National Safety Month is Upon Us
By Rachel Kerstetter, PR Engineer
National Safety Month kicks off next week with the start of June.
The National Safety Council identifies topics for each week of National Safety Month, giving companies like yours a framework for refocusing on safety practices and helping equip employees for safe behavior both on and off of the job.
Here are the weekly safety topics for June:
- Week 1: Prevent prescription drug abuse
- Week 2: Stop slips, trips and falls
- Week 3: Be aware of your surroundings
- Week 4: Put an end to distracted driving
- Bonus Week 5: Summer safety
Safety is a top priority for everyone serving the construction, industrial and MRO industries, whether you’re a manufacturer, contractor, distributor or marketing communications agency. You’re probably already aware that safety is important and should be practiced all year long, but take June to refocus and improve your safety initiatives.
To follow or join the conversation on social media, use the hashtag #NSM14.
Check out nsc.org to learn more or request materials.
Have a safe June (and beyond)!
Customer Loyalty and Retention: What Are You Doing?
As manufacturers, we have to serve two masters, the distribution network we sell through and the ultimate end-user. Sometimes we can take these relationships for granted. Remember, they have other options. Here are a few thoughts on how to nurture the relationships:
Distributors
- Distributors do have a choice in what they carry. Chances are they have your product as well as several competitors on their shelves. So let’s assume for the sake of this exercise that product performance is comparable.
- What makes their counter guys and sales force sell more of one brand over the other? Yes, you can offer SPIFs, but that at best is a short-term solution to increase sales.
- I’d say things like ease of ordering and timely delivery might be helpful.
- What about knowledgeable factory people available for product training and troubleshooting?
- How about making end-user calls with their sales force?
Here’s a unique thought – thank them for their business instead of hammering them to help you make your numbers this month.
Most distributor/manufacturer relationships have a long history. Don’t take them for granted. Sales will come, but distributors are looking for more than a quality product at a competitive price.
My grandmother used to tell me you’d catch more bees with honey than vinegar.
Contractors
Many of the same tactics work at the contractor level. But here’s a place where you can make a brand difference:
- If you have their back and they know they can count on you for product/technical support, you’ll make a friend for life.
- Contractors-like elephants-have long memories, and if you drop the ball too many times, they will find alternative products. Trust me, I’ve seen it.
- Contractors want to be recognized for the trade professionals they are. Something as simple as sending them an email for example, on National Plumber’s Day, recognizing how hard they work. Wouldn’t you think that would have a positive brand experience?
You know, this stuff isn’t rocket science, it’s more common sense. And it doesn’t have to cost more money, just use good business practices.
My golden rule is to treat people the way you expect to be treated. It works and it makes life a whole lot simpler.
What are you doing to create demand for your content?
We all are working hard to create content in various forms, but what can we do to create the demand for it? If we build it, it will come philosophy won’t work.
In the b-to-b space where selling cycles can be long with numerous folks involved, you need to address several different issues along the way down the sales funnel, but do you know what they are?
I’ve long been a proponent of sales and marketing working closely together. After all, the objective of both is to sell more stuff.
I’m amazed that folks in the marketing department spend little or no time in the field talking with customers. I always recommend marketing folks spend time with the salesmen in the field, and I don’t mean a day or two. Spend a week or so and you’ll see customers in various stages of the buying process.
More importantly, you as a marketer have the unique opportunity, while in front of a prospect, to ask some really relevant questions that the salesman might not ask.
Questions like:
- What other types of info would be helpful in your decision-making process?
- What triggers a buyer to start the process?
- What kinds of concerns do your colleagues have that we might address?
- Focus on customers needs and concerns.
Why do I keep harping on getting in front of the customer? Let’s be honest. Most companies don’t know their customers well enough. They don’t know or understand the buying process well enough. They don’t have content framework to communicate with the potential buyer.
I read an interesting article recently by Jay Hidalgo in the Chief Content Officer magazine that outlines 3 steps to create a process to create demand for your content.
His User’s Guide consists of 3 things:
- Developing a buyer’s persona (know your customer)
- Define their buying process
- Developing a content framework for communicating with a buyer
He takes you through a process that engaged the combined efforts of sales and marketing resulting in a well-thought-out strategy, and content that will be on target that users will want to pass it on. You can read his entire article here.
2014 Report on B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing in North America
By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect
The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs recently released their fourth annual report on the content marketing practices of business-to-business (B2B) marketers working in the manufacturing industry.
In this report you’ll find answers to questions such as: What percentage of manufacturing marketers have adopted content marketing? What tactics are they using? How does their approach to content marketing differ from that taken by other B2B marketers?
This report also looks at how manufacturing marketers approach content marketing when compared with a wider group of B2B North American marketers representing a range of industry segments.
Here are some key highlights from this most recent study on manufacturing marketers and their content marketing efforts:
- 86% have adopted content marketing
- Only 30% say they are effective at content marketing
- Use the same number of tactics (13) as other B2B marketers
- 81% use YouTube to distribute content and rate it as the most effective social media platform
- Cite different goals for content marketing when compared with other B2B marketers
- Top challenges faced for their content marketing programs: 1. Lack of time, 2. Producing the kind of content that engages and 3. Producing enough content
- 46% plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next 12 months
Click here to read more details and download the full report.
Closing the Loop on Sales Leads
Don’t have a plan to follow or nurture leads?
When was the last time you responded to an ad, e-blast or other form of communications about a new product and never heard from the company after they got you what you requested? Or if you did hear from them, it was weeks or months after the original inquiry.
I bet it’s more the rule than the exception, especially in the B-to-B world. What I can’t figure out is why. Unless your product is so unique, wouldn’t you want to let the prospect know why dealing with you is better?
Yet I see many manufacturers still today that have no formal plan to follow and nurture leads. If they are not going to follow-up the lead, then why are they promoting the product in the first place? It’s a waste of time and money.
Many pass the lead on to their distribution network before qualifying them as to what stage in the selling cycle they are.
Wouldn’t it make sense to follow-up with the prospect…
- to see if they got the info they requested?
- to see if you can answer any questions?
- to direct them to a local distributor?
- to possibly offer them some other help or info once you determine where they are in the sales cycle?
A lead that has been qualified and then passed on to either rep or distributor gives them a little better feel for what the prospect is looking for and the application. The lead doesn’t stop there; it’s only the starting point.
There are several CRM programs out there that can help you manage, track and nurture the leads. What I don’t understand is why folks are using them. One reason I found is that lots of sales folks don’t like lead tracking and nurturing programs because it identifies some weak links in the selling cycle. In the world of ROI, I would think Sales and Marketing would want to know where new business is coming from so you can do more of the same.
It makes sense if you qualify the lead before giving it out to follow-up with. You’ll get better results and salespeople might even call on them.
The sales cycle is only as good as its weakest link.