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thINK, an independent community of Canon inkjet customers, today announced Alex Honnold as thINK Ahead 2020 keynote speaker. In addition, thINK reported that its new Executive Director is Eric Hawkinson. …

Attracting prospects to help them become aware of your company is not about trying to “sell” anything, but rather to let prospects know that you exist as a possible solution to their needs, and to draw them to your website. This is the Customer Consideration phase at the top of your sales funnel. One of the most effective ways to attract prospects is with content marketing, communicating with potential customers in ways that establish you as an industry expert. Using blog posts, how-to pieces, newsletters, and opinion articles on industry trends can demonstrate your expertise and establish credibility with potential customers. I recommend starting simple, with a regularly scheduled blog series. Blogs are written posts that appear on your website and related sites, that provide thoughtful, helpful ideas to the people you want to reach. They don’t have to be long, but they should be compelling and offer ideas that your audience might not be aware of. You (or an eager employee) might …

What do you do when you find yourself facing tough topics you want to talk about? Well there’s one simple trick that can save you! The number one way to navigate tough interviews and make sure your message is heard…is to build a verbal Bridge!  “Bridging" means finding the opportunity within the question to get to your message.  To be successful you have to Bridge the right way! Here’s how in 3 steps. Answer or acknowledge the question:   We’re not politicians. You can’t just ignore the question that’s asked and just talk about what you want to talk about. So you have to first answer or acknowledge the question. If the question is “Where do you live?” Answering that question would be “I live in Scarsdale, NY.” Acknowledging that question would be “I live outside of New York City” or even “I live in New York State.”   Transition: Start to lead away from the question and towards your message by finding a        topic that can relate to both the question and message.   Bring In Your …

In exploring marketing best practices at the top of the sales funnel — that stage in the buying process where you invite prospective customers to consider your company for their inkjet printing needs — it’s essential to understand how Google helps people find what they’re looking for. Tweaking your website here is known as search engine optimization (SEO), making it more likely your company and services will appear toward the top of search results. This is important because as much as 92% of search traffic clicks happen on the first Google page. Internet users rarely keep turning the search page to find additional options. SEO done right is a specialized skill, so ask an SEO expert to analyze your keyword click successes and tweak your site to improve click-throughs. You, however, are essential to the process, assuring that your SEO efforts dovetail with your internally developed marketing strategy and tactics. Where to begin? Both you and your SEO expert have to start with the …

Let's say you were at a sales meeting and the company president announces the addition of a new piece of equipment. This device, an inkjet printer from Canon, is not only better and faster than what it's replacing, it opens up all new opportunities for you as a salesperson. Looking at the inkjet printer, you are amazed despite the fact you're not sure if you're looking at the front or the back. It doesn't matter. You learn that the boss got every possible option except for the surface to air missiles which apparently are still in beta. Needless to say, we made that last part up. Come on… You go through sales training, even sitting through a day with the authors of this blog, attending one of three thINK Virtual Workshops held in 2020. You learn about applications, what to expect, and the vertical market approach you can undertake. After all this information and all this knowledge, you walk into your boss’ office, sit down and proclaim, "I don't want to sell inkjet," and then await the …