The One Piece Of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without

Brian Carroll recently contributed to RainToday's latest e-publication - "The One Piece Of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without". This is a series of articles from various thought leaders in the B2B marketing industry based around the question "What is the one piece of advice you simply can't generate leads without". While I have downloaded it I haven't had much of a chance to read through it. Given the type of doc this is a quiet lunchtime read is in order.

You can download "The One Piece Of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without" from the RainToday website.

Blame the Customers

Oil companies don't have the greatest reputation amongst consumers. With global warming on the agenda most oil companies are trying to clean up their image and remake themselves as friendly companies. But sometimes they just can't help themselves.

At present there is an inquiry being held by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) into alleged anti-competitive and anti-consumer behaviour amongst the oil companies who own petrol stations here in Australia.

One thing the ACCC is interested in is the large swings that take place in the price of petrol on a weekly basis, with the price rising and falling over 10% at times. This doesn't happen overseas (as my experience in London proved - often the price would move no more than 1-2p in two weeks at most.

So what does the Managing Director of Caltex Australia(part of Texaco) say? These changes are in the consumer psyche. That is, consumers expect the changes, thus the oil companies deliver them. In other words, it is the consumers who are to blame, not the suppliers!

As Keanu has said on many an occasion, woah!

Isn't blaming your customers the last thing you want to do, at least publicly? I know that every organisation has problem clients and we complain internally about them but to publicly come out and complain shows little respect for Caltex's customers. It is as if the price fluctuations are a problem for Caltex. If this is the case why not educate customers to expect steady prices throughout the week. Wouldn't that be better than simply pointing the finger? Caltex marketing, are you listening?

Looking for new stuff to make marketing better

I love new technology, especially when it makes my life easier. I also like it when it makes marketing better. Easier is OK, but better is, well, better. I think that is part of the problem with email marketing today: the sending of a marketing email to 10,000 people on your database is too easy. As a result not enough thought is put into marketing emails at times. Seth Godin recently commented on something similar with regards to the effort put into marketing campaigns which are inexpensive.

People don't make the effort of making sure they are spot on with their cheap campaigns as they would with more expensive campaigns. But why, Seth asks, should there be any difference in the quality of campaigns?

The modern marketer is spoiled in the ways we can reach our audience and this can make us very lazy. The trick is use what we have in a smart way, not recklessly or thoughtlessly.

With the above in mind, I want to look at new technologies, ideas, etc that help to make marketing better. Some of them might make marketing easier, and that's great, but I want to look at stuff that makes things better, that helps to work smarter as marketers, and thus helps us to do our job better. This could be a new technology a start-up is developing or some new insight from academia.

So if you know of any new ideas or solutions that should be covered as part of the discussion, drop me a line at pvasey@gmail.com.

Note: that I am trying not to fall into the trap that many do with regards to things like CRM software. CRM Software is an enabler to better customer relationships, but you need the systems, people and attitudes in place to make it successful.

Who is responsible for the lies

As marketers we have an interesting ethical tight rope to walk each and every day. On one hand we must present our employer's/client's products in the best light, focusing on the most beneficial positives. On the other hand we do have a responsibility to those which read/hear/see our marketing that what we say is honest.

But what happens when lies creep in?

Now, I am not talking about where we round up some numbers, etc. I am talking about a situation where we present information which we know is incorrect or at the very least is likely to be incorrect. Where does the buck stop?

I raise this point because at present we have a very interesting situation in Australia. The federal government and leading business groups are concerned that at the next federal election - which is due to take place in the coming months - the opposition will get in. And much of the support for the opposition party is coming as a result of industrial relations laws which the government created last year.

The opposition has, of course, said that they would repeal some of the legislation. So a marketing campaign based on an economic report, requested by the business groups and government, has been released stating what a terrible thing it would be if the opposition were allowed to have their way: lost jobs, out of control inflation, terrible things for the average punter.

But apparently, if you actually take a look at the report some of the numbers are a bit rubbery and don't take into account a number of things. The conclusions are apparently at best a guide. If you were a betting man, you would probably not put money down based on what the report says is the likely outcome. Yet there are obviously marketing people who have put together a series of crisp ads throwing around the conclusions from this report like they are facts. The average Australian whose experience of economics is what they learnt in high school is none the wiser. Someone involved in the campaign has got to have realised that what they are marketing is lies or at best answers to an entirely different question to the one they are putting at the top of their ads. But is anyone involved willing to take responsibility for this campaign and fix the problem?

Now I am using the above campaign as an example, but there are probably plenty of other examples if you take a look around you.

We should all take responsibility

It has only been in recent years that marketing has earned it stripes as a bona fide profession. This is partly because a credibility has developed around marketers. We are not shady people selling magic potions off the back of a truck, constantly moving from one town to the next.

We are, in general, professionals who well understand the various aspects of the businesses we are involved in, tapping into the financial, technical and customer sides of the business. We can be powerful people. But with power comes responsibility, which some of us forget at times.

We need to chastise those marketers who would give our profession a bad name and drag it back down with snake oil salespeople. But that means we all have a part to play. Let it be known that those who are unscrupulous are not part of our profession. Let us loudly voice our criticism of marketing campaigns which have dubious claims. We have worked too hard to let marketing return to the dark ages.

Pushing the envelope

I recently moved house and as such had to sign up with a new energy supplier. The one that was best suited to me was a new supplier I had never heard of.

Now the first piece of marketing I see from them is the letter that arrives in the mail a few days later. The envelope has in big letters:

We're excited about gas and electricity.
Even if you're not. 

This is kind of a weird statement, I believe, when you are introducing yourself to a new customer. OK, great, they're passionate about what they do. I'll give them credit for that. But why mention anything about whether I am excited or not. That's not important. Are they belittling me?

Again, I think I can see what they are getting at. They know that I might not be excited but they are not saying that's OK. It is irrelevant and something they shouldn't say to a new customer who has never used your services before.

I don't know if they bothered testing this before they started using the line. Did they test it on new customers as well as existing customers? I would guess that this envelope is just their standard envelope and that the company doesn't have a different one for sending info to new customers. But I think something a little more 'warm and fuzzy' might be appropriate.

They are showing passion but it isn't quite working.

Branding: Are we being conned by capitalism?

Ross Gittins, the Sydney Morning Herald's Economics Editor normally writes about economic policies, etc but in yesterday's paper he wrote a piece - Why we put tickets on ourselves - that young people today "don't consider they're giving the brand free advertising" when wearing clothing and accessories which are heavily branded. He says that they are not interested in "what they're doing for the brand, it's what the brand's doing for them."

His conclusion to the piece is that "you have to be pretty shallow to imagine your identity and personality is something you can buy, wear or drive. A victim of materialism, in fact."

"And if such delusions prompt you to run up huge credit card debts or work long hours in a job you don't like while neglecting your family, you've been conned by capitalism," he says.

It certainly is food for thought for us marketers. While you may not agree with everything that Ross Gittins says in this piece I think it is worthwhile taking a step back from our roles, especially in B2C and look at whether we are being socially responsible. Are we acting in the best interests of society.

It is very easy to get caught up in what we do, in our KPIs, bonuses, in the success or otherwise of our businesses that we sometimes forget about the impact our marketing and products have on the end users, whether it be good or bad.

Obviously this is part of a much broader social debate around marketing which we might discuss further in the future.

Digital outlook 2007

I came across an interesting report via Robert Kawasaki's blog - "How to change the world".

How do we as producers, marketers, and advertisers interact with consumers in the 'brave, new world' that we see evolving online?

No one has the whole answer and I don't think there is a complete answer to be had as things continue to move and change so quickly. There are Youtubes and Myspaces being created every day. Some will grow to be one of the next big things and some will create seismic shifts in how we interact digitally. But this report certainly looks to provide a very useful guide for the here and now.

Avenue A. Razorfish: 2007 Digital Outlook Report

Marketing's Value to the Business

As marketers, we are often called to demonstrate the value to the business of what we do.

It can be difficult to do this, especially when you are thinking with your marketing 'brain'. Like writing a brochure or creating an advertisement we need to consider what is important to the audience receiving this information.

The following five points, from a new ITSMA presentation titled "Making the Case for Marketing: Communicating with Senior Management" are a good start for any time you need to present back to the business what you are delivering:

1. Be clear on the business' goals, context, and objectives
2. Understand the internal stakeholders
3. Define the contribution marketing will make and set objectives
4. Develop the marketing and internal communications plan
5. Measure and communicate marketing's impact

Make Marketing History: Geek Marketing 101.

I have recently come across this post from 'Make Marketing History'. In the technology sector I have in the past struggled with some of the attitudes or beliefs in organisations regarding marketing. Some times we get so enamoured with the technology we forget what the reality is: it is still something which needs to be properly marketed, even if it IS the best thing since sliced bread.

Make Marketing History: Geek Marketing 101.

Why do I have to change?

I bought a car recently. It's a Ford Focus. It has an automatic gearbox.

I have driven cars with auto gearboxes for a number of years without any trouble. But what I have found is that this car does small kangaroo hops when I drive away from speed bumps in the road, as it kicks back from second gear into first to gain better acceleration. The car has had this problem virtually since I got it about three weeks ago.

After having it serviced the problem remained and so the head technician took me out for a test drive this afternoon. After driving it with little problem, the car did a couple of little hops. The explanation to me is that there is nothing wrong with the car. It is my driving style. Apparently I am confusing the computer which manages the gearbox. I have to change my style to suit the car.

Why?

I don't drive the car aggressively nor treat it poorly yet I have to change. The car can't be reprogrammed to suit me. Why not? If all the other cars that I have driven in the past suit my driving style, why can't this one?

It would be great if the car learned a person's style and adapted things such as gear changes, etc to meet that style. I am sure the technology is available. Who's going to create it?

But then I suppose this car is like other products I buy which don't quite suit me but I buy them as they are the next best thing to what I need. Is it possible to make mass produced products customised for each individual?

Poor training kills telesales

Earlier today I received a phone call from a friendly woman in a call centre offering me a free mobile phone. The fact that she was obviously calling from an Indian call centre makes this story no less relevant. This can and does happen everywhere in call centres.

I asked a few questions which she could not answer and instead of trying to find the answer she hung up on me! That's right a sales person hung up on me for asking questions about their organisation and offer. Here's how it went:

Sales: "Hi I'm calling from XXXX (name removed to hide the guilty). We work with 3G networks."

Me: "Is 3G Networks a company? I haven't heard of them?"

Sales: "Haven't you heard of 3G networks?"

Me: "No. Who are they?"

Sales: "I am calling from XXXX. We work with 3G networks."

Me: "I haven't heard of either company. Who is your organisation?"

Sales (ignoring my question): "We would like to offer you a free mobile phone."

Me: "I already have a mobile phone, thanks."

Sales: "I know. That's why we would like to offer you another one."

Me: "Why do I need another phone?"

Sales: "We are offering you a phone as your number has been specially selected."

Me: "But you haven't answered my questions - who 3G networks is and why I need another phone?"

The phone line went dead.

I honestly wasn't trying to be difficult. I was trying to find out about the sales person's company and why they thought I needed a second phone. The problem was the script in front of her didn't provide the answers and no one had trained her with the information she needed. So with that failing the sales person tried to continue down the safe route of the call script. When that failed she gave up.

But the worst part would have to be that she hung up on me. Why? She initiated the call. I am asking questions - simple, logical questions. If you haven't heard of an organisation before you obviously want to know who they are. And I was intrigued as to why they thought I needed a second mobile phone.

If you are running an outbound call centre they are usually at the front line of your sales force. If they are trained poorly then the image they present to your customer is not going to be very positive at all. That is going to cost you sales and hurt your reputation, especially when you are in a competitive market space like mobile phones.

Sales and Marketing on the same page

Brian Carroll over at 'B2B lead generation' makes a great point about the relationship problems between sales and marketing.

While I have talked about the trust problem between sales and marketing in a previous post, Brian points out that there is also the issue of the two teams being on the same page when it comes to definitions. What marketing calls a lead isn't always the same as what sales calls a lead because often they have differing opinions because of their job descriptions. Brian points out that the CEO - but it just has to be the person in charge overall, whatever their title - needs to take the lead in making sure that everyone is on the same page.

In my current role, marketing, sales and management have one definition of a lead and it makes things easy for everyone. The trick is to make sure that the the description of a lead is definitive and that there can be no argument from any party as to whether a lead passed from marketing to sales fulfills the definition.

Sometimes this makes it more difficult for marketing but at the end of the day we know what we have acheived.

How does marketing contribute?

I was talking to a sales person this week who didn't believe in marketing. He believes marketing is worthless and a waste of resources.

The bias might have something to do with the outlook that this sales person has. He is successful in what he does and his success comes in the way he crafts his story. He doesn't like marketing crafting the story.

The problem is that in this case the success of the sales person is for now. And growth will come from sales success. But in order to grow an organisation BIGTIME you need more than sales. You need to get the message out in other ways.

Marketing tells stories and prepares the way for sales. Not alway for today but for the future. And a company's success isn't just built on one day. It is built on months or years of hard work and consist story telling.

An example of good customer service

Recently I have been having problems receiving my magazine subscription for Marketing. This is a good magazine and well worth a read if you have can get hold of it.

Anyway, after some poor customer service and not receiving my magazines I was not a happy subscriber. But the team @ Niche Media did a good job in keeping me on board. How?

1. They admitted their mistakes. There has been some problems their end.
2. They didn't use the problems as an excuse.
3. They gave me an incentive to stick with them.
4. There was accountability. People told me to speak to them should there be any further problems.

Great job and well done to all involved. It is so nice when you get good service.

Getting lead generation right with trade shows

I admit it. I am not a big fan of trade shows and the like, especially those whose topics are broad - eg CeBIT (for IT).

My experience is that trade shows yield little in the way of quality leads. Most people, no matter how excited they are at the event tend to turn into 'tyre kickers' post event - or that's what the sales team says. So what is happening?

According to Brian Carroll only 5-15% of leads taken at trade shows are sales funnel ready. The rest need to be nurtured. More over at Brian B2B lead generation blog: 'Generating real sales leads from tradeshows/conferences'

The problem with loyalty... or lack there of

Simon Caulkin in yesterday's Observer business ection looks at the loyalty problem affecting mobile phone companies. But this problem is not unique to mobile phone companies.

Customer Loyalty is important for all businesses. But mobile phone companies seem to be getting on top of the problem.

Trouble with mobile phone users is, they get around

Gates & Murdoch on the future of the media

I think anyone in marketing also has some interest in the media. Afterall, so much of our content is published in media in one form or another. We go hand in hand.

So it was with great interest that I read the following articles published last Monday in the UK's Independent newspaper. Firstly, Bill Gates talks about his vision for the media 'gadget' of the future. And then excerpts from Rupert Murdoch's recent speech to the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers in which Murdoch says that good journalism will mean that the news media will not die.

The difference between good customers and loyal customers

I am reading Ben McConnell's and Jackie Huba's "Creating Customer Evangelists" at the moment.

They talk about creating customers who are passionate about your product. This is more than just loyalty. Because loyalty can be for a number of reasons, not necessarily that the customer likes your product.

For example, here in the UK I have subscribed to a well known cable TV provider. I didn't want to go with them but unfortunately I couldn't get the satellite service because there are trees in the way and they are not on the property.

The reason I didn't want to go with the cable TV provider was because of the stories of poor customer service. And it has come true for me. I went through four set top boxes in the first month. Recently, without warning, the company did an upgrade on their equipment in my suburb. Resulting technical problems caused me to be with TV service for almost four days.

I haven't received an kind of apology. I can request a credit for the days that they didn't service me, but it wont make much of a difference to the service (but that another story altogether). I am stuck with them as they are the only provider for my area - unless I want to go to another provider with an even worse reputation for customer service.

So yes, I am a loyal customer, but no, I am not a good customer. I tell friends to stay away from this company, lest they suffer the same poor service.

We need giant bulleseyes and homing beacons!

Earlier this month Seth Godin produced a very accurate piece on marketers being like hunters. Instead of 'farming' and then 'harvesting' leads we are blundering about with rocks trying to find the well hidden prospects.

Why can't good prospects walk around with giant bulleyes painted on their chest? That would make things easier. or maybe homing beacons, so we could just dial up a webpage type in a search for the kind of prospect we are after and voila! A pretty map with prospects! Whoa! What an idea!

But seriously, Seth's comments have more to them than first meets the eye. We need to look at ways to develop relations (nurture and grow) and then harvet the prospects for our sales teams when they are ripe for the picking. That's great marketing and it happens every day. But not everywhere and certainly by not enough people.

Good Customer Relationship Partners are important

I subscribe to three magazines at the moment. One is a marketing magazine from here in the UK, one is from Australia and one is from the US.

However, lately, only my UK magazine has been turning up. I have had problems before with magazines not turning up and you get the same comments everytime from the publisher - "that would be a postal problem. Check with the postal service."

It is frustrating. I was subscribed to the US mag when I moved house earlier this year, but I was subscribed to the other two magazines. Both acknowledged my change of address but only one seems to have got it right. But then again, it could be the post.

Which brings me to the to my key point. You need to have good partners who you can rely on to complete the customer service loop. There is no point in making the customer feel warm and fuzzy about handing over the cash for your product if you are simply going to make them dread the follow up.

Your partners need to be aiming for the same goals as your organisation. They must have the same customer service ideals or better. And the hand off - the passing of the customer, the sale, etc must be smooth. You need to get that right as well.

Are you providing your partners the information they need to do their job effectively for you?

If your partners don't have the tools or information needed to be effective then their poor form is going to be reflected on you.

Sometimes organisations go into partnerships thinking that a bit of training and a signed agreement will get the partnership going and that is all that is needed. NOT TRUE!

Partnerships take time and you really need to look hard at who you want to partner with. Then you need to work hard so that everyone involved in the partnership is working together for a single goal with all the tools and information required to get the job done. Even then, it is not a guaranteed success, but you will have a much greater chance.