by tradesmeninsights | Sep 30, 2015 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing, Uncategorized
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman at Sonnhalter
Contractors and professional tradesman often don’t have time to read the latest trade publication or look at the magazines’ website on a regular basis and might miss your message. Chances are, unless you only make one product, their interest at any given time may be on another product.
When they do go looking for things, the first place most go to is the internet, and the chances are that they are looking for a solution just as much as they are looking for a specific product. That’s why search is so important in the big scheme of things, and what makes you go up in search – good meaningful content!
Heidi Cohen had an interesting article regarding advertising vs. content driven messages that had some good points for the B-to-B market.
B-to-B lags behind the consumer counterpart in doing research before they contact a manufacturer or distribution point. But even at 57%, you’d better have some skin in the game from a search perspective or you’re going to be left at the curb.
Razorfish found that:
- 50% of U.S. consumers will do anything to avoid ads
- 75+% of U.S. consumers hate hearing or seeing ads multiple times
- 65% of U.S. consumers use a DVR to skip ads
Those are some scary numbers, and even though they are consumer driven, remember that those same consumers may be buying your products at their workplace. So what’s the alternative?
- 86% of U.S. consumers value brands that are useful over those that have interesting advertising.
Translation: give your customers the info they need when they need it. Here are some tips:
- Leverage the social media platforms where your customers hang out.
- Supply product info for potentials to seek out.
- Tap into sources your customers trust, like trade associations.
- Make sure the info you give prospects enhances the product value.
- Skip the promotion and show them best practices when using your products.
- Re-promote your content. Once is not enough.
So the question is, how much effort are you using to create great content?
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 2, 2015 | Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman at Sonnhalter
I have a running conversation with clients about which is better, a traditional direct mail program or an e-blast. It’s a tough question to answer and I’m not too sure there is only one answer. There are challenges for using both methods and we have seen it become more and more difficult to get emails delivered even if we use opt-in lists from trade publications and have them send it out under their name.
I think that when reaching out to our target market, the professional tradesman, you have just as good, if not better of a chance, of reaching them with traditional snail mail.
We recently did a sampling program for a client who wanted to focus more on the electronic side of things and wanted to use more, if not most, in this media. They assumed that direct mail was a thing of the past and was too costly (neither of which are true). We convinced them to give both a try and the results were surprising.
The direct mail portion of the program outperformed, on average, 3-to-1 over the e-blasts. We used the same criteria for both lists and sent both within 2 weeks of each other. We’re doing a second test using the same message and list parameters and it will be interesting to see if it still holds true.
We’ve all used both of these marketing tools. My question to you is…have you found one tool better than the other in reaching contractors or the professional tradesman?
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 25, 2015 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
We’re all focused on generating more leads these days, but I find it ironic that most companies don’t do much with them once they get them. Simply fulfilling a request is not the answer, but yet many companies do just that. According to a survey of people who have requested info suggests that 80% of all sales are made on or after the third contact. The survey polled over 700 respondents with only 8% buying after the first call.
David Frey, the senior content editor and author of several marketing books advises, “An educated prospect is your best prospect, and if they haven’t become a customer, it’s because you haven’t fully educated them on the value of your product and developed a relationship of trust.” Why do many businesses have a problem following up with their prospective customers? Mr. Frey explained, “The problem is not that small businesses don’t have the capacity to follow-up with prospects, it’s that they don’t have the systems in place to do it well.”
In his recent newsletter, “Follow-Up Marketing: How To Win More Sales With Less Effort,” Mr. Frey advised, “A good follow-up marketing system should have three attributes:
- It should be systematic.
- It should generate consistent, predictable results.
- It should require minimal physical interaction to make it run.
This leads to a more pressing issue and that is, what is the difference between sales lead management and a CRM tool? According to Russ Hill, President of Ultimate Lead Systems: Sales lead management is a sub-function within an overall CRM strategy. Traditional CRM programs like Salesforce.com, SalesLogix, ACT, Goldmine, Maximizer and others focus on the sales person entering and managing his own data and pushing it “up” to management.
Sales lead management starts with management generating and capturing leads from all sources, fulfilling information requests and delivering them to the sales channel and tracking follow-up and sales results to measure marketing return-on-investment.
Here are some other interesting facts:
INQUIRIES MEAN NEW BUSINESS!
- 67% of all inquiries are from legitimate prospects with real needs.
- 34% have current needs that must be satisfied within 6 months!
- 70% did not know the company made the product before seeing their ad … making them NEW PROSPECTS!
A six-year study* of nearly 60,000 inquiries conducted by Penton Media Company also found that:
- 43% of inquirers receive literature and information too late to be of use.
- 72% of inquirers are NEVER CONTACTED by a salesman.
- 25% of sales contacts are made at the inquirer’s request.
- 40% of inquirers purchase the advertised product, a competitive product or change their suppliers.
* NED Reader Action Reports
The key is to get a lead management system in place that can help your CRM convert those leads into sales.
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 12, 2015 | Marketing Trends
Today, we have a guest blog from Jessica Kane of Federal Steel Supply, Inc., discussing some of the new innovations expected to shape the future of the construction industry.
New angles are being used for the advancement of construction design that will most likely be widespread within the next 50 years. Designers and architects are implementing new trends that could very well be profitable in building spaces for new offices and living establishments. Here are just a few:
One Stop Design
One trend that is already in play is the single design model. A common practice in planning is having an architect create construction documents. They are then handed over to the contractors to be edited and executed. This entire process is now shifting to be done all in one place to save time and money. So, all the outlining, engineering and construction plans are set and submitted to be built directly afterward.
Sustainable and Efficient Solutions
Being energy efficient is a constant concern in construction. So when new buildings are going up, construction around the world has established new ideas on how to conserve. New facades have been used to produce energy through a solar collection and to provide a natural cooling system. For instance, a designer in Melbourne, Australia, has developed a system which includes an outer layer of a side of a building that contains solar panels that shift to collect energy from the sun and provides optimal shading. Another useful technique that has become a sustainable solution in providing energy is the innovation of utilizing the shade of building faces, as seen in Hamburg, Germany. A residential establishment has microalgae installed within glass panels that collects solar energy and creates heat through the process of photosynthesis. The panels can also be shifted in order to provide natural cooling to the building.
Large 3D Printed Structures
Constructing large structures using a 3D printer has been on the minds of the industry since its initial success in quickly building smaller housing units. Large structures are being composed by 3D printers, but only in part. The MIT Media Lab is finding that results from printing a large building are often rugged and contorted. The product is sanded down and filled with concrete to stabilize the structure. Through these new and innovative projects, engineers are adapting to new technologies for quick and economical production.
Drone Assistance
Building firms are using drones more frequently to help with inspections and material delivery. Drones can provide high accuracy inspections in hard-to-reach areas that can prove dangerous and costly if performed by a human. Drones help in collecting data, executing sophisticated design strategies and accurate data transmission needed by engineers. The construction of complex drones would become crucial in downtime reduction, because it would cause fewer accidents and enhance workflow speed at construction sites.
Adding on with Permanent Modular Construction
Permanent modular construction is the process of constructing buildings offsite (60-90 percent of the building) in a factory-controlled environment which is then moved to its final building site. While this exists now, more of this type of construction will become prominent as it becomes more sustainable and leaves less material waste, less site disturbance and provides more flexibility and reuse of materials. In addition, modular construction has an accelerated construction process due to its ability to have site work conducted simultaneously. Because modular construction is built offsite and needs to be transported to its final location, the quality of the building is higher than that of an on-site building, because it has to withstand transportation and installation requirements. Modular construction allows for add-ons later in the process. For example, instead of constructing a 100,000-square-foot building, you can build a 25,000-square-foot building and later make additions to increase the size. It’s this flexibility that makes it prime for a bright future in the construction industry.
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 21, 2015 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman at Sonnhalter
Are we living up to our customers expectations? As consumers, we know that through the improvements in technology that most of us want fast, cost-effective and personalized levels of experience. And most are getting it, but at what cost?
Is this any different for the manufacturing world and your customers? Have your distributors and contractors become more demanding? My guess is yes, because remember, they are consumers too and they expect the same from their business dealings.
I read an interesting article in eMarketer recently that companies in general are having trouble meeting customer expectations. 93% of business leaders worldwide said technology has changed the customer experience in the last 10 years.
How does that stack up with what you’re experiencing?
What are your biggest challenges? Are they in this chart?
What are you doing about it?
Customer service. We all say we have it, but what is it? Where does it start?
Unless you are offering something you can’t get anywhere else, then you’re going to have competition from someone. So what makes your customers or potentials want to do business with you instead of them?
Assuming you have a good product, then I’d say the customer experience would be the major deal sealer or breaker. Customer service starts the moment someone from your company answers the phone, through the sales process and follow-up with your customer service department if a question or problem arises.
I guess what I’m trying to say is your company’s customer service should start with every employee. Those that are on the front line (be it a CS or delivery man), they have the one-on-one contact with the customer and can sway future purchases by their actions or inactions. We all build our business around repeat sales so everyone in the company needs to be goodwill ambassadors. The challenge for all of us is to find the friction in our process and smooth it out.
Do you know what a customer is worth to you? Think beyond this quarter or even this year. Think about the last 5 years. How much stuff have you sold them? More importantly, if you come out with something new, where are your best chances of selling it? To someone new, or to someone who knows, likes and trusts you?
Here are some insights on how we can make the customer experience better, resulting in better loyalty and ultimately more sales:
- Deliver outstanding quality – from a great quality product to courteous customer service and user-friendly literature.
- Understand what your customers want – don’t assume to know what they want – ask them.
- Connect with them – direct relationships are the most important and the most challenging. Always think WIIFT (What’s In It For Them). Be sincere and upfront with them. When communicating with them, don’t always be selling. Try to help solve a problem even though it might not, in the short-term, result in a sale to you.
- Under promise and over deliver – exceed your customers’ expectations, then do it again!
- Don’t sit on your laurels – yes, you have some neat products, but instead of sitting there and just doing the same old same o, innovate. If you don’t, someone else will.
Now these points probably aren’t a revelation to you, but when was the last time you focused on your customers and said THANK YOU!
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 7, 2015 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman at Sonnhalter
In today’s world, trust is a more important marketing asset than the product or service you’re trying to sell. Think about that for a minute. Would you buy something off of someone you don’t trust? Chances are, the answer is no.
Trust is something that’s earned and it’s always been important. But in today’s world, you can’t BS your way through it. People want to see proof. With the internet and social media, the potential customer has several options to gain access to you and how you’re actually performing in the market.
That’s why building trust should be a long-term goal.
I read an article by John Jantsch from Duct Tape Marketing, 5 Ways to Make Trust Your Most Important Marketing Asset, that brings home this point. Here are some highlights:
- What do others say about you – These third-party comments say a lot about how you really do business. Customer reviews impact SEO.
- Who are you connected with – Who do you hang out with, how do you add value, who do you collaborate with? All help shed a light on who you really are.
- How do you react – How do you react to questions or negative comments? People are watching.
- Are you easy to do business with – Convenience has become a value proposition. Actually go through your own process to see how easy it is to really do business with you.
