VitalSmarts

Company: VitalSmarts, Provo, UT
Company Description: An innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, VitalSmarts is home to Crucial Conversations® and Crucial Confrontations™ Training, award- winning programs that deliver powerful influence tools to improve bottom-line results. The Company also has two New York Times bestselling books of the same titles. VitalSmarts has taught two million people worldwide.
Nomination Category: Marketing Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Department of the Year

Nomination Title: VitalSmarts Marketing Success: Building Relationships and Securing Results

1. Tell the story about what this nominated organization/department achieved since January 1 2009 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

In 2009, the VitalSmarts marketing team increased leads by 13%—resulting in 7%
growth over 2008 and the company’s largest annual revenue to date. In contrast,
the Association of Learning Providers reported that 73% of VitalSmarts’
competitors experienced declining business activity in 2009. The marketing
team’s strategy was to strengthen the marketing/sales relationship and execute
integrated campaigns.

Marketing/Sales Relationship
The sales team is marketing’s most important internal customer. To build the
strongest, most efficient sales/marketing relationship to date at VitalSmarts,
marketing improved the lead scoring process, instigated candid and consistent
communication, and met client needs.

The sales team was often frustrated with the quality of leads coming from
marketing. So marketing revisited the lead scoring process. The team closely
monitored the efficiency with which they collected leads, refined tools that
captured lead information, and worked with data entry to get leads entered
correctly and quickly. They also built a concierge lead process to ensure valued
prospects received rapid response and five-star support. Ten top-tier clients
purchased $200,000+ worth of product.

To increase the number of leads, marketing built a lead data capture campaign
that capitalized on untapped information in the database. Through simple e-mail
campaigns, marketing scored and moved 1,600 leads into the sales process that
were previously unusable due to insufficient information.

To increase communication, marketing regularly attended sales meetings to train
reps on marketing tools, introduce campaigns, and prioritize projects to meet
sales needs. Marketing also reported on lead follow-up time and respectfully
held reps accountable for the amount of time it took them to connect with
prospects. As a result, sales follow-up time decreased significantly. In turn,
sales shared insight on client needs and industry trends which ensured marketing
better tailored campaigns and products to meet client needs.

In addition to working with sales, marketing executed on the following
integrated campaigns:

Public Relations: Marketing operated an extensive media relations campaign that
generated 79.5 million impressions in media outlets around the world. They also
secured a recurring column on BusinessWeek.com for author and company cofounder
Joseph Grenny that generated leads and provided sales with content to share with
prospects. This was accomplished without an outside agency and one full-time PR
staff.

Client Newsletter: Marketing grew their external newsletter to 117,000 opt-in
subscribers, a 50% increase. The weekly e-newsletter positions the company’s
spokespeople as thought-leaders. As a result, sales was able to increase paid
speaking fees of company spokespeople by 27% in 2009.

Channel Marketing: To enable its client advocates, marketing supported a
passionate community of trainers who have certified to train VitalSmarts’
programs within their own companies. Marketing developed an online social
network, an exclusive website to improve training delivery, professional
development Web seminars, and live chat sessions. As a result, the training
community grew 22% and now includes 4,857 trainers who are the company’s most
active customers.

Marketing Events: Marketing supported 19 tradeshows and sponsored speeches
targeted at various vertical markets. They also held breakfast events where
VitalSmarts’ bestselling authors introduced products to client decision-makers.
The team also developed and hosted REACH, a 2-day conference for its client
trainers. At REACH, trainers learned best-practices, networked with peers, and
heard from the VitalSmarts’ authors. 188 trainers attended REACH, a 49% increase
over 2008.

Online Marketing: Marketing hosted Web seminars with industry thought-leaders.
They also built websites that offered valuable research and tips for readers in
exchange for client information and custom product demos that generated more
than 1,000 leads.

2. List hyperlinks to any online work samples, news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated organization/department:

Mary Dondiego is the Senior Director of Marketing at VitalSmarts. Since 2004,
Mary has led the company’s largest integrated marketing and publicity campaigns
as well as seen the company’s revenue more than triple from $7.9 million to $25
million. As senior director of marketing, she was instrumental in launching and
sustaining the company’s three New York Times bestselling business books and two
major product lines. She also oversees three main marketing functions: corporate
communications led by Corporate Communications Manager, Brittney Maxfield;
demand generation led by Marketing Director, Paul Yoachum; and channel marketing
led by Channel Marketing Manager, Chris Evans.

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