Make Integrated Marketing Take Off

Are you as upset with Christopher Columbus and steam trains as I am? It’s largely their fault we have such a tough time integrating phone marketing and sales activities with other media and channels, especially field sales.

Think about it. Chris was a salesman. When he couldn’t close a deal with the Italians, he pitched the Spain account instead and sold the decision-maker, Queen Isabella, on a grand venture to acquire a new territory. (He called it the “new world,” but hey, salespeople sometimes exaggerate.) And sure enough, when they drew the new territories map for the 1492-1493 selling season, Chris got the whole kaboodle on this side of “the pond.”

Chug forward about 400 years to the age of the iron horse. Across the American frontier, railroad tracks began stretching into the Louisiana Territory, the Oregon Territory, and the Arizona Territory. And who was the first person off the train when it stopped at the end of the tracks in the new territory? Often it was a lumber salesman with wood for the new station, ready to claim the new sales territory as his own.

Now fast forward to 1999. Airplanes, wireless phones, satellite communications, databases and the Internet… all nullifying traditional territories based on geopolitical boundaries. But despite all the excitement about e-business, way too many enterprises still behave as if they can only market and sell where the sailing ships and railroad tracks lead. They are learning the hard way that integrated marketing based on territorial field sales models often fails utterly.

There are four main ways to get past these self-limiting legacies:

Focus on Accounts, Not Maps

Territories never bought anything and never will. Accounts and the people in them do buy. That’s why our centerpiece for successful integrated marketing and selling has to be the account, not the physical territory. To begin the transition, conduct a rigorous account reassessment. In particular, look at:

– Current annualized revenue and gross profitability, per account (even if you have lots of them).

– Your company’s share-of-account (a biggie on every CEO’s “must know” list).

– Likelihood and cost of earning n% (your target) additional “wallet-share.”

– State of the business relationship; rapport, service and payment history, etc.

– The account’s preferences of contact media and frequency (you have to ask them!).

Then, realign the accounts according to reality and potential. “Stack-rank” them and assign them equitably to your marketing and selling resources, regardless of where the account and the resource happen to be located. Your account group managers (i.e., sales reps), may be based anywhere. I recommend you base most of them on the phone to achieve much greater account and market coverage. But don’t fire the field reps. Instead, redeploy them when and where it’s:

– NECESSARY: To see the customer’s facility, to make recommendations or to sell to a committee.

– WARRANTED: To make a formal presentation at a high level, or respond to a specific competitive challenge – but not just because the other guys happen to go in person.

– DESIRABLE: To recover from service/performance failure, or to thank a long-term, valuable customer.

Do Great Direct Marketing

Use your in-house databases to the max, no matter what’s in them now. Look for behaviors, not descriptions or demographics. The verbs will indicate which companies and people represent viable account growth opportunities. When you go list shopping, apply the same criteria to leads and prospects.

On the phone, position your first contacts as “calls of inquiry” to determine whether and how you and your prospect’s company may match up. Conduct no “random acts of calling.” Train your reps to engage in business dialogue, not interrogations or “product-first” pitches.

Separately, assemble a group of excellent business marketing writers to initiate and respond to e-mail, which is often under-valued by marketers.

Get Good Software

Whether your software vocabulary references “contact management,” “sales automation” or “customer relationship management,” make absolutely sure any system you consider will enable the non-field-centric business model. Unfortunately, many don’t. The best way to determine the right software for your purposes is to:

– Conduct a marketing/sales operations audit, focusing on customer-related information input, throughput and output. Don’t let your IS people do it. Hire an expert.

– Prepare lists of “gotta haves,” “like to haves,” “don’t wants” and “what ifs.”

– Go online and pick out a few possible software options. Ask your expert about them.

– Visit working installations, not the vendors.

Leverage the Web Wisely

“Www.doeverythingelse.com” is one of the greatest lies being perpetrated in business today. Business travelers still fly to customers, conferences and seminars, and vacationers still visit the real Paris and Athens rather than taking “virtual tours.” Real companies still pay attention to real substance and profitability, not merely their “market valuation” with which too many startups are infatuated. To be sure, we cannot and should not ignore the Web. But if the Wall Street Journal is correct that half of all Internet revenues are being generated by only 10 companies (most of which are losing money), we owe it to ourselves and our businesses to act judiciously.

Not every business should be an e-business. Not every customer wants to do everything online. Consider carefully what the Internet portends for your prospects, customers and company. Draw a picture of how Web interactions might fit within your total process of customer acquisition, interaction and retention. Make the Internet your ally, not your master.

Actually, I’m not so upset with Christopher Columbus or Casey Jones after all. They were “doing their thing” in their times. Now it’s our time. We’re free of the seas and the rails. So fasten your seat belts and let’s make integrated marketing take off.