Every day I talk to copier dealer principals and VP’s of sales about their marketing strategies. While dealers see the importance of online marketing with today’s buyer, every so often I hear the following when it comes to marketing: “I have a marketing department—it’s our sales team.” If you’ve ever said (or thought) these words, this article is written to you.
Twenty-three years ago when I started selling copiers that statement was pretty much true. Sales reps were the marketing department. They were the face of the company and the primary source of leads. As long as you had a decent brand, a solid reputation, a few brochures, and some business cards, you were good-to-go. Sales reps cold called, found people who needed to upgrade copiers, and slammed a box. Marketing was there to create some flyers, order radio ads, talk to Yellow Pages, and organize events. This worked back then.
Then came the Internet. Slowly over time, buyers realized that they didn’t have to talk to sales reps to get answers to questions. They began delaying the sales conversation. And once the sales conversation started, they took advantage of the Internet to fact-check sales reps.
Consider these facts:
- 94% of B2B decision makers use Google and other search engines during the buying process (Acquity Group 2014 B2B Purchasing Survey).
- 55% of buyers admit to deciding whether to meet with a sales rep based on what they find online (Sales Benchmark Index).
- 84% of C-level decision makers use social media in their buying decisions (IDC, 2014).
- Buyers are, on average, 57% of the way through their decision making process before contacting a sales rep (Corporate Executive Board, 2012. This number is now approaching 70%!).
Marketing Fuels Today’s Sales Process
Yes, your sales team still plays a critical role. But they are no longer the only public face of your company. Nor should they be the only source of sales leads. Your sales team and your marketing must work hand in hand.
Some Deals Originate in Online Search
Google is the new Yellow Pages. Your dealership needs to be found online. When prospects find you, they need to find a company that has helpful ideas. Recently, we saw a dealer that had someone come to their website through Google search and then consume 57 pages on the website before filling out a form to request information. That may be a little extreme, but you have to ask yourself these questions:
- Can we get found online?
- If you stumbled across your dealership online, would you stay on the website or leave?
- Would you trust your dealership enough to reach out to talk to a rep?
As I talk with dealers about their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies, our goal is to make sure the dealer has top placement for key search terms in each market they serve. The old days of meeting once a year with your Yellow Page rep and handing them a big check are over. SEO requires focused work over time. The dealers that successfully execute a SEO strategy gain tremendous competitive advantage.
Some Deals Originate In Social Media
IDC discovered that 84% of C-level decision makers use social during the buying process. While I admit that many of them were probably just trying to not look like fossils when answering the survey, the reality is that social networks like LinkedIn play a huge part in sales. My good friend, Larry Levine, coaches sales reps in the art of social selling. He regularly gets stories from reps that have invested in doing LinkedIn the right way and are finding that decision makers are reaching out to them after seeing their expertise on display in LinkedIn.
In order for your reps to be positioned as experts on LinkedIn, they need content to share. Ideally, much of the content comes from your dealership, linking back to your website. Marketing’s role is to provide a steady stream of relevant content from your dealership that your sales reps can share to fuel their LinkedIn prospecting.
Most Deals Still Originate From Sales Prospecting
Cold calling is not dead. However, it is different. These days, the web and social media are tightly integrated into the sales process. As I talk with sales reps, it’s not uncommon that when they do get a prospect on the phone, the prospect is checking out the dealership’s website while they are on the phone with the rep. (I did the same thing just last week when talking to a rep that cold called me.) Before the first-in appointment and all through the sales process, buyers are forming opinions about your dealership (and your competitors) based on what they find online.
Marketing Is Important
- Here’s the bottom line: marketing is important. You can ignore it at your own peril. The problem is, you won’t be able to measure your loss.
- How many people never find your dealership online?
- How many people start talking to your sales rep but get nervous when they see your five-year-old website that doesn’t even have information about what the rep was talking about?
- How many people don’t return your sales rep’s calls when they see their LinkedIn profile and get the sense that it’s just another self-centered sales rep trying to hit quota and not someone that could genuinely help their business?
This stuff matters! As we continue our conversation about marketing, here are some more items to consider.
Marketing is More Than Creating Leads
Yes, your marketing efforts should generate leads. However, marketing is about much more than generating leads. It should position your company for success in the buying process. In the past, buyers formed opinions about your company based on their experience with your sales rep and your reputation in the market. Today, they also form opinions based on your online presence.
- Does the company feel credible?
- Does it look like this company could help me solve my technology problems?
- Who else uses them?
- Can I trust them or will they roll in a copier and then walk away like the last vendor we worked with?
Yes, your sales team is still important. However, we know that people barely trust sales reps. So, if what they find online doesn’t back up what your reps are saying, trust is gone. No trust, no sale.
Your online presence is tightly integrated into the traditional sales process. Even if you never expect to get a single lead online, you need a vibrant web presence that supports your sales process.
Marketing May Be The Reason Your New Business Initiatives Flounder
From 2004 to 2010 I had the privilege to coach hundreds of solutions specialists and thousands of sales reps in the area of solution selling, particularly with document management. I watched many dealerships invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in staff, training, and software partners only to have the initiatives flounder. Why was this? There were many reasons, but most of these dealers had one thing in common: they forgot to invest in marketing. Sales reps would go out and have a great conversation about document management. Then the buyer would go to the website and only see copiers. They got cold feet. As a result, deals never closed.
Sadly, I’m seeing the same thing happen all over again in the area of Managed IT Services. Dealers are making massive investments to provide IT support, but when you go to their websites, all you see is copiers. Maybe there is one page that briefly explains the IT offering. At best, it looks like the IT program is a bolt-on; an afterthought.
Let me ask you this: would you trust your critical technology to a company that seems to be casually in the IT business as an afterthought? I don’t think so!
When people experience your company online they need to get the sense that you’ve been in the IT business for years. They need to get the feeling that you know what you’re talking about with multiple pages dedicated to your suite of IT offerings. They need to find references from other companies. If you look at your website and social media presence through the eyes of someone considering trusting you with their IT, do you get the sense that your dealership is a credible source of IT services?
As I visit dealerships across the country, many of them have invested in new demo rooms with glass windows into their NOC with the goal of looking like a team of IT pros. This is fantastic. However, only a small percentage of customers will ever visit your office. All of them will visit your website. Have you made the investment to make your online presence look as credible as the NOC in your office?
If You Can’t Be Found Online, You Don’t Exist
One of my favorite books from this past year is Not Taught by Jim Keenan, sales editor for Forbes. In this book he explores all of the critical aspects of doing business that none of us were taught in school. Let’s face it, for most of us, the Internet didn’t exist when we were going through business school or starting dealerships.
One thing that Keenan emphatically points out is this: “If someone can’t find you online, you don’t exist.” This is true for your dealership. It’s also true for your reps.
Have you ever had a sales rep call you and then had a hard time finding their company online? How does that make you feel? It certainly doesn’t build confidence.
Your dealership needs to come up in Google search for a wide variety of search terms. In most markets, this takes a lot of work. It’s also an area that can feel very confusing. If you’d like some insight, check out our special report “Google And Your Copier Dealership.” You can find it at: www.dealermarketing.net/Google
Your sales reps can no longer be your marketing department. They need the support of a great online presence. They need social sales skills.
Marketing Matters
All of this will require investment. You need to budget for an excellent website, to keep your website and social media maintained and for search engine optimization. You can measure your marketing results using tools like Google Analytics. You should also be able to measure your results in terms of key sales metrics like call-to-appointment ratios and close rates.
