Unfortunately, yes, I am a smoker. It stinks, it’s expensive, and it kills you. I understand all of this and yet I still continue to smoke. Addicted? Absolutely. I will quit one of these days… a typical smoker’s response, I know.

With smoking, come smoke breaks and quite a few of them. But fortunately for me, we are in an ideal location for our industry. Even though I am technically on break, my eyes are still open and my mind is still at work. Within the 4 minutes or so it takes to have a cigarette, I am able to generate anywhere from 1-7 sales leads. I haven’t been able to get more than 7 in one break yet but I’m hopeful that I will eventually break that record.

If you are unfamiliar with what we do here, or what this industry is that I speak of, or how I could possibly generate so many leads during a cigarette break… I’m getting to that. I just wanted to post a blog about this because I think it’s pretty funny that I am able to light a fire under our prospecting by doing something that is generally thought of as completely unproductive.

We are a supplier to the transportation industry and are located on a main road across from the Toronto airport, where hundreds of trucks pass by every day. We are a marketing agency and I can instantly see how well their logo and tagline are crafted and how memorable their marketing message is.

After my cigarette is done, I head back to my computer to do some more in depth research to see if these companies can benefit from our services. If I believe they can, I get their contact information and send off an email, or make a phone call. This way of prospecting is by no means standard but it is an easy way, for me anyways, to keep the leads coming, no matter how busy we are. It is very easy to put prospecting on the back burner. You always need to be laying tracks for future sales.

I am completely surprised by how many transportation companies there actually are. No matter how many hundreds I have looked at, through groups, directories, online searches or by other means, I still seem to see a few every day that I never have before. When the time comes that I recognize every truck I see, is a good time for me to quit smoking. 

I had a client meeting that took the whole morning and I stopped off at a local fish and chip place for lunch. It was a small spot and a pretty casual atmosphere. A well dressed chap, in his mid-forties, came in and I noticed he was wearing a tie clip. I can’t remember the last time I wore one or even saw somebody with one on. I passed that comment on to him and he mentioned how cufflinks were back in style now too. I asked him what business he was in and I got a quick but brief response, “sales”. 

Somewhat ironic I thought, that a professional sales person would not have expanded on that answer. What if he was in the business of selling something I or someone in my family or business network might need? Was he embarrassed about what he sells for a living? The conversation ended. And so did a possible sales opportunity.

I had a similar feeling when a transportation client told me (that same morning) that their website was fine. It was all they needed. One of their employees designed it 5 or 6 years ago and he was happy enough with it. I mentioned to him about 5 or 6 ways it could be improved but he wasn’t all that interested. By not addressing these details, will he be out of business? Probably not, but will he lose possible sales opportunities? Absolutely yes!

The carrier in question made a few mistakes that are easily corrected. And from our research, he is not alone. These are a few things that we see often and most likely need to be addressed on your site if it was designed 4-5 years ago.

1/ If you have a 2 language site you don’t need a splash page anymore to select languages. It can all be done with programming. The same goes for a separate splash or flash opening of any kind. Get the visitor to your home page, as soon as possible.

2/ Don’t make your customer click extra buttons to get to the secure log-in area, or rate request forms on your site.

3/ If you’re like most companies with an older site, you probably have out of date information that needs to be updated. Don’t delay, it is easily rectified.

4/ Have relevant information about your core services front and center on the home page with quick links to access additional data.  It’s your best opportunity to cross sell other services to existing customers and capture the interests of potential customers.

5/ Make it easy to contact you. That is what the majority of people coming to your site are trying to do.

6/ Don’t have any text explaining your company services as an image as it cannot get picked up by the search engines and therefore, will not move you up in the rankings when people search for your service.

7/ Understand what key words are searched for in your industry and optimize your site accordingly.

8/ If the equipment pictures on your site were taken a number of years ago and they were a few years old then, you could be promoting a 7-8 year old fleet on your site.

9/ Design trends change. Sites are not left justified anymore and they take advantage of the background area to expand the graphic treatment and overall visual effect.

10/ You may have spent a lot of time and energy achieving various certifications, green initiatives, awards…are they promoted on your site and is your last posted news item current?

Lee’s quote for the day

The correlation, between marketing your company to a potential customer and dating someone for the first time, is very similar. In both cases, you need to present the best version of yourself, do something to capture their interest, do things to maintain their interests and if you want the relationship to be long term, never take them for granted.”

On a call the other day I had someone comment they were the “incredible shrinking company”. Although a few industries proved to be recession proof, most of us had to take a hard look at our business and make significant changes to ensure sustainability.

I value old sayings like “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” and “Necessity is the mother of invention”. The immediacy of shrinking business revenues forces us to take the actions necessary to get our business back on track. And for the majority, it’s been a dramatic transition from where we were just a short time ago.

From my experience and listening to the views of other business owners and managers, there are 10 basic fundamentals that most agree on.

1. If you don’t love what you do develop an immediate plan to get out, however painful.
2. If you used to love what you do but are in a “recessional funk”, do a reboot and reenergize with a clear vision and action plan complete with time lines and task champions.
3. Communicate your concise vision to your entire team and for those who don’t get it in a timely manner, politely suggest a new and exciting career path for them …outside your organization.
4. Address every hurdle keeping you from achieving your goals and take action, take action, take action!
5. Treat your people, customers and suppliers like they matter most.
6. Fine tune your menu of services through the “good to great” criteria. What are you passionate about? What are you best at? What gives you the best economic return? You need all three firmly in place for the best results.
7. If you are a generalist, fully understand this “convenience sell” from a customer perspective and make sure you have conquerable levels of quality across your diversified service mix. Good execution of one can win you another. Poor execution of one can cost you everything.
8. If you are a specialist, make sure your niche offering is still relevant. Sometimes a recession causes a slowdown that a recovering economy corrects and sometimes there is a permanent swing that doesn’t swing back.
9. There are many new ways to reach your existing and future customers. Experiment and assess what works best for you.
10. Make sure your product is solid, your message is compelling and you assign the proper resources to deliver it to your market with clarity, consistency and confidence.

Lee’s Quote for the day:
“If you always start with your toughest task first, the rest of your day can’t help but get easier”