I'm not selling anything...and other lies!

“I’m not selling anything I just wanted to tell you about…”

Sound familiar? How many times has some tele-sales person started their pitch by telling you they’re not pitching anything? It happens to me all the time. In fact, just today I had a door-to-door salesman say the same thing, all the while clutching a clipboard full of sales order forms! The encounter reminded me how ineffective cold-calling can be, and how dissatisfying it is for all concerned. Whether you’re pounding the pavement or pounding the dialer, starting every pitch with a lie can’t be a fulfilling way to make a living. 

Something called trust-based selling is all the rage among the sales cognoscenti these days. As prospective customers continue to empower themselves with knowledge gleaned from the web, it’s gotten harder for salespeople to fast-talk their way to a close. People have become suspicious of anyone approaching them to sell anything. The general attitude is, “If I want to buy something, I’ll call you. Until then, leave me alone!”

A new way of thinking

This change in mindset has caused marketers to turn to a new way of finding customers called inbound-marketing. The idea is to provide prospective customers with information they are interested in — for free. That brings them back to the web site, builds brand recognition as a domain expert, and builds trust. Then, when the prospective customer decides to buy something, who will they think of first? The nice people who helped them out all throughout the buying thought process, that’s who. And presto — marketing delivers a well-qualified lead to the sales team. 

Setting Expectations

Inbound marketing is still a young discipline and many are still struggling to wrap their heads around it. Cold-calling prospects and mass email blasts to rented lists are still “how it’s done” in the minds of many sales people. Old habits die hard. The marketer’s job internally is to persuade management and sales that inbound marketing works, and that it will make selling easier. The problem is that it takes time. Buyers don’t take any longer to make a buying decision than they used to, but they spend more of that time doing their own research, and less talking to sales people. So until your company’s inbound marketing program has been up and running for a while, it isn’t going to generate any leads — qualified or otherwise. That can lead to frustration and distrust from the sales team, which is never a good thing, so it’s important to set expectations before embarking on an inbound marketing campaign. Make sure you set expectations about when your new program might start generating results.

It’s (almost) 2014. Time to get started!

So unless you want to feel like that door-to-door salesman I turned away today, I suggest you get started on building an inbound marketing process for your company now. The sooner you launch it, the sooner you’ll see results. 

How to Write a Customer Success Story

It’s early spring down by the lake. A group of youngsters is gathered on the bank wearing their swimsuits, but the water looks pretty darn cold. They’re all looking to each other to see who’s going to be the first one in. Eventually one of the kids — let’s call him Brave Billy — give in to the peer pressure and plunges in. As soon as the others see Billy having a great time in the water, they pile right in behind him. That’s just human nature.

Now imagine that same group of youngsters all grown up and making buying decisions for their companies. They’re surrounded by throngs of vendors, each claiming their product is just what the doctor ordered. Which should they pick? What if they make the wrong choice? They look around — figuratively — at their peers on the lakeside and ask, “Where’s Billy?”

That’s where case studies come in. I think every marketer should have “Case Studies” or “Customer Success Stories” at their disposal to use in their content marketing programs. 

Why? Because prospective customers want to know that what you’re offering really works. That your offering is going to be good for them. Nearly everyone wants to see proof points in the form of validation from others like them. 

Telling a compelling story about someone just like them achieving great results by using your solution may not make the sale, but it can keep the momentum moving forward.

Be Concise

I’ve seen case studies that are pages and pages long. I don’t recommend going that route for a customer success story. I like to get the whole thing to fit into one or two pages when laid out in a PDF. More than that and you’ll probably find your readers dropping off before they get through it. If you can be concise and tell a convincing story, you will have a great case study to use in your content marketing programs.

Anatomy of a Case Study

A typical case study has three sections: The Challenge, The Solution, The Results. That’s all you need.

1 — The Challenge

Describe the challenge  (‘challenge’ sounds nicer than ‘problem’) the customer was facing that led them to pursue your solution. It’s usually best to express the problem — er, challenge — in business terms rather than technical terms. Make it clear that by successfully answering the challenge, the company will reap real, tangible benefits. 

2 — The Solution

Describe the solution that the customer found. It’s often helpful to describe some of the alternative solutions the customer explored and abandoned, and explaining why those didn’t work out. It helps the readers by taking them through the pathways they may also be considering. They may still follow those avenues to see for themselves, but will appreciate having the heads-up on potential problems from you.

Make sure to include details about the final solution, and how it addressed the challenge. The idea is to make it easy for the reader to draw parallels to their own challenge, and envision how the solution would work for them.

3 — The Results

 Explain the benefits the customer saw once they implemented the solution, and relate them directly to the challenges described in part 1. This is where you paint a picture of a happy customer, satisfied that they’ve solved their problem and are reaping real benefits in business terms from their solution.

Give it a try

And that’s all there is to it. Don’t feel you need to include every detail of every step taken along the way. Like any story, it’s best to highlight the most compelling parts, and eliminate those that don’t advance the plot. 

The next time you create a user story, I urge you to give this format a try. Let me know how it works for you.

What is Inbound Marketing Anyway?

Marketing has changed. While traditional methods of marketing -- such as advertising, press releases, and direct sales -- are still needed, they have become increasingly expensive, and less effective. Most startups don't have the financial means to advertise their way into people's awareness amid the barrage of ads from their well-heeled competitors. So what's an entrepreneur to do?

Enter inbound marketing. Instead of buying your prospective customer's attention, you earn it by freely providing something of value to everyone. While this sounds altruistic, the goal is become a valuable resource that others rely on for information relevant to their needs. This builds trust, and repeated exposure which can then lead to conversion.

There's a lot more to it that that, and an entire industry has sprung up around inbound marketing, but you now have the basic concept. The people at Impact Branding and Design produced an infographic that sums up the inbound marketing process nicely, so I've included it below for your enjoyment.

So what are your plans with respect to inbound marketing. Are you already using it in your business? Is it working well for you? I'd love to hear your experiences.

The Inbound Marketing Process Infographic

From: IMPACT Branding & Design