To win, reverse the sales funnel!

To win, reverse the sales funnel!

May 31, 2019 | Customers, Sales

 

There is no gravity in a sales funnel!.

 Prospects do not fall down a sales funnel in an orderly manner, defined by some marketers picture of their customer journey.

Prospects climb up a chimney that gets narrower and more difficult the higher you go. There are points of friction, decision points, diversions, and often life just gets in the way. When a prospect falls out, sometimes they return, at another time, to another place in the ‘chimney’, and sometimes are never to be seen again.

At each point in the climb, the marketer has to get a ‘mini-yes’ from the prospect. Are they going to continue the climb to a conversion? Or is the friction greater than their motivation to climb further?

There are 3 points of extreme friction you need to address as prospects climb

  • Why should the prospect engage with you? This may be a PPC ad, a download, simply looking at a second page on your website, or not throwing away that brochure you mailed them. This is the first major point of friction, and conversion rates at this point are usually in single figures.
  • Why should the prospect buy this product in preference to any alternative solution to whatever problem they are facing? Most problems have many potential solutions, and many suppliers, so you need to be able to demonstrate why the solution you offer is superior to alternative solutions.
  • Why should they buy the product/solution from you, rather than one of your competitors? If the only answer to this question is price, you have just lost.

We kid ourselves if we think of this process as ‘gravitational,’ exerting gravity downwards towards the transaction. The process is the reverse of gravity, there is pressure from many angles to squeeze prospects out of the chimney, and it takes sustained effort to support them in their climb.  

 

 

The strategic alternative to Sales and Marketing

The strategic alternative to Sales and Marketing

May 8, 2019 | Marketing, Sales

I rarely disagree with the musings of Peter Drucker, genius that he was.

However,  I need to take issue with one of his more quoted musings: ‘The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous’

The objective of both Sales and marketing is to generate a transaction, and to do so in such a way that the customer never goes anywhere else for subsequent transactions.

Transactions generate revenue, so both Sales and Marketing are a part of the one continuous process:

Revenue Generation.

Everything in an enterprise is aimed at providing the means to generate revenue, without which, there is no future.

Stop considering Sales and Marketing as separate functions, they are not, they are both components of the wider task of generating revenue.

The hidden magic of the triggering event

The hidden magic of the triggering event

Jan 31, 2019 | Communication, Marketing, Sales, Strategy

What is it that acts as the catalyst that initiates the journey a customer will undertake that may end up with a transaction?

If you knew this, you would be in a situation to be very specific about your marketing, both the nature of the offer, the way you make it, and to whom you communicate it.

Customer personas are a great way to focus resources in a manner that delivers productivity of your marketing efforts. The more details and representative the persona the  better.

It works, and works well, but is not the whole story.

There are events and interactions that occur in peoples lives that are not logically accommodated within a persona. There is a point in the journey a customer makes towards that purchase not considered with anywhere near enough weight.

That is the situation, the event, the ‘thing’ that acts as a catalyst to create the beginning of the customer journey. The event that suddenly creates an awareness that there might be value in considering options, and that the current solution, whatever that may be is inadequate.

This is a ‘triggering’ event. 

A friend is a real estate agent.

She knows the market cycles very well, not just the economic ones, the seasonal ones that tell you that there will be a lull in activity in the market over Christmas, which will pick up again when things get back to normal in February.

Seasonal.

However, over Christmas lots of people will find themselves with family and friends staying over, for the night, for a week, and suddenly, the house they have is too small, the kids no longer can sleep two to a bed,  and one bathroom is no longer enough. That becomes a triggering event for some to start the process of thinking that perhaps a bigger house is necessary, or that they really need to do a tree change. As a result they start being unconsciously sensitive to any real estate ads that may pop up, where before they would not have even seen them.

Is my friend better off starting her advertising in February, when all the other agents are starting, in the expectation that the market is waking up? Or should she advertise in January, when there is  no activity, nobody else is advertising, but the possible users of her service are in the middle of their ‘triggering event’ and highly sensitive to suddenly relevant messages?

I know where my money would be.

 

 

 

How to quantify your Customer Value Proposition

How to quantify your Customer Value Proposition

Jan 21, 2019 | Customers, Marketing, Sales

 

 

The value proposition to a customer is the means by which you converted them to being a customer.

Unless you can demonstrate value to them, in excess of any alternative, including doing nothing, you will not convert.

When you think about it, there are some pretty consistent variables that can  be massaged into some sort of quantification of a proposition. While it will never be perfect, it will be better than nothing when assessing the power of your marketing collateral, or perhaps assessing alternative wording.

Having a powerful value proposition is not enough, you must communicate it clearly and effectively to those who may be interested. You also must understand that ‘Value’ is a qualitative term, and will change with context and circumstances.

There are 7 variables I commonly see:

  • The strength of the purchase intent of the lead. This will vary enormously on a whole series of parameters, and will vary from time to time. For example, a need expressed to convert IT processes to the cloud from your own server might be a good idea, whose time has come, but when your server blows up, the need increases geometrically. The better you understand the drivers of the purchase intent the better able you will be to make a judgement,
  • How closely your proposition matches the need being expressed. When you are trying to sell a 4X4 and the lead is a single bloke who hates camping, you will have a challenge on your hands. Better to offer him the sports car.
  • Differentiation. When you are the only one in the market niche, selling to those who need your product becomes easier. When you are one of a number of undifferentiated alternatives, price becomes the major distinguishing factor, and that is never good. Conversion becomes a race to the bottom, and the greatest risk is that you win too often and go broke.
  • The clarity of the value proposition to the lead. This is where most fall down in the execution. Look at 100 websites, and see if you can locate the value proposition. While we are learning, the clarity of the proposition to a visitor to a website, which is now the first port of call in almost every purchase beyond the regular and mundane, will be terrible. The key to remember is that the lead, after reading the headline copy on the site, must be able to tell you why they should buy from you, and not someone else, assuming they are in the market you service.
  • The level of friction in the sales process. Increasingly as we go on line, friction in the process is becoming more and more important. Off line purchasers are increasingly expecting on line frictionless processes. In B2B sales, the friction is often institutional, the bureaucracy of procurement simply gets in the way. Effective Key Account Management is essential in these circumstances.
  • The incentives used to counter the friction. Most often financial incentives are the primary ones used, but tying them to another is common, for example ‘this special lasts only until Sunday’ or ‘Only 5 left’
  • Uncertainty caused by the purchase process. Human psychology seeks safety, and that resides in the known, and with the crowd. Asking a lead to do something different increases the risk to them, and the riskier they perceive the solution, the less likely they will be to convert.

So, to the equation.

Conversion potential = Purchase intent + need satisfaction + Differentiation + proposition clarity + (process friction – incentives) + uncertainty.

The way to put numbers on each of these parameters would be to weight each of the parameters in your particular circumstance, then score your lead on a 1-5 scale. The ‘w’ in the formula is the weight you give to each of the variables.

CP = wPI +wNS +wD + WPC + (wPF – wI) + U.

As an exercise, look at your own landing page and score it as a potential customer would when seeking a solution to an itch.

Image credit, again, to Gapingvoid.com

Anatomy of a sales effective website

Anatomy of a sales effective website

Dec 7, 2018 | Communication, Marketing, Sales, Social Media

People search Google for 1 of 2 reasons:

  • They have a problem to solve, they need information, guidance, options, and are looking for help in some form.
  • They are bored and too lazy to go and have a game of golf, tennis, or mow the lawns, so they look for cat photos to amuse themselves.

It follows therefore that if you are setting out to be of interest to those in the first group, it helps if they recognise quickly that you have something of what they are seeking. Any Google search will throw up multiple options for the searcher to have a quick look at.

Most times when an SME recognises the need for a website, they hire a web designer, and stand back and let them run.

Wrong strategy.

The technology of websites these days is largely commoditised, the 18 year old down the road can often do the ‘techie’ end of a site construction quicker and better than many of the ‘professionals’ around.

The challenge is the  marketing and graphic design of the site.  This is all about the combination of the words being not only the right words for the visitor, but in the right place so they get seen, and the graphic design that makes the site visually interesting and engaging, and importantly, makes some  sort of offer that leads towards the transaction.

The following has nothing to do with SEO, it assumes that you have been found, by one means or another, and your task is now to engage the casual visitor, and very particularly, that casual visitor who fits the profile of your ideal customer, in some sort of process that may lead to  a (first) transaction. The reality is that if you are not attracting your ideal customer, the whole exercise will be at best, sub-optimal. The objective should be to get these people to step through the site to a positive conclusion.

The natural progression of eyes across a website is outlined below, as they seek the answer to the question in their minds ‘Will I find what I am looking for here?’

 

The basic principal.

Top left, to right, across towards middle left, then back to bottom right.

All of this is ‘above the fold’. Many of the more recent sites have a ‘rolling’ architecture, but that does not  eliminate the old adage of ‘be above the fold’.

Let’s go into a little more detail.

The header.

The all important header, or headline, has to be specific, and deliver the value proposition that is directed towards the ideal customer, the answer to their question. Evolutionary biology plays a key role in the construction of the header. Our built in survival mechanisms register automatically the elements around us, is it dangerous, is it food, shelter, a potential partner, without us recognising at a conscious level these automatic choices. If your ideal customer registers in their ‘lizard’ brain that you are good for them, a significant part of your work is done.

The cost of failure.

Highlighting the pain points most likely to be felt by your ideal customer provides a barrier to them just moving on. The more you can highlight the problem they feel, the greater the chance that they will ‘stick’ on your site instead of moving on.

The Solution.

In the simplest words possible, how does your product/service solve the problem.

The plan.

Having established the ideal outcome, offer a plan, create the steps to achieve it. Making it easy to progress to the transaction and beyond by making the process transparent and easy is the equivalent of a ‘Close’.

Testimonials.

‘Social proof’ to use the psychological jargon is an extremely powerful tool. People, prepared to be identified and tell a listener how great  your product or service is, how it delivered for them, are better than almost anything else in closing a sale. Even if the video is a bit amateurish, that is OK.  get those testimonials.

Call to Action.

Make sure that you ask for the order, or the progression through the funnel to the next stage. Often asking several times lifts the closure rates significantly.

 

There is  no need for clever graphics or fancy advertising slogans. Your ideal customer is looking to see if you can help them, or if they should speak to one of your competitors. The task of your website is therefore clear, by presenting a credible way of solving their problem.

No fancy embellishments, industry jargon to establish your creds, unintelligible sentences, words of 5 syllables, just simple, clear, uncluttered communication.

Help them to help themselves!

Header: is a common  ‘wire-frame’ 

 

When price becomes almost irrelevant.

When price becomes almost irrelevant.

Nov 1, 2018 | Marketing, retail, Sales

Price is just an arbitrary scale for the ‘unquantifiables’ which has only two functions:

  • it is a reflection of the amount someone is prepared to sell something for.
  • It is a relative measure, helping you to make purchase choices by giving you and the seller a constant scale and language to reach an agreed point of exchange.

How often do you choose a restaurant because it is the cheapest?

You might decide to go Italian, or Chinese, then decide which one. You decide on a variety of factors, parking, quality of the food and service, are they licenced, who is it that is going with you, is it a special occasion or just a meal. The conversation in your mind goes on and on, often almost unnoticed.

Why is it then that we tend to make major commercial decisions on price?

Almost every  time I am involved with a client in a commercial purchase decision, one party or another uses price as a major point of choice and often leverage

Why?

Few people buy purely on price, and often you would not want them as a customer anyway, so why let them hammer you down?

Think about the value, what it is that the product or service is delivering, how it solves a problem, how it reflects the image to be projected,  how it fits in with everything else going on.

Price is just a means to come to a point where the value can be exchanged.

Value is what is important, price is just a way of converting value to a common language.

Next time you  are being belted about how high your prices are, agree, they are high,  but they deserve to be because of the value delivered.

Just talk about the value.

Talk persuasively about value, and price will become a result, not a driver of the decision.

The real challenge is to figure out how to do this in a situation where the other party has all the power.  A small supplier selling to one of the Australian supermarket gorillas has little leverage, the definitions of ‘Value’ will never be easily reconciled, so the hard choice is to walk away, and deliver value to  customers outside the supermarket system.

Header credit allanandallen.com