Telling a story using maps

Getting found in Column A

It is nice to be found in Column A. All of these links are a good introduction to “Column A”:

http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columns/2004/091304pc.htm

A variety of activities might occur during a prospect’s consideration phase. For instance, suppose your buyer issues an RFP (Request-for-Proposal). We’ve all heard the horror stories about wasted time and resources on RFPs. Every rep familiar with solution selling knows that any effort expended on an RFP may well be in vain unless you’re in column “A”; unless your own sales team moved the prospect from latent to active pain and helped build a solution vision. To present a solution that exceeds your prospect’s requirements, mobilize your customer reference program’s success customers. Leverage customers to demonstrate the business value of your company’s solution. Leverage like customer successes to fill your RFP with undeniable and intriguing proof points.Again, your goal here is to become a trusted business advisor, to remain at the forefront of your customer’s mind in the face of competing solutions. Proof points such as implementation best practices, ROI and TCO studies are all tools that fuel a full court press in moving the sales opportunity to purchase.

Another description:http://www.themarketingsite.com/live/content.php?Item_ID=4491 

“Another key principle is that the seller must get into Column A. The reference there is to a typical evaluation sheet used by a buyer. Column A lists the supplier that is the likely first choice. Sellers in Column B, C, D, and the rest, are usually there merely as “column fodder”, that is, suppliers used for price and feature comparisons but with no real hope of winning the business. The book teaches that salespeople must learn walk away from “opportunities” in which they are not in Column A and have little hope of getting into it.”

Here’s the Google search:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%2B%22column+a%22+%2B%22solution+selling%22

The relationship between findability and improved web-to-foot traffic conversion

When you improve your findability on the web does it enhance your brand? When a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? In some cases, is being easily found enough to establish a brand? What is the relationship between these questions and the tactical drivers of findability and (the ultimate goal) web-to-foot traffic conversion. While the order of importance varies between industries (and even companies), a few of the drivers on a web site are data quality (both the maps and the company data), ease-of-use, quality and accuracy of results, presentation of alternate choices, etc. More to come. Stay tuned.