Creating the “Top 10 Sales Articles” brand, has been a fascinating and hugely rewarding experience that has brought me into contact with a number of people I would probably never have spoken to, were it not for this initiative.
From conception to launch - in less than eight weeks… That may not be a world record but it certainly felt like one!
Creating the Top10SalesArticles brand, has been a fascinating and hugely rewarding experience that has brought me into contact with a number of people I would probably never have spoken to, were it not for this initiative.
It all began in December 2006, when I produced “The Top Article Directory Awards” on my blog, with, I have to admit, my tongue very firmly in my cheek. However, that post created considerable interest and received a number of supportive comments, particularly after Chris Knight of Ezine Articles, posted a mention on his blog.
Due to a very heavy workload immediately after Christmas, the idea was placed in the “Non-Urgent/Pending” section of my brain. However, it resurfaced during a casual conversation with an acquaintance in February and, from then on, the thing just gathered momentum.
However, before I committed finance and manpower, I decided to counsel people whose views I respected, and who I hoped would be supportive - Chris Knight, naturally, David Bain of BuildYourOwnBusiness, Clayton Shold of Salesopedia, Greg Stewart of The Sales Community, Daphne Slife of The Sales Camp, Marnie Pehrson of IdeaMarketers etc. Everyone was extremely enthusiastic and so I decided to get cracking.
My own technical team at jfa were seconded, as I needed people I could trust to work quickly, and the outline site design was completed in 48 hours. Then we needed to think about the logistics, this is what we came up with:
The primary objective is to provide a single location, where time strapped business captains, sales professionals and publishers can locate a review of the very best business articles every week.
For authors, we offer a unique opportunity to showcase their work and benchmark the quality of their writing, against that of their contempories, and have it reviewed by globally recognised sales experts.
How does it work? – Each week we will research and evaluate sales articles submitted to all the main article communities including:
Best Management Articles, BuildYourOwnBusiness, Buzzle, Eyes On Sales, Ezine Articles, IdeaMarketers, Salesopedia, Sales Training Camp, TheSalesCommunity, The Sideroad and Articlesfactory.
We will then effectively perform a cull until we arrive at the ten best pieces of work, which will be judged by members our panel.
The winner will be announced on site every Monday and a fresh set of reviews announced the previous evening on BlogTalkRadio (Every Sunday at 12.00 pm EST).
From the four weekly winners we will choose a monthly winner and logically, from the twelve monthly winners, we will select the Article Of The Year.
All overviews will remain on site in weekly and monthly archived sections, providing an ongoing reference point for visitors.
The Top Sales Experts Panel
I was familiar with a number of the experts, who are all globally recognised masters in their chosen field, but I was delighted to be given the opportunity to work with them all. They responded immediately to my invitation and, straight away, saw the potential and relevance of the project. In alphabetical order, they are:
Wally Adamchik, Joanne Black, Kevin Dwyer, John Boe, Jonathan Farrington, Colleen Francis, Joe Heller, David Kahle, Jill Konrath, Steve Martinez, Andrea Nierenberg, Terri Roulette McCartney, Wendy Weiss and Jacques Werth.
The Final Piece Of The Jigsaw
Whilst I prepared a very long list of potential advertisers - because this has to be self-funding - there was only one name on my potential sponsor list: The Sales Activator® and I was almost bowled over by the enthusiasm and excitement of its creator, Nikki Owen. Nikki is someone I have known and admired for some time and in her role as Managing Director of Trainique Ltd, she has demonstrated that she is not only a remarkable person, but also an extremely astute businesswoman.
So, there you have it - that is how Top 10 Sales Articles was conceived and delivered. I am very pleased to announce the launch on April 15th 2007, although the site will be live from Monday April 9th.
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