How do you leverage digital marketing capabilities to get your business back on track in 2020? It’s been a tough 90 days for many entrepreneurs, both big and small. I’ve had a number of lengthy conversations with a wide range of CXOs. They feel challenged by the current market conditions. How do they get their businesses back on track in 2020? I see an opportunity to reframe this situation from powerless to powerful.
There’s no time for using my strategic planning skills right now. It’s about increasing the client’s revenue and top line growth. I’ve provided a series of questions around several digital business drivers you can use to help get your business back on track. I see digital marketing as the great equalizer for many of my smaller clients.
These questions are designed to get you to think differently about how you manage your business moving forward. Each of these digital sales and marketing capabilities has tremendous upside potential.
How well trained is your sales team?
How many of your sales professionals have sold in a softer economy? When was the last time they received training on prospecting in a tough economy? Have you ever considered leveraging top sales performers as mentors for new team members?
Many sales managers are using online conferencing platforms to attend calls with sales professionals and clients, providing support and coaching. Kind of the digital version of the ride-along. This helps make sure deals that should close do. Frequently, it’s the timely contributions of several people that gets the deal done. I also recommended having the CFO getting involved, as needed. As you already know, it takes a little more collaboration to get a deal closed.
Before I get significant angry email from sales professionals, let me just say every deal counts today. We all could use a little extra coaching during these challenging times. For many smaller organizations I’ve talked with, it’s the difference between surviving and closing their businesses forever.
Is your organization leveraging email?
Are your team members using email to develop and nurture relationships with your best clients? Are you tracking the results you’re getting from your various email campaigns?
With people working remotely, email has become the digital workhorse for both internal and external communications. Have your different teams started to systematize the communication process for both sales and financial professionals?
Are you using digital video conferencing capabilities to connect?
Are your best sales professionals learning how to use video to build stronger relationships with key clients and prospects? Do you have digital presentations prepared to share your best ideas with clients?
How would you improve your website?
For many B2B businesses they need a digital refresh. Many don’t map with the customer buying process. They don’t meet your buyers’ needs. Does it make the impression you want when potential clients are looking for new suppliers? Have you had it reviewed with an eye to seeing if it might use a refresh and upgrade?
Many older websites are difficult to navigate for customers using mobile devices. Do the individual pages load quickly? Are they easy to read and act on? Is your site search friendly?
Do you know how much business you’re doing through your website currently?
What might you do to increase that number geometrically? Today, your website can provide you with a platform for both commerce and sharing information with your clients and partners.
Have you considered how you might use your site for increasing lead generation? Many organizations use their websites to support different states in the buyer’s journey. In many industries, the buyer is over 60% through the buying process before they reach out to an individual salesperson.
Does your site take this into account? Digital technologies can help you bridge that gap. Does your site position your firm as a market leader and a trusted partner to their clients?
Many newer technologies could help leverage your customer service agents and even automate some of the more routine activities to improve the customer experience. We are seeing many organizations leveraging a wide range of technologies to provide their potential clients with an excellent customer experience. Are you taking advantage if these new lower cost options?
How have your digital sales channels changed?
Are you familiar with the many different platforms including Thomas Register, Automation Direct, and various LinkedIn communities serving your markets?
When I first started working with one client, over 35% of his leads and sales came through Thomas Register. What would that number be today? Many businesses haven’t changed how they go to market and the number is less than 5% annually. Thomas Register has worked very hard to keep and grow their influence in the digital world. There are many ways for you to learn from their success.
Do you know who your best clients are?
What qualities do they share? Have you considered developing an account base marketing program for the top 10% of client base? Do you know that many of your competitors may be beginning to implement account-based marketing programs?
What we can learn from successful ABM programs could be many blogs. We will go into further details on future blogs. I think you’ll be surprised by what I’ve learned.
We’ve looked at a number of digital marketing capabilities today. I hope this blog has got you thinking, “What can digital marketing do for me?” There are many great ways to leverage these digital marketing capabilities. We discuss digital capabilities in more depth over the coming weeks and months.
I’ve shared several tools to upgrade your marketing capabilities but How Do You Build a Better Marketing Message? Next week we will start talking about what message you want to share as you reach out to your clients.
We are going this direction because of the changes we’ve experienced over the past several months. We will work hard to help get you and your organization back on track as quickly as possible. See you next week!
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