By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter
I recently listened to a report on NPR about how big companies are analyzing their social media followers to make sure they’re “passionate” enough. It’s not enough for these brands anymore to just rack up followers; they need to re-tweet, blog and be engaged enough to matter.
In manufacturing, the opposite could very easily be said. There’s no shortage of passion, but social media numbers and avenues continue to be a struggle.
Passion side of the argument, the case is easy to make. There simply aren’t people more passionate about their work than skilled craftsmen. It’s part of what makes that jump from simply doing a job, to doing a job right so distinct. And look at the time and effort the average tradesman puts into sharing knowledge with others and the next generation, it’s unmatched in any other field. Lastly, look at the brand loyalty and rivalries that do exist in our industry. The passion generated by Ford/Chevy, Lincoln/Miller, Deere/Case IH, Snap-On/Mac/Matco and a hundred other make Coke/Pepsi look like a kindergarten sandbox dispute.
So how can you use that passion to improve your social media numbers?
Be on the Right Channel – Facebook can allow for a more direct line of access, but it can also be demographically wrong. Twitter allows for quick hits of info, but requires more monitoring. LinkedIn is great for professional development, but has a structure that takes some getting used to. You don’t need to have all your eggs in one basket, but you should prioritize your message and messaging.
It’s Not All Rah Rah – If you’re only going on social media to talk about the latest products and re-post press releases, stop now. Be a source for more than just self-promotion.
Know What Your Audience Wants to be Doing – What do your customers do when they’re not working? Share stories about that every once and a while, so you become a resource.
Share the Bigger Picture – Community outreach, training and other industry rather than company issues should be a regular feature of your feed.
Don’t Read the Comments, Except When You Do – Part of the passionate rivalries I mentioned above seems to be following the brand you DON’T like, just to constantly comment on how much you don’t like it. Don’t give those comments the time of day (or attention their posters want). However, social media can be an excellent point of contact for legitimate customer issues. Act on those, and quickly.
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
We’re all looking for the best, most effective way to get in front of our prospects. According to a recent survey by eMarketer.com conferences, trade shows and webinars are the three best venues to do that.
Trades shows, although expensive, can be an effective tool in getting in front of the right audience. The big problem for most of us who can’t afford a 100 x 100 foot booth is getting folks to notice you.
What’s often overlooked are industry conferences where you may either not attend or send only a few of your team. Typically, these are the kinds of events that C-suite folks go to, and most conferences allow plenty of time for networking opportunities. Ideally, it would be nice to be able to present to the group as an industry leader.
Webinars are another great way to get the attention of your target audiences. The best part of webinars is that you’re not competing for their attention, you have 100% of it. The key to a great webinar is having content that users need. This is especially true when talking with engineers (both design and mechanical).
The biggest challenge is getting people to sign up and attend. You naturally want to include existing customers, but ideally, you want to attract new potentials. There are media companies out there like WTWH Media that will help identify and get folks to participate, but will also act as moderators and promote the event both before and after.
The key is to try some of these other activities to aid in your thought leadership.
As human beings, and companies made up of human beings, sometimes it’s important to do the right thing and not talk about it.
This may be a little strange coming from a PR person, but there’s a point where the “R” in “PR” (remember PR= Performance then Recognition) goes away and we simply need to perform like human beings.
A good communicator recognizes that point and smart companies rely on the counsel of good communicators.
In the wake of crisis situations such as natural disasters or community safety crisis like what we’re seeing with Flint Michigan, we simply need to do the right thing and not seek praise for being human and helpful. By stepping up but not shouting out, we do the right thing, no one questions our motives and the real heroes get the credit.
For example in Flint, the plumbers who spent a weekend installing new faucets and water filters for residences for free deserve the credit. The organizations who donated the supplies and food for their efforts aren’t pounding their own drum and saying, “look at us, we did something good.” No, they’re working together with their competitors to directly help people who need it.
If your organization’s values are in the right place and your actions align with them, there’s no need to pat yourself on the back.
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
I keep harping on building your own internal customer database. One of the reasons is that if you’re selling online, that list could be gold for you. 90% of the marketers surveyed by Accenture and the Blackstone Groupsaid email marketing was what they used to promote their commerce activities.
Another interesting stat is that of these marketing executives, 23% said that email marketing drove at least 25% of overall revenues. Some say that email marketing accounts for more sales than all other digital advertising.
If you want accountability, consider this:
Heidi Cohen gives us several reasons why email trumps social media:
Email provides directly measurable ROI – You know immediately how many opened and read your message.
Email is content format agnostic –It’s user-friendly and you can use text, images, videos, audio, PDFs.
Email can deliver both long and short content – Content can vary from a link to several pages in length.
Emails – you can control delivery – Whether it’s now or delayed.
Emails can be read on anything – Smart phones, tablets, laptops, no apps required.
Emails build customer relationships – Once someone allows you to communicate with them, it represents a certain level of trust.
Recently, INSIGHT2PROFIT worked with a manufacturer that had not executed a price increase in nearly three years. There had been individual negotiations, but overall, pricing had remained relatively flat. While the company was a market leader, it was ignoring the pricing lever for profitability.
Our team worked with theirs to determine a plan for strategic price increases, as well as a process for conditioning customers to expect those increases.Here are the steps we took, which you can utilize to ensure your own success in communicating price increases to your customers without losing business.
Step 1: Start Addressing the Issue Informally First
You know sales is all about building relationships, so leverage yours. Instead of waiting for a letter to be sent to everybody, which does not make anyone feel like a priority, start reaching out. Whether it is over the phone or over lunch, start the conversation: “I wanted to let you know we are looking at a pricing initiative to better reflect the value our organization is providing.”
The more you can do to ensure your customers are not surprised with a price increase, the more successful you will be. Taking that a step further, developing a cadence for price increases can help guarantee pricing excellence: Communicating with your customers to an extent that they expect a price increase every year or six months (or whatever period fits your business model), the conversation shifts from “why are you raising prices?” to “what is the price increase?”
Step 2: Create Supporting Documentation
Given that it had been several years before the organization’s sales team had gone before a customer and said, “We’re going to raise our prices,” INSIGHT2PROFIT helped to build an extensive communication package. It covered a draft of the letter that would communicate the change to customers, as well as a sales script and FAQs personnel could use to combat concerns.
The purpose was not for reps to read the script or answers word-for-word, but rather to instill confidence in their responses. When the sales team used their own wording but projected the agreed upon message, fewer customers questioned the change.
Step 3: Role Play, Role Play, Role Play
If you have not completed a price increase in a number of years, you haven’t had that difficult conversation in a long time, and it can be hard to handle. That is why we insisted on a lot of role-playing with the company’s customer-facing staff members.
We got them into the room and said, “I’m the purchasing manager, you are the sales rep. Tell me why I’m getting an increase,” and they practiced. The first round was less than ideal. By the third iteration, the team had gained confidence and were incredibly convincing. Several of the staff told us how powerful the preparation was and that they knew exactly what to say when faced with an unhappy customer. Ultimately, they were confident enough to go into the marketplace and deliver the increase.
When practicing with your team, cover these bases:
Read through the sales scripts, encouraging staff to use their own words
Role play questions and answers
Reiterate selling based on value, not price
After doing so, our client began getting 90 percent of what they asked for when, in the past, they historically achieved just 50 percent of their ask.
Step 4: Don’t Back Down
Continuing to educate and condition customers regarding your pricing initiatives is just as important as training your staff. The first time you cave when a customer pushes back, threatening to take their business elsewhere, you have set a precedent that will ultimately set your pricing initiative up for failure.
Think of it like giving in to a child because they were crying after being told “no.” If you roll prices back even once, you have taught your customer not to take your increases seriously. The better behavior is to remain respectful and professional while sticking to the increase.
There is obviously risk, and you may even lose a small amount of business. But we believe the bigger risk is backing off and setting a precedent for price locks.
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
I’ll be one of the guest speakers at the Whizard Summit in Boulder, Colorado in April. Mark Mitchell, CEO of Whizard Strategy, has put together a jam-packed, 2-day conference for manufacturers of building materials on ways to address issues with architects, builders and contractors.
Here is a taste of what you’ll learn step-by-step in this two-day event packed with insights and strategies you can use immediately to generate sales:
Find out what builders REALLY want along with 3 simple ways to make sure you give it to them.
The #1 reason architects keep ignoring you – and a simple shift you can make to get specified.
The biggest challenge facing most contractors and a proven strategy that will make them WANT to do business with you.
The secret to selling Commercial Building Facilities Managers and Design Build Contractors – an often-missed step that stops the sales process dead in its tracks.
A growth blueprint you can share with lumber and specialty dealers that will make you a welcome visitor any time.
How to take the intimidation out of “Big Box” selling and finally get your products and services the respect they deserve.
Guest speakers include building materials experts in market research, SEO, online content and video, marketing automation, builder and contractor sales.
To register, visit http://seethewhizard.com/summit/. You’ll receive an additional $200 discount if you use the code “Sonnhalterclient” before March 1st.
As human beings, and companies made up of human beings, sometimes it’s important to do the right thing and not talk about it.
