From the SMX West Conference in San Jose, California March 21-23, 2017. SESSION: Always Be Testing To Always Be Closing. PRESENTATION: Becoming the Larry King of SEM - Given by Robert Brady, @robert_brady - Righteous Marketing, Founder. #SMX #14B

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How To Interview The Sales Team For Copy That Closes
BECOMING THE
LARRY KING
OF SEM

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WHERE I’M FROM

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WHAT I ENJOY

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WHAT I DO
• PPC practitioner since 2006
• Founder of Righteous Marketing
• Regular contributor to SearchEnginePeople.com,
PracticalEcommerce.com, ClixMarketing.com/blog, #ppcchat and
others

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OUR GOAL:
INTERVIEW LIKE LARRY KING

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What Makes A Great Interviewer
•Ask lots of
(good)
questions
Listen
Ask follow-up
questions
Don’t
prejudice the
interviewee
Express
gratitude

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Who You Should Interview
The best
salesperson/customer
service rep
The second best
salesperson/customer
service rep, but only
after talking to the
best
Don’t settle

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• Record the interview
• Start on time, end on time
• Watch for non-verbal cues
• Optional
• Send questions ahead of the interview
How To Conduct The Interview

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“I remind myself every morning:
Nothing I say this day will teach me
anything. So if I'm going to learn, I
must do it by listening.”
-Larry King

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Follow-ups
• What is their career stage?
• What are common job titles?
• Ratio of male/female?
• How old are they?
• What is their primary job function? Secondary?
• What channel did they come from?
• What are interests they share?
Question 1: Describe the ideal customer/lead

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Question 1: Describe the ideal customer/lead
• Who your customer is
• Who the salesperson
likes to work with
What you
learn:
• Build audience targeting
around these
characteristics
Action:

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Does this description
match or differ from
your current customer
personas?

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Follow-ups
• How long does the process usually take?
• Ideal vs Average
• How many interactions occur in that time span?
• Do other people join during the process?
• Who joins? When do they join?
Question 2: Walk me through the process from first
contact to close

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Question 2: Walk me through the process from first
contact to close
• Stages in the buyer journey
• Length of buyer journey
• Who else is involved in the buyer journey
What you learn:
• Tailor messaging to stage of buyer journey
• Know when messaging needs to change for
additional decision maker(s)
Action:

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Does this buyer journey
match with the funnel
analysis from your
CRM/backend system?

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Question 3: When closing, what are the 3 best use cases?
• Use cases that lead to closed business/sales
What you learn:
• Ensure keyword coverage of these use cases
• Test ad copy speaking to these use cases
• Test landing pages centered around these use
cases
Action:

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Question 4: What use cases tend not to close?
• Use cases that lead to unqualified leads & waste
time/money
What you learn:
• Consider negative keywords based on these use
cases
• Reduce bids
• Nurture further before passing to sales team
Action:

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Question 5: What are the 3 best features/benefits for
closing the deal?
• The features/benefits most likely to close deals
What you learn:
• Test ad copy that highlights these
features/benefits
• Test landing pages centered around these
features/benefits
Action:

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Question 6: What features/benefits are least persuasive?
• Features/benefits that don’t sizzle
What you learn:
• You still need to include these, but
leading with them is an opportunity
missed
Action:

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The Ultimate Question: When you have a lead that’s
almost sold, but hesitates, what is the one thing you
mention to close the deal?
• How to get people to take the plunge
What you learn:
• Use this for exit pop-ups, remarketing, the
last email in autoresponder series, etc.
Action:

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Is this one of the top 3
use cases? One of the
top 3 features/benefits
mentioned in previous
answers?

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• What sale are you most proud of? Why?
• What are the 3 most common objections you face?
• What one thing would you like to see improved about the leads
you’re receiving? (get beyond “More” and “Better qualified”)
• What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned about
customers recently?
Bonus Questions

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LEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS
THANK YOU!
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX
robert@righteousmarketing.com
LinkedIn.com/in/robertallenbrady