Ed Trachier, Founder and CEO
OnTarget Partners

Marketing to the top is not easy.

CEO marketing requires unrelenting patience and tenacity.  It also forces marketers to be at the top of their game at all times, understanding that powerful executives expect nothing less and often demand more.

I have been in the CEO marketing business for over 20 years now.  I suggest to new prospects and clients of OnTarget’s services that I have learned a lot more from my failures than my successes; the scars on my back enable me to be that much more successful (for them) today!

So, what have I learned about CEO marketing over this time?  Several things that may have an impact on how you approach selling to CEOs in the future:

CEOs are interested in solutions that help their companies become more effective and efficient.  They want to cut costs and increase revenue.  They are required to spend time on strategic initiatives that make the company better in the future.  They are expected to be visionaries and motivators, with great communication abilities and unwavering integrity.

CEOs are paid to make the right decisions quickly.  This does not mean that they do not do their homework; it means that they tend to say “no” much more readily than the average corporate buyer.  They process better.  They know what they need based on experience and talent, and if your offering does not create the value they require, you will be shown the door quickly.

I have written many times about “Demand Discovery” versus “Demand Creation”.  At no place in corporate buying decisions is demand discovery more important than the c-suite.

Therefore, studying and reading prior to marketing to a company CEO is paramount.

If you understand where the leader is looking to take the company, it is much easier to see where your solution fits in that journey.

Google the CEO and the company.  Do an advanced search and see what has been written in the past month.  (Not long ago, we at OnTarget would spend hours reading 10-ks and quarterlies prior to picking up the phone.  Now, information is at our fingertips with a quick online search).  Go to the company website and read the recent press releases.  Read the blog, specifically the “CEO’s Blog” if there is one.  Watch videos and listen to the podcasts produced by the CEO.

What are you looking for while studying and reading?  Trigger events that make your solution attractive to the CEO.

Look for situations, issues, and opportunities that match success stories and case studies for your company’s solutions.  If these exist, you may have just discovered demand.

Build your value proposition to highlight your solution in such a way that the CEO knows immediately the value you can bring to the table.  Maybe start with a dimensional mailing (FedEx works the best).  Send an email to support your phone call, and then coordinate an in-person meeting when it makes sense.  Don’t “sell”, rather, “market”.  Inform, prove and be honest.  The CEO will appreciate your candor and if your offerings match up to his or her vision, you may be on your way to a fabulous, long-term business relationship.

-Ed

Ed Trachier is Founder and CEO of OnTarget Partners, LLC.  He can be reached at 469-200-4901, or via email at trachier@ontargetpartners.com.

What is the best way to clean data, and move over into a new CRM? Yes, it is a question that marketing professionals have struggled with for decades. In examining your current sales data, it is critically important to take a holistic view of all of your data. What records are still valid? What is the current corporate structure? Have any mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures occurred? What about name changes? Are the target contacts still at the company and how has their role likely to have changed and to what? Data cleansing must precede your CRM implementation.

Unfortunately, there are no short-cuts to this process. What is needed is a systematic, repeatable, accurate, and verified process to assure the highest accuracy possible. With so many other responsibilities, and tasks, it is highly unlikely that a company should attempt, or will succeed, in handling this function without outside help. You need a company with experience to assist – allowing your marketing team to think strategically, and freeing-up your sales teams to focus on filling their sales pipeline, and closing the deals “closest to the cash.”

-Ed

Ed Trachier can be reached at 469-200-4901, or via email at trachier@ontargetpartners.com

Ed Trachier, Founder and CEO
OnTarget Partners

No doubt, establishing a good market penetration strategy is a complex task.  Whether you are entering a new vertical or a new geographic market, building a solid foundation in the form of a strategic plan is extremely important.

When I advise my clients regarding market penetration, I tell them three things: Research; research; research.

Start with market research and begin to understand where it is you will be going.  If secondary research information is available and adequate, use that.  If you have an internal market research department, get them involved early and often.  If you need outside help, talk to someone like OnTarget.

Next, you will need to understand your targets from both a company and contact perspective.  Who will be buying, and why?  What will motivate them?  Who has the budget?  Where is the pain?  Exploring all of these factors will take some serious time and energy, but will be worth it in the end.

Finally, as you begin to roll out your marketing program, be watchful and fluid.  If you see that something is working, do more of it.  If not, stop.

Research is the key when you are establishing a market penetration strategy.  As Dr. Carl Sagan is known to have said: “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known”.

-Ed

Ed Trachier can be reached at 469-200-4901, or via email at trachier@ontargetpartners.com.

Do you have a contact data problem?

Do you have outdated marketing lists?

Do you need better sales leads?

OnTarget deals with contact data daily, and updates and appends marketing contacts for our clients.  We can work within a client’s CRM (offering CRM data cleansing services), or can transfer data via FTP or in CSV.  (If these acronyms are confusing, don’t sorry, we can help!).

One of the things that drive sales forces and marketing teams crazy is the e-mails that are returned for non-delivery.  Bad contact data are a waste of time and money.

We have found that large-scale contact data providers offer data that is 70% correct.  That means three in ten records in inaccurate or incomplete!

Perhaps there is a better answer…

Let OnTarget Partners do the work for you.

OnTarget is not just another 3^rdparty lead generating company; not in the slightest.  OnTarget doesn’t merely skim the surface of company personnel rosters with hasty searches using three key words. OnTarget digs deep, analyzing connections between companies, and – more importantly- between people. Using personal contact and specialized search techniques designed for our company in addition to modern “digital age” social media connections, allows OnTarget to maintain accurate and thorough leads. What good is the name and number of someone in purchasing for a company, if that person doesn’t have the authority to make decisions about purchases? A company that seeks to survive or, even better, to survive and thrive, needs to maintain accurate marketing data – with specific names, numbers, titles, relationships and more. Our lead generation is truly OnTarget. Keep those contact lists intact and updated, and let OnTarget do the dirty work for you!

To learn more about our data cleansing and custom research please visit: http://www.ontargetpartners.com/customresearch.html

If you need up-to-date and accurate prospect contact information, you’ve come to the right place…

Ed Trachier, CEO

What is the best way to cleanse legacy data, and move over into a new CRM?

Yes, it is a question that marketing professionals have struggled with for decades. In examining your current sales data, it is critically important to take a holistic view of all of your data.

What records are still valid?

What is the current corporate structure?

Have any mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures occurred?

What about name changes?

Are the target contacts still at the company, and how has their role likely to have changed and to what?

Data cleansing must precede your CRM implementation.

Unfortunately, there are no short-cuts to this process. What is needed is a systematic, repeatable, accurate, and verified process to assure the highest accuracy possible. With so many other responsibilities, and tasks, it is highly unlikely that a company should attempt, or will succeed, in handling this function without outside help. You need a company with experience to assist – allowing your marketing team to think strategically, and freeing-up your sales teams to focus on filling their sales pipeline, and closing the deals “closest to the cash.”

-Ed Trachier

Ed Trachier is Founder and CEO of OnTarget Partners.  He can be reached at trachier@ontargetpartners.com.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a “how-to” guide for cleaning CRM data?

Keeping up with contact data accuracy is one of the hardest jobs for any marketing director, markop or CMO.

Unfortunately, it’s just not an easy process.

OnTarget Partners has built an 11 step process to clean and de-dupe CRM data for our clients.  What’s great about this for us, is that cleaning CRM data is an ongoing process, which should be done every 18 months for best practices in direct marketing.  This will help guarantee the maximum return on investment for marketing spend, because marketing with incomplete or inaccurate contact data is one of the greatest leaks for any marketing budget.

So, if you need a “how-to” guide for cleaning CRM data, you have come to the right place — OnTarget Partners.

Ed Trachier, CEO

What do marketer’s need in this troubled economic time?

How can OnTarget continue to perform well in a struggling environment?

The answer to these questions is the same, and the reason we are in business.

OnTarget, without the space, is all about putting you, the marketer, On Target.

Finding the right prospect, at the right company, in the right vertical or geographic marketplace, is tough.  Qualifying that prospect for need, budget and time-frame for buy is even more difficult.

OnTarget’s responsibility to our clients is to put them On Target.  We use demand generation services and lead generation activities to help your sales team qualify prospects better.  Our successes come when we put you on the right prospect at the right time and you CLOSE BUSINESS.

Find out more by requesting a free consultation here.

-Ed Trachier

Ed is Founder and CEO of OnTarget Partners.  He can be reached at 214-618-4960, or via email at trachier@ontargetpartners.com.

Jeff Fischer, VP of Marketing

Increasingly, companies – both large and small – are realizing that an integrated CRM is no longer a luxury, but is increasingly becoming a mandatory component to the operation. With a staggering number of options available, how does one choose what is right for business today, as well as tomorrow? Does one maintain the data in-house or use a SAAS model, supported by an outside provider? How will a CRM integrate to an existing ERP?

Unfortunately, some of the difficult questions posed above can not be answered in a vacuum. The people wanting to have this discussion are the same ones that simply want to sell you an integrated package that will allegedly cure all your ills. Therefore, it is our hope that we can begin a discussion with some of the experiences that you have had with your CRM and how you found, or perhaps are still looking for, a solution. Next week, stay tuned for a frightful story about our experience with CRM integrations.