Recognize the Need for Change: MPS Marketing

By: Nick Inglis, DataVault.com

I’ll admit that I’ve never been in a 10 step program, but from what I hear of it, the first step to recovery of any kind is admitting that you have a problem. Right now, your printer company is drunk on the wine of ‘business as usual’ and you’re being left behind. The old standbys of sales and marketing are failing and your company is flailing (if not altogether failing). The first step to getting your business into recovery is admitting that your company has a problem. That problem is an unwillingness to change. Once you admit there’s a problem, the healing can begin.

Accept that the current methods of business are not working

If your last direct mail campaign netted you less ROI than the one prior and the one prior maybe it’s time to rethink B2B marketing and direct mail. If your Excel spreadsheet sales funnel is netting you less sales than the quarter and years before, maybe it’s time to rethink your sales funnel. Maybe it’s time to flip your funnel upside down.

Meeting your client’s needs is your key to success, every company knows that. That’s why we have our salespeople calling and we’re sending out our boxes. The first shift that the industry has experienced is the change from selling boxes to solutions selling. That’s begun to stop some of the pain, but after boot camp you’re moving from a downward spiral to a flat line don’t stop there. The next shift is on the horizon and it’s a marketing shift.

Right now you’re reaching your market in a stronger fashion by reaching them with solutions. You’re no longer the ‘sales guy’ you’re the guy who solves my problems. That’s a fundamental shift, but now how do you build upon that momentum? What it comes down to is moving away from a one to one business model and into a one to many business model.

Right now your salespeople are speaking to a single customer, one at a time. What if you could clone a salesperson and they could speak to 3 customers at once, 7 customers at once, 41 customers at once? Well, they can but you’ve got to change how you think about your sales force. Here’s how you do it:

• Bridge the gap between marketing and sales
• Allow marketing to reach existing customers in a proactive manner
• Allow sales to respond to customers in a reactive manner
• Allow customers to self serve

Your marketing team and your sales team should join hands and become best of friends, the best way to do this is to allow your marketing team to begin penetrating your sales book of business. If you have an ERP or CRM system which ties into your managed print service, this is a great tool to begin this shift. Your MPS most likely has built into it a great deal of what I’m going to talk about but we’re going to discuss taking your MPS to the next level. First, allow your marketing team to craft custom messages based upon triggered events that your customers experience on an everyday basis, toner replacement, paper replacement, service contract expiration, etc. Identify how your customers communicate, not just direct mail and fundamental marketing, but email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It’s 2010, do you know where your customers are? Then develop a multiplatform approach to reaching out to your customers with notices and rewards for your existing customers to either purchase on their own or reach out to your inbound and reactive sales force. Thus, your marketing arm becomes more strongly aligned with your proactive sales functions.

Establish your web commerce visibility and homogenize your offerings, for instance if you sell multiple brands of MFPs, begin to consolidate behind a single brand, it’ll make your customer’s ecommerce experience easier if they aren’t finding one of 200 different types of toner cartridges. Note that some manufacturers do a better job at homogenization of their product lines than other manufacturers (no free consulting about who’s who, but use your better judgment). Note that your marketing messages should probably include links to the specific products (like toner) for the individual company.

Along with the changes you will make, please know that you will have legacy companies that work on the old model. What you’ll want to do is, again, track companies and follow to see if any companies drop off. Those companies may need some hand holding as you move into the new model, make sure in a large enterprise to keep a legacy team on hand or in a small company a salesperson or two to handle legacy accounts as the thinking shifts in their companies. The overall goal of all of this is to do more with less and improve in the arena of productivity while also ensuring improved overall results. Marketing 101.

Shift management thinking

Now, in order to accomplish such a shift in your company’s sales management and marketing you’ve got to change management thinking. You’ll need management to change its’ focus from that good ol’ one to one business model to a one to many marketing model. Here are the business drivers that will help you make your case (and I’ll say a few words on each):

• Improved employee productivity
• Reduced employee cost
• Increased margins on accounts via self service
• Additional lead generation by companies purchasing ‘one off’ toner
• How businesses are growing accustomed to working
• Improved customer service and client satisfaction

Individual employee productivity will increase because more is done with less when some tasks are automated at a marketing level. Reduced overall employee costs as some staffing may be reduced. Increased margins will result when customers can simply click and buy. That same click and buy ecommerce system will begin generating leads on its own as people purchase for companies not currently in your book of business. Businesses are growing accustomed to self service and some prefer it to dealing directly one on one with a salesperson. Improved customer service as marketing begins crafting surveys and client satisfaction reports to identify trouble areas and machines that deplete customer satisfaction.

Develop a culture of change

Not only do you need management to understand why a shift is necessary but I’m a strong believer in getting your workforce involved in the understanding as well. Employees that understand the reasoning behind change are more likely to get behind new marketing and sales initiatives that are in the company’s best interest. Also, employees that are aware of reasoning are more likely to become champions for continued positive change for the company’s benefit.

Are you ready?

Companies that make this jump early and do it tactfully and with a lot of forethought will become the winners over the next decade. Those that lag or execute poorly will suffer. Ensure that you are utilizing project management software and a methodology (LEAN, MIKE2.0) before jumping into this arena. Also, ensure that you choose software properly.

Ensuring success

What you’ll need is a trigger based email (and more, think Facebook, Twitter, etc) marketing system that either functions with your ERP, CRM and/or MPS system or the database that holds the information and is able to data mine. You’ll also need an ecommerce arm for your website for your inbound sales. You’ll need to reduce your product array to ensure simplification of your offerings for customer ease of use. You’ll want a pre-established reward or incentive system to deal with customers who are lagging in adoption of your new business model to tempt them to get on board. Lastly, but probably one of the more important factors is employee transparency behind the reasoning for your change.