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Tag: lead-generation

  • Are These 12 Roadblocks Stopping Your Valuable Trade Show Leads?

    Are These 12 Roadblocks Stopping Your Valuable Trade Show Leads?

    Scott Llewellen of TPS Displays Express put this together, and I thought you’d all enjoy these tips – they’re right on the money!

    Most trade show exhibitors put the vast majority of their effort into creating their presence at a trade show – the trade show displays they build, the staffers they send and house, and for some, the promotions they do to create greater activity in their booth space.

    Unfortunately, too many waste these valiant efforts, because they fall down on managing their trade show leads.  That’s because there are more hidden roadblocks than they realize, obstacles to getting the full value from their leads.

    So let’s bring those roadblocks out into the light.  I believe the list below includes the 12 most common obstacles to effective lead management – how many of these are issues do you need to address?

    1. Incomplete lead management process
    2. No single person responsible for the entire process
    3. No consultation with sales about what information needs to be gathered at the show
    4. No training of trade show booth staffers about what makes a qualified lead, how to record lead quality
    5. Qualifying information from leads is not captured with a lead card or a lead retrieval system
    6. If complete information is captured, it is not conveyed to the appropriate sales person after the show
    7. Slow, incomplete, or non-existent lead fulfillment
    8. No computer system or customer relationship management software in place to facilitate lead management
    9. Lead fulfillment packages not chosen nor prepared in advance
    10. Lead fulfillment is generic and does not respond specifically to what individual attendees asked about while visiting your trade show exhibit.
    11. No one pre-assigned to data enter and fulfill the large quantity of leads
    12. No accountability for sales people to follow up on leads within a specific, short period of time after the show

    Any of these sound familiar?  Fixing this will take a team effort, including your sales, marketing, and information technology teams.  Get them all in a room and work to knock down these obstacles. For motivation, bring to the meeting a pile of your latest trade show leads, a spreadsheet of the costs of your show, and the highest level exec you can get that these people all report to.

    Then you can work to avoid all 12 of these obstacles and create a smoother lead management process that gives your company the full potential value of your trade show leads.

  • Does Social Media Marketing ACTUALLY Drive Customer Behavior and Convert to Revenue?

    Does Social Media Marketing ACTUALLY Drive Customer Behavior and Convert to Revenue?

    Social Media, social media, social media – there, I said it three times into the mirror, now I just have to wait and see what happens . . .

    That seems to be the approach many companies are taking to this relatively new phenomenon. The head in the sand approach might have some advantages in the long run, if recent data on the effectiveness of social media in driving customer behavior is to be believed. It seems that despite all the hype, and press, and sturm-und-drang in the digital media, minting new ‘social media gurus’ by the flock, digital media and it’s permutations don’t drive near as much revenue or even shopping behavior individually than they do when used together. Integration seems to be the real strength behind conversation marketing’s mechanics, and when the reams of data generated are used properly ACROSS multiple platforms, it seems to at least have the ability to drive a solid promotional campaign and boost response levels.

    That said, here are some interesting tidbits of data, excerpted from a recent Gartner Group study:

    • 11% of polled consumers had read a company blog, and only 4% had commented on one.
    • Twice that many, or 23% had viewed a company provided video.
    • 45% said they planned to purchase based on a combination of brick and mortar, digital ads, and mobile marketing, but only 1% said they planned to do so based on mobile marketing alone.
    • Only 26% of consumers said they had clicked on a Search Results page paid ad – irrespective of engine brand.
    • Based on data from another similar study, only 6% said they had purchased based on a facebook ad
    • 40% said they had registered for a promotion or contest based on an e-mail or social media ad

    Clearly, consumers want something for nothing (hence the contest results), but don’t want to work at it (read the blog data, reading a whole blog takes effort)

    Also just as clearly, mobile marketing has not reached the level of credibility, trust or penetration it’s purveyors would have you believe, and while it may be the next big thing, it ain’t there yet, not without massive support from other media to reinforce it’s message and bolster its credibility.

    Video seems to have made substantial inroads, but anyone who recognizes the level of involvement the TV generation needs to engage will see a clear correlation between the aging of the boomer TV generation and the level of importance video has attained. Add in the near ubiquity and availability of high-speed broadband Internet access allowing for video transmission at better fidelity and faster speeds, and video’s effectiveness becomes less mysterious. The fact that consumers would rather watch a video and have their eyeballs babysat rather than read and understand and digest and analyze a company blog to get their information is less than mysterious as well, when the audience is considered.

    The trick with all this is to take the data it generates, and use it to form better customer profiles that can be used to not only drive behavior, but to predict it as well. If you can create a digitally integrated campaign that uses the initial brush with consumers to link to a behavior and transaction based profile, you can then draw that consumer along a continuum toward a purchase after several touch points are hit. That’s how integration beefs up the ROI equation. The development of such campaigns requires broad and detailed knowledge of the target audience, so that it can be set up to account for the wide variety of behaviors possible by consumers. If you can narrow the range of preferences and behaviors, and drive consumers down a narrower funnel, the ROI can be quite lucrative.

    According to Gartner, ‘Companies using in-bound and event-triggered marketing techniques to draw consumers will see a 600% higher response rate compared to traditional outbound push campaigns’. That sounds pretty fantastic. I wonder if that will continue to be the case as more firms start to embrace this practice and it becomes more common. Will this type of campaign reduce the level of trust and credibility across the board, making consumers distrustful? Interesting to ponder, but I think not. To paraphrase W.C. Fields, “no one ever went broke underestimating the gullibility of the American public”.

    If you found this insightful or controversial, and would like to read more like it, subscribe to this blog today! Also, don’t forget to pick up your copy of “The Marketing Doctor’s Survival Notes” 

     

  • Promotional Items Should Be Carefully Selected for Maximum Impact

    Promotional Items Should Be Carefully Selected for Maximum Impact

    There are lots of elements to be considered if your marketing plan for the year includes participation in tradeshows, and a number of good reasons to include it in your plan in the first place. One element that has been closely focused on over the years, sometimes to the exhibitors detriment: the tradeshow “giveaway”. The use of promotional items for creating lasting attention and retention of brand image has cycled up and down in popularity over the last 50 years or so. There are some interesting correlations between the state of the economy and the level of quantity and sophistication attached to the promotional items given out at shows. In general, when times get tough, the quantity goes up, and the quality/cost goes down. When times are hard, something in marketers minds says “better to give away lots of cheap stuff just to get the name out there, than to spend the same but only give away half as many nice items that actually connect accurately to the brand”. Why, I have no idea, but it’s bunk.

    In reality, if you choose to distribute promotional items at a tradeshow, that choice should be as well-thought-out as the display construction, the sales training scheme for the event, the selection of size and location of the stand, and the selection of representatives working the show. Often such items are an afterthought, an add-on after everything else has been decided. Sometimes, there are “Standard” items that the company keeps a stock of, or makes available to each location for marketing purposes – they get a better price buying in higher quantity, and they make available or distribute it throughout their “system” for use in ad hoc marketing efforts, including local tradeshows. Ever visited a home improvement show, and the local bank has purchased a table space and brings water bottles and stress balls, and thinks this will make them memorable to the attendees and that they will open an account or apply for a loan? For the impact that really has on the audience, they may as well have taken the money and put it in one of those plexiglass Grab-a-Buck boxes – that at least connects money and banks in people’s minds and might have gotten them some attention!

    If you’ve made the decision to promote your business with a branded item, if that selection is made carefully, it can be of great benefit at that event, and can drive recognition and awareness, not necessarily sales. If really obvious, it can create buzz on the show floor and drive traffic to your display from elsewhere on the floor. And if you’ve really read the audience right, that item will be so specific to a particular population that it will help qualify that traffic and thin and focus the lead selection before they arrive! Now that’s a promotion.

    Some general rules of thumb for a successful promotional item giveaway.

    1) If you can do so, and it’s appropriate, try passing out samples of the product. Smaller, not necessarily fully functional, but a good replica of your product will at least remind the recipient for months to come, who gave them that item and what they make.

    2) If you can’t sample, for whatever reason, select something that links practically to what you do or what you offer. This type of item at least will carry some activation, that coupled with the logo printed on the item, will conjure up a memory of your firm and what it offers.

    3)If you can’t sample, and you can’t link practically with your product, link with the audiences habits or industry specific needs or processes. If you’re marketing to engineers, a measuring device of some type is a good example of this – they can actually use the item at work, where they hopefully make purchasing decisions.

    4) If you can’t do 1, 2, or 3, at least make the item something useful or entertaining and of good quality, including the imprint method. Also, be aware of the audience. If you can, try to select items that are at least non-toxic – sounds strange, but I can’t tell you how many stress balls and foam toys I’ve handed to my young kids only to find out the printing rubbed off when they got drool on it, or put it in their mouths.

    In short, smart, engaging, creative choices that engage the audience’s imagination, trigger a memory of what you do, your products or your brand promise, that are practical and useful within your industry are the best bets for effective giveaways.

    There are lots of other tips and tricks to using promotional items to drive traffic and leads. More later . . .

  • Spring Tradeshow Season is Here – Are You Prepared?

    Spring Tradeshow Season is Here – Are You Prepared?

    In many business verticals, Spring/Summer is trade show season. If your marketing plan includes trade shows for your vertical or peripheral industries, and your booth selections and floor plans are set, now you’re facing the task of pulling together a strategy, designing and fabricating a display of some sort, creating collateral and sales support materials, and training staff to get the biggest bang for your trade show buck.

     

    That last piece of the puzzle, staff training, may be the most overlooked and the most mission critical to achieving your goals for each show.

     

    Firms we’ve worked with treated staff training for trade shows as an after-thought, making seemingly random staff selections, and handing them a brochure and saying “learn this” – not a good idea. Some firms who hire spokesmodels do this, but their goal is different and the model’s role is different than a staff person.

     

    If you’re going to spend many thousands of dollars leasing floor space, designing and fabricating a custom display, paying staff T&E to go to a show and work, feeding them, housing them, and paying expenses for them to entertain clients and potential clients, the people you send ought to at least be proficient enough to maximize the opportunity. Sending the mailroom manager, the receptionist, and two PR people because they are young, unattached, unconstrained and attractive will come back to haunt you when the results for the year’s sales come in. You’ll have a much harder time justifying your budget for trade shows if you don’t show good results. Sending the whole sales team may backfire as well, without at least a few technical people there to answer some of the tougher questions, and some senior management to run the show and meet with those key clients as a show of respect for their past and future business.

     

    Proper selection of a good mix of professionals to man the booth is only part of the equation. Making sure they are all on the same page, with the same message and a similar approach, pushing the same products in the same way, speaking knowledgeably about your products or services, is critical to a good show result. They should all be taught how to use their booth time productively, to make the most of the opportunity, how to engage prospects, how to qualify them, how to screen them, how to steer them to the correct individual internally, how to appear and how to behave when they are “on stage” in the booth.

     

    The other key element of trade show success is the follow-up. Studies by CEIR have shown that nearly 80% of all leads gathered at a trade show are NEVER followed-up. You paid for them, why not use them? When you calculate your cost of acquisition at that trade show for new customers, you’ll realize what a gold mine they can be, if you’ve done your homework and set up a system to make sure the leads generated get followed properly.

     

    Some companies do this extremely well, and they usually let technology do the work for them. I know of several companies that go to shows with a complete set of pre-written e-mail follow-up letters, divided into different levels of interest, different product interests or whatever their scheme supports. As soon as a lead is logged, either from a business card or through the badge reader system, an e-mail is issued to follow up, send links to the company website, impart additional information, give out coupons, keys to prizes, whatever. Sales people have the opportunity to add personal notes to these, to add specific answers to technical questions. Sometimes these systems are extremely fast – I’ve received e-mails on my smart phone within minutes of leaving the booth!

     

    Whatever system you employ, make sure the staff is trained to use it, and that they use it often. And remember, it’s not usually about quantity, it’s about quality. If there are lots of leads, but the resulting sales after diligent follow-up are low, maybe that’s not the best venue, and it should be reconsidered carefully for next year’s plan. On the other hand, if you only get five leads, but they all convert, your cost of acquisition will be very high!

     

    Trade shows are a lot of work, use a lot of resources, and can be an extremely effective tool for generating new leads and new customers, for polishing your brand within the industry, for launching a new product, or for doing product research. But without a properly trained staff, good follow-up mechanisms, and a solid integration plan, all those dollars and hours are for naught. Good luck!

     

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  • What Salespeople Want Prospects and Clients To Know

    What Salespeople Want Prospects and Clients To Know

    (An open letter from Salespeople the world over to clients and prospects)

     

    Dear Prospect,

    As an ethical, professional, courteous sales person, there are some things I repeatedly encounter when interacting with clients and prospects that cause me some concern, and I think with a little education we can clear them up and interact on a more effective and profitable basis.

    1) I’m not trying to trick you, steal from you, or talk you into something that you don’t want or need. I’m a professional, and as such, know that it’s much more productive and profitable for me to keep long-term clients than it is to turn and burn a host of one-time victims. I thrive on repeat business, and the last thing I want to do is pull a fast one on you or take advantage of you.

    2) The more you tell me, the better I can help you achieve your goals. You wouldn’t lie to or withhold information from your attorney, and you shouldn’t be lying to or holding out on your accountant, so why do you feel you need to be guarded in your conversations with me? Are you afraid if I learn something I’ll use it to talk you into buying more? I’d rather solve your complete problem right the first time, so you’ll refer me to your friends.

    3) I talk to people all day long for a living, often about problems similar to yours. I might have picked up a thing or two from those conversations, and that makes my knowledge more complete and recent than yours is likely to be. That knowledge deserves some respect.

    4) Just because you think you can’t afford what I have to offer at the moment, doesn’t mean it’s a waste of my time to get to know you and your challenges. Take the meeting anyway, you might be surprised at what you learn, and at how I can help you no matter what your budget. Maybe not right this second, but at some point along the way.

    5) The more you trust me, and the better and reciprocal our relationship becomes, the more value you derive from it. Salespeople are out on the streets all day learning and solving problems in creative ways. I know things that might be of help, at no cost to you, if you just give me a try. The risk is really minimal, and the return can be tremendous.

    6) I have an ethical obligation to keep your private and corporate information to myself. I also have an ulterior motive to do so. I won’t last long if I go around blabbing client info to other clients, will I? I’m a professional, in it for the long haul, and keeping quiet serves any number of purposes.

    7) You won’t hurt my feelings by calling and telling me you bought from someone else. As a professional with some experience, I’ve developed a pretty thick skin, so don’t worry about my reaction, I can assure you it will be professional and appropriate. Please have the courtesy to return follow-up calls, don’t just let them go to voicemail and ignore them, hoping I’ll get the message – it’s rude and counterproductive.

    8) We can all use a hand once in a while. If I’ve done a great job, tell me so, and then tell two colleagues who can also buy from us as well. That’s the real currency salespeople live off of, referrals. It takes thirty seconds, is painless and free, and would really make my world better.

    9) The reverse is also true: if I screw up, please tell me quickly so we can fix the problem, get a solution worked out, patch things up and move on. Don’t let those issues fester and then just stop returning calls for no apparent reason – it’s not healthy.

    10) I’m just as anxious to solve your problem as you are to get it solved. The sooner we stop dancing and start producing, the faster we’ll both get where we’re going. I’ll be happy to answer any questions for your superiors, cover your behind, make it right, do whatever is required to protect our relationship, so stop worrying about it and start fixing it sooner rather than later.

    Hope you find this helpful in our interactions in the future. I think you’ll find if you keep these things in mind, you’ll get more of what you want, at lower cost, faster, and with greater enthusiasm all around. Be the hero of your own situation, and help me help you!

    Sincerely,

     

    Joe Salesperson

     

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