Watch this quick video to hear her explain it best, then watch her knock out 37 pushups like nothing.

And be sure to give AJ your vote for Austin’s Fittest Entrepreneur! Click here to make it happen!

Later this week, we’ll talk to A.J. about how her commitment to physical fitness translates to great service for KPI customers — provided we can get her to sit still for a few minutes.

Online compliance management providers have delivered by creating new tools and platforms that not only monitor and mitigate compliance risk but actually leverage compliance data to enhance marketing efforts.

Click here for a quick read.

A strong and well-trafficked website is a great marketing and sales tool, but sometimes closing the sale requires a visit to the brick-and-mortar location. The trick is turning website visitors into in-store visitors.

Read about it here.

Money quote:

Product- and process-driven companies are dedicated to doing things the way they’ve always been done, Smith said. They seek to protect the existing product line, rather than focus on customer satisfaction, even if that means shaking things up inside the company. Marketing departments that operate that way are like prom committees running the same seasonal campaigns every year, having forgotten that their goal should be to generate demand.

Read the whole story here.

Worth the read.

” . . . Validation is determining if a name, address or phone number satisfy specific requirements . . . Verification is immensely different. When looking to verify prospect or customer identifier information, verification determines the relationship, today, that exists among a name, address and phone number. The strongest linkage is the provided name, address, and phone all go together. Furthermore, verification includes the identification of invalid information such as being an invalid phone and a non-standard address. Finally, verification provides insight when a name, address, and phone are not all linked i.e. the name and address matching but having a different consumer name associated with the phone.”

Understanding that distinction can be essential to more effective interaction with customers and prospects.

Read the whole post here.

Prospects are tired. Maybe you don’t realize it, but when you hit them with the same exact messaging via the same exact channels, they’re going to tune out. If you’re wondering why your prospects haven’t been especially responsive of late, then it’s time to shake up how you’re reaching out.

The secret? Make them feel special. Take the time to align messaging and means of delivery with their needs and you’ll get response like a rock star. And that means diversification.

Too often, marketing strategists fall in to predictable patterns: Send an email, make a follow-up call, recite a scripted voicemail message. And when that doesn’t work, they just up the frequency. But that’s the wrong approach. Instead of pushing harder with something that’s not working, get smarter and re-purpose your approach.

At KPI Analytics, we factor in a ton of variables that can determine whether or not an approach works. With emails, for example, we’ve evaluated a lot of HTML vs. Text deliveries. Often, the results are surprisingly counter-intuitive. Sure, HTML looks pretty, but we’ve seen personalized Text emails get better response rates. The recipient feels special, not just like someone getting a cute mass delivery.

Taking it a step further, we conduct deeper tests as to whether an email works best in a letter format, or a more skimmable series of bullet points. Should it come directly from me, or will a more generalized delivery suffice? There is no “right” answer, because each prospect has their preference. What this means, though, is that you have to invest the effort to determine what is going to work best.

Another way we’ve created different “nurture paths” is to evaluate how people interact with outreach. Are they clicking various links within an email? Are they responding to calls? We capture all of this information to create as precise a picture as possible of each prospect. It reveals not just what they might be interested in, but also the best way they want to be informed.

Essentially, we’re looking to differentiate types of interaction from various people. If someone downloads a dozen whitepapers, they’re going to get a call. If someone prefers email interaction, those deliveries are going to be increasingly specific and personalized. This also keeps the contact list in a constantly refreshed state, and allows us to ensure very specific alignment to their interests — customized to the customer, so to speak.

So, you’re probably asking: Does this differentiation demand extra time and effort? Sure, but I wouldn’t think of it as “extra”. I’d think of it as the necessary steps required to maximize engagement opportunity and ensure success. When you see the results — in terms of truly effective lead generation — few would argue it’s not worth it!

And if you’re not already, be sure to follow us on Twitter @KPIAnalytics.

That post kicked up a fair amount of conversation among our friends, and even internally within our team. KPI account director and client services specialist Andrew Fox recognized definite value in the B Lead strategy, but had to offer some additional wisdom:

“I’d caution against pigeonholing leads,” Andrew explained. “When you categorize something right from the start, clients and salespeople will be predisposed to judge it — perhaps inaccurately.”

A lead is a lead, says Andrew. Sure, there can be fundamental classifications such as last week’s A-B-C structure, or a label as to where the lead is (e.g. “Pipeline” or “Decline”) but any lead can and should be assessed based on four fundamental questions:

• Is there a budget?
• What is the timeframe?
• What is the client’s defined need?
• Are you in touch with the right decision-maker?

If you force a lead in to a set category, if you put it in a generalized bucket, you may be doing yourself a disservice. Instead, think of each lead, regardless of status, as an opportunity, especially if you have a complete picture based on the answers to those four questions.

“I like to think of it more on a case-by-case basis,” Andrew added. “Here’s a lead, with as much relevant info as we can collect. Now, whomever is pursuing it has a good sense of its qualifications — and even more importantly, its expectations.”

By expectations, Andrew specified that he means follow-up timing. Hot leads need to be tackled ASAP. Cooler ones might be able to wait a week or two, but it’s more about the proximity of opportunity than it is about where a lead might be in the sales-pursuit cycle.

Granted, Andrew’s approach requires more attentiveness with respect to each lead, but he maintains that a touch of additional process is worth the resulting success.

“Most campaigns are not that objective. There’s a lot of subjectivity because implementation timeframe can vary so much. Sure, some clients are dealing with set contracts about to expire, so you know precisely when to time efforts. The majority, however, are fluid. Find out as much as you can about an individual lead, and regard each one as its own opportunity. A, B, or C, you definitely have a shot!”