In my inaugural Ignite Visibility blog I would like to present some philosophies and values which I believe when adhered to during the sales and early engagement process leads to more business and helps establish long-term client retention.
Sales Process
ROI & KPI focused
At the end of the day, as marketing professionals, our primary objective is to help our clients’ grow their business. As such, we must not be afraid to focus on producing measurable results for our clients in the form of profits and pre-determined KPIs. Honest communication with your client and detailed research at the outset can help establish realistic goals and benchmarks.
SEO and Business Development
Dedication to Marketplace Ethics
I truly believe that a marketing agency is only as good as the promises it keeps during the sales process. Thus, I never take a deal just because I know I can sell it. I only take deals that have a clear opportunity for success based upon a detailed ROI analysis.
There have been many situations when I have turned away sure deals because I simply did not feel comfortable with the projects ability to be successful. The most common reasons include where my research clearly revealed that either the prospect simply didn’t have the budget to compete in a highly competitive space, there wasn’t enough search volume for their niche space to justify our fees, or there was a fatal flaw in their online business model that no amount of traffic could fix.
Targeted approach
We always, structure and sell campaigns specifically targeted for each client’s industry, business offerings and unique individual corporate goals.
Provide Value Early in the Process
Ultimately this is a relationship business built on trust earned during the initial communication between the parties. I always want to leave my prospects with some piece of information they didn’t know prior to speaking with me. I utilize a consultative approach by providing expert knowledge, recommendations, and information for my prospects. When you provide quality information and a well thought out plan of action there is no need for aggressive sales tactics as the quality of your presentation and services speak for themselves.
Flexibility
SEO is evolving by nature and engagements should be flexible enough to adapt on the fly. If you have confidence in your services you also should not be afraid of short term contractual engagements which force you to justify your value to your clients on a month-to-month basis.
Engagement
Expert Project Management
The effectiveness of any campaign is directly related to the knowledge and expertise of the marketing team working on that particular project. So we ensure all our clients have access to experienced project managers and support staff. Too often in our industry, clients are sold a deal by a talented and sophisticated sales agent, only to be turned over to an inexperience project manner with little to no support. We always present our proposals as a team, and allow our prospects to speak directly to consultant or project manager that would be working directly on their account. When you have a talented team, as I do, the united front helps with the sales process and ensures a smooth transition to the team members who will work on the campaign.
Employee to client ratio
At Ignite, we are dedicated to minimizing our employee to client ratio to ensure each client receives personalized and high caliber customer service.
Taken all together, this simple value structure has served me very well in my online marketing career, and in part, has helped lead to the early rapid growth and high client retention rates at Ignite Visibility.
