Welcome to Kogger FAQ
Be Transparent – Create Trust! #BTCT
These are answers to the most common questions our customers ask
Be Transparent – Create Trust! #BTCT
These are answers to the most common questions our customers ask
How can I be more visible on digital platforms?
Being more visible on digital platforms means you need to create more content and publish on social media platforms. Creating content either written or visual will help your customers to “see” you more when searching the internet for answers to their questions. Publishing this content on your website or on social media platforms like LinkedIn, will increase your digital presence.
What is TAYA?
TAYA stands for They Ask You Answer and is the name of a book written by Marcus Sheridan. The methodology behind TAYA is to think like your customers so you can ask the same questions they are asking – and answer them. To learn more look at our TAYA Workshop, or contact us!
Should I be using video in my sales process?
Absolutely! Video is a fantastic way to connect with your customers BEFORE they reach out to you. They see you before you see them, they hear you before you hear them and they get to know you before you get to know them. Using video is a great way to address your customers questions, worries and problems. If you want to learn how to use video without investing a fortune – take a look at the Video Workshop.
Should my company have a YouTube Channel?
Yes, we think you should! Having a channel where you can distribute your videos makes it easier for your customers to find you online and by building up a library of videos on your channel you are giving your customers the chance to be educated in your particular industry. That being said, having a YouTube channel isn’t the first thing you should prioritize but rather concentrate on creating great relevant content on your website. That will also make it easier making videos, because you can use content you already have on your website.
We are bilungual, should our website be in both languages?
This is a hard question to answer and one we have struggled with ourselves. We started out with a website in both Norwegian and English but today the written content on our website is only in English. We are a small company and found out the hard way that too many resources and time was being used to translate and keep our websites updated. Most Scandinavians speak English and many of our customers, partners and followers speak it too, so therefore it was natural for us to have the written content on our website in English. But of course if you have the resources and money, it could pay off to have it in 2 languages so that you are found organically in both. Or if you are a local company it could be that the most sensible is to have your website in the local language.
What does BTCT stand for?
BTCT is our company acronym and stands for Be Transparent Create Trust. We believe that by being transparent and showing our customers both our successes but also our mistakes and by answering their questions or worries as honestly as we can, will increase their trust in us.
Which social platforms should I use to connect with my customers?
We recommend using LinkedIn as this is a great business platform. We also recommend using Instagram and Facebook since they are connected and can reach a wide range of customers in all ages and on all devices.
Is email marketing dead or should I use it to reach my customers? If yes, how can I use it efficiently?
Email marketing done in the right way, can be a great way to communicate with your customers and prospects. To help you make the most of it, here are some best practices to keep in mind:
Should I hire an external content manager?
There is no easy reply to this question. Hiring an external content manager is an option but even if this person has training and experience they don’t have extensive knowledge about what your company does, so they might not be the best to explain it. On the other hand if you use someone from your organization to be your content manager, they will understand your products and services and even though they will need time to become experienced, will have a better starting point for producing relevant and useful content.
How can I come up with content ideas?
Our recommendation is to get as many people as possible within your organization, to contribute to content. For example, answering the questions your customers usually ask, or having your subject experts talk about a specific product or service and create content based on this information.
What type of workshops can KOGGER deliver and can they be combined?
We can deliver the following workshops:
Packaging Workshop: Methodology for packaging, pricing and delivery of your products and services.
TAYA Workshop: Learn how to think like your customers and address all their questions. This workshop is based on the book They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan.
Video Workshop: Learn how to use easily use video throughout your whole sales process.
Conversion Workshop: Webpage architecture, SEO(search engine optimization), how you can be more visible when organically searched.
Value Workshop: Help in identifying how you can communicate with decision makers on digital platforms.
Conductor Workshop: Learn how to communicate and convey your message, either in presentations or internal meetings.
In some cases, employees or companies have completed parts of the program earlier or they are already well underway with packaging and want help in other areas. In these cases, we can do a combined version of the workshops.
Are all the programs only related to Microsoft products and services?
No. Even though we have extensive experience in working with Microsoft, their distributors and Partners, all of our workshops can be adapted to any industry. For example, the Packaging Workshop, uses a methodology based on Office 365 but for other industries we can use other examples that are more familiar to your products and services.
How can a KOGGER workshop function for me when I am not in the IT-industry?
The thoughts and philosophy we base our workshops on, regarding sales and marketing, are often common for all industries and are based on your customers digital journey. Most companies that work with sales and marketing or the selling of their own products and services, have customers that in their search for knowledge, experience the digital journey.
In what way does KOGGER cooperate with Microsoft and their distributors?
Our cooperation with Microsoft is based on their Partner Development Program. Today Partner Development is divided into 3 areas:
Build-With Team – Go To Market Team- Sell With Team. All these 3 teams work directly with partner development. Microsoft will choose specific partners for one or several workshops and then order them from KOGGER. Microsoft then funds 50% of the cost for the workshop/s and the partner pays the other half and any travel costs KOGGER has. Workshops are also executed based on an indirect cooperation with Microsoft via one of their distributors. The largest distributors in Norway receive so-called coop funds. These are funds from Microsoft’s kick-back system to the distributor based on their license sales and must be used for partner development directly in their own chanel. This works in the same way as described above but in this case the distributor will fund 50% of the workshop and the dealer will pay the other half and any travel costs KOGGER has. You can receive funding by either contacting Microsoft directly and talking to one of the representatives for the 3 teams (Sell With/Go To Market/Build With) or by contacting your PDM (Partner Development Manager) at your distributor and tell them that you would like to order one or several of KOGGER’s workshops.
Does KOGGER deliver workshops outside of Norway and in English?
Yes, we deliver workshops anywhere in Europe, in addition to Norway. Our workshops are originally done in Norwegian. By using a language both we and the participants feel comfortable with and understand well, it is easier to convey nuances, content, ideas and have fruitful discussions and brain storming which all leads up to progress after the workshop. Swedes and Danes can usually understand Norwegian but if necessary, we can do the workshop in English.
What preparation do I need to do prior to a KOGGER workshop?
Not a lot:) Normally we ask that you set aside 30-40 minutes for a Skype meeting about 1-2 weeks before the workshop. We do this so that we can get to know you better as a customer and your company needs. With this knowledge prior to the workshop it is easier for us to see if we need to do any adjustments to the workshop in order for it to suit your company needs better. For you to get the maximum benefit of our workshops and the time you have set aside, we kindly ask all participants to read any information that KOGGER sends out prior to the event. This assures that anyone participating at the workshop has some knowledge and feels more comfortable as to what will be done on the day of the workshop.
In what way does KOGGER follow up after a workshop?
The follow-up of a workshop is very important to us. A few days after the workshop, we will again have a Skype meeting with you and sum up the activities or future steps we have agreed upon for your company. In this meeting we can also identify any future needs that KOGGER, can help you with. What we work on after a workshop will depend on the type of workshop that has been executed. For example, after a Packaging Workshop we usually continue to work on specific packages that you want to be published on your webpage, establishing chat, updating the webpage as to design and architectural changes and the compiling and adjustment of content.
Which authorities does KOGGER use in creating the workshops?
Microsoft in Norway, Western Europe and Corp Global, perform several surveys that are used as an authority for our workshops. In addition, we base our methodology on Gartner Forrester, IDC and similar reports. KOGGER works closely with sales and marketing companies in the USA, Europe and in Norway to ensure that our content is updated and based on best practice both for the IT-industry and other industries that are sales and marketing related.
Who in my organization can benefit from a workshop with KOGGER?
The answer to this will depend on which workshop you choose. Feel free to call us or read details about each workshop where it is described who can benefit.
What is the agenda for The Video Workshop?
This is a workshop where we work together with your organisation and learn on-camera performance, your company’s video marketing strategy and how to improve your overall video production.
How deep will the learning prosess be in creating videos?
Day 1 covers the theoretical and Day 2 is practical training of what you learned on Day 1 and on Day 2 you will be challenged with how to perform both in front and behind the camera.
Will The Video Workshop Lite be enough as a start?
Yes, this workshop is a simplified version of The Video Workshop that will show you how, with simple tools, you can quickly start producing videos. This workshop will increase your self-confidence and your interest in videos.
What will I learn at The Video Workshop?
You will get help in understanding what makes a video successful, what is the most effective way of creating and publishing a video, which platforms should be used, how to optimize and rank high on searching motors with your videos and how to be more comfortable and confident in front of the camera and behind it.
Does it have to cost thousands to create and publish great videos?
No! If you are equipped with the right knowledge, you can make and publish great videos at a reasonable price. KOGGER has pre-created lists of photo equipment and willingly shares our knowledge and predefined packages for the camera equipment you need to get started.
Why is The Video Workshop a good investment?
By completing this workshop, you can reduce the learning curve for video production with at least 6 months, kickstart your video process and thereby quickly increase the ROI.
Who typically attends The Video Workshop?
Everyone in an organization can attend this workshop. The Video Workshop is based on teaching people that can already see how important video is for their marketing, and want to help their customers by becoming the best visual educator possible.
Do I have to bring any equipment?
No, we will arrange for all necessary equipment but bring along something to take notes and your mobile phone.
How many people in our company should be using video as a medium?
Everyone! Statistics show that seeing a face, creates much more trust than the written word. So using video as a medium will help to create and maintain good customer relationships.
What if I need help after the workshop?
The workshop includes a 30-minute follow-up call on Teams, a few days after completing the workshop, where all participants are invited. If you need any further assistance, this can be arranged at an hourly rate. But our experience is that most participants that have attended the 2-day Video Workshop, do a great job themselves!
What is meant by the words packaging of products and services?
The word packaging can have various definitions but when talking about selling cloud services, packaging is defined as a product or service that is sold at a price per user, per month or without implementation costs and without a binding contract.
Why should we package our products and services?
The digital customer journey has resulted in new demands as to how we can communicate our products and services on, for example, our webpages. Packaging helps to identify a product and present it in such a way that the customer understands both the content and the price.
Doesn’t packaging just lead to further competition as to pricing?
Packaging will lead to competition as to pricing but experience shows that packaging contributes to identifying which other products and services that the customer usually wishes to add on to their purchase. Packaging helps the customer to understand what their true need is and help IT-partners to understand what should be sold in addition to the packaged solutions. Up-sell and cross-sell is a factor of success that starts with packaging.
Isn’t expertise and delivery quality more important than packaging and pricing?
Both are equally important but the timing for them is different during the customer digital journey. The digital customer journey starts with the customer understanding which product and packages they want to buy and expecting to find their price. The complete delivery is originally identified when we are in a dialog with the customer -not during the digital phase. So, in order to reach a customer with our message, we need to have competitive packages and pricing. But to increase the customer’s consumption and purchasing, we need to talk to the customer, have a dialog, and this occurs at a later point during the digital customer journey.
Do all customers look for prices when searching IT-services?
Yes, they do. Research proves that the purchase pattern we have personally when we visit a website to buy something, affects how we behave when purchasing something for our company. B2B and B2C resemble each other. Customers that search for trustworthy advisors are frustrated if they don’t find pricing on the website.
Is packaging really that important, when most of our revenue is from our existing customers?
Yes, and that is exactly why packaging is so important. If we are to keep up with the growth, we se in the IT-industry, at the companies that focus on or have a clear strategy when selling cloud services, we are dependent on regularly recruiting new customers to our subscription services or recruiting so called “cold customers”.
How can we differentiate ourselves when most of our competitors have the same packages on their websites?
Packaging initiates an internal engagement that in turn helps in defining what makes a supplier or partner good at what they do. Fundamenting your own value on establishing and creating packages and then identifying special expertise when it comes to up-sell and cross-sell, increases the ability to differentiate your company. So simply said, packaging increases differentiation.
What does it mean to have transparent pricing, content and delivery?
In this context, the concept of being transparent means that it is easy for our customers to identify what the product or service contains and how the price reflects this.
Can we get help to create specific packages?
Yes! A part of The Packaging Workshop is devoted to walking you through how to establish, structure and complete a specific package.
Do you have examples of IT-partners that have succeeded in packaging after completing The Packaging Workshop
Yes, we have many examples and we are more than willing to share this information with you if you would like to contact these companies yourselves or visit their websites for inspiration.
What are some of the typical follow-up points after completing this program?
After completing The Packaging Workshop, it is usual that our customers continue to work on creating specific packages. Normally packages for up-sale and cross-sale are also created. For example, for support, operations and other types of services that can be packaged. In addition, there is often a need for establishing chat and sometimes doing architectural or structural alterations on the website.
What is meant by conversion in this context?
Conversion means that a visitor on our landing page starts out with being anonymous but becomes identifiable due to for example downloading an e-book, chatting with us or filling out their contact information.
What is the difference between a homepage and a landing page?
A homepage is the webpage a customer sees when they do a search based on a company name. A landing page or campaign page is identified by being a page that informs about a specific product or service and is often linked from emails, LinkedIn articles, Facebook posts, etc.
What is organic search?
It is search where a customer searches for a product or service by using words or word-groups. When searching, the product or supplier is not named or identified by a direct URL to a webpage. Searches based on words or well-known thoughts, will lead your customer to your landing page because you have optimized it – they will find their search words on your page!
What is meant by cluster-structure for landing pages?
This is an effective way of organizing webpages, landing pages, campaign pages and organizing subpages and elements. It is not based on a hierarchy or a flat structure but on a cluster structure that is supported by elements and subpages. The Conversion Workshop will show you how.
Are there templates that show what landing pages for the IT-industry should look like?
Yes! The Conversion Workshop will give you a template that shows how an industry adapted landing-page and cluster should be created in order to coincide with the given information for a product or service. This is especially important in the IT-industry since they need to communicate technical information in an intuitive way.
Are there examples of landing-pages that are based on propositions from The Conversion Workshop?
Yes, and you can get these examples by contacting us.
Who in my organization can benefit from attending The Conversion Workshop?
The Conversion Workshop is mainly for those working in administration, marketing and sales, and those responsible for the company’s digital strategy. But we have also had good experience in product managers participating at these workshops because the technical aspect is often important.
Do we have to complete The Conversion Workshop in order to get access to the cluster structure template?
Yes, and the reason for this is that the template and its content is very detailed so in order to get the full effect out of it, you need to go through it thoroughly.
Can we use the ideas from the template structure even though we are using an external media agency to develop our webpages.?
Yes, you can. We have good experience in cooperating with external media agencies. They have often extensive knowledge on how the technical effects can be implemented in the best possible way. So yes, this works great!
What are some typical follow-up actions after participating in this program?
Some of the typical follow-up actions are creating content and media pages for the website.
Why is it so difficult to create content for our website?
The Value Workshop will introduce several ways to make this easier for you! One way is by using analysis as a way to reveal the needs and possibilities within an organization. The other is by “text cleansing” product sheets and having a technical solution description for products and services.
Isn’t it better to deliver our value proposition face to face with our customers instead of focusing on our website?
Yes, that is the best way! But in order to get a hold of “cold customers”, customers we don’t know and that don’t know us, we need to communicate the same value proposition during the early phase of the digital customer journey. That is why we need to focus on how we present our value proposition on digital platforms since that’s where our customers meet us and technology for the first time!
Aren’t the customers in our industry searching for complex and relevant competence and not a simplified message?
Yes, they are but we have experienced that their customer journey starts with a simplified message that in turn builds trust by the customer understanding our role as advisors – someone they can trust and who can give them extended competence. How? They read more content!
Can we get help in creating a specific value proposition for a certain product or service, during this workshop?
Yes, you will! We recommend that you, as a part of your preparation for the workshop, choose a product or a service you would like to convert into a value proposition. Or, you can take a value proposition draft that you want to improve or “test”, with you to the workshop.
Isn’t it more important to train sellers than use time in creating a value proposition?
Both are important! Our experience is that if sellers and the whole organization cooperate with each other in creating a unified value proposition, it will make it easier for sellers to talk to their customers about it.
How can we be relevant to various industries and customers?
There are several ways but during The Value Workshop we will take a closer look at the difference between creating a value proposition for an industry contra creating a solution description for a specific task or position within a company.
Won’t a value proposition for a specific industry ruin our possibility’s in reaching other industries?
The short answer to this is that a customer that can easily see that you have cooperated with customers within one industry and shared your competence, will quickly be able to look beyond the type of industry and focus on your ability to draw closer to a business/responsibility area. They will then feel trust in you and that your organization can provide the same for their needs and challenges.
Are there examples of webpages in our industry that have succeeded in creating useful, relevant content?
Yes, there is, and you can receive their contact details and links to their webpages by contacting us.
Who in my organization can benefit from attending The Value Workshop?
We recommend that as many as possible in your organization attend. Administration, sales, marketing, consultants and those working in support and after-sales. All of these will be able to add a valuable contribution to this workshop and will benefit from it.
What are some typical follow-up points after completing The Value Workshop?
Typical follow-ups are continuing to create and improve content based on decisions made during The Value Workshop.
Is this a sales course just for sellers?
The Conductor Workshop is suitable for everyone in the organization! It’s all about communicating in the best possible way, both internally and externally, by highlighting and improving our best qualities and by using simple but proven methods for communicating efficiently.
Is this workshop mainly about presentations at customer meetings and seminars?
No. The techniques and tips you will learn at this workshop, can also be used at internal meetings and project meetings.
Does completing this workshop result in a certification?
No
Will this workshop work for me if I am shy and don’t like to speak in public?
Yes, it will. The Conductor Workshop is about being able to communicate in the best possible way, regardless of personal qualities. We will look at techniques on how we can communicate in a in a clear and understandable way so that our message reaches our listeners.
Which method is used during this course?
The methodology we use is based on authorities within behavior psychology, business communication, modern management principles and practical experience from seminars and workshops that KOGGER has executed.
Can the workshop be adapted to departments or focus on specific areas?
Yes, it can. This can be defined in each case after discussing with the ones responsible for ordering The Director Workshop.
Who is The Director Workshop suitable for and how many can participate?
It is suitable for everyone in your organization. Everyone can benefit from improving their ability to communicate and present their message. In our experience the number of participants should not exceed 30.
Is there an individual follow-up program after completing the workshop?
Yes, there is and it has proven to be very useful if you want to continue working on specific qualities or areas. This can be adapted to suit a whole department or an individual and will take into consideration the time and areas of improvement needed.
What are some of the typical areas I will learn about at The Conductor Workshop?
How to create trust with your audience by asking questions, having the right posture, “vanguarding” and connecting with them. How to prepare and calm your nerves before speaking in public.
Will the participants be filmed?
We have seen that filming the participants is useful, so all or parts of the workshop can be filmed. But being filmed is not mandatory.