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Lead generation. How to build a better mouse trap.

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Most companies need to rethink their online price & lead generation strategies. Ignoring the sales force is the first step.

I can’t quite figure out why so many companies avoid putting prices on their Website. Actually, I do know. The company’s sales force wants to embargo product prices to force Web visitors to fill out that pesky contact form or engage in an online sales chat. This, they say, allows them to sell the product’s value and benefits, and work around the product’s price.

This is a big mistake. Here’s three reasons why.

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Categories : Marketing, POV (point of view), Strategy, eSelling

Tags : best practice, ecommerce, eSelling, lead generation, Marketing, product marketing

Twitter for Business — Part II

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Social media is all the rage these days. But what does it really deliver?

Ok, I need to come clean. Until recently, I haven’t really gotten my head around the whole “social media for business” thing.

It’s not that I don’t understand what Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube and the rest of the social media gang do. I get it. It’s just that social media has always seemed to be more of a time consuming distraction than a tool that gives businesses any kind of inside edge.

The light dawned when I was writing our new report about how companies can build Websites optimized around the B2B buying process. In case you don’t know, that’s the 17 step process your biggest customers go through to make a buying decision.

As it turns out, social media plays a huge role in this process – but not where you might think. If you think about the process in three major chunks – make the “long list” – make the “short list” – and make it through the vetting process – social media plays its most important role in part one — making the “long list”. If you don’t make the cut here, participating in the “short list” and the vetting processes won’t be a problem.

So what roles do social media play in this part of the process? Let me count the ways.

Social media will give you visibility with buyers who are blissfully unaware of your company and its products.
Lets them tune in to what current customers and the market are saying so they can add you to (or strike you from) the list — and
Perhaps as important, social media is the way buyers can monitor your company throughout the decision process. If things go wrong on the social Web, you’re likely to end up on the “short list” cutting room floor.

In other words, social media is all about creating visibility and managing market perceptions when it really counts.

Here’s a short podcast about the complex B2B buying process – and the roles social media – and your Website – play in this process. Think of it as a Cliff’s Notes battle plan to woo and win those big deals.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Categories : Branding, Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, eSelling

Tags : B2B buying proess, facebook, Social Media, Twitter, youtube

Why social networks, communities, and Web 2.0 aren’t B2B shotguns

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (1)

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

It’s time to stop fiddling around and apply them where they matter

The French have a wonderful phrase “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”. It’s an elegant way to say that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

That’s certainly the case when you consider the complex B2B buying process. Since our last update in 2006, this process remains the same. It’s still dictated by task forces and committees who must wade through 17 steps to get to the finish line. Participants are still purchase influencers, rather than the decision makers companies crave. Websites still influence only 5 steps in the buying process.

But that doesn’t mean that everything remains the same. Read More→

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Categories : Communities, Marketing, Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, Web 2.0, eSelling

Tags : B2B buying, B2b selling, Communities, eSelling, Marketing, podcast, Social Media, social networks, Strategy, video, Web 2.0, webinar

Why personas don’t work

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (6)

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Developing personas is a big part of Website team due diligence these days— especially when teams are rethinking their sites and staging for the next generation. They start by creating a list of the types of people who buy their products and visit their site. Project and business managers. Tech heads. CXOs (in their dreams). Well, you get the idea.

After the players are identified, the next step is an exhaustive drill down into what each visitor does, and the types of content a well-dressed Website needs to serve them. All of this heavy lifting usually results in a complex schematic of activities and values that act as a guidepost to keep the team on point.

Funny thing, though. This work never seems to show up on Websites. Read More→

Comments (6)

Categories : Design, Strategy, eSelling

Tags : eSelling, website design, website development

Sales Chat: Tipping points and moments of brilliance

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (5)

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Once upon a time, online sales chat was the purview of the few, and it took a lot of evangelism to get management’s attention. Today, it’s a different game.

Sales chat is heading toward the tipping point. Next up: real time hand offs to partners.

Sales chat has ceased to be an innovation that delivers a competitive advantage — and is well on its way to a tipping point that requires companies to pay attention.

Case in point; 35% of the companies we track now offer interactive sales chat on their sites. One of them is booking over $100 million in sales using this technique.

Unfortunately, even these companies are missing the obvious. Pop up sales chat offers are usually presented long before the visitor is ready to engage. When the buyer is ready, these features are usually missing in action. That relegates them to an expensive game of buyer “whack a mole.”

There’s an easy solution to this problem. Put a “chat with us” link in your call to action module.

Few of the sites we evaluate have made this connection. Among those that have, Cisco.com delivers several best practices and moments of brilliance. One is the fact that its eye-catching chat module and pop up offer use the same design. The other is that its SMB zone hands off pre-qualified buyers in real time to a Cisco partner who can continue the dialog in a private collaboration space on the Cisco.com site.

If you don’t have online sales chat on your dance card, it’s time to start planning. While you are it, be like Cisco. Think out of the box.

Comments (5)

Categories : Design, Marketing, Usability, eSelling

Tags : chat, cisco.com, eSelling, tipping point

Archive for eSelling

Lead generation. How to build a better mouse trap.

Most companies need to rethink their online price & lead generation strategies. Ignoring the sales force is the first step.

Why personas don’t work

Sales Chat: Tipping points and moments of brilliance

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