Managing Sales Leads

I finally started reading Managing Sales Leads by James Obermayer and I'm getting sucked in. If your job function has anything to do with lead generation then I highly recommend it!

That's all I got this week...

The Importance of Case Studies

I've mentioned this before, but I can't stress enough how important good testimonials and case studies are to converting not only visitors into leads, but also for pushing leads closer to sales. They should be displayed prominently within the website and used as collateral for email marketing campaigns. Getting prospects to read these stories can really help make them psychologically ready to consider buying your product. Knowing that their peers have chosen you and succeeded is very compelling.

Along these lines check out this piece on testimonials and this piece on case studies. Both offer some great tips.

Case Study in Web Design Flaws

One of our customers recently canceled their Capterra subscription (I hate to call out previous customers so I won't name names) due to lack of performance. What is amusing is that not only are they software company but they market themselves as a web design firm. So wouldn't one think that their own website would have a great, lead-optimized design? Unfortunately, not the case. Here is a top-5 list list of their current design flaws:

1) No clear calls to action.
2) Paragraphs of text too long to read.
3) No customer testimonials.
4) Painfully long online form.
5) Online form difficult to access.

I figure if they are getting all these things wrong and they do website design, then it is probably safe to say that many software companies get these things wrong. In fact, from my experience, with the exception of the final point, they are probably the four most common mishaps I find among our vendors.

The Power of Testimonials

I spoke recently with a colleague who mentioned that he was in the market for some construction management software. His mindset was not that of an innovator - he just wanted to use what everyone else was using. Luckily for the vendors that aren't in the top two or three in market share, it isn't easy to get good market data on this sort of thing.

So what could marketers do to earn his business? Try peppering your website with customer testimonials! Our beliefs (some more than others) are heavily dependent upon the judgment of larger groups. The desire to conform is very strong for many of us, especially in the adoption of new technology.

Seeing that many other similar to you have chosen a particular vendor's software is a powerful draw to many of your prospects. Make testimonials highly visible within your website and realize the impact it may have on your ability to convert those visitors into leads.