Operating in channels has always been difficult. Changes in technology and shift of control to customers are further exacerbating things. The resulting rise in cost of lead generation coupled with accelerating lead decay is putting a lot of pressure on margins. To return profitable growth to your channel you need to break this cycle by eliminating the major leaks, namely:
* Data Silos – do you lack visibility into a leads maturation and their eventual contribution?
* Lead Hand Offs – are your leads stagnating and decaying in queues?
* Effort Duplication – are partners overlapping, or even competing for the same space?
* Consistent Branding – from first touch to the last, are your customers touched with a consistent brand message?
Plug the Leaks! 4 Steps to Improve Your Channel ROI
1. JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON TWITTER QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? JOIN US LIVE ON THE 10 TH FROM ST. LOUIS #EngagingTimes Go to: http://www.twitter.com/ Enter #EngagingTimes in search box Hit Search. Will need to refresh Use #EngagingTimes to comment Enter #EngagingTimes in search box
4. SELLING IN CHANNELS THE FLOWS RUN FROM NATIONAL TO LOCAL THROUGH MANY CHANGING HANDS Awareness Interest Desire Acquisition Heat Map Chain, Carrier, Supplier Agents, Stores, etc. State Farm, Dominos, Fidelity, etc. SBA, Mercury Insurance , etc. Ed Bailey National Local Distributor, Master Franchisor, Co-ops, etc. The ‘Final Mile’
5. COST OF FEEDING THE FUNNEL GROWING LEAD GENERATION ACTIVITIES ARE ALL BECOMING MORE EXPENSIVE Search Traditional Display Email Awareness
6. SPENDING IS UP ACROSS THE BOARD … AND ITS SPREAD ACROSS ALL THE PLAYERS National Local $470m $20m $170m $50m $40m $50m $25m $5m $25m $30m $40m $10m $5m $170m $300m
7.
8. SYSTEMATIC PROBLEMS INDEPENDENT OPERATIONS STOKES INEFFICIENCY AND DUPLICATION Marketing Fulfillment Local Search Limited Print Brand Traditional 180 ° Carriers / Suppliers 90 ° Distributor 90 ° Agent In order to close the loop, or in other words connect the prospect behavior and marketing programs, you need to be able to connect an initial prospect to the final sale. In the existing model this is very complicated because the interaction data is captured across three different organizations and three or more systems.. 1 1 1 Data Islands 2 Inconsistent Branding While corporate marketers and agencies can do a great job developing compelling story lines and branding it can be exceedingly difficult to push it down the line through the channels. Not only is there a people / communication issue as you cross organizational lines, but at times the motivations of distributors and agents may not be in line with marketing at the suppliers. Lead Handoffs Necessarily, in this structure leads must be passed off between the organizations. This has many implications, but one is that it certainly extends the customer life cycle. 3 3 4 Competition And finally, at times not only can the channel members duplicate their efforts, sometimes they can even be competing with one another like with search.
9. PROBLEMS QUALIFYING THE INABILITY TO CLOSE THE LOOP INHIBITS THE ABILITY TO TRULY QUALIFY LEADS Marketing Fulfillment Local Search Limited Print Brand Traditional 180 ° Carriers / Suppliers 90 ° Distributor 90 ° Agent Data Islands + Multiple Handoffs = Big Problem The inability to relate activity to financial results, and correspondingly the ability to score, results in poor leads being injected into and then passed through the channels. In turn, the cycle of poor leads results in slower responsiveness which further lengthens the already long process and ultimately lead decay.
10. NET EFFECT DECLINING MARGINS WE ARE SPENDING MORE TO MAKE LESS (OR SOMETIMES THE SAME) Awareness Interest Desire Acquisition Revenue Expenses Profit
12. REDUCE HANDOFF LAG … BY AUTOMATING OR ELIMINATING STEPS IN THE PROCESS Shorten the cycle… … . with technology
13. SQUEEZING PARTNER MARGINS SUPPLIERS BEGIN TO OFFER MORE SERVICES AND PASS ON THE COST Local Search Limited Print Carriers / Suppliers 90 ° Distributor Marketing Fulfillment One approach some suppliers are taking is to beef up their co-op marketing offerings in part to eliminate the need of like services at the distributor level. Of course, in so doing they will also push the cost to the distributor in the form of lower margins. Channel Demand Creation Source: SeriusDecisions Best-in-class suppliers are also leveraging their channel to create demand, with the majority of their channel incentives being applied towards PARTNER-TO-CUSTOMER demand creation programs. 35% Supplier to Partner 54% Partner to Customer 11% Supplier to Customer
15. THE VISION: ALIGN THE CHANNEL FOR HI-IMPACT PROSPECTING & ROI Local is the new National Consumers expect messaging, offers and customer service that is relevent to their life They don’t care about the dynamics of the distributed organization To them it’s all the same brand
Tewks/Alterian (Integrated Marketing Platform) South/Razor (Leading CEA) Identify where they are Offer recommendations
Stocks / Cheeseburger Surprising how many different types of businesses Financial Securities (Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch))/ QSR (McDonalds, Subway)
National / Layers (transparency) / Local
Vignette Before McD Chandeliers / Happy Meal / Fry Grease Unarguably the Channel has been good “ We need more help from Headquarters. Getting and keeping customers is unbelievably hard these days. With the economy and environment we are in, I have to work harder than ever before to reduce operating costs to say in business, let alone figuring out how to drive traffic. I am really stuck with stealing share because it’s a zero sum game. I’m responsible for building my business but I have don’t have the resources to figure out how to use all this new media in my markets. I need a lot more help.”
Cause = channel structure Netting independent processes Data Islands / everyone lacks a complete picture Inconsistent branding Lead Handoffs / FinSrv, Insurance / Decay 100% competition / search
Big problem separate lead generation from revenue performance Lengthens queue times because leads are difficult to qualify
Spending more to make less Revenue is flattening, while expenses are increasing
Where’s the love? Trust is a critical ingredient to building teamwork
Attack obvious inefficiencies
Tewks/Alterian (Integrated Marketing Platform) South/Razor (Leading CEA) Identify where they are Offer recommendations