While reading the newspapers today…..
“The UK economy is like Wile E. Coyote from the Road Runner cartoons who runs off the edge of a cliff and is suspended in mid air, only plummeting to earth when he finally realises his predicament.”
This rather stark simile, taken from today’s Guardian describes the parlous state of the UK economy.
The same grammatical comparison could be used to describe the situation some companies can find themselves in when not using disciplined sales planning & forecasting techniques.
Like Wile E Coyote, his legs spinning fast as he zooms off towards oblivion, sales teams can appear to be successful. The team is out of the office, lots of meetings are taking place, technical resources busy doing ‘stuff’ and lots of lunch receipts and mileage chits are flowing back into the expenses department.
But of course what is important is not just the activity taking place but the movement of opportunities through the various levels of sales cycle from pre-qualification to closure.
The process of planning, delivering & managing marketing/sales activity MUST also include the ability and discipline to measure sales opportunity metrics through the sales cycle. This mandatory aspect of running a business helps alleviate those big surprises that can lead to heavy if not catastrophic landings for SME enterprises.
I’m showing my age here but its the difference between the manic reactive plummeting Coyote and my real favourite, the most effectual Top Cat !
And now an ad break
//
High Five Business Limited helps companies reduce the risks of cartoon capers in their sales efforts through consultancy and fully managed implementations of Customer Relationship Management solutions.
//
That’s All Folks !!
In my previous blog I described how social media empowered customers with positive experiences of a business’s product or service can be a valuable marketing asset.
Of course, a customer with a negative experience can conversely affect the brand & appeal of a business. In an interesting article in today’s (19th March 2010) Guardian, Mark Sweney quotes David Jones the Global CEO of Havas Worldwide as saying words to the effect that social media is inherently more negative than a positive medium on many levels with a lot of the comments being of a negative style. Sweney’s article was in the context of companies potentially misrepresenting their social responsibility credentials and being caught out by digitally savvy consumers.
Given the article highlighted the negative messaging (to a business by consumers) in the use of social media it got me thinking of three points I regularly raise with clients looking to evaluate social media. The common prefix to each of the following points is;
“Even if you don’t see the value in proactively using social media to communicate outwards”
- You most likely have customers who do use social media and potentially could use this communication to vent their displeasure at a product/service/experience from your business. LESSON LEARNT: Understand what social media channels (if any) your customers and clients use and are interested in.
- What is the risk to your business of not at least monitoring what is being said about your business through social media channels. LESSON LEARNT: Quantify the risk and budget a first phase of a social media strategy to LISTEN to what is being said across the important social media channels your clients use.
- If you find non positive comments being made then what is your strategy to turn a negative into a positive. LESSON LEARNT: Understand the potential viral affect of bad publicity and have a strategy in place to respond to comments as they happen.
A recent interesting example of the latter which I have just found on YouTube is Domino Pizza responding to online and focus group comments regarding the taste of their pizza’s. It’s so interesting to see Domino Pizza turning the table (no pun intended) on Twitter comments through the use of another social media channel ie YouTube to illustrate the companies response to customer feedback. The whole video is interesting but take a look at the first 30 seconds if time is short !
Social media and its impact on the whole customer service experience is immense. The tactics being used by the big brands are available to the smallest of companies. As business owners these tools and tactics are available to us too. To extend a pizza making metaphor (why not !), we share the same kitchen, dough and oven as the big corporate boys. What ingredients to use for the topping usually requires a good understanding of your clients likes and dislikes and a good understanding of your capabilities as a chef.
Understanding how to use social media, getting past the hype and importantly concentrating on a phased approach to implementation that doesn’t overburden a business’s resources is a task that requires consideration and potentially a helping hand in the kitchen.
