From Advertising to Sales: Errors to Avoid in Managing Your Leads
By Chuck Mancino, MMPR
So, you are spending money on advertising. And, you aren't satisfied with your sales, and you are wondering if there is something wrong with your ad efforts? Are you in the right magazines? Is your ad effective? Are you delivering the right messaging? Do you have a unique selling proposition (USP)?
Check out www.interactivemarketinginc.com/unique-selling-proposition.html to learn more about what a USP is and how you can ensure you have one.
You actually may have all those things in order, but still could be falling short after your ads reach your prospects. You might indeed have an effective ad, be advertising in the right places, with the right message, with a USP and still be missing sales. Let's say your advertising is like the engine of your car, and that your engine is running like a top. But what if your transmission is out of whack? It won't matter that your engine is running fine if your transmission is on the fritz, will it? Let's say the other stuff connected to your ad efforts is your transmission. I have seen advertisers and clients – for years – with their "engine" running fine, but their "transmission" broken down, but they didn't realize it, so they blamed their "engine." So what elements make up your "transmission?"
Answering the phone
I know answering the phone sounds as easy as chewing gum, but time after time I have had advertisers or clients tell me their advertising "wasn't working" only to find out, when I called the phone number in their ad, either no one answered or all I got was a recorded message. I had a client who changed ownership and the new ownership was bent on cutting all costs first and foremost. But they cut so deeply (i.e. people) that you couldn't get anyone on the phone. And if you did, you were rushed off and transferred to some other extension where you couldn't actually speak to a human being, period. Not surprisingly, this company soon ended all advertising because "it didn't work."
Maybe you do have actual, living, breathing human beings answering the phone, but what if they do a really bad job at it? I have seen some company indeed answer the phone but treat each call like a hot potato. The employees viewed dealing with customer and prospect calls as a source of possible trouble as they worried that calls are instances of potential complaints. Companies should have only professional sales and service people handling incoming sales calls. The point is: just because you do have warm bodies answering the phone doesn't mean your bases are covered. Bottom line, those answering incoming calls should be knowledgeable, positive, friendly problem solvers and simply good at dealing with human, verbal communication. You could say that's a long way of saying "Have sales people answer your phone" but some companies are small enough that sometimes non-salespeople have to field calls in order to cover the phones. If that's the case, just make sure that you don't have any "wet blankets" picking up calls. A single instance of a non-favorable interaction with a prospect may end any hopes of business with that prospect. And as hard as it is to generate an incoming sales call these days, you can't afford to miss out any opportunity from an incoming call.
If you find yourself wondering how well your company handles its incoming calls, stop guessing. Pick up the phone and call. If you can't pull that off in a clandestine manner, have someone else do it. The best way to monitor your process is to go through it yourself and see how easy – or difficult – it is to traverse through the sales process by phone.
Beyond ads and calls
It used to be that we could end this article right here: You advertise and then answer your phone, end of story – all you need to do. But that is far short of the whole story these days. If you end your efforts at just running some ads, or even direct mail, and having an "acceptable" web site – and answer your phone with competency - that is no longer enough. You really need to also be up to speed in these areas, in addition to running effective print ads, in the right places, with enough frequency, etc.
- Develop an ever-growing email database. The beauty about email is after you collect the addresses unlimited use is free. I have heard many say that email marketing is so big now that people are burnt out on email promotions. I hear you. Many people are. Most people on your email list won't even open your email. That being said, you don't need that many to open and read it. Most feel picking up five to 10 new customers is still well worth the effort.
- Ensure that buying is easy, simple and not-at-all confusing. The vast majority of sales in the CAM niche to health care professionals is NOT from buying on line. However, if your products lend themselves to on line purchasing make sure it is seamless and easy. If not, you will just frustrate buyers and they may go away forever. I have had vendors say (in regards to their on line retail system) "But it's easy; how can they not know how to do it?" But If your average prospect can't easily navigate your website to buy, it is YOU who is wrong, not them, no matter how simple YOU think it is to process.
Quick story
I went to the website of a major pro sports team to buy tickets to an upcoming game. The site simply was difficult enough, that I could not buy tickets using their site. It refused my valid credit card and I had no idea why. But I really wanted to go to the game, so I actually called them, or, at least tried to. When I called their ticket office, I couldn't get a live person in the phone. Either they were under staffed, or worse, had a failing structure for incoming calls regardless of staff size. All I got was voice mail. I wanted to buy my tickets NOW, not hope that some one would call me back. After many redials and being bounced around, I finally got a warm body to speak to me and eventually was transferred to a person who could sell me tickets. I was shocked at how difficult they made the buying experience. And this was a team that needed to sell more tickets. Sales were down. I didn't need to wonder why. I thought, "If the owner would just go on line and try to purchase tickets he would see how awful his system was. And then if he followed that up by calling his own company trying to buy tickets over the phone, he would learn even more." Not more than a few months later, it was announced that he fired his "Director of Ticket Sales" and that he was not going to replace him, as it seemed like an expense that had not enough benefit to the organization. That is one way to deal with it, I guess. If only the owner bothered to test his own sales system, he would have known why – at least partly – ticket sales were down. The team did plenty of advertising for tickets sales, but a major problem was what happened after they made a prospect go the website or call. Who knows if the ads were creating enough interest?
Don't be like that owner. Make sure your "sales transmission" is working like a top so you don't waste money on advertising and marketing.
About the Author:
Chuck Mancino, MMPR, has been in advertising, copy writing and PR for over 24 years – with the last 11 being in the CAM market. You can reach him at 904-280-5433, or email cmancino@gmail.com or visit www.gommpr.com.
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