Lead,Development,Remember,the, marketing Lead Development: Remember the Prospects Who Arent Ready to
Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t
Want to know a really good way to waste money on B2B marketing? Thats easy. Just ignore your prospects that arent ready to buy yet. This is guaranteed to cost you 80% or more of your best opportunities. And yet, B2B marketers do it all the time.These companies spend all of their marketing dollars on demand generation getting prospects to express some interest in their product or service and then they toss them to the sales team. The problem.The problem is that most prospects 80% or more - are not ready to talk to a sales person when they first contact a company. Research shows us that 90% of them will buy within the next 12 months. But most of them will end up buying from a different company for the simple reason that they were ignored.There are all kinds of reasons prospects arent ready to buy when they first contact you.Maybe theyve just started looking. Maybe they dont have the budget yet. Maybe theyre not convinced they have a problem. Maybe theyre going on vacation next month and dont want to get anything started before they leave. Who knows?Regardless of the reason, you cant send them to your sales team, you dont want them to forget about you, and they probably need a little educating.So, what do you do? The answer is actually pretty simple.Establish a sequence of communications.You arrange to communicate with them regularly. Reach out and touch them often enough so they dont forget about you, but not so often that you annoy them.For most of our clients, the simplest way to do this is via email. If youre wondering how that can possibly be effective given the dreadful state of email overload were all experiencing, there are a few rules you have to follow. Interestingly, these rules apply to any form of communication not just to email.1. Your message must be relevant. If youve carefully defined your target audience, you know what interests them. Stick with it. 2. The information you send to them must be useful. Most likely, your prospects have a problem theyre trying to solve or at least to learn more about. Theyre turning to you for help. With each communication you can provide useful information. As your prospects learn about solving their problems, theyre also learning more about you. Theyre seeing value in the relationship with you. 3. No blatant selling. Your prospects arent stupid. They know you have something to sell. But theyre not ready to listen to a sales pitch. Heres an example. About a month ago I subscribed to a newsletter published by a very well-known and highly regarded copy writer. To date, I havent received a newsletter; but Ive gotten 3 sales pitches from him. One more pitch and Im going for the unsubscribe link. 4. Be consistent. Its generally best to establish some kind of pattern and stick to it. If youre going to send a weekly tip sheet; fine. Do it weekly. If its a monthly newsletter, thats fine too. Daily? If thats what your prospects want, no problem. Your prospects will expect to hear from you on a regular basis. The rhythm is good. If you change your pattern too often, people for some reason get annoyed. Include a call to action. Just because you cant turn this into a full-on sales pitch doesnt mean you shouldnt ask the reader to do something. You can tell them to call you; email you; download something else. What is the next reasonable step in the buying process? Lay it out for them. In some businesses, letters or postcards or even phone calls may be more effective than email. The overall concept is still the same. You have the prospects contact information. Use it to do good things both for the prospect and for you.© Tatum Marketing 2007
Lead,Development,Remember,the,