Sales always has a voice. Revenue must grow, and anything else is a failure.
But now, many companies have a near-death experience because the sales landscape has changed radically.
Years ago, a salesperson had a valuable Rolodex. The salesperson nurtured the relationships he represented with calls, visits, and probably more. They met at conferences, happy hours and golf outings. Older clients were even invited to company parties and perhaps retreats.
Of course, the Rolodex has evolved into CRMs and the like. But now, it is not so useful. The value of a vendor’s list of names is essentially gone.
what changed
The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly forced marketers to change their behavior. They could no longer meet with clients in person. They discovered that customers who work remotely no longer have a receptionist who can personally deliver a message to them.
The names they carefully collected are no longer answering their phones. But people respond to email and voice messages infrequently.
Getting to someone is basically a game of tag until they give up or give up.
As a result, relationships have often come to an abrupt halt.
The sales network is not as valuable as it used to be.
So a marketer who used to rely on relationships, meetings, conferences and calls is suffering. And where marketers still have a loud voice, that voice is now complaining. Lead sources have dried up and their revenue is taking a beating.
Who is to blame?
If sales don’t hit their numbers, everyone in the company is affected. So Management looks at Sales and asks for an explanation.
Of course, marketing is to blame. Your job is to provide clues.
Or is it the Management’s fault. The company should have seen this coming.
Sales executives should have known their outside sales force would suffer, and the company should have invested more in digital lead management. They should have had a survival plan to target new prospects. They should have taken their website to new heights instead of relying on something that is about to die.
Most marketers cannot write SEO or PPC. They have never written content. So when it comes to the company website, they often have an expectation of “build it and they will come” (after all, the internet is free, right?).
In their defense, for a long time, an outside sales force could be relied upon to increase revenue. Sales processes got results. So the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” marketing approach used to work.
They just didn’t know.
So, surprise: Your outside sales team is no longer effective.
They may go to conferences, but event attendance continues to drop by 75%. And the potential attendees are not the decision makers. They may still be calling their (now old) contacts. Most likely, these people have changed jobs. In any case, the contacts do not answer your calls. Contacting old client companies also does not work. The following regime has no idea who you are and certainly no brand loyalty.
And so the business is suffering.
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What to do?
How do you solve drying up sales? The answer will vary. Or in the SEO mantra, “It depends.”
Somehow, you need to generate leads for your sales team. This requires shooter accuracy and you have many options depending on your budget.
You can buy ads (PPC) and maybe win some quick ones.
You can buy the “flood the web with content” approach, with or without a boost influencers (it might not work, but hey, you have to do something).
You can buy links (but stay away from this – it’s the kiss of death). You could accept content placed elsewhere as sold by snake oil SEOs.
Or you may decide that your survival depends on getting it right.
Most Valuable Seller
So far, it is clear that the world is slow to recover from the impacts of recent years. The remote work paradigm is not going away, and sales must adapt. A change is needed.
It is also clear that a cheap solution is wasted money. And in some industries, the outside marketer is doomed if you can’t provide leads.
In today’s sales reality, Your company’s website is your most important salesperson.
Do SEO like your survival depends on it.
And whatever you do, don’t hire the cheapest solution, thinking there’s no difference. There is a difference if you want to rank on the first page of 10 million competitors for any keyword that matters.
Here’s my favorite analogy for generating leads: If you want to catch fish, you have to use the bait the fish bite and fish where the fish are. In practical terms:
Define the ideal fish: a suitable client for large fish, not always a whale. Find the desired result that the ideal fish has been seeking to solve. Create a program that delivers these specific results for that ideal fish. Find out where the ideal fish hang out and put an offer in front of them. Convert fish with a no-pressure, trusting sales approach.
Sounds simple, right?
What is simple is not always easy. It may take an expert SEO consulting services company to help you get that message across to a lot of fish.
Then turn to others, rinse and repeat.
In short, if you find that your leads are dwindling, your website traffic is likely suffering. And this is best handled with SEO.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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About the author
Bruce Clay is the founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., a global digital marketing optimization company offering search engine optimization, PPC management, paid social media marketing, SEO-friendly site architecture, content development and SEO tools and education. Clay authored the book “Search Engine Optimization All-In-One For Dummies,” now in its fourth edition, and “Content Marketing Strategies for Professionals.” He wrote the first web page analysis tool, created the Search Engine Relationship Chart®, and is credited with being the first to use the term search engine optimization. Bruce Clay’s renowned SEO training course is available online at SEOtraining.com.
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