February 2008
Create an ‘e-Road Map’ to Selling Success in Seven Steps

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part series focusing on your company’s website. Part II discusses using e-communications and a well-thought out online presence to create a selling “e-Road Map.”

With more commerce being conducted electronically, the days of e-mailing pretty pictures with flowery text are long gone. Graphic arts companies now expect and receive maximum results from their e-communications and online presence.

Today, it is both possible and affordable to create a selling “e-Road Map” by carefully tracking specific electronic activities.

Create your selling e-Road Map by following these seven steps:

1. Make sure each of your important services and products have individual pages on your website
2. Design and develop a consistent e-communications (e-mail) program
3. Place strategic links from your e-communication template to your carefully selected products and services, complete with working tracking “codes”
4. Create and maintain a comprehensive database of your key customers and prospects
5. Regularly send your e-communications
6. Within a few days of each send, run a tracking report compiling all click-through activity data
7. Follow up with an appropriate sales effort.

How This All Works
Assume you have compiled a list of 1000 key business influencers in your marketplace. If you develop your seven-step e-Road Map program as outlined above, and your results are typical, you can reasonably expect a 20% or higher “read rate” and a 6% “click-through” rate to your website.  This means that 200 people will see your brand associated with useful information and 60 people will take specific, trackable online action.

Don’t you want to know the names of the 10 people in your marketplace who are interested in stochastic printing?  How about the 20 who are interested in digital printing and the 25 interested in your various bindery services?  Of course you do, because you can sell more printing, literally that same day.

The links you provide could also include the niche markets your company serves especially well; perhaps healthcare; academia; manufacturers; designers; agencies; publishers; and, the government.  You get the picture: the possibilities are endless.

If your links are properly designed, you will know who is interested in which your services. Then, you can disperse all leads to your salespeople and encourage them to strike (follow up) while the proverbial irons are hot.

If your database grows the way it should, your initial 1000 e-mails could be 2500 by year’s end and grow from there.  Then, instead collecting 60 pieces of click-through data, you’ll now get 150.

Now, can you visualize what we mean by creating an e-Road Map to selling success?

But We Are in the Printing Business!
We hear this one a lot!  Your e-communications are never meant to supplant your printed communications.  Printed collateral is necessary, no doubt! However, the profit leaders in our industry don’t stick their heads in the sand when productive innovations present themselves. Print’s effectiveness can be somewhat tracked, but for scope, reach and immediacy, trackable e-communications deserve strong consideration.

Two Caveats
First, it’s a good idea to train your reps not to say anything like: “Hey, I noticed you clicked through to our sheet-fed printing at 8:49pm last night.  Didn’t you have anything better to do?” Don’t let your employees sound like big brother’s watching, because this will quickly and dramatically reduce your future click-through activity. Encourage your reps to work this data in gently.  Something along these lines works well: “Since our recent work for you has been on our web presses, it’s been a while since we’ve talked about sheet-fed printing.  Do you have anything going on in this area?”

Second, make sure you only use a 100% opt-in list. Developing your own list is by far the safest strategy. Remember the golden rule of marketing is: Do no harm. No matter what, don’t be a spammer.

Next month: Part III – Web metrics: The four components of driving a search traffic to your website.

What Can Grow Sales, Inc. Do for You?
At Grow Sales, Inc., we specialize in finding the right marketing mix for each client and making sure all sales growth plans are properly executed. Developing and implementing a comprehensive eStrategy is a large part of what we do.

Since 1996, Grow Sales, Inc. has provided marketing, public relations, web and graphic design and sales support services to graphic arts clients nationwide. Think of us as your outsourced sales growth department. No matter the state of the economy, with our help, this could be a banner year for you and your company.

Back to E-Tips