by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 29, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
When generating leads from various sources, how do you qualify them to see if they’re ready to buy? Not all leads are ready to buy, and it’s important to have a process in place to sort them out. According to Russ Hill from Ultimate Lead Systems:
- 67% of all leads are legitimate prospects.
- 34% have a need that must be satisfied in the next 6 months.
- 70% of those prospects didn’t know you made that product.
- It takes on average 5-6 sales calls to close a sale.
- 80% give up after the first call and 90% plus give up after the second call.
Doesn’t it make sense to have a process in place to monitor and track?
Most capital equipment purchases, for example, have a buying team in place to make recommendations. You need to identify them through your initial contact (or at least the job functions) so you know what areas you need to cover. We’ve found that a quick survey along with what they asked for can help you find out if they are in the information-gathering stage or the PO stage and you can act accordingly. If you know what other type of information they may want to see, or if a demonstration would be in order to better show them the product, that would help you prioritize your salesmen’s efforts.
As you can see in the following chart, people at different stages in the buying cycle need different things. Once you understand where they are in the process, then you can start asking the appropriate questions about budgets, timelines, etc.
What kind of process do you have in place to qualify leads?
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 28, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
As the world grows more mobile, it’s inevitable that smartphones are and will become a more intricate part of our daily routine. It’s my contention that in our world of reaching the professional tradesmen these phones are being used on a regular basis.
I don’t have the data to back that up since there have been no formalized studies done specifically on this market segment. But if you make the assumption that what we do in our everyday lives rolls over to our work day routines, then a new study out by Google that looks at the purchasing habits of smartphone users in the U.S. may be of interest to you.
Chris Crum from Webpronews.com outlines the highlights of the study. Among them are these points that I find interesting:
- 89% of smartphone owners use their device throughout the day for a variety of activities.
- 82% notice ads on their phones and half of them take action.
- 95% of users have looked for local information
- 77% have contacted a business by either calling or visiting
What kinds of trends are you seeing out there?
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 23, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Some folks are still confused as to what to do to get the most out of your Facebook page. There are a few keys…one is content (targeted at your audience) and the other is a strong call-to-action. Incorporating these will help engage people and drive traffic back to your site.
I recently read a great article in Social Media B2B, by Jeffrey Cohen, 75 of the Best B2B Facebook Marketing Tips that’s a good a summary of things you need to do to be best in class. He gives you tips and sources. Here are my favorite points:
- Get people to LIKE your page
- Share lots of photos and ask your fans to also share
- Write posts that encourage sharing across the network
- Have a unique voice
- Diversify your content
- Post industry articles and blog posts fresh from your newsreader
- Make your like button easy to spot
- Encourage others to share your calls to action
If you like this post you may like:
Tips on Using Facebook as a Good Marketing Tool
Social Media for B-to-B Marketers
2011 Social Media Trends in the Industrial Sector
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 22, 2011 | Uncategorized
There’s a lot of talk about manufacturing jobs continuing to go away in this country. But when I talk to manufacturers, one of the biggest issues they talk about domestically is finding qualified help. Apprentice programs for tool and die makers are shrinking due to lack of interest. Even factory production jobs aren’t menial labor jobs anymore. It takes skill and training to run CNC or other sophisticated machines.
The same is true with professional tradesmen in the contracting field. Talk to a plumbing or electrical contractor and they say the same thing. There aren’t enough young folks getting into those trades as well.
So what’s the problem? A good plumber or electrician can make a very good living and their jobs can’t be outsourced. I used to belong to a country club and next to doctors, contractors were the next biggest category of members! NJATC, IBEW and other trade associations and unions have training programs in place. Spokespeople like Mike Rowe has a passion to get more people into the trades. He’s even testified in Washington about the challenges that face us as a nation.
The same holds true in the manufacturing sector. There are good jobs for those that are trained properly. I know Skills for America’s Future and the Manufacturing Institute are trying to work with community colleges to develop successful programs so young folks can enter the workforce with skill sets necessary to get and keep a good job. Even President Obama is endorsing a manufacturing skills credentialing system and I hope it’s going to be more than window dressing.
The problem, in my opinion, is perception by young people that those kinds of jobs aren’t cool and they are low paying. Also most guidance counselors with most high schools are pointing everyone to college. Not everyone is 4-year college material. What young people don’t realize is that a plumber or journeyman electrician makes more than 4-year college graduates and they don’t have all those student loans to pay off.
Our challenge as an industry is to somehow mount a campaign to kids at an early age to show them that these kinds of jobs are cool and just as important, if not more so, than someone sitting behind a desk. Ideally, trade and manufacturing associations should come together and mount a public service campaign. Someone has to take the first step and we need someone visible enough to carry the message and credibility to the young folks.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on how we can secure the future for our kids.
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 21, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
The Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) recently released their new finding on B-to-B Marketing Trends for 2012. The study highlights the need for change from investing in the best tools available to truly understanding the needs of your customers. This means getting access to meaningful market and competitive insights and helping clients understand the power of business segmentation.
Among the top 3 quantitative study results were:
- More effectively quantify and communicate value created for customers.
- Better understand what the customer really needs.
- Identify new opportunities for organic growth.
The study breaks down each of the seven findings into key findings, examples of who’s doing it right and a resource to help you along the way. It’s an easy read and one I’d recommend any marketer take the time to review.
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 16, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
The last two years for most of us in the B-to-B space hasn’t been much fun. Budgets cut, every move or project had to be justified seven different ways. When leads came in, ALL were followed. We ran a tight ship. Today, business is beginning to improve, budgets are increasing, new products are being launched, and for some of us, social media has been introduced which needs our attention.
All of these are good things, right? On the surface you’d probably say yes. But reality is your staff was probably cut when the downturn happened, but your workload wasn’t. Now with the increase in activity, new product launches and the additional responsibility, you’re probably pulling out your hair!
The sad truth is you may either be executing projects in a production style to get them out the door, or not spending the time on looking at or developing a plan to close the loop when leads do come in. I understand you may be under staffed and overworked, but management will be judging you on results and the famous ROI.
So how are you dealing with this? Some of our clients are looking outside at least temporarily to support programs (which is a good thing), and others are so busy putting out fires they don’t realize as fast as one goes out, another one is lit.
Reality is most marketing departments aren’t going to get back to staffing levels pre-2009. I’d like to hear what you’re doing to stay sane and deliver a good quality product.
