Sharka Chobot, Author at

Vlog – How to Define Your Value Proposition

Sharka Chobot — Tue, 19 May 2020 00:25:22 +0000

Reading Time: < 1 minute

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I need to know, have I gone mad? Am I alone in my dichotomy?

Sharka Chobot — Tue, 26 May 2020 16:16:35 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I have moments when this all feels surreal.

Like watching a movie. Yet it is reality.

I have lost all sense of time and space, mornings run into evenings, workdays blur into weekends. Yet the days of the week have not changed.

I miss the commute when my brain has time to transition between home and work, yet I appreciate my body not being in constant motion.

I feel grateful and blessed, yet sad and afraid all at once.

I miss the comfort of structure and routine, yet I love the freedom of breaking from it.

I am relieved to work at home away from everyone yet miss the interaction and connection.

I feel blessed to have the gift of time with my children, yet yearn for them to leave.

I miss the quiet and solitude of being home alone, but I know I will miss them when they go.

Video technology has made communicating so much easier and more frequent, yet my brain hurts, my eyes sting and I am exhausted by days end.

Logically I know I am young and healthy and have nothing to worry about, yet emotionally I fear being torn from this world.

I love my partner, yet am ready to divorce or strangle him. I am not sure which. Perhaps both.

I am calmer and more grounded, yet more easily agitated and annoyed.

I feel disoriented yet am more clear than ever before.

I seek some sense of certainty, yet know there never was any, nor will there ever be.

I want my life to go back to normal, but dread and resist it being so.

I want this all to hurry up and be over, and yet I am not yet ready for it to be so.

It has been a tragedy. It has been a blessing.

The world is better, reefs are returning, grass is growing thicker, families are connecting, we can see the sun in China, yet it is worse than it has been in decades. All the poverty, fear, deaths and loss.

Today do I want to see the darkness in the world, or the light?

Don’t worry, it’s getting better. Don’t believe it, its not.

Am I alone in my insanity? Or are we all feeling the same?

Warmly, Sharka

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Do’s and Don’ts of Choosing a New Cloud Product Name

Sharka Chobot — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 17:25:32 +0000

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Stop! Before you pick a name for your new
power app solution, think twice! What do your company and product names say to
prospects? Semiotics is an area of research which focuses on understanding how
we interpret and make sense of signs, including words, emoticons, images, icons,
and objects. In the context of culture, the same object or sign can have
different meanings: a thumbs-up in Canada means “good job”. In Australia,
Greece, or the Middle East it can mean “sit on this” or “up yours”. I’ve taken
a minute to analyze Dynamics 365 and NetSuite from a semiotic perspective to give
you an example. When creating new power apps or bringing new solutions to
market, choosing a name should be a deliberate and thoughtful decision-making
process.

Naming Your Extension, App, or Solution

Microsoft leverages the long-established brand recognition, equity, and value of its corporate name in its line of business applications: Microsoft Dynamics 365. When naming your own solutions that build upon or provide industry-specific versions of Dynamics 365 applications, you are not restricted to using the Microsoft brand name. Microsoft publishes Dynamics 365 license pricing, so if you want to differentiate your solutions and charge above this anchored price, it can be helpful to change the name. Would you pay $20 per user more for Legal Practice Management in the Cloud vs. Business Central if you were a law firm? Probably. Plus, the former appears to have more specific value and relevance to my business. I feel like I would be giving something up if I switched to another provider to save $20. You can still leverage the Microsoft brand equity and credibility by saying “Powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central”. Here are three Microsoft partners who have branded their Dynamics 365 solutions to be more industry specific and customer relevant:

Bevica | Beverage Management Software | Drinks ERP (tvisiontech.co.uk)

Legal Practice Management Software – Curo365

ERP solution based on Dynamics 365, for your food company (foodware365.com)

Leveraging your company name in your product has its pros and cons. It is less expensive than creating and establishing a new product brand, and the product immediately benefits from the established attributes associated with your company name.

Here is an example from Annata, an ISV in Iceland:

Finance & Operations – Annata Solutions

The challenge with leveraging your company name on your products is three fold. One, you risk negatively impacting and eroding your corporate brand if—for any reason—the product has challenges or gets a bad reputation, so you’d better get it right the first time. Second, as illustrated by LSRetail, if your corporate brand becomes associated with a particular market segment, it may be difficult to move into another segment of the market. LSRetail has a strong global brand position as a retail-based Dynamics solution provider but now has solutions for hospitality and other industries and has had to adapt their brand accordingly.

LS Retail products and software solutions for retail, hospitality, gas stations and pharmacies

Imagine the challenges of using the SAP or
Oracle brand name on a low-end, small business accounting solution, or of selling
Sage as an expensive, robust, enterprise-grade ERP solution to global companies.
Our brains resist this new positioning and struggle to let go of the
established brand characteristics we know.

Options When Choosing a Name

Bill Gates and Allen got their start developing MICROcomputers and MICROprocessors, and SOFTware was an established product category. Micro-soft is, therefore, a word blend. The word “dynamics” comes from physics and the branch of mechanics related to forces, motion, and equilibrium. In daily life we know it to represent a pattern or process of change, growth, and activity (Merriam-Webster, 2020). To me it means not staying the same, always evolving. “365” is a historic and symbolic representation of the solar, Peruvian, and Egyptian calendars. It metaphorically communicates that the software is available all day, every day, year-round to give the company a complete or “365” view of their business. In the Microsoft ecosystem, “365” alone is now common place and has become a metonym to mean Microsoft software products including Microsoft Office and the suite of Dynamics products.

Consider the name “NetSuite”. One would assume “Net” is an abbreviation for the Internet, which became widely commercialized at the same time the company was founded in 1998. The word “Suite” refers to a set of computer programs designed to work together and sold as a single unit or “suite of solutions” (Merriam-Webster, 2020).

Options When Creating a Logo

Simply defined, a logo is a visual sign standing for the brand in some way. You have several options when choosing a name and a logo:

1. Words or letters: Example: NetSuite, Google

2. A portrait: Famous people or names, like Betty Crocker or McDonald’s

3. Description: Trys to articulate the value proposition or what the product is through text or a visual representation (logo) such as a light bulb, for example: Neural Impact, or Save on Foods.

4. Suggestion: Often a metaphor to explain what the product does or qualities it has, like Jaguar car = fast, Agiles = agile, or Amazon

5. Symbol: These leverage our existing understanding of the word or object and trigger the pre-existing emotion or meaning with that word or symbol, like Apple = essential, simple, classroom, Adam & Eve

6. Alpha-numeric: iPhone, Dynamics 365

7. Geometric: Circles and shapes from nature

8. Abbreviations and acronyms: Letters that stand for a longer name, like IBM (International Business Machines). FYI, I do NOT recommend this approach; the high-tech industry defaults and overuses acronyms! OMG – IOT, AI, EDI, CRM, ERP, SaaS, POS, POS—enough already!

Fonts, Logo Design, and Color

When we analyze the Dynamics 365 logo and NetSuite product logos, both are heavily text based with thin font style choices. Neither logo includes an iconic representation of the product or any visual element, compared to SAP or IBM. The fonts signify simplicity, geometrical balance, and approachability. The font is minimalistic, making it easy to read, follow, and understand.

Microsoft leverages the color blue—a cool, objective, and a calm color representing trust, honesty, loyalty, and responsibility. Competitors like IBM and SAP also leverage blue, giving it a safe corporate feel. Also, IBM and SAP are both letter acronym logos. The NetSuite logo is simply black. Black symbolizes power and control, hanging on to information and things rather than giving out to others. Black is intimidating and triggers feelings of darkness.

So take your time putting thought into your naming selection and make sure to deliberately communicate what you intend.

Regards, Sharka

Chief Transformation Officer,
Neural Impact

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Struggling to Articulate your Cloud Value Proposition?

Sharka Chobot — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 19:46:57 +0000

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Struggling to Articulate your Cloud Value Proposition?

People don’t buy products and services. They buy a solution to their problem.

In my experience reviewing hundreds of websites featuring cloud solutions, I’ve found that very few technology companies have a strong value proposition clearly identified for prospective customers. Most of the time I have to weed through lists of product features to find anything that even remotely feels like a value or benefit statement. Tech solution providers seem to be obsessed leading the sales conversation with “what” language aka a long list of product features and functionality. So, I’ll attempt to help you quickly identify your solution or company value proposition here.

What is a value proposition?

A value proposition is simply a description of the value your company or product promises to deliver.

How do you define value?

This “value” needs to be important from the customer’s perspective, not from your point of view. For example, you may offer 24-hour customer support, which you see as delivering great value, but if the client never needs to call after 5 pm then there is no extra benefit from their perspective. This is a “feature” of your service, from your vendor perspective. WHY do I want 24×7 support? What problem does this solve for me as the customer? “Never again experience painful and expensive down time” speaks to me in a more emotional way that has much more value than “24×7 support”. Use your customers’ language to describe your value and benefits, not your vendor language.
The value needs to be relevant, significant, and critical to the prospect. It needs to promise something that is desirable enough for them to take the time and energy to purchase. In an economically strained world when customers want to preserve capital and have multiple competing IT needs and projects fighting for funding, they will only invest in a “must have” solution, not “nice to have”. Remind customers what will happen if they don’t invest in your technology or what they are missing out on if they put it off. Fear, risk, loss and control drive technology buying decisions. Why do you pay for life insurance every year which gives you no ROI? Its emotional. You want to sleep at night and not worry.
The benefit needs to be specific, observable, measurable, and tangible. Customers don’t trust technology company vague promises such as “be more productive or efficient”. Be specific, i.e. 80% of our custmers who implement our CRM system gain a 10% higher increase in revenue in the first 12 months of implementing. Abstract, high level phrases such as “transform to the cloud” don’t resonate with customers. Statement like “don’t get left behind your competitors” creates more urgency and buying motivation because they are anchored in emotions such as fear or risk. Make your value statement as tangible as possible and quantify with data if you can. “We help large manufacturers reduce their operating costs by 20% or more within the first 6-12 months of deployment”. Prove you can deliver on the value you promise with proof. Data, case studies and customer quotes can help with this.
Your value needs to be unique and differentiated. If all your competitors promise to provide the same value, then your value proposition is weak. For example, having talented, technically skilled, Microsoft-certified professions is only valuable if your competitors have uncertified professionals in comparison. What has taken you years to learn that would be hard for a new born in the cloud competitor to know? Industry domain expertise is the new differentiator in a highly commoditized cloud SaaS world.

What are the possible types of value a product or service can deliver?

Most marketing experts will agree that there are really only four different types of value propositions for you to choose from. I will explain them here:

Save you Money (low price)

Wal-Mart is a great example of a company that has built its entire company based on this one simple value proposition. However, I strongly advise against being the lowest cost provider or helping cusotmers save money as your core value proposition. This is a difficult position to defend and sustain long term, as you are likely not big enough to control your input costs nor to underbid all your competitors. Tech resources are increasingly more expensive. If you are in a high labor cost business like technology professional services, this is the worst value proposition to choose. It also requires an investment into operations, efficiency, repeatability, and scale to executive effectively. I have seen very few technology companies successfully use the low price value proposition effectively, even when they outsource offshore. Even Microsoft does not try to be the lowest priced vendor – even with their dominant market position. While this is the easiest and most compelling value proposition to explain to prospects, it is a risky position to take as you are only the lowest priced until your competitors lower theirs further. Dropping your price erodes already strained margins. Saving customers money is emotional and valued, but I do not recommend using this are your primary value statement. You can simply say “and yes our solution is competitively price” or “yes our solution will save you money or help you cut operating costs, but that’s a bonus”.

“Best Solution for your Needs” – Product/service leadership

This value proposition is based on your product or service being uniquely better, if not the best solution. My guess is that this is the value proposition many of you are trying to articulate. You may believe you have the best ERP or CRM product or solution or the best technical people and services. Best can mean most features/functionality, best quality, most reliable, etc. The key to executing this value proposition is that you need to invest heavily into innovation and R&D or if you are a services business, training and certification. To say you have the “best” product or service you need to be ahead of competitors in terms of features and functionality or domain/technical expertise. If you are going to claim to have the “best” solution, make sure you have the capital needed to sustain this type of value proposition. If we were being honest, my guess is that you can say “our solution can do everything that competitors do” or “our solution is as good as competitive products” but not necessarily that it is much better or superior to your closest rivals. Microsoft can defend this value proposition, but most of its channel partners and resellers can’t. So leverage the Microsft best of breed technology value proposition and then determine what YOUR value proposition is. Understanding your unique customers’ business processes and needs can be a huge differentiator.

“We make life easier for you” – Convenience

This is an excellent value proposition that most technology reseller and services providers can hang their hat on. The claim is that “we do the same job as everyone else, but we do it better, faster, easier, more conveniently, etc.” Avis may not be number one, but they “try harder”. 7-11, for example, offers less selection and fewer items than you would find in a grocery store, at a higher price, but they sell the most needed items 24 hours a day, and within a few short miles from your house. This “convenience” in terms of accessibility, location, and long opening hours allows them to win market share and sustain high margins long term. When Amazon came along they offered 24 hr shopping, increased breadth of product selection, and delivery right to your door (or laptop if downloading an ebook). They provided the same products (books), just in a more “convenient” fashion. Customers will pay a premium to get things done quicker or more easily. Simplicity trumps complexity in this world. Time is our most scarce resource and constraint in business. If you can tangibly save customers time and effort and show it equates to money saved, this has a high-perceived value by your customer. This is a great value proposition that can differentiate your company or offering from competitors. If you could include an app with your accounting system that allows employees to quickly take pictures of expense receipts with their smartphone and their request gets automatically routed to their manager for electronic approval and deposited into their personal account within a day, this saves time, increases compliance, reduces hassle and frustration and increase employee satisfaction – all which have perceived value.

Customer Intimacy

This value equates to a ‘we can do it for you better than you can do it yourself” position. Your customers are trying to streamline their business and focus on their core competencies. If you can position your company to be their strategic technology partner in one or more core areas of their business (which they aren’t experts in) you have a winning value proposition. However, you can only do this if you focus on key vertical industries or become experts in one or two business process areas, or specialize in solving a specific problem. You must not only know as much about your customer’s businesses as they do but MORE. Your value is that you can teach them things they don’t know about that are critical to their success and help them avoid costly mistakes and stay ahead of their competitors. They learn from you, and you contribute to their growth. Universities should focus on engaging and educating students, hospitals on saving lives, they should leave the technology problem to you to solve. You become a valued and trusted partner. By narrowing and focusing your solutions and the problems you solve, you end up knowing more than they do because they only do this once for their own business, whereas you do this repeatedly in multiple and challenging environments across diverse situations. You leverage what you learn from working with customers in a similar situation or industry to help them avoid mistakes or implement proven best practices. You can also start to benchmark your customer’s performance against competitors so they know how well they are or aren’t doing in key areas. This approach positions you firmly as a strategic partner, not just a commodity product or service provider. To offer this type of value proposition it is essential to specialize. It is often not feasible to be horizontal and have this level of emotional differentiation. The goal is to become critical to their business. This value proposition is highly defensible and allows you to charge a premium and maintain high margins. You become so valuable to them, that they can’t live without you (leading to high stickiness in the cloud). Horizontal, less strategic competitors don’t stand a chance against you.

Need help articulating your value proposition now?

Use the free tool to craft a succinct value proposition statement here: Value Proposition Generator | Neural Impact | The Neuroscience of Emotional Engagement

Live learning via video? See this related value proposition Video blog Vlog – How to Define Your Value Proposition – (neuralimpact.ca)

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Sharka Chobot — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 18:32:10 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Microsoft Awards 2025

In case you missed it, nominations for the 2025 Microsoft partner awards are open now through July 18 at 6:00pm PT. Nominate yourself here today! Over the past 15 years many of our clients have won partner of the year, so it is definitely worth the investment of time and effort to pull your nomination together. If you don’t try, you can’t win!

Here are tips to help make your application package more compelling:

Make your application visually unique and differentiated. You have to fill out the form and follow the format, however include URL links to photos, charts, graphs, slides, videos and images to tell your story in a visually engaging way. Create a nomination video, or PowerPoint presentation with voice over. Ugly heavy text word documents require cognitive effort to read and process and big chunks of text are easy to skip/scan/ignore, and will look and feel the same as everyone else’s – undifferentiated, not memorable.
Make it about Microsoft. We are all self-serving. Of course you are proud of YOUR results and impact. But help the Microsoft judges know why your success is not only good for your, but for Microsoft too. What’s in it for Microsoft? How does your achievement further Microsoft’s goals and agenda? Why should they care about what you have done and accomplished? In what way is your success also a win for Microsoft?
Add a human element and leverage video as much as possible. This can be a remotely directed quick 1-2 minute customer case study story, or a 1 minute overview from your CEO sharing why your story is so incredible.
Make sure all your claims are substantiated with PROOF and EVIDENCE. This proof can be in the form of a customer case study, screen shots, chart, graphs, data. Specific data and stats are more credible and believable than generic, vague claims.
Show indisputably WHY you should win. Communicate your “bottom line” story of results in a pictorial way. Communicate and demonstrate the “before and after” state in a visual story (Imagine your single visual slide being shown on the big screen on stage at Directions!). The brain LOVES contrast. Here is a great example that could be from one of our clients showing license and customer ads growth, last year over this year in one visual story.

See this excellent nomination video example from Mobile Mentor, on our clients who won in previous years:

Partner of the Year Video Submission (vimeo.com)

Download and read our free video best practices guide here

Video + Case Study Services | Neural Impact | The Neuroscience of Emotional Engagement

Need help quickly pulling together an emotional nomination? email Inge@neuralimpact.ca. Jordy@neuralimpact.ca can also help produce a quick video remotely to enhance your nomination application.

You can see the full list of awards on the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards page

Submit your nomination.

Good luck to you and your team!

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Agonizing over having to lay off valued employees? Well, you may not need to.

Sharka Chobot — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 22:40:11 +0000

Reading Time: < 1 minuteAgonizing over having to lay off valued employees?
Well, you may not need to.
I thought I would share some creative ideas from our technology clients about what they are doing now that their sales pipeline has dried up, projects are being cancelled or delayed, and receivables are at risk. Before you start laying off your team, here are some ideas to consider:

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Why Microsoft Copilot and AI Agent Adoption Isn’t Logical, but Deeply Emotional

Sharka Chobot — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 13:21:36 +0000

Reading Time: < 1 minuteIf you’re selling Microsoft Copilot and AI agents, you might be missing the emotional part of the decision process. Adopting AI might seem straightforward on the surface, but the reality is your customers feel a whole lot more than you think. Microsoft Copilot and AI agent adoption fails when organizations treat it as a logical technology rollout instead of an emotional change experience. Microsoft partners who understand the emotional landscape are the ones who close more deals, increase usage and renewals, and build deeper strategic and profitable ongoing relationships and recurring revenue. Technical proficiency gets you in the door, and emotional intelligence closes the sale.

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How to Keep Your Teens Drug and Alcohol Free Until Graduation

Sharka Chobot — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 20:24:41 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

July 31, 2019

Do you have kids? Worried that even though they are good kids, and you raised them well, there is a risk they could fall prey to the dangers of binge drinking and drug use when teens?

As a parent of 3 teens (2 safely out of the woods 18&21 and 3rd 14), being on the other side, I am going to share with you what worked for us.

I have taught at multiple universities over the past 16 yrs, I can assure you from observation, it is a growing serious issue with dire consequences. Years ago I tripped upon a contract for teens someone posted online, which we edited & adopted with our first son (I wish I could remember who posted it, so I could thank them now). Click here to download an editable Word version.

Being a passionate neuroscience researcher, I know what happens to the teen brain during puberty – their cognitive brain is forming new connections, they can’t help making bad emotional decisions. With my work in human behavior, I also know that reward and punishment is a strong motivator.

So, we simply had our teens sign and commit to a contract. If they made it through high school without being “drunk” or doing drugs we would buy them a car for graduation. My boys will tell you, at weak moments having something at stake helped them make the right choice.

Additional Resources:

Share these links with your kids to educate them on what happens to their brain during puberty and why drugs and alcohol are very dangerous.

For younger teens: https://youtu.be/EpfnDijz2d8

Older/Adult: https://youtu.be/EpfnDijz2d8

I hope this helps!

Download the editable Word version of the contract you are welcome to adapt for your own use.

Get the Contract

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Accelerate Your Acquisitions & Create a Recurring Revenue Stream

Sharka Chobot — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 01:58:29 +0000

Reading Time: 3 minutes

July 14, 2019

About Neural Impact’s Packaging and Pricing Strategy Workshop

The demand for cloud services and offerings is disrupting the market. Yet, not many companies are changing their selling approach to meet the needs of Buyer 3.0. Neural Impact’s two-day workshop will allow you to take advantage of this new gap.

You can immediately develop new pricing strategies that will boost your revenue margins! You will also learn how to connect with consumers on an internal, emotional level. This is regardless of your target industry.

Just as importantly, you will review your current offerings, implement proven strategies, and, consequently, increase your sales. These methods will differentiate you from your competitors and allow you to tap into new revenue opportunities, such as AppSource.

The workshop is hosted by Sharka Chobot, the creator of the CRM product category and the Chief Transformation Officer at Neural Impact. Sharka also works with Microsoft partners across the world. She helps them optimize their strategies and quickly acquire new customers.

Capture the Heart & Mind of Buyer 3.0

Initially, the workshop highlights recent changes in consumer behavior. There are many ways for businesses to remain emotionally relevant. Investing in cloud technology, in itself, will not suffice. This is because today’s cloud buyer is very different than traditional ones.

In the past, IT professionals used to make most of the purchases in the tech market. They made decisions based on technical product descriptions. Today, on the other hand, business executives dominate the tech consumer market.

Joanne Charley, Chief Marketing Officer at Neural Impact, pointed out that “[business buyers] don’t speak a technical language”. Instead, the big question on their mind is “how is [the product] going to help me in my job?”, Sharka added during the podcast interview with Joanne.

“The IT folks are still there, they’re still trusted advisers” Joanne said. However, she also added that the new cloud buyer is looking for “outcomes that are aligned with providing business value to […] their strategic discipline”.

The upcoming workshop goes over several related key shifts. Marketers and business organizations need to change the way they sell their products and how they communicate with consumers. Doing so will allow them to emotionally and psychology connect with Buyer 3.0.

Define Your Value Proposition

The second part of the workshop is about developing your message and defining your core value proposition. Similarly, you will learn how to accurately measure your ROI and the effectiveness of your new marketing strategy.

In order to do so, Sharka is going to illustrate the role of buying triggers. Once they are identified, you can map out your product offerings and value proposition around these said triggers.

The process is relatively simple. First, you have to understand what the concerns of your industry are. Next, you prioritize the key components of your marketing message and value proposition. Lastly, this will allow you to fill the gaps in the market. The whole process revolves around the buying triggers of your customer.

What are the pains of your industry’s consumers? Which problems keep the cloud buyer up at night? What are their main worries when it comes to their business? These buying triggers incentivize customers to take action. Your products and cloud services should provide solutions to these problems.

Packaging, Pricing, and AppSource

The second day of the workshop is about your packaging and pricing model. Participants will identify three potential offerings for their target market. These packages will accelerate sales, create recurring revenues, and minimize churn. Similarly, Sharka also uncovers new ways for your business to make money, including AppSource.

AppSource is a great way for your business to drive additional revenue! Moreover, Sharka teaches participants how to create engaging and effective landing pages. This strategy is especially important because of the new way that the cloud buyer makes purchases.

According to the latest studies, consumers go through 60-85% of the decision-making process before contacting a company’s sales representative. This is a major shift from the traditional, face-to-face selling process. In the online world, your landing page will play the role of the effective and personable sales rep.

Are You Ready for the Next Level?

Business leaders, product managers, salespeople, marketers, and cloud services professionals will all find great value in our workshop.

Are you ready?

Click Here to get started!

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How To Use Neuroscience To Accelerate Your Sales Cycle

Sharka Chobot — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 22:49:35 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

July 14, 2019

In today’s online landscape, neuromarketing and neuroscience can largely boost your return on investment. Any firm or business must also take into consideration how the new buyer behaves and pays for products. Furthermore, the background of tech consumers is largely changing. Marketing efforts should adjust accordingly.

Previously, before the spread of digitalization, customers used to purchase products in one lump-sum payment. While marketing campaigns took longer to prepare, a single sale covered most of the associated expenses. Moreover, a customer sales rep that knew how to utilize a sales script and deploy selling psychology proved to be a valuable asset.

Having said that, this strategy is almost ineffective in the online marketplace. The neuroscience behind digitalized sales is completely different. Not only do buyers prefer to remain anonymous, but the absence of physical interaction makes it more difficult to retain their attention online.

How You Sell

By the time that a digital buyer contacts a firm’s customer sales representative, they already went though 60-85% of the decision-making process. This makes engaging and attention grabbing content incredibly valuable. Neuroscience and neuromarketing techniques are a central part of making this process successful.

Digital consumers rely more on self-education than those who walk into a store. This means that they research products online and consult with their network before contacting the seller. Consequently, any business that motivates consumers to engage with their content is more likely to increase their sales. Even more when their product descriptions are easy to understand.

One way of being digitally effective is through video content. Unlike static pages, videos do a much better job at highlighting a product’s features while retaining users’ attention and keeping them engaged. A short, descriptive video makes it very easy to connect with customers and helps them make a buying decision more quickly than an article does.

Why You Sell

In the tech industry, IT professionals and chief information officers (CIOs) dominated the traditional marketplace. Today, however, business executives make the majority of software product purchases. It is important for marketers to understand the different psychologies of these two sets of consumers.

IT professionals are mostly interested in technical product descriptions. Business executives, on the other hand, have one thing in mind: How does this software help my business? Neuroscience requires marketers to focus on practical and direct details.

For example, instead of advertising a payment processing software as “WordPress friendly”, sellers should highlight how the product can lower transaction fees or accept all major credit cards. Similar features to focus on are how quickly the funds will be available for withdrawal or that they can be connected to a Paypal account.

When You Sell

In a physical store, consumers buy products in one lump sum payment. This immediately covers all related marketing expenses. Online buyers, on the other hand, prefer to pay through increments and monthly installments.

While this diminishes immediate returns, neuroscience and neuromarketing will boost your overall number of sales. In turn, this increases both short and long-term returns. The key to success in the online marketplace is creating engaging content that showcases the right product features.

Want to learn more?

Click Here to learn the factors of effective emotional selling!

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How Digital Marketing is Changing, and What You Need To Do To Adapt

Sharka Chobot — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 22:36:43 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

July 14, 2019

The online landscape is changing the marketing world in three key ways. Consequently, a business that applies neuromarketing and neurology strategies witness better results. Just as importantly, firms can set themselves up for long-term success by understanding the new online consumer.

Practical vs. Technical

First of all, research shows that most online buyers are business executives. Their purchase and decision-making process is much different than chief information officers (CIOs) and IT professionals. Neuromarketing requires advertisers to adapt to this change.

Instead of focusing on the technical features of a product, sellers must focus on its usefulness to the buyer. This is because business executives are mostly concerned about how a software or product can help their firms succeed. In contrast, traditional IT buyers are more interested in technical product descriptions and features.

Anonymous Customers

When neurology is applied, marketing campaigns can be very efficient at catering to the new type of buyer. Even more when advertisers consider how the online selling cycle is different than the traditional, face-to-face one. Studies show that consumers go through 60-85% of the decision making process before they make initial contact with the seller.

In large part, this is because buyers prefer to remain anonymous, educate themselves, and conduct online research before purchasing a product or software. Rather than making sales scripts a priority, sellers should focus on creating user-friendly websites that visitors can easily navigate through.

Meanwhile, engaging product pages and attention-grabbing visuals can go a long way. Including video content, rather than static pages, is a great way to retain visitors’ attention and showcase products. This gets them to spend more time on your website and increases the likelihood that they will share product pages with their colleagues.

A Shorter Campaign Cycle

Lastly, the new marketing paradigm became much faster and more immediate. This is especially true in the tech industry. Traditionally, it used to take advertisers several weeks or months to prepare a marketing campaign. Likewise, tracking its results and effectiveness took a long time.

Today, creating and launching an online ad is very quick and easy. Similarly, marketers can measure its performance immediately and have more tools at their disposal to do so. They can reach their audience through emails, social media promotions, search engine campaigns, and so forth. Advertisers can also monitor the number of people who visit their website, the average video view time, where users hover their mouse, and more.

Most noteworthy, online campaigns are cheaper than traditional ones. Yet, the costs aren’t as immediate. In a face-to-face selling environment, consumers paid for products in one sum. A single sale was enough to cover all marketing costs. On the internet, however, users prefer to pay monthly increments. Firms and businesses that account for and understand this are a step ahead of their competitors.

All in all, advertisers can prepare for the future by adapting to the new buyer, selling cycles, and marketing timelines. Applying neurology and neuromarketing boosts engagements and returns.

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Psychology of Pricing: What Strategies Can You Choose?

Sharka Chobot — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 22:19:14 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

July 14, 2019

If you run a marketing team or business, you probably focus on three key metrics: revenue, profit, and cost. No doubt, your goal is to minimize cost and maximize revenues. You may be considering working with a finance leader to help you set long-term growth goals for your organization.

This mainly covers tasks that involve pricing service and products to add value to your business and make profits. But how can you do that effectively? What are the strategies you can use to price your product to increase sales and profits with little effort?

One way is to master the skill of pricing your product. And to do that, you need to not only understand psychological pricing but also leverage the right strategies.

Below we discuss some key strategies deduced from the theory that certain prices have a huge psychological impact than others. Whether you’re a customer service manager, business leader, or professional service leader, the strategies are helpful for all.

Psychological Pricing Strategies

Charm Pricing

A research study conducted on psychological pricing found that consumers perceive prices lower as compared to prices that are one cent higher when you change the left-most digit to a lower level.

The strategy is also referred to as charm pricing as it involves prices that end on “9” or “99”. In this strategy, businesses reduce one digit in price by rounding off one cent. For instance, the human brain processes $4.00 and $3.99 as two different values: to your brain $3.99 is $ 3.00 and is cheaper than $4.00.

Prestige Pricing

This strategy is an opposite of charm pricing. It makes values into rounded values, like $19.99, can be converted into $20.00. It happens because rounded numbers, like $20.00, are more appealing to consumers than non-rounded numbers (e.g., $19.99). That means rounded figures “feel right” to consumers.

BOGOF– Buy one get one free

This is one of the most popular pricing strategies where customers pay the full price for a service or product to get another one free. Many entrepreneurs make some changes, like:

Buy one get four free
Buy one get 25% off on the next purchase
Buy one and get two bonuses valued at $70, for free

Visually Highlight Prices

According to Keith Coulter and Robin Coulter research, this strategy triggers an immense fluency effect. The consumers interpret any visual difference to a big numeral distinction. That means, if you change the color, font, and size of the signage for the existing price and place it away from the previous price, it will likely increase the number of purchases.

The customer sees the new price as a better deal than the last placed price.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the given psychological pricing strategies are effective for various types of businesses, but it is important to test different strategies on different products to determine if they suit your business.

Sources

https://production.wordpress.uconn.edu/businessmarketing/wp-content/uploads/sites/724/2014/08/size-does-matter.pdf

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/678484?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-05742-007
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/279464

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Why Video Content is Important in a Marketing Strategy

Sharka Chobot — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 22:10:45 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

July 14, 2019

When we think of videos, the first thing that comes to our minds is YouTube. YouTube has become the largest field of marketing as videos are an excellent tool to prove authenticity. To keep up to date with the competitive world, your website now must contain video content as a marketing strategy.

The motivation behind why you should include video content on your website is the current internet user behaviour. According to a YouTube study, people watch over 6 billion hours of video every month.

With that being said, videos allow us to use both our auditory and visual senses simultaneously. It is obvious that people get attracted to videos more than static contents. So, if your website has video contents, people will browse for longer. And longer visiting time is a great SEO on its own!

Dynamic Implementation

Videos work great as cross-platform contents. It means your viewers can watch your video from any device they are on. You just need to embed the video to the high traffic pages of your website and the engagements would be mind-blowing.

Websites once contained only text and static images. But time has changed. To drive more traffic towards your website, you need to hold the attention of the existing visitors. The visiting time determines your website’s search engine rankings. What better media to do that than videos?

Videos are highly sharable. You can post your original content on any of your social media platforms, you will see over 1200%more engagement than static contents. This will help a lot with your website’s SEO because Google now includes videos on their search results.

Videos Convince

Videos work great as an explantation procedure. Suppose you are launching a new product or service. You can either fill your website with texts that include specifications and user manual or you can create a short and nice video demonstrating your product.

Will you read long texts to strain your eyes or will you watch a simple video to understand everything there is to understand? Your answer is the reason why video contents are so important as a marketing strategy.

Let’s Talk Numbers

A video marketing survey done in 2018 shows that 81% of businesses around the world use video marketing which is a huge leap from 63% in 2017. Among the 81% businesses, 78% admits they have gained better Return on Investment (ROI) with video marketing strategies.

Last but not least, video builds trust easier than static marketing. You cannot tap into someone’s emotions with no visual stimulation. Any business is founded by trust and trust can be gained by interacting with the audience.

Videos allow business owners to connect to the audience on a personal level. People get the confidence to buy a product or service when his eyes and ears are watching what to expect. A good landing page with a convincing video can raise conversion rates up to 90%.

Overall

There you have it. All the reasons to add video content in your marketing strategy. Videos are much more engaging and provide better ROI than static contents. You can connect with the audience more with the help of a well-crafted video. So, let the new era of content marketing enter your website.

Sources:

https://www.webtalentmarketing.com/blog/your-website-needs-video-content/
https://vtldesign.com/digital-marketing/social-media/youtube/top-3-reasons-video-website/
https://www.dreamgrow.com/8-reasons-why-your-business-should-use-video-marketing/
https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/video-content-the-importance-of-video-marketing

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The Neuroscience of Negotiations

Sharka Chobot — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 14:50:39 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

July 14, 2019

Negotiation is the way we get what we want, no matter what it is. In today’s world, every decision involving more than one person goes through a process of negotiation, which determines the outcome for everyone involved. While negotiating usually results in a profitable outcome for the more competent side, it’s possible to improve this final result through learning about the neuroscience of negotiations. 

History of negotiations

The modern human brain has been developing its own negotiation skills since the beginning of the genus ‘Homo’. As negotiation in all forms has been a crucial part of our species’ survival, we have developed greater instincts for it, making us the best negotiators in the natural world. Today, the negotiation process is highly influenced by our fight-or-flight responses, as well as by secretions from our adrenal glands. Many psychological and physiological factors highjack us during negotiations and affect our ability to think on our feet. We are motivated by an inherent reward–seeking system, which in our competitive modern era, is often driving that instinct to function as a threat-based system instead. Natural negotiation is the human body’s way of assisting us in securing everything we need to survive – shelter, food, water, socialization, protection and even procreating partners. All of this points to a direct link between neuroscience and negotiation. Money is emotional. Winning vs. losing is emotional. 

What is it?

The neuroscience of negotiations is, quite simply, the manipulation of the hormonal and psychological responses of the brain. Negotiations trigger a relational impulse in our brains, and by learning to control that impulse, we can improve the results of our endeavours. The neuroscience of negotiations deals with tweaking one’s mind and one’s natural responses to increase one’s influence over the opposite negotiating side. The battle between oxytocin and cortisol is the battle between trust and fear in our bodies. To be a successful negotiator, one needs to emanate trust and comfort while reaching a high level of control; one either has to practice a lot, or learn about neuroscience and its influence in negotiations. 

Why it matters for your sales approach

Negotiation is how we succeed in life. It’s the one simple process that applies to everything we do, and the better we are at it, the better results we can achieve. Negotiation coaches teach us how to keep our own thoughts hidden while reading the other side; though this is just one part of the neuroscience of negotiations, it’s crucial to master this step before moving on to anything else. The point is to be able to make one’s interlocutors comfortable enough that they don’t come forward with demands, but rather with needs and concerns. It’s far easier to debate a need or an inability to do something than it is a demand or anything else shrouded in negative connotations. 

Conclusion

Understanding the way our bodies work is crucial to understanding how we communicate with people. Negotiating is one of our natural bodily responses, but it can be controlled and streamlined to fit our needs. Throughout negotiations, barriers such as language, prejudice, preconceptions and emotions all fall under the category of neuroscience. 

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Marketing is the New Sales

Sharka Chobot — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 05:46:00 +0000

Reading Time: 2 minutes

July 13, 2019

Marketing is the New Sales

To improve your marketing campaigns, you must understand the emotional cycles of your buyers. First of all, identify the main concerns of consumers in your industry. What are their fears and worries? How will your product help address them?

At times, buyers don’t even know about a problem until you point it out. Therefore, your digital media marketing should resonate with the consumers’ emotions and highlight what they risk by failing to solve their problems.

Your sales pitch, of course, should be more positive than negative. Instead of selling based on fear, your marketing campaigns should identify issues prospects are dealing with, but then immediately highlight the benefits of your product and how it puts these concerns to bed.

Lastly, your messaging must also create a strong sense of urgency. In addition to telling consumers why they should buy your product, explain why they should do so quickly. Do you have a discount that will end soon? Is your product selling out very quickly? What do buyers risk by waiting instead of making an immediate purchase?

Marketing Is Also Still Marketing

While digital media requires advertisers to now play the role of the salesperson, it also makes it easier for them to do their job. Online marketing tools allow you to better understand who your industry’s buyers are. This includes their demographics, interests, personality traits, emotion-based triggers, and more.

Just as importantly, you can also run campaigns that focus on each segment of your audience. For example, you want to show introverts a picture of a person on a phone or at a desktop enjoying your product. Extroverts, on the other hand, are more simulated when they see a group of people interacting with one another.

Similarly, you want to target subgroups within your audience that have a common interest or emotion-based trigger such as a favorite sport, hobby, or activity. This is known as tribal marketing. Tribal in our world is industry specific or role/job/persona specifc. Furthermore, we will go over the role of outbound campaigns in the workshop, which entail marketing to a larger audience outside of your target niche.

Want to learn more about how marketing is changing? Speak to an expert!

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Sharka Chobot, Author at

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Psychology of Pricing: What Strategies Can You Choose?

July 14, 2019

Psychological Pricing Strategies

Charm Pricing

Prestige Pricing

BOGOF– Buy one get one free

Visually Highlight Prices

Final Thoughts

Want to learn more?

Click Here to learn how to craft your perfect pricing, and click here to learn how we can help!

Why Video Content is Important in a Marketing Strategy

July 14, 2019

Dynamic Implementation

Videos Convince

Let’s Talk Numbers

Overall

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The Neuroscience of Negotiations

July 14, 2019

History of negotiations

What is it?

Why it matters for your sales approach

Conclusion

Want to learn more? Click Here!

Marketing is the New Sales

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