If you are planning to change one thing in your sales & marketing strategy this year, do this…

As we all know, the perfect sales strategy begins with hiring the right people to represent your company and product. Strong companies will put new hires through training to learn about company structure, systems and processes, as well as products and services. They will be taught company values, culture, work/life balance, and their company mission. They would be welcomed into the family with open arms to take on their new job with excitement, then released to go do what they were hired to do with enthusiasm. But sadly, THIS is where most companies drop the ball and miss out on a big opportunity to expand their footprint on the world.

Unfortunately, most companies never tap into the strength of their team and the culture they built. They fail to bridge the gap and connect the dots that would bring their entire vision to life. They miss out on the opportunity to position themselves in the marketplace as the best company to do business with. A chance to be known as the company that makes the best first impression and an even better second impression. A chance to do something so simple yet so significant that sets them apart from their competition.

Today, I want to share with you a secret that most companies have never explored and are not even aware of. It is the secret of how a small company can do more business than many companies twice their size. It is a method that delivers the best first and second impression and converts prospects into raving fans. It is the one strategy that every company should be doing now that technology is easily available, and it’s simple. Are you ready for it? Here it is. Every employee, from the receptionist to the vice president, from accounting to customer service should be equipped to share basic information about your products and services as well as capture a potential customer and follow up 100% of the time.

I know what you might be thinking… It might sound great in theory but, how?

Well… it’s actually not hard, but it does take some thought and a proactive strategic approach.

Here is how it works:

1) TRAINING: Teach your team that they are now a part of your family. Everywhere they go, they now represent your company. You are proud to have them on your team and they should be proud to represent you. Every team member should be able to speak about your core products and services anywhere they go. From the top of the ladder down to the kid just hired out of school, everyone should be able to easily answer basic questions intelligently as they meet people both inside and outside of work.

2) RESOURCES: Every team member should have information about your products or services available at their fingertips to easily share. It should be simple for any employee to pull up a brochure or video to show it while they are together or to share with a new prospect so they can view it later.

3) TECHNOLOGY: This is the big one. This is the game changer. This is where technology is headed and the sooner you do this the more of an edge you will have over your competition. 

Every team member should have your company lead capture app on their phone! Why? Because it is the only computer guaranteed to be with every employee everywhere they go. 

IMAGINE how powerful this would be for your company! Seriously… How many business cards end up in the laundry and how many leads were missed last year? Everyone has a cell phone now…right? What if every face-to-face encounter with any of your team could become an opportunity to collect a new lead! Instead of having only 5% to 10% of your team collecting new leads (sales team)… You can now have 100% of your company collecting and qualifying leads everywhere they go! Anyone in marketing knows that the first stage of hunting down MQL’s is time consuming and costly. If you could skip that step and capture and qualify face to face SQL’s faster…would you? Of course!

That is why exhibiting at trade shows and attending networking events is so important. What if capturing leads was built into your DNA as a company, and your entire team had the tools they need at all times. Using your own lead capture solution every employee can easily share information about your products or services, collect contact info or scan business cards to have them transcribed and list qualifying questions that help facilitate the next step in your customer service or sales process (Ex: Assign a task or opportunity in your CRM to the appropriate team member).

Now your entire team is promoting the same products, sharing the same materials, and using a streamlined process that can actually be measured! And, what if you could take this one step further and integrate it with the registration systems for the events you exhibit at and sponsor to pull attendee data! Now, you have one customized and streamlined process used company wide! That is truly next-level stuff!

4) COMMUNICATION: Besides capturing the lead for the sales team, the other piece of the puzzle is bridging the gap between marketing and sales to ensure that every lead captured is acted upon and nurtured. With the right process in place, your company should be able to guarantee 100% follow up, every time!

Imagine this: A lead is captured by an employee who was traveling and met someone at a restaurant. After a simple conversation the employee discovers that this person would like more information on a specific product or service you offer. From the employee’s phone the lead’s contact information and product interest is entered into the lead capture app. Within seconds a text is sent to the lead with a link to the product brochure or explainer video of the item they asked about.

Later that afternoon a personalized email is automatically sent from the employee saying how nice it was to meet them and that they would like to introduce them to John (the rep in their area) who can help them further. The prospect is put into an email rhythm that drips helpful articles and tips about that product to their email over a period of time, as well as subscribes that lead to your monthly newsletter. A task is sent to John to call the next day and help them with Product A with notes from the employee who met them. Meanwhile, other team members at various other locations are also gathering leads. Basically, this strategic and proactive approach ensures that every warm lead is now seamlessly brought into your sales process, your reach is now expanded, and because of your 100% follow up policy your reputation as a company is one of integrity.

So, now I have 3 questions for you:

1. How many people work at your company, and if every person is connected to the rest of the world by 6-7 people, how big can your company stretch your reach if every employee was enabled?

2. If you invest in hiring talented people, if you invest in marketing and events, and if a key strategy in meeting prospects is to get face to face with as many people as possible, when are you going to stop thinking of lead capture as an afterthought (by only renting it for events) and start using lead capture technology in a more strategic way? 

3. Is your company open to exploring something new? If yes, we are here to help.