TODAY’S SHOPPERS ARE TOMORROW’S BUYERS!

That’s why you need an Integrated Marketing Strategy (IMS) that accurately identifies decision-makers in key accounts so you can stay in constant contact every 6-8 weeks reinforcing your sales messages. Individual demand-creation activities, like; email campaigns, direct mail, telemarketing, seminars, and trades shows are like a ‘snap shot in time’ and will only generate 3-5% response rates depending on your call-to-action, but if you integrate your marketing activities and contact that same audience every couple months for 12-18 months reinforcing your message your hit rate will go beyond 30%. That’s because today’s shoppers are tomorrow’s buyers and when they get ready to buy you want those prospects thinking of you first. Everybody wants an IMS but when executives see how much they cost oftentimes you won’t get the funding. However, if you have a sales or marketing executive running the Marketing Department you have a much better chance of getting the funding because they understand marketing. They know you can’t pull rabbits out of a hat and you need adequate funding to generate quality sales leads. Based on my experience in marketing you should be able to generate $10M worth of new potential business for a $1M investment in well-planned marketing activities. In other words, a 10-for-1 ROI is not unreasonable. Because time is money it’s critical salespeople are well trained how to sell the products and follow-up with the ‘suspects’ immediately before the opportunities cool down. Until, the salesperson contacts each lead and qualifies them to be sure they are going to buy, maybe from you, this year they are not a qualified prospect, but a suspect instead. There is no doubt Integrated Marketing Strategies are more expensive but if implemented properly, they will generate greater amounts of revenue in the long run. For more information about how to create and implement Integrated Marketing campaigns, as well as, other strategic sales training programs please refer to my website and contact me at: www.21stCenturySellingSkills.com