There are top notch industrial sales reps out there willing to work for next to nothing. Does your company want to hire one?
WANTED: A proven industrial sales representative able to qualify and attract new prospects daily while servicing existing customers world-wide. Successful candidate must be able to communicate to both technical and non-technical prospects. Representative will be accountable for a specified percentage of company’s bottom-line sales growth. Once deployed in the field, regularly scheduled performance evaluations using exacting measurement tools will determine if sales rep’s performance meets corporate expectations. Must be willing to work 24/7 with no salary, benefits or bonuses.
Who in their right mind would apply for THAT job?
If such top sales performers existed, wouldn’t employers be flocking to hire those reps and extending more resources to support them if this would GUARANTEE more sales?
Well, industrial buyers and engineers are researching, sourcing and specifying products and services online. Savvy industrial marketers have connected the dots and realized that their company websites are fast becoming their top sales performers. An effective industrial website sells their products and services 24/7 – long past business hours, across all time zones.
The key to making your website your top sales performer is to ensure that it contains the right content and capabilities to convince a buyer or engineer to contact you. According to the Industrial Marketer, here are key 3 steps to help you do just that:
1) Set Goals
Define your company’s business objectives and set goals for your website, just like you would set goals for each member of your sales staff. How many new business inquiries do you expect your site to generate and/or close each week? No all products can be sold online, but your site can certainly be held responsible for generating a ton of solid leads for your sales people.
2) Add Content and Features
Does your website answer the most common questions that your prospects ask you over the phone? Does it “listen” to your customers needs and respond with appropriate information and actions? Top sales performers do. The best way your website can do this is with an analytics or tracking tool to measure 1) the search terms buyers use while on your site, 2) the pages buyers visit – especially entry and exit pages, 3) the information buyers request or download off your site. Put yourself in your buyer’s or prospect’s shoes. What content needs to be on your site to “convert” more of these website visitors into customers?
The Industrial Marketer describes two types of website conversion actions: direct conversion actions and indirect conversion actions.
Some Direct Conversion Actions:
Request for Quote (RFQ)
Request for Sample
Place an order online (e-commerce)
Place a phone call
Send a purchase order
Send an email for more information
Some Indirect Conversion Actions
E-mail page to colleague
Download or insert CAD drawings
Download PDF pages
Download spec sheets
Save to Favorites
Print product or service pages
One of the most common mistakes industrial marketers make on their websites is not including their contact information on every page of their sites. A lot of buyers these days will search and evaluate a supplier’s capabilities online, but want to pick up the telephone to make a call before submitting a purchase order. If you have not included your 800# and email on every page of your website, you are handicapping your site’s ability to deliver relevant information to your prospects inquiry. And that is Job #1 for your website.
3) Schedule a “Performance Evaluation” for your website
Finally, the Industrial Marketer recommends that you measure the success of your website by using tracking tools to determine on a weekly basis:
- How many visitors came to our site?
- From where did these visitors come?
- What search phrases did they use before finding our site?
- How long did they stay?
- What pages did they view?
- How many of these visitors took conversion actions?
If you aren’t measuring the effectiveness of your site, you won’t know what’s working and what isn’t. By answering these questions, you’ll learn what areas can be improved and you can then hold your website accountable for delivering ROI.
Industrial websites aren’t just for presenting basic information anymore but can be powerful 24/7 sales channels when they leverage the right content and measurement tools. The sooner industrial suppliers realize this and make improvements to their website strategies, the sooner they, too, will be able to “hire” this top sales performer!
Your questions and comments on how to build an effective industrial website are welcome. For more online marketing tips and strategies, follow me on Twitter !
Photo Credit: deltaMike
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