Eric LaRose, Author at Vx Group

Webcast – Confessions of a SoFi Junkie

Community banks have long been under attack by national and international financial conglomerates, but the most recent competition comes from a less tangible source – online financial services like SoFi. “Confessions of a SoFi Junkie” is a vibrant discussion on why online banking institutions like SoFi have risen in popularity, the sales and marketing techniques they used to connect with millennial customers and lessons you could learn from the rise of these new-age loan businesses. Recorded on Jan. 25, 2018, this discussion [...]

Vx Group is going to the dogs

It was a cold early-December morning when Vx Group President Eric Zoromski hopped in the pilot’s seat of a plane headed to Rensselaer, IN. His mission: transport a mother dog and her eight pups to their new home in Wisconsin. It was all part of Pilots N Paws, a non-profit organization that matches volunteer pilots and plane owners with rescue dogs in need of transport. “We are all dog lovers at the Vx Group and this is such an important cause for [...]

Download: Vx Group Growth Goal Calculator

We want 2018 to be a great year for you and your company, and to support that the Vx Group has developed a free tool you can use to determine how many new customers you need to acquire over the next year to meet your company growth goals. Here’s how it works: Download the calculator and launch it (you’ll need Microsoft Excel) Under Company Information, add your company name and dates. Try to keep your growth goals to a year (Jan. 1-Dec. [...]

The one thing you could do to kick start a great 2018

December is a rough month for B2B sales, with many of your customers buried underneath end-of-the-year paperwork. Because of this, the general rule is to avoid B2B sales altogether in December. The way we see it, while this seems like sound logic it’s really a missed opportunity. Yes, it’s correct that your customers are struggling with year-end reports, but you know what would be a great break for them? Talking to you. We’ve found that not only will your customers take your [...]

5 things that push website visitors away

Companies put a lot of time and effort into getting potential customers to visit their websites. From search engine optimization to pay-per-click, print and website ads, social media strategies, search engine marketing, backlinking and blogging strategies, most businesses use every trick in the book to boost visits. But what are your visitors seeing once the click through to your site? When people visit your website, they are looking for information. If they don’t find it, or you make it hard for them [...]

3 ways to add value to every sales meeting

Sales meetings can be a lot of things: intimidating, rewarding, complicated, etc. But there are times when everyone starts thinking: “I am adding nothing to this meeting.” There are several ways you can add value to any sales meeting. First, don’t pretend you know everything. There is no shame in asking for clarification. Many times these discussions lead to new ideas, better processes and so on. Fast Company recently published an article on this subject. You can see more meeting tips here. [...]

4 things to avoid when selling yourself

You may know your company’s product lines backwards and forwards, but the simple truth about sales is your customers are buying from you. If they don’t like you, there’s a good chance they won’t buy from you. Many forget that during every sales meeting, one of the products you are selling is: you. During the small-talk portion of every sales meeting, there’s a chance to sell yourself by answering the simple questions almost everyone asks. We’ve put together a few examples [...]

Treat sales like a jet engine

We’ve had a lot of clients express the desire for a short-term sales boost, and our canned response is that there are few levers you can pull besides price to increase sales in the next 30-90 days. You can read more about that here and here. Oddly enough, we’ve also heard of companies with the exact opposite problem – the sales department is crushing it so hard that production and engineering can’t keep up. Sales is often pressured to “slow down” by [...]

Using bullshit for good: what we can learn from fake news

We live in the era of fake news, sensationalized reporting, elevated threat levels and common household items that you use every day that could kill you in your sleep. There’s a nice, short way of describing these things: bullshit. And while bullshit is negatively portrayed, there is such a thing as good bullshit. Bullshit is simply a misdirection. Like a magician getting the audience to focus on his left hand while he hides the rabbit with his right, bullshit - when used [...]

5 ways to save face after sending an email without its attachment

Oh No! You just sent out an email with an attachment, but you forgot to attach it. Dang it, you had one thing to do! We've all been there, but it’s embarrassing and it makes you feel like a forgetful idiot. But have no fear, there are several ways to recover. Have a sense of humor about it: Send another email with the attachment with a funny, but informative, subject line like: Attachment actually attached, I’ve returned with your attachment, A case [...]

5 things you should never say during a sales meeting

Saying the wrong thing during a sales meeting can bring your pitch to a screeching halt. What's the wrong thing? Here are five things you should never say during a sales meeting. "I don't know" – In sales there is never a reason to say "I don't know." It makes your potential clients think, "If you don't know this now, will you know the answer to a really important question once we've hired you?" Not to say you should lie (see tip [...]

How to make your next online sales presentation a success

You've scripted the perfect PowerPoint, assembled some magnificent imagery for your slides, and you've out the invites to your online presentation. The only thing you need to do now is show up and press start, right? WRONG! Online sales presentations are only effective if you've done your best to eliminate all potential issues you could encounter in the virtual conference room. We've all been looped into really bad online presentations, and they are more frustrating than informative. If you want to keep [...]

Google Analytics and you

We live in the future! With the advent of Google Analytics, you can produce a report detailing where your web traffic is coming from, what people are looking at on your site and more! Lots more! Almost too much. “Google Analytics can be really intimidating,” said Julie Booher, the Vx Group Integrated Marketing Manager who has been deciphering Google Analytics Reports for nearly a decade. “I’ve seen people get completely overwhelmed with the amount of data Google Analytics provides, but you just [...]

Election 2016: The final test for disruptive marketing

America is waking up to a new President-Elect. For many, the results of the election between businessman Donald J. Trump and Secretary Hillary Clinton are shocking, but they are only shocking if you haven’t been paying attention. Sure, the polls had Secretary Clinton winning in several swing states and President-Elect Trump had virtually no newspaper endorsements or support from his own party, but this election wasn’t about politics. It was about marketing, specifically disruptive marketing. What is disruptive marketing? A disruptive company [...]

The revolution will be webcast!

It’s September already! Before we know it, 2017 will be here. So, let’s prepare with 10 video marketing trends to look out for in 2017 Video marketing is a fast moving industry. To stay a…

About Eric LaRose