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Have you ever gone to a movie and realized halfway through that it wasn’t going to get any better? You tell yourself to just get up and leave, but you don’t. Come on – this has happened to all of us…

Why do we stay?

Give this appropriately named song by the Clash a listen as we see what the experts are saying this week.

Why You Stay When You Should Go

Sunk cost fallacy – it can cripple your decision-making. It’s when one is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they’ve invested heavily in it, even when it’s clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.

We’ve all seen examples of this in B2B – how many times have we seen a sales rep that won’t let a deal go no matter how many times the close date is pushed? What about those leads that you hang onto – continually marketing to them, adding them to drip campaigns, and engaging in multiple qualification conversations that just don’t go anywhere!

So why can’t we let go?

Victor Antonio says there are 3 possible reasons:

• Sunk Cost: The longer you stay the more you’re delaying moving on to something more productive or fulfilling. If you go there could be trouble… but if you stay it will be double! So be honest with yourself: how much more are you losing by sticking around?
• Need for Closure: Life is full of mysteries; it’s always tease, tease, tease. Learn to accept that you don’t have to know the outcome, you simply have to know that it’s not for you. Focus on what YOU can control: your ability to walk away!
• FOMO: Ask yourself, “Even if things did change, is the outcome really worth holding on to? Is the juice worth the squeeze?” If it’s something you believe in strongly, then yes, hold on! Fight for it! But if you’ve decided you’ll be here till the end of time ‘just in case’… that’s never a good strategy.

We need to rewire our thinking. Don’t let your biases hold you back! I’ve always believed that it’s just as important to DISqualify a prospect as it is to qualify one. Otherwise, we run the risk of expensive outreach and marketing efforts that take us nowhere.

Other Lessons from The Clash

Our ‘musical guest’ this week – the Clash – were trendsetters in their time. There are many articles about the way the band was promoted and their rise in popularity… But what else can we learn from them?

This article is fun, and talks about what the Clash can teach us about B2B copywriting. It’s all about AUTHENTICITY – which, especially in this age of AI-generated content, is something that can be lacking. The Clash were told by their manager, “Write about what’s affecting you, what’s important.”

Maybe this is how you can stand out from your peers – and really produce content that resonates with your audience! What’s affecting them? What’s important to your leads and customers? Figure that out first, then come on and let them know that you’ve got what they need!

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

The post Know When to Abandon Ship on Your Leads appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What do leads and deals have in common? Well… same letters, different order? (Reminds me of a word jumble – remember that? It was in the newspaper alongside Sudoku and the crossword.) But despite the similarity in appearance, the two are distinct.

Unjumbling – A Lead is not a Deal

I was having a conversation with a client the other day, and realized something – as B2B marketers, many of us create our own word jumbles in our heads – we see or hear leads but rearrange the letters in our head and understand deals. But they are VERY different, aren’t they?

Yes, leads (or a portion of them) should turn into closed deals. But they aren’t there yet. They aren’t even close! A lead is just a lead. Expecting a lead to be a closed sale is a pipe dream; leads still need to be worked. And sometimes you need to work them hard to get them to move forward.

Leads still need to be nurtured, and sometimes leads will die. That’s the nature of the business. Perhaps it’s the optimist in us: we get someone that is a lead and we think they should be a customer. That’s great – that should always be our goal. But realistically, they won’t all be customers. So as marketers/sales professionals, we need to understand that a lead is not a deal. Those 10,000 tradeshow leads are not going to turn into sales. In fact, many (or most) of them only stopped by the booth to enter your raffle.

Cultivating – Leads Won’t Cultivate Themselves

As a young marketer at an enterprise software company in the late ’90s, I fell into this trap. I thought that all of the leads I generated with my campaigns were awesome and I would personally help the company shatter its revenue goals. But I realized pretty quickly that leads require time and tenacity to move through the sales process. I got pretty good at explaining to our sales team why they should keep calling and following up with leads, even after they had left them one message or sent one email. Those 50 webinar registrants aren’t going to turn themselves into sales. Sure they expressed some interest, and filled out a form with some qualification criteria, but they need to be convinced that they need to keep interacting with you.

They need to be cultivated. They need to be guided through the buying process.

So they didn’t return your call when you called them after the webinar? Keep trying! Tenacity! Your competitors are calling/emailing/interacting with them – if you sit back and wait for them to reply or respond, they will probably respond to someone else!

Collaborating – Bring Sales and Marketing Together

Companies like SiriusDecisions have spent years talking about sales and marketing alignment. They have built a powerful niche in the research industry around it. Their demand waterfall is quite powerful – it’s a shared view between sales and marketing of the health of an organization’s new business-related activities. It measures the progression of leads through a range of stages – from cold to closed.

The key here is that it is a progression, and to move leads through the waterfall, marketers and sales professionals need to use various tactics to help leads move through the stages and eventually become deals.

Forget the Pipe Dream – Remember Your Pipeline

Leads are leads. Deals are deals. Don’t mix them up.

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

The post Don’t Mix Up Your Leads and Deals appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

It snowed here this week. I won’t lie… there is a part of me that wants to sail away and return to warmer climates! Instead here’s a little jolt from my favourite band, Led Zeppelin, to pick us up. This song always seems to mirror my mood and if you listen right until the end, you get to hear a huge rock and roll “GONG!” Who doesn’t love that?!

Here is what the experts are saying, and some takeaways from the past week:

What Is… Right in Front of You

How is your retention marketing plan? It’s tempting during the current upheaval to reach for the latest shiny object or new client. But an effective B2B retention marketing program can extend the customer’s buying period as well as the total amount spent. Why is this important? A 5% increase in customer retention can deliver up to a 95% increase in profits (Harvard Business Review)!

Marketing Insider Group outlines six ways to retain customers:

1. Onboarding & education
2. Customer training
3. Constant communication
4. Ongoing customer support
5. Surveys & testimonials
6. Customer appreciation

While we love to talk about B2B customer acquisition all day long, maybe it’s time to hit the pause button and think about effectively cultivating the customers we already have. Show them a whole lotta love!

What Should Never Be… So Stop Doing This!

In the rush to end the year strong and talk to everyone before the holidays start, it’s easy to let some things slide. But if you want to squeeze the most out of your marketing to boost sales, WebFX has identified the following common B2B marketing mistakes:

• Focusing too much on your company – In your pitches, get over yourself quickly and focus on how you will help the prospect with their problem – webinars can be guilty of this.
• Neglecting to test your campaigns – How can you really know what’s working without testing? Advanced marketers test various components to maximize effectiveness rather than taking a simple pass-fail approach.
• Disregarding calls to action (CTA) – This is all about guiding leads to take the next step in your buying process – always try to be specific.

If you want to improve your results, then attack the problem. We all make mistakes so don’t beat yourself up. Just start making even small improvements, and over time you’ll reap the rewards.

The Eternal Revenue Stream of Led Zeppelin

I’ve learned a lot about B2B from Led Zeppelin – they were very savvy with their business practices and reinvented the way that bands toured and generated revenue. They are also a great example of a business that cracked the code on an ‘eternal’ recurring revenue stream! By adopting innovative strategies to connect with and expand their audience, the revenue keeps flowing.

We all strive to build these recurring revenue streams in our businesses – how can you use some of these concepts from Zep in YOUR business to generate revenue??

Convert Your B2B Leads Like the Pros – Recording

It’s almost year-end – do you want to get your leads flowing? Access this newly recorded webinar that outlines some of the best practices in B2B lead follow-up provided by our great panelists Tyler Lessard (Vidyard) and David Blackwood (Outside GC). Check it out here – the conversation was so enthralling, we broke our 29-minute rule!!

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or ask how I can help.

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat | President | Virtual Causeway | 519.866.1600 x622

The post What is Your Retention Marketing Plan? appeared first on Virtual Causeway.