It seems as if we all need a good, old-fashioned whack on the head to get our attention. This is a moment when businesses need to connect with the business end of a two-by-four.
Change is in the wind. If there's one lesson the last decade or so has taught us, it's that there's a new economy, and it's global, integrated, and interdependent. The Asian upheaval and a report that 52% of cars sold in this country last year were foreign-made are wake-up calls. While not panicking, astute companies should take heed now. Only those who believe that their success in recent years is due to their superior business capabilities will behave as though it's business as usual. More savvy executives and business owners know that economic winds propel their success.
There are steps for seizing control during changing economic conditions. Here are five practical ideas, or 'empowering concepts,' that can make certain a company will stay on track. Unlike the usual suggestions, these operate as a unified, coherent strategy. Implemented together, they provide the power to keep a business moving in the right direction.
1. Commit full energy to prospect development. The author of an article on how to overcome call reluctance noted, 'The No. 1 reason salespeople fail is poor prospecting habits.'
Wrong! The best salespeople are the worst at prospecting. A top salesperson takes time away from working deals only out of necessity, not by choice. Prospecting and sales are like oil and water: They don't go together. It's time to face this reality and change the approach.
To keep sales moving, the company must generate leads, and the salesperson should close deals. A company's efforts should be directed toward identifying prospective customers and then investing the necessary time and effort to develop these prospects into strong leads for the sales force. Once a company uses this task-directed approach, sales will increase.
2. Reduce sales costs. The traditional approach to increasing sales has been to increase the sales budget. However, rising sales costs can be a red flag that indicates a serious problem brewing. Simply throwing more money into a sales operation today may be a major mistake.
Intense competition, the inability to gain access to prospects, and prospects who are better informed are actually causing sales productivity to decline. They're also driving salespeople to focus on reachable prospects and avoid those who are more difficult to reach.
The traditional strategy is clearly flawed. The goal in the current marketplace is to get salespeople through more doors and connect with prospects in ways that trigger their desire to listen to the sales message. Companies such as Xerox, Micron Computers, and Chubb Insurance are very good at creating a marketing focus that translates into sales activity. What drives sales is a marketing strategy that does not increase sales costs.
3. Aim to be the leader in your field. Now we're getting to the heart of power marketing! If a company is perceived as the leader in its industry, field, or region, tremendous energy is released inside the company. What needs to happen? The task is to shift the emphasis to creating an atmosphere so more prospects will recognize and understand your company. It's important that they have an accurate appreciation of who you are and what you can do.
The main job for any business is to develop techniques that will give prospects a desire to do business with it. When this happens, sales go up while the actual cost of making sales decreases.
4. Protect current customers. Why are businesses more excited about acquiring new customers than about holding current ones? Perhaps it's because so much business is built around sports, hunting, and war images, focusing strictly on the moment. Coming back with the order is a cause for celebration. The 'game' seems to be not so much about winning and losing as about confirming, to ourselves and to others, that we have what it takes to succeed and haven't lost the magic.
Whatever the reason for the preoccupation with new business, lack of attention to current customers does not go unnoticed. Customers today are often cynical and wait for the honeymoon to end. In many companies, a salesperson's primary contact with the customer is when there's something to sell, an action that clients can't fail to notice. In analyzing the operations of one large insurance agency, it was discovered that the dollar gains were more than offset by customers leaving. This occurred during a growth period in the economy. While the sales force was out grabbing new business, existing customers were being snapped up by competitors. There was plenty of activity, but no progress.
Customers sense a lack of attention. They want to feel that they're as important as the orders they place. Yet, when business is slow, we divert energy away from reassuring current customers that they made the right decision when they decided to do business with us. This habit needs breaking.
5. Emphasize a company's long-term strengths. Here's the keystone of power marketing. In a period of change, uncertainty, and unpredictability, the perception of long-term strengths is crucial to a company's continued success. Customers want to do business with firms that demonstrate stability, strength, and performance. Durability makes a difference because taking unnecessary risks is dangerous.
Computer Intelligence's Consumer Technology Index indicates a user 'repurchase ratings' for personal computers. Apple headed the list with 81%, and was followed by such notables as Gateway 2000, 72%; Acer, 69%; Compaq, 60%; Hewlett-Packard, 58% and Dell, 58%. Yet, Apple's sales continued on a steep decline during this period. Only at the beginning of announcements of new machines and a quarterly profit did the sales picture begin to change. Despite inordinate loyalty, some made the move away from Apple.
Customers are more comfortable doing business with companies possessing an accurate and carefully drawn picture of who they are and where they're going, and that appear to have a grasp on the future. This is what puts power in the marketing effort, translating into more business and increased sales. There's a natural bond between people who travel along the same track and share similar values. This holds true for businesses as well. If companies take seriously the task of sharing their vision of the future and their business philosophy, customers will be far less likely to break the relationship.
This is a challenging venture, particularly for sales departments that tend to place just about 100% of their emphasis on the activity of the moment. Since this is the case, it's essential to convey in as many ways as possible a company's long-term goals, objectives, and philosophy.
The five elements of the power marketing process focus on creating and communicating reasons for choosing a particular business. These should not be assumed, but dramatized repeatedly and clearly. In other words, a company moves forward when it intends to give customers and prospects permission-solid reasons-for doing business with it. When this is missing, price becomes the central focus of the business relationship because it's all that's left.
In today's economy, it isn't how many sales calls you make, how many brochures you put in the mail, or how many people visit your booth at trade shows. Power marketing changes the way we think about the economy and what a company must do to be successful. Most important, it offers a new strategy for controlling external factors. It puts the power inside the boat, where it belongs. Even if the winds aren't blowing, a company can still move ahead.