Who cares what you're selling, what are customers buying

Too often we get so wrapped up in what we are selling that we don’t pay enough attention to what people are actually buying. Sales people do this constantly. It is a useful exercise for your marketing team to compare what your website (and those of your competitors) says you are selling, to a list you create on what you believe your prospects are buying. The differences may surprise you.

I’ll go first, with the product being marketing automation.

What are people really buying with Marketing Automation?

Here is what prospects tell us they need, and what we find in marketing automation vendor websites:

• Save time, do more with less (productivity)
• An ability to execute effective automated drip campaigns (efficiency)
• A means to focus marketing budget and measure ROI (measurability)
• A way to improve the quality of leads passed to sales (quality)
• Ability to generate more leads with better response management (productivity)

And here is a perspective on what many are probably buying with Marketing Automation software in addition to the things listed above:

• Marketing accountability
• A way to justify their marketing budgets
• Job security, personal career success, recognition
• A way out of the chaos of trying to manage campaigns manually
• A way to ensure sales are following up on marketing leads
• An improved relationship with Sales
• A way to keep their data cleaner
• Early adopter credentials
• A boost for their resume and future career prospects
• Less overtime, no more working on weekends
• Best practices in lead nurturing and demand generation
• More revenue or profit
• A competitive edge
• A smart partner that will help them through a rough patch
• Buying better teamwork for geographically dispersed team members
• Buying down risk in achieving annual goals
• Head room to grow

Here are a few more thoughts, not germane to Marketing Automation. Perhaps your customers are buying peace of mind, an outside firm to blame if something goes wrong, a get out of jail free card (they are following the law – SarBox), or they are buying a better world for their children.

You could take this down to the next level and break it out by each of the four buying influence roles – economic buyer, technical buyer, user and coach. Okay, your turn, what are your customers buying? Is that how you and your sales people communicate with them?

-Kevin

Comments

[twitter.com/fearlesscomp]

This is an interesting post, Kevin, because most companies buy marketing automation wrong. Not only are the goals wrong, but they miss the critical ingredients.

I used the analogy of power tools. I can buy the best power tools, but does that mean I can build a house? No.

Marketers need great content, mapped across buying processes, roles, industries and more. They need good lead scoring metrics. They need a handoff process with telemarketing. They need to Think Like A Publisher. Most businesses fail to grasp this when they make the purchase of marketing automation.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor and President
Find New Customers
"Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.net