Progressive Distributor - The truth about fishing and marketing

The truth about fishing and marketing

by Cathy Veri

Marketing consultants always seem to have new buzz words, such as “selling the latest CRM software,” “empowered salesperson initiative” or “closed-loop program.” But my marketing vocabulary over the last 12 years has not changed much. I still preach the same basic things when I meet with my industrial distribution clients.

While those buzz words (and the hefty proposals which follow) are worth learning about, I find that people get more juiced up with exciting, actionable and affordable ideas from listening to me explain the following 12 topics.

1. Postcards don’t work on prospects. Unless the postcards are coupons. Let’s be honest. Almost all postcards go into the garbage. They have become: a) commonplace...too many companies use them, and because of that, they are even more difficult to make stand out; b) people know it’s an inexpensive way to spam through the mail and we’ve trained them not to read them; c) postcards have always been difficult to assign real value to. We’ve only embraced them due to increases in postage cost.

2. On new customer acquisition mailing: Just like dead fish, 2 percent response stinks. If you are not going to make a great offer, something the prospect simply and logically cannot refuse, why bother mailing it? The whole purpose of an acquisition piece is to get a FIRST order. You need to try very hard to make that postage and print expense work for you. If you don’t get a first order, you’ve failed. Two percent is nothing to brag about at your monthly meeting. I would go so far as to say that if you have a budget, you should want to break even or lose money on the first order from a new customer, just to get the chance to market to them for second, third and fourth orders. Most companies do not understand this simple concept.

3. People do read. Not all people. Just your true prospects. Despite what the boss says, don’t be afraid of long, detailed copy. Pharmaceutical companies put full-page ads together in magazines, with six-point type describing the drug at length. The ads are all copy. Why? Because for the 2 percent of the population who are true prospects for the product, they will read every word. THAT is who the company is marketing to, who they want to solicit a response from, not the general public. You should not care that most people will not read your ad. You don’t want quantity, you want quality prospects.

4. B-to-B direct marketing staff, and marketers in general (especially the entry level folks), need to understand their No. 1 job at the company is to make money. Ask your staff what they are responsible for at the company, or what their purpose there is. Most will list their seemingly endless project duties, losing sight completely of the BIG reason they are employed. Marketing folks who do not say “I am here to make money for the company” need to be coached that that is the right answer and that it should shape what they work on each day.

5. Mail it more than once, will ya? The secret to most marketing efforts: do it more than once. If you are going to mail or e-mail an offer, make sure you design the program and budget to allow for multiple mailings. You can’t mail anything once and expect to get a record-breaking response. Repetition works.

6. Pretty doesn’t always win. Perfect looking graphic design does not always mean sales. In B-to-B, there are plenty of success stories where a sale flyer or direct mail piece broke most of the understood graphic design rules and still succeeded, especially in the industrial distribution and manufacturing industries like computer components, tools and packaging supplies. When designing a logo, a mail piece or a Web site, great marketers will always assess the specific audience, the competition and the value of the goods being sold. Computer components cannot be presented like a jewelry catalog. It just doesn’t work. This is where industry experience (in-house or outsourced) is key. And beware of catalog consultants who offer to critique your B-to-B piece. Understanding the context of the piece, the industry, what’s been done before, and what that buyer is like are all key factors in determining what that piece should look like. Marketing-based creativity works!

7. Every company that sells to other businesses, no matter how small or large, needs to have consistent marketing programs to sell to three customer types: current customers, customers who are inactive and customers who have gone away for more than six months. If you cannot point to specific programs or plans for EACH of these three customer groups, you are missing the boat and most likely need to re-evaluate your marketing plan.

8. Develop a new customer program so that when you get a first order, you make the customer feel special, find out as much as you can (profile) and encourage future orders. This could be as simple as a mailed thank you card with a reply card, or a follow-up phone call. It could be a new customer “welcome kit” sent by mail, which might include product samples or a logo hat, a pen. Do something that fits your business, your budget and your business personality. New customer campaigns can dramatically increase second orders. I have seen it as high as 65 percent at a particular tool distributor. Second order enticements do not always need to be a discount.

9. Most B-to-B marketers don’t put real people programs in place to follow up on leads effectively. I have written about this before. Case in point: In 1999, I requested catalogs by phone from nine office supply companies. I told them I was a marketing agency. Over the next two weeks, each company mailed me their main catalog, ranging in postage from $2.50 to $6. The catalog print cost was probably in the $2 to $5 range, plus the box, so you are talking $5 to $13 each in expense. Out of the nine companies, how many do you think called me within a week or two to find out about my business or to solicit an order? None. Yet each of them was willing to spend up to $13 to send me their catalog. If a real person would have called me, that person would have gotten a large order for furniture and office supplies. People buy from people, no matter how large your company may get.

10. Whatever you send to customers and prospects, say something bold and differentiate your company. You have to be bold or the message will be lost. And you have to consistently repeat it. What is the difference between Office Depot and Office Max? I don’t know. What is the difference between Eggo and, hmmm...I can’t think of another frozen waffle company off the top of my head. Can you?

11. Direct marketers and marketers of all types need to READ more and join a professional marketing organization in order to be better marketers. I am amazed by how little my clients read about their craft. I personally am a sales and marketing book junkie, and because of it, I know a little about all kinds of “things marketing.” Know that there is nothing wrong with copying a great idea and tweaking it to make it your own. Learn from others, in your industry and outside. Reading gives you an edge. And in some cases, it might be the only way to learn more. If you are not learning new things from your boss or if someone else has not stepped in as your mentor, you have no choice but to read on your own and join professional groups to make sure you are constantly learning. There is no excuse for not getting better at your job...and this learning happens OUTSIDE of work hours. Marketers need to read books about salesmanship too, not just the marketing books. And try to be a mentor to people who you manage. If you are a manager, there is no excuse for not being a mentor.

12. New programs and new ideas cannot always be substantiated by numbers. As B-to-B marketers, we have the convenience of countless reports and quantitative views of our business. Sometimes we like to hide behind those reports to justify why we haven’t tried something new. Truly great entrepreneurs take a flier on an idea or a belief and they go for it and execute. If you are the first in an industry to do something, there won’t be any proof that it will work. There is no market research, no history to review, no big meetings to be had. There is only an idea and the will to execute it well.

As a wise six-year old once proclaimed to me while fishing on Hubbard Lake in Michigan, exasperated upon reeling in his fishing line, “I guess you can’t catch a fish if you ain’t got no bait!”

Cathy Veri is the principal consultant at her firm, Marketecture, a marketing services and consulting company serving industrial distribution and manufacturing companies. She has worked with four of the top 50 industrial distributors in the U.S. and was the director of marketing for J&L Industrial Supply from 1993 to 1998. Contact her at (734) 674-8379 or cveri@wideopenwest.com.