Recently, I attended a large tradeshow. I think there were close to 1,500 exhibiting companies. I walked the floor of the exposition and managed to get my badge scanned at 25 different companies. The booth staff were very aggressive in scanning my badge, even though I didn’t speak to them.
The day following the conference, I received 20 emails saying, “Thanks for stopping by our booth. Let’s jump on the call.” On the same day, I received ten phone calls. In the following two weeks, I received 57 phone calls and 224 emails from these 25 companies. Follow-ups included…
- Did you receive it?
- When can we connect?
- “Would you be interested in knowing if I ask?”
- I’m simply going back to the previous email.
- I am interested in starting a conversation.
I could list endless examples of non-personal follow-up. They are sent to us all. They are all deleted, but since marketing is a numbers game, this type of correspondence continues to grow.
To add another layer of complexity, I will now tell you the story no. 1. I received 110 more emails from companies exhibiting at a conference I didn’t even attend. They found my email somehow, perhaps by trying out our email nomenclature or browsing my website. My official scoreboard for inbound communication from just one tradeshow is 411 follow-ups.
Story Number Two. While doing research for the new SaaS-based Business Simulation my company is creating, I came across a whitepaper. As part of my secondary search, I wanted to understand the financial results and challenges of the industry. I therefore downloaded five whitepapers that five different companies published. What followed was astonishing.
Within two minutes, I received emails from five different companies. Five minutes after downloading, I received four calls. I didn’t even get to read the whitepapers or articles before I received a flood of follow-up communication.
I received 42 additional emails and 17 telephone calls within two weeks after downloading. Downloading five articles resulted in 68 new communications.
Five articles were downloaded, and one tradeshow resulted in nearly 500 communication pieces.
Does anyone else recognize this?
The Buyers Are Tired
As a professional in marketing, I use every tool available. Marketing automation, content marketing, account-based marketing… you name it, and I use it. My email campaigns have dropped from 14% to 5% in the last six months, and my clickthrough rate has gone down from almost 6% to just under 2%.
My marketing colleagues in other companies are also experiencing the same results. I hear repeatedly that SEO is the only thing that works, but that doesn’t result in qualified sales leads.
Our buyers and prospects have what I call “marketing fatigue” because of all this communication. There are just too many touchpoints for nurturing, too much outreach, and too many bad emails.
I’ve personally seen that buyers are starting to close down. This is going to be a major problem for marketers despite the many new digital marketing tools available.
If it hasn’t already, this fatigue will push Marketing and Sales into a state of panic. Marketing will push Sales-qualified (SLQ) and Marketing-qualified (MQL) to the next stage to meet their key performance indicators (KPIs). Sales will be discouraged by low-quality leads, while business leaders will become frustrated with higher marketing costs and poorer conversion rates.
1. Reevaluate youReevaluateketing automation provides marketing professionals with unprecedented insight into buyer patterns, purchasing journeys, and buying patterns from lead to closure.
How do you evaluate the success of your marketing program or specific campaigns? Do you give the CEO numbers and say, “Look at my open rate of 10%?” My leads have increased! “Isn’t it great?!”
You should consider both quality and quantity when setting your goals. If only 1% of your leads turn into an opportunity, it doesn’t matter how many leads you have. I’d rather have ten good leads to build the top of my funnel than 100 bad leads that leak quickly.
2. Re-evaluate yoReevaReevaluatee
This section is related to the first KPI. Consider the fatigue your database is experiencing from your constant outreach. How many campaigns do you launch each month to achieve your goals? Do you use drip campaigns on each campaign?
If you want to create a compelling incentive for people to buy your product, perhaps you should reduce the number of outreach and nurturing touches. (See below) Instead, focus on making these really good.
3. Re-evaluate yoReevalRReevaluate
I know that the best practices say to use 6-7 touches before closing a lead. But it’s just too much. You are likely to reach a point where the benefits diminish, and you become irritable.
A content-based or account-based strategy aims to give the prospect insight, credibility, and knowledge. Over-following can backfire and make you a nuisance.
I know that we all spend a lot of time and money on content creation, but the majority of people play around. Over time, you have to build trust and credibility.
4. Reevaluate youReevaluateReevaluReevaluateng style
Emails like “did You See,” “Did you Read,” and “just checking in” are a waste of time. It would be best if you made your responses and communications personal. Your emails must entice prospects to read yours among 500 others.
The subject line should be interesting and relevant. Emails can’t be boilerplate replies.
Show that you are interested in the reader’s business and challenges. Provide value or a compelling reason for the reader to respond.
Don’t worry about writing long emails. They will read your email if you connect with them and provide value.
5. Reevaluate youReevaluate deveReevaluReevaluate resources do you provide to your sales and business development professionals for their ongoing development?
Another quick story. Someone from the company from which I had downloaded the research was able to call me. He said to me, “I’m just calling to check if you downloaded the paper okay?” I replied quickly that thatOKOKOKKsitated for a moment before saying, saying, “OK, can’t,astic,” and hung up. HepwasOKnOK prepared to make it through. He was probably taught to leave a voicemail and track results in CRM.
Start if you do not provide sales-skills education! Start Business Acumen Training if you haven’t already! It is important to teach them basic skills such as building rapport, handling objections, asking questions, and listening.
They need to be ready to ask questions to determine the potential link between your solution and the prospect’s business needs and, ultimately, their financial metrics and drivers.
Summary
It’s a great time to be a marketer. In the marketing industry, technology, tools, data and information, ideas, and innovation are everywhere. Prospects and customers feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.
Digital marketing is more than just a series of email blasts with links to content and automated drip follow-ups for opens and non-opens. To maximize efficiency, we need to use all available tools and connect directly with the audience.