I received a lot of feedback on my previous post which explained why everybody in the company needs to have a marketing mission. It certainly is not the way most companies are organized or planning to operate, but this element of the sales vortex is so vital that I felt a follow-up was in order.
If you spend the time to “re-engineer” the process of buying the products or services of your company, you will realize that the entry-point for many consumers occurs long before you even know they exist. As “information seekers” out to discover the process for buying, they often times begin at a search engine.
They do not go to Google and enter your company name in the box! They go to Google and type in a search string that describes their problem or a question that relates to what they believe might be a solution.
Understanding the role of the search engines in helping you grow and strengthen your sales vortex is as simple as understanding what YOU do when you decide to buy something. For example, imagine that you want to buy a new big-screen plasma TV. Would you get in your car, drive to the closest electronics store, and just buy something? I doubt it.
Many Buyers Begin With Search Engines
Most people might buy their TV local, but they are going to search for information and product reviews online as the first step in the purchasing process. They will want to see what others have to say, and they will want to see what the newest trends and features that are being offered. This process of gaining information about buying a television could take hours, days, weeks, or even months, but eventually they will decide upon the parameters that will guide them in their purchase.
They will then start comparing products and retailers until they are ready to buy. This informed buyer might then go to the retailer that they selected and appear to “just walk in and purchase,” but the fact is they have done considerable research before they were ready to make a purchase decision.
So with this example in mind, are you reaching this information seeker when they begin the process of buying your product or services? Are they going to Google to find information and being referred to your company website? Did you notice the word “referred” was in bold type, which specifically means that most consumers are not clicking on a paid ad, they are looking for the kind of organic results that your company should be providing.
The Big “Ah Ha” For Company Leaders
The information that consumers are seeking most likely exists in the minds of your employees. Most CEOs do not know the smaller, important details about what their customers are asking. This kind of information is known at ground level in your company, so are you using it to create gravity to your sales vortex? If not, why not?
Why not create a simple recurring contest at your company where you put a “Q&A” box where all your employees will have easy access to it. The idea is to have employees submit common customer questions and the company’s best answer. You can also achieve the same thing with a 21st century spin on it, these days text message marketing software can allow you to do this digitally and have the contest sent out to employee phones during work time. Every week, a company leader will choose a favorite submission and reward the employee with something nice, and then the company will create brilliant content with all the Q&A submissions that are received. If this contest went on for a year, would your company website be the authority site in your niche, filled with common customer questions? Do you think Google might like to send more people with these questions to your website? Now you’re thinking …
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