Funny thing this week. I've been getting emailed and spammed by a cold calling business trying to do new business for me. A bit weird really given the business I'm in. The end result was that I unsubscribed.
Giving your target list to people who run 'a mail a day' type campaigns can be a real problem because of the unsubscribes generated. It causes long-term damage because there's only going to be a tiny percentage of your target group in market at any one time. Reality? About 0.4% any one week. WARC* research shows typical agency, data relationships last about 4.8 years on average. Or 60 months. In any one month only about 1.6% will be in market. Any one week 0.4%. The other 99. 6% may just get irritated by a rapid fire campaign.
So what's the alternative? My experience (and there's lots of stats to back it up) is it takes between six to nine contacts before someone is comfortable enough to have a conversation. That's 6-9 occasions of you supplying them with something that they're actually interested in, that builds trust. And this is just to win a conversation not, as some would label it, a qualified lead. It's the start of the sales process.
Gartner** research found that the B2B sales process has six to ten decision makers. So, it's a steady process to dislodge the organisation that's held the account for five years.
Gartner** also found that buyers who perceive that a supplier helps them manage these different decision-making relationships (usually by sharing insight that helps) are three times more likely to get a bigger deal! Well that's got to be worth having!
Sales reality undermines 'whack stuff out the door' type approaches since these don't support building tailored relationships with up to 10 people, over a period of time.
To focus on B2B marketing that buyers welcome you need quality content. Content for the CFO, for the CTO, for the CMO etc. It's this approach to new business which I advocate and have proven works. Quality content delivered over time.
If you'd like to have a conversation about how I might be able to help you by aiding / building / training your team, or perhaps firing up your content approach, then please do get in touch.
Next week I'm going to be exploring setting up a referral process and how one might work. Why? +80% of B2B sales start with a referral. Until then thanks so much for watching. See you next week.
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