My day today has been interupted by an event organizer that has an event that is happening this Friday. Our normal process is a 2 or 3 day process to get things produced. Actually three weeks ago I gave the organizer all the info, and right now my team is scrambling to get everything done in hours instead of days.
What about you? Do you have a way to do a quality and rushed order? Check this out:
They Can't Drive 55
If your B2B product or service has a lengthy sales cycle, you've probably developed an excellent program for nurturing leads until a prospect decides to pull the trigger. But what if a customer needs a solution ASAP?
Paul Dunay, who blogs at Buzz Marketing for Technology, observed a pattern of whitepaper bingeing; within a short period of time, for instance, 20 colleagues from a single company would each download a certain publication. Because these customers needed a "fast lane," he says, "A lead nurturing super highway was born." And in a podcast at his site, Dunay discusses how to create fast lanes with Dale Underwood of EchoQuote.
A podcast slide shows a typical "how to buy" page, but with a twist. "We have an additional call to action on the existing website," says Underwood.
- Option 1: Those interested in the usual pace can select a traditional form with the heading: "Fill out your information and someone will get back to you."
- Option 2: Leads on a tight time frame, however, will appreciate seeing a simple button labeled: "Self-Service Pricing."
Underwood explains a button like this doesn't require you to publish pricing at your Web site; rather, it offers the "promise" of a fast-track quote once customers have selected components from a menu that looks rather like shopping carts you see in a B2C environment.
Providing a fast lane for those in a hurry is pure Marketing Inspiration. "Most prospects that request budgetary pricing are sales-ready leads," says Underwood. "Whether or not they're going to buy, ultimately, they're a prospect that needs to be handled by sales or at least looked at very quickly."
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2 comments:
While the topic of Paul's podcast was speed and implied fast tracking some leads, the intent is to give interested prospects a way to find out if a solution fits their budget before they spend a lot of time researching the solution. We've all been to sites where we saw something we were interested in and just wanted to know if we could afford it, but weren't ready to contact the "beady eyed sales" guy (I used to be one).
By the way, how did you get my avatar under the heading? That was obviously taken before coffee!
Dale Underwood
EchoQuote
Dale,
Thanks for your comments. The placing of the avatar was a simple copy & paste from an email.
In my main line of work, (radio advertising), I can sometimes determine within 10 minutes how much time, effort & energy needs to be done and what the potential cost to the client will be. And the cost can vary greatly from $500 a year to $10,000 a month, all depending on what we do for our clients.
One Big Problem with Selling on a website is when there needs to be a customized solution and dialogue and folks are just price shopping.
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