MarketingAutomation.net

Eat less. Don’t be a prospect glutton! Focus on the quality of your leads and, like the satisfaction that comes from eating a fine meal made of gourmet ingredients, you will be pleased with the results. Your sales cycle will be leaner and healthier, and your team will be more productive when they “cut out the fat” of unqualified leads.

Exercise more. This translates to staying nimble and keeping on top of trends. Social networking came seemingly out of nowhere to become the game-changer of 2009. Marketers who didn’t adopt quickly are getting left behind in 2010. It’s like surfing: You want to ride the waves, not chase after them.

Give up bad habits. Pestering prospects with unwanted emails is a bad habit that marketers need to break. Try to change your ways by focusing on permission-based marketing that provides useful information that potential customers want and find useful. Don’t waste time sending superfluous junk that gets deleted instantly.

Save money. The best way for marketers to keep this resolution is to find and implement a robust marketing automation solution. Not only will you save money, but you’ll also maximize ROI and increase efficiency. You can’t lose!

Make friends. Yes, that’s right: Make friends with your customers. Customers are wary of salespeople and marketers, but they trust friends. Aside from the obvious benefit of reducing their skepticism and building trust, you’ll also learn their wants and needs, their likes and dislikes, and so on — very valuable information for marketers!

Work smarter. Don’t just vow to work harder this year — work smarter. Marketing automation tools are one of the simplest and quickest ways for you to make this happen. It’s not about how many hours you work and how many leads you amass; it’s about how many quality leads you generate, and the effectiveness of your follow-up with these leads. A good marketing automation solution is key to ensuring that you pass only the most qualified leads on to your Sales team, allowing you to focus on lead nurturing with coordinated, automated processes such as drip campaigns.

Another off-label use of marketing automation was related to me by a salesguy at software company who had just gone through a rigorous RFP process like the kind described in the previous post (Part 1). The prospect had not yet announced the winning vendor, and although the salesguy knew his company was a finalist, he was becoming restless trying to figure out whether they’d won the contract or not. He turned to his marketing automation solution to do a little detective work and was ecstatic to find a particularly revealing tidbit: A wave of visitors to his company’s website had found it by clicking a link on the prospect’s website that announced it had chosen the software company as its vendor. Of course, the salesguy had to feign delighted surprise when the new client called with the great news, but armed with this valuable piece of information, he was able to resist requests for discounted pricing since he knew the client had already publicly committed to his solution.

This is a brilliantly out-of-the-box way to use marketing automation to your advantage. Stay tuned for Part 3.

Marketing automation tools are great when used as prescribed, but occasional off-label uses can be very rewarding. I’ve recently come across a few “wish-I’d-thought-of-that” ideas on some off-label uses of marketing automation tools. This is the first example in a three-part series of unconventional ways you can make marketing automation work for you.

Many software companies have long sales cycles that involve multiple decision makers and require Requests for Proposals (RFPs). The RFP process is a long one that typically includes a “quiet period” of 30 to 45 days, during which the potential client enters the evaluation phase and is supposed to have no communication whatsoever with the competing vendors. This can be frustrating for companies who want to know how they’re coming along in the deliberations. But what to do if you can’t touch base with the prospect? Marketing automation tools can show you who is visiting your website, how long they’re spending on it, and what they’re looking at while they’re there. If you suddenly see a spike in traffic from a potential client’s IP address, you can bet that your company is a serious contender. Even in a mandatory “quiet period”, you can get an edge over your competitors by using marketing automation tools to gauge a prospect’s level of interest in your product.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Thanksgiving is a time where many of us are reminded of all the things we’re thankful for. But take a moment to really think about your customers — where would you be without them? Let them know how much you value their business with one or more of these ten easy ways to thank your customers:

1. Send them a handwritten note telling them how much you appreciate them. We all know how quick and efficient email is, but go the extra mile and dust off your old pen and paper. Nothing communicates sincerity like a handwritten note, and your customers will appreciate the thoughtfulness. Print your logo or letterhead on blank correspondence cards for a professional touch.
2. Give them the recognition they deserve. Recognition is more or less a form of free publicity, and companies always appreciate publicity. You can mention them on your website or in a publication, or Tweet about what great customers they are.
3. Invite them to open houses and other special events. Make it clear that they are being invited because they are valued customers and you want to thank them by including them in these special events.
4. Value their feedback. Set up an idea exchange to solicit customer feedback. Then, make sure you show that you value their feedback not just by thanking them for it, but by implementing their ideas and suggestions into future product features and letting them know about it. Also, having a designated client advocate periodically check in with customers to see how they’re doing and if they have any problems you can help solve is a great way to make your customers feel included and valued.
5. Acknowledge when they are good to you, and apologize when they’re not. If your customers blog or Tweet about you, pay attention to what they are saying. If it is positive, thank them for the compliment. If it is negative, investigate the situation and be prepared to apologize and rectify whatever issue they might be having. Don’t think of negative comments as an assault on your company; rather, think of them as opportunities for improvement. Let your clients know that you hear their frustrations and are doing something about the situation.
6. Send them a little something nice. A birthday card or holiday greetings are time-tested customer appreciation strategies that have become par for the course. But what would your customers do if they received something more personalized, like a gift card for their neighborhood coffee shop or a paperback book by their favorite author? These are small gestures that communicate more than just appreciation for your customers — they’re evidence that you pay attention to conversational cues and clues about them as an individual, and that you see them as more than just a number.
7. Give them the inside scoop. One great way to thank clients that will also benefit your own company is by giving them the inside scoop about new features and products. Ask them to test your Beta releases so they’re the first to get to try your latest and greatest features. They feel valued, and you get crucial customer feedback while your product release is still in the developmental stages. It’s a win-win situation.
8. Offer special deals, discounts, and opportunities to your most valued customers. A lot of companies give their best offers only to new customers; once they’ve got you hooked, you don’t get any more special treatment. Turn this logic on its head and start thinking of what sorts of special deals or perks you can offer to your established customers. This strategy not only thanks your clients, but in many cases it will win their continued business.
9. Share helpful information with them. Best practices and white papers contain lots of valuable tips and information that most customers find quite useful. Share any and all information with clients if you feel they could benefit from it. They will appreciate it, and it’s a great excuse to touch base or stay in contact with your customer base.
10. Give them special access to the experts. Thought leadership webinars, when someone who is an expert in the field or at your company gives customers advice, are a great way to do this. Another way is to get an industry expert to periodically write guest blog posts.

Happy Thanksgiving from MarketingAutomation.net!

It’s trade show season again! You set up your snazzy booth and distributed all of your punchy handouts. You networked with tons of great people and collected scads of new leads. Now it’s time to go home.

But what to do with all those fresh leads you’ve amassed?

What better way to follow up with them than by taking advantage of the magic of marketing automation? Post-show lead nurturing is easy when you use your marketing automation system to:

• Create a “trade show” campaign to track leads by source
• Associate this campaign with a dollar amount so you can see immediate ROI
• Set up a drip campaign to take care of most lead nurturing functions
• Track how many of your trade show leads become opportunities and, ultimately, new customers

All you have to do is bring home your list of names, compose a handful of emails, and decide how frequently they are to be sent out. The marketing automation system will take care of the rest, leaving you free to follow up directly with the most promising leads while allowing you to automate the lead nurturing that normally takes up so much time. It’s a win-win setup that makes a good marketing automation solution a must-have for trade show season.