Have you you considered each step of the lead journey process from prospect to client? How do you nurture your leads and keep track of the journey?
‘48% of businesses say most of their leads require “long cycle” nurturing with many influencers’. (Ascend2)
Have you got your lead journey clearly mapped out?
‘Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales at a 33% lower cost’ (Forrester, 2014).
Click on the below to view this infographic that easily walks you through the entire lead journey process from prospect to client.
There is a long-standing debate raging among sales professionals – which is more effective, social selling or cold calling? To me, the answer is simple.
Now, I am not going to bore you to death with stats which, depending on who you speak to, can be validated both ways. Instead, I’m going to give you some insight that I have gained as a Sales Professional who has sat on both sides of the fence, sometimes stuck in the middle, for over a decade.
So, my insight:
Logging into a webinar recently, I watched keenly as the debate in discussion swung from side to side, with each team offering their opinions. On one side, the UK’s top social seller and on the other, a Canadian based CMO from a well-known Sales Engagement Platform provider and advocate of cold calling. Both camps provided stats to back up their arguments, making it a close call. Although either could have come out on top, in my opinion, cold calling won this round. However, was this down to the geographical benefit of the stats, a more engaging presentation or more tangible evidence? I’m still unsure.
Since this debate, I’ve viewed multiple posts, blogs and podcasts to try and determine a winner for myself. I came across a recent Hubspot blog which appeared to settle the debate in favour of social selling, boldly stating that prospective customers and sales people alike “hate” cold calling. The blog consisted of impressive conversion figures, with the origins of these stats referenced, however, what is often left unclear is the industry, target, sales cycle, resource or end result of these stats origin. Without knowing the full picture, how can we possibly judge what is best for our businesses?
My background includes an enjoyable period as an Event Manager, assisting in the growth of the largest sales and marketing expo in Europe. At this event, exhibitors included direct sales people, cold callers and, what appeared to be, the more passive social sellers. All evidenced by the solutions which they were there to present. There has always been one impression that stuck with me after this event. Whilst the direct sellers had a constant sense of energy and approached any delegate who came within talking distance, the social sellers would wait to be approached – usually sat on their mobile phones. I’ll leave it to you to conclude whose stands were busier…
Now, it seems that these characteristics are commonplace, as shown to me by a recent experience. A well-known, international sales trainer recently posted on LinkedIn, “I have an associate looking for support in their telesales process.” The post had received dozens of comments and recommendations, however, with the benefit of having their phone number, I picked up the phone and introduced Air, asking how we could help. I was astounded to find out that from a 2-day old post requesting TELESALES SUPPORT I was the first person to pick up the phone and call. Now, yes, I was connected to and known by this person through social media, we’d swapped some niceties and a few messages which supported our conversation, but I was the only person to call and actually have a conversation! Whilst multiple people had attempted to social sell, guess what? The prospect wanted a conversation and, funnily enough, I was the only one introduced to their associate.
If this doesn’t settle the debate, I don’t know what will… it pays to use both!
Both cold calling and social selling have their place, it’s not really a matter of which one is better. When used together, they maximise the effectiveness, reach, efficiency and quality of your process. Each prospective client will buy in a different way and their more likely to notice your company if you get on their radar in 2 or 3 different ways. Any marketeer or sales professional worth their salt will tell you that a multi-channel, multi-touch approach will always maximise effectiveness.
Here at Air, we have multiple ways to win new business for ourselves and our clients. We run targeted email campaigns, sponsored LinkedIn mails, Facebook ads, engage traffic using IP trackers, networking events and referral channels. I will social sell, but I will still pick up the phone and cold call too. One shameless stat I will give you is that we’ve seen 257% growth in a year. We’re an award-winning company who are about to go through our second office move in less than 12 months due to increasing demand and our work with well-known household brands. And do you know why? Because wherever our clients and their customers are, and however they like to buy, we ensure we’re there too. Simple.
If you would like to discuss how we can help your business, give us a call: 0345 241 3038, or email: contact@air-marketing.co.uk.
Opinion Piece by Simon Murthwaite, Sales Director, Air Marketing Group
The first rule of customer service is that the customer is always right. Right?
With this in mind, shouldn’t all good business strategies place the customer at the heart of the campaign? Whilst this may seem to be true, it appears companies can sometimes find themselves strategising solely on where the business can go, as opposed to what the business can also do for its customers.
In 2018, 90% of adults in the UK defined themselves as recent internet users, up from 89% in 2017 (Office of National Statistics). Due to the developments in digital media, a customer has everything at their fingertips to make a decision about you before they have even spoken to you, as this information can now be found on social media posts, peer reviews or elsewhere on the internet. It seems that it is no longer always essential for customers to go through sales teams to make a decision on whether or not they want to invest in your product or service. It is therefore essential that when your sales team do engage with your pipeline, they are providing an outstanding experience which focuses on the customer, optimising sales and productivity.
Increasingly, marketers are implementing sales strategies which place their customers at the centre of their business plans, something which is highly recommended by Air. A study by Cap Gemini found that returning customers bring a 23% increase in profits and revenues. It also showed that returning customers spend an average 67% more than a new customer. For this reason, it is essential to create a strategy which better allows you to retain customers as well as encouraging new sales.
It is key to know as much as possible about the behaviours, needs and desires of your business’ customers. When marketers listen to this information they can complement your business strategy by creating customer-focused initiatives which will boost value and profits.
At Air we understand the importance of keeping clients happy and from our initial conversations with clients we get the ball rolling. Our first step, once they decide to go ahead and work with Air, is a strategy meeting which ensures their expert knowledge is kept at the forefront of their campaign; this meeting also enables us to present campaign concepts to reach the best solution for their objectives before we begin dialling. From the outset we want our clients to be happy, confident and informed on what we are doing for them. This level of clarity continues throughout the process, as shown by our client portal. Unique in the industry, the portal allows our clients to track their campaigns in live time providing them with the ability to watch the reactions their prospective customers are having to their products.
Transparency and engagement are essential concepts within our business strategy, as they allow us to maintain trusting relationships between ourselves and our clients. Cap Gemini found that disengaged customers cause a 13% fall in profits. At Air we foster engagement by encouraging our clients to use our office spaces as a base, or to pop in or call and chat with us as and when they feel the need to.
Our client-focused business strategy allows our business to function like a friendship, if we extend a level of familiarity to our clients they will reciprocate by continuing to work with us and in turn referring others to do so too. Receiving recommendations is a key part of our business strategy as future customers are more likely to trust a brand backed by an industry equal or someone they know.
We encourage our clients to leave us testimonials in order to reach out to their community. By allowing our current customers to have a voice and input to our brand it shows prospective clients that we value the opinion of those we work with and want to create strong relationships with them.
For us it isn’t all about the money, it is about the people. To find out more about how we engage with you, your business and your customers please contact us via phone: 0345 241 3038 or via email: contact@air-marketing.co.uk.
At Air, we pride ourselves on our honest and transparent approach towards our customers. We want those who we work with to succeed and so we keep nothing from you, you can have as much or as little involvement in your campaign as you would like. As one of Air’s Account Directors, I sit down with our prospective and retained clients, making sure to spend time with them in order to create the right strategy for their budget and business goals. But also, I want to ensure that clients understand that developing returns on their investment takes time. Markets are saturated with new businesses and whilst outsourcing telesales is a step in the right direction, clients shouldn’t expect a quick fix. The clients that I work with are often looking to invest in a long-term telemarketing campaigns, have long sales cycles and therefore need to understand that telemarketing does not instantly create ROI.
Despite this level of client engagement, when it comes to the end of the first month I sometimes find that clients have concerns if they haven’t yet closed a big deal or aren’t yet receiving high ROIs. Whilst I understand that clients put a lot into their businesses and obviously want them to be a success, it seems that often people forget that success isn’t always instant. More often than not, it pays to be patient.
It is for this reason that, as part of our business proposals, myself and the other Account Directors at Air recommend a long-term commitment after the initial 3-month trial pilot period. During this pilot period, the outcomes teach us learning’s about the business’ message, the target audience, the objections and the sales cycle of a client. This time is essential for a business, it allows us to test the messaging of the campaign, the data we receive and actually get hold of the right people for the client – all of which takes time if done right.
We don’t want our clients to stress or be kept in the dark, which is why we have created our unique client portal, where they can have a clear view of their campaigns progress – our clients are able to follow the peaks and falls of their entire campaign and see the feedback or objections we receive. It is most important to listen to this information in the beginnings of a campaign and not be overly concerned if sales are slow to begin with, as brand and business development should be nurtured not rushed. By considering this information, we are then able to use it to adapt the campaign and help it develop with momentum in the long term to generate the client impressive ROIs. After all our average campaign ROI is £18 for every £1 spent, so your investment is in good hands.
Opinion Piece by Keryn Seal, Account Director, Air Marketing Group
The British Excellence in Sales Management (BESMA) Awards are an annual event held by the Institute of Sales Management. With the purpose to recognise and reward the most successful companies and individuals in the sales industry.
We’re delighted to be shortlisted amongst some of the industry’s biggest players …
This time last week #TeamAir took to the bright lights of London to present in front of the BESMA panel. We demonstrated the success we’ve achieved over the past 2 years and how this has been made possible due to the hard work, commitment and passion our team continue to exhibit.
We’ve been shortlisted for the four following categories:
Best Telesales Team
Best Sales Employer
Best Rising Star – Marco Alfano-Rogers
Best Key Account Manager – Shaun Weston
We were excited to share the presenting stage with some of the biggest names in the country, companies which include:
Yell, Gamma Telecom, McAfee, PwC, Indeed and SSE Electricity Limited.
Reflecting on our growth …
Writing the BESMA Awards have truly allowed us to reflect on how much we’ve all achieved, not only in the last year but since our inception.
Having started with a modest fund of £25,000 in 2016, we first operated out of a boardroom within someone’s office with a total of 1 employee!
Now recognised as the fastest growing companies in Exeter, in the last 12 months’ #TeamAir have grown from 11 to over 50 employees and continue to acquire an increasing number of clients, and household brand names. We are currently operating out of two offices in Exeter’s city center and are soon to be moving into a new office with 100pax capacity.
We are extremely proud of our own growth and the growth we continue to achieve for our clients’. Our success is measured by the fact our team implements telemarketing campaigns that perform at twice the industry average. This allows our clients to achieve an average return of £18 for every £1 they spend with us.
What’s next …
With a strong team driving us forward we are confident that we will continue to evolve our company and elevate business for our clients.
Our office move comes with exciting new internal structures, new areas of expertise and even more possibilities for our clients.
BESMA’s well-deserved winners will be announced on 26th October 2018. Overwhelmed by the recognition our team has already received, winning the BESMA Awards would give solidarity to our team’s loyalty and hard work. It’s safe to say #TeamAir have every finger crossed.
If you would like to find out more about Air Marketing Group and how we can help you achieve your business goals visit our website: air-marketing.co.uk or call us on: 03332505686
How easy do you make it for your customer to purchase from you?
This may sound like a trick question, but it’s not! All businesses exist to attract customers, generate revenue, grow and make profit. Those are the basics to business survival and thriving.
But are you making the customer journey easy and enjoyable? Would you purchase from your company, if you were in your customers shoes?
So, if you are considering your customer journey, where do you start?
Identify gaps and pain points
To develop a successful customer journey map with coherent touchpoints you must first identify the gap between the current journey people would experience, and the journey that the customer would find most beneficial. Understanding how your customers currently feel about their relationship with you and the level of service you’re providing will allow you to identify the pain points in your customer journey.
Key pain points could include:
* Unclear or inconsistent messaging throughout the buying process and touchpoints
* The lack of personalised and relevant content
* The way your sales team approach building relationships and sales with your customers
Involve customer-facing employees in the journey
It’s important to keep in mind that every employee who interacts with your prospects and customers will have a direct impact on your customer journey. For this reason, it’s necessary to collaborate with all employees from all your customer-facing departments when mapping your customer journey and discussing relevant touchpoints. Making employees aware of their impact and giving them the voice to create positive touchpoints will motivate and allow your business to give recognition for outstanding customer service.
Clarify the touchpoints your business should be implementing
When starting your customer journey begin with clarifying touchpoints which everyone in your business can agree upon. Touchpoints include your collateral, brochures, website, social media channels, email nurturing, telemarketing, customer service, appointment setting, customer communications, contact process and telesales. Once your touchpoints
are outlined it’s time to refine the voice you want to convey across every point of customer interaction. This voice should create a coherent, integrated and professional feel throughout your customer journey.
So, is your customer journey good enough?
If you’re struggling to answer this question, then it’s likely that your customer journey could be improved. There are very few companies that have got their customer journey down to a T but giving it the attention and resource it deserves, will see return on that investment.
So how does Air come in?
At Air, we are able to offer outsourced expertise to generate leads, set appointments, and even use our qualified sales team to convert these leads into paying clients. The Air process for partnering with clients opens the conversation around your customer journey and touchpoints. Our aim is to get under the skin of your company so that when we speak to your leads or clients, the experience they receive is aligned to the rest of your customer journey adding to their experience.
Sound interesting? Want to find out more?
Get in touch and let’s discuss how we can help you achieve your goals. Find out more here www.air-marketing.co.uk or call us on 0333 270 6616.
Leads are the lifeblood of any B2B business. Some businesses are extremely talented in generating sales leads, others have expertise in different areas so may outsource this to Business Development companies such as us at Air. Whichever method you use to generate these vital leads, what happens if they aren’t ready to engage with your product or service?
According to Brian Carroll, author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, up to 95% of qualified prospects on your website are there to research and are not yet ready to talk with a sales rep. Unfortunately, when many companies get a lead that is not ready to buy right away, the lead then tends to get forgotten about, this results in the 70% who would eventually buy from you finding their solution through one of your competitors.
It has become apparent that many marketers are wasting their lead generation efforts by failing to nurture leads which aren’t ready to purchase straight away. This is something that doesn’t make sense, as a marketer you are wasting resource in both time and money doing this.
Today, successful B2B marketers excel by implementing a lead nurturing strategy which grows and retains their business. This strategy is making it harder for your competitors to land the leads that you have worked so hard to generate. The reason behind lead nurturing is that you can’t force a prospect to buy on their first touchpoint, in fact, stats suggest 10 touchpoints are necessary before conversion, as you also can’t afford to lose your prospect from your funnel. Lead nurturing is an investment strategy in which you build a relationship with the leads you’ve generated – this is achieved through the creation of relevant and personalised communication which adds value to your lead.
Lead nurturing may sound like a long game, but the reward is worth the investment…
According to Forrester, CSO Insights, Marketo and many other big players:
Have you tried lead nurturing for your business? If you like the sound of what this process could bring to your business, but you don’t have the capacity to fulfil the process in-house – talk to us!
We work with companies all over the UK and further afield to make the most of every single opportunity that is available to your business. From lead generation, lead nurturing, follow-up calls and inside sales closing calls – we can look after a section of the process or the whole process for you.
Get in touch today to find out how we can help your business – we look forward to speaking to you.
Air Marketing – Ground Floor, The Forum, Barnfield Road, Exeter EX1 1QR - 0345 241 3038
© 2024 Air Marketing – Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy
