ECN Field Journals

Marketing vs. Sales

8/2/2010 1:51:27 PM

Let us think about this question for a moment. Without marketing, you would not have prospects or leads to follow up with, but yet without a good sales technique and strategy your closing rate may depress you. Marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade prospects. The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. Both are necessities to the success of a business. You cannot do without either process. By strategically combining both efforts, you will experience a successful amount of business growth. However, by the same token if the efforts are unbalanced it can detour your growth.

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Your marketing will consist of the measures you use to reach and persuade your prospects that you are the company for them. It is the message that prepares the prospect for the sales. It consists of advertising, public relations, brand marketing, viral marketing, and direct mail. The sales process consists of interpersonal interaction. It is often done by a one-on-one meeting, cold calls, and networking. It is anything that engages you with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance. Your marketing efforts begin the process of the eight contacts that studies show it takes to move a prospect or potential client to the close of the sale. If marketing is done effectively, you can begin to move that prospect from a cold to a warm lead. When the prospect hits the "warm" level, it is much easier for the sales professional to close the sale.

Do you see the cycle? As you see in my explanation above it takes multiple contacts using both sales and marketing to move the prospect from one level to the next. That is why it is import that you develop a process that combines both sales and marketing. This will enable you to reach prospects at all three levels; cold, warm, and hot. It is all about balance. Are you unsure of how to integrate your marketing and sales? Try this. Take a few moments and divide your prospect lists and database into categories of cold, warm, and hot leads. Then sit down and identify a strategy on how to proceed with each individual group. For example, you could try the following methods of contact:

• Cold Lead Strategy - Send out a direct mailing or offer them a special promotion

• Warm Lead Strategy - Try a follow-up call, send out a sales letter, or schedule a special seminar or training session to get all of your warm leads together. Once you have moved your prospect to the "warm" level, it is time to proceed in closing the sale. This will be easier to do if you somehow engage the prospect. You can do this by conducting a one-on-one call, make a presentation, or present a proposal, estimate, or contract.

What if you are uncomfortable with the sales or marketing process?
An alternative that often proves successful is to collaborate with someone that possesses the talents that you feel you lack in. You can do this by creating a partnership, subcontracting, or hiring in that talent.

Remember the key to success in marketing and in sales is balance!

Internet Marketing Principles

7/2/2010 12:09:29 PM

The Internet is a crucial new way of interacting with existing and potential customers. You must be aware of today's top internet marketing principles to successfully operate an effective website and online marketing campaign.

Back in the emerging youth of the Internet, advertising your website online and in the search engines was as easy as editing one simple line of code. Today, you not only need to have a good-looking internet site, but the site has to do well with the search engines and, first, foremost, with your visitors, and existing clients. You need to consider such aspects as website usability, site copy (copywriting), accessibility, search engine optimization, customer support, and most of all; you need to change the focus to your customers from your website.

Today's fresh approach to internet marketing is chiefly established on concentrating on the customers, even when working on the website and promotion. This involves customer research, which, successively, requires keyword research and the focus on the benefits to the customers and website promotion.

Top 7 Marketing Considerations
1. The appropriateness of the Internet for a particular customer interaction will change according to the features of the market section.

It can be used to advantage wherever its features match the needs of the customer interaction. Ask yourself, what are your customer’s needs and how are you fulfilling them?

2. As long as the Internet is only available by a proportion of the population, it is necessary to establish what proportion of the target segment of the market will have access.

The segment of visitors landing on your website are ultimately directed to your website from keywords. What keywords are you targeting? Are they keywords that are attracting visitors who will convert?

3. The accessibility provided by the Internet means that those communicating do not need to do so at the same time.

Information can be accessed across time zones without the restrictions of contact in respective national business hours only. Someone can signup for your service, or you can sell a product any time during the day or in the middle of the night - all without you sitting by your computer or phone for hours. It is therefore particularly relevant to geographically dispersed markets and those where the cost of sales visits is prohibitive.

4. The Internet offers the benefits of being more interactive than direct mail or broadcast media.

Since interaction is with a computer rather than a person, the interactivity is different from that of a telephone or sales visit, making it appropriate for pre-programmed, high-volume, repetitive tasks. How is your website interacting with your potential customers?

5. The Web is mainly a medium of two-dimensional static words and graphics, although use of sound and video is rapidly expanding (example: “YouTube”).

This has enabled, for example, hotels and conferences to make use of virtual reality technology to demonstrate their services and facilities to Internet browsers. Internet restrictions still make certain products, such as clothes, less appropriate for sale over the Web since, as part of the purchase, the customer may wish to feel the fabric or try an item on.

6. The marginal cost of the Internet as a communication tool can be low.

However, it is generally false that the cost of advertising is saved, since the size of the Internet still poses the problem of how to get people to the website in the first place. This can be done using online search engines such as Google or Yahoo, or even service providers such as AOL.

7. User concerns about security and privacy can impede the placement of orders over the Internet.

This is likely to bias Internet sales in the direction of relatively low-value items such as books or CDs, and in favor of suppliers with strong, trusted brands (example: Amazon, Yahoo!). Market research suggests that the dominant factors affecting Internet use remain the traditional concerns: price, convenience, service levels, product availability, and so on. Internet speed and the quality of websites will therefore be just as important as addressing security issues for the growth of the Internet over the coming years.

Reconsider your advertising plans this fall; devote some time to better understand your web presence and marketing campaign are you maximizing your efforts.

Low Cost Internet Advertising Solutions versus Conventional Advertising

6/3/2010 10:19:03 AM

Since the early 90’s, the internet has become known as a medium for advertising. It has also been preferred by consumers and businesspeople in public shopping and business dealings. Unlike any other media, like television, radio and print, internet advertising options with its low cost has become widely used and the choice of many.

Because of the large growth in figures of internet users and because of the inexpensive internet advertising options, it has more capacity for multimedia subject matter. It could capture texts, images, video and audio. The advertisers could produce logos, moving banners, animated and 3d imagery. With this in hand, advertisers mix these forms to produce successful and cost competitive internet advertising solutions.

Not only does internet advertising solutions serve as a communication station, it also helps in an effortless system for transaction and distribution. This is the only medium that could help people do business within a short period of time, as well as very efficiently.

With just one click viewers and customers can get all the information they need by visiting any web site. The businessperson could get the services he needs. The company is happy doing business with their clients. The clients are happy doing business in the comfort of their offices.

Unlike meeting in person, in which time and money could be wasted, internet advertising options benefits the company in which the services and products are receiving sales. In addition, it also benefits the consumers who receive the products, information and or services they require.

Internet advertising solutions are able to lead other advertising medium because they were developed to be interactive. When a consumer reads and clicks on a web advertisement, it is easier and more convenient to respond or inquire with e-mail and business reply cards. Unlike other advertisings sources, internet advertising provides the ability to answer feed backs in real time, enables the companies to reply, resolves complaints and answer inquiries.

Internet advertising provides a low cost and effective resolution for attracting targeted, high quality customers. Conventional advertising could never be replaced. However, because of developments in the technology, people prefer their services on-line. With low cost internet advertising solutions present, the consumers, companies, advertisers are being given a deserving contentment.

In today’s economy internet, advertising is an economical choice for many, when comparing your annual advertising related cost, considering this as a viable prospect for your advertising dollars.

Sales 101 Part-2

5/5/2010 11:42:46 AM

Features Vs. Benefits: The Key to Marketing
In the marketing "Hall of Big Ideas," the distinction between product features and benefits sits on a raised marble pedestal in the center room under a ring of spotlights. This distinction separates marketers and everyone else in the business world just as sharply as the Berlin Wall divided Berlin into East and West. Many entrepreneurs talk about their product in terms of its features: its capacity, color, strength, durability and other technical capabilities. Marketers (that's you) are different. They speak of the product, often as dramatically as possible, in terms of how it will benefit the customer. They describe the need the product will immediately fulfill, offering a vision of the wonderfully satisfied customer living his or her suddenly carefree life. Marketers make a living by wish fulfillment (or sometimes, so I've heard, by just the appearance of wish fulfillment).

Some companies think "benefit talk" is beneath them: "That's for retail types," they say. High-tech businesses, generally selling to technically sophisticated customers, sometimes feel a full-voiced recitation of cutting-edge product features is enough to make the sale. Not so. Every person responds most immediately to what they understand most easily--in this case, what the benefits of the features are. If you spell out the benefits to technical people, they don't have to calculate them themselves. Why make them work? You don't have to talk in baby talk. But be as obvious as you can. State your key competitive advantages as clearly as possible.

Some service businesses are also reluctant to think in terms of benefits--to their eventual calamity. Manufacturers at least have the physical product to talk about. Service providers don't, and they sometimes feel a deep-seated discomfort with the airy nature of what they offer. They often create esoteric jargon to glorify their "product" and make it appear more mysterious and complicated than it is. There's nothing wrong with this, except that when the jargon becomes too murky, it obscures the genuine value. As long as the jargon is benefit-oriented, no one suffers.

Benefits are the satisfaction of a need or desire. Let's take the example of a coffeemaker and study the difference between features and benefits.

What you're doing is translating from a very accurate product description to the words your customer wants to hear. You're quite literally translating from one language to another. A parched Parisian won't respond to "Want some water?" but you'll get his or her attention with "Voulez-vous de l'eau?" It's the same thing when you market a product: Customers may see you talking, but they won't become interested in what you're saying until you speak their language.

Study your product or service with this in mind, and then train your entire organization to appreciate the sometimes subtle difference in perception. The hydraulics engineer will boast of how many gallons of water a western dam holds, but regional residents will only focus on self-serving goodies like cheaper water, more electricity, fewer floods and more opportunities to take the boat out for a spin. Whenever you list a product's benefits, you're answering the age-old question: "What's in it for me?"

Once you master this distinction, you are halfway to becoming a marketing guru.

Compiling a Key Benefit Inventory
What are your products' key benefits? You must first develop an exhaustive list of every feature for each of your products. Grill your product people until you've got everything. Now sit down with your sales manager (of course, this might be just you and a legal pad) and translate, one by one, each feature into a very short benefit statement. Some may not translate. If one isn't "benefitable" after reasonable effort, just cross it off. But experience shows that 90 percent of product features can deliver benefits to some market.

Does each benefit apply equally to every market for a product? Lightweight all-weather jackets might pack an enormous appeal to a serious backpacker, but brilliant colors might clinch the sale to suburban teens. Categorize the benefits by the markets they appeal to most powerfully. Then rank them by importance within each market.

Once you have solidified this listing for each product by market, you have created the most powerful tool your sales force can carry. In every customer contact, your salespeople should deliver the full key benefit message. This works for retail sales just as well as business-to-business. Each carefully crafted benefit will appeal to various clients unequally--that's life. Price may mean everything to one customer, while availability might be the deal-breaker to another. You often can't know which issue might be driving a customer's decision. That's why it's critical to deliver the entire key benefit inventory at every sales opportunity--in sales presentations, in company literature, in displays. If you can't fit them all in (small ad, tight schedule or other reason), use the benefits by rank for the particular market you're addressing.

Key Appeal, Market by Market
Once you have your features translated into benefits, you've got to make sure that you know how important given benefits are to each type of customer. There are some things for which almost all of us are customers: restaurants, clothing, vehicles, watches and so on. Sometimes these items can be mass marketed: The manufacturer can apply the same appeal across a large number of people and be reasonably assured of the results. But more often, you're selling to several different people at once, and you must adjust your product's presentation to appeal to each of these differentiated markets.

Many times, entrepreneurs have trouble understanding that the exact same product has different appeals, depending on the type of customer you are selling to. Small advertising agencies and freelance writers often get instructions when creating a brochure to make it speak to two audiences, such as to both doctor and patient, when promoting a given medical device. Though both doctor and patient are looking for the same final result, their perspectives are unique. You must appeal to them differently, using different language.

When you market your product, you must not only appeal to the customer (and to each type of customer separately), but you must distinguish yourself from the competition. In fact, most products that compete directly against each other share many of the same benefits. No brand of ice cream tastes "unpleasant." No infrared spectrometer talks about its "inaccuracy." All the products in a given category are likely to make a large number of similar benefits claims. So why would a customer choose one over another? There can be many reasons, of course, especially convenience (it's right in front of them). But often it's the USP, the unique selling proposition. It's the compelling benefit that shouts...no one else is like me!

What's unique about your product? What makes it stand out from the competition? What gives the customer a good and irresistible reason to select your product rather than those other fine products? If you're making ice cream, you can't base your whole appeal to the customer by simply saying "it tastes better"--unless you have some credible objective documentation that this is so. Perhaps you can claim your ingredients are uniquely fresh, or that the ice cream is handmade in some particular way, which makes it taste "better" or at least different than other ice creams. Look at Ben & Jerry's: They don't just market their ice cream; they market the structure of the company itself and its commitment to making charitable donations. This helps give them a unique profile in a crowded market.

Many companies base their selling pitch on what's unique about them. For years, Ivory Soap based all its advertising on its claim of being 99 44/ 100 percent pure...so pure it floats! Domino's and its two-for-the-price-of-one pizzas. The unique Volkswagen look, which, thinking small again, has returned.

Once you've established your product's range of benefits and distinguished it from the competition, can you sum all this up in one phrase or brief sentence? Such as "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight," "Nothing runs like a Deere," "Better living through chemistry" or "Legendary engineering"?

If you can, then you are ready to take your case to the public. It's time to persuade them to buy.

Selling to the Public: The Four Pillars of Marketing
An old marketing adage says that nothing happens until someone buys something--in short, sales drive every aspect of business. In every company, the salespeople are the front-line troops. In the rough-and-tumble of the marketplace, the slickest manufacturing processes, the shrewdest marketing, the brightest corporate reputations won't make the sale without the face-to-face (at least usually) meeting of seller and buyer.

This is personal selling, and it's the most important and direct aspect of the marketing process, but it is not the only way you appeal to the public and persuade them to buy. While marketing in the large sense involves every aspect of your company, the sales side of marketing is made up primarily of these four aspects:

Personal selling is face-to-face salesmanship, when you have the prospect in front of you. It includes retail sales, much professional service selling and a healthy percentage of business-to-business sales.
Advertising is paying for media space or time in which to sell your product at a distance.
Promotion is a short-term activity, directed at either the distributor or the purchaser, to boost sales for a limited time through special pricing or other offers. Of course, you hope the short-term increase also leads to an incremental gain. It can include advertising and personal selling.
Public relations is the unpaid (but, alas, not cost-free) marketing effort you undertake to expose your product to potential customers and other interested parties through the press, trade media and special media-related events.

Personal selling, advertising and most promotion efforts are direct activities: In a straightforward manner, you're saying "Buy me!" Public relations is the soft sell, in which you take a visible role in the community and increase the public's general awareness of you.

Business-to-business sales usually involves giving a prearranged presentation, whether in person or on paper, of your product or service. This differs from retail sales to the general public, which is usually spontaneous and immediate.

In business-to-business environments, the selling and buying process is often not simple. Many times you'll never meet the person who will ultimately use your product, the person who'll authorize the purchase of your product, or the person who signs the check. If you're dealing directly with the buyer, consider yourself fortunate. You have to convince only one person of your product's suitability and of its superiority over competing products. If you've pulled together your product benefits properly, if you're talking to a buyer in a market that genuinely needs your product, and if you've positioned yourself appropriately against the competition, you should be in good shape.

However, you may be presenting a proposal to a selection committee of a large corporation. Several of the people present may have competing agendas you don't know about, or you may discover after making your pitch that no one in the room has the authority to say yes. You may be speaking to a purchasing agent who makes the decision based on agreed-upon objective criteria. In that case, all you can do is prepare the best proposal you can, all the while focusing on making the description of your product and your company match as closely as possible the demands of the proposal request.

Despite these difficulties, the bottom line is the same: Personal sales makes commerce happen. And if you are the one making the sales pitch--or if you supervise those who do--fine-tuning your presentation techniques can pump up your bottom line. If you have a meeting with a company, you know that, at the very least, you're being taken seriously and that you have a reasonable chance of coming away with the order. So what should you do? Here's a handful of tips from the experts.

Get informed: know the buyer. Are you presenting to a company that can conceivably use or afford your product or service? Just as a real estate agent must qualify prospects, so salespeople must maximize their time by prequalifying potential clients and eliminating those that don't have the financial resources, that have proved themselves bad credit risks, that have a business that doesn't match up well with the strengths of your product and so on. Focus on prospective buyers whom you have a reasonable chance of winning...and who are worth winning.

Then, once you're at the stage where you're making an oral or written presentation, ask yourself whether the person you're presenting to has the ability to say yes. If the person doesn't, you may be better off trying to work around that person and presenting to someone who can give you the go-ahead. Once you've set up a serious meeting with customers who have purchasing authority, ask your contact who's going to be there and what their stake in the decision is. Get your hands on an organizational chart so you have a feel for the hierarchy. What are the people in the meeting likely to be most interested in? For instance, if the finance person is there, direct your comments on financial payback and return on investment to him or her.

We're talking business politics here, but that doesn't surprise you, does it? You've got to scope out the terrain of the sales battle before you can give it your best shot, and you'll have more success in the major meetings--with significant dollars on the line--when you understand the situation you're confronting.

In addition to knowing whom you are presenting to, give some thought to why you are presenting. What is the company looking for? What is the current situation that's driving their request for your presentation? Is there anyone else who works with you in your office who might have an insight into this company and why they are having you make a presentation? Are you presenting along with other potential suppliers, or is it you or nothing? Are there other noncompetitive suppliers who might give you some information on what's happening inside your target company? If you are able to ask clarifying questions before the actual presentation (this is common in governmental work), don't miss the opportunity to come up with some questions to ask...just to establish a working relationship.

If presenting is something you do several times a week, you may not need to do much research or rehearsing. Let's face it, after a few months of presentations, you'll have your pitch down pat, and you'll have a good feel for the terrain of most sales situations.

Rehearse your pitch. If presentations are not something you do regularly, then you need to rehearse what you're going to say and how you're going to say it. Work with someone in the office, a good friend or your spouse to smooth out the flow of information and make yourself as concise as possible.

Most of us have been in presentations when the presenter was out of touch with his or her audience, rambling on long after any audience interest had left the room in despair. Think in bullet points and headlines. You want the attendees to come out of your presentation with just a handful of clear benefit statements about your product. Don't drown your competitive advantages in a lot of chatter about your company, your history or your golf game.

If you use equipment to make your presentation (flip charts, computer printouts, PowerPoint on a laptop), bulletproof your equipment and carry spares of essential parts like disks, bulbs and power cords. People tend to understand when you have a little technical trouble, but they do expect you to fix it. They're hiring you because of the resourcefulness of you and your products, right?

Get some sleep and eat your Wheaties. No matter how tireless your personality type, you've got to be your best when you're on stage. That means being well-rested, well-fed and relaxed. Get a good night's sleep beforehand, and eat breakfast. Get any materials prepared in advance, and proofread them carefully. Get near the presentation site early, relax with a cup of coffee or juice, and review your notes and your plan of action.

Once the meeting begins, you're expected to be the focus of attention. When people listen to a presentation, they're in a "receptive" mode--they expect to be informed and even entertained. You have to deliver the goods with style and high spirits. You're the driver...make this vehicle go where you want it to. Don't come out of the meeting wondering if you were too low-key.

Sell the benefits, not the features. We've been talking benefits for a while, and now's the time to put them to work. Key your entire presentation on the need your product satisfies, not on your superior technology, not on your well-trained staff, not on your wonderful reputation. What's in it for the people in the room? How will their company come out ahead if they choose to do business with you? What existing problem is this company wrestling with? This should lead your presentation. Your product is the answer.

Also, don't forget that the people you're presenting to also have a personal involvement in the sale. If they hire you or buy your product, will it be a feather in their cap? If they're at risk for choosing you over a better-known competitor, how can you reduce their exposure--extend a warranty, offer additional case histories, provide documentation to pass up the chain of command? Fine-tune your presentation to appeal to the individuals in the room as well as to the company they represent.

Invite a dialogue. When you start your presentation, outline how you plan to organize the meeting--and make sure your audience understands that they have a role beyond merely listening. You expect them to ask any questions they have, raise any objections they feel, outline special applications they may have for your product, and explain how they'd like the product integrated into their operation. By inviting and encouraging their participation, you enlist their help in figuring out all the ways your product or service can benefit them.

Be prepared for any objections. Sales objections give salespeople, especially new ones, the greatest difficulty. You're really rolling in your pitch. You think you're definitely receiving good vibes from the right side of the table. You're well ahead of schedule for your allotted presentation time. Then the mild-mannered fellow in the camel-hair suit scrapes his chair, raises his hand and with fixed eye says: "I just don't see how this will work for us. The specs seem in the ballpark, but you're a new company, unproven, and this piece of equipment is too important to us. We've got to go with a proven provider, even if we give away a bit in capacity. It's just too risky."

The smoke from the explosion clears. Maybe some of the other people at the table climb on board and reveal similar feelings. Maybe you draw some sympathy. Maybe the meeting freezes, with no one set on how to proceed.

If you can't handle high-inside-fastball objections, you're never going to be successful selling. The sales experts counsel a calm approach:

Hear the objection out. Don't interrupt. Don't cut it short. Focus your attention on what's being said, taking some notes (without cutting eye contact for more than a brief period) so you capture all the details.
Don't panic. People who object are at least taking you seriously. When you get in a presentation where everyone smiles at everything you are saying, you're in trouble. When people object, they're looking for more information, or they want you to clarify their perception of your product or service. You should be prepared for every objection with a killer response.
Find something in the objection to validate. No matter whether it is well-founded or ridiculous, the objection must be taken seriously. You want to credit the questioner for mounting the objection. Acknowledge that you're a new and essentially unproven company, for example. In fact, you'd have the exact same objections if you were sitting where they are. If you need a few moments to gather your thoughts, respond to the objection with a clarifying question: "What kind of experience have you had with your existing equipment regarding downtime?" or "What's a doomsday scenario in your production? Let me see if I can address it." This technique will also help you zero in on the true nature of the objection.
You've already developed a script with answers to every objection, right? Now's the time to pull that script up to the top of your mind and satisfy the objection-raiser. Go through it calmly, getting your inquirer's assent at every step of the way. When you're done addressing the objection, make sure the individual feels comfortable with how you handled it.

Talk money and ask for the business. You shouldn't end the meeting without addressing directly the issue of cost and terms. Some presenters hate to talk money, preferring to dance around the subject while focusing on the product and its benefits. I don't think that's effective. People want to know price, regardless of how little importance you try to attach to it. If your product is more expensive than the competition, make it a point to explain why, emphasizing the greater value the prospective customer will get from your product. If your product is less expensive than the competition, you should hammer away on that benefit, emphasizing how you're able to deliver top quality without charging a high price. Don't apologize for your price, either high or low.

Finally, you have to ask for the business. How does the sale happen? You can make the order form a part of your presentation kit and ask them to fill it out then and there. You can ask about which particular model they want to order. You can inquire as to which delivery timeline they're working with. Make what's called the "presumptive close," by which you presume you've been successful and are simply making arrangements for delivery. This can push some buyers over the edge into making an immediate decision.

At the top of this article, you assembled a list detailing each of your product's benefits. That was the fun part. Now you have to look at the other side. What objections might you face in a sales call? Salespeople are like baseball players: Generally, their failures at the plate outnumber their successes. But like good hitters, salespeople raise their average by examining their failures and adjusting the next time they come to bat. Always ask yourself why a particular sale didn't happen. What kinds of remarks have you heard from prospective buyers that kept them from going with your product? These are the objections you weren't able to overcome in your sales effort.

You should be able to put together a list of the six to 10 most common objections that pop up during sales presentations. When you have that list, write down your best responses to each of those objections. Some responses may involve several different elements. Some objections may be hard to respond to in a positive way. You've just got to do your best in formulating your answers.

For instance, if the objection is that a piece of equipment is too slow, maybe you can focus attention on other strong points that more than make up for this: perhaps less downtime, lower error rate, greater ease of operation and therefore less training required, and so on. Until you come up with an adequate response, that objection will continue to kill sales.

Once you've developed your list of responses, you must be ready to use them on the spot. You can't call prospects back in four days to tell them, "You know, I was thinking about that bad reaction you had to the high failure rate of our pumps, and I think you're overemphasizing its importance." You have to have all that sales ammunition with you in the room when you're making the presentation.

Never forget that your job is not just selling the equipment or service. In the minds of the prospective buyers, you're the company, and they're judging the company by your performance. Respond smoothly to an objection, and they'll be impressed with your professionalism (and that of your company). But if you get flustered by an objection, or leave without giving an adequate response, you will create the opposite impression.

If you see the same couple of objections arising time and time again, make the smart move: Eliminate that objection before it arises. Build a preemptive strike against that objection right into the core of your presentation, so your prospects won't be distracted by the thought of an apparent weakness in your product or service. As you're able to refine your presentation based on experience, you'll be able to eliminate a good percentage of the common objections you run into. Only then will your sales effort really begin to take off.

Getting to the Dotted Line
Getting someone to say yes is not always easy. And, as anyone with any sales experience knows, everything can be cordial and positive during the presentation. But once it's time for a decision, once someone has to write a check, things can turn dark.

If you see some reluctance to say yes, get involved in helping them make the decision. An effective way to wrap the sale up--without appearing overly aggressive--is to recap why you're there, the need that the company recognizes, and how your product satisfies that need in all its aspects. If you've done your homework well and made a skilled and informative presentation, you should have left them right at the door of making the decision. Respectfully ask them what's keeping them from making the decision right now: Are there senior people who have to approve the decision? Do they have to evaluate a competitor who's yet to present? Is there something about your product/service that they're unsure of? By the process of elimination, you should be able to trim away the possible reasons for delay.

Of course, many business decisions based on a presentation take some time. More often than not, you simply can't force the decision while you're there. If you're told that's the case, learn when you can expect a decision. Then tell them that you're looking forward to the possibility of working with them, and immediately send them a recap of your presentation with some new material--whatever you can pull together to show that your desire to provide them service is still on your mind.

Some salespeople have had success unlocking a sale with the direct question: "Do you want to purchase this service?" Follow it with silence, and let the prospect take over the conversation.

If you sense a negative decision in the making, suggest that you'll send them a recap of the meeting with your final best offer in a day or two. This will buy you some time to come up with a "Plan B."

Finally, let's assume for a moment that you don't make the sale. Your immediate course of action should be to call your contact, acknowledge the inevitable, and then ask if he or she can help you understand why the contract went to another company. This provides you with a real learning opportunity, in many ways more valuable than (although not, unfortunately, as financially rewarding as) winning the sale. Make it clear you're not disputing the decision or trying gamely to alter it. Mention how you put some work into the presentation, and you'd appreciate the chance to use your loss to improve the way you make the next presentation. Was it price? Was it product issues? Was it a superior presentation by a competitor? Probe to get specifics, which you should write up in a call report for later analysis. If you learn why people don't buy, then take steps to remedy either your presentation or the product itself.

If you do get the contract, your job is just starting in two ways. First, you've got to make arrangements to have the product or service actually delivered. Second, you now have a relationship to tend, new people to learn about and perhaps a new application in which to test your product or service. Congratulations.

Fill Out a Call Report
All salespeople hate to fill out call reports. They often feel they are being checked up on, that no one back at the office has to know the details of how the meeting went. Even sole proprietors hate call reports, and they have no one to report to. There's just something so archival and so seemingly unproductive about them.

In fact, call reports are prime marketing ore for future efforts. Think for a moment of the value you can glean from 200 call reports of recent sales presentations:

Which companies have been approached, when and by whom
What products they were exposed to
Who attended the sales meeting--and who is responsible for purchasing your product
Why they did or didn't decide on your company (assuming your salesperson followed up properly on a negative decision)

What can you do with this market intelligence?

Study the successes to see what types of companies you're having better luck with. You can then intensify your efforts to make presentations to more of those companies.
Study the failures to see what you can do to make your product more appealing to those types of companies. With good, concrete follow-up, you can--over time--enhance your product and alter your presentations for greater success.
Use the unsuccessful presentations as a source for possible future sales activities. If you lost the ABC account pitch because your trucking firm didn't have enough experienced drivers, you can repitch the account when you get a little bigger.
You know the people who hold key purchasing authority for your product. Keep them on a low-level direct-mail effort, to keep them informed of what's happening at your company.

Hydroseeding 101

5/5/2010 11:30:14 AM

Hydroseeding 101

Hydroseeding can be used for many applications. On of the most popular is residential hydroseeding. A contractor seeding a new lawn will mix a load of material and spray it out over the lawn. In the load of material will be grass seed, a starter fertilizer and a hydroseeding mulch. There may be other products in the mix designed to hold the material in place if it rains, to supercharge the growth ability, or to aid in holding moisture in the soil.

When your lawn is hydro seeded it will have a bright colorful look at first, but as this dries some of the color will leave. The mulch usually will stay in place until the grass begins growing. A good hydroseeding contractor can seed a lawn without making much of a mess. If he does happen to get a little material on your house, walk or driveway, it will wash right of. It won't stain. It will even disappear on it's own within a few weeks. In most areas of the country lawns will often start growing within 5 to 7 days. Sometimes slow germinating grasses may be the only ones available in an area, or suitable for a job, so this may vary.

Hydro seeding is also popular for golf course construction, roadside work, commercial and industrial jobs, retention ponds, mine reclamation, re-vegetation projects and more. Often a larger machine is used for this type work and the seed may be sprayed from a platform mounted gun. When hydro seeding with either a gun or a hose, any seed can be used.

Some of the seeds that can be hydro seeded are turf grasses such as bluegrass, rye grass, fescue, centepede, bermuda, bahia, pasture mixes, timothy, millet, clover, crown vetch, native grasses, and wildflower mixes. Most any turf type seed can be hydro seeded.

PREPARATIONS FOR HYDRO SEEDING

NEW SITE PREPARATIONS.

If you are preparing a new site for hydro seeding the preparation is the same as for seeding any other way. Hydro seeding can be a little more forgiving than other methods. If the seeding project is a lawn or turf type application the preparation should result in a smooth, rock free, slightly loose soil condition that is at the desired final grade and contour. Tools such as a rock hound or rock rake work excellently. Other land working tools can also be used.

RE-DOING AN ESTABLISHED LAWN

If you are planning to re-do your lawn completely it is necessary to completely remove the existing turf before hydro seeding the new lawn. The best way to do this is to skin off the existing turf. If you are doing a small area a shovel or spade can be used. The best way to do a larger area is to rent a sod cutter. It is best do do this when the soil is dry. Moist soil is heavier and harder to handle. If you have a garden you can compost the old sod that you have removed and turn it into rich humus to build your garden.

Don't use a rotary tiller to clear a sodded area. Rotary tillers cause weed problems by chopping up plants and weed roots and spreading them through the lawn. You could end up with more weeds in your new lawn than you had in your old one.

You can also have the old lawn sprayed with a herbicide to kill all existing vegetation, then level an loosen the soil and have the lawn hydro seeded. You should wait about 3 weeks from the time the herbicide is applied before seeding.

CORRECTING pH

Overly acid soil is one of the easiest soil problems to fix. To determine your soil's acidity use a home pH test or send a sample to a laboratory for analysis.

To raise the pH, add ground limestone. If your soil has enough magnesium, use calcitic limestone, which is almost entirely calcium carbonate. If you have a magnesium deficiency, add dolomite lime, made of magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate. The more finely ground the limestone is the faster it will work. If your soil is extremely acidic, don't try to raise the pH all at once. Instead, make several small applications.

It's somewhat more difficult to remedy alkalinity problems. The most effective material for lowering soil pH is sulfur.

Selling 101 Part-1

5/5/2010 11:25:28 AM

Selling 101 Part 1

OK, so you love your product. You have been around this market for a while, and--quite honestly--you have never seen a product so useful, so inexpensive, so long-lived and so visually attractive. Unfortunately, you are suffering from a condition that affects many businesspeople. Its principal symptom is a blinding lack of objectivity. If left untreated, it can result in the disappearance of entire businesses...company, staff and product, which fade till they become mere ghosts in the annals of business history.

Your customers remain proudly self-centered. They don't appreciate the glories of your product's reputation, the immense practicality of its design or the cleverness of its name. No, they're focused on their personal need. Maybe it's a car that's leaking oil. Or a child's sweater that needs mending. Or a bookkeeping system gone haywire. Or an old coffee pot that's died and gone to Colombia. What do they want? A solution to their problem, not a product. They want to be able to drive without dripping oil; they want something to keep their child warm; and they want an accurate financial report and a cup of java. You've got to present your product as the satisfaction to the need--the scratch to their itch. That, they can buy.

Benefits are the satisfaction of a need or desire. Let's take the example of a coffeemaker and study the difference between features and benefits.

Once you master this distinction, you are halfway to becoming a marketing guru.

Key Appeal, Market by Market
Once you have your features translated into benefits, you've got to make sure that you know how important given benefits are to each type of customer. There are some things for which almost all of us are customers: restaurants, clothing, vehicles, watches and so on. Sometimes these items can be mass marketed: The manufacturer can apply the same appeal across a large number of people and be reasonably assured of the results. But more often, you're selling to several different people at once, and you must adjust your product's presentation to appeal to each of these differentiated markets.

If you can, then you are ready to take your case to the public. It's time to persuade them to buy.

To follow:

Doing Business in a Tight Economy

5/2/2010 9:02:36 AM

Times are challenging right now for many small businesses. Increased fuel prices and other rising costs have caused many owners to tighten their belts to make ends meet. While there are many obvious things to do to lower expenses, the following are some more in-depth strategies you can use to keep your bottom line looking healthy.

Review your inventory levels. It is always important to keep inventory turning. During a time of slowing sales, you need to evaluate your inventory more carefully and reduce the stocking units that are not turning well. Inventory turns are expressed in two ways -- days inventory (the number of days it takes you to sell your inventory) or inventory turns (the number of times you turn your inventory in a year). Do you know what your turn rate should be? Has been historically? Or what the industry average is?

Review/determine your company’s break-even point. Understand what level of sales is required to stay profitable.

Analyze your customers. Take a close look at your customer segments, and make sure you understand why they purchase from you. Segmenting can be done in several ways. For instance, you can use volume of sales; type of customer, such as purchase location (retail/wholesale/internet); type of buyer (commercial/government/personal); or by buyer demographics (educated/family status/residence location). Then you can analyze your various segments to determine what product/service features are important when customers make purchase decisions, which segment provides the best margins and/or greatest volume for your business and other identifying features. Take positive actions and maintain a positive attitude. People want to buy from a winner, so act like a winner! Do a little market research and be ready to identify and capitalize on potential opportunities. A close friend shared with me recently that he talked to a restaurant owner whose business has actually been increasing due to the fact that he’s taking advantage of a competitor/s cutbacks; offering more customer friendly hours (opening two hours earlier by customer request); offering friendly and personalized service (reintroducing big coffee cups and small cups again by customer request); and is actively combating any negative word of mouth in the local marketplace.

Do not be so focused on cutting costs that you forget about trying to increase sales (while keeping costs the same). Consider charging something for products or services that are currently provided at no cost. Increase prices, and try to sell more to existing customers instead of constantly prospecting for new ones.

Take the opportunity to do some of the things you never seem to have time to do when business is booming. Engage in some strategic planning and/or market analysis to identify your best options for the future. Spruce up the business, or update employee manuals. Do some research on your competition. Build relationships with former and existing customers. Make good use of the time, and you will be ready to face the future. Positive attitudes can make a difference.

Welcoming Pat Bianchi

4/2/2010 9:14:27 AM

The team at www.erosioncontrolnetwork.com would like to welcome Pat Bianchi whom recently joined our team as the Business Development Director of the Erosion Control Network.

Pat brings over 15 years of experience in sales and over 5 years experience within the erosion control and landscaping industry. He has worked as VP of sales and market development positions for ISG communications, publisher of Soil Erosion & Hydroseeding magazine as well as Irrigation & Green Industry Magazine both B2B trade publications.

Pat brings a wealth of experience in sales & marketing and is looking forward to the new challenges ahead. We are thrilled to have someone of Pats caliber join our organization. Pat brings a wealth of experience in sales and marketing and a fresh enthusiasm to the challenges ahead.

The Effect of Surface Roughness on Soil Erosion

1/15/2010 1:35:58 PM

Introduction
It should come as no surprise to those working in the erosion control field that a roughened soil surface is much less erodible than a smooth, rolled or compacted surface. This is because a roughened surface slows down the velocity of runoff water and increases infiltration, reducing the volume of sediment-laden runoff as well. Agriculturalists have known of this phenomenon for some time, as indeed the Soil Conservation Service – now the Natural Resource Conservation Service – since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930’s, has been encouraging farmers to use various tillage practices such as chisel plowing to create roughened conditions in harvested fields to prevent sheet and wind erosion.

It is a paradox that in construction, the same machinery that is used to disturb the soil can also be put to use to create surface conditions that reduce the soil erosion:

• Bulldozers can be used to track-walk up and down slopes (Figure 1)
• Sheep’s-foot rollers, normally used for compacting soils, can be employed to “dimple” the soil surface (Figure 2)
• Tines on the backside of bulldozers can be used on the contour to create surface roughness (Figure 3)
• Imprinting equipment, invented to address re-vegetation issues in desert climates can create a unique, moisture holding and vegetation supportive depression in the soil (Figure 4)
• Slope boarding is not only beneficial in creating contour erosion-reducing soils structure, but also assists in keeping seed and mulch on a steep slope (Figure 5)

But just how much erosion control do these roughening techniques impart? That was a question that was asked in a study conducted for Caltrans at the San Diego State University’s Soil Erosion Research Laboratory in 2000.

The San Diego State University Soil Erosion Research Laboratory
The San Diego State University Soil Erosion Research Laboratory (SDSU/SERL) integrates beneficial features from some of the foremost soil erosion research facilities in the United States at Texas A & M University, Utah State University and Purdue University.. Funding for the facility was provided by Caltrans, (California State Department of Transportation) as part of a 1998-2000 Erosion Control Pilot Study, in which design, construction and operation of the SERL was supervised by URS Corporation and SDSU faculty from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The laboratory is in general conformance with the outlined methods and scope of ASTM D6459, Standard Test Method for Determination of Erosion Control Blanket (ECB) Performance in Protecting Hillslopes from Rainfall Erosion.

Roughness Testing
A clayey-sand soil typical of Southern California conditions was placed and compacted on the test bed while it was in the horizontal position. Four candidate surface roughening practices were applied on the soil surface to simulate:

1. Track-walking by a bulldozer
2. Sheep’s-foot roller
3. Ripping
4. Imprinting

A smooth, compacted surface was utilized as a control against which to compare the various treatments. The test bed was then raised to a specified gradient (2H:1V). Three (3) replications of six (6) different storm events were applied to each slope preparation, yielding a total of eighteen (18) rainfall events per surface treatment. All runoff from the test surfaces was collected by flume at the bottom of the slope and analyzed for volume of runoff and weight of sediment. Table A presents the “Results of Rainfall Simulation Testing for Soil Roughness”.

Results
As can be seen from the data in Table A, roughness in of itself appears to have a beneficial effect in reducing soil erosion. Compared to the bare soil control (smooth, compacted surface) roughening practices appeared to reduce erosion in (ascending order) by:

• 12% for ripping on the contour
• 52% for track-walking up and down a slope
• 54% for sheep’s-foot rolling
• 76% for imprinting

Of side interest is the effect that the roughening practices appear to have on increasing or decreasing runoff volume. For example, ripping decreased the amount of runoff by 19%; imprinting by 4% while sheep’s-foot rolling and track-walking appeared to increase runoff by 12 and 2% respectively. This should come as no surprise in that both sheep’s-foot and bulldozer tracks tend to compact the soil.

Conclusions
The results of the study illustrate that soil roughening should be considered as a vital step in soil preparation for re-vegetation and erosion control. Roughening is at best a temporary practice when used as a preliminary, complementary step prior to seeding and the application of hydraulic applications, blown straw mulch or the application of wood chips, compost or rolled erosion control products.

Figure 1. Grouser tracks on a bulldozer can be used as a surface roughening technique when the tracks go up and down a slope. On the other hand, if the tracks go across a slope, erosion is accelerated.

Figure 2. A sheep’s foot roller can be used to “dimple” a slope as long as the action is not taken to an extreme, smooth and compacted surface.

Figure 3. Tines on the back side of a dozer, or similar agricultural tillage equipment, when applied on the contour and perpendicular to water flow, can increase infiltration and reduce erosion.

Figure 4. The resulting roughness created from imprinting creates an opportunity for water to and sediment to be collected and fosters the germination and growth of seed.

Figure 5. Slope boarding is generally applied to cut slopes and can provide and underlying structural support to hydraulic seed and mulching applications.

TABLE A:
RESULTS OF RAINFALL SIMULATION TESTING FOR SOIL ROUGHNESS

Hydraulic mulching application rates change as slope gradient increases

1/15/2010 1:26:30 PM

Myth: Hydraulic mulching application rates change as slope gradient increases. Point of View: In recent months there has appeared on some product packaging recommendations for hydraulic mulch application rates based on gradient of slope. For example, one manufacturer provides the following departures from a standard 3,000 lbs per acre application rate for their bonded fiber matrix (BFM): < 4H to 1V 2500 lb/ac > 4H to 1V and < 3H to 1V 3000 lb/ac > 3H to 1V and < 2H to 1V 3500 lb/ac > 2H to 1V and < 1H to 1V 4000 lb/ac > 1H to 1V 4500 lb/ac Steepness is probably not the only factor that needs to be considered in the erosion potential of slopes; slope length is generally considered to play a related and complementary role. For example, in all derivations of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) length and steepness of slope are considered as a joint “LS” factor for predicting soil erosion: A = R x K x LS x C x P where: A = The annual rate of erosion R = Rainfall factor LS = Slope factor C = Cover factor P = Practice factor There appears to be no research to support the conclusion that additional mulch (and costs) is needed to maintain erosion control performance of hydraulic applications on steeper slopes. Conversely, there doesn’t appear to be any quantitative basis for thinking one can apply less material on less steep slopes. And while it is probably just fine for a manufacturer to designated how much of its product should be applied to meet its own expectations, the great fear – and history of the erosion control industry - is that unsupported, proprietary specifications sometimes find their way into ASTM or DOT protocols without the quantitative data to support them.

Rolled Erosion Control Products (RECPs) specification based on slope gradient

1/15/2010 1:19:48 PM

Myth:
Rolled Erosion Control Products (RECPs) specification based on slope gradient.

Point of View:
Diagrams have been drawn and specifications written that recommend the use of various rolled erosion control products based solely on slope gradient. These unsupported recommendations were made by blanket manufacturers nearly two decades ago. This generally has resulted in more expensive products being specified and designed for steeper slopes when less expensive products would perform just as well.

For example, here’s a table of recommendations excerpted from one RECP manufacturer’s website: 4:1 to 3:1 Single-netted straw blanket 3:1 to 2:1 Double-netted straw blanket 2:1 to 1:1 Double-netted straw/coconut fiber blanket 1:1 and greater Coconut fiber blanket

Most RECP manufacturers and indeed, the Erosion Control Technology Council (ECTC) should concede that current research appears to support the idea that all netted and stitched RECPs, regardless of infill (straw, coconut fiber, wood fiber, synthetic fiber, etc.) have a high erosion control performance (i.e., 97% or better) when evaluated on slopes under rainfall simulation testing at Purdue University, Utah State University, Texas Transportation Institute or San Diego State University. Almost all products have been evaluated on slopes of at least 3:1 or greater, but most often the testing has occurred on the more steeper 2:1 slopes.

There is a logical flow to the conclusions one can draw from much of this testing, and it’s not that RECPs should be specified by slope gradient. On the contrary:

1. When one looks at testing data from a variety of sources, there appears to be no separation of performance based on the infill of the RECPs; i.e., straw, straw-coconut, coconut fiber and synthetic fibers all manage the same high performance standard on slopes of 3:1 or greater;

2. It is generally accepted that high performance levels of RECPs on the steepest of slopes (2:1) do not generally diminish on slopes of lesser gradient, i.e., < 2:1;

3. Furthermore, if there is some separation of performance between various RECPs on less steep slopes, it is statistically insignificant (i.e., at 97% erosion control effectiveness, any improvement based on lower slope gradient couldn’t amount to much);

4. The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and some Departments of Transportation (DOTs) do differentiate RECP specification on a combination of slope gradient and some other factor (e.g., both TTI and the Oregon DOT differentiate product application based on slope gradient and soil texture); therefore,

5. Although slope gradient is a contributing factor for RECP product specification, complementary variables such as material and installation cost, longevity, durability, environmental compatibility and others should be considered as proportionally important in the decision making process when selecting a BMP, and this principle applies not only to RECPs but to other non-rolled BMPs as well.

Finally, why is this important? Quite simply, to illustrate that many ingrained specifications are not supported by science and also that higher-priced technologies do not necessarily infer increased erosion control performance.

Effects on Post Fire Revegetation

1/15/2010 1:17:22 PM

Myth:
Post-fire remediation actions, specifically hydraulic mulching and seeding, have a detrimental impact on the re-establishment of natural plant communities in California.

Point of View:
One of the first questions asked following an urban wildfire is whether or not to seed hillsides left barren by the fire and subject to erosion. Prior to 1993, the practice in California, as in other parts of the world, was to apply aggressive seed mixtures by helicopter with the intent of establishing quick-growing, erosion control cover. Whether or not this practice is effective is still open to research and debate. An extension of this discussion has been whether or not certain types of seeds, most notably annual ryegrass, should be included in any reclamation seed mixture. Studies have shown that Lolium appears to inhibit emergence of shrub seedlings , yet there is little data on whether or not seeding with ryegrass alone is effective in controlling erosion .

Most people equate hydraulic applications with seeding and the use of invasive, non-native species like ryegrass. The reality is that since the East Bay Fire of 1991 it appears that none of the seed mixtures employed in California since 1991 have contained any ryegrass. Instead, zorro annual fescue (Vulpia myuros) has sometimes been substituted for the quick-growth component in seed mixtures. The trend in recent years has been to use as little seed as possible, or none at all, to allow viable seed and roots of indigenous plant to re-establish themselves over time. This practice in itself is controversial in that some scientists suggest that little to no seeding after fires offers weed species the opportunity to become established at the expense of the native plant population.

These preceding perceptions sometime result in public apprehension that current remediation techniques inhibit the natural course of plant regeneration and therefore the long term stability of fire-affected areas. It is often suggested that (1) reclamation seed mixtures affect the re-establishment of native species; (2) temporary erosion control methods... such as the use of hydraulic application measures… adversely affect introduced as well as indigenous plant growth; and that (3) the combination of introduced seeds and temporary mulching practices adversely affect the vegetative diversity of a recovering burned site. But at this time there appears to be no current research that supports any of these conclusions or provides guidance to those in the field tasked with making informed decisions.

Finally, much of the difference of opinion concerning the effects of post-fire remediation activities on the recovery of vegetation continues to be fueled by the lack of funding for basic research. In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) appears to be effective in funding the temporary, post-fire reclamation practices, but not the long-term operation, maintenance and monitoring of those practices. Most research to date has been conducted by the U.S. Forest Service on their fire-affected land and not in those areas along the urban interface where these questions need to be addressed.

Perception After a Wildfire

1/15/2010 1:13:36 PM

Myth:
Post-fire remediation actions, specifically hydraulic mulching and seeding, are costly to implement on the large areas affected by wildfires and are not effective in controlling erosion.

Point of View:
There is the perception that after a wildfire, erosion and sediment control measures are implemented over the entire burn area, making remediation questionable not only from a ecological point of view, but from an economic perspective as well. The reality is that especially in California, where urban development encroaches on wilderness area, most fire-affected areas are left to regenerate on their own through natural processes. In the 1993 Southern California Fires, of the approximate 186,000 acres that burned, less than one percent, or 1,860 acres were treated with aggressive erosion and sediment control measures. Again, in the San Diego County Fires of 2003 and 2007 less than two percent of the fire-affected areas were treated. Simple economics dictates that reclamation efforts focus on those areas where the impacts from post-fire hazards are the greatest... and that’s in the urban interface.

Application of hydraulic measures after fires can, in fact, be somewhat more expensive than normal construction-related hydraulic applications due to two factors: 1. Treatment areas are typically steep slopes in the urban interface which are difficult to access except by hose; and, 2. The depth of ash typically encountered on post-burn soils can at times increase the typical application rate of hydraulic matrix (e.g., 3,000 lbs per acre) by as much as 33% (4,000 lbs per acre) as the dry nature of the ash combines with the hydraulic mixture.

It is generally accepted that vegetation provides slope stability and reduces soil erosion, and that there are many different ways to re-vegetate burned areas... including letting the area regenerate on its own. But in lieu of scientific evidence to support either opposing viewpoints on re-vegetation methodology and approaches, many of the current arguments for and/or against post-fire remediation are non-scientific, non-technical and revolve around political, social and economic considerations.

Slope Measurement and Area Estimation for Hydraulic Applications

1/15/2010 1:00:27 PM

THE SLOPE GRADIENT FACTOR

Fig. 1. Burned slopes above Pala Mesa Resort in Fallbrook, CA in 2007. The area to be treated was estimated using a combination of aerial photographs and topographic maps.

For determining square footage of an area to be treated with hydraulic mulch, slope length and width can be determined using a measuring tape or wheel… if the slopes aren’t too steep. However, for job estimation for large areas or slopes that are difficult to traverse – such as post-fire areas represented in Figure 1 – area estimations are typically calculated from aerial photographs, topographic maps or a combination of both.

In order to get an accurate measurement of the area of a slope it is important to include a slope gradient factor.

In the diagram below, the top of a slope is represented by A and the bottom, or “toe” of the slope is represented as C. The slope length (for area calculations) is the distance between A and C. The vertical height of the slope is represented by the distance between A and B.

For example, the extent of the area to be treated is determined by the aerial photograph with the perimeter of the burn transferred to a topographic map. From the topographic map:

1. The horizontal, plan view or “run” length (B-C) is determined;

2. The height or “rise” of the slope is determined (A-B) by measuring the contour intervals;

3. The slope inclination is determined by comparing the horizontal measure (B-C) to the vertical measure (A-B) to; and finally,

4. The area is estimated by multiplying the run length (B-C) by the rise height (A-B) then by the multiplying factor in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Slope Measurement Table and Calculations

To calculate area in acres for hydraulic or other mulch applications:
1) Multiply square feet by the slope factor above and divide by 43,560; or,
2) Multiply square yards by the slope factor above and divide by 4,840

From Figure 2 one can see that as slope gradient decreases, so does the multiplying factor: for example a 1:1 slope has a multiplying factor of 1.4142 when compared to a 5:1 slope (1.0198 multiplying factor). The figures below also illustrate graphically that as slope inclinations decrease the length of slope (A-C) more closely approximates the horizontal run (B-C). What does this mean in terms of practical job estimation?

1) If a multiplying factor is not used when estimating areas comprised of steep slopes, then the amount of area to be treated will be consistently underestimated and time, material and labor will most likely exceed the engineer’s projections; and/or,

2) The contractor will under-apply the specified amount of mulch material in order to “stretch” the application to cover 100% of the designated area, albeit at a lower application rate.

Finally, there are a couple of other factors that should be considered when estimating jobs; the surface roughness of a site and alternative forms of payment. These subjects are covered in the white papers entitled “Topographic Index” and “Payment by Slurry Unit”.

Slope Inclination Conversion Table

1/15/2010 12:43:55 PM

We all tend to describe the steepness of slopes in different ways. Some of the most common descriptors are:

      1. Degree of inclination (i.e., 26.87°, 18.43°, etc.)
      2. Percentage of vertical rise over horizontal run (i.e., 50%, 33.3%, etc.)
      3. Ratio of horizontal run to vertical rise (i.e., 2:1, 3:1, etc.)

Although (3) is the most common form of description, many governmental agencies actually reverse the relationship and describe slopes in terms of vertical rise to horizontal run (i.e., the Oregon Department of Transportation and Caltrans denote slopes as 1:2, 1:3, etc.).

Being able to visualize the steepness of a slope regardless of the manner in which is described is an important aspect of erosion control. Slope inclination can affect the erosion potential of a site, the ease to which various best management practices (BMPs) can be applied or installed and is one of the research parameters commonly investigated to determine the effectiveness of various BMPs. As suggested in the accompanying white paper on “Slope Measurement”, slope inclination can have a marked effect on the amount of mulching material estimated for a job site.

Table A is a Slope Conversion Chart to help you visualize slope inclination, no matter how it’s described.

Finally, in addition to slope steepness the roughness, configuration and orientation of a slope is also an important consideration in erosion control and re-vegetation planning.

• Roughness of the soil surface is generally considered beneficial for erosion control, sediment retention and plant establishment (See white paper entitled: “The Effect of Surface Roughness on Soil Erosion”); • Slopes that are convex or concave can have different erosion characteristics; and, • The direction a slope faces is critically important in drier climates and at altitude. In the Western United States north-facing slope typically achieve a higher percentage of vegetation coverage than south-facing slopes that are hotter and drier (Figure 1).

Slope orientation needs to be taken into account in re-vegetation planning, particularly in fire-prone areas, as slow regeneration of indigenous plants on south-facing slopes has the potential to result in greater runoff and erosion after burn events.

Figure 1: The effect of slope aspect or orientation on vegetation establishment. In this photo, the highly vegetated slope faces north and the weakly vegetated slope faces south. Both sides of this berm were treated at the same time with a hydraulic mulch matrix.

TABLE A
SLOPE INCLINATION CONVERSIONS

ScourStop Awarded Rare Public Interest Finding (PIF)

10/29/2008 4:00:43 PM

October 24, 2008 (ANKENY, IA.) -The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) has issued a rare Public Interest Finding (PIF) for the use of ScourStop on state projects.

ScourStop Transition Mats are a biotechnical replacement for rock rip-rap and offer permanent protection against scour and erosion at drainage outlets, overflow structures, and stream banks; as well as providing an aesthetically pleasing, natural landscape. They have been used on a project-by-project basis in various locations across the state for several years.

Now that a statewide PIF has been issued-and approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) - designers can specify the use of ScourStop transition mats (as a proprietary product) on both state and federally funded projects.

As the name suggests, a Public Interest Finding is a state DOT request for FHWA approval-based on the public's best interest-that allows an exception to be made to one of the many state or federal rules, policies, or procedures that apply to construction contract lettings conducted by the Iowa DOT.

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PIF approval remains a very rare occurrence. The Iowa DOT will submit a PIF on a product only after careful consideration and it is deemed to be more effective than existing procedures or practices. The PIF granted for ScourStop is unique in the sense that it is only the eighth "blanket" PIF, that is, for general use statewide, approved by the FHWA in the last 11 years. The FHWA has approved only 26 PIFs in Iowa since 1997, and 18 of those were for specific products on specific projects.

Tom Carpenter, the creator of ScourStop Transition Mats and President of Erosion Tech LLC, understands the significance of being awarded a PIF from the Iowa DOT. "I'm very honored for our product to be selected for a PIF and for it to be recognized on a statewide basis. The Public Interest Finding will enable better statewide compliance with NPDES Phase II requirements, and provides the impetus for MS4 entities and private designers to specify vegetated, soft armor Best Management Practices. Hopefully, other states will concur with the Iowa DOT and FHWA in addressing the need for better revetment systems, vegetated solutions and NPDES Phase II compliance."

For more details, visit www.scourstop.com

American Excelsior Introduces Addition to Recyclex® TRM Product Family

7/22/2008 3:58:10 PM

American Excelsior Company® announces a new addition to the Recyclex Turf Reinforcement Mat (TRM) product family. Recyclex TRM-V is a lighter weight (8oz/yd2) TRM that provides a 100% synthetic, permanent, cost effective solution for low to medium flow channels that do not require protection from forces greater than 7 lb/ft2 shear stress and for slopes that require permanent vegetation reinforcement. With the introduction of Recyclex TRM-V, the design engineer will continue to benefit from the unique use of permanent fibers refined from recycled bottles. Recyclex fibers have a memory of 95% and a specific gravity greater than one, thus they rebound from and do not float during hydraulic events.

Jerry Bohannon, Director of the Earth Science Division for American Excelsior said, "We are very excited about the introduction of Recyclex TRM-V into our family of permanent products manufactured from recycled materials. This new addition to our permanent Turf Reinforcement Mat line joins our very successful Recyclex TRM

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American Excelsior Introduces Addition to Recyclex TRM Product Family allowing us to expand the use of permanent turf mats to appeal to those projects that are budget conscious, but have a need for a permanent turf mat. Recyclex TRM-V continues to show our company’s commitment and leadership in using sustainable recycled materials within our erosion and sediment control product line.”

American Excelsior Company offers a wide variety of erosion and sediment control devices covering just about any conceivable soil situation an engineer could be faced with. Technical support provided by their own testing facility, ErosionLab®, and a newly revised design software, E-Works® Online, assists American Excelsior Company in continuing to find ways to innovate new products to meet the demands of an ever changing market and economy.

To learn more about Recyclex TRM-V or any of American Excelsior's variety of products, visit www.curlex.com or contact Customer Service at: (888) 352-9582.

American Excelsior Introduces Cost Saving Performance Product

7/14/2008 10:03:01 AM

American Excelsior Company® announces a new erosion control blanket targeted for those projects where performance is needed, but the project operating budget allows only for the use of lower-end type ECBs such as straw matting. With the introduction of Curlex® CL™, the user not only benefits from the performance of higher-end type engineered fibers such as Curlex I and Curlex II, but also from prices that compete with lesser grade type blankets. Unlike straight fibers, Curlex CL fibers are barbed and curled, which creates interlocking strength to the blanket and helps the fibers cling to soil.

Jerry Bohannon, Director of the Earth Science Division for American Excelsior said, "We are very excited about the introduction of Curlex CL, as we can now provide the industry with a lower priced product to help support rising construction costs without sacrificing the quality and performance of a product that is used in a critical part of any erosion or sediment control plan. And with the new roll length, it will also help reduce installation costs due to fewer seams, material handling. In addition, with 33% more square yards on a truckload, transportation costs can be greatly reduced.”

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American Excelsior Company offers a wide variety of erosion and sediment control devices covering just about any conceivable soil situation an engineer could be faced with. Technical support provided by their own testing facility, ErosionLab®, and a newly revised design software, E-Works® Online, assists American Excelsior Company in continuing to find ways to innovate new products to meet the demands of an ever changing market and economy.

To learn more about Curlex CL or any of American Excelsior's variety of products, visit www.curlex.com or contact Customer Service at: (888) 352-9582.

Profile Products Names Midwest Regional Sales Manager, Promotes Golf Business Manager

6/11/2008 4:53:48 PM

Pat Holubetz recently joined Profile Products LLC as the Midwest regional sales manager. Holubetz is replacing Dwight Johnson, who was promoted to Profile Golf business manager.

Holubetz supports Profile's distribution network in the Midwest and will play a key role in working with new customers. Based out of Cincinnati, OH, Holubetz has extensive experience in the areas of erosion control and turf management materials, equipment, sports fields and golf course construction.

Johnson's new role as Profile Golf business manager includes working with the Profile Golf Team to continue the company's development and growth in the golf construction, renovation and course maintenance industry. He has spent the past 13 years as a regional sales manager in the Midwest territory.

Ditch Witch Organization Releases New FX20

6/4/2008 12:29:28 PM

The Ditch Witch® organization, the industry leader in the design and manufacture of underground construction equipment, has released its most portable and affordable vacuum excavation system to date, the FX20.

The FX20 is ideal for cleaning out municipal valve boxes, commercial and residential debris cleanup and landscaping, exposing utility lines, posthole digging, and many other relatively small, short-run projects, offering many of the capabilities of larger vacuum excavation systems in a small package that can be transported in the back of a pickup truck, on a flatbed, or on a small trailer — with no CDL required.

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To find out more about the FX20, please visit the Ditch Witch Press Center, where you can download a press release and high-res photos. If you need anything, just send me an e-mail. Thank you for your continued support of Ditch Witch products.

Save this link, http://www.ditchwitch.com/press-center , to find out about the latest Ditch Witch products.

North American Green Introduces HydraCM™ Bonded Fiber Matrix

5/8/2008 1:29:41 PM

EVANSVILLE, (Ind.) – April 23, 2008 – North American Green introduces HydraCM^TM Bonded Fiber Matrix, the mid-level product in its HydraMatriCx^TM line of straw/cotton-fiber, hydraulic erosion control products.

HydraCM^TM was developed in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Cotton Incorporated.

“With the introduction of HydraCM^TM Bonded Fiber Matrix, North American Green now offers a complete line of hydromulch products to meet any commercial, industrial, or residential erosion control need,” says Tim Lancaster, President, North American Green.

HydraCM^TM contains a blend of cross-linked, insoluble, hydro-colloidal tackifiers to provide erosion control and facilitate vegetation establishment on medium length, moderate-to-steep slopes, 4:1 to 3:1.

The product is cost effective compared to other wood-based bonded fiber matrices, because a larger area of coverage can be obtained per tank load due to the low water to mulch ratio required for mixing. It also agitates instantly, can be applied in one step together with seed and soil amendments, and is easy to clean up.

HydraCM^TM and all HydraMatriCx products are made with straw and cotton-ginned fibers, and provide key benefits associated with cotton. Those include absorbency to hold moisture and promote seed-to-soil contact for germination; porosity for seedlings to push through without barrier; and biodegradability. Additionally, HydraMatriCx products are recognized as sustainable products because they contain post- industrial cotton-ginned byproducts.

And, like the rest of the HydraMatriCx Series, HydraCM^TM is completely non-toxic and does not deplete the soil of nitrogen, as wood hydromulches initially do. HydraCM^TM also has a natural-looking, deep-green color that provides an aesthetically pleasing appearance.

Other products in the HydraMatriCx series include HydraCX2^TM for the longest, steepest and most severe slope applications; and GeoSkin^TM Standard Mulch for mild to moderate slopes.

North American Green is a leading erosion control solutions provider globally, with headquarters in Evansville, IN. Its worldwide network of more than 100 qualified distributors with North American Green’s Erosion Solutions Specialists are trained to provide site-specific project design and product specification assistance.

HydraCM^TM and HydraCX2^TM are manufactured exclusively for North American Green by Mulch & Seed Innovations, LLC, Centre, AL. GeoSkin is available from Mulch & Seed Innovations, LLC, and is carried by North American Green.

North American Green is a wholly-owned, stand-alone subsidiary of The Tensar Corporation, a full-service provider of solutions for common earthwork problems, with headquarters in Atlanta, GA. For more information call 1-800-772-2040 or visit www.nagreen.com

Source: North American Green Press Release

American Excelsior Introduces New Web Site and Updates Erosion Works Design Software

2/22/2008 9:21:39 AM

American Excelsior Company is excited to announce the launching of their New Web Site with many new user friendly features such as current product brochures located in the technical support library under "Product Descriptions.” The new erosion control home page will direct you to Products, Applications, Erosion Lab, Technical Support, FAQs and Erosion Works, our new free erosion and sediment control design software that runs directly from the internet at www.erosionworks.com.

ErosionWorks has the option to generate a report directly from the program. Users are now able to easily generate a savable and printable .pdf file for their records by the click of their mouse. American Excelsior Company once again proved to be the leader in the erosion and sediment control industry by becoming the first to incorporate DOT product approval status to their design program. A simple drop down menu allows users to select any state and the program will list the products that are currently approved by the DOT in the selected state. This convenient feature saves designers, specifiers, and contractors time because they no longer have to sort through each state’s Approved Product List (APL). American Excelsior Company has done the work for them. Product approvals are being added each day so it is recommended to frequently check back with ErosionWorks if you are tracking the approval status of a particular product in a particular state.

The company plans to continue to update the online software program as ideas are submitted by their customers. Kurt Kelsey, Director of Technical Services for the company, said, “We are able to update ErosionWorks Online virtually instantly now and we will continue to improve the program as we receive valuable input from our end users. We are committed to maintaining the program as the best tool available for our users.”

American Excelsior Company has 9 facilities in the U.S. and over 100 distributor partners to serve you. More information is available at http://www.curlex.com.

Mud Blanket Makes Debut in Aurora, CO

12/4/2007 8:16:54 AM

Just let me say, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday! Even though this time of year tends to bring all of us more stress, it really is a great time of year! Some of us have already had our first snow fall of the season (winter is 3 weeks away), some of us have been blessed with warmer weather, and some of us have had some soggy times. These multiple weather changes, bring more stress to all of us some way or another impacting all of our job sites...do they not?

Well here at Great Escape (where we always think inside the box...cough cough) we have launched a new program in Colorado that we hope to be bringing to all of you in the near future. The name says it all "Mud Blanket" not to attractive I know, but preventing mud in and around your job sites saves not only clean up costs inside your structures, but those pesky N.P.D.E.S. Fines as well when your sub-contractors track mud into the streets, etc.

While the term or idea for the "Mud Blanket" did not originate within Great Escape's walls (It came from the use of the Express Blower, where they would blow a product known as "Hog Fuel" around the site because of its low cost) We have taken this idea a few steps further and originated a product and procedure, that I am sure will spark some interest!

Not only does this product produce the appearance of a super clean job site, and keep human traffic, construction traffic from further tracking into the street, and newly built structure, it also has some very inherent Erosion and Sediment Control Properties already recognized by the E.P.A. & Tested by us! This is a mixture of 5 different types of mulch products(shredded to interlock with one another), 2 types of compost(providing a nutritional value to surrounding soils), 2 small sizes & small quantity of aggregates( think filtration, air, water, once tilled in will create superb drainage properties aiding in deeper watering, more air and water will then be able to reach root structures once established "think your grandma's or mother's clay flower pots). Most of us are building on clay soils now a days, which is one of the most nutritious soils, but we can't seem to tap into them because the water is either held by it or runs off of it.

Now for the remarkable part...It is extremely cost effective when compared to straw blankets, downspout protection, and does not track! This is also made from 100% recycled wood products, non dairy based compost, and left over aggregates! So I encourage you to take a look at the photos, and contact me with any questions or if you would like an on site demo, we are only a phone call away!

Finally, when you look at the photos we have also started a new craze on back filling. By using our trucks to back fill around your foundations we have recently found & tested that we can take frost laden materials break them down to 1" minus and place them around your entire foundation for back fill, creating a more compact back fill around your structure because we have removed all air pockets from clumps and such, and have figured out how to add the correct amount of moisture and compaction at exactly the right time giving you a nearly 92% compacted back fill each and every time. Thus resulting in zero call backs (we'll put our name on that) resulting from cracked driveways, patios, etc. and more usable materials from on site!

Next up...recycling rainwater 1 residential home site at a time, saving the homeowner, home builder, and municipality $$$. (we've just begun to wash those woes down the drain!)

Again wishing you all the warmest Holiday Greeting's to you, your companies, and your families!

Bill Lindsey - President
Great Escape Commercial Contracting, Inc.
720-468-3452
www.greatescapecommercial.com

Prize Offer - Nintendo Wii/Sponsored Member Link

11/12/2007 10:53:08 AM

Experience the benefits of having a sponsored member link & earn your chance at a Nintendo Wii - Here's How!
To give yourself a chance at winning a Nintendo Wii system all you have to do is purchase a 1 year subscription as a Sponsored Member to Erosion Control Network - $195.00/year . Your name will go into a drawing and a name will be picked randomly from the set closing date. The winner will be contacted by one of our sales team employees to help in claiming the prize and shipment details.
Offer Ends December 05, 2007
Call Now: 1.800.914.8182

Nintendo Wii System in High Demand, Even Adults & Elders are Addicted:
Older people on cruise ships aren't playing shuffle board anymore, and Adults at home aren't just watching their children play all of the new gaming systems and video games on their television. The Nintendo Wii system is in high demand where the system is already on all NCL America ships playing on large screens in each ship's atrium and kids have special kiosks so they don't have to fight their grandparents for a turn. In a world where video games = couch potato, it really is quite amazing to have a game where it natively expects you to move and be active. You don't lounge back and gain pounds here while playing games. Bowling might be the most relaxed of the sports, but even there you are standing, moving, swinging. You get your heart going at least a little, and get some exercise.

Call Now: 1.800.914.8182
Erosion Control Network Limited Time Offer

Introducing E-Stapler™

10/24/2007 9:46:26 AM

A New and Improved E-Staple^® Applicator System

By American Excelsior Company

(Arlington, TX) - American Excelsior Company is pleased to announce the new and improved

applicator for the exclusive installation of E-Staple^® biodegradable staples.

E-Stapler will install either 4 or 6 inch E-Staples for the sole purpose of anchoring

American Excelsior Company’s lines of Curlex^® and AEC PremierStraw^® erosion control

blankets.

E-Stapler will expedite installation time, therefore, decreasing the overall installation

price of biodegradable staples vs. steel staples that have been commonly used in the past. In the end,

E-Staples and E-Stapler^™ help create a biodegradable solution vs. rusted steel anchoring your ECB or

any other product where staple or pins are needed.

American Excelsior Company has 10 facilities in the U.S. and over 100 distributor partners.

More information is available at www.curlex.com.