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Welcome to The Blog

Uncover the mysteries of sales and marketing operations. Learn how to improve performance, interpret data, and lead your team.

Colin MacInnis

Author, Marketing Qualified

InCompany Updates

Year in Review: 2020

Abstract Hello visitor and welcome to my 2020 edition of "Year in Review". Year in Review is a self-reflective blog post I write each year that focuses on my health, wealth, and relationships; reviewing the good, bad, and ugly of each year. That being said, this year's review (2020) will follow a different format from...
InMarketing Mindset

The Digital Marketing Mindset: Start Taking Growth Seriously

Want to grow online? Adopt this mindset. Digital marketing is always changing. It doesn't matter when you start digital marketing, rather it's about getting in and getting your feet wet. This "Digital Marketing Mindset" is about reaching audiences, connecting with people, and having meaningful conversations with prospects. In practice, this mindset is essential if you...
InEntrepreneurship

Click2Order, COVID-19, & Crossing the Chasm

COVID-19 has the world in a pandemic. We're isolated from each other, our elders, our friends, and our collegaues. Meanwhile companies are laying off employees and the Canadian government is putting billions into the economy each week to ensure the health and safety of our citizens. But with all the stress, panic, and fear circling...
InMarketing Operations

The 4 Dimensions of Marketing Operations

A Better Way to Manage Marketing Operations The term marketing operations has a variety of different meanings. To some, it means activities like advertising, email, and social, while to others it means content, the customer journey, branding, etc. In my experience, the practice of marketing operations involves planning, strategizing, and performing activities that achieve the...
InSales Operations

Terminology for Sales Operations

Terminology for Sales Operations Great salespeople know their sales terminology. The following list of terms are often heard on salesfloors of B2B enterprises. If there are terms we missed or you don't understand our definitions, please contact us. We'd love to help you demystify the world of sales operations. 1. Commonly Used Terms for Sales...
InSales Operations

How to Work an Opportunity

What is an Opportunity? An Opportunity is a CRM term used to describe a deal-record. Opportunity records are created when there's a real deal with real sales potential being discussed (to buy products or services). An Opportunity differs from a Lead because a lead is a person-record while an opportunity is a deal-record. A lead's...
InSales Operations

How to Work a Lead

What is a Lead? A Lead is someone who has shown some level of interest to your organization, products, or services. Your organization might have collected a lead from a workshop event, conference, or ebook via your website. A newly created lead is not a sales opportunity (but could become one). New to sales terminology?...
InSales Operations

How to Build a Sales Process

What is a Sales Process? A sales process is a series of activities designed to identify customer needs, align their needs to the services your business sells, and to finalize a purchase; increasing your organization's revenue. In B2C environments, the sales process typically consists of a shopping cart and cash register. Customers are expected to...
InSales Operations

How to Create an Effective Sales Proposal

What is a Sales Proposal? A sales proposal is a formal document used in B2B sales environments. They often come in the form of a PDF file and outline the terms and services involved in a project. Great sales proposals are well-designed and follow a company's branding guidelines (fonts, colors, etc.). For this reason, we...
InSales Operations

How to Create and Use a Pricebook

What is a Pricebook? A pricebook is a document holding information about the products and services your business sells. It lists every product and service, their descriptions, prices, and discounts your business offers. If your business requires personal contact in order to sell its product/service (a demo, a proposal, or a phone call), you'll likely...
InCompany Updates

Year in Review: 2019

Year in Review: The 4th Entry I started the Year in Review series in 2016. At the time, I was feeling conflicted about decisions I made about school, my career, and lifestyle -- I had no idea where life was taking me. In December of 2016, I wrote a summary of my year. Welcome back...
InMarketing Operations

How to Attract Quality Leads at Events

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash. Are you getting 4+ inbound leads per day? If yes, bravo. However, the reality is most small businesses and startups struggle to build their inbound lead machine. Inbound strategies take a long time to develop. They require constant creation of content, online engagement, advertising, and tireless writing, SEO, and guest blogging....
InMarketing Operations

The Complete Guide to Creating a Marketing Campaign

This blog post is being revamped and updated to reflect the most up to date and accurate practices. Build a Campaign from Start to Finish This is a comprehensive guide to building, launching, and monitoring a marketing campaign. This guide is designed to help increase website traffic, improve the quality of leads a business collects,...
InMarketing Operations

How to Submit Blog Posts to Google Search Console

Photo by Michael Mroczek on Unsplash The Importance of Time, Relevancy, and SEO Let’s talk about the search engine game. Most bloggers and marketers don’t submit their fresh content to Google. Google bots will eventually, automatically, crawl your website and index your pages, but it could be days, weeks, or months down the road. This would be a...
InMarketing Operations

How to Promote Your Blog Post on Facebook

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash Let’s Get Traffic to Your Blog Post You’ve finished writing your blog post - congrats! Now let’s promote your blog post to get more traffic to your website. This article will show you how to promote your blog post in many practical ways. Feel free to use some, or all, of these...
InMarketing Operations

How to Build Social Proof for Your Brand

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash Fake Reviews = Brand Damage People don’t talk about brand damage enough. If you or your brand ever come off as fake or unauthentic, your ability to build loyalty dies. Even if you’re a brand new company setting out with a new website and no customers, there are processes...
InCompany Updates

Year in Review: 2018

Welcome Back to Another Year in Review In this blog post we’re outlining the top achievements, setbacks, and takeaways earned in 2018 (because nothing comes for free). Table of ContentsOverview of Goals Set for 20181. Registered MacInnis Consulting as a Business in Nova Scotia2. Participated in the Techstars Accelerator Program in Boston3. Regularly Published New...
InCompany Updates

Year in Review: 2017

Welcome back to another Year in Review In 2017 I made strides towards my goals set in last year’s review. As a recap those goals were: Become Google Adwords Certified (Video Marketing Specialization) – Complete Google Analytics Certified – Complete Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certified – Complete ConvertedU Conversion Marketing Certification – Abandoned I abandoned ship on ConvertedU’s conversion marketing certification as...
InCompany Updates

Year in Review: 2016

Welcome to the first Year in Review "Year in Review" is a blog post series that was started in 2016. Given it was the holiday season, I started reflecting on where I was in life, where I was going, and where I wanted to be. Without a clear sense of direction, I felt overwhelmed with...