I was incensed recently by someone writing an article about “businesses who don’t need marketing.” For lack of a more eloquent way to say this, I’m calling total B.S.
If you believe marketing stops at “advertising” then yes, not every business needs marketing. Look at how successful companies like eBay (in the early days), Google and many tech firms have been without a lot of traditional advertising. Craig’s List is used by millions – ever seen an ad for it? But advertising is but one part, one tactic, in the marketing playbook.
For those of you who know better, marketing means preparing, pricing, promoting and distributing your goods and services to the customers who will buy them. Do you charge for your product? That pricing decision is a marketing one. Do you sell online or through retail outlets? That’s a marketing decision. Do you ever answer the question, “What does your company do?” at a cocktail party? Yep. Marketing. Do you just invest in sales reps to run around and pitch your product but don’t have a dedicated marketing team? Then, guess what? Your sales reps are doing “marketing” whenever they pitch – they just might all be singing their own tune and missing out on the all-important consistency of message that helps foster more recognition and more sales. But I hate to tell ya’: they are still marketing. Perhaps badly.
Product descriptions. The copy on packaging. Your website look and feel. Your product performance. Your customer service experience. That is all marketing.
Marketing is communication. Even if you never spend a dime on search ads, TV spots or events, any time you talk about your business, any time you interact with a customer, and any time customers talk about you…..that’s marketing.
If someone ever tries to convince you that you don’t “need” marketing, run the other way.
Red Slice recently chatted with Beth Buelow of the Introvert Entrepreneur where she coaches our less extroverted brethren on how to build a successful business. She helps them understand, own and leverage their strengths for personal and professional success. In today’s Ask the Expert, she shares with all of us – introverted or not – how to get off the treadmill of useless networking, blogging or “stuff creation” and build a powerful content strategy that turns lookers into buyers.
A certified professional coach, Beth works primarily with introverts and offers one-on-one and group coaching, teleclasses, webinars and workshops. Prior to becoming a coach, she enjoyed a successful nonprofit career, with responsibilities as diverse as fundraising, marketing, website management, grantmaking and public relations. Her obsessions include developing her advanced coaching skills, as well as deepening her knowledge of Jungian psychology, Voice Dialogue, and the Myers-Briggs assessment tool.
RS; Hi Beth! Welcome. How do we move someone from “kudos to client?” when warm fuzzies and cool newsletters aren’t paying the bills. BB: When you’re first starting out, there’s a certain amount of spaghetti strategy happening: you’re throwing things up against the wall and seeing what sticks. You’re probably churning out a lot of content. Much – if not all – is probably free. And you get good feedback and encouragement… just not the sales.
This stage is the thrashing stage, where you’re getting just enough positive feedback that you think if you just do more, faster, better, bigger, people will convert to clients. What’s missing is strategy and intention behind your content. People are most likely confused about what you have to offer, what your strength is, and how you are the solution to their problem. A confused mind always says no. It might say, “Great work, loved the newsletter!” but it doesn’t take the time to connect the dots that you have scattered all over the page.
RS: I love that: “A confused mind always says no.” Same holds true if your brand is schizophrenic! So what do I need to do to create a strategy for my content?
BB: My favorite approach is to look at it through the framework of Moves Management. Moves Management is a term used in the world of nonprofit fund development. Here’s one definition: “a system, a process and a plan for building a relationship that moves individual prospects to engaged, passionate donors.” (Alexander Haas Martin & Partners)
I use this expression because I have found that attracting clients is very similar to raising money for an organization. Donors – and in our case, clients – move through a process that is established by the organization. If the strategy is clear and intentional, and the organization knows exactly who it wants to attract, each touch point is designed to shift the relationship to a deeper level of connection. For nonprofits, the lowest level of engagement is awareness of the organization’s existence and being on the mailing list. The highest is a donor who makes a planned gift (allotting part of the donor’s estate to the organization upon the donor’s death).
The donor is not necessarily aware of the moves the organization is putting on them. If it’s all done smoothly, the donor moves from level to level rather seamlessly, and of their own volition.
The same is true for your prospective clients. A well-designed Moves Management process outlines clear steps for you to take (and clear content for you to create) that transitions a client from Casual to Convinced. Just like you don’t meet someone at a party then ask him to marry you, you don’t hand someone your business card then ask her to purchase your Platinum Package.
RS: This sounds just like the sales process or buying process that marketers live and die by. I talk about this in workshops as “Awareness, Education, Consideration and Purchase.” But Casual to Convinced sounds much cooler. What does that mean?
BB: I break the Moves Management funnel into four sections: Casual, Connected, Committed and Convinced. Each section represents a deepening of the client’s relationship and investment.
Casual
Offerings (blog, podcasts, Facebook fan page) at this stage determine a prospect’s first impression of you; they begin the journey of someone knowing, liking and trusting you. In general, unless the prospective client makes a comment or is required to provide an e-mail to access information, he can remain an anonymous lurker. People are standing on the edge of your business, with one foot in, one foot out.
Connected
Information products/services in this category require more direct communication and connection. The client declares herself and decides to share her information in return for a higher level of interaction from you. There is usually an exchange of value, typically of money or an e-mail address/contact info.
The content you deliver (workshops, newsletters, speaking, etc) is one-to-many. Your offerings reflect your expertise in a deeper way than at Casual, and they can be used in one of two ways: 1) give the client enough “DIY” information that she can take it from there, or 2) give the client enough information that he is inspired, curious and made aware of the benefits of moving to the Committed level.
Committed
At this level, the interaction and content shifts from one-to-many to one-to-one. The relationship is deeper and more personal. You’re working together through coaching, consulting, advising, mentoring or providing direct, custom services/products.
Convinced
Working with a client at this level is the end result of her knowing, liking and trusting you. She is convinced that you and your business are the right fit for her needs long-term (which is relative to your business – could be months or years). She becomes an advocate and a source of quality referrals. She’s in love! You are delivering your highest level of services and products, in terms of quality, customization and financial investment.
As you create content, consider where it fits into your Moves Management funnel. Communicate clear benefits to your prospects, and have a compelling call to action appropriate to where they are in the funnel. Having a clear strategy puts you well on your way to getting warm fuzzies in the form of appreciation and compensation!
This may sound like an odd title, but HOW you do business really is just as important to your brand as WHAT you do, or your logo, communications, etc. Take a lesson from a business owner who I am sadly watching destroy their brand through pushy, in-your-face promotional tactics.
This person is an expert in their field. They have years of experience and have gotten real results for people. But somewhere along the line, this person got some bad advice from a coach, or colleague or guru and has started to destroy their hard-earned brand image. Someone must have told this person that in order to make more money they needed to sell, sell, sell. Which, of course, one does need to do in order to make money and we talked about being an effective salesperson in a previous post. But you can’t be a robot about it if you want a brand that still needs to stand for excellence, expertise, and influence. You need to practice good judgment and tact as well.
This person is now in 100% sales mode at every waking moment – to the point that they are selling at inappropriate times and speaking engagements. And when I say inappropriate, I really mean it: we’re not talking about the good sense to promote yourself when you are networking or speaking. We’re talking highly inappropriate as in, you have not respected your audience enough to know when to pull back. The well-respected brand is now eroding into an infomercial. Which is okay, if that is the business you are after, but given this person’s value and years of experience, I’m not sure that is what they want their brand positioning to be.
This truly makes me sad as I watch this happen and I hear the rumors and see people distancing themselves from this brand. Remember, how you behave and how you do business is probably more important to your brand promise than any graphic or website ever could be. Brand is visual, verbal AND experiential. And this person could be hurting themselves in the long haul. Sure, maybe they are making tons of money and then, what the heck do I know? There is certainly a market and a place for such a brand and maybe that is indeed what this person wants to go after. But personally, I’m not sure I’d want to forsake my reputation for some short-term gains in a way that might cause me to miss the boat on being the kind of business I really want to be.
Entrepreneurs love being creative, dynamic, bold, innovative….but they often hate SELLING. Which is kind of funny, seeing as how that is the key to generating revenue. Women business owners especially struggle with what they perceive to be “annoying”, “slick” or “deceitful.” But if you don’t believe in the value of your goods and services – you as the person who knows them the most initimately and cares about them the most – how do you expect anyone else to?
Fiona Walsh spoke yesterday at a CRAVE Seattle Coffee Chat about igniting your sales. She’s a business advisor and has a a knack for putting sales processes in place no matter what your business. Marketing and sales go hand in hand, and a lot of her advice also stems from having a strong brand story. As someone who put marketing processes and campaigns in place to “stock the sales pipeline” for enterprise software sales reps, I thought she did a great job of breaking things down to the simplest terms, especially for people that may conduct consumer sales and not B2B.
Effective sales is about telling your story and addressing your customers needs. Its a conversation showing how your offerings can solve someone’s problem or help them achieve their goals. Too often we try to say what we want to about our company without addressing the value we provide and why people should care. Both solopreneurs and million dollar businesses are guilty of this. It’s also about empathy – putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, addressing their pains and offering solutions. She cited a recent Harvard research study that stated “empathy” was the #1 trait for a successful salesperson.
Here is Fiona’s list of the most common sales mistakes people make:
1) Assume it takes one call to close the deal: As we talk about with branding, you have to consistently be in front of someone at least 7 times before they may be willing to buy. There is a lot of noise, so you need to have multiple touchpoints and offer new and different value each time. Maybe send interesting articles, invite people to events, stay in touch about promotions and special offers. Don’t assume once is enough.
2) Not clearly communicating what you sell: I see this one over and over again on branding projects. You need clarity on what you sell and to whom. Who is your ideal customer? Who are you talking to? What problem are you solving for them? Fiona suggests having 3 niche markets and clear messaging to all of them.
3) Selling features, not benefits: I also see this one over and over. Don’t tell me about all the widgets and technology and “things.” Tell me how your product or service makes my life better, my family better, my business more successful. Then, once I’m hooked, you can start delving into the “how” you do all of this. A feature is an attribute; a benefit is a value.
4) Lack of qualifying: Not all leads are good ones, so you need to answer 3 simple questions to determine if someone is worth your time: Do they have a budget? Do they have a reasonable timeframe? Do they have the ability to make the buying decision? I’ve seen software sales reps on million dollar deals not answer these questions effectively, so you are not alone. If the answer to any of the above is “no” you need to get to the right people within the organization, or spend your time on more qualified leads elsewhere until those “no’s” turn to “yes.”
5) Failure to close: At the end of a killer presentation, you need to ask for the business. Many business owners do not do this and just assume if they pitch was good enough, the client will come to them. Set an action plan, a next step. Ask when they want to get started. “When is a good time to come in for our initial session?” “To get this work done by Christmas, we need to start on Monday.” etc.
Let me put my B2B marketing hat on here. I recently chimed in on a Linked In discussion about leveraging outside firms or inside sales teams to help set appointments/screen leads for experienced sales reps. I have used both methods to great success – and a few failures – and want to share them with you. Some of this could apply if you sell consumer products via direct sales reps as well.
Many account execs these days have moved from a strict “feature-function-benefit” sale to a more “customer-centric selling” technique. This used to be called “solution selling” and there is a great book on this topic if you want to learn more. For those of you not familiar with this from enterprise software, this means that the rep acts more like a consultant and detective and less like a “hard sale” pusher – they take the time to get to know the person’s business, ferret out their pain points, find ways to measure value and then build a solution/package that meets the person’s needs. They have strategic business-level conversations, rather than getting down in the weeds on features and functions. This is a much more collaborative and consultative relationship that can yield future sales down the line, since the client sees you as a partner.
Many firms with dedicated, “high-touch” sales reps sometimes hire outside firms to either telemarket for leads or screen incoming leads for real opportunities. This allows the account execs to focus more on relationships, building value, strategic partnering and business solutions – rather than cold calling and wasting their time with “tire kickers’ who will never buy.
I’ve used both external firms and inside sales teams for this function. Aaron Ross is a great consultant who built a top-notch Inside Sales team at Salesforce.com and now helps organizations refine their sales processes to get results. I’ve worked with him in the past and he’s great. Vanella Group is also a wonderful prospecting firm full of professionals who used to be big whig sales execs and know how to find real opportunities (she doesn’t use people right out of college to do this kind of prospecting and screening).
Here’s what I have learned are the keys to making it work:
1) Have buy in from Sales leadership: The key factor is aligning with sales and ensuring the Sales VP is on board, has a say in the selection of the firm/new hire, helps define which leads are “appt worthy” and actively enforces good follow-up behavior among his/her reps. If the Sales leader is not on board and enforcing the process but its all coming from marketing, you’re dead in the water.
2) Nail Down a Clear Process: Sales needs to be well-informed about the initiative, know what the next steps need to be and how the whole process will be measured. Create a clear appointment-sales-rep handoff process so nothing falls through the cracks (put your operations hat on, create a process flow with decision points for all parties and ensure all reps know and agree)
3) Track and Measure. We had appointment setters who could enter the lead directly into our salesforce.com (SFDC) sales and marketing automation system. If a rep did not follow up or take the appt, we knew exactly when and who and could call them out. We also could track leads through to the sale from this initiative by using SFDC’s analytics.
4) Agree on What Makes a Qualified Lead: Ensure the definitions of a “qualified lead” worthy of an appointment are clearly understood and agreed to between marketing and sales so no one wastes time or money. This misunderstanding is one of the biggest reasons such initiatives fail. Have clear criteria for both sides on what makes a lead appointment-worthy. For example, we had company size, level of the person, if they were going to spend on a solution within 6 months, etc. as part of this criteria.
5) Maintain Accountability: Track all your activity to generate the lead and appt, so that if sales drops the baton, misses the appointment or doesn’t dollow up, you can know this and can remedy it quckly.
6) Make a Superstar That Others Will Follow: Celebrate success by enlisting the help of a well-respected, successful rep to “try the system out” and when he/she gets a win, promote it broadly. Reps will only spend time doing things that they know for a fact will yield commissions.
7) Put Communication Channels in Place: Ensure you have a process in place for the outside firm to make the appt and the rep to KEEP the appt. I’ve seen outside firms make appts and not clearly communicate time, date, etc to the rep (or not know which rep to send it to). There needs to be a mechanism to quickly check the rep’s availability so the prospect is not left hanging. I allowed my outside firm to send emails directly to my reps, even though they would put the lead in the system, just to ensure the appt was kept.
8) You Need More than People Who Can Dial a Phone: You need experienced sales reps who can listen, overcome objections and ferret out opportunities and pain points. They need to know what to listen for, how to ask probing questions and how to get past gatekeepers and talk about value. Again, Vanella Group does a great job with this.
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