Dan Galante

I covered the Digital Agency Expo in New York. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, Digital Agency Expo is a conference focused on how to build, grow and scale a Digital Agency in 2019.

Ryan Deiss, the co-founder, and CEO of Digital Marketer opened up Digital Agency Expo.

In his opening talk on how to recession-proof a Digital Agency, Ryan identified three Key skills that agency owners and marketers need to master for success.

1. Master the skill of Copywriting

2. Master Email Marketing

3. Be able to create Partnerships

Ryan challenged the concept of a Full-Service Agency. He also argued against the notion that a bigger Agency is more profitable and can consistently produce high-quality results.

Ryan also recommended books to read along with a model for a successful agency.

It was an insightful talk.

Another great talk was delivered by Keap CEO Clate Mask. He outlined the five Stages of Agency growth. Clay also shared how he struggled to get his business off the ground. He kept going despite being told to get a job. His advice for when things get tough:

Evan Radisic of Proposify shares the State of Proposal research. Proposify examined 1.6 million proposals creating a blueprint of a winning proposal.

One of my favorite talks was the Keynote by Gary Vaynerchuck. Gary shared how to create, grow and scale a digital agency. He shared how he built multiple businesses on a shoestring budget despite his humble beginnings. Gary also took questions from the audience. I have included a portion of the talk here.

Additional resources for Agency Owners include:

The Digital Marketer Certified Partner Program and War Room.

I want to thank Digital Agency Expo for having me as their guest.

There were so many great speakers at the event. I will post supplemental pictures on Facebook and Instagram.

Additional resources for Agency Owners include:

The Digital Marketer Certified Partner Program and War Room.

The New York Auto Show is back after a two-year pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I had the privilege of covering the event over the past two press and industry days at New York’s Jacob Javits Center. It was great to be back. One of the events was hosted in the new Pavilion built at the Javits Center. Mark Schienberg, President of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association  opens the Auto Show at the awards breakfast.

 

I want to congratulate Audi, Hyundai and Mercedes for winning world car awards.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 wins a World Car award at #NYIAS 2022!

There was a shift in the type of cars, trucks, and SUVs at the auto show. This year the show was made up mostly of electronic vehicles and hybrid vehicles. This change is because of changes in the industry and US government policy to improve the environment. They pledge to sell only electric vehicles or EV’s by 2035. This is a global trend. This is information that came out of the World Traffic Symposium, which was held yesterday.

The show was based on two levels and there were three EV test tracks where drivers could drive Electronic Vehicles. This is a fun exhibit that I recommend that you experience. Ford had one and Hyundai had one. There was an additional track on the lower level where you could see more hybrid cars, trucks, and SUVs. You can also see EV Charging stations on the lower level. For kids not old enough to drive, they also had arcade-style racing games. There is something for everyone at the show. Here is a new Corvette!

 You can find additional pictures posted on Instagram.

There were also some new vehicle role-outs and major press announcements from KIA, Hyundai, Chrysler, and Jeep. You can see them below.

Kia   

Hyundai

Chrysler

Jeep 

The show is open to the public starting today at the Jacob Javits Center located at 429 11th Avenue New York, New York 10001. How to get to Auto Show.  The Auto Show runs from Friday, April 15th, through April 24th, 2022.  The hours are as follows Monday - Saturday from 10 am to 7 pm and Sundays from 10 am to 7 pm.  General admission tickets are $17 for adults and $ 7 for children. If you want early access for this Friday or Saturday tickets are $45 for adults and $7 for children.  Tickets can be purchased here.

What are you hoping to see at the auto show? If you have attended the auto show, what was the most exciting thing that you have experienced?

Sales processes include the following: customer development,   prospecting, discovery calls, closing deals, cross-selling, upselling, post-sales implementation, customer experience, obtaining referrals, and testimonials.

What is the hardest part of the sales process?

I surveyed my LinkedIn audience to find out.

Survey Results

Of those surveyed, 53 % said closing deals was the hardest part of the Sales Process, followed by understanding market fit at 22%, Calling on buyers, and knowing their needs at 19% with the lowest being cross-selling, referrals, testimonials, or other reasons at 6%.

Based on these findings, I have included nine ways to enable sales teams to close more deals.

9 Strategies to Empower and Enable Sales Teams to Make more Sales

1.Have Sales and Marketing Management discuss Sales Cycle mapping out Sales, Marketing, and the Customer Journey.

2. Have Marketing go with Sales on calls to observe customer interactions regularly.

3. Take notes from Sales calls to develop answers to customer objections.

4. Role play with the Sales to get better at objection handling.

5. Develop an on-demand LMS for Sales including Decks, Videos, Sales Training materials, Product training materials, Scripts, and FAQs.

6. Use feedback from Sales calls and objections to improve Sales and Marketing Collateral.

7. Assign readings on sales strategy and techniques.

8. Conduct market research to show how is your products and services are better than the competitor. Present market research creating a chart that Sales can refer to when dealing with customers.

9. Develop buyer personas to understand customer buying motives. Share the buyer personas with Sales.

What is the hardest part of the sales process?

How did you fix your sales process?

Share your thoughts.