tdog.blog

Hi there! Welcome to our blog. Don't forget to sign up for our free RSS feed. We Triple Dog Dare Ya! And thanks for visiting!

We’ve all had this happen to us: we get ready for a trade show or other event. We prepare banners, have CDs to handout chock full of demos and other useful information, we get white papers printed out, have testimonials and customer success stories memorized, and then we arrive at the event. By all accounts, its a smashing success, with lots of folks at our booth and lots of business cards collected over several days.

The trade show team gets back to HQ and then they get busy with other stuff. Those leads, so hopeful and glimmering just a few days ago, get very cold. After a few weeks, some action is taken on them, but nobody can remember what the conversation was all about. Unfortunately, this happens a lot.

Here are some ideas to turn this thing around. It all comes down to effective lead scoring. On a web site or with tools like Eloqua, you can drive very specific lead scoring techniques that take into account a whole bunch of parameters and vectors. For the kind I’m talking about, you’re going to use some simple rules of thumbs (heuristics) and your trade show or event team. This kind of thing has to work five minutes after the event starts, when everyone is fresh, and be just as effective on the last day of a weeklong marathon.

First of all, you have to have a plan going in. Your trade show team has to know how to evaluate the people they talk to. They have to know, for example, that you are targeting C-level marketing executives at companies with $500 million in revenue (and up) who are looking to purchase in the next 6-9 months. That’s the first tier. Second tier are the people who work for those C-level marketing execs. Third tier are other C-level executives who might have the ear of that first tier (such as the CFO or CIO). Fourth tier is everyone else.

Without this knowledge, your team is flying blind. They won’t know how to categorize the people who visit their booth or talk to them at a networking event.

Once your team is in place, they have to act differently along two vectors: who the person is (as identified by our tiers above) and what their level of interaction is. Don’t assume that just because they are in the third or fourth tier that they are somehow a bad lead.

Let me give you an example. Your team is at their booth, and their perfect tier 1 prospect walks up: a CMO at a $700 million dollar company who self-identifies a need to move within the next quarter or two using your solution. However, he doesn’t linger to talk seriously, nor does he take a Demo CD or schedule a demo later on in the show. He just leaves his business card and walks away. Predictably, you never do get an appointment.

Later on in the same day, though, a lower level marketing manager at a somewhat smaller firm ($300 million) comes by and asks a lot of questions. They sign up for the very next demo at your booth in an hour, stays after for more questions, then leaves not only their own business card but their bosses’ card as well. They want you to call so he can introduce you to the CMO and the CFO (who must sign off on all capital purchases of software).

Who do you think is a hotter lead? Obviously, it’s the second one. The lower-level manager’s level of interaction pushed them up higher in the list.

My suggestion is to keep track of all this activity with a simple system of note-taking. Those visitors who drop by and just leave a business card after minimal interaction get nothing jotted on the back of their card. If they ask general questions about your product or service and take literature, put a star on the back of their card. If they ask specific questions about their own situation and seem to want some kind of assessment, put them down for two stars. If they ask for a demo right at the show, or take a demo CD with them, put them down for three stars. Finally, if they’re seeking a post-event call or want to talk with you further at a happy hour before the show is over, put them down for four stars.

Combine this star rating with what you know about what tier they are in. To me, the more stars, the better (regardless of tier), but let your instinct guide you. It may be possible that a lukewarm tier one prospect might be better for you than a red-hot tier three (as the latter may have no signing authority, ultimately) but at least you have some way, with your star notation, to prioritize trade show leads.

Another suggestion: at the end of each day, enter your business card data into a database along with notes on your interactions (you may have to do this a few times a day to keep your memory from going soft). Urgent or red-hot leads can then get special treatment, like emails to set up calls or meetings, right away, and you can stop worrying that you won’t get to them after the show.

Bookmark:

Comments(0)

If you’re thinking about building a microsite, here are some little pointers, rules, and caveats that can help you get your head around the problem.

1. Rule #1 of microsites: remember the micro part. In most cases, 3-5 pages of information are more than enough.

2. Rule #2 of microsites: you don’t have to slavishly mimic your main site. Yes, you should brand your microsite using your organization’s brand guidelines, but it’s okay to extend the brand a bit.

3. If you don’t have an easy to remember URL, you’d better have a really strong campaign that drives folks from SEM or email. Can you imagine trying to get people to remember to type in http://www.example.com/mycampaign/index.php?id=111111031312? I’ve seen it happen.

4. Just because you have a domain for your microsite doesn’t mean that you’re out of the woods. I’ve seen too many organizations get a really nifty memorable domain and then just send someone to an existing product page, like http://www.example.com/products/warehouse.

5. No call to action? No need to spend money, time, and effort. Seriously folks, if you’re trying to get people to see your marvelous little viral video, just post it on YouTube. If you don’t have a call to action, and if you don’t ask them for information, what’s the point? Go back to bed!

6. Answer all their questions on the microsite–or at least, as many as you can think of. This is the time to put your sales hat on, and part of that process is thinking in terms of customer objections. If you can eliminate or reduce objections, you’ll hit your objectives!

7. Make it super easy for visitors to tell their friends and colleagues about your microsite. It’s okay to ask for help marketing your stuff. You can make this happen easily with outrageously good/truthful/funny/sticky/viral content, and a simple “forward to a friend” feature.

Bookmark:

Comments(0)

A lot of you have a situation in which you’re trying to generate leads in a market that requires various sign-offs before you close the sale. For example, you may be selling enterprise software to big corporations, or complex services to organizations (like non-profits or school boards) in which there is more than one person (and often a committee) involved in the sales process.

If you’re in this situation, my advice is to figure out who the key players are: the Real Buyer (the guy or gal who signs the check), the Champion, and the VP of No. The Real Buyer needs to be made aware of your offering at the 10,000 foot detail–they really don’t have the time to digest lots of information or attend long sales pitches, demos, or what have you. These people get benefits-laden information in a high-touch fashion, such as personalized notes, special newsletters, etc. Never assume that the Real Buyer is the CEO or top banana of an organization! The real buyer can be a line manager or someone else entirely, like the CFO.

The Champion can be just about anyone in the organization, from a lowly receptionist all the way to the CEO of the organization. They’re the person who roots for you, the one (usually) in most pain, or who is otherwise incentivized to get something moving. They’re the person who fills you in, for example, on your standing in the RFP process. For this person, do everything and be available at all times. If they need background materials, provide it. If they want to interview your SMEs, arrange it. If they call you at midnight, take the call. Build up trust. Never try to sell this person. Show your product’s pimples and warts. Build trust.

The VP of No is that person, often hard to identify, who has the right to veto your proposal no matter how many other yeses there are. If you’re not sure who this person is, ask the Champion–they’ll definitely know. Once you know who this person is, don’t avoid them. Instead of showing them benefits-heavy messaging (like you would with the Real Buyer) give this person lots and lots of facts, features, and empirical evidence. Don’t tell them that lots of your customers like your product; show them testimonials, customer satisfaction surveys, and other hard data. A VP of No tends to be smart, savvy, analytical, and extremely experienced in their industry and dealing with vendors. Never make a promise that you can’t fulfill, or even sounds like you can’t fulfill.

Bookmark:

Comments(0)