Why picking up the phone is no longer an option?
So, what prompted me to write this email? Well, as a millennial, I’m (the internet) tells me to pick up the phone more. As a millennial, I pick up the phone quite a bit. If I want to get a quick answer out of my friends, colleagues or associates, it’s the way forward. However, if someone wants to sell to me, the phone is certainly not the way forward. Too many times in the day, my phone will ring off the hook with another pushy salesman determined to talk about their subject of choice and run through, what is clearly a well-rehearsed script. For me, getting me on the phone as the first touch point is the wrong point in the Sales Funnel and ultimately will achieve nothing. I’m not aware of who you are and getting my personal mobile number is invasive. I’m already on the defensive burner. So, this leaves me to ask the question again, why is picking up the phone no longer an option? I left this question slightly vague. One, to get your attention. Two, to highlight that marketing strategies have become more complex and picking up the phone is more a question of timing.
Because years of people being bombarded with cold calling where 95% of these calls have absolutely no relevance or understanding of the prospective customers’ requirements has left people with no desire to converse in order to run through a pre-scripted conversation in the vain hope that they have the answer to all of their business objectives.
In reality, it is typical that 50% of respondents can be qualified out as not being a good fit for you to do business within the following 12 months, on the lines of having no budget, no timetable, no need and no access to a decision maker.
To conclude, the return on investment from picking up the phone at the very start of the sales funnel is null and void.
Why do we need to start nurturing?
We always talk about increasing our brand awareness, but why?
Well, as you can see from the sales funnel before a potential lead will have a conversation with you, they need to have an awareness of who you are. This can be a post on social media, a recommendation from a friend or even a connection on LinkedIn.
When we talk about to bring someone down the sales funnel, what we actually mean is to get them to the next stage in the decision making process. We do this by teaching them they have a problem (aka peak their interest with differentiation), tailor the problem to their situation using emotion and rationale (consider and evaluate the problem) and finally, assert control to the conversation with a decision and purchase by providing the solution the lead is looking for.
The rest is up to you.
Why is the sales process so important?
53% of companies said that they’d stay loyal to a brand because of the sales experience. (The Challenger Sale, Dixon & Adamson, 2011).
We have a story for you…
We understand you’re different, but let us show you how we’ve seen it play out in a similar company…..An employee in a large organisation needed to hit their KPI target. He’d been working for this company for a number of years and had been relatively successful at the said enterprise. However, hitting the same KPI was becoming ever harder as his target customers had become harder to reach.
In one particular case, he knew the name, email address, phone number and postal address of a particular person he knew he could help. Yet, he wasn’t able to get a meeting with this person.
He eventually turned to LinkedIn and sent a welcoming message. After some conversation and a tailored sales script, the employee was able to get that meeting he’d been working so hard to get.
From start to finish, the conversion time was one week.
So, what’s the solution?
LinkedIn Lead Generation, of course.
“The average person has five social media accounts and spends around 1 hour and 40 minutes browsing these networks every day, accounting for 28% of the total time spent on the internet” (Telegraph).
Since the proliferation of technology, consumers have been changing their behaviour and attitude towards media. If we need to generate. good quality leads, then we need to go where they consume media the most.
Did you know? According to Hubspot, “LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than Facebook & Twitter” (2017).
Why is it so effective? Well, LinkedIn is generally less cluttered and is business orientated. But this is not where it adds the most value. LinkedIn has a powerful search function that allows you to identify which potential leads you are connected to them.
If you can specifically identify your perfect customer, connect with them with a welcoming message and take them through your educational soft sell script, then your chances of winning them as a client are very high.
Easier said than done, right?
That’s correct. Social selling is a salesperson’s job working in marketing. Many marketers fail to put in the necessary effort, time and resources needed in order to nurture those leads. Here at KUB, we have trained our client to reach this high standard and uphold it. Consistency is key.
“Social Selling expands on the age-old of getting to know your customers and meeting their needs”
LinkedIn Lead Generation will give you the time required to run your marketing campaigns yourself whilst having digital selling support. This means you’ll save money in the long run. To get you started, you need a trustworthy, experienced, and reliable team to partner with to show you the ropes.
More Information
For more information on the latest in Digital Marketing, please go to, Get Digital Marketing Ready in 2020.
