Keep reading if… you’d like to know how we use a simple marketing automation to generate sales.
I spend a lot of time chatting with other folks in the B2B events and publishing world, and it’s striking just how many don’t employ marketing automation at all. The reason I hear most often? Some variation of “We just aren’t big enough.”
You are never too small to use automation.
Here’s one straight-forward way we use automation in one of our businesses to identify and connect with qualified leads:
- Anytime somebody subscribes to Campaigns and Elections (C&E) they enter our subscriber welcome automation.
- The C&E welcome automation filters each new subscriber into one of four channels based on the type of contact that subscriber is. (This is determined by the information that contact provides when signing up.)
- It then sends each new subscriber a sequence of three welcome emails over a period of three days. Those channels are Campaign Professional, Candidate, PR/Marketing/Unknown. (Sub in your own audience profiles.)
- Of those, C&E takes the view that all but ‘Candidates’ are potential sales prospects. Accordingly, the three prospect groups are filtered into further marketing automation after they have received their third and final welcome email.
Time to engage!
Having determined what type of subscribers are potential sales prospects, C&E’s sales prospecting automation kicks in. For those new to automation this might seem a little complex, but actually it’s pretty simple:
- When a contact enters this automation they are held until the next Tuesday or for up to four days, whichever is sooner.
- The contact is subscribed to a list reserved exclusively for new contacts who have never done business with C&E.
- They then receive an email asking them if they’d like to set up a call,
- If the contact opens this email a notification is sent to C&E’s VP of Sales & Operations. (The email contains the contact info.)
- If the contact hasn’t opened the email after five days, they are sent a second email, again inviting them to set up a call.
- If they open that email, the same kind of notification mentioned above is sent to the VP of Sales & Operations.
The key here is that contacts who enter the sales prospecting automation receive a personal style email from a member of the C&E staff.
Check out these results since we implemented the marketing automation plan:
Since launching this sales prospecting automation in September, 358 contacts have moved through this automation. Of those, 27 have replied asking to schedule a call or for more information about commercial opportunities with C&E. And of those, so far $11k of new business has been generated. In just 10 days!
Consider just how much new business was being left on the table before this sales prospecting automation was implemented.
How much money are YOU leaving on the table?
Note: You can read Shane’s original, in-depth article here.
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More about Shane: Shane is a media entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-owner ofCampaigns & Elections, a B2B publishing and events business that serves the political campaign industry. He is the author of two books and a recovering British political pundit. Past Life: Shane co-founded Total Politics magazine in the UK in 2008 and built the title into a broader media group through organic growth and the acquisition of other publications and events.
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Niche Media has the best events, education, and training in media! Our super niched-out events & content give target-audience publishers in the B2C, hobbyist, B2B, city & regional, and association markets the tools they need to build revenue, audience, and more.
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