Create Your Marketing Funnel

by ColinLewis on / 1 Comment

Category: Sales & Marketing

SPECIAL GUEST BLOG By Colin Lewis, Marketing and Business Development Mentor, Mentors.ie

When I was launching an airline brand into the European market a few years ago, one of the features of the campaign was outdoor advertising as well as print – mainly in London media.

Within days of the campaign launch, I was inundated with phone calls from every advertising huckster in the UK.  Every possible media. Every possible sponsorship property.  They were like sharks in the water smelling blood.

Some of my favourite ones were the guys who just happened to have a last minute deal on hoardings for a rugby league match. £20,000 for the game that weekend, and it’s yours, guv’nor. A snip. A deal.

Never mind the fact that a. the airline did not fly into any of the cities where rugby league is played b. rugby league is a minority sport played a in few reasonably blue-collar parts of northern england. Given the target market for the airline was pretty-well off types living in the south-east, and near East London and the City in particular, it was about as off the mark as you can get. Really off-base in fact.

This was a classic example of a business resorting to a ‘numbers game’, and preferring carpet-bombing instead of target marketing.

What was even more fun during these phone calls, was the level of incredulousness from the aforementioned salesmen when I used to tell him I was not interested. It never ceased to amaze me. I got so bored with it, I would play games with them on the phone, but I digress.

The first step for these guys would have been to go back to the drawing board, and build a structured sales and marketing sequence, with each step being built on the one before it. People make the mistake that the sale is an ‘event’ or an ‘act’, not a process.

Our rugby league loving salesman made the assumption is that I would respond to a single sales step. Instead of promoting to generate leads, he expected to generate an instant response:

Of course, many business do exactly the same thing, whereas they should really engage in a process to find out those who are feeling pain – both now, and in the future. And to help them to recognise it!

I imagine it as a marketing funnel. Visualising it shows the step changes to get to a deal. Naturally, at any step of the funnel prospects drop out of it, and from the large number of initially interested persons on the top end, only a fraction of the initially interested people remain and actually buy or do the deal.

But that’s ok. The funnel is about building the ideal result to get the ideal prospects raise their hands, and step onto a sequence that is specially constructed for them to move along from suspect to closure.

Sure beats trying sell rugby league game hoardings to a joker like me!

The 6 Basic Steps for Building a New Customer Pipeline

by ColinLewis on / 13 Comments

Category: Sales & Marketing

SPECIAL GUEST BLOG By Colin Lewis, Marketing and Business Development Mentor, Mentors.ie

Many companies appear to assume their sales process is like buying an ice-cream. The steps in buying an ice-cream are real simple. It’s hot. There’s a shop. Open fridge. Agonise over choice of Choc-Ice or Magnum.  Moan about cost of said ice-cream at till. Consume.

There is another one – more my style, in fact: see Mr. Whippy Van. Or better still, here the cheesy music, and think about running after the van like I did when I was a kid. Ask for a ’99. Hope they are adhering to HAACP rules. Eat ’99, providing it does not melt over your hand, or worse still, fall on the ground, leaving you with an empty cone.

Unfortunately, not all decision-making processes are like that. In fact, most are not.

However, looking at most companies sales processes, it would appear that this two or three step process is what is expected of customers. And, in turn, blame their sales guys on their inability to close deals more or less immediately.

So, here is my six-step back-to-basics for building new customers:

• Think: A sale should not be seen as a results of single ‘event’ or an ‘act’, but a process

• Never assume: Do not believe that a prospect will respond to a single sales step, such as an email, or a phone call

• Structure: A structured sales and marketing sequence is required to be put in place, and understood.

• Sequence: Build a sequence is based on step, building on the one before it.

• Discipline: Bring people down a road, where each step is a baby step to build rapport – have the discipline to think about NOT getting the deal on the spot.

• Imagine: Visualise a sales funnel to show the step changes to get the company or individual to act, be it buy the course or become a member.

The Lexus Effect

by ColinLewis on / No Comment

Category: Sales & Marketing

SPECIAL GUEST BLOG By Colin Lewis, Marketing and Business Development Mentor, Mentors.ie

Until recently, consumers had a limited repetoire of companies that they could choose to deal with.

This was often dictated by where they lived, how their tastes had developed, and what form of advertising was used. Of course, this is not the case anymore.  The woman shopping in the local mall is also looking at Amazon and eBay. It’s so obvious that it’s barely worth even mentioning that they can check out it all online.

The typical consumer doing their research will know more about how you stack up against your competitors than you do. It may be because your service or product does not stack up in terms of the price you’re charging – in the customer’s mind. As Seth Godin says, ‘Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that’s efficiency’.

There is also the second more subtle issue. This is the expectation that your potential consumer is not bringing his experience from other industries to yours. You put out a product and service that is good enough in your view. In isolation, that may be the case. But, the same consumer is spending time on Facebook, watching TV, reading the Sunday supplements and driving around in a Lexus. Or a Mini or a Fiat 500. He or she is not operating in isolation – yet thats how we often think in many case.

If you are interested in buying a car, some of the Korean brands offer seven+ or longer warranties. Lexus came from nowhere to grab market share from the big guns in Germany, Mercedes and BMW. The guys at Lexus ruined it for everone else though, as they set new expectations from a business that had very low expectations post-purchase.

Use this new playing field to your advantage. Sure, keep tabs on what your competitors are doing you, and you will be more competitive.

However, look outside the industry: think how consumers import their expectations and experiences from elsewhere? Your business is not different. Having worked in five different industries now, I can pretty much guarantee that most businesses are the same. Yes, the economics can be different, but there is a lot more in common between marmalades and Andrea Bocelli, the opera singer (but thats for another blog!)

Think about the Lexus effect in your business. Can you replicate? Can you offer guarantees no-one else can? If not, why not?

The Digital Divide

by ColinLewis on / 1 Comment

Category: Sales & Marketing

SPECIAL GUEST BLOG By Colin Lewis, Marketing and Business Development Mentor, Mentors.ie

We have all seen the articles in the paper over the years about the so-called ‘digital divide’. According to Wikipedia, the ‘digital divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology, and those with very limited or no access at all. It includes the imbalance both in physical access to technology and the resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital citizen’.

There is a different type of digital divide, a new type of ‘have’ and ‘have-nots’, if you like. And it has nothing to do access or limited access, but all to do with the fact that they people are doing nothing with that access. Those with access are simply not boned-up on what the ‘digital and information technology’ really means for them and their company.

The amount of preconceptions, half-truths and snippets of information that people bring to the table about online, digital marketing, mobile capability is astounding. And I mean, these are people who are well-educated, probably in a senior role in their company, and, who can put together a well-formed argument on almost any topic you care to mention.

But, when it comes to what ‘moving things online’, ‘search engine marketing’, or god forbid, email marketing, the amount of people who cannot work out the basics never ceases to amaze me. For good measure, these also tend to be the people who control the purse strings.

My personal favourites: first, the argument of moving all marketing online, and then flnding out that it is not working. Then being horrified at the cost of acquistion of using Adwords or display. Then the zinger: let’s rely on SEO to solve that problem.

Secondly, that other corker, lets get a database of emails, but only write to them once a month (take your pick) as ‘I hate receiving emails’. Ignoring the fact that unsubscribe rates for databases are below 1% in most cases, and also ignoring the decades of history from a related type of marketing, direct marketing, which also show that response rates INCREASE when you send more out.

Imagine you met your accountant, and told him or her your opinions about how things were going to work, and what results you expected. That tends not to happen, as most management understand how the world of finances work. However, with all things digital, this appears to evaporate!

This is the bit that amazes me. The information is out there. For free. Generally, there are experts you can ask, who can tell you all this in advance. But it is ignored, and all the personal prejudices and opinions are brought to the table.  The question I have is: how long can this continue?

 

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