As the mining economy shifts gears from a capital investment phase to a production phase some suppliers and service providers are finding it tough.
If times are tough at your company here are some strategies to consider.
1. FOCUS on lead gen and MANAGE your leads
Companies that can do a better job of finding leads and developing early-stage prospects into sales ready leads will be in the best position to thrive in a downturn.
Big ticket items in mining mean a long sales cycle – and that sales cycle gets longer in a downturn.
Now is the time to focus on building your pipeline of leads!
But collecting leads is only the half of it; managing them is the other half.
If you don’t have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system give it strong consideration.
CRMs will save you ‘BIG TIME’ and avoid those staff exchanges such as ‘did anyone get back to that bloke from such and such with that enquiry about such and such?’
The great thing about CRMs is that they not only help sales manage contact with customers they give management VISIBILITY on opportunities in the pipe.
Just one last thing on CRMs: use them or don’t use them at all. They won’t work unless everyone’s onboard and disciplined in using them PROPERLY.
A key factor with lead management is categorising leads and giving them the appropriate level of attention.
The aim of the game here is to cultivate leads into key accounts.
Deciding how much time to devote to each type of lead will depend on the size and scope of your sales team, but if you’re a small operator then obviously you’ll want to invest most of your time on hot prospects rather than cold leads.
2. Focus on your HOUSE LIST
According to Marketing Metrics, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%; the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%.
Enough said.
3. Make COMMUNICATION (and content) king
Your lead and customer databases will be your biggest assets in a downturn, but without appropriate and effective communication what’s the point of building and maintaining them?
The key here is APPROPRIATE communication – information that will help your customers make informed decisions about the purchase procurement and specification of plant, equipment and services.
WARNING: be very discerning about the information you’re releasing. Email the wrong type of content and you’ll end up driving people away instead of attracting them.
4. Target the SOLUTION SEEKERS
Every piece of content you’re putting in front of your prospects and customers right now should be directed to someone who’s looking for a solution and READY TO BUY.
Communicate EXACTLY HOW your equipment and services will save your prospects and customers time and money, boost productivity, enhance safety and increase efficiency.
Focus on SPECIFIC EXAMPLES on how your company delivers value. This could include a Top 5 questions to ask a supplier of … white papers, a buyers’ guide, a checklists etc.
Put a calculator on your website that customers can interact with to see what they can save with your solution.
Publish a case study and send it the trade press.
Whatever you do focus on the people that are in the buying zone – not people who may be interested at some time in the future.
5. APPEAL to the RISK-AVERSE
Tough times don’t just affect you they also affect your customers and prospects – and they’ll be less inclined to do business with someone they don’t already have a relationship with or trust.
Brand loyalty is very strong in mining – and proportionally stronger to the price tag of the equipment/service.
If you’re a start up or an SME this is a big challenge.
But you can start building trust with your prospects and customers with content that provides MEANINGFUL INFORMATION such as white papers, references, testimonials, opinion pieces, product reviews etc.
Enter your company in awards and communicate any success stories.
6. See marketing as an INVESTMENT – not a cost centre
Unfortunately, most people see marketing as a COST CENTRE rather than something that generates revenue.
What’s worse is companies that see marketing as a service provider to their sales department.
Successful companies align sales and marketing.
After all, in most cases your prospects and customers will see your marketing before they ever speak to a sales rep.
All things considered, any marketing decision should only be made with a justified and rigorous business case and like sales – the objectives should be realistic, reasonable and achieveable. And that’s the way it should be!