This morning over my morning Coke Zero (I don’t drink coffee), I briefly looked at a study put out by the Chief Marketing Officer Council about customer retention. The purpose of the study was to identify what deepens, solidifies and perpetuates customer relationships. Why commission such a study? Is it because marketers are facing some stiff challenges? Why do the companies sponsoring the study want us to focus on this problem? I have listed below what the CMO Council claims in the study are factual, statistically sound truths about the challenges facing marketers.
Challenges Facing Marketers in 2008
1. The average U.S. business loses 10% of its customers annually due to attrition--you would think the pain of this alone would be enough to motivate change, but this is not typically the case
2. Capturing new customers costs 500% more than satisfying and keeping present customers in satisfying relationships--the challenge is in convincing your company to take the long view on relationships
3. For every one-percent increase in customer retention the average business will save five-percent in costs, not to mention the added value of revenue retention--convincing most top team members to invest in retention is a tough sell
4. Committed, satisfied customers are 1500% more likely to spend more with businesses than their higher-risk, intermittent counterparts--you must convince your company you are capable of influencing satisfied customers to actually spend, not just be likely to spend
The CMO Council claims that companies are focusing on front-end lead generation, but not doing enough with their existing customer data. They further claim that marketers should determine their most profitable customers, improve the customer experience and increase business with those customers.
Allen DAngelo’s advice for CMOs…
The present business environment in which CMOs must operate is treacherous at best. CMOs are often caught in the fray between CEOs and CIOs. Top management executives demand short-term gains at the expense of customer relationships and information executives are resilient to the collaboration necessary to enable the greatest use of customer knowledge. CMOs face challenges in knowing how to harness Mount Everest-size volumes of customer data while balancing and integrating the human dynamics of emotion into the experiences customers desire.
Being a CMO is a tough job… it may feel like a mission impossible. Some days you are the fall guy. You may feel like quitting some days… most days.
CMOs need to become organizational connectors who build bridges from resilient top managers to the customers. They need to become more forceful by taking a dominant role in leading their companies. They need to become Strategic Growth Champions who lead their company past the short-term nonsense and toward relationship rich horizons where customers feel trust again.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Stop Your Sales Funnel From Turning Into The Sales Tunnel From Hell Or The Marketing Commode
When marketing expert Seth Godin addressed a captured crowd at Google to share insightful pearls of wisdom from his book “All Marketers Are Liars,” he presented his version of how Google redefined the sales funnel. He said that Google turned the sales funnel sideways to allow people to use Google’s funnel as a megaphone. That was an interesting insight. He also mentioned that the cost of prospects (or suspects) is becoming greater, the further down into the funnel a prospect descends. This certainly has been true of Google’s ad word marketing program, and anyone earning or losing revenue on ad words understands this lesson.
This made me wonder what the funnel might actually look like for other businesses, based on their present experiences, frustrations and the challenges they must solve every day as strategists with seemingly elusive prospects.
First, there is the funnel-turned-tunnel from hell, which resembles more of a black hole, a pipeline with no end for the unlucky marketer that never sees enough prospects turn into customers pour out of the end. Why does this elongation to destruction happen? For thousands of reasons (and non-reasons) everyday. It’s not surprising, really. Maybe mass ADD is the culprit. Lack of focus, distraction, too much of a focus on distraction, or just too much multivariate, multi-level background noise distraction. Is it too many options, or too much competition for attention? Is it holes in the funnel, or a lack of cogent communication and determined follow-up?
Secondarily, there is the sales and marketing funnel that resembles the commode. It comes complete with a flush lever and an amazing one-step process: Just push it once and you’ll never see a prospect or your marketing investment again. Neither Criss Angel nor Harry Houdini could have created a better prospect vanishing device as the marketers using this sales funnel.
So how should marketers handle sales leads now to avoid pain and bring on the sweet success we long to enjoy daily?
If you take Christine Comaford-Lynch’s advice, you will use a disqualification process and personalized telephone or e-mail contacts to increase your conversion rates. Christine is an expert at improving human performance and communication. So how can disqualifying potential clients help you succeed at converting more prospects into clients?
Call your prospects and tell them who you are, what company you are from, then…
Christine says to state only two compelling features of your product or services by clearly connecting those features to a benefit—one of the three biggest reasons people will buy from you, or any one. Here are the three biggest reasons people buy from you:
1. To increase sales or get money—who isn’t looking for this kind of improvement?
2. To save money—most people like to think this is possible, but don’t always believe you can deliver it.
3. To remove pain or frustration—From Icy Hot to your therapist, we all have some issues.
Then, simply ask them if that’s interesting to them. If they say yes, move them out of your funnel. Christine says to remember to STOP SELLING them once you have given them enough information to make a decision. In other words, never oversell.
Here’s how I would use this in my company at Archer Ellison, Inc:
My name is Allen D’Angelo. I am with Archer Ellison, Inc. We are one of the top strategic consulting firms in this industry, specializing in helping your company find overlooked growth opportunities in your customer loyalty programs. Our track record is providing clients with an increase of 41% to 2037% in profits. Are you interested in securing professional help to improve your customer loyalty program?
I don’t care what any new media marketing guru tells you. Your sales funnel won’t magically fill-up with sales revenue unless you help people through your funnel, either with a great marketing system, or a great people system, or better... both. To do that at some critical point you must connect your potential customers to great experiences with your company and your people. Then your sales funnel becomes more like a giant hug, embracing your potential clients through positive encounters. Now that’s a funnel that sounds inviting.
This made me wonder what the funnel might actually look like for other businesses, based on their present experiences, frustrations and the challenges they must solve every day as strategists with seemingly elusive prospects.
First, there is the funnel-turned-tunnel from hell, which resembles more of a black hole, a pipeline with no end for the unlucky marketer that never sees enough prospects turn into customers pour out of the end. Why does this elongation to destruction happen? For thousands of reasons (and non-reasons) everyday. It’s not surprising, really. Maybe mass ADD is the culprit. Lack of focus, distraction, too much of a focus on distraction, or just too much multivariate, multi-level background noise distraction. Is it too many options, or too much competition for attention? Is it holes in the funnel, or a lack of cogent communication and determined follow-up?
Secondarily, there is the sales and marketing funnel that resembles the commode. It comes complete with a flush lever and an amazing one-step process: Just push it once and you’ll never see a prospect or your marketing investment again. Neither Criss Angel nor Harry Houdini could have created a better prospect vanishing device as the marketers using this sales funnel.
So how should marketers handle sales leads now to avoid pain and bring on the sweet success we long to enjoy daily?
If you take Christine Comaford-Lynch’s advice, you will use a disqualification process and personalized telephone or e-mail contacts to increase your conversion rates. Christine is an expert at improving human performance and communication. So how can disqualifying potential clients help you succeed at converting more prospects into clients?
Call your prospects and tell them who you are, what company you are from, then…
Christine says to state only two compelling features of your product or services by clearly connecting those features to a benefit—one of the three biggest reasons people will buy from you, or any one. Here are the three biggest reasons people buy from you:
1. To increase sales or get money—who isn’t looking for this kind of improvement?
2. To save money—most people like to think this is possible, but don’t always believe you can deliver it.
3. To remove pain or frustration—From Icy Hot to your therapist, we all have some issues.
Then, simply ask them if that’s interesting to them. If they say yes, move them out of your funnel. Christine says to remember to STOP SELLING them once you have given them enough information to make a decision. In other words, never oversell.
Here’s how I would use this in my company at Archer Ellison, Inc:
My name is Allen D’Angelo. I am with Archer Ellison, Inc. We are one of the top strategic consulting firms in this industry, specializing in helping your company find overlooked growth opportunities in your customer loyalty programs. Our track record is providing clients with an increase of 41% to 2037% in profits. Are you interested in securing professional help to improve your customer loyalty program?
I don’t care what any new media marketing guru tells you. Your sales funnel won’t magically fill-up with sales revenue unless you help people through your funnel, either with a great marketing system, or a great people system, or better... both. To do that at some critical point you must connect your potential customers to great experiences with your company and your people. Then your sales funnel becomes more like a giant hug, embracing your potential clients through positive encounters. Now that’s a funnel that sounds inviting.
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