As the COVID impact increases remote working, virtual conference calls, and online purchasing, sales leaders need to be asking a simple question: Should we actu …
We are living through an era of ‘what’s old is new’ as it relates to retention. While executives have always understood the value of keeping loyal customers, ma …
Coverage and Channel Design, Growth Pathways
The history of fintech (financial technologies) may be rightfully traced to 1915 with the advent of wire funds transfer via telegraph and Morse code. The ensuing confluence of technology, digitization, and globalization throughout the twentieth century revolutionized all aspects of global financial systems. This modern …
Read MoreSales & Channel Enablement, Sales Enablement
When it comes to the impact of COVID-19 on sales channels, we’ve seen startling data on the short-term shift in channel usage by both sellers and buyers. Traditional FTF and inside sales channels have taken steep hits in usage — dropping by over 30 percentage points in some instances — which has affected direct and indirect sellers alike. …
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(Part II of the Hammer and the Dance Series) I started writing this post as a sequel to the “Hammer and the Dance” post about health care. This one is focused on retail. As soon as I started writing it, the scope expanded significantly. I’ve been doing …
Read MoreBuyer Personas & Journeys, Retention, Sales & Channel Enablement
The most pronounced issue this pandemic has brought front and center for revenue leaders is the imperative to operate in ever smaller ‘windows of certainty’. While this is undoubtedly true in the midst of disruption, it will also be true post-disruption. In fact, it is …
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Early on in the pandemic, an influential article—The Hammer and the Dance—was published in The Medium attempting to predict the course of society’s response to COVID-19. Whether you agreed with the data science, it was an interesting thought piece that most definitely affected policy. It …
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By now, everyone in the technology business has seen the tweet above. It may be equally apt to ask, What led partner transformation at your company? Cloud XaaS/Subscription Models COVID-19 In 2019, Forrester stated that the indirect channel was transformed more in the previous 18 …
Read MoreSales & Channel Enablement, Sales and Marketing Management
As the COVID impact increases remote working, virtual conference calls, and online purchasing, sales leaders need to be asking a simple question: Should we actually eliminate geographic territories? The simple answer is “No, but…..”. We all must recognize that for >100 years the entire DNA …
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We are living through an era of ‘what’s old is new’ as it relates to retention. While executives have always understood the value of keeping loyal customers, massive market transformations have raised the stakes and forced what often was a behind the scenes ‘autopilot’ type …
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The essential ways we live and work have changed virtually overnight. As a result, companies are monitoring and assessing what consumers are doing at heightened new levels. Here is how integrating big data and small data insights lead to top-line growth…
Read MoreBuyer Personas & Journeys, Market & Consumer Insights
How is your company preparing for the coming cookie-pocalypse? The end of third-party cookies will fundamentally change digital marketing strategies across industries and have major implications for delivering a great customer experience…
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This pandemic will be over soon. While the costs will be high, scientific innovation and “social distancing” will eventually eliminate this catastrophic disease transmission. To help revenue leaders operationalize strategic change, we have put together a basic three-step process and a sample “checklist” of strategies …
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The biggest issue we see technology companies making today is using the investments in the CS role to define their CX strategy as opposed to defining their CX strategy and using the CS role as a critical enabler to that strategy. There are three very …
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Multi-touch attribution is critical for marketers who want to truly understand ROI of their various channels. While the term “MTA” is en vogue right now, this has been a problem for marketers for a long time. In the 1960s, television advertising might be driving some …
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Driven by digital transformation, the 2020s will be known for massive behavioral change in both buyers and sellers. This is already apparent across every industry where venture-backed digital disruptors are growing rapidly – they are driving go-to-market and customer behavior change. Yet, many disruptors have …
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With only one day to go before AEP closes, consumer fatigue with MA advertising appears to have set in. Despite significant advertising and marketing investment, KFF just released a study that shows how few people actually voluntarily switch plans during AEP. Consumers get smarter about …
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The last few weeks we have picked up a lot more discussion around emerging categories of enhanced benefits as new products are “digested” by the market throughout this open enrollment; a continued focus on cost control and driving employee engagement; and ultimately, discussions about the …
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Not surprisingly, the rhetoric has heated up as consumers began to react to the multiple messages and plan options being received around Medicare Advantage across nearly all media channels as AEP shifts to full speed. The “improved” CMS Star Rating system results were released on …
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Welcome to week two of our Fall 2019 Group Benefits Open Enrollment Digital Listening Bulletin. Even more of the benefits conversation turned to the rising costs of the healthcare portion of group benefits over the last two weeks as the reality of 2020 plan options …
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To meet the needs of small businesses, it is important to remember that inside that account there are individuals making the decisions. And just like consumers, small business buyers have distinct communication preferences, servicing needs, and day–to-day pain points. For example, in our survey of …
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Welcome to week one of our Fall 2019 AEP Digital Listening Bulletin. In this bi-weekly e-mail, we’ll take a look at the trends, conversations, and themes that we are seeing dominate the Annual Enrollment Period discussion as carriers, brokers, agents and enrollees go through this …
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In this article, I’ll walk through the history of customer-centricity, and how digital technology has ushered in a new era of customer-first marketing and support—at least potentially. I’ll then walk through some of the technological and people-related challenges companies typically face as they attempt to …
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Welcome to week one of our Fall 2019 Group Benefits Open Enrollment Digital Listening Bulletin. In this bi-weekly newsletter, we’ll take a look at the trends, conversations, and themes that we are seeing dominate the group benefits discussion as many carriers, brokers, heads of HR, …
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As of 2020, “digital transformation” is a hot topic in corporate America. But “digital transformation” of a salesforce – actual people – is almost an oxymoron. Yes, we can provide sales reps with more software tools but essentially, they are still managing human-to-human interactions to …
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In a previous article, we discussed the rise of ‘platforms-as-a-channel’ and the implications for companies across all industries. While there is a multitude of factors driving the rise of platform marketplaces, the underlying driver that makes it a sticky trend lies with the customer. Customers are looking …
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Brokers are successfully building relationships with small businesses, but they shouldn’t get too comfortable… For individuals buying and managing employer-sponsored benefits at small businesses, the support a broker provides is vital. In most cases, it is even more important than the carrier providing benefits …
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