Can you believe it’s the end of another year? Before planning for 2014, it’s always helpful to review the prior year’s work – determining what worked well and what didn’t: 
- What plans and processes helped move your company toward its goals?
- What needs to be tweaked?
- What should be SCRAPPED altogether??
Answers to these questions will begin to inform your plans for 2014.
But, if you are marketing to corporate training and HR, you must also answer the following three questions which will be CRITICAL to your company’s success next year.
STEP 1: Have you set clear, specific metrics?
“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” – Laurence J. Peter (the man who brought us the Peter Principle)
You must have clearly established goals if you are to reach them.
Ask yourself the following questions:
What are your established sales goals for 2014?
A. How many sales does it take to achieve this number?
B. How many people within your target market do you need to deliver your message to in order to produce one prospect?
C. How many prospects do you need to make one sale?
It is truly shocking how many organizations have not answered these critical business questions.
STEP 2: How will you reach “Enough Targeted Eyeballs”?
Answering the questions in Step 1 will enable you to determine how many “targeted eyeballs” you must reach with your message in 2014 to achieve your goals.
So, how many targeted people SHOULD you be aiming for?
- Take the figures from Step 1 and calculate the following: A x B x C
- This is the number of people you should aim to reach with your message in 2014!
Most organizations engaging in this exercise quickly realize: They are not “hitting enough eyeballs” to achieve their sales targets!
This is one reason many organizations fail to reach their annual sales goals. They are simply not getting their message in front of enough potential buyers. Take a simple example – let’s assume:
- It will take 100 sales to achieve your 2014 goal (A)
- You need to reach 25 (targeted) people to get one qualified prospect (B)
- You need 10 prospects to make one sale (C)
- Then you need to reach 25,000 people to make 100 sales! (A x B x C)
Once you have determined how many targeted people you need to deliver your message to, you will need a plan to get in front of that many “eyeballs.” This brings up another question:
- Do you know how to reach your target market?
Some companies think they are “hitting enough eyeballs” by sending out a mass mailing – but many assume incorrectly that their lists are accurate and targeted.
- But…what if the list you are using has a 50% error rate?
Sound impossible? Most lists in the world of corporate training and HR have a 30% – 40%, error rate. Some lists have as much as a 50% error rate! How does this happen? Poor compilation methods are to blame.
Often, these poor compilation methods result in lists of WRONG or outdated contacts who:
- Are interested in – but not involved in – training or human resources
- Used to be in training or HR, but have since changed roles
- Are “Soldiers” rather than “Generals” – i.e. not the decision makers you seek
The reality is that most lists in the corporate training and HR market are not carefully compiled specifically for your target market. Instead, you are simply getting a subset of a larger list. Or, you are getting contact information for people who subscribed to a magazine in the last three years – or who attended a conference last year, etc.
Each of the above factors decreases the actual number of targeted “eyeballs” you are reaching. You must first recognize this reality if you are to change it!
So, how can you avoid this critical barrier to success and finally reach the decision makers you seek?
STEP 3: How can find accurate lists of the RIGHT contacts?
It’s a fact – people move around a lot in the corporate training and HR industry… Do you have a proactive marketing plan that accounts for this fact??
You MUST take proactive steps to:
- Get more accurate information about your target market
- Get more precisely targeted information
Doing this is no longer the challenge it once was. There is a way to quickly and easily reach enough targeted “eyeballs”…
MTG has done all the hard work for you! Through the use of MTG’s specialized marketing lists, it is now possible to accurately and efficiently reach decision makers within corporate training, HR and talent management – directly.
We guarantee every contact in our database is:
- Spearheading projects, or
- Creating new initiatives, or
- Controlling the budget, or
- Making final decisions, and/or
- Someone you want to connect with!
How does Mentor Tech Group (MTG) accomplish this? We are highly specialized – our marketing lists are simply second-to-none:
- Hand-Built: The MTG database is hand-built by industry experts
- Highly Accurate: Our Market Intelligence Consultants have personal phone conversations with each contact in our database to insure accuracy
- Segmented by Job Code: MTG database contacts are segmented by specific job functions, which we call “Job Codes” (…much more useful than using nebulous job titles)
- FREE List Updates: Every contact is called and updated every 4 months– so you know the information is accurate – period.
Take steps now to set your company on a course for amazing success in 2014!
- Break down your 2014 goals into bite-sized, actionable sales and marketing steps.
- Deliver your message to enough targeted prospects, decision-maker contacts in corporate training and HR.
- Partner with a list specialist in your industry to find the exact decision makers you seek!
We all know it’s a numbers game – and when you start with a high quality list of decision makers in your target industry, the job is made much simpler for you right from the start. MTG’s Market Intelligence is simply second-to-none… We now offer 33,000+ decision-maker contacts at more than 6,500 North American companies.
By investing in a quality, targeted industry list, you will finally be in a position to reach the decision-makers you’ve been seeking. Click here to learn about a company that grew their client base 20% as a result of marketing to an MTG list!
How can we help YOU? Contact us today to learn more and take the first step toward achieving a blockbuster 2014!
Wishing you happy holidays and a prosperous New Year!
