The Buyers Funnel and Your Political Power: Joined at the Hip - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Buyer’s Funnel and Your Political Power: Joined at the Hip

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You

Years in marketing: 0 – 5 / 5 – 10 / 10+ Company side / agency or vendor side Marketing / VP / CEO / Sales / Prod Mkt Biggest challenge

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Me - Revenue Coach

Determined to solve marketing and sales problems

• nce and for all

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Back to you

1) What you want out of this 2) What you are doing now

Your working life: Revenue Realities

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Same old problem, getting worse

• Marketers have always lacked the respect of top

management

• Marketing and sales have never been aligned
• Now it’s even worse, because:

a) Customers are completely in control of the selling (buying) process b) Interactions with customers happen in real-time c) Tools changing faster than ever d) Managers expect metrics – and ROI

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Inside

It’s always been broken. It just hurts more now.

Technology

• Social. Cloud. Mobile. + SEO. SEM. Web. Email. Blogs.

Outside

Buyers have changed the way they buy – and what they expect. Sellers haven’t kept up.

Revenue Reality: Your working life

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Inside

Insiders no longer lead you. Customers lead you. You lead the insiders.

Technology

Only do what your customers want:

• Social. Cloud. Mobile. + SEO. SEM. Web. Email. Blogs.

Outside

Understand WHAT they want to buy from you and HOW they want to buy it

Revenue Remedy: Your new working life

Inside

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Inside: Your three biggest enemies

Subjectivity

Everyone is an “expert” on marketing; everyone has an opinion

Uncertainty

You “can’t know” what will work until you try it

Exclusivity

What worked for someone else may not work for you! “In marketing, imitation is the sincerest form of stupidity.”

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Inside: The illogic of marketing

Marketers are expected to communicate effectively with customers Salespeople portend to be the experts on customers Marketers outsource the customer relationship Marketers are not allowed, by salespeople, to interview customers Have you ever told a salesperson what you were really thinking? Why are you outsourcing THE most important part

• f your job?

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Inside: Marketing failure is tolerated

Would the CEO accept this from:

Finance: “Well, we’re trying different things on the IRS, to see what works.” Production: “We are getting a good product 2%

• f the time.”

Sales: “We’re not listening to customers. We just pitch them.”

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The truth is...

Marketing is so broken, standards are incredibly low Marketers feel completely overworked and overwhelmed Why? Because they are GUESSING.

Technology

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Technology: Guessing is a fool’s game

Social, Cloud, Mobile – How are your customers using these? SEO – what do they type in when they FIRST start searching – not what your weblogs show SEM – start with their phrases, get more clicks Web – what are the top 3 questions they’re asking? Email – what do they want and how often? Blogs - ditto

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Outside

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Buyers have changed the way they buy.

80% - or more – of their questions are answered before talking to a salesperson. Converse & search. Info comes from other customers, not companies Can’t answer their questions? They’re gone. Forever.

They are in control of the buying process!

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A typical B2B Buying Process Funnel

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Revenue Reality: How marketing is done now

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Revenue Remedy: The way marketing should work*

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What makes it work?

'" !() *) * '! & '!

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Find out why they bought and how they bought. Interview, create reports, summarize, analyze, recommend.

DISCOVER DEPLOY DEBATE

Resolve the differences between what they want and what you sell. How they buy vs. how you sell. What you promise

• vs. what they

want delivered. Map out their buying process so you can support it at every step. Build an Action Plan. Stay on the Road.

Your Roadmap To Revenue

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Current customers will teach you how to sell to new customers

They will reveal:

Why they bought How they bought What their concerns were How you satisfied those concerns What they now tell others What they typed into Google – FIRST Trends and challenges (your opportunities) Weakness of competitors

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Magic Questions

How do you feel about our product/service? Are our prices fair? What was your buying process? What is your biggest problem/challenge? What trends do you see in your/our market? If you were CEO of our company tomorrow, what would you fix? Would you start with Google? If so, what would you type in? How would you tweak it? Anything I should have asked?

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You will be able to:

Map out the customer’s buying process Match their questions with the right answers Be ready for them when they take the next step Arm the salespeople with RELEVANT materials Redesign your website so it “starts where they are” Know what will work and what you can ignore LEAD THE COMPANY TO CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY

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Yes, Virginia. You can talk to customers.

It is essential and it is NOT impossible. Best:

Phone interviews – best – of CURRENT CUSTOMERS Only 7 – 10 people of any given type Open-ended questions Conversation report

You can get the names. Your reasons:

I’m supposed to be talking to customers for you all day

• long. Shouldn’t I know who I’m talking to?

I will only be interviewing, not selling The more I know, the more I will be able to help you sell

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The Report and the Meeting

Compile and distribute the Conversation Report Managers, for the first time, will “get it” – it’s like drinking from a firehose of truth While they are in this state, have a two-day brainstorming meeting

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Brainstorming & Planning Meeting

• Day 1

Get the data into the room so everyone can see it – and everyone is “surrounded” with customer realities and desires Use the data to build your brand (promise) “Branding is the promise that you make, your brand is the promise that you keep.” Five tools: Passion, Policies, People, Product/Service, Processes.

• Day 2

Build a Buying Process Map for all products/services Create your Action Plan

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Building a Buying Process Map

• It’s a grid/table
• Stages of the Process (columns)
• Each stage (rows):
• Who’s involved
• What their concerns/questions are
• What answers satisfy them
• What marketing/selling tools/methods work
• Will align marketing and selling efforts, finally
• Will make it easier for your customers to buy

Answers that work Mkt/selling tools Concerns, Questions Who Stage 3 . . . Stage 2 Stage 1

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The Four Types of Products/Services

Based on the amount of scrutiny the buyer applies to the purchase decision

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• /

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• /
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Building an Action Plan

• Decide what you will promote – and how

(this is where social media should come into the conversation)

• Decide what you fill fix – and how: What,

who, when, how, status

• Decide who will produce what, who will own

it and keep it updated

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Find out why they bought and how they bought. Interview, create reports, summarize, analyze, recommend.

DISCOVER DEPLOY DEBATE

Resolve the differences between what they want and what you sell. How they buy vs. how you sell. What you promise

• vs. what they

want delivered. Map out their buying process so you can support it at every step. Build an Action Plan. Stay on the Road.

Your Roadmap To Revenue

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Relish the R-E-S-P-E-C-T

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Thank you. Questions?

Kristin Zhivago Zhivago Management Partners, Inc. Site: Zhivago.com Blog: RevenueJournal.com Book: RoadmapToRevenue.com Twitter: @KristinZhivago LinkedIn: KristinZhivago Google+: +Kristin Zhivago Email: kristin@zhivago.com Oh, and phone: 401-423-2400