To be able to do good sales, you need appointments in your agenda. Salespeople in SMEs usually do not get around to making those appointments. This is where opportunities lie for the marketing department. They can bring in lukewarm and warm leads, which can lead to successful sales much faster. Good promotion or marketing ensures visibility and is an excellent support for this. In this article I share 4 ways in which marketing can contribute to sales.
SalesForce previously wrote about how sales can get started with lead generation techniques themselves , if there is no optimal collaboration with marketing. A client of mine calls it 'The Crazy Henkie Complex': busy with all sorts of things all day long and yet no appointments and no new business . With PR and marketing, you can, as an entrepreneur, get lukewarm and warm leads, which can ensure successful sales much faster. I can say: without marketing, sales is actually hopeless. How do you deal with this?
Without marketing, sales is basically hopeless.
1. Ensure reliability
It remains difficult, you know. SME companies that are busy with sales, but where no form of proof is provided online that they can do anything. And often they themselves do not see that it can be valuable to use the website to show that. And that contact via the website is already a much easier way to get in touch with people.
First, expand the owned media with social media channels. In business, I immediately think of: LinkedIn and often Facebook. Twitter can be a great addition to this in the context of news provision. Instagram if you have a very visual business. Then it is time to fill it and maintain it. Finally, it is useful to go outside, simply make and publish news. When newspapers, radio or TV say that you are good, prospects will believe it. In short: expand that website of yours with a press and hotel email database blog page and start offering informative information, preferably with a team .
You probably have a lot of tips and tricks for people who are struggling with problems that you solve. For example, look at Linda Spaanbroek. She helps people in her business to find customers. In this article, she shares her knowledge with six tips & tricks.
2. Focus on warm contacts from marketing
It seems to me that it is much easier to make appointments when people have already made a choice for you. Long live the CRM system with which you as a marketer can immediately help the sales department. For your company and perhaps even for your product. Because: where else would you just get a list from? I spoke to Heike van der Woerd about this , someone with years of experience in sales: “Times are changing; the email and telephone pressure is experienced as very high. The average customer thinks he knows everything about your business because he can find everything online. Good online marketers steer this by offering relevant content.”
Focus on responding to this by focusing more on 'new school' leads. For example, via storytelling on your site, via social media and also via that networking event where you are. Reduce the 'old school' methods where cold calls are made for appointments. A new school-obtained lead has an idea about your business, on this idea you direct the conversation further.