To address her concern, I immediately donned my strategic marketing hat.  Some would say that when you have a hammer, everything is a nail…

Helping prospects recognize they need what you have to offer

My first observation was that the prospects probably didn’t recognize how much they might benefit from the program (the second of nine potential obstacles to a sale).  Else, they would have expressed more interest in similar programs. This could have been for any of the following reasons.

They may not have recognized that:

• They have the problem the solution purports to addresses–or believe their current solution is adequate,
• The solution is relevant to their situation
• The source of the solution was credible and/or
• The proffered solution would resolve the problem,

We approached these reservations one at a time.  First, we determined that it was likely that many of the small business owners did not already have a solution for “reaping the benefits of a diverse workforce”.

We based this assumption on the fact that most companies hire “people like them”, and most business owners tend to turn to their peers for advice.  We believed that the target audience would agree with our conclusion. So, we looked for ways to persuade them that the program would be relevant.

Stepping into prospective buyers’ shoes

To do so, we tried to step into their shoes.

To anticipate their concerns, we asked ourselves two questions.  The first was, “What might come to prospects’ minds when they thought about diversity?”.  Then, we asked, “What was most important to them right now?”

We guessed that most people think of diversity in terms of differences in race, sex, age, or national origin.  Yet, the term has broader implications.  It can also refer to a host of other populations that share common circumstances that differ from our own.

We anticipated that what would make the program relevant to a group of small business owners was examples of how a “diverse workforce” would significantly affect the success of their businesses.  Luckily, we had recently encountered a few great examples.

Buying from those we know and trust may not always be the best approach: a personal example

Recently, I decided to migrate my website to a modern platform–and began looking for potential vendors .  Some of the “usual suspects”, recommended by my colleagues, prepared proposals that addressed a number of my stated  requirements such as maintaining the “look and feel” of my current site.  Nevertheless, a number offered alternative designs despite the fact that I had indicated this was neither a need or a preference.

That said, at the heart of my requirements was a need for strategic guidance.  I indicated this by stressing the importance of ease of maintenance and ease of upgrading the site–to accommodate future unknown requirements.

I began to fully recognize my need for strategic guidance,  when the bids that came in had little in common.  At that point, I began to search the web and social media for resolution to the disparities.

My research surfaced only one company that focused on strategic issues–and provided numerous examples of its capabilities in this area–and that company was located overseas.  Given the sample size, I’m not sure if this company had a different perspective because it was located in another country or if this was an individual difference. Nevertheless, it was interesting to me that no US firm popped up in the couple hours I spent searching the web and social media.

Credible sources help raise awareness of value:  additional examples

There are more influential sources that we could draw on to demonstrate relevance. One is Jeff Howe, the author of the bestseller Crowdsourcing.  He  notes (on page 152 of his book) that it  takes a diverse group to devise innovative approaches to challenging problems.

Another came from panelists at last week’s conference on the future of marketing. In discussing what it takes to develop successful products, they advocated building cross-functional teams composed of marketers, developers, and designers.

Their rationale was that when professionals work in functional silos, they tend to approach problems in much the same way they did in the past. They noted that companies only come up with market-disrupting solutions when employees work in teams that can view situations from multiple angles.

Strategic marketing is a never-ending process

I felt we had come up with some great ideas for helping prospective attendees recognize how they would benefit from the program.  At the core, was demonstrating how diversity can help companies achieve competitive advantage.

Now, “all” that was required was to summarize the above “arguments” in concise compelling copy and move to the third of nine potential obstacles to a sale–creating the sense of urgency that would render our prospects “ready to buy”.

Whether you’re a small business or a strategic marketing consultant, assemble a diverse team

What struck me as ironic, when considering all of the above, is that the very reason we often don’t recognize the need for products and services–that might benefit us–is that these products and services are a) unfamiliar,  b) don’t seem relevant because we don’t have examples of how people like us have benefited from them and/or c) are not recommended by the people “like us” that we know and trust.  Perhaps we need to involve a more diverse team in our buying process.

Related posts:

1. Professional organizations: How do they fit into your marketing strategy?
2. Internet Marketing Tips: A Marketing Consultant’s Perspective

MITX, under the umbrella of FutureM, organized dozens of  (mostly free) events dedicated to exploring and sharing how the newest technologies and insights are changing the way that marketers think, create, engage, and measure.  It was information-packed, exhilarating, and exhausting.

This post focuses on what excited me most as a B2B marketing consultant.  Hint:  My company’s tagline is “using customer knowledge to increase sales”.

Get it right the first time

Speaker after speaker referred to the fact that many products fail simply because they don’t address a compelling market need–something that companies could have determined prior to building and shipping the product.  Therefore, a lot of talks centered on various techniques that companies can use to gather customer information before and during the development process–and after the product ships.

Gather customer data early and often

While companies talk about being customer-centric, many treat marketing research as “one and done”.  They gather customer data at the outset of a project, perhaps once or twice during the development cycle and right before the product ships, rather than doing so on an ongoing basis.  Moreover, few companies perform research after the sale to find out why they won or lost.

A lot of the speakers, on the other hand, gather customer feedback weekly, others bi-weekly, and still others monthly throughout the development process.  Many recommended getting to market quickly with what Eric Ries referred to, in the Customer Development session, with a Minimally Viable Product (MVP)–and iterating post-launch to magnify the learning.

The point they emphasized is that everything is always evolving:  the surrounding environment, enabling technologies, the competition, customers’ requirements, and a company’s understanding of its customers’ needs.  Therefore, the development and marketing processes must be iterative,  and so must customer research.

Go where your customers are

Conventional marketing research relies on filtered information.  The sieve may be through the lens of particular functions such as Sales or Customer Service or the choice of questions for a survey or focus group.

Panelists encouraged audiences to gather feedback directly–and from multiple perspectives.  At the Customer Development session, they recommended going on site and observing customers’ environments directly, watching them work, and seeing with whom they interact.  At the Product Strategy session, they also recommended involving whole teams, rather than just individuals with a particular perspective (such as design, marketing, development, etc.)

Focus on actions not words

How many times have you seen market researchers ask a prospective user which features matter most–or what they would pay for something?  As we’ve discussed in this blog before, users have no idea–because they don’t fully grasp the circumstances under which they’ll be making the decision.

Instead, panelists at the Digital Marketing session recommended focusing on actions rather than words.  That is, learn from customers clicks.  At the Product Strategy session, Katie Rae suggested putting up PPC ads to see what attracted user attention.

At the Customer Development session, speakers recommended asking for the order, even if the product was not finished yet.  That way, you know that prospects truly value what you plan to deliver.

At the Customer Engagement session, panelists encouraged participants to focus on the big picture.  In addition to finding out why people came to the site, they recommended finding out where people went when they left the site and what they did with the information they got during their visit.

Engagement fosters relationships

At one of the sessions, a panelist pointed out that it’s now up to marketing to build and nurture relationships.  As we’ve noted elsewhere in this blog, by the time they contact a company many prospects have made their buying decision and just want to negotiate the terms of the deal.

Therefore, panelists at the Customer Engagement session noted that marketers must find out where prospects congregate and what they are discussing.  Doing so will enable marketers to engage prospects in a way that prospects find relevant.

At the Digital Marketing session, panelists said that in the future marketers will deliver less content and more utility.  They may engage prospects by facilitating conversations among them, rather than through direct participation.

They may also provide utility by helping improve users’ offline experiences–even those that don’t directly relate to the company’s offerings.  For example, a pharmaceutical company may sponsor an exercise program and a law firm may help hospital inpatients learn from others’ experiences.  When it comes to providing utility, mobile will often be the platform of choice because phones travel with their users.

Analytics are no longer optional

Another recurring theme was the importance of analytics–especially post launch.  Here, panelists focused on some of the related challenges including the rapid pace of change, integrating the various systems, making sense of all the data, and using the insights to empower communicators throughout the organization.

The marketer of the future?

At the Digital Marketing session, the panelists agreed that the marketer of the future must be a strong communicator, love technology, embrace qualitative and quantitative analysis, and adapt easily to change.

Visit these hashtags to see what others had to say #engagem #custdev2 #futuremdigital #prodstratm

Related posts:

1. Customer research makes gains in 2010
2. B2B marketers struggle to reach decision makers and measure marketing results

To illustrate his point, Dr. Fader looked at the data underlying a study that concluded that Hispanics were more likely to purchase DVDs than Caucasians.  He began by acknowledging that the conclusion was accurate–but not particularly useful.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

First he called our attention to the difference in purchases between the two demographic groups which, although statistically significant, was only separated by a couple percentage points.   A difference that he said would not yield enough revenue to justify unique marketing campaigns.

Then he presented a second graph which showed side-by-side comparisons of the two groups’ purchasing behavior.  The curves were identically shaped bell curves–although the level of the curve representing Hispanics’ purchases of DVDs was slightly higher.

In short, the differences within each group–which recorded purchases under varying circumstances–trumped the differences between the two demographic groups.

Data you can use

His point? In the old days, our only option was to segment markets by visible (i.e. demographic) differences.  Today, however, we have access to behavioral data–which is often far more useful–thanks to the web.

His suggestion? Follow the clickstream to learn how your buyers behave, especially the ones that purchase, and plan your marketing campaigns accordingly.  Rather than grouping those in similar demographic categories, group those with similar behavior (e.g. the order in which they do things, the events that trigger action)

The catch? Fader says that other studies show that you can’t predict the behavior of individual participants, only populations, so you’ll need a lot of data to gather enough information to segment your market in a meaningful way.

Takeaway? The principles underlying Marketing 101 remain the same, the execution is constantly evolving. That’s what keeps marketers awake at night…

No related posts.

What happened to the focus on the customer?

The irony is that gaining deeper insights into customer, or prospect needs, rarely shows up as a priority, let alone a high priority. Why not?

Is it because investments in gaining customer knowledge are not of interest to those doing the surveys? Or, do researchers assume that everyone knows all they need to know about customers?

Or, is the assumption that some form of marketing research, win/loss analysis, or customer data mining is an integral part of any marketing campaign–and therefore does not need singling out? Or, do researchers know from past experience, that while everyone realizes gaining customer insights is important, it’s not a primary focus or one in which companies invest heavily?

I don’t know the answer. I do know that while many companies do invest in learning more about their customers, others feel that they know enough–and/or cannot afford to learn more. The question is can any of us afford not to delve deeper into what matters most to those we depend on for revenues?

Isn’t customer knowledge power?

The devil is often in the details–and nuances in capabilities and/or messaging can make a tremendous difference. That’s why it’s not uncommon for consumer goods marketers, the messaging masters, to invest 10% of the anticipated cost of any marketing campaign in upfront marketing research.

Moreover, we all know of “first movers” that lost the race because they didn’t move down the learning curve. Instead, competitors pulled ahead by making slight, but significant modifications to the core offering or message.

Is everyone focused solely on lead gen?

From reading the marketing trade press, one gets the impression that a lot of companies do believe that deep customer insights drive sales.  These companies are investing in:

• Data mining tools that will help them pinpoint their most promising prospects and understand exactly what helped win their business
• Social communities that help assess the desirability of products and marketing messages before committing to their delivery
• Usability testing to find and remove product design elements that get in customers’ way
• Social media listening tools that enable marketers to determine where audiences turn for information–and what communications resonate most with them–before jumping in the fray
• Marketing campaign software that includes the ability to monitor conversions and determine what worked–and what didn’t
• Sales enablement solutions that make it easy to create and test responses to alternative lists, messages, and offers

Gaining deep customer insights doesn’t need to be expensive

Investments in increasing customer intimacy are not limited to large companies.  While many smaller companies may not have the financial or human resources to invest in the automated listening tools listed above, they have other options at their disposal.

Many of our clients gain deep insights by easy-to-administer programs such as:

• Using free social media listening tools to monitor market trends, conversations about the need for the solutions their companies offer, and any mention of their name and/or their competition’s
• Interviewing customers and prospects to learn about the steps these individuals took before making a recent purchase decision–and what triggered these actions
• Developing case studies about the benefits that satisfied customers derived from their solutions
• Following customers, and those who influence decisions about their products and services, on Twitter

The question, however, isn’t what others are doing, but what you’re doing. Will this be the year of the customer for your business?

Ready to start today? Test your customer IQ now!

Related posts:

1. Customer research makes gains in 2010

“Thank you for your e-mail regarding your account. It is always our aim to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction. We are always concerned to learn that any customer is unhappy with the service we provide.

All applications are processed by our Customer Recruitment Department, so you will need to contact them directly [at phone number] with your request.

I must also advise you that if we do not hear from you within eight weeks of the date of this e-mail, we will assume that your complaint is resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”

The note ended with the writer wishing me his kindest regards.

Branding is the sum of the buyers’ experiences

This communiqué came from a business that regularly spends exorbitant amounts of money on branding their company, extolling the virtues of their products, and encouraging prospective customers to buy. Yet, they had clearly not spent as much effort developing their post-sales strategy.

What did this company do wrong? Rather than addressing my concern, the representative first gave lip service to the importance his company places on providing “the highest levels of customer satisfaction” Then, he suggested that I turn to someone else in his company for help. The buck clearly didn’t stop with him.

This “service” representative also made it clear that the onus was on me to resolve the issue. Finally, adding insult to injury, he apologized for the inconvenience he and his company must surely have been aware they were continuing to cause me.

What do you think my impression was of this company? What was the ultimate cost of this communication to the company? What could this representative have done differently to preserve good will–if not the sale?

When you think about these important questions, the answers are probably obvious to you. Why weren’t they obvious to the company in question?

Return on marketing investments are not always positive

It just didn’t add up. This company had invested in a direct sales force to sell me the product. They had invested significant sums in free gifts to sweeten the offer. Yet, in just one email communication, they had succeeded in reversing all the efforts they had made to get my business. Worse, they may have jeopardized any possibility of doing business with me in the future.

Chances are that many of you have received similar missives from equally well-known companies. How do strategic errors like this happen and what can companies do to prevent them?

Product Development – Giving buyers what they want the way they want it

Two posts back, we discussed the fact that if you want to speed up purchases, you need to know what’s important to customers and give them exactly what they want, the way they want it. This company clearly missed the boat. They got the core product right, but neglected to consider the ancillary services required to deliver it satisfactorily.

Although many companies think of product development as ending at launch, that’s not how buyers see it. Rather, buyers view the product in terms of their entire experience—from pre-sales offers, to purchase, to conformity with their expectations about functionality and ease of use. When their overall experience is positive, they buy again. When it’s not, they may even go so far as returning the product or canceling a service.

Nevertheless everyone makes mistakes. When businesses take steps to rectify the error, many buyers will give them a second chance and consider other products. When, on the other hand, companies are cavalier in their treatment of complaints, dissatisfaction can escalate. In the worst scenarios, buyers refuse to buy any products from the company and significant sums of promotion dollars spent on branding the company also go to waste.

Integrated marketing campaigns begin with integrated product development

What can businesses do to avoid these consequences? Here are some suggestions:

• Re-define “product” success to include the buyers’ ultimate satisfaction 6 to 12 months following the purchase, rather than mere execution of a sale.
• Encourage a culture where everyone in the company is motivated to personally contribute to the advancement of buyers’ satisfaction.
• Involve every internal department in the product development process to increase the chances of anticipating all buyers’ concerns, avoiding missteps, and ensuring seamless delivery.
• Ask them to research what actions their organizations can take to stimulate delight in their own areas of expertise—and what practices they’ll need to avoid.
• Review the ultimate proposed delivery process from the buyers’ perspective. What issues might arise? What can the company due to avoid them altogether? For unavoidable issues, what steps can be taken to resolve them sooner rather than later?
• Test the process with real users before launching and correct as necessary.
• Follow up on all system failures and take corrective action.

One manufacturing concern I worked for convened cross-functional teams weekly to review and determine the root cause of all customer-reported problems. First, however, they classified any shipment that resulted in dissatisfaction—for any reason–as “dead on arrival”.

Marketing Research shortens the sales cycle

At BB Marketing Plus, we work with clients to look at the whole picture, upfront, from the perspective of prospective buyers. To step into our clients’ buyers’ shoes, we do a lot of primary marketing research but we also gather information from internal experts–such as sales people and customer service personnel–who know from experience where potential pitfalls lie. Cross-functional development teams then use this knowledge to guide the entire product development and launch process.

We find that mapping the buying process —and finding out exactly what prospective buyers expect at every stage—greatly increases our clients’ ability to hit the mark with both their product offerings and their marketing messages.

How does your business find out what’s important to prospective buyers so that you can give them what they want—and do it their way?

Related posts:

1. Maximizing Sales Productivity Depends on Meeting Marketing Requirements

At that point, however, most buyers have a heightened awareness of the cost of delay–and are anxious to move forward. When they don’t, it’s a telltale sign that your product or service is missing the mark.

When interested buyers fail to purchase, after learning about how your solution will address their concerns, sales cycles stretch out as they seek a better match. If they find another provider that will give them exactly what they want, they’ll purchase there. Even when prospective buyers later purchase from your company, delays hold up your ability to recognize revenue—and may also run up your sales and marketing expenses as you try to close the deal.

In short, maximizing sales productivity clearly depends on your readiness to give prospective buyers exactly what they want, the way they want it. The question is, “How do you determine what that is?”

Effective marketing research is the fastest route to winning solutions

To design great solutions, you need a thorough understanding of prospective buyers’ most pressing needs and want. To get this information, it’s helpful to conduct primary marketing research by going straight to “the horse”, but not necessarily to the horse’s mouth.

One of the best ways to find out what’s most important to prospective buyers is to observe what sells and what doesn’t. One common mistake, however, is asking prospective buyers what they want. That’s because most of us only think we know what we want. We get it wrong, however, because we fail to take into account all the factors that come into play at the time of purchase.

We’re lousy predictors of our own behavior

Look at your own clientele. If you ask them, many would say they want an accountant who will find tax savings that they would otherwise miss. They might add that for this reason they seek out professionals with experience in their industry with a demonstrated track record of generating savings for others just like them.

Nevertheless when you look at actual buying behavior, many factors come into play—some of which ultimately end up taking precedence over the ones that are top of mind. Examples include availability when clients need to meet a pressing deadline, the ability to accept 90 day payment terms, a pleasant reception when they contact your office, or a plethora of other factors that prospective buyers are not fully aware are important to them until faced with a real situation.

Look to actions, rather than words

In our experience, the best way to find out what prospective buyers want is to look at their past purchasing patterns. That’s because we’re creatures of habit. We tend to do things the way we’ve always done them and maintain the same priorities.

One way to do that is to start with your existing clientele, specifically your best clients since they’re likely to be the best proxy for your most promising prospects. If, on the other hand, you’re losing the most promising prospects to the competition, start there with prospective buyers that chose to buy elsewhere. In either case, it’s important to focus on just your most promising prospects because you can’t be all things to all people.

Get at past purchasing patterns by reviewing your company’s sales history. If you maintain a lead tracking or contact management system, review your notes to determine:

* Which solutions did prospective buyers purchase right away?

* When they delayed why did they delay?

* What questions did they ask?

* What was the single most important reason they purchased?

* What concessions, if any, did you need to make to get their business?

* Under what circumstances were they willing to pay a premium and why?

* What caused them to select you over the competition?

* When they recommend your company, what do they say?

* If they went to a competitor, what was the reason?

* When you lost, what if anything could you have done to get the business?

If you didn’t record answers to these questions, it’s okay to go back and ask. Nevertheless, remember to focus on past purchases. As we discussed above, most people make far better reporters than analysts.

Worried about annoying people? Don’t! Most people are flattered that you’re interested in their insights and happy to share them with you if you are courteous and schedule an appointment in advance. If you’re just starting out, and don’t have any clients, interview your competitors’ clients.

Tip: Build your sales history as you go

At BB Marketing Plus we do a lot of marketing research to help our clients rank development priorities. Here are some tips your company can use to capture what is important to your clientele:

1. Implement a system that helps you map prospective buyers’ behavior including the stages of their buying process and:

* Who was involved at each stage

* What information each individual required

* What follow up questions each individual asked

* The time it took to move to the next stage

* The reason for any delays it took to move from one stage to the next

* Why you won when you won

* Why you lost when you lost

2. Ensure that you keep your system up to date, calling back buyers and prospective buyers to fill in knowledge gaps

3. Ask a lot of questions to get a sense of their entire situation and priorities, rather than just their immediate requirements

* Keep your questions open-ended, rather than making assumptions

* Ask individuals to report on past behavior, rather than to predict the future

4. Follow up regularly to assess satisfaction

* Ask about every aspect of your business interactions

* Find out what you’ve done well and what needs improvement

* Act on what you learn

* Thank people for their insights and communicate what you’ve done as a result.

Our clients find that they can learn a lot from the past. One of the findings that many find surprising is that while price is important, it’s generally not the deciding factor. Another revelation is that their clientele often has different perspectives—than they do–when it comes to defining quality. These are important insights when your goal is to give prospective clients exactly what they want and do it their way.

Related posts:

1. Shortening the sales cycle starts with getting into buyers’ minds
2. Getting top dollar depends on first determining who values your solutions most
3. Making the sale depends on addressing an urgent need
4. Shorten the sales cycle next year: Year end marketing planning

First impressions count, but don’t do the job

When it comes to others, we only form a general impression. At this point, despite the fact that you may have told them much more, prospective buyers are likely to remember only one thing about you at best. It may the first thing you said; it may be something they heard about from someone else; or it may be the thing that resonated most with their top concern the day they encountered your company. Whatever it is, they need to know a lot more before they buy.

The problem is that prospective buyers are still too busy to learn about your company and its services. In fact, one of the greatest obstacles to a sale is getting your marketing messages through to the intended audience. Hopefully, you’ve made enough of an impression, to elevate your company’s marketing communications above the clutter. If so, your next challenge is staying in touch so that you can help prospective buyers move through their buying process. Any missteps and they’re likely to buy from someone else.

Brand building one step at a time

Before they ultimately buy, decision makers will need to:
• Become aware of all the services you offer
• Associate their needs with these services
• Think of your business as the “obvious” choice
• Remember your company when it comes time to buy

The best way to move prospective buyers through these steps is sequentially: one message per communication. Again, they don’t have the capacity to take in more than one detail about your company at a time.

Email marketing may be the answer

One of the best vehicles for your “drip” campaign is a newsletter—conventional or email depending on your audience. Nevertheless, each communication must be directly relevant to their concerns; else it too will remain unopened.

So, in preparing the subject lines and headlines of your missives, return to the four marketing questions we discussed last week. To increase the relevance to readers, and memorability, consider adding a story that illustrates your point and resonates with what you’ve learned about their experiences. Examples of how your accounts have triumphed using your solutions is often the best way to advance your agenda.

A typical email newsletter might describe a service you offer, provide a case study of how one of your accounts benefited from its application, and appear under a headline mentioning both the company that deployed the solution and the impact it had on their business.

Assuming that the featured business is in the same industry—and has the same issues—as your reader, your readers will be anxious to read all about it so that they, too, can achieve success. The following newsletter will follow a similar format but for a different service. One communication at a time, you’ll ensure that prospective buyers:
• Become aware of all the services you offer
• Associate their needs with these services
• Think of your business as the “obvious” choice
• Remember your company when it comes time to buy
For an example of how to implement this strategy, see this article on clinician marketing. As a bonus, you may be able to apply some of the techniques I’ve described to help your physician clients market their practices.

A drip campaign can shorten the sales cycle

So how does a drip campaign shorten the sales cycle? Although your target audience may contain thousands of people, only a few of them are ready at any point in time to buy. Moreover, even if you had the staff, it would be very expensive to follow up with them individually on a regular basis. Done well, your newsletter is likely to reach a small percentage of your audience just as they are ready to buy. If these companies contact you, you’ve generated a qualified lead—and reached someone who is ready to buy right away–without investing in expensive one-to-one prospecting or in manually helping them through their buying process.

Using an email newsletter or conventional print newsletter serves a second purpose. It serves to brand your company as a helpful and authoritative resource. Even if these companies go out to bid, your organization will stand above the crowd. You may even be able to bypass the time-consuming due diligence that companies use to evaluate prospective providers—because they already feel confident in your ability to deliver.

Related posts:

1. Shorten the sales cycle next year: Year end marketing planning
2. Shortening the sales cycle starts with getting into buyers’ minds
3. How search and social media will shorten the B2B sales cycle.
4. Maximizing Sales Productivity Depends on Meeting Marketing Requirements

Getting the sale depends on affirmatively answering all three of the following questions:

• Have they heard of your business?
• Do they know that you can address the problem?
• Will they remember you when it comes time to buy?

Brand awareness is not sufficient. Think back to your own experience.

Sure, you’ve lost sales because prospective buyers haven’t heard of your business. But, I’ll bet you’ve also lost business because prospective buyers just didn’t realize that you offered a particular product or service.

For example, three years ago, when I needed my hedges trimmed, it never occurred to me to call the arborist who prunes my trees. That is, not until I asked a neighbor for a reference and she told me she used my arborist.

I was taken aback. Even though I was highly satisfied with his services, it just never occurred to me that he also trimmed hedges. That’s because in my mind he was a “tree specialist”.

And, my mistake was not uncommon. In fact, most people only think of your business as doing the last thing you did for them–unless you take conscious steps to correct that impression. We’ll discuss how in a future post.

We’ve also all lost business because we’re not “top of mind” when the buyer finally develops a sense of urgency. We’ll also discuss how to stay high on prospective buyers’ radar in a future post.

In the meantime, we’ll discuss 4 questions you need to answer before launching a marketing campaign or engaging an advertising or public relations agency.

Who do you need to reach?

Often, it’s not just the decision maker. While he or she may make the final decision, many others often influence the sale. Without first engaging these individuals’ support, it’s often impossible to sway, or sometimes even reach, the decision maker. Prospective audiences for your marketing messages may include industry analysts, trusted advisers and internal staff such as technical evaluators and financial personnel.

How do you get their attention?

As Marshall MacLuhan said the media is the message. That means that the delivery vehicle is often as or more important than the message.

Most people are busy performing urgent tasks and are not receptive to messages about anything else—unless the information comes from a trusted source. Examples include advisers, existing suppliers, trade publications to which they subscribe, or presentations that they attend.

If, on the other hand, the prospective buyer is ready to purchase, he/she may be actively seeking out information. In that case, consider adding paid Internet search and website optimization to the marketing mix. If you’re already a trusted source, you may be able to save money and go direct—via telephone, email or direct mail—with confidence that they’ll open your communication.

How do you capture their interest?

Always speak specifically to the most pressing concern of the target audiences–in their language. General messages are not nearly as effective. So, it’s essential to first identify the target audience—and then what’s keeping them up at night.

As we discussed last week, you may need to prime the pump before speaking about your solution—or even the benefits it offers–if the problems your solution addresses are not particularly pressing. Consider developing intermediary messages that heighten prospective buyers’ awareness of the consequences of not addressing the problems your solution addresses. Follow those with messages that generate a sense of urgency about addressing these problems sooner rather than later. Then, and only then, will prospective buyers be receptive to messages about your solution and the benefits it delivers.

When is the best time to deliver your message?

The best time to deliver messages is when the audiences are most receptive. That however is hard to establish. That’s why marketers often say, “It takes 7 impressions to make an impact.”

In some cases, key events trigger needs for services. For example, everyone needs accounting services when taxes are due. Many require accountants when starting or acquiring a business. Nevertheless, the safest approach is to communicate your marketing messages consistently and frequently since recipients are generally pre-occupied with something else. Just by the law of numbers, if you communicate often you’re more likely to get a hit.

Once you get the answers to these questions, you’re ready to begin promoting your solutions.

Next week, we’ll discuss what to do once you prospective buyers’ attention.

In the meantime, develop marketing messages that capture interest.  Download our free guide for developing compelling value propositions.

Related posts:

1. Shortening the sales cycle starts with getting into buyers’ minds
2. Capturing buyers’ attention: What makes a value proposition compelling?
3. Shorten the sales cycle: one marketing message at a time
4. Follow the money: How to capitalize on opportunity in a tough economy

The higher the risk, the longer the sales cycle…

For low risk, inexpensive purchases like a candy bar, buyers whip through all nine steps in a matter of seconds. When it comes to major purchases, the buying process often takes months and sometimes years. For example, think back to the time it took your own business to decide to put up—or even redo—your website…

Let’s walk through the buying process to begin to understand some of the circumstances that cause sales cycles to stretch out, beginning with the first row of the chart (although in practice the second or third row may happen first).

Only those that have a need will purchase

The first box is labeled HAVE NEED. That’s because no one will buy from you unless they need what you have to offer. Nevertheless, most businesses waste resources promoting solutions to unqualified prospects–those that don’t need what they have to offer and therefore will never buy. For example, my small business sometimes gets sales calls from companies that sell products and services that only make sense for much larger companies.

But first they must recognize that the need exists

The next box is labeled RECOGNIZE NEED. How many of you know of companies that would be much better off if they purchased from you—but they’re continuing to do business in the same way they’ve always done? Chances are if they stopped to consider the real costs of inertia, they’d behave differently–but in the meantime sales cycles stretch out.

Take for example, some of the taxpayers that use the post office to submit their taxes. Many are aware that they qualify for free filing and have computers—but they continue to post their returns via US mail.

Although some subset of these individuals has well thought out concerns about filing over the Internet, most have just never stopped to really examine the pros and cons. In fact, they probably would have filed their returns electronically if they had only learned of the option when they were less busy—or realized in advance just how long they would have to wait in line on April 15 to obtain proof that they had mailed their documents in on time. Nevertheless, they didn’t; so the IRS will have to wait at least another year to consummate the sale.

Then, it generally takes a sense of urgency to generate demand

The third box is labeled READY TO BUY. Many buyers not only need a particular solution; they are aware that they should take action. Nevertheless, they delay buying because the urgent takes precedence over the important. In fact, it’s not uncommon for other initiatives to continue to take priority until the need becomes truly pressing.

To sum up, getting the sale depends on finding prospective buyer that need what you have to offer.  Nevertheless, need is a necessary but not sufficient condition.  Prospective buyers must realize what they’re missing by delaying a purchase and develop a sense of urgency about filling the gap.

Next week, we’ll proceed to row two of the buying process chart and discuss three more factors that can cause sales cycles to stretch out.

Related posts:

1. Maximizing Sales Productivity Depends on Meeting Marketing Requirements
2. Shortening the sales cycle starts with getting into buyers’ minds

Step one is recognizing that for the most part, we can’t convince anyone to buy something from us that they don’t want. When it comes to shortening the sales cycle—as with other forms of behavior change, the thing to remember is that it’s all about attraction and motivation—rather than persuasion and pursuit.

Purchasers decide what they want to buy and equally important how they prefer to buy it. All we can do is make it easy for them to buy from us.

The key to success is anticipating prospective buyers’ needs and then making sure you give them exactly what they want, when they want it, how they want it—before they ask. When we neglect to first understand how our clients prefer to buy, we run the risk of failing to make the necessary connection and causing sales cycles to stretch out. Let’s look at a few examples.

Suppose prospective buyers need a written understanding of what you will deliver, and you don’t have it. Sales cycles will stretch out while you prepare the necessary documents. If they require certain payment terms, and you can’t provide them, the sale stalls until you obtain authorization to give them what they want—or worse, you may end up losing the deal. If they depend on their trusted advisors for recommendations and these advisors aren’t familiar with your business, you’ll need to wait while they perform due diligence, or more likely, miss out on the opportunity altogether.

The better you understand prospective clients’ buying behavior, the greater is your ability to anticipate obstacles, and then take action to shorten the sales cycle. In short, upfront marketing research pays. More about that in a later post.

Related posts:

1. Accelerate revenues, reduce the cost of sales, and boost profitability
2. Shorten the sales cycle: one marketing message at a time
3. Maximizing Sales Productivity Depends on Meeting Marketing Requirements
4. How search and social media will shorten the B2B sales cycle.