Folks, you’ve heard of inbound marketing as an idea. It’s the marketing equivalent of fishing vs. hunting. You put out the content, you try to lure people to your site, basically you do all you can to get the customers to come to you. When inbound marketing is done correctly, the business is getting lots of calls and emails requesting information on what they have to offer. Think of it as the opposite of cold calling prospects.
Every company, regardless of industry, says they want more leads. More business is always a good thing, right?
In my experience it’s the idea of an avalance of leads that is appealing to most companies while the reality is something different entirely. Companies are more than willing to do the effort to get prospects into the top end of the funnel, but seem to lose focus and ignore the details when they get past the first stage in the sales cycle (this seems to be true in companies that sell a product/subscription as well as ad-supported companies who see registration as the final stage of conversion).
Let me give you three real-world examples, all of which happened to me on the same day last Sunday. My girlfriend and I are starting to quickly outgrow our 1 bedroom basement apartment. When I lived there by myself it was fine, but with two people and two pets it’s a little crowded. Because of that we’ve been looking around for a new spot. All of these places advertise heavily.
1. Forbes Lofts- While you can’t see anything useful in this photo, forbes lofts is a huge new complex on the water in Chelsea, MA. They have a gigantic banner advertising the website and phone number on their buildings, and I see it every day while driving. The idea of a loft really appealed to us, so we went to the website. The site advertises an open house each Sunday from 11-3. Here’s what they say:
These tours will highlight the recent progress on site, including the windmill, new entrance road, salt marsh tidal canal, and development of the new harbor side pavilion! R.S.V.P. is not required, but appreciated.
Well, we decided to RSVP just in case. On Sunday we showed up at the site and no one was there. Not a single person was to be found, and we were standing in the exact spot listed on the site. I looked up the phone number and called while we were staying there, but it went directly to voicemail. I said “Hi, this is Nathan Burke. We RSVP’d for the open house today, and no one seems to be here. We’ll hang around for a few more minutes, so if anyone is around, please come by. Otherwise, please give me a call at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Thanks.”
It’s been 5 full days, and I still have not heard back from them.
2. The Atlantica– The Atlantica is a relatively new condo complex on the beach, and we literally drive by it every day. They always advertise their Saturday and Sunday open house, so we decided to swing by after being let down at the Forbes lofts. I looked at their web site as well, which gave 12-3 as the weekend open house hours. When we opened the other door there was a sign giving the number for the sales office, so I punched it in.
Direct to voicemail. We hung up and left.
3. Surfside Lofts– Yet another new complex within spitting distance of where we currently live. Since we were 0 for 2 in the day, we thought we’d try one more time, and it looked like we’d actually be able to see something. At the door we found a buzzer with the number to the sales office. After calling, a woman told us to come in, and that she’d be right down.
We walked in and saw a sign pointing to the model unit. We went in (door was open), and took a look around. After 15 minutes or so, we decided to buzz the sales office again, as we thought we might have misheard her. After the second buzz, we heard “I’m on the 4th floor, give me a minute!”
Right. We left immediately.
Now, these are just three real-world examples that show the problem I’m seeing…..the huge gap in effort between no-touch mass marketing and actually closing a sale. It’s really easy to put out content on the web and ignore it. It’s much more difficult to follow-up with those looking for more information on what you’re selling.
While it may not be a perfectly fair comparison to online inbound marketing (where it’s not always necessary to individually communicate with a potential customer, since the sale can happen immediately) I think the concept is sound. Getting the prospect to the site is just the first step. Failing to give enough information on what to do next will not only blow the sale, it’ll waste your potential customer’s time. It’s worse than nothing.
