These are just a few examples from my past engagements. They highlight specific interventions and are not the full range of my work. Also please note that in the examples "we" means close collaboration between staff members and me. While each case is different, they also have a few points in common.
Here are some of the problems which my clients are struggling with when they seek me out to help...
And this is what happened to my clients by the time we finished working together
All in all, instead of minor league boys and girls, my clients have started doing business with major league men and women.
For a $70 million a year CRM development company, we created some documents that plugged some vital holes in the buying process.
On the company's website, the call to action was to register and download a demo version of the company's CRM software. The problem was that the people who downloaded the software were neither decision-makers nor decision-influencers. So, in spite of the 280-340 downloads per month, sales didn't really improve and the company had to rely on a massive sales force to cold-call.
We replaced the demo software offer with a white paper on maximising sales force's effectiveness. That is a topic that's tracked in the executive suite, and it was senior executives, decision-makers and decision-influencers, who started downloading the white paper.
The white paper was followed by an auto-responder sequence still addressing boardroom-calibre sales-related issues.
And we shoved the demo down the line to a point when buyers were closer to making decisions.
The download rate stabilised between 180 and 220 per month, which is a drop from the previous download rate, but these downloaders were all decision-makers and decision-influencers.
In nine months, this change resulted in the complete elimination of cold-calling, and 29% revenue increase. And since it was not the salespeople who chased prospects, but prospects came to the company, all sales were made at full price.
For a $43 million a year IT security consulting firm, we created a white paper around the target market's key security issues. The previous newsletter subscriber rate was 5.2% of all visitors. That was to a ho-hum "Sign up for our newsletter" subscription box. We re-wrote the copy of the landing page, revamped the company's newsletter and created a 27-page white paper on IT security. We offered the newsletter as a free "ride-along" with the white paper.
We also wrote a separate web page to "sell" the free white paper. Also, we worded our copy in such a way that it would attract only top decision-makers while leaving lower level people uninterested. Although subscription rate has gone up only up to 23% of all visitors, 95% plus of the white paper requests come from C-level executives or senior managers. As a result of this change, the white paper does all the selling, and within two years after the implementation, this change has landed $17 million of additional business with virtually no acquisition cost.
For a 47-person IT consulting and CRM, ERP reseller, we designed and implemented an automated sales lead generation and nurturing system. Previously salespeople would meet anyone who requested meetings, which resulted in wasting lots of time on tyre-kickers. We developed a multi-step prospect-qualification process, and prospects had to fulfil the criteria of each step before an in-person meeting could take place. The number of meetings dropped by 72%, and most prospects sold themselves on the experience during the qualification process. By the time prospects met the salespeople, the deal was 90% done.
For a solo IT consultant, we helped to change from per-diem pricing to value-pricing. Since she was self-taught without formal credentials (except 11 years of trench knowledge), she had a real struggle to charge even going hourly rates. We developed a client interviewing process during which she helped prospects to see and understand the cost of living with their IT problems and without her solutions. In the light of the cost of the problem, she could charge for the value of her solutions, resulting in a $13,000 engagement which took her just over four hours. And her client was happy for getting a bargain.
For a web design firm, we helped to re-word a design proposal. The firm was bidding on a web design project and was about to hand in a proposal for $7,800. The proposal was focusing on efforts the firm would exert to do the work and methodologies the firm would use. We re-worded the proposal and made it more client focused, emphasising the value the client receives from the successful completion of the project. The proposal was accepted at $23,800, a 205% improvement on the original document.
For a medium-sized IT consulting firm, we developed a coaching program for all business development staff to eliminate the costly gap between marketing, sales and client service, which cost the firm losing some 85% of generated sales leads. There used to be three different departments prospects and clients had to go through, and it was a pretty bumpy ride. Prospects and clients got pissed of with the poor experience, and left.
So, we had to "coach" the three sections into one cohesive team and create one seamlessly blended business development system from first contact to successful completion and disengagement. After automating a large part of the process, only a small amount of committed prospects reach the point of human contact. Since there were fewer prospects to deal with, there was more time for helping paying clients.
The overall client experience improved and there was a significant increase in repeat and referrals business. In the meantime the number of lost sales leads dropped to basically zero. After all, an automated system behaves pretty consistently. There is no such thing as some leads are lost some are not.
For a software development firm, we developed a channel partner coaching programme to shake and shape a group of 73 reseller partners into one cohesive team. The problem was that individual partners were signed up as partners and then quickly abandoned and left to their devices without much help from the "mother" company. But the even bigger problem was that these "partners" didn't have the sense of belonging to anything particular, so trying to sell the mother company's stuff was really the very last on their agendas.
We implemented a coaching system for everyone involved in partner work. Every two weeks we organised teleconferences and discussed what's happening and what is missing. We helped partners to create the necessary marketing materials that represent both the mother company's stuff and partners' individual uniqueness.
We assisted partners to design and implement automated lead generation systems to find the "savvy buyers" of their markets. We also helped salespeople to construct and run diagnostic sessions with qualified prospects, so they could sell without using traditional high-pressure methods. We also designed high-margin professional services that could be purchased with the products.
Within 18 months, even the lowest performing partner increased monthly sales by 47% and profit margin by 69% without hiring one single additional person. And by repositioning the products, and demonstrating the cost of wasting time on experimenting, additional professional services sold like hot cakes. In the light of the high costs, clients decided to stop fuss around and requested qualified help to install and set up their newly purchased software.
For an audio-visual system design and development firm, we developed a comprehensive first-meeting process with potential clients. The problem was that far too many meetings ended in "I have to think it over. If I'm interested, I'll call you. You don't call me." And most of these prospects would vanish from the face of the planet. They didn't respond to follow-up messages. We toughened up the criteria for the first human interaction be it either in-person or on the telephone.
Prospects remained in the automated lead nurturing process until and unless they agreed to certain very specific meeting criteria. These criteria weeded out the tyre-kickers and allowed only the truly committed buyers to meet the firm's salespeople. The five salespeople spent most of their time in the office communicating with clients and committed prospects. By the time salespeople met prospects the first time, it was really just to discuss some details and pick up good faith commitment deposit.
For an Internet service provider and web-based technology developer firm, we developed a multi-channelled lead generation system. The firm had some 125% attrition in the sales department. For new salespeople it was the typical dialling for dollars, "Here's the Yellow Pages. Get dialling" And if they couldn't produce results within 2-3 weeks, the president would step in and try to "help" them. That help was basically an impressive motivational speech.
And it didn't help. And salespeople got more and more frustrated. First we had to establish that salespeople love selling but hate cold-calling and chasing people. So, we developed an automated lead generation / nurturing system both off- and online. And for the salespeople we developed a standard sequence of questions with a spreadsheet-based ROI analysis tool. Everything we did was based on research on how people buy technology services.
By the time prospects plugged their numbers into the spreadsheet, they could clearly see the ROI they can expect to receive. Also, we eliminated sales commissions, and put the salespeople on the same salary + bonus structure as everyone else. Attrition has dropped to a negligible level. Furthermore, the word went out and salespeople started contacting the firm for sales work. The automated system and the microscopic sales department helped the firm achieve the $130,000 net profit per person.
For a 63-person home automation design firm, we increased conversion rate on the firm's website. Previously the website was all about the firm and it's offerings. It wasn't exactly client-centred. Since the firm spent a small fortune on a search engine company, the website had good ranking and lots of visitors but they didn't convert. Visitors would come and go almost right away. The firm had nothing to offer that was worth coming back for or downloading.
We created a comprehensive white paper, including several before-after case studies and offered it as a free download with registration. Visitors would also receive our newsletter. Within a year, over 4,800 people downloaded the white paper and got on our email list.
Previously, it would cost the firm around $79 to acquire one qualified lead that could be placed into the firm's database as a potential client. For the 4,800 prospects, this would have been $379,200. We reduced this acquisition cost to $37, with an annual savings of $240,000. Within 18 months, this brand new database resulted in $3,430,000 in new sales with bare minimum acquisition costs.
For a medical technology developer company, we developed a white paper to generate qualified sales leads. The 43-page white paper was distributed both off- and online and generated as many as 1,700 qualified sales leads within one year. Out of the 1,700 sales leads came $8,3 million new revenue with minimum acquisition cost. Salespeople stopped prospecting and meeting prospects in the traditional manner. They got busy dealing with incoming enquiries, and making themselves available for prospects who requested appointments.
For a 79-person web design firm, we introduced copywriting as a new high-margin service to help the firm's clients to gain better return on their online marketing investments and efforts, and turn their websites into powerful lead generating and sales machines. What this change also meant for the design firm that the first time ever, in the form of royalties, the firm was generating recurring passive revenue in the range of 9-20% of their clients' monthly gross revenue.
And this royalty was on the top of the initial website design fee, which, thanks to copywriting, had jumped up by some 240%. And since the firm was generating more revenue, it could afford to hire high calibre professionals, which put the firm on an upward spiral.
For a consulting engineering firm, we developed and implemented a comprehensive productivity enhancement programme. An employee survey revealed that there was a big gap between what the company offered to its clients and what clients expected of the firm. This gap caused high client turnover rate. That caused high level of stress among employees about their sense of employment security.
Client interviews revealed the cause of the problem, so we re-designed the overall client experience with specific touch points and a higher level of client involvement. The firms started relying more and more on its clients' resources, and with this change clients offered more commitment. More commitment led to better client results. Within six months employee stress level dropped significantly and sales went up by 23%.
For a security system provider and installation company, we developed a proposal requesting and submitting process. Over 90% of the firm's proposals were either rejected or the requesting prospects just vanished. So, we beefed up the prospect qualification process, and developed a detailed pre-proposal diagnosis.
And the diagnosis was payable of course. When the topic is security, most clients can and do justify a $10-20,000 diagnosis (depending on the value to protect) to determine what the exact problem (as opposed to the symptom clients experience) is and what the course of remedy should be. The diagnosis consisted of a detailed ROI analysis and an action plan to solve the problem. Within one year the diagnosis turned into a high-value, high-demand but low-effort service, creating $530,000 in new revenue.
For a software development firm, we developed a trade show marketing strategy using the magic of white papers. Not only the firm had an almost constant "buzz" in its booth, but, at the 2-day event, the white paper generated 179 leads. Over the next nine months, these leads led to $2,378,000 in new sales with bare minimum acquisition costs.
For the 13-person sales force of a web application development firm, we developed an interactive quantification tool that helped salespeople to better quantify the value of the firm's solution. The firm fas struggling with endless price objections because prospects didn't recognise all the value the firm's solution was delivering. As a result, the salespeople left serious amount of money on the table. Quantification takes place during a detailed, and paid, diagnosis process, and then clients can make their decisions based on the numbers they quantify themselves.
This approach also allows them to fathom the full value of the solution and pay for all the value they receive. The advantage is that this approach removes every shred of speculation on the part of the sales force, which often causes prospects to disappear without making a decision. When the key people of the prospective client's company compile their own numbers, facilitated by the salesperson, and see all those numbers on a concise dashboard (see below), then decision-making enters a different dimension.
No more hesitation. No more unanswered proposals. No more foot-dragging. The clear-cut cost of the problem makes people take action and move into the next step. While in the normal sales process, prospects make their go/no go decisions at the very end of the sales cycle, which can take several months, with this approach we reach a decision around 10-25% into the traditional sales cycle, saving 75-90% of the total sales time, cost and effort.
For a system integrator firm, we organised four lead generation webinars. Previous webinars flopped because commissioned salespeople conducted them and used them for mass-pitching. This time the CTO conducted the programme based on a pre-designed agenda. The objective was not to sell but to share valuable information and stay in touch with the participants. A total of 317 participants attended the programmes, resulting in $1,426,000 worth of new business in the next two years.
For a VAR company, we developed a "new territory infiltration" programme without using one single salesperson. Both lead generation and lead nurturing were put on autopilot, and then existing salespeople took care of the new "ready to buy" prospects. Over the first two years the company saved an estimated $540,000 in sales commissions because the territory expansion took place without hiring new salespeople.
For a medical device manufacturer, we revamped the company's "eye-candy" bells and whistles type website into a hard-core business development system. Departing salespeople were not replaced, and the remaining small sales team focused on dealing with the ever-increasing incoming enquiries. Also, salespeople were transformed into consultants with the new mandate of educating the market and letting people make their decisions.
We weeded out the last shreds of traditional manipulative selling, and implemented marketing education programmes. We developed tough meeting criteria for prospects, so the consultants met only committed prospects. The closing rate rose to almost 100%. Also, instead of sending out proposals to RFPs, we designed and started offering paid pre-proposal diagnoses. According to the finance folks, conservative estimated aggregate improvement (increased revenue, reduced costs, avoided expenditure) increased net profit per person (one of my favourite performance indicators) by 17% within the first two years.