type of marketing business usually have actual experience in the industry they are targeting. Tom, who runs the site/business I mentioned above, actually had two dental practices. In his case he realized there was no way to do very well under managed care (insurance). So his whole thing is to get the DDS to get more cash business. What he does is work with the DDS to change their business practice/process to achieve that.
It's not cheap. Like many others he offers three levels of "subscription". Obviously the more you pay the more you get. In Tom's case he has Gold, Solver, and Bronze. The Gold level costs something like 40K/year. Includes personal visits, phone calls, ad reviews, protected territories, etc. I don't do any work for him anymore (too expensive) but before the economy tanked he was grossing in the low seven figures.
Once they get things like this going they get income from others that want to be involved in their seminars. Others pay to be involved. And the consultants also have their own consultants. In Tom's case he worked with Dan Kennedy, dankennedy.com. Of course that also cost plenty of $.
Does it sound like snake oil, sure it does. Tom actually had problems in the beginning with email blacklisting. His emails had the kind of phrases that tripped spam filters ( eg incredible profits ) and too many of those triggered black listing. But there are people that will sign up if there are enough testimonials that can be verified.
If you look at the reality of industry segments like dentistry and IT there are many who quite competent from a technical perspective. But to grow in a big way one needs to get beyond just doing great crowns or designing fool proof networks. That type of marketing is word of mouth and works very well but is tough to generate big volume. That's what real marketing is all about. It's a way to translate and communicate those skills into something people will pay for.
-
Robin is definitely in the scam territory. Nothing out and out illegal but she pushes a marketing process that suggests the other local competitors are no good and out to take the customers money. In addition if you do a web search you find tons of techs using her material including the exact same testimonials. The smell factor is high. At one point Charles McLeod was using her material. Not sure if he closed up or not but havent seen any trace of him in some time.
-
As I said, I have never purchased her kit so I don't know if it really works or not. I have talked with a few other techs who did and seemed okay with it. I did poke some fun in a blog post a couple of years ago at an e-mail she sent out and her name has come up in the OF forums a few times.
I think her system is overpriced and I think her sales team is a bit overzealous, but other than that I don't have an opinion of her one way or the other.
-
I heard of her years ago and know owners that do utilize her materials and have been rather successful with it. We had one of her people do a webinar on marketing for the ACRBO and it went over well.
I've seen the material she offers and for the price it actually is not bad as compared to the others in that same industry that offer basically the same types of products. The only people i've talked to that really did not have success did not really utilize it the way you are suppose to.
-
I made the mistake of buying her kit several years ago. It is good material but it's overpriced.(I got a used one at half price and that was $1000) My problem has been not having enough time and money to really devote to marketing. It isn't snake oil but it runs contrary to what most Techs want to do simply because most techs suck at sales.
The methods she teaches can be found in several books on marketing. Especially those aimed at generating sales letters.
She is big on testimonials, offering free reports to generate interest, and scare tactic sales. Which are not a bad thing. This is a forum that coined the term "Pizza Tech" and most techs would like more businesses to be proactive then reactive. But often to do that you have to educate the end user about even the NEED for proactive actions. I'm trying to head more into managed services and service contracts so I am looking more and more at this material again. It's been unused for a couple of years but with minor tweaking can be brought up to date.
-
I think "snake oil" is the perfect description. Interestingly, it's much like Tony Robins. Lots of fluff without much substance. Simple marketing ideas but she charges thousands for it and there is always another over priced up sell. Like I said nothing out and out illegal but definitely "scammish" imo. YMMV.
-
It's been my experience, especially in the IT arena, that you are either a good salesman or a good tech- the two almost never go together. I'd rather be a good tech instead of a good salesman. You can tell the salesmen type from 5 miles away too- because they tend to sell anything/everthing instead of focusing on the work itself. One day they are doing tech work, the next selling a book, the next pushing some other product, etc. They are the type that move from industry to industry hocking whatever wares/service is hot at the moment.
The best companies are those that have good techs and good salesmen (and salesmen that understand tech enough to sell it).
I'm definitely not a good salesman- mostly because I don't lie. I'm only going to sell a product that I have 100% confidence in and know. My business sells itself- meaning my customers are my salesmen. To me that's far better than having salesmen any day.
(BTW, when I say salesmen I'm meaning that in a gender-neutral way).
-
(BTW, when I say salesmen I'm meaning that in a gender-neutral way).
Hermaphrodite salesperson? :eek:
-
(BTW, when I say salesmen I'm meaning that in a gender-neutral way).
Hermaphrodite salesperson? :eek:
Whatever floats yer boat. :p
-
I was thinking more eunuch with that statement. Damn that's a tough sales team if they require that.....
-
Well in my experience you have to be both a good tech and a good businessman/slaesman/Women to succeed in this industry.
I can run multi-million dollar networks which I do, write a book, sell Dice, and rebuild engines (which I guess is a different industry)
Don't need a salesman, have a service you are passoniate in, good at doing it, and offering it to others is rather easy..Never really saw or see a reason to lie in order to do it.
Proably depends on your location. In D.C. you are not going to excel in business by customers alone passing your name around.
-
Well in my experience you have to be both a good tech and a good businessman/slaesman/Women to succeed in this industry.
I can run multi-million dollar networks which I do, write a book, sell Dice, and rebuild engines (which I guess is a different industry)
Don't need a salesman, have a service you are passoniate in, good at doing it, and offering it to others is rather easy..Never really saw or see a reason to lie in order to do it.
Proably depends on your location. In D.C. you are not going to excel in business by customers alone passing your name around.
I agree if your a business owner. My best techs have always been sorta anti-social recluse types. The ones that deal with the public are half and half - not the best techs, but good with customers. They are the face of my business so thats very important. I learned marketing long ago by helping 2 startups get running and saving a biz from a self destructive drunken owner. I actually enjoy that part of the business because its the most rewarding. You do well.. you thrive. You suck at it.. well.. theres always McDonalds
-
That's the main problem I have on the sales and marketing side of the business.
I work great with customers, but I won;t sell them products or services that they don't need, I do my best to give them what they do need. I have walked away from many sales and service opportunities because taking the work or sale was just stealing in my book.
I know a couple of great salesmen who can sale ice to an Eskimo, but I don't trust them and they change jobs every couple of years at the most, some times every year.
-
That's the main problem I have on the sales and marketing side of the business.
I work great with customers, but I won;t sell them products or services that they don't need, I do my best to give them what they do need. I have walked away from many sales and service opportunities because taking the work or sale was just stealing in my book.
I know a couple of great salesmen who can sale ice to an Eskimo, but I don't trust them and they change jobs every couple of years at the most, some times every year.
That's exactly what I'm referring to. I have (and continue to) turn down business because it's not something we normally do and not something I'm comfortable doing. I could get a website job about once a month if I wanted- but I turn those down because it's not what we do. I'll sell something I believe in all day long and have no problem doing so. But if I don't have 100% faith that the product or service is great and/or what the customer actually needs then I won't touch it.
The type of salesman I was talking about will sell anything to anyone just to make a buck- and not care if it's the right thing to do or if it will even do what the customer thinks it will do. I learned that from one of my first jobs when I was working for an office equipment company. The salespeople would sell whatever machine had the highest profit margin to the customer and tell the customer whatever they thought they wanted to hear to make the sale. They did that because they knew they wouldn't have to deal with the customer again- because it was us techs that had to deliver, setup, and service the machine. I can't tell you how many times we'd go to setup a machine only to have the customer be furious because it didn't do 14x11 or duplex or staple or whatever other feature they were told it was going to do but actually didn't. Funny thing is those salespeople only stayed around a few months before going somewhere else- like selling IT services, cars, whatever. All they care about is the commission check.
There are many in IT that are the very same way.
-
I know a couple of great salesmen who can sale ice to an Eskimo
Actually the term as I know it is sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Know why?
-
I know a couple of great salesmen who can sale ice to an Eskimo
Actually the term as I know it is sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Know why?
No, but mine is close and I'm sure that there are several versions of it
-
I know a couple of great salesmen who can sale ice to an Eskimo
Actually the term as I know it is sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Know why?
No electricity to plug it in to?
-
I know a couple of great salesmen who can sale ice to an Eskimo
Actually the term as I know it is sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Know why?
No, but mine is close and I'm sure that there are several versions of it
You are correct. There are many versions. But the distinctions between each approach is important. After all each Eskimo wants to enjoy the fruits of our modern society. The snake oil approach is yeah, yeah, yeah I've got something to keep your stuff cold even when it's not winter and its cheap. The real salesman knows that part of these fruits of modern society is fresh vegetables. That person knows that lettuce, celery, etc can freeze but are trash when they thaw. The only way to maintain the quality of the product is to maintain a constant temperature of the product which can only be achieved with a refrigerator.
Same thing with selling sand to a Bedouin. The camel works fine on sand. But in modern society the roads are paved with asphalt. That destroys the pads on their feet. Cover it with sand and all is well.
-
I know a couple of great salesmen who can sale ice to an Eskimo
Actually the term as I know it is sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Know why?
No, but mine is close and I'm sure that there are several versions of it
You are correct. There are many versions. But the distinctions between each approach is important. After all each Eskimo wants to enjoy the fruits of our modern society. The snake oil approach is yeah, yeah, yeah I've got something to keep your stuff cold even when it's not winter and its cheap. The real salesman knows that part of these fruits of modern society is fresh vegetables. That person knows that lettuce, celery, etc can freeze but are trash when they thaw. The only way to maintain the quality of the product is to maintain a constant temperature of the product which can only be achieved with a refrigerator.
Same thing with selling sand to a Bedouin. The camel works fine on sand. But in modern society the roads are paved with asphalt. That destroys the pads on their feet. Cover it with sand and all is well.
You prove my point on salesmen. Why sale a Bedouin sand when it's all around them and have you every heard of a root cellar? It's where you kept vegetables before refrigerators were invented.
The point was if an Eskimo needed ice they could just walk out side and get it. A so called "good" salesman just means they can justify selling anything to anybody whether they need it or not.
-
Back to the original topic, I know this is an old thread but starting this discussion all over again in a new one would be redundant.
A couple of weeks ago I received two direct mail envelopes from Robin Robins within a few days of each other. they were promoting free instructional videos on her web site. As I posted before, she does follow her own marketing advice, almost to the point of great annoyance, as the first letter announced the videos and the second followed up with an urgent reminder to check them out.
Yes, it is annoying, but it is an old tactic, and it works. Well, it didn't work on me because I was already familiar with her program and wasn't interested in watching them myself, but the same tactic has worked on me before.
Nothing to be ashamed about, of course, it's just human nature. The point is, successful marketing does involve a measure of invading a potential customer's space somewhat to get the message out. If you don't do that, few will notice you are even there among all the other businesses just like yours. Years ago there wasn't as much competition and it was easier to stand out from the crowd. Today, you have to shout louder than the person next to you to be heard, and sometimes the only way to get noticed is to be the one who is different from everyone else. Some marketers resort to extreme measures to get attention, and if it means they need to be a little annoying, that is what they become. For them, even if they alienate a few prospects along the way, it is all about the end result: to get noticed and make sales. It's the old adage that there is no such thing as "bad" publicity.
The term 'marketing' leaves a bad taste in some mouths, and I have found from personal experience this seems to be particularly true among techs. However, it is a necessary part of any business, especially in an industry that is saturated with players. You don't have to love it, you don't even have to like it at all. But if you don't do it, your chances of success or even survival is greatly minimized.
I am not promoting Robin Robins here, I am only stating the facts of business 101.