Monthly Archives: March 2015

Go With The Flow Not The Funnel

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Customer JourneyEvery time I hear the term “funnel” I cringe.

There was a time when the only people that used the word were sales managers. Today it is bandied about by every Tom, Diane and Harriet as if it is a real thing.

The funnel idea keeps you from seeing how the customer journey has changed.

The funnel falsely assumes that every customer goes through the same process to purchase your products or service.

The funnel sucks the life out of the customer’s desire for an approach tailored just for them.

Personalization has always been the hallmark of successful Small Businesses. We have a greater opportunity now than ever to deliver custom marketing.

In my view marketing is:

  1. Go where the money is.
  2. Sell what they want to buy.
  3. Do it again.

In order to get them to buy you need to remember: “Who you know matters, what you know is important but to build your business the single most important thing is who trusts you.”

Marketing is about getting to trust, making the sale and keeping the customer.

Marketing is providing the information the prospect needs when and how they need it.

Marketing understands that no two customer journeys are the same.

Even as the suppliers of Enterprise level automated marketing talk about tailoring their approaches to the customer journey they overlook that prospects want to be treated like individuals.

We can’t afford the mistakes the “Big Guys” are making.

We don’t have the budgets and we don’t have the time.

We have to go with the flow, build a relationship and sell the solution.

We have to find a way to connect with the prospects that reject the Big Guys funnels.

Look at the numbers: (averages drawn from multiple sources)

  • Average Blog Click Through Rate           5% or less              (95% didn’t)
  • Website/Landing Pg. Data Submission   45% or less             (65% didn’t)
  • CTOR in a Nurturing e-mail                    21% or less             (79% didn’t)           Click to open rates # of clicks / # of opens
  • Closing or Conversion Rate                    30% or less             (70% didn’t)

 

Look at the didn’ts.

Prospects are running the rapids to get to the solution they need.

Prospects will stop and look at your solution and others.

Some will go straight to your offering.

A few will simply bail out.

Others will bounce off multiple offerings.

It is their choice so you have to do everything you can to accommodate them.

Talk to them.

In 2014 the single most important trend in marketing was one that hasn’t changed:

“In spite of all the growth in digital tools and tactics 67% of B2B marketers considered  in-person events like trade shows their most effective tactic for content marketing, with 69% rating it a 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale.”

The Takeaway

Get in the raft with them.
Go where the money is.
Sell what they want to buy.
Do it again.
Go with the flow, not the funnel.

Jerry Fletcher’s blog normally recaps conversations with clients, prospects and a group of business development professionals. Today’s blog is one he put together on a cross country air trip.

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 25 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule Jerry for a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

3 Secrets to Linked In Success

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Linked In SecretsAs I sat down, Kate, the sales doyen was saying, “It is amazing what you can do with Linked In! I use it to research companies and prospects and build my perceived expertise and all sorts of things.”

Rick asked, “Care to share?”

“Allow me my direct marketing friend,” I said. “I’m always curious about how folks use social media tools. I wrote a primer for my clients on Linked In mostly about how to get started. Here are the three things I said were essential:

  1. Build a great Profile that includes your key words and start adding connections.
  2. Select some groups and participate.
  3. Research people, companies and prospects you find interesting and follow them.

Kate clapped her hands and said, “Way to go for the basics, big guy. Anybody have advice on the profile part first?”

Chris, who makes his living as a Digital Marketing Master, said, ”Remember that anyone searching you on linked In has one of two attention spans:

  • As long as gnat in a windstorm if they are scanning
  • As long as it takes to read it all if they really want to know about you… the kind of research I’ll bet Kate does.”

Branding Guru Rob (who we all call Bubba) piped up, “So you’d best ‘member to give folks a reason why to learn more with the words right behind your name.

“Good point Bubba,” said Kate. “I’m going to read that piece that Fletch wrote for the profile part. What about the part they call interests on linked In?”

Gail said, “I’m a writer, I like to know what they are calling things so I opened it up on my laptop. Under interests it has: Companies, Groups, Pulse and Education.

“Let’s stick with groups,” said Rick. “Do I want to go with peers or prospects? Do I even have to choose one or the other?”

“Kate,” I said, “let me take that one. I say both. If you do only peers it can wind up like you’re talking to yourself but you do need to know what is going on in your profession. Prospect groups can give you insight into what they want from people like you and whether or not they have problems you can solve… for a fee.”

“I agree,” said Kate. “The only way to determine which groups to join is to look at them. Look at the number of posts and comments and frequency to decide which ones merit your attention. Then get involved. You can set notifications from for every discussion to daily or weekly summaries.

Gail asked, “What about research?”

“Pull up my profile,” Kate responded. Notice that there are entries in just about every category they provide. Notice, too that the words sales, sales consulting, sales training and other sales references occur throughout. (Sign up to get your copy of the Networking Ninja Beginner’s Guide to Linked In.)

That gets people to come to me. But when you are looking for information you can use  just type the search term into the search box at the top of the page. A person’s name or a company name is where I usually start. Once you get to a person’s profile you’ll be able to learn more than you ever thought possible. Where they went to school, how they got to their current position, even how you might be connected.

Every person I know uses it slightly differently but there is no longer an excuse for walking into meeting with an executive knowing nothing about them.

The Takeaway
Have a complete profile that is consistent with your website, your other social media profiles and causes people to want to contact you.  Engage with the kinds of people that can keep you informed about your profession and may need your services. Be proactive. Look into those that express an interest and build the relationship.

 

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and a group of business development professionals. They discuss what’s new, what’s old, what’s good, bad and ugly plus creative thinking to find what works. Jerry Fletcher is the ringleader and secretary of the dialogue.

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 20 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

 

Secrets Of A Networking Ninja

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& Secrets of a Networking NInja“I’ve been using and teaching networking as a primary business development tool for 25 years. I’m still in business so I must be doing something right I said to Chris, the digital marketing pro in the lunch bunch.”

“So there’s nothing new in this video,” he said.

Gail simply put a hand over my mouth to stop the explosion. Then she said, “I know him well enough to know that he has changed this information over the years continually to take into account all the changes in the way we live.”

“That’s right,” I said. The story of why I’m called the Networking Ninja hasn’t changed but how I introduce myself has morphed multiple times. Some of the stories are new, some are old. But what works, the principles and how to apply them have been updated continuously. This video is a good 30 minute primer for those who are new to networking and a great reminder for those that have been at it for a while.”

Kate asked, “Is this one free to subscribers to the blog and their friends?”

“Yes,” I said. “You can watch Secrets of A Networking Ninja for FREE for a short time.”

The Takeaway:

If you can remember the colors of the rainbow you can remember these secrets:

  • Create an Identity                             Red
  • Make Contacts                                 Orange
  • Develop Relationships                      Yellow
  • Provide introductions and Leads        Green
  • Offer assistance and advice              Blue
  • Seek advice and counsel                  indigo
  • Demonstrate your capabilities           Violet

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and a group of business development professionals. They discuss what’s new, what’s old, what’s good, bad and ugly plus creative thinking to find what works. Jerry Fletcher is the ringleader and secretary of the dialogue.

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 25 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

Sales Funnels Are Wishful Thinking

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Last week I attended Influence PDX, a one day event put on by the Portland chapter of the National Speakers Association.

This idea came to me as my friend, Ron Black, was presenting. I think all of us can use this concept.

New Customer Journey

Ron was talking about the difference between marketing and sales showing them as two different circles. One person in the session actually identified marketing as an expense and sales as a revenue generator.

No, that is not the point.

Ron put up a slide showing how things tend to overlap a lot more these days. And that is when it struck me. These smushed silos are the way we’ve been thinking of it. It is how we’re trying to fit our old ways of thinking into a new digital world. It is wishful thinking.

It doesn’t work.

People have been stumbling around trying to figure out whether marketing or sales is responsible for a specific point in the process of someone becoming a buyer and when customer service should take over but today, the customer has all the control.

Gail our resident writer said, “In other words we need to rethink how we look at the customer journey.”

“Bingo!” I said.

“Forget all that funnel stuff.”

“Sho’ nuff,” said Rob the Dixie transplant that specializes in branding. An’ I’ll just disremember that everything is about brand.”

“Bubba,” I said, “You got that backwards. Everything I’m talking about here is brand. It’s the glue that holds it all together.

Used to be the marketing silo did their thing and seldom if ever talked to sales. They didn’t know an objection from an orange. Sales was out there closing. Except for the really good ones they didn’t bother to build relationships. And most of them couldn’t wait to hand off the customer to inside sales or customer service.  The funnel had all these spigots dumping into it and turned into a plumbing tree right after the sale. But the world has changed. If you’re inconsistent anywhere it is going to cost you.

The Takeaway:

Silos, smushed or not, don’t work. You have to have:

  • A single mission that every employee understands
  • A single value proposition across all communications
  • A singular relationship with customers/clients for life

Because the customer controls the journey”

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and a group of business development professionals. They discuss what’s new, what’s old, what’s good, bad and ugly plus creative thinking to find what works. Jerry Fletcher is the ringleader and secretary of the dialogue. Sign up for more conceptual triggers: http://www.jerryfletcher.com/profit.html

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 25 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule Jerry for a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com