Kristin Zhivago
Kristin Zhivago, a "revenue coach," is an expert on the customer's buying process. She helps companies of all sizes understand what their customers want to buy and how they want to buy it. She helps CEOs, entrepreneurs, and other business managers make it easier for their customers to find them, understand (and appreciate) what they're selling, and buy from them.Her approach is very logical, and gives company managers a straightforward way to increase their top-line revenue. Customers have a buying process. The company that does the best job of supporting that buying process is the company most likely to make the sale. What does that actually mean?
- The customer's questions are answered, promptly and to the customer's satisfaction - regardless of the method/medium used (websites, emails, blogs, forums, social media sites, salespeople, ads, PR, etc.)
- The customer can easily go from one step to the next in the buying process, no matter how complex that process might be.
- Nothing the seller does impedes the progress of the buyer (there are hundreds of ways that a seller can impede the progress of a buyer - just try calling any company, for example, and see if a real, live, helpful person answers the phone!)
- The website is easily navigated; everything is obvious. The customer is never confused.
- The company's leaders understand what the customer wants and the entire company is set up to deliver.
- The salespeople are knowledgeable about their products (unfortunately, in today's Google-based buying environment, many customers know more about the product than the salesperson does).
She then works with top managers to make the necessary changes. These can include:
- Company positioning. The customer interviews that Kristin conducts always result in a clear understanding of the promise that customers expect the company to keep. She then works with top managers to further identify the promise that the company can keep, given its unique products, processes, people, and policies. This becomes the company's brand.
- Product positioning. Kristin works with owners and managers to re-position the product so it is in alignment with what customers want to buy. She then writes the seminal pieces, to set the tone for the website, emails, and all other marketing/selling materials. She then "works herself out of a job," by finding and training the writers who can continue to generate the necessary materials.
- Re-engineering teams. She identifies the right positions, and makes sure the right people are in those positions. She writes job descriptions, recruits, interviews, checks references, and helps clients with the hiring and managing process.
- Training. Kristin has trained salespeople, marketing people, copywriters, product managers, and business partners, worldwide, for companies such as IBM and Dow Jones. She wrote all of the instructional materials used by IBM marketers as they create their marketing materials. She has managed marketing and sales teams in companies of all sizes.
- Website strategy, navigation, and content. IBM has hired Kristin a number of times to redesign various sections of its business partner websites and other portals. Her redesigns included mapping 3000 pages from the "old" to the "new," a completely new and, as Gerry would say, "task-oriented" navigation scheme, and redesign. Activity included in-lab and on-phone/shared screen user testing.
- Vendor identification and management. In addition to finding, training, and helping to manage employees, Kristin can find the right outside vendors who will help create the company's website, and online/offline marketing and selling materials.
Kristin speaks and teaches frequently, worldwide, on the subject of the customer's buying process. She launched her second book, Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customer Wants to Buy, in 2011. She is the author of the blog RevenueJournal.com.
Email Kristin Zhivago
401-423-2400 (USA)