We often hear about marketing and sales being lumped together. Does your company do this? It can be the wrong approach. Here’s why.
The goal of marketing is to find the right people and get them interested. Any activities that fall under the marketing umbrella should have the end goal of stimulating customer response.
On the other hand, the goal of sales is to take the leads obtained through marketing and convince those folks to buy. Remember: they’re not just buying your product or service – they’re buying into your story.
Part of being on a team is consistency. Does the story your sales team is telling match the story in your marketing? Unless you’ve trained everyone on your team, they might be telling your company’s story in different ways. But the language used, who says it, and where it takes place makes a huge difference in your sales results.
Here are six steps to get more sales with your marketing:
1. Inventory your business.
Take a good, hard look at your current customers. Where did they come from? What types of transactions are they doing? What are some common traits of your customers? And what is it that your business is doing really well to keep these customers happy and coming back for more? Once you can answer these questions, you’ll have a better idea of how to move forward.
2. Identify who you want more of.
Many folks aren’t picky about their customers – they just want more of them. But that’s leaving the future of your customer base to chance. Instead, figure out who you can serve well and who can serve your business in the long run. Is it millennials? FSBOs? Realtors®? Determine who you’re looking for and then you can work on finding them.
3. Figure out where you can find these people.
Once you’ve identified your targets, then you can go where they are. If you’re looking for millennials, you’ll find them on Instagram and Snapchat. If FSBOs are your target, look at Google and Facebook. Want Realtors? Look to LinkedIn, Google, and email. Don’t just throw up a website and hope your people will come to you. Go to them.
4. Find out what resonates with them.
“We offer title services” might be how you see your business, but it’s not going to be compelling to a potential customer. Consider what your targets want and what they’re worried about. A millennial is quite possibly a first-time buyer who’s in the dark about the closing process. FSBOs just want to sell their property already. Realtors want to get and sell listings. Determine what folks need and then tell them how working with you will solve it. This is when you figure out how, exactly, you’re going to tell your story.
5. Focus up.
You can’t be all things to all people. You also can’t target your sales efforts to several groups at the same time. Pick one or two and train your laser focus on those segments.
6. Measure success.
You can’t build on your efforts if you don’t even keep track of how successful you are. Make sure your goals are SMART – specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-specific.
The old way of doing business would be to let your marketing and sales team go to town while everyone else sticks to their regular tasks. But remember: your entire staff is your sales and marketing team. Train your people to talk about why prospects should work with your company. Make the sales and marketing goals clear company goals. Include everyone and you’ll have all of your employees working towards the same goals.
Want to learn more about this topic? Although the webinar has past, contact us today for your free sales and marketing consultations.
Sign-up for our upcoming joint webinar with Dr. Cindy McGovern with Orange Leaf Consulting: Watch Your Language! The difference between sales and marketing (and how to do more with both!)