You may be able to relate to the owner of a growing electrical contracting company’s frustrations surrounding his marketing efforts. The significant lag time between marketing his company’s services to identifying leads and finally turning those leads into sales was much longer than initially anticipated. The contractor happened to mention his frustrations to his financial advisor.
The advisor could tell from the company’s financial statements that sales were indeed down. But perhaps more challenging was the fact that the contractor had no systems in place for tracking and evaluating prospects from introduction to completed deal.
Recommending a solution
The advisor had seen this before — particularly with growth-oriented contractors. One potential solution was a marketing automation system that would help track, qualify and score leads. A system like this would also enable the contractor to measure and standardize his company’s sales process.
The contractor was intrigued. He couldn’t deny that, historically, his business hadn’t excelled at tracking sales data. What’s more, with marketing automation software in place, the company could own its sales contacts and not lose them when a member of the sales staff left the business.
Making a decision
The advisor recommended bringing in a marketing consultant, who then worked with the contractor to create a list of the functions that would be helpful in a marketing automation system. Over two weeks, the contractor met with sales staff, performed independent research and queried fellow members of a local networking group.
Next, the contractor sat down with the financial advisor and marketing consultant to walk through the requirements and consider some pricing options. They realized what the company really needed was a software solution that allowed sales staff to send out a monthly newsletter to existing clients and distribute regular educational pieces to nonclients based on a set list of preferences. How individuals interacted with that collateral could be captured and used to qualify leads in a database.
Based on these requirements and others, the marketing consultant recommended looking into programs such as Salesforce, Constant Contact and SharpSpring. She noted that the three solutions vary in cost and specific features, but they would represent the type of software that the contractor needed.
Seeing the results
After careful deliberation, the contractor selected a system that included customer relationship management features as well as e-newsletter technology. And he kept the purchase within his technology budget.
The results: The company saw a noticeable uptick in sales growth during the first full quarter following implementation. Furthermore, the contractor was confident that, as he became more familiar with the software, they’d be able to leverage its functionality to even greater advantage.
If you have questions about implementing your own marketing automation software, please contact Debbie Torrance, Marvin Willis, Paul Atkinson or another member of our construction team at 404-874-6244.
If you have any questions and would like to connect with a team member please call 404-874-6244 or contact an advisor below.
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